Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I shoveled for an hour, making a path through the 2 feet of snow to my car, at which point I started to dig my car out. After I got one shovelful out of the way, the snowplow came and plowed me in deeper than I was before. I threw my shovel at them and I went inside.
Fortunately, this pictured really cheered me up.
MoDo’s column today contains this priceless gem:
Everyone knows Saddam is lying; the question is whether it’s worth a war. Mr. Blix undermined Mr. Powell by challenging some of his satellite evidence, and saying that Iraq was beginning to cooperate more and that no proof had yet been gathered that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Everyone knows he is lying…. Which is why the left and the UN is driving everyone with at least a half a brain up the wall. We know you know he is lying. But you would rather play games and provide the French and Germans cover for their petro-chemical deals becuase “Bush is a Moron” or “I just can’t trust Bush,” or this, the most annoying argument I have seen yet, stated by Paul Berman in Slate (via Matt Yglesias):
I am sorry that Fischer doesn’t seem to look on the present conflict as a new episode in that longer and honorable war. But I don’t think he is a knave for failing to do so. If a columnist at the Washington Post is going to sneer, he ought to spread his sneers?or at least his criticisms?a little more widely to include President Bush. Bush has failed to present the current war and its impending new Iraqi front in terms of a democratic struggle against totalitarianism. He has failed to discuss in any serious way the moral aspect of the war, has failed to present the war as an act of solidarity with horribly oppressed Iraqis and other victims of Muslim fascism, has failed to show the humanitarian aspect of the war, has failed to present the war in the light of the long history of anti-totalitarianism. The president has failed, all in all, to present the kind of arguments that might enlist the enthusiasm of people like Fischer, not to mention the enthusiasm of people in the Muslim and Arab world.
Translation- We know Saddam is lying, we know that there isall sorts of evidence against him, we know that he is in violation of the resolution we signed, we know that Saddam is a threat to his citizenry, his neighbors, and the world, but, we just haven’t received the type of nuanced argument we are likely to accept. Precisely who are the idiots, here? Bush???? For the love of everything holy, who is the moron- the person who knows what Saddam is up to and wants to do nothing about it, or the person who wants to do something about it. Think about it a while. First, go read this from the folks at the Samizdata. Then think about it some more. Then, if you are particularly obtuse and particularly shallow, maybe this will help. Imagine the face of your friends on those bodies. Or your children. Or yours.
About a foot or so and counting, and no end in sight. Threw the cat into a snowbank to see what he would do (he had never seen snow like this). The scratches should heal in no time.
On Friday, Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge told the nation “stop being such pussies- we are doing everything we can to stop terrorism, but Christ, we are making this up as we go. Also, you need to quit listening to the Democrats, who have it in their political best interests that we fail- and it is also in their best interest that you remain scared to death.”
Actually, he didn’t say that at all. But he should have when he did address the press yesterday. He also should have told obnoxious Tom Daschle precisely where to stick it- but he won’t, because he has too much dignity to sink to that sewer trout’s level. Daschle’s comments were typical Democrat sneering and whining:
“Duct tape is not enough. Neither is empty rhetoric,” Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said after he and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., met with about a dozen firefighters, including some who rushed to the Pentagon (news – web sites) after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
No shit, Tom. Thanks for the update, not to mention the empty rhetoric. I guess ‘serious questions’ didn’t scare the terrorists off, so you are all out of help for us. Maybe you should impose a tax on them. Or some regulations.
Duct tape is not enough- and I doubt this is all they are doing to combat the problem. But then again, we have entered a new era- one that is going to require innovation, a re-tooling of our assets and command structure, re-thinking how we use our intelligence gathering services and our armed forces, and to be honest, there is going to be a lot of guessing going on for a while. It is thus not surprising that the party that has not had a new idea since 1960 would be somewhat baffled with what to do, but this new lefty Democrat party will surely win you back the House and Senate in 2004. Snicker.
We don’t know how they are going to hit us next. We don’t know where they are going to hit us next. We have a wide range of possibilities we are trying to address, and your carping and noxious whining (and hoping for something bad to happen to pin on Bush) is just a bit much for most of us. At least they did tell us that in a chemical attack, duct tape and plastic and plastic might help. We know for sure Clinton would never have told us that. Why do we know that? Simple.
Dick Morris wouldn’t have let him.
*** Update ***
Like I said, there is going to be soem guessing. Until anyone who wants to hit us is taking a long dirt nap, we have to try to stay one step ahead of them, and that isn’t always that easy:
In these twice-daily supersecret videoconferences, begun shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the agencies are expected to share their latest intelligence on the whereabouts of terrorists of Al Qaeda and their possible plans for attack.
Administration officials say the intelligence about Al Qaeda in the 17 months since the attacks has often been alarming. But this month the evidence became “downright terrifying,” a senior law enforcement official said. He said interrogations of captured terrorists and other intelligence suggested an imminent terrorist attack that might even involve chemical, biological or radioactive “dirty bombs” aimed at lightly guarded targets like hotels or apartment buildings.
Two weeks ago, officials said, the intelligence was so frightening and so specific
Chris Muir sent me an email letting me know about his cartoon strip, Day by Day. You can find it here, with a run down of the characters here.
Here is a sample of one I particularly liked (I took the liberty of cutting it up so it would fit the page- normally it runs like a regular strip):
Again, if you like it, make sure you make Day by Day a regular stop.
The kids are stupid, willfully ignorant, and unaware of any and all history. They believe propaganda and agitprop over reality (“No Blood for Oil” and “Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush- The Real Axis of Evil” are slogans used in the place of thinking), and believe that their own government is the root of all evil. The kids most certainly are not alright.
Worst of all, they are stupid.
Little Green Footballs has more (via the Instapundit).
Instapundit yesterday linked to a quote by Richard Perle claiming that the French are in it just for oil:
Richard Perle, a former US Assistant Defence Secretary, said the French anti-war stance was driven by economic interests. French oil giant TotalFinaElf has exclusive exploration contracts worth