Great story...

From an Israeli Settlement, a Rabbi’s Unorthodox Plan for Peace

Ain't THAT a kick in the head... read it!

Jews killed, but Muslims feel vulnerable:

"I wrote in my book, 'America Alone,' that 'reforming' Islam is something only Muslims can do. But they show very little sign of being interested in doing it, and the rest of us are inclined to accept that. Spread a rumor that a Quran got flushed down the can at Gitmo, and there'll be rioting throughout the Muslim world. Publish some dull cartoons in a minor Danish newspaper, and there'll be protests around the planet. But slaughter the young pregnant wife of a rabbi in Mumbai in the name of Allah, and that's just business as usual. And, if it is somehow 'understandable' that for the first time in history it's no longer safe for a Jew to live in India, then we are greasing the skids for a very slippery slope. Muslims, the AP headline informs us, 'worry about image.' Not enough."

Feet on the ground....

Saddam's Spies Survive In America:

"Because these Iraqi agents were operating at such a low, grassroots, level, they rarely appeared on the FBI radar. Saddam's espionage service was efficient enough to set up ways to get information to and from his American spies. This is nothing new. Many other nations, both friendly and hostile, have similar spy networks inside the United States. And many of these low level spies are never caught."

Here, here! This one's for my father...

Vets may give Hodges his Hall due

"Mainline voting for Hall of Fame membership, as any other imperfect process, has its cracks, but few have fallen through them as unreasonably as Gil Hodges, the generator of the powerhouse Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s."

Taranto always has his finger on the pulse....

Nixon went to China. Sadat went to Jerusalem. What next?

A sad day for the most advanced auto racing in the world...

Honda Pulls Out of Formula One Racing:

"The 11 teams on the Formula One circuit spent a reported $1.6 billion during the 2008 season, which ended on Nov. 2. Max Mosley, the president of the International Automobile Federation, which governs Formula One and other racing series, has called that spending figure “unsustainable.”

A statement Friday from the federation reiterated that view, repeating the word “unsustainable” and adding that “the global economic downturn has only exacerbated an already critical situation.”

Even successful, winning teams on the circuit lose money, and the budget for the Honda operation was said to be close to $300 million this season. The team employed more than 700 people at its headquarters in Brackley, England."

Megan McArdle

Doctor, doctor:

"The observation that some people are jerks, and that jerkiness does not enhance performance, is not exactly surprising. What I want to know is whether disruptive doctors actually account for a notable percentage of medical errors. I'm sure if you surveyed doctors, 20% or so could report an error caused by a lazy LPN, incompetent PA, or pigheaded nurse. But I'm skeptical that 'nurse pigheadedness' is actually a major problem that America's healthcare system needs to address."

I don't know. I've sure run into some pretty nasty nurses along the way..... And no offense to some of my closest friends; but I believe that doctors, in general, are a fairly arrogant, self-assured bunch (not that it is always a bad thing when lives hang in the balance). Let's face it, it usually takes a very bright soul to become a physician, and most of them know it and show it. Then, along the way, their medical education teaches them that they are as close to gods as mortals can be. What do you expect? Would you want to be treated by a doctor who wasn't very sure about him/herself?

Shit! I hate these "life is a two way street" scenarios.....

Something we will be chewing on for quite some time....

The Forever War:

"Irregular warfare is now considered to be both a “steady state” as well as a “surge” activity. This means that from a U.S. policy perspective, there are no longer alternating states of “peace” and “war.” There will only be a constant hum of irregular warfare in its various forms and conducted at varying levels of intensity. This will include traditional Phase 2 and 3 conflict, which will be followed by Phase 4 stability operations – more irregular warfare."

Worth reading....

Is Justice Alito harboring a grudge against Joe Biden?

"Change" we may never see..... Heh

'Muted by Reality'

"It is awfully generous of the Times to forgive Obama's supporters for believing what they read in the Times."

Even TNR is caving; and, of course, that's just fine with them. It's amazing that all of the ranting and raving, all of the "change" bullshit was little more than personal animus towards Bush. But none of these fools will ever admit it...

Perhaps we need to educate people on what bankrupcy really is....

Shuttered Meat Plant Edges Back Into Business, but Its Town Is Still Struggling:

"“It was one of the most hostile meetings I’ve ever been to,” Jeff Abbas, manager of KPVL, the local radio station, which has led a community effort to help laid-off plant employees, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “I felt a little sorry for Sarachek, because there were so many questions he couldn’t answer: When will we be paid? When will we go back to work?”

Mr. Sarachek, a bankruptcy expert from New York, was appointed trustee after the plant’s owner, the Rubashkin family, filed for bankruptcy last month. The plant’s kosher certification was threatened after it was fined $10 million for wage violations and faced criminal charges for 9,300 child labor violations."

A sad story, indeed. And yet another unintended consequence of a scattershot immigration policy.

The Perfect Storm....

A Hate-Crime Circus Comes to Patchogue - ‘Are You a Victim?’

"It was a guilt fiesta. Victims were invited to unload tales of abuse — not necessarily to the authorities (that was optional), but to lawyers brought by Mr. Mateo, who roves the New York region, popping up at crime victims’ sides.

In the vestibule, volunteers kept the delivery system flowing, sending a stream of potential clients to Mr. Mateo’s lawyers. “Are you a victim? Are you a victim?” said a woman passing out fliers in Spanish. The fliers explained that testimonies would be recorded, but did not explain that the person doing the recording was a reporter for the public-radio station WSHU who had done a flattering story on Mr. Wolter two days earlier."

So, here we have the most famous victim-finder on the planet, The New York Times editor, complaining about a group of people (and lawyers, and publicity seekers) attempting to flush out as many "victims" as possible. Gee, I wonder where they got the idea that they could get away with it?

The Kleptocracy in action..

California Focus: Political class looks out for No. 1:

"If Abraham Lincoln were delivering his Gettysburg Address today, he might feel compelled to conclude, 'that government for the government shall not perish from this earth.' He was 'Honest Abe' after all."

How appropriate....

The Barack Obama Day

Perry County, Alabama, voted over 70% for Barack Obama in the November election and now its Commissioners have voted to honor him with The Barack Obama Day:

“The Perry County Commission voted 4 to 1 to observe the second Monday in November as “The Barack Obama Day.” County offices will close and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid holiday.”

How appropriate to honor the “spread the wealth” candidate by giving county workers a day off with pay - at taxpayers’ expense - in recognition of a man who hasn’t even taken office yet.

GM goes nuclear...

Megan McArdle:

"So GM wants $18 billion just for itself. Words fail. Or rather, I don't think I can print the words that immediately come to mind. This is a family blog."

LGF and others are on the case...

CAIR's Make or Break Moment

Now that the Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding trial has resulted in convictions, will the unindicted co-conspirators in the case still be treated by the media as legitimate “civil rights organizations?” Steven Emerson says this is CAIR’s Make or Break Moment.

Quote of the Day (via Patterico)

Some Obama supporters will undoubtedly be disappointed by this cave-in to Big Oil. As Tom Maguire says (channeling Democrats’ advice to Republicans after Obama’s victory): “Obama is your President - suck it up.”

I'll take the over/under on this one...

Tom Friedman:

"Who in the Muslim world, who in Pakistan, is ready to take to the streets to protest the mass murders of real people, not cartoon characters, right next door in Mumbai?"

Do we have to ask?

If this Isn't Terrorism, What Is?

"So why are so many prominent Western media reluctant to call the perpetrators terrorists? Why did Jon Snow, one of Britain's most respected TV journalists, use the word 'practitioners' when referring to the Mumbai terrorists? Was he perhaps confusing them with doctors?"

Plaxico might have some extra time on his hands to read this...

Six Months Under the Gun: A Weapon-Carrying Experiment

Won't Get Fooled Again

Ed Driscoll:

Evidently, New York Times economics reporter Peter Goodman (or perhaps his editor, depending upon who wrote the headline) fancies himself as the next Picasso. So who are the Nazis in his mind? The management at Wal-Mart who, somewhat like Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium 30 years ago failed to have adequate security and preparations for the onslaught of a crowd, or the shoppers who crushed the unfortunate sales clerk? The article, found via Newsbusters doesn't say.

I'd excuse a high school or sophomoric college newspaper journalist making such an overwrought analogy. But if the New York Times and its writers and editors can't see the difference between an unfortunate shopping incident and the Spanish Civil War, one wonders what what value the newspaper has as an information source to be trusted by their readers.

Actual people are never responsible for bad things - that is how institutions like the Times keep their nonsense going.... Read the whole piece.

Let's (not) move to Europe...

The Agitator:

Two steps forward, one step back. Swiss voters vote to continue giving taxpayer-bought heroin to addicts, but reject a measure that would legalize marijuana.

No kidding...

Media and Retailers Both Built Black Friday

"This weekend, news reports were full of finger-wagging over the death by trampling of a temporary worker, Jdimypai Damour, at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island on Friday. His death, the coverage suggested, was a symbol of a broken culture of consumerism in which people would do anything for a bargain.

The willingness of people to walk over another human being to get at the right price tag raises the question of how they got that way in the first place. But in the search for the usual suspects and parceling of blame, the news media should include themselves.

Just a few days ago, the same newspaper writers and television anchors who are now wearily shaking their heads at the collective bankruptcy of our mass consumer culture were cheering all of it on."

So where's the shift?

A Handpicked Obama Team for a Shift in Foreign Policy

"When President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it will include two veteran cold warriors and a political rival whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president who will face them in the White House Situation Room."

This is called and "indirect bailout"...

Pension Agency Sounds Alarm on Big Three

"The agency that protects pension plans raised new concerns about Detroit's three auto makers, saying their use of pension funds to pay for restructuring threatens to drain the funds and leave the agency footing the bill.

The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. this week sent letters to General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC asking for projections on how the companies plan to use their pension plans to cover early retirements or other buyout deals."

Hard to imagine....

Patterico:

Who would ever think terrorists would come in the back door?!?!

P.S. Mickey’s friend says the back door was locked. Well, there you have it, then. They must have teleported in.

Just what we need - another way to make parents stupider than they already are....

New genetic test asks which sport a child was born to play :

"When Donna Campiglia learned recently that a genetic test might be able to determine which sports suit the talents of her 2 ½-year-old son, Noah, she instantly said, Where can I get it and how much does it cost?"

Even Friedman is going off the deep end...

Instapundit

THE SPIN BEGINS! New York Times trying to credit Obama with Iraq win. Bob Owens deconstructs.

Compare with this assessment in the Kansas City Star: Bush leaves Iraq in good shape for Obama.

Does this surprise anyone?

Doctors shocked at hostages's torture:

"The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: 'Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again,' he said.

Corroborating the doctors' claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. 'During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis,' an IB source said."

Learn something new every day...

NBC Exec: Obama's Skin Color Gives Him More Legitimacy Than Any American Leader In History

"Imagine that. Because Obama is black, before he even steps into the White House and accomplishes one darned thing he already has more legitimacy around the world than possibly every American president that came before him.

Isn't that racist? Isn't suggesting that someone is better or more 'legitimate' solely because of the color of his or her skin a tremendously offensive concept?

Doesn't this go counter to Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that his four children 'will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character' (h/t NBer Mike Bratton)?

How did such obvious racism go completely unchallenged by Matthews and the rest of his panel? After all, doesn't this mean that all the white leaders of Europe and in other parts of the world are now LESS legitimate than Obama just because they're not black?"

Just be nice to them....

Russia Tightens Europe’s Energy Noose

A leaked intelligence document issued by Spain’s CNI spy agency in October warns that Russia is aggressively pursuing a plan to “monopolize access to energy supplies to Europe.” The report validates what many analysts have been saying for a long time, namely that Moscow is using Russian energy companies to gain geo-strategic control over northern, central and southern Europe.

Interesting....

Top Officers Hopeful That Obama Will Bring More Realistic View Than Bush

"'The joke was that when you leave a meeting, everybody is supposed to drink the Kool-Aid,' Nash said. 'In the Bush administration, you had to drink the Kool-Aid before you got to go to the meeting.'"

Hating the Times....

Why I Love My Husband but not Sex

"Predictably, almost as soon as the engagement ring slid onto my finger, I fell in love with someone else. I fell madly, insanely, obsessively in love with a conservative Christian man who believed that I, as a Jew, was going to hell. We fought long and hard about that, and then had sex. This is so stupid, it pains me to write about it.

And yet this affair, I sensed, was necessary for me to move forward with my marriage. It was a test. I believed, but could not be sure, that just as sex had cooled for my soon-to-be husband and me, it would cool with this man, with any man, no matter what or whom — in which case my fiancé was the person I wanted to marry."

If you want to see what is really wrong with this country and this world, just check out the Sunday Styles section of the NY Times. From the above quoted essay from the (worse than) pathetic Lauren Slater - whomever she may be, to the self-obsessed wedding announcements, one can virtually bathe in the silliness of folks and the "journalists" who have nothing better to do with their lives.

Inside the box?

Ben Stein:

"In what sense is he “change you can believe in”? How is he part of the solution, not part of the problem? I know he is a protégé of Robert E. Rubin. But isn’t Mr. Rubin himself the essence of the Washington-New York finance axis of power? He was a fine Treasury secretary while the tech boom made all things new, but Citigroup hasn’t exactly thrived during his tenure. Again, where is the change?

It’s not just Mr. Obama’s personnel choices that bear watching, but what he’s said about his economic programs. Public works seem to be the centerpiece of his effort to jolt the economy back into high gear. But recall the history of national attempts to “jolt” economies this way. In a word, their success is limited.

New Deal programs like the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps were highly visible but accomplished little on a macro scale. Yes, they employed hundreds of thousands, and that was great. They built post offices and bridges. But they created friction with unions because they paid sub-union wages.

Will the new administration be prepared to require that public works employees be union members? If so, of what union?"

We are not the ones who needed help here..

Citizen Journalists Provided Glimpses

From his terrace on Colaba Causeway in south Mumbai, Arun Shanbhag saw the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel burn. He saw ambulances leave the Nariman House. And he recorded every move on the Internet.

Mr. Shanbhag, who lives in Boston but happened to be in Mumbai when the attacks began on Wednesday, described the gunfire on his Twitter feed — the “thud, thud, thud” of shotguns and the short bursts of automatic weapons — and uploaded photos to his personal blog.

It would have been better, perhaps, if we knew less, and he fought back more.....

Update: Futher thoughts....

Perhaps there is another conclusion we should be coming to here...

Giants’ Burress Shoots Himself Accidentally in the Thigh

Giants receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the right thigh while at a Manhattan nightclub early Saturday, hours after he was deemed unfit to play in Sunday’s game at Washington because of a hamstring strain in the same leg.

Patterico asks the right question...

Chris Matthews to Run for the Senate

Anyone getting a thrill up their leg?

Just remember - There is NO threat!

Little Green Footballs

"With the high level of training, preparation, and coordination these terrorists showed, it’s pretty clear that this was more than just a local battle. It was a strike at the heart of India’s financial sector, it was targeted primarily against Westerners and Jews, and it was a message to the incoming Obama administration that the global jihad is alive and well."

Because she wanted to...

Paranoid Gun Owners:

"Lovely of Ms. Dietrich to bring up race in an article on guns, or for that matter, any other topic except … um … race. I know plenty of gun owners who fear new restrictions on their right to own or carry guns. I also know plenty of gunophobes who think guns are icky, can’t imagine why an sane person would want to own one, and would be delighted to see government take everyone else’s guns away. I do not know a single individual, however, who is in favor of having his guns taken away from a white guy, but opposed to having them taken away from a black guy. Do you? Does Dietrich? If not, what the hell point is there in bringing race up?"

Just more of the same...

Obama's small donor base image is a myth, new study reveals:

Everybody knows how President-elect Barack Obama's amazing campaign money machine was dominated by several million regular folks sending in hard-earned amounts under $200, a real sign of his broadbased grassroots support.

Except, it turns out, that's not really true.

In fact, Obama's base of small donors was almost exactly the same percent as George W. Bush's in 2004 -- Obama had 26% and the great Republican satan 25%. Obviously, this is unacceptable to current popular thinking.

He already has...

Victor Davis Hanson

"I think Obama may do more for George Bush's reputation than anyone thinks."

Perhaps it should be called the NY Times recipe...

The Krugman Recipe for Depression

The fate of the kleptocracy....

Instapundit

"If the 21st Century nation-state can’t even fight pirates, what’s it good for, exactly? Collecting taxes? What happens when taxpayers decide they’d rather be pirates?"

Let's take their guns away...

Mumbai photographer: I wish I'd had a gun, not a camera. Armed police would not fire back:

"But what angered Mr D'Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. 'There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything,' he said. 'At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, 'Shoot them, they're sitting ducks!' but they just didn't shoot back.'"