There was the Christmas Eve attack against the 82-year-old pontiff (Pope Benedict XVI) by a mid-20's woman, Susanna Maiolo, pulling the Holy Father to the ground. According to some reports, she had attempted to do the same thing last year but had been intercepted. It appears that the woman has mental health issues and was not part of any conspiracy. However, if a standalone woman is able to penetrate Vatican security, one has to be concerned about vulnerability to other, more serious risks.
Then there's attempted terrorist attack of alleged Al Qaeda-linked Umar Mutalla, whom sought to take down NWA flight 253 on its final spproach to Detroit by trying to ignite a chemical explosive device PETN (fortunately with a defective makeshift detonator) reportedly sewn into his underwear. We now can expect after-the-fact security measures of the sort that followed the foiled attempt by shoe bomber Richard Reid (e.g., new restrictions on passenger behavior during the final hour of a flight). There are also questions being raised about Amsterdam (Flight 253 origin) screening procedures, how Mutalla got a US visa when Britain, in fact, declined to issue him one of theirs, and the fact that Mutalla's Nigerian father had previously gone to the US Embassy, to alert them about his son's religious radicalism.
I'm more concerned about Monday morning quarterbacking; we already know what Al Qaeda sympathizers took away was not regret over the possible loss of innocent lives but the need to build better detonators. We need to be more proactive and focused; we need less emphasis on Draconian restrictions on ordinary American citizens, better coordinated intelligence and improved filtering of suspect passengers. I am troubled by the ongoing Democratic progressive mentality of conceptualizing terrorist activities as merely criminal in nature (e.g., the disputes over importing Gitmo detainees to an Illinois prison, the upcoming New York show trials of KSM, etc.), anxiety over risk-based security measures (e.g., higher scrutiny for Middle Eastern or Islamic passengers), and exaggerated politically-motivated demonization of the opposition (e.g., pro-life, veterans, and right-wing groups).
William Daley: "Keep the Big Tent Big"
William Daley, son of the legendary Chicago mayor and brother of the current mayor, is a former Commerce Secretary in the Clinton Administration and clearly concerned about the announced 5 Democratic centrist retirements and conversion (Parker Griffith). He's worried about the results of the Democratic strategy of recruiting moderates and conservatives for purple or red districts in the 2006 and 2008 elections is going to be undone. He tiptoes around the core issues--extraordinary Democratic spending and enactment of an expensive progressive agenda in the middle of the biggest recession in decades on things like health care and the environment--and doesn't address the failure of centrists to join forces with the Republicans to mitigate the agenda. (Remember how Phil Gramm used to be a Democrat and as a leader of the so-called Boll Weevils worked to help enact Reagan's tax cuts?) He does point out the progressive netroots are engaging in their own counterproductive ideological litmus tests.
I think Daley is in a state of denial in arguing against a conservative agenda; according to a much-publicized NPR survey last March, self-identified conservatives were 45%, moderates 35%, and progressives 19%. I do think the Republicans would be better served to mirror the Democrats' 2006 strategy, running pragmatic candidates in blue and purple states and districts (e.g., Mark Kirk in Illinois and Mike Castle in Delaware) and focus on a more problem-solving than an ideological agenda in 2010 and 2012. Even if the GOP was to somehow regain control in the Senate (unlikely) and the House (a long shot) in the mid-terms, it can anticipate Obama to adopt Clinton's centrist tactics following the 1994 election, and the Democrats, barring an election blowout, will easily block any attempt to gut Obamacare. What the Republicans can do is to mitigate government growth and force Obama to negotiate with them instead of around them.
A Favorite Movie Clip From the 80's
While I was working towards my UH doctorate on a limited income, I would occasionally go to a dollar cinema and buy some popcorn. I had no clue what "The Neverending Story" was about but was quickly swept up in the family film's plot; if the reader hasn't seen the movie, a young boy (Bastian) is being bullied and finds refuge in an antique bookstore, where he starts reading a very unique book with an Escher-like, self-reflexive quality--he becomes part of the story. In this key scene ("Moonchild"), Bastian must choose to save Fantasia from the surrounding Nothing, by giving the Childlike Empress her name: he must say the name of his beloved late mother.
Political Cartoon
Gary Varvel portrays the progressive pickpockets in the Trojan horse Democratic Party Health Care Bill.
Musical Interlude: The Babys' "Everytime I Think of You"
This is one of those songs I love singing, pretending to be John Waite for a few minutes (I have tweaked the lyrics in my own version--for some reason, for years, I've been adding the verse "everytime I see your face" at the end of the song...) Why can't songwriters write songs like this any more?
