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JANUARY 2,  2011

A PUBLIC SERVICE FOR YOU – AT 10:11 P.M. ET:  We always look for opportunities to serve our readers, and so we pass this on to you, just in case you're planning a romantic visit to Iran.  Send this to friends or relatives.  From AP:

TEHRAN, Iran -- Cupid beware: Iran says it's cracking down on the symbols of Valentine's Day.

The annual homage to romance on Feb. 14 has become popular in recent years in Iran and other places in the Middle East.

But Iran's semiofficial ILNA news agency reports Sunday that a state directive now bans any cards, gifts, teddy bears or other tokens of the day - which tradition says is named after an early Christian martyr.

The backlash in the Islamic Republic is part of a drive against the spread of Western culture.

Other Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia also have sought to stamp out Valentine's Day. But it's celebrated widely in nearby places such as Dubai.

COMMENT:  Now remember, we must be tolerant of other cultures.  I can easily understand how Valentine's Day might be considered a threat in Iran, since one never knows what subversive thoughts a Valentine's Day card might contain.  Do you know what your own children are reading?

I, for one, believe we might someday have to apologize for Valentine's Day, and all the horror it has brought to the world.  Remember the St. Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago?  That's probably what the Iranians are afraid of.  Who are we to judge?

(Anyone who believes the last two paragraphs needs help.  Call a hotline.  Any hotline.  Even the one that tells you how to match paint colors.)

January 2, 2011      Permalink

 

INTERESTING TAKE ON THE NEW CONGRESS – AT 11:20 A.M. ET:  Pelosi hands the gavel to Boehner on Wednesday.  Republicans have a number of ideas on how to govern.  They also have an interesting view on the relationship of the new Congress to the military.  From Stars and Stripes, the storied newspaper for the armed services, which I think we're quoting for the first time today:

WASHINGTON — When the new Congress is seated later this month, it will boast the largest number of Iraq War veterans ever, but will have a lower overall number of members who’ve served in the military.

Veterans groups and the new slate of lawmakers hope that the influx of younger veterans — eight House members and two Senators, all Republicans, have served in Iraq — will help bring a new perspective to the legislative session, helping keep the focus on Iraq and Afghanistan even as financial reform issues dominate the headlines.

“I think you’ll see the House Armed Services Committee become more of a war committee than it has been in the last few years,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marines in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“We need to be more focused on Iraq and Afghanistan. And we need to make the military a leaner, meaner fighting machine.”

Yes, and the old problem of a bloated Pentagon bureaucracy is rearing its head again.  We must avoid drifting in the direction of Britain, where there recently were more employees in the Ministry of Defence than there were members of the Royal Air Force.

Hunter and Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman are the only two returning Iraq veterans in the House, but they’ll be joined by six freshman lawmakers with current war experience, including three who’ve been appointed to the House Armed Services Committee.

“If you’ve been in the military, you can take policy proposals and think about how that change is going to play out, not from an academic standpoint but from an experience standpoint,” said Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., one of those three newcomers and a major in the Army Reserve.

COMMENT:  Good common sense.  Each succeeding Congress has fewer and fewer members who've served in the military.  And that adds to the disconnect between the armed forces and the civilian population.  It appears that the GOP will make the most of the experience of those who've served, a sharp contrast to the Dems, who never seemed to give the matter much attention.

January 2, 2011      Permalink

 

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:

From London's Telegraph:  A MUSLIM claims to have found a message from God – in a tomato.  Salman Gul discovered the apparent Arabic words as he munched on a roll bought from Subway in Normanton Road, Derby.  When a slice of tomato fell out he saw what appeared to be the message "Muhammad is God's Messenger" formed in Arabic text by the tomato's veins.

Look, we don't question religious beliefs here, and we respect the man's devotion.  But somehow I don't see Subway as quite on the level of Fatima, Mecca, or the Wailing Wall.  I mean, will there be pilgrimages?  How does Subway explain this in New York?

January 2, 2011       Permalink

 

WHY DO I HAVE TO READ THIS IN THE TIMES OF INDIA? – AT 10:35 A.M. ET:  Because I haven't found it anywhere in our mainstream media.  So, from The Times of India:

WASHINGTON: Indian-origin Louisiana leader Bobby Jindal is the most popular serving governor in the United States, an opinion poll has said.

Jindal has an approval rating of 58 per cent approval rating, along with 34 per cent disapproving of his job, shows a survey by Public Policy Polling.

One of the top ranking Republican leaders of the country, Jindal is seeking re-election next year.

Jindal is closely followed by Jodi Rell of Connecticut, who has an approval rating of 55 per cent.

California's Arnold Schwarzenegger is the least popular Governor in the country with an approval rating of just 25 per cent.

COMMENT:  Jindal has been a fine governor, and handled the BP oil spill with intelligence and ability, unlike the Obama administration, which didn't handle it at all.

However, Jindal's presidential star has dimmed somewhat, possibly because of a speaking style that's a bit rushed and "unpresidential."  Too bad.  I think he could do the job very well, and far outdistance the incumbent.

January 2, 2011       Permalink

 

THIS DAY – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  This is an important day in our holiday season, marked on calendars all over the nation as TDTRGH...The Day the Relatives Go Home.  Tomorrow brings the serenity of quietude.

But there's time for one last toast – to Texas Christian University for winning the Rose Bowl, showing that a small school can do it, and deserves to be counted in the big leagues.  I had a slight leaning for Wisconsin, since half the population of New York State attends the University of Wisconsin, but I take pleasure in TCU's victory.

Of course, I do remember, if only via history books, when our Columbia University, dear to our family's heart, played in the Rose Bowl, and won – in 1934.  Okay, that was only 77 years ago, and my parents weren't even married.  But Columbia did win, under legendary coach Lou Little.  Then Columbia turned left, and football become a secondary sport, losing out to campus riots. 

My daughter was a Columbia football cheerleader.  I'll ask her if she recalls any victories.  If I remember correctly, all the players were under 5'6" and wanted to be entertainment lawyers. 

But three cheers to TCU.

January 2, 2011     Permalink 

 

 

 

 

JANUARY 1,  2011

SPEAKING OF AULD LANG SYNE – AT 10:19 P.M. ET:  We noted the death of Kodachrome a few days ago.  We note now another passing.  RIP.  From The Detroit News:

As of today, the Mercury name disappears from dealerships, marking the end of a once-heralded brand that was a step up from Ford, the everyday people's car.

Today, few recall that Mercury once was beloved as a stylish and powerful ride. It had roles in movies ranging from "Rebel Without a Cause" (James Dean was behind the wheel of a customized 1949 Mercury) to "On His Majesty's Secret Service," in which James Bond's love interest drove a souped-up red 1969 Cougar XR-7 known as the Eliminator.

Their fans aside, recent Mercurys weren't different enough from Ford to attract auto buyers in sufficient numbers, experts say.

"Mercury has been a redundant brand for Ford for at least the last five years, if not longer," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insight for the auto research website TrueCar.com. "For the most part, they were just cosmetically enhanced Fords."

That is the fault of bad, uninspired management.  Ford, however, in the last few years, seems to have snapped back, but too late to save Mercury.

Mercury was designed to be an automobile "for the aspirational class," Toprak said, "for those who couldn't quite afford a Lincoln but wanted something more distinctive than a Ford. But that strategy didn't stick."

Through November, 84,802 Mercurys were sold, a 57 percent decline from the 195,949 sold just five years before, according to TrueCar.com figures. And 2010 Mercury sales represented less than 5 percent of Ford's total sales of 1.7 million, TrueCar.com said.

Ford was candid about Mercury's declining appeal in June, when it said it would eliminate the line. "Mercury's customer profile, pricing and margins are almost identical to Ford," the company said in a statement.

COMMENT:  Same old Detroit story.  Had they worked on producing a superb product, this wouldn't have happened. 

Back in the 1970s, a polling firm asked American and German car executives what they did.  The American executives would generally answer, "We sell cars."  The German executives would answer, "We make cars."  That's the difference.

There are some fine American cars coming off the assembly lines today.  But I wonder if our industry can ever regain the lustre it worked so hard to lose.

January 1, 2011       Permalink

 

A WOMAN TO WATCH – AT 11:52 A.M. ET:  Her name is Susana Martinez, and she's the new governor of New Mexico...and she's a Republican.  From The Los Angeles Times:

When she takes the oath of office Saturday morning in Santa Fe's historic plaza, Susana Martinez will become New Mexico's — and the nation's — first elected Latina governor.

The 51-year-old, four-term Doña Ana County district attorney is also a rising star in national Republican circles, already being mentioned in the blogosphere as a potential vice presidential candidate in 2012.

But as she takes over from Bill Richardson — a termed-out Democrat whose final two years in office were clouded by federal investigations into pay-for-play allegations — Martinez faces stiff challenges as New Mexico deals with a high unemployment rate and a hefty budget deficit.

"We have to start cutting back on the wasteful spending," Martinez said in a telephone interview last week as she drove to her hometown of Las Cruces. She wants to sell the state's $5.5-million jet, pare administrative costs in the education budget and put the state's generous film industry incentives under the microscope.

Martinez is also considering scaling back the Rail Runner Express commuter train service and is looking to privatize operations at Spaceport America, where Virgin Galactic soon hopes to launch suborbital space flights. She has also promised to reverse a policy of issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants and to fight for reinstatement of the death penalty.

Each of these proposals could be seen as a repudiation of Richardson and his expansive approach to state government. "We're asking people to cut back and not spend as much, but government has not been able to do that," Martinez said.

COMMENT:  Watch her, and also watch Marco Rubio, the new, dynamic Republican senator from Florida, and a Cuban-American.  There is absolutely no reason why the Republican Party should concede the Hispanic vote to Democrats, who've never delivered much of anything to the Hispanic community anyway. 

If Republicans can make inroads into the Hispanic community, it could change the face of American politics.  Both Martinez and Rubio are representative of a new Republican effort to show minority voters that the GOP can deliver.  Now deliver. 

January 1, 2011       Permalink

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:25 A.M. ET:  From Albert Einstein:

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

Something to think about.  How many of us have seen the truth of Einstein's observation?

January 1, 2011      Permalink

 

ALREADY – AT 11:06 A.M. ET:  We got through the holiday in America without an attempted terrorist attack, and again we're reminded of those who stand guard.  Sadly, Egypt wasn't that lucky.  The new year was welcomed in a most unfriendly way.  From AP:

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — A powerful bomb exploded in front of a crowded Coptic Christian church a half hour into the New Year early Saturday, hitting worshipers emerging from a holiday Mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria and killing at least 21 people in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak vowed to track down those behind the attack, saying "we will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."

"This terrorist act has shaken the conscience of the nation," he said in a statement, adding that "all Egypt was targeted, and terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim."

Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed car parked outside the Saints Church. But the Interior Ministry later said it was more likely from a suicide bomber on foot.

Both tactics are hallmarks of al-Qaida militants, and the blast came as the terror network's branch in Iraq has waged a campaign of violence against that country's Christian community and raised the threat of similar attacks in Egypt.

COMMENT:  When will we ever learn?  When will the "intellectuals," "scholars" and "journalists" learn that al-Qaida represents an ideology, a world view.  Its actions are not simply a reaction to "American policies" or "the plight of the Palestinians." 

Muslim extremists want to wipe out Christianity and Judaism.  They make that clear, but too many won't listen.  The assault on Christianity in progress in Iraq is deeply disturbing, and makes a mockery of our sacrifice there.  Now, apparently, the campaign has spread to Egypt. 

January 1, 2011       Permalink

 

 

THE NEW YEAR – AT 10:36 A.M. ET:  Do I assume correctly that the new year is already here? 

Many people who are not writers don't realize that, in the writing business, we often lose complete track of time.  There are no real weekends and no real holidays.  However, I am convinced by objective and subjective evidence that this really is January 1, 2011.  If I'm wrong, e-mail me.  I've been wrong before.  Happy Valentine's Day.

And how does the year begin?   Well, for us it will really begin on Monday when the new Congress is sworn in.  President Obama said yesterday that he's willing to take any idea from any source, as long as it's good.  He also said that Democrats and Republicans need to work together. 

What a concept!

Maybe, as the White House reviews the numbers in the new Congress, the reality is setting in:  The president did take a shellacking on election day, and the lame-duck session of Congress didn't change that.

A few statistics:

The old Congress, now history:

House of Representatives:  Democrats, 255; Republicans, 179; vacant, 1; non-voting members, 6.

Senate: Democrats, 56;  Republicans, 42; Independents, 2.

The new Congress, about to be sworn in:

House of Representatives:  Democrats, 193; Republicans, 242; non-voting members, 6.

Senate:  Democrats, 51; Republicans, 47, Independents, 2. 

Ah, yes, happy new year. 

January 1, 2011     Permalink