Inaugural: Jed Babbin

--snips

The President said that evil is real, but courage triumphs. He said that there is no justice without freedom, and no human rights without liberty. His message to all the world was, "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you." President Bush is a war president, and the war will go on in places where it must. To those whom we may yet have to fight, the President sent Lincoln's message: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it." At the lunch following the ceremony, the President said he looked forward to putting his heart and soul into the job ahead. But now that the election's over, the Dems have abandoned their pretense and the game is afoot. What political evil lurks? Fear not, hearts of oak. As the President dedicates his heart and soul, his opponents have lost their minds.


AND SOME HAVE LITTLE in that department to lose. She just can't help herself. She shed a tear when her motion to block the electoral vote count didn't even get Teddy's vote. Sen. Barbara Boxer (Embarrassment-CA) once again entered the battle of wits only half-armed. Her opponent, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, made short work of Boxer's lament on Rice's honor. Boxer -- and the only other senator to vote against Rice's nomination in committee, Vichy John Kerry -- look like they're still in shock. They, and the rest of the lib community, are hanging grimly on to the last fraying thread connecting them to reality. But Boxer -- having been reelected by such a large margin her seat is thought safe (shame on you, California) -- is now the whacko libs' lead attack dog. We will see and hear more and more of her. At least until she has a few synapse shortfalls on the Sunday morning talk shows.

...
THERE'S NO OTHER word for it. Even the Corleone family would draw the line at this one. On December 26, Thailand was one of the nations struck by the enormous tsunami, and has suffered tens of thousands of casualties. Five days later, according to the UK's Scotsman newspaper, "tsunami-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry….[T]rade authorities in Brussels are demanding that Thai Airlines, its national carrier, pay £1.3 billion to buy its double-decker aircraft." The A380, of course, is the pride of Old Europe: the new super jumbo jet just announced by Airbus. The EU always insists that its below-market rate loans and grants to Airbus aren't subsidies. I'm really not current enough on that part of international law. Is blackmail a subsidy?

--end snips