Bright Lights, Big City

Just curious if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon. Whilst preparing for one of the myriad holiday parties served up at Chez Moi, we replaced our regular light bulbs, in a rather longish L-shaped hallway (residential), with the new greendom CFL types.

Upon transiting the newly illuminated and environmentally friendly hallway, guests emerged in some combination of confusement, disorientation and/or irritation (one guest was found flushed, sweating and muttering that his name was Leonard Zelig). Do note, these events happened prior to cordials being served.

Suggestions?

"Just a Cute 'Lil Firecracker"?

Re-edited moments ago to say that "a passenger believed it was a firecracker"

The AP appears to be trying to minimize an attack on civilians, saying in a video report that Nigerian-British student Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, was merely playing with mere party poppers, and mentioning nothing about the significance of the date of the attack.

The man who tried to blow up a US airliner as it prepared to land at Detroit on Christmas Day had an explosive powder strapped to his leg which he tried to ignite by injecting chemicals with a syringe, Fox News reports.

The reasoning behing calling it a firecracker came from a passenger statement like this one, carefully omitting what law enforcement described the IED to be:

One US intelligence official said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a traveller from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then [there] was smoke."

An Open Thread

Feel free to interpret.

Will Hillary Clinton Get it This Time?

Like a parody of history, the willing idiots will autonomically rally to rationalize the legality of illegality to pitch a "lite" version of Communizing revolutions, and it will sound as clumsy as the same tired rhetoric did in the 70's and 80's when said willing idiots were little more than the unwelcome result of a broken condom. The whole empty "coup" routine we heard with Zelaya's attempt to sieze power will be parrotted when this gofer pops up to talk his way into a "permanant Presidency".

Lawmakers are refusing to recognize a Supreme Court decision that would allow Ortega to run again in 2011 by overturning bans on consecutive re-election and serving more than two terms.

The question is, will the US State Department be as inept and spineless with Daniel Ortega as it was with Zelaya?

A Y Pestis of Youthful Ignorance

Suddenly, David Aaranovich’s observation of the Copenhagen festival of self-hatred started sounding historically familiar.

Suddenly there was the world, spread out in front of us, not like a bookcase full of travel guides, or even as represented in diplomatic simulacrum in New York by UN ambassadors, but in its own messy right.
The image that came to my mind was of some vast biblical trek, in which tribes make their way over various terrains to an uncertain land. Out front, and to the sides, were the little groups of activists and NGOs; some pathfinding in distant hills, some wailing and beating themselves and others with thorn branches, some praying loudly and piously, some shouting to the others to catch up, some predicting doom with an unacknowledged pleasure.

To my ear it seemed to start conforming to a pattern of human behavior that was a cross between the Donner party and Nero’s joy at the incineration of Rome.

As soon, however, as the Flagellant movement crossed the Alps into Teutonic countries, its whole nature changed. The idea was welcomed with enthusiasm; a ceremonial was rapidly developed, and almost as rapidly a specialized doctrine, that soon degenerated into heresy. The Flagellants became an organized sect, with severe discipline and extravagant claims. They wore a white habit and mantle, on each of which was a red cross, whence in some parts they were called the "Brotherhood of the Cross". Whosoever desired to join this brotherhood was bound to remain in it for thirty-three and a half days, to swear obedience to the "Masters" of the organization...

Much like the lethality, boredom, and pedantic constancy of medieval life, the ritual sit-ins and the public rioting had to take place with the cadence of the familiar chants, the banners and the parasitic circus of politicized mitlaüfer.

Twice a day, proceeding slowly to the public square or to the principal church, they put off their shoes, stripped themselves to the waist and prostrated themselves in a large circle. By their posture they indicated the nature of the sins they intended to expiate, the murderer lying on his back, the adulterer on his face, the perjurer on one side holding up three fingers, etc. First they were beaten by the "Master", then, bidden solemnly in a prescribed form to rise, they stood in a circle and scourged themselves severely, crying out that their blood was mingled with the Blood of Christ and that their penance was preserving the whole world from perishing.

The only question is who it is that the modern Carbon Dioxide cult will lionize and then compare themselves to.

Christmas Address From the White House

Not a Franciscan, but Rather a San Franciscan

Michael Phillips calls out the new authoritarians for what they have become.

The Liberal mantra used to be: 'Capitalism created too much change, inequality and poverty; that we need bigger government to redistribute wealth and control the 'means of production'.

A forced meagerness which they tried to associate with a materialist view has evolved into a different sort of asceticism-based meagerness:

It is an attack on our right to the pursuit of happiness.

It’s very nearly evolving into a kind of code associated in the past with religious adherence, and a firmly established one at that (in the traditional legal sense.)

The New liberalism tells us what kind of light bulbs we have to use, when we have to use helmets, what weight and size our children must be before they can stop using 5-point auto harnesses, when and where we can smoke, what we can smoke, how we can talk on the phone in a car, what kinds of foods we can't eat at all (horse, whale, dolphin etc),

And in that strange little world, PETA will be left to bless the animals. Like “meatless Mondays”, they are likely to take care to avoid meatless Fridays, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, or any other virtue larger than nanny’s desire to control others.

Diplomatic Pauch

In the wake of the stench of sulfur that Chavez left in the Bella Center, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla called U.S. President Barack Obama:

an "imperial and arrogant" liar Monday for his conduct at the U.N. climate conference, a reflection of the communist island's increasingly fiery verbal attacks on the U.S. government.

One of the many touted benefits of the perpetual “revolution” which the Cubans have always pimped was that they somehow magically eliminated all inequality and racism from the island. Which makes Rodriguez’ further comments somewhat more interesting to those not familiar with Communism, where you NEVER actually get what’s on the jar’s label.

Last week, the elder Castro, who stepped down as head of state in February 2008, wrote that Washington is looking to solidify its control over Latin America and that Obama's "friendly smile and African-American face" hide his government's sinister true intentions for the region.

Raul Castro over the weekend mentioned recent war games Cuba conducted to prepare for a U.S. invasion

So color blind, indeed that a portrait of their government looks like a “mafia” social club: one guy who looks like he might vaguely be Indian, 3 women, and a bunch herpetic looking old white men of Iberian origin with a stunning similarity to one another – truly – the portrait of the Caribbean if there ever was one.

You can virtually smell the diversity, which, like the university faculty of many of the social sciences, has about the same uniformity of thought.

Well, that didn't take long

From those who are never ever responsible for anything (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively):

European Union leaders on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism that they had fumbled their strategy at the Copenhagen climate summit meeting, just as a feud between the British and the Chinese over whom to blame for the outcome worsened.

Andreas Carlgren, the environment minister of Sweden, the country holding the rotating E.U. presidency, said that the summit meeting had been a "great failure" partly because other nations had rejected targets and a timetable for the rest of the world to sign on to binding emissions reductions.

The E.U. went into the conference with a strategy of leading by example on emissions cuts, but has been widely criticized by industry and environmental groups for not marshalling other nations to follow and for ending up sidelined at the summit meeting.

"It was obvious that the United States and China didn't want more than we achieved at Copenhagen,” Mr. Carlgren said at a news conference in Brussels.

The obstacles created by those countries were "part of what we regretted," he said.

We seem to recall something about Europe wanting to be the "leaders" of green-everything? To my brothers and sisters in Brussels, here is your chance. No need to fret over the great failure, show everyone else on Gaia how it can be done. Just talk?

What's that? European-only leadership on greendom would put Euro-industry at a global disadvantage? How so, we seem to recall something about transitioning to green-jobs and green-economies being sure-fire money-makers. Europe will be that much further ahead of all the other economies, right? Just talk?

What is this:

Philippe de Buck, the director general of BusinessEurope, a powerful lobby group, suggested over the weekend that industries based in Europe would increasingly move their operations to less regulated parts of the world as a result of the weak accord struck in Copenhagen.

We seem to recall something about Europe being so far advanced and nuanced about the brotherhood of man and beyond such seedy things like money and profits. Just talk?

A Salvo of Domestic Desertions in Time of Peace

Because of the disastrous war in Iraq and Afghanistan, America's armies are plagued by waves of desertions, writes Nathalie Guibert in Le Monde, unlike the pacifist-minded armies of Europe, which have so many lessons to… No, wait a minute. Those soldiers deserting aren't Yanks; they are French!

The French army is the one that is plagued by une salve de "désertions à l'intérieur en temps de paix". One particularly memorable time (violence-minded Yanks will be happy to learn), a desertion followed a farewell party:

en août 2008, des sous-officiers très alcoolisés ont entamé une bataille rangée avec les premières classes qui s'étaient invités. Dans le garage où se tenait la fête, les gradés ont saisi pelle, hache, chaîne de tronçonneuse.

Got That, You &^#%#?! Cycling Jerseys That Make a Statement

6 inches of Snow Brings Much of the UK to a Screeching Halt

It seems that the upper lip, not to mention a great deal else, has long since gone flaccid.

6 Questions on Health Care for Foreigners and Expatriates

Saying that "we are on the verge of socializing our health care system", Louisiana Conservative wants to ask foreigners and expatriates half a dozen questions (please answer in the comments section)…

1. What do you like about the government ran health care system?

2. What don't you like about the government ran health care system?

3. What would you change about the government ran health care system?

4. How long does a normal visit to the doctor take?

5. How has the system affected you or your family positively?

6. How has the system affected you or your family negatively?

Ils se Sont Tiré Dans le Pied

Half of the arrogance of the Donkey Show is founded in ignorance. While the lauding of the health care provided outside of the US has diminished with a growing number of people who are familiar with alternate international systems speak up, the delusions are still there. Leftists want “what they have in ___” or more to the point, what Leftists THINK they have in ____, when in fact most western European governments have spent a politically agonizing decade privatizing medicine in spite of their domestic Marxist-Leninist leaning loonies in order to improve the quality and availability of the care.

The American Thinker has the run-down.

Shouting in a Classroom; Fighting Breaks Out; A Student Is Sent to the Hospital, Lacerated by a Knife

The violence in America's schools and universities is a disgrace, writes Maryline Baumard in Le Monde. A female teacher has even asked not to have to teach on late afternoons so she does not have to ride home on the night bus. Now, if only those clueless Americans could learn from the Europeans with their societies that tend to promote peace and har—… Wait a minute! Oops! The violence is taking place in a French university…

Lundi 14 décembre, il est un peu plus de 15 heures lorsque trois individus s'introduisent dans un amphi de Paris-XIII-Villetaneuse et commencent à chahuter. Un étudiant demande le calme. Invectives. Bagarres. Le bras que lève le jeune homme pour se protéger le visage est lacéré de plusieurs coups de couteau. L'étudiant en droit a été opéré mardi.

…Selon une main courante électronique, mise en place par le président de l'université, Jean-Loup Salzmann, 83 incidents ont été signalés : 10 agressions, 7 dégradations de biens publics, 7 dégradations de véhicules, 14 vols de biens privés et 45 perturbations de cours. "Et tous les incidents ne remontent pas. Ce n'est pas dans la culture universitaire", tempère un professeur.

The money quote:

"Oui, c'est l'omerta. Depuis pas mal de temps déjà, on fait comme si rien ne se passe. Je vote à gauche. Je n'aime pas le discours sécuritaire, mais je souhaiterais plus de présence policière", regrette Michel Renault, secrétaire pédagogique de l'institut d'études judiciaires.

And then, there are the usual apologists:

A l'instar de Faihina Saidani, étudiante en L3 information et communication, ils sont nombreux à se sentir bien "dans cet espace mélangé, où chacun trouve sa place, avec ses différences" et à estimer qu'il "faut arrêter de stigmatiser la banlieue en laissant penser qu'on est plus en danger ici qu'ailleurs".

One reader writes:

Tout universitaire véritable et informé sait que depuis ses origines soixante-huitardes, Paris XIII — comme Paris VIII — n'est qu'un parking où l'enseignement supérieur n'est qu'une activité occasionnelle et épisodique.

Orbitting EUranus Looking for Klingons

From the EU’s internal propaganda arm, it’s provisional wing in the war to be transnationally loved for no good reason, we get to discover many light and meaningless facts, though ones that undergird a rather vile world view.

The word Europe comes from Ancient Greek and means "wide-gazing"

Along with Europe this and Europe that that subtly obscures the definitions of Europe and the EU, until finally we come to:

The longest river in Europe is the Volga in Russia

Which is no different than some tourism promotion branch of the US government calling one’s attention to the natural wonders of the Canadian Rockies or the Sonora desert in Mexico.

Which, by the way, has forced me to have to politely suffer through dozens of tirades about the use of the word “American,” hoping that the crazies would get tired and wobble to the other end of what they think is a bar.

Alle Menschen werden Brüder

First, the eye-wash performance for the suckers:

Now, the back-story for those who even care at this point:

The lead negotiator for the small island nation of Tuvalu, the bow-tie wearing Ian Fry, broke down as he begged delegates to take tough action.

"I woke up this morning crying, and that's not easy for a grown man to admit," Mr Fry said on Saturday, as his eyes welled with tears.

"The fate of my country rests in your hands," he concluded, as the audience exploded with wild applause.

But the part-time PhD scholar at the Australian National University actually resides in Queanbeyan, NSW, where he's not likely to be troubled by rising sea levels because the closest beach at Batemans Bay is a two-hour, 144km drive away. Asked whether he had ever lived in Tuvalu, his wife told The Australian last night she would "rather not comment".

Not to be mentioned in polite company, of course.

Enjoy

Residents of the east coast of the United States will surely enjoy this old ditty as they spend the day digging out from under all of that white global warming stuff.