Passive-Aggressive Behavior in Response to Iraq Elections
From a psychological perspective it is very interesting to observe the responses to the Iraq election success yesterday [the psychologically perceptive among you will recognize by that initial statement that I like to "intellectualize" to deal with my anger--but that is another psychological defense mechansim we can discuss at a later time].

Passive-aggressive behaviors are those in which negative emotions -- often anger and resentment -- are expressed indirectly through negative attitudes and behavior that are often at odds with overtly stated motives. For instance, someone who is resentful of another person's accomplishments may be late or even "forget" to show up at a ceremony that lauds the other's success. There are many examples of this kind of behavior and it is fairly common, especially when a person feels powerless to assert their desires directly. There is one thing that all such behavior has in common:a certain way that passive-aggressive people say “Yes” that makes you crazy. Because you know they don’t mean “yes". In fact you feel they mean the opposite-- but how can you argue with somebody who agrees with you?

So, what can we observe in the behavior of several influential Democrats and media outlets? We have some classic examples "passive-aggressive" behavior. You see, it is hard to imagine that anyone could possibly be upset by the Iraqi's success (except the terrorists, of course), but in reality there are, as John Podhoretz puts it, "literally millions of Americans who are unhappy today because millions of Iraqis went to the polls yesterday. And why? Because this isn't just a success for Bush. It's a huge win. It's a colossal vindication." So, how can they acknowledge what happened yesterday without having to give Bush any credit at all and without seeming to be out of touch with reality?

Several bloggers have noted this dissonance between what is actually said and what is just as obviously meant. The Diplomad calls it "the attack of the Comma-ists" and describes it thusly:

Well, we said at the outset just about everybody is on board. There is one group of singularly anti-American types who just have had the hardest time imaginable praising the events of January 30. Who are these foul anti-Americans? Has The Diplomad taught you nothing? Why the leaders of the Democratic Party of the USA, of course! The party that has become the party of the Comma-ists. You know what we mean: the types who must always insert a comma after a ritual throw-away phrase. For example: “Of course the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were horrible [Here it comes! Listen for it!] [COMMA] but US policy in the Middle East . . ." “Of course the Iraqi elections were a good thing [COMMA] but they will not resolve the serous issue of severe income inequality in East St. Louis, or the growing gender disparity in the granting of scholarships to welding schools . . .”

Lileks was able to proactively appreciate the Damning But (DB) position (a variant of the "yes, but..." technique so favored among passive aggressives). I sit here the day after, listening to Democrat after Democrat on FoxNews cheerfully using all of the above techniques. But you can palpably feel the anger and rage just below the surface. They aren't happy that this "vindicates" Bush and his policies. Nothing will ever "vindicate" him, in their opinion. But they can't say that. They just lost the last election, and they have the mid-terms and the big 2008 one looming. They must contain their disappointment and hope no one notices.

All along these same pundits and politicians had explicitly denounced the coming elections and predicted unmitigated failure and disaster in the weeks leading up to them. In fact, one might say that they gave aid and comfort to those whose primary focus in life was to destroy the Iraqi's hopes for a democracy.

So why are they now qualifying their opinions? Well, one of the main causes of passive aggressive behavior is a fear of conflict. The more someone perceives the object of their anger or resentment as a formidable opponent, the more they’ll tend to take what feels to them like the cautious approach – the passive aggressive approach. It is much safer that way, because then they can be seen as actually supporting what is going on (the political thing to do) and at the same time they have found a way to express their hostility and resentment in the disguised format of quasi-reasonableness and civilized conciliation. What a hoot! They know how they really feel; and the truth is that YOU are perfectly aware of how they really feel and they know it. BUT YOU CAN'T DO OR SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT WITHOUT BEING UNCIVILIZED!

Except expose them for the frauds and hypocrites they really are. Sometimes I just hate being civilized.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:42 PM |

 
Comparison
Here's an interesting comparison for you:

Number of Iraqis killed by "insurgents" during their election = 35

Number of Americans on average killed daily by drunk drivers = 47

Logically, therefore, one must conclude that Zarqawi and his suicide minions are somewhat less effective than people whose brains are pickled in alcohol.

Makes you wonder what terrorists' brains are pickled in?

(hat tip: Instapundit)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:59 AM |

 
A Man of Constant Soros
George Soros, moonbat billionaire, is still whining about the election:

Billionaire investor George Soros, the biggest financial contributor to the failed effort to defeat President George W. Bush in November's election, said Democratic challenger John Kerry was a flawed candidate.
Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, spent $26 million in last year's campaign that he said was undermined by the candidate he supported.
``Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative,'' Soros, 74, said yesterday in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ``That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected.''
The comments by the Hungarian-born Soros marked his sharpest criticism of Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran who later spoke against the war and focused his campaign against Bush on the war in Iraq. Republicans gained four seats in the Senate, including the defeat of the Senate's highest-ranking Democrat, Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Republicans have 55 seats in the 100-seat chamber.
The Kerry campaign ``tried to emphasize his role as a Vietnam War hero and downplay his role as an anti-Vietnam War hero, which he was,'' said Soros. ``Had he admitted, owned up to it, I think actually the outcome could have been different.''

This is the same Soros who said during the campaign, "The number of flipflops and missteps committed by the Bush administration in Iraq far exceeds anything John Kerry can be accused of. "

But he's just another example of someone on the Left who would rather blame the messenger and not the message. In fact, they will blame almost anything EXCEPT the message. Kerry wasn't a good messenger, to be sure. He wanted to be able to be on both sides of every issue and hedge his bets. But it was what the Democrats were trying to say through Kerry that was rejected by the voters on November 2.

Pour as much money as you like into those political organizations, Georgie. Find a smoother, more articulate candidate to present your message. But I predict it won't do you any good, because you are on the wrong side of hisory and your message is one of doom and defeat. But even worse, it ignores reality.

I suspect you are going to be sad for a long, long time.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:39 AM |

 
Winning the War on Polio
A terrific science writer and a good friend, Cooky Oberg, has reviewed a new book Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio By Jeffrey Kluger. For those of you too young to remember the fear of polio that was prevalent even in the 50's, this book is an exciting and wondrous read. I was a small child then and vividly remember the anxiety and panic that polio could still generate. I recall seeing a picture of an "Iron Lung" with a local kid inside and thinking it must be a horrible torture devised for bad kids. Today Polio's terror has completely evaporated due to medical pioneer, Jonas Salk. Here is Cooky's review:

None of us will ever know the rock-in-the-stomach terror of seeing a black public-health car turning onto our street. But public-health officials had the routine down pat back in 1916: A doctor, a social worker and a driver would roll to a stop in front of the suspect house. The doctor would examine the sick child inside to determine the nature of the illness. If the child showed certain specific symptoms, the doctor would sweep the child up and take it away while the social worker consoled the distraught parents. If the parents kicked and screamed excessively, the driver — or a policeman — would be summoned to take the child to the quarantine hospital by force. Signs would then be posted warning everyone to stay clear of the infected house or the infected street: "INFANTILE PARALYSIS: POLIOMYELITIS."

It's appropriate that Jeffrey Kluger's new book Splendid Solution opens with that feeling — and goes on to grip the reader in the panicked efforts to find a cure. This fast-paced scientific adventure story has all the elements of good drama: a determined hero, an invisible and deadly enemy, an unlikely assortment of supporting actors, a clash of titans, unexpected plot twists and a life-or-death deadline. Kluger, who co-wrote Apollo 13 some years ago, reminds us that real life and real people can often be far more interesting and exciting than fiction.

Although the polio virus had been around since ancient times, it was, ironically, the improved sanitation of the late 19th century that brought on the epidemic polio outbreaks in the 20th century. In earlier times infants and young children had a continuous background exposure to the virus through bad sanitation and therefore experienced polio as a mild flulike infection, gaining lifetime immunity afterward. But when cities and homes became well-plumbed and children well-scrubbed, the slow background exposure to the virus disappeared, and the strong, wild strain of polio hit full force. If someone drank contaminated water or neglected to wash hands after using a bathroom, he or she could be dead or paralyzed in days.

In 1916 there were 27,000 cases of polio in the United States, 6,000 of them fatal. Every summer the disease appeared, struck and left with the cold weather of autumn. In August 1921 Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio and was crippled for life.
By 1952 60,000 U.S. cases were reported, with 3,000 deaths.

The book is a gripping medical drama that details Salk's incredible work. By 1991 polio was eliminated completely in the western hemisphere and in Europe. This was an important chapter in medical history, and Salk's vaccine was a miracle. He never won the Nobel prize for this work, although he richly deserved it. I highly recommend the book to you. Click on the link to read the rest of the review!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:06 AM |

 
Multiple Choice Question

The above picture represents:

A. The fickle finger of fate
B. Ted Rall working on his new hate-filled cartoon
C. Gangrene spreading from John Kerry's brain to his finger
D. The sad, end-stage result of Ted Kennedy's lifelong habit of sucking on himself
E. A powerful symbol of Freedom and the pride of a courageous people

Remember, you will be held responsible for your choice.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:58 PM |

 
PIE STUPID Syndrome
Let me be the first mental health professional to describe what I'm sure will be a new psychiatric disorder:

Post Iraqi Election Success Trauma by Unhappy, Pathetic, Inconsequential Democrats or

PIE-STUPID Syndrome

The symptoms of this disorder are

• unhappiness progressing to profound depression at the success of the Iraqi elections
• Anger and resentment that George W. Bush may have been correct about Freedom--or anything, for that matter;
• Denial that the Iraqi election means anything at all;
• Inability to accept reality and an almost psychotic refusal to consider revising their premises--instead their shrillness will only intensify;
• Immediately refocusing on something else that they believe will prove their belief in the failure of the US Iraq policy is justified (e.g., Guantanamo treatment of prisoners, Sunni "exclusion", etc.)
• Continued public posturing on their discredited perspective (i.e., comparing Iraq after elections to Vietnam quagmire; rooting for the underdog Iraqi "insurgents", etc.)
• A deep-seated hatred of America and all its values that is disguised as sympathy for the downtrodden, poverty-stricken huddled masses of their imagination. They will ignore any downtrodden masses that don't fit their ideology.

The first public sufferer of this disorder is none other than John F. Kerry, failed presidential candidate, flip-flopper extraordianaire, and pitiful human being. On Meet the Press today, he is noted as saying: “No one in the United States should try to over-hype this election.”
What noone should try to over-hype is this man's intelligence; nor should they minimize the degree of self-delusion necessary to keep an individual from appreciating the historic importance of this day in world history.

I expect over the next few days we shall be innundated with examples of this sad disorder all around the country. Pundits and political personages; lowly members of ANSWER and other anti-war, anti-American, anti-democratic, pro-terrorism groups; angry anti-Bush personages everywhere --all will begin to exhibit the symptoms of this disease.

There is no known cure for the syndrome--except possibly a modicum of psychological insight and self-reflection; or a willingness to look at one's own motives, behaviors and feelings. But, sadly, facing reality is not a hallmark of those vulnerable to the syndrome. Instead persons with the disorder will defiantly declare their support for people like John Kerry and Barbara Boxer for President in 2008, thus cementing their descent into madness.

And because of that last, I will truly enjoy their suffering.


UPDATE: The Watcher has kindly made a list of others suffering for this horrible disease.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:24 PM |

 
Triumph

Says it all, doesn't it? (hat tip: LGF).

UPDATE: And read this from Mohammed and Omar.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:22 AM |

 
Weekly Insanity Update
Time for this week's compilation of the insane, the ridiculous, and the downright bizarre. Thanks to those of you who sent in referrals!

1. The HORROR!

2. Ugly is banned. For a look at their unrepentant ugliness, check here.

3. The jeans from hell. And I thought just the tight ones were!

4. There's just no pleasing some people.

5. No, it's not in Washington D.C. or Congress.

6. A rather unusual way to dig out of the snow. But my husband would like the beer part.

7. Kofi Annan is definitely disturbed. A couple million more and he might do something?

8. VW is suing because of this?? I think its rather cute. I guess they can't take a joke.

9. Jayson, they left the solar system some time ago; they are now far out in deep space....

10. Arrested development. I guess this link is sexist.

Of course, the most insane developement of the week is not even listed. It includes all the Americans and those in the international media who are desperately hoping that Iraq's first real election fails miserably. You know--people like Teddy Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, and many news outlets. The only passion these nay-sayers feel is passionate hatred. While I certainly wouldn't want to impugn their integrity, perhaps they should ask themselves if their mission to destroy Bush and regain power might have overwhelmed their respect for the truth--just a teensy eentsy bit?

Let us see what they have to say on Monday.


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:28 AM |

 
Fair And Balanced Coverage?

On the eve of the Iraqi elections, here are a sample of headlines in the mainstream media from Memorandum(January 29):

Survey Finds Deep Divisions in Iraq (Zogby International News)

Skeptics Question Worth of Iraq Election (AP)

Three in four Sunnis 'won't vote' (News.com.au)

Iraqi Leaders Urge Voting As Bomb Kills 8 (AP)

Flashback to the 60's: A Sinking Sensation of Parallels Between Iraq and Vietnam (NYT)

Eight more Iraqis killed on election eve (CNN)

Shiite Faction Ready to Shun Sunday's Election in Iraq (NYT)


By contrast, there were two articles that took a positive slant:

A Day of Iraqi Hope (WaPo)
By Steve Hadley who is the Bush Administration's new National Security Advisor, replacing Condoleeza Rice

and

For Iraqi Expatriates in the U.S., a Chance to Savor the Vote (NYT)


I guess we know which side most people in the media are on, don't we? I just can't wait to see what they have to say tomorrow, but I think we can count on a negative spin, no matter what the reality will be. Of course, if things were to go well, an awful lot of reporters would be bitterly disappointed, but I'm sure they would likely find something to fit the negative script-- Saddam says election 'illegal'--or something like that. Or they'll say there weren't enough people who voted; or if there are--there won't be enough Sunnis; or if there are--some Iraqis will be unhappy; or if they're completely happy--Teddy Kennedy will denounce the results, etc. etc. etc.

As for me, I will watch election coverage here, with a link to CSPAN. But no matter what happens tomorrow, the post prior to this one expresses my feelings and hopes for the people of Iraq, who have an historic opportunity to take back their country from tyranny and build a future with Freedom. Congratulations to all those brave Iraqis who will vote tomorrow.

UPDATE: Well it's 2 hours after the above post, and here are 2 more headlines that have appeared at Memeorandum:

Iraq to Vote Shadowed by Threat of Bloodbath (Reuters)

Iraqis Prepare To Go to Polls Amid Threats Of Violence (WaPo)

UPDATE II: Scrappleface cuts to the heart of the issue, as usual!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:22 PM |

 
Free At Last

...And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
"Free at last, free at last.
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last." - Martin Luther King

UPDATE: I guess I'm not the only one to see the connection!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:49 AM |

 
A Heartfelt Message of Thanks!

Thanks to the many bright stars of Hollywood, who through their untiring efforts, helped re-elect George W. Bush! (hat tip: LGF)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:43 AM |

 
Another Example of Lunacy on the Left
Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, admirer of Fidel Castro's Cuba and avowed anti-globalist is a certified idiot. Not in the least humbled that he has led his own country to economic and social disaster, his sense of himself appears to know no bounds. For example:

“The government of President Chavez has demonstrated during the past few years a great lack of respect towards women. The worst repression against the marches centered on women; military officers used gestures and obscene language against the women who didn’t share their political ideas; and President Chavez himself, on Valentine’s day, sent his wife through television a vulgar sexual message. Today, during the event organized against “foreign intervention”, [President Chavez] sent several messages to Dr. Condoleeza Rice, insinuating that “Condolence’s” problem with him was sexual frustration. Furthermore, he consulted with the ‘his people’, to decide if by marrying her he would resolve it. When people screamed “No”, Chavez finished his joke saying, ‘Poor Condolence, she doesn’t know what she’s missing!’”

He is a perfect example of how bullies and thugs do NOT suffer from low self-esteem, as is commonly thought among social intellectuals (see here). Meanwhile, I will patiently wait for the U.S. Feminist movement to utterly and completely denounce this chauvinist pig.

Waiting....

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:44 PM |

 
"Religion of Peace" Update
The Counterterrorism Blog links to a report on Saudi hate propaganda in AMERICAN mosques.

Here are key findings from a press release about the report:

· Various Saudi government publications gathered for this study, most of which are in Arabic, assert that it is a religious obligation for Muslims to hate Christians and Jews and warn against imitating, befriending, or helping them in any way, or taking part in their festivities and celebrations;
· The documents promote contempt for the United States because it is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law. They condemn democracy as un-Islamic;
· The documents stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money to be later employed in the jihad against the infidels, or they are there to proselytize the infidels until at least some convert to Islam. Any other reason for lingering among the unbelievers in their lands is illegitimate, and unless a Muslim leaves as quickly as possible, he or she is not a true Muslim and so too must be condemned. For example, a document in the collection for the “Immigrant Muslim” bears the words “Greetings from the Cultural Attache in Washington, D.C.” of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia, and is published by the government of Saudi Arabia. In an authoritative religious voice, it gives detailed instructions on how to “hate” the Christian and Jew: Never greet them first. Never congratulate the infidel on his holiday. Never imitate the infidel. Do not become a naturalized citizen of the United States. Do not wear a graduation gown because this imitates the infidel;
· One insidious aspect of the Saudi propaganda examined is its aim to replace traditional and moderate interpretations of Islam with extremist Wahhabism, the officially-established religion of Saudi Arabia. In these documents, other Muslims, especially those who advocate tolerance, are condemned as infidels. The opening fatwa in one Saudi embassy-distributed book, published by the Saudi Air Force, responds to a question about a Muslim preacher in a European mosque who taught that it is not right to condemn Jews and Christians as infidels. The Saudi state cleric’s reply rebukes the Muslim cleric: “He who casts doubts about their infidelity leaves no doubt about his.” Since, under Saudi law, “apostates” from Islam can be sentenced to death, this is an implied death threat against the tolerant Muslim imam, as well as an incitement to vigilante violence;
· Sufi and Shiite Muslims are viciously condemned;
· For a Muslim who fails to uphold the Saudi Wahhabi sect’s sexual mores (i.e. through homosexual activity or heterosexual activity outside of marriage), the edicts published by the Saudi government’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and found in American mosques advise, “it would be lawful for Muslims to spill his blood and to take his money;”
· Regarding those who convert out of Islam, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs explicitly asserts, they “should be killed;”
· Saudi textbooks and other publications in the collection, propagate a Nazi-like hatred for Jews, treat the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion as historical fact, and avow that the Muslim’s duty is to eliminate the state of Israel;
· Regarding women, the Saudi publications instruct that they should be veiled, segregated from men and barred from certain employment and roles

And these are publication that are in American mosques--not in Saudi Arabia. Now you know why there don't seem to be many "moderates" in the Muslim community speaking out against the insanity going on in the world. Except that the insanity is not "out there"--it has already arrived here.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:42 PM |

 
The Council Has Spoken !
This week's Watcher's Council has voted and the result are:

BEST COUNCIL POST:

1. A Childlike Fantasy at Wallo World

2. The Christians Are Coming! The Christians Are Coming! at The Sundries Shack

BEST NON-COUNCIL POST:

1. Zarqawi's War On Democracy Cavalier's Guardian WatchBlog

2. Heart of Redness Iowahawk

Check out all the winners at the Watcher of Weasels ! Lots of great reading!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:43 PM |

 
Poems From Space
TRANSIT OF EARTH

From this lonely outpost,
I see a blue-green haze
Floating through a raging blaze,
Stirring my soul's ghost.

The color of your eyes
Staring past the vacuum sea,
Looking wistfully at me.
Burning in the sun's passion, hope dies.

I shiver in the cold.
My hands reach out to touch--
I didn't want to feel this much.
You disappear to nothing I can hold.

My frozen planet suits me well.
I long for Earth and wait till when
You pass across the sun again,
And I escape this icy hell.


SPACEMEN AND POETS

Can spacemen fall in love in space?
Can they kiss? Can they embrace?
Will love last long at speeds of light?
Can it survive an endless night?

Will poets ever walk on Mars,
And write to Earth from dying stars?
Will life be better, or be worse
As spacemen rhyme the universe?

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:46 AM |

 
The Great UN Pretender
For the purposes of this post, we'll refer to the UN as the "Great Pretender " since they are so willing to take credit for what others are doing:

Again, the dishonesty is breathtaking.When it's convenient, Egeland rolls in work done by non-UN actors and makes it seem like the UN has done it, e.g., USAID "cash-for-work" programs have cleared the rubble away and made school re-openings possible -- the UN didn't do that!Yet when talking about pledges, he mentions only money pledged or given the UN! He attempts to minimize the role of the USA -- by far the biggest contributor to the relief effort. He praises Japan for being in a class by itself. Why? The Japanese have given the UN $229 million. The US is giving only a relatively small portion of its tsunami relief moneys to the UN, so it doesn't count -- quite aside from the fact that even prior to the tsunami the USA was providing about 40% of the WFP and UNHCR budgets. Notice how he can not bring himself to mention AIRCRAFT carriers; they presumably get covered under "and so forth." To mention aircraft carriers would be to acknowledge that the USA is in a class by itself. Once again, we see the nonsense about the logistics operation and the overcoming of bottlenecks; the UN didn't do that. He makes absolutely NO mention of the superb work done by the Australians or the Kiwis. Why? Because they did it on their own or in coordination with the US.

You have to read the entire post by the Diplomad to fully appreciate the dishonesty and complete audacity of the UN--claiming to be at the center of the relief effort. UNbelievable!
The following song is dedicated [and adapted] just for them:

The Great Pretender
(apologies to Buck Ram who wrote the real lyrics and music!)

The UN's a great pretender
Pretending that it is in charge
Their need is such they pretend too much
The egos of these guys are large....

The UN's a great pretender
Adrift in a world of their own
From Oil-for-Food, to UNbearably rude
Just ignore how their fortunes have grown...

Too real is this feeling of UNbelief
Too real when you feel they've the heart of a thief
Whoahohohoo...

The UN's a great pretender
Just smirking and snide like some jerk
They seem to be what they're not, you see
By claiming to do all the work
Pretending they deserve every perk....

Too real is this feeling of UNbelief
Too real when you feel they've the heart of a thief...

Oh, the UN's a great pretender
Just smirking and snide like some jerk
They seem to be what they're not, you see
By claiming to do all the work--
Pretending they deserve every perk
Yes, pretending they deserve every perk

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:41 PM |

 
Rice Phobia
I think Roger Simon has figured out the intense Democratic animosity directed at Condoleeza Rice:

The Dems are afraid of her as a presidential candidate in '08 and wanted to take her down a peg as soon as possible. After all, according to Forbes anyway, she is the most powerful woman in the world -- and that was before she was Sec'y of State....

I think he may be right on target. This also explains why Hilary voted for her--in order to deflect any possible criticism that she was trying to take down a future political opponent. Fortunately, I don't think these tactics will have any impact. The only thing that will matter is how Dr. Rice performs the difficult job she has been assigned over the next few years, and whether she decides she wants to run for president or not.

The venomous opinions of Barbara Boxer and Ted Kennedy can have no significant effect on anyone with any intelligence.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:36 PM |

 
Self-Esteem Is Not Necessarily Good For You
How about that? Thinking you're hot stuff isn't the promised cure-all. Most psychiatrists could have told you that in the first place. Here's the lowdown:

A generation — and many millions of dollars — later, it turns out we may have been mistaken. Five years ago, the American Psychological Society commissioned me and several other experts to wade with an open mind through the enormous amount of published research on the subject and to assess the benefits of high self-esteem.

Here are some of our disappointing findings. High self- esteem in schoolchildren does not produce better grades. (Actually, kids with high self-esteem do have slightly better grades in most studies, but that's because getting good grades leads to higher self-esteem, not the other way around.) In fact, according to a study by Donald Forsyth at Virginia Commonwealth University, college students with mediocre grades who got regular self-esteem strokes from their professors ended up doing worse on final exams than students who were told to suck it up and try harder.Self-esteem doesn't make adults perform better at their jobs either. Sure, people with high self-esteem rate their own performance better — even declaring themselves smarter and more attractive than their low self-esteem peers — but neither objective tests nor impartial raters can detect any difference in the quality of work.

Likewise, people with high self-esteem think they make better impressions, have stronger friendships and have better romantic lives than other people, but the data don't support their self-flattering views. If anything, people who love themselves too much sometimes annoy other people by their defensive or know-it-all attitudes. Self-esteem doesn't predict who will make a good leader, and some work (including that of psychologist Robert Hogan writing in the Harvard Business Review) has found humility rather than self-esteem to be a key trait of successful leaders.

It was widely believed that low self-esteem could be a cause of violence, but in reality violent individuals, groups and nations think very well of themselves. They turn violent toward others who fail to give them the inflated respect they think they deserve. Nor does high self-esteem deter people from becoming bullies, according to most of the studies that have been done; it is simply untrue that beneath the surface of every obnoxious bully is an unhappy, self-hating child in need of sympathy and praise.

High self-esteem doesn't prevent youngsters from cheating or stealing or experimenting with drugs and sex. (If anything, kids with high self-esteem may be more willing to try these things at a young age.)There were a few areas where higher self-esteem seemed to bring some benefits. For instance, people with high self- esteem are generally happier and less depressed than others, though we can't quite prove that high self-esteem prevents depression or causes happiness. Young women with high self- esteem seem less susceptible to eating disorders. In some studies (though not all), people with high self-esteem bounce back from misfortune and trauma faster than others.

High self-esteem also promotes initiative. People who have it are more likely to speak up in a group, persist in the face of failure, resist other people's advice or pressure and strike up conversations with strangers. Of course, initiative can cut both ways: One study on bullying found that self-esteem was high among the bullies and among the people who intervened to resist them. Low self-esteem marked the victims of bullying

.In short, despite the enthusiastic embrace of self-esteem, we found that it conferred only two benefits. It feels good and it supports initiative.

Most people confuse "self-esteem" with what I will refer to as a "sense of self". It is the latter--not the former, that is so often screwed up in the angry, violent, grandiose, and generally narcissistic people in the world. If you have a healthy "Self", you are likely to have a healthy self-esteem--which is not the same at all as a high self-esteem.

The psychological defect that leads to so many problems is a defective or distorted sense of one's SELF. The excessive self-esteem you see in a bully comes from a distortion of reality that person has with regard to their self. "It was widely believed that low self-esteem could be a cause of violence, but in reality violent individuals, groups and nations think very well of themselves". Do you really suppose that people like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden suffer from poor self-esteem? On the contrary. Exaggerated self-esteem is one of the hallmarks of a pathological narcissist or psychopath.

The pop-psychology that promulgated the widespread belief that if you nurture kid's self-esteem neglected to mention that if the sense of self was already damaged, all you managed to do was to create a narcissistic monster...it was a waste of time and money--as this article reports. If the 19th century was the age of hysteria (and basically, Freud was responding to the excessive sexual repression present in that century); then the 20th was the age of narcissism. In this new century, that narcissism seems to be morphing into an even more malignant sociopathy that pervades society and impacts almost all our social, political, and educational institutions.

Our cultural focus on enhancing "self-esteem" has resulted in the near-worship of emotions and feelings at the expense of reason and thought; on emphasizing "root causes" and victimhood, instead of demanding that behavior be civilized and that individuals exert self-discipline and self-control--no matter what they are "feeling".

It is time the myth of the importance of self-esteem is exposed. Read the entire article!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:00 PM |

 
Challenger - A Flight Surgeon Remembers
On January 28, 1986, I was at Cape Canaveral in Florida. As a NASA Flight Surgeon, I had been assigned as the Crew Surgeon for Mission 51-L (noone really wanted the job since many disapproved of having a civilian--the teacher in space--fly on a space mission). The crew had trained together for over a year, and I had come to know them all very well in the course of the training and medical preparation. I had been at the Cape for over a week and the launch had been scrubbed several times for a variety of reasons. I had been staying in a cheap motel in Cocoa Beach as we waited for weather to permit the launch attempt.

One of the memories of have of that time is a CBS Evening News broadcast with Dan Rather on January 27th, who in a snide voice wondered if NASA would ever be able to launch a space mission on time? He then proceeded to go down a long list of Shuttle missions that had been delayed. I remember being annoyed at the time because of the unspoken expectation by Mr. Rather that launching a complex space vehicle like the Shuttle was a simple thing.

We had scrubbed several times at the last minute, but everyone was fairly certain that we would get a "go for launch" on January 28th, since that was President Reagan's State of the Union address, and he intended to mention the teacher-in-space, Christa McAuliffe. The Agency would not want to disappoint the President.

When I woke up the morning of the 28th, it took me only a few minutes to begin thinking that the launch would again be postponed. It was 19 degrees outside. This was unusually cold for Cocoa Beach, even in January, and I had not even brought a sweater with me. In the 15+ minute drive to Launch Control, I continually shivered from the cold, because there was no heat in the car I had rented either. I wore just a cotton pantsuit with a very light jacket.

In Launch Control, there was a great deal of buzz about the temperature. The countdown was proceeding, but there had been ice spotted on the external tank, and crews were sent out to check it out. All of us there (I was at the Surgeon's console, which monitored crew health, and directed emergency medical operations in the case of a catastrophic event on the launchpad, or for an RTLS (return to launch site) abort. We joked and talked among ourselves, commenting on the crew talking (we were one of the few consoles that monitored the crew chitchat in the Shuttle before launch).

Much to all of our surprise, after a delay, the countdown was resumed. It had been decided that it was safe to proceed. I remember that we were surprised because no Shuttle had launched in such cold weather before, but we all assumed that had been thoroughly discussed at a higher level. We were privy only to the comments that were in the LCC (Launch Control Center). The Management Team had met outside the LCC. The countdown proceeded and Challenger was launched. As soon as it lifted off the pad, control of the mission was transferred to the MCC in Houston. It was at this point that most of the LCC team could relax and turn around to watch the Shuttle ascend. There were large windows in the roof which gave us a prime view of the entire ascent, from about 3 miles away. I watched with my usual awe, that humans had been able to contain such energy and put it to use in escaping the planet.

My awe was short-lived as we noticed an anomoly. Something seemed to have gone wrong with the SRBs (solid rocket boosters) and they detached from the ET (external tank) too soon. There seemed to be a big explosion, but none of us were certain what might have happened. I swung into action, because it seemed that we must be in an RTLS situation. I made a few commands to my emergency team, who were outside in ambulances, as I continued to watch the growing cloud of the explosion, waiting for the Challenger to appear from behind it heading back to the landing site, not far away. I waited and waited. The orbiter did not appear. I felt a momentary confusion, and then I think all the blood must have rushed out of my head as I realized what it meant. I knew they must have been killed. All of them. I had to hold onto the console for support. All I could think of was oh my God, oh my God.

The Launch Director cooly called for a lockdown. Noone was to leave the room until all information on at all consoles was safely secured. It was then that I was able to gather myself together again, as I realized that if the crew was gone, my responsibility was to take care of their families. I went to the Launch Director and asked to be allowed to leave, because the families were in Crew Quarters, about a mile or so away down the road. After some discussion, the doors were unlocked and I was permitted out. I ran to my car and started down the road, but everyone on the highway had stopped and the road was blocked. People were milling around, still not accepting what they had just seen with their own eyes.

I was desperate to get to the families and do something useful. I wasn't sure what, but I felt they might need me there. I drove my car on the center divider and the grass between the lanes, and made my way through the crowds who had stopped to watch the launch. It took me some 20 minutes to get to Crew Quarters.

The next 12 hours were something of a blur. I had read about mass hysteria in textbooks, but that description was far too mild for what I found when I reached the place the crew called home prior to a launch. All the members of the immediate and extended family were there. Women were screaming; babies crying. People thronged around me, wanting to know if the crew had parachuted to safety. I was stunned that they had not yet grasped what had happened. One family member was certain that a rescue plane would find the crew in the ocean somewhere. Several people fainted. I needed help to medically manage the 30 or more family members who were there, but George Abbey, the dictatorial head of Flight Crew Ops would not permit me to call in any other doctor. He was in full damage control mode, and wouldn't permit any TVs or radios to be turned on either. Certainly, no phone calls. I needed to hospitalize one person, who had become disoriented and confused. Abbey said no. I said that I couldn't accept that, and did it anyway (that moment, I realized much later, ended my chances of becoming an astronaut myself--a dream I'd had most of my life). Abbey didn't want anyone to leave and head back to Houston (where everyone lived; and where their entire support was) until after Vice President Bush arrived. The Vice President arrived at about 8:00pm that night. By then I was exhausted and could hardly stand up. I barely remember being introduced to Bush and shaking his hand. The closest I came to crying was when I heard the wife of the Shuttle Commander (Dick Scobee) say in a quavering voice to Bush that her husband would not have wanted space exploration to be halted because of what had happened that day. I realized that beyond the grieving was a fear that we all had at the time that this would hurt NASA.

After Bush left, most of the families were hustled onto NASA planes to go back to Houston. I had to remain, however, because person I had hospitalized at the nearby Air Force hospital would not be able to fly back until the next day, and I was to go with that family. By then, reinforcements had arrived as other astronauts had flown to the Cape. When the families left, I gratefully collapsed into bed at Crew Quarters. I flew home the next day with my patient and their family. On the afternoon of the 29th, I finally made it home where my husband--who was waiting for me-- handed me about 100 phone messages from just about everyone I knew. When he took me in his arms, I finally started to cry and didn't stop for several hours.

For the next 5 years, I was unable to talk about what happened that day without becoming completely choked up and a blubbering idiot. I still get tears in my eyes as I remember it and the memorial service where I met President Reagan and his wife.

I watched NASA cope with this disaster using a combination of denial and intellectualization/rationalization. In the months that followed, I began to realize that the Agency I had idealized for so long as being one of the best and most competent, was actually corrupt and primarily concerned with covering its own mistakes. They were an Agency caught up in hubris, who believed in their own press far too much. Instead of making the changes in the culture that had led to this catastrophe, they were only concerned with making sure everyone thought they had made the changes. The appearance was more important than the reality. I had been a general flight surgeon before, and now, for the first time, I began to look at NASA with a psychiatrist's eyes. And what I saw disturbed me greatly. Especially in the way they handled the fact that the crew had NOT died immediately in the explosion as we all had thought, but were alive for some time as they fell into the ocean. I watched as they tried to hide that fact from the public and the families. I also watched as they carried out the motions of changing, but from the inside I saw no changes in attitude or behavior.

It has been 19 years since that cold morning changed me forever. When Columbia disintegrated on reentry, killing all the crew in 2003, many of my old friends called me to tell me that I had predicted that NASA would have another preventable tragedy. I would like to think that we learned something from the space missions we have lost--Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia -- but I fear that NASA has learned little. I refer you to Jim Oberg, an MSNBC space analyst and close friend, who has this to say today about all three disasters:

Spaceflight has its own inherent hazards, and if not respected, any of many factors can kill people. Recognizing this, engineers install backup hardware and escape systems and build in allowances for uncertainties -- all in an attempt to keep such external hazards at bay.
The debris from the disasters remained safely hidden away, comfortably out of sight and -- as experience would show -- tragically out of mind.
But the internal hazards -- what investigation boards have called the "flawed safety culture" -- have proven much more insidious. This is the realm of convenient assumptions, of complacency, of willfulness, of use of statistical superstitions, of a false familiarity with an unblinking foe. It is a culture made possible by an all-too-human aversion to facing unpleasantness.
It has become easy to look away from these horrible space disasters -- and I never call them "accidents," a term that relieves the people involved on the ground of ultimate responsibility.
NASA prefers to literally bury the wreckage in underground concrete crypts, to shove the investigation reports onto another bookshelf, and to allocate one day per year to honoring the dead while ignoring what killed them the other 364 days. (read the entire piece).

I remember the Challenger and her crew frequently and with love. They are a part of me now. All of them represent the best within the American spirit, and always will. Since that day in 1986, I have come to see NASA as one of the greatest impediments to the Dream of space exploration; but I have never given up the Dream itself. Nor have I forgotten any of the pioneers who have died in the service of that Dream. Some day we humans will leave this small planet and joyfully play in all the corners of the cosmos.

I eagerly look forward to it.


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:15 AM |

 
Zarqawi Fund-Raising Letter
Interestingly, just as Boxer sent out her fund-raising letter, the following letter was discovered on an jihadist internet site:

Dear Friend of Tyranny,

The Americans were expecting their Senate to confirm Dr. Rice with little debate and questioning from the Foreign Relations Committee.

They didn't count on a woman in Congress to promote our anti-democracy agenda, praise Allah! What the Americans don't realize is, no matter who is in charge in the White House, the role of the Democratic Party and their mouthpieces like Boxer has always been to weaken the will of the American public and undermining the efforts of the Americans to bring freedom--may Allah condemn such blasphemy!-- to the world. Allah be praised! All who study the divine word know that democracy is for the infidel. In our system, this infidel Boxer would not even be allowed to speak, since women are nothing and should be silent and covered. But we are not opposed to using this dimwit to prove our point about how useless women are generally.

That's why I took a stand last week in my audiotape and voiced my concerns about the woman Rice. Her nomination to such a position is an insult to holy warriors everywhere, and typical of the decadent posturing of the west. I will continue to make my voice heard if Allah wills it, in Senate Foreign Relations committee through the voice of the woman Boxer, because we must, my brothers, put the brakes on four more years of pushing for democracy in the land that Allah holds dear. With Allah's help, we can work with this dhimmi to elect more Democrats to the Senate during the 2006 midterm elections in order to put the brakes on the Bush Administration's reckless policies that threaten to counter the developement of our Islamic Caliphate. Click here to contribute to our fund today.

After Rice is confirmed, the American Senate will face many more crucial decisions in the coming months: by opposing everything the wicked American president proposes we can pave the way not only for chaos to continue in Iraq, but also to bring chaos to Bush's entire social, economic and international agenda. The Democrats have no alternatives to offer, and are just pleased to be able to impede any progress in any area, Allah be praised! We have a chance during the American midterm elections to make sure the Republicans don't have four years to do continue their war on our holy mission.

It is clear that our best strategy for success is to fund the Democratic Party in America. The DSCC is working every day to recruit the strongest dhimmi candidates in every Senate race across the country. These useful tools can not know that they follow the will of Allah and are thus the instruments of his future triumph through our mujahadeen. We are fighting hard, but Boxer is only an unpure woman and needs your ongoing support today. Click here to contribute to her political party today. Your donation will strike a blow to the American ideal of freedom and destroy the morale of the soldiers, whose blood will fill the streets of the world, Allah willing.

So while I must resort to using a woman on the American Senate floor to forward our holy agenda in the U.S. (These, as you know, are the most cowardly of God’s creatures), I hope you will join us on the jihad trail and support us by sending even more Democrats opposed to protecting America to the Senate.

Peace and the mercy and blessings of God be upon you,

Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:20 PM |

 
The Accidental Suicide Murderer
If this doesn't convince people how impossible it is to protect against people consciously intent on taking their own life and/or killing someone else, then not much will (see this post). Apparently the cause of this death and mayhem was a suicidal individual who placed his car on a railroad track with the intent of killing himself; but then changed his mind at the last minute and exited the car before the train hit it. Unfortunately, the car remained on the track and caused 10 deaths and at least 100 injuries in the subsequent derailment. The accidental suicide murderer is now in custody and will be charged with murder.

Condolences to all who were impacted by this person's behavior.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:25 PM |

 
Zarqawi, The Visionary
From Scrappleface:

Abu Musab Zarqawi In a dramatic address reportedly crafted by a 'neoliberal' speechwriter within his administration, Mr. Zarqawi urged the Iraqi people to "throw off the oppressive mantle of self-determination."
"We are led," said Mr. Zarqawi, "by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of Islamic rule in our land increasingly depends on the success of Islamic rule in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the destruction of democracy in all the world. Freedom, after all, is just another word for 'nothing left to lose.'"
U.S. Senator John F. Kerry, D-MA, said the Zarqawi speech reinforced his own repeated calls to withdraw American troops from Iraq as quickly as possible, "to avoid imposing our culture-bound values on its people."
"Zarqawi offers a powerful alternative to Bush's provincial rhetorical hubris," Mr. Kerry said. "Even though Mr. Zarqawi is Jordanian, he has won the hearts, and often the heads, of the Iraqi people."

Brilliant, Scott! Go read all the news that's fit for satire here.


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:39 AM |

 
One-Of-A-Kind
Even as the Democrats nip at her ankles, Condoleeza Rice should --by every tangible measure--be celebrated as one of the most influential and intelligent American women in history. Brendan Miniter reminds us in his WSJ Opinion piece:

With 24 new women elected to the House and five to the Senate, 1992 was called the "year of the woman." But how much did Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray or Carol Moseley Braun really change the world? Now, though, a woman is on the rise who has already helped reshape geopolitics. Today Condoleezza Rice will face another round of hearings as she prepares to be confirmed as secretary of state--a position Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe used as a springboard into the presidency. If Ms. Rice were a Democrat, the media would have dubbed 2005 the "year of Condi."

Ms. Rice has already exerted tremendous influence on world affairs. As President Bush's national security adviser, she was instrumental in developing the administration's response to 9/11 into a policy that involved more than raiding terrorist camps throughout the world. Ms. Rice, who well understands the larger global political forces at work since the end of the Cold War, was one of a handful of powerbrokers who came to realize the best defense against terrorism was to spread freedom and democracy in the world.

For this she is mocked; her integrity impugned by the likes of a Barbara Boxer; and she is subjected to the demagoguery of people whose vision does not extend beyond their noses.

Dr. Rice does not need me to defend her--she has shown herself superbly capable of doing that herself. I am simply appalled at the unbelievable attitude of dismissal and loathing directed toward her from the Left. If she were one of them, she would be their darling. But because she thinks for herself and does not bow in deference to their failed policies, they refuse to recognize her incredible accomplishments. If they believed even half of the Democratic Party propaganda they crank out, then the Democrats --above any other group--should be in 7th Heaven celebrating the life and achievements of Condoleeza Rice. But when push comes to shove, the only thing that matters to them is Party loyalty.

I've waited my entire life to find a woman on the national political stage that I could admire unreservedly--one who did not get there on her husband's coattails; and one whose intellect, vision, capabilities and judgement are second to none.

Woman of the year? Hell, she's one-of-a-kind--a woman of a lifetime. CONDI 2008

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:20 AM |

 
The Shortsighted and Foolish Among Us
This is a report that was 30 years too early (hat tip: Dagney):

Nearly three decades before the Sept. 11 attacks, a high-level government panel developed plans to protect the nation against terrorist acts ranging from radiological ''dirty bombs'' to airline missile attacks, according to declassified documents obtained by the Associated Press.
''Unless governments take basic precautions, we will continue to stand at the edge of an awful abyss,'' Robert Kupperman, chief scientist for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, wrote in a 1977 report that summarized nearly five years of work by the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism.
The group was formed in September 1972 by President Nixon after Palestinian commandos slaughtered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. The committee involved people as diverse as Henry Kissinger to a young Rudolph Giuliani, the once-secret documents show.
The Task force met once. ''It is vital that we take every possible action ourselves and in concert with other nations designed to assure against acts of terrorism,'' Nixon wrote in asking his secretary of state, William Rogers, to oversee the task force.
''It is equally important that we be prepared to act quickly and effectively in the event that, despite all efforts at prevention, an act of terrorism occurs involving the United States, either at home or abroad,'' the president said.
The full committee met only once, in October 1972, to organize, but its experts did get together twice a month over nearly five years to identify threats and debate solutions, the memos show.
Eventually, the group's influence waned as competing priorities, a change of presidents ushered in by Watergate, bureaucratic turf battles and a lack of spectacular domestic attacks took their toll.
But before that happened, the panel identified many of the same threats that would confront President Bush in the 21st century.
Committee members identified commercial jets as a particular vulnerability, but raised concerns that airlines would not pay for security improvements such as tighter screening procedures and routine baggage inspections.

I guess what this tells us is that defending our country is a choice we make, or a choice we put off as we pursue other priorities. The panel that evaluated this threat in the 70's seems to have done a particularly good job of predicting what was to come, yet we were preoccupied with the day to day realities of the Cold War, and had a difficult time imagining the reality of a war on terror. It was brought to our attention only by the isolated incidents (like the 1st WTC bombing or the USS Cole); and by then we were distracted by the potential opportunities for peace after the Cold War.

But we were shortsighted and foolish, weren't we? We did not take seriously the gathering threat to our nation. And we ignored the multiple warnings that we had over a 30 year period. We needed to cultivate the capacity to analyze national and international trends; rate them for their potential to impact our national interests at home and abroad, and propose a course of action to effectively deal with them. In other words, we needed to become proactive and not just reactive.

In a country whose elected officials are incapable of thinking beyond the next election and only seek to score points on the opposition, thinking and planning ahead is considered a waste of time and resources, since assigning blame after a tragedy always gets you more points. If you prevent something from happening, how would you prove it, and who would give you credit?

No, far better to oppose every action or reform; denounce any new idea; and impugn the integrity of anyone who has the courage to act; and then you are in a perfect position to play the blame game! Some of us are still extremely shortsighted and foolish.

And that is the kindest and gentlest way I can describe certain bubble-headed, intellectually-deficient morons, who for reasons that are beyond human understanding, are currently members of Congress. I wouldn't want to victimize the poor little dears, since I know how sensitive and fragile they are. So I won't say anymore.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:36 PM |

 
Freedom Fanatics
Jonah Goldberg over at The Corner observes:

You know, it dawned on me the other day that Bush's inaugural address and it's emphasis on the unique power of freedom undermines -- or should undermine -- the popular conception that Bush is a "theocon." According to those who were horrified when Bush cited Jesus Christ as his favorite political philosopher, our president is a Christian "crusader." How many times have we read that?
Well in his speech, he said:

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and
resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the
decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

Now, I understand that Christians and particularly evangelicals have a theologically and morally serious understanding of free will, liberty etc. But, according to the caricature of Bush, he should have said that the only historical force which can do all of those wonderful things is acceptance of Jesus Christ or, at minimum, acceptance of God or "faith."
He didn't say that. Indeed, the notion that political freedom is the only proven weapon against tyrants and tyranny which can "reward the hopes" of decent people would be something akin to heresy if Bush were anything like the religious fanatic so many people tell us he is.

Now I can't tell you the number of my friends who were dismayed that I supported Bush precisely because of the "Christian Crusader" aspect that Jonah mentions. I found it interesting that this bias against Christianity has become a focal point for many people's dislike of Bush. To be honest, that aspect of his personality never seemed to me to be much different from any other politician on the national scene. Except that it seemed more sincere.

There have been numerous articles about the invocation of God in speeches--every President since Washington has done it. Lincoln mentioned God numerous times in his Gettysburg Address and many of his other speeches. FDR refers to the Deity over and over again in his speeches during WWII. So what is the big deal with President Bush doing the same?

As far as I can determine, the one thing that most people have said--and they say it in some disbelief--is that Bush means it! Instead of giving God lipservice, we find in President Bush a person who is sincere and means what he says. Why, he even admits to (shudder) praying. The obvious question is what kind of fanatic actually believes what he says and admits that he has faith in God?

Now, I am an unredeemed sinner myself, but some of my best friends are religious and even I find it a fairly normal thing to be around them. As long as noone trys to convert me to their particular way of thinking about God and matters ecclesiastical, I am content to let them be who they are.

I find the most obnoxiously religious people to be people on the Left, whose evangelical zeal in trying to make everyone believe what they do to be unsurpassed by most traditional religious types. And the fervor with which they believe in Marx and Chomsky and other similarly Leftist theologians is indistinguishable from those in the throes of religious ecstasy.

What is especially annoying about some religions and some people who practice them--whether Christian, Isamic, or Leftist, or a combo thereof-- is their predeliction for trying to pass laws to make me think and/or behave as they do. And for this, I am willing condemn all religious zealots who want their beliefs imposed on everyone, no matter their specific religious orientation.

But for the record, I don't think President Bush qualifies in the religious fanatic category. Maybe he's a Freedom Fanatic--but then, so am I.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:04 PM |

 
A Brief Moment of Sanity?
Hollywood has issued its Oscar nomination list...and guess who is not on it? Anywhere! BooHoo. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was left out across the board. One can only wonder if Hollywood was siezed by a brief moment of sanity?

Stranger things have happened. I suppose.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:28 PM |

 
Worst Headline of the Week
He only has one? That explains a lot.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:38 AM |

 
Oil-For-Food Money Funded Suicide Bombers
From The Counterterrorism Blog comes this reminder:

...the House International Relations Committee last November 17, Rep. Henry Hyde, committee chairman, stated that "Saddam paid $25,000 rewards to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers through the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan out of accounts in the Rafidain Bank in Amman which held kickback money Saddam demanded from suppliers to his regime."

Andrew Cochrane, the editor of the site also posts a very nice diagram used by the Committee to show the flow of money. Check it out. By the way, it appears to be a very interesting blog, with losts of good information.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:22 PM |

 
Do They Mean It?
An important Sheikh has denounced terrorism in an Eid sermon in Mecca:

The warning came, amid a surge in militant attacks in Muslim countries and beyond, from Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, while addressing Haj pilgrims in a customary Eid sermon. The imam also advised Islamic scholars to preach moderation to confront this “rotten” phenomenon.
“Islam is the religion of moderation. There is no room for extremism in Islam,” he said.
He called on Muslims to “protect non-Muslims in the Kingdom and not to attack them in the country or anywhere. Islam is a religion of peace that abhors attack on innocents.” Militants were using misguided interpretations of Islam to justify violence, he added.

Are the moderate Muslims beginning to stand up against this monster that has arisen in their midst? Do they really mean it? I hope so.

The problem is that there is ample evidence in the Koran that the terrorist-minded can point to justify their sick behavior. The problem is....well, the problem is Islam itself. If ever there was a religion in need of reform it is Islam. If ever a religion needed to be dragged out of the Middle Ages--it is Islam. If ever a religion needed to come to grips with its misogyny and suppression of women--it is Islam as it is practiced in most of the world. If ever a religion needed to face the psychological denial and projection it uses to cope with the realities of the 21st century--it is Islam. Wanting Islam to be a religion of peace, does not make it so.

In psychiatry we say that the first step in getting well is recognizing you have a problem. Taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, and behavior is absolutely necessary if you want to take the next step and be able to change them.

Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, has at least recognized there is a problem (but not necessarily Islam's problem, unfortunately) and his way of dealing with it is to say that those who embrace terror are not "true" muslims. One thing we can count on is that somewhere there is yet another Sheikh saying the opposite--i.e., that the only true muslim is one who embraces the jihad and kills the non-believer. If the imam had said "Islam is not yet a religion of peace, but our goal is to understand why terrorism has found its home in our beliefs and fix the problem" --I might feel a bit more hopeful.

If Sheikh Al-Sudais means what he says, I want to know what his religion is going to do about this "phenomenon" within Islam? Talk is cheap. Take the first step and admit responsibility.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:39 PM |

 
L.A.R.K.
The Diplomad has run across a new government program: LARK (Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers) that has been set up for Guantanamo detainees! Read all about it here. LOL

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:53 AM |

 
Cynicism and Delusion
That's what the Dems are peddling, according to Mark Steyn:

There's a big lesson for the Democrats there that goes way beyond the merits of abortion or gay marriage. On Sept. 11, the world came unspun: There's no shame in acknowledging, as Condi Rice did last week, that previous policy -- Republican and Democrat -- toward the Middle East is wrong. But there's something silly and immature about a party that, from Kerry to Boxer to Byrd, can't get beyond spin, grandstanding and debater's points: Joyce Smith sees through it, even if David von Drehle thinks it's ingenious. If the president's speech yoked idealism and realism, that doesn't leave much for dissenting Dems except their own peculiar combination of cynicism and delusion.

Read how he got to this conclusion--there's noone like Steyn who can be as humorous and deadly serious at the same time. Let me just add that the Dems come to this "combination of cynicism and delusion" by way of denial. They have yet to accept the fact of 9/11, preferring to remain in the Clinton era of "perfection", where they imagined they were loved and respected by the world and that everything was good. In a way, they are like the little hobbits of Tolkien, living innocently in their idyllic, protected land--unaware of the wider world and the evil that lurks just outside the borders of their consciousness. Unfortunately for them, the evil will penetrate their landscape whether they appreciate its reality or not.

Denial and delusion are, after all, primitive psychological defenses and neither work well for very long; nor bode well for psychological health.



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:22 AM |

 
The Troops' Perspective
Here are a series of pictures taken by our troops in Iraq. They give a good perspective of what life is like there. Take a look! (hat tip: Rantingprofs). Or, you might try here, to get some news the Mainstream media doesn't bother to report.

And here is a firsthand report from a soldier on the frontlines of the tsunami relief effort. (hat tip: Michelle Malkin). It dovetails nicely with the diplomatic perspective from the Diplomad (here, and here, for example).

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:15 PM |

 
THIS is Freedom!
YOU MUST WATCH THIS! (hat tip: the fourth rail)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:01 PM |

 
Weekly Insanity Update
It's time for the weekly roundup of the insane, the ridiculous, the obnoxious, and the completely unbelievable! Overall, despite bright spots, it has been a fruitful week for those of us in the mental health field. Moonbats were joyfully at play, mindless of the delusional quality of their thoughts. Pretetentions abounded and there was plenty of tinfoil to go around. And that was just a summary of the insane items! Here's the list:

1. Make love, not war

2. Now this is the kind of scandal I could get behind!

3. Other important national secrets entrusted to "Say-no-more" Hersh.

4. What a complete jackass Kerry is. (IMHO, of course)

5. These Ayatollahs are pathetic. Note the rant about "Western and Zionist capitalists", and you will understand why the Left can relate to these thugs.

6. Clearly she hasn't been straight with the American public. Perhaps her loyalty to the mission she was given, overwhelmed her respect for the truth?

7. He voted FOR Condi Rice, before he voted AGAINST her?

8. Really? Really? Oh, Geez! But then it turns out that the NYTimes may have been exaggerating....I'm just shocked. (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds)

9. An example of political pragmatism? Or, "I'll do ANYTHING to get elected!"?

10. Flip - Flop - Putin style!

11. "He did a terrible thing, but it wasn't murder." What do YOU call stabbing someone to death during a bank robbery, I wonder? (hat tip: Frank)

12. You just can't disagree with some people without them wanting to kill you.

13. Somebody better tell the Texas Longhorns!

14. The question is --has anyone discovered a terrorist with one?

And, an Extraspecialbonus insanity:

15. Any really brave ANSWER people out there? You're needed again! (via Rantingprofs)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:37 AM |

 
They Couldn't Care Less About Freedom
With just over a week until the Iraq elections, Amir Taheri in the Arab News notes what is at stake:
Never have so many people pinned so much hope on a single day of voting, Jan. 30, 2005, that is to give Iraq its first freely elected Parliament plus provincial and regional councils.
The election will not only set the course for the 25 million Iraqis but could also determine a new balance of power in the Middle East. Beyond Iraq, the election will confirm or challenge the United States’ status as a “superpower” capable of reshaping the regional status quo. President George W. Bush has vowed to bring the Middle East into “the global democratic mainstream”, with Iraq as the starting point. Success could boost his prestige and encourage local democratic forces. Failure would mark the beginning of a decline in American influence, and revitalize forces determined to keep Muslim nations out of the modern world.

You begin to see why so many on the Left yearn for a resounding defeat of democratic ideals--they are desperately hoping for a "decline in American influence". The same hope abounded about Afghanistan before its elections, and now that that country has transitioned to democracy, the Left couldn't care less. Now that women are not under the hateful oppression of the Taliban, the Women's Movement couldn't care less. Now that the Afghanis and the Iraqis have a chance--for the first time in history--to determine their own fate--International ANSWER couldn't care less.

Since Bush was successful in Afghanistan, the Democrats couldn't care less about Afghanistan. They now hang their pathetic hopes on Bush's failure in Iraq. They couldn't care less about Freedom.

What they actually care about is Power, and in that, they share motivation with the likes of OBL, Zarqawi and every totalitarian scumbag from Washington to Baghdad and beyond.

Ah, come on! you might say--50% of the U.S. population doesn't like the war in Iraq. You can't say that they are all scumbags! Well, that is true. Some of them are just idiots. But about 25% of them have sold their soul (if they ever had one to begin with) to the ideologues whose main goal is the destruction of everything this country stands for--and to prevent the spread of Freedom and Democracy. If being liberal EVER stood for something, it stood for those two things. If being "progressive" EVER meant anything, it meant the joyful celebration of freedom and looking forward, not backward.

The line in the sand has been drawn. Iraqis will choose which side they are on in a week. The Afghanis have already chosen. Let us not forget who it was that gave them the chance to choose. It won't be smooth-going; it might not be pretty; it could continue to be violent and contentious. But like the formation of a brilliant star from the cataclysmic reactions in its core--it will be wonderful to behold. I sincerely wish the Iraqi people the all the strength, courage, and wisdom they require to reclaim their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

The Left and the Democrats must also choose. Will they come down on the side of Freedom? Will they have the courage to stand up and say "YES" to democracy in Iraq? To Freedom in the Middle East? To Liberty for All? Or will they whine and whimper and sulk and pout, shouting NO, NO, NO to the wave of Freedom sweeping the world? Either way, the future is coming, and it has Liberty written all over it.

The Iraqis understand what is at stake for them--to read their thoughts, go here, here, and a summation here.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:47 PM |

 
NEWSFLASH! UN to End Poverty in the Galaxy!
From the Diplomad:

What's your UN up to? It's going to end world poverty! Having ended the poverty of UNocrats, your UN will now spread the wealth. How will do it this magical thing? It has a report! And no ordinary report -- as they say, "Not Available in Stores" -- this one is extra special. The report, "A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals" is 3,000, yes, three thousand pages long! The Diplomad is sure all of you will go to the link right now and download three thousand pages of UN prose. Fill up your hard drives! Burn out your printers!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen that is approximately 1,200,000 words (I counted the words on several representative pages and multiplied). By contrast, President Bush expended a little less than 2000 words and 20 minutes on his Inaugural address which outlined a rather simple plan (I thought) to end tyranny. If Kofi Annan recited this report to end poverty it would take an astonishing 12,000 minutes, or 200 solid hours to complete it!

The UN report begins with "the [great] ideas of [our dear leader] Mr. Annan." (words in parentheses are mine, actually), and basically proposes that the rich countries like the US give more money to the poor countries! What an innovative idea! What a marvelous achievement of soaring intellect!

You might want to read the Diplomad's entire post. You might want to skip the entire UN report. My take: if you want to end poverty, then end tyranny and embrace Freedom and its economic partner, Capitalism. End of Report.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 3:28 PM |

 
LET IT SNOW
Well, it's really lovely out. The trees are loaded with snow and the view around my neighborhood is breathtaking. Snow is still falling, and we have about 5 inches so far on the ground. It is unnaturally quiet, because noone is venturing out in their cars. So far this has been about the best winter we've had in Ann Arbor.

There is something infinitely beautiful about snow....something startingly peaceful and contemplative. Snow falling is the poetry of winter. Most people regard it as a pain in the ass, but if you don't have to go anywhere in it, and can just watch and enjoy, it can be very restful. We'll worry about digging out later--for now, let it snow!

Here's my favorite poem about snow:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

-Robert Frost

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:00 PM |

 
A Prediction
I thought of this, but a reader at The Corner beat me to actually saying it:

my prediction...the student lead revolution that will take place in Iran over the next 4 years will look back on Jan. 20, 2005 as the day George Bush told them that the United States of American was ready to aid them in their cause of bringing freedom to their nation, and that this speech will be the catalyst for their action

That's exactly the kind of speech it was. Bush has once more lifted the "lamp beside the golden door" and lit the shining beacon that could inspire many who live under oppression and totalitarianism to take action and shrug off their chains. I believe that George W. Bush could well become one of the greatest U.S. presidents in history (and wouldn't that be a kicker to the Bush-bashers of today! ) I guess we shall see if his inspiration is powerful enough to mobilize the nascent freedom movements around the world.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door" -from "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus (on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:10 AM |

 
A Few Links
This is pretty funny (OK, I have a weird sense of humor). This is not. [hat tips: The Corner]

Three great posts from Wretchard-- here, here, and here.

A really funny post from Iowahawk.

And, mothers don't let your children grow up to be moonbats!



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:59 PM |

 
Media Negativity Quantified
Arthur Chrenkoff who pens a weekly "Good News From Iraq" roundup (here's the most recent), has tallied up the number of negative stories in the mainstream about Iraq in just one day. The results will astound you.

How can it possible be so different from what troops are saying on the ground there? (see here, here for example) And from what Iraqis are saying? (see here and here).

Of course, you must choose for yourself which perspective is the more accurate--or rather, whose agenda you are buying into. Just remember what Bush said yesterday:

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

Those words represent one agenda. The one that I buy into. And this is clearly the other.

You choose.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 2:56 PM |

 
WhooooooHoooooo!
The Council has spoken!
Not to refine too much on it, but Dr. Sanity has chalked up another win in the weekly Best Council Post at Watcher of Weasels! And believe me, the competition is fierce!

Here are the top winners this week:

BEST NON-COUNCIL POSTS:

1. Welcome Neighbor! at Varifrank

And coming in at #2- a great essay from a soldier in Iraq: Aiding and Abetting the Enemy at Blackfive

BEST COUNCIL POSTS:

1. WMD and Death By Chocolate Cake by the ever so humble Dr. Sanity

and #2- a little insight into Ted Kennedy's intentions for your money:
Ted Kennedy’s Contract on Your Paycheck at The Sundries Shack

Check out all the fine Winners over at the Watcher's site! It makes for some great reading.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:19 AM |

 
YES !

I do feel sorry for all these losers....

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:46 PM |

 
Suggestion for Fixing the Democratic Party
The Alliance of Free Blogs has an assignment for members: Make suggestions for fixing the Democratic Party.
I have one suggestion and it is very simple:

Viagra

Hopefully it will help--particularly in formulating their foreign policy platform.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:54 PM |

 
A Day To Celebrate Freedom
Here is the he President's entire inaugural address.

I don't ever remember a time in my life when one person condensed and crystalized the deepest feelings and values I possess into one short talk. I was always impressed with Ronald Reagan, and he came extremely close sometimes, but his very actor's glibness never struck as deep a chord as the earnest, honest, and simple words of George W. Bush.

When Bush speaks, flaws and all, he stirs my soul so profoundly that I cannot even type this without tears streaming down my face. I have thought long and hard why this should be, and I think it is because for the first time in my life, I see this country living up to its full potential; totally embracing the value of Freedom and dedicating itself to bringing that Freedom to all people on Earth. Grandiose? Yes, indeed it is. But there is nothing wrong with that grand dream. It is, perhaps the expression of the deepest longing of the human soul. It is what I have always felt America stood for--from the frounding of our nation, to the Civil War, to days of civil rights ; to today. As freedom sweeps across the globe, I feel that it is the natural extension of those miraculous days when America came forth into the world--a beacon of Liberty in the darkness of tyranny.

I am so proud and so lucky to have been born in America. Not a day goes by that I don't thank whatever fate or destiny led me to this happy circumstance. All I know is that in George W. Bush, I have found a leader who truly represents what I believe America should stand for. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. These words have stirred me since I was a child, and they remains my most sacred values; for without them, no other values are possible.

Here is several excerpts from the President's address today that most moved me:

For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
....
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
....
This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.
....
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.
....
All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs.

Believe the evidence of your own eyes. Freedom is finally sweeping the world. It will push evil from its path and crush it. Freedom will triumph.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:26 PM |

 
Prescription for the World's Anxiety About Bush
I have several solutions for the emotional problems described in this article (and I make these suggestions with the deepest compassion for those involved; as well as with the fundamental, essential empathy that makes us all human):

1. Accept that you are on the wrong side of history.
2. Change, or get over it.
3. Begin to take responsibility for your own country's problems and stop blaming the U.S. or President Bush for those problems; and
4. Antidepressants*, if the above doesn't work--but, as a consequence of resorting to drugs for this problem, you then must shut up. (Note: *antidepressants work very well for anxiety and are not addictive).
5. LGF suggests more exercise, and I also include this suggestion--although I think that exercising your brains might be of more immediate, practical benefit.

Complete the above actions, and call me in the morning. Or, better yet--don't.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:10 AM |

 
Diplomad's Top 10 Favorite Lies
The Diplomad had a list of his Top Ten Favorite Lies. Here are my favorite three:

4) You can't make a country democratic by force. This is anti-Americanism and anti-Iraq-invasion thinking mixed with historic amnesia. The Brits conquered India and left it democratic. We bombed Germany and Japan to smithereens, occupied them by force and left them democratic. We invaded and occupied Afghanistan and it's on the way to being democratic. We have a better than even chance of doing the same with Iraq.

5) The United Nations is the hope for the future of mankind,and its corollary, if we didn't have the UN we'd have to invent it. If this is true, mankind has a bleak future. Anybody with an IQ larger than his shoe size (American shoe size) knows that trusting the UN with our hopes for the future is wrong; we have seen this day after day. But this idea is still out there, and accepted as politically correct and believable by large swaths of countries. It's the official line of the whole European Union, which is frightening, since some of those countries individually are good allies and have intelligent people who should know better.

10) We're all going to die of global warming. We are all going to die; that part is true. But Diplomads are not too worried about global warming. We can find articles in the media 20, 30 years ago that warned of a sooner-than-expected new ice age. OK, we can be persuaded that too many cars with bad exhaust pipes can pollute the air, but not nearly as much as when a volcano erupts. It's freezing cold all over the United States this winter, with horrible snow and ice storms. Our countrymen in places like Nebraska or North Dakota are probably thinking "Boy, I sure wish those scientists were right and we could get some global warming real soon." (Note from the Chief Diplomad: Not long ago I read about the freezing winters that Mongolia has suffered. Being a charitable person, I now drive my SUV in honor of the Mongolians. Bumper sticker: Driving for Mongolia!)

Check out the other seven!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:55 AM |

 
League of Looters Update
The U.N. was eliminating poverty, all right. If you consider Saddam Hussein just another poverty-stricken dictator.

Thanks to Cox and Forkum, of course.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:25 PM |

 
Competing Inaugurals
Judy Bachrach of Vanity Fair just assumed the absurd position of criticizing the "lavish" festivities planned for the Inauguration on a segment of Fox News. And she was incredibly pretentious about it, too. She claims that she has discovered an inverse relationship to our nation at war and the amount of money spent on a presidential inauguration (the more you spend, the worse it can be assumed a war is going). FDR--who had a sense of propriety--according to this dingbat, had such a modest little inauguration where they served chicken salad.

Wow! Who would have thought that Vanity Fair--Vanity Fair!--would offer us a history lesson in comparable inaugural entertainment? It matters not to this bimbo that the funding for the inauguration activites of which she disapproves is privately donated and that the President has taken care to insure that the troops are honored. Here she is spouting about chicken salad!

As it turns out, for most of WWII the Allies were losing and the news of casualties and deaths were orders of magnitude greater than what is happening in Iraq (go ahead, you can check). When FDR was inaugurated in 1945, he was 3 months away from his own death; and if the inaugural festivities were subdued, it was much more likely it was due to the poor health of tthe President which he had denied during the campaign the previous year. As for FDR's other inaugurals, the pomp and circumstance demonstrated would likely come in second to none.

I am just so sick of these obnoxious, superior people who claim that their moral perspective is so far above everyone else's. Ms. Judy, for example, suggested that the money could go to buying protective armor for our soldiers. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ms Judy doesn't give a rat's ass for our soldiers, but she does hate President Bush and clearly considers it her moral duty to expose his moral failings.

I expect that she likewise has issued a statement on behalf of Vanity Fair that the Golden Globes, the Oscars,probably the annual basketball March Madness etc. etc. should also all be cancelled for the same reasons as the Presidential Inauguration festivities; and the money that would have been spent on them (and maybe even the clothing that would have been bought to wear to them) should immediately be spent to improve the Humvees in Iraq. And also, the ostentatious and lavish lifestyles of many of those in Hollywood should immediately cease and their incomes donated to whatever Ms. Judy considers of importance. Maybe she should also stop dying her hair and having it styled? That could contribute a few more bucks to the things that are really important.

The complete insanity of her position is that she and her ilk, by their treasonous actions and behavior during wartime must shoulder some of the responsibility for a good number of the deaths of our own soldiers. They have seen to it that the hands of our military have been tied behind their back in every military action and demonstrated an incredible double standard where whatever a U.S. soldier does is criticized, but the 'courageous' enemy gets a free pass (after all they are the "minutemen" fighting for their country's freedom from the evil U.S.). They have seen to it that the U.S. is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't--just as long as it is damned. And when their disastrous predictions didn't happen in Afghanistan, they lost interest in the country, since it couldn't help them in that mission.

She should join John Kerry's faithful on the carribean cruise they are planning during the inaugural events. By the way, Kerry interruped his lavish lifestyle to come to vote "No" on Dr. Condoleeza Rice's confirmation as Secretary of State. Perhaps he and Teresa could donate $40 million or so to improving the status of the common soldier in Iraq. Yeah. Right.

UPDATE: HAH! I should have known.

UPDATE II: I find I am getting a lot of traffic because Oliver Willis apparently discussed this same segment. Since he didn't feel it necessary to let his readers know that the original context of the interview of Bachrach with Bridgette Quinn of Fox--it was to be about the the ongoing inaugural plans, not about humvees in Iraq --I am providing this link here to check it out, if you like.


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:44 PM |

 
New VDH Column
Victor Davis Hanson has a new column up at his Private Papers. I will cut to the chase:

The United States has adopted a rational strategy against Islamic fascism: kill the terrorists, remove illegitimate regimes that aid the extremists, foster democracies in their places and alter American policy from tolerance of the corrupt status quo to calls for reform. Yet we cannot finish the Islamicists' war unless we understand why they started it. For that answer, look at who Americans are and what we represent — not at what we supposedly have done.

Please read the entire piece.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:49 AM |

 
All I Needed To Know I Learned in Vietnam
Michael Cove in a London TimesOnline piece observes: (hat tip: Instapundit)

SCIENTISTS HAVE a phrase for the point at which the known universe ends, and a black hole begins. They call it the event horizon. In recent months it has become clear that a similar phenomenon is at work in media coverage of foreign affairs.
There is a particular point at which knowledge appears to end and a huge black hole begins. It seems to occur somewhere in the 1960s. The specific event beyond which most commentators now find it difficult to see is the Vietnam War.
It has become the dominant reference point for discussion of any current military campaign. The war to liberate Afghanistan had barely begun before sceptics were suggesting that a “Vietnam-style quagmire” loomed. And from the moment plans were laid to topple Saddam’s regime, cynics were certain that the Iraq war would lead, if not to Apocalypse Now, then to the quagmire to end all quagmires.
In the past few weeks the number, and weight, of those concluding that the Iraq war has been a foolish adventure has grown. And many of the weightiest, including John Maples, the former Shadow Foreign Secretary, writing on these pages last week, have invoked the long shadow cast by the Vietnam War Memorial. Can we not learn from history, they ask, and recognise we have made another error to rank with that error-strewn conflict in the jungles of South-East Asia?
The demand that we should learn from history makes sense. But, sadly, none of the comparisons so far drawn with Vietnam display a full sense of the nature of that conflict, or the one we face now.

I have noticed this phenomenon for decades and wondered at the reasons behind such a ridiculous, yet persistent, analogy made on the part of the Left. Here is my explanation: The failure of the U.S. in the Vietnam war, and its humiliation at the hands of the Communists there was the one and only victory that the Left achieved in the latter part of the 20th Century. Look at it from their perspective.

By the end of the millennium the early "victories" of Communism and Socialism were pretty washed up, and the evidence of their underlying ideological bankruptcy was everywhere. The once feated social experiment of the Soviet Union was in a shambles; and its power in world affairs disappeared rapidly. Instead of a perfect society, these systems had created a nightmare of human misery and suffering.

By contrast, the decadent capitalistic society of the U.S. continued its bumpy forward journey to productivity, prosperity, and freedom. Three things that will elude any totalitarian regime. With the evidence unfolding before their eyes, it was not an accident that the Left hold tightly and possessively to the "achievement" of Vietnam.

And what was that achievement? They were able to mobilize the masses to a mini-revolution within the U.S. They were able to alter American foreign policy and change the course of a nation. They were able to completely write-off the sacrifice of thousands of American soldiers and bring down the mighty U.S. military. They were able to defeat America AND humiliate America.

Now, I will admit that I had problems with the Vietnam war--not the least of which was the Selective Service (Draft), which I utterly and completely opposed and continue to oppose under any and all circumstances. Such a program has no place in a free society. Period. I always felt it was incredibly ironic to have a Drafted military for fighting for democracy and freedom vs. communism. But, I never hated America or the Armed Forces of the U.S., like many of those who gloried in the disgrace and humiliation they brought about with their slogans and banners and marches against the war. It was heady stuff to know that you possessed such a power over the strongest country on the globe.

Like the old men who continually reminisce about their glory days, many of the Left have never abandoned those slogans which came to signify their mighty victory. All battles since then must be made to fit in the Procrustean bed of their Vietnam experience.

This all came out into the open and was made obvious in the presidential campaign of John Kerry, who viewed his Vietnam experience as his "glory days". Wasn't the "All I needed to know I learned in Vietnam" meme ultimately the basis of his claim he would make a better war-time president?

The war we are in now is not Vietnam. Neither was Afghanistan (though they said it was after 2 weeks of that war). You need to know MORE than the history of Vietnam to understand either of our most recent wars and to win them. Vietnam was kindergarden as far as a war learning curve is concerned; and you need to know more than you learned in kindergarden to survive in the war on terror, where our enemies make the Viet Cong seem almost banal by comparison.

So, let us get beyond Vietnam and over the event horizon to the here and now. If we learned anything from Vietnam, let us have learned that WE CANNOT BE DEFEATED ON THE BATTLEFIELD, WE CAN ONLY BE DEFEATED FROM WITHIN. Let us have learned that this enemy can only be successful if we as a nation no longer have the will, the energy, or the courage to do what is right.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:43 PM |

 
Wouldn't It Be Nice?
I've just watched Condaleeza Rice face off against John Kerry in her senate confirmation hearings for Secretary of State, and I would say that Kerry came off looking like a pretentious schmuck. Wow! I really admire the brilliance, committment and clarity of that woman.

I read with interest an article that points to Rice as the culmination of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Those who instead see her as "race traitor" are the among the most bigoted and prejudiced people of today. They are the one's who believe in and unfailingly use racial (and other demeaning) stereotypes, when someone "uppity" like Dr. Rice dares to deviate from their script for Blacks (see here and here and here for examples).

I completely concur with the Watcher over at Watcher of Weasels:

Wouldn't it be nice if people really were judged by the content of their character, rather than by the color of their skin? Wouldn't it be nice if minorities weren't immediately branded as race traitors for simply daring to wander off the Democratic Party's plantation?

UPDATE: Barbara Boxer is in the process of questioning Dr. Rice. To use an expression one of my readers turned me on to--she is one enchilada short of a combo. Does Dr. Rice really need Ms. Boxer to remind her that Americans have died in Iraq? Do these hearings really need to be a soapbox to rehash the same old BS from the Democratic establishment? (And, to be balanced, some of the Republicans also used it as a soapbox, but at least they didn't try to imply that Rice was a liar and had no integrity).

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:30 PM |

 
First Signs of Protest?
Well, here is an interesting article about the first signs of protest evident in North Korea.

The first known visual evidence of dissent within the world's most secretive state emerged yesterday when video footage taken in a North Korean factory showed a portrait of the dictator, Kim Jong-il, defaced with graffiti demanding freedom and democracy.
The 35-minute video clip, said to have been taken in November, was posted on the website of an opposition group based in South Korea. It shows a poster of Kim scrawled over with the words: "Down with Kim Jong-il. Let's all rise to drive out the dictatorial regime.''

Whatever is going on inside that pathetic regime, I hope this report represents just a small piece of a new wave of Freedom there. Read the whole article.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:08 AM |

 
The Moral Tightrope
Wretchard offers his usual incisive analysis of the situation in Iraq--in this case the preparations of the U.S., Iraqi, and terrorist forces for the upcoming elections:

Through the application of unrelenting terror the insurgents have managed to discipline their own ranks into pursuing a scorched earth strategy. Since they are in no conceivable position to retrieve their former position of power in Iraq, they are bent upon thwarting its attainment by anyone else. By refusing to unleash sectarian violence against the Sunnis and taking every step to coax their participation in the elections, the US hopes may hope to drive a wedge between the average Sunni Arab and the insurgent leadership, whose willingness to expend an unlimited quantity of blood and cruelty constitutes the ultimate asymmetrical weapon.

As I mentioned in the previous post, this is the one area that the terrorists have a mighty advantage over U.S.military might. We are NOT prepared--nor do we even want-- to expend an "unlimited amount of blood and cruelty to achieve our aims", and in this conflict, have never subscribed to a "scorched earth" strategy. If anything, we have bent over backwards in the opposite direction to minimize the loss of innocent Iraqi lives--even if it meant increased loss of American lives at times; or even abandoning an objective. This is the moral tightrope that we walk in Iraq.

There are some who would hamstring the military even further in their ability to respond to the enemy's strategy, and who simultaneously expect there to be FEWER American casualties as a result of their Olympian detachment from the reality on the ground. They are either incredibly foolish or deliberately trying to ensure failure and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

If they expect fewer American lives to be lost, they must tolerate the moral shakiness of incurring collatoral damage (i.e. innocent Iraqi lives) as one ruthlessly proceeds to the objective. If one is to maintain the moral high ground in all instances, under all circumstances and never respond to the terrorists with maximum effect, then it seems inevitable that more American deaths and injuries will result as engagements drag on. Negotiating that moral tightrope is a challenge, but one that the U.S. military forces have admirably taken on. The enemy has not demonstrated any inclination to care about any moral ambiguities like who might get killed during the pursuit of their objectives. In fact, frequently random deaths are their objective.

Many others have written more eloquently and concisely than I could on this very topic. I add my two cents only because I have such great admiration for the Americans in the U.S. military who are fighting this war on our behalf, and who every day are threatened by the terrorist enemy, even while the enemies at home whine and nitpick their actions. Even with some of the unreasonable constraints imposed on them, every day the overwhelming majority make choices and take actions that make me proud to be an American.

Our soldiers and marines may walk a moral tightrope, but their moral choices are based on valuing both Life and Liberty.

UPDATE: I wonder exactly what it is that Seymour Hersh values, besides Seymour Hersh. (see here and then here)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:44 PM |

 
The Alternate Inaugural Address
Sigh...here's an inaugural address we'll never get to hear. By the hilarious P.J. O'Rourke.

MY FELLOW AMERICANS, I had intended to reach out to all of you and bring a divided nation together. But I changed my mind. America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

I can tell you they certainly are stewing in Ann Arbor ("20 square miles surrounded by reality"), where bright red and blue Kerry/Edwards signs continue to decorate many snow-covered lawns.

Read the rest and enjoy.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 7:28 PM |

 
Defending Against The Reckless Hate of Islam
This does not inspire much confidence in Homeland Security (hat tip: Instapundit); and this is just plain scary (forgive the pun). If true, it could really dampen your enthusiasm about air travel.

These stories got me thinking about the whole issue of homeland security, terrorists who want to kill us, and fear. I know I'm not alone in worrying about these issues. From the sad economic situation with the major air carriers, I suspect that I am not the only one who looks askance at airline travel since 9/11. It would be foolish to admit there isn't a frisson of fear that invades my mind whenever I make travel arrangements for myself or my family. It's like an extra worry burden that was never present before we as a nation became aware that we were at war with an irrational and insane bunch of religious fanatics who are willing to kill themselves in order to kill us. As Theoden asks Aragorn in the movie "The Two Towers", "What can men do against such reckless hate?"

Careful considerations makes me realize that there is little we can do against the reckless, and intense hatred that is directed against us by the jihadi extremists. That is precisely why they have settled on tactics that include suicide murder attacks, beheading and other forms of terror. They know they cannot win in a conventional war, so they choose to use unconventional and seemingly irrational methods to achieve their goal of enslaving humanity to their religious vision. But they are only irrational if you fail to consider what they believe. For them, death is a GOOD thing; one that is longed for and has rewards waiting for the faithful. In their twisted logic, by killing themselves and us they are doing both a favor. I must always remember that the sickest paranoid delusional person I treat is also logical if you consider that what he thinks and believes is logically derived from his basic premises. But it is those premises that are out of touch with reality and the essence of his insanity.

I have come to discover that there is no logical manner to protect onself 100% against such thinking and the behavior that flows from it. Our society has put in safeguards, after all, to try to prevent suicide--we are even willing to violate people's rights by hospitalizing them involuntaily and medicating them involuntarily--all to protect them from themselves. We have police departments in every city whose job is also to prevent loss of life. You would think that because of all these dedicated people trying to prevent suicide and homicide, that these two problems would not be a major issue in our society. You would be incorrect. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds, with homicide being the second.

While it is true that suicide has gone down almost 10% in the last decade; and homicide decreased almost 30% --our society is nowhere near eradicating such behavior. An individual truly committed to killing himself or herself; or dedicated to killing someone else can accomplish their mission, if not with ease, then with cunning, perserverance, and knowing the system.

Unfortunately, this is all that it takes for terrorists to do the same. What ever roadblock we put up, the dedicated terrorist will find an alternate route. If we make it impossible for them to act on their hatred by using planes; they will turn to trains. If we target only men, they will recruit women. If we carefully screen Middle Eastern men, they will recruit deluded citizens of countries we don't suspect. This is not to say that such methods might not decrease their ability to carry out their despicable plans. They have and they do. Witness the fact that there have been no terrorist attacks in this country since 9/11. I feel sure in asserting that Bin Laden or other lunatic terrorist leader had been able to do their worse, they would have.

And, of course, they still might. All it takes is cunning and perseverence and knowing the system. So as a reasonable person, I am inclined to resign myself to the inevitable attack that will not be able to be prevented by even the most vigilant Department of Homland Security. By and large, our security rests on our own shoulders, and we should take that responsibility seriously. We are at war, and perhaps the best thing I can do is to be aware of my own local circumstances at all times; and to support a president who is willing to fight that war. Other than that, I choose to do the worse possible thing to the Islamofascist fanatics and their terror - not let it interfere with my daily life. I may feel some fear, but I won't let the bastards keep me from doing what I want. In that, they have failed dismally.

Again, resorting to the Lord of the Rings, from the same scene quoted before-- Aragorn answers Theoden's heartfelt cry by turning to him and saying, "Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them."

And isn't that what we have done?

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:14 PM |

 
Council Seat Up For Grabs!
Beautiful Atrocities has informed the Watcher that he must vacate his seat on the Watcher's Council. The blog was on the Council for just a short time but was appreciated greatly by all of us. Now that he has decided to step down, there is one open seat and the Watcher needs to find a blog worthy enough to fill it. Anyone that has a blog, please read the up-to-date version of the rules here and contact the Watcher of Weasels if you are interested in applying for membership! It's fun and I consider it an honor to be on the Council!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:08 PM |

 
Who Watches the Watchers?
The Diplomad does; and the group he reports on today is the Human Rights Watch. The HRW is NOT -I repeat NOT - looking out for your rights. In fact, if you are an American, you are the primary cause of the misery in the world, in case you didn't know it.

It seems that for the guys and the gals at HRW, whenever something "negative" happens in the world, it's ultimate source is something the USA has done or failed to do. If Egypt adopts restrictive legislation it's because it imitates the US post-9/11 Patriot Act; if Britain does, it's because of the US-induced "climate of fear" after 9/11; if Cuba has a bad human rights record, the U.S. economic embargo is partially to blame, etc. No other country gets as much attention as the USA in HRW's reports: go look for yourselves.

Anything "positive" -- on the rare occasions HRW recognizes any such development -- is the result of brave activists, or lawyers, or the far-seeing HRW, itself. HRW's dominant theme, and it grows more strident by the year under Executive Director Kenneth Roth, is that essentially the US Constitution is a mandatory suicide pact, in fact, Western civilization can only live up to its ideals by committing suicide; and concern over terrorism is just an excuse to deprive poor Third Worlders of their rights, including the right of radial Islamists to emigrate to the West and seek to destroy it.

Sometimes it just seems so completely insane that organizations like HRW and Amnesty International and all those other lovely groups so routinely denounce the U.S., but give the real evil in the world a free pass. They behave as if Abu Ghraib is the greatest human rights disaster in the history of the world; while barely acknowledging the abominations commited by terrorists, or the oppression of women in Islamic countries. They write dozens of pages of human rights "violations" committed in the U.S., but hardly mention those regularly jailed in Cuba. They condemn the LACK of intervention in Darfur, while also condemning the intervention in Iraq. The Diplomad goes on to say:

HRW also shows the confusion that liberal advocates of multilateral military action have when it comes to the use of power by the USA. These advocates want the USA only to use its power in defense of the objectives that the advocates want. Any other use, is illegitimate.

And that, of course, is the key. They are part of the that Unholy Alliance I discussed in an earlier post, whose most burning desire is to cripple and/or defeat the U.S.; and they will do or say anything to make that happen. Human Rights are entirely superfluous to their real agenda.

Go read the whole post at the Diplomad.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:45 PM |

 
Synonyms and Idioms for "Crazy"
English is a wonderful language. There are so many ways to say the same thing. I am amazed that there are so many synonyms of the word "crazy". There are also quite a number of idioms that express the concept. Here are a few off the top of my head (and in no particular order) :

insane
psychotic
delusional
crackpot
lunatic
buggy
touched
deranged
nuts
nutcase
bananas
wacko
wacky
cuckoo
fruitcake
fruity
fruit loops
mad
crackers
batty
balmy
loony
potty
crazed
bonkers
daffy
daft
screwy
warped
disturbed
half-baked
unbalanced
sick
unhinged
demented
bizarre
dingbat
ding-a-ling
wierdo
kook
screwball
wacky
dippy
gaga
loco
out to lunch
crazy as a loon
having a screw loose
having bats in one's belfry
not having all one's marbles
around the bend
crazy as a coot
not all there
not right in one's head
off one's dot off one's rocker
off one's onion
out of (or off) one's head
out of one's mind,
touched in the head
around the bend
mad as a fruitcake
mad as a hatter
looney-tunes
lost one's marbles
not playing with a full deck
soft in the head
not all there

And sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words:

This year's winner of the coveted "Fiskie" or "Idiotarian of the Year" award from LGF is the very deserving Michael Moore! (Picture from Cox and Forkum) That's about all that I can think of...let me know if you have any "moore" .

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:06 PM |

 
Weekly Insanity Update
Yes, kiddies, it's time again for the weekly update on the insane, the ridiculous and the unbelievable. Here are just a few of the many insanities noted during the past week. Feel free to send in any particularly revolting or absurd items you notice in the coming week--I'll be glad to add it to the Update!

1. Now we know why we haven't caught him. Were do they recruit these guys?

2. We're so nice, and they're sooooo mean...if only we could be mean like them. Oh puh-leeze.

3. IDIOCY also drains the brain of energy. Can you imagine living in this country? Corrupt Capitalist lifestyle, indeed.

4. WHO should face public shame for not living up to their promises??? Some organizations have a lot of nerve!

5. And your point is....?? Personally, I'd fire the guy.

6. Satanism, the real Religion of Peace? Is it a real threat to Islam's dominance in the peace arena? Inquiring minds want to know.

7. Oh, go ahead! Make his day.

8. Lifestyles and bizarre behaviors of the rich and famous

9. Crazy for You....well, maybe not.

10. D'oh.

11. How about wearing one that signified "pretentious, self-absorbed twit"?

12. Politicians??? It's survival of the FITTEST, guys, not the most inane.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:27 AM |

 
Rhymes With Orange !
Finally, something rhymes with 'orange'! Titan! Or, at least it looks like orange....See here for the latest scoop on the Titan pictures. I have to admit, I'm just fascinated with Cassini-Huygens and with Saturn and its rings.

This is the kind of thing that is exciting about space exploration. I'm finding it harder and harder to stay interested in a couple of guys circling the Earth for months at a time. But this achievement stirs the imagination and makes me feel the way I did all those years ago when we landed on the moon.

Let's have more like this.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:29 AM |

 
Full Disclosure - Sort Of
Since many questions have been raised about the integrity of bloggers by recent events (here, here, and here), I believe it is necessary for this blog to have full disclosure of my personal biases:

• I consider myself a libertarian and independent and have never registered in either the Democrat or Republican parties
• Until September 11, 2001, I never had many issues on which I disagreed with most libertarians
• I strongly support a proactive and aggressive foreign policy that deals with what I consider the most serious threat to freedom on this planet - Islamofascism.
• I strongly support the current President of the United States, George W. Bush on his policies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• I support whatever maximizes individual liberty
• I support the values embodied in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
• I think all individuals should take responsibility for their own thoughts, feelings and behavior
• I am a Capitalist and support without reservation the free market
• I despise Communism and Socialism and the misery they have caused on my planet
• I think Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and most of the Hollywood establishment are a bunch of mindless morons.
• If anyone wants to pay me for saying the above things, I would be very pleased to take your money.
• No one could pay me to say something I didn't believe; or something I didn't think was true
• I usually get tears in my eyes when the Star Spangled Banner is played
• I love science fiction, mystery and romance novels and am a fanatic about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek.
• I have been a NY Yankee fan my entire life.
• You are entitled to your opinions and can state them freely, but not necessarily on my blog
• I will always let my readers know if I accept money for material posted here on Dr. Sanity (sadly, noone has offered me any yet) I will think about the ethics of the situation when it happens
• I am not a journalist; don't want to be a journalist; and think most journalists are just as biased as most bloggers (including myself)--they just prefer to live under the delusion that they are neutral and objective.
• If you don't like my blog or what I say or think, you are free to not visit here
• I am capable of making mistakes but do so infrequently--my family tends to disagree with this fact, but they're wrong.
• There are many other things for which I am biased for or against, but listing them all would take too long and be extremely exhausting. As things come up, I'll mention them if they are relevant.

There. I think that should cover it. If you read my blog you know most of this already, since I'm not shy about expressing my opinion.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 7:02 PM |

 
Pictures from Titan

It took seven years, but the pictures are amazing. This collaborative mission by ESA, NASA, and the Italian Space Agency is probably one of the most ambitious efforts of planetary exploration ever attempted. Not only is the mission to look at the moon of Titan, but it will provide close-up data from the entire Saturnian system. Some of the questions scientists are asking:

• Mysteriously, Saturn emits 87 percent more energy than it absorbs from sunlight. Which is the source of heat inside Saturn to produce the excess energy?
• What is the origin of Saturn’s rings?
• Where do the subtle colours in the rings come from?
• Are there any other moons to discover?
• Why has the moon Enceladus such an abnormally smooth surface? Has it recently melted to erase craters?
• What is the origin of the dark organic material covering one side of the moon Iapetus
• Which chemical reactions are occurring in the Titan atmosphere?
• What is the source of the very abundant methane, an organic compound that on Earth is associated to biological activity?
• Are there any oceans on Titan?
• Do more complex organic compounds and pre-biotic molecules exist on Titan?

Congratulations to all the scientists who have been waiting a long time to get their answers!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:17 AM |

 
Pessimistic Confusion
At VDH Private Papers, Victor Davis Hanson details the inconsistencies and ever-changing platitudes of the critics of the Iraq War. After documenting a number of them, he notes:

There are many constants in all this pessimistic confusion — beside the fact that we are becoming a near hysterical society. First, our miraculous efforts in toppling the Taliban and Saddam have apparently made us forget war is always a litany of mistakes. No conflict is conducted according to either antebellum planning or can proceed with the benefit of hindsight. Iraq was not Yemen or Qatar, but rather the most wicked regime in the world, in the heart of the Arab world, full of oil, terrorists, and mass graves. There were no helpful neighbors to keep a lid on their own infiltrating jihadists. Instead we had to go into the heart of the caliphate, take out a mass murderer, restore civil society after 30 years of brutality, and ward off Sunni and Baathist fomenters in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria — all the while keeping out Iranian-Shiite agents bent on stopping democracy. The wonder is not that there is violence and gloom in Iraq, but that less than two years after Saddam was removed, elections are still on track.

VDH goes on to discuss the "follies" of WWII, which we now look at as a model of military success, but which--if judged by the standards being applied to Iraq-- was a debacle and a quagmire, especially the post-war period.

And yet our greatest generation thought by and large they had done pretty well. We in contrast would have given up in despair in 1942, New York Times columnists and NPR pundits pontificating "I told you so" as if we were better off sitting out the war all along.

How did we come to let our perspective be determined by 30 second soundbites? When did we begin to expect instantaneous gratification and lose interest if anything became difficult or too dangerous? When did we embrace hysteria as a model of coping with challenges? In short--when did we regress from adult to adolescent?

The "greatest generation" was great precisely because they were mature enough to understand that the really important things in life don't come easy. They take hard work and sacrifice. They take time and energy and committment. To rid the world of Hitler and his insanity required fully mature, grown-up people who could deal with crises and setbacks, and yet continue to fight for what was right, as long as necessary.

The war we are fighting now will require as much--if not more--dedication and maturity. Go ahead and read the whole article.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:43 AM |

 
Just Another Psychopath
Rich Lowry at The Corner has some details of the prosecution case against Spc. Graner regarding the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Of particular interest to me are the emails:

There are new damning e-mails according to the Times:

In addition to testimony in the case, including three detainees who gave
videotaped depositions, the jury of 10 combat veterans will consider about 10
e-mail messages, retrieved from a cache that Specialist Graner sent from his
Army account around November 2003. The court said it would not publicly release that e-mail, given to the jury by the prosecution on Tuesday, but a person close to the defense provided copies to The New York Times.

They include new photographs from Abu Ghraib, sent to Specialist Graner's friends and family, including his young children, with chatty messages to explain them. "The guys give me hell for not getting any pictures while I was fighting this guy," said one message, titled "just another dull night at work," with a photograph
attached of a bound and naked detainee howling with pain, his legs bleeding. To
an e-mail message about a Take Your Children to Work Day event, he replied, "how about send a bastard to hell day?" attaching a photograph of a detainee's head bloodied beyond recognition.

With a photograph of him stitching a wound on a detainee's eye, he wrote: "Things may have gotten a bit bad when we were asking him a couple of questions. O well." A similar photograph is titled "cool stuff." It was attached to an e-mail reading, "Like I said, sometimes you get to do really cool stuff over here," ending it "xoxoxoxo to all." Sending the same photograph to another friend, Specialist Graner wrote, "Try doing this at home, and they'll lock you up if you don't have some type of license," adding, "Not only was I the healer, I was the hurter. O well life goes on."

Of course, don't look for these e-mails to be splashed all over the news because they reinforce the idea that Graner--not Al Gonzales--was responsible for his acts of abuse. If I remember correctly, in the initial flush of hysteria over Abu Ghraib Anne Appelbaum and Andrew Sullivan advanced the theory that Graner must have been acting on orders because he didn't look guilty in the photos. I guess they would argue that these e-mails prove even more clearly that Graner was acting on orders since he doesn't demonstrate any guilt whatsoever in them. Of course, what they show is that Graner is a remorseless monster.

There were a few witnesses for Graner's defense. One was named Megan Ambuhl, who was also having sex with Graner (who, of course, fathered a child by Lyndie England). She said interrogators told them to point at male detainees in the shower.

I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that what we are dealing with in Spc. Graner is a man who enjoys inflicting pain and thinks it is humorous to see someone suffering because it makes him feel powerful. In other words, just another psychopath.

Iraq used to be ruled by someone just like him.



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:30 PM |

 
WMD and Death By Chocolate Cake
Since Saddam's WMD's are in the news again, I think this is a good time to refer you to Alpha Patriot's excellent roundup from last July of the WMD's that supposedly don't exist in Iraq. Why the press persists in pushing the delusion that no WMD's were found is beyond me. Why President Bush does not trumpet this information is also a mystery, since what is listed at the link are real, verifiable items that were found and are known.

I suspect it is a type of "concrete thinking" (see here) that is to blame for this situation; or possibly an unbelievable lack of imagination. Presumably, the skeptics expected to find nuclear missles conveniently lined up and pointed at the U.S. ; or warehouses of biological weapons with labels and detailed plans of how to distribute the stuff attached to each vial. Or maybe they even expected to find a written, signed confession by Saddam admitting that he had plans to develop and use whatever weapons he could find that would kill large numbers of people. Or maybe, just maybe, no amount of evidence would ever convince some people that Saddam was a threat to the U.S. and the entire world and that he had WMD's.

Time for an analogy. Let's say that people in my neighborhood got together and voted (in the interests of neighborhood health) that I couldn't bake my "Death by Chocolate" cakes anymore (these cakes have been known to be lethally caloric). I reluctantly agree, and say I am complying with this order, but refuse to let anyone check by looking in my pantry.

Finally, tired of being manipulated by me, and concerned that I might go ahead and bake one of those destructively high calorie cake things, my neighbors force their way into the house and find THAT I HAVE NO CAKE SITTING ON THE COUNTER WAITING TO BE EATEN! How foolish they were to doubt my word! How stupid they were to imagine I might be up to my old chocolate baking tendencies!

On the other hand, they discover while carefully going through my pantry that there are 2 boxes of devil's food cake mix; chocolate bars, cake pans, pudding mix, flour and sugar, mixing bowls and a number of other questionable items. They even find a recipe book which includes several variants on the "Death by Chocolate" Cake theme--muffins, breakfast loaf, etc. And, on top of that, they have a video showing me carrying a cake-like item out of the house the day before they barged in to verify my compliance with their silly order. They suspect that I took one of the cakes to work to share with my co-workers. I calmly refuse to tell them anything.

So what is the conclusion? That I had no pre-existing cake, waiting to be eaten? Or, that I had all the ingredients to make that cake at a moment's notice, despite my having said I wouldn't; and that I even made one just before they came to check, but had taken it somewhere else to eat?

I don't know about you, but I think if you conclude that I haven't been making my famous "Death by Chocolate" cake because one isn't sitting out on the counter for you to find, then you are more foolish than even I could possibly have imagined. BWAHAHAHAHA!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:49 PM |

 
Monitoring the Jihad
I would like to call your attention to a blog that I have been reading for quite a while, that has taken on the mission of monitoring the jihad. That site is Jihad Watch, run by Robert Spencer. Let me quote from the site's sidebar:

Why Jihad Watch? Because the West is facing a concerted effort by radical Muslims, most of whom are ignored by the Western media, to destroy the West and bring it forcibly into the Islamic world. That effort goes under the general rubric of jihad.

JIHAD IS A CENTRAL DUTY of every Muslim. Modern Muslim theologians have spoken of many things as jihads: defending the faith from critics, supporting its growth and defense financially, even migrating to non-Muslim lands for the purpose of spreading Islam. But in Islamic history and doctrine violent jihad is founded on numerous verses of the Qur'an — most notably, one known in Islamic theology as the "Verse of the Sword": "Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is forgiving, merciful" (Sura 9:5). Establishing "regular worship" and paying the "poor-due" (zakat) means essentially that they will become Muslim, as these are two of the central responsibilities of every Muslim.
Sahih Bukhari, which Muslims regard as the most trustworthy of all the many collections of traditions of Muhammad, records this statement of the Prophet: "Allah assigns for a person who participates in (holy battles) in Allah's Cause and nothing causes him to do so except belief in Allah and in His Messengers, that he will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr)."

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), a pioneering historian and philosopher, was also a legal theorist. In his renowned Muqaddimah, the first work of historical theory, he notes that "in the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force." In Islam, the person in charge of religious affairs is concerned with "power politics," because Islam is "under obligation to gain power over other nations."

Violent jihad is a constant of Islamic history. The passages quoted above and many others like them form a major element of the motivation of radical Muslims worldwide today. No major Muslim group has ever repudiated the doctrines of armed jihad. The theology of jihad, with all its assumptions about unbelievers‚ lack of human rights and dignity, is available today as a justification for anyone with the will and the means to bring it to life.

Jihad Watch is dedicated to bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology play in the modern world and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts. By shedding as much light as possible on these matters, we hope to alert people of good will to the true nature of the present global conflict with radical Islam.

And while we are on the topic of jihad, let me also recommend NO JIHAD, run by Ethelred and Jemima, which collects some really good reading material (including, I am proud to say, several of my own essays) about Islam and terrorism. One of the quotes posted on this site seems especially pertinent when talking about the war on terror:

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." --Winston Churchill

I have added both of these sites to my sidebar, and hope you will check them out!



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 3:30 PM |

 
A Royal Ass
Regarding the Prince Harry debacle, where the clueless Harry wore a costume with Nazi swastika, The Diplomad wonders:

"...how widespread and loud the outrage would have been had Royal Harry worn a Che Guevara sweatshirt? Dressed up in a KGB Colonel's uniform with a red star? Sported a Mao button? How about if that cigarette he's clutching in the photo had been a Cuban cigar whose purchase supports the Castro brothers? Just wondering . . ."

Lest the Left forget, Hitler wasn't the only mass murderer in the 20th century. He has plenty of company from those benevolent Communist and Socialist regimes and their politician/thugs. I've noticed though, that many on the Left seems to think that Hitler is a bad person because he was "Right", i.e., a fascist, and that's where he went wrong. If you kill millions of people and you are from the "Left", then it is simply an historical necessity on the way to a brighter future, I guess.

Frankly, I've never appreciated the difference between a "Leftist" or "Rightist" mass murderer; or a Communist/Socialist/Fascist/regime. They are all totalitarian regimes that oppress and kill people and they are all run by a bunch of thugs. They all operate through fear and elimination of human rights and freedom. How they manage to control the means of production seems rather irrelevant to me.

So, if Harry was an idiot for wearing a Nazi uniform with swastika, how about all those oh-so-fashionable morons who wear Che Guevara t-shirts and think its cool to celebrate a viscious murderer? Or those who still make excuses for the Chinese or Soviet "experiments", which left millions (and counting) dead in the detritis of their glorious people's revolutions; or those who still find it expedient to blame the Jews for their own pathetic failures.

Clearly, Harry is not the only royal ass on the planet. He's got plenty of company.



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:32 AM |

 
The Council Has Spoken!
And this week's winners are:

BEST COUNCIL POST:
CBS' Memogate Report Comes Out But It Won't Stem the Controversy at The Moderate Voice

and there was a 3-way tie for 2nd Place:
Alberto Gonzales and the Memo Deceit The Sundries Shack
Spin It 'till They Throw Up Alpha Patriot
A Fable With a Moral Dr. Sanity

BEST NON-COUNCIL POST:

Today, I Was "Unprofessional"... Varifrank

and in 2nd Place:
How the Terrorists Can Win the War Carpe Bonum

Be sure to check out all the winners at the Watcher's site!

CONGRATULATIONS!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:05 AM |

 
Party of the Past
Professor Bainbridge comments on Ted Kennedy's speech on the future of the Democratic Party, and he asks one question:

"Is there anything you believe government should not regulate other than abortion?"

If you read the speech, you'll discover that Senator Kennedy uses the word "reactionary" a lot to describe anything that Republicans propose. Yet, the policies that Kennedy advocates are all the dried-up, failed socialist policies that were in vogue in the 60's.

Shhhhhh. Don't tell him.... He thinks his ideas are progressive! This man and his party are so damned stuck in the decade of love, that they are incapable of even thinking about a new, or really progressive idea, let alone acting on one. I'm not even sure that Kennedy would recognize a new idea if it was a hammer and it smashed him on the head.

These days progressives want to make sure there is no change in social security--even if it will go bankrupt; they want to return to the "good old days" when Clinton was in power and all was right with the world (except that everything we have to deal with these days began during the blindness of those idyllic days); they want to copy the antidiluvian policies of the pathetic regimes that we bested in the Cold War; and they want to pretend that the most significant event in American history since Pearl Harbor didn't happen and that the war on terror is not important or relevant to American interests. They want to ignore the success in Afghanistan and, having failed to prevent that success, they hope to prevent one in Iraq.

My God, if the leaders of the Democratic party had been around when FDR went to war in 1941, I truly believe they would have found his actions treasonous and ranted and raged that he was no better than Hitler. They would have used their poisonous words and rabid appeasement in much the same way they are using them now.

Their thinking and behavior today is inextricably bound up in the glory days of their opposition to the Vietnam war. I was only a teenager then, but I remember with great clarity how they enjoyed the spectacle of a defeated America. Now they believe they have a chance to see it all over again, and they know--as well as the terrorists--that the only way America can lose this war is if they weaken our will to succeed; if--like Sauron's minions in Middle Earth--they encourage every weakness; highlight every mistake; downplay every success.

The Democratic Party is not progressive. They are the reactionary party now--the Party of the Past. They have become the Grima Wormtongue of American Politics.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:42 AM |

 
More Oppression in Iran
Apparently fighting for women and children's rights in Iran is something that must be squelched at all costs. Does this surprise anyone, coming as it does from a regime that has repeatedly hanged women who have sex outside marriage, while giving men a few lashes? This is the kind of justice that women can expect under the mullahs and their religion of peace.

I hope the international community will soon express its outrage if Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is arrested by the "Revolutionary" court of Iran. At least as much outrage as they were able to muster about terrorists being subjected to music from Sesame Street and Barney in Iraq.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:53 PM |

 
Stop Whining and Fix It !
Powerline is correct. This is an issue that must be faced by both political parties and dealt with before the 2008 elections:

Electoral fraud. It is a grave and growing threat to our democracy. Major elections have turned on it, and it is only a matter of time until voter fraud precipitates a constitutional crisis. Consider what is happening now in Washington. Christine Gregoire was sworn in as Governor today, but a legal challenge to her "victory" is pending. It appears reasonably clear that the Democrats stole that race, and they will probably get away with it. Al Gore tried to steal the Presidency in 2000, and nearly succeeded, with the aid of a grotesquely partisan 4-3 majority of the Florida Supreme Court, which issued one of the most absurd decisions in the history of litigation, lacking even a fig leaf of legal coherence.
It seems to me that we have two choices: upgrade our electoral system and guard its integrity with at least the fervor that we bring to preventing, say, underage drinking, or face the inevitable crisis when it comes.

Why can't both parties stop their bickering and jockeying for position and do what needs to be done? Do Democrats and Republicans plan to continually subject the American people to the same disgusting whining and posturing about "every vote should count" cries of "Fraud!" after every election? (I notice it only started when the Democrats lost their power, but that's neither here nor there). The point is to FIX IT. And fix it before the next Presidential election.

I'm pretty sick of the behavior on both sides. Sometimes I think that neither party wants the system fixed so they can be left with the political option of blaming the other about voter fraud and other shenanigans. Let's fix it now, so that neither side has an excuse to whine.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:54 PM |

 
You're Very Welcome
Here's a funny little tidbit (hat tip: The Corner) that demonstrates rather clearly, I think, the overwhelming sense of entitlement and incredible lack of gratitude that some countries have. I suppose we should feel grateful that we were allowed to help them.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:07 AM |

 
A Free Iraqi
Ali, who used to post with his brothers Omar and Mohammed at Iraq the Model, now has his own blog called "Free Iraqi" (I really like his byline: "I was not living before the 9th of April and now I am, so let me speak!"). He has a really interesting post that I think is worth reading. Here's a sample from it:

What the analysis linked by Sullivan misses is that America is not fighting a Sunni insurgent alone, as there are the whole powers of terrorism behind it and the support and finance of most Arab countries. This means that establishing peace, order and democracy in Iraq requires defeating terrorism as a whole, and that's the goal of course, but it's the ultimate goal not the immediate one expected from toppling Saddam. To expect to defeat the whole global terrorism through battles in Iraq is not realistic. The realistic goal is deprive them of one more base, establish a democracy in Iraq that can affect the neighboring countries to a great extent and then move on to another base, do the same (which would be much easier than Iraq and won't necessary require an invasion) and so on.

His perspective--as well as the perspectives of all the bloggers from Iraq--is a must-read. Their optimism constantly inspires me, and reminds me that Freedom is worth any cost.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:19 AM |

 
The Unholy Coalition of Defeat
Norman Podhoretz has a new essay in Commentary called: "The War against World War IV"(hat tip: Powerline). In order to appreciate this article, I recommend you read Podhoretz' article from Commentary dated September, 2004 titled "World War IV: How it Started, What it Means, and Why We Have To Win".

In this new piece, Podhoretz discusses the gathering forces of defeatism that threaten to overwhelm our resolve. First, the corrupt, totalitarian regimes of the Middle East:

In Iraq, the insurgents—a coalition of diehard Saddamists, domestic Islamofascists, and foreign jihadists—have a simple objective. They are trying to drive us out before the seeds of democratization that we are helping to sow have taken firm root and begun to flower. Only thus can the native insurgents hope to recapture the power they lost when we toppled Saddam; and only thus can the Iranians, the Syrians, and the Saudis, who have been dispatching and/or financing the foreign jihadists, escape becoming the next regimes to go the way of Saddam’s under the logic of the Bush Doctrine.
The despots tyrannizing these countries all know perfectly well that an American failure in Iraq would rule out the use of military force against them. They know that it would rob other, non-military measures of any real effectiveness. And they know that it would put a halt to the wave of reformist talk that has been sweeping through the region since the promulgation of the Bush Doctrine and that poses an unprecedented threat to their own hold on political power, just as it does to the religious and cultural power of the radical Islamists.
But the most important thing the insurgents and their backers in the neighboring despotisms know is that the battle for Iraq will not be won or lost in Iraq; it will be won or lost in the United States of America.

Then comes the defeatist voices of the "paleoconservative right":

Consider—to begin once more on the lowest rung of the ladder—the isolationists of the paleoconservative Right. Their line is that a conspiracy of "neoconservative" (i.e., Jewish) officials holed up in the White House and the Pentagon is dragging this country, against its own interests, into one conflict after another with the sole purpose of "making the Middle East safe for Israel."

And the isolationists of the hard Left:

So, too, with the isolationists of the hard Left. These—exactly like their forebears in the late 1930’s who fought against America’s entry into World War II—have made common cause with the paleoconservatives at the other end of the political spectrum. True, the isolationism of the Left stems from the conviction that America is bad for the rest of the world, whereas the isolationism of the Right is based on the belief that the rest of the world is bad for America. Nevertheless, the two streams have converged, flowing smoothly into the same channel of fierce opposition to everything Bush has done in response to 9/11.
In the years before 9/11, Noam Chomsky, Buchanan’s counterpart on the Left, was very largely forgotten. After achieving great prominence in the 1960’s, he had come to seem too extreme—or perhaps too naked in his hatred of America—to serve the purposes of the New York Review of Books, through whose pages he had first made his political mark.

In like fashion he runs through the "Superhawks", the "Liberal Internationalists"; the so-called "political realists", and the mainstream media. This unholy, coalition of defeat has formed in parallel to the emergence of the Bush Doctrine after 9/11. Podhoretz points out something that, I think is important:

Suppose, then (as I do), that in a year or so, a duly elected coalition government is in place in Baghdad; that it is guided by a constitution guaranteeing political freedom and minority rights; that the economy is improving; that Iraqi soldiers and policemen have taken over most of the responsibility for dealing with a severely weakened insurgency; that the number of American troops has been reduced to the size of a backup force; and that fewer and fewer Americans are being killed or wounded. What then? Will the realists and their liberal allies bow to this reality? Will they be mugged by reality?
I think not. I think they will do unto a success in Iraq what they did when Hamid Karzai was sworn in as the president of Afghanistan this past December.

In other words, even if our efforts succeed in Iraq, this coalition will not be appeased or comforted. They had the same defeatist attitude towards Afghanistan, and are unwilling to acknowledge the remarkable success that is occurring there. The freeing of millions of people and enabling Afghanistan to have the first democratic government in its history is not enough. Freeing millions is not enough. Liberating the women of two countries is not enough. Enabling Democracy is not enough. Preventing attacks on the homeland for 3 years is not enough. In other words, success is simply not enough for this unholy coalition.

This coalition of defeat will only be happy if America loses. Period.

Podhoretz has much more to say--about Iran, Syria and North Korea--so take a look. The two articles are long, but very worth your while.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:47 PM |

 
No Media Bias Here

From Cox and Forkum !

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:37 AM |

 
Concrete Thinking
Michael Graham at The Corner observes:

THIS FLAG IS YOUR FLAG, IT SURE AIN'T MY FLAG... That was the clear message from listeners and emailers defending the state of Virginia's policy that school children can't be forced to stand while their classmates say the Pledge of Allegiance. There's a non-partisan issue about whether or not forcing kids to stand during the Pledge means you're forcing them to make a political statement (answer: No.), but I was amazed by the many Bush-haters who argued that making a kid pledge to the flag meant he was being forced to support President Bush. One caller--who also mentioned he believes Dan Rather, so he's obviously a kook-- said that "No child should be forced to pledge allegiance to that man," GWBush. Wow. I didn't know that it was the Pledge of Allegiance to the Bush. I didn't know that it was the Flag of the Republican States of America, either. (emphasis mine)

The people Graham desribes are demonstrating "concrete thinking". Concrete thinking is the inability to abstract. For example, sometimes when a psychiatrist asks a patient to explain what the saying "people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"means; they reply, "You might break the glass." That is a CONCRETE answer because shows that the person does not grasp the abstract meaning of the saying. Those who look beyond the actual words, to the meaning realize that the"people who live in glass houses" proverb is cautioning against 'judging lest ye be judged'. We psychiatrists have a whole host of these proverbs to help us evaluate the thought processes of people we must evaluate ("A rolling stone gathers no moss"; "Don't change horses in midstream"; "A stitch in time saves nine" etc. etc.). Concretized thinking limits a person's ability to cope with reality, because it limits their reality. Let's look at the situation regarding the U.S. Flag and U.S. President.

Like the proverbs, the actual concrete physical object of the American Flag or the physical persona of the American President stands for something more than just a piece of colored cloth, or a particular man. Pledging allegiance to the Flag means that you are pledging your allegiance to the country it symbolizes. By equating America = George W. Bush, a person is failing to grasp the abstract concept of "America"--a concept that is much more than any particular piece of cloth or any particular President.

By demonstrating respect for the Office of the President--even if you hate the particular President who is in that office--you are demonstrating respect for the country the President represents. By equating the Flag of the U.S. with the particular person of the Presidency, you are concretizing an abstract concept.

One patient I saw years ago asked me when I quoted the glass houses proverb, "why would anyone live in a glass house--that sounds awful! You may feel that GWB doesn't "represent" the concept of America and is an "awful" president or an "awful" symbol of America, and you are entitled to think that. BUT THE OFFICE HE HOLDS REPRESENTS AMERICA, JUST AS THE STARS AND STRIPES REPRESENTS AMERICA--and if you can't appreciate that, you are thinking concretely.

You may also claim that pledging allegience to the Flag of the U.S. means "pledging allegiance to that man", but you would be failing to abstract to the concept behind the action. Just as the patient who responded "you might break the glass" failed to appreciate the meaning behind the words, people who equate the individual person of George Bush (or Bill Clinton, for that matter) with "America" are missing the true meaning of the symbol and focusing on on the concrete aspect of it. Of course, some people don't just hate George Bush--they hate America, too.

To use another proverb: They can't see the forest for the trees. And if they keep cutting down and destroying all those trees that are in the way--at some point there will be no forest to see.


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:39 AM |

 
Freedom Will Prevail
Well, this sounds interesting, if true, and it confirms that there may be a larger strategy to the War on Terror that is slowly becoming apparent. According to DEBKAFile, Richard Armitage, performing his last act as deputy secretary of state, recently delivered 9 demands to President Assad of Syria:

1. Start repealing Syria’s 40-years old emergency laws.
2. Free all political prisoners from jail.
3. Abolish media censorship.
4. Initiate democratic reform.
5. Speed up economic development
6. Cut down relations with Iran.
7. Announce publicly that the disputed Shebaa Farms at the base of Mt. Hermon are former Syrian territory. This would cut the ground from under the Lebanese terrorist Hizballah’s claim that the land is Lebanese and must be “liberated” from Israeli “occupation.”
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that the Iran-sponsored Hizballah’s attack on an Israeli convoy patrolling the disputed Shebaa Farms sector, killing an Israeli officer, on Palestinian election-day, Sunday, January 9, was addressed as much to President George W. Bush as to the new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as a foretaste of what it has in store.
8. Hand over to US or Iraqi authorities 55 top officials and military officers of the former Saddam regime, who are confirmed by intelligence to be established in Syria and running the guerrilla war in Iraq out of their homes and offices.
(An address, telephone number and cell phone number were listed beside each name).
But the punchline was in the last demand.
9. Syria had better make sure that none of the Kornet AT-14 anti-tank missiles which it recently purchased in large quantities from East Europe turn up in Iraq. US intelligence has recorded their serial numbers to identify their source. DEBKAfile’s military sources add: Because he cannot afford to buy advanced fighter planes and tanks, Assad purchased massive quantities of the “third generation” Kornet AT-14 anti-tank weapons.
Just in case any are found in Iraq, General Casey, commander of US forces in Iraq has already received orders from the commander-in-chief in the White House to pursue military action inside Syria according to his best military judgment.

The article goes on to say that no action will be taken until after the Iraqi elections. I imagine it this way: if we move into Syria, we will inevitably drag most of those "insurgents" (who, it is increasingly clear are being sponsored by Syria and Iran) into Syria with us--and hence mostly out of the way of Iraq. There is still hope for Iran with the pro-Democracy movement that already exists, but Syria is another matter, and hence it is more logical ot shake that regime up a bit, while waiting for Iran to change from within.

I don't know if this strategy will work or not. I don't know if DEBKAFile is accurate (read the entire piece) or not. But I do know that what is happening in the Middle East is breathtakingly brilliant and offers--for the first time in history-- a real chance for the people there to determine their own futures in free societies. And, as for the problem of Terrorism in the 21st century--I believe firmly that this transformation of the Middle East offers the best opportunity for its containment and eventual eradication.

We shall see, if given the torch of Liberty, the Afghanis and Iraqis will run with it. All may come to naught--but if human nature holds true, then I believe Freedom will prevail.

P.S. Just so you know, DEBKAFile is often outright wrong and wildly inaccurate--but sometimes they hit the nail on the head, and they are always interesting!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:34 PM |

 
Star Wars Forever-- or Not ?
The Boo is a Star Wars fanatic, and has been since she was 5 years old and loved Darth Vader (because he was "cuddly and safe" of all reasons). She knows the specifications of all the starships, and details of the lives of the characters that most people would prefer NOT to know. Her current favorite is Boba Fett (I can't decide if her tendency to go for the bad guy is a bad sign--I'll wait until she actually starts dating in a few years!). She is filled with excitement that the Episode III video game and book will be out in early May; and the movie out in mid-June. She has watched all other episodes at least a million times and knows all the dialogue by heart.

However, I think I have found just the thing to turn her OFF to Star Wars forever, thanks to the tip from Ace of Spades. Go here if you want your soul to be encased in carbonite forever. And make sure you listen to the songs on the album! ALL of them. Extremely depressed it will make you, yes. Sort of like Vogon Poetry (Whoops! That's an entirely different story!).

The question is--am I heartless enough to do this to my daughter? My big fear is--what if she LIKES it? Oh, dear.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:15 PM |

 
Odds and Ends
Scott Ott is a national treasure. Check out his take on the CBS report: "Rather: Our Long National Nightmare is Over".

I thought John Hinderaker fromPowerline was very good on Brit Hume's show last night, and he has some thoughts on Rathergate here.

I've got to go out in the snow and freezing rain right now and actually do some (gasp) work. If I survive the weather, I'll be back (you can take that as a threat if you like!)

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:10 AM |

 
North Korean Paranoid Delusions
Just when you thought you've heard everything, you read this:

STALINIST North Korea has stepped up its campaign against long hair and untidy attire which its media says represents a "corrupt capitalist" lifestyle, reports said.

North Korean state television, radio and newspapers have led the grooming drive, urging people to cut their hair short and to dress tidily, the BBC said in a dispatch citing broadcasts from Pyongyang.

Men were asked to have crew cuts with hair growing up to five centimetres in a twice-a-month visit to the barber, it said.

Not only health and hygiene but also intelligence was cited by the North Korean media as reasons for the crackdown on appearance.

Pyongyang television noted long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy, according to the BBC.

Thinking consumes a great deal of nutrition also, so must be avoided at all costs, I imagine.

This story actually reminds me of patients I have had over the years with bizarre paranoid delusions. One was a man who believed that his chronic itching was caused by microorganisms on the skin that even the electron microscope could not see (he was a microbiologist). This itching was responsible, in his opinion, for why he was unable to be successful with women (the microorganisms would jump from his skin to theirs and make them itch, too). Or the patient who believed that chemicals injected into him secretly by the CIA were now in his hair follicles and radiating a power that sapped him of sexual energy. This explained why he couldn't get an erection.

I have loads of examples like this. Perhaps Kim Jong Il believes that all that hair had made people eat too much, hence the fact that his People's Republic is starving to death--they ate all the food! It's the fault of all those long-haired capitalistic pigs.

Do you see why paranoia and projection are such useful defenses?

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:01 PM |

 
Laugh It Up, Fuzzball
So I see that Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 won the People's Choice Award for "favorite movie". The Passion of the Christ won for "favorite drama"; and Shrek2 won for favorite comedy and favorite animated movie--so I assume that means that Moore won for "favorite unanimated comedy".

In spite of winning, Moore apparently threatened those who voted for him with the following words:

"I love making movies and I'll take this as an invitation to make more 'Fahrenheit 9/11s,"' Moore said.

Laugh it up, Fuzzball. You keep making those movies and the Force will be with the Republicans...always.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:25 PM |

 
Dumb and Dumberer
DUMB

Here is the CBS Report on the Rathergate memo mess. The good part is that some people got fired, including Mary Mapes. The Report concluded:

"The combination of a new 60 Minutes Wednesday management team, great deference given to a highly respected producer and the network’s news anchor, competitive pressures, and a zealous belief in the truth of the segment seem to have led many to disregard some fundamental journalistic principles."

However there are two fundamental problems with this report: (1) Despite overwhelming evidence AND the testimony of their own "experts", the report would not say that the memos in question were forged! This is astonishingly disingenuous and confirms that CBS will never regain credibility and is run by a bunch of horses' asses. And, (2) Dan Rather was not terminated and still works for CBS. This is further proof of the conclusion I make to point (1).

DUMBERER

I have just sat and listened to a succession of Lefty pundits claim that the CBS 60 Minutes story was "basically" true; and that President Bush never answered the question about special treatment in the Texas Air National Guard; nor proved that he didn't disobey orders and shirk his ANG duties.

As Mark Steyn commented yesterday, these irrational idiots have gone and "created their own alternative universe." Their motto seems to be that "if you don't like reality, just make yourself a new one!" Next thing you know, they'll be talking to their imaginary playmates and saying they don't want to play anymore.....oh, wait--they already did that.

UPDATE: The Corner at NRO makes an excellent point: The investigators at CBS can't acknowledge CBS bias but assume that watchdogging bloggers had a "conservative agenda." See p153. Jim, did you get interviewed? Did any bloggers--the ones mentioned in the report, for instance? Just wondering. (KJL)



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:32 PM |

 
George Orwell Would Appreciate This Slogan



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:08 AM |

 
Fighting Against Intellectual Corruption
Bruce Thornton at VDH Private Papers has a great discussion of the just-released on-line guide by Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on Free Speech on Campus (www.fireguides.org). FIRE has been working tirelessly to protect the free speech rights of students caught up in the repressive intellectual atmospheres of many university and colleges these days.

Universities are vocal in their assertions that they are protected spaces nurturing of "free inquiry," "academic freedom," "diversity," "dialogue," and "tolerance," and that they welcome all views, no matter how far from the mainstream. The prospective student is led to believe that, as the Guide puts it, "Regardless of your background," college is "the one place where you could go and hear almost anything—the one place where speech truly was free, where ideas were tried and tested under the keen and critical eye of peers and scholars, where reason and values, not coercion, decided debate."

But when the sometimes impressionable and naïve freshman actually arrives on campus, he or she finds a different reality. The student quickly learns that "America's colleges and universities are all too often dedicated more to indoctrination and censorship than to freedom and individual self-government." The loudly lauded ideals of "diversity" and "tolerance" in fact often camouflage a rigid orthodoxy that only the most confident and assertive of young adults are likely to challenge.

In true Orwellian fashion, "In order to ensure 'diversity' and 'tolerance,' [the university] will censor and silence those who are different or independent."

This is sad, but true. Having spent a good portion of my intellectual life on campus, I have witnessed firsthand how "diversity" works in practice--and it ain't a pretty picture.

As the Guide puts it, quoting John Milton, "If any institution on earth should be 'the mansion house of liberty,' trusting in 'a free and open encounter' of truth and error, it should be higher education in a free society." It is a sad indictment of our intellectual corruption that higher education has taken the lead in attempting to make sure that "free and open encounters" occur only within strictly defined and ideologically biased parameters. But it is heartening to know that organizations like FIRE are actively fighting to make colleges and universities live up not just to their own ideals but also to the fundamental values of our republic.

Yes.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:46 AM |

 
"Reality Sucks"
Losers have many slogans to justify why they are losers. Among the Democrats, coming up with new ones is an art form. "Reality Sucks" and "Every Vote Must Count" and "Karl Rove is an Evil Genius"--the list goes on and on. Mark Steyn comments on this annoying and seemingly endless whining:

Thought for the day, from a gloomy party member on the Democratic Underground Web site: ''Reality sucks. That's the problem. We want another reality.''
Well, they're doing a grand job of creating their alternative universe. At midday Thursday, as George W. Bush was about to be confirmed formally as the winner of the presidential election, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, described by Agence France-Presse as the ''Democratic former presidential hopeful,'' led 400 other Democrats in a protest outside Congress. Presidential-wise, they may be former but they're still hopeful. So they were wearing orange, the color of the election protesters in Ukraine, who overturned their own stolen election with an ''orange revolution.''
Now, on the one hand it's very brave for the Rhymin' Reverend to lead an orange protest. There is no rhyme for the word ''orange.'' Irving Berlin tried and the best he could manage was ''door-hinge,'' which just about works in certain boroughs of New York but would make an unreliable jingle for the Rhymin' Rev to bellow at Bush from outside the White House:
''We're here, we're orange
We're pushing at your door-hinge . . .''

Of course, the Dems could do the difficult, mature, grown-up, level-headed, appropriate, and rational thing, and look within themselves as to why they lost the election......naahhhh. Such an action requires psychological insight--something present only in miniscule quantities on the Left. That is why they continue to be losers. And that is why--as Steyn points out--they are fast becoming irrelevant to reality (or, to put it another way, reality is beginning to feel the same way about Democrats as the Dems feel about reality).

Read the whole editorial.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:36 PM |

 
Weekly Insanity Roundup
A busier week than usual for the insane, the ridiculous and the unbelievable. Here's the weekly roundup--and it is by no means a complete compendium of all the wierdly bizarre and crazy activities going on in the real world. If you come across anything insane during your week, feel free to send it on to me for the roundup.

1. It is now illegal and requires a parent's permission for a child to go to a tanning salon in California. (hat tip: The Corner) But it they don't require parental permission to do this.

2. Independence revoked!

3. Family Values

4. Count till you win... (sort of like "shop till you drop")

5. A man of constant Soros. He's losing again!

6. Heil Fatah!

7. No bias here. Yeah, right.

8. I am so outraged at this, I can barely type, let alone be my usual witty self.

9. Can anyone say "paranoia"? How about "delusional"? Examples of complete insanity here.
And, finally, this. I suspect that if they HAD implemented shar'ia, then the tsunami's devastation would have been superfluous.

10. Of course, to keep them REALLY safe, you need to tie them up and lock them in the closet. (hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

11. For the first couple of lines, I though Krugman was actually writing his autobiography ! But no, it's his usual whining about others. (Here's a wonderful skewering by Vodkapundit)

12. Frankly, we'd probably all be better off if the dead ran for office, instead of just voting.

13. I like this headline: Shrink Delusional

14. And here's someone who simply redefines "democracy" to make it what HE wants it to be. Life is very convenient for a narcissistic megalomaniac (is there any other kind?).

15. Oh No! Is NOTHING sacred????

16. And speaking of sacred: The Koran. Is there anything it can't do?

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:00 AM |

 
John Kerry Really Needs a Ba'ath

So, what the hell is JFK doing meeting with Assad of Syria? Well you might ask. Do you think he is telling the Ba'athist dictator to stop supporting the "insurgents" who want to destabilize Iraq and prevent democratic elections there? Do you think he is representing the U.N.? The U.S.? Himself? I know what I think.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 9:13 PM |

 
Dedicated to Darkness
Roger Simon links to a fascinating article from a well-known psychologist, Dr. Martin Seligman - "Misreporting Science in the New York Times: Against Happiness". Dr. Seligman notes that in the choice of articles on psychology it chooses to print, and in the ones it ignores, the NY Times seems to be making a concerted effort to consistently display life as full of "unmitigated tragedy, violence, and meaninglessness." He mentions several well-written books that have never been reviewed by the NY Times Book Review, and some articles on recent research on happiness that never made it to press:

What do these books and stories have in common? They are good news. They suggest that virtue, well-being, nobility, happiness, and meaning are all within the realm of human possibility, and that life is not just unmitigated tragedy, violence, and meaninglessness. And they are based on solid, painstaking science involving hundreds of thousands of subjects, hundreds of refereed articles, and scores of doctoral dissertations from the most reputable universities in the world.

But take a shoddily researched and truly lightweight account that can be run as “Against Happiness,” and it leads.

Yes, there are professional pessimists. Yes, there are nattering nabobs of negativism. There are media dedicated to the dividends of darkness that both reflect a cultural bias toward despair and simultaneously shape it. They are enormously influential, and if you wonder why our young people are in the midst of an epidemic of depression and meaninglessness in the presence of unprecedented wealth, education, and opportunity, you might start with what they read in the New York Times.

Indeed, you might. And then you could go on to explore the literature of the last 20+ years; the movies and culture that are dedicated to the "darkness" to which Dr. Seligman refers. I am very very familiar with it. It is why I turned to science fiction and fantasy, where there are still moral universes to get lost in. It is why books like Harry Potter have achieved phenomenal success and why Lord of the Rings was so profoundly successful. They were bright, glittering stars in the midst of a cultural black hole that was sucking all the joy, hope and love from life.

Do you think I am exaggerating? Take a look at the books the NY Times considers worthwhile. They are filled with despairing and hopeless people. Often, their characters aren't even likable. But they supposedly deal with very profound and important issues and are considered "serious" and "literary". I used to try to read some of them, but I found I couldn't ever finish them. They made me sick and gave me nightmares (and I'm not talking about Stephen King novels either). I finally found a pardigm I could live with: If it was recommended by the NY Times and considered an "important" work, I avoided it the same way I try to avoid death.

I finally abandoned reading the NY Times Review of Books entirely after they decided to EXCLUDE the most popular book of the latter part of the 20th century in the Best Seller List and banish it to the Children's Book List. I am referring, of course, to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, which is sneered at by the true literary establishment. As was Tolkien's Lord of the Rings 40 years ago. As is science fiction and mystery (unless it conforms to the "darkness" criteria, I've noticed). And, as for romance novels (and believe it or not, there are truly excellent novels in this genre, that are comparable to the works of Austen, Bronte and others) the anti-intellectual stigma attached to reading such novels says all you need to know about the attitude of the true literary establishment, as exemplified by the NY Times.

Don't get me wrong. One of my majors in college long ago was English Literature. I don't believe that all books need to have happy sappy endings. On the contrary, if books are to teach us about life and all the important issues that involves, it is often necessary to face unpleasantness and pain. Truly wonderful art helps you to do that, while simultaneously rejoicing in the human spirit.

Shall we discuss many of the so-called "artsy" movies? Especially the ones that open in special theaters (if it appeals to the "masses" it must be insipid)? Almost all of them are life-hating, pathetic romps dedicated to the twin themes of despair and hopelessness. Or catering to the darkness within men's souls--if not celebrating it. Few and far between are the ones that even explore the light and the goodness of those souls. After being told over and over again that happiness is impossible in this world; that those who pursue it are simple and shallow; and that , as C3PO in "Star Wars"--a wonderful robotic symbol of this mindset--says, "misery and suffering is our lot in life" --is it really any wonder that my profession is overwhelmed by the unhappiness of our fellow humans? They can't even tolerate having their candidate lose an election without suffering post-traumatic stress. (I had a patient once who became suicidal because her son had to have surgery and she felt life had no meaning or purpose...and then I found out that her 30 year old son was scheduled for bunion surgery, and I'm afraid I lost all sympathy for her plight).

Truly, there aren't enough antidepressants in the universe to reverse the onslaught of depression and malaise that is aimed at our minds from sun up to sun set that would have us believe that everything is a disaster. Like Denethor, the doomed Warden of Gondor, who has spent years listening to Sauron tell him how hopeless it is to oppose him (in the movie Return of the King); the media --and all those who listen to the Sauron's of today-- would like us to pour oil on the funeral pyre and just light it--because we can't win against evil; we can't win against chaos; we can't win against darkness. We are doomed. Doomed!

Phooey.



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 8:34 PM |

 
Yes, Thank You Very Much
From LGF:

ASK THE IMAM:***

Q: The west is often criticised by Muslims for many reasons, such as allowing women go to work.
But shouldnt the west also recieve praise because its always them who intervenve when muslims r being tortured,they stopped Milosovic kiling muslims and sent their own troops to the country,they r usually the first to send aid when theres a flood,they r also intervening in Isreal and condeming them killing Muslims ,so should we appreciate their efforts or not?

A: In simple the Kuffaar can never be trusted for any possible good they do. They have their own interest at heart.
Was salaam
Mufti Ebrahim Desai FATWA DEPT.

(***NOTE: I am not making this up--this site really exists, click on the link if you don't believe me!)

Remember the Parable of the Snake? I think we have an answer to the question of whether the moral applies or not.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 3:20 PM |

 
Torture Test
How much do you think you know about Abu Ghraib? Go to Mudville Gazette and take a test to see. You might be surprised at some things. (hat tip: Roger Simon)

And if you want an interesting discussion of torture and rendition (I didn't even know what "rendition" was) then The Belmont Club has several great posts.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:43 AM |

 
League of Looters Update
The Diplomad writes about the Turd World and the High Priest Vulture Elite:

These genuinely repulsive, arrogant creatures survive only because the world's rich countries, the non-Turd World, allow them, too. We in the First World find it politically impossible to reveal their pronouncements as the cant they are. For many in Europe and among the New York Times crowd, helping maintain these mad vultures substitutes for genuine action, "The UN is on the job!" In addition, for many senior bureaucrats and minor politicians, there is always the hope that if they play the game right, they, too, can join the High Priest Vulture Elite: We see the ranks of the HPVE full of Scandinavians and leftist Americans, and the occasional pompous Euro-Brazilian, all of whom parlayed mediocre domestic careers of lip-biting humanitarian symbolism into well-paying tax-free sinecures in the HPVE.

Who are the victims? Well, of course, the tax payers of the First World come immediately to mind. But really, after all, for us it's just money. Money comes and goes. The big victims of the HPVE are the world's poor countries who pay with the lives of their children; who get diverted by HPVE mumbo jumbo and its promises of aid and technical assistance from taking actions to develop their own countries and fend off the HPVE.

The Diplomad is "A Blog by career US Foreign Service officers. They are Republican (most of the time) in an institution (State Department) in which being a Republican can be bad for your career -- even with a Republican President!". Those who contribute to the blog write from "the far abroad" and have some incredible insights about the workings of the U.N., as well as international diplomacy in general. If you haven't checked them out, you should.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:30 AM |

 
Before and After
Here are unbelievable before and after pictures of the devastation in Banda Aceh, Indonesia (from Ace of Spades HQ).

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:23 PM |

 
Choosing the Right Stuff - New and Used
What I can't figure out is why my book (Choosing the Right Stuff) is selling NEW for $99.00 - $116.00; and is selling USED for $194.00 and $206.00 ?

It is a great book, of course, but this doesn't make much sense to me. Anybody have any ideas?

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 2:47 PM |

 
The Council Has Spoken !
This week's winners are up and posted at Watcher of Weasels. There are lost of fabulous posts there, so go check them out! Here are the top winners in each category:

BEST COUNCIL POST:

Student's Classroom Beating Caught On Videotape The Education Wonks

BEST NON-COUNCIL POST:

More UNreality... But the Dutch Get It The Diplomad

Congratulations to all who were nominated.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 2:43 PM |

 
If It's Friday, It Must Be VDH
Victor Davis Hanson has it exactly right in today's column:

THIS NEW YEAR, Americans should reflect on what we have accomplished in over three years of hard war since being attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. The Taliban and Saddam Hussein are gone -- but without the envisioned millions of refugees and hundreds of thousands of dead. Women lined up to vote in Afghanistan, of all places. Baathist criminals are to go on trial in Baghdad.
American troops are no longer guarding Wahhabist Saudi Arabia. For the first time since the 1950s, long-needed military redeployments are also underway from Germany to South Korea. Elections are days away in Iraq. There has not been another Sept. 11-style attack here at home, despite our enemies' continual threats to trump their earlier foul work. Osama bin Laden is said to be a cultural icon, but why then can't he show his face publicly for a single moment anywhere in the world?

Hanson then considers some of the events that cast a pall over these accomplishments, but concludes:

The suicide bombs and explosions that go off daily in Iraq are not proof that Americans are losing the Sunni Triangle, but rather that thousands of secular and religious fascists are desperate not to lose their entire Middle East.

Read the entire essay. And let us see what will happen in the weeks and months following the historic Iraqi election later this January.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:54 AM |

 
American Pie - Democrat Style
Don McLean's American Pie is #18 on a list of Top 100 Rock Songs. I was prompted to look it up when I heard it for the first time in years the other day. And, of course, I just couldn't resist stealing shamelessly from the lyrics and music to express my own feelings about the latest BS coming from the once great Democratic Party--specifically, their grandstanding, pretentious and unbelievably childish behavior since losing the election. Not to mention their unceasing and relentless attacks on the President.IMHO, the Democratic leadership has ceased to be the honorable opposition and have become irrelevant to the future of Freedom and America (if not an outright impediment). And in their honor.... (and with apologies to all!)

American Pie - The Democrat Version

A long, long time ago...I can still remember
How politicians used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my way
They'd all be certified some day
And, maybe, we'd be happy for a while.

But 9/11 made me shiver
With all the hate that was delivered.
Bad news on our doorstep;
I couldn't take one more step.

I still remember that I cried
When I read about all those who died,
And something touched me deep inside,
The day those towers fell.

So bye-bye, all you Democrat guys
You let Michael Moore feed you,
All those burgers and fries.
And now you're all fatheads who believe all his lies,
And think Hollywood is home to the wise,
And think Hollywood is home to the wise!

Did you vote against the war,
And do you have faith in Marxist lore,
If your feelings tell you so?
Do you believe in Liberty,
Can you trust what your eyes see,
Or will you say its evil to be free?

Well, I know that you just hate his guts
'cause Rather says that he's a putz.
You'd rather we weren't strong,
Than admit that you were wrong.

And now you wallow in the muck,
Just showing you don't give a fuck.
But I knew those sheiks were out of luck
The day the towers fell.

So bye-bye, all you Democrat guys,
You let Michael Moore feed you
All those burgers and fries.
And now you're all fatheads who believe all his lies,
And think Hollywood is home to the wise,
And think Hollywood is home to the wise!

Now for three years we've been fighting back,
But you just give our soldiers flack,
And that's not how it ought to be.
When the media distort the news,
And Kofi Annan blames the Jews,
In a voice that echoes strangely of the past.

Oh, and while Saddam was looking down,
The Bushman stole his thorny crown.
the Left just went berserk;
Cause they thought he was a jerk.
And while Susan re-read a books on rape,
Osama went and made a tape,
And superman--he donned his cape,
The day the towers fell.

And if you think we will vote for you,
You need to learn a thing or two,
And tell us just what you would do,
When you're not afraid to open up your eyes.

So bye-bye, all you Democrat guys,
You let Michael Moore feed you
All those burgers and fries.
And now you're all fatheads who believe all his lies,
And think Hollywood is home to the wise,
And think Hollywood is home to the wise!


- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:47 PM |

 
Suicide Is Painless
Nothing shows the "win at any cost" mentality of the Democrats than this story. They are willing to sacrifice this country (they can't sacrifice their integrity, because they have none) in a naked grab for power and vengeance. I dare any of them to cite ONE, SINGLE, ELECTION that was "perfect". There are voter "irregularities" because people make mistakes; people behave stupidly; people are ignorant; and people cheat--people of ALL political persuasions. These facts are immutable. But their continuous whining about "counting every vote" is just code for saying count OUR votes (remember in Florida in 2000 how the Democrats were opposed to counting late military ballots?). Their mantra of "voter disenfranchisement" is an example of them using an adult concept to explain their childish, self-centered rage at not winning (they are CERTAIN that they are in the majority, because they don't know ANYONE who voted for Bush, after all). They want to take all their marbles and go home, but first spoil the game for everyone else.

And finally, the continual use of the "Race" issue; the insinuations of Black voter intimidation are utterly contemptible and nauseating. Racial Prejudice has become the Dems stock in trade. Just witness their abhorrent behavior towards Condoleeza Rice and any other Black Republican. They apparently can only appreciate Blacks who are dependent on their political party, any others can be slimed with impunity.

On NPR this morning, I listened to a completely delusional rant from a person who is "outraged" at voter irregularities. That person should make haste for Washington state, where she could witness first hand the stunning "irregularities" perpetrated by Democrats trying to manipulate a close vote. The strategy in the Washington state governor's election was simple: keep counting till you get the "correct" result. Keep finding "new" ballots. Cheat. Cheat. Cheat. Fortunately, in Ohio the vote wasn't close. (Check out Hugh Hewitt's book: If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat for more on this phenomenon)

Last night Fred Barnes on Brit Hume's show stated emphatically that it would be political suicide for the Democratic party to protest this election. But Barnes doesn't understand the intense anger and rage that suicidal people feel that stimulates them to punish everyone around them.

Suicide is painless for these jerks. They are already dead.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:51 AM |

 
2004 WOW Awards
The wily Watcher of Weasels has tabulated his 2004 Awards based on votes for Best Council and Non-Council Posts over the last 12 months. Dr. Sanity is on the list (which is pretty good, considering I only joined the Watcher's Council in mid November, 2004)!

The all-time winner is Alpha Patriot in the Council Post category; while Citizen Smash--The Indepundit edged out Iraq the Model in the Non-Council Post category. Check out all the winners! Kudos to all.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 3:34 PM |

 
Osama the Mighty
This editorial from the Boston Globe makes a lot of sense to anyone who really listened to megalomaniac we know as Osama Bin Laden on his last tape.

IT IS hardly news that Osama bin Laden does not share the Enlightenment value placed on a citizen's right to vote for a representative government. Nonetheless, the latest audiotape from the Al Qaeda leader, parts of which were played on Al Jazeera last week, does illustrate just how reactionary his reasons are for rejecting not only the elections scheduled for Jan. 30 in Iraq but also Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza on Jan. 9. On the tape, Bin Laden castigates the planned election of an Iraqi national assembly to draft a constitution, saying: "In the balance of Islam, this constitution is infidel, and therefore everyone who participates in this election will be considered an infidel." He calls the Iraqi constitution "a Jahaliya constitution that is made by man," meaning it reflects the ignorance of the pre-Islamic era and does not derive from God. Electing a prince or a president is permitted, Bin Laden says, only if "the prince is a Muslim, and he will institute Islam, that is, Islam is the only source of the rulings and laws."

Can anyone be in any doubt about what it is that Bin Laden wants? And what he is willing to do to get it? The naked lust for power that is disguised under the label of "radical Islam" represents just another diatribe from a tyrant obsessed with controlling people and killing anyone he can't control. History has been full of people like Bin Laden. They attract other sociopaths and assorted thugs like magnets. Under the guise of "religion" or "science" or any number of straw men, they announce that they will bring a new order for the "good" of humanity, while murdering anyone who opposes that "good". In their universe the only free will that exists is their own, and they must be the final arbiters of "goodness" and "truth" for everyone else. Death is the solution for opposition to their ideas.

The 20th Century saw more horrors and mass murder from these personalities than any previous century. As science and technology developed over the ages, those who would deliver humanity back to the caves of primitive man, have found no inconsistency in using the advances in science and technology to make it happen. OBL is the just latest incarnation of this ancient evil that seems to appear in every generation with the goal of impeding human freedom and progress.

It is important to remember that such expressions of pseudo-omnipotence eventually come to naught. Yes, they blaze a trail of misery, destruction and death--but it is only a transient setback to the strength of the human mind and spirit that will never remain enslaved. There aren't enough Bin Ladens or Hitlers in the universe; or false gods in the heavens, to prevent that spirit from attaining its ultimate triumph. Like all the othersof his ilk, Bin Laden and his false religion will be buried by history and by the courageous actions of those allied to Liberty.

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 2:52 PM |

 
Misery Has A Cure
Roger Simon's blog and this blog (hat tip: Instapundit)both discuss a WSJ (annoying registration required) oped piece that has some incredible news, and some bad news. First the bad news:

The United States has dropped out of the top 10 in the new list of the "freest economies" in the world. The rankings, published annually for the last 11 years by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, show that countries such as Ireland, Denmark and Hong Kong (coming in at #1) all rank ahead of the US. But the biggest surprise on the list is that former Soviet satellite Estonia now ranks at #4 in terms of economic freedom.

This is, of course, GOOD news for Ireland, Denmark, Estonia and Hong Kong. But it is deeply troubling to see that the U.S.--even under a Republican administration-- has become less free economically (I can just imagine where we would have ranked under Gore or Kerry).

Now the incredible news:

Policy makers who pay lip service to fighting poverty would do well to grasp the link between economic freedom and prosperity. This year the Index finds that the freest economies have a per-capita income of $29,219, more than twice that of the "mostly free" at $12,839, and more than four times that of the "mostly unfree." Put simply, misery has a cure and its name is economic freedom. (emphasis mine)

Please read that last paragraph again. And remember it. It is ECONOMIC FREEDOM that is the true cure for poverty. NOT TAXES. NOT REGULATION. NOT GOVERNMENT CONTROL . NOT THE REFLEX DEMONIZATION OF CAPITALISM--
BUT C. A. P. I. T. A. L. I. S. M.

So, for those who pay lip service to fighting poverty and actually want to do something, I recommend that you shut up, and let those greedy, selfish, Capitalistic bastards effortlessly bring your country's standard of living to new highs.

And, if the U.S. wants to remain the economically free and maintain its high standard of living, then it is the statists -of both Left and Right persuasion- who need to get the hell out of the way.




- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:34 PM |

 
Zarqawi Captured?
This may be too good to be true....awaiting further developments.

UPDATE: Drudge now says it is being denied by the US Military. DANG!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 1:24 PM |

 
Al-Ghamdi Family Values
The Mosul mess tent suicide bomber was a Saudi medical student, with family ties to three of the 9/11 bombers (via Michelle Malkin):


The suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a US army mess tent the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported today.Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat identified him as 20-year-old Ahmed Said Ahmed al-Ghamdi, citing friends of the man’s father.

The friends said members of an Iraqi resistance group contacted al-Ghamdi’s father to tell him his son was the suicide bomber who carried out the December 21 attack, the deadliest on an American installation in Iraq.

US officials have said their investigation indicates the bomber was dressed in an Iraqi military uniform – but was not an Iraqi soldier – when he slipped into a mess tent packed with soldiers eating lunch in northern Iraq.

The father refused to discuss the suicide bombing, but told the newspaper his son had gone to Iraq to fight the Americans and had died there.

The paper did not name the Iraqi resistance group. But Ansar al-Sunnah, a radical Islamic Iraqi group that has been active in northern Iraq, claimed responsibility for the mess tent attack.

Malkin notes that three of the 9/11 hijackers came from the same al-Ghamdi family. This must have been a terrific family to grow up in. If three brothers/sisters/nephews/etc. grew up in the U.S. and became serial killers, responsible for the death of thousands, there would be a multitude of newspaper stories analyzing every detail of their formative years, family interactions, emotional development; relationships; as well as the psychological underpinnings of their motivations and the social, environmental and political factors which contributed to their barbaric acts. Scores of family and friends who knew them would be interviewed to try to get at the reasons why they committed such atrocities.

I wait with baited breath such discussions in the Saudi press. But without the benefit of such detailed analyses, I might reasonably guess that the al-Ghamdis could be considered an example of Wahhabist Muslim slogan: "the family that prays together slays together"?

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 10:10 AM |

 
J.R.R.'s Birthday
The Corner reminds us that today is JRR Tolkien's 113th birthday! I am deeply grateful for Tolkien's Middle Earth. He has become popular again, but I came to know hobbits and orcs when I was in high school many years ago. At a high school English party, where everyone came dressed as a character from the Lord of the Rings, I came (with my long, dark hair) as Arwen Undomiel. My future husband came dressed as Aragorn. I suppose it was inevitable that we would get married (though, like our namesakes it was some years before we did so!) So, I partially credit Tolkien with the fact that my marriage has lasted for 25 years. In fact, to this day, the license plate of my car is always "ARWEN" and has been for about 30 years, no matter what state I have lived in.

Happy Birthday, John Ronald Reuel.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:06 AM |

 
How the Left Betrayed Iraq
This is a fascinating report at Frontpagemag.com by an Iraqi who watched in disbelief as the Left around the world protested the liberation of Iraq:

Before the last war, we Iraqis spent decades cut off from the outside world. Not only did the Baathist regime prevent us from traveling during the Iran-Iraq conflict and the period of the sanctions, but they punished anyone possessing satellite television. And of course, internet access was strictly limited. Because of our isolation, most of us had little idea or sense about life beyond our borders.
We did believe, however, that democracy and human rights were important factors in Western civilization. So it came as a shock to us when millions of people began demonstrating across the world against America’s build-up to the invasion of our country. We supposed the protests were by people who had no idea about the terrible atrocities that the regime had inflicted upon us for decades. We assumed that once they learned what had happened in Iraq, they would change their minds, or modify their opposition to the war.
My first clue that this would not happen was a few weeks after Baghdad fell.

Read the whole article, and then read Chrenkoff's latest roundup of good news from Iraq. You might begin to wonder as I do, how all these stories get buried in the New York Times and other mainstream newspapers --that is, if they show up at all. It is getting harder and harder to believe that this is not a deliberate attempt to sabotage the budding democracy in Iraq. In fact, if I were paranoid, I might actually think that the intellectuals and the journalists and the Europeans would rather sacrifice the people of Iraq and support the terrorists just to enjoy the spectacle of America failure there.

Naseer Flayih Hasan, who wrote the Frontpagemag article concludes with this psychologically accurate insight about those who would consign his country to the Saddams and Osamas of terror:

And so I have become disillusioned, at least with the Leftists I met in Iraq. So noble in their rhetoric, they looked to the stars, yet ignored what was happening around them, caring only about what was inside their minds. So glorious in their ideals, their thoughts were inflexible and their deeds unnecessary, even harmful. In the end, they proved to me how dogma and fanaticism had transform peace activists into—lifeless peace “statues.”

Lifeless, mindless peace robots, more like.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 6:37 PM |

 
Palestinian Democracy
With all the jockeying for position among the diverse terrorist groups that take the place of real democratic institutions for the Palestinians (thanks to the wonderful "legacy" of Yasser Arafat), the ballot below accurately represents the choices for President currently. Perhaps we were foolish to think that Arafat's death might bring some small hope for peace when the lunatics still control the asylum.

Insight provided by Cox and Forkum

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 5:35 PM |

 
Wonderful Irrationality
Here is the list of all 40 of the Most Obnoxious Quotations of 2004 ! My favorites are:

#39) "Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids. Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes." -- Teresa Heinz Kerry instructs volunteers packing donations for "hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean".

#25) "But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at (the Republican National Convention), for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe our nation's freedom, diversity and complexity." -- Paul Krugman

#4) "Republicans don't believe in the imagination, partly because so few of them have one, but mostly because it gets in the way of their chosen work, which is to destroy the human race and the planet. Human beings, who have imaginations, can see a recipe for disaster in the making; Republicans, whose goal in life is to profit from disaster and who don't give a hoot about human beings, either can't or won't. Which is why I personally think they should be exterminated before they cause any more harm." -- The Village Voice's Michael Feingold, in a theater review of all places

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ! These people are REALLY FUNNY! The funniest thing about them is that they can say these things with a straight face. In psychiatry we refer to thought processes like these as "delusional".

Check out all the wonderfully irrational quotations to see what I'm talking about.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 4:57 PM |

 
I'm Not Making This Up: Dave Barry Says He's Done !
This is really bad news!

Popular humorist Dave Barry said Sunday's column for The Miami Herald was his last - maybe. Barry, who has written humor columns for three decades, including 22 years at the Herald, says he's holding out the possibility of a return.
But for now, he says, "I want to stop before I join the horde of people who think I used to be funnier. And I want to work on some other stuff."
Barry says he will write occasional pieces, weighing in "from time to time if something really important happens, such as a cow exploding in a boat toilet."
In the column, Barry thanks his editors and readers.
"You've given me the most wonderful career an English major could hope to have," he writes. "I am very grateful. And I'm not making that up."

Why can't those incredibly AWFUL columnists give it up (like MoDo)?? Why does it have to be Dave??

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:25 PM |

 
Academic Insanity
Last week, Charles at LGF described as "Academic insanity" this latest bit of low intelligence and non-thinking going on at our institutes of "higher" learning:

Furious students and faculty members at the Borough of Manhattan Community
College are demanding that the school abandon plans for a certificate program on
security management. They view it as an endorsement of the Bush administration's
Department of Homeland Security.

Let's see. Does the teaching of Chinese herald the "endorsement" of Communism? Does the teaching of computer technology mean the "endorsement" of hacking? What are these dodo brains thinking (if they are thinking)?

Then we hear from John Leo at US News about the university his daughter attended the last 4 years:

After the 2000 election, my daughter told me that 80 percent of the students had voted for Al Gore. "Bush got only 20 percent of the vote?" I asked. "No, Dad," she explained, "the 20 percent was for Nader." Visiting speakers who challenge any aspect of campus orthodoxy are as rare as woolly mammoths. However, columnist Nat Hentoff, whose son had gone to Wesleyan, showed up in 2002 and criticized the lack of intellectual diversity and free speech.

At a Manhattan holiday party last week, hosted by a friend with Wesleyan ties, I overheard my daughter explaining that no real debate takes place on campus. This was a major frustration, since she is feisty and brilliant and loves to argue ideas. She is politically liberal but wonders how Democrats of her generation will be able to speak convincingly to the middle of the political spectrum when so many of them shun the complexity of arguments and simply spout the party line.

This is a campus apparently that is so obsessed with being "diverse" that it has a "naked dorm, the transgender dorm, the queer prom, the pornography-for-credit course, the obscene sidewalk chalking, the campus club named crudely for a woman's private part, or the appearance on campus of a traveling anti-Semitic roadshow, loosely described as a pro-Palestinian conference."

Or: A one-liner about the campus is that "Wesleyan is so diverse that you can meet people here from almost every neighborhood in Manhattan." And the students tend to have opinions from every known corner of MoveOn.org.

Academia in general has become so obsessed with being "diverse" and "politically correct", that it has failed to notice that its students are marching mindlessly in lockstep to the tune of "Diversity Uber Alles". This is unsurprising, when the faculty--those responsible for the young minds of the students--do the same.

The hostility to new ideas--or even different ideas; the ingrained, immutable belief that "there is only one way to think" --is particularly painful in an environment that should be teaching its students how to think and celebrating reason, logic and the diversity of ideas.

As the president of the student government at the Borough of Manhattan Community College stated regarding the proposed courses on homeland security:

[the proposal is] "a very scary issue that students are very, very against." He said if the program were to be instituted, students would be exposed to "a lot of right-wing views" and about "a lot of things that other countries have done to America without giving the other side of the story." He said it was the "progressive" faculty members who voiced opposition to the proposal at Wednesday's meeting

Well, gee! We wouldn't want the poor dears to be EXPOSED to such inflammatory ideas, would we? That might make them UNCOMFORTABLE (all that thinking, you know). Obviously getting the "other side of the story" isn't important if the story conforms to your way of thinking already. As for those "progressive" faculty members... I never realized that "progressive" could be a synonym for "insane".

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:35 AM |

 
Aarrgggg !!
This is exactly how I feel about tomorrow:

Mike Thompson, Detroit, Michigan, The Detroit Free Press



- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 11:49 PM |

 
Weekly Insanity Roundup
Well it's time for another roundup of the insane, the bizarre, the ridiculous, and the depraved. This is the first roundup of 2005! If you have suggestions for the Insanity Roundup, feel free to email the links, or leave them in the comment section!

1. The Ideology of Love

2. Let's be frank. The UN doesn't NEED Bush to undermine it; UN officials seem perfectly capable of doing that all by themselves. (See here and here for proof)

3. IT WAS A PLOT OF THE CIA AND US MILITARY ! I knew it all along.

4. Did you know that you might not be able to get a divorce when you are pregnant?

5. Now this is a diet I could live with!

6. In search of Elvis' Holy Grail...

7. Sometimes a cigar (or a hot dog) is only a cigar! And sometimes it's not.

8. The idea is to keep on doing this until you get the result you want. Hey! It worked in Washington, didn't it?

9. OK, I agree. But "blog"?? What should we use instead, pray tell? (Maybe that's their point?)

10. Academic freedom apparently means the freedom to crush opposing views.

Finally, what could be more insane than the death of over 120,000 human beings in a natural disaster whose magnitude simply boggles the mind? Whatever one could say about this tragedy would be inadequate. And the death toll is likely to continue to grow from the secondary effects of the disaster. If you haven't donated to the relief efforts, there is an excellent compilation of places to donate at The Command Post.

BTW: Here is a before/after IKONOS photo of Sumatra where the quake hit - IKONOS satellite images show Aceh on northern Sumatra in scene details, at 2-meter resolution, taken by the IKONOS satellite from 423 miles in space, over Indonesia. The image on the left was taken on January 10, 2004 while the image at right was taken December 29, 2004.
Not many natural disasters change the geography of the planet like this one did.

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 12:02 PM |

 
Hitchens on "Women-stoning, Gay-burning and Jew-hating Medieval Theocrats"
An interview in Frontpage Magazine with Christopher Hitchens:

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

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

He has more to say on Michael Moore, Islam, and his former comrades on the Left. A good New Year's Day read. Hopefully you will be sober by now!

- Diagnosed by Dr. Sanity @ 2:30 PM |