Gimme A Break

I may be plenty pissed at the president right now, but this complaint is absurd.

US President George W Bush drew gasps at the Vatican on Saturday by referring to Pope Benedict XVI as “sir” instead of the expected “His Holiness”, pool reporters said.

They could clearly hear the US leader say “Yes, sir” when the pope asked him if he was going to meet with officials of the lay Catholic Sant’Egidio community at the US embassy later during his visit

First: Saying “yes, sir” as a positive response is as natural to a Texan as breathing in and breathing out.

Second: Nobody who is not Catholic should be expected to address the Pope with any honorific beyond “sir”. It’s a perfectly appropriate way to talk to any man in the world. I, for one, have no plans to call anybody “Your Highness” nor “Your Majesty”, either.

Was Fitzgerald Constitutionally Authorized?

Law professors from Robert Bork to Alan Derschowitz, and several in between, think the answer is likely no.

If Fitzgerald was out of control and overreaching, Judge Walton is just plain snarky.

“It is an impressive show of public service when twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors of well-respected schools are able to amass their collective wisdom in the course of only several days to provide their legal expertise to the Court on behalf of a criminal defendant. The Court trusts that this is a reflection of these eminent academics’ willingness in the future to step to the plate and provide like assistance in cases involving any of the numerous litigants, both in this Court and throughout the courts of our nation, who lack the financial means to fully and properly articulate the merits of their legal positions even in instances where failure to do so could result in monetary penalties, incarceration, or worse. The Court will certainly not hesitate to call for such assistance from these luminaries, as necessary in the interests of justice and equity, whenever similar questions arise in the cases that come before it.

Over at the Volokh Conspiracy Jonathan Adler has more about Libby and what, perhaps, should be done. Turns out there’s an option that’s not a pardon.

Turning our attention to non-news

Buttle’s World doesn’t care about Paris Hilton. Why she rates a mention on the news is beyond me. The fact that her “story” has dominated the news for days tells you all you need to know about our sorry “news” media.

So why mention her now? Because the latest coverage drives home a word used by Mark Steyn in his fabulous book.

Infantilization.

Lucky for the Hiltons there’s no such thing as Felony Bad Parenting.

Update:

Taking advantage of traffic search engines will send our way by including “Paris Hilton” and “Jail” in this post, let’s look at how D-Day would have been reported by today’s MSM.

It’s this close to pure genius. Go watch.

Death or Glory, Part 2

The next installment is up.

Despite the British press reports that make their own soldiers out to be cowering on bases in Basra, truck after truck of them here were in high spirits. News flash: Those reports are false. Derelict media coverage is another aspect of this war British and American soldiers share, and it rankles here in the southern part of Iraq as deeply as it does everywhere else. Practically no one writes about the Brits down here. Important pages in history remain unwritten, while policy decisions are based on the public perception that all is lost here. That this public perception is based on what I have called “The Green Gator Phenomenon” is an irony that is noted, but not appreciated.

Even though the mere presence of these dispatches tells you Yon doesn’t die, you really get a sense of the danger.

Religion of Peace on How to Beat Your Wife

Do these clowns have the faintest idea what they sound like?

By Allah, even if only one woman out of a million can be reformed by light beatings… It’s not really beating, it’s more like punching… It’s like shoving or poking her. That’s what it is.

Oh. That’s OK, then.

Man of the Hour?

It may be Kyl.

Defeat’s Killing Fields

Two critics of the Viet Nam War warn that the consequences of our defeat there pale against the probable consequences of defeat in Iraq.

The bottom line:

Our conduct in Iraq is a crucial test of our credibility, especially with regard to the looming threat from revolutionary Iran. Our Arab and Israeli friends view Iraq in that wider context. They worry about our domestic debate, which had such a devastating impact on the outcome of the Vietnam War, and they want reassurance.

When government officials argued that American credibility was at stake in Indochina, critics ridiculed the notion. But when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, he and his colleagues invoked Vietnam as a reason not to take American warnings seriously. The United States cannot be strong against Iran — or anywhere — if we accept defeat in Iraq.

A Western Woman in Saudi Arabia

Women, please note. Is this how you wish to be treated? Because it’s what dhimmitude would bring.

One afternoon, a candidate invited me to meet his daughter. She spoke fluent English and was not much younger than me. I cannot remember whether she was wearing hijab, the Islamic head scarf, inside her home, but I have a memory of pink. I asked her about the elections.

“Very good,” she said.

So you really think so, I said gently, even though you can’t vote?

“Of course,” she said. “Why do I need to vote?”

Her father chimed in. He urged her, speaking English for my benefit, to speak candidly. But she insisted: What good was voting? She looked at me as if she felt sorry for me, a woman cast adrift on the rough seas of the world, no male protector in sight.

“Maybe you don’t want to vote,” I said. “But wouldn’t you like to make that choice yourself?”

“I don’t need to,” she said calmly, blinking slowly and deliberately. “If I have a father or a husband, why do I need to vote? Why should I need to work? They will take care of everything.”

There’s more. Read the whole thing.

The Books of Salah al Din

A great dispatch from Michael Yon about efforts to get up to date medical books into Iraq.

Pass it along.

Iran’s Proxy War Against Us

Sure, it’s been obvious for years that Iran is waging war against us. Those who claim otherwise will have a lot of ‘splaining to do after they read this and this.

If we lose the war

here’s why.

In the West: Preschoolers gather to sing songs around a “Peace Tree”.

In a Hamas Kindergarten, the boys chant, “What is your path? Jihad!“

Tech Demo OTD

Here’s an amazing glimpse at the future of images and computers.

And stay tuned after the demo for a commercial about the BMW that walks – make that runs – on water.

Ayn-O-Rama

For a free registration you can now get access to a lot of Ayn Rand over at the institute.

Warning: The password you choose will be sent back to you, clear text, in an email. Don’t choose anything important.

Thirteen Million Dollars?

Why, I’d sell you my pants for half that.

Hitch vs. Hedges

Zombie’s latest report is a hoot. When Hitch is good, he is very, very good.

And he’s so good here he isnt’ just good. He blows Hedges right out of the water.

Hitchens: It’s exact equivalent of the evil nonsense taught by Hedges and friends of his, who say the suicide bombers in Palestine are driven to it by despair. Have you read the manifestos of these suicide bombers? Have you seen the videos they make? Have you seen the manifestos they put out? The propaganda that they generate? These are not people in despair. These are people in a state of religious exultation. Who are promised everything. Who are in a state of hope. Who are in a state of adoration for their evil mullahs. And for their filthy religion. It’s this that makes them think they have the right to kill others while taking their own lives. If despair among Palestinians was enough to create psychopathic criminal behavior, there’s been enough despair for a long time, and enough misery to go around. It is to excuse the vicious, filthy forces of Islamic jihad to offer any other explanation but that it is their own evil preaching, their own vile religion, their own racism, their own apocalyptic ideology that makes them think they have the right to kill everyone in this room, and go to paradise as a reward. I won’t listen, nor should you, to anyone who euphemizes or excuses this evil wicked thing.

Midway

I confess to being one of those who under-appreciated the Battle of Midway, even though I knew it was important. Scylla & Charibdis provides a stunning primer on the fifteen minutes that changed the world.

A look at the numbers

Three good articles over at American Thinker, all having to do with numbers.

Why, if the “surge” is working, are casualties up? Because our soldiers are closer to the bad guys. Is building a border fence “too expensive”? Not if you compare it to, say Katrina relief. And do the figures in polls mean anything? Rarely, especially if CAIR is behind them.

What Media Bias?

Next time some Leftmedia type protests, remind them of this frank admission.

At this point, Army Radio broadcaster Golan Yochpaz interrupted, “In my opinion, that is just super-problematic – super-problematic.” Naveh did not miss a beat and said, “Correct, I’m admitting it, I’m not apologizing, I’m just saying this is what happened. It came from our guts because of the boys in Lebanon, this is what we did and I’m not sorry… I am very proud that we had a part in getting of our sons out of Lebanon.”

Death or Glory

Check out the latest dispatch from Michael Yon. This is part 1 of 4 of his tour with the British Royal Lancers.

Impressive stuff.

George Bush Endorses Fred Thompson

If that were W it’d be the kiss of death. But it’s George P. Bush.

Amnesty International

Suppose I told you that Amnesty International really started out as a communist group with the goal of subverting American interests during the Cold War. Would you be surprised?

Of course not.

Well, I’m not going to tell you that.

Someone who was there will.

When you don’t know how to think

you buy into – or invent on the fly – the most bizarre conspiracy theories. Check out this scary stuff from British Muslims (including a homeopathic “doctor”) who don’t think Muslims carried out the 7/7 attack. The reaction to the bombers’ videos explaining the act is particularly jaw-dropping.

Say it ain’t so, Fred

Novak reports on his appearance before the Saturday Evening Club.

In his Senate voting record and his public utterances, Thompson is more conservative than Giuliani, McCain or Romney. He takes a hard line on the war against terror (referring in Connecticut to the danger of “suicidal maniacs” crossing open borders) and worries about immigration policy creating a permanent American underclass. His one deviation from the conservative line has been support for the McCain-Feingold campaign reform, much of which he now considers overtaken by current fundraising practices and perhaps irrelevant. Overall, his tone, in a soft Tennessee drawl, is less harsh than that of other Republican candidates — a real-life version of the avuncular fictional D.A. he plays on TV.

Great.

Experiment Finished

If you click on the graph above you’ll get the whole image. Kinda tells the story. The experiment was posted – guess when?

Quite the spike for this little blog. And the hits are still coming in ones and twos. I’ll call the experiment done, though.

We bid it farewell with this.

A Liberal who’s been mugged

I’m pretty sure that’s the punch line.

If you want to send a message…

…call Western Union.

Or the U.S. Navy.

Dispelling Myths About Iraq

What happens when a General takes time out of his mid-deployment leave to correct misconceptions about the situation in Iraq? He gets picked up by all the major media, of course.

Kidding!

What’s he know? He’s only been there.

An Inconvenient Truther

That’s one possible title for Algore’s planned sequel. Others are “Even More Inconvenient” and ‘Worship Me, Already”.

The content of this sequel is even more predictable than most Hollywood rehashes.

And I predict you’ll be hearing more about his favorite oxymoron, “scientific consensus“.

ACLU helps al Qaeda sue Boeing

Actually, they’re suing Jeppesen.

The suit said Jeppesen, based in San Jose, Calif., has been a key provider of flight and logistical support services for CIA aircraft in the rendition program. Since December 2001, the suit said, Jeppesen provided flight and logistical support to at least 15 CIA aircraft that conducted 70 rendition flights.

While they’re at it, why not sue the weather service for providing forecasts, and ATC for radio communications? Nobody flies IFR without their Jepp charts. It’s the gold standard in instrument navigation data. They’re just part of the infrastructure.

The ACLU must think we’re as stupid as they take pains to appear to be.

Traitors.

Sudan wants to play hardball.

File this under overplaying your hand.