Ok, That Was Fast

Bye bye Saddam.

Justice

Saddam Hussein will hang within the next month for the crimes against humanity which he has committed over his lifetime. I wouldn't ordinarily celebrate something so solemn and grim, but I see this as an important milestone in humanity's march towards freedom. As any regular reader of this blog would know, emancipation is a common theme for me, and when I perceive that an act of emancipation is being performed, I pay respectful attention to it.

So good riddance, Mr. Hussein, and may the souls of those you've tortured and slaughtered over the years be at peace. And may the survivors of your regime look forward to a future of freedom.

Funniest Thing I've Seen All Year

I realize this seems like a departure from a blog that's not all sweetness and light, but I'm sure that this is a good reason for an exception: Robby Rabinovitch of the CBC speaking sense.

Call Me On My BS

Now, Rocketman's Revenge is pleased to present a new feature to this website, fast, reliable (well, fast anyway) definitions for words that I use, which I may not always fully know. Simply double click on any word in the body of any post, and a new window will open with a definition of the word, along with some synonyms and antonyms. So anytime I try wrangling with a big word, call me on my BS! I can take it.

Perspective

Via Hot Air, it turns out that 12 Americans are murdered by illegal aliens every day in America. Interesting by itself? No. However, compared to the Iraqi death toll in the "Quagmire" that this war has "become", it seems as though aliens living in the states are more of a problem than the "civil war" that has "broken out" in Iraq. Hmmmm.

A Good Quote

I don't usually pay much attention to the quote of the day on the right side of this page, but there's a good one today, of the variety that makes one think "ain't that the truth". Sir Alexander Hamilton says: "A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous."

MIA

It's been exactly three weeks since I last made a post, I realized today. Time flys. I've been really busy with school, and I just came off a 24 hour marathon of work, no sleep in between. A lot of newsworthy stuff has happened in three weeks; Russian spies popping up all over, interesting semantic evolutions in Canadian indentity, etc etc. School work is coming to a close for the holidays soon, which is welcome, so I'll be back in full force. Stay tuned....

The Votes Are In

Looks like the Dems have captured Congress, and at this time Senate is still up for grabs. I'm going to bed now, but I still think we'll see a Republican-controlled Senate. Not the best news for Libertarians, but it could be worse. In fact, despite all the negative press the GOP and the Admin get on a daily basis, it's remarkable that the Dems have picked up less seats than historical averages for the sixth-year ballots. most mid-second-term elections see larger gains for the opposition party in both houses. So if there's a silver lining for Republicans, it's that.

Seeing The Unseen

Proteus, at Ejectejecteject.com, has a fantastic essay here that just debunks just about every bumper-sticker lefty slogan that I've ever heard of. Man it's good. This site is going on my Blogroll.

Hey Adam Nagourney

Looks like The New York Times is already bracing for the worst: Not winning enough seats to take control of either house. Looks like over-confidence may cost the Dems, which The New York Times manages to ludicrously blame the GOP:

"Republicans, of course, may have decided that they have a Machiavellian interest in setting up Democrats with inflated expectations." says the NYT. Yeeeeaaah. The evil political mastermind Karl Rove has somehow manipulated events to make the Democrats foolishly believe that they'll easily take both houses. This style of thought is the most telling revelation about that paper and party's complete lack of self-awareness. They both can't believe that the majority of people don't actually agree with them, and will conjure up an 0verly-complex and improbable cause of their failures every time they fail. And they actually have so little respect for the average person that they don't think s/he'll notice that what they're saying is ridiculously irrational.

Hey Adam Nagourney. Find out about Occam's razor.

Chapters Finally Caves

Chapters/Indigo/Coles/Smithbooks has finally gotten Steyn's book, America Alone into inventory. How does it feel to capitulate to the imperialist capitalist dogs, Ms. Reisman?

Vicious

David Olive of the Toronto (Red) Star, trumpets the "End of The Neo-Cons", seeing the result of the mid-term elections as a foregone conclusion. He is truly venemous and slanderous in his review of "neo-con" policy, and really does not hold back. It's very educational reading. He might be interested to find that the Democratic lead is diminishing as his piece is raced to print, and that the Dems are performing very poorly in the polls, historically speaking. Add to that widespread speculation that polling is as biased and inaccurate as it was in 2004 when exit polls showed a Kerry victory, and you get a man who may find out that his foot doesn't taste very good.

November Surprise?

The New York Times has just undermined their buddy, the anti-war movement. According to the Times, recently declassified documents, obtained by the US in 2003 and released under intense pressure from the anti-war left, show that Iraqi nuclear research had progressed to being a year away from building the bomb in 2002. So for the last 3 years, the memes that there were no WMDs in Iraq, or 'Bush Lied, People Died" have been based on a false premise.

The Times comically manages to blame the Bush Admin for declassifying and publishing sensitive nuclear information that 'might help Iran', which makes me think that either the Times just hasn't allowed for the possibility that this revelation has just vindicated the Admin completely in their intent, or they have no respect whatsoever for the intelligence of the populace in general.

I mean, there were so many other reasons for invading Iraq than WMD, but the only thing the looney-left had against the Admin that gained traction was the fact that no WMDs. But first of all, many hundreds of Sarin nerve gas shells have been found, there were nuclear centrifuge parts found buried in backyards, and now there is strong evidence of an intent and capability for nuclear weapons. And finally a Weapon of Mass Destruction is about to be condemned for his crimes against humanity.

So that should be the end of it.

America Alone

Even lefty rag The New York Times can't keep Mark Steyn off the bestseller list.

October Surprise?

This is just disturbing. Democratic Senate Candidate Jim Webb has been exposed. Turns out he's a fiction writer who does erotica involving underage boys and girls, and parent/child sexual expression. Can you say moral bankruptcy?

Stupid Americans

The stupid Americans have won three out of three Nobel science awards, and the Nobel economics award this year. "The stupid Americans must have bought the awards, they're not smart enough to win fairly" a typical anti-American might say, and s/he'd be half right. The fact is, America does buy their science achievements. With dollars. Cash. It has a way of working for them every time. And that cash, earned by hard-working, optimistic people, including the scientists themselves, is the core of the American social contract, and it's a fact that the far left will tragically never understand.

The Americans excel at virtually all sports (except for soccer). Why is that? Cash. Their athletes are allowed to earn virtually as much money as the market will bear, through professional sports organizations and endorsement deals. Whereas here in Canada, with the noteable exception of hockey players, athletes are virtually obligated to live at the edge of subsistence, depending on government handouts to get by. And don't get me wrong, Canada's star does sometimes shine. But not consistently. And those hockey players are successful because of the American dollar, not government.

Update: Mark Steyn's new book, America Alone, is number one on Amazon.ca. Still unavailable at Canada's only major bookseller. It has reached number ten at Amazon.com.

Hostages

Jack Schafer of Slate.com has a good article on the hostage taking that is done by government and big media regularly these days. First he takes government to task for holding essential services hostage (ie. Fire-fighting or Crime-fighting) in order to preserve the tax revenues that support other crappy/unnecessary services (ie. community centers/social services), and then he moves to big media claims of their importance to freedom of speech and how it's necessary to continue to patronize them in the face of better and more reliable sources of information. It's an interesting comparison.

America Alone

is the title of Mark Steyn's new book, which has been out less than a week and is already in its fourth printing in the states, and is number 2 at Amazon.ca.

Funny thing is, Chapters/Indigo/Coles didn't order any. That's because Ms. Heather Reisman, Canada's book police chief and CEO of the company, is a pinko, and she knows better than you do what you should read and what you shouldn't. Steynonline.com will ship it to you autographed, and based on my previous experience, within a couple days. I haven't read it yet, but as soon as Amazon sends out my order, I will post a review.