Quote of the day

Victor Davis Hanson, describing Robert Kagan's new book, Dangerous Nation:

[A] tragic admission that the American character always wishes to do right, usually has the power to match word with deed, but not always the patience or wisdom to succeed.

On Iran

Some articles to get up to speed on current goings-on regarding Iran, presented here in reverse chronological order:

• "Iran to Become an Established N. State" (Fars News Agency--apparently Iran's "semi-official" news agency, Dec. 18):

  Government Spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said that Iran will be announced as an established nuclear state during the coming Ten Day Dawn (1-11 February) ceremonies.

• "Mr. President, If I May Be So Bold..." (John Hinderaker for Power Line, Dec. 14):

  Commandeer a half hour in prime time to tell the American people, and the world, that we have clear evidence of Iran's involvement in killing American servicemen. Show the captured munitions. Explain exactly how they have contributed to American casualties. Display aerial photos of the training camps. No doubt there is much more evidence that can be presented or described.
  
  You should say that Iran's supplying of weapons in order to kill Americans is an act of war. In the dramatic finale of your speech, announce that thirty minutes earlier, American airplanes stationed in the Middle East took off, their destination, one of the munitions plants or training camps of which you have shown pictures. That training camp, you say, no longer exists. You say that if Iran does not immediately cease all support for, and fomenting of, violence in Iraq, we will continue to strike military targets inside Iran.

• "Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia" (Jonathan Karl and Martin Clancy for ABC News, Nov. 30.):

  U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq...

• "Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option" (Arthur Herman in Commentary, Nov. 2006):

  Unless the current regime and its backers are willing to change course, decisive military action could open the way for an entirely new Iran.
  
  The key word is “decisive.” What has cost us prestige in the Middle East and around the world is not our 2003 invasion of Iraq but our lack of a clear record of success in its aftermath. Governments in and around the Persian Gulf region are waiting for someone to deal effectively and summarily with the Iranian menace. Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians, and others—all feel the pinch of an encroaching power. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to stop the Iranian advance.
  
  ... Do we intend to dither until suicide bombers blow up a supertanker off the Omani coast, or a mushroom cloud appears over Tel Aviv, before we decide it is finally time to get serious about Iran?

No minced words quote of the day

The Examiner: "There appears to be no bottom to the pit of specious vacuity in which former president Jimmy Carter has been falling...."

(Hat tip.)

Spring around the corner?

Mattingly is moving up the ranks and Pettitte is back in pinstripes--can pitchers and catchers be far away?

And broadcaster Suzyn Waldman is belting out Christmas carols on stage. (O Derek the captain, Was alive as he could be, And the children say, He could laugh and play, Just the same as you and me.)

RIP, Jeane Kirkpatrick

Jeanne Kirkpatrick died today. Norman Podhoretz eulogizes,

Having enlisted [in the Cold War] as a young woman, she went on to perform brilliant service on the ideological front, where she stood up magnificently for this country at a time when it was under a relentlessly vicious assault at home no less than abroad. It was as a hero of that war that she made her mark, and it is as a true American hero that she will be remembered.

It was an article by Kirkpatrick in Podhoretz's Commentary magazine ("Dictatorships & Double Standards," November, 1979) that caught Ronald Reagan's eye thus launching Kirkpatrick into the national political and intellectual spotlight.

(Hat tip.)

A treatment plan for Sam McGee

Heh:

Because Mr. McGee is placing himself at risk for tissue damage by virtue of his refusal to accept a reasonable thermal environment, I recommend that he be apprehended, committed under the Mental Health Act of the Yukon Territory and conveyed to Whitehorse General Hospital for psychiatric observation. All measures should be taken to ensure he is kept warm during transport. On arrival, thyroid studies should be undertaken, the cold intolerance being suggestive of hypothyroidism. Meanwhile, sedatives may be given to assure a calm patient during his removal from the boiler and transportation to Whitehorse.

Mr Speaker, I promise to get to the bottom of it

A bit of levity in Canada's parliament:

(Hat tip.)

Sportsman of the Year: Where have you gone, Roger Federer?

Sports Illustrated has named Dwyane Wade Sportsman of the Year. He is a heck of a ballplayer who had an incredible run in the playoffs. And Sports Ill tells a touching story of Wade's overcoming boyhood adversity in the ghetto (broken family, drug-addicted mom, raised essentially by big sis, moved in with dad who wouldn't give any positive feedback) to become a superstar.

But my Sportsman of the Year is Roger Federer:

Federer's 2006 numbers are astonishing: a record of 92–5, 12 titles, three majors and the final of a fourth, his third Masters Cup, and a record $8.3 million in prize money. Federer is so far ahead in the rankings that if he decided to vacation until March, he would remain no. 1 in the world and break Jimmy Connors's record for consecutive weeks on top (160).

Also notably absent from the list of Sports Illustrated honorees since 1954 are Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Montana , arguably the best in their respective sports. (Not to mention Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.)

A video indictment of Canadian healthcare

A Short Course in Brain Surgery.

(Hat tip.)