But first....a word from the President of the United States (Opinion Journal)

 

"...My principles are no secret. I have campaigned on them in my races for governor and in two presidential contests, and I have worked hard during my presidency to translate these principles into sound policy.

I believe that when America is willing to use her influence abroad, the American people are safer and the world is more secure. I believe that wealth does not come from government. It comes from the hard work of America's workers, entrepreneurs and small businesses. I believe government closest to the people is more responsive and accountable. I believe government plays an important role in helping those who can't help themselves. Yet we must always remember that when people are hurting, they need a caring person, not a government bureaucracy.

These are all common-sense principles, and they provide the basis for how I will approach governing with the new Congress. We've proved it can be done: When our nation was attacked, Republicans and Democrats came together to pass the Patriot Act and reform our intelligence agencies. When our economy was struggling, we worked together to pass tax relief that has helped our economy grow, create jobs, and raise the standard of living for the American people. When we saw that our public schools were failing our children, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act, insisting on high standards, accountability and better options for parents. ..."

My friend Alicia and her two daughters, Sammi – 15 and Sydney – 7 came over to exchange Christmas gifts.  Sydney loves kittens.  The moment she walked in, “Where are the kitties.”  We all trekked down to the guest room and watched as Sydney started extracting them from under my great-aunt’s antique bureau.  We discovered the little calico only had one eye open, as did one of the reds, which I reported last week.  Alicia, daughter-in-law of the one time (now retired) top family practice physician in the state dabbed their little eyes until they opened.  Two of the reds are so pale they almost look albino, but they aren’t.  The other little red is obviously the ‘runt’.  The calico seems to have grown since my last report.  The two very pale reds are identical twins.  Alicia agrees with me that the litter just isn’t as developed as they should be.  Tomorrow they will be 3 weeks.  The just don’t seem to have the muscular tone that kittens have.  Alicia wonders if they may have been born a bit pre-mature.  So, that is where things stand.  I don’t know what is going to happen.  They appear curious.  The moment the little twin’s eye was opened he decided to start exploring his little world.  Maybe they will be find.  The calico has the potential to be a great people cat.  I just need to find good loving homes for them.

Strata on Al Qaeda in 2007.   According to Counter-Terror Blog, our SPECIAL OPS guys are in Somalia chasing the bad guys!

Interesting.  Herpes may cause Alzheimer’s. Evidently there is a connection to cold sores as an indicator for the disease later in the life, esp. if things are hereditary.

 

Malkin and company are going to Iraq.  This is going to be interesting.

 

Have you heard the one about the Microsoft email lottery scam?  It hit my inbox today.  http://www.hoax-slayer.com/microsoft-lottery-scam.html

 

This is news to me.  They are doing a feasibility study for a UFO or alien based theme park in Roswell.  The best thing about Roswell is people there have a great sense of humor about the whole thing and will do just about anything to milk UFOs for $$$! 

 

Strata has more on the Litvinenko incident.  A 4th hotel has now tested positive.  Where is the media on this one?

 

I love it – Dimwit Sheehan is at it again, this time taking over Dem new congress press conference.  Read AJ Strata today. 

 

Were the 1998 baseballs juiced?  Are there implications for the McGuire record?  What about Bonds?  Does MLB even care?

 

This new honest, clean, accountable, and scandal free Dem Congress is going to be fun.  Take John Conyers (please).  I do hope he decides to impeach GWB.  Please, do it.  Bring it on.  I don’t know about you, but I am finally starting to look forward to the Dem controlled House.  I do hope those GOP yahoos in the House learned their lesson and decide to act like respectable grown-ups so we may have a chance to bring back GOP control in 2008.  Right now I don’t like what I see.  They are acting like a bunch of cry-babies.  As for the Senate, until Johnson is back, we are at a 49-49 stand off with Lieberman holding a Royal Flush.    This is going to be fun.  Wizbang has more.  And Liz Mair over at GOP Progress.   And Mark Noonan on "How Dumb Can They Be" This is going to be SOOO much fun!

 

"...Push for tax increases?

Maintain the practice of pork-barrel "earmarks"?

Try to cut funding for the War on Terrorism?

Try to implement socialized medicine?

Hold investigative hearings which amount to airing of leftwing conspiracy theories?

Attempt to impeach President Bush?

Become even more corrupt now that they hold the purse strings?..."

 

Interesting American Thinker piece by J. R. Drum about the US going Roman. (I am not talking about HBO’s Rome, which returns next week!) I’ve been saying this for years.  To me the whole thing is whether we can hold off the transformation of our representative republic into an imperium.  (word used intentionally)  It is going to happen.  But, can we hold off for a few more decades or even centuries?  Then again, because we have the lesson of history and the example of Rome, maybe we won’t.  Then again, at least 50% of Americans are ignorant fools who don’t know their history from a hole in the ground.  If they did, we wouldn’t be in the shape we are in now.  All the average person knows about Rome is the Caesars.  They do not know about 800 years of a glorious republic where Mr. Average Citizen had just as many or even more rights as we do today.  They also had responsibilities to take up arms when called and defend their homeland, no excuses.  Women also had a unique role in society and had a few rights.  (Women in ancient Egypt and more rights than most in the history of the pre-modern world).   All this takes us back to the cyclical argument I’ve been making since my final in Ancient History 201.  Prove or disprove Rome fell.  I wrote a twenty page essay proving it did not. 

 

Conservative talk show host Hal Turner  has threatened to off any ‘conservative’ member of Congress who votes for amnesty.  Need I elaborate more?  

 

The Crunchy Conservative has brought up something interesting.  He notes that victims of the Rwandan genocide went to their deaths quietly, as if they had no voice, as did the victims of the Nazis in the death camps.  Somewhere I read that during the French Revolution, the nobility went nobly and silently to their deaths.  Then, one day a young woman screamed and protested her innocence the whole way.  So many of the crowd were sickened at the way she fought and proclaimed her innocence that soon afterward the executions stopped.  Is there a lesson here?  I think so. 

 

According to a 'cooked' Dem Ipsos poll, the majority of voters in the US feel using aborted stem cells for research is acceptable. 

 

Read Blackfive about the abuses the FBI found in Gitmo. One abuse - an Islamic inmate being baptized by a Catholic priest after having accepted Christ.  This is the most remarkable thing I've read and an answer to prayer.  I think as Christians our mission is clear, we need to pray for more of these people to accept Christ.  

 

I think Strata is right about an Islamic Civil War looming.   And Al Qaeda and OKC.   And the insurgancy in Thailand.   Powerline on Iran-Iraq connection.

 

So Diane Feinstein is the idiot responsible for the ban on pseodoephedrine. Everytime I need to sign in like a drug addict for my allergy medication I go postal.  Now we know who the dimwit moron dork idiot dumb-ass stupid .... get my drift?  Ex. Senator Jim Talent was part of it.  I'm glad he lost.  Have you noticed they did not ban acetone?  (Nail Polish Remover).  Amen brother!

 

"As you probably know if you've gotten sick anytime in the past 4 months, the only way to get the Cold & Sinus medicine that actually works - the kind with pseudoephedrine - is to fill out an entry on the "I might be using this medicine to cook crystal meth, so here's my address" list. This entails doing the last things that anyone who's desperately sick wants to do, such as standing in line at your pharmacy for 20 minutes with a bunch of sick, wailing, snot bubbling rugrats and their exhausted parental units, and waiting while a bleary-eyed pharmacist digs around trying to find the thick notebook (why, there are lots of people who get sick - who knew?) where you have to put down your name, address, SSN, blood type, and anything else Dianne Feinstein wants to know about you. Because your privacy doesn't count for jack when you want the WORKING NyQuil, you dirty meth dealer..."

Blogs for Bush mention the call for a balanced budget by 2012.  If you believe the Dems are going to allow this, I have some ocean front property to sell you near Tombstone.

 

PRIMARIES 2008:  Called as Seen on Romney/Brownback. The McCain Camp on the Giuliani theft.  Very interesting.   An Edwards stratagy? David Hill thinks Rudy is going to strike a deal with conservatives.  Interesting to watch.    What about the allegations of Obama cocaine use? I don’t approve, but I also wonder if this is the beginning of a secret Clinton back assault? Morris on Obama.  The worst part of all of this is I’m probably the only Baby Boomer who didn’t try pot. More on Obama and cocaine. Read the Right Wing Guy about Hil.  More on Huckabee.  KungFuQuip on Romney and the WPost.  Eyeon2008 and the stolen Giuliani documents. From the Giuliani Blog. I just don't see this being a big deal.  Race42008 has just come out with the information that someone who is a McCain supporter working with Charile Crist is the offender.  Evidently someone infiltrated the Giuliani camp and stole the documents. 

 

 

The NY Post says someone from the newly installed FL governor Charlie Crist stole the documents.  I think Crist is a sleeze.

 

"..."During one leg of his campaign travel, all luggage was removed from a private plane and later put back on," said Giuliani's spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel. "However, one staffer's bag was not returned. After repeated requests over the course of a few days, the bag was finally returned with the document inside. "Because our staffer had custody of this document at all times except for this one occasion, it is clear that the document was removed from the luggage and photocopied," she added, stopping short of saying it was stolen. "Voters are sick and tired of dirty tricks. They are interested in substantive issues and want leaders like Rudy who are as well," Mindel said. But operatives outside Giuliani's camp said the book was taken during a campaign swing for Crist - a Republican, like Giuliani - whose inauguration to replace Jeb Bush as Florida's governor took place yesterday. Crist's aides didn't return calls for comment. .."

 

Thirteen Things I Should Try to Improve in My Life in 2007

 

   1.  Finish repairing the damage to my bedroom from the Jan 5, 2006 flood from a neighbor’s bathtub

   2.  Put up new bookshelves instead of

   3.  Try to spend learn how to discourse on topics other than political with shallow people

   4.  Find homes for two cats

   5.  Eliminate feline pregnancies

   6.  Stop buying hand-bags

   7.  Refrain from additional Louis Vuitton purchases (do I really want to admit to the purchase   of 6 new pieces in 2006)     

   8.  Make an attempt at dieting

   9.  Quit bitching and complaining so much and improve my lousy disposition

 10.  Not let up on my investigations into Tom Tancredo and the whole anti-immigration movement

 11.  Finish the three books I have half-way completed before I begin another

 12.  Eliminate needless shopping – okay I have a rich fantasy life

 13.  Moderate my complaints about liberals, Democrats, and whacked out conservatives