The Razor

Some Norwegian artists and politicians placed a $50,000 ad in the Washington Post yesterday (link). The group collected donations from 4,000 Norwegians that called on the Bush Administration to apologize for the war in Iraq and pay restitution. This of course ignores the fact that the US is ponying up about $80 billion to rebuild the country – which is about a third larger than the entire gov’t budget of Norway, and about 40% of Norway’s GNP.

Some notes on Norway:
Norway is a country in northern Europe with a population of 4.4 million.
Norway is one of the dominant nations in skiing, second only to Russia/Soviet Union in the amount of medals won in alpine skiing.

(link)”In 1940, the Germans occupied Norway. Norwegian newspapers and media were full of anti-Semitic propaganda and the Norwegian government was taken over by Nazis (Quisling). Two years later, in 1942, 750 Jews were deported to Auschwitz. Of these, only 25 survived. The remainder of the Norwegian Jewry managed to escape to Sweden, where they lived as refugees until the end of the war. Over 100 Jews served in the Free Norwegian Forces, mostly stationed in Britain. ”

For comparison’s sake:
There are as many Norwegians in the world as there are Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals in the entire USA (link)

There are more 400,000 more Episcopalians in the USA than Norwegians in Norway.

There are about half as many in prison in the USA as there are Norwegians in Norway (2 m – op cit).

Ditto Americans of Norwegian ancestry (2.6 m).

Of course, the funding for the ad only came from 1/1000th the population of Norway. That equates to 294,000 people in the USA. Since each Norwegian kicked in an average of $12.50, if these 294,000 Americans each kicked in the same amount to buy an ad in a Norwegian paper telling Norway to “Shut the F*** Up and Mind It’s Own Business“, we could buy $3.68 m worth of ad space in VG, Norway’s largest newspaper with a circulation of 1.2 million (source)

I recently discussed Bush with a Kerry-ite in my car. While we agree on many things, we don’t on the following issues.

About Iraq: She believes that people need to politically evolve on their own “like we did”. I ask her if that means that forcing democracy upon people is wrong, and she said “yes”. I then asked if that means people have “a right to oppression.”

I also pointed out that her logic was incredibly reactionary: Might was right, and you were on your own if you were on the wrong side of that equation. You can slap as many “Free Tibet” bumperstickers as you want on your car, but you will not dislodge China from the province it killed 250,000 people and has called “Xijang” for 45 years.

She responded that well, she was talking about the ideal world and that in such an ideal world people would be able to throw off their oppressors themselves. I pointed out that Bush didn’t have the luxury of being president in an “ideal world”.

By her reasoning, it would be immoral to stand up against any of the great genocides of the past 100 years. The Turkish slaughter of Armenians. The Holocaust in Europe. The Killing Fields in Cambodia, the Rwanda Genocide, the “ethnic cleansing” in the Balkans, and now Darfur in the Sudan.

On Afghanistan: She says that even though the people are happier today than they were three years ago under the Taliban, there are without a doubt some older people who long for the past. I point out that the Taliban came from the Madrassas in Pakistan in 1995-96 and laid siege to Kabul – in which the Taliban killed tens of thousands of people by shelling the city indiscriminately, so the nostalgia for the past would no doubt be limited.

She’s openly gay, and doesn’t like the fact that Bush wanted “to criminalize her personal life in the Constitution.” I told her that the FMA was Bush’s playing to his base, Kerry’s position wasn’t that much different from Bush’s (depending on the group he was talking to), and the bill had a snowball’s chance in Havana of getting passed. I then pointed out that the Taliban collapsed walls on homosexuals, and that while Bush may disagree with her lifestyle, there are terrorists out there who would like nothing more to behead her and her partner for it.

She stated that what really bothered her then was Bush’s stupidity for not being able to express these ideas without “getting all defensive”. I warned her “you underestimate Bush at your peril.” Stupidity was Bush’s schtick – the same way feeling people’s pain was Clinton’s. For Bush, it keeps him in power. For Clinton, it allowed him to cop a feel.

I then reminded her that I disagree with Bush on most of the issues. Deficit spending to Bush is like Wendy’s Triples to Michael Moore: he just can’t get enough. His compassionate conservativism is even more oxymoronic today than it was 4 years ago. His offshoring position seemed crafted by CEOs in their boardrooms in Bermuda.

But I lived through the Carter years once, and I’m having nightmares that I’m about to do so again.

She’s a registered voter in Pennsylvania.

I’m not the only one being chilled to the bone by this statement. Lileks. Instapundit. Volokh. All mention this. It’s the reason why I believe with all my heart that Kerry is the wrong man at the wrong place at the wrong time. He is now more than ever UNFIT FOR COMMAND. Let’s go with Lileks:

Finally, this from the NYT, ably dissected by the Volohkians:

When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a nuisance,” Kerry said. “As a former law-enforcement person, I know we’re never going to end prostitution. We’re never going to end illegal gambling. But we’re going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn’t on the rise. It isn’t threatening people’s lives every day, and fundamentally, it’s something that you continue to fight, but it’s not threatening the fabric of your life.”

Tony Soprano doesn’t take over schools and shoot kids in the back. The doxies of the Bunny Ranch don’t train at flight schools to ram brothels into skyscrapers.

A nuisance?

A nuisance? I don’t want the definition of success of terrorism to be “it isn’t on the rise.” I want the definition of success to be “free democratic states in the Middle East and the cessation of support of those governments and fascist states we haven’t gotten around to kicking in the ass yet.” I want the definition of success to mean a free Lebanon and free Iran and a Saudi Arabia that realizes there’s no point in funding the fundies. An Egypt that stops pouring out the Jew-hatred as a form of political novacaine to keep the citizens from turning their ire on their own government. I want the definition of success to mean that Europe takes a stand against the Islamicist radicals in their midst before the Wahabbi poison is the only acceptable strain on the continent. Mosquito bites are a nuisance. Cable outages are a nuisance. Someone shooting up a school in Montana or California or Maine on behalf of the brave martyrs of Fallujah isn’t a nuisance. It’s war.
But that’s not the key phrase. This matters: We have to get back to the place we were.

But when we were there we were blind. When we were there we losing. When we were there we died. We have to get back to the place we were. We have to get back to 9/10? We have to get back to the place we were. So we can go through it all again? We have to get back to the place we were. And forget all we’ve learned and done? We have to get back to the place we were. No. I don’t want to go back there. Planes into towers. That changed the terms. I am remarkably disinterested in returning to a place where such things are unimaginable. Where our nighmares are their dreams.

We have to get back to the place we were.

No. We have to go the place where they are.

Two bombs exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in the Pakistani city of Multan. The US wasn’t blamed on this one, unlike the attack that this was apparent revenge for.

Witnesses said about 2,000 angry Sunnis gathered outside the Nishtar hospital after the bombings, shouting “Shiites are infidels!”

So in the battle of survival between “us” and “them”, if you decide to choose “them”, make sure you are choosing the right “them” because otherwise you will be called the same thing as “us”. Axis of Weasels take note.

Bill Gertz of the Washington Times writes that France, Germany and Russia resisted efforts within the UN to stop the abuse of the Oil-for-Food program.

France, Russia, China and Syria were among the members of a special committee overseeing the oil-for-food program that opposed U.S. efforts to stop corruption that led to more than $10 billion being stolen by Saddam and his regime, Mr. Kennedy said.

Gertz is the author of “Treachery: How America’s Friends and Foes are Secretly Arming our Enemies” that is sitting on my bookshelf. I’d better finish Unfit for Command and get cracking on that one…

Hat-tip to Powerline.
On Sunday the Lowell Sun of Lowell, Massachusetts endorsed President Bush in the editorial: “George W. Bush for President.”

In the ashes of ground zero, where nearly 3,000 innocent Americans perished, President Bush vowed to find the perpetrators, in domestic cells and distant lands, and bring them to justice. He said he will do all that is humanly possible and necessary to make certain that terrorists never strike again on U.S. soil.

Can anyone deny that President Bush has not delivered? America the terrorists’ No. 1 target has recovered from its tragic wounds and rebounded. It remains safe to this day.

What might a lesser leader have done, faced with the daunting task of deciding America’s course against withering, partisan attacks from Democrats, media propagandists, disingenuous U.N. officials and disloyal White House operatives selling their souls for profit during a time of war?

A lesser leader might have caved in. President Bush has stood his ground.

In this year’s election, the question isn’t whether we are safer now than we were four years ago. We already know the answer. Sure we are and that’s because of President Bush. The critical question is: Four years from now, will America be safer than it is today?

In our book, Americans have to place their trust in President Bush. He’s proven to be as sturdy as a mighty oak when it comes to saying what he means, meaning what he says and acting decisively.

When it comes to the war on terror, President Bush means to keep our military strong and our country secure.

John Kerry, on the other hand, has all the attributes of the shape of water when it comes to telling us what he believes and what he’d do for America. Like incoming and outgoing tides, Kerry is content to go with the flow. In a dangerous world infested with sharks, Kerry would be chum at America’s expense.

We in Massachusetts know John Kerry. He got his first taste of politics 32 years ago in the cities and towns of Greater Lowell.

In his 20 years in the U.S. Senate, Kerry, a Navy war hero, hasn’t risen above the rank of seaman for his uninspiring legislative record. He’s been inconsistent on major issues. First he’s for the 1991 Persian Gulf War, then he opposes it. First he’s for the war in Iraq, then he’s against it. First he’s for a strong U.S. defense, then he votes against military weapons programs. First he’s for the U.S. Patriot Act, then he opposes it.

Kerry’s solution to stop terrorism? He’d go to the U.N. and build a consensus. How naive. France’s Jacques Chirac, Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and other Iraq oil-for-food scam artists don’t want America to succeed. They want us brought down to their level. And more and more, Kerry sounds just like them. In a recent campaign speech, Kerry said America was in the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

No doubt John Kerry sincerely wants to serve his country, but we believe he’s the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Americans should think back three years ago to the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center. There among the mist lay the images and memories of fallen firefighters, police, a Catholic chaplain and ordinary working citizens moms, dads, sons, daughters.

President Bush, through heartfelt tears, told us never to forget the twisted carnage and the massacre of the innocents. Yet some of us are forgetting.

President Bush told us the attacks must never happen again. Yet some of us are wavering because of the brave sacrifice of soldiers that our nation’s security demands.

Well, President Bush hasn’t forgotten. Nor has he lost the courage and conviction to do what is right for America.

We know if there is one thing the enemy fears above all else, it is that George Bush’s iron will is stronger than his iron won’t.

The Sun proudly endorses the

re-election of President George W. Bush.

I recently wrote about a loved one’s battle with alcoholism here. The tone of that story is quite negative: I wasn’t convinced that she would take the first step – the highest of them all, if you ask any Twelve Stepper.

But she did, and by all appearances she is beating the odds. I mention this in the beginning to give you an idea where I’m coming from as I write this. Here’s an update.

Soon after she returned from rehab, her husband – an alky himself who once drank me under the table – slept with her. When she woke up the next morning she began talking about plans for Labor Day. Her husband said “I already have plans with E.,” his mistress. What she thought was reconciliation was nothing but a sick and twisted end to their marriage. Looking back it’s clear that her husband was pushing her back to the bottle, and unfortunately, she obliged him.

She found her stash, and given the condition of her liver, it didn’t take much for her to drink herself into a day-long stupor. Her husband went to work as usual, and after he returned they argued. She threw a glass of water on him, and get this, he called the cops.

The cops arrived and found both her and her husband intoxicated. The husband said that she had assaulted him with a glass of water, and the cops hauled her ass to jail. Mind you, he’s 4 inches and 50 pounds heavier than his wife, but the cops simply wanted to separate the two, and left it to the lawyers and judges to sort things out.

Her husband got a Protection From Abuse (PFA) order against her that prevents her from coming within 100 yards of him. Because of this, I have taken to referring to him as “Girly Man” or “GM”. She can’t get near her own home when Girly Man is there, and worse, GM changed the locks so she can’t get inside her home when he’s away either. She can’t see her kids unless the eldest drives himself and his younger brother over to visit her. He’s changed the PIN on their checking account, and voided all their credit cards. She has in effect lost everything except the clothes she was wearing – all because of law that was meant to keep women away from abusive husbands is itself being abused. To make matters worse the PFA is for one year.

When she was released from jail, her parents took her in – against the advice of myself and several other Twelve Steppers. But her parents made a precondition: she must attend AA meetings or they will dump her on the street.

And guess what?

She has. It’s been a month and she is still sober. That’s 30 days of not drinking – the longest period of sobriety she’s had since her kids were born it turns out.

Meanwhile, Girly Man’s mistress has pretty much moved into the house. I’m not sure how she can do it – living in another woman’s home, whose pictures are on the walls, who chose the drapes and furniture, whose clothing is in the closets. Personally, it creeps me out, and I’m a guy.

I’m sure that Girly Man hasn’t told his mistress the truth about his 26-year relationship with his wife. But look at that number: 26 years. There had to be some good times. Two kids. A large house in an upscale neighborhood in the suburbs. GM has told his wife that he has cheated on her for ten years. While her alcoholism impacted him, it doesn’t give him the excuse for his behavior now. As for his drinking, he views her inability to hold her liquor as a weakness. Girly Man is a simple guy, with simple thoughts. To him sickness is weakness no matter what the disease. Of course, not only is he a drinker, he’s a smoker and a diabetic – so evidently these thoughts don’t apply to him. Regardless, his wife was sick, and the vows that he took 20 years ago don’t let him off the hook.

The lawyers have begun to take over – which is the way it should be given the circumstances. Lawyers take one step at a time, and while the wheels of the court system grind slowly, they grind thoroughly. Girly Man will have his day of reckoning.

Meanwhile, the sister-in-law gets stronger. As my saving angel, John B., said about her, “Any day she doesn’t drink is a good day.” So today is a good day.

Sometimes it’s great to be wrong.

I am from St. Louis Missouri – an odd town where everything is 20 minutes away from everything else, and people act like its a small town when in fact 1.5 million people live in the metro area. When I was a teen, I couldn’t wait to leave the place. It wasn’t cool enough for me, nor as cosmopolitan as Chicago. Even during my twenties after I had left the place behind I had nightmares of being stuck there.

Well, here I am pushing middle age and I haven’t lived there in close to twenty years. So why do I get freaky when I learn that Tradesports is ranking the St. Louis Cardinals as the favorite of the 2004 World Series? Is it because I can still hear Jack Buck’s voice, “Here’s the windup, and the pitch… He struck ‘im out!” or Mike Shannon recommending KMOX listeners to pop open an ice cold Busch?

Maybe it’s because you can take the boy out of the town, but you can’t take the town out of the boy. Will I be doomed forever to mix up my “ar” and “or”, so that when I say words like “horse”, “corn”, and “born” I sound just like my Irish immigrant ancestors who settled in St. Louis in the 1840s? Will Ted Drewes be the standard by which I judge all soft ice cream or frozen custard forever?
I would trade Krispy Kreme for Steak and Shake, and the wide open stretches of 55 for the claustrophobic 95 in a heartbeat. I would rather have a house in Ladue than the Philly Mainline any day. The haughty attitudes of the New York Times and Washington Post are annoying, compared to the mainstream Post Dispatch (and oh, if only the Globe Democrat were back from the dead…)

There’s a certain humility, naivete and frankness the combination of which you don’t find anywhere else. What you see is what you get, and St. Louisans don’t understand that the people outside of their area aren’t like that.

St. Louis suffers from tornadoes in the summer, and heavy snow in the winter. Globalization has taken away its industries and employers, yet it stubbornly persists and even better, thrive. Its son, Dick Gephardt stands as a symbol for what the city is: honest, hard working, polite and underappreciated. Gephardt deserves to be president just like St. Louis deserves to be celebrated for what it is: a wonderful place to live. It’s also a wonderful place to be from too.

So go Cardinals!

26 People were killed in Islamabad Pakistan today after a homicide bomber detonated a bomb at a crowded Shiite mosque. Of course the Shiite/Sunni violence – which has its roots in the battle for power after Mohammed’s death in 632 – was America’s fault.

A Shiite leader in the main southern city of Karachi claimed Friday’s bombing was retaliation for the police shooting of Farooqi.

“Definitely, it was the work of the friends Farooqi,” cleric Allama Hassan Turabi told AP, adding, “the people who planned this attack perhaps don’t understand that we are not supporters of America. ... We are also against America.”

Yet another example of Cognitive Dissonance and Islam.

I suppose being considered heretics by 85% of Islam had nothing to do with it…