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Yes, I say it now, though it’s not yet official.  I’ll be at work tomorrow morning when it all goes down, so I won’t have the opportunity to blog my best wishes them.  But it’s also applicable because this post is two-pronged.

First, I’d like to grant best wishes to the current President, George W. Bush.  Though I did not always agree with him, I think he did what he felt necessary to best serve the country. Some of those measures are, of course, debatable, but I won’t get into them here.  Yet, there is no doubt in my mind that he had done many great things, least of all keeping the country safe since 9/11.  He has been my President for eight years, and I’d like to wish him well in his future endeavors.

Second, I’d like to wish a successful term to the incoming president, Barack Obama.  There are trying times ahead, sir, and I look forward to seeing what solutions you and your team come up with to solve them.  I also look forward to respectfully opposing you where we disagree, because a good and healthy democracy necessitates the debate.  In less than 10 hours you will be my president and so I wish you good luck.

More thoughts later today.

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The following is cross-posted from Poligazette.

Loyal opposition?  What loyal opposition?  According to Reuters, Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, says there is little opposition to Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner from his side of the aisle:

“From talking to my colleagues on the Republican side, and I haven’t talked to all of them … I have not found people who are going to vote against him based upon just the income tax issue,” Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa told National Public Radio in an interview.

He said there was bipartisan agreement on Geithner’s qualifications for the job and the need for someone of his caliber “at a time when we have all the economic problems we have.”

As Michelle Malkin (rightfully) says: Screw up, move up: It’s the Washington way.

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The following is an entry I hadn’t yet cross-posted from Poligazette.  It was orginally posted January 16th.

So what would happen if I didn’t pay my Social Security and Medicare taxes for four years straight?  I’d probably see a lot of bars around me.  And not the type that serve alcohol.  If you’re Timothy Geithner, though, you get nominated by Barack Obama for Treasury Secretary.

The Obama team claims that all the non-payment of taxes was simply an “honest mistake,” but if that’s so, why was Geithner “repeatedly advised” by his former employer, the IMF, of his backtaxes owed?  Did they just want to bug him or something?

Is anyone actually buying this?  Maybe you are if you’re a Senate Democrat, but I don’t know if the majority of Americans will.

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The following is an entry I hadn’t yet cross-posted from Poligazette.  It was originally posted January 11th.

Season seven of 24 begins tonight, so I thought it was an appropriate time to discuss it.

For years it has been slammed by anti-torture activists as a show that could only be produced during the Bush years, for its alleged promotion of torture.  There can be little doubt that the show does often portray tortures as a means to an end, and its morality is rarely questioned.  Jack Bauer is always right, after all, and few argue with his methods for long.

However, the portrayal of torture is just one element of the show.  Each season also typically has an underlying political struggle going on with those who are in power and those who want to be in power.  Now, with the torture element, surely this is a show that portrays Republicans as the heroes, strong and protecting the country first, and the Democrats as weak and betraying the country.

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth.

Continue reading →

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The following is a post which I hadn’t yet cross-posted from Poligazette.  It was originally posted there January 11th.

It seems like we’re in for more of the same, in terms of taxes and spending, anyway.  As Michael noted the other day, Obama has warned of an increase in the deficit for years to come.  He is also apparently planning to push for round of tax cuts.

More spending coupled with tax cuts?  Hang on, didn’t we just have eight years of this?

Continue reading →

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Via Ed Morrissey at Hot Air is the story of a liberal social activist who became an informant for the FBI and helped stop a plot to make (and presumably use) firebombs during the Republican National Convention in September.

From the Statesman:

In a federal courtroom in Minneapolis this month, the public transformation of Brandon Darby of Austin will become complete.

In four years, he has gone from a never-trust-the-government activist to the confidential informant who helped the FBI arrest two Austin men on suspicion of building firebombs during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September.

The reaction of this news from some of his former activists?  To call him a traitor to their cause.  What?  Were you expecting something else?

Continue reading →

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As I take a break from packing for a work trip I’ll be on next week, I’ve been reading tons of blog posts around the Internet about this latest Israeli-Palestinian war.  Then I saw this comment by our own Jason Steck.  The following is the portion that piqued my interest:

If the Palestinians had elected a government that was open to peace with Israel in ANY form, you might have a legitimate point. But they didn’t. They elected a government that openly declares its desire and intention to commit genocide. There can be no compromise with that.

I have no misconceptions on the goals of Hamas.  They wish to see the State of Israel utterly destroyed, and would do it today if they could.  This is simply a fact.  However, I do have some questions.

Continue reading →

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I don’t often agree with Michelle Malkin, but occasionally I do.  Today she has an article comparing the criticism from some on the left regarding President Bush’s lengthy workout regimen versus the praise for Barack Obama’s similarly time consuming routine.

While I agree with Michelle regarding the hypocrisy from the left, I think she’s cherry picking when it come to her criticism.

Continue reading →

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The liberal base and far-left are unhappy that they’re not getting the sufficiently liberal president they wanted.  Sorry to be snarky, but excuse me if I don’t give you my sympathy.  If you’d been paying attention during the election, you might have seen that the man you thought was going to bring about a renewal of completely leftist domestic policy and dovish foreign policy never existed.  Obama has never presented himself as a leftist ideoulouge and hardliner and it was quite apparent for a long time.  So why are you whining now?

Fear not, though.  Some elements of Obama’s domestic policy may shape up to be liberal enough to keep you just satisfied.  In particlar, it looks like the Education, Energy, and Health posts could go to liberals.  And there might be others.  But to pretend for a second that posts like Defense were ever going to go to a liberal was wishful thinking at best.  Obama has been singing the praises of Robert Gates since before election day.

So, next time you want a leftist for a president, pay attention to who you’re nominating.  Just don’t whine after he was elected when you ignored the obvious signs before hand.

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That seems to be the argument David Hume is making over at The Secular Right:

The fact is that religious traditions are a part of human culture, and they interact with ostensibly non-religious parts of human culture.  To extirpate all that is religious from one’s life is to extirpate human culture.

The post is about the “War Against Christmas” hoopla that comes up every December.  Hume argues that religious traditions and celebrations have been going on for centuries, even before Christianity.  And of course, he’s right.  The Christmas tree?  Santa?  Both (or at least elements of both) are said to descend from pagan traditions.  The same case can be made for many elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition.  For example, flood stories similar to Noah’s flood has been mentioned in texts since the Sumerian culture existed.

My only quibble with his argument is that Hume uses “culture” where he should probably use either “history” or “nature.”  The first becaue it is undeniable that human history is inexplicably linked with the history of religion.  The second because humans do have a tendency to go for the “it’s bigger than you and me” reasoning for something they can’t explain.  And because if one study is true, a predisposition to religion may quite literally be in our genes.