On the Road

On the road today, along the southeastern shore of Lake Erie. We’re trying to do some rail photography.  I’ll post some of what we manage to grab when we get home tonight.

From Politiken.dk this morning:

As the world prepares to converge on Copenhagen for the COP15 Climate Summit, Denmark’s Speaker of Parliament has expressed serious doubts as to the way in which the climate debate has developed.
“The problem is that lots of people go around saying that the climate change we see is a result of human activity. That is a very dangerous claim,” Parliamentary Speaker and former Finance Minister Thor Pedersen (Lib) tells DR.

“Unfortunately I seem to experience that scientists say: ‘We have a theory’ – then that crosses the road to the politicians who say: ‘We know’. Who can be bothered to hear a scientist who says ‘I have a theory’ when politicians go around saying ‘I know'” Thor Pedersen says.

Heh. Well, now. And this, in the host country of the Global Warming Festival.

This is beyond, my friends, the discussion of it being possible that it could happen. This is hardly settled science and the Global Warming types like Al Gore would have us think:

Thor Pedersen adds that the temperature has not risen in the past decade.

“I’m not saying that in the decade that the temperature has fallen or stagnated is enough to evaluate developments. But one should only say what one knows,” the Speaker adds.

“You should say that although we believed in our models, that the temperature would rise from 1998 to 2008, we have to admit that it has not risen. We cannot explain why it has not risen, but we believe we still have a problem. I’m just asking that people say what they actually know,” Pedersen tells DR.

Do you suppose anyone at this dog and pony conference will admit they don’t know? That this isn’t about science this is about political power and control, and who has it?

No. I don’t think so, either.

Der Spiegel is reporting:

Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference. Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.

Now, according to Wikipedia,

In Denmark, prostitution itself is legal, but operating brothels and other forms of pimping are illegal activities.[32]. Prostitution was decriminalized on 17 March, 1999, when changes were made in the penal code, but practically it had been tolerated for a long time prior to these changes to the penal code.

The age of consent in Denmark is 15 years, however, for prostitution it is 18 years, and sex with a person below 18 years of age as an act of prostitution is a serious offence.[33][34]

The traditional center for prostitution in Copenhagen is the district behind the Copenhagen Central Rail Station (Mainly Istedgade, Halmtorvet and Skelbækgade), and until recently the number of street prostitutes and sexually oriented businesses in this area was declining. Now street prostitutes – mainly from Eastern Europe and Africa – are growing in numbers. Like many other European cities, many prostitutes now use internet based ads for incall and outcall services.

So, I must in all candor ask why the mayor decided to pick now to make this request. If it the mantra that those who believe in global warming don’t engage is sex? They don’t want those who are spreading the gospel according to Al Gore, to get involved with any trace of what might generate scandal later? I don’t know if that’s the reasoning for the request here, but frankly, I can’t come up with any other scenario that makes any sense at all, can you?

Nice Deb asks:

Why Does Obama Have A Known Pervert For His “Safe Schools” Czar?

Jim Hoft Gateway Pundit, has the bill of goods on Barack Obama pedophile pervert in the White House (graphic):

Breaking: Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Is Promoting Child Porn in the Classroom- Kevin Jennings and the GLSEN Reading List

Either Jennings is a sexual predator, or the closest thing to one.  It is clear that Jenningts and GLSEN have utterly no interest in promoting sefe schools.   Jennings as morally unfit for his job.

We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills — for 18 months. Then we start packing for home.

Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post.

Welcome, one and all, to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• GORE CANCELS OUT: There appears to be at least one major fallout from the revelation of lies by means of publicly released emails among the global warming alarmist crowd, Al Gore has decided that he’s not going to make his personal appearance of Copenhagen as scheduled. Personally, I can’t imagine that are not least some of it among the global warming nonsense that I’m breathing a sigh of relief over that one.  And Kudos to Dan Riehl for what has to be the snarkiest response to that article:
  

  How flippin cowardly is this? Gore abruptly cancels an appearance in Copenhagen and after 3,000 people had bought VIP tickets for a photo op and light snack. Hmm Was it sharing the food that ticked him off, or was it something else? Meanwhile, Roger Simon and Lionel Chetwynd have called upon the Academy to rescind his Oscar. The headlines have to be getting to him if he passed on free food.

  Priceless, Dan.  Some others who are tracking this one: Don Surber, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, Another Black Conservative, Pajamas Media, Jules Crittenden,  Michelle Malkin, American Power,  and  Watts Up With That?,

• NOTE TO MICHAEL MANN: A little attention needs to be drawn to the director of the Earth System Science Center of Pennsylvania State University, otherwise known to the world as professor Michael Mann.  He makes the halfway valid point that professor Phil Jones “made an error in judgment”.   The word you’re searching for, professor, is “LIE”.  But, I guess to use that word would mean you’d have to admit you signed onto the big lie, too.   Oh… and , Phil?   Look, buddy, there is a decades of evidence that these figures have been manipulated all that time, and frankly, you ill serve science by claiming otherwise.  You’re welcome.
• MEANWHILE IN HOUSTON: The earliest snowfall ever is on tap. Yep… that’s global warming, all right.
• HURRICANE SEASON… OVER ALREADY? Apparently so. This was one of the quietest seasons on record. We had two storms that made landfall and comparatively, those were relatively damage free. Some flooding, but not much else.  It must be a real problem trying to maintain the picture of environmental gloom and doom, when nature doesn’t cooperate.
• BERNANKE SYNDOME: If you wanted any further evidence that the delta between George W. Bush and Barack Obama is much smaller than he either of them would have you believe, all one needs to do is look at the fact that the both of them are more than happy to put Ben Bernanke into the role as fed chairman. We are forced by this pattern to conclude one of two things; either President Bush was much farther to the left than the left than the left would have us acknowledge. . ., or President Obama is farther to the right than the left would have us acknowledge. . . Of the two, I suggest to the former makes far more sense.
• LIAR, LIAR:  I thought I was being fairly harsh on the president’s West Point speech.  As it turns out, I was being kinder then I knew.  Check out Der Spiegel:
  

  Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America’s new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric — and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.

  One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama’s speech would be well-received.

  Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond “enthusiastically” to the speech. But it didn’t help: The soldiers’ reception was cool.

  One didn’t have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama’s speech. It was the least truthful address that he has ever held.

  Frankly, I’m a little surprised at this particular source being as harsh as they are.  Still, they have a point.  One of the other points that came up in conversation with friends was setting a solid date for withdrawal.  Now, there is of course some argument about what constitutes a “solid date”.  Trouble is, that’s almost a material in light of telling the morons from the fourteenth century that all they have to do is hang around for awhile and they can declare victory in absentia.
  Possibly just as troublesome to the White House is their supporters are going away, as well. Gee, you would think they would understand that this is what constitutes “hope and change”.

• STEPHY TO  GMA? According to whoever is feeding Howard Kurtz, somebody at ABC’s offered George Stephanopoulos the hosting duties at Good Morning America.  I’m sorry, but Stephanopoulos has always struck me as a political flyweight, someone well outside of his realm on political shows, and whose only real claim to fame was having served in the Clinton administration.  Service which rendered him on such mag covers as this one. (Right)  Certainly, a questionable resume at the off. He’s always been a bit of a pretty boy, as well, and I guess they figure GMA will do better with middle aged women as a result of his being there. My guess is that ABC doesn’t have anybody else to throw at the role.  Either that, or they’d really like to get him out of political reporting.it strikes me that a more cynical person could aver that he represents a Democrat party lank to a rather questionable past.  My guess is that they are figuring the core audience of GMA doesn’t much care about that link to the Clinton administration, or else they consider it a positive.  It’s my read, based on the numbers that I see , that ABC’s morning show viewers are not nearly as politically savvy as those watching “This Week” for example.
• A MUST READ: Thomas Sowell is always that, but this one I think particularly good.
• PERSONAL NOTES: The training for the new job continues.  I passed all the written tests with flying colors yesterday, at the DMV, and now have what you might call a permit for the CDL. A major step forward.  I’ll be taking the school’s truck out for the first time Monday. Actually, I’ve always been good with vehicles, once I get my hands on them and I expect this will be no different. So, in reality the biggest worry about the learning process is behind me. Actually handling the truck shouldn’t be nearly the problem, for me.  We’ll see how that goes and I’ll report Monday or Tuesday, depending on what time I get out Monday night.

Representative James Sensenbrenner (R – WI)   gives presidential science adviser John Holdren a grilling, video:

Hat tip: Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit.

Look in the mirror, Mr. President, for why jobs aren’t rebounding

Betsy Newmark, Betsy’s Page.

Mrs. Newmark may not be an economist, but she is married to one.     I felt some commnet the president’s ecomonic summi dog and pony show was in order.

Welcome, one and all, to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the web… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• JOBS SUMMIT PLACEBO: Look, tha’s what this Jobs summit thing that we saw today at the White House really is. Honestly, every president since Roosevelt has engaged in this kind of sham, but given the current circumstances, as Evan Newmark points out, it seems more pointless and a cynical waste of time than usual.  Mostly, because we know now what we didn’t know back and Roosevelt’s day; huge government spending isn’t the solution to creating jobs.  Cutting taxes, and limiting government,  is. Mitt Romney, over at USA TODAY has an admirable editorial out today on the topic, saying in part
  

  His failure to stem the unemployment tide should not have been a surprise. With no experience whatsoever in the world of employment and business formation, he had no compass to guide his path. Instead, he turned over much of his economic recovery agenda to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, themselves nearly as inexperienced in the private sector as he. Congress gave him and them everything they asked for, including a history-making three-quarters of a trillion dollar stimulus.

  

  Mitt Romney

  But it did little to stimulate the real economy – where jobs are created. Studies, initiatives and programs that liberal think tanks had long pined for were given life even as the private economy was on life support. The president’s team assured us that their massive stimulus would hold unemployment below 8%. So with unemployment now at 10.2%, it is clear that their stimulus was a miscalculated failure.

  In an attempt to disguise the truth, the administration has touted inflated figures of jobs “created.”But every month, in good times and bad, jobs are created and jobs are lost. What matters is the net difference between the two numbers. Focusing solely on jobs created while ignoring the far greater numbers of jobs lost is Harry Houdini economics.

  Growing government, as was done with the stimulus, inevitably depresses the private sector and job creation. Shrinking government and reducing government jobs is healthier for the economy, but this option was never seriously considered. That’s no wonder: As White House guest logs for the first half of the year reveal, the most frequent visitor to the executive mansion was Andy Stern, the head of the Service Employees International Union, which represents government workers.

  Honestly, now… does anybody really think that Obama is going to reverse course toward what works?  I didn’t think so.That’s the only real solution to any of this, so given that his policies aren’t working, call Mr. Ober am a and company have left to offer us is a placebo. And how do we know that’s what it is? Well, many reasons. Here’s but a few of them.

  • I notice for example that the U.S. chamber of commerce was not invited but Andy stern the president of what is arguably the most corrupt of the government employee unions, was.
  • The national federation of independent business, wasn’t invited, the teachers unions were.
  • Small business owners … you know… the ones who generally provide 70% of the jobs in this country, were not invited.  Big Obama donors, were invited.

  Are you getting the drift, yet?  this entire thing was put on for show.  The question becomes if the people on the unemployment lines can see this issue and for what it is.  I suspect they probably can, and will vote as such in the next two elections at least.

• SPEAKING OF DEMOCRAT POLICY NOT WORKING TO CREATE JOBS: You guys happen to see the Goldman Sachs forecast for 2011 ?  If not, you may want to run to where  James Pethokoukis, over at Reuters gives the details. They’re predicting at this point minimal growth, in just about everything but unemployment with that figure peaking at a little over 10% in mid 2011.  I’m telling you, dear reader, the turnover in the next two cycles is going to make the Reagan revolution look minuscule by comparison.  if you happen to manage to get anything on the “jobs summit” of today, you may want hang onto it for about two to three years. I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s going to be the road to that of a lot of the blooper reel, in a little while.
• ANDERSON COOPER RATINGS FALL: Is there a rating less than Zero? I’m willing to bet that CNN hangs on to that turkey until we find out.
• BOXER BLAMES THE WHISTLE BLOWER: Roger Simon picks it up and runs like crazy:
  

  

  Pajamas Media's Roger Simon

  Climategate is about a lot more than climate. It’s about science and its relationship to politics and profit, the academy, the state and, perhaps most importantly, information control. The manner through which we learn (or thought we did) important knowledge about key aspects of our existence, the way things are hidden, has been exposed in this one instance like the Wizard of Oz.

  It’s obvious similar methods of control apply to many other information sources in our society. That is why Barbara Boxer is in shrill blaming-the-messenger mode, insisting that any Congressional investigation of Climategate would target the nefarious “hacker.” She realizes a great unraveling could come from this. So do to the global bureaucrats at the UN and the EU as they prepare for the Copenhagen conference. It is also why the mainstream media was so slow to report the East Anglia CRU emails and documents. They know that if you begin to report these things, you have to report on a lot of other things they have so scrupulously chosen to avoid.

  Roger has this one correct, I think.  Indeed, I think the implications are deeper than even he suggests.

• PERONAL NOTES: For those who didn’t notice we managed to secure ourselves another offer here at BitsBlog. take a look at the main page tonight if you get the chance, and check out the writings of Karen Jones, our newest member.For those who have been asking, yes, I managed to pass the written exam for the commercial driver’s license.  It was actually far easier than the tests that the school had been providing me.  I consider that a testimony to the effectiveness of their teaching.  More about that later.  For the time being that means I’m going to be driving the school’s tractor trailer rig come Monday morning.  If all holds to schedule, I will be in my new job on about the sixth of January.  More about that as I find.

www.JonesToTheGrindstone.com

I was in the doctor’s office waiting room and scanning for reading materials. A stack of pamphlets immediately caught my eye. The main header, in a solemn-looking font, stated, “Pressures of military life can lead to stress, despair, marriage and family problems.”

The pamphlet extolled the virtues of visiting a mental health care provider if you are experiencing these negative situations. Yes, this is a good idea, but running off to see a therapist is a luxury—having the co-pay and taking off time from life to talk about oneself. However, some people try to “stuff it” which lends itself to a future embarrassing meltdown at some seemingly unrelated, inopportune moment. Furthermore, anyone who denies having these upsets is a liar or, simply, “emotionally unavailable”.

One of the more acidic experiences a spouse can endure is preparing for their mate to go off to a foreign, hostile country for a “remote tour”, or for another type, and a new term these days, a “365”. (These two do differ technically, but that’s for another day’s discussion.) Either way, their spouse and usually parent of their child(ren) is “going away” for at least a year. And the family is not invited.

The last, lingering days before this major transition are agonizing. The spouse being left behind to rearrange her life without her mate is in a constant fight with herself. (I use the female example because the military is overwhelmingly male.) Meaning, she is in a mental tug-of-war between wanting her mate to stay at home for another day and wishing he would get the hell out of there already—so she can start grieving.

Yes, I used the word, “grieve;” for, it is like the mate has figuratively died. The surrounding props are unchanged and the family activities are the same, but now the spouse is left to do it all alone for 12+ long months. There is a lot of crying and sadness. There is intense physical pain from missing your loved one during this initial period. Hearts are ripped apart and time is lost with your spouse. And missing your children experience their lives for a year—cannot be adequately compensated, no matter the monetary amount or tax break.

Last March, I was on the phone with a girlfriend who was about to send her husband on a “365” in Afghanistan. She anxiously described how busy she and the kids were going to be for the summer while her husband was gone. (Let me explain, this particular family is tight—they are a unit, rock-solid.) Plans of travel abound for the husband’s beloved left-behinds and all the distractions that ensue with that. Then, she wrapped-up the summer report with how they will return in time for the start of school. I flatly said, “And then it’s August… [extended pause.]”

My witty friend, after the prolonged pause’s time naturally expired, dryly added, “I’m trying to be positive here, Karen.”

I knew that, but I was hoping to show her how clearly I understood that her year was going to be lengthy and arduous. I concluded by telling her that I have no doubt that she will survive this separation. But, that I was truly sorry that her family was going to have to go through their rough year.

This is a family’s story of sacrifice that is done to support OUR government’s mission to keep our homeland safe. I ask that all of you who have never thought of the emotional pain and struggles involved with being a military family to please start taking note of these strong women, men, and children. They deserve it.

Addendum(Eric):

And with this post we welcome Karen Jones to BitsBlog.

Karen comes to us by way of a very impressive recommendation from good buddy Mel Douglass, also a recent addition to BitsBlog. I’ve known Mel for a lot of years, dating all the way back to the GT network days on the BBS’s in the 80’s and before.  Mel and I don’t always agree, but I do value Mel’s judgments highly, so when he suggested I look at  Karen as a BitsBlog Author,  I took his advice gladly.

Karen’s first offering is rather typical of what I found at her site, and is actually one I’m glad she chose, because it makes my explaining her purpose to you here much easier.

Karen’s task here, as with everyone I ask to write at BitsBlog, is to write about things that interest her…. things she’s passionate about.  I tell everone who I talk to about writing here that is really the only strict criteria in topic selection that I will exact,  that they write what they are passionate about… because of two main reasons.

1. A dosage of passion in your writing will make up for a great number of ills in writing.
2. If you’re not passionate about what you’re writing about it’s doubtful you’ll be able to maintain the reader’s interest level either.

Karen’s interests seem to me to lie in the slice of life stuff… and what’s going on underneath that slice of life stuff. .. and that’s an area too many ignore, I think.

Here’s why that fits, here…  I have always held that politics ideally, and rather than being a game unto itself,  is  a means to represent our most deeply held beliefs and values to the rest of humanity. … that it is individuals and the culture that should be driving government, rather than what we have now, which is all too often, the exact reverse of that ideal.  So, within that context, I think Karen to be an excellent fit at what is ostensibly a politically oriented blog, because she has the habit of cutting down into and exposing the values that life situations bring up. In short, she gets to the root of the thing, and what’s more, has an understanding of it, underneath the politics.

Welcome to BitsBlog, Karen Jones.

PS(Eric) : I find I must add a personal note, here. This article struck home for me on another level. As some of you will know, I’m about to do a career shift into long haul trucking. After 20 years of being married to a compter support tech,  Donna will now find she has a husband who isn’t home for much of the time. After 20 years of my boots being under the bed every night, her only link to me, most of the time, will be the cell phone I carry, and my computer, while I spend the night a few hundred to a few thousand miles away.

Now, it must be said, that barring a traffic accident, the chances that I will come home again are well above that of anyone fighting a war, of course. Still, the seperation aspects for Donna … what Karen calls the “acidic experience”… is brought home to me.

And I wonder, more than a little.

Welcome to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere… the BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• WEST POINT SPEECH: For those of you that want a text version of the Snoozer at West point, The Washington Post can cover that need. Fred Barnes has the right word… disappointing. Yes, that means I expected something better.  Silly me.  I kept hoping against hope that he’d eventually break out of the partisan rhetoric and publicly recognize that what he calls a “responsible end.” to the war in Iraq was only possible because of the Surge he objected so strongly to as Candidate Obama.  Seems an odd thing, given what he’s calling for in Afghanistan, is a half-assed copy of that strategy he dances around crediting.   I must say I have serious questions about Mr. Obama and his support for this action.  After all, what commander in chief takes three months to give his commanders on the ground only 3/4 of the troops he’s asked for, and places a time limit on said commanders despite tying one hand behind their back?  There’s this, also; Obama spent a good deal of time last night talking about the costs of the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan.  He used these numbers to argue against larger numbers of troops and longer involvements in solving the conflict .
  

  Fred Barnes

  Yet, looking directly at the numbers that he himself mentions in the speech, they appear minuscule as compared to the billions and billions of dollars poured into propping up auto companies, banks, and whatever government pork project Democrat senators got for their votes on healthcare and card check.
  Barnes says, and rightly, I think:

  I had hoped Obama would declare that nothing will deter him, as commander-in-chief, from prevailing in Afghanistan. But it turns out a lot of things might deter him. He listed a few of them: the cost of the war, its length (if more than 18 months from January 2010), the failure of Afghans to step up to the task sufficiently. He hedged.

  A hedge fund is something that somene gets into that wants to minimize the risk of damage. Obama is a politician, not a leader.

• ENEMY CAMP? One thing that didn’t suprise me last night was Tingles calling West Point “The Enemy Camp”. Not that I don’t already figure a lot of leftwards already consider it so. But Tingles is getting blantant in his anti-American bias these days, don’t you think? Then too, on another topic, Reynolds quips this morning
  

  

  Glenn Reynolds

  Yeah, if he were dealing with a real enemy — like, say, Fox News — he wouldn’t tip his hand so easily . . . .

  So, I suppose the understanding of that bias is widespread enough. But go have a look at KJL’s reposnse.

• SEE ALSO: DEMOCRATS, SINKING SHIP One of the bigges blue dog Democrats out there, John Tanner of Tennessee, is calling it quits, says Hotline on Call. He’ll  be steping aside at the end of this congress.  The exodus has begin, my freinds.
• ONE DEAD COP KILLER: This one ended exactly as it should. Maurice Clemmons, the dirt bag wanted for killing four Lakewood Washington cops, challanged a Seattle cop yesterday morning, and lost the bet. Good.
• THE CBO REPORT WILL BE IGNORED: By the left at least. The congressional budget office has finally got around are releasing its report of the senate health care bill. The it concludes that the individual insurance premiums would increase by around 10% and probably more, if the democrats pass their health care bill.  address, those increases only apply to those evil rich.  It comes out that the remainder of us would probably see a decrease in bills directly related to health care, but what they don’t show is the amount of deficit spending needed to support the plan.  Meaning, that money’s gonna come from someplace, and it’s probably going to come out of the middle class.  As we’ve demonstrated here several times in graphic terms, there aren’t enough rich to support these grandiose schemes.  The tax increase is going to come back down on the middle class that Obama and company claim they are protecting.
• KUDOS TO DAVID and Charles Krauthammer, yesterday. Does anyone doubt, anymore, that Sullivan is pure partisanship?

Sullivan’s entire ad hominem conclusion — that my views are animated by nothing but the basest, most corrupt partisan motives — turned out to be a complete invention based on his inability to read dates.

Hat tip: Mark Hemmingway, Washington Examiner

Miss Sullivan uses words like spittle.   Krauthammer uses  words like a sniper.    Should Doctor Krauthammer desire to return to his old profession, Miss Sullivan and Charles Johnson could be his first two patients.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere…The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• FIRST, A PERSONAL NOTE: I’d like to take a moment to thank those who wrote me after I made mention of my impending career change. Your comments, your thoughts and your smiles are worth their weight in gold.  For those who don’t know, I’ve started myself down the road of driving 18 wheels for a living.  I’ve spent most of 20 years in IT, but that role has become unstable in the Obama economy. So, I reinvent to stay at the same pay level I had in my former career. This will be the third reinvention if you will… after having spent a years in the radio business and as a mobile DJ.  I had some fair successes in both roles,  and I’m proud of my time in both fields. I must say, I never figured on another major career change at 52, but there it is.   I’ll be on the road and drawing mileage pay around the 2nd week of the new year.  My blogging ability will be somewhat limited at that point, until I get a mobile rig that will allow me to access the web as I’m used to. You can understand the expense involved at getting such a rig.   I have one company who is already interested in hiring me, and who has ‘pre-hired” me already… Meaning, that is soon as I got my license, I have a job.  That’s a good feeling to know. I have only small understandings of the parameters of the job, but I gather that I will be driving mostly in the northeast.  I will do my best to keep this website up to date.  Obviously, with all the schedule changes and job role changes, that’s going to be a problem for a while, particularly starting the first of the year.  I’m going to ask that our readers bear with these issues until I get my Internet access from the road dealt with. I get the impression, that once I get that hurdle jumped, I will actually have more time to devote to this web site.  But I have to get settled, first. That said, you really won’t start noticing any major changes to the way this blog gets updated, until the first of the year, if at all.  I will keep you posted as best I can.
• RESOLVING NOT TO RESOLVE: President Obama and his speech with regards to Afghanistan yesterday, was nothing if not irresolute .  He knows very well where the central core of the problem is, and refuses to deal with it for fear of upsetting his leftard base. you know he knows where the problem is, because of the rather precise way he dances around it.  James Toranto this monring, agrees, saying in part:
  

  It sounds as though, after months of indecision, the president has finally resolved to be irresolute. It seems that his central strategic goal is to displease no one.

  (Dry chuckle) There is a universal truth involved with this, that those watching cannot help but pick up on; By two means can you build a consensus.  By leadership, and by bending over frontward to try and accommodate everybody.  The latter is a surefire way to move nowhere, to change nothing. I think it’s fairly well established that Obama is no leader. Apparently, others are starting to pick up on that as well….

• BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: Remember how one of the major reasons we made “The One” President was so the countries around the world would like us again Peter Wehner says it didn’t work. The really shocking line, here?
  

  On almost every front, progress is nonexistent. In many instances, things are getting worse rather than better. The enormous goodwill that Obama’s election was met with hasn’t been leveraged into anything useful and tangible. Rather, our allies are now questioning America’s will, while our adversaries are becoming increasingly emboldened. The United States looks weak and uncertain. It’s “amateur hour at the White House,” according to Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former official in the Carter administration. “Not only are things not getting fixed, they may be getting more broken,” according to Michael Hirsh at Newsweek. When even such strong Obama supporters as Gelb and Hirsh reach these conclusions, you know things must be unraveling.

  Gelb in particular for my money is the starkest response here. Consider consider what is required for anyone connected with the Jimmy Carter Disaster, to be calling anyone incompetent.

• GOING NUNBER ONE: Going Rogue: An American Life is now number one on the NY Times bestseller list.  It’s interesting. She’s supposed to be an idiot, with no political impact whatever. Looking down the list, I see Mitch Albom’s  Have a Little Faith at number three. Clinging to guns and religion again, eh? Glenn Beck’s Arguing with Idiots is number four. Mike Huckabee’s A Simple Christmas is number 5.  Andrew Sorkin’s “Too Big to Fail” number 10 and so on. Does this collection of works so high on the list of best sellers,  say anything about the political mood of the country, I wonder? Of course tehre’s still people out there who wonder if those on the right can actually read. The list would seem to speak to that, as well.
• THE GLOBAL WARMING SHAM EXPOSED… I must say that I can think of no greater exposure to the truth of the matter surrounding the global warming she am then watching its proponents flying their private jets into the winter dance at Copenhagen.  The degree of hypocrisy that we see surrounding the global warming religion is going to be exposed in all its glory as we ponder the specter of the officials at Copenhagen Airport scrambling to find enough parking space for all the private jets from the conference attendees.  The always great Mark Steyn examines the hypocrisy in these people,  in some detail today.
• NOTE TO CHARLES JOHNSON: Charles, I must say I was disappointed but not entirely surprised to see you complete your descent into the realm of Andrew Sullivan Lite, this monring.  Let’s be honest about this; you parted ways with the right because some on the right felt that you needed some correction.  One of the hardest things that humans can face is that they might actually be wrong.  We faced that problem around here, often enough.  You, apparently, never have.  You prefer instead to break out the label gun , calling for example Roberts Stacy McCain, a fascist.  That’s a label so when applicable to the man has to be laughable, if it didn’t make you look so outright stupid.  I must admit a certain level of pity for you, your entire problem revolves around the fact that you can’t take criticism, from anybody.  Rather than accept the criticism and move on, you immediately assume … as so many libtards do… that anyone who questions anything about what you say is an enemy, and should be treated as such.  In all of this there appears to be one thing that you have not considered ; that is that things posted on the Internet and to stay around for awhile, even when you remove them from your site.  The very things that you are now complaining about, exist by the acre in your very own archives.  All I can say is, enjoy your newfound status as a target. And just think, the whole thing could have been avoided, had you made a simple admission that you were wrong.  (shrug) And by the way… does anyone find it passing strange that with this transition to Leftardville, the name of Johnson’s site is now admirably  accurate in its description?

(Edited for flow and a few typos)

William A. Jacobson, Legal Insurrection,  is reporting that someone named Charles Johnson has claimed to have left the right:

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs says he’s parting ways with the right because people who disagree with him are fascist, racist, homophobic, white supremacists. And he names names

Chuckles Johnson can not leave what is is not in.   As it is, Chuckles had become about one all beef patty short of a hamburger.

The natural trait of a politician is to hedge his bets, to obscure his positions, to hide his true beliefs.   Obama has mastered the political.    As opposed to mere a politician, a leader needs take a stand, be clear about where he stands, and demonstrate resolve.   Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were leaders.     So far the dim one has proven to be even a  more feckless leader then Jimmy Carter.

Boiled down  Fred Barnes, says that Barack Obama needs to taka ownership of the War in Afghanistan, from the Weekly Standard:

The president needs to leave one strong impression: that it’s his war and he intends to win it. That would not only allay the fears of the doubters but gain their support

I will salute the President for his speech.    The number of fingers I will us,  has yet to decided.