The Opinionator

Bush Lied, NOT!

EconoPundit Steven Antler reports on a Chicago Tribune editorial that makes it clear that the President did not lie about WMD in Iraq in order to lead us into war. This is a big admission from an outlet of the MSM. It is surprising that no other outlets have taken on the task of doing this kind of journalism on their own. It is perhaps even more surprising that the Tribune actually published their findings. Well here is credit where credit is due. Good work Chicago Tribune! Too bad it will not have any effect on those that occupy the increasingly fringe members of the fever swamps of the left in the democrat party. Reality was never the strong suit of the "Reality-based Community."

H/T: Instapundit.

Dispatches From the Retail Zone

Peter Lynch was a great proponent of observation as the first the step in selecting stocks. He felt that consumers could find winning stocks among the companies that they interacted with by observing how busy they were and what the buzz was about them. This would be the first step to a more formal analysis of their balance sheet. I have often wished I had paid attention the way he recommended otherwise I would not have missed Panera Bread, which my wife was frequenting with her friends almost daily after the gym. Given this, I thought I would post my observations.

First, the Bath & Body Works was packed again during the holidays. For the last few years, I have stood in long lines to purchase something for Mrs. Opinionator. By contrast, two days before Christmas The Body Shop had more employees in it than customers. I tried to take my daughter in there to purchase something so as to avoid the lines and she resisted. She mentioned that it looked more like a makeup counter than a regular store. Guess that redesign did not work, eh? Well, seeing as the founder Anita Roddick is a fount of anti-Americanism, I will not be crying for her plight. I highly recommend that you do not spend your money on The Body Shop's stock. If my holiday experience was in any way indicative of how the chain as a whole performed, you will lose your shirt.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Merry Christmas to all of you out there around the world. And Happy Hanukkah to those like us that will begin the celebration of it this evening. May this be a day of revelry and happiness for you.

A special Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and thanks to our men and woman stationed around the world in our military. Thank you for all you do!

Mac Blogging!

I'm now blogging on my new iMac. Well, actually it is the family iMac G5. Took only a few minutes to set up. About six minutes from opening the box to being online. That rocks! After that, I let it go out and upgrade all the included software and restart and I was cooking with gas. So far, it is a bit of a learning curve as I have never been a Mac user. However, the main thing that seems to slow me down is the standard keyboard , which is a bit hard to get used to. The Mighty Mouse is great. The first upgrade I see happening is the addition of a wireless keyboard and mouse, either the Kensington or the Logitech. I use one with my PC currently and like it a lot.

The screen is amazing and performance is brisk with 1GB of RAM and a 1.67MHz processor. Needed to download Firefox for browsing as not all the sites I go to like the Safari browser. I will be loading MS Office for Mac 2004 later this weekend. Need to be able to use the Word especially and need IE for online bill pay.

That's all for now!

iMac Torture

The box is sitting in the den. It has been there for two days. Inside sits my new Apple iMac G5. I know that once open, I will have it set up and working in only a few minutes. Such is a Mac. It is not intended as a Christmas or Hanukkah present. It is a replacement for a 4-5 year old Dell that is showing its age and limitations. However, Mrs. Opinionator figures that since it it Christmas on Sunday, we might as well wait until then to open it. So there it sits, tormenting me as if I were an Abu Graib detainee. Where is Senator McCain to protect me from such mental anguish and terror?

In the meantime, it sits there in the corner and I wait....

This is Pathetic!

Drudge guides us to this depressing story of how the USO is finding it difficult to find celebrities to entertain the troops. It appears that opposition to the War and fear are the main reasons for the lack of willing participants. Ironically, some of the entertainers that are willing to attend are liberals that are vehemently against the War, such as Robin Williams. And to his credit, Al Franken has stepped up to entertain the troops. Although entertain might be a stretch.

All in all this is just pathetic. These celebrities are so damn self-centered that they cannot put aside their animus for the President and their opposition to the War in order to do something for the troops, who have no choice about the War. Of course, they will gladly don a uniform to play a bad-ass Green Beret (George Clooney) or marine (Jake Gyllenhaal).  They could not hold the jockstraps of the real deal! And scared? Please! If it is safe enough for our troops, I am sure they will be safe enough. If Bob Hope could do it, so can they!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Part II

This ABC News story tells the horrible tale of woe suffered by reporters because they could not file their stories due to evil former Haliburton CEO and Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney bogarting the power outlet to charge his iPod. Here are the two main paragraphs that start with snarky and end with whiny,

After a four-day overseas trip that took him to four countries in the Middle East, Vice President Dick Cheney really wanted to get his iPod charged for that long return flight to Washington.

Since it is his plane, the vice president's iPod took priority and was plugged into one of the only working power outlets on Air Force Two, frustrating reporters who were trying to file stories.

What a bunch of babies. The ego of the press never ceases to amaze me. They seem to think that they are more important than the people the cover. Reminds me of how many employees of luxury department stores and boutiques forget who is the customer and who is the help. 

My advice to the suffering media hordes, next time fly commercial.

H/T: Drudge.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Saddam Hussein today complained that he had been beaten in captivity. Color me unmoved. The SOB is getting off a hell of a lot lighter than his victims. This is just a ploy to make us look bad, or worse. Perhaps he is trying to get turned over to Iraqi custody whereupon he can be released out the back door the way "Dr. Germ" was a few days ago. Far-fetched perhaps, but certainly possible. We would have saved a lot of trouble if we had just shot the bastard!

H/T:  Drudge.

What if the Times Had Tried to Reveal The Magic Intercepts?

It seems pretty obvious to me that President Bush's apparent efforts to prevent the NY Times from publishing the "eavesdropping" story were not about desperation, as postulated by hyper-partisan Jonathan Alter, but rather security. This program is in some respects analogous to the Magic Intercepts of  WWII in that it gives us information regarding potential attacks and enemy plans. Yes, Jonathan, we are at war. And what if the Times had found out about the Magic Intercepts in 1943 and wanted to publish a story about the program. Would FDR have been desperate if he had called them in and asked them not to publish the story? Or would he have been using common sense in the course of fighting a war? True, we had censorship and a media that was commited to winning the war, not helping to defeat us. But the point is that the NSA program is valuable to our national security and asking the press to sit on information that could endanger lives is common sense. However, in the world of Alter, we are not at war and this is just another chance for his ilk to try and score political points. Were it so that the left had as much resolve in fighting our enemies as they do in trying to bring down President Bush. It is a major reason why we know they are not serious about national security.

Tracked back to RCP Blog's excellent post on this subject. Also, thanks belatedly to Mudville Gazette for the Open Post.

Robert Stokely, The Anti-Sheehan

Mudville Gazette has a letter from Robert Stokely, the father of Sgt. Mike Stokely, who was KIA in Iraq. He speaks glowingly of what made his son a hero and why his son made him proud.  He gets it. He is the anti-Sheehan.  Be sure to read it for yourself.

The Opinionator and family offers their prayers and sympathy to Mr. Stokely and his family.  Freedom is not free and his son paid part of our share. Thank you. It is not forgotten.

H/T: Blackfive.