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

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.

A few days ago, Michael Moore, in his own way of posturing, posted bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

This act has a new sense of irony, as it has now been revealed, via WikiLeaks, that “Cuba banned Michael Moore’s 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a ‘mythically’ favourable picture of Cuba’s healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a ‘popular backlash’, according to US diplomats in Havana.”

The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system.

But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so “disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room”.

Castro’s government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it “knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.”

Sicko investigated healthcare in the US by comparing the for-profit, non-universal US system with the non-profit universal health care systems of other countries, including Cuba, France and the UK.

It was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature but was also castigated for being naive and tendentious.

Oh, the irony.

UPDATE: Michael Moore is now claiming on his website that “Sicko” was not banned in Cuba. Say Anything Blog has a response to Moore’s claim.

Moore claims: “The entire nation of Cuba was shown the film on national television”

Unfortunately, The entire nation of Cuba does not own television sets. 75-80% of the population does not. I would imagine that the top 20-25% of income earners have both TVs and access to betterhealth care than the populace at large.

ownership tv-sets: 200 – 246 per 1000

http://www.populstat.info/Americas/cubag.htm

I’ll have to look into that statistic, and see if it is households with (a) TV set or just the number of TVs per capita. If it is the latter, then, anyone with multiple sets would mean an even smaller percentage of the populace would have access to anything broadcast.

Of course, anyone who would take Moore’s explanation at face value is quite gullible. Moore’s deceptive practices with his “documentaries” are no secret. But hey, if Moore actually believes Cuban health care is so much better than ours, he is perfectly welcome to go there for all of his medical treatment. He’s gotta burn all that evil money he’s made thanks to capitalism somehow.

So, what happened to that whole mantra that Obama would make our country more respected around the Globe?

President Obama and his wife Michelle will not be invited to Prince William’s wedding next year.

Because Prince William is not yet heir to the throne, his wedding to Kate Middleton is not classed as a ‘state occasion’ – and the couple feel under no pressure to fill the 2,000-strong guest list with heads of state, the Mail understands.

They are more eager to ask ordinary citizens and charity workers than foreign dignitaries and VIPs to what will be the first royal ‘people’s wedding’, courtiers suggested.

A handful of heads of state are likely to be invited in line with previous royal weddings, possibly including France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni.

But the decision to exclude the American premier and his wife Michelle from the celebrations marks a break from tradition.

Perhaps part of the issue is that Obama has insulted British heads of state and the Royal Family with some rather lame ass gifts.