Peace Talks . . . Not

Here we go again guys and gals. Another round of Mideast peace talks. Mideast peace. The proverbial oxymoron. Ain't gonna happen folks. Participation will happen, because now there are more parties with a vested interest. Most of them don't give a crap about Israel and the stateless palestinians. Some care about Iran and the nukes. Some worry why others might be present. Some want to fleece Israel out of some more land.

Elhud Olmert met a second time with President Bush. Obviously, he's wanting to make sure his positions are known and hopefully gain some support from the U.S. I'm sure he's aware the U.S. could cave at any time if someone perceives a chance to be a star.

But, there is more.

Iranians had made clear that they wanted their presumed allies to stay away
and were "furious" about the high Arab turnout. Some 20 Arab and Muslim
countries sent foreign ministers or other senior ministers to the gathering -
including the Saudis and, most gallingly for Teheran, Syria, which dispatched
its deputy foreign minister, Faysal Mekdad.

This could make the whole charade somewhat interesting.

Along with the Arab states, vital potential partners of the US and Israel
in the bid to thwart Iran were notably present at Annapolis, with France, Britain, Germany, Italy, China and Russia all
represented at the level of foreign minister. France and the UK are publicly
committed to stepped-up sanctions aimed at persuading Teheran to change course.

Hmmmm. France. Amazing what a few Arab immigrants will do to a country's position when it come to world affairs.

But I digress. Here's the deal. Always has been and always will be. The palestinians have only two goals in the entire process -

1. The eradication of Israel

and

2. Anything that will buy time for the accomplishment of goal number one.

This has been the publicly stated goal since at least the day Yasir Arafat came public with the position in response to some criticism for an agreement he made in his day. When all the hype starts, just keep this in mind as events unfurl.

Just a thought.

"Emeril Live" Gets Axed

Build a television network and this is what it gets you. After ten years, you're out. It reminds me of a very important lesson I learned a long long time ago - it's always about the money.

Well, actually, Emeril isn't totally out. He's still under contract to the network and will still do his other show "The Essence of Emeril" but the live show is finished. One little thing reminds us of the impact of Emeril. Just like in sports, whether it's Arnie or Jack or Magic or Kareem, no last name is necessary.

Just an observation.

Thanksgiving - Have A Great One

Last year (2006), Ol' BC posted this brief holiday wish and observation. To no one's surprise it still applies today. Governor William Bradford, who was elected chief executive of the Pilgrims' colony in the 1600's, recognized then what so many fail to see today - big socialism and communism are contrary to human nature. The colony, which set sail as a communal experiment from England, was failing and failing in big fashion. People were starving and Bradford realized the cause. He awarded each his own parcel of land in the colony and whatever he could produce was his to do with as he saw fit. No donating all the production for the "good of society." Amazingly, the lazy began to work and production and yields increased dramatically. From this abundance, Thanksgiving was born.

Have a very happy Thanksgiving holiday and remember that efforts for the "common good" failed four hundred years ago as they do today. Perhaps you could even include Governor Bradford as you give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Accuracy - To The Nth Degree

No matter what your opinion of Ann Coulter, this column absolutely rocks. Her cutting wit is much more subdued. Her outlandish rants not apparent. Her level of insight and her accuracy are amazing.

Coulter addresses the situation in Pakistan and the media coverage of it along with some historical references. To be quite blunt - she hit the nail on the head as they say. Unless one is an anti-American liberal ("progressive" to those ashamed of themselves), you'll probably just say, "yep, that's right."

Just an observation.

Lights! On In Baghdad

How did I miss this? I had the television on. Wow. Here it says that the lights are on in Baghdad.

MOST of Baghdad’s street lamps went on last week for the first time in years. It
was a small improvement in the quality of life, but in the twinkling light the
Iraqi capital looked a little less menacing and a lot more familiar.

Violence has been waning. I haven't heard much about that either.

Last spring US troops were dying at a rate of 110 a month. Last month the figure
was 38. Civilian deaths are down from 2,076 last January to 758 last month. More
than 46,000 Iraqi refugees returned to their homes during October,

Whether or not you support the war effort or even think we should have been there in the first place, one would think we might have heard something given how much "coverage" the Iraq situation receives. That is unless there really is an anti-U.S. agenda. Hmmmmm.

Just a thought.

h/t Tom Bowler

Venezuela - Are They Waking Up?

It appears some folks there are. They finally are realizing the reforms Chavez is pushing do nothing good for the citizenry. However, in Hitlery Clinton fashion, he is giving a few of the folks a couple of bucks for a little while to insure getting votes. After that, the prospects don't look too good.

The amendments would give the government control over the Central Bank, create
new types of cooperative property, allow authorities to detain citizens without
charges during a state of emergency and extend presidential terms from six to
seven years while allowing Chavez to run again in 2012.

Take a good look at Hugo's plan and try to figure how this is going to benefit anyone but Hugo. Allowing authorities to detain citizens without charges? Cooperative property? Control over the Central Bank? Looks an awfully lot like the former Soviet Union to me.

Just an observation.

Hitlery Camp Unhappy After Debate

Here it says her team is ticked off that she didn't get enough softballs during the debate. Ol' BC doesn't see what difference it makes as she doesn't answer most questions anyway.

Hillary Clinton’s top advisers charge that the presidential candidate was
unfairly targeted by moderator Tim Russert during Tuesday night’s Democratic
debate in Philadelphia.
Russert asked Clinton a number of tough questions
during the MSNBC-sponsored debate, including one on Social Security and another
on the release of documents from the Bill Clinton administration, as she sought
to fend off attacks from her Democratic rivals.

Now we can see the problem. The main stream media has been pimping Hitlery so hard that she could not imagine being asked a semi-difficult question.

At one point Russert asked Clinton: “I want to clear something up which goes to
the issue of credibility. You were asked at the AARP debate whether or not you
would consider taxing, lifting the cap from $97,500, taxing that, raising more
money for Social Security. You said, quote, ‘It's a no.’ I asked you the same
question in New Hampshire, and you said ‘no.’
“Then you went to Iowa and you
went up to Tod Bowman, a teacher, and had a conversation with him saying, ‘I
would consider lifting the cap perhaps above $200,000.’ You were overheard by an
Associated Press reporter saying that.
“Why do you have one public position
and one private position?”

Wow! Russert must have forgotten that Hitlery is the top choice of the Donks and shouldn't be asked questions that may expose her socialistic views so blatantly. (Go down a few posts and review the 6 question test as a reminder of how dangerous this woman actually is then review the post below and see examples of how her positions are failing miserably around the world.)

Just an observation.