Britain: A Nation of Fraidy Cats.

According to a Telegraph survey, a sizable chunkage of Britons think the US is less safe than Egypt, Israel, or South Africa:

One in three of YouGov's respondents regards America as one of the world's three "least safe" countries – more than think the same of Israel, Egypt or South Africa.

In fact, the US is ranked *dead last*; 37% of these nimrods think the US is the least safe, vice 19% for friggin' Russia. Possible reasons for thinking so:
1) 37% of respondents on crack.
2) 37% of respondents have never been to any foreign country; believe "Homicide" a reality show.
3) 37% of respondents burglars who resent the fact that it's still legal to shoot people who invade your home over here.

Moreover, while 19 per cent reckon the US is one of the countries "most deserving of international respect", a considerably larger proportion, 25 per cent, reckon that under this heading it is one of the world's "least deserving" countries.

And if I cared that might hurt.

But the US didn't fare as badly overall as Israel:

The violence and Israel's continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza appear to have done immense damage to its standing. Israel comes top of the list of countries where people would least like to live and would least like to take a holiday.

It is also the country thought least deserving of international respect. Despite being the only fully democratic state in the Middle East, it is also thought to be among the world's "least democratic countries".

Which just kinda tells me the respondents may be working with, shall we say, a flawed definition of democracy.

Insensitive reflection.

Derrida, Arafat, and Sontag, all in the same year. Nice.

An idle thought.

Having just watched Knights of the Round Table on TCM, it occurs to me yet again how much I despise the character of Guinevere, of all the women in western literature. No matter how you write it, there's just no way to pretty up the fact that she pissed away a kingdom for a shot at some rumpy-pumpy with her husband's best friend.

And Lancelot, by the way, is NOT the best of the knights, that was Gawain. Lancelot's just someone the French threw into the cycle to tweak the English.

National fame comes to Clark Co. again.

Or the Miami Valley, anyway. If you're a weather geek. (Subject to link rot.)

Work let my people go at 1 this afternoon, and probably should have done so about two hours earlier. The fastest I could go on I-70 was about 30 mph, and the ramps were white knuckle all the way. Apparently I'm looking at a possible accumulation of about 20" of snow through tomorrow afternoon, and a -15' Christmas morning to ensure none of it melts off. The local channels are all having weathergasms, as you might expect.

James Lileks doesn't buy enough liquor.

For some reason he seems to think Kentucky Tavern bourbon is both obscure and discontinued. It is neither, of course.

Historical defamation.

Lincoln was gay. Or, more probably, he wasn't, but he's not around to defend himself, so his personal history is vulnerable to any asshole with an agenda.

Regarding the idea that Lincoln didn't get along with Mary Todd because he was gay, please remember that SHE WAS NUTS. You don't have to be gay not to get along with a spouse who's out of his/her mind.

Mets no longer merely flirting with disaster.

Now they've bought the ring and scheduled a romantic candlelight dinner: Pedro Martinez rumored to be going to Mets. Mike Piazza makes frantic last minute call to Fruit-of-the-Month club in anticipation of next year, increases list of teams to which he will accept a trade to "Anywhere but here."

Hilariously bitchy.

"The only prerequisite for getting published in Salon is scoring a 23/26 on The Alphabet Quiz."

(Thanks to Sheila O'Malley for the new addition to the blogroll. That's all it takes, folks. Make me laugh.)

From the "Well, duh" dept.

Anonymous Pentagon guys are concerned about the strategic use of the media as psy-ops tools and its deleterious effect on the military's "credibility".

Although most of the work remains classified, officials say that some of the ongoing efforts include having U.S. military spokesmen play a greater role in psychological operations in Iraq, as well as planting information with sources used by Arabic TV channels such as Al Jazeera to help influence the portrayal of the United States.

Other specific examples were not known, although U.S. national security officials said an emphasis had been placed on influencing how foreign media depict the United States.

These efforts have set off a fight inside the Pentagon over the proper use of information in wartime. Several top officials see a danger of blurring what are supposed to be well-defined lines between the stated mission of military public affairs — disseminating truthful, accurate information to the media and the American public — and psychological and information operations, the use of often-misleading information and propaganda to influence the outcome of a campaign or battle.

As a member of said American public, allow me to officially lend my whole-hearted endorsement to the efforts of the military to spread disinformation about their actual plans via the fifth column--er, fourth estate. Terrorists watch CNN too, you know. Better I know too little before the fact than that they know too much.

Several of those officials who oppose the use of misleading information spoke out against the practice on the condition of anonymity.

Well, of course they did. Brave, brave dissenters.

(Linked by Jonah Goldberg in the Corner.)

Your moment of clarity.

From Andrea Harris:

The French are mean, authoritarian motherfuckers and always have been.

This has been your moment of clarity.

Hey hey, ho ho, United Nations got to GO.

Senator Norm Coleman has written a beautifully concise summation of the shamefully underreported Oil-for-Food scandal for today's Wall St. Journal. If the forces within the US media giants had any concept of right and wrong, this would be the biggest political scandal since Teapot Dome, but since they consider the matter of Dubya skipping a TANG physical in the early 70s to be much more important than Saddam Hussein lining his pockets with billions of UN dollars, I don't reckon I'll hold my breath waiting for the scandal to break with any force.

And for those who think we went to war in Iraq because we wanted to take over their oil fields, or because the president is seeking petty revenge for an assassination attempt on his father (perhaps if he'd attempted to assassinate Bill Clinton the high dudgeon of the left might have been stirred), or because the current crop of US warmongers just really enjoy blowing the crap out of other cultures, read the following very carefully:

Mr. Annan was at the helm of the U.N. for all but a few days of the Oil-for-Food program, and he must, therefore, be held accountable for the U.N.'s utter failure to detect or stop Saddam's abuses. The consequences of the U.N.'s ineptitude cannot be overstated: Saddam was empowered to withstand the sanctions regime, remain in power, and even rebuild his military. Needless to say, he made the Iraqi people suffer even more by importing substandard food and medicine under the Oil-for-Food program and pawning it off as first-rate humanitarian aid.

Since it was never likely that the U.N. Security Council, some of whose permanent members were awash in Saddam's favors, would ever call for Saddam's removal, the U.S. and its coalition partners were forced to put troops in harm's way to oust him by force. Today, money swindled from Oil-for-Food may be funding the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq and other terrorist activities against U.S. interests. Simply put, the troops would probably not have been placed in such danger if the U.N. had done its job in administering sanctions and Oil-for-Food.

I'm not saying the US has acted out of pure-minded altruism in Iraq. I am saying it acted out of reasonable self-interest, and that ought to be enough justification for our present labors.

Radio Free Cincinnati.

My friend Bern is married to one of the funniest guys I have ever met. Sample his genius here.

Elf me hard.

Courtesy of Bill McCabe, the trailer for the ROTK extended edition.

Yes. Oh, hell, yes.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The pumpkin pies are out of the oven, the roasting hens are in the refrigerator awaiting the trip down home, the home-canned green beans are packed and ready to go. Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Just briefly:
--has this been the best November ever, or what? Bush, elected. Arafat, dead. Dead in France, yet. Rather, "retired" with extreme prejudice. And I'm going to add in the Powell resignation, Condi Rice's reassignment to State, and Porter Goss starting the ass-kicking housecleaning in the CIA as big dollops of sweet whipped cream on top.

--the flap over the marine capping the wounded terrorist: the Jacksonian in me can't believe we're even discussing this as a possible Bad Thing. I don't see the point of fighting with our hands tied. In the interest of forestalling potential idiocy: no, the Geneva convention doesn't apply.

--the murder of Theo Van Gogh: Bridget Johnson makes a good point in the WSJ, namely that the Hollywood left, which claims to feel the chill wind of oppression every time a red-stater doesn't buy a Dixie Chicks album, has been strangely silent on the actual brutal butchery of a filmmaker by an Islamic fanatic for expressing his views on the treatment of women under Islam. Being shot, butchered like an animal, and used as a mumblypeg board--that's what fanatical Islam has in store for the decadent forces of Hollywood, and that means you, Sean Penn, no matter how nuancy you may think you are.

--Oliver Stone is about to take it in the shorts, and I can't freakin' wait to see "Alexander". Casting Colin Farrell was bad enough; dying him blond and giving him that 80s Miles-and-Miles-O-Keefe 'do bespeaks a miscalculation on an epic scale. Angela and I will be at the Friday matinee somewhere in Louisville, cackling with evil glee and hurling Dots at the screen. (Just for Bern: "Let us pass; my people are jugglers." Yeah, that's exactly what I'm expecting.)

Incidentally.

In partial reference to the post below, calling the blue states the "reality-based" community is one of the funniest themes to come out of the post-election hysteria.

Malevolent stupidity.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the magical blogstylings of Ken Layne. [Via the invaluable Protein Wisdom.]

Credit where due.

Nothing in John Kerry's campaign so became him as the concession speech*. Seriously, I appreciate him not trying to drag this out for weeks. Edwards, though...that guy's a real shithouse lawyer.

Second best news: the end of Daschole's career as Obstructionist in Chief.

*I swear I did not steal the paraphrase of this particular phrase from Charles Austin.

Quel surprise.

Election fraud in Chicago. Looks like they purged the Republicans off the rolls. I'm shocked.

[Via HogOnIce.]

The die is cast.

And so's my vote, at a quarter to seven this morning. They were lined up out the door in Springfield at 6:30. Now to plan my campaign of bitterness and recrimination for the next four years.

Call to arms.

Steve Graham analyzes Osama's latest video, then breaks out the Patrick Henry:

It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, "Peace, peace!" But there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

If you can read that and still vote for Kerry with a clear conscience, may God have mercy on this country.