It's STILL Freezing...

Via Lileks (and he’s NOT making this up): pictures of Soviet Roadside Bus Shelters. Interesting. Bizarre. Quirky. Add your own adjective. But the pics are quite interesting, if you’re into unusual things (and I am).

Gerard has a (relatively) new post up about the differences between “us” and “them.”

I'd also bet that the reader comes to The Prince, as we have here, after mistakes have been made, and sees it much as we see things in our rear view mirrors. Especially that one on the right which always reminds us that "Objects In Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear."

Of course, the crux of our entire consuming argument over Terrorist War I is exactly how close those objects in our rear view mirror are, or if they are even there to begin with.

The Right would argue that these Objects are indeed right behind the car and will either follow us home if we don't kill them now or that, indeed, they are already home and waiting for us in the garage and crawl space.

The Left would argue that those Objects might have been tailgating us a couple of years ago but only because we cut them off on the freeway of life. They're really not there anymore, and if we just drive home and park and live quietly and on our own, they won't be doing any drive-bys with airplanes, nail bombs in shopping malls, or a low yield thermonuclear weapon at the next 4th of July picnic in San Diego. Just leave them alone and they'll go home wagging their turbans behind them. And besides, we started it because, well, we start everything, and get those ice-caps under control already, China's got nothing to do with it....

Well, as Ronald Reagan put it when dealing with the Soviet Union and arms-control, "You trust your mother, but you cut the cards."

As always in these times, both the Right and the Left are wrong, have been wrong for quite some time, and will continue in their error since the object of their policies is neither victory abroad or security at home, but the mere destruction of the other in political terms. It is a small and ignoble goal, but it seems to be all our pundits and politicians are capable of at this time. The times demand heros and giants but we are only seeing pygmies and cardboard figures. This is likely to continue until some deeper shock wakes us from out sleep.

Interesting premise, that…both Left and Right are wrong. There’s truth in Gerard’s assertion, especially where our illustrious congresscritters on the Right are concerned. Even Heather Wilson (R-NM) has questioned Dubya’s “surge,” and I never thought I’d see that. It’s amazing what a near-run election will do to one’s principles. But I digress, as is my wont.

Gerard goes on to make some very good points beyond the fact our politicians are simply posturing, rather than working for the common good. Recommended.

Two more Saddamites meet their fate on the gallows…al-Reuters reports:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two of Saddam Hussein's aides were hanged before dawn on Monday, the Iraqi government said, admitting that the head of his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was also ripped from his body during the execution.

On the defensive after international uproar over sectarian taunts during the illicitly filmed hanging of the ousted president two weeks ago, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted there was "no violation of procedure" during the executions of Barzan and former judge Awad Hamed al-Bander.

[…]

Barzan was a feared figure in Iraq at the head of the intelligence service in the 1980s, at a time when the Shi'ite majority was harshly oppressed, some like those from Dujail due to suspected links to Shi'ite Iran, then at war with Iraq.

Bander presided over the Revolutionary Court which sentenced 148 Shi'ite men and youths to death after an assassination attempt on Saddam in the town in 1982. With Saddam, they were convicted on November 5 and their appeals rejected on December 26.

The article also quotes an Iraqi official as saying the hanging was a “blessing,” and that the men should have been turned over to the people. That would have made Mussolini’s fate look like a tea party.

No one does snark like Steyn does snark…and he’s in top form with “Pelosi a rare example of a woman who 'has it all'” He opens with:

Can you guess which grandma it was, boys and girls? Yes, it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has single-handedly, as she put it, ''shattered the marble ceiling.'' And she's right: From CNN to the New York Times, the entire press corps has lost its marbles. Grandma Smith Goes to Washington is the hit of the planet. At a time when most grandmothers are reduced to eating dog food because the Bush administration refuses to let them bulk-order prescription drugs from Saskatchewan or, even more horrifying, reduced to watching Robert Goulet in dinner theater night after night in Florida, Gran'ma Pelosi has single-handedly shattered the dinner-theater ceiling and/or dog-kennel ceiling.

And gets better (or worse, depending on your POV) from there. No profundities or redeeming social value here, folks. Just good ol’ fashioned, entertaining snark. I love it.

Today’s Pic: “You can’t see the forest for the trees…” Interesting (well, to me, anyway) study of frost-encrusted branches, with more frost/ice in the background. As always, click for larger... 01/13/2007.

And now it’s off to Wally-World in the single-digit wind chill. I’ve had enough of camping out—I will have water in an hour or two. Three days of bathing in the sink has grown old, old, old…I want a shower!