We’re heading off to Missouri to visit Patricia’s family for a few days. I’ll probably check in from there, but not until tomorrow, if then. We’ll be back on Saturday, so I’ll save my New Years’ wishes for my return.
A Little History
…from Mark Levin, for all those Democrats and journalists (and both) who are hypocritically hyperventilating about presidential power and eavesdropping.
Under Attack Again
I’m getting spammed by poker sites from Blogspot, so I’m going to shut down all blogspot URLs in comments until further notice.
Get a real URL, folks. They don’t cost that much.
So What Else Is New?
I know you’ll be shocked to hear this, but the UN has been wasting tsunami relief funds.
Glenn has more.
Shifting Alliances?
This seems like good news:
…some Iraqis are warming to a stronger relationship with Israel, in part because they are frightened of Iran’s influence.
“They are afraid of Iran’s extremist political system. If Iran were a democracy, they wouldn’t be afraid,” Alusi said. “We don’t have border problems with Israel. We don’t have historical problems with Israel,” just Iran.
At last a glimmer of common sense on the issue. Of course, it’s important to not let this grow into a civil war, with Israel and the Sunni Iraqis on one side, and the Shia and Iranians on the other.
Getting Real
I haven’t said much about the NSA spying “scandal,” or the whining about monitoring mosques for radiation, but Jay Manifold has useful posts on both. As he points out, much of the discussion in the press on both these subjects (related mostly by the fact that they’re both largely symptoms of Bush Derangement Syndrome) has been appallingly illiterate and innumerate, from a technical standpoint.
On the mosque thing, I’m having trouble working up much sympathy here. I suppose that the complaint is the usual one–that we’re “discriminating” and “profiling” by not looking for evidence of nuclear materials in churches, synagogues and covens. This is a charge to which I heartily plead guilty.
The word “discrimination” has gotten a bad rap, but in fact, people who don’t or won’t discriminate, won’t last long in this world. Of course, irrational discrimination is a bad thing, but when we have limited investigatory resources, and there’s a long history (and recent and current one, in Iraq and Israel and the territories) of mosques being used as weapons depots, it makes all the sense in the world to keep a close eye on them. When it comes to nuclear materials, it’s pretty hard to justify a “right to privacy.”
[Update at noon eastern]
Michael Barone has some common sense (something that seems to be in short supply in the MSM and, as he points out, the New York Times) on the wiretap issue:
Let’s put the issue very simply. The president has the power as commander in chief under the Constitution to intercept and monitor the communications of America’s enemies. Indeed, it would be a very weird interpretation of the Constitution to say that the commander in chief could order U.S. forces to kill America’s enemies but not to wiretap — or, more likely these days, electronically intercept — their communications. Presidents have asserted and exercised this power repeatedly and consistently over the last quarter-century.
Spreading The Meme
Clark Lindsey notes an encouraging trend in discussion about space:
…both Bezos and Musk (in other articles) cite the long term goal of space settlement as one of the primary motivations for their projects. In the past year I’ve seen a rise in the visibility and credibility of space settlement as a motivation for human spaceflight rather than simply exploration and science.
About time.
Merry Christmas To All
…all my Christian readers, that is. The rest of you can go suck eggs. Or enjoy the holiday anyway, as I will. And my very best wishes are reserved for those in “the sandbox,” trying to help make a better Middle East, at the potential cost of their lives and limbs, and at the definite cost of a holiday at home with their families.
And to all a good night.
[Note: this message will be on top for a while, so don’t let that stop you from scrolling down to look for any potential new content. On the other hand, there probably won’t be a lot under the circumstances…]
[Update a few minutes later]
All right, happy Channukah to my Jewish readers as well, though we all know that it’s a pretty minor holiday as Jewish holidays go, and none of us goyim would pay any attention at all if it hadn’t been set up as an alternative to Christmas so the Jewish kids wouldn’t feel left out.
And as for Kwanza…please. Well, OK. If I have any readers who actually celebrate it, have a good one.
And to heck with you Festivus people. Get a non-nihilistic religion.
False Promises
No, Thomas, your experience is not atypical, at least going by me. I’ve never, ever received a rebate.
I no longer take them seriously, or even bother to send them in. If it worked once in a while, I might bother, but it’s gotten to the point that it’s not worth the time and hassle on an expected-value basis, even when it’s fifty bucks or so. If the price is worth it without the rebate, I buy it, if not, then I don’t. But I never factor in the rebate any more in the purchase decision, unless it’s instant in the store. I wish that they’d stop this fraud.
There’s No Way We Can Win This War
Lileks has a depressing Christmas radio newscast from sixty-one years ago. The cause was clearly hopeless. Why didn’t we just give up?