Happy New Year!

I'm hoping '10 is better than '09 was.

The System That (Didn't) Work

On Christmas Day Abdul Farouk Umar Mutallab tried setting of exploives hidden in his pants while onboard a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit.

Our DHS Mistress, Janet Napolitano, initially claimed the "system worked."

Not according to anyone who hasn't sampled the PC-Koolaid:

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2009/12/she-said-it.html

Once again, as with the Ft Hood shooter, numerous red flags were missed or ignored. (I love Holton's term "Islamikaze").

Despite Napolitano's recanting of her initial statement, any official response will mean only one thing--more inconveniences for law abiding travelers.

Mark Steyn rolls-in:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDA3OTVlMTZmMjUwYzU0M2Q1MDNhNGY4NWRiYmFkZGE=

Mark also rolls-in on our lack of real progress in our anti-terrorism security:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzQxZWJhNjhmZTVmNmU2MDMyNmYzNzdlYmE3ZDQ4OTY=

Michelle Malkin lambastes Napolitano:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/12/27/clown-alert-janet-napolitano-says-the-system-worked/

(At the time of this posting, I was unable to log on to Debbie Schlussel's website).

Thanks to Jasper Schuringa, who jumped over some passengers and subdued Mutallab, (not the DHS system), we didn't have a Christmas tragedy.

Merry Christmas!

A couple of nights ago, two Pierce County deputies responded to a domestic disturbance at the house pictured above. These are the most dreaded situations for law enforcement officers because they never know how people react. And it can end badly--like this one did.

David Cable shot Deputy Mundell and Sgt Hausner, but was killed when the officers returned fire.

Here's the story from the morning after (22 Dec 09) in the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010568047_webshooting22m.html?syndication=rss

Police officers in this area are stressed out and for good reason. Here's today's story, also from the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010572291_shootingmain23m.html

"Martha F***ing Stewart"

My high school friends on Facebook are in a state of shock over a girl we all knew. Danielle Chiesi was remembered as a sweet and beautiful girl. But looking at the picture of her above (in the white sweater) and reading the wiretaps, she's now anything but.

Her and her partner-in-crime were arrested for securities fraud back in October.

NY Post, among other news agencies, had the details:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ll_be_like_martha_ing_stewart_9n71CbyvmIuVubuIhW9VpL


Yesterday, "Martha F. Stewart" and Raj Rajaratam, were in court yesterday and pleaded innocent:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BK2TC20091221

I have fond memories of Danielle and her two friends at the time, Miylae (sp) and Jackie. My friend Harry & I met them while on a trip to Quebec with the high school French Club. Since this was our second trip to Quebec, we showed the girls around town in gentlemanly fashion. Harry and I were seniors and the girls were freshmen, so we didn't want to attend our graduation wearing prison jumpsuits. Although, Danielle may have to get use to such fashionable attire.

I hope Jackie and Miylae are doing better with their lives.

Carbonhagen, Climategate and Eco-Friendly Prostitutes

(I found this image on Bristol Indy Media, titled Leaders-Useless).

For the past two weeks something was rotten in Denmark. The Climate Change Summit was attended by such luminaries as Ahmadinejad of Iran, Hugo Chaves of Venezuala and Mugabe of Zimbabwe. (Funny, I don't see any of their mugs posted on the above image).

The Climate Summit farce was a bonanza of blog fodder for all our favorite commentators.

Mark Steyn on the "Emporer's Carbon Credits (and eco-friendly prostitutes!):

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/12/17/the-emperor%E2%80%99s-new-carbon-credits/

Which he followed up with a piece in NRO:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTYwY2E3OTc0ZGZhZTExY2U4MjlhNWVmNjZlNDMyODQ

Gerald Warner of the UK's Telegraph, rolled-in with a scathing commentary:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/100020279/copenhagen-climate-summit-most-important-paper-in-the-world-is-a-glorified-un-press-release/

I love how he borrowed the term "Danegeld":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danegeld

And then there's VDH, comparing California's nightmare to Copenhagen's dream:

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-long-march-from-california-to-copenhagen/

It's About Time!

A second jury finally did the job the first one wouldn't do--convict Naveed Haq is murder during his rampage at the Seattle Jewish Community Center:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010513073_webhaq15m.html

The first jury couldn't reach a verdict because they couldn't determine if his crime was premeditated.

Despite the fact that Naq loaded his weapons and drove 3 HOURS to Seattle to commit his crime!

The Dreamliner Finally Flies

Boeing's Dreamliner, the 787, took it's maiden flight today:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010513183_web787firstflight15.html

1 Key Element

According to most analysts, Iran now has a key component in it's nuclear program--and it's not for peaceful purposes:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6955351.ece

This article garnered a couple noteworthy comments from friends:


Yeah, as the article says, there is exactly ONE use for a neutron initiator and it ain't baking cookies!

I see based on Obama's speech to the Nobel folks that he is starting to realize that his rainbow and unicorn foreign policy is not only not working, but has really emboldened our enemies. Now maybe he will spread some of the good old Chicago style politics around the place for a change we can believe in.

From Comrade Karla:

I could go for some Sean Connery "Chicago Way."

K-12 Indoctrination

(Image Photoshopped by Leo Alberti, from Michelle Malkin's website)

We've been dealing with revisionist history since the '60s. Now no subject, even math, is immune from being used as a tool to indoctrinate our young. From Michelle Malkin's website (posted 11 Dec 09):

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/12/11/hollywood-howard-zinn%e2%80%99s-marxist-education-project/

The above link is a follow-on story to this one posted on 8 Dec 09:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/12/08/social-justice-for-grade-schoolers-the-howard-zinn-education-project/

This is no better than "Palestinian Math:"

If Achmed (the up & coming terrorist) has 17 rounds for his AK-47 magazine, how many more rounds will he need to kill 30 Zionists?

One of my friends dug-up a quote from Abraham Lincoln: "What is taught in the classroom today will be tomorrow's government."

God help us!

The Unchangable Nature of War

Victor Davis Hanson (VDH), discusses the nature of warfare as it pertains to our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan:


http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson121409.html