From Jim Treacher:

…it’ll give the terrorists yet another reason to hate us. The Gitmo detainees already go out of their minds when addressed directly by a female with her whole face showing. Just think how these 12th-Century dip$#!+s will react when they get their butts kicked by some gay dudes. It’ll just add to the humiliation…

Well, there is that – but to make it really cool, we have to make sure the Islamists know it was a gay man who just handed him his junk on a platter. Pink M-16s? Any ideas?

It is a serious issue – and not given nearly as much attention as it requires:

An Egyptian priest has explained that radical Muslims are trying to rid the Middle East entirely of Christians, who once comprised the largest religious group in the region.

“This is what the Muslim fundamentalists want,” the Egyptian Catholic spokesman Fr. Rafic Greische told Vatican Radio.

“They want the Christians to evacuate from the Middle East and leave. And this is what is happening every day…”

…Egyptian Christians face significant public and private discrimination, including policies that make it nearly impossible for them to build churches. In November, a crowd demonstrating for their right to build a church in Giza clashed with police, who fired on unarmed protesters…

Christians are routinely denied basic rights – and at any moment a Moslem can denounce a Christian to an Islamist court and the Christian really has no chance of defending him or herself from the accusation. Christians are robbed, raped, beaten and murdered. Christian churches and holy sites are desecrated. And no Christian really dare defend himself against a Moslem outrage because that might set off what amounts to a pogrom.

My view is that we should seek separation – set up what amounts to at least autonomous areas where Christians can live under their own laws, and be defended by Christians under arms. This is, I think, the only way to teach the Moslems to respect the rights of Christians…and from respect we can eventually move to cooperation and friendship. But as long as Christians are a despised and powerless minority in the middle east, the Moslem leaders will continue to stir up hatred for their own ends.

UPDATE: The threat sharia poses to our society, internally. Every time an Islamist group gets us to accommodate even the mildest aspect of sharia in our law and customs, it is an erosion of our constitutional republic. This is not like tolerating the peculiarities of Hinduism or what have you – Sharia is a complete world view and even Islamists who are not in any way, shape or form terrorists are determined to impose it everywhere.

The Hill is reporting that Democrats are confident they have the votes to ratify:

Senate Democrats appear to have the nine Republican votes they need to ratify the New START nuclear treaty this week and give President Obama his third major victory of the lame-duck session.

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told reporters Monday afternoon that he would vote to ratify the treaty and also support a motion to end debate, which the Senate will consider Tuesday.

“I believe it’s something that’s important for our country and I believe it’s a good move forward,” Brown said after emerging from a classified briefing in the Old Senate Chamber…

There is still a very slight chance that Democrats will come up short, but it looks like a done deal. My question: why on earth would any Republican want to vote for this? I realize that Democrats, servile and devoted to Obama, will just vote for anything he sends down…but Republicans are supposed to think about things before voting for them. What possible benefit does the United States gain by entering in to an arms control agreement with Russia?

Does anyone fear a war with Russia? Russia has 21 million males fit for military service, the United States has 60 million. Fully mobilized, we’d outnumber them at least three to one, and probably more than that because our much more productive economy can afford to spare more manpower for military service than Russia can. They do have more nuclear weapons in being than we do, but we have more than sufficient to utterly destroy Russia – and what could Russia hope to gain by a nuclear attack on us? Meanwhile, China has 382 million military aged males – which exceeds the entire population of the United States (true, with 40% of China’s population engage in agriculture they can’t even begin to deploy all those men…but if we ever went to war with them, it would be us outnumbered three to one). If there’s any nation we should seek arms control treaties with it is China.

But, even then, when has an arms control treaty really done any good for the world? Arms control didn’t prevent World War Two. Arms control didn’t bring down the USSR. Arms control is only good in theory when a free people is faced with a nation governed by a wicked tyranny – but the tyrants running such governments always cheat on whatever treaties they enter, so there’s simply no point in having them. This START treaty is an exercise in futility – a policy acting in a void; a continuation of something we used to do because our foreign policy “experts” can’t break free of habit and routine.

If we want fewer nuclear weapons in our arsenal, then let’s reduce our numbers. I only want enough to ensure that any possible combination of foreign powers knows that a nuclear attack on us will result in the execution of their nation. Beyond that, I don’t care how many nuclear weapons anyone else has, per se – though, of course, I am concerned when potentially insane regimes (Iran and North Korea, eg) have them. But even there I don’t want an arms control agreement – I want to force them to surrender their nuclear weapons.

Furthermore, by tying our nuclear security to Russia, we are hamstringing our own policy. Suppose, in the future, our nuclear needs require us to build and deploy nuclear weapons not allowed under this treaty? Because we’ve made a deal with Russia, we might not be able to meet threats from other nations. This is just so incredibly asinine – and it looks like we’re going to do it.

From and OpEd by Peter King in Newsday:

Earlier this month, I was elected by the House Republican Conference to be chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. I’ve made it clear that I’ll focus the committee on counterterrorism and hold hearings on a wide range of issues, including radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism…

Do read the whole thing as King describes the, well, asinine way we’ve locked ourselves in to political correctness on this issue. King notes his long association with Islamic people and groups, but now he’s denounced as a bigot for merely pointing out the obvious: we’ve got a problem with radical Islam, and until we deal with it, we won’t fix the problem.

The people who are digging in their heels and refusing to face facts are storing up a blood bath for future years – not just in dead Americans who will be killed by Islamists we should have stopped, but of Moslems who will be killed in retaliation…and, indeed, they are storing up the possibility of a complete break down and total war between Islam and the West as a Western population grows ever more outraged by increasing Islamist attacks.

One must always look at things as they are – the Moslem groups in America who downplay the Islamist threats are either blind, or working for the Islamists. We must not be deterred from reality by politically correct name-calling. Lives are at stake here and I applaud Rep. King for showing some genuine leadership on this issue.

A new poll from Gallup:

If you’re in a room of 100 people, odds are likely about 40 think God created humans about 10,000 years ago, part of a philosophy called creationism, according to a Gallup poll reported Friday (Dec. 17). That number is slightly lower than in years past and down from a high of 47 percent in both 1993 and 1999.

And 38 percent of Americans, the poll estimates, believe God guided the process that brought humans from “cavemen” to today’s incarnation over millions of years, while 16 percent think humans evolved over millions of years, without any divine intervention…

Orlando Figes, in his excellent history of the Russian Revolution (A People’s Tragedy – do read it, if you get a chance) noted that the communists would, at times, stage debates between a priest or other believer and someone who would assert the materialist view of life’s origins. Naturally, these debates were cooked up to impress the peasants – convince them that all of what the priests said was false as a means of undermining belief in God. Given the way things were conducted, the believers invariably came across pretty badly…but one time the materialist got in to trouble when, to the laughter of the peasant audience, he was forced to claim that the universe had created itself. How else to explain how it got here? But, apparently, 16% of the people of the United States will stoutly assert just that – and they are considered the smart ones!

There are variations of nonsense – some being more nonsensical than others. The most nonsensical of all things, in my view, is to figure that the universe came in to being all by itself. There is no logical way to look at the universe except with an “assume God” at the start of it. Making such an assumption does not, then, require you to believe in any particular theology about God – but to envision existence without some thing to call it in to being is, well, rather silly.

And silliness has ruled the day for us, for quite a long time – Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit notes a lawsuit being filed by a man who seems to have been denied a job as an astronomer because it was discovered – horror of horrors! – that he is an Evangelical Christian. I guess you can’t be a scientist if you believe in God – my late father would be much surprised at this recent determination. But if you’re going to believe something as asinine as “no God”, then I guess its easy to then go on and believe that a Christian couldn’t look at the stars as well as a non-Christian.

To me, the fact that, if you add it up, 78% of the people believe that the universe was created by God indicates how strong common sense is – even after more than a century of relentless propaganda against a Creator, most people just can’t see it any other way. And they can’t see it any other way because there is no other sensible way to look at it – it takes rare training to deny the obvious and work out some bizarre theory of life and origins which asserts there is no God in the process. Is it silly to believe that God created the world in 6 literal, 24 hour days about 10,000 years ago? Perhaps, but no more silly than figuring it came out of nowhere and by random chance produced, out of the same biological origin, both man and flea.

Used to be our Western, Judeo-Christian world was ruled by Reason. Then came the Age of Reason, and we’ve been in an insane asylum ever since. We must pray for a world in which Reason is restored – and when even scientists will be permitted to think for themselves.

From Yonhap:

South Korea readied naval destroyers and fighter jets Monday as it prepared to conduct a live-fire artillery exercise from a border island shelled by North Korea last month amid Pyongyang’s threats to strike back if the drill goes ahead.

The communist nation has warned that it would respond to the South’s artillery drill on Yeonpyeong Island with “unpredictable self-defensive blows,” sparking fears of a recurrence of last month’s deadly clash in which the North bombarded the Yellow Sea island…

I have to say that I disagree with South Korea’s policy here – it appears they just want to appear tough. My view – either be tough, or withdraw; don’t put on an act. If South Korea wants to demonstrate to North Korea that violations of the cease fire are no longer allowed, then the best way to do it is to massively attack some North Korean military installation – from sea, land and air, just pick a North Korean base and let them have it.

That does, of course, require some courage – after all, the nuts in North Korea might decide to go to war over it. Personally, I think that is only a 1 in 100 chance – the North Korean regime (really no more than a criminal conspiracy against the people of North Korea) is trying to bluster its way in to more foreign aid in order to keep the North Korean elite in power a bit longer. They almost certainly will not go to war – they will, on the other hand, keep up such things as that artillery attack just as long as they figure they can blackmail the South and the world. As soon as they know its unprofitable, they’ll stop (at least, they’ll stop that – they’ll keep trying other expedients to garner attention and bribes).

But to carry out an exercise is just to play the North Korean’s game – they’ll bluster a bit, South Korea will bluster a bit and then there will be the sit-down…at which North Korea will name the price for keeping the peace for another six months or a year. This is not worth it, as far as I can see, for the South or the world. It is time to stand firm, or stand back – attack or retreat, don’t just stand there…because the longer you keep things like this going on, the worse it will be when it does finally come flying apart (which will probably be just when China decides to get aggressive with Taiwan).

From the AP:

The population continues to shift from Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states to Republican-leaning Sun Belt states, a trend the Census Bureau will detail in its once-a-decade report to the president. Political clout shifts, too, because the nation must reapportion the 435 House districts to make them roughly equal in population, based on the latest census figures…

…The biggest gainer will be Texas, a GOP-dominated state expected to gain up to four new House seats, for a total of 36. The chief losers — New York and Ohio, each projected by nongovernment analysts to lose two seats — were carried by Obama in 2008 and are typical of states in the Northeast and Midwest that are declining in political influence…

And, boys and girls, for the first time since the 1920’s the GOP is broadly in control of re-districting – which means we’ll be able to eliminate Democrat-heavy districts and increase the number of GOP-heavy districts. This massively complicates any Democrat attempt to re-take the House in 2012 – and, indeed, any time before 2022, and then only if Democrats score big at the State legislative level in 2020 (you think that 60 years of Democrat Congressional dominance was really all about Democrats being popular? Not entirely – a lot of raw, political muscle went in to that; now, the tables are turned).

This also makes Obama’s job in 2012 harder – outside of some unforeseen event to completely rehabilitate him with the American people, Obama simply will not win all the States he won in 2008. While nothing is certain, it will be extraordinarily hard for Obama to win again in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana and New Hampshire. Prior to re-districting, that was 70 of Obama’s 365 electoral votes, which reduces is 2008 total to 295. For the Republican, it just becomes a matter, then, of winning Ohio and, say, Nevada, which will have 6 electoral votes in 2012 instead of 5 as in 2008 (and the GOP blew the Democrats out of the water in Ohio in 2010…but, really bad news for Obama, we also crushed the Democrats in Pennsylvania…bottom line, if Obama loses in PA, he can’t be re-elected).

So, lots of good news. Also, a word of warning to Democrats – anti-family, anti-wealth creation and anti-life policies tend to drive down population. You’re counting on a surge of hispanics to rescue you from demographic disaster, but it won’t work; at least a third of hispanics will always be with us. You might want to reconsider your anti-human policies, a bit.

That said, we on the GOP side must be prepared for one heck of a fight in 2012 – as the House is already gone for the Democrats and their chances of holding on to the Senate ranging between “slim” and “none”, the left will battle like mad to hold on to the White House. It may be their last bastion of power and they will pull out all the stops to re-elect Obama (stories of liberal rage against Obama must be discounted – people with that servile a mindset simply won’t rebel against their masters). We have to approach 2012 understanding that we are the underdogs – if we do that, while also going toe to toe with Obama and his Democrats, then we can win…if we slack off and start thinking we’ve got it made, then we’ll lose.

So, to work.

The man is smart, poised and understands the political dynamic of modern America. We’ll see how this comes out.

An appropriate comment from NRO’s The Corner:

Hugo Chavez has for the fourth time been invested with essentially dictatorial powers by the Venezuelan National Assembly, this time for 18 months, yet more evidence of the truth of Spengler’s observation that “Socialism is not a system of compassion, humanity, peace and kindly care, but one of will-to-power. Any other reading of it is illusory.”…

For people of the left individual humans are just so many blocks of wood; the raw material of social experimentation. Basing itself upon a materialist and determinist view of Nature, liberals (from run-of-the-mill types all the way through to out-and-out communists) believe that human evolution dictates that things will come out a certain way – and, darn it, if things don’t then they’ll just break off things until they do. Someone like Chavez buys this nonsense and wants things to come out a certain way – they don’t, and so he goes for increasingly dictatorial powers in order to try and force things through.

This is why he should have been overthrown – this is why we should still seek his over throw. He’s just a dictator and he’s ruining his country – as long as he rules, there will be no fair vote and thus no way to ascertain what the will of the people of Venezuela is…and, additionally, as long as he rules he will become an increasing threat to his neighbors as he stirs up foreign troubles to mask his domestic failures.

South America is in for a long, hard time with this man – and everyone will pay a high price because we didn’t depose him off when it was easier to do so.

Here we are, in the fourth Sunday of Advent, already. Got all your shopping done? During Mass the priest advised that if you have any left to do, give it a miss. Time to start concentrating on what this is all about:

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

but before they lived together,

she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us.”

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home. – Matthew 1:18-24