Kevin D. Williamson, "Media Blog" @ National Review
Apparently, the NBC program Medium decided to have a villain who was one part Hannibal Lecter and one part John McCain: an Arizona senator and former POW who becomes a cannibalistic serial killer.
You know, if there were a little more Hannibal Lecter in McCain, I might like him a little better. I like to imagine McCain sitting down with Tim Russert and scoffing at the prepared questions: "Do you really think you can dissect me with that blunt little tool, Mr. Russert?" And then maybe turning to Hillary during a debate: "You know what you look like to me, Agent Rodham, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste."
The solemn manifesto pledge by both Labour and the LibDems to give the British people the final say in the surrender of their nations sovereign right to rule itself has today been tossed into the garbage
So thats it then. The EU constitution treaty is all but through the House of Commons, facing merely the formality of Third Reading. At a stroke, much of what remains of the UKs power of self-government will now be negated and the rest will surely follow in due course. The solemn manifesto pledge by both Labour and the LibDems to give the British people the final say in the surrender of their nations sovereign right to rule itself has today been tossed into the garbage, along with what little remains of public trust in politicians.
Three LibDem MPs have resigned from the front bench in protest. Who cares? Parliament now becomes Westminster Regional Council in the kingdom of Euroland, continent of Antidemocracya, planet Dystopia. One thousand years of British history have been extinguished without a shot being fired and until now, in the virtual news blackout resulting from a conspiracy of boredom in the British media.
Almost. The bill still has to pass the House of Lords. Will the upper House hold the Labour government to its manifesto commitment?
The wretched LibDems are right about one thing, though. We should have a referendum not on the Lisbon Treaty but on continued EU membership. There is not one good reason why it is in Britain's interests to continue to stay in. We should come out in order to save British democracy. End of story.
#2
I personally abide by the record that reflects the terrorist action instigated by the Serbian Black Hand and the Serbian military to shoot the Archduke all in the name of greater Serbian nationalism was the critical factor. When all the apologist for the Serbs get around to that act which in final tally cost Europe and most of the world several hundred million lives and a situation which we are still cleaning up after nearly a hundred years, let understand, there are no good guys in the Balkans. Its one of the reasons our forefathers unassed from that continent in the first place to get away from 'historical' animosities and their consequences.
#3
Russia's total and inflexible support for Serbia in 1914 that started World War I
Hum. After the muder of Austrain's heir to the throne the Austrians required threatened invasion if the Serbs didn't let their cops investigate connexions into Serbia and arrest suspects in it ie Autrian cops would have not been observers or in collaboration with the Serb authorities but with powers more akin to those of the Gestapo in occupied France.
I would tell that it was more case of Germany's inflexible support to Austria who started WWI.
Did I mention that the Kronprinz was slavic-friendly and that made him the target both from nationalistic Serbs (who feared his concessions to Slavs in teh Autrian empire will make harder to convince them to join Serbia) but also of the Austrian and Hungarian supremacists in his own country?
#4
There is an old German expression that "Russia is Russia". Having studied Russian history, I have to say that Putin is behaving true to form, and better than most Russian leaders.
To expect him to behave like a westerner, or an American, is to neglect some of the truths of his situation.
To begin with, his popularity is based on doing what the Russian people both expect him to do, and what they want him to do. By the standards of Russia, he is seen as almost too liberal--trendy.
Putin must contend with the schizophrenic culture of Russia, which vacillates between wanting to be westernized and wanting to be Asian. Every movement to the West must be balanced with one to the East. It is demanded of him.
Like Americans, they demand law and order, and are fairly open-ended on how to achieve it. And their criminal class are extremely dangerous, and the public know it.
Putin is more than aware that his country is still debilitated from the Soviet years, and in many regards it is much like a new nation. So his priorities are first, to keep it together as a nation, second, to restore its strength in the world.
Then third, to set up a stable government of whatever kind, as liberal as the people want it to be. Whether they will tolerate a two-party state is a good question.
#5
His problem is the birth rate and the death rate. And there's really not a lot he can do about either. Pooty is just sustaining a parent in the hospice.
#7
KOMMERSANT > Dimitry Medvedev has all but officially declared [Moscow-supported] all-out ECONOMIC WAR AGZ THE WEST, admonishing Russ entrepeneurs, companies, and individ investors to DO EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING NECESSARY AGZ US-WEST TO MAKE RUSSIA MODERN, WEALTHY, AND POWERFUL.
Just run Hillary's "3 a.m. Phone" ad in its entirety, including the "I'm Hillary Clinton and I approved of this ad", simply followed by "I'm John McCain and I approved of this ad". Hillary has a fit about the use of her ad, drawing further attention to it. It is endlessly played for free on the news. Devastating fun at Obama's expense.
Oh, you could tweak this a bit to make it more explicit.
"I'm Hillary Clinton, and I approved this message."
Cut to McCain: "I'm John McCain, and you know what, my friends? I approved this message, too!"
Posted by: Mike ||
03/06/2008 15:18 ||
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Stray VRWC-card-carrier thought: If youre of the mind that the exit of the Clintons from the presidential scene is best for American public life, don't be down post-Tuesday I think what is happening now may be best for that cause. The longer the draw-out, the longer the fight, the longer she looks like she wants it too much, the more certain it will be that she wont come back if she loses the nomination (which I still think theres a very good chance she could; hows that for a bold prediction).
She could also scratch and claw and cheap-shot her way to the nomination, lose the general election, and be out of the game that way.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/06/2008 12:09 ||
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#1
48 years ago the Dems picked a candidate who carried a lot of baggage, both pro and con. His running mate was about as different from him as it was possible to be and still be in the same party, but Kennedy needed Johnson to win (steal) the election.
I figure if this gets to the convention with Clinton even, or slightly ahead on elected delegates but needing superdelegates to get the nomination, a deal will be made for Obama to be the VP candidate. (If Obama leads, he'll win the nomination and not need to make a deal.) A Clinton-Obama ticket will be hard to beat, and Obama provides a nice 'life insurance' policy for Clinton.
#2
I can't see a good ending out of this. Best case scenario: we have a hot-headed frat boy leading the country using some kind of quasi-conservative paradigm.
Somebody has to talk about what's happening here and what it means. We're in the process of seeing the canniest pair of politicians in American history reduced to humiliated ruin at their own game, by a rank newcomer, after starting their campaign with a gigantic lead. So far, all the leading lights are still discussing this startling outcome in terms of the campaign only. For example, WAPO media critic Howard Kurtz is groping his way through the subject, thus:
"Is Barack Obama protected by a special suit of armor--one that fits only African Americans?"
I've previously stated my own belief that America is ready for a black president. I've also said that race is a three-edged sword, which I explained, like the rest of the herd, in campaign terms:
The first two edges have been abundantly noted and commented on. Yes, there are Americans who still aren't ready for a black president, though not nearly as many as the paranoids in the liberal media feared. There is also a deadly danger to anyone who makes a charge or even an observation about Obama that might conceivably be interpreted as suggestive of racial prejudice. The third edge is concealed between the bright lines of the first two....If every gaffe or unpleasantness committed by the Obamas on the campaign trail is going to be shushed up or suppressed to spare their racial sensitivities, resentment is bound to grow like mushrooms in the dark. If that's the strategy, the third edge will cost Obama the election.
#3
Hey, I'd vote for a g.d. bullfrog if I thought it would perform the function of president appropriately (and could find one old enough to run). I thought people were supposed to have learned to handle peer pressure back in junior high.
President of the United States of America is not an entry level position.
Pakistans Afghanistan policy has come in for criticism for not dealing with the Taliban with an iron hand. In the past, Pakistan considered the Taliban as an asset in view of our policy of strategic depth. That view seems to have changed partly due to the suicide attacks on President Musharraf in 2004 and a number of suicide attacks targeting the military personnel, and partly due to the US pressure of doing more on this front.
There is enough proof now to show that this is not just an Afghan problem. Its effects are spilling over into Pakistans border where our military troops are up against the Taliban insurgents. There is a need to re-double the efforts to improve the fast-deteriorating security situation. This can be achieved by taking both the military and economic measures, as both are inter-related, to wean away the local people from the clutches of the Taliban. The return of the Taliban poses a grave danger to both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Step 1: Bomb all Taliban madrassas.
Step 2: Bomb the funerals.
Step 3: Bomb the protests.
Step 4: Offer $100/head for any surviving Taliban.
Step 5: Enjoy the resulting peace and quiet.
#2
Like AQ in Iraq, a lot of the new Tellybunnies are just outsiders, often just working for pay [will bomb for food]. Solution is make areas off limits to foreigners [particularly those around madrases]. Free kill zones.
#3
Look: Taliban can't do anything without money. They get that money from the heroin trade. The PPP will have to deal with the problem of having a million addicts in Pakistan. If President Bush said a few bad words about the Pashto drug industry, then the Pakistanis would take a scorched earth approach. After all, the country is a Punjab dominion; there is no general respect for minorities. Jihadi life is cheap; we need to devalue it even more.
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