jeffreymark

WHO THE HELL IS GISELE BUNDCHEN

Tom Brady's armchair quarterbacking wife basically blamed Wes Welker for the Super Bowl loss. Welker, like all receivers, missed a catchable pass that may have cost the patriots the game. But, perhaps Brady's armchair pretty girl quarterback ought to chastise her husband for his one interception. Tit for tat. One dropped pass. One poorly thrown pass. Both equally took away opportunities to score. Hey, it's football. And, Welker may be on the way to a hall of fame career. Let's see who remembers Mrs. Brady in 20 years.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS RIP

British writer turned American citizen Christopher Hitchens, remained committed to his atheism even during his tragic battle with cancer. I liked Hitchens because he made me think. He bowed to no one, including partisan politicians and corporate interests. He made fools of his debating opponents who failed to do their homework-a lesson all witnessing evangelical Christians must consider. Hitchens eternally fancied himself a modern day Edmund Burke who zealously defended our historical American rights. I will miss his passionate patriotism, penetrating intellect, and mesmerizing accent. In the end I pray he found peace with God. (Read Vanityfair's tribute below)

Christopher Hitchens—the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant—died today at the age of 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010, just after the publication of his memoir, Hitch-22, and began chemotherapy soon after. His matchless prose has appeared in Vanity Fair since 1992, when he was named contributing editor.

“Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centered and even solipsistic,” Hitchens wrote nearly a year ago in Vanity Fair, but his own final labors were anything but: in the last 12 months, he produced for this magazine a piece on U.S.-Pakistani relations in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, a portrait of Joan Didion, an essay on the Private Eyeretrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a prediction about the future of democracy in Egypt, a meditation on the legacy of progressivism in Wisconsin, and a series of frank, graceful, and exquisitely written essays in which he chronicled the physical and spiritual effects of his disease. At the end, Hitchens was more engaged, relentless, hilarious, observant, and intelligent than just about everyone else—just as he had been for the last four decades.

“My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends,” he wrote in the June 2011 issue. He died in their presence, too, at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. May his 62 years of living, well, so livingly console the many of us who will miss him dearly.

 

FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS INCREASING?

With the bombing in Moscow's metro a couple of weeks ago by female terrorists came a new concern about female bombers. According to some experts females possess natural attributes that make them a logical choice for successful mass bombings:

But now, terrorist groups are taking advantage of the "benefits" of using women to carry explosives. A recent news account revealed that MI5 discovered that doctors have trained at Britain's leading hospitals and have returned to their own countries to fit individuals with surgical implants filled with explosives. Reportedly, al Qa'ida has already experimented with placing PETN in plastic bags and surgically implanting them in female's breasts to give the impression they have undergone breast augmentation. (via Counter Terrorism Blog)

HEH?

Obama's surprising Nobel acceptance speech left conservatives scratching their perplexed leaderless heads wondering, "What gives?" Obama defended war to the peace-nick hippie-dippy  dope smoking adult children in Oslo. His falling poll numbers may force him to move a little more center. Who knows. It happened to the philandering Bill Clinton. I'm a bit surprised Obama recognized the existence of evil. A fundamental flaw in liberalism is the naive denial of a character issue entitled evil. A profound strength of conservatism lies in the recognition that all men everywhere mysteriously possess the selfish desire to perform atrocious deeds. Our forefathers conceded to this universal fact by implementing checks and balances.

Furthermore, the sacrificial WWII generation believed in an incarnate evil and knew how to deal with it by totally and completely annihilating nations whose evil threatened our very existence. I doubt, however, Obama embraces the philosophy this dynamically. But, we look for any good we can arising from this seemingly socialistic administration. 

TODAY'S SNEAK ATTACK

Monday marked the anniversary of that day so long ago that will forever live in infamy. The ever provocative Michael Ramirez illustrates another sort of sneak attack currently taking place in the halls of Congress: (click on picture)

Senator Harry Reid's latest announcement  concerning health reform substantiates Ramirez's concern:

While refusing to provide any specifics, Mr. Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said: “Insurance companies will certainly have more competition. The American people will certainly have more choices.”

Of course I always maintain that Americans must blame themselves for the sneak attacks perpetrated on them. A little diligence and study of the puzzle pieces would have revealed these liberal Dems for what they are. And, I suggest Reid hides the details because he has not the votes to pass health care as it stands.

WHAT SHALL WE MAKE OF FORT HOOD?

Our hearts go out to the victims at Fort Hood. No one can truly empathize with tragedy's pain until they too have unwantedly faced it themselves. 

Immediately following this tragedy the pundits waxed eloquent with their analysis of the shooter. Major Nidal Malik Hasan is a muslim. Witnesses heard him cry out Allahu Akbar (God is great) before opening fire.Liberal society may exonerate him on the basis of some post war traumatic syndrome. All this violence against his heritage caused him to snap, we may read. 

Hasan was  walking time bomb not doubt. But, this time bomb may have intentionally sought a sort of mini jihad. The Dallas Morning News explains:

his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades. 

More fodder for racial and religious profiling?  Some may ardently believe such in their hearts, yet they dare not say it because in our liberal society jihadist play the victim. Phyllis Chesler explains that this bothers her a bit:

Jihadic literature raves about Muslims being attacked (not by other Muslims which is often the case) but by Jews, Americans, Zionists, Crusaders, infidels. Terrorist leaders talk about Muslim Holy lands being “occupied” by the invader. They therefore fly two planes into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon because Muslims are fed up with taking all that abuse lying down. (And that’s before America invaded Afghanistan and Iraq).

Read more Chelser here.

TYRANTS RULE NOBEL

Should we care what European tyrants think of America? The same leftist mentality that impelled the Nobel committee to give out their worthless award to our leftist president rules much of the world. Yet, these same cowards beat down the American political doors whenever threatened or in need of cash in order to save their rotten infantile butts. Even our own tyrannical liberals appear shocked at yesterday's bizarre news. The folks at Newsweek's Gaggle offer a synopsis of reactions:

While liberal pundits won’t necessarily be lining up behind all of Limbaugh’s views, there is equal parts astonishment in the left blogosphere as there is in the right. Daily Beast blogger Peter Beinart calls it “Obama’s Nobel Farce”: “Perhaps next they’ll start giving Oscars not to the people who have made the best movies of last year, but to the people who have the best chance of making the best movies next year.” He says he likes Obama as much as the next liberal blogger, but by giving the award to Obama, the Nobel Committee is just proving that they’ve fallen in love with celebrity and that giving Obama the prize as an 'atta boy' they are only feeding the gap that conservatives are working to widen—“between Obamamania as global hype and Obama’s actual accomplishments.” The basic line: Obama won the prize not for being himself as much as for not being George W. Politics Daily Melinda Hennenberger points out, “It's not exactly like giving an Academy Award to a Vince Vaughn movie, but "surprising'' doesn't begin to cover it. No word yet on whether Glenn Beck's head has exploded.” Ezra Kleinadded a tweet: "Obama also awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry. 'He's just got great chemistry,' says Nobel Committee." Ana Marie Cox wrote: "Apparently Nobel prizes now being awarded to anyone who is not George Bush." 

FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ARREST POTENTIAL BOMBER IN DALLAS

This bit of news hits close to my home:

Federal authorities arrested a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen whom they said placed an inactive car bomb today at Fountain Place, a 60-story skyscraper in downtown Dallas.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi has repeatedly voiced his intent to serve Usama Bin Laden and al-Qa’ida and commit “violent Jihad,” authorities said in a prepared statement.

“Today’s arrest of Hosam Maher Husein Smadi underscores the FBI’s unwavering commitment to bring to justice persons who attempt to bring harm to citizens of this country and significant danger to this community,” special FBI agent in charge Robert E. Casey, Jr. said in the statement. “Smadi made a decision to act to commit a significant conspicuous act of violence under his banner of ‘self Jihad.’”

Authorities said that Smadi was under continuous FBI surveillance. Federal agents posed as members of an al-Qa’ida sleeper cell. Smadi, who was in the U.S. illegally, allegedly told them that he came to the country specifically to commit “Jihad for the sake of God.”

According to authorities, Smadi identified potential Dallas targets in June and allegedly scoped out Fountain Place in July. Authorities said that Smadi lived and worked in Italy, Texas, about 45 miles south of Dallas.

CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES FROM ABOVE

Spectacular pictures of California wildfires from a flying water tanker. (via W$J)

CRONKITE FROM A DISTANCE

CBS news icon and fellow Texan Walter Cronkite died today. My father worked for the NBC affiliate in Lubbock, Texas so naturally we listened to Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, who came on opposite Cronkite. But, I do indeed remember listening to Cronkite narrate a compelling historical program entitled The Twentieth Century. That deep, rich, deliberate tone fluidly emanating from my television screen each Sunday night, held a profound mystery. Its magnetism pulled me into an unknown world that existed long ago and far away; a world at war; a world full of hate; a world given hope by a portly old man who chewed cigars and spoke with an eerie foreign accent. Cronkite's dark voice scared me, yet emphatically beckoned me to a weekly addiction whose ghost I shall never quite shake.   

And who among us baby-boomers, old enough to recall that fateful day in November of 1963, can forget this disturbing moment when even a WWII hardened reporter cracked a bit.

Some credit Cronkite for almost single handedly reversing public opinion concerning the Vietnam War. His dark assessment of the Tet Offensive convinced weaker minds that we could not overpower this jungle savvy enemy who kept hitting our troops like a malignancy determined to infect our psyche. Nevertheless, Walter Cronkite's nightly presence provided us with a calm assurance, soothing spirit, and a familiar friendly face. For that reason alone he shall be missed.