Rush Fit As a Fiddle, BO Haggered

Telegraph(UK)

Barack Obama looks tired as he gets in the car after going to see “Avatar’

His care-free children Sasha and Malia were spotted smiling and playing with friends as they took to the water.

But in sharp contrast, Mr Obama looked weary, as if the repeated interruptions to his family holiday had taken their toll.

From Rush Limbaugh:

To my listeners,

Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts over the past several days. Today, I am leaving Queens Hospital in Honolulu, feeling strong and rested. I offer my deepest thanks to the staff and administration there, who provided excellent care and supervision.

I’m going to take several days of rest over this weekend and the early part of next week, and will be back on the radio with you sometime next week, taking the advice of so many of you to rest and fully recover.

I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year in 2010!

Rush has a decade on Obama,  a real day job, and is a success.   Yet why is Rush  fit, successful, and happy, while all Obama is just tired.

Video:

Maybe BO should check out of his golf course and into a hospital?

Has anybody seen this person?

Photoshop by Eric Florack

Nile Gardner, Telegraph(UK) gets warm:

The White House should send a search party to track down Hillary Clinton. America’s foreign policy chief has been missing from the world stage for several days, and has become as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel at the height of the French Revolution. I wrote earlier in the year that Clinton had become the invisible Secretary of State, and her current absence certainly reinforces that impression.

Last Best Hope, Say Anything, gets hotter:

Secretary of State Clinton Mum On Attempted Airline Bombing, And Iranian Protests

SOS did inform US on 12/22 (the last time she was heard from) that she was leaving Washington and would be stopping at the North Pole.

Responsible Leadership? Nowhere in sight on the Democrat led ship of fools. It’s a fatal folly as the USS AMERICA heads towards the rocks….no one at the wheel

It was Mrs. Clinton’s State Department which approved Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab’s visa, Jill Dougherty

A State Department official told CNN the information to be included in so-called “Visas VIPER cables” currently is not required by department guidelines. In the case of the attempted December 25 bombing, crucial information that the suspect — 23-year-old Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab — had a two-year multiple-entry visa was not relayed in the cables.

Mrs. Clinton needs to step-u0 to explain the failure of her State Department.   Continued silence is not an option.

Let it never be said that Eric doesn’t know how to bait a co-blogger:

DUKE: WHAT DIDN’T HAPPEN… David’s gonna holler about this. The always pretty Mary Katharine Ham, ripping the Duke fiasco, Mike Nifong, and so on. What’s not to love? (BBCT Glenn)

What did not happen in Duke, is that they did not get religion.   Duke is same hot bed of sin, lying, that it was three years ago.

One of the things that irked me about the Duke Faux Rape case was the media’s refusal to identify the name of the false accuser, one Crystal Gail Mangum.    As a person who was never raped, at least by the men she accused of raping her, Mangum has no privacy that need be respected.  She however formerly had her own Wikipedia entry

It appears that Mangum was not the only whore in Durham.  There were eighty-eight(now eighty-five) on the Duke Faculty.  Donald Douglas, American Power:

Anyway, I mention all of this after reading John Hinderaker’s essay from last night, “What ever happened to the “Duke 88?” (Via Memeorandum.) It turns out that none of the 88 Duke University faculty have apologized for their roles in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case

More Stuart Taylor, Jr, National Journal:

You might think that a university whose students were victims of the most notorious fraudulent rape claim in recent history, and whose professors — 88 of them — signed an ad implicitly presuming guilt, and whose president came close to doing the same would have learned some lessons.

The facts are otherwise

If you are traveling to Durham, and want a good time, look up Paula McClain.

Welcome, one and all, to the first Nightly Ramble of the new year.

• GLOBAL WARMING PROTEST DOUSED BY SNOW One really has to wonder how often this has to happen before the global warming wonks finally get the message.
• ABOUT THOSE ARMORED TRUCKS, IRAN AND CHINA: I guess it should surprise nobody that when Iran starts looking around for riot control vehicles, they have to look outside their own country. The only real industry they have in the place, after all, is geared toward making nuclear weapons.  It should also surprise nobody then that when he ran starts looking for a ride control equipment, they look to the one country who not only has the technological means, but some serious experience in controlling dissent.  Red China. Forgive me, but this doesn’t sound promising in terms of a good response to Obama’s call to Iran to honor human rights.  I think also some attention should be paid to China who has been having a great deal of difficulty apparently living up to its international agreements.  For example, the WTO agreement back in 2001.  if I recall correctly those were supposed to open completed, by 2006, as Dave Schuler correctly points out at OTB recently. .  Telecommunications freight, and most importantly, I think, banking.  At least, important to us here are given the amount of paper that Chinese have been hanging on us recently.  I can’t help but think that the amount of government spending going on just now is putting us at the mercy of the Chinese.  Were it not for that, I wonder, would we as a nation of spoken up more strongly, backing the Iranian people’s attempted revolution?
• SO MUCH FOR THAT: All as of today, The Mayo clinic will no longer accept Medicare patients at it’s site in Arizona. Apparently, the first of many fallouts for slashing Medicare payments, there are now some 3000 patients who see doctors at Mayo in Glendale Arizona who will now have to pay cash.  If they want their health care, that is.  Remember; this is an organization that Obama spent a good deal of time praising just a short while ago.  Like all other Obama statements, this, too, apparently has an expiration date.  I wonder; cool those 3000 people be voting for come next November, assuming they are still alive at that point?
• DUKE: WHAT DIDN’T HAPPEN… David’s gonna holler about this. The always pretty Mary Katharine Ham, ripping the Duke fiasco, Mike Nifong, and so on. What’s not to love? (BBCT Glenn)
  
• THOSE BLACKWATER GUYS: Speaking of things that didn’t happen,  Volokh Conspiracy’s , Paul Cassel has the next project for Mary Katharine Ham :
  

  D.C. Federal District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina has just dismissed all charges against several Blackwater guards, who were accused of voluntary manslaughter and various serious firearms offenses in connection with a September 16, 2007, shooting in Baghdad.
  …
  In my view, the charges should never have been filed.  The prosecutors made novel use of federal criminal statutes, including charging the contractors with heavy mandatory minimum sentences for use of firearms (i.e., machineguns) in the commission of a crime of violence.  The dismissal is long overdue and, given the thoroughness of Judge Urbina’s opinion, seems unlikely to be overturned on appeal (or, for that matter, perhaps even unlikely to be appealed).

  Well, that’s just great.  Now the question becomes how about some charges against the prosecutors, who are clearly politically motivated in the matter?Given the current makeup of the government, I suspect that the chances of that actually happening are fairly minimal, but I’m of the view that that’s exactly what should happen.   There is also something to be said here for the politically motivated prosecutorial use of statutes whose sole purpose is to extend existing sentences for a given crime.  Does anybody not understand that prosecuting an individual for use of a weapon in the middle of a war zone is ludicrous on its face?  These people were required to carry weapons as a part of their job. It is at least morally questionable and certainly legally questionable to consider doing one’s job a crime.   Certainly, there are those who will argue that the job itself was invalid.  That those people should not have been there.  That, too, is a politically motivated statement.  Without that point of view, the prosecution’s would never have occurred.  Thing is, this is the kind of nonsense flowing out of Washington with the neo-socialists in charge these days.

• SPEAKING OF POLITICALLY MOTIVATED PROSECUTIONS:  I see the TSA has dropped its subpoenas against the two travel Bloggers Joyner mentions at OTB yesterday. Over at BoingBoing,  Xeni Jardin reports that both bloggers have been “let off the hook”.  As with the other case, this is a legal action which the government should never have undertaken.  There is a clear political motivation to this action, and I’m of the opinion that the two bloggers in question Chris Elliott and Steven Frischling, should start an ethics complaint.  an anonymous commenter  there, agrees, saying:
  

  Speaking as an attorney, I would advise you not to let this go. Make an ethics complaint against the government attorney that signed the subpoena in DC or the jurisdiction they are licensed to practice law in. You don’t subpoena someone, then just “let it drop.”

  They will be forced to: (1) admit there was no basis for the subpoena, in the first place, (2) make a dubious “national security” claim as to why they can’t discuss, which will dog them for their entire career, or (3) admit that they made a forensic scan of a citizen’s computer and used the evidence to pursue a whistleblower, after having used a subpoena to strongarm a citizen (again, something that will arise again ten years later during his Senate confirmation hearing for another position).

  Long story short, government drones who use their subpoena power to bully citizens blowing the whistle on government incompetence deserve to be held to account. Do not back down, an ethics complaint is very low cost, and very high reward.

  Now, as I say, I tend to agree with this.  I’ll more than grant that the chances of such a complaint biting these people in the ass in the near term is small,  but I have to wonder who else will feel the pinch.  How high up the ladder did the decision to seek such subpoenas come from?  We have an environment in the executive branch, just now, that is nothing short of full-goose paranoia. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the directive came from a current national security advisor, for example.   That would be pretty much confirmed if the two of them ended up on somebody’s “no fly” list, hmmmm?The

• ONLY 11 MONTHS TO GO..… for you know what.

Editor’s note: I wrote this a few years ago, possibly for the 2000 or 2001 New Year’s show, and never posted it until 2005 because other thoughts came forward. But in re-reading this one, I decided it was too good to simply toss away. I’m glad now I did post it because it’s gotten really good feedback. I’ll repost it now, in the hope you enjoy it.

Goat Island, Niagara Falls, NY—New Year’s Eve 1999

Goat Island, as seen from a chopper on the Canadian side of the falls.  CAnada is under you and to the right hand shore... and the US juts out into the bend on the river.  THere's a lot of new development on the Canadian side since this picture was taken... high rise hotels, mostly Goat Island proper is the larger body of land in the middle of the river.Click on the pic for full size. The Skylon Tower is to the extreme right lower in this shot.

For this New Year’s Eve, I’m sitting, as in years past, on Goat Island… a little spit of land out in the midst of the mighty Niagara River, just above what is likely the most famous waterfall in the world… Niagara Falls. (Slowly I turn….Step by step…… Oh, never mind)

We’ve done this show for several years, now. Each year for the last few, we’ve had the rather unique situation of leaving Rochester sometime after 9pm and heading the 90 miles west to the Falls. Usually, we leave on such trips in the morning.  It’ll be 02:30 by the time we get home, tonight, I think, feeling somewhat tired, already.

As I say, we’ve been coming here for a few years, now. It was to the point where I had actually checked around on the web to see if there was anything else besides here, that was of interest for my family and myself… something else to do on this night… and frankly the pickings were slim this year, (at least what they listed online) didn’t look all that great.

Oh, look, I know.. there’s a lot of folks who have always wanted to visit here, and never get the chance on ANY day much less one like tonight. Most people would leap at the chance. Yet… well, frankly, Niagara has rather lost it’s charm as an attraction, per se’, at least for us. They say that many folks who live in Vegas never make it to the strip. Similarly, Niagara, at least, for us, has gotten to the status of an old friend… Not boring, exactly, and certainly not unwelcome… but.. we wanted something different, this year. The effort toward finding that something different ends up being harder than it sounds. For one thing, I’m limited by logistics; Given the hours involved, I need to be no more than about 2 hours away from home. The Falls suits fairly well, being only about an hour and a half from our house.

We could stay home and take part in what’s going on locally… which isn’t much. Rochester itself seldom has much for New Year’s. They usually have a fair enough fireworks display, but not much else… and you usually have to battle the drunks to see it.  Eh…. thanks… but, no, thanks.

New York City is off the list right off the bat, being it’s about an eight hour run from Rochester; a point that amazes many people not from around here.

Corning, is only about 90 miles out, and similarly, has something smallish going on in the Gaffer district out along Market Street, with the addition of local bands. No offense, Corning… the event as you listed it is doubtless big by small town standards, I suppose, but then again I’ve never been small town. Perhaps it’s why I didn’t stay for long when I was working At WCBA there some years ago.

Similar noises for Ithaca, Oswego, Jamestown, and any number of smaller bergs within shooting distance.

Syracuse, is also about 90 miles out, and likely has something going on, but I’ll be dipped if I could find it online.

Buffalo doesn’t have much as a rule, being only a few miles from the Falls; and so I didn’t even bother looking.

The only sure bet for tonight is here in the Falls.  Oh, well. Better than nothing, I suppose.  So, here we are again.

Now, most folks collect either on the Canadian side, in the immediate area of Queen Victoria Park, or on the American side in the area of the Hard Rock Café, and the park next to it. The heavier partiers are on the Canadian side, given they have hotels to crawl back to, once the show is over. They tend to pack right along the rail for the show. Too crowded for me, even without the boys in tow.  Many of the revilers tend to stay in their Hotel rooms, given their view of the falls is very good indeed, with so many very large hotels being built of late on the Canadian side all designed for good views of the gorge. Although, I must say, I think all that building has changed the landscape around there… and not for the better.

Queen Victoria park at the base of Clifton Hill, which is directly across the river from where I’m standing tonight, has the added attraction of a huge outdoor stage…  I can hear the band from across the river. They actually sound pretty good.  The locals set up this stage every year, and put some of the best acts going on it, all through the month of December. Tonight, as in years past, the site has the added bonus of being ground zero for New Year’s Eve in Canada. One of the Canadian TV networks is doing a live broadcast from there tonight, which will go out to the full Canadian network, and likely to some of the ‘states as well. I’ve seen US networks pick up feed from there at or near midnight in the past.

They’ve also got a holiday light show they set up every year for the last 20 years. It’s starting to show it’s age, frankly, but it still looks pretty good from this distance.

Thing is, the crowds of people on both sides of the border… Including the drunks always included with such celebrations, are not exactly kid friendly. So, Goat Island is the way to go, for us tonight.

Amusement Park in the Skylon's basement.

This location places us almost directly across from the Skylon Tower, to the rear of the Queen Victoria park. The Skylon plays large in the fireworks display; They actually shoot fireworks off the top of the tower, as well as up out of the river gorge, near the docks of the dormant- for- the- winter Maid of the Mist. The people in the Skylon’s revolving restaurant must get an earfull when the show starts! (I’m only assuming, of course, that they actually let people up there when the show is on; I don’t know, and can’t see anything from this angle.) To give you an idea of how big the Skylon really is, they used to have a pretty fair amusement park in the basement, complete with a roller coaster and a Ferris wheel. These days, they’ve restricted it to a fairly good sized slot amusement area.

Goat Island gives us a wonderful view of all the shows at once. It also puts us right next to the brightly lit American falls… Basically next to the Bridal Veil. The whole thing is color and light. And yes, I said ‘shows’. You see, usually, there’s a fireworks show from the American side as well, off the top floor of the Rainbow Center parking lot, which is about a quarter mile behind me. The end result is that you’re surrounded by fireworks displays.

The sound is a unique thing, too.  You get the sound of the falls themselves, of course, and all the fireworks from every angle, which also tend to echo off the gorge walls as well as the buildings. You also, however, get the music from the stage on the Canadian side… Amazingly clearly, given the distance… You also hear the crowd reaction from both sides of the border… Again, amazingly clearly… Even down to the occasional individual voices.  Usually, you can’t hear what they’re saying. The best comparison I can give you is a large office party, or a wedding, with a few hundred voices around you. With all the crowds on both sides of you, and the water all around you, you get the impression you’ve got a rather special perch to watch it all from. An altogether remarkable experience, this.  Intense.

American Falls at Night. The Horseshoe falls are in the distance. The Skylon is to your direct right and the Gorge display is somewhat behind you. The lights to your right are on the Canadian side.

Oh, not that we’re totally alone, here, on “The Goat”. There are perhaps 50 to 60 other people here with us, which actually is a bit more than we’ve seen in past years. It’s a decidedly smaller, and somewhat more sober crowd here, than on either shore… Families, mostly. One couple I spoke with came from just east of Rochester, a family from Buffalo, another family up from Erie, PA about 90 miles south and west of here.. and another couple, I’m surprised to learn, is here from Plymouth, England on their honeymoon. I’m enchanted with the accents, which are apparently made all the thicker by their excitement. Are they EVER fun to watch, and just to be around. You see, those not from around here tend to give we locals a fresh view into the excitement the place has. We’ve been here so often we forget sometimes. But, it’s all new to them, and that almost childlike excitement is a nice thing to be around. You share their excitement, in an almost vicarious relationship.

The Skylon at Midnight.

Just now, all of them… the people around me, my family, the people on Canadian side and the people behind me on the American side, all have their faces tilted upwards at the Skylon. The Show’s just starting, as the “bug” elevator runs up the eastern face of the building, a Roman candle secured under it. The trip from bottom to top of the 520 ft tall structure takes exactly 52 seconds, during which time the crowds quiet to a low murmur, barely heard over the sound of the great Falls themselves.

Once it reaches the top, the silence is dramatically broken, with the entire top of the Skylon quite literally exploding in light and sound, and the gorge and the Rainbow center answering with their own sound, light and fury, along with the cries of delight from all assembled, in both countries, on both sides of the Niagara. This pic is of the top of the Skylon, just as the elevator reaches it’s upper floor. The downward moving flame you can see along the side of the elevator shaft, is the roman candle I spoke of.

Given that when you’re in the tower, you have about 80 miles of view, I assume that the fireworks display off the top of the tower can be seen a similar distance, and I can imagine as I stand here, people from miles around watching.

Standing at the center of all of this is… well… loud. It’s akin to a stadium where AC/DC, the Who, and Deep Purple, are all set up and playing, each trying to ‘out loud’ the other… all at once… and you in the middle. The only thing in real life I’ve seen that comes close is The Blue Angels airshow taking off, while you’re directly under their flight path, as happened to us last summer, during their show in Rochester. I have a mental picture of myself standing with my family at the end of the runway… and we could see the jets coming, like cats on the hunt. It’s nearly silent, though you can see the event coming… and then suddenly, you’re standing in a full force gale, your chest vibrating, your ears complaining about the pressure, and your eyes not wanting to blink for fear of missing it. What a rush!

As I become adjusted to the aural and visual assault, I manage to look away from the show briefly… and I watch the reaction of my boys intently as they look upwards at the sky; They’re getting bombarded with input, from several different angles, and neither one quite knows which way to look, and their faces, in the light and color from all around, are a study in delighted perplexity. I look too, at the other families. I smile at the sight of the English couple, unseen by them. Their excitement and their joy in both the show, and particularly in each other, is infectious, as they snuggle together in the cold, looking up.  I silently wish them luck in their new relationship; may it always be for them, as I’m seeing them at the moment.

As I consider them, I am reminded of our own honeymoon, which was here, and not so long ago on a November night not unlike tonight..  I turn and look at the now long line of tall hotels on the Canadian side, as the booming from the show echoes off their walls, trying to find the room we stayed in, back then. As I look, I note every one of the windows has a large number of people in them… some in bedclothes, apparently planning on hitting the sack as soon as the show is over. I wish I had that option to look forward to. Maybe someday, my wife and I will have the time and the money together on the same New Years. I look at her, again, unseen, and think to myself that she deserves such a night. We haven’t stayed there again since that night.  Hmmm… perhaps not New Years….perhaps for our 20th in ’09. Oh, well, that’s a few years, yet. I file the thought away for now, and return my attention to the show.

After some time, all three stages go to ‘shock and awe’ mode for nearly three minutes, in a blaze of glory that must only be surpassed by the space shuttle lifting off…  and then, as one, everything is suddenly silenced. The show’s over.

After a few seconds, waves of cheers come up through the still rebounding echoes from both sides of the border, and mix with the car and truck horns blowing from people who have managed to find a good parking space to watch the show, and the sound of the ever present falling water. All of it adds up to a sound nearly as loud as the show itself.  They’ll be talking about this one for days… and certainly the newlywed British couple will have this night to remember, always… one to tell their kids about.

We’ve been coming here for years. This show has always been pretty much the same each year we’ve come, and it’s never failed to please totally… before now. This year, I come away from this wonderful show faintly disappointed… and questioning that emotion. The show was everything I expected. My wonderful wife, and my two boys are having a great time. I couldn’t have done better than this, so why am I complaining? I recognize I’m not going to answer that until later. I mentally shrug, and my wife and I wordlessly herd the boys toward the lot, the car, and the 70 mile road home.

We leave Goat Island, up the mainland the few city blocks to the I-190, over Grand Island, and I-290 though the now- quiet northern Buffalo suburbs, and finally on to I-90 and east. It’s a trip I’ve made perhaps a couple hundred times, over the years, so I know the road well, as do my wife and the boys. They begin to relax as the heat comes up in the car. Apparently, we lost track of how cold we were. Traffic is moderate, and the trip is a quiet one.

About half way to Rochester, we stop at the Flying J Truckstop at Corfu, NY, which is one of the few restaurants open along our path between the Falls and Rochester, and have a bite. We usually try to stop at a Flying J when we get the chance; we’ve stopped at several. There’s one just down I-81 about 3 hours, in New Milford PA, another in Austenburg Ohio, about 3 1/2 hours out, for when we’re headed west, and a few others, as well.  The food’s usually at least good, often first rate, (The smorg is a favorite) and the fuel prices are attractive.. Usually the lowest for several miles.  OK, It’s not Delmonico’s, but that’s not what we’re after. (No, I’m not getting anything in return for the mention.)

The meal is a quiet one, as quiet as the trip here was, and I realize that all our energy has been spent on the shows. The kids eat like starving Huskies at the end of a long trail… a simile made all the more potent by the snow outside, and the way they normally are yipping at each other about something or another. They’re not doing it now, though, being too busy eating and trying to stay awake. My wife nibbles at her toasted cheese. They’re all tired. My sandwich fills in the cold empty places.  I’m usually not much on comfort food, but sometimes it just hits the spot, and this is one such time. I begin to see just how cold we’d gotten standing out there watching that display. But, I recognize it was worth it, though. They had a good time.

The waitress knows her stuff; She banters with me about the snow that’s started falling outside. Wants to know if it’s snowing to the east. I tell her no, we just came back from the Falls, and no it wasn’t snowing there when we left. The cup of coffee she pours me without asking is enough to set the hair on most people straight back, like the guy in that old Memorex commercial. In my case, since I’m used to it rather strong anyway, it’s enough to merely raise a Spock- like eyebrow, but it’ll get me home. She continues to banter and handles the kids as if she has some of her own. She’s earned herself a nice tip tonight.  Or, this morning. Whatever. We eat, and head back out to where the car’s waiting, with it’s fresh coating of light fluffy snow.

I brush off the car and fuel it up, and we jump back into the rather light flow of traffic on the interstate. The car’s still pretty warm inside, and between that and the food, both my wife and kids are out like lights before I get another 10 miles up the road. Amazing; The boys never fall to sleep that fast when we’re at home. I imagine the old coffee commercial…(“Phil NEVER has a second cup at home…”) I almost wake them with the resulting chuckle.

I’m enjoying the drive. Truth be told, I usually enjoy driving anyway, and particularly so at this hour of night, when there’s few other drivers to contend with. In recent years, however, I’ve found quite a new and unexpected reason for enjoying these late night runs. I don’t quite understand it myself, so I doubt I can explain it well to you, but here it is; There’s something about having your sleeping family in the car as you scoot off to some distant place. Something that is primitively comforting… Something that touches the soul. Something…. something right about it. We’ve ended up doing this many times over the last few years and it’s always caught my breath.  As I drive east down I-90 toward Rochester, home, and a much needed bed, I glance at at my sleeping wife and dozing boys. In the dimly reflected light of the dashboard, and the headlights on passing cars, I can see rather contented looks on their faces in my rearview mirror.  The gentle snoring coming from the back seat is comforting, in it’s way. It’s mental pictures like that, that stick to a soul. You end up carrying them in your head all your life.

I am reminded of Michael Caine, who a few years ago, related a story of how he and Gregory Peck were once on the street in Los Angeles, apparently at the airport. A woman walked up to them and recognizing Caine at once, related to him how he was the only movie star she’d met in two weeks of being in LA., and today was the day she was leaving. Turning, slightly annoyed, to Peck, who apparently she didn’t know for who he was, she blurted words to the effect of “You know, you never see movie stars on the street, here.” Peck, without blowing his cover, shook his head, and said to the woman, “No, you really don’t.” The woman left LA for her flight, faintly disappointed, and never knowing who else she’d been chatting with.  (Editor’s note: Or was it Cary Grant?… shrug..)

As we drive along through the dark, I look at the decorated houses… the ones still lit, anyway… a few have gone to bed already…as well as the occasional decorated tractor-trailer rig… one just now passing us with a lighted Santa on the grille… and I wonder if that’s not the answer… if I was disappointed simply because I wasn’t able to find anything else to attend tonight… If the reason wasn’t simply that I was wrapped up in that knee-jerk reaction Paul Simon spoke of in “Train in the Distance” , “…the thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains”.

As if in answer, and in a bit of timing I can’t even guess the odds on, an eastbound freight train is just now running over the bridge east of Batavia on I-90, as I drive under it.  As many times as I’ve been over this stretch of highway, I’ve seen perhaps two or three trains on the bridge as I’ve gone under it.  The timing of the event and the image itself, combines to solidify the thought.

I wonder a bit, that in trying to make things better, in chasing the sound of that train in the distance, we tend to lose sight of the reality around us… the reality of how good we already have it.

And, I begin to understand.

Perhaps that’s why we make these kind of treks…  Not just on New Years, but to all the places we’ve gone over the years… Some of which I’ve written about in these spaces. We really do travel rather a lot.  Over 35,000 miles a year, on average…. a lot of it with the trailer in tow. It’s simply to remind ourselves of that fact, that we DO have it pretty good, and to celebrate and to touch the special times, one more time.

Today was a special day, a memory worth keeping; a reminder worth heeding. If there’s a New Year’s resolution that I’m to make, this year, it’d be to remember how good, how VERY good, things really are, after all.

And to cherish them.

It’s nearly 3am as I finish this, and I likely won’t post it until morning… I’m too tired to transfer this out of my Palm Pilot and correct the errors. But I find that I’m looking forward to the new year.

Happy New Year to all of you.
May you find those special moments, and keep them, this year, and always.

Welcome, one and all, to the last BitsBlog Nightly Ramble of 2009

• YOU DIDN’T WEAR YOUR SUIT: Birthday wishes go to Rusty Shackleford. I don’t quote Rusty’s work as often as I should.  But you should be reading it, none the less.
• RELIGION OF PEACE ROUNDUP: Speaking of the Jawas, they offer the 2009 edition of the “Religion of peace” roundup.
• SLIGHT CHANGE IN PLAN: I’m now scheduled to be out of town at the end of January. As I’m quickly learning this stuff is set in rubber, so we’ll see how it goes. I managed to schedule a driving test in the middle of a Buffalo Blizzard. Do the math. I’ve rescheduled the testing for the 19th.
• HEY JOE…. It IS PERSONAL! I mentioned this morning that Rush Limbaugh was in the hospital. I made mention of at least one reaction from the left, already.  Since then the reactions of been coming in fast and furious on both sides.  I notice with interest a twit from “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough:
  

  I remain at a loss at how politics becomes so personal that many cheer for Rush’s death

  The reason is something I have always said in these spaces.  Our politics, ideally, are a direct reflection of our most strongly and closely held beliefs.  Scarborough hasn’t made that equation, yet.  Not that I would expect him to, he’s never been overly bright.  The completely visceral reaction coming from the left just now however, confirms my thought. Until such time as you make that equation, people’s reactions to events within the political realm, I’m not going to make any sense to you.   And here’s the deal; the leftie reax also confirms the dry rot within the leftist mindset.  Ponder that as you sit to champagne this evening.

• ABOUT LIMBAUGH: I guess I have a pass this one a long while I’m thinking of it; last I knew, the president was in Hawaii.  Wouldn’t it make sense to set up a visit with Limbaugh?  You’d think someone so dedicated to image would have thought of that.  Of course, perhaps the issue is that Obama doesn’t care about what anybody but the left thinks.
• OBAMA UNITES AMERICA…. AGAINST HIM: Ed Morrissey passes along a rather unique bit of vid you want to see. I’d like to say see I told you so, the trouble is Obama has been such a disaster, I don’t take much solace from his failure.
• PRIORITIES: Glenn Reynolds points out today that the White House took four days to respond to the terror attack, but responded to the Cheney criticism in a matter of mere hours.   No kidding.  this is precisely what I was talking about yesterday when I made several allusions to political image over security substance.  The White House had the ability to respond to the situation with greater force, but apparently lacked the will.  Their response to Cheney, confirms that thought.  Does anyone wonder now, why Janet Naponitalo has a larger political skill set than a security skill set, despite the fact that she’s been appointed, unbelievably, as national security adviser?  It’s that line of thinking that causes Bruce Schneier to wonder if what is being offered as airline security is all for show.

Many readers have been kind enough to send me bumper sticker files over the last few months and honestly, with the schedule I’ve been keeping I filed them badly for future use.  I found these while doing some cleaning, and will pass them along en masse. Enjoy. Note the websites mentioned in each of the graphics. They’ll have more stuff for you to see.

The envelope please…. (Drum Roll)

Kyle-Anne Shiver

Now for the blog event of the year, the Bitsblog Snark of the Year.  And the winner:

How easy did these people think it was going to be when they decided to elect a man whose resume fits nicely on a postage stamp to the highest office in the land?

Racism?  No.  Incompetence with a capital “I.”  Yes, we can object.

Kyle-Anne Shiver, American Thinker

Now with her award and a dollar fifty, Kyle-Anne ought to be able buy a  cup of coffee.

KITV in Honolulu is reporting:

Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV.Paramedics responded to the call at 2:41 p.m. at the Kahala Hotel and Resort.

Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh’s staff reports via his site:

Rush was admitted to a Honolulu hospital today and is resting comfortably after suffering chest pains. Rush appreciates your prayers and well wishes. He will keep you updated via RushLimbaugh.com and on Thursday’s radio program.

Best wishes, Rush, from all of us here.

And a special message to “Think Progress” a site which represents neither thought nor progress… Stay classy, you idiots.

If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch

Maureen Dowd a/k/a Modo, New York Times.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web; This is the world famous BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• THE ILLUSION OF PEACE: Over at Politico, Mike Allen points to a statement by former vice president Dick Cheney , who accused President Obama of trying to pretend we’re not at war.  I think Cheney has this one spot on, in fact.  Obama , you will recall, spent the whole of the election cycle talking about how Iraq was a war of choice, and spreading the idea that we’re not at war with anyone, that it was all a criminal situation, not one of a war.  He has no choice but to follow through on that, now.  Only one problem; The evidence that we are in fact that war keeps peeping up over the hedge rows .  Such as the Northwest Airlines attack in Detroit the other day.As I pointed out in a couple of venues today, including this one, I’m totally unconvinced that Janet Napolitano is the locus of the attitude of denial that we are involved in war.  Granted, that her statements were utterly stupid, but you’d tend to expect that from a left wing ideologue.  I submit that she’s in that position, because she exactly reflects the politics and the policies of the Obama administration.  That’s the only reason she’s there.  She never brought a whole bunch of weight to the position, other than the idea that she has been most willing to run the needs of whatever position she’s been attached to, in this case that of national security, through the political filters imposed by the White House.  As I told David in a comment this morning… who else but a left-wing ideologue would consider the specter of those who would attack us being imprisoned at Guantánamo bay, to be a larger threat, then such people being released, to attack us again? These are views that are shared by Obama and his current national security adviser.Let me be clear, here. This is not a function of Napalitano going off on her own , this is a function of her representing and implementing the wishes of the Obama White House.Eliminating the woman from the position would be a nice feather and the cap of Republicans, I don’t doubt, but will it make us safer? I don’t think so.The only thing that’s going to do that is to change the policy of the white house itself. Its current occupant has clearly demonstrated that the only way we’re going to be able to do that is to remove the current occupant of the White House.

  All I can say to that is we’re in for a rough three years. I submit to you that how rough those three years are, is inversely of dependent on how easy a time the president has for implementing his misbegotten policies.  Just so you remember, we can affect that curve in the midterm elections.My guess is, the midterms are going to reflect serious dissatisfaction with Obama and the Democrats.

• TRAFFICANT TO RUN: The word from Youngstown, Ohio, is that Former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. is planning on running again in 2010. The word is he’s got three nominating petitions floating around in three different congressional districts out that way.  Remember; the only reason the Democrats disowned this guy was because he tried a McCain-like feint to the center.  Yes, there was corruption involved as well.  And of course, I’m quite sure that there are our number of democrats who will tell you that he got kicked out for corruption reasons.  To which I offer a two word response:  Charlie Rangel.
• THE QUESTION: Hitch asks:
  

  “Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent?”

  I would think the answer to that to be fairly intuitive.  And the innocent, our law abiding, and are therefore easier to find.  Besides, I assume that Hitch is including high taxes and fees in his word “punishment”, and thus including my answer, the law abiding are the ones who have the money, at least temporarily.

• 40 BEST POLITICAL QUOTES OF 2009: Right Wing News has released the 40 best political quotes of 2009. A few examples:

  31) As I said repeatedly during the campaign: Obama only appears “cool” and “even-tempered” because he’s never challenged. His “vetting” by the media consisted chiefly of juicy-mouthed nether-kissing.

  It’s not difficult to appear “cool” under those circumstances. Anyone who freaks out and goes to pieces because he’s being praised too much is a lunatic. — Ace

  —

  21) There is usually only a limited amount of damage that can be done by dull or stupid people. For creating a truly monumental disaster, you need people with high IQs. — Thomas Sowell
  —
  12) Isn’t food important? Why not “universal food coverage”? If politicians and employers had guaranteed us “free” food 50 years ago, today Democrats would be wailing about the “food crisis” in America, and you’d be on the phone with your food care provider arguing about whether or not a Reuben sandwich with fries was covered under your plan. — Ann Coulter
  —
  3) If we have another 2,000 people killed, I want Nancy Pelosi and George Soros, John Conyers and Pat Leahy to go to the funeral and say, ‘Your son was vaporized because we didn’t want to dump some guy’s head under water for 30 seconds.’ — Peter King
• DISTRACTED DRIVING:  Glenn Reynolds, today says:
  

  NHTSA LAUNCHES DISTRACTED DRIVER WEBSITE.

  Coming soon — flashing “Don’t Be Distracted While Driving” billboards! Where the type is just a shade too small to read without squinting . . . .

  For my own situation, I find that there is nothing on the face of this planet that is more distracting to a driver then that black and white with funny red and blue lights parked about half a foot off your six.  A number of states are considering legislation to prevent people from using cell phones at all, while driving.  Yet in each and every police car there is at the very least a police radio , that police radio requires the driver take is hand off the wheel to talk on the thing.  There he is a computer, ostensibly so that criminals can be identified and apprehended more quickly, and yet police as a matter of routine operate these, as well.  I’m sure I will be told that there is a good deal of training difference involved.  But for my money, there’s no training in the world that can overcome that kind of distraction.  Sorry, it simply doesn’t exist.  And yet, police retain Lee use these items , and I don’t recall there being a large outcry about these distracted drivers, do you?

• OIL UP AGAIN? It’s up over $79.00 a barrel at this point.  One question I have, that I think you are to know the answer for; how much of this price rise is the weakening of the American dollar?
• SHE BLEW WHAT?!?!?!?!? According to reports some woman in South Dakota managed to blow a .708.  Police reportedly found her behind the wheel of a stolen delivery truck parked on I-90. apparently, she’s got quite a record.  In short, she’s been practicing.

If a terrorist says he’s al Qaeda, he is, even if he doesn’t have a union card from Jihadi Local 632.

We’re dealing with a global Muslim movement, not a Masons’ lodge.

Ralph Peters, Lt. Colonel, United States Army(retired), New York Post .

Hat tip:  Hot Air headlines.