Is it just me?

Or is there a problem here?

There are many instances of the partisan dynamic working in one direction here. That is, conservatives and Republicans who had no problem with strong-arm security measures back in the Bush 43 days but are upset now. Charles Krauthammer is the classic example: forthrightly defending torture as, in limited circumstances, a necessary tool against terrorism, yet now outraged about “touching my junk” as a symbol of the intrusive state.

Charles Krauthammer defends torture to keep us safe.  Touching of Junk keeps us safe.  Therefore, Charles Krauthammer is a moron for not defending the touching of junk.

I would’ve thought Atlantic staff writers would be above logical fallacies, but I guess working as a speechwriter for Carter would reduce one to thinking in such patterns, no?

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Lazy Sunday Laundry

If you’re under a bigger self-imposed newsless rock than I am this weekend, a tender teenaged jihadi, Mohamed Mohamud, 19, was arrested for trying to blow up a slew of liberals at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland.  Which leads to the headline of the day: Season’s Greetings from the Religion of Peace.  Heh.  I wonder how many politically correct Portlanders no longer fear the G-men who saved the city from a naturalized jihadi.  I guess since they aren’t G-W-men, then it’s all a-ok, right?  Just like rendition makes us safer–when Obama does it!  But I digress.  Pundette has a quiz.  In all seriousness, though, how do you deal with someone who felt this at the tender age of 9:

“Do you remember when 9/11 happened, when those people were jumping from skyscrapers? I thought that was awesome,” said Mohamud, his words later printed in an FBI affidavit. “I want to see that, that’s what I want for these people. … I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured.”

Charming. 

Why is it that liberals who threaten folks with whom they disagree are called “activists” while Tea Partiers are smeared as the rabid racist crazies?  Via the Volokh Conspiracy:

“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….

The “activists” in question disagree with the UCLA neuroscientist’s use of monkeys in medical research.  Wesley J. Smith has more. 

On to better news via Instapundit, a “faster, please” stem cell update: Stem cell spray heals burns.  And what a surprise–no embryos were destroyed in the process.  Liberals can thank GW for pointing science in the right direction, not at the expense of life.  From the story:

A spray solution of a patient’s own stem cells is healing their severe burns. So far, early experiments under a University of Utah pilot project are showing some remarkable results.

What was once a serious burn on Kaye Adkins foot is healing nicely now because of a topical spray. With diabetes as a complication, the small but open wound had not healed after weeks of failed treatments.

Dr. Amalia Cochran with the university’s Burn Care Center says, “With a wound that is open for several months, as this patient suffered prior to seeing us in our burn clinic, we worry about a pretty heavy bacterial load there.”

But enter the evolutionary world of regenerative medicine, using almost a bedside stem cell technique that takes only about 15 minutes. With red cells removed, a concentrate of platelets and progenitor cells is combined with calcium and thrombin. The final mixture looks almost like Jello.

Seriously, how cool is that? 

A freebie alert for parents of toddlers: Amazon offers a Veggie Tales Christmas album download for free. 

Finally, a palate cleanser: A beautiful post from Stacy McCain on the truth and beauty of Humanae Vitae.  Stacy isn’t Catholic, yet he “gets it” more than many Catholics I know. 

And myriad thanks to Legal Insurrection for the “Blog of the Day” link which forced me to step away from the tangled mess of Christmas lights.  WOW!  Thank you!

Turkey coma?

Pardon the light blogging. But having too much fun making the advent wreath and decorating for Christmas. And the dearth of news makes it easier to hibernate with my family.

Will attempt posting tonight after pjToddler goes to bed.

Brave or crazy? (The bears are hibernating now, right?)

So I didn’t realize the brining quandry moving would present. For two of the past three Thanksgivings in NOVA, we parked the bird on the second story deck off the kitchen.  It was cold enough. There wasn’t any access to the deck from below. The bird brined in peace. The other year, I had enough room in the fridge–a minor miracle.

So. I didn’t think about this until, well, tonight.

No room in the fridge.

No room in the giant pot for more ice either, to safely brine in the garage.

It is below freezing outside.

13 degrees, to be precise.

The problem?

Stairs that lead up to the deck.

The other problem?

Bears, foxes, skunks,  raccoons, mountain lions and coyotes.

Hmm.

See my dilemma? 

Brine the bird outside and run the risk of not having one at all.

Or a potentially  germy bird in the garage.

Alton Brown would know what to do: build a barricade at the top of the stairs. And wedge that giant pot of brining bird in the corner between a planter, a grill and a bear mat. Just in case they’re not hibernating.

And pray that the bear mat stops any other thieves in the night.

Hmm.

What’s cookin’ good lookin’?

The first time my husband and I had Thanksgiving together complete with all of my family favorites (“You mean, it’s … real cranberry sauce? Not from a can?”), my darling proclaimed it the best meal of the year. 

We were married the next fall.

In time for Thanksgiving, by the way, but predictably enough, he deployed to Iraq that year.

Figures.

Today is baking day.  On  the docket while I listen to Rush: mini pumpkin cheesecakes, pecan pie and its myriad variations (pjHusband likes it with dark chocolate, I like the custard with walnuts and fresh cranberries, so now I bake the lot in muffin pans), Pundette’s cranberry bread (shh, don’t tell my mother), and these little guys for place markers

Are they not adorable?  My toddler keeps calling them “candy corn peacocks!”  Heh.

And if you’ve never checked out Our Best Bites, it’s my favorite food blog, hence the link on the sidebar.   Also gracing our table this year are their bacon green been bundles.  Yum.  Michelle would NOT approve.

To market, to market to buy a fresh…

Lamb?

I think my darling husband would leave me if I served lamb on Thanksgiving.  Iraq ruined lamb forever.  I don’t mind.  We make the best turkey.   Alton Brown rules the bird.  Brine it and roast, hot and fast.  Let it rest.  A thing of beauty.  (In all seriousness, I was never a fan of white meat until we started brining.  I prefer it now.)

Instapundit notes the higher cost of this year’s Thanksgiving grocery run.  I lucked out on turkeys this year by buying sales and stocking up.  I admit that we finally bought a deep freezer.  (That I find a deep freezer such an exciting purchase scares me.  Oh, how life changes.  Vacuum cleaners.  Steam mops.  Deep Freeze!)

More recipes and links to follow.  First. Must. Brave. Commissary.  Two days before Thanksgiving.  Stupid is as stupid does, no?

Well, hell, I hope you *feel* safer after being molested or receiving a questionable dose of radiation

Because you aren’t according to a security expert who coined the term “security theater” years ago.  So bend over and enjoy it.  Hey, at least TSA promises not to start cavity searches! Woot! Don’t you want to go book a flight now?

(Except this lady had what I’d call a cavity search.  Inside her undies?! Seriously?!)  We’re supposed to feel better that TSA said “it shouldn’t have happened.”  The same TSA that informs us that we can submit to groping or face $10,000 fines.  What about victims of sex abuse?

Comforting, ain’t it?

Meanwhile, public support for the undie gropes plummets.

Unrelated: please, someone, make her go away.  Oddly enough, the book reviews weren’t enough to make her hide.  Dammit.

Also unrelated: some Hillbuzz fun to cleanse the palate.  A taste:

I have been trying to use the maelstrom of media howling over Bristol Palin on Dancing with the Stars to force the media to choke on its own hypocrisy.

Everyone from CNN to Entertainment Tonight has been screeching “that’s not fair!” over our efforts to vote early, often, and under various aliases for Bristol Palin in a television show’s voting system that is designed for voting early, often, and under various aliases.

But these people have never had any interest at all in covering the rampant voter fraud and election tampering Democrats have engaged in for years, using ACORN, the SEIU and other unions, the Black Panthers, and Organizing for America.

I wanted to paint the media into a corner over this…and it looks like the Washington Post is the first to acknowledge my point that “voting like a Democrat” is shining a light onto voter fraud in actual elections…which should get the same scrutiny from the media that this TV show is getting.

 Go get ’em, Kevin!

More idiots coming out of the woodwork

As per the WaPo’s GOP voters are racist idiots, we have another look-at-these-bitter-clingers-who-vote from a University of Wisconsin political scientist.  (Seriously, is that any surprise?)

Via Byron York, “Top Political Scientist: U.S. voters are pretty damn stupid.”  Heh.

Franklin was responding to a question from Bill Lueders, news editor of Isthmus, a weekly alternative newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.  In an account published Thursday (H/T Ann Althouse), Lueders says he asked Franklin why “the public seemed to vote against its own interests and stated desires, for instance by electing candidates who’ll drive up the deficit with fiscally reckless giveaways to the rich.”

“Franklin, perhaps a bit too candidly, conceded the point,” Lueders writes.  “‘I’m not endorsing the American voter,’ he answered. ‘They’re pretty damn stupid.'”

Lueders writes that he responded, “Thank you, professor.  That’s the answer I was looking for.”  The rest of Lueders’ account explains that smart voters support things like high-speed rail and higher taxes for the rich, while dumb voters support “an obvious phony like [Republican senator-elect] Ron Johnson over Russ Feingold.”

You know, the (D) powers that be want light rail in that thriving city of Detroit.  So they can hand out free tickets to all the jobless people or something.  (I think they’ve forgotten there aren’t any rich folks left to tax!)

And how about that “That’s the answer I was looking for,” eh?  Had a journalist working for a conservative publication expressed such a sentiment aloud, he would be pilloried. But a wannabe JournoLister?  No problema.

 

As for the “smart voters support… more taxes for the rich,” it’s because those “smart voters” want to keep lining their own pockets as they pull the (D) lever at the expense of someone else.  Meanwhile those dumbass Republican voters understand the simple concept of stopping inane public works projects that aren’t affordable when there isn’t any damn money to spend.  Voting contrary to their interests?  Hogwash.  Voting in the best interests of future generations. 

 

God Bless those dumbass voters.  They may well save our country from the smartasses.

UPDATE: Welcome Pundit and Pundette readers! Thanks for the Featured Blog link!

WaPo: Well, of course GOP voters are racist idiots!

From this morning’s fishwrap Washington Post mourning celebrating the “political divide” in the country:

The Republican Party’s big gains in the House came largely from districts that were older, less diverse and less educated than the nation as a whole. Democrats kept their big majorities in the cities.

Ah, the cities, where Democrat majorities have prevailed for decades, providing brilliant citizens with this

and this

Wouldn’t you love to live in the city with all those smart folks, too?

Oh, wait.  I think the smart folks have fled the city.

All that’s left are the ones who cling to their welfare and violent crime who will never escape the crippling poverty of inner-city Detroit because they look to someone else to solve their problems.

But hey, all’s not lost! They’re smart enough to keep voting (D) year after year while they slip further into the welfare abyss!

UPDATE: linked as a featured blog at P&P.  Thanks!

Pardon the pause: light posting ahead

But my toddler needs extra mommy cuddles right now.  And truth be told, I need the extra toddler cuddles right now, too.  

Will post when I can.