YES !

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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)

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.

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?

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!

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.

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" .

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.

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.

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.