"Whether we like it or not...they are the future of this country."

"...Iraq looks more doomed from inside the base than it does outside on the street, and it looks more doomed from across the Atlantic than it does from inside the base...."

Michael J. Totten. Read it all.

The American Spectator...

I have been a subscriber to The American Spectator for many years, and look forward to my magazine every month. I especially like Ben Stein's column (although I have been considering a column of my own on Stein's thoughts).

With that said, I don't check in with them often on the web, and I really can't explain why.

So, here is a nugget meant to account for my previous deficiencies. Emanuel makes the same point that Michal Yon has been making for some time: The Surge is working.

And, I will hope you'll join me in checking in with TAS online more often.

Rudy runs...

... with Bush....on taxes and other fiscal matters. And he does it not with just a nod to Bush, but rather uses Bush's name prominently and unapologetically.

Personally, and without offering a full endorsement yet, as of now, I'm more of a Fred Thompson guy. He's gonna have to shit-or-get-off-the-pot soon, and his campaign has shown some indications of internal disarray, but he's at the top of my list today.

Bill Moyers...

...Bitch-slapped. Chris Wallace. Fox News Sunday. Moyers will be stinging until next week.

Somebody will put it up on Youtube. I'll try to find it and update.

Update: I knew it would show up, and to no one's surprise, Allah had it.

"If we can't win at the ballot box...""

"...then let's win with the bullet box instead."

Has anyone on the left--anyone--ever thought any of their ideas through to completion?

Seen first at Glenn's house, and Ed talked about it too.

No. Please...

...Say it isn't so.

"...Bill Clinton may have exaggerated his record..."

The Democrats on Iraq...

I said here and elsewhere that the Democrats are pursuing a strategy wherein if they can get us to lose in Iraq, that they will win at the ballotbox.

Now it appears that "Momentum [is] shifting to [the] GOP in Iraq debate". (courtesy of Glenn) The Democrat's strategy of militarily losing is also becoming a political loser. Bush will make use of this, but it will be interesting to see if, when, and how strongly one of the Republican candidates will do the same.

Update: Ace says the Democrats are caught in a quagmire. Imagine that.

Tajik does Two-Gun (and a grenade)

An oldie, but a goodie, and worthy of another look...

Theo reminded me of this gem.

Payday...

...will come in September. Payday for the Defeatist Democrats, that is.

And note this...

...Barack Obama suggested yesterday that Baghdad could use another 30,000 troops....

Can that be? Is he that willing to engage in flip-flopping?

"Wow". Simply "Wow".

After being at this, off and on, for a bit over two years, last week I got some unsolicited notice. I am sincerely thankful for this.

And now, again unsolicited, Theo rewards me with a Theo-launch. My traffic has almost quadrupled to the stratospheric levels of 40--Yes. 40--visitors in one day. [Said with a wink, for those who aren't getting it.]

So. Welcome, Theo-logians, Spark-plugs, or whatever you may call yourselves. I only will occasionally offer the "totty" that Theo does, and do end up taking breaks for one reason or another, but I hope you'll look around a bit, and enjoy what you find.

Spying in Iraq...

...Not done by swarthy James Bonds', but rather done slowly by Americans in uniform.

h/t Glenn.

Hillary in...

...a whorehouse.

Apt, I suppose.

Returning the favor...

Those who have come in through Eternity Road should now note that the Favorites have been updated.

Thank you for visiting.

A glimpse at...

...a President Fred Thompson's foreign policy agenda.

A little something to brighten your day...

h/t Patrick. But Ace has it here (with Cowbell!) and here. Everybody else prolly has it too. Fun stuff.

Tangentially: One wonders if Abdul still thinks that Allah is all that Akbar.

A Concession by Omission?

First, two caveats...

• I missed the first couple minutes of Fox News Sunday this morning.


• Maybe it was just this week, but NBC's Meet the Press started on the half hour this morning, and I entirely missed the first half.

I noticed that the bulk of the discussion on these two shows this morning was tied up with Karl Rove (the guest on both), and of course, electoral politics. The Media Organ of the Democrats, and liberals, criticized the Bush administration for what it was pursuing with Padilla.

Yet, not one word on the conviction of Jose Padilla. Why no outrage at his conviction? Are they not still concerned about civil rights?

Attention, America...

David Beckham has started his first game for LA Galaxy, and helped set up three goals.

We may all now go back to ignoring a game meant for children in short pants.

"...It was a relief operation."

Relief or not. Jose Padilla is Guilty.

h/t Paul at Powerline.

The Bleeding Continues...

Ouch.

And internet-friend has been predicting all sorts of bad things for the past 5 years. His basic premise (which is all that I understand) is that the Fed. and other Central Banks, when they get in trouble, just start printing money.

The US Fed, as well as others around the world, have been injecting money into their systems willy-nilly, over the past week or so. In addition, Bernanke is under pressure to decrease interest rates, as a means to bail out those who are exposed to failing sub-prime mortgages. We're getting squeezed from both ends, and the balloon is about to burst.

Hang on, fellas. We're in for a bumpy ride.

I've made it to the Big Time...

OK. Maybe not the Big Time...as in a recommendation from Glenn, or Ace, or you know, summbody really big....Drudge or Lucianne.

Call it the Medium Time. Someone I don't know, and frankly, have never heard of, has recommended my humble blog as one of "a few newish blogs recently, and have decided to commend them to your attention".

So, thank you, kind Fran Porretto. I don't know you, and don't know how you came upon my meager writings, but the recommendation is quite generous. I hope I can live up to your readers' standards.

And if you're here from this kind recommendation from Eternity Road, then I hope you'll dig through the archives. I am especially proud of this post from back in October. It was written as a response on a Forum I frequent (which shall go unnamed). I believe it's length prevented me from posting it there, so I put it up here instead. I wrote about the effect of Elizabeth Edwards' cancer on her husband's campaign here. It's nothing political, but if you can stand a travelogue, and are remotely interested in a photogenic part of Arizona, the family and I recently hiked to Havasu Falls.

OK, so anyway...

For my tens and tens of faithful readers, I've been off for a while. There is tons of flying to be done, and for the time being, it is a bit more lucrative that it has been, so I haven't been as diligent at posting here as I otherwise might have been.

Imagine my surprise when I find that I've had six readers here today. SIX! To my humble and largely unread blog.

But moreso, one of them turned out to be from Halliburton! Gasp!! What will my liberal readers [**Sniff....As if...**] do when they find out?

Dau#2 moves into the dorm tomorrow and school starts next week. The extra flying won't last forever, and I'll be back putting up links to far-more-clever and connected bloggers than I.

Utah Mine Disaster...

No. Not the apparently earthquake-induced cave-in of a coal mine, trapping 6 miners.

The Fox News coverage of a news conference with Bob Murray, the unhinged company president who rails against the United Mine Workers, media, hovering helicopters, emergency equipment, etc. Somebody will put this up on YouTube. I'll try to find it and add it later.

I posted this because...

...well, it just looked like a good idea.

Is it even possible to get a Favorability Rating this low?...

In a poll with a margin of error of 1.1%, only 3% of Americans "give Congress positive marks for how it has handled the war."

I know it'w wrong and stupid to base your political principles on polling, but it makes one wonder if Pelosi and Reid even read the things.

h/t FrankJ.

The Democrats Live in an Upside-Down World...

For months now, since the Democrats assumed the majority, they have accomplished little in Congress except to push to get out of Iraq in one way or the other. At each of these attempts, they have failed. Their strategy appears to be: Even though we can't pass an attempt to limit/leave/retreat/redeploy, we can win (both the Presidency and seats in Congress) by consistently losing on these issues. In other words, they win by losing.

Barak Obama is an example here. Unlike most other Democrats, he has opposed the Iraq War from the start, and been critical of Hillary Clinton's position on her vote to go to Iraq. Despite the consistent predictions that leaving would result in carnage, he wants us out of Iraq now.

Yet, now, with the aim of eliminating al Qaeda hideouts in Waziristan, he says he would invade Pakistan. He'd invade an ally. He'd invade a nuclear ally.

We're winning in Iraq. The Surge is working. Leaving now (or in the foreseeable future) would undo that. He'd invade an ally. Does Obama really expect that no consequences would fall out of these decisions? He'd have us lose a fight we are winning and enter a fight that we might not have to stones to win.

This is an Upside-Down, Alice-through-the-Looking-Glass view of things.

Wait a minute...

This can't be. These two guys are liberals.



h/t: Bill at INDC Journal.

Michael Yon, again...

'Nuff said.

h/t John at Op-for

Imagine: George as John...

Re: my earlier post...

Not a Soccer-Mom's SUV

From Dillon. Of course.

h/t: Gerard.

In re: my last post...

...I was inspired to do a little photo-manipulation.


Expunging votes that the leadership of the majority party had clearly lost is something that Joseph Stalin might have done.

And, once the purges are complete...

...rewriting history will be child's play.

Watch out, Democrats...

The purges are about to begin.

h/t Glenn.

Diplomacy...

h/t: Military Motivator.

This explains...

...a bunch from my childhood.



My disks are buried in a chest in the family room, but I probably have that album.

h/t Rodger.