Big Business?  Already done.

Big Banking?  Already done.

Who’s left?  How about…

Big Hollywood?

What a great idea.

As mentioned earlier, my evenings and weekends are mostly filled with preparing for my upcoming paralegal exam, but I still have breaks and lunch time at work to scan the ‘net.

Here is a column by Jonah Goldberg that clearly expresses the primary objections to referring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to a civilian trial in NYC.

And here is a post by Andrew McCarthy at NRO on the monumental chutzpah of the Attorney General in bemoaning the Bush administration’s supposed years of delay in bringing the terrorists to justice.

As if anybody needed more evidence of why these Leftists, like their counterparts in Hollywood, are morally wretched and feckless people.

This commentary in today’s Anchorage Daily News; I think a large part of the Palin-loathing can be explained by the “You’re a traitor to your kind” thinking, i.e., REAL women are liberals, just as REAL blacks are liberals.  Black conservatives can for the most part be marginalized by ignoring their existence.  Sarah cannot be ignored.

But as for the particularly unhinged ferocity of the Palin-hatred among old-line feminists, it makes one wonder whether there must not be something more going on.  I think the author of this article may have found it.

Regarding the President’s ridiculous pathetic ridiculously pathetic bow to Emperor Akihito, this cartoon from Investor’s Business Daily explains it perfectly:

_____
11/23/09: “Reaction to Japan Bow Left Obama ‘Speechless’ “, from the CBS News blog “Political Hotsheet“.

Naturally, it’s reported that it was just those petulant conservatives who were upset.

“”Obama’s attitude was, this is an elderly gentleman in a country where this kind of greeting is customary,” said the official. “It does not seem extraordinary to show this kind of gesture to him.”

Except, yeah, it is.   ABC Senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper reported (here) that,

“An old friend — an academic with expertise about the Japanese Empire, and in general a supporter of President Obama — sends me the following note, relating to photographs of President Obama bowing to Emperor Akihito of Japan…

“Obama’s handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush’s back-rub of Merkel.

“Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.

“The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms…The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.”

And then there is this quickly produced video, showing forty-six (46!) handshake greetings of the emperor by other heads of state- and some of those from other Pacific region countries with similar “cultural traditions”.  Forty-six handshakes… and one bow.  Ow.

What an embarrassment.

(h/t to HA)

A good commentary piece in today’s Anchorage Daily News by Lt. Col. Rob Waldman, here.  The basic question he asks the reader to consider- “Are YOU worth fighting for?”

One of the best places anywhere to help veterans in a significant way- actually, in a variety of significant ways.  Check it out, and… do something-  Soldiers’ Angels.

A salute to all fellow veterans today, to the memory of my father and his generation of veterans, and the future veterans of today- especially those members of St. John’s parish.  God be with you.

On the one hand we have the reliably, willfully, self-imposed PC blindness of the mainstream media’s initial reaction- “Gee, what could his motivation possibly have been?”

On the other hand, we have those who, lacking PC blinders, note that Maj. Nidal was reported to have shouted “Alla Akbar!” before opening fire, had listed his nationality as Palestinian at a local Islamic Community Center in Maryland although he was born in the U.S., had been reprimanded for proselytizing colleagues and patients about Islam, and had blog posts praising suicide bombers.  “Duh!  Jihad, obviously.”

Sounds to me like this fellow was a rather weak, marginal, unstable personality.  Almost every day in his work he heard soldiers relating the horrors of war, and when faced with deployment to the war zone- even a non-combat assignment as a medical officer- worked himself into a fearful and cowardly frame of mind.  Going out in a blaze of jihadi glory presented itself to him as a commendable way to redeem an otherwise pathetic life.

There are millions of devout Muslims worldwide who would never seriously contemplate performing such a horrific act, or any of the many other horrific acts of terror committed around the world… so we are told.  That doesn’t answer the problem of how to predict and defend against those who do.  Which of  today’s moderate Muslims becomes next month’s jihadi?

When a moderate Christian turns extreme fundamentalist, you get a Mother Theresa or a Brother Francis, a missionary or an aid-worker, or one of the growing number who forsake this world entirely and enter a monastery to pursue lives of prayer, contemplation, and service.

When a moderate Buddhist turns extreme fundamentalist you get another pacifist monk, most likely.

Extreme fundamentalist Muslims present a more problematic “public health” issue.  And as always, the biggest barrier to finding a solution is the denial or misidentification of the problem.

Lord, have mercy.  Pray for the families of the victims.

Addendum:

Mark Steyn says it better, of course, in this analysis of “The Hole at the Heart of Our Strategy”.

UPDATE:  We know more about Maj. Hasan now- much more, and very depressing in it’s implications.  Seems that our so-called intelligence agencies knew of attempts that Maj. Hasan made to contact al-Qaeda.  And did… what?

Of course, whether or not he attempted, or even succeeded in contacting al-Qaeda is beside the point, as Robert Spencer and others have convincingly argued.  If a violent and virulent ideology inspires spontaneous acts of mass violence by numerous independent operators, isn’t the effect and outcome the same?

But then again, Geraldo Rivera thinks maybe Maj. Hasan might have just had a toothache that day.

It IS discouraging.  Following 9/11, I thought that at least we would finally witness the end of politically correct self-delusions about the threat of Islam.  Now the knife was well and truly at our throat, and the mortal threat would spell the end of all such nonsense that we could indulge in during peaceful seasons.

Sadly, it has not turned out that way.  You get used to hearing politicians speak such drivel, but now its looking like the PC virus has worked its way into our defense and intelligence agencies.  And folks, if we as a society don’t find and apply a cure for it, then, I’m sorry to say- we’re screwed.

Been a busy day and evening, didn’t even get in any law study, and it’s way past bedtime.  There’s other topics I had in mind for commenting on recently, but frankly there are just always things of higher priority that take greater precedence in my life.  I have slightly less than four weeks left until I take the national certifying exams for the certified legal assistant/paralegal license, so that is going to have first claim on my time until then.

Just this quick comment on yesterday’s election.  I see that “El Rushbo” is adamantly against conservatives running as third party candidates, believing that that would only serve to ensure permanent Democratic Party victories.  To that end, he spent some effort on his show today explaining why NY-23 was a one-off  special case that ought not serve as an inspirational model for conservatives elsewhere.  If this, and that, and one more thing had been different, then it might be significant, but it isn’t.  I disagree.

How many elections did Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party USA win?  None.  Does that mean they were failures?  According to Rush, and Newt, and most “pragmatists” the answer is obviously “Yes”.  You can’t implement your policies if you’re not in office, right?  Or can you?

In fact, almost the entire platform of the Socialist Party has been successfully implemented and institutionalized by both Democratic and Republican administrations.  Norman Thomas was the stalking horse, field testing socialist policy proposals and proving their public appeal.  The major parties defeated the Socialists by co-opting them.  So, the question is:

If your opponent(s) can only defeat you by adopting your policies… have you really been defeated?

If your goal is to gain and exercise power yourself, then yes, you were defeated.  But if you believe that your policies offer the best hope for the country, then no- you won. As a wise person once observed, there is no limit to what one can achieve if you’re willing to let others take the credit.  For most people, that’s too high a price to pay.  That’s too bad, especially if you claim to love your country and to want what’s best for it.

Rush says a Conservative third party is a prescription for permanent Democratic Party victories.  And how well has it worked out being loyal Republicans?

Remember that line from President Obama’s inaugural address?  “We’ll restore science to its rightful place…”; policy decisions will no longer be tainted by crude ideology.  In truth, ideology has corrupted this administration’s policies far beyond anything seen previously.  The so-called “settled science” of global warming might top the list, but coming in a close second would be alternative “green” energy.

Two recent posts by William Tucker at the “Planet Gore” section of NRO- “Obama Lays Out His Energy Game Plan“, and,  “Our Squandered Nuclear Advantage“.  No ideology taints in THIS White House, eh?

Lord have mercy.

It will be fascinating to see how this develops.  I think it is beyond huge- “tectonic” might be a more appropriate adjective.  Is that whirring sound old King Henry 8th spinning in his grave?  Probably not- I imagine he had already spun himself into butter long ago, contemplating the pitiful fate of his ecclesiatic child.

Now, I love being in the Orthodox Church, am daily grateful for God’s mercy in bringing me to where I am now.  However, if I had found an “Anglican Use” parish in the Catholic Church (such as this one) when I was young and still searching, I might very well still be there today.

I appreciate the universality of Orthodox worship, but there is a powerful emotional resonance to the particular form of my own Western heritage.  I belonged to an Episcopal church many years ago, and more recently spent some time in the French Orthodox Church, which was reviving a Western Rite liturgy.  Whenever I visited my in-laws in Tennessee I attended their Episcopal church; my heart would leap with joy, but my soul broke with grief at the rich patrimony that had been squandered.  I could seldom finish the first stanza of any hymn without choking up.

An approved Western rite Anglican liturgy within the Roman Catholic Church could be hugely attractive to folks fleeing the spiritual shipwrecks of their liberal denominations.  Where once they might have seriously considered the Orthodox Church as a viable prospect, now the combination of a more culturally familiar liturgy under Rome, along with Internet-available news of the controversies within the Antiochian archdiocese, could serve to bring an abrupt end to the early successes of Orthodox evangelism in America.

Lord have mercy.

Good commentary and good links at The Anchoress, with updates.

Typically good commentary by the Ochlophobist, including reflections on Orthodox-Anglican wooing.

Bay State liberals shun Barack Obama’s visit.

(Hat tip to Hot Air)