Blogs For Victory

And Hamas – regardless of the rightness or wrongness of the overall Palestinian cause – are sinning when they launch random rocket attacks on southern Israel. And now they have been paid with the death they have so richly and many times over earned, and may be paid even more:

Israeli warplanes rained more than 100 tons of bombs on security sites in Hamas-ruled Gaza Saturday and early Sunday, killing at least 230 people in one of the Mideast conflict’s bloodiest assaults in decades. The government said the open-ended campaign was aimed at stopping rocket attacks that have traumatized southern Israel.

Most of the casualties were security forces, but Palestinian officials said at least 15 civilians were among the dead. More than 400 people were also wounded.

The unprecedented assault sparked protests and condemnations throughout the Arab world, and many of Israel’s Western allies urged restraint, though the U.S. blamed Hamas for the fighting.

But there was no end in sight. The first round of strikes began around noon Saturday followed by successive waves of attacks that continued into the early hours Sunday.

Israel warned it might go after Hamas’ leaders, and militants kept pelting Israel with rockets – killing at least one Israeli and wounding six.

Hundreds of Israeli infantry and armored corps troops headed for the Gaza border in preparation for a possible ground invasion, military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late Saturday that the goal was “to bring about a fundamental improvement in the security situation.” He added, “It could take some time.”

The number of civilian casualties is surprisingly low, considering how cowardly Hamas is about hiding behind the skirts of women and the playgrounds of children. Israel must have carefully researched just where the Hamas forces are and hit hard right where they needed to. Urging restraint upon Israel is probably not necessary – if this is like the rest of Israel’s military actions, it will stop just short of winning a complete victory. I hope it is otherwise this time – that Israel will keep at it until Hamas in Gaza is crippled and other forces – perhaps more inclined to deal with reality rather than Islamist fantasy – may arise with whom Israel could do business.

War is not policy – it is one of the tools a State may use to implement a policy. Israel has to figure out what, precisely, they want out of the Palestinians and then keep fighting and fighting and fighting – without let up for even a moment – until the Palestinians agree to give it. Until there is a white flag run up the pole in Gaza and the senior Palestinian leadership goes over to the Israelis to sign a public statement of surrender and acceptance of Israeli terms for peace, there will be no peace. Peace, in this case, cannot be negotiated but must be imposed. The problem with Israel is that it has been engaging in a peace process for 60 years – peace isn’t a process, it is a condition: you have it, or you don’t. Until Israel knuckles down to the fact that peace will only come with victory, there will be no peace – but Israel also has to decide what victory is, and then state that condition for the world to see, and then force the Palestinians to agree to it.

Anything else would work out to a useless effusion of blood on both sides – if one is to make war, then one takes on the moral responsibility of ensuring that the dead on both sides are honored in their sacrifice by a better situation being created at the end of hostilities. Killing out of a desire for revenge; engaging in battle merely to secure some temporary political advantage; making war for any other purpose than securing peace – these are horrors no human being should contemplate. I urge Israel to fight this war and fight it to a finish because that is the right thing to do, for the Israelis, for the Palestinians and for the whole world.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Harry Reid will command the biggest party majority of any Senate leader in a quarter century when the new Congress convenes in January. But the Nevada Democrat is already worried about his own re-election fight in 2010…

…Sen. Reid…faces a potentially tough fight. A recent Research 2000 poll of likely voters put his approval rating at 38% and his disapproval rating at 54%, a possible reflection of voters’ displeasure with gridlock and partisanship in Washington. And while Nevada broke for President-elect Barack Obama by 12 percentage points in November, the state voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

As Senate majority leader, Sen. Reid is expected to play a critical role in shepherding Democratic priorities through the Senate, with a full docket of legislation up for consideration in the first year of the Obama administration.

In Reid’s favor is the fact that the current GOP governor is unpopular (and, indeed, I have called for his resignation over his extra-marital affair – can’t be loyal to your wife, who can you be loyal to?), the current GOP Lt. Governor has been indicted (perhaps a bogus charge – such things are known to happen for political purposes in Nevada, but its still a heavy blow), while Rep. John Porter lost his re-election bid in November (which proved we had a very large anti-GOP wave in this State as his opponent – Nevada Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus – is a political barnacle who also has a voice which grates on your ears like fingernails on a chalkboard). In short, the GOP bench is shallow right now, and that is Reid’s only real hope. And thus my concerns about Lt. Governor Krolicki’s indictment on a rather bizarre charge of misappropriating funds with the funds appearing to stay in State hands and being usefully engaged for the benefit of the State – adding to the concerns is that our State AG is a Democrat.

Be that as it may, all the top GOPers are at least damaged goods as we start our run-up to 2010. Still, Reid is entirely beatable. He’s entirely lost touch with Nevada and has become the merest lapdog for Nancy Pelosi and her San Francisco values. It is time for those who, perhaps, have never taken a direct hand in politics to work out plans for an insurgent campaign to take advantage of Reid’s weakness.

From Political Punch:

President-elect Obama stopped by the Marine Corps base in Hawaii Kaneche Bay where servicemen and -women were eating Christmas dinner in Kailua Thursday evening.

“Just wanted to say hi, hey guys,” Obama said as he walked into the Anderson dining hall which was decked out in Christmas decorations.

The diners represented seven military units — Marine and Navy — some of whom were joined by their families for Christmas dinner.

As Obama entered the room, it was absent of the regular fanfare of cheering and clapping. The diners were polite, staying seated at their respective tables and waited for the president-elect to come to them to stand up.

Obama, dressed casually in a blue polo shirt and dark khaki trousers, worked his way around the room — table by table — and took pictures with the service members. He slapped them on the back at times, shook hands, and signed some autographs.

“Hey guys, Merry Christmas,” The president-elect said as he walked from table to table.

To be clear about this – once he’s sworn in, if Obama gives an order, it will be “yes, sir!”, without hesitation from these magnificent men and women. They know the drill – they serve the nation, not the man and an order from the President is an order from the United States of America. But it is important that Obama start to build a relationship of trust between himself and the men and women he will lead.

It is not at all helpful to Obama that he’s called our effort in Iraq a mistake and advocated a cut and run – a lot of the men and women in the armed forces have served in Iraq and/or know people who have, and some of them have lost friends over there…no soldier wants to hear his commander saying that his friends died for a mistake and that we should have lost the war. Say what you will about President Bush, but the military loves him – he’s done good by them and stuck by them when the political chips were down. In an institution with an ingrained memory of political betrayal in Vietnam, President Bush’s steadfast support has been reciprocated with a devotion above and beyond the call of duty. Both incoming Obama and outgoing Bush will get the “yes, sir” expected of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines – but there will be an element of trust lacking when Obama gives his orders.

Come what may, Obama must bridge this gap – and I give him a thumbs up in his visiting the troops. Can’t break down the barriers unless you, well, break them down. These men and women want to serve to the best of their ability, and they want a leader they can depend on – Obama has to prove himself that sort of person. Once he does, there is no task he can set our military which will prove impossible as long as there is political backing for it. Bill Clinton’s stock in the US military never really recovered from his cut and run from Somalia – and I hope that Obama has laid that lesson to heart.

Mostly good news for the GOP:

Texas will lose some influence in Washington when President George W. Bush leaves the White House, but a new study finds that the Lone Star state will be the big winner in the upcoming congressional reapportionment.

The study, from the firm Election Data Services, projects that Texas will pick up three seats in Congress. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah would gain one seat each. Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania would each lose one.

There are some caveats noted later in the story – the slowdown in population growth in some States (such as my Nevada) due to the economic crunch could alter projections, but there is also the chance that California – for the first time since statehood in 1850 – might lose a House seat. Meanwhile, a surge of people returning to Jindal’s Louisiana might preserve all of Louisiana’s House seats. If this happens, it will be all the proof needed that liberalism, however applied, is a complete failure while conservatism, properly applied, is a success. In IA, MA, MI, NJ, NY, OH and PA you have something in common – Democrats running the show. For the most part, same thing in CA – sure, there is a GOP governor, but Democrats so completely dominate the legislature, courts and bureaucracy that the governor doesn’t matter all that much. Meanwhile, TX, FL, GA, NV and UT have Republicans, while AZ is the lone growing State with a Democratic governor (soon to be out of office due to being appointed to the Cabinet by Obama just in time to avoid the liberal chickens coming home to roost).

People are voting with their feet – rapidly fleeing the bastions of liberalism in favor of conservative governance.

So says governor Patterson:

Gov. Patterson put up a caution flag Wednesday to those ready to anoint Caroline Kennedy New York’s next U.S. senator.

“How is she a front-runner?” Paterson shot back when a reporter used the term referring to Kennedy.

Paterson, just back from his troop visit to Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany, did not rule Kennedy out of course.

Still, he made it clear he is growing tired of the constant speculation about JFK’s daughter. Paterson has the sole decision on who will replace Hillary Clinton, who is leaving to become secretary of state.

He said the process is “sounding more like the prelude to a high school prom than the choosing of the United States senator.”

Paterson has repeatedly said he won’t choose anyone until after Clinton is confirmed.

Which is reasonable – the chances of Hillary not being confirmed are small, but until the deal is done, she’s still a Senator and thus the governor is being entirely right and proper in reserving judgment.

As for me, I’m wondering which power players in the Democratic party are pushing Ms. Kennedy – after all, she’s a complete political zero. I’m sure she’s a nice person, but there is no indication that she’s some sort of secret political genius just waiting in the wings for the right moment. Other than the Kennedy family trying to burnish their rapidly fading political star, I can’t see why anyone would want Ms. Kennedy in the Senate unless she happened to run for it and win in her own right.

Smokescreen for Blagojevich or is there something to it?

An attorney for Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked the Illinois House committee considering whether to impeach the governor to subpoena more than a dozen witnesses, including President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff and a senior adviser.

State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie said Thursday that the House committee received a letter from Blagojevich attorney Ed Genson asking it to subpoena Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett and more than a dozen others, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Ms. Currie, the head of the committee, said she didn’t yet know what the committee’s response to Mr. Genson’s request would be. However, she noted that the U.S. Attorney’s office has already denied the panel’s request to interview a list of people named in the criminal complaint against Mr. Blagojevich.

There was no immediate response Thursday to calls seeking comment from Mr. Genson, the Obama transition team and Mr. Jackson.

And the wheel of Chicago corruption continues to turn..

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.

The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'”) And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. John, 1:1-18

For thy steadfast love was established for ever, thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens. Thou hast said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: `I will establish your descendants for ever, and build your throne for all generations.'” Let the heavens praise thy wonders, O LORD, thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth.

I will establish his line for ever and his throne as the days of the heavens. Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29

Discuss what you will, but spare some thoughts and some prayers for those who are going without this season, and those who will be standing in defense of our lives and homes.

Interesting:

On January 20th, President-elect Barack Obama will take the oath of office using the same Bible upon which President Lincoln was sworn in at his first inauguration. The Bible is currently part of the collections of the Library of Congress. Though there is no constitutional requirement for the use of a Bible during the swearing-in, Presidents have traditionally used Bibles for the ceremony, choosing a volume with personal or historical significance. President-elect Obama will be the first President sworn in using the Lincoln Bible since its initial use in 1861.

“President-elect Obama is deeply honored that the Library of Congress has made the Lincoln Bible available for use during his swearing-in,” said Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett Beliveau. “The President-elect is committed to holding an Inauguration that celebrates America’s unity, and the use of this historic Bible will provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage.”

This meets with my whole-hearted approval given both its Christian and tradition aspects…

From Smoking Gun via Drudge:

President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top advisers were interviewed last week by federal prosecutors probing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged bid to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat, according to a report issued today by an Obama lawyer. The lawyer, Gregory Craig, concluded that Obama and his aides engaged in no improper conduct in connection with the Senate opening… As part of his review of transition team “contacts” with Blagojevich, Craig reported that only incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had spoke with the Illinois pol. Emanuel, Craig disclosed, had “one or two telephone calls” with Blagojevich in early-November. Emanuel reportedly gave Blagojevich a “heads up” that he was accepting Obama’s offer of the chief of staff job (and, as a result, would be resigning his congressional seat). Emanuel also “had a brief discussion with the Governor about the Senate seat and the merits of various people whom the Governor might consider.” Craig also noted that Emanuel had “about four telephone conversations with John Harris, Chief of Staff to the Governor, on the subject of the Senate seat. In these conversations, Mr. Emanuel and Mr. Harris discussed the merits of potential candidates and the strategic benefit that each candidate would bring to the Senate seat.” In addition to the president-elect, Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, an Obama confidante, were interviewed in the past few days by investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, which, on December 9, announced criminal charges against Blagojevich and Harris.

Obama, of course, is having himself white-washed in all this – nice to have your own people do an investigation and discover – surprise, surprise, surprise! – that there was no improper contacts between Team Obama and Blagojevich. This is a preview, I guess, of how Obama’s Justice Department will deal with corruption amongst Democrat politicians.

The spreading stain of Blagojevich is something Obama needs to go away, and go away fast. Its not so much whether or not Obama, himself, had improper contacts (I’ll bet he didn’t – at least to the extent that there won’t be anything on tape or paper saying he did), but that Obama’s deep connections to the corrupt political machine which raised Blagojevich to the governorship and which made selling a Senate seat seem ok will continue to dog Obama unless there is a complete conclusion to this matter. Obama is either being ill-served by advisers who are neck-deep in Blagojevich, or is being a fool in his own right – the way out of this is to get right into it and admit error, promise complete cooperation and insist that anyone who broke the law go to jail. Having your own people pretend to clear you of wrongdoing will convince Daily Kos kooks, but not many other people.

The old saw is that its not the crime, but the cover up which causes the problem – in my view, its a bit different. Presidents, especially, are not involved in crimes unless they are really, really stupid (like Nixon) in their actions. Whatever else I may think of Obama, “stupid” doesn’t come to mind. To me, the problem is the failure to immediately admit culpability. Now, you can’t do this endlessly – no matter how sincere the apology, by the time you’re apologizing for the 20th mistake, you’re being taken for an incompetent boob. But when something really bad comes along – like a governor attempting to sell your Senate seat and there’s clear indications that your top people were talking to the guy – its time to get out in front, admit error, apologize and then be seen to be working to clear the air. The American people are understanding and forgiving – but impatient with people who try to hem and haw their way out of trouble.

Obama has already half blown this – if he keeps going on like this, then he’s going to have a vested interest in defending the indefensible (ie, anyone on his team who turns out to have been involved in actual seat-selling), and that is the recipe for ultimate political disaster. Obama can un-blow it (as it were), but time is running out.