The Pope? You people are going to bring the Pope in as moral arbiter while fighting the Catholic Church tooth and nail over abortion? What chutzpah! This is positively Straussian!

Does anyone consider how the Crusades fit into the mix? Maybe we should appeal to the authority of the Dalai Lama and the local chapter of Santaria. Is the kitchen sink available for comment? How about the local mosque? I'll bet they have some inspiring quotes from the Koran about how Christians should turn the other cheek. Heh.

Emily and I found ourselves on the Zuiderdam along with a whole bunch of The Nation's subscribers. We didn't plan this-- we were just taking our long-delayed honeymoon and catching up with some friends we hadn't seen it quite some time. Still, we thought, this might be nice, to spend a week surrounded by sensible left-wing types.

Boy, were we wrong.

As it turns out, anyone willing to pay many thousand of dollars to go on a luxury vacation with others who agree with his or her political ideology is an asshole, regadless of what that political ideology may be.

http://incertus.blogspot.com/2007/07/cruisin-johann-hari-has-written.html

Tsk.

What a shame!Of all the boats lost at sea that this particular boat did not sink. -- jameslow
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 03:49 PM
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/18/neocons/permalink/c3341ce1027aa12dffc716f9f7199131.html

It was just a matter of time before some lib wished death and destruction upon other people. A lot of other people actually. How typical. Tsk.

Perhaps Petraeus went on Hewitt's show because Democrats are running away from him....

Earlier this year, top Democrats in both houses of Congress refused to attend a bipartisan briefing offered by General David Petraeus to discuss the challenges in Iraq. Next week they’ll have another chance when the General comes to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers in the House and Senate on our progress in the Global War on Terror....

....He has a clear track record as a straight-shooter and as someone who gets things done. So one has to wonder why next week’s important briefing almost didn’t happen. According to Roll Call, when the Pentagon tried to schedule the briefing through House Democrats they were declined – twice – because Democrats were originally “too busy” to schedule anything. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnBoehner/2007/04/21/madame_speaker,_meet_general_petraeus?page=full&trackbacks=true

Maybe they'll follow the Texas example and when Petraeus has his briefing all the Democrats will leave the country to avoid facing reality. Again. Heh.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QFR71G1&show_article=1

Now let's see if the DOJ can nail her for perjury in front of a Congressional committee under oath. Heh.

" How many pipe bombs might it take to end U.S. democracy? Far fewer than it would have taken a year ago. The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on September 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist “incident” or if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of “public order” or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations.

The media and most of Capitol Hill ignored or cheered on this grant of nearly boundless power. But now that the president’s arsenal of authority is swollen and consecrated, a few voices of complaint are being heard. Even the New York Times recently condemned the new law for “making martial law easier.”

All very true, but OTOH it is required if the very same people who bemoan the ineffectualness of the Feds during Katrina want action. It may be Democrat politics as usual for Governors to deny entry of the National Guard to New Orleans or more recently Manhattan Kansas, and then blame Bush for resulting difficulties - but this is one result of such duplicity. Democrats want faster Federal responses. This legislation is what it takes to make it happen.

Nearly as bad as this, is the rebuffing of holding harmless people that report potential terrorist behavior or objects. The flying Imams will now have license to sue people that complained about their behavior. Dhimmitude anyone? Change the slogan from "If you see something, say something" to "If you see something, don't say anything or you might get sued"?

The trial lawyers strike again.

PAUL KRUGMAN
I don’t know why the op-ed article that General Petraeus published in The Washington Post on Sept. 26, 2004, hasn’t gotten more attention.

After all, it puts to rest any notion that the general stands above politics: I don’t think it’s standard practice for serving military officers to publish opinion pieces that are strikingly helpful to an incumbent, six weeks before a national election.

LOL. God forbid that a shining light of optimism be allowed to survive by the purveyors of doom and gloom. I suppose Krugman doesn't think he's given enough help to the forces of anarchy in Iraq. This reminds me of how Guckert/Gannon was outed, career ruined, and reputation cratered, for the ultimate mortal sin of dissing Democrats in a press conference. NOw that I've seen the latest Harry Potter movie, a better analogy would be the al-Krugmans as dementors, sucking the very life out of their victims. Tsk. As always, IOKIYAD.