Osama, We Hardly Knew Ye

Dan Drezner describes the fade of Al Qaeda.  He does not emphasize the point but his argument is part of the case against the build-up in Afghanistan.

MY STRATEGY FOR REVIVING AL QAEDA: Kevin Drum explains that, as a member of the enlightened left, he realizes that this whole terror thing is overdone but really, the left must learn to pander to, or a least establish some rapport with, the Great Unwashed who don't want to get blown up.

Such equanimity!  Of course, the real issue is that Al Qaeda is a bunch of ethnics with anti-Western aspirations, so what's for a lefty to not to like?  But I know plenty of lefties who run in fear from apples or salad if you mention pesticides or preservatives, and where is the equanimity and calm assessment of risk there?

If Al Qaeda really wants to terrify the Enlightened Left they should announce their incorporation and declare some profit objectives.

Comments

[Clarice]

excellent! Maybe we could stir the pot by saying they are for nuclear energy, against windmills and geothermal and solar and affirmative action, esp against AA for women and non believers. Also they love salt and transfats.

heh

[MarkO]

Just let me know when I don't have to be stip searched at the airport. Until then, they have won.

[MarkO]

stip? Even typing the word strip upsets me.

[RichatUF]

Clarice-

Too late. Osama sided with Al Gore and Democrats in the fight against climate change.

[Clarice]

Well Gore changed his mind on ethanol from corn, can Osama be far behind?

[Dan]

As much as many prognosticators and so-called experts are saying President Obama is going to have a tough time getting re-elected, the reality of the situation is that President Obama will get re-elected against almost any potential GOP challenger.

However, one candidate cannot be over-looked. If we learned anything from 2008, we should've learned that organization and social media skills are paramount to a campaign. No one is actually going to "come out of nowhere". To become the most powerful person in the world, you have to build quite an organization. That's why only one person has a chance to beat President Obama in 2012.

This will make it all clear:
http://mittromneycentral.com/2010/05/07/no-apology-song-the-case-for-american-greatness/

[narciso]

So why did he quit, Dan, with the money, the support of the conservative commentariat, and why should we take a chance again, after he
decided not to run for a second term,

[Gmax]

The Atlantic filled with liberals, is urging its readers not donate to Israel for the forest fires. Is there even a pretext among these lefties of not being anti Semites anymore ( if there ever was ). Disgusting.

[Janet]

Is there a link Gmax?

[Jane]

Romney is toast - as anyone living under Romneycare will tell you.

Cheney in 2012!

[Janet]

Never mind, here it is.

Don't give to the Jewish National Fund...the Israelis have enough money? I believe giving to the JNF is a choice. Maybe our gov't could stop forcing ME to give to Planned Parenthood. It has a lot of rich supporters too...let them pay to kill babies.

[Threadkiller]

Rebuilding the House
“November 10, 2010 1:25 PM
By Congressman Tom McClintock
More than a year ago, Pollster Frank Luntz stood before a group of about 40 House Republicans in a cramped conference room. “I need to tell you something,” he said. “I’ve been looking at polling data from Congressional districts across America for the last three months. I’m convinced that you are going to be in the majority next year.” After a long pause, he added, “This time, please don’t screw it up again.”
I don’t think we will.
The message of the last two elections could not be louder or clearer. Great parties are built upon great principles and they are judged by their devotion to those principles. From its inception, the core principles of the Republican Party have been individual freedom and constitutionally limited government. The closer it has hewn to these principles, the better it has done. The further it has strayed from them…well, my God!
In the aftermath of the Bush debacle, House Republican leaders resolved to restore traditional Republican principles as the policy and political focus of the party and they achieved something no one at the time thought possible: they united House Republicans as a determined voice of opposition to the Left and rallied the American people. Republicans rediscovered why they were Republicans, and Republican leaders rediscovered Reagan’s advice to paint our positions in bold colors and not hide them in pale pastels.
(Ironically, in Reagan’s home state, Republicans tried to campaign to the left of the Democrats and the result was disastrous. While the rest of the country was celebrating historic Republican gains (including a shift of at least 61 U.S. House Seats, 6 U.S. Senate Seats, 680 state legislative seats, 19 state legislatures and six governors), the statewide Republican ticket in California imploded. Republicans nationally now hold more state legislative seats than in any year since 1928. In California, they hold fewer than at any time since 1978!)
House Republicans were unfairly criticized as the party of “No.” When somebody is driving you off a cliff, “no” is a handy word to have in your vocabulary. But it can’t be the only word in the national debate over the future of the country and Republicans know it.
Over the last two years, House Republicans laid out detailed plans to revive the finances of our government and the prosperity of our economy, to return freedom of choice, competition and affordability to health care, to restore the integrity of our borders, and to return to our states their rightful powers and prerogatives.
A Republican House cannot alone enact such laws, but it no longer must labor in the obscurity of minority irrelevance. It now has the opportunity to elevate the national debate by putting forward these plans at a time when Americans are alert to the danger facing the nation and eager for an adult discussion about the fundamental mechanics of freedom – how freedom works and how we can put it back to work.
In 1858, Lincoln warned the nation that two antithetical philosophies, freedom and slavery, competed for the future and reminded us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. “I do not believe the house will fall,” he said, “but I do believe that it will cease to be divided.” Today two incompatible philosophies, freedom and socialism, compete for our future and the stage is set for one of the greatest debates in the history of the American Republic.
Upon the outcome of that debate rests the question of whether the United States of America will fade inexorably into history or whether it will begin its next great era of expansion, prosperity and influence.

Tom McClintock was first elected to the California 4th Congressional District by a margin of 1,800 votes in 2008 and re-elected by a margin of 70,000 votes in 2010.”

Remember Kyl’s earmark for a settlement for a lawsuit from the Indians over water rights.

">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emJeWLJ_iQU"> More McClintock

McClintock for PREZ!!

[Clarice]

But, Jane, as a friend wrote when I suggested I could find no reason for anyone ever to have voted for John F Kerry that innumerable psychological papers have noted the huge weight people give to tall men with good hair when it comes to voting.

That's the only reason I can see why people people mentioning Romney.A primitive belief that tall men with manes should lead.

[Jack is Back!]

I hope you mean Liz, Janet.

You could do like fat Teddy and sub Obama for Osama re this topic and discussion.

Everyone have their decorations up for Christmas and Hannakah?

We do - Yippeeee!

[Clarice]

If I follow the goldberg piece I suppose I was in error in giving to the victims of Katrina and so many other disasters in which govt inadequacy played a role.

[Gmax]

Difference is, of course Clarice, that the Joooooooos werent in charge of those.

[narciso]

And to think, I had felt guilty for this, in the LUN

[Clarice]

Could well be. In fact I'm sure it is. almost all large scale tragedies including famines involve a certain degree of government maladministration.

[narciso]

Sorry, is more like it, but apparently he chose to suck up to his accuser

[Clarice]

It's probably hard to get people to read anything in the Atlantic so you can expect the writers to write even more provocatively.

[Captain Hate]

Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states have no meaningful lobby in Washington

I guess the State Dept isn't a lobby per se.

[Janet]

and how about my families tax money going to Moammar Gadhafi's kid's charities????
or the millions of our tax dollars to build a shrine to Ted Kennedy while his son is listed as one of the richest in Congress after his inheritance????
The JNF is a choice...why should Mr. Goldberg care?

[Clarice]

Indeed. To ask the question is to answer it, Janet.

[Janet]

I guess the State Dept isn't a lobby per se.

Exactly, or our universities.

[narciso]

A thought experiment, would a CIA director, be lounging around at the pool of the Israeli
Ambassador's house, like Tenet was at Prince
Bandar, rhetorical question I know.

[Climate? What's climate?]

Gad, I watch 30 seconds of football and catch America's Team's Footing Star fall. Hatetes etceterates happy in C-Land.
=============

[It was football it was.]

It took me a moment to realize the horseshoes were for the Colts, not the Cowboys.
==========

[Threadkiller]

The Andy we loved.

">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNxLxTZHKM8"> What it was, Was Football.

[Specter]

Didn't BO ridicule Bush for not getting Bin Laden? So...I guess he's had better results?

[MarkO]

If Obama can't catch Bin Laden, it only means Bin Laden isn't important any more. Don't you follow along?

[hit and run]

Everyone knows that Osama is in Karl Rove's basement.

[Threadkiller]

And Sarah is in Rove's head.

[Thomas Collins]

Al-Qaeda is simply a part of the jihadist movement. When American cartoonists aren't forced to disappear because they are under a death warrant for daring to suggest that a draw Muhammad day is in order, when Ayaan Hirsi Ali no longer needs bodyguards, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art can bring out its Muhammad images again, and US government employees no longer grope airline passengers, I'd say we have the jihadist threat under control. At the moment, I'd say the threat is most assuredly not under control.

[narciso]

More succintly put, TC, Osama is as Will Smith might put 'old and busted' (he's almost
as old as Mel Gibson) Awlaki, is by contrast,
'the new kid on the block' American educated, fluent in English, conversant in Western culture, which makes him imminently more dangerous

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for an article by Angelo Codevilla on why US governmental officials overstate the importance of bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, namely, that such overstating fits the talking point that terrorism is the result of actions of rogue groups as opposed to states. Codevilla argues that states use terrorist organizations to further the states' policies.

In the article Codevilla states the following:

"But what if terrorism were (as Thomas Friedman put it) "what states want to happen or let happen"? What if, in the real world, infiltrators from intelligence services—the professionals—use the amateur terrorists rather than the other way around? What is the logical consequence of noting the fact that the terrorist groups that make a difference on planet Earth—such as Hamas and Hezbollah, the PLO, Colombia's FARC—are extensions of, respectively, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and Venezuela? It is the negation of the U.S. government's favorite axiom. It means that when George W. Bush spoke, and when Barack Obama speaks, of America being "at war" against "extremism" or "extremists" they are either being stupid or acting stupid to avoid dealing with the nasty fact that many governments wage indirect warfare."

Codevilla's views deserve a more thorough airing in the US foreign policy establishment than they have received. It is a sign of lack of rigor in such establishment that Codevilla's views are not given more play.

[Manuel Transmission]

OT, but should be interesting to all the jazz fans out there. The following was just sent from an old friend from the East Midlands.

Tomorrow we will raise a glass to Dave [Brubeck] to salute his 90th Birthday. I guess there has been the same attention on your side of the pond.

The BBC has been pulling out all stops over here: Radio 2 has a two part 2 hour interview with Dave by Jamie Cullum, good stuff with plenty of music. Part 2 next week has Jamie playing together with Darius Chris and Dan. Even Radio 4 had a half hour programme with Paul Gambo'.

BBC TV excelled itself with 1 1/2 hours produced by Arena and Clint Eastwood. Lots of anecdotes from Dave and jazz personalities and musical interludes including that wonderful Dave Brubeck / Jay McShan session from Clint Eastwood's 'Blues' programme.

Our own highlight was to brave the weather and go to Buxton for a concert entitled "Brubecks Play Brubeck". In celebration of their Dad's 90th, Darius Chris and Dan plus British saxophonist Dave O'Higgins on Tenor and Soprano, played a truly magnificent selection of Dave's and their own work. The weather had depleted the audience but not the warmth of the reception or the enthusiasm of the performers. They gave lots of their time afterwards and came across as very open and friendly.

Given the time of year we had decided to stay over and to our surprise the Brubecks did too, in the same hotel. It was great to have further talks with them before going our separate ways. They had some pretty grim journeys too, going to Croydon that day, then Eastbourne Friday before flying home for Dad's big day. We hope they made it O.K.

You will get the impression that I am still on a bit of a high. This was in no way just a nostalgia trip, the geat thing about jazz is that it can still do this to you at any time and you still don't see it coming.

I had the privilege of seeing the (classic) Brubeck Quartet on its very last performance in Tempe. Sat on a folding chair in front of the first row due to it being oversold.

[Clarice]

TC Codevilla is quite right on that I think. Laurie Mylroie, much maligned, made this point years ago for which she has been excoriated. Anyone who thinks the 9/11 splodey dopes managed what they did without aid--probably from Iraq's intel services--is someone SCAM would like on its mailing list.

[Melinda Romanoff]

MT-

Ravinia was where I last saw him, but not at this show. Always a treat.

Are you telling me saw him with Paul Desmond version?

I'll pull that session out of your ears and put it to tape, next time I see you.

[Jane]

Wow Man Tran. I'm impressed.

Has anyone else noticed that all the democrats say constantly: "The voters told us they want the 2 parties to work together (so make sure you cave in on what I want)".

I think that is the talking point we are going to hear over and over and it is just wrong.

The voters said: "we want less government, less spending, and adherence to the Constitution and if you have to have perpetual gridlock to get there, than gridlock it shall be.

[narciso]

Having read Lacey's "Inside the Kingdom" his successor to his 1979 look at the Saud fiefdom, I would tend to agree. The fact that one Baluchi family, seems to have been at the heart of practically every major operation, from 1st WTC to Gitmo, would validate that view

[Thomas Collins]

It takes the pressure off our foreign policy folks, Clarice, if the populace is focused on al-Qaeda's downward slope instead of Hamas, Hezbollah, FARC and their supporters.

This is one of the things that makes JOM great. Interweaving discussions of national security policy and Dave Brubeck on the same thread.

[Thomas Collins]

Narciso, is your uncle feeling better?

[Clarice]

I'm always impressed by Man Tran and I'd say that even if I weren't hoping to someday hitch a ride with my cat on his batmobile.

Yes, Jane..they thought "I won" and "permanent majority" and no entrance to House committees or Obamacare deliberations was just the ticket until they lost big time.

[Gmax]

Jane your exactly right. Someone wrote before the election that the voters were going for a "restraining order." I think that is almost dead solid perfect.

If we cant convince the Democrats to stop with the nonsense, then gridlock is exactly what 56% of the voting public wants.

[Janet]

Dead Solid Perfect was the name of a wonderful hamburger joint in College Station, TX. Hmmmmmm...great burgers.

[mockmook]

Thanks for Codevilla's thoughts TC.

Very creditable speculation.

Astounding that Friedman once had a sane thought. Did he wonder if China was a source of terrorism? ;)

[narciso]

Friedman is infuriating, he came up with 'Hama rules' yet his hatred seems more focused
on Israel rather than Syria. He supported the Iraq invasion, and then stepped away like the Alsops, did on Vietnam. In lighter news, in the LUN

[Manuel Transmission]

Mel,

Definitely the last Paul D. session. I was also a fan of Joe M. He even did a clinic in Phx that I had a chance to sit in on. Gave me a wonderful sense of depth to the drummer's game. Both encounters gave me a real sense that my guardian angel was a jazz fan.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Report: Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Deadly Israeli Fire

And in America the left is cheering the deaths of 41 Israelis and so much destruction.

[Clarice]

Sara, I don't think AQ really did this . It is their wont to claim credit for such disasters because they have so little to show these days to recruits.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I wondered that too, Clarice, but then I read earlier that Israel arrested two young Arabs, so now I don't know what to think. In any case, it is a very sad set of circumstances and it frosts me to no end to see how some Americans are reacting. I just do not get it.

[Gmax]

If Nancy is unhappy then Gmax is a very happy guy. Prepare yourself for an absolute hysterical reaction come announcement of the compromise, but here is what is being reported already:

"We're moving in that direction," Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat said dejectedly when Bob Schieffer, host of "Face the Nation" on CBS, asked him if the 2001 and 2003 tax rates would be extended even for the wealthy. "And we're only moving there against my judgment," Mr. Durbin added.

In meetings with administration officials after the Senate votes, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and many other House and Senate Democrats voiced deep unhappiness at the prospect of extending all the tax cuts and also expressed their belief that the White House did not appear to be getting enough for such a big concession, officials said.

[Captain Hate]

Sara always expect the worst from the left; you'll never be disappointed.

[Clarice]

I do get it and I agree, it's anger producing, but I think the men arrested were Druzes and the charge is negligence. There's no evidence this was done deliberately yet. That area is exceedingly dry. It's kind of like Malibu.It is BTW where children were once sacrificed to Baal --Probably by the ancestors of those who strap suicide belts on kids today

[Gmax]

No Clarice initial reports were Druze, but the recent corrected reports were two Arabs ( muslims not Druze ). One apparently was a Palestinian, so you have to wonder how he got into Israel, but the other was an Israeli Arab.

[Rick Ballard]

TC,

Thanks for the Codevilla link. It is a rational speculation on the oligarch's response.

I'm curious as to your "ho hum" characterization of the response of someone with an austere Austrian eye on the current economic situation. The last debt event of this magnitude occasioned the assumption of power by the Democrat Party for some 70+ years (with a few breaks) and the imposition of "progressive" fantasies which have reached (exceeded?) the amount of OPM available for sustenance.

In response, the Democrat Party quaffed a nice, warm cup of arsenic with Stim I and followed it up with a cyanide chaser in the form of Obamacare. I don't believe there is a chapter on "party suicide" in the Austrian texts and I'm wondering about your opinion on what comes next.

[Gmax]

Rick

I am assuming OPM is Other Peoples Money?

A term of art in the real estate world!

[Gmax]

Jim Hoft has this up:

Later reports said that while most of the residents of Ossafiya are Druze, the youths who were arrested are Arabs.

[mockmook]

Rick,

At least during the current Great Depression, the House has already flipped.

Maybe the GOP will be the party in power for the next 70 years.

[Thomas Collins]

Rick, I wasn't careful in stating what I was ho-humming about. My reference was to how I thought an Austrian Schooler would view the response of the economy to the Barack/Nancy/Harry Stimulus and the Ben QE (in other words, the economy's response was unsurprising). I agree that how this all plays out for our domestic politics and place in the international system is far from ho-hum.

I am going to have to give your question more thought, but my initial reaction is that there is still enough entrepreneurial vigor and technological inventiveness in us that America as a self-evident truths polity will survive what will be a decade or longer struggle with adherents of the bureaucratic nanny state. Even if the Dem Party itself doesn't do so well, I think there are enough GOP nannies that this will be a tough struggle. One of the themes of Derek Leebaert's book on the Cold War was that our technological edge more than made up for us not having military strategists at the level of Soviets such as Ogarkov and Andropov. I think that element in us (technological inventivenss resulting from restlessness and vigor) is still an important element in our society, but that the Gramscian march through our institutions and through some of our best minds is going to make for a tough contest.

In any event, Rick, I realize the above response doesn't do justice to your query, but I'll take your query as a medium term homework assignment and get to work.

[Rick Ballard]

Gmax,

Correct. I'm beginning to suspect that Mad Ben's QE II+ project reflects the probability that Japan, China, the SS funds and other US pension funds won't be able to dig up another $1+ trillion for SEIU and AFSCME members this year. The SS funds have gone cash negative and Japan and China appear to be losing interest. ZIRP will tend to do that.

[Ann]

Watched Sarah Palin bag and dress a Caribou tonight on her Alaska show. The hew and cry from the left will be wonderful tomorrow.

Her daddy has a collection of animal skulls he shows the kids at school and drives a truck with a bumper sticker that says "Vegetarian is an Indian word for Poor Hunter". He is totally awesome and Sarah is a daddy's girl. (more frosting for the cake)

Meanwhile, these two always seem annoyed when standing for the US National Anthem .

[jimmyk]

TC Codevilla is quite right on that I think. Laurie Mylroie, much maligned, made this point years ago for which she has been excoriated.

Speaking of much maligned, wasn't this (holding nations primarily responsible for terrorism rather than rogue individuals) really part of the original "Bush Doctrine"?

[Rick Ballard]

mockmook,

That's certainly one potential outcome. The potential is there and the 2nd quartile (<$50K) is certainly available. Another few dozens or so of the oligarchs will have to take a tumbrel ride in order for it to happen.

TC,

I agree with your premise concerning technological potential and entrepreneurial vigor. I would also note that continued unemployment is going to make the EPA/OSHA combine a probable political negative.

The other huge factor is the demographic shift which is occurring. Asset protection is going to be very important as we begin the greatest inter-generational transfer of wealth in history. The following generation has a definite interest in gramps retaining as much of his estate as possible prior to its inevitable movement to a new home.

[Sue (Sarah's new pal)]

Some women want diamonds. [but] Blood, guts, and bullets, that me.
I got drug out onto the tundra by a bear.Shot it, but was left for dead for 10 days.

[maryrose]

Drudge has a tale of Hillary chasing after some Iranian minister who's trying to avoid her and ducking her advances. Shades of Madeline Albright with Arafat. deja-vu all over again.

[Ann]

Clarice,

Btw, your "Pieces" was excellent again today. My daughter's history teacher is now a big fan. :)

[Clarice]

Thanks, Ann. Looking at the latest pic makes me wonder if there is a single bedspread or curtain left untouched in the WH.

[narciso]

In that light, the fashion update from India, where they are still trying to view the Emperor's New Clothes, an epic fail, in the LUN

[mockmook]

I was watching this awesome WeaselZippers VIDEO on YouTube via Ace's, when I came across this other amusing VIDEO use of the same song.

What a great song; here is a live VIDEO performance.

[daddy]

This ADN story tells us that the push is on ">http://www.adn.com/2010/12/04/1588308/a-gift-for-anwrs-50th-birthday.html"> to declare ANWR a National Monument, thereby permanently locking it up from Drilling or any other development.

[Ann]

LOL, Clarice. :) (I had the same thoughts).

[Ann]

mockmook, Janet has that first link of yours on facebook and it is awesome. Kept thinking of Soylent while watching it and hope he is safe.

daddy, Your link didn't work for me but that subject is a perfect diamond for someone to campaign on for 2012.

[mockmook]

Ann,

It is ridiculous that we don't see stuff like is shown in WeaselZippers video every night on the news.

But, I'm sure Linsay Lohan has done something much more interesting (and important) today.

Is Janet's FB link public?

[Ann]

mockmook, I agree. Email me at [email protected] and I will link you to Janet's facebook page where you can join.

She has great links.

btw,

Take MO out of the picture I posted above and just look at this smug POS:

The US National Anthem is playing and he is happy with the destruction of America he has brought.

But don't wake up with that picture, think of this:

I love Liz Cheney but Sarah has the grass roots Clarice spoke about today and the energy to bring it in 2012. Against all odds and the media, America Will Win Again. Who is more
electable? The “corpse man” and the bitter scolds who think they can drown her out, if they can just put enough spittle behind calling her an idiot or the refudiated woman with a winning sense of humor and some serious ideas to discuss that loves our country ? And can bag a caribou and fill her freezer without going to a grocery store, I might add. :)

[Dave (in MA)]

The Atlantic filled with liberals

Sounds like a good idea.

[Ann]

Good Night All, sorry for the auduril post below but daddy had a great link that should be read especially thinking about the 2012 election and who would be the greatest spokes woman against it:

National monument status sought for ANWR on 50th

ANNIVERSARY: Move would keep oil-rich plain out of industry's reach.

By MARY PEMBERTON
The Associated Press

President Barack Obama is being urged to bestow national monument status on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for its 50th anniversary in what supporters say would finally put the refuge's coastal plain beyond the reach of oil companies.

They want the country's largest and most untamed refuge to join the likes of the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Giant Sequoia groves of California, the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and George Washington's birthplace in Virginia.

National monument status could put an estimated 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil beyond the grasp of oil companies forever.

That sounds nice, but it's a bad idea, said Wayne Stevens, president and CEO of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce. He said there is a "huge disconnect" in this country between products people want and the resource development required to provide them.

"We are shutting this country down," he said.

But other drilling proponents are less alarmed.

ADVERTISEMENT
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"For 30 years Congress has debated this issue," Adrian Herrera, operations manager for Arctic Power, a group promoting Alaska's pro-drilling position on ANWR, the oil-rich coastal plain just east of Prudhoe Bay, North America's largest oil field. "I don't think it will work."

Conservation groups, businesses, religious organizations, Gwich'in Nation representatives, as well as a slew of senators and representatives, disagree. They want Obama to exercise his authority on ANWR's 50th and protect one of America's last remaining spectacular wilderness landscapes.

More than 80 members of Congress, 170 scientists, 300 businesses and organizations and 22 religious organizations have signed letters to the president.

"Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a moral issue. As people of faith, we not only have a commitment to care for creation, but our faith also tells us to protect God's sacred spaces," the letter from religious leaders says.

Conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society, are encouraging Obama to pick up his pen and "strengthen protections for the region's unique wildlife, wilderness, and cultural resources."

Pro-monument forces gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.

"Now is the time to create a refuge from the fossil fuel policies that have devastated the economy of the Gulf. Now is the time to protect the refuge," said Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, as he rallied the troops.

In 1960, under President Eisenhower, an order was signed setting aside 8.9 million acres in what was then the Arctic National Wildlife Range. The squabble began 30 years ago when the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act signed under President Carter doubled the size of the refuge but left the door open to oil exploration on the coastal plain.

Supporters of monument status say one of America's greatest treasures has been under attack ever since.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., whose father, Morris Udall, was key to getting ANILCA passed, is one of the senators calling for the highest possible protection for the refuge. "On ANWR's 50th anniversary, there's no more fitting way to celebrate than to grant it the strong, long-term protections it deserves so that our children and grandchildren can continue to enjoy this unspoiled American treasure," Udall said Thursday.

Kara Moriarty, deputy director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, which speaks for the industry, said it is appalling that there is a push to lock up an area so rich in oil when fossil fuels will be needed to meet the nation's energy needs for decades to come.

On top of that, Alaskans overwhelmingly want ANWR opened to drilling, she said.

"I think it is another stunt to stop development in an area that is not even in their own back yards," Moriarty said. "It is our back yard and I find it offensive as an Alaskan."

David Jenkins with Republicans for Environmental Protection said he hopes that the 50th anniversary will allow people to step back from the politically-charged issue and reflect on the issue anew.

"It is a sweeping landscape that is very valuable to wildlife, to America's sense of the untamed lands that we encountered when we first came here," he said. "For people of faith, it is a magnificent example of the spectacular beauty that God has created."

Can we suggest that anyone that votes for his garbage hire a horse and buggy to deliver their behind to Congress or at least walk a few blocks when you are Sheila Jackson Lee and get a paid for government ride a block away from where you live.

[hit and run]

Liveblogging the TSA experience at GSO at 4;30 am.

Ok,we're all set. Just a moment for last minute preparations,both technical and . . . Psychological.

And . . . We're done? That's it? No touching? No feeling? No cupping? No groping?

How disappointing.

Live from GSO this is hit and run with . . . Nothing to report. Back to you in the studio.

[macphisto]

"these two always seem annoyed when standing for the US National Anthem"

it must kill them to have to behave as if there's something superior to their egos.

"Looking at the latest pic makes me wonder if there is a single bedspread or curtain left untouched in the WH."

Billie Holiday called...she wants her dress back.

[bunkerbuster]

``What if, in the real world,''

What if, indeed...lol

If we're going to blame Saudi Arabia for supporting terror, who do we blame for supporting Saudi Arabia? And even ahistorical fabulists like Clarice have no choice but to acknowledge that the Reagan administration's Pavlovian Cold War domestic politics gave the bin Ladenists their first lease on life as terrorists in a war Reagan himself called "Holy''...
Follow the money, indeed...

[Extraneus]

Civil Rights Commission Rips Justice Dept. Over New Black Panthers Case

WASHINGTON (AP) – The conservative-dominated U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has published a report criticizing the Justice Department for its handling of voting rights accusations against the New Black Panther Party.

POP QUIZ: When's the last time AP ever described a group as "liberal-dominated"? (Hint: Never?)

[Mark Folkestad]

Bubu, go back in your burrow. It isn't time for you to see if you can spot your shadow. Give us a peaceful winter.

Dave, that's a hilarious take on the quote from another comment.

Ann, Liz Cheney is a fine-looking woman of keen intellect and wicked debating skills. She has the "gravitas" that many seem to think that Sarah Palin lacks. But she can be tarred with the "Beltway" label that puts so many folks off and she, as you point out, does not have the passionate support that Palion does.

I had to spend a moment beating my head against the wall after reading Ann's quote from the article on extending national monument status to ANWR. As much as I like the area, it is bizarre to call it spectacular. The quote from the green Republican is frustrating. I AM a person of faith, and it is not an article of that faith to object to harmless extraction of resources that God gave our nation so that we might not be at the mercy of hostile foreign powers.

I can hardly wait for the firestorm from the Left over last night's episode of Palin's travelogue. Animal rightists will be weeping over what they consider the murder of a beautiful animal. The nit-pickers (an innate trait of the lefties) will be screaming about Palin taking so many shots, or the fact that her father provided the rifles. About that rifle issue, her father is adored and respected, and Palin yields to him as a dutiful daughter making him feel important. It was his error in not having the rifles sighted in properly, or just an accident in the scopes getting jostled in transit, that caused the aimpoint error. And Sarah could have brought her own rifle, but that would have taken away from the family bonding involved. I was very pleased with the show, as a hunter, as a Republican and as a Sarah-phile.

[Mark Folkestad]

Oops. Lack of sleep shows in my keying in "Palion" instead of Palin. On the other hand, since she is something of a lioness, perhaps my typo is appropriate.

[Jim Ryan]

You're Tom Perriello of VA-5. One-term Tom, lame duck. What do you do as your country's economy crumples against a steel wall like in one of those slow-mo crash test films? That's right. You introduce your very own Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act!

Because everyone knows that at this time in U.S. history, it is important that Congress involve itself in the dating lives of twenty-year-old couples. Date rape and assault between boyfriends and girlfriends at colleges is a terrible scourge! Congress must act!

Tom's working on his self-esteem. It's all about Tom. His term always was about Tom. No one could bloviate about nothing at a town hall better than Tom. And now Tom's wounded ego needs some help, a little "I made a difference" perfume. But you can't cover the stink. He voted for the crap which killed our recovery. He made a difference alright, and we kicked him out of office quicker than the bouncers at Cleo's local dives kick him to the curb on Saturdays.

[bunkerbuster]

Palin must be the first American to use running for president to successfully launch a career as a reality TV star. That's entertainment, indeed... Jesse Jackson must be beside himself with envy...

[Janet]

Here is a great old post on ANWR with pictures.

Thanks for the music video links mockmook!

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Ann, Liz Cheney is a fine-looking woman of keen intellect and wicked debating skills. She has the "gravitas" that many seem to think that Sarah Palin lacks. But she can be tarred with the "Beltway" label that puts so many folks off and she, as you point out, does not have the passionate support that Palion does.

Well we could imagine that Palin chooses not to run but rather endorse Liz.

[Thomas Collins]

Bunkerbuster, Obama's entire 2008 campaign was one big reality show TV star operation, complete with reports of Obama at the health club, Obama dissing a relative as a typical white person, Obama dismissing a female reporter as sweetie, Obama speaking surrounded by fake Greek columns, Obama's adoring fans lapping up his nonsense about stopping the rise of the oceans, Obama the world reality show celebrity speaking in Europe, and the Obama symbols, T-shirts and other products everywhere. Obama's campaign skillfully manipulated the cult of celebrity and fake intimacy that is the staple of many so-called reality based shows. I look forward to your hard hitting analysis of how Obama's slick cult of personality campaign (which reached its height when Obama objected to answering too many questions from reporters [you know how charismatic personalities are above such mundate matters]) is inconsistent with serious governance.

[Janet]

It is ridiculous that we don't see stuff like is shown in WeaselZippers video every night on the news.

Amen to this sentiment. So many great efforts by our military in Iraq & Afghanistan are just ignored. Our media has stolen heroic individuals & moments from this generation. It is too sad.
I used to print off stories reported on the internet of lots of great things happening in Iraq & Afghanistan....never saw them in the newspaper. One lousy Abu Ghraib (that was already being prosecuted) trumped hundreds of wonderful, heart lifting efforts that could inspire ALL Americans.
I personally sent boxes of school supplies to 3 Marines setting up a school. That is just one tiny example.
The left should be ashamed for not helping to bring freedom to the people living in these countries ruled by hate-filled thugs.

It is like the left believes in a caste system....every little group needs to stay in their place...frozen in time...never exposed to new & better ideas.

[Janet]

Obama's entire 2008 campaign was one big reality show

Sooooo true TC!!! Well said.

[narciso]

Liz does do to the rest of the wayward panel, of Fox News, what Sarah did to the Caribou, yet another lie put forth by Shushannah Walshe
in the DB, that GrandPa Grizzley didn'tsupport
her,

[Clarice]

A very interesting and more optimistic report on the Me than we are used to hearing with a caveat--a warning from Israel of the strategic danger posed by the international move to delegitimize it and one from the Egyptian foreign minister that if the enemies of peace are allowed to paint this as a war between the Moslems and the Jews, the peace efforts by countries like Jordan and Egypt will be unable to contain them.

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3278

[narciso]

She did manage the Middle East portfolio in the second Bush term, which is akin to trying
to cull the herd of Arabist proteges of Charles Freeman

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Obama's entire 2008 campaign was one big reality show TV star operation

Imagine the embarrassment of falling for that. In another year 90% of the democrats won't admit voting for him.

[Threadkiller]

Where is Frau?

This morning our children our celebrating Nikolaus.

St. Nikolaus Day (Nikolaustag)
">http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/mnstatehistory/images/st_nick.gif">

"December 6 is the celebration of St. Nikolaus (English = St. Nicholas), a bishop from Asia Minor who died on that day in 343 A.D. St. Nikolaus became known for performing good deeds during his lifetime, especially for people in need. One of St. Nikolaus' most famous acts of kindness involved three young women whose father could not afford marriage dowries for them. The father had decided to send his daughters to a brothel for employment because he could not afford these dowries, but when Nikolaus heard of their plight he decided to help. Sneaking over to the family's home in the middle of the night, Nikolaus threw three bundles of money through the family's window, providing enough money for a dowry for each woman. Thus, the daughters were able to avoid prostitution and get married.
In Germany, the celebration of this saint includes St. Nikolaus going from door to door and asking the children of the town if they have been good. The children may also perform a song, poem, or some other such skill for St. Nikolaus to show themselves worthy, obedient children. Small gifts are then distributed to those children who have been well-behaved.
St. Nikolaus may also have a companion with him when he visits the children. In Germany, St. Nikolaus' companion is Knecht Ruprecht. In earlier times, Ruprecht was a maleficent creature in a ragged robe who carried a large sack where he put all of the bad children. However, Ruprecht has evolved into the companion of the Christkindl, or Christ Child, and is now often referred to as the Weinachtsmann (Father Christmas or Santa Claus).
In Bavaria and Austria, St. Nikolaus is accompanied by Krampus (Austria) or Klaubauf (Bavaria). This creature is a monster with horns and bells and/or chains hanging from his body. His role is to give sticks to the children who St. Nikolaus finds have been naughty."

Bungduster, Did you get a stick? :-(

[narciso]

I think we'll call him Ruprecht from now on.

[Janet]

Bungduster, Did you get a stick? :-(

LOL!! Threadkiller! Too funny. Makes me mindful of a super funny Tim Blair post called A Stick Named Pablo. Here's my John F'n Kerry stick.

[narciso]

In the same vein 'submitted for your approval'
as Rod Serling would say, in the LUN

[narciso]

It's like vaudeville, this morning, or they really are auditioning for next week's pieces, in the LUN

[Threadkiller]

From narciso's 10:09

"“The climate bill is much more important than health care because the climate situation is about life and death whereas the health-care bill was much more limited,” Turner, 72, said."

HaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!