Sharp Knife

More Appeasement. More Diplomacy. More Inspections. More Resolutions. More Sanctions. More Fair-Weather Friends. More Treaties. More Scraps of Paper. This is what Kerry thinks will keep Americans safe.

France & the U.N. he trusts implicitly; it's always America that arouses his deepest suspicions.

The President laid out a good case for how establishing democracies will increase American security.

Kerry's Senate record should have come under more scrutiny; for example, he chided the President for Kyoto--yet he voted against it in the Senate. Not to mention his record of gutting & feminizing the military & intelligence agencies. As for Iran, his call to follow the same Clinton Appeasement Doctrine in Iran that gave North Korea its nukes is, put kindly, insane. And the President should have said so.

The Prez noted how Kerry's defeatist statements sent the wrong message to our troops, our allies and to the Iraqi people. He should have added ' and to our enemies' as well.

Kerry sounded whiny with his endless armchair quarterbacking. I got mad as Zell when he called our troops "occupiers". (He used the old "critics say" ploy; as I said, he called our troops 'occupiers'.)

The Prez did fine.

Onward.

...AND THAT'S NOT EASY!

"National Peoples' Liberation Radio now presents A Prairie Homeless Companion/Significant Other/Domesticated Partner."

"I'm your host, Garrulous Keister. Think of me as radio's Michael Moore...only with talent. And a passing acquaintance with a razor. Welcome to our show. Tonight, we have Taj Mahal--the building, not the blues singer. Also, a letter from Lake Wobblygone; it seems the EPA has declared the community a 'Protected Wetland' and ordered the entire town dismantled. I'm sure they know best. And coming up, from his office high atop the second floor of the AFSCME Building overlooking efficacious downtown St. Paul, the Adventures of Gyn Nawar, Lebanese/Lesbian/Lutheran Private Eye."

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Hmmm...let's see what else is on...

(theme music: "...I tidied up my point of view, I've got a new attitude...")

"This is zee Dr. Henry Kissinger Show. I'm Dr. Henry and I am you kids' Sekrutary uff State. Call me at 1-800-REALPOLITIK, zat's 1-800-REALPOLITIK. Our first caller insisted on cutting in line ahead of all zee other callers; Lurch, velcome to zee program:"

"Salutations, Greetings and Welcomings, Dr. Henry. First, let me say thank you and revise and extend my deepest gratitude for accepting my telephonic communication today. And let me add that I am, indeed, my wife's Cabana Boy. After all, who among us..."

"Mein Gott, man! Cut to zee chase!"

"Very well. Doctor K, I have a problem; I find myself issuing foreign policy statements one day, and then issuing totally contradictory statements the next day."

"Can you giff me an exzample, John?"

"My name is, uhh...Lurch. But, yes; for example, I called our coalition of nations in Iraq a 'collection of the bribed and coerced'. And then, the very next day, I called for bribing France & Germany with oil contracts in order to get them involved."

"Vell, John, it vurked for Saddam."

"Yes, but it's getting embarrassing. People are beginning to notice. Can you help me, Doctor?"

"Ummm....no. No, I cannot. Zere iz no help for you. Now go do zee right zing. In spite of every fiber of your being telling you othervise. And now, a vurd from our sponsor:"

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Hmmm...let's try the oldies station...

"Radio Free Sharp Knife is on the air, spinning your 'Nam-era favorites! This Stevie Wonder classic goes out to 'John', who says he has more flip-flops than a Chinese footwear factory:"

"Lie lie lie lie lie lie--
Lie lie lie lie lie lie.

My Kerry du Jour, constant as a weathervane
My Kerry du Jour, transparent as a windowpane
My Kerry du Jour, changing stands like I change underwear
You're the only cause to which you'll swear
How I wish you had a core.

In the UN or sometimes on the Arab street
Killers hear you, yet you go on preaching defeat
Mon Kerry du Jour, won't you tell me how could you ignore
That you were for it just the day before
Don't you know that this is war?

Maybe someday, you'll decide at last what you believe
Maybe someday, you'll deign to share it with us plebes
Oh, Kerry du Jour, you're pretty liberal, son, and that's for sure
But no one really knows what you stand for
How I wish you had a core.

Meantime, lie lie lie lie--
lie lie lie lie lie

...lie!"

"For this country is moving and it must not stop. It cannot stop. For this is a time for courage and a time for challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a party is not to our party alone, but to the Nation, and, indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom."

"So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation's future is at stake. Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause--united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future--and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance."-- Remarks intended to be delivered in Austin by President John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963, the day the Terrorist War was declared on America.

The JFK candidate in this race is named GWB.

OF DAN MILHOUS RATHER.

As they say in Massachusetts, this was "a fraud cooked up in Texas". It amounts to a coup attempt, albeit a Keystone Koup-Kops version.

Journalism professor Phillip Meyer : "Dan Rather was not out to get George W. Bush [*cough* cBS *cough*]. He was out to get a good story. And the desire for a good story, in the face of competition from all of the varieties of new and old media, is a powerful — and sometimes blinding — incentive."

In other words, it's partly the blogosphere's fault! Perfesser, please.

And as Jonah Goldberg points out, Mapes has been chasing this story for FIVE long years; that's not competitive pressure--that's an obsession. The Mad Rush to the War on George W. Bush sounds a lot like the Mad Rush to War in Iraq.

Joe Lockhart, who started out as a liar for a liar, then a liar for another, is now lying for yet another--himself. That's Three Strikes, Joe.

He must be sweating--more than usual, I mean; Burkett seems like the type who records phone calls.

In a sense, this is an unimportant story, compared to our troops being in the Sandbox. Yet it's important for Americans to know their Media is largely just another wing of the Democrat Party.

And it's vital that we give our troops a Commander-in-Chief worthy of the title.

TRUST ME!

From ABC:

"Retired Col. Walter Staudt, who was brigadier general of Bush's unit in Texas, interviewed Bush for the Guard position and retired in March 1972.

He was mentioned in one of the memos allegedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian as having pressured Killian to assist Bush, though Bush supposedly was not meeting Guard standards.

"I never pressured anybody about George Bush because I had no reason to," Staudt told ABC News in his first interview since the documents were made public.

The memo stated that "Staudt is pushing to sugar coat" a review of Bush's performance.

Staudt said he decided to come forward because he saw erroneous reports on television. CBS News first reported on the memos, which have come under scrutiny by document experts who question whether they are authentic. Killian, the purported author of the documents, died in 1984.

Staudt insisted Bush did not use connections to avoid being sent to Vietnam.

"He didn't use political influence to get into the Air National Guard," Staudt said, adding, "I don't know how they would know that, because I was the one who did it and I was the one who was there and I didn't talk to any of them."".........................................

CBS couldn't even be bothered to interview Gen. Staudt, the man who was there. He had to come forward on his own.

Even if CBS thought they would merely get a pro forma denial, shouldn't they have at least asked the man before smearing him with their forgeries?

CBS' answer: "In a debate this heated, one can hardly expect Gen. Staudt to endorse the point of view that he exerted undue influence." And one can hardly expect a shoddy, partisan hack 527 like CBSNews to, you know, do it's job.

That's beyond arrogant; it's Rather-istic.

And speaking of the truly bizarre, why are they breaking their love-swords on a story that, even if it were true, wouldn't make a damn bit of difference anyway? Rather's personal jihad against the Bush family or even revenge for the SwiftVet revelations doesn't quite explain it; they're cracking up and melting down.

"Fly, my pretties!"

is 217 years old as of Friday, Sept. 17th.

"The general public thinks of a constitution as a written document. But actually constitutions may be wholly or partially unwritten ... made up of old customs, conventions, charters, statutes, and habits of thought."--Russell Kirk, Rights and Duties

If that is what is meant by a "living Constitution", then perhaps. Otherwise, no.

Our Founders:

"No compact among men... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other." --George Washington, draft of First Inaugural Address, April 1789

"The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all. "--George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --John Adams, Address to the Military, October 11, 1798

The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be established in America. "--John Adams, letter to Patrick Henry, June 3, 1776

"I acknowledge, in the ordinary course of government, that the exposition of the laws and Constitution devolves upon the judicial. But I beg to know upon what principle it can be contended that any one department draws from the Constitution greater powers than another in marking out the limits of the powers of the several departments. "--James Madison, speech in the Congress of the United States, June 17, 1789

"I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that is not the guide in expounding it, there may be no security. "--James Madison, letter to Henry Lee, June 25, 1824

"Here sir, the people govern." --Alexander Hamilton, speech to the New York Ratifying Convention, June 17, 1788

"In the first place, there is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution, or which gives them any greater latitude in this respect than may be claimed by the courts of every State. "--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 81, 1788

At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous; that the insufficiency of the means provided for their removal gave them a freehold and irresponsibility in office; that their decisions, seeming to concern individual suitors only, pass silent and unheeded by the public at large; that these decisions, nevertheless, become law by precedent, sapping, by little and little, the foundations of the constitution, and working its change by construction, before any one has perceived that that invisible and helpless worm has been busily employed in consuming its substance. In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account. "--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Monsieur A. Coray, Oct 31, 1823

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition." --Thomas Jefferson, February 15, 1791

I hereby declare, on oath, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;

so help me God.

Happy Birthday to Constitutionalists everywhere!

OR BEADY-EYED MICE?

Dan Rather has come in for a lot of abuse recently, so I thought I'd say something nice about him;

I'm almost certain Dan's not dropping acid and shooting heroin again.

I said "almost".

In the interest of journalism, Rather had Houston police inject him with some Mexican Brown Tar heroin, an experience he called "a special kind of Hell". Rather also noted that China White produced "a peculiar kind of Purgatory" and Afghani Black Tar induced "a singular kind of Hades".

Okay, okay--I forged that last sentence...and I also broke the story that the sentence was forged! I Am Journalism!

What is striking in this whole debacle was the admission that CBS had been pursuing this story for five years.

FIVE years? George W. Bush was still just a governor. Has CBS ever followed ANY story for FIVE years?

Sorry, but that's not reporting; it's stalking.

Stepford Journalism. A Mono-maniacal Al Gore-esque Obsession. Hale-Bopp-ism with a microphone. Danny Python-Boot's Search for the Holy Grail while parroting the dead documents. That's Dan and his 300 lb. Samoan producer doing a "Fear and Loathing in Abilene" riff. Captain Queeg setting course for Strawberry Fields Forever. Jim Jones sorting through the Kool-Aid packets, searching for his favorite flavor, Cherry Red.

I shouted out "Who pimped the Kennedys?", after all, it was Network Tiffany.

We've always known what the "BS" stood for...but now we know what the "C" means;

"Cult".

KERRY VS. O'ROURKE

America is "the only advanced nation in the world that fails to understand health care is not a privilege for the wealthy, the elected or the connected; Health care is a right for every American.''--John Kerry

"...if fairness is important, what is really fair? We may say something like, "People have a right to food, a right to housing, and a right to a good job for decent pay." But from an economist's perspective, all those rights involve making finite goods meet infinite wants. Unless the fair society generates tremendous economic growth--which societies that put fairness first have trouble doing--the goods will come from redistribution. Try rephrasing the rights statement thus: "People have a right to my food, a right to my housing, and a right to my good job for my decent pay." --P. J. O'Rourke

It sounds good, but it always means rationing and government control. It will mean your neighbors get to vote on whether you can have that second piece of chocolate cake. Or go hang-gliding. It is, in short, that most mythtical of all the beasts; The Free Lunch.

And if everything is a "right", nothing is.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR ENEMIES AREN'T?

"A Tonic for Today " by Winston S. Churchill, given July 14, 1941.

(edited slightly by The Churchill Centre to eliminate contemporaneous references.)

"The impressive and inspiring spectacle we have witnessed displays the vigour and efficiency of the civil defence forces. They have grown up in the stress of emergency. They have been shaped and tempered by the fire of the enemy, and we saw them all, in their many grades and classes- the wardens, the rescue and first-aid parties, the casualty services, the decontamination squads, the fire services, the report and control centre staffs, the highways and public utility services, the messengers, the police. No one could but feel how great a people, how great a nation we have the honour to belong to. How complex, sensitive, and resilient is the society we have evolved over the centuries, and how capable of withstanding the most unexpected strain."

"I must, however, admit that when the storm broke in September, I was for several weeks very anxious about the result. Sometimes the gas failed; sometimes the electricity. There were grievous complaints about the shelters and about conditions in them. Water was cut off, railways were cut or broken, large districts were destroyed, thousands were killed, and many more thousands were wounded. But there was one thing about which there was never any doubt. The courage, the unconquerable grit and stamina of our people, showed itself from the very outset. Without that all would have failed. Upon that rock, all stood unshakable. All the public services were carried on, and all the intricate arrangements, far-reaching details, involving the daily lives of so many millions, were carried out, improvised, elaborated, and perfected in the very teeth of the cruel and devastating storm."

"We have to ask ourselves this question: Will the bombing attacks come back again? We have proceeded on the assumption that they will. Many new arrangements are being contrived as a result of the hard experience through which we have passed and the many mistakes which no doubt we have made - for success is the result of making many mistakes and learning from experience. If the lull is to end, if the storm is to renew itself, we will be ready, will will not flinch, we can take it again."

"We ask no favours of the enemy. We seek from them no compunction. On the contrary, if tonight our people were asked to cast their vote whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of cities, the overwhelming majority would cry, "No, we will mete out to them the measure, and more than the measure, that they have meted out to us." The people with one voice would say: "You have committed every crime under the sun. Where you have been the least resisted there you have been the most brutal. It was you who began the indiscriminate bombing. We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst - and we will do our best." Perhaps it may be our turn soon; perhaps it may be our turn now."

"We live in a terrible epoch of the human story, but we believe there is a broad and sure justice running through its theme. It is time that the enemy should be made to suffer in their own homelands something of the torment they have let loose upon their neighbours and upon the world. We believe it to be in our power to keep this process going, on a steadily rising tide, month after month, year after year, until they are either extirpated by us or, better still, torn to pieces by their own people."

"It is for this reason that I must ask you to be prepared for vehement counter-action by the enemy. Our methods of dealing with them have steadily improved. They no longer relish their trips to our shores. I do not know why they do not come, but it is certainly not because they have begun to love us more. It may be because they are saving up, but even if that be so, the very fact that they have to save up should give us confidence by revealing the truth of our steady advance from an almost unarmed position to superiority. But all engaged in our defence forces must prepare themselves for further heavy assaults. Your organization, your vigilance, your devotion to duty, your zeal for the cause must be raised to the highest intensity."

"We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder. Prepare yourselves, then, my friends and comrades, for this renewal of your exertions. We shall never turn from our purpose, however sombre the road, however grievous the cost, because we know that out of this time of trial and tribulation will be born a new freedom and glory for all mankind."

Never Forget. Remembrance alone is not enough.

But Never Forget.

WITH MNN ANCHOR, DAN FORGER.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And Gov. McGreevey. I'm Dan Forger."

"Tonight, we've got a story hot enough to peel the make-up off of Madonna's face. And then peel her face off of wherever. MNN has obtained original photocopies of photocopies of photocopies of documents which prove that George W. Bush, while still a Reserve officer, did in fact attend meetings where the assassination of government officials was discussed, conducted his own private negotiations with the enemy during wartime in violation of both the Logan Act and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, provided aid and comfort to said enemies, and threw his service ribbons over the White House fence after slandering his fellow troops in testimony before Congress."

"When we reached the Kerry campaign for comment, Kerry spokes-typist Qwerty U. Iop said "Anyone who would commit such heinous acts is obviously unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.""
"Recognizing the firestorm of controversy this story has provoked, MNN has released the following statement:

'This report was not based solely on recovered memor...documents, but rather on a preponderosa of evidence, Hoss, including documents that were provided by unimpeachable cobblers, interviews with former Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders and individuals who worked closely back in the early 1970s with Colonel Harland Sanders and were well acquainted with his procedures, his character, his thinking and his his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. In addition, the documents are backed up not only by independent handwriting and forensic document experts but by sources familiar with their malcontents. Contrary to some rumors, no internal investigation is underway at MNN News nor is one planned. That's not going to happen. You can sooner expect a tall talking broccoli stick to offer to mow your lawn for free. And, hell, let's face it; that would be like sending OJ to look for the real killers anyway."

"And now, let's talk with our independent handwriting and forensic document expert, Mr. Kerry F. John."

Dan Forger: "Mr. John, this story is nasty enough to gag a buzzard. If a frog had sidepockets, would he carry a handgun?"

Kerry F. John: "...What in the hell are you talking about, Dan?"

Forger: "Nevermind. Tell us about forged military records."

John: "Well, Dan, I've seen lots of phonied-up military documents in my day. It's easy to do. For example, someone could wait until all the witnesses were gone and then write up a report that turned a little self-inflicted splinter into a Purple Heart. Or you could write your own medal citations."

Forger: "It's that easy?"

John: "Sure. Say that you've written yourself up for a Silver Star. But only the Secretary of Defense can actually award these. So you keep on re-writing the citation and each time you become more and more heroic. Then, a decade or so later, you have your Senate page take it over to Defense where he's dating a secretary and have that secretary sign it with the SecDef's auto-pen."

Forger: "And what is your opinion of these Bush National Guard documents?"

John: "Well, Dan, they seem to have been typed on a '73 Rosemary Woods model Selectric, which is consistent with that wonderful, wonderful era. And if they were forgeries, they would have a band mark across them from the elastic in Sandy Berger's socks. There is no such mark."

Forger: "There you have it, folks; these documents are as real as Aunt Sadie's huckleberry pie. Thanks, Mr. John. And say "Hi" to your Nantucket neighbor, Ben Barnes, for us."

John: "Well, Dan, you'll probably see him before I do...aren't you headlining one of his Travis County Democrat soft-money fundraisers tonight?"

Forger: "Yes, but I doubt we'll raise anything like the nearly 500k he's given you."

John: "What are you talking about, Dan? I'm Kerry F. John, noted forensic expert, not John F. Kerry, candidate, remember?"

Forger: "Whatever. This is Dan Forger reporting for MNN...and that's part of your world tonight. The sleazy, incestuous part, but a part nevertheless."

"Oh, yeah...and 'Courage'."

"Dammit! Could somebody get me some more toner for the copy machine? How come this machine is always out of toner?"

Rush Limbaugh:

"This is a day that I think and I hope will go down in history as the day of the doomsday ghouls. Do you recall anything in your lifetime more ghoulish than the media frenzy today, and this pains me. It pains me to say the media frenzy over the fact that we topped one thousand deaths in Iraq and they're putting the face of the actually 1,000th soldier dead in Iraq on newspaper front pages all over the country today, front page headline, news on TV, sound bites from candidates, this is sick.

The 1,000th figure is not the story. We passed the 1,000 mark three years ago. The day the planes hit the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11th, we passed the 1,000 dead mark three years ago. But today, we forget all about that, and we say that there are 1,000-plus soldiers dead in Iraq and the war on terror, as though it is a milestone that can be used to discredit the effort being made.

Now, if an inquiring journalist wants to celebrate ghoul's day they would better serve their industry by counting all the deaths that have occurred due to terrorism, American deaths, Spanish deaths, and now Russian school kid deaths. Why don't we get that total, why don't we get a total from the press of how many innocent men, women, and children have been murdered by terrorists, not executed, but murdered over the course of the last 10 or 15 years instead of counting the number of soldiers dead in Iraq? Because that would not advance their agenda of a John Kerry inauguration in January. That's why. "

"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."--Gen. George S. Patton

What's the Combat "V " for? "Vrong"?

Kerry: Pull Troops From Iraq in 4 Years
By MARY DALRYMPLE, Associated Press Writer

"CANONSBURG, Pa. - Democrat John Kerry, on a Labor Day tour of Midwestern states where polls show the presidential race virtually tied, told voters he would try to pull out troops in Iraq within four years."

Last time, it took him 5 years to create an American defeat...he's improving!

""We want those troops home, and my goal would be to try to get them home in my first term," Kerry said, speaking to a fellow Vietnam War veteran in the audience of his campaign event."

Did that vet fake his injuries to get out early, too?

"Faulting Bush on almost every aspect of his move toward war, Kerry said the United States is carrying the burden in casualties and cost. He called the president's coalition "the phoniest thing I ever heard.""

Except for that testimony you gave before Congress. And say what you will about our allies, but at least they weren't selling Saddam missiles in the run-up to the war--unlike your French pals.

""This president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace..."

The only war president who had some perfect 'plan to win the peace' was Wilson--and it was a disaster. Washington, Jackson, Lincoln & FDR didn't--they only knew they had to fight. And win.

"...and he's cost all of you $200 billion that could have gone to schools, could have gone to health care, could have gone to prescription drugs, could have gone to our Social Security," he said."

If we tuck tail and elect this buffoon, those schools could well be Beslan schools, that health care might be triage in the streets again, those prescription drugs could be for anthrax & radiation treatment--and nevermind that National Security IS Social Security.

And notice how the thought of letting tax-payers keep their $200 billion never crossed his mind.

"It's the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said."

"He said today", you mean. Three months ago, he rejected that exact same statement when Howard Dean said it.

Kerry will probably claim he's not mimicking Dean, but Eisenhower, who said it originally in 1954...about Vietnam! (I wonder if Ike dropped WWII references every time someone asked him what he had for lunch? Gotta doubt it.)

Kerry's kind of two-faced desperation can't be allowed anywhere near the White House.

TWO-FACED DESPERATION UPDATE:

TIM RUSSERT: "Do you believe that we should reduce funding that we are now providing for the operation in Iraq?"
SEN. JOHN KERRY: "No. I think we should increase it."
RUSSERT: "Increase funding?"
KERRY: "Yes."
RUSSERT: "By how much?"
KERRY: "By whatever number of billions of dollars it takes to win."

AND THEN--AND ONLY THEN--THE HEALING.

Mark Steyn:

..."If the Russian children are innocent, the Russian state is not. Its ham-fisted campaign in Chechnya is as brutal as it is ineffectual. The Muslims have a better case in Chechnya than they do in the West Bank, Kashmir or any of the other troublespots where the Islamic world rubs up against the infidels. But that said, as elsewhere, whatever the theoretical merits of the cause, it's been rotted from within by the Islamist psychosis."

..."What happened in one Russian schoolhouse is an abomination that has to be defeated, not merely regretted. But the only guys with any kind of plan are the Bush administration. Last Thursday, the President committed himself yet again to wholesale reform of the Muslim world."

..."It's a long shot, but, unlike Putin's plan to bomb them Islamists into submission or Chirac's reflexive inclination to buy them off, Bush is at least tackling the "root cause"."

"If you've got a better idea, let's hear it. Right now, his is the only plan on the table. The ideology and rationale that drove the child-killers in Beslan is the same as that motivating cells in Rome and Manchester and Seattle and Sydney. In this war, you can't hold the line against the next depravity." --Please read 'No Other Word for it But Slaughter'.

(or, as it's titled on Mr. Steyn's homepage, "RUSSIA'S 9/11--BEING SAD ISN'T ENOUGH. The slaughter in the schoolhouse")....................

I have on my wall a newspaper page that contains the names of all those who were murdered (not 'died') on Sept. 11, their names listed against a silhouette of the Twin Towers. It was published on the one-year memorial (not 'anniversary') of that atrocity (not 'tragedy'). Only recently did I really notice a blurb in the corner of the page, mentioning 'Healing America'.

In our therapeutic culture, we jump too fast to the 'healing'. America did not fall ill on that day--we were viciously attacked. I understand the need for survivors to heal, and the bloody shirt cannot be waved forever. But the enemies of civilization are making new bloody shirts every day. Sadness, indeed, is not enough.

Alas, it has fallen to us to exterminate those vicious psychopathic killers and to modernize those cultures. If there were some easier, more fruitful path, I, too, would like to hear about it. I haven't yet. But it will certainly not be UN-ism or the "realism" & "stability" that got us here.

We are entering the "Madrid" pre-election window. The Iranian mullahs are feverishly pursuing atomic weapons--almost inexplicably, with Russian help. And various Leftist pathologies, including atheism, nihilism and multi-culturalism have weakened the West's cultural immune system.

This is no time to go wobbly. In fact, if there ever was such a time, it will likely never be seen again, until such time as the Lion lies down with the Lamb.

Victory first.

We'll 'heal' later.

CAP'N JOHN THROWS AN UN-FIT.

A desperate John "Fanny Rice" Kerry came out flailing at his Midnight Madness rally:

"I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq."

You ARE going to have your commitment to defend this country questioned, sir, whether you permit it or not. It's called "Free Speech"; look it up. And your 'commitment' IS very much an open question, and by your own actions.

"The Vice President even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty."

If deferments are the issue, Kerry sought one in order to study in Paris. His draft board refused. If there is one lesson we can take from Vietnam, it's this: when a Frenchman seeks to return to France, let him go.

John Edwards also got a student deferment. In fact, of the four candidates, the only one who didn't seek a deferment was...George W. Bush.

And then came a pathetic rant, sounding for all the world like "Fahrenheit 9/11: The Squeal";

"Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi Royal Family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit."

No.

Manufacturing a "war hero" record makes one unfit. Lying about one's comrades makes one unfit. Conducting unauthorized negotiations with the enemy makes one unfit. Kowtowing to Communists, slashing defense, castrating intelligence agencies--all these and more make one unfit.

I finally realized what Kerry's medals reminded me of; the false affidavits Bill Clinton had all his girlfriends sign: they prove the exact opposite of what they purport to prove.

Rev. King once said "... the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

All those years ago, John Kerry built his Castle of Sand on a foundation of lies.

And finally, the tide is rising--and it will not be stopped.

Roll, tide, roll.

In "Bush's Greatness", David Gelernter locates the source of the President's greatness, says "Bushitlerism=Racism!"...and writes this gem:

"Reactionary liberals want everything to stay just the same. All trends must continue just as they have been. (Judges must continue to subvert democracy; Congress must continue to create new entitlements.) We must treat the new totalitarians just the same as we once were forced to treat the Soviets--gingerly. Our goal must be not to liberate their victims, not to defeat and disarm their military machines, but to arrange détente with their dictators--just as we once did. (Détente with Saddam was French and Russian policy until we screwed things up.) Our antiquated pre-cell phone, pre-microchip laws and regulations must stay just the same (kill the Patriot Act!), and we must sit still and wait politely for the next terrorist outrage, just as we always have."

"ReaditAll!"