SecDef Christmas message

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday sent out a holiday message urging all Pentagon and military workers "to remember our many blessings as Americans — perhaps chief among them are the dedicated soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who protect our nation."

The troop surge in Iraq reduced violence sharply and Afghanistan operations "inflicted heavy losses on the Taliban, launched a comprehensive, nationwide reconstruction effort, and strengthened civic institutions," he said.

"We are in our seventh year of war — the first sustained combat with an all-volunteer force since our nation's inception," Mr. Gates said.

"Our troops and their families — active, guard, and reserve — are giving so much. This holiday season, many of those in uniform are on repeat deployments or have had their tours extended. Many will miss midnight Mass or have already missed Hanukkah's Festival of Lights. Many will not hear the squeals of delight from their children on Christmas morning. Many will sing neither carols nor hymns. Instead, they serve halfway around the world to honor a pledge they made to the country they love. Please keep our troops in your thoughts and may God forever bless them and this wonderful nation we call home."

 

Scientists doubt climate change

by S.A. Miller
December 21, 2007

 

More than 400 scientists challenge claims by former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations about the threat of man-made global warming, a new Senate minority report says.  The scientists — many of whom are current or former members of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Gore for publicizing a climate crisis — cast doubt on the "scientific consensus" that man-made global warming imperils the planet. [more]

 

Seasons Greetings

To  My Democratic Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes  for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,  non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice  holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious  persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with  respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of  others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions  at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and  medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally  accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the  calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society  have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily  greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western  Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed,  color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of  the wish.

To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Huckaboo

"American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out," Huckabee said. "The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists." [link]

I disagree with Bush on lots of things, but it takes a special kind of arrogance for a Monday morning quarterback in Little Rock to second guess war decisions made five years ago. Bush-bashing is a Dimocrat sport.  I was already having serious doubts about him, and now Mike Huckabee has lost any possibility of my support.

The Trouble with Celebrity Endorsements

Oprah and Obama combine forces to destroy us all.
by Mark Hemingway, at www.nationalreview.com

Oprah [has given] high-profile support of The Secret, a pernicious self-help phenomenon that tells people they can physically realize their dreams by merely wishing for them...Naturally, like most everything else Oprah touches, The Secret is nothing more than one big marketing scheme. Except unlike her other marketing schemes, instead of squeezing cash out of a desire to lose weight or improve one’s marriage — this one actually sucks her audience’s bank accounts dry by exploiting the actual process of hoping and dreaming, leaving a consumerist sack of meat where a person with a soul once was.

Perhaps you doubt my doubt about the power of The Secret. So I propose an experiment. Obama supporters should follow Oprah’s advice and spend the rest of the election cycle doing nothing else but wishing Obama into the Oval Office. Don’t write any checks, don’t volunteer, and for heaven’s sake don’t vote.   [link to full article]

Pope condemns climate change prophets of doom

by SIMON CALDWELL - updated at 14:48pm on 12th December 2007

Attack: Pope Benedict criticised climate-change prophets of doom

Pope Benedict XVI has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.

The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics suggested that fears over man-made emissions melting the ice caps and causing a wave of unprecedented disasters were nothing more than scare-mongering. [link]