Yeah, he’s a Democrat, but he’s right up there in my esteem with former Republican mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani as one of the two best mayors of Gotham in my lifetime — Ed Koch, who stands behind President Bush’s leadership in the Global War On Terror and even voted for Dubya in the 2004 election — I guess he never saw any merit in joining the angry left in their attacks on the President or in their dedication to bringing down the greatest country in the world, ostensibly because unlike most of that crowd over there on the left, he is a patriot.

He has penned a new OpEd about a guest sermon he gave at a Rosh Hashanah(Jewish New Year) service eight days ago, worth the read for sure.

In a fatuous editorial, The Times lectured the Pope. It stated: “A doctrinal conservative, his greatest fear appears to be the loss of a uniform Catholic identity, not exactly the best jumping-off point for tolerance or interfaith dialogue. The world listens carefully to the words of any pope. And it is tragic and dangerous when one sows pain, either deliberately or carelessly. He needs to offer a deep and persuasive apology, demonstrating that words can also heal.”

What wrong did the Pope commit? Quoting a 14th-century emperor? Condemning violence as a religious tactic and urging a dialogue? We should be applauding the Pope for his bravery and supporting his call for dialogue. Has The Times ever acknowledged that we are now engaged in a war with Islamic terrorists worldwide who have clearly stated that their desire is to convert or kill the infidels who they believe we are?

To Truncate,

Now let’s turn to the United Nations and what took place when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez addressed the General Assembly. He vilified President Bush, referring to him as “the devil,” and stated that he could still smell the scent of sulfur on the speaker’s podium from President Bush’s earlier address to the Assembly. He mockingly crossed himself for protection and went on at length with his vilification of President Bush and the United States.

What offended me even more than Chavez’s ludicrous remarks were the responses of the U.N. delegates. No one stood up and told Chavez that he was out of order and demanded that he stop or sit down. They should have told him he was a disgrace to the U.N. Instead they are reported to have applauded this monster and laughed with him, instead of at him. The Times reported: “So while there was official outrage over Mr. Chavez calling Mr. Bush ‘the devil,’ there was also a lot of applause and giggling, from dignitaries including the president of the General Assembly herself, Haya Rashed al-Khalifa of Bahrain, who was caught chuckling from her seat on the dais behind Mr. Chavez.”

Where was the official outrage, and why was Chavez not rebuked while he held the platform? Many of the countries whose delegates were amused by his vitriol receive their sustenance from the U.S. We feed their people and provide much of their medical care. Many expect the U.S. to protect them from attacks from other countries, and some of them are even formal allies. Yet none of them walked out to show solidarity with us. The two nations not in the chamber when Chavez took the dais were the U.S. and Israel. We should forever remember the craven behavior of those who stayed and cheered.

Hizzoner speaks his mind….

Read the entire column here.

If you only read one post at one blog today, it’s got to be this one.

I’m not even going to put in my own 2 cents on this one, it’s just so perfectly said by brother blogger Old Soldier

Peggy Noonan’s got a good take on why the Democrats aren’t likely to do very well in upcoming elections.

The most telling part of the OpEd is here:

The Democrats’ mistake–ironically, in a year all about Mr. Bush–is obsessing on Mr. Bush. They’ve been sucker-punched by their own animosity.

“The Democrats now are incapable of answering a question on policy without mentioning Bush six times,” says pollster Kellyanne Conway. ” ‘What is your vision on Iraq?’ ‘Bush lied us into war.’ ‘Health care? ‘Bush hasn’t a clue.’ They’re so obsessed with Bush it impedes them from crafting and communicating a vision all their own.” They heighten Bush by hating him.

One of the oldest clichés in politics is, “You can’t beat something with nothing.” It’s a cliché because it’s true. You have to have belief, and a program. You have to look away from the big foe and focus instead on the world and philosophy and programs you imagine.

Mr. Bush’s White House loves what the Democrats are doing. They want the focus on him. That’s why he’s out there talking, saying Look at me.

Because familiarity doesn’t only breed contempt, it can breed content. Because if you’re going to turn away from him, you’d better be turning toward a plan, and the Democrats don’t appear to have one.

Which leaves them unlikely to win leadership. And unworthy of it, too.

This is true. When you ask a Democrat for a better plan than one we’re implementing now that he or she disapproves of, you rarely get an answer — you get Bush innuendo. Very confidence inspiring, that. It’s funny that while the left call themselves progressives, they invariably fail to progress away from strategies that have already shown themselves to be failures.

The entire Peggy Noonan OpEd can be read here.

This OpEd by George Will is too on-point not to share, as there has recently been much ado here and elsewhere about the Democrats’ War On Wal-Mart.

An excerpt:

…More than 25,000 people applied for the 325 openings.

Which vexes liberals such as John Kerry. (He and his helpmeet last shopped at Wal-Mart when?) In 2004 he tested what has become one of the Democrats’ 2006 themes: Wal-Mart is, he said, “disgraceful” and symbolic of “what’s wrong with America.” By now Democrats have succeeded, to their embarrassment (if they are susceptible to that), in making the basic numbers familiar:

The median household income of Wal-Mart shoppers is under $40,000. Wal-Mart, the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector in this galaxy, has almost as many employees (1.3 million) as the U.S. military has uniformed personnel. A McKinsey company study concluded that Wal-Mart accounted for 13 percent of the nation’s productivity gains in the second half of the 1990s, which probably made Wal-Mart about as important as the Federal Reserve in holding down inflation.

Read the entire article, it does tend to make one scratch ones’ head while speculating on the thought processes, or lack thereof, of those who hammer out policy for today’s Democratic Party..

I had thought that I was done with the Global Warming kerfuffle for the time being, then along came this funny yet on point commentary by Julia Gorin in yesterday’s Jewish World Review I just had to share.

“Truth” star Al Gore calls global warming a “planetary emergency” and speaks of a clash between “civilization and the planet.”

Likewise, Bill Clinton’s “first worry” is climate change. “It’s the only thing that I believe has the power to fundamentally end the march of civilization as we know it,” the reputedly intelligent ex-president told a World Economic Forum audience earlier this year. Leonardo DiCaprio, meanwhile, says we’re in the “11th Hour.”

No wonder that while Islamic terrorism claims lives by the thousands every year, Hollywood churns out movies about the menace of Joe McCarthy, the Crusaders, Israeli Mossad and Richard Nixon. Freud called it displacement.

Let’s be honest: people fixate on the environment when they can’t deal with real threats. Combating the climate gives the non-hawks a chance to look tough. They figure, “Let’s flex our muscle with this Mother Nature thing. Let’s take a preemptive strike at an SUV. Let’s show ‘em we can be tough too.” So they play up climate change like it’s as urgent as terrorism, which they claim is overstated.

This brings to mind the left’s War On Wal-Mart — between that and the War On Global Warming, those stalwarts of the Democratic Army are fighting a bold and relentless war on two major fronts.

In fact, the more menacing terrorism becomes, the more they worry about the weather. Scared out of their wits and at a loss for how to fight terrorists — which requires testicles — they confront “climate change,” which doesn’t actually require doing anything aside from spending other people’s money like a bitch. Yes, let’s spend trillions of dollars on something that may not be real, may not need fixing, or may not be possible to fix. No wonder some of these people chain themselves to trees — they think money grows on them. (One plausible theory posits that this whole global warming scare is just another scheme to bankrupt the American economy, so that the socialists can turn around and say, “See? We told you capitalism doesn’t work!”)

Meanwhile, a real solution to a real problem — say, missile defense — is regarded as a joke by these types. So while the hawks among us worry about preventing the Armageddon that’s coming, our modern-day hippies just want to make sure the planet is in pristine condition when it does.

Why are these people so worried about the environment, anyway? It’s not like they’re living on this planet. Speaking of which, scientists have recently discovered global warming on Mars. See that? Martians need to stop driving those damned SUVs!

{Above emphasis mine}

You must read the entire OpEd.

Blogger friend Thespis, of Thespis Journal fame, is hosting the 82nd Carnival of Education, a plethora of great articles and posts on various aspects of education and related issues, both an enjoyable and informative collection of reads.

You must go over and do some reading.

In the same genre, I also refer you to another spot-on post by blogger/ teacher friend Always On Watch who has written of SATs Genius And Smart Pills.

Enjoy!

Got about eight minutes to spare to watch a great video made by an awesome young woman whose acquaintance I only today made on-line? Nelly, a wonderful German blogger whom I’d move heaven and earth to see given dual U.S. citizenship and a commission in the U.S. Army produced this video. Friends and relatives of Airborne Rangers and those of “America’s best” with “silver wings upon your chests”, take notice!

When she sent me the link, she modestly mentioned that she was a beginner, but this video looks like the work of a pro to me — Nelly, you are gifted, your natural talent shines through. Thank you for sharing this!

Bob Tyrrell makes a good point or two as to why we’ll be retaining our Republican majority on the Hill come election-time and why Americans in general prefer Republican doctrine in the war on terror to that of Democrats.

The first reason for this is that the president’s insight that it is best to fight terrorists in foreign lands rather than to wait for them to arrive here is more appealing to Americans than the Democrats’ “Come Home, America” strategy. Most Americans also understand that to thwart another 9/11, the government is going to have to surveil bank transactions, communications and travel. Frankly, I think most Americans would also approve of profiling, and in fact I suspect our government will be profiling rather soon. The only outrage I have heard of in response to news reports of government surveillance has come from journalists, the ACLU and the Democratic leadership, which is to say the Democratic leadership and its agents.

This brings us to the second reason that the Republicans will maintain both houses this fall. The Democrats have no appealing alternative to the Republicans. This is true on a whole range of matters from national security to the war on terror to the economy. The Democrats have been shrieking about the economy for six years, six years that have mainly been years of economic growth. Their alternative is to raise taxes, which surely is an alternative to growth. Yet my guess is that most Americans prefer growth.

Read on….

By now, at least a few readers know that I’m a major fan of a blogger known as The Dissident Frogman, and that he’s one of the few Frenchmen for whom I possess respect.

Like all of his posts, this one is infinitely more than worth the read.