Roman Polanski 'overwhelmed by . . . messages of support and sympathy'

Mostly from Charlie Sheen I'd guess:

My dear Bernard-Henri Lévy, what you have said in the Swiss press is true -- I have been overwhelmed by the number of messages of support and sympathy I have received in Winterthur prison, and that I continue to receive here, in my chalet in Gstaad, where I am spending the holidays with my wife and my children. . . .

Nick Gillespie -- whose libertarianism evidently doesn't encompass the right of award-winning film directors to anally rape Qaalude-dosed 13-year-olds -- notes the reaction of the Feminist Majority Foundation: "It's bad a person was raped. But . . ."

Bite Me! Comics Presents: The Green Lizard

Don't know how I missed this one earlier, but it's brilliant beyond words. A few choice panels:

Meanwhile, Noemie Emery -- say, doesn't "Noemie" sound vaguely Belgian? -- reports on the rise of Johnsonoid mind-reading in the Obama era:

"Hate" is no longer what you do or say, but what a liberal says that you think and projects on to you. You are punished for what someone else claims you were thinking. It hardly makes sense, but it does serve a political purpose. You could call it Secondhand Hate. . . .
Why have a routine tug of war over taxes when you can replay a great moral drama, casting yourselves as the just and the righteous, and your foes as the ignorant and benighted rabble you know in your hearts that they are?

Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, notorious neo-fascist ultra-nationalist Darleen Click sees Obama as a "mood ring" and cites the latest eruption from Andrea Mitchell, comparing Sarah Palin to . . . wait for it . . . George Wallace.

Liberals terrorized by Americans

My latest American Spectator column:

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate an explosive aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day, liberals were quick to warn against the clear and present danger.
It wasn't the threat of al Qaeda-trained bombers blowing up Detroit-bound planes that concerned them. Rather, liberals feared that Americans might blame the Obama administration for failing to protect them from terrorists or -- perhaps even worse -- demand action against the violent extremists who want to kill us all . . .

Read the whole thing. Today, Janet Napolitano admitted that the system failed:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the aviation security system failed when a young man on a watch list with a U.S. visa in his pocket and a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a fight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
A day after saying the system worked, Napolitano said her words had been taken out of context. She said Monday on NBC's "Today" show that "our system did not work in this instance."

Meanwhile, Napolitano's assertion that this was not "part of anything larger" gets an asterisk in Memphis:

On Christmas Eve, Mohamed Ibrahim was arrested by police in Memphis, TN after allegedly making bomb threats in several local businesses. Witnesses told police that he told them he was a Muslim and that he was starting a jihad.

Robert Spencer sees the Abdulmutallab case as evidence of an epic fail:

Educated at the British International School in Lome, Togo, he was a classic recipient of Western largesse designed to win over the loyalties of Muslims. Yet his encounter with kindly non-Muslim Westerners spending their lives to educate him and his peers did not blunt the fervor of his jihadist fanaticism. . . .

Read the rest.

'2009' out, '2010' in

by Smitty

JibJab gets their Scott Joplin on, with hilarious results (h/t Political Byline):

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Don't forget to support Scott Brown for Senate, if you live in Mass. That 19Jan election for Chappaquiddick Ted's Senate seat could prove lively, if the State that started the Revolution cares to remember its bona fides.

Immediately following will be the State of the Union address. Stay tuned to this blog. We'll echo any protest word we hear.

After that, the next major outing of which I'm aware will be the Tea Party Express III, which culminates in Washington DC on Tax Day.

Yeah. Heck yeah.

Celebrity scumbag update

Charlie Sheen and his third wife are just a couple of lovebirds who had too much holiday cheer:

Charlie Sheen and wife Brooke Mueller are planning to undergo counseling after a heated fight at a dinner party in Aspen, Colo., that landed Charlie in jail on domestic violence charges Friday morning.
"They were fighting at a dinner in a friend’s house and it continued until the next morning," a source close to Mueller tells PEOPLE. "Both of them were drinking and neither was supposed to be. They both have histories of alcohol abuse and have made every effort to stop. But things got out of hand." . . .
The actor's Colorado-based attorney Richard Cummins tells PEOPLE, "They have two children together and they love one another and they’re going to work through what is a difficult time and they’re going to do that together and as privately as possible."

The fact that Charlie is a notorious scumbag who got dumped by Denise Richards? Irrelevant! That time he "accidentally" shot Kelly Preston? Irrelevant! His lifelong habit of hiring hookers? Irrelevant!

The only thing that matters is that Charlie gets $825,000 per episode of his TV show and he and Brooke really love each other.

For people in Hollywood, it's important to pretend that they don't know how this story ends.

Good Jennifer Rubin Analysis

by Smitty (h/t Ed Driscoll)

Jennifer Rubin makes some good points at Commentary. RTWT, but let me summarize:

1. ...this president showed no inclination or talent to engage in the nitty-gritty business of lawmaking.
2. ...the Obami ran Left, even beyond the tolerance of their own party.
3. Obama himself did not inspire or persuade the public in the way his followers imagined he would.

The final point about persuasive power is most interesting. The 0th Rule of Alinsky would seem to be "Get the fix in before the opponent catches on."

Nothing in Alinsky's wisdom seems to capture what to do once the target becomes aware they are such. If an Alinsky stage magician is up there doing his thing, but the audience loses faith, things may go pear-shaped:

The loss of faith has been technology-driven. It's too easy to get on YouTube and see clips of Barack Obama contradicting himself over time. On the one hand, an argument can be made that people should modulate ideas as more facts are available. On the other hand, the inability to differentiate between invariant core values that are non-negotiable, like integrity, and the variable details where compromise makes sense, succeeds in demolishing public confidence. That leadership capital is precious, dear, and hard to recoup. Aside: Mr. President, don't leave the Iranian dissidents hanging out to dry. Again.

The loss of faith has been contextually driven. After a century of Progressivism, the country realizes that this Progressive dog don't hunt. Who cares how high-minded the social justice program is? We're financially exhausted. Whatever system you want to implement must first and foremost be a stable one. If our fiscal profile is 'bankrupt', then fixing that has to take priority. Additionally, making the Constitution explicitly include these social justice items will lend them legitimacy. The Progressive dog don't hunt. The dog looks for a government hunting program, with policy and procedure to ensure a fair hunting experience for the whole world. Yet that never arrives.

Is it possible for Barack to restore the faith? Is this Administration doomed to another three years of Greek tragedy? Unfortunately, yes. Even if BHO drifted so far Left as to achieve an Austrian breakthrough, he can't do it convincingly enough to
(a) survive the retribution of his backers,
(b) convince sufficient numbers on the right that he's serious.

No, the prediction from The Porch, sad though it will be, is that there will be further political delaying tactics in early 2010, followed by a raucous campaign, culminating in an electoral Cannae for the Democratic Party in November 2010. At that point, Barack will become a bitter, clinging little bobble-head, and continue to blame Bush and raaaaacism for his agenda's impotence.

The strategic question is whether the country learns anything from this. Occasionally people assert the United States is a Christian nation. Christians purportedly adhere to the Bible, i.e. both testaments. Yet where is our grasp of this:

Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.
Deuteronomy 15:5,6

If the budget deficit, and the national debt it feeds, are not The Issue of the century, then Barack's inability to "inspire or persuade the public" really don't matter. The Progressives can just throw another series of bodies into the Oval Office, continue to jack up the debt, and let's see where that leads us. Metaphorically, we will all be bricklayers working on a large pyramid of debt.

Update: Related Dan Riehl: "Does America Have A President Right Now?"

For better or worse, our best and most notable presidents tend to be leaders. They tend to be out front, not simply for the cameras, but on the difficult questions and issues of the day. One can fault former President Bush all they want, some criticism is fair, but one could never question where, ultimately, the buck stopped. We all knew it stopped with him. With Obama, it sometimes seems as if we're chasing him down for a bad loan.

Sorry, Dan. We've another three year slog ahead, and that bad loan is called our national debt.

Another Lutheran Belgian Nigerian arrested aboard Detroit-bound plane UPDATE: 'Nonserious,' FBI says

Probably just a random coincidence:

A second Nigerian man was been taken into custody aboard a jetliner in Detroit after locking himself in the airliner's bathroom, The Associated Press reported.
A law enforcement official told the AP that the incident took place aboard the same Northwest flight that was attacked on Christmas Day.

But remember there is "no indication that it is part of anything larger," according to Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Red Noses and Floppy Shoes. Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin takes a close look at the myth of the "poor oppressed terrorist victim."

UPDATE: Reuters reports the second Nigerian passenger appears to have been merely ill:

The man went to the bathroom repeatedly and did not respond to flight attendants' direction an hour before landing.
"The Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated and the investigation shows that this is a nonserious incident and all is clear at this point," said Detroit FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtolv.

Meanwhile, Ivana Trump's reign of terror continues.

Malkin vindicated: 'Lone nut card' played by Napolitano in NWA terror case

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arrested after attempting to detonate an explosive aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Michelle Malkin ended her Christmas Day post with a prediction:

Victim card/lone nut card in 3, 2, 1 . . .

The administration has evidently decided to go with the "lone nut" angle:

The U.S. has "no indication" that an attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight was part of a larger plot by a terrorist group, a top Obama administration official said.
"Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger, but obviously the investigation continues," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday.

Right. But what of the connections to al-Qaeda in Yemen?

Authorities say the 23-year-old suspect spent months in Yemen being trained for the Christmas Day suicide mission.
Investigators believe Abdulmutallab was connected to al Qaeda by the same radical imam, American-born Anwar Awlaki, who is linked to the American Army major accused of opening fire at Fort Hood in November.
According to investigators, the bomb . . . was built in Yemen by a top al Qaeda bomb maker. . . .

This is incompatible with Napolitano's claim on CNN that this was not "part of anything larger." One cannot train with al-Qaeda under the influence of a radical imam, and utilize an exploisve designed by al-Qaeda, without being part of something larger.

So far, I've seen no evidence of the "victim card" being played on behalf of Abdulmutallab, but this Associated Press biographical profile of the suspect portrays him as having had a "saintly aura" as a student in England. Give the media time, though. Their best spinmeisters are still on holiday.

UPDATE: Further evidence (as if we needed more) that Janet Napolitano is a useless dimwit:

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up the Amsterdam-Detroit flight this week demonstrated that "the system worked."
Asked by CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union" how that could be possible when the young Nigerian who sought to set off the bomb was able to smuggle explosive liquid onto the flight, Napolitano responded: "We're asking the same questions.”
Napolitano added that there was "no suggestion that [the bomber] was improperly screened."

(Hat-tip: Blogmocracy 2.0.) If failure to keep a bomber off a plane means "the system worked," then obviously this means no changes to the system are necessary, right? Wrong. The al-Qaeda-trained "lone nut" has just given the Transportation Security Administration the excuse it needed to make commercial air travel even more miserable. My libertarian friend Radley Balko observes:

TSA will apparently adopt a new policy prohibiting passengers from moving during the last hour of a flight. Also, no pillows or blankets during that last hour.
In addition to keeping with its usually tradition of making policy on a reactionary basis, this one wouldn’t even have done anything to prevent the attempt over the weekend.

No doubt, the TSA will also enhance its policy of conducting random searches of elderly women from rural Minnesota in order to prevent CAIR from accusing them of "profiling."

TSA: Protecting You From Olga Swenson!

UPDATE II: Ed Morrissey calls this Napolitano's "Chip Diller moment," and Mary Katharine Ham Tweets:

"The system worked." Jasper Schuringa is "the system," apparently.

The "bring your own Dutchman" approach to airline safety.

UPDATE III: And now The Boss weighs in on the clueless nitwit in charge of DHS:

Beginning with her embrace of the impotent euphemism "man-caused disasters" to the hit job on conservatives and veterans that she was forced to apologize for, to her assertion that crossing the border illegally "isn't a crime per se," to her boneheaded claim that 9/11 terrorists came in through the Canadian border, Ja-No has confirmed time and again that she's not ready for prime time.

Yes, but you've got to give Janet Napolitano credit for preventing terrorist attacks by those right-wing extremists, not to mention her perfect record against the Olga Swenson menace. Just imagine what carnage might have been wrought by elderly Lutheran ladies, if not for the vigilance of DHS!

UPDATE IV: Another anti-terror success for TSA:

Police say Ivana Trump has been escorted off a plane in Florida after she became belligerent when children were running and screaming in the aisles.
Authorities say the first ex-wife of billionaire Donald Trump cursed at the children Saturday, and when flight attendants on the New York-bound plane tried to calm her, she became even more aggravated.

No word yet on whether Ivana's attack was part of a larger terrorist conspiracy by rich divorcees.

Rule 5 Sunday

by Smitty

Rule 5 Sunday, (my Senator is a) Ho Ho Ho Edition. Actually, we're eschewing politics here. The man of the day is Jasper Schuringa, who may not have actually saved the Amsterdam-Detroit flight per se, but rather demonstrated the kind of un-Progressive derring-do to which all should aspire.

• Atlas Shrugs had the first Jasper Schuringa pic in my Google Reader. That guy is wired for life.
• Rule 5 madman Bob Belvedere is owed an apology. He dutifully sent in his FMJRA links, but the clone bots managing the Inbox whisked his FMJRA links to the Rule 5 label, to be discovered late Saturday night by an abashed Smitty. Technology is a many-edged suppository.
  • Ann Sheridan
  • Leslie Parrish
  • Denise Milani
  • Betty Grable
  • The Pajamagram Gals
  • Denise Milani Redux
  • Vera Lynn and Shirley Jones
• The Blogprof leads off the somber Rule 5 remembrance of Brittany Murphy,
• Left Coast Rebel had follow-up on the poor waif.
• Makes My Brain Itch serves up some Pamela Anderson Action, as well as fuax-nekkid protesters.
• That's Right has a mystery Tea Party babe, along with others, but hopes some of our regular readers can help. This challenge recalls a Love and Rockets track:

• Yankee Phil links to a clip for plus-sized beauty contest. Obligatory AC/DC.
• Dustbury exposes the darker side of the Danica cult, and has important Kylie Minogue reporting.
• House of Eratosthenes gives us a target for all of the new firearms Santa delivered: mantyhose. Back to the Alphabet of Beauty, this week's installment includes Torrey DeVitto and Urmila Matadonkar.
• Troglopundit kept up with other Danica news.
• Three Beers Later had a Denise Milani video, and another Juliana Moreira installment. He reaches back for Dorothy Malone.
• Manolo the Shoe Blogger featured Judy Garland.
• Proof Positive found some Lucy Pinder.
• Fischersville Mike featured Colts cheerleader Sara.
• Jeffords reports that Katee Sackhoff joins "24".
• Power Line had Kristin Chenoweth.
• A Conservative Shemale featured Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta Jones. From Wikipedia: "Zeta-Jones is married to actor Michael Douglas, sharing the same birthday, making him exactly 25 years her senior. She claims that when they met, he used the line 'I'd like to father your children.'" Rule 5 regrets the delay in passing on this critical information. Try this the next time you're single and beset with such beauty. The 1st Amendment should still keep most of us out of prison.
• Paco Enterprises features Lane Truesdale singing the popular ‘40s novelty song, “Who’s Yehudi?”
• The Classic Liberal coaxes from Linsday Loah an explanation of inflation.
• Trainwife1962 brings Jon Voight, as both George Washington and the Pope. Versatile actor, Jon.
• Here's My Thing submitted several: Rose McGowan, tennis girls, Christina/MJ Hart/Mariah, Hilary Duff, [NSFW] Kate Hudson.
• Smash Mouth Politics features Lauren Graham, for all I despise that Bad Santa flick. The only nice thing I can say is that, like Pulp Fiction, its title represents truth in labeling.
• Makes My Brain Itch has the scoop on Keira Knightley.
• Serr8d's Cutting Edge brings you the photoshop lesson featuring Stormy Daniels.
• Gahrie's Grumbles and Groans takes Rule 5 where it has never gone before: World of Warcraft. No wedgies, dudes: this is a friendly post.
• Point of a Gun brings the Fox News babes. Rule 5 envies Bill O'Reilly every time he gets chewed out by Megyn Kelly.

That's your Rule 5 wrap. Until next Sunday, keep it lovely, people.

The Financial Rape Will Continue...

by Smitty (h/t Hot Air)

...until the 10th Amendment is interpreted to preclude Federal involvement with individual citizens, e.g. through mortgages.

The only surprise about the Federal thuggery in lifting the Fannie/Freddie caps is that anyone is surprised. Power will be (ab)used.

States should be a blast shield between the Federal beast and citizens. Both citizens and the Federal beast should watch the states.

Political candidates making bleating noises about "reforming" Fanny and Freddie will be ridiculed remorselessly. These Federal vampires need nothing less than stakes in their hearts.

Even at the one year mark, he nailed the decade

by Smitty

President Obama as Prevaricator of the Year? Don't sell the man short. In my opinion he's blown by his predecessor with flying pastel rainbow colors.

But I wouldn't say BHO thinks himself a liar. Allow me to paraphrase a review of al-Sahaf, emphasis mine:

"In an age of spin, [BHO] offers feeling and authenticity. His message is consistent -- unshakeable, in fact, no matter the evidence -- but he commands daily attention by his on-the-spot, invective-rich variations on the theme. His lunatic counterfactual art is more appealing than the banal awfulness of the Reliable Sources. He is a Method actor in a production that will close in a couple of days. He stands superior to truth."

-- Jean-Pierre McGarrigle

Another Black Conservative Unmoved By Kwanzaa

by Smitty

ABC just doesn't seem keen on the idea:

In my entire life I have only known one black person who celebrated Kwanzaa. She was a teacher of African American studies and a flaming liberal. Although born and raised in Atlanta like her folks, this young lady fell hook line and sinker for the whole Kwanzaa is African scam.

Seasonal Traffic Suckage Syndrome leads to Shameless Tip-Jar Rattling Disorder

One of the obvious reasons for doing the changeover to the WordPress site during the holidays is that blog traffic sucks this time of year, so time spent on the changeover doesn't really subtract from the overall blog ecology. What's the point of doing a dozen posts on Christmas Day, if nobody's reading it anyway?

For similar reasons, some bloggers don't blog much on weekends -- when blog readership decreases by 30% or more -- but we've never really observed that custom here. Smitty reports that a relative paucity of Rule 2 linkage made for a much shorter FMJRA this week, which is to be expected, although we hope there won't be a similar shortage of babe-blogging for Rule 5 Sunday.

One of the things about Seasonal Traffic Suckage Syndrome (STSS) is not to take it personally. Traffic here is demonstrably down for December -- currently about 160K visits for the month, after four consecutive months of >220K -- but when compared year-to-year, we've gained about 80% over December 2008. And so you have to have a certain amount of perspective when you realize that on Christmas Day we recorded our worst weekday traffic in recent memory.

Because routine headline+link+snark formula blogging would be kind of a waste of time during the holidays, I've taken advantage of the situation to do some long-form stuff. First there was "Don't Fear the People," a retrospective on my coverage of the populist grassroots revival -- the first substantive post at the new site -- and then there was today's post about Washington's Christmas crossing of the Delaware.

Another thing to do during periods of slow traffic is to blog about totally silly stuff, like the Christmas Day arrest of celebrity scumbag Charlie Sheen. Why not? Do you really expect us to constantly monitor Memeorandum for the latest breaking news on the Nigerian terrorist? On a day when we're averaging less than 200 visits an hour?

Let's face it: We could post a completely random photo of an impressively endowed chubby chick -- hey, more to love -- and not get any complaints, because nobody's reading us this weekend anyway. (Folks, don't worry that we're corrupting your kids. If your teenage son got a computer for Christmas, do you really think he'll be cruising political blogs for chubbettes?)

Would a serious political commentator -- say, for example, Dan Collins -- link something so irresponsibly exploitative as a post with photos of random topless fat chicks? Of course he would. Because at least it's fun, and if traffic sucks anyway, you might as well have fun.

However, there are more useful things bloggers can do with the readerless holiday hours when we're afflicted with Seasonal Traffic Suckage Syndrome (STSS). Therefore, while Smitty toils away on the technical geekery of the WordPress changeover, I've been writing thank-you e-mails to the tip-jar hitters.

We're about halfway to our $2,000 goal for the Pasadena trip, which was a double-dog-dare-ya scheme promoted by Dan Collins. As I said at the time, I didn't think I could possibly rattle the tip-jar hard enough to make this trip happen and yet . . .

Well, as of yesterday, 34 people had hit the tip jar for an average of $30 each during December. And today I got a Christmas card from Barbara Espinosa of American Freedom blog, with a gift incentive for the trip. I checked Travelocity and can make a flight to LAX departing next weekend for about $450 if I booked it today.

Mrs. Other McCain is, of course, worried about the bills. If I make this trip, will it clear enough cash to break even and still pay the bills? Does that 1990 photo of Mrs. Other McCain looking hot in her bikini encourage you to ease her mind with an extra $10 or $20? Would you rather see more photos of fat chicks? Is anybody actually reading this?

The point is, I can roll either way: Fat chicks, celebrity scumbags, historical inspiration, or up-to-the minute breaking news about John Kerry and other terrorists. But I don't want to have to choose between (a) paying the bills and (b) going to Pasadena to provide neutral, objective coverage of the Alabama Crimson Tide's spectacular triumph in the BCS Championship.

As I explained to one of the tip-jar hitters in an e-mail exchange, I'm planning to take a look at the tip jar situation Monday before booking my flight, probably departing Jan. 2 or 3. Every little bit will help me convince Mrs. Other McCain that this is a good idea not evidence of incipient psychosis.

Maybe you're feeling that Roll Tide spirit to the tune of $20. Or maybe you just figure it would be worth $10 to read about me racing around Southern California in a rental car, interviewing hawwwtt University of Alabama cheerleaders and buying $7 gin-and-tonics for Little Miss Attila during Happy Hour at one of her favorite L.A. dive bars.

Fear and Loathing in Pasadena could be the wildest scene since I covered the Libertarian Party national convention in Denver last year. Surely the true story of Rose Bowl decadence and debauchery has got to be worth $5 to readers who have nothing better to do this weekend than to read a political blog.

Carol at No Sheeples Here is also an Alabama fan trying to hustle her way to Pasadena, so if you've already hit my tip jar, you should think about throwing Carol some action, too. Besides, if I help her make it Pasadena, maybe I can get her to do a free logo for the new WordPress site -- with or without naked fat chicks. 'Cause I can roll either way . . .

Just hit the tip jar!

Britney and K-Fed, then Jon and Kate, now . . . Ace and Allah splitsville?

Little Miss Attila brings us rumors of the latest celebrity breakup. Before Christmas, Ace of Spades trashed Mitch McConnell as a sellout bastard. Allahpundit responded with a contemptuous sneer.

Next: Ace loads up to .13 on Valu-Rite vodka, gets slapped around like Mrs. Charlie Sheen. Then Allahpundit hires publicist Stan Rosenfield to say, in effect, "that bitch Ace deserved it."

Fake hate and C-SPAN trolls

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit and HotAir Pundit have a great story about an anti-GOP hoax caller to C-SPAN, demonstrated in this fascinating video:

Reaganite Republican shows that this is part of a pattern, relating it to the story of Chris Parry of the Vancouver Sun, who smeared Free Republic by similar tactics.

Charlie Sheen is out of jail

And doesn't that worry you, America?

Charlie Sheen has now been released from Pitkin County Jail, according to Aspen Police. He posted an $8,500 bond (with standard domestic violence bond conditions) and was released Friday night at about 7 p.m. . . .
The 44-year-old star of Two and a Half Men spent most of Friday in jail after being arrested on domestic violence charges following a 911 call at 8:34 a.m. Friday. The victim’s name still has not been released.

If there's one reason Tiger Woods isn't really in the running for the World's Biggest Loser Award, it's Charlie Sheen.

Here's a guy with all the advantages -- rich, good-looking, famous name -- who is a complete failure in his personal life. He got dumped by Denise Richards because of his porn habit. The conventions of journalism require me to say alleged porn habit, but let's be honest here.

We're talking about Charlie Sheen, who by his own sworn testimony spent much of his 20s banging Heidi Fleiss's Hollywood hookers. He is a notorious poonhound, in the habit of changing women as often as most guys change their socks, and even being married to a fabulous hottie like Denise Richards couldn't change his ways.

When a guy gets used to treating women as disposable commodities, we really shouldn't be surprised that he seeks out trashy women and treats them like crap:

RadarOnline.com reported that Sheen tried to choke his wife, Brooke Mueller, who was renting an Aspen home for about three months while Sheen remained in Los Angeles.
Sheen flew to be with his wife on Christmas despite their differences, and they began arguing right away, the site reported.
But TMZ reported that Mueller was legally drunk -- registering a .13 blood-alcohol level -- while Sheen registered a .04 on tests conducted by police.
Sheen's publicist Stan Rosenfield released a statement saying, "It would benefit everyone not to jump to any conclusion."
The two married last year, and this year Mueller gave birth to twin boys
Sheen was arrested in 1996 and charged with attacking a girlfriend at his home. He pleaded no contest and was placed on two years' probation.

See the pattern here? It's the Rake's Progress. Having botched his marriage to Denise Richards -- who seemed like a relatively decent human being, by Hollywood standards -- Charlie's next wife is the kind of woman who blows a .13 Breathalyzer test on Christmas Day.

Charlie has no respect for his wife, and who can blame him? We're talking about a woman with such low self-esteem that she married Charlie Sheen. She hates herself, or else she wouldn't be with him, and we aren't really surprised to learn she decided to spend Christmas Day drinking herself into a violent stupor in her Aspen exile.

Charlie Sheen is just a rich, famous loser.

UPDATE: Let we forget, Charlie is a lefty who likes to impart his political wisdom for our benefit:

He has also said that the 9-11 terrorist attack was an inside job, and wants President Obama to further investigate.

Famous loser, famous liberal -- the only real difference between Charlie Sheen and Michael Moore is about 200 pounds of ugly fat.

What a load of bunk

by Smitty (h/t TigerHawk)

TigerHawk notes Andrew Breitbart's FaceBook status. As a result of the apparent botched terrorist attack yesterday, Breitbart notes, that:

Based upon my NPR listening sessions, I am fearful that reactionary Americans are going to go on a rampage against Nigerians tomorrow.

How many more non-recriminations do we require to get the American people off the hook?

I just discovered the other day while shoveling snow that the new next-door-neighbor is from Nigeria. He actually seemed the decent chap you would expect.

Thanks, NPR. Nothing makes me happier than paying via my taxes for wholly unfounded accusations.

Festivus 'Mas Joy Rings Around

by Smitty

It's that time of the year when we celebrate our traditions in ways that hopefully don't alienate everyone else.
All of those readers with lives have been too busy to post or link us as much as we like, but we love them nonetheless.

The Nebraska Compromise:
As negative as everyone is about the whole steamer, except the lefty portion of the 111th Congressional Circus, its parade of bad ideas may not be over.

• Jules Crittenden linked the Sobriety Cat post in a roundup.
• The Classic Liberal picked up the Cheap Whore post.

We Don't Seriously Foresee the Union Disintegrating, but We're Closer to Such an Event:

• South Texian picked up the Texas secession post about Ladd Ehlinger, with a technical correction.
• Paco Enterprises joined the Sheldon Whitehouse foe club.
• Jumping in Pools thinks that Texas cannot secede, but Montana Can. At a certain point, as with the Declaration of Independence, it's really not about what a piece of paper says, but rather about what you do.

Get Stacy That Malkin Award!
He's still in the running for [whatever it means] who lacks a radio and TV show.

• The Sundries Shack has us wired. Vote now, vote Stacy.

Congratulations to Clan McCain Over Kennedy's Engagement Pour In:

• Obi's Sister said 'Hi'.

Yes, The Other McCain is in Transition:
Stacy and I continue to make delightfully uncoordinated progress in a positive direction.

• The Classic Liberal notes our efforts.
• SI VIS PACEM also noted the motion.
• Dustbury opines:

  Not that I have any particular complaints about WordPress, which we’ve been using here now for over a year with little difficulty. But it seems to me that McCain, who specializes in high-value, low-cost reporting, really belongs on Blogger, which is to blogging what Walmart is to retail: you might claim to hate it yourself, but a lot of your friends like it just fine. (Or maybe you need new friends. Your mileage may vary.)

About Those Goreflakes:

• Political Byline noted the hammering of Maryland.

Girl Culture:

• Wombat Rampant gave us a shout while relating an occurrence similar to the Protein Wisdom/Patterico thing which is apparently, hopefully, finally, running out of gas.
• American Power has also been dealing with its variation on the theme. Donald Douglas also noted Stacy while examining anti-Hamsherism. he then followed up with "A Theory of Racist Smears and the Case of Robert Stacy McCain". All I can say is that the notoriety looks better on him than me.
• Stogie links us while asking "Is Charles Johnson (of LGF) a Transvestite Cross-Dresser?" Can I please retain my ignorance?
• Rhetorican picked up Stacy's AmSpec piece about a possible Hamsher move to the right.

Other FMJRA outings:

• So It Goes In Shreveport
• Fischersville Mike
• The Classic Liberal
• The Blogprof
• Rightofcourse
• WyBlog
• Eternity Matters
• Paco Enterprises
• CatHouse Chat
• Obi's Sister

The Seven Figure Club:

• American Power reached one megahit. Keep up the good work, Donald!
• The BlogProf linked us while congratulating DD.

Miscellaneous:

• American Glob just laughed at my attempt to defend Harry Reid.
• Stogie proved a non-fan of Jason Raimondo
• Paco notes us in passing while congratulating Jim Treacher. He also noted the Dave Brooks flambé.

Enjoy the respite, everyone. Gather your strength. If 2010 is any weirder than 2009, we'll all be needing it.

'I think the game is pretty near up'

The American army was defeated. Outnumbered and demoralized, the ragged soldiers had only escaped complete destruction by a desperate retreat. Some of the troops had deserted, and others we threatening to leave when their enlistments expired.

George Washington's patriot army had been beaten badly in the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, suffering more than 1,300 casualties before Washington could evacuate his troops to Manhattan. But the British commander, William Howe, had followed that by once more defeating the Americans at White Plains in October and again at Fort Washington in November, and Washington was forced to abandon New York.

Retreating across New Jersey, with Howe's Redcoats in pursuit, the only hope for the Americans was to reach Pennsylvania, putting the Delaware River between them and the enemy. Merely to accomplish this retreat was a difficult task. Heavy autumn rains fell, turning the dirt roads to quagmires. Teams of men and horses struggled to pull the army's artillery and wagons through the deep mud.

Yet even if they could escape the pursuing British, there was little hope the Americans could reverse the disasters that had befallen their cause in the five months since they had declared their independence. Many of the volunteer troops under Washington's command had signed up for short-term enlistments, which would expire at the end of the year. It was this gloomy prospect that caused Thomas Paine to write:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Many more desperate hours lay ahead in the long struggle for American independence, but as fall turned to winter in 1776, it seemed that the flame of liberty was doomed to flicker out forever. One depressed officer wrote home to a relative, "I think the game is pretty near up."

However, as long as there was anything left to fight with -- and anything to fight for -- George Washington would fight. And no sooner had he withdrawn his army into Pennsylvania than Washington began planning what remains arguably the most daring attack in American military history.

Howe believed, quite reasonably, that the colonial rebels had been so badly beated that they would go into winter quarters in Pennsylvania. So the British commander withdrew his main force to New York, and left a string of garrisons to keep an eye on Washington's battered army.

With only 2,400 men fit for duty, Washington issued three days rations and collected every boat available. At 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, the troops gathered on the banks of the Delaware River and prepared for the crossing. The river was icy. Sleet and snow began falling as the troops embarked. It took nearly 12 hours -- until 3 a.m. on December 26 -- to get the entire force across.

The watchword that night was "Victory or Death," and Washington showed his grim determination that morning during the pre-dawn march to Trenton. Maj. Gen. John Sullivan sent a courier to report Sullivan's concern that his men's gunpowder had become wet due to the storm. Washington replied to the courier: "Tell General Sullivan to use the bayonet. I am resolved to take Trenton."

Take it, he did. Shortly after daybreak, Washington's army attacked Trenton, overwhelming the garrison of Hessian mercenaries, cutting off their retreat and capturing nearly 900. Washington followed up, a little more than a week later, with another brilliant victory at Princeton, inflicting 450 casualties on the British.

This surprising reversal of fortune -- a beaten army that rallied to victory -- was a major turning point in the war. Although Trenton and Princeton were relatively minor battles in terms of the numbers engaged on each side, they gave hope to the patriot cause.

And whatever became of that depressed officer, who in a mood of despair wrote home that he feared "the game is pretty near up"?

Well, he went on to a quite remarkable career, both in the military and in politics. You see, that officer's name was none other than George Washington.

'Trust the people'

"We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development."
-- Ronald Reagan, Sept. 29, 1981

Thanks to Noel for reminding us of Reagan's words in a comment on "Don't Fear the People," about the Tea Party movement and the rise of the populist "tsunami" at the new WordPress version of the site.