The Razor

Here’s the link.

I need to post more links to my work over there.

But he sure has a weird way of showing it. Since he’s my congressman, and I voted for him last November, AND my stepson is a Marine, I called the Congressman at his Washington DC office today and voiced my displeasure for his support of the Democratic bill condemning the troop build up.

He can vote his conscience, but so can I – and I won’t forget this vote which emboldens those who target my stepson and those he serves with.

And by someone wearing a burqa no less:

Woman robs Brandywine Hundred bank
By TERRI SANGINITI, The News Journal
Posted Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 3:59 pm

A woman walked into a Brandywine Hundred bank this morning and held up the teller, state police said.

The bandit entered Artisans Bank at 1706 Marsh Road about 10:40 a.m., and approached the teller with a demand note, implying she was armed.

The teller handed over an undisclosed sum of cash, and the woman left the bank.

The woman was in what appeared to be an all-black burqa, with her head and face partially covered, police said.

Anyone with information on her identity is asked to call Troop 2 detectives at (302) 834-2620, ext. 4.

I stopped at a neighboring bank 20 minutes afterward. At the time a single state police cruiser was parked out front. None of the tellers knew what was up – or at least they claimed to not know what was going on when an elderly gentleman asked about the police cruiser next door.

By the time I had left the bank, there were two police cruisers, a crime scene van and two middle-aged guys wearing glasses and ties that screamed “FBI”.

Evidently the non-al Qaeda insurgents are getting tired of dying:

The wider Sunni insurgency — the groups beyond Al Qaeda — is being slowly, and surely, defeated. The average insurgent today feels demoralized, disillusioned, and hunted. Those who have not been captured yet are opting for a quieter life outside of Iraq. Al Qaeda continues to grow for the time being as it cannibalizes the other insurgent groups and absorbs their most radical and hardcore fringes into its fold. The Baathists, who had been critical in spurring the initial insurgency, are becoming less and less relevant, and are drifting without a clear purpose following the hanging of their idol, Saddam Hussein. Rounding out this changing landscape is that Al Qaeda itself is getting a serious beating as the Americans improve in intelligence gathering and partner with more reliable Iraqi forces.

Last Fall I foresaw the danger of talking ourselves into defeat in Iraq, a danger that no one against the war truly recognizes. Now the sentiment is captured in this editorial by the WSJ:

Our slide to a national nervous breakdown because of Iraq is not going unnoticed. Australia’s foreign minister, Alexander Downer, has been visiting across the U.S. this week. “I’ve been pretty worried about what I’ve heard,” Mr. Downer said in an interview. Walking on Santa Monica beach Sunday before last, Mr. Downer said he encountered a display of crosses in the sand, representing the American dead in Iraq.

“What concerns me about this,” he said, “is that it’s sort of an isolationist sentiment, subconsciously, not consciously, and that would be an enormous problem for the world. I hope the American people understand the importance of not retreating and thinking the world’s problems aren’t theirs.”

Hat tip: Dean Esmay.

Better Red Than Dead is my slogan for this election, one that succinctly describes why I’m voting a straight red or Republican ticket in 1.5 weeks.

For me the defining issue of our era is fundamentalist Islam and the terror that it spawns. A little over 5 years ago it killed 3,000 of my countrymen. Prior to that attack there was on average an attack every year that targeted the United States.

Since September 11 there have been several attempts at terror, including shoe-bomber Richard Reid’s attempt at taking down a transcontinental airliner in December 2001. Had he been successful, we would have added another 300+ people to the long list of those killed by Islamic terrorists.

Given the behavior of the Democrats, especially their refusal to even acknowledge that we are fighting for our lives against a formidable foe, I cannot trust any of them with the safety of my family.

So I’m voting Republican. While I have serious issues with the party on environmental conservation, business welfare, and others – the safety of my family trumps everything else. Consequently no matter how good a democrat is (like Harold Ford jr or locally, Tom Carper), I can’t vote for him because to do so would be to validate the fantasyland the Democratic Party has coccooned itself in.

Better Republican and alive with my taxes going to wealthy CEOs than dead with pretty much the same thing happening anyway.

I’ve come to question the importance of everything I read or hear during the final two weeks of an election. Polls. Attitudes. Commercial – everything associated with an election. As far as I’m concerned it is all noise – and attempts at distinguishing the signal from that noise is futile.

So instead I pretty much shut down. I know how I will vote, but I don’t know how the rest of the country – let alone my state – will. Worrying about or hoping for any particular outcome is just pointless.

So instead I ignore the signs, the commercials and pretty much the entire election-related media. There’s just the waning days of October, long walks with the dog, house chores, checking the Kid’s homework, making sure the pond is winterized.

A long winter is ahead. It’s coming, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. All I can do is make sure the water level is okay and an airstone is set to keep the pond from completely freezing over. The koi are already moving sluggishly, but still make the half-nod towards the surface whenever I get near. They seem to know that food might be tempting right now, but it would kill them later since undigested food would damage their gut while hibernating. The frog still plops back into the pond when the dog scares it at night, but I suspect that pretty soon that will stop as it finds a safe spot in the mud lining the pond.

The roses are still blooming and will continue to do so until they are covered in frost and snow. There’s not a Japanese beetle in sight – proof that in the end the roses will outlast them.

There’s a beauty in all of this that I find sublime. Seasons pass – whether of the Autumnal or of the Election variety.

It’s been my position all along. I was going to write a column about this very issue, but Anne Applebaum beat me to it:

But if it is within China’s power to rescue or destroy Kim, then how, exactly, did North Korea’s nuclear weapons program become in any sense the responsibility of the United States? Unlike China, the United States has no diplomatic levers it can use in North Korea, no trade relations of any significance and certainly no shared border. Yet the United States has been leading the effort to persuade the Security Council—of which China is a permanent member—to impose weak sanctions that probably won’t have any impact.

People need to understand that China is not our friend. It is not Canada, not Australia. It’s not even France.
It is our competitor whether we want it to be or not – simply because we are its competitor in the minds of the Chinese.

China has extensive spying operations in North Korea. It knows exactly what is going on there. Why hasn’t it acted more forcefully? Probably because it knows that the North Korean nuclear program is much of a threat except, perhaps, in the long term. In the mean time there is much to be made from rattling the neighbors and keeping the USA busy.

Remember that NK is on its border, and hundreds of thousands of North Koreans live in China. In a sense, North Korea is to China as Mexico is to the United States.

Would the US be happy to find China monkeying around in Mexico – should unrest break out there? Granted, one must be careful with the analogy since the Cold War isn’t over with the United States just yet. A better analogy would be the USSR messing about in Mexico during the 1980s.

Would Reagan have liked that?

China is moving carefully not because it is afraid of upsetting North Korea – but rather it wants to maximize its gain from the situation vis-a-vis the US, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Let’s not forget that Taiwan is a very sore point with the Chinese. It does not like the security guarantees and support we have offered what it sees as a “rogue province.” Imagine Vermont going independent and being backed by the Chinese. Such things tend to color all aspects of a relationship.

Don’t forget that China isn’t named the “Middle Kingdom” for nothing. While patriotism might be a crime in certain social circles in the US, it is alive and well in China. The Chinese view their nation as a natural successor to the United States in all spheres: economic, military and cultural. While the 20th Century can arguably be called the American Century, China expects the 21st to be its own.

China has much to be gained by a loose cannon ruling North Korea, but it must balance that out by the danger that the cannon will end up blowing up in its face. So far the Chinese haven’t done much. However should North Korea become a liability, you may rest assured that one day South Korean soldiers would wake up and see Chinese soldiers glaring back across the DMZ. China could remove Kim Jong-il from power in minutes, and we wouldn’t know until the next day we noticed the uniforms of the border guards had changed.

So far the United States has recognized this fact and acted accordingly. It has wisely resisted the impulses from both Left and Right to “do something” about North Korea when there is little to be done.

North Korea is China’s responsibility. Condemnations are fine, but beyond that the US shouldn’t worry too much about Kim Jong-il. The Chinese will act when its in their interest to act, not a moment before.

Looked out my window and watched a protest march down Market St. in Center City Philly this afternoon. The group was small, and vastly outnumbered by cops who ringed their march. The group covered about half a city block while marching – so I’d estimate it to be about 200 at best. Onlookers were scarce, as most of the business district is finishing up the day’s business.

I had seen an ad for the protest in the local freebie paper that litters the streets, as well as the men’s room floor in the building. The group demanded people quit their jobs and cut classes to attend the protest. Judging by the turnout, hardly anyone did.

The signs were the usual “Impeach Bush” along with crudely drawn caricatures that are so cliche that I can’t imagine them eliciting any emotional response from anyone except the other protesters. “Say, I like your Bush. Nice dumbo ears.” “Thanks, I dig your beady eyes.”

The protest passed within seconds, with taxis making more noise as they cut each other off and honked horns catching fares.

That’s the problem when you write what you think is obvious: you get sucker-punched when you are wrong.

There are certain defining moments in my life.
The first was the death of my father when I was an adolescent.
The second was my acceptance to school in San Diego.
The third was the kiss that began the relationship that led to my sixteen year marriage with my wife and best friend.
The fourth was acceptance of my new role as a father.

The fifth came on a crystalline blue day 5 years ago.

For weeks afterward I was too stunned to speak. But over time I was felt like the main character in Harlan Ellison’s classic work “I have no Mouth and I Must Scream.”

5 years ago, I had no mouth and I wanted so badly to scream. Three weeks later, this journal was born.

It has functioned as my mouth since I published this piece – still one of my favorites – that takes me back to the weeks following that strike when the world abruptly and irrevocably changed for all of us. It remains poignant and relevant to me today:

In a sense this is an attempt by minds to make sense of the nonsensical. By providing motive to the attack, people feel better. They can take comfort in people having been killed for a reason, that the attack was some kind of message which we now must heed.

The attack was meant to change us, and it did – just not in the ways that the attackers wanted.

It has steeled me to the fight. It has energized me with a fire that I have passed along in these writings and newspaper columns since then.

I have found my mouth but strangely as I remember that day so long ago when everything changed, I feel that the best way for me to remember those who have died in this fight for our survival is to do so with silence.

It’s the best commemoration I’ve come up with so far.

Silence.

But the anger will flow again, rest assured. I have a mouth, and I will scream.

I never wrote about the Plame Affair because it really never interested me much. Outing Plame always seemed so obvious – like outing Liberace – that the Democrats and Kossacks gunning for Rove seemed to be of the same mindset as the Black Helicopter/Tinfoil Hat crowd.

However, today’s Washington Post editorial is worth noting – if only to put this beast to rest once and for all:

Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame’s CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming—falsely, as it turned out—that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush’s closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It’s unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.

Unfortunately, Wapo fails to take responsibility for its own breathless reporting of the scandal. Going through its own archives, I found this editorial by Mike Kinsley’s A Farce in Two Canvases:

The White House was furious at Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly dissing President Bush’s State of the Union assertion that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy uranium ore in Africa. Wilson had led the investigation of the uranium question. The Bushies apparently thought it would be clever revenge to reveal that Plame had helped Wilson to get this assignment. (What kind of man lets his wife send him out for uranium?) Whoever talked to Novak either didn’t consider or didn’t care that revealing the name of a covert intelligence agent is against the law.

Wapo’s casual dismissal of a case it so breathlessly reported for nearly three years is a bit disingenuous – if not typical of the MSM.

CBS News reports:

George Bush spends 58% of US Budget on Whiskey and some Bling for his hommies

Gateway Pundit linky.
No surprise, really – given how mean the streets are in some areas. Oh, and one might wish to remember that this city is bluer than blue.

Coincidence?

Doubt it. The Law & Order Democrats were kicked out of the party over 30 years ago.

Published as Guest Commentary in the Delaware State News on August 1, 2006.—————————You don’t have to be a Jew to support Israel. It’s a democracy like the United States. It has been a staunch American ally in an unfriendly neighborhood. It has strong political, social and religious ties to the United States.

However it’s more personal for me. One of my earliest memories is the destruction of airplanes sitting on the tarmac in Jordan by terrorists on September 12, 1970. I was 3 years old.

At the time my sister was a flight attendant for TWA. One of the planes hijacked happened to be a TWA flight, and my father – a physically imposing man – was driven to hand-wringing and pacing until he learned that my sister was safe.

Two years later I sat mesmerized in front of the TV watching the hostage drama in Munich unfold. There 11 Israeli athletes were held for 18 hours by Palestinian terrorists before being massacred.

The Arab-Israeli conflict became a part of my daily life when the Arab oil producing states decide to punish the Western nations for supporting Israel. Gasoline doubled overnight from 59 cents a gallon, straining my parent’s budget and ushering in a period of high inflation. Terms like ‘Misery Index’ entered my vocabulary as I watched the nightly news during dinner at home.

As I grew into adolescence I became fascinated by world history. I saw unforgettable photos of the Holocaust and read the stories of unimaginable horror in the concentration camps. I learned how Israel was founded from the ashes of the crematoria.

Since its founding, Israel has been cast into the historical role of the Jewish people: the world’s scapegoat. For decades, the Israelis have been portrayed as greedy – taking away land from the Arabs. People forgot that Israel accepted a two-state solution proposed by the United Nations at its creation. It was the neighboring Arab states, and a large proportion of the Arab population of the prospective Arab state of Palestine who refused to accept the existence of Israel. This continues to be the stand of the Palestinian Authority under the elected leadership of Hamas – a terror group explicitly founded to wipe out Israel and enslave the Jews living there.

The terror attacks continued. As the Israelis suffered, the world convinced itself that the only solution was for Israel to trade the land it had won in battle for peace.

In 2000, Israel itself believed this. It pulled out of south Lebanon. With American guarantees and assurances to both sides it offered the Palestinians all the land it had gained in the prior 33 years. But the Palestinians refused the offer.

Soon, families sitting to dinner were murdered by Hamas terrorists. Toddlers eating pizza at a Jerusalem fast food restaurant were slaughtered by Islamic Jihad attackers, their families paid by Saddam Hussein, their faces painted on walls and names bestowed on streets in Gaza and the West Bank.

Soon after this attack, America experienced 9-11 and shared in the misery of being under attack. On 9-11 the World prided itself by saying everyone had become Americans. In retrospect the truth is that on 9-11 we became Israelis.

Still, Israeli clung to the myth that by pulling out of the lands it had captured in battle, it could buy peace. It pulled out of Gaza, dragging Jewish nationalists screaming at the soldiers who carted them away. Gaza was emptied of Jews, and the first thing the Palestinians did upon taking control was to set fire to the evacuated Jewish synagogues, celebrating and dancing as the temples burned to the ground.

Now Israel finds itself at open war with its enemies. Rockets packed with ball bearings fall upon its northern cities. Hamas attacks continue in the south. Once again the Europeans and the United Nations return to their anti-Semitic roots and try to hold Israel down so that its enemies can attack her without fear of being struck back.

But as an American, I see the truth. It may be possible to talk your way out of a mugging, but you can’t negotiate with a killer. Israel has tried negotiating, has tried playing by the rules imposed on it by the United Nations and the Europeans – and what has it gotten? Dead Israelis.

I stand for Israel because I see it as a desert that has bloomed through the hard work and brilliance of its people. I see a people that has suffered unjustly for thousands of years continue to suffer today. I see a people who refuse to accept the status of victims. I see a people who value peace but aren’t willing to trade it for annihilation.

I stand for Israel because Israel is a nation where Arabs, Jews and Christians live together in peace – next to states where religions and their books are banned outright. I stand for Israel because it values everyone. It holds gay pride rallies next to nations where gays are hung from forklifts. It treats women as equals in all ways, while the women in nearby nations can’t even leave their homes alone.

I stand for Israel because it is at the frontier of civilization, an outpost of honesty in a region mired in corruption. I stand for Israel because in the fight to preserve the light from the darkness, we are all Israelis.