Tens of Thousands Protest Irish Austerity Plan

At Telegraph UK, "Irish Fury as EU 'Nationalises' Bank of Ireland."

And at NYT, "Demonstrators in Ireland Protest Austerity Plan":

DUBLIN — After a week that brought Ireland a pledge of a $114 billion international rescue package and the toughest austerity program of any country in Europe, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to Dublin’s streets on Saturday to protest wide cuts in the country’s welfare programs and in public-sector jobs.

The protests centered on a milelong march along the banks of the River Liffey in central Dublin to the General Post Office building on O’Connell Street, the site of the battle between Irish republican rebels and British troops in the Easter Uprising in 1916 — an iconic event that many in Ireland regard as the tipping point in Ireland’s long struggle for independence.

The choice of venue for the protests by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, coordinating the march through the city, reflected the mood of anger, dismay and recrimination in the wake of the economic shocks of the past 10 days. Those shocks have been the culmination of two years in which the economy has shrunk by about 15 percent, faster than any other European economy.

Before that, Ireland enjoyed more than a decade of unprecedented prosperity, so the rescue package being worked out by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union and the austerity program the Dublin government has been forced to adopt to secure the bailout loans have come as a deep jolt.

Among other things, the austerity package will involve the loss of about 25,000 public-sector jobs, equivalent to 10 percent of the government work force, as well as a four-year, $20 billion program of tax increases and spending cuts like sharp reductions in state pensions and minimum wage. One Dublin newspaper, the Irish Independent, estimated that the cost of the measures for a typical middle-class family earning $67,000 a year would be about $5,800 a year.

The ensuing political turmoil has raised questions about the ability of the government of Prime Minister Brian Cowen to secure backing for the austerity package when it is presented to Parliament on Dec. 7. The coalition government was weakened last week by a split between the Fianna Fail party, which Mr. Cowen leads, and its main coalition partner, the Green Party, and a stunning loss by Fianna Fail in an election on Friday for a parliamentary seat that reduced the government majority to two.

The mostly peaceful and restrained nature of the protests on Saturday was one indication that the unrest may not lead to confrontations in the streets, as some have feared. On a bitterly cold day, organizers put the turnout at 100,000. The police estimated 50,000, still one of the largest protest gatherings in years.

Cheryl Cole Nude Video!

Not really, but since demand for Erin Andrews seems to be flattening out, what the heck? This Google bombing's da bomb!

I just found out about Cheryl Cole, in any case. She looks like a nice lady. See, "Cheryl Cole: 'The Flood' Video Premiere!"

Looking forward to this week's Rule 5 entry at The Other McCain. It's the big debut for The Wombat.

Added: "Kate Middleton Upskirt Photo?"

Class Warfare

Advanced by Bob Herbert at New York Times:

What’s really needed is for working Americans to form alliances and try, in a spirit of good will, to work out equitable solutions to the myriad problems facing so many ordinary individuals and families. Strong leaders are needed to develop such alliances and fight back against the forces that nearly destroyed the economy and have left working Americans in the lurch.

RTWT.

It'a big long whiny rant against wealth and Wall Street. Herbert begrudges the market's exuberant comeback I mentioned previously, citing the same article: "Signs of Swagger, Wallets Out, Wall St. Dares to Indulge." And of course Herbert, ensconced at the cushy offices of the Old Grey Lady, doesn't speak truth to what he's really pushing: the anti-capitalist revolution. And further it's not as if we aren't seeing the development of "such alliances" fighting back "against the forces that nearly destroyed the economy." They're all around, actually. Most people don't like them, regular people, because in the end those bitter clingers understand that the proletarian left wants them dead:

RELATED: "Did Someone Say ‘Desperation’?"

International Crises Threaten to Overshadow Obama's Economic Message

Well, the report's at Fox News, but my question is, "what message?"

Oh yeah, that socialism thingy? How's that working out? Not so great, eh?

At WSJ, "Obama's Overture to Business Gets Wary Reception From CEOs." And on taxes, some left-wing whining: "Extend Bush Tax Cuts? Don't Call it Compromise, it is Surrender."

Lefties should get real. Obama's takin' it on the chin.

As well he should: At Monsters and Critics, "Obama's Losing battle: Chances Drop for US Climate Action," at Business Week, "Global Warming Skeptics Ascend in Congress," and WSJ, "Countries Pare Ambitions for Talks on Climate Change."

RELATED: At Weasel Zippers, "UN Official Admits It’s About “Redistributing Wealth”."

The Bankers Killed the Community Colleges?

At WaPo, "Workers seek new skills at community colleges, but classes are full." (via Memeorandum).

Suburban Guerilla responds:

In the UK, the politicians cut education funding, the high school kids saw their future slipping away and took to the streets. Meanwhile, in the United States, people sit and wait quietly for crumbs to fall from the banquet table of the bankers. What is wrong with this picture

I commented at the post:

Right.

Great idea. We'll just burn everything down like the freak anarchists in London. That'll make everything better. It's not the bankers who're killing education in the states. It's the unions. Get a clue.

More about folks who aren't entitled to their own facts, I guess. The Suburban Guerilla should read Steven Malanga, Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer.

See also, "The Beholden State."

Plagiarism Online

Via Glenn Reynolds, I'm seeing this piece from last summer on classroom plagiarism. I'm pretty sure I saw it at the time, but didn't write about it. Now though I'm almost finished grading fall papers, and I've found three students plagiarizing with direct cut-and-paste from web articles. Check the comments at "Adjunct Law Prof Blog." One suggests "it's a losing battle," but only if professors give up the fight. Obviously most students don't write nearly as well as a New York Times correspondent (or a Wikipedia editor for that matter), and if I sometimes find, while reading through a student summary, inconsistent styling from one passage to the next (often pretty blatant), I just type in the text at Google and up pops the original article. Still, while one of my students literally swiped entire paragraphs (on some California ballot initiatives from Ballotpedia), it's not as common as one might expect. I'm always pleasantly surprised this time of year to find a large batch of students who are very good writers. It's poor students who're tempted to cheat, at least at my college. They simply can't write that well, even two or three paragraphs at a time. It's quite frustrating as a teacher. Some kids come from immigrant homes, including many Latinos, and the schools haven't always picked up where families have left off. It's kinda sad sometimes, but not uncommon. And these kids are in the workforce and often starting their own families. Things will get worse before they get better. Schools are stretched thin at all levels, and to the extent that administration and faculty discuss challenges on campus, it's usually over budgets and contract negotiations. Amazing sometimes how the education of the students, the reason all of this exists to begin with, is filed away as an afterthought. I'm not going to overstate the case, but it's a problem. And there aren't any Chris Christies around to help restore priorities. Teachers are on the front lines, and they gotta keep pushing, looking out for the kids as best they can. That's all you can do sometimes, besides holding on to a bit of sanity.

Schwarzenegger Going Out With Barrels Blazing as Tenure Winds Down

At LAT, "Making Some Scenes Before His Exit":

It doesn't seem to bother Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that many Californians would prefer he just fade away.

Instead, with his days in office numbered and the limelight shifting to his newly elected successor, the former film star seems to be doing everything he can to keep the spotlight on himself.

He's made news jousting with Sarah Palin on Twitter. He settled into the big chair on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to brag about signing a law downgrading smoking pot to the seriousness of a traffic ticket. And he's apparently abandoned political correctness, dropping a raw if colorful reference to male anatomy into an official condolence statement on the death of a Hollywood luminary.

Those who have tuned out Schwarzenegger in the sunset of his administration risk missing a good show. The governor's penchant for shooting from the hip has always been entertaining. Now he seems determined to go out with a blast or two, trying to make news with his mischief.

Schwarzenegger has made it clear he intends to be a presence until his very last day in office. "I don't buy into the lame-duck thing," he said recently.

A couple related videos below, from Arnold's pot-smoking body-building days. He'll be back. Look for some new Schwarzenegger movies in the not too distant future. The dude's ineligible for the White House. And he's not ready to be put out to pasture quite yet.

It Worked! Jennifer Aniston Purple Bikini Shots Almost as Good as Anne Hathaway Topless!

Yep.

I tweeted my Jennifer Aniston post to Robert, and he linked with, "World Shocked by the Alarming Urgency of Jennifer Aniston Mexico Bikini Pictures."

And not kidding about Anne Hathaway. Folks can click through at WeSmirch. (And there's something of interest over there for the ladies, but you'll have to read the entry at Egotastic.)

We Don't Need More Leaders: Social Networking and the Public Square

Interesting piece from NYT, "The Public Square Goes Mobile."

“We don’t need more leaders. We need more followers. Wherever & however you can enter public life is ok.”

That tweet by Carol Coletta, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, is a radical provocation in our age of the non-expert. The nation is gripped by the fantasy that the least-qualified, least-experienced among us make ideal leaders. Dissatisfaction — no, real anger — with the status quo, as opposed to informed ideas or policy experience, seems to define qualifications for public service.

Coletta's Twitter page is here.

Lee Meriwether on Twitter!

Immediately recognizable, she was Catwoman in the film version of Batman (1966). And she's following me. I hadn't considered posting this otherwise, LOL!

Hottest Women in the World!

Maybe even too hot for the front page here, so check Theo's.

Jennifer Aniston Mexico Bikini Pics!

Just got the tip at WeSmirch, and I'm trying to avoid "Holiday Traffic Suckage Season," so what the heck?

Besides, I'm not getting too many reciprocal links from that last epic round of Rule 5 linkage. (And Glenn Reynolds hasn't linked.) So what can you do?

See London's Daily Mail, "Jennifer Aniston recycles her favourite bikini on girls holiday to Mexico with Chelsea Handler," and RadarOnline, "PHOTOS: Bikini Girls Jennifer Aniston & Chelsea Handler Enjoy Thanksgiving Sunshine in Mexico."

And the main story's at UsWeekly, "Jennifer Aniston, Chelsea Handler Flaunt Bikini Bods in Mexico."

Let's see if Bob Belvedere can dig that, and Washington Rebel as well.

And I haven't linked Pat Austin in some time, so check out her great holiday blogging.

A Simple Respect For the Office?

A simple respect for the office she seeks would not reflect itself in these increasingly callow, sarcastic, cheap jibes at a sitting president. But sadly, like so many now purporting to represent conservatism, there is, behind the faux awe before the constitution, a contempt for the restraint and dignity a polity’s institutions require from its leaders.

Andrew Sullivan is up to his old tricks again, and Robert Stacy McCain nails it:

A Harvard-educated, AIDS-infected, Internet-cruising, marijuana-using gay British expatriate presumes to speak for Americans who reject Sarah Palin because of “a meanness, a disrespect, a vicious partisanship.”

We await a response from Sarah Palin’s uterus.

More at the link.

Black Friday Mob Tramples Shopper at North Buffalo Target Store

A follow up to this morning's report: "No Deaths Reported So Far as Crowds Mob Stores for Black Friday!"

At KSAZ FOX 10 Phoenix, "Shopper Hospitalized After Stampede." And from WIVB News 4 Buffalo, "Shoppers Trampled by Early-Bird Rush":

Added: "Black Friday 2010: Woman Arrested, Threatened to Shoot Shoppers at Toys "R" Us."

'This Chick is Such a Hooker'

Look, even my wife thinks Joy Behar's a loser, and who can forget this? ... "Sandra Bernhard Spews Gang-Rape Taunt on Sarah Palin." So now they're going after Bristol. Unreal. But typical.

At The Blaze, "Mean Girls: Behar Show Panel on Bristol Palin – ‘This Chick is Such a Hooker’."

Guy With Nazi Swastika on Twitter Attacks Conservatives as Nazis After Being Called Out on 57 States Gaffe Against Sarah Palin

The dude is Kirk Andrews.

He's changed his avatar, but Conservatives4Palin have it here, and lots more at the post: "Lessons in Reactionary Mockery" (at Memeorandum). And Melissa Clouthier has the Obama cult angle: "Simplifying The Message: Obama Good. Palin Bad."

Of course, the Internet is forever:

Obama Gets Stitches After Being Smacked On Lip During Pick-Up Basketball Game

Maybe the guy should stick to fitness training.

At LAT, "Obama Elbowed Playing Basketball; Gets 12 Stitches" (and Memeorandum):

Korean Joint Exercises in Futility

The government in Seoul is frustrated: "With Limited Options, South Korea Shifts Military Rules." (At Memeorandum.) It's a war footing, frankly. And think about the implications of this passage amid calls for increased diplomatic engagement:

North Korea has already weathered years of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation. In fact, the tough economic conditions appear only to give the North motivation to continue its brinkmanship, to extract aid as it faces a winter of food and fuel shortages. Some analysts say the North is also using the provocations to burnish the military credentials of Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, and his heir apparent.

Now reports indicate that North Korea is escalating the tensions. Pyongyand launced a provocative volley of artillery fire following the visit of U.S. Gen. Walter L. Sharp at Yeonpyeong Island. Mainstream outlets suggest the peninsula's on the "brink of war" (at Christian Science Monitor and New York Times, via Memeorandum). Meanwhile, domestic criticism of Seoul's response is growing:

Hundreds of South Korean veterans demonstrated in the border town of Paju today, accusing the government of being too weak.

"The lazy government's policies towards North Korea are too soft," said Kim Byeong-su, the president of the association of ex-marines.

"It needs to take revenge on a bunch of mad dogs. We need to show them South Korea is not to be played with."

I criticized the futility of diplomacy earlier. See, "Regime Change North Korea." As noted, the threat to use force should be backed with international support embodied in a U.N. Security Council resolution. Interestingly, the administration has rebuffed such calls, for example, earlier this week from Japan, "Washington Spurns Tokyo's Demand for Reprisal Against North Korea":

Washington roundly condemned the North Korean Nov. 23 artillery attack on the populated South Koreanislandof Yeonpyeong on the Yellow Sea border, calling on North Korea to halt its belligerent action and abide by the terms of the 1953 armistice agreement. But the Obama administration was clearly not about to meet Japanese pressure for joint military action in support of Seoul or reinforce its fighting forces on the peninsula – even as a deterrent. Two South Korean marines were killed and 17 soldiers and 3 civilians injured as the flames engulfed the targeted island.

A Pentagon spokesman also said it was too early to discuss redeploying US tactical nuclear arms to South Korea, a possibility raised by South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Tae-young Monday when North Korea's parade of its uranium enrichment and light water plants came to light.

The Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's second demand in his call to President Barak Obama after the North Korean attack was to convene an urgent UN Security Council meeting. That too went unheeded. The session France announced would take place Tuesday night was indefinitely postponed.

The Japanese prime minister maintained to Obama that North Korea must not be allowed to get away with two armed attacks on the South in the space of eight months without a military response. On March 26, North Korean torpedoes sunk the South Korean Cheonan cruiser. At least 46 seamen were lost.

And at the conclusion:

... Obama's lack of response to the Japanese call, despite the presence of 28,000 US troops on the Korean Demilitarized Zone border – even with limited military action - is bound to devalue the defensive umbrella against North Korea the US has pledged South Korea and Japan. U.S. unresponsiveness is already resonating loudly in the Middle East and Persian Gulf which is beginning to take it as betokening feeble resolve in dealing with Iran and its nuclear weapons aspirations.

Of course, the administration thinks appeasement will lessen tensions in those regions, and according to reports out today, the White House is worried about China. See WSJ, "China Protests U.S.-South Korea Exercises." But see Stephen Hayes comments on U.S. deference to Beijing, "The Sixty Years War":

It is up to the White House to break the cycle of futility ....

For years, U.S. policy on North Korea has been outsourced to China. Successive presidents have asked that Beijing use its muscle to control its combative ally. It hasn’t worked, because the Chinese believe that the status quo is preferable to escalation. The Obama administration needs to flip that equation by making the status quo less acceptable. Rather than asking China politely to do our diplomatic spadework, why not use our diplomatic and economic leverage over China to demonstrate that there are consequences for Beijing’s recalcitrance?

In the short term, we can reimpose the tough sanctions that were unwisely lifted by President Bush in the summer of 2008, and immediately return North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terror. The administration could also urge South Korea to end its participation in the Kaesong Industrial Complex—a zone of joint economic cooperation with North Korea in which South Korean companies provide capital and North Korea provides labor. Beyond that, America can aggressively seek to interdict North Korean ships suspected of carrying illicit materials, and increase the number of regular, high-profile joint naval exercises we conduct with South Korea.

No doubt, it will be tempting for President Obama to take the easier path—to pursue meaningless nonproliferation agreements, to offer platitudes about a nuclear-free world, to restart the six-party talks and otherwise seek dialogue about disarmament with regimes committed to nuclear weapons. But as French president Nicolas Sarkozy reminded Obama at the U.N. Security Council last year:

The people of the entire world are listening to what we’re saying, to our promises, our commitments and our speeches. But we live in a real world, not a virtual world. We say: Reductions must be made. And President Obama has even said: ‘I dream of a world without [nuclear weapons].’ Yet before our very eyes, two countries are doing the exact opposite.

And what have the repeated offers for dialogue produced? Sarkozy answered his own question.

“Nothing.”

More at USA Today, "N. Korea: Joint Exercise Pushes Countries to 'Brink of War'." (And Memeorandum.)

No Deaths Reported So Far as Crowds Mob Stores for Black Friday!

And I'm only slightly joking, considering what happened a couple of years ago at Walmart. See, "Retailers Given Tips on Handling Friday Crowd."

Also, at New York Times, "For Some, Black Friday Is an Urban Adventure." And at Los Angeles Times, "Black Friday: Determined Shoppers Swarm Southern California Stores."

Plus, "Black Friday 2010: U.S. Retailers Expected a Red Letter Day" (with some interesting links).

Imaginary Communists? Sadly No!

Recall the famous claim from Tintin the ringleader of collectivist hate: There's no real communists any more, just "imaginary" ones.

Well, Doug Ross administers the hammer to these pricks: "Sadly, No Economic Literates at Unintentionally Hilarious Lib Blog."

Hilarious — and demonic.

Comeback

The new ad from General Motors:

Looks like it's going over pretty well. Then again, in other news: "After GM Stock Sale, Taxpayers Lose, Unions Win." Actually, not everyone agrees on that: "Capitalists ‘Recover’ On Backs of Workers."

Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 7: American Exceptionalism'

The final installment, via Glenn Reynolds (and now available on DVD at Amazon):

Previously:

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 1: Small Government and Free Enterprise'."

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 2: The Problem with Elitism'."

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 3: Wealth Creation'."

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 4: Natural Law'."

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 5: Gun Rights'."

* "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 6: Immigration'."

Heritage of the Great War

An interesting historical collection, including what's said to be some of the very first color pictures from World War I. This one's titled, "Verdun - Synonym for Inhumanity":

French picture made in 1916 in a trench near Verdun, Northern France.

The Battle of Verdun was the longest and one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I. Two million men were engaged. The Germans began the battle on February 21, 1916. In December of that year the French had regained most of the ground lost.

The Germans intended a battle of attrition in which they hoped to bleed the French army white. In the end they sustained almost as many casualties as the French: an estimated 328,000 to the French 348,000. The real figures are unknown.
Nowadays Verdun stands for everything that is cruel and savage in warfare. Soldiers on both sides lost their sense of humanity.

Actually, the Holocaust is probably a more important example of man's inhumanity. Verdun, as horrible as it was, illustrates the folly of fighting mass 20th century industrial warfare using battlefield tactics of the 19th century. The First World War was mechanized trench warfare for the calvary ethos. Offensive military doctrines were made instantly obsolete by the advantages of machine gun cover. Entire generations of fighting men were wiped out. But it wasn't the war to end all wars. The origins of war are found in the structure of the system and in the hearts of men, unfortunately. Nations will continue to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best, or lest they fall by the wayside.

HAT TIP: Blazing Catfur, "Killed by Mustard Gas..."

BONUS: "French Army in the Great War."

Rise and Fall of America

An interview with Dr. Patrick Porter at FiveBooks.

From what I can tell, the guy's a realist/non-interventionist. See, "The military is not a surgical tool of political engineering."

Students Riot in London Over Tuition Fees. Tuition Fees?

Old Man Marx must be rolling over up on Highgate. Tuition fees just don't have the ring of the worldwide proletarian struggle, although I'm confident the anti-Western hatred driving these folks will become increasingly extreme. Where's Baader Meinhof when you need 'em?

Netflix Revolutionizing the Way Millions of People Watch Television

Fascinating piece, at NYT, "Netflix’s Move Onto the Web Stirs Rivalries."

In a matter of months, the movie delivery company Netflix has gone from being the fastest-growing first-class mail customer of the United States Postal Service to the biggest source of streaming Web traffic in North America during peak evening hours.

That transformation — from a mail-order business to a technology company — is revolutionizing the way millions of people watch television, but it’s also proving to be a big headache for TV providers and movie studios, which increasingly see Netflix as a competitive threat, even as they sell Netflix their content.

The dilemma for Hollywood was neatly spelled out in a Netflix announcement Monday of a new subscription service: $7.99 a month for unlimited downloads of movies and television shows, compared with $19.99 a month for a plan that allows the subscriber to have three discs out at a time, sent through the mail, plus unlimited downloads. For studios that only a few years ago were selling new DVDs for $30, that represents a huge drop in profits.

“Right now, Netflix is a distribution platform, and has very little competition, but that’s changing,” said Warren N. Lieberfarb, a consultant who played a critical role in creating the DVD while at Warner Brothers.

RTWT.

Exuberance Makes a Comeback

Way to show 'em.

At New York Times, "Signs of Swagger, Wallets Out, Wall St. Dares to Indulge."

More here (via CSPT).

TSA: Keeping Us Safe

The contrarian view, from Gabriel Schoenfeld, at Opinion Journal, "Body scans and intrusive searches are unpleasant but necessary":

Since 9/11, al Qaeda has not succeeded in launching another terrorist spectacular in the United States. But it has succeeded in provoking a spectacular debate about aviation security. Several weeks ago—and even earlier at some airports—the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) initiated full-body scans and enhanced pat-downs, including inspections of private parts, that in some quarters are fueling outrage.

So is the flying public rightly angered? The media have documented a string of monstrous cases in which prosthetic breasts have been exposed and urostomy bags worn by bladder-cancer patients have been disconnected, with humiliating consequences.

These incidents certainly demand better training for security personnel. But they do not invalidate the need for intrusive screening.

Do read the rest. I'm mostly with Schoenfeld, although his argument sounds eerily similar to Secretary Napolitano's. And some folks aren't digging on her too much:

Added: Before I go all in for Schoenfeld's argument, I'd need to take a good look at Israel's airport security procedures. Absolutely prohibiting any profiling whatsoever sounds ridiculous, although, again, I'm with him on the basic point of necessity.

Sarah Palin's Thanksgiving Message

To all 57 states (via Memeorandum).

Happy Thanksgiving From Robert Stacy McCain and Family!

Umm, was this almost like a trip to the dentist?

This won't be happening around these parts. My wife indulges my blogging, but not this much. Love the kids, in any case. All six of them!

Happy Thanksgiving From Blackfive

Via Theo Spark:

I almost skipped posting this, but Uncle Jimbo pulls off some Reaganite optimism toward the end of the clip. It's good to hear, considering everything of late.

A Happy Thanksgiving From Michele Bachmann!

I've been a supporter of Michele Bachmann since she first gained national notoriety (following an appearance on MSNBC's Hardball). And I received this greeting from her today:

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

As Marcus and I sit around the Thanksgiving dinner table with our five children we have a lot to be thankful for. As a family tradition we go around the table and name a blessing that we are thankful for. I have given a lot of thought to what I am going to say this year as I have too many blessings to count.

First, my husband Marcus and my five children, Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline and Sophia for your support and love over this past year!

Secondly, you and the volunteers and staff who worked around the clock to get me re-elected in the sixth district.

Thirdly, the number of supporters around the country that have supported me and donated to my campaign to promote the message of Constitutional Conservatives.

Finally, The biggest blessing of this year and every year is our freedom that so many men and women have fought and died for to protect. My family and I daily give thanks and pray for the men and women in our armed forces who are home and abroad ensuring our safety and selflessly protecting our God given rights to live as a free people.

Thank you for your support and rest assured that this Thanksgiving this country is stronger because of you. I continue to work to make this nation strong on the principles and blessings that so many of us are thankful for today.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and God Bless America!

Animal Rights Activists Threaten UCLA's David Jentsch

It's been almost two years, but I wrote on this previously: "J. David Jentsch Stands Up to Animal Rights Extremists."

I'm not surprised, but things have gotten worse. At LAT, "Attacks Won't Deter Researcher":

When UCLA neuroscientist J. David Jentsch was a grad student, he never expected his life as an academic would require around-the-clock armed guards, or a closed-circuit TV inside his bedroom so he could keep constant watch over his home.

But the high-powered security proved necessary again this month when the researcher, who experiments on monkeys, opened a letter left in his mailbox to discover razor blades and a death threat.

"We follow you on campus," Jentsch recalled the note reading. "One day, when you're walking by, we'll come up behind you, and cut your throat."

Activists claimed the razors were tainted with AIDS, though it hasn't been confirmed by officials. University officials have said the latest threat, confirmed by UCLA on Tuesday, is under investigation by the FBI and UCLA police.

But the 38-year-old professor has been through this before. Last year, he woke up to an orange flash and a car alarm. He ran outside to find his car had been blown up.

Twice a month, animal rights activists in ski masks gather outside his home, chanting "murder." On Halloween, neighborhood trick-or-treaters were handed flyers with images of bloodied animal subjects.

"If you go to the house down the street, there's a monster who lives there," children were told.

The tactics, Jentsch said in an interview inside his office, are part of an intensifying effort by extremists to halt animal research at the university. Molotov-cocktail-like devices have been left near researchers' homes and under their cars, and in one case, a professor's window was smashed and a garden hose inserted to flood her home.

Some of Jentsch's colleagues have opted to alter their research, or move, but the neuroscientist says the latest incident has motivated him to press on.

"They're absolutely determined. This is not a joke to them," he said. "But this is the work I feel morally obligated to do."

This is left-wing terrorism, and right here at home. Just one more sign of the true evil of left-wing ideologies.

God bless J.David Jentsch.

RELATED: "UCLA researcher receives threatening package; animal activists said to claim responsibility."

Glenn Reynolds a Coward? But Hey, It's Thanksgiving!

That's leftie Oliver Willis, blowing the fuse on the stupid (and fake) holiday truce assumption.

Oliver's pissed that Glenn "outsourced a hit" to Jim Treacher: "World War Three Averted!" No doubt the title of the Insta-entry is what blew Ollie's kryptonite: "THE GENIUS OF OLIVER WILLIS: Recognized at last."

Good stuff. Jim and Glenn that is. Oliver Willis is fail.

Thanksgiving Classic, 1994: Detroit Lions Over Buffalo Bills, 35-21

My life as a sports fan has gone through many gyrations. Lately I've been blogging more than watching football and baseball, although I watch the Thanksgiving Classic every year, and especially the Detroit Lions.

Thinking about it now, I simply never forget Thanksgiving 1994, when Quarterback Dave Krieg gave one of the most outstanding performances of my lifetime. The Lions' homepage has the details:

1994 - Detroit easily controlled the four-time AFC Champion, Buffalo Bills, 35-21, with reserve QB Dave Krieg at the helm for the injured QB Scott Mitchell. The Lions set the tone on the second play of the game as Krieg used the flea-flicker to connect with a streaking Herman Moore (seven receptions for a then-career-high 169 yards) on a 51-yard touchdown strike. DT Kelvin Pritchett sacked Bills QB Jim Kelly three times and Lions S Willie Clay intercepted the first two passes of his career, returning the second 28 yards for a touchdown.

And the sports page report at the New York Times, November 25, 1994:

Quarterback Dave Krieg, a 15-year veteran making his third Detroit start since Scott Mitchell was injured, played his best football in years. His numbers were striking: 20 completions in 25 attempts for 351 passing yards, with 3 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions.

It wasn't just his numbers, though, that helped bury the Bills; it was his reads, his picking up secondary receivers and his courage to stand in the pocket and take big hits as he released the ball.

"Dave Krieg had the game of his life," Kelly said.

The Lions nevertheless cut him loose at the end of the season.

Parents Rescue Baby in Carjacking Attempt

KCTV 5 Kansas City has the story and a video report, "Parents Rescue Baby In Car During Carjacking."

And at ABC News, "Caught on Tape: Parents Stop Carjacking to Save Baby; In Kansas City, a Man Tried to Steal the Couple's Car with Their Child Still in the Backseat."

It's hard to tell, but the perp looks like a brother, but it's not cool to focus on the race of the assailant, because, you know, they're oppressed or something:

Blessings For Which We Give Thanks

William Jacobson has good wishes for all of his readers on this Thanksgiving, even the trolls and leftist lurkers.

I'm not that big of a person, toward demons at least. I need see some apologies on the other side. It's all about the iteration.

Anyway, POTUS is all about thanking the troops here (better to do it before Sarah Palin does), although FLOTUS is all about the stuffin': "Whew! FLOTUS Approves Thanksgiving Pie'."

Taylor Swift 'Speak Now' Special

The hot country star is on tonight at 8:00pm, on NBC.

I'll check it out. I enjoyed her on the American Music Awards. And of course, she's pissing off rap idiot Kanye, so she's eternally got my vote. Breaking this morning, at Us Weekly, "Kanye West Slams Taylor Swift Again." And the alternative headline at New York Magazine, "Kanye West Attacks Taylor Swift, Defends George Bush in Brilliant Debut Performance of New Album." (Video rant at PopEater.)

I don't see clips from the new album, so until then:

Bunkering Down in the Bluest of Blue States

From yesterday afternoon: "Kamala Harris wins attorney general's race as Steve Cooley concedes." (At Memeorandum and Crooks and Liars, where folks are thrilled with Harris' radicalism.)

Democrats have now won every single statewide race. Some might recall that I've contemplated leaving California, although that's entirely impossible at this point. I'll no doubt be having continuing thoughts on this, unless something improves soon, which is unlikely. A poll out a couple of weeks ago was no consolation. I'll be down in the bunker if you need me. From the Los Angeles Times:

The road to redemption for the Republican Party in California may be even rougher than November's statewide electoral drubbing indicated, as a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll shows a deep reluctance among many voters to side with a GOP candidate and broad swaths of the state holding views on government's role that conflict with Republican tenets.

California voters surveyed in the poll repudiated the party's stance on illegal immigration by endorsing a host of positions intended to make it easier for the undocumented to gain legal status. Their support for same-sex marriage outnumbered that opposing any legal recognition by more than 3 to 1. Californians also endorsed an assertive role for government in protecting minority citizens, regulating corporations and helping the poor and needy, and rejected arguments that an activist role for government had harmed the fiber of American society.

The negative overlay both explained and helped determine the fates of the party's candidates in November. As a GOP tide swept the nation, Republicans here lost all statewide offices, with one contest, for attorney general, still unresolved but leaning toward the Democrat. Republicans here also failed to gain any congressional seats and lost a legislative seat.

Strikingly, almost one in five California voters said they would never cast a ballot for a Republican. Among Latinos, that rose to almost one in three. Only 5% of California voters were as emphatically anti-Democrat.

"I don't know how any Republican thinks they can win in California after looking at this," said GOP pollster Linda DiVall, who with Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg directed the survey for The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences.

The party faces a critical collision between its own voters, a minority in California, and those it needs to attract to win. The most faithful Republicans this year — those who voted for both Meg Whitman for governor and Carly Fiorina for Senate — said by a 27-point margin that to be more successful, Republicans should nominate "true conservatives."

But among the majority of voters who spurned Whitman and Fiorina in November — and in whose good graces any future winning candidate would need to be — the results were reversed. Forty-three percent said that future Republican candidates needed to be more moderate. Only 20% said that Republicans should nominate "true conservatives."

As those figures help illustrate, the GOP's difficulties in California rest on two overlapping conflicts, ideological and demographic. The party's conservative primary voters determine nominees, even if their views are often opposite those of the far more moderate general election audience. And the party's white and conservative voter base is increasingly giving way to the state's non-white and nonpartisan population.

RTWT.

Related: At Michelle's, "DREAM Act nightmare: 2.1 million future Democrat voter recruitment drive."

Jennifer Grey Wins 'Dancing With the Stars'

I was more into DWTS this season than ever. I might have more later on Bristol, but for now, at People, "Jennifer Grey Speaks About 'Unbelievable' Dancing Victory."

RELATED: "Bristol Palin: Prayer Helped Me Through Dancing Controversy."

Regime Change North Korea

I joked about it the other night, but frankly toppling the Kim dictatorship is the only way to solve the never-ending nightmare of North Korea. And now Max Boot is taking that possibility seriously, "North Korea & Iran: Containment vs. Regime Change." After some background on the limited options vis-à-vis Pyongyang — with discussion of the Cheonan incident, which killed 46 South Korean sailors — Boot notes the obvious solution:

The ultimate solution is plain: regime change. But how to achieve it is another matter. China is North Korea’s major remaining lifeline, but unfortunately it is hard to see how to persuade the Chinese to cut off their client state. They may not like Pyongyang’s powerplays, but they are even less wild about the notion of a unified Korea allied with the United States.

Actually, the way to achieve it is clear: The Obama administration should go to the United Nations requesting a resolution condemning North Korean aggression under international law. The U.S. should invoke Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, declare a breach of international peace and call for a "police action" to preempt further North Korean attacks. This is not idle armchair analysis. South Korea's Foreign Ministry yesterday accused North of violating the 1953 armistice, and Seoul "has decided to sharply bolster its military arsenal in the tense Yellow Sea to counter any possible additional attack from North Korea." And the government has directed the military to revise its rules of engagement. Of course, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has already warned that Beijing "opposes any threat of force" on the Korean Peninsula, so we know the difficulties ahead. But we shouldn't blink. Given the Obama administration's soft-peddling responses to global threats so far, the U.S. needs to move beyond the current pleasure cruise gunboat diplomacy now under way off the Korean peninsula. The Washington Post reports on U.S. goals in the naval deployment, "U.S. Aircraft Carrier's Arrival Off Korean Peninsula Also Sends a Message to China":

In dispatching the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday, the Obama administration said it was putting on a show of U.S. support for South Korea.

South Korea was attacked Tuesday by a deadly North Korean artillery barrage, days after the North revealed what could be a new nuclear weapons program, and President Obama said he wanted to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with an American ally.

But the carrier - with 6,000 sailors and aviators and 75 warplanes - has another audience: China. Exasperated with a lack of help from Beijing on the Korean Peninsula, the Obama administration is trying to pressure China to constrain North Korea.

That should be just a start. Developing news earlier today indicated that South Koreans were badly shaken by reports of civilian casualties in the Yeonpyeong attacks. And things won't get better with more patty-cake diplomacy and meaningless démarches from the Hillary Clinton State Department. B.R. Myers' essay at NYT is suggestive: "North Korea Will Never Play Nice." But to be even more explicit: Topple the regime in Pyongyang or be prepared for the next generation of deadly hostilities as Kim Jong-il prepares to cede the stage to his successor.

Stores Push More Deals and Extend Black Friday Discounts

My wife works retail management, so we're always talking about this stuff. At LAT, "Black Friday Becoming Week of Discounts and Extended Hours":

Call it Gray Friday.

Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, has lost a bit of its luster as hungry retailers try to stretch the one-day shopping bacchanal on the day after Thanksgiving into a weeklong bonanza.

Big chains including Sears and Toys R Us have joined Wal-Mart and Kmart in offering Thanksgiving Day hours. Others have already begun hawking massive discounts and pushing online deals. And to keep the party going past Friday, many retailers will offer fresh discounts Saturday and Sunday.

There's a lot riding on the outcome. Retailers hope an improving economy will bring the biggest holiday receipts in four years — and if they succeed, it could help set off a chain of events that could accelerate the country's slow recovery, said economist Esmael Adibi of Chapman University.

"If the retail sector is healthy, that will eventually lead down the road to expansions, and expansions lead to hiring," he said. "Additional hiring generates more income, and then that income in turn will be spent. It's a multiplier effect."

Wall Street was feeling optimistic about the retail industry as it headed into the all-important Thanksgiving weekend. Continuing a recent run-up, investors pushed an index of 90 retail stocks to the highest level in more than three years Wednesday, with Guess shares gaining 11% and shares of Amazon.com, Tiffany & Co. and Big 5 each rising more than 5%.

Consumer spending at the nation's retailers, although not robust, has been generally healthy all year. So economists are predicting the best holiday season since 2006 (before the recession) and are estimating a year-over-year retail sales increase of 2.3% to 3.5%.

Despite the earlier-than-ever holiday deals this year, habitual Black Friday shoppers say they'll still be out in force for the annual shopping extravaganza.

Animal Rights Extremists Condemn Sarah Palin 'Snuff Film'

They've cut the clip here, but at about 35 seconds Sarah Palin whaps a halibut:

WaPo has the story, "Sarah Palin's 'Snuff Film' Has Animal Rights Group Angry." But according the Alaska Charter Association (via JWF), "Halibut clubbing is actually a standard practice among fishermen."

You don't say?

Says She Talks to Angels...

The Black Crowes (heard this afternoon on The Sound).

Currently on tour, they'll play the Hollywood Palladium on December 11th.

She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company
Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family

She paints her eyes as black as night now,
Pulls those shades down tight
Yes, she gives a smile when the pain comes,
The pain gonna make everything alright

Says, she talks to angels,
They call her out by her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name

She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
Yes, the hair is from a little boy,
And the cross is someone she has not met, not yet

Says she talks to angels,
Says they all know her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name...