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

The DREAM Act – actually, a nightmare of amnesty – has failed in its cloture vote:

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to grant hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children a chance to gain legal status if they enroll in college or join the military.

Sponsors of what they call the Dream Act needed 60 Senate votes for it, but fell five short…

Which means, of course, that the MSM is lying as usual…if it were just GOPers voting against it would have been 58/42…as the vote was 55/41, it wasn’t a party-line vote. But, no matter…

Meanwhile, over at DADT Repeal-land, a different outcome:

In a landmark vote for gay rights, the Senate on Saturday voted to advance legislation that would overturn the military ban on openly gay troops known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The 63-33 test vote all but guarantees the legislation will pass the Senate, possibly by day’s end, and reach the president’s desk before the new year…

So, it was Republicans who blocked the DREAM act, but it was the Senate which advanced the DADT repeal…though, of course, with only 33 voting against cloture, there must have been some Republicans voting in favor of cloture on DADT. We can’t win for losing it would seem.

Be that as it may, it is a delight that the DREAM Act failed, not even remotely worth our attention at the moment that DADT advances and our real concern now is that the Senate might end up ratifying the absurd START II treaty…a treaty made with a dying power which will do nothing worthwhile for us while hamstringing us in our efforts to deal with the growing nuclear threats to our nation.

UPDATE: Colorado Patriot (Nick) over at Gay Patriot reflects on the DADT repeal:

…I cannot express how grateful I am that this didn’t happen at the rap of a judge’s gavel. Nothing could have been more destructive than had our military been forced to make this change not because our commanders had been directed to do so by our elected civilian leaders, but by judicial fiat. Simply put, the judicial branch is not (despite this Administration’s obsession with trying our enemies in civilian courts) charged with, nor does it have the temperament for, taking on the responsibility of national security…

You can’t say fairer than that – regardless of what one wishes to say on the merits of homosexuals openly serving, it is right and proper that such a change only come about via the legislative process. Service in our military is not a right and thus it was absurd – from the get-go – to try and force this through the courts as a Constitutional issue. A person may be privileged to serve in the military if they meet certain, strict requirements – it is the ultimate privilege a patriot may obtain, and not all are able to fulfill this sublime duty.

I’ve long believed that the military can act effectively with openly gay members. Provided our soldiers are properly disciplined, whether or not a person is gay or straight is irrelevant. No service member should be having sex with another service member – gay or straight; that is where the poison comes in. Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are the best of our nation – they come from all walks of life and only wish to do one thing: serve our nation. Provided they can serve with honor and courage, I’ve got no other questions to ask them.

I first took note of Herman Cain back in September over at Noonan for Nevada – but now what was just a blogger idea is becoming a bit more real. From Daily Caller:

Former Godfathers Pizza chief executive Herman Cain says he’s definitely forming an exploratory committee — likely within the next several weeks — to test the waters for a possible Republican presidential run in 2012.

Cain, a radio talk show host and favorite of the Tea Party movement, confirmed the news in an interview with The Daily Caller. He suggested that a presidential campaign is likely, but said he hasn’t made a final decision…

“Longshot” doesn’t begin to describe this – but, also, it doesn’t really matter. The American people are hungry for a renewed America; genuine reform which will put the people in the driver’s seat and secure for ourselves and our children a nation strong in every respect. Herman Cain may or may not end up being the person to lead us there – but he’s a darn sight better than what we’ve got right now.

He’s a man who rose on hard work and strong faith – you can go to the Draft Cain website to see plenty on his background and his views. I wish him the best of luck in his effort – and we’ll see if he really has the stuff in him to be President.

Megan McArdle wants to know:

An interesting question emerges from one of my comment threads on whether or not congress should be able to use the taxing power to get over limits on its enumerated powers.

1) Can Congress enact a $50,000 tax on second term abortions?

2) Can Congress enact a $50,000 tax increase, which is then rebated to anyone who does not have an abortion?…

Like McArdle I don’t want to hear in this thread any arguments on the morality of abortion or the merits of “choice”: I only want to hear someone argue for or against the power of the government to tax such things as abortions under the inter-state commerce clause…especially since, as McArdle also points out, people do cross State lines to obtain abortions while you can’t even buy health insurance across State lines.

If the government’s power to tax is unlimited, then we can tax out of existence anything we like and, of course, tax subsidize in to existence anything we prefer. As a conservative, I hold that there are strict limitations on the government’s power to tax – but what of you liberals? You seem to have no limit to what cannot be taxed and what cannot be subsidized in the tax code. And if we were to follow your apparent lead in this matter, then a GOP Congress allied with a GOP President could impose a $50,000 tax on abortions and, poof, only the very rich would be able to afford them…whammo!, abortion is illegal without any of that tedious bit about the Constitution.

What say you, liberals? Will you, even now, retreat from your position? Remember, if you don’t we can tax you out of existence…on the other hand, if you retreat, then things like ObamaCare will become impossible. So, think carefully – and let us know what you believe.

From the Daily Mail:

Swathes of Britain skidded to a halt today as the big freeze returned – grounding flights, closing rail links and leaving traffic at a standstill…

…The Arctic conditions are set to last through the Christmas and New Year bank holidays and beyond and as temperatures plummeted to -10c (14f) the Met Office said this December was ‘almost certain’ to become the coldest since records began in 1910…

There’s this thing called weather, boys and girls, and it is the result of an absolutely stupendous set of variables. Indeed, human beings cannot begin to calculate all of the parameters which go in to make, say, a day of 23 degree weather in London and 71 degree weather in Algiers. With all the variables available, if you figure you are seeing either a steady rise in average temperatures, or a steady decline, the first thing you must do is realize that you know so little that it will be impossible for you to pin-point one, single item which is the primary cause of the observed change.

And that is what is wrong with global warming – it asserts that one thing, man-caused CO2 emissions, are the primary factor in what some people say they observed as a rise in temperatures even though they lack sufficient data to even be sure that temperatures were rising, at all. The global warming theory wasn’t science – not in the least; it was guess which was taken over by people who wanted to obtain power and wealth without working for it. It was an absurd idea from start to finish.

Now, these frigid temperatures are being heralded by some as the precursor to some sort of global cooling trend. This is as dumb as the people who assert global warming. No one knows – no one can know. We can make some educated guesses, but nothing which anyone should set policy by more than a week out. Next winter might be mild – or we might be in for a long series of frigid winters. It will be what it will be – and nothing we say or do can alter what the weather will be like…not now, not 100 years from now.

But Democrats aren’t – from Byron York over at the Washington Examiner:

…A new analysis by a group of federal-spending watchdogs shows a striking imbalance between the parties when it comes to earmark requests. Democrats remain raging spenders, while Republicans have made enormous strides in cleaning up their act. In the Senate, the GOP made only one-third as many earmark requests as Democrats for 2011, and in the House, Republicans have nearly given up earmarking altogether — while Democrats roll on…

York goes on to note how the Democrats refused to pass a budget before November 2nd – probably because of this continuing addiction to pork. They didn’t want it to show up in votes right before November – but now that November is over, all the pork was shoved in to the OmniWaste bill as Democrats tried to go on one, last binge of taxpayer dollars before they lose the House.

Now, the real battle will be keeping the GOP off the junk – addicts do have a problem with falling off the wagon, and we’ve got a couple of pork pushers in the GOP caucus (Cochran, we’re looking at you). But if we can keep the GOP on the straight and narrow, we’ll be doing what the people want, and we’ll reap the reward of public trust as we head in to 2012 – our grand chance to win full power, and thus reform America.