End Times and Miracles

{{___ Do you view the end times as a majorly supernatural event from beginning to finish, or a real life human antichrist who takes the world secretly? I just finished watching a documentary about the differing theories, and I am interested to know what my Christian friends believe...}}

Thanks for your question. Something I had not thought much about before.

Off the top of my head.

C.S. Lewis has pointed out that the line between natural and supernatural is somewhat artificial.

One can look at the supernatural as things outside both of human experience, and human theories about the regular operation of nature.

Perhaps a distinction that is more important is "signs and wonders". Things different enough to be noticed (and properly acted upon by the responsible).

The signs and wonders of Revelation may mostly be figurative but accurate language for events that will be explainable by the science of the time, including speculation about "creatures from outer space". One reason that figurative language is used, is because of ignorance of future technology. Figurative language is the best description.

God seems to want man to walk by faith, not by sight, in the present creation. This includes the end times.

The end times will include seasons of signs and wonders.

Just as seasons of signs and wonders have taken place in the past. Such seasons seem to be designed to offer a last chance to repent before a great judgment:

. Works done through Moses before judgments in Egypt and the wilderness.

. Works done through Elijah and Elisha before the collapse of the northern kingdom.

. Works done through Christ and His apostles before the ruin of the Temple, Jerusalem, and Israel under the sixth and seventh Roman precursors of the anti-Christ.

Those who wish for miracles should be instructed about the horrific judgments that follow the signs and wonders recorded in scripture.

Fool's and Traitor's Notions of Propriety

The American Thinker:

"Another Scandal that Wasn�t / January 9th, 2006

There is often much less than meets the eye in the news from our nation�s capital. Rarely, however, does anything as trivial as the NSA �domestic spying� story make the front pages and generate gales of heavy breathing from the media elite. Heavy breathing notwithstanding, that story is on a nonstop flight to nowhere. It will disappear without a trace despite the best efforts of the New York Times, the Washington Post and a cadre of demented members of Congress.

In the mean time it makes for entertaining theater of the absurd. The looniest congressional Democrats are muttering darkly about impeachment. Left-leaning lawyers are concocting closely reasoned arguments that the administration violated the terms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by gathering intelligence on our deadly enemies without consulting any judges. The New York Times and the Washington Post are working hard to keep the story going with new revelations, each more trivial than the last. The nutjobs at democraticunderground.com are quivering with anticipation. Could this, at last be their holy grail? Are we about to witness the second coming of Watergate

[...] If FISA tries to restrict the President’s power to spy on our enemies during a state of war that Congress itself proclaimed then FISA is blatantly unconstitutional. Only a fool or a traitor would suggest that Congress can constitutionally require that the President play “Mother-may- I” with a motley collection of judges before intercepting enemy communications in wartime.

Congress can no more empower judges to make decisions about how we gather intelligence than it could empower them to decide what targets our Air Force should bomb or what streets our troops should patrol.

There is nothing complicated about this. The President is Commander in Chief. He makes the military decisions. He decides, with the advice of his subordinate commanders, when and where the United States government should gather intelligence because that is a military decision.

If you find the scope of Presidential power in wartime frightening, you should. It is frightening. That is one reason wars are to be avoided whenever possible. It is also why elections matter. The President of the United States has awesome responsibilities and correspondingly awesome powers. The Constitution entrusts all executive power to him and executive power is unavoidably broader in wartime. [...]

Will the N.Y. Times Escape the Quagmire?

From a Lucianne.com article, New York Times Journalist Killed in D.C.:

New York Times Journalist Killed in D.C. [/] by A.P.

Original Article [/] Posted By:Wookie, 1/8/2006 11:22:55 PM

WASHINGTON — Veteran New York Times journalist David E. Rosenbaum, 63, died Sunday evening from injuries suffered in a street robbery while walking near his home two nights earlier, police said. He had undergone surgery Saturday at Howard University Hospital in an effort to relieve pressure on his brain, said his brother, Marcus Rosenbaum. [/] Comments:

Reply 1 - Posted by: rmg, 1/8/2006 11:31:51 PM

Its a quagmire there. The NYTs should get out now.

Medical Hoax Fools Al-Quaeda

"It is an ill wind indeed that blows no good".

Terrorists, like most others, appear to be ignorant of the fact that HIV is a fabulous monster.

From a Mirror [U.K.] article, HIV BOMBERS :

8 January 2006 [/] HIV BOMBERS [/] EXCLUSIVE Al-Qaeda's plot to infect troops with AIDS virus [/] By Rupert Hamer Defence Correspondent

AL-QAEDA is recruiting suicide bombers who are infected with the AIDS virus, according to documents revealed to the Sunday Mirror. [/] Terror chiefs are also targeting fanatics who suffer other lethal blood diseases such as hepatitis and dengue fever in order to increase their "kill rate" from an explosion. The chilling new threat is revealed in papers distributed to British military camps in Iraq and across Europe.

Under the heading "HIV/Hepatitis" the document states: "There is evidence that terrorists might be deliberately recruiting volunteers with diseases that are spread by blood transference." [/] Experts have found that bones and other blood-spattered fragments from a suicide bomber could penetrate the skin of a victim 50 metres away and infect them. [/] In the papers (part of which is summarised above) soldiers are warned to wear special protective clothing when on guard duty or if they have to deal with casualties in the event of an attack. [/] All bases must also have snipers hidden behind blast-proof defences ready to take out would-be suicide bombers. The guidelines were issued following the 7/7 London bombings which left 52 dead and injured hundreds more.

[…] Last night an MoD spokesman confirmed that bases had been made aware of the new threat. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Media Ignore the Good Guys

From a Yahoo! AP article, My Lai Hero Hugh Thompson Jr. Dies at 62:

My Lai Hero Hugh Thompson Jr. Dies at 62 By JESSICA BUJOL, Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS - Hugh Thompson Jr., a former Army helicopter pilot honored for rescuing Vietnamese civilians from his fellow GIs during the My Lai massacre, died early Friday. He was 62. [/] Thompson, whose role in the 1968 massacre did not become widely known until decades later, died at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Alexandria, hospital spokesman Jay DeWorth said. [/] Trent Angers, Thompson's biographer and family friend, said Thompson died of cancer.

"These people were looking at me for help and there was no way I could turn my back on them," Thompson recalled in a 1998 Associated Press interview. [/] Early in the morning of March 16, 1968, Thompson, door-gunner Lawrence Colburn and crew chief Glenn Andreotta came upon U.S. ground troops killing Vietnamese civilians in and around the village of My Lai.

They landed the helicopter in the line of fire between American troops and fleeing Vietnamese civilians and pointed their own guns at the U.S. soldiers to prevent more killings.

Colburn and Andreotta had provided cover for Thompson as he went forward to confront the leader of the U.S. forces. Thompson later coaxed civilians out of a bunker so they could be evacuated, and then landed his helicopter again to pick up a wounded child they transported to a hospital. Their efforts led to the cease-fire order at My Lai.

In 1998, the Army honored the three men with the prestigious Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving conflict with an enemy. It was a posthumous award for Andreotta, who had been killed in battle three weeks after My Lai. [/] "It was the ability to do the right thing even at the risk of their personal safety that guided these soldiers to do what they did," Army Maj. Gen. Michael Ackerman said at the 1998 ceremony. The three "set the standard for all soldiers to follow."

Lt. William L. Calley, a platoon leader, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killings, but served just three years under house arrest when then-President Nixon reduced his sentence. [/] Author Seymour Hersh won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for his expose of the massacre in 1969 while working as a freelance journalist. The massacre became one of the pivotal events as opposition to the war was growing in the United States. [/] Hersh called Thompson "one of the good guys." [/] "You can't imagine what courage it took to do what he did," Hersh said.

Although Thompson's story was a significant part of Hersh's reports, and Thompson testified before Congress, his role in ending My Lai wasn't widely known until the late 1980s, when David Egan, a professor emeritus at Clemson University, saw an interview in a documentary and launched a letter-writing campaign that eventually led to the awarding of the medals in 1998.

"He was the guy who by his heroic actions gave a morality and dignity to the American military effort," Tulane history professor Douglas Brinkley said. [/] For years Thompson suffered snubs and worse from those who considered him unpatriotic. He recalled a congressman angrily saying that Thompson himself was the only serviceman who should be punished because of My Lai.As the years passed, Thompson became an example for future generations of soldiers, said Col. Tom Kolditz, head of the U.S. Military Academy's behavioral sciences and leadership department. Thompson went to West Point once a year to give a lecture on his experience, Kolditz said.

"There are so many people today walking around alive because of him, not only in Vietnam, but people who kept their units under control under other circumstances because they had heard his story. We may never know just how many lives he saved." [My ellipses and emphasis]

And today, who knows the name of the first Iraq War Victoria Cross winner? Or the place of his birth? A place liberated from Communism during the Reagan years.

Private Johnson Beharry from Grenada, the first VC since the Falkland Islands, the first VC given to a living serviceman since 1969.

Read about it.

The Worst of the [N.Y.] Times

From a American Spectator article, The Worst of the Times :

Media Matters [/] The Worst of the Times [/] By David Yerushalmi [/] Published 1/6/2006 12:07:02 AM

Since December 16, 2005, when the New York Times disclosed the existence of the National Security Agency's secret electronic surveillance program, much has transpired. The most important of which is a Justice Department investigation into the identity of the person or persons who provided this information to the Times. On its editorial pages, the Times argues that "[i]llegal spying and torture need to be investigated, not whistle-blowers and newspapers."

The Times editorial should be understood for what it is: an attempt to lobby the public and government officials against a federal indictment charging the Times management, editor Bill Keller and publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., with violations of the Espionage Act. They are running scared and have good reason.

Along the same lines, New York Senator Charles Schumer suggests that the motive behind the leak ("whistleblower" versus traitor) should be a critical factor in the decision to initiate a prosecution. The Senator's comments do not reflect the law and it is well they don't.

Section 793 of the Espionage Act sets forth the elements of a crime: any authorized person in possession of "information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation" and who purposefully discloses that information to any unauthorized person, is in violation of this provision and, under subsection (f), may be imprisoned for up to ten years.

The question for the prosecutor in this case is straightforward: Could our enemies use the disclosure of this program to their advantage and did the "leaker" have reason to believe this to be so? Senator Schumer's "whistleblower" versus "traitor" analysis is not only laughable on its face, it is contrary to the plain language and intent of the statute. A prosecutor who used this analysis would be abusing prosecutorial discretion and acting contrary to the law. (In the case of a leaker who "intends" to provide this information to the enemy, Sen. Schumer's "motivation" test might be relevant. But this would be a separate question under Section 794 of the Act, a crime which carries a life or death sentence for its violation.)

According to the Times/Schumer logic, every disaffected civil servant should be permitted to divulge national security secrets if his motives are to expose a program he believes illegal or not in the best interests of the country. But does this not put the leaker in the position of Supreme Judge of our nation's national security? Who determines the "legality" or propriety of a top secret program? The President? The Courts? Congress? The leaker?

IN THE CASE at hand, the President and the Attorney General concluded the NSA program was a legal exercise of executive power. The Supreme Court has never ruled otherwise, and if anything, the lower federal courts have consistently recognized the President's constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief to gather foreign intelligence, whether domestically or internationally, without a judicial warrant. It is not even clear that the courts have the authority to "judge" the President in his role as Commander-in-Chief. If the courts do have such a power, there is not much left to the concept of Separation of Powers. Congress, of course, has absolutely no authority to "rule" on the legality of a Presidential act unless it is at issue in an impeachment proceeding. Given this state of affairs, what whistle was the leaker blowing, other than his own personal view of the world?

Invariably, the prosecutor will turn to the New York Times, not simply to determine the source for the disclosure but for the crimes committed by the paper and its management. The facts as provided by the Times to date are that it learned of the NSA program over a year ago and held the story at the request of the White House (presumably the Times asked the Administration for confirmation). After at least one meeting with the President, the Times editor, Bill Keller, and publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., were convinced that the nation's security would be at risk with the publication of the leak and held it. Approximately one year later the Times published the story.

Questions abound about Messrs. Keller's and Sulzberger's motivation for publishing the article when they did. Whatever their motivations, the Times has, by publishing this story, taken the position, much as it did back in the Pentagon Papers days, that the risks associated with the criminal violation of the Espionage Act were outweighed by the public good. This position ought to be challenged, if for no other reason than lives, and a country's very existence, are at stake.

Again, we turn to the law for instruction. Section 793(e) of the Espionage Act makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years for any "unauthorized" person "in possession of...information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates...the same to any person not entitled to receive it...." The law also makes it a separate offense to "conspire" to violate the law, something the Times must have done to grant confidentiality to its sources.

The Times and its editors are not excused from their obligations as citizens by virtue of their media credentials. In the Pentagon Papers case, even though the Supreme Court shielded the New York Times from President Nixon's efforts to enjoin the publication of the top secret document, a plurality of justices in that case would not have ruled that the media is immune from a post-publication criminal prosecution (see U.S. v. NY Times, 403. U.S. 713 (1971)).

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS and all that it entails does not grant the press a license to put the rest of us in danger. Further, is it the Times's position that only newspaper editors are above the law and granted the authority to sit in judgment of the secrecy and legality of government programs? Even assuming a program is illegal, who weighs the danger of disclosure of such top secret programs to our enemies against the harm caused by the illegality of the program?

The Times would have the U.S. Constitution be understood to mean that unelected judges have the authority to overrule the acts of the elected Commander-in-Chief, that Congress has the authority to criminalize the exercise of the President's constitutional responsibilities, and the Press has the responsibility and the authority to disclose any top secrets it deems harmful to the cause of freedom.

This position on its face contradicts the expressed language of the Constitution and the Espionage Act. The Times should be held to the same standard as all other citizens.

David Yerushalmi is of counsel to the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, a Washington D.C.- and Jerusalem-based think tank. He has been involved in international legal issues for 25 years. [My ellipses and emphasis]

French Environmentalists Surge Way Ahead of U.S.

Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - French in a hole as toads halt Europe's biggest M-way project:

French in a hole as toads halt Europe's biggest M-way project / SUSAN BELL / IN PARIS

A COLONY of poisonous yellow-bellied toads have brought the construction of Europe's largest motorway project to a sudden halt, only 50 kilometres short of its completion.

The road, which will cross France from Bordeaux in the west to Lyon in the east, goes through the Bernand valley, where the toads, whose official name is bombina variegata, are found.

The valley is home to several other rare species, including the woodlark, northern harrier and the red-backed shrike, but it is the toad that has been adopted by environmentalists fighting to stop the 288km motorway, which is the most expensive ever built in France.

What is wrong with American environmentalists?

They have not championed any varmint over progress lately.

And they have never championed anything so despicable as a yellow bellied poisonous toad.

Have they no national pride?

Letting the French, of all people, get ahead of us.

Free Drinks for Homeless Alcoholics?

(See article below and Vote at Adult Christian Forum, Thread 90204.)

From a Breitbart.com AFP article, Study toasts free drinks for homeless alcoholics :

Study toasts free drinks for homeless alcoholics [/] Jan 05 12:05 AM US/Eastern

Free drinks may improve the health and lives of homeless alcoholics and reduce their run-ins with police, according to a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. [/] Seventeen chronic alcoholics who drank upwards of 46 glasses a day over the past 35 years, including cheap substitutes such as mouthwash that often led to unconsciousness, were offered a glass of wine or sherry each hour, from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm at an Ottawa shelter over five to 24 months. [/] Most of the fifteen men and two women, with an average age of 51 years, had tried detox programs and abstention, but were unable to maintain sobriety. [/] "These are people you and I would pass on the street totally inebriated, who had drunk huge amounts," said Jeff Turnbull, one of the authors of the study.

Three quit, three died of alcohol-related disease before the end of the study, but 11 others reported "a markedly decreased consumption of beverage and non-beverage alcohol, and most reported improved sleep, hygiene, nutrition and health," according to the authors of the study.

More than half of the capital city's 1,000 homeless people abuse alcohol. They typically suffer increased health problems, require emergency services and have frequent contact with police. [/] The likelihood of their rehabilitation is low because of psychiatric illness, poor social support, lack of stable housing, years of addiction or they simply refuse treatment.

Participants in this study, however, reported fewer hospital visits, down from an average 13.5 to eight per month, while encounters with police fell from 18.1 to 8.8. The related savings per person for these services was 445 Canadian dollars (387 US) per month. [/] The average cost to administer the program per person was 771 Canadian dollars (670 US) per month.

"Once the craziness of their alcoholism is under control, their wasted lives on the street turned around, they're interesting people and all that destructive behavior is behind them," Turnbull said. [/] "They'll never be fully integrated into society, but they'll be less of a drain and even contributors."

[…] "We've been accused of facilitating alcohol abuse, but we feel this is a very useful tool in combating a serious societal problem. Just because someone has failed an abstinence-based program doesn't mean they should have to die in the street," Turnbull said. [/] "We agree that abstinence is the best approach to alcohol addiction; however, when abstinence programs have failed, we still have to care for the individuals," he said.

"By giving them alcohol in modest and controlled amounts, we've been able to minimize the harm they do to themselves and work on their bad behavior."

The program will soon be expanded to 24 beds and healthcare providers in other Canadian provinces and the United States have expressed interest in setting up their own [programs]. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Is Home Owner Greed Impoverishing Young Families?

(See article below and Vote at Adult Christian Forum, Thread 90199.)

From a Town Hall article, Green lies :

Green lies [/] Jan 5, 2006 [/] by Thomas Sowell

Not often do Rush Limbaugh and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman agree on anything but recently both of them pointed out the same pattern in the prices of housing -- and both were correct.

The pattern is this: Despite hysteria over high home prices, in most parts of the United States housing is quite affordable. But in some places housing prices are astronomical -- three times the national average in much of California, for example.

Despite the old rule of thumb that housing should cost no more than one fourth of your income, there are parts of California where tenants and new home buyers pay at least half their incomes for housing. [/] This can be a serious problem in such places because it means that only the other half of people's income is available to pay for such frills as food and clothing.

These dire situations are more likely to be featured in the media, partly because bad news sells newspapers and gets higher television ratings. Moreover, media elites are more likely to be living in the places where housing prices are out of sight -- places like Manhattan, coastal California, and the posh suburbs around Washington or various other cities.

It is a very different story in most of the rest of the country. A scholarly study published in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Law and Economics concluded: "In the sprawling cities of the American heartland, land remains cheap, real construction costs are falling, and expanding supply keeps housing costs low."

In some cities, housing prices have actually declined as the housing supply has expanded. None of this is rocket science. It is supply and demand.

Why then are there particular places where housing costs have skyrocketed? [/] In those places, much of the land is prevented by law from being used to build housing. These land use restrictions are seldom called land use restrictions. [/] They are called by much prettier names, like "open space" laws, laws to "preserve farmland" or prevent "sprawl," "greenbelt" laws -- or whatever else will sell politically.

People who already own their own homes don't worry about whether such laws will drive housing prices sky high. Somebody else will have to pay those prices while existing homeowners see the value of their property rise by leaps and bounds. [/] Meanwhile, land that might otherwise provide homes for others becomes in effect free park land for themselves, while such upscale communities use "open space" laws to keep out the masses. The crowning touch is that such self-interest is depicted as idealism. [/] A famous economist named Joseph Schumpeter once said that the first thing someone will do for his ideals is lie. Some people distinguish little white lies from black lies but the biggest lies of all are green lies.

[…] Their real agenda is keeping out other people. Home builders who would enable other people to move into their community are called selfish and greedy. Green liars consider themselves morally far superior to "developers."

Thomas Sowell is a Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow. [My ellipses and emphasis]

But the Sun Rises to the Occasion

As the "Newspaper of Record" sinks slowly in the East, the Baltimore Sun stays reasonably straight.

As always, "In Baltimore, the Sun will be out tomorrow."

From a WBAL.com AP article, Olesker Out :

Olesker Out [/] Wednesday, January 04, 2006 [/] The Associated Press

A longtime columnist for The Baltimore Sun resigned Tuesday amid allegations of plagiarism from other newspapers, The Sun said early Wednesday. [/] Michael Olesker, who wrote a column that appeared twice a week in the Maryland section of The Sun for 27 years, quit two weeks before his 30th anniversary as a Baltimore columnist. His most recent column had appeared in Tuesday's Sun. [/] "I made mistakes," Olesker said as he cleaned out his desk in the newsroom, according to an article in The Sun's editions published Wednesday. [/] "I am sorry to say that in the course of doing those columns, I unintentionally screwed up a handful of paragraphs. I am embarrassed by my sloppiness," The Sun quoted the columnist as saying. [/] Neither Olesker nor Sun editor Timothy Franklin could be reached for comment by The Associated Press early Wednesday.

The newspaper's story quoted Franklin as saying, "Clearly, this is a practice that's unacceptable, and we acted quickly to meet with Mike and try to resolve it. It's been excruciatingly painful."

Olesker and Sun political editor David Nitkin are central figures in a First Amendment lawsuit the newspaper has filed against Governor Ehrlich. [/] In November 2004, Ehrlich issued an order prohibiting state executive branch employees from speaking with Olesker and Nitkin. The ban was imposed after Nitkin disclosed a state proposal to sell preserved forestland in St. Mary's County to a politically connected construction company owner.

[…] The most recent allegations against Olesker came Tuesday in an e-mail from Gadi Dechter, a media reporter at the Baltimore City Paper, an alternative weekly, to Sun City Editor Howard Libit. [/] Dechter said he and a research assistant had reviewed Olesker's columns during the past two years and found instances in which the columnist had apparently used the work of journalists at The New York Times and The Washington Post without attribution. Dechter found Olesker's columns included work of Sun colleagues, as well. [/] Dechter's research was prompted by a correction in The Sun on December 24 in which the paper said that a paragraph from a December 12 column by Olesker about former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland was almost identical to several lines in a 2003 profile of the senator by Peter Carlson of The Post.

The Sun then began a review of Olesker's work, which was under way when he resigned. [My ellipses and emphasis]

The Times Sinks Slowly in the East

From a Town Hall article, A leak is a leak is a leak :

A leak is a leak is a leak [/] Jan 4, 2006 [/] by Michelle Malkin

Hello, 2006. The New York Times kicked off the new year by refusing to answer its own ombudsman's questions about the timing of the newspaper's anonymous illegal leak-dependent National Security Agency monitoring story. Long live transparency and accountability.

Meanwhile, Times reporter James Risen launched his anonymous illegal leak-dependent book, "State of War," with a self-congratulatory appearance on NBC's "Today" show. Risen's leakers, he told Couric, were the opposite of the Valerie Plame case leakers because his people came forward "for the best reasons." How do we know that's true? Because Risen says it is. So there.

Risen then patted himself and his bosses on the back for their "great public service" in publishing the story (never too soon to go Pulitzer Prize-begging) and heaped more praise on his anonymous sources as "truly American patriots." Risen also told Couric that many of his law-breaking sources "came to us because they thought you have to follow the rules and you have to follow the law." Uh-huh.

Asked about the timing of the original story (held a year, then published in the midst of Senate debate over the Patriot Act and a few weeks before the release of his book), Risen said "it wasn't my decision" and refused to "discuss the internal deliberations."

In other words: Keeping secrets to protect counterterrorism operations is an impeachable offense, but keeping secrets to protect the Gray Lady's [Times'] fanny is an elite media prerogative.

In his book, Risen finds evidence of sinister motives everywhere. This passage on p. 53 is typical: [/] The existence of the [(]NSA surveillance[)] Program has been kept so secret that senior Bush administration officials have gone to great lengths to hide the origins of the intelligence it gathers. When the NSA finds potentially useful intelligence in the U.S.-based telecommunications switches, it is "laundered" before it is widely distributed to case officers at the CIA or special agents of the FBI, officials said. Reports are said not to identify that the intelligence came from intercepts of U.S.-based telecommunications. [/] Never mind that such practice, dating back to at least World War II, is routine when sources are classified.

Oblivious to the need to keep classified programs secret, Risen goes on to castigate the Bush administration for not asking Congress to publicly debate the NSA program.

He ends the book with a Cindy Sheehan-esque sermon attacking neoconservatives and the right-wing pundits who supported them, and pays tribute to the heroic "disaffected moderates," including, we presume, his law-breaking sources.

If Risen's good leak/bad leak spin sounds familiar, that's because Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was plying it this weekend on Fox News Sunday. Asked about the Justice Department criminal investigation into the NYT/NSA leaks, Schumer sputtered: "There are differences between felons and whistleblowers, and we ought to wait until the investigation occurs to decide what happened." [/] Schumer, as I've noted previously, has some nerve pontificating about secrets and disclosures. […] the investigation into [Schumer staffers] Barge and Weiner's involvement in illegally obtaining a credit report on Maryland's Lieutenant Governor Michael S. Steele is still ongoing.)

Contrary to the one-armed Democrat plumbers' wishes, you can't just selectively plug the leaks you don't like and let the other half flood freely. The law regarding disclosures of classified information does not grant an exception based on leakers' motives. See U.S. Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 37, Section 798. Nope, no Bush Derangement Syndrome exemptions there.

In any case, we'll soon see if and how long Risen is willing to stay in jail to protect his pure and patriotic illegal leakers.

Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at. michellemalkin.com [My ellipses and emphasis]

L.A. Water Office Uses Bottled Water

And public school teachers send their own children to private schools.

And city policemen reside in the suburbs.

Who says that our public servants lack intelligence?

From a Los Angeles Times article, DWP Pays to Drink Sparkletts :

DWP Pays to Drink Sparkletts [/] L.A.'s supplier of tap water accounts for more than a third of the city money spent on the bottled variety. [/] By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer [/] January 3, 2006

Despite spending $1 million in the last two years to assure Los Angeles residents that their tap water is not only safe to drink but also top quality, city officials spent $88,900 in public money during that time on bottled water from private firms.

The Department of Water and Power, which supplies the city's water and promotes it, spent the most on bottled water, paying $31,160 to Sparkletts.

"I am stunned," said City Controller Laura Chick, whose office compiled the bills in response to a Public Records Act request from The Times. "This is the same department which spent millions of dollars for public relations promoting themselves and the quality of their drinking water."

The city's use of bottled water comes despite a 1995 directive by former Mayor Richard Riordan that said: "The city's tap water satisfies most needs, and bottled water should not be provided ordinarily at city expense." [/] As a result of that order, many City Hall offices pay for water coolers with money collected by employees. [/] The bottled water purchased by the city in the last two years includes water coolers for city offices and small sports bottles for city workers in the field or for the public at special events in hot weather, officials said.

The DWP spends about $500,000 annually to mail a report on the quality of its water to its customers, as required by federal law, according to Jim McDaniel, chief operating officer of the agency's water division. [/] The latest report brags that DWP water "meets or surpasses all water quality standards."

[…] McDaniel said he believed some of the bottled water was for remote locations, including the Owens Valley, where DWP employees work without easy access to L.A. tap water. Also, some DWP labs need to buy distilled water for chemical procedures, he said. [/] Gayle Harris, a DWP spokeswoman, noted that some of the water may have been used for community events or distributed to neighborhoods when water service was interrupted. [/]

The DWP has ordered from Sparkletts even though at any given time it has about 25,000 bottles filled with its own water. It is bottled by the agency for use by its employees in the field and for storage in case of emergencies. Some of the bottled city water is provided to City Council offices for events held in the field on hot days.

Chick questioned why the tap water that DWP bottles is not sufficient to meet the department's needs. [/] "They hand out thousands of bottles of their water to the public each year at various community events," she said. "But behind closed doors, the DWP management has been spending ratepayer dollars on water for their employees from an outside supplier. There is something very wrong about that."

The city Public Works Department was the second-biggest consumer of bottled water, paying more than $21,600 to Danone and Arrowhead for bottled water used in offices and in the field. [/] The department's bills, including $141 spent by the Board of Public Works itself, could not be explained by board President Cynthia Ruiz. [/]

"That is a good question. Let me look into it and give you a call back," Ruiz said. She did not call back. [/] The Harbor Department came in third, paying $13,300 to Sparkletts. [/] The City Council paid $3,702 in tax dollars for bottled water to Danone, including $20 per month for a water cooler and bottled water for the office of Council President Eric Garcetti.

[…] Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilmen Jack Weiss and Bernard C. Parks are the only elected city officials to pay for bottled water from accounts funded by political supporters. In the last two years, Weiss and Parks together have paid $970 from their political officeholder accounts for bottled water, records show.

[…] Still, some City Hall watchers found the purchase of bottled water by officials in a city with its own water utility to be odd. [/] "It strikes me as ironic that the city spends money touting the safety of its water to drink but won't drink it themselves," said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Science Marches On: "The Pill"

From an Independent [U.K.] article, Pill linked to reduction in women's sexual desire :

Pill linked to reduction in women's sexual desire [/] By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor [/] Published: 03 January 2006

Millions of sexually active women who rely on the contraceptive pill may be putting themselves at risk of long-term sexual dysfunction. [/] Scientists believe they have uncovered the mechanism that leads to mood swings, health problems and sexual difficulties among some users of the pill which persist even when they stop taking it. They say GPs should be aware of the pill's physiological effects before assuming women's sexual problems are psychological.

But family planning experts said it was almost impossible to show a true association between the pill and loss of sexual desire, or sexual problems, because there were many other confounding factors. The latest American study of 124 women with sexual problems lasting more than six months showed they had reduced levels of "unbound" testosterone. [/] Testosterone is the male sex hormone, but it is also present in females at lower levels and plays a key role in sexual, metabolic and mental health.

The researchers found high levels of a protein that binds testosterone, rendering it unavailable to the body, in users of the pill. The high level of the protein persisted in women who had stopped taking it. [/] Long-term exposure to the oestrogens in the pill may lead to gene imprinting which results in over-production of the protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), the researchers say. This may lead to long-term problems with low levels of "unbound" testosterone. The pill is the most common contraceptive in the UK with 3.5 million users. Worldwide that figure is 100 million.

André Guay, co-author of the study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine and director of the Centre for Sexual Function in Peabody, Massachusetts, said: "This study is a revelation. For years we have known that a subset of women using oral contraceptives suffer from decreased sex drive. We know that the pill suppresses ovulation and the male hormone [through production of SHBG]. Therefore these pills decrease a woman's male hormone availability by two separate mechanisms. No wonder so many women have had symptoms."

Claudia Panzer, an endocrinologist in Denver and co-author of the study, said: "Physicians prescribing oral contraceptives should point out to their patients potential side effects." [/] She added: "If women present with these complaints, it is crucial to recognise the link between sexual dysfunction and the oral contraceptive." […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Engineering Faults Led to New Orleans Flooding

From an Editor and Publisher article, 'Times-Picayune': Corps Never Pursued Design Doubts :

'Times-Picayune': Corps Never Pursued Design Doubts [/] By E&P Staff [/] Published: December 30, 2005 12:59 PM ET

NEW YORK In a troubling exclusive, the Times-Picayune reported Friday that engineering mistakes that led to the levee failures, leading to the flooding of most of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, "were found and then dismissed in the Army Corps of Engineers' design review process in 1990."

[…] "Corps documents show the mistake of overly optimistic levee strength was detected by its Vicksburg, Miss., office, which directed local engineers to make changes," the newspaper's Bob Marshall writes. "But when the chief engineer in New Orleans replied that the results were based on 'engineering judgment,' his superiors dropped the issue."

[…] "The design engineers didn't account for the weak layers in that swamp, and the Vicksburg office picks that up in review. But the New Orleans office says it's our professional judgment this is OK. In our business, that's an acceptable answer. But it's an answer Vicksburg can disagree with -- but it didn't.

[…] The Times-Picayune also published on its Web site samples of the key documents.

Marshall observed: "Investigators have long suspected engineering mistakes were at the heart of the levee and floodwall breaches. Not only did the structures fail before they reached design capacity, but documents show the designs were not appropriate for the weak soils and the depth of the canals, investigators said. Yet discovering why skilled engineers at reputable firms came up with obviously faulty designs, and how those mistakes were missed in the corps' lengthy review process, has stumped investigators." [My ellipses and emphasis]

CIA couple outed by 5-year-old son

CIA couple outed by 5-year-old son / Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:22 PM ET | Reuters.com:

"By Tabassum Zakaria

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Washington couple at the heart of the CIA leak investigation had their cover blown by their small son as they tried to sneak away on vacation on Thursday.

'My daddy's famous, my mommy's a secret spy,' declared the 5-year-old of his parents, former diplomat Joe Wilson and retired CIA operative Valerie Plame.

The former spy, who just retired from the agency, and the diplomat have been at the center of a CIA leak scandal that has reached into the White House.

They said they were headed to an undisclosed vacation location with their twins but stopped for a brief interview inside the airport terminal."

SBA Finds 9/11 Loan Recipients Ineligible - Yahoo! News

SBA Finds 9/11 Loan Recipients Ineligible - Yahoo! News:

"The AP found that terrorism recovery loans went to a South Dakota radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops in various locations.

Meanwhile, small businesses near Ground Zero in New York couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought."

Good News from Turkey

From a The Independent [U.K.] article, Customers help stamp out Turkey's sex slaves

Customers help stamp out Turkey's sex slaves [/] By Meriel Beattie in Ankara [/] Published: 28 December 2005

An unlikely hero has emerged in Turkey to rescue victims of forced prostitution: the brothel customer. [/] While the country's security forces are hardly renowned for their attention to human rights or sympathetic treatment of women, they have been chalking up impressive successes in finding and freeing trafficked women from brothels. [/] In the past six months, 100 women - mostly from Ukraine, Moldova, Romania or Russia - have been rescued from sex slavery and Turkish police have broken up 10 trafficking networks.

There are two reasons for these results. A charge-free hotline was set up in May by the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for women to call for help. It is staffed by multi-lingual operators who try to pinpoint where the women are - and then send in the police. [/] But the second, more unexpected, factor is the chivalry of the Turkish brothel client. Since the hotline started, 74 per cent of tip-offs have come from men: customers who have learned to spot the difference between a professional prostitute, and someone who's been forced into it.

"I've been very surprised," said Marielle Lindstrom, head of the IOM in Turkey. "We haven't noticed this anywhere in Europe. Turkish men seem to have an old-fashioned view of women. They don't mind using prostitutes, but they want the woman to be doing this willingly. If she's found not to be doing it willingly ... it affects their pride."

[…] The hotline is publicised in two ways: passport officials at borders and airports slip an information leaflet into the passports of women from high-risk countries; and a Russian language advert has been playing on Turkish television stations. [/] "Turkey respects your rights," it says. "If anyone takes away your passport, your freedom, or forces you to perform work of any kind without pay, call the helpline 157, free of charge. Any time, any phone." [My ellipses and emphasis]

The surprise to me is that the U.N. has stumbled into doing something useful. But, of course they should, now and them. They have the best bureaucrats that money can buy.

Those of us who remember the Korean War, have great respect for the Turks.

Smoz from Oz remembers (StrategyPage.com Message Board 7/4/2005 3:34:21 PM):

johnyturc, Aussies remember you in Korea. Aussies remember you. Great to have you as allies. Lest we forget.

(And a previous generation of Australians remembered "Johnny Turk" from being thoroughly defeated by the Turks at Gallipoli. Better, by far, to have them as allies.)

Other countries, including the United States of America, would do well to have a similar hot line. Even if they might have advanced beyond chivalry.

Pill That Prevents Cancer

From a The Independent [U.K.] article, Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer :

Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer [/] By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor [/] Published: 28 December 2005

A daily dose of vitamin D could cut the risk of cancers of the breast, colon and ovary by up to a half, a 40-year review of research has found. The evidence for the protective effect of the "sunshine vitamin" is so overwhelming that urgent action must be taken by public health authorities to boost blood levels, say cancer specialists.

[…] A growing body of evidence in recent years has shown that lack of vitamin D may have lethal effects. Heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis are among the conditions in which it is believed to play a vital role. The vitamin is also essential for bone health and protects against rickets in children and osteoporosis in the elderly.

After assessing almost every scientific paper published on the link between vitamin D and cancer since the 1960s, US scientists say that a daily dose of 1,000 international units (25 micrograms) is needed to maintain health. " The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency combined with the discovery of increased risks of certain types of cancer in those who are deficient, suggest that vitamin D deficiency may account for several thousand premature deaths from colon, breast, ovarian and other cancers annually," they say in the online version of the American Journal of Public Health.

The dose they propose of 1,000IU a day is two-and-a-half times the current recommended level in the US. In the UK, there is no official recommended dose but grey skies and short days from October to March mean 60 per cent of the population has inadequate blood levels by the end of winter.

[…] High rates of heart disease in Scotland have been blamed on the weak sunlight and short summers in the north, leading to low levels of vitamin D. Differences in sunlight may also explain the higher rates of heart disease in England compared with southern Europe. Some experts believe the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet may have as much to do with the sun there as with the regional food.

[…] Australia is one of the world's sunniest countries and has among the highest rates of skin cancer. For three decades it has preached sun avoidance with its "slip, slap, slop" campaign to cover up and use sunscreen. But in a statement in March, the association said: "A balance is required between avoiding an increase in the risk of skin cancer and achieving enough ultraviolet radiation exposure to achieve adequate vitamin D levels." Bruce Armstrong, the professor of public health at Sydney University, said: " It is a revolution."

In the latest study, cancer specialists from the University of San Diego, California, led by Professor Cedric Garland, reviewed 63 scientific papers on the link between vitamin D and cancer published between 1966 and 2004. People living in the north-eastern US, where it is less sunny, and African Americans with darker skins were more likely to be deficient, researchers found. They also had higher cancer rates. [/] The researchers say their finding could explain why black Americans die sooner from cancer than whites, even after allowing for differences in income and access to care.

Professor Garland said: "A preponderance of evidence from the best observational studies... has led to the conclusion that public health action is needed. Primary prevention of these cancers has been largely neglected, but we now have proof that the incidence of colon, breast and ovarian cancer can be reduced dramatically by increasing the public's intake of vitamin D." Obtaining the necessary level of vitamin D from diet alone would be difficult and sun exposure carries a risk of triggering skin cancer. "The easiest and most reliable way of getting the appropriate amount is from food and a daily supplement," they say.

The cost of a vitamin D supplement is about 4p a day. The UK Food Standards Agency said that taking Vitamin D supplements of up to 1,000IU was " unlikely to cause harm". [My ellipses and emphasis]

Link to this article for more, including details of how vitamin D deficiencies lead to heart disease, cancer, rickets, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, diabetes, high blood pressure, and multiple sclerosis.

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XVI

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

From a The Telegraph [U.K.] article, Boxing Day hunts show ban must be repealed :

Boxing Day hunts show ban must be repealed [/] (Filed: 27/12/2005)

It was a foregone conclusion that the hunting ban introduced by this Government would be spiteful and unjust; what did not become clear until the weekend was its sheer absurdity. [/] Fretful that current legislation denies Pc Plod the right to invade private land in order to ensure that certain vermin meet only a lawful end, the Association of Chief Police Officers is now pressing for powers that would be justified only for the prevention of acts of terrorism.

Yet even if these powers were to be granted, and police were to ride with the hunt, they would still have to determine whether the hounds had found and killed a fox accidentally or by design; and, if the latter, whom they should arrest for this felony. Ludicrous though the status quo might be, there are untold heights of risibility still to be scaled.

Meanwhile the architects and supporters of the current ban are tearful with frustration because it doesn't seem to have spoilt anyone's fun, except that of the hunt saboteurs. [/] That's funny enough in itself, but a turn-out for the traditional Boxing Day meetings that was inflated with new enthusiasts, to an extent that would have made it impossible to monitor even if the police had had the resources to do so, makes the voice of freeborn England guffaw with joy.

As it happens, the hunts seem to have abided by the law down to its idiotic letter, and the good humour with which they did so also affords us some amusement at the expense of the urban power freaks. [/] In Buckinghamshire, for instance, a good time was had chasing a scent line across country, while the Cheshire rode out with two hounds and an eagle owl, as solemnly permitted by Act of Parliament. [/] These new, officially sanctioned forms of hunting might seem daft but, objectively considered, they are no more so than the traditional version.

The point of the hunt, after all, was always highly necessary pest control, and that in itself is a pretty joyless business. But an accumulation of seasonal rituals, special drinks and menus, private language and silly clothes turned an onerous obligation into a community festival, and the native absurdity of it was always part of the enjoyment.

So if the opponents of hunting thought that the spirit of traditional countrymen would be broken by making them ride with an owl, or chase a false scent before accidentally encountering a fox (as though that had never happened before), they were rather pitifully missing the point. Hunting was always absurd, because fun usually is.

The law, however, is a different matter. It might be a jolly recreation for judges (when they're not on the hunting field), but for the rest of us the law is the guardian of our property and liberty, the arbiter of our behaviour, the guarantor of justice. [/] When one law is absurd (as this one is), it undermines the credibility of all others; however good-humoured the hunts' observance of the new legislation, they must not waver in their determination to see it repealed. [My ellipses and emphasis]

No one has been able to even theorize how Bush's minion, Karl Rove, engineered this complete fiasco.

But such a complete mess, to those who have studied these things, betrays the fine Italian hand of the master of complete collapse.

Undoubtedly, It Is All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XV

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

Holiday Spending Up 8.7%

People are spending money in shops instead of following the example of Time Magazine's noble Persons of the Year , Bill and Melinda Gates, and Bono.

Do not people realize that "the wretched of the earth" are in need!

And, of course, It Is All Bush's Fault!

From a Reuters article, Holiday retail spending up 8.7 pct :

Holiday retail spending up 8.7 pct: report [/] Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:37 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers spent 8.7 percent more during the just ended holiday shopping period than in the comparable period a year ago, according to a report from an affiliate of MasterCard International, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Monday.

[…] The report found the biggest increases in spending on home furnishings, up 15.2 percent, followed by consumer electronics and appliances, up 10.5 percent. Spending on jewelry was down 4.6 percent. [/] The report covers spending in stores and on the Internet, and includes food sales. It excludes spending on autos and gasoline. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Jewelry sales are down almost 5%, and, rather obviously, It Is All Bush's Fault!

Freedom Fading in Russia?

From a Breitbart.com article, Putin's liberal economic adviser resigns :

Putin's liberal economic adviser resigns, saying Russia 'not free' [/] Dec 27 8:09 AM US/Eastern

President Vladimir Putin's outspoken liberal economic adviser Andrei Illarionov announced his resignation to protest what he said was an end to political freedom in Russia. "It is one thing to work in a partially free country, as Russia was six years ago. It's another when the country has stopped being politically free," Illarionov, 44, was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency on Tuesday. He said he expected Putin to accept his resignation.

Illarionov, who became Putin's economic adviser in 2000, said he did not recognise the country anymore. [/] "In these six years the situation has radically changed and in the last year it became clear that not only the political, but economic model of the country has changed," he was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS. "I did not go to work for such a country, or sign a contract, or swear an oath."

[…] Illarionov has long been the highest profile critic within the Kremlin of the Putin administration. Just last week, in what may have been his last major press conference as adviser, he said: "Russia has ceased being a free and democratic country."

Illarionov has cut an increasingly lonely figure as he lashed out at the direction the country was taking -- in stark contrast to the rest of the Kremlin's tightly managed information machine. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

ACF Poll: 9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?

Vote now at Adult Christian Forum Thread 89766.

This must be a really good poll. The first two responders have refused to vote for strongly held but very different reasons.

Poll contents:

9/11 Reruns: A Hate Crime?

1. Absolutely! Incites hatred of all Muslims!

2. A Hate Misdemeanor, to be precise.

3. To many people, whose feelings should be considered.

4. To those whose friendship is important: the UN, the EU, and the Saudis.

5. All of 1 through 4.

6. Most of 1 through 4.

7. Only to those within the Liberal Bubble.

8. Only to the terminally misguided Mainstream Media.

9. Probably not.

10. No.

11. "Hate Crime" is a meaningless phrase.

12. Don't be ridiculous.

13. Lack of reruns demonstrates disloyalty.

14. Lack of reruns demonstrates treason.

15. All of 7 through 14.

16. Most of 7 through 14.

17. Other.

18. No comment.

19. No opinion.

Vote now at Adult Christian Forum Thread 89766.

Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Lights, & Christmas Decorations from Bronner's...since 1945

Christmas Ornaments, Christmas Lights, & Christmas Decorations from Bronner's...since 1945

Welcome to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland and bronners.com, your one-stop shop for everything Christmas - Christmas ornaments, artificial Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Nativity scenes, Christmas decorations, collectibles, and more. The Bronner family and staff hope you enjoy visiting our website and invite you to visit our store located in Frankenmuth, Michigan's "Little Bavaria." Home to over 50,000 gifts and trims for all seasons and reasons, Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store. With thousands of twinkling lights, shimmering ornaments and sparkling Christmas trees, a spectacular Christmas wonderland awaits you the size of one-and-a-half football fields. Bronner’s features a fantastic selection of ornaments and trims, trees, lights, Nativities and collectibles. Christmas cards, garlands, stockings, and Advent calendars are also among the many items available.

Judge Creeds Not People

From another thread:

{{___ Why it is your place to judge a Christian who leans towards a different political creed than yours I just don't get.}}

The political creed that one holds judges him, just as his religious creed judges him.

All people may be created equal (the thought is from the philosophers of the Enlightenment, not scripture), but all creeds are not.

And each one has a right and a duty to judge creeds.

Best Notable Quotables of 2005

The Elite Media/Celebrity View From Inside the Liberal Bubble

From a Media Research Center article, Best Notable Quotables of 2005:

Introduction [/] Welcome to the Media Research Center’s annual awards issue, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2005 (December 2004 through November 2005). To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 52 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers and media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of six to nine quotes in each category.

[…] Quote of the Year [/] Reporter Brian Ross: "Mary Mapes was the woman behind the scenes, the producer who researched, wrote and put together Dan Rather’s 60 Minutes report on President Bush’s National Guard service, a report which Rather and CBS would later apologize for airing...."
Ross to Mapes: "Do you still think that story was true?"
Ex-CBS producer Mary Mapes: "The story? Absolutely."

[…] Runner-up: [/] Ted Turner: "I am absolutely convinced that the North Koreans are absolutely sincere. There’s really no reason for them to cheat [on nukes]....I looked them right in the eyes. And they looked like they meant the truth. You know, just because somebody’s done something wrong in the past doesn’t mean they can’t do right in the future or the present. That happens all the, all the time."

[…] Slam Uncle Sam Award [/] Andrea Mitchell: "It is an iconic picture: American hostages, hands bound and blindfolded, being paraded outside the U.S. embassy in Tehran by their captors. But has one of those student radicals now become Iran’s newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?...Tonight, U.S. intelligence officials say that they will continue to study this, but may never have definitive proof of what the role was of Iran’s new president, Brian."
Brian Williams: "Andrea, what would it all matter if proven true? Someone brought up today the first several U.S. Presidents were certainly revolutionaries and might have been called terrorists at the time by the British Crown, after all." [/] Mitchell: "Indeed, Brian."

[…] Madness of King George Award for Bush Bashing [/] "It’s like he [President Bush] stuck a broomstick in his [FDR’s] wheelchair wheels." [/] — Newsweek’s Jon Meacham on MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning May 9, discussing Bush’s criticism of Roosevelt’s Yalta deal with Stalin on post-war Europe.

[…] The Kanye West "George Bush Doesn’t Care About Wet People" Award "The dilatory performance of George Bush during the past week has been outrageous. Almost as unbelievable as Katrina itself is the fact that the leader of the free world has been outshone by the elected leaders of a region renowned for governmental ineptitude....The populism of Huey Long was financially corrupt, but when it came to the welfare of people, it was caring. The churchgoing cultural populism of George Bush has given the United States an administration that worries about the House of Saud and the welfare of oil companies while the poor drown in their attics and their sons and daughters die in foreign deserts." [/] — Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, September 1.

[…] "God Save This Court from Extremists" Award [/] "An Advocate for the Right." [/] — Headline over a New York Times "news analysis" of Judge John Roberts’ judicial philosophy, July 28. [/] vs. [/] "Balanced Jurist at Home in the Middle." [/] — Headline over a June 27, 1993 New York Times story on Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[…] #### Those Conservatives Award [/] "The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for President, I’ll kill myself. All we need is one more liar." [/] — Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas, as quoted in the "Under the Dome" column by Albert Eisele and Jeff Dufour in The Hill newspaper, July 28.

[…] Captain Dan the Forgery Man Award [/] Dan Rather: "My principal problem was that I stuck by the [Memogate] story, I stuck by our people for too long. I’m guilty of that. I believed in the story, and the facts of the story were correct. One supporting pillar of the story, albeit an important one, one supporting pillar was brought into question. To this day no one has proven whether it was what it purported to be or not....You know, I didn’t give up on my people, our people. I didn’t and I won’t." [Applause]
Marvin Kalb: "Dan, thank you. You said, I believe you just said, that you think the story is accurate." [/] Rather: "The story is accurate."

[…] What Liberal Media? Award [/] "I’m going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that’s interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that’s interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don’t have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people." [/] — Bill Moyers, who retired in December 2004 from the PBS show Now, as quoted by AP television writer Frazier Moore in a December 10, 2004 dispatch.

[…] "Baghdad Bob" Was Correct Award [/] Co-host Mike Jerrick: "What do you think’s going to happen Sunday?"
FNC reporter Steve Harrigan, just back from Iraq: "I think there’s going to be a bloodbath on Sunday....All over the place, especially in Baghdad and a few other cities." [/] — FNC’s Fox & Friends, January 28, two days before Iraq’s largely peaceful elections.

Runners-up: [/] "I’m Bob Schieffer. It just keeps getting worse in Iraq. The death toll is rising. Tension is growing between Shiites and Sunnis. Is the country sliding toward civil war?" [/] — Schieffer beginning the May 19 CBS Evening News. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

Check all the top quotes out.

Do not miss: Crazy Chris Award for Chris Matthews’ Left-Wing Lunacy; Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity; Media Millionaires for Smaller Paychecks Award; Good Morning Morons Award; Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis; Oh, That Liberal Media Award; and the Media Hero Award.

Does Post-Christian Culture Have a Future?

Read article below and vote in Forum Poll, even "No comment" is counted. Key conclusion of article:

But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future.

Quote above is from a Chicago Sun-Times article, Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe . Article follows:

Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe [/] December 25, 2005 [/] BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

"But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John." [/] If, like increasing numbers of Europeans, you have "some problems with conventional organized religion" (as Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling puts it), you've probably forgotten that bit from the Christmas story. It's Luke 1:13, part of what he'd have called the back story, if he'd been a Hollywood screenwriter rather than a physician.

[…] Nonetheless, an aged, barren woman conceives and, in the sixth month of Elisabeth's pregnancy, the angel visits her cousin Mary and tells her that she, too, will conceive. [/] If you read Luke, the virgin birth seems a logical extension of the earlier miracle -- the pregnancy of an elderly lady. The physician-author had no difficulty accepting both. For Matthew, Jesus' birth is the miracle. Luke leaves you with the impression that all birth -- all life -- is to a degree miraculous and God-given.

[…] Confronted with all the begetting in the Old Testament, the modern mind says, ''Well, naturally, these primitive societies were concerned with children. They needed someone to provide for them in their old age.'' In advanced Western society, we don't have to worry about that; we automatically have someone to provide for us in our old age: the state. [/] But the state -- at least in its modern social-democratic welfare incarnation -- needs children at least as much as those old-time Jews did. And the problem with much of the advanced world is that, like Elisabeth, it's barren. Collectively barren, I hasten to add. Individually, it's made up of millions of fertile women, who voluntarily opt for no children at all or one designer kid at 39. In Italy, the home of the Church, the birth rate's down to 1.2 children per couple -- or about half ''replacement rate.'' You can't buck that kind of arithmetic.

Here's a story from Friday's Japan Times: [/] ''Japan's population has started shrinking for the first time this year, health ministry data showed Thursday, presenting the government with pressing challenges on the social and economic front, including ensuring provision of social security services and securing the labor force.'' [/] Happy New Year, guys! And, as the reporter adds, ''Japan joins Germany and Italy in the ranks of countries where a decline in population has already set in.'' And don't forget Russia, which is even further ahead in the demographic death spiral. Of the great powers of the 20th century, America's still healthy birth rate, like its still healthy Christianity, is now an anomaly.

Demography is not necessarily destiny. Today's high Muslim birth rates will fall, and probably fall dramatically, as the Roman Catholic birth rates in Italy, Ireland and Quebec have. But demographics is a game of last man standing. It's no consolation that Muslim birth rates will be as bad as yours in 2050 if yours are off the cliff right now. The last people around in any numbers will determine the kind of society we live in.

You can sort of feel that happening already. ''Multiculturalism'' implicitly accepts that, for a person of broadly Christian heritage, Christianity is an accessory, an option; whereas, for a person of Muslim background, Islam is a given. That's why, as practiced by Buckinghamshire County Council in England, multiculturalism means All Saints Church can't put up one sheet of paper announcing its Christmas carol service on the High Wycombe Library notice board, but, inside the library, Rehana Nazir, the ''multicultural services librarian,'' can host a party to celebrate Eid.

To those of us watching Europe from afar, it seems amazing that no Continental politician is willing to get to grips with the real crisis facing Europe in the 21st century: the lack of Europeans. If America believes in the separation of church and state, in radically secularist Europe the state is the church, as Jacques Chirac's ban on head scarves, crucifixes and skull caps made plain. Alas, it's an insufficient faith.

By contrast, if Christianity is merely a ''myth,'' it's truly an immaculately conceived one, beginning with the decision to establish Christ's divinity in the miracle of his birth. The obligation to have children may be a lot of repressive Catholic mumbo-jumbo, but it's also highly rational. What's irrational is modern Eutopia's indifference to new life.

A year or so back, I had a conversation with an European Union official who, apropos a controversial proposal to tout the Continent's religious heritage in the new constitution, kept using the phrase ''Europe's post-Christian future.'' He used the phrase approvingly. But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future. Luke, a man of faith and a man of science, could have told them that. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe

Mark Steyn: Falling birth rates not just a problem in Europe:

"But the evidence suggests that, once you reach the post-Christian stage, you don't have much of a future"

Good News from Bethlehem

From a Breitbart AP article, Bethlehem Sees Largest Turnout Since 2000:

Bethlehem Sees Largest Turnout Since 2000 [/] By SARAH EL DEEB [/] Associated Press Writer [/] Dec 24 10:51 AM US/Eastern

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Holiday spirit returned to Bethlehem on Saturday for the first time in six years as thousands of foreigners and local people packed the town of Jesus' birth for Christmas Eve celebrations. Lining the streets on a crisp, windy day, pilgrims gathered in Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity _ built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born _ to watch a procession of marching bands, bagpipe players and boy scout troops.

They also watched Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, enter town for the Christmas celebrations.

Whipping winds blew the hats off boy scouts and police officers and knocked down metal security barriers. Yet the streets were packed with visitors excited about spending the holiday in one of Christianity's holiest sites.

More than 30,000 people were expected in what would be the largest turnout since fighting erupted in September 2000, although the bleak gray concrete slabs of Israel's separation barrier at the entrance to town provided a looming reminder of the conflict.

Israel's summer withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a sharp drop in violence this year contributed to the joyful atmosphere, which buoyed the spirits of Bethlehem residents and tourists in the festively decorated town. Forecasts of a rare snowfall added to the sense of excitement.

"It's really amazing. When you hear about all the conflict between Israel and Palestine, really I was expecting things to be a little bit _ rougher," said Stephen Ogden, 23, of Knoxville, Tenn.

[…] Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, elected last January to succeed Arafat, planned to join the Bethlehem celebrations and attend Midnight Mass in a church next to the grotto. Tickets to the Mass were sold out, and some tourists had a hard time finding hotel rooms.

[…] "It will be joyful and a very Merry Christmas, especially since the president will join us," Mayor Victor Batarseh said. "There is enough police and security. It will be very peaceful."

Edwina Webster, 53, on a two-week vacation from Hereford, England, overcame her safety concerns to spend Christmas in Bethlehem. "It's awesome here. To come here is very emotional," she said. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XIV

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

** Bush No. 1 Liar in the World **

Democratic and Media Assessment Confirmed by Knowledgeable Iraqi

(Haliburton experts in subterfuge, under the direction of Bush minion Rove are undoubtedly responsible for the tall tales of torture under the prior government.)

(CIA units undoubtedly tortured defendants behind the backs of U.S. Army guards.)

From a CNN article, Hussein: White House 'No. 1 liar in the world':

Hussein: White House 'No. 1 liar in the world' [/] After day of outbursts, the trial adjourns until January

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, which has fallen into a pattern of grim testimony interrupted by theatrical outbursts, adjourned Thursday for more than a month. [/] The trial resumes on January 24. [/] On Thursday, as in previous days, testimony about brutal treatment was interrupted by courtroom tirades by Hussein and his half brother.

Hussein charged Thursday that the Bush administration lied when it claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, just as it lied by disputing his claims of being beaten. [/] "The White House lies once more," Hussein said, "the No. 1 liar in the world. They said in Iraq, there is chemicals, and there is a relation to terrorism, and they announced later we couldn't find any of that in Iraq.

"Also, they said that what Saddam Hussein (said) was not true," he continued in an apparent reference to his claims Wednesday that he and all seven of his codefendants were beaten and tortured by their American captors. [/] Hussein: 'We don't lie'
"I have documented the injuries I had before three American medical teams," he said. [/] Hussein later appeared to waver, saying the medical teams numbered "two, for sure, unequivocally." He began to heal after eight months, he said, but bruises remain three years later. [/] "We don't lie," he said. "The White House lies."

Meanwhile, defense attorneys requested that the testimony of prosecution witnesses not be broadcast until all the witnesses have testified, saying they are watching each other's testimonies and repeating them. The court said it would consider that request.

Copying testimonies. Part of the Rove/Haliburton master plan undoubtedly.

A day of disruptions [/] Hussein and seven codefendants are charged with crimes against humanity, including the killings of 140 men and boys in the town of Dujail following a failed 1982 assassination attempt against Hussein there.

Note the date. Bush's father was Vice President. After serving as head of the CIA.

The trial went into a closed session Thursday at the end of an eventful day in which Hussein and his half brother, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti repeatedly disrupted the proceedings.

[…] Ranting about the food he is being served, Hassan said a New York Times magazine column mentioned that his ribs are showing because of weight loss.

[…] "This is not justice," Hassan declared. "This is not democracy." Asked to stop by prosecutors, Hassan said, "My talk is strengthening the court, and will give it credibility."

Courtroom fracas [/] At one point, a fracas erupted among Hassan, Hussein and prosecutors, prompted by Hussein's claim that a guard had been rude to him. "He acted without your orders, so he should be disciplined," Hussein said. "He is a small employee." The guard was removed from the courtroom.

Hussein also challenged the validity of a witness, the first of two to testify Thursday from behind a curtain to protect his identity. The witness said he was 8 years old at the time of the Dujail killings, but testified his father, his three uncles and his grandmother were arrested and imprisoned. [/] "She complained to us about what had happened to her," he said of his grandmother, who was released after four years. "They used to torture her before her children and they would torture her children before her. She said, 'They tortured us, and we did not know for what reason.' "

Defense attorneys and Hussein complained about the witness because he was a child at the time, was not arrested and did not see any torture or killings personally. [/] "His testimony is documented and accepted, and he's underage (at the time)?" Hussein asked. "This is something I would like to understand. Is this allowed? Is this permissible?"

Hussein claims he was beaten [/] On Wednesday, Hussein said his American captors beat him "on every part of my body and marks are still on top of my body and that was done by Americans," Hussein said. "Yes, we were beaten by the Americans, and we were tortured, everyone of us."

[…] Also on Wednesday, witness Ali Haj Hussein al-Haydari described more than four years of captivity and torture, and the execution of family members, including several brothers. His brother Hassan, who was among those killed, was one of six men who plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate Hussein. [/] More than 40 members of his family were taken into custody by government agents. Al-Haydari also talked of "walking through dead bodies" at the headquarters of the Baath Party, the ruling party during Hussein's regime.

Another witness said he was tortured three times with electric shocks during the initial 17-day period and beaten with cables during the time at Abu Ghraib. [/] "Even children were beaten with cables," he said. "Children died at Abu Ghraib."

CNN's Aneesh Raman contributed to this report [My ellipses and emphasis]

Haliburton experts in subterfuge, under the direction of Bush minion Rove are undoubtedly responsible for the tall tales of torture by the prior government of Iraq.

Special CIA operatives secretly placed in the prison where the defendents were held are undoubtedly responsible for the real and severe torture of the defendants. The regular guards, U.S, Army Military Police, were kept unaware of the torture.

And most certainly, It Is All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XIII

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

** New York Times Wire Tap Crime Fibs Indefensible **

(Bush minion Rove undoubtedly responsible.)

From a Power Line article, A Colloquy With the Times :

December 21, 2005 [/] A Colloquy With the Times

Reporter Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times responded to the email I sent earlier today; we had the following exchange. [/] Me to Lichtblau:

Mr. Lichtblau, in your reporting in the Times you appear to have tried to create the impression that the NSA's overseas intercept program is, or may be, illegal. I believe that position is foreclosed by all applicable federal court precedents. I assume, for example, that you are aware of the November 2002 decision of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, in Sealed Case No. 02-001, where the court said:

"The Truong court [United States v. Truong Dinh Hung, 4th Cir. 1980], as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information. *** We take for granted that the President does have that authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."

In view of the controlling federal court precedents, I do not see how an argument can be made in good faith that there is any doubt about the NSA program's legality. Therefore, I wonder whether you are somehow unaware of the relevant case law. If you know of some authority to support your implication that the intercepts are or may be illegal, I would be interested to know what that authority is. If you are aware of no such authority, I think that a correction is in order. [/] Thank you.

Lichtblau to me:

You must not have read to the end of our original story last Friday. It quotes from the FISA appellate decision that you cite.

Me to Lichtblau:

That's great, but doesn't answer the question. It seems to me that the import of the Times' stories is to suggest that the NSA intercepts are, or may be, illegal. That implication is what gave your paper's reports the quality of a "scoop." Are you telling me that you knew all along that this wasn't true, and the intercepts are clearly legal? If not, what are you telling me? [/] Thanks for responding.

Lichtblau to me:

I'd refer you again to our story. There's an extensive section on the debate over whether the program was legal, including the FISA ruling you cite.

Me to Lichtblau:

Here's my problem with your coverage: as a legal matter, there isn't any debate. The authorities are all on one side; they agree that warrantless surveillance for national security purposes is legal. I think your articles misleadingly suggest that there is real uncertainty on this point, when there isn't. Thus, for example, you write:
Some officials familiar with it say they consider warrantless eavesdropping inside the United States to be unlawful and possibly unconstitutional, amounting to an improper search. One government official involved in the operation said he privately complained to a Congressional official about his doubts about the program's legality. But nothing came of his inquiry. "People just looked the other way because they didn't want to know what was going on," he said.

I don't think you should be quoting anonymous "officials" making incorrect assertions about legal issues, while not pointing out that their assertions are wrong. (I would also note that the NSA intercepts are not "inside the United States.") And I don't think that a partial sentence from one of the controlling decisions, buried at the end of a long article and not repeated in subsequent articles, removes the incorrect impression you convey that the NSA program is, in all likelihood, illegal. Also, with all due respect, I think your treatment of the 2002 FISA case is itself misleading. While you do quote part of the key sentence, you go on to suggest that the court left the issue in a state of ambiguity by writing:

But the same court suggested that national security interests should not be grounds "to jettison the Fourth Amendment requirements" protecting the rights of Americans against undue searches. The dividing line, the court acknowledged, "is a very difficult one to administer."

Those quotes had nothing to do with the court's recognition of the President's inherent power to surveil without a warrant to obtain foreign intelligence information, and did not in any way qualify the court's clear holding on that issue. You plucked them from another part of the opinion. The "dividing line" the court referred to was the "primary purpose" test that was established by the Truong decision and changed by Congress in the Patriot Act. The court noted that the "primary purpose" test was difficult to administer, which it saw as an argument in favor of the constitutionality of its revision by Congress. Contrary to the implication of your paragraph, this had nothing to do with the President's power to conduct warrantless surveillance.

In my opinion, you should not convey the impression to your readers that the NSA surveillance is likely illegal unless there is, at a minimum, a respectable argument, supported by legal authority, to that effect. Do you think there is such an argument? If so, what is it, and what is the authority? [/] Thanks again for responding.

Since I haven't heard from Mr. Lichtblau for some time, I'm going ahead and posting the discussion we've had so far. I hope that Mr. Lichtblau will respond to my criticisms of the Times' coverage in my last email; if so, I'll post his answer. In any event, we greatly appreciate his taking the time to engage us in this conversation.

Posted by John [Hinderaker] at 04:36 PM [My ellipses and emphasis]

There must be some evil influence at work to cause a distinguished journalist to write and a distinguished newspaper to print such obvious and outrageous fibs.

The machinations of Bush minion Karl Rove, undoubtedly.

It is most certainly All Bush's Fault!

It Is All Bush's Fault! - XII

All of us, the Right, as well as the Left, have a moral duty to hold the President accountable.

Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers

Because of secret underhanded machinations by Bush minion Karl Rove, undoubtedly. And therefore It Is All Bush's Fault!

From a Chicago Sun Times article, Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers :

`Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers [/] December 18, 2005 [/] BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.

[…] Heigh-ho. The Iraq election's over, the media did their best to ignore it, and, judging from the rippling torsos I saw every time I switched on the TV, the press seem to reckon that that gay cowboy movie was the big geopolitical event of the last week, if not of all time. Yes, yes, I know: They're not, technically, cowboys, they're gay shepherds, but even Hollywood isn't crazy enough to think it can sell gay shepherds to the world. And the point is, even if I was in the mood for a story about two rugged insecure men who find themselves strangely attracted to each other in a dark transgressive relationship that breaks all the rules, who needs Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger when you've got Howard Dean and Abu Musad al-Zarqawi? Yee-haw! And, if that sounds unfair, pick almost any recent statement by a big-time Dem cowboy and tell me how exactly it would differ from the pep talks Zarqawi gives his dwindling band of head-hackers -- Dean arguing that America can't win in Iraq, Barbara Boxer demanding the troops begin withdrawing on Dec. 15, John Kerry accusing American soldiers of terrorizing Iraqi women and children, Jack Murtha declaring that the U.S. Army is utterly broken. Pepper 'em with a handful of "Praise be to Allahs" and any one of those statements could have been uttered by Zarqawi.

The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot -- even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble."

One day Iraq will be a G7 member hosting the Olympics in the world's No. 1 luxury vacation resort of Fallujah, and the Defeaticrat Party will still be running around screaming it's a quagmire. It's not just that Iraq is going better than expected, but that it's a huge success that's being very deftly managed: The timeframe imposed on the democratic process turns out to have worked very well -- the transfer of sovereignty, the vote on a constitutional assembly, the ratification of the constitution, the vote for a legislature -- and, with the benefit of hindsight, it now looks like an ingeniously constructed way to bring the various parties on board in the right order: first the Kurds, then the Shia, now the Sunni. That doesn't leave many folks over on the other side except Zarqawi and Dean. What do the two have in common? They're both foreigners, neither of whom have the slightest interest in the Iraqi people.

And no, I'm not questioning their patriotism. Honestly, who can be bothered questioning anything so footling as Howard Dean's patriotism? If you're a Democratic patriot and you're outraged by my linking your party to the "insurgents," take it up with your leaders: They're the ones who've over-invested the party in American failure. And instead of being angry at me you should be ashamed of them. Your party is regarded as unserious on national security because it got it wrong last time round, when Kerry spent the last half of the Cold War siding with every loser on the planet -- opposing the liberation of Grenada, supporting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And at least that little Sandinista guy looked awful cute in his fatigues, like a novelty houseboy Teresa picked up on vacation. It's hard to believe a bunch of crazy mullahs and suicide bombers are going to do much for the lefty T-shirt business.

George Clooney, the matinee idol, made an interesting point the other day. He said that "liberal" had become a dirty word and he'd like to change that. Fair enough. So I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion. The best way to reclaim "liberal" for the angels is to get on the right side of history -- the side the Iraqi people are on. The word "liberal" has no meaning if those who wear the label refuse to celebrate the birth of a new democracy after 40 years of tyranny. Yet, if you wandered the Internet on Thursday, you came across far too many "liberals" who watched the election, shrugged and went straight back to Valerie Plame, WMD, Bush lied.

Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers. That's what this is about: Millions of Kurds, Shia and Sunnis beaming as they emerge from polling stations and hold up their purple fingers after the freest, fairest election ever held in the Arab world. "Liberal" in the American sense is a dirty word because it's come to stand for a shriveled parochial obsolescent irrelevance, of which ''Good Night, and Good Luck,'' Clooney's dreary little retread of the McCarthy years, is merely the latest example. (Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.)

The Anglo-American political tradition is the most successful in the world in part because of the concept of "loyal opposition." Yes, the party out of office opposes the party in office and hopes to supplant it, but not at the expense of the broader political culture. A party that winds up cheerleading for a deranged loser death cult is the very definition of pointless self-defeating sour oppositionism. So, as Zarqawi flails, Dean and Murtha and Kerry flail ever more pathetically, too. Just wait till the WMD turn up. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Some of those whose bizarre behavior gains adverse attention claim that the use of metallic foil in a head covering will prevent malign transmissions from reaching the receivers secretly implanted in their brains.

But, whatever it is that is causing all this self-destructive behavior on the part of the media, party leaders, and George Clooney, It Is All Bush's Fault!