Why the LAT is SOL

("Sorry Out of Luck," that is, as my friend Mike Stein would put it.)

Captain Ed Morrissey comments on the absurd editorial in the LA Times today. Here's a sample from that editorial:

Ironically, all this good news might make it harder to get American military personnel out of the country. The better things go in Iraq, the less likely it is that U.S. generals (or politicians) will want to risk jeopardizing their hard-won gains by drawing down. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has agreed to a request by Gen. David H. Petraeus to return to the pre-surge level of about 130,000 troops by August, and then allow a "strategic pause" to evaluate whether more can come home.

Battlefield commanders know best how many troops are needed to keep the country stable, but as a political and economic matter, U.S. forces must leave Iraq eventually -- sooner, if voters choose a Democratic president, much later if the president-elect is Republican John McCain. Either way, the United States needs a logical, orderly exit strategy that minimizes the risk that civil war will resume when our troops leave.

Where to begin? Captain Ed notes that we're still in South Korea and Germany, and no one complains about that. Come to think of it, isn't there a lot more strategic importance to keeping a troop presence in Iraq than in Germany? After all, the most dangerous forces in the world today are in the Middle East, including Iran's pursuit of nuclear arms and Saudi Arabia's funding of jihadist madrassas across the globe. Disengagement from that area after a hard-fought victory is folly, and shows that the Los Angeles Times and the Democratic Party do not understand and are not prepared to fight the war against Islamic jihadism.

By the way, you can just taste the disappointment of the editorialist. What they most want is American failure and retreat, not victory, which would almost certainly mean a small, long-term troop presence to remain involved in an extremely important region of the world. Make no mistake; it may sound extreme, but they want us to lose. Progressivism, you've come a long way.

The Day They Laid Thad Matta Away...

Bob Wojnowski reminds me today of why I like the Detroit News sports reporting better than the Freep:

The Buckeyes just wouldn't shut up. There was Michigan's new football coach, Rich Rodriguez, trying to address the crowd at halftime Sunday, and a horde of Ohio State fans way up in the rafters kept interrupting with chants and jeers.

It was rude, in a distinctly Buckeye way. But it also was helpful, a needed primer for Michigan's new basketball and football coaches, who must turn up their own noise, while turning around the rivalry.

The Michigan fans responded with "Beat the Buckeyes!" and Rodriguez said, "Amen, I hear you, I appreciate that." And then the strangest thing happened.

The Wolverines actually went out and beat the Buckeyes.

This weekend really was perfect, in a number of ways. The hockey squad beat LSSU firmly into the ice with double 4-2 wins to solidify their national rankings, Pairwise, and CCHA leads while our number one competitor, Miami-Ohio, got swept by Ferris State. New head football coach Rich Rodriguez had a big get-together for all the alumni of Michigan teams past and connected well; his speech at halftime was a big success. And as for the Ohio State hecklers? Well, they weren't shut up by Coach Rod. They were shut up by, of all people, the Michigan basketball team, who outscored the Buckeyes 42-32 in the second half to end a seven-game skid against those fat idiots from south of the border. (Whew, geez, excuse me. I think the correct term is "proportionally-challenged graduates of THE Ohio State University".) That was the most fun I've had watching Michigan basketball since the glory days when we won an NIT title. (*sigh* I'm starting to ruin it for myself...)

Seriously, though, there's no way these events could have played out better. Coach Rod addresses the Michigan faithful as their head football coach for the first time, filling Crisler Arena with the promise of his appearance. The Michigan basketball team shows up, gives us the most exciting game of the year, and shows toughness and poise--despite playing their lone senior for only 15 unproductive minutes. This game was truly satisfying, because this whole year we've been reminding ourselves that this year is really about next year, that even though we're losing games we're learning and improving and building. And this game WAS about learning, improving, building; but, for the first time, it was also about right now.

That's Rich

Frank Rich offers up his usual drivel:

Though Mr. Bush ran for president on “compassionate conservatism,” he diversified only his party’s window dressing: a 2000 Republican National Convention that had more African-Americans onstage than on the floor and the incessant photo-ops with black schoolchildren to sell No Child Left Behind. There are no black Republicans in the House or the Senate to stand with the party’s 2008 nominee. Exit polls tell us that African-Americans voting in this year’s G.O.P. primaries account for at most 2 to 4 percent of its electorate even in states with large black populations.

First, note the eternal Democratic penchant for seeing everything in terms of demographic groups. Don't like Mr. Obama because he's a socialist? Racist! Wait, you're a Republican even though all Republicans are old white guys? If this is change...

Rich is right that the Republican Party doesn't have a lot of blacks or Hispanics, but he suggests that the reason is that the Republican Party is mildly racist. Hilariously, he does so by talking about the struggles of a Republican governor of Virginia who supported busing (which, unlike eliminating mandatory segregation, was a terrible idea anyway), ignoring the fact that Southern Democrats were the major opponents of the civil rights movement (think current Democratic Senator from West Virginia, former Klan leader Robert Byrd) and that Republicans played a major role in most important civil rights legislation from the Sixties.

Honestly, though, the real reason why the Democratic Party is so overwhelmingly supported by the African-American population is that they discovered long ago that they could keep entire demographic groups dependent on them through grievance mongering and race baiting. Frank Rich's column only illustrates this fact. Not only do the Democrats focus on race and sex rather than issues, they actually perpetuate racial divisions and seek to codify them through affirmative action. The Republicans, on the other hand, actually support policies that would help African-Americans and that African-Americans support by wide margins: school choice, restricting abortion, and ending homosexual marriage.

The fact that African-Americans are overwhelmingly Democratic speaks more to the Democrats' manipulative and base tactics than to Republicans' admittedly poor job of reaching out to them.

YES!

The Wolverines of Michigan just defeated THE Ohio State University, 80-70, in Ann Arbor.

The boys were inspired today. Everyone played well; Sims, Harris, Udoh, Grady, Merritt...it was amazing. Whenever we needed a bucket, someone had it. The threes were falling; the defense was energetic and created turnovers, especially a clutch stolen pass by Kelvin Grady.

Their confidence is growing. Another few years or so with Beilein, add in Cronin, Lucas-Perry, and Douglass, and we've got a decent team.

*satisfaction*

What Is Fascism, Again?

Fascism is not corporate cronyism, it is not legislating Christianity or any other established religion, it is not an aggressive foreign policy. By definition--do some reading; Mussolini, perhaps--it is a religion of state. It is not having the government endorse a particular religion; it is the making of government INTO a religion. Which party offers us something closer to this?

Well, Captain Ed Morrissey has an answer. The messianic fervor of Obama's supporters has been unnerving for a long time, and it is important to note that it is being encouraged by Obama himself, along with his campaign. Fix Iraq? No, we'll fix souls! We'll fix reality! Now THAT's the kind of hubris we need in our next president. No more meddling abroad with wide-eyed optimism, the world hates us enough; let's bring that meddling home! By the way, if you think America is divided now, just wait until Obama unleashes an enormous tide of new spending; almost a trillion already proposed.

Political divisions exist for a reason. I guarantee you that what Obama's lofty rhetoric really means is this: We'll tear down political divisions, and you'll shut up and do things our way.

Unexpected Good News on the Athletics Front

I know I'm bad about posting on weekends...but seriously. I have homework.

Anyway, just a weekend sports update. Michigan has a winning streak in the Big Ten in basketball for the first time since last year: the Wolverines beat Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye, 68-60. They scored 44 in the second half to Iowa's 25, which is phenomenal against Iowa's stingy defense. The boys play Ohio State at home tomorrow at 1 PM on CBS, and Coach Rod will be speaking at halftime.

In hockey, Michigan beat Lake Superior State 4-2, with senior Chad Kolarik scoring all four goals (!); meanwhile, Ferris State upset No. 2 Miami-Ohio (YESSSS!) to give Michigan a lead of 3 points in the CCHA. Spartina recovered from last weekend's hilarious and satisfying rout at the hands of lowly Northern Michigan (outscored 6-1 in a weekend series, anyone?) to defeat Western, the worst team in the CCHA, 3-0 at the Library (i.e., Munn Ice Arena); the Aggies remain five points below Big Brother.

Tragedy

Yesterday, or two days ago now really, a man walked into a classroom at Northern Illinois University and started shooting.

My good friend Tom, a graduate student there, is fine, as is his sister, who also attends the school; I was extremely glad to discover that. My current boss, Sny-Phi Complex Director Nitin Goil, worked at Northern Illinois for several years before this one; today was a hard day for him, as well. Keep them in your prayers.

Events like this sadden me immensely, but they rarely shock me. Humanity is a fallen race in a fallen world, and only the constant grace of God in our lives makes this sort of thing the exception rather than the rule. And so, in light of God's power and control over every situation, use the greatest weapon we have, our right as children of God to approach His throne in prayer, to pray for that campus, the students and staff there, and the families of the victims and the shooter.

Walking The Walk

(Via Captain's Quarters.)

The House Republicans staged a walk-out today after Democrats insisted on playing games with the new bill, recently passed by the Senate, regarding the warrantless wiretapping program that has been so successful in the past few years.

This whole thing is mind-numbing. The program's constitutionality has been repeatedly affirmed by the court system. Several important arrests have been made through the program. It is less intrusive than many other past wiretapping or surveillance programs. There is basically no good reason to oppose this, but for Democrats and their constituents the name of the game is to bash on Bush as much as possible, and national security be hanged.

Absolutely appalling.

CapQ has John Boehner on video urging the walk-out.

The War At Home: The Budget

No, not between Republicans and Democrats, really. Between taking responsibility and fixing a difficult problem or ignoring the problem until it balloons to disastrous proportions.

Several news and blog items have appeared in the last few days that indicate different sides of a serious problem that will likely only get worse. First, as Robert Samuelson points out:

The only way Bush could balance the budget would be by not following Bush's policies. The most telling figures in his budget involve his proposal to eliminate or dramatically reduce 151 programs, for savings of $18 billion. That's six-tenths of 1 percent of federal spending. What's telling, though, is that Congress will probably reject even many of these proposals.

Based on campaign policies, none of the major presidential candidates would do much better. Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner, and Democratic rivals Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are alike in not addressing the central budget issue: baby boomers' retirement costs. Already, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are 44 percent of federal spending. In 2007, these programs cost $1.2 trillion, more than double all defense spending.

Yikes. Captain's Quarters then links to a report by USA Today:

The cost of government benefits for seniors soared to a record $27,289 per senior in 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

That's a 24% increase above the inflation rate since 2000. Medical costs are the biggest reason. Last year, for the first time, health care and nursing homes cost the government more than Social Security payments for seniors age 65 and older. The average Social Security benefit per senior in 2007 was $13,184.

Double yikes. Here's what Captain Ed had to say:

George Bush tried tackling the easiest and least expensive of the three major entitlement programs in 2005. Congress rebuffed him, ostensibly because he proposed private-sector solutions and reforms, but mostly because they wanted to avoid the political consequences of facing the coming disaster. Instead of going away, however, it now appears to be growing almost exponentially.

It will only get worse. In three years, the first of the 79 million baby-boomers will begin to retire at 65. The senior population will start increasing dramatically from that point forward, both in terms of percentage and in real numbers, and fewer workers will remain in the system to support their benefits.

In short, we're looking at a mild form of the problem Europe faces now, and it will get worse quickly.

And even better, Rasmussen Reports gives the results of a survey about the public's knowledge about the budget:

Given four choices as to the size of the federal budget presented by the President last week, 39% of American voters did not offer any answer, 36% guessed wrong, and just 24% knew the answer--$3.1 trillion dollars.

Nineteen percent (19%) said the budget presented totaled $301 trillion annually while 10% thought the proper answer was $301 billion. Seven percent (7%) thought it was only $3.1 billion.

Thirty-four percent (34%) of men knew the proper answer along with 15% of women. Voters under 30 and over 65 were less likely to know the proper answer than those between 30 and 64.

The good news is that when these hideous social programs blow up our budget and destroy our currency, there will still be a place to go where they already learned their lesson in this area. Europe.

A Good Freep Sports Guy?!?

I enjoy reading Jamie Samuelson's blog on www.freep.com. Here's another golden entry.

Here, he muses about the scandal surrounding Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the most well-known college football player who has never been a college football player. (You know the guy.) His thoughts? "Kilpatrick will skate and Pryor will go to OSU."

No arguments here. Won't stop me from rooting for the exact opposite outcomes...

Starbucks Aids Gitmo Torture.

(Via Michelle Malkin.)

Disgusting.

Michigan State should really take a peek around Club Gitmo to get an idea of how to serve their students better in the residence halls.

Iraqi Parliament Passes Another Important Benchmark

(Via Captain's Quarters; Yahoo! News has the story.)

See for yourself:

Iraq's parliament on Wednesday passed three key pieces of legislation that set a date for provincial elections, allot $48 billion for 2008 spending, and provide limited amnesty to detainees in Iraqi custody.

The three measures were bundled together for one vote to satisfy the demands of minority Kurds who feared they might be double-crossed on their stand that the budget allot 17 percent to their semiautonomous regional government in the north.

The vote came a day after the Sunni speaker of the fragmented parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, threatened to disband the legislature, saying it was so riddled with distrust it appeared unable to adopt legislation.

So, the second of eighteen benchmarks is away.

There are two points that strike me here. First, listen to the Iraqi lawmakers; they don't sound like feuding warlords, but like American lawmakers trying to represent their constituents, drawing lines, but coming to compromises that everyone can find acceptable. Even the Sadrist parliamentarians, a little more than ten percent of MPs, although they walked out for the debate for the Kurdish funding, came back for the second debate and the vote. No calls for blood and violence.

Second, when you consider the history of the region and the hatreds that exist between all three groups, this sort of progress is incredible. Two major benchmarks passed in a period of only a few months! And the progress is even more remarkable at the local level, as Sunni and Shi'a coexist peacefully--for the most part--as neighbors and even welcome back Christian refugees from earlier in the war by helping to rebuild and clean up their churches. Iraq is already a more tolerant nation than almost any surrounding it.

Yahoo! News puts as gloomy a spin on the story as it can, but this can only be seen as remarkable progress for the surge, our troops, and the President's plan to fight global jihadism.

Primaries End; Woman, Substance Hardest Hit

Actually, that little "Substance Hardest Hit" part might be true in more ways than one, as I'm sure there was plenty of some kind of "substance" going around at HRC HQ. The Chesapeake primaries are in and...DANG. Obama's the man (as it were).

The hopeful, audacious, changerific Illinois senator won overwhelming victories in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia of 23%, 51%, and 29%, respectively. (Minor development: John McCain wins victories of 26%, 51%, and 9% respectively in those same states. Adios, Huck.) (Hilarious development: Ron Paul defeats Mitt Romney, who dropped out last week, by 2% in D.C., by less than 1% in Virginia, and is narrowly defeated by him in Maryland. LOLs all around.) Obama now has a lead even when superdelegates are taken into account.

A nightmare scenario now enfolds for the Republicans. Instead of getting to run against Hillary Clinton, widely hated because of alleged ties with a disgraced former president, we have to run against a candidate who promises change, hope, and audaciousness, and whose last birthday party featured a clown and "Pin The Tail On The Elephant." Meanwhile, our presidential nominee will be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday this summer by bemusedly shooting fireworks at party guests Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, and Mark Levin and then angrily cursing out conservatives who are unsure about voting for him even after all the wonderful things he's done for them.

This Was The Danger

I'm on a tear this morning! Well, anyway.

This was always the danger, really. If we invade Iraq, whether it's successful or not, once things start settling down there, will Americans forget about the wider war on terror?

Americans need to remember that the Iraq War is not meant to be an isolated action by the United States. It is just one part of a larger battle against an ideology currently sweeping the globe. (By the way, one thing is for sure: although I have serious disagreements with John McCain about other things, he is dead on in the War on Jihadism.) The strategic strengths of an Iraq invasion were these: 1) it is a nation with large populations of both Shi'a and Sunnis. A functioning, moderately pluralistic democracy here would be a dagger in the heart of Sunni-Shi'a sectarian battles. 2) It, like Afghanistan, borders Iran. With a large naval presence in the Persian Gulf, we now have the capability of initiating a debilitating blockade against Iran if the necessity arises. What's better, the Iranians know that option is on the table for us. 3) It has a large Shi'a majority. Militant Shi'a theocracy has a very short tradition; the Iranian Revolution of 1979 played a major role in its advancement, and an allied Iraqi democracy could do serious damage to that movement. 4) Eliminating the Hussein regime took away an important safe haven and source of funding from jihadist militants. Moreover, an allied Iraq gives us an important base of operations for moving against other jihadist safe havens and sources of funding.

Islamic terrorism is difficult to keep fighting politically, because when you're winning, the problem seems to have gone away. It's only obvious when you're losing. We need to keep reporting what Mark Steyn wrote about in his important book, America Alone (Buy at Amazon.com): around the world, madrassas teaching violent Islamic radicalism are raising a generation of jihadists against Israel and the West. In many Western nations, Muslim immigrants are becoming less assimilated to their adopted nations' cultures and demanding enforcement of shari'a law. Parisians' cars are burning, and it isn't because of global warming activists.

Che Wiz! Part Two

So, Barack Obama responded to the Che Guevara flag incident, which you might remember from here. His words? It was "inappropriate." (From PowerLine and Investor's Business Daily.) Well, there you have it. As John Hinderaker points out, politician with American flag pins on their lapels are "hypocrites", while election volunteers who display Che Guevara and the Cuban flag are acting inappropriately. Curiouser and curiouser.

As Hinderaker also points out, Obama recently voted against granting immunity to telecom companies who participate in the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program (whose constitutionality has been upheld many times). This, of course, overwhelmingly failed; if immunity is not granted to such telecom companies, those who want to shut down the program could repeatedly sue those companies by alleging any breach, substantiated or not. In other words, Obama voted to wreck a program whose constitutionality, the ACLU notwithstanding, has been repeatedly upheld, information from which has been crucial to a number of terrorism arrests around the world. He joined only twenty-nine senators in voting for this.

This man could be the next President of the United States.

"Champion Factories"

So, I wonder which, according to Forbes, is the best university for producing professional athletes?

That would be...the University of Michigan, with 68. The Ohio State "University" has produced, by contrast, 62 professional athletes, second-most among American universities.

Here's the top ten:

1. University of Michigan
2. The Ohio State "University"
3. University of Miami
4. University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
5. (tie) Florida State "University"
5. (tie) University of Notre Dame
7. (tie) University of North Carolina
7. (tie) Louisiana State "University"
7. (tie) University of Florida
10. University of Tennessee

Michigan is also the number one school for producing NHL players, notably Dallas Stars and Canadian Olympic team goaltender Marty Turco.

Helprin Barges Clumsily In

J. C. Watts's reasonable, somewhat pro-McCain column is followed by this piece of garbage from Mark Helprin.

This is perhaps the worst part:

Along comes John McCain, who has an 80% positive rating from the American Conservative Union but who as a truly independent soul does not fit, at the margins, some of the transient notions of what makes a conservative. Because of his independence and flexibility, he is the only Republican candidate who has a chance of winning, and thus preserving the core principles of conservatism, in relation to which he is unimpeachable. They are national security (in particular the strength of the military after Iraq and vis-à-vis China and a resurgent Russia), Constitutionalism (as in individual vs. collective rights), and the economy (free markets vs. government industrial policy).

...although his words for talk radio are absurd, as well. (Still..."transient notions." Ugh.) Mr. Helprin's column is by a wide margin more vitriolic and angry, and simultaneously contains less depth and erudition, than the average monologue from Rush or my personal favorite Rush stand-in, Jason Lewis (whose show podcast you can listen to on the sidebar over on the left). It's the same Old Media trope: those crazy people who don't write for newspapers or appear on network news! Thinking they have a right to comment on issues! This cannot stand! This is just more evidence that McCain represents the old, country club wing of the party: all the old-timers and conventional-media pundits are telling everyone else to shut up and get in line.

By the way, Mr. Helprin, conservatism's core principle (singular) is this: freedom at home, strength abroad. How exactly do restrictive global warming measures and an open-borders policy advance those goals?

Most absurdly, he talks of Huckabee as talk radio's savior against John McCain. Incredible.

The Change of Audacity. Err...The Hope of Change!...Erm....

Are all these words more than just cliches to sell a book? (Ahem.) Not according to former U.S. Representative J. C. Watts, one of the all-time greats. (We'll forgive him for having been a star football player at the Oklahoma "University".)

Until we have the political courage to take on mandatory spending reforms -- which not many presidents are going to be willing to do -- there will never be change.

President Bush took a stab at reforming Social Security and got stabbed right back by Republicans and Democrats alike. So we continue to waste good money in bad models of delivery.

The number one threat to our economy in the coming century is going to be the huge government entitlement programs that will spin out of control with far greater fury than military spending. Social Security transfers money from twenty- and thirty-year olds and delivers it to the single wealthiest group of Americans: the elderly. Medicare crowds out private insurance and drives up the cost of health care by artificially reducing demand. Don't even ask about the bureaucratic mess both of these programs entail, which also costs significant cash and will only get worse as more people retire. These programs, which Rep. Watts notes are on "auto-pilot" (because entitlements are mandatory, not discretionary, spending), are the real budget busters. We need someone who will stand up against that. And Rep. Watts says we aren't getting it.

Incidentally, Watts decries conservatives who reject McCain, and on the points he brings up, he's right. McCain has certainly been good on spending and life issues. However, the global warming hoax he embraces should be an automatic no-go for serious fiscal conservatives--and the same goes for Huck--since it threatens much more serious and lasting economic damage to the United States.

Che Wiz! (Updated and Bumped)

Here's an interesting look at a campaign office for Barack Obama in Houston, Texas.

Yes, that's right, it's a flag featuring infamous Communist and murderer Che Guevara. From one agent of change to another, I suppose. Come to think of it, Che's another guy who had the audacity to hope.

Now, the good senator doesn't dictate to his local offices what their decor should look like. Even so, doesn't it reflect badly on a candidate if his (or her, I suppose) most ardent partisans are admirers of a man who famously murdered to advance the cause of collectivism? I would tend to think so.

Barack Obama may very well win the presidential election this November. If he does, we'll wish for either Clinton a hundred times over before he's through.

UPDATE: I forgot the link and apparently the source, as well: I got it from Captain's Quarters, not Michelle Malkin. And...done.

What World Temperature?

(Interesting tidbits from the excellent presentation of Christopher Horner, Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and best-selling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming. (Buy at Amazon.com.) (Yes, I am trying to make up for the fact that I posted virtually nothing new over the weekend.)

Does it make sense to think about a global temperature? Does NASA just stick a giant thermometer into the Earth's rectum (located in Columbus, Ohio) and get a read on what the temperature of the Earth is?

It turns out there are over 2,000 temperature stations in the United States, where the best temperature records are kept. (By the way, the Siberian stations were largely shut down after the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s. What effect do you think THAT had on global averages?) Want to look at a few of them? Try www.surfacestations.org.

Here are some samples:







Hmmm. No problems there. Increased temperatures ARE due to man's interference!

Unfortunately, of course, it seems to be a different sort of interference than greenhouse warming. Take a look at the map on the website's main page. The surface stations are, for the most part, in urban areas that have been seriously built up in the last hundred years. Ever heard of a micro-clime? We have one in Michigan; it's called Detroit. There's a reason it isn't in my hometown of Newaygo.