75 Comments

1. richard mcenroe:

If by “gormless Hollywood actor” they mean Ronald Reagan (you know, the man they lived in abject terror of because he insisted on, oh, changing the world) then they can just hold their snooty brit noses and kiss my robust American ass.

Can they get any more condescending? “Oh, well, ending the threat of global nuclear war, I suppose that’s okay after all… toppling murderous theocrats, yes, I suppose that could work out, somehow…”

Jan 1, 2005 - 1:01 pm 2. chuck:

Richard,

I think they were stating the European view, not their own. Maybe they should have put it in quotes.

Jan 1, 2005 - 1:29 pm 3. RiverRat:

Roger,

It turns out via Webster Unabridged that gormless is a variant of gaumless.

Main Entry: gaum?less Pronunciation Guide

Pronunciation: -ls

Function: adjective

Etymology: 1gaum + -less

dialect : lacking comprehension or awareness : dull and stupid

Citation format for this entry:

“gaumless.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (1 Jan. 2005).

Now you have two new words for the New Year.

You may also want to add this to your vocabulary for dealing with the Michael Moore-ons of the world.

Main Entry: gaum Pronunciation Guide

Pronunciation: ”

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): -s

dialect : an awkward lout : a stupid doltish person : CLOWN

Citation format for this entry:

“gaum.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (1 Jan. 2005).

Cheers!

Jan 1, 2005 - 2:10 pm 4. scaramouoche:

I love the adjective “gormless”. For me, it ranks right up there with “feckless”.

As for “Old Europe” making a marked and sudden transformation: would that it were so. According to Islam scholar, Bat Ye-or, Old Europe has been seconded by Old Islam. Her book, Eurabia, to be released this month, details the alliance–a cautionary tale if we in North America hope to avoid a similar fate.

Jan 1, 2005 - 2:31 pm 5. Knucklehead:

I admit I’m a Word of the Day fan and a big kick out of interesting words, but in the case of Hollywood actors, why bother with gormless when plain ol’ dull and stupid are so efficiently apropos?

Jan 1, 2005 - 2:38 pm 6. Caroline:

Whether or not it would affect the top European leadership attitudes towards the US, I will be very curious to see how the upcoming Bat Ye’or book “Eurabia – The Euro-Arab Axis”, affects the attitudes of the average European towards the US (and Bush).

One article about the new book already appeared at frontpagemag this week:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16493

From my admittedly limited understanding, Bat Ye’or describes a very conscious top-down policy to align Europe with Arab interests, resulting in what she calls “Palestinianism” that pervades not only policy but the press as well, and also of course massive immigration etc. but I also get the impression that the average European has been extremely ignorant of what has taken place in Europe over the past 30 years. I can’t help but think that this book may explode in Europe and possibly result in a whole new understanding of the US on the part of the European street. I mentioned her ideas to a close New Yorker friend who gets a steady diet of only the NY Times and he said she was obviously a complete nut job. Anyway, this is one transatlantic conversation I will be tracking very closely!

Jan 1, 2005 - 2:42 pm 7. Caroline:

Wow – another accidental link. Its very odd but this is the only website I know that creates an automatic link when I copy and past the URL!

Jan 1, 2005 - 2:45 pm 8. PeterUK:

Here in North of England gormless is used as an adjective as well,as in

“Tha’s a gormless git”

Jan 1, 2005 - 3:05 pm 9. chuck:

Whether or not it would affect the top European leadership attitudes towards the US, I will be very curious to see how the upcoming Bat Ye’or book “Eurabia – The Euro-Arab Axis”, affects the attitudes of the average European towards the US (and Bush).

I am beginning to wonder how the tsunami will affect Muslim attitudes. Not for the best, perhaps. Link.

Jan 1, 2005 - 3:17 pm 10. RattlerGator:

I think I’m with Richard. Here are the two sentences that caught my attention and seem to buttress Richard’s point (I think):

In short, Europeans are getting used to the idea that it is not Bush who is the exception, but the U.S. itself that is exceptional ó and that if they want to deal with this exceptional superpower they need to humor it rather than rile it. Strangely enough, this has been Tony Blair’s strategy all along; it is rapidly becoming the Continent’s strategy, too.

Now, at the very least they are indicating that Tony Blair, their Prime Minister, embraced the “humor rather than rile” attitude — but it seems to this American that the author’s provided a window into their thinking as well, and, by extension, that of the British business class.

Jan 1, 2005 - 3:20 pm 11. richard mcenroe:

rattergator ó I also liked “These worries are magnified by the growing influence of the eight new members of the European Union from Central Europe, all of which are instinctively much more anti-Russian (and pro-American).” Because, of course, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, the Czechs, etc., certainly have no real life experience to draw on in this regard…

and ó “European leaders also claim that the White House is reconsidering them, particularly in the light of the Iraqi quagmire. They point to the relatively warm response from Washington to the EU’s attempts to negotiate with Iran (something Bush might well have previously dismissed as pointless).” Ah, the quagmire again… and you remember how Bush didn’t give the Europeans and the UN any time at all before we went into Iraq, right?

Jan 1, 2005 - 3:57 pm 12. Terrye:

I think the most significant aspect of the European personality is vanity. When Van Gogh died they found out the hard way that Muslim terrorists are not impressed… not with their culture, their art, their wit, their breeding or their empty pretty churches.

I think they should all reread Frankenstein, look to the ghettos of unassimilated and disenfranchized young men and say “It’s alive”.

As for a change in attitude toward America they have come to realize that they are stuck with Bush and he really doesn’t give a dams what they think, but at least he won’t send young men out to kill them.

Jan 1, 2005 - 4:03 pm 13. Terrye:

But I am not sure how worried they are about Russia. When the Soviets were threatening to turn them into rubble, they still pandered to them.

Jan 1, 2005 - 4:05 pm 14. Kevin P:

Roger:

I doubt that the bulk of the European ruling class’s superior and condescending attitude towards the US will change. They know they have to put up with Bush for 4 years so they might hide their snide feelings for awhile but in their secret hearts they still regard us a ignorant bumpkins. Witness Clare Shorts bleating about us undermining the UN with our unilateral(although since Japan, India, and Australia are in with us I guess there is a new definition of uni), aid plan for the SE Asia. If it wasn’t for the emerging democracies in eastern europe and our friends in the UK I would say let the slumbering Russian Bear and the Islamo fascists have at them.

Jan 1, 2005 - 4:28 pm 15. David Thomson:

We should neither trust nor wait for the Old Europeans people to get their acts together. These people are the victims of their own created socialist policies. They are lazy, envious, and content to simply mooch off the United States—especially when it comes to military matters. The recent Islamic nihilist murders are unlikely enough to compel them to face reality. Never forget the proverbial frog who remained unaware that he is slowly being boiled to death. The Old Europeans are also similar to a person who eats like a pig and now weighs seven hundred pounds. It is obvious that this individual needs to radically change their lifestyle. Yet, will they? Some people prefer to continue to embrace a defeatist attitude.

If would be nice, I concede, if some of the Old Europeans might opt to get on the bandwagon. But we cannot afford to patiently wait for this to occur. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. This must be our message to our own national Democratic Party and their close cousins in Europe.

Jan 1, 2005 - 5:19 pm 16. PeterUK:

Clare Short was a left wing firebrand who sold out to Blair but still ended up out of office.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3488642.stm

She has therefore got to make regain credibility wth the grass roots of the Labour Party,which is considerably further left than the American Democratic Party.Thus the traditional America beating,no point in worrying they hate you as much as the Islamists do.

Terrye,we probably could not use your Frankenstein analogy since the late departed David Blunkett brought out his new hate speech laws http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3871867.stm

I think somewhere in the bowels of Whitehall there is a report laying out the inevitability of mass immigration and the need for managed decline.Our civil servants are very good at managed decline,but it has not entered anyones head that if the natives do become a minority their services will no longer be required.

Jan 1, 2005 - 5:31 pm 17. Catherine:

I had the same reaction Roger did to gormless—-

WOW!

Gormless!

I’m writing that down!

I’ve just lately realized that the Brits are to insults what the French are to clothes. Peerless. (Rhymes with gormless!)

Mickelthwait & Wooldridge are favorites of mine. They’re the authors of The Right Nation, which was pure pleasure to read, and turned out to be right to boot.

Their thesis was that America is a conservative country, and would continue to be a conservative country regardless of whether Bush won or lost. They were clearly expecting him to win.

Shortly after the book came out, IRRC, Bush’s numbers tanked & the Charlie Cook’s of the world were saying it was “Kerry’s race to lose.”

But W&M stuck to their guns.

They’re almost uniformly non-snooty, and are frank Americaphiles (is that the word?) who obviously envy the U.S. her thriving community of conservatives & conservatism, though they don’t say so outright.

A terrific book.

Also like Roger, I was struck by the observation that Russia may be staging a comeback as the glue that holds the Atlantic relationship together.

Personally, I’m not going to gainsay them on this. They’re from England, I’m not; they’re closer to the action. The fact that Niall Fergusson has just published a long op-ed likening Russia to the Weimar Republic seems to me evidence for M&W’s observation . . .

I’m thinking that at a bare minimum Putin’s actions may be jogging some memories.

He has certainly been jogging my own memory of late.

About a year ago my neighbor said to me, “Who would ever have thought we’d miss the Cold War?”

I thought that a sage & poignant observation at the time. It never occurred to me that we could have the Cold War, or something like it, and the WOT.

Which just goes to show I still have not learned my lesson about the Absence Of Limits when it comes to bad news.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1594200203/qid=1104629780/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-6202570-6122539?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Jan 1, 2005 - 5:43 pm 18. Catherine:

the need for managed decline

LOL!

Has everyone seen Ian Buruma’s essay about Holland in THE NEW YORKER??

He’s from Holland himself.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050103fa_fact1

The situation there is more complex than I had first read: there is a group of assimilated Muslims as well as a group of unassimilated Muslims.

There’s also an article on the DSM.

What was that great insult Andrew Sullivan used to always apply to people????

It wasn’t gormless.

Jan 1, 2005 - 5:50 pm 19. Brian Foster:

Confession: When I read the ‘gormless’ bit, I didn’t think of Reagan. My immediate thought was, “When did Ben Affleck hork off the Europeans?”

Jan 1, 2005 - 6:06 pm 20. richard mcenroe:

In any case, Reagan may or may not have been gormless, but he certainly had plenty of bottle.

Jan 1, 2005 - 6:29 pm 21. Steve J.:

LEST WE FORGET:

The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.

Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, “homeless by choice,” Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, “constructive engagement” with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy’s astrologer.

Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig “in control,” silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, “mistakes were made.”

Michael Deaver’s conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger’s conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger’s five-count indictment, Ed Meese (”You don’t have many suspects who are innocent of a crime”), Donald Regan (women don’t “understand throw-weights”), education cuts, massacres in El Salvador.

“The bombing begins in five minutes,” $640 Pentagon toilet seats, African- American judicial appointees (1.9 percent), Reader’s Digest, C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians killed), 200 officials accused of wrongdoing, William Casey, Iran/contra.

“Facts are stupid things,” three-by-five cards, the MX missile, Bitburg, S.D.I., Robert Bork, naps, Teflon.

66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport

by DAVID CORN

The Nation Posted June 7, 2004

Jan 1, 2005 - 6:58 pm 22. SmallishBees:

I recently Googled the phrase “gormless twit” (don’t ask why) and came upon this rant: http://www.parentingbanter.com/showthread.php?t=21511. I have no idea what the topic was originally about, but I had a lot of fun wading through thigh-high streams of abuse. Just glad it wasn’t directed at me, that’s all.

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:05 pm 23. chuck:

Stevie, did you have something to say? If you just need to vomit the alley is thattaway ->

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:05 pm 24. chuck:

SmallishBees:

Wow, it’s good to know there was more to Xena then just leather.

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:11 pm 25. Caroline:

“If you just need to vomit the alley is thattaway ->”

Oh yeah – I know that alley. Downtown Rehobeth beach if I recall!

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:12 pm 26. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

Ah, the left… can’t let a dead Reagan alone.

I’ll make a smaller list, because the big one is so silly (especially since many of the listed things are trivia and others are good things Reagan did).

Destroy the evil empire.

Create the greatest economic growth in history.

Conquer Carter’s inflation.

Lower taxes.

Achieve a major reduction in strategic nuclear weapons.

Greatly reduce the threat to Europe by putting in the Pershing missiles no matter how much nonsense the left threw at him.

Stopped communism in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Bombed Khadaffi.

Not a bad record.

By the way, when will the Democrats realize that the big second term scandal is that we are supporting opium exporting Afghans. Frankly, I don’

t care, because it’s the right choice. But wait for the scandal machines to create some silly conspiracy similar to the Contras-Cocaine nonsense.

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:15 pm 27. Kevin P:

Catherine:

I think the “New Yorker” points out the disastrous results of the multi-culti ethic. We have always had more severe or orthodox religions in our country but there has always been the assumption that certain aspects of these societies had customs that when they butted up against the traditional customs of America their view had to adjust. The Amish, Hasidic Jews, and others were able to practice their faiths but they knew they had a certain outsider status and when they went into the general community they were going to see things that they would never want inside their own communities. They were free to act as they wished within certain limits. And the general community respected thier rights to live as they wish but there was no question of allowing the more radical tenets of their practices.

That meant if they had special diets, they provided the food, that they could educate their children the way they wanted but they had to include non- religous studies that met our standards. And , for example, when the Mormon state of Utah wanted to join the Union they had to give up multiple marriages. This practice provided maximum freedom and created the theory of one out of many. It allowed someone to be Amish and American at the same time.

The multi culture practice that says every culture is equally good and all their practices have to be understood and pampered breeds resentment when the cultures clash. So now some arab women demand the right to have ID with their veils on, no doubt soon someone will want to marry off their 12 year old daughter. And since we have no right to say anything bad about other customs no doubt their will be some immigrant community eventually demanded the right to perform female circumcision on their daughters. After all, it is a practice intergral to their customs and has been practiced for centuries. What right do we racist europeans have to condemn it.

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:15 pm 28. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

Oh, and whoever made up that list of 66 items was thoroughly gormless.

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:16 pm 29. Anthony Ragan:

The authors also wrote The Right Nation: conservative power in America*, which is on my near-term to-read list. From what I’ve heard from others, it’s an unusually fair assessment of American politics through the eyes of outsiders. Not DeTocqueville, but still worth reading.

*(isbn 1-59420-020-3)

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:54 pm 30. Kevin P:

John:

Stevie’s little rant reminded me of my rabid Reagan hating days. Since I was once just like him I can tell you that nothing made him crazier then the outpouring of love and affection that occured when President Reagan died. I still have my dog eared paperback copy of the Tower Commision report to remind me of what out of control drooling hatred can do to the mind. And when great men like Havel and Sharansky state what a great man Reagan was it tears them up even more. It is hard to ignore the accomplishments of these two Giants and when these midgets look at their own lives and compare themselves to the men who stood up to the EVIL EMPIRE and they realize that their little list will be ignored when history is written and that your list will be what is recorded they go insane. When they note that Havel is a hero of his country and Danny Ortega can’t get elected dog catcher in a democratic Nicaragua it is hard to take.

Jan 1, 2005 - 7:56 pm 31. Terrye:

Steve:

Once upon a time I could not stand Reagan. Just the sight of the man drove me crazy.

I was wrong.

He was right about a lot of things.

I was farming and blamed him for the farm crisis. I did my best to help the Democrats get back in and guess what? The family farm still died, even with Democrats in office. The only difference was the Republicans did not lie to us, the Democrats did.

So grow up sweetie.

Jan 1, 2005 - 8:29 pm 32. lindenen:

Unfortunately for Steve J, even Princeton University believes that trees pollute.

Jan 1, 2005 - 8:32 pm 33. Terrye:

Catherine:

I read something on powerline about Fred Kaplan’s assertions that America is in decline and the Europeans are in ascendency. It seems there are several books coming out on this.

One of the issues is the dollar, but there is more. Like leisure time etc.

Do you think there is any truth to this? I realize that there is good and bad to the falling dollar and I also realize that we need to deal with the twin deficits in the next few years, but it seems to me that any contention that Europe could outpace us is rather optimistic.

One thing is for sure, if that is true I suggest they dig deep and pay for their own defence.

Jan 1, 2005 - 8:33 pm 34. chuck:

Terrye,

My experience is that no one goes anywhere if they don’t work. Personally, I would like to see Europe recover some of the spirit they had 100 years ago, but I don’t think they are headed that way. I have met some ambitious and hard working Europeans here; they are here precisely because they felt no scope at home. So no, I don’t think Europe is going anywhere short term. Hell, Taiwan and Korea are more important to the modern economy and doing more cutting edge stuff. IMHO, the pacific rim is the new Mediterranean, the core of the new global civilization.

I don’t know what the falling dollar portends, and I wish somebody without an axe to grind would address the question. They probably won’t get it right, but it would be nice to know who the cast is before the play starts.

Jan 1, 2005 - 8:48 pm 35. maryatexitzero:

SmallishBees – thanks for the link. That was the best wild-eyed, spittle-flecked diatribe I’ve read in a while.

It’s odd that this outburst of pure, uncensored rage was published on a site called ‘Parenting Banter’.

Jan 1, 2005 - 8:53 pm 36. Terrye:

chuck:

To be truthful it seems to me that the country most likely to challenge American supremacy is China. They don’t give a rat’s ass about Kyoto and if some earth firsters start rioting there they will kill them just like they kill the jihadis who raise their heads. Western liberalism is not an issue there, the Europeans can whine all they want.

And as for the predictions of the Europhiles, it should be remembered that not so long ago it was Japan that was going to clean our clock. They can talk aobut nationalized medicine all they want but when 15,000 old folks can die in a heat wave in a socialist country I would say that those are third world numbers and something must be amiss. If something like that happened here, heads would roll.

I remember years ago we had the same problem with the dollar in regards to the Deutsch Mark and the Japanese yen. The dollar has been too strong for too long, but I am not sure how far down you want it to go. If the oil people decide to use euros instead of dollars I would think that would lead to inflation.

But what do I know? I have heard that the Europeans are after Bush to try and get the dollar down, so maybe he is messing with them. That French wine is even more expenseive than usual.

Jan 1, 2005 - 9:01 pm 37. Terrye:

smallish bees:

All I can say is thank God I ain’t Bob.

Jan 1, 2005 - 9:04 pm 38. chuck:

Terrye:

Bob didn’t seem much perturbed (scroll down). I was thinking: thank God I don’t know this woman. Gotta worry about someone with the moniker Warrior Princess.

Jan 1, 2005 - 9:13 pm 39. Kevin P:

Roger:

Imagine if Warrior Princess and Stevie J. found each other and had children!

Jan 1, 2005 - 9:26 pm 40. SmallishBees:

And another great example of a writer who knows how to use “gormless” in a sentence: the inimitable Mark Steyn.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004441

I know it’s vintage, but it’s kind of nice to remember how close we came to that might-have-been. Enjoy!

Jan 1, 2005 - 9:45 pm 41. Charlie (Colorado):

You have shown yourself to be an apogamous, bovaristic, coprolalial, dasypygal, excerebro, facinorous, gnathonic, hircine, ityphallic, jumentous, kyphotic, labrose, mephitic, napiform, oligophrenial, papuliferous, quisquilian, rebarbative, saponaceous, thersitical, unguinous, ventripotent, wlatsome, xylocephaloous, yirningzoophyte.

You’ve just got to admire a sentence like that.

By the way, has anyone ever gotten any clue why it is that the usual trollery consists of cut&paste of something someone else wrote?

Do you suppose they’re Google-ing for words like “Reagan” and just jumping around ctrl-V’ing the little things?

Jan 1, 2005 - 10:03 pm 42. richard mcenroe:

The up-and-down dollar is a cyclical thing; it will come back, both because this is a robust economy and a HUGE market (past a certain point, it’s in no one’s interest to let the dollar fall too far because then we don’t buy their imports) and because in the end the dollar and the United States still represent a kind of long-term security that Europe with its current social situations doesn’t really offer.

Jan 1, 2005 - 10:07 pm 43. richard mcenroe:

Actually, if we want to be devious, we should think perhaps about buying dollars back while they’re low…

Jan 1, 2005 - 10:08 pm 44. chuck:

Charlie(C)

By the way, has anyone ever gotten any clue why it is that the usual trollery consists of cut&paste of something someone else wrote?

I have the sense they’re quoting scripture. Rather pathetic religion, actually.

Jan 1, 2005 - 10:10 pm 45. Terrye:

richard:

I wonder if Soros is messing with the dollar too. I hear he wreaked havoc with the British currency. gormless prig.

But you are right about the economy. One thing about it, if we go we take a bunch of people with us.

I am just a working stiff and won’t ever be rich but I still don’t want to live in some nanny state like the Europeans.

Of course who knows someday when I am old and a burden to myself and others I might feel differently.

And we do need to deal with the health care thing, it is way too expensive.

Jan 1, 2005 - 10:30 pm 46. Ric Locke:

I have the sense they’re quoting scripture. Rather pathetic religion, actually.

Yes. I’m an old-time white Southerner from the country, and I always sort of wondered why it was that lefty ranters didn’t bother me. Oh, I argue with them, but they don’t hit me where I live. Finally I figured it out.

Kapital-thumpers. Fundamentalist, Two-seed-in-the-spirit Predestinarian Marxists denouncing Sin and Backsliding, and warning against being hypnotized by the World instead of concentrating on the Paradise to Come. Once you adjust to the change in vocabulary, it’s really rather comforting to someone of my cultural background.

Regards,

Ric Locke

Jan 1, 2005 - 10:46 pm 47. Jim Rockford:

Why do the Europeans have such a dislike for Americans, particularly conservative Republican Americans, like Reagan?

I remember watching a tape of La Dolca Vita shortly after Marcello Mastroianni died, there’s a scene where a family friend of Marcello’s character reads a poem he wrote and plays a record, followed by silence … it’s about Nuclear War and the silence afterwards. Later the guy kills his family and commits suicide; thinking Nuclear War is on the horizon. This was a film from 1960, but I think it explains a lot.

From the European perspective, they gave up a lot of control over their own fates, and the risk of nuclear war seemed bigger from an “aggressive” America than a “reactive” Soviet Union, regardless of the reality, this was the viewpoint in Europe I think.

That reaction from the film explains a lot at least to me. The risk went away in 91; but cultural attitudes don’t change overnight. Probably now Europeans resent on one level taking the new terrorist risk along with us from Al Queda and their friends, without any control (since they have no military of their own or much say).

Jan 1, 2005 - 11:48 pm 48. TedN:

I’ve always been amused when Democrats throw around the 80s as a pejorative: “Bush will take us back to the excesses of the 80s”. Most people I know, and I suspect most people in general remember the 80s fondly, and you’d expect that at least on a practical level the Dems would come to terms with that. Likewise, someone starting off a litany of Reagan’s sins with “fired the air traffic controllers”. Do they really not realize how well that went over with most of America?

As for Xena, she already has two kids. One fathered in the normal way (though possibly on horseback..) and murdered by the child of her “longtime companion”. The second fathered by, well it’s involved, but essentially by a female angel reincarnation of her worst nemesis. (And you think your life is complicated?)

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:09 am 49. Sandy P:

–The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.–

Ahh, the good old days, I miss them, SNIFF!

I loved that man. What taints him is Sandra Day O’Connor and not sending the message after the Marine barracks was bombed.

—

Don’t forget to also as “Snerd” to your list, Roger. Tim Blair had the link.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:30 am 50. Sandy P:

Oh, and for a perspective via Econopundit:

Will someone please explain to me why this doesn’t say it all?

Long-term unemployed

(12 months or more)

as % of total unemployed, 2002

U.S.======9%

Britain===23%

Japan====31%

France====34%

Germany=48%

Italy=====59%

OECD data from today’s OpinionJournal.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:32 am 51. Sandy P:

–”The bombing begins in five minutes,” —

And did I laugh at that one!

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:35 am 52. Sandy P:

Found this via EU Referendum:

According to DefenseNews, French defence minister MichËle Alliot-Marie has confirmed that the EU’s Galileo satellite navigation system will be available for French military use.

Alliot-Marie, who has been remarkably candid about French military ambitions, was speaking at the launch of the French Helios 2A military reconnaissance satellite on 18 December.

This was only one week after EU member state transport ministers at the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council meeting in Brussels on 9-10 December had reiterated in their written conclusions that “Galileo is a civil program under civil control.”

–

The problem is, we are the enemy. Always have been.

—-

I really don’t think the EU is going to work, also from EU Referendum:

is rather fitting that one of the first stories offered by Christopher Booker the day after Christmas should be about shit ñ or “sewage”, if you prefer the polite word.

His story actually harps back to an item he ran in August when we learned that Scottish Water was in trouble with its sewage treatment plant at Daldowie outside Glasgow. Here, a plant costing £65 million had been installed to turn 50,000 tons of sewage sludge each year – nearly half of Scotland’s entire sewage residue – into pellets.

For four years, this had been feeding Scottish Power’s giant 2,400-megawatt power station at Longannet in Fife with a “carbon-neutral” equivalent of 42,000 tons of coal, enough to provide electricity for 30,000 homes. But it was then the subject of a legal action awaiting judgment in the Scottish courts, this whole process is threatened with disaster….

…The only way it will be able to dispose of sewage will be to have it incinerated, at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. In other words, it is all right to burn it, but only in a way which produces nothing useful….

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:54 am 53. Caroline:

Found this on an LGF thread about the Bat Ye’or book:

“Travelling the world it is hard to explain to non-Europeans what is happening in Europe. In London, there are many parts of the city where no White people remain, where there were a number of Moslems a few years ago, they now dominate areas of EVERY British city. When I say ‘parts’ I mean ‘large areas’. Moslem areas are often very poor, with very high rates of Welfare. In London, many of us feel under siege, every day the city fills with more and more Moslems. British Moslems are violently anti-Semitic, becoming more militant by the day. For many of us, who grew up in Britain, it is very scary. The Far Right, which only 10 years ago was irrelevant, is gaining popularity across Europe, in Britain it is growing by the year. They’re the only ones who’ll control immigration. People are leaving Britain, about 250,000 per year, and almost every newspaper carries ads for companies selling overseas property. TV stations now feature shows where British families move overseas. We’re experiencing the largest migration from the British Isles since the Irish potato famine. London is not a nice place these days, crime is out of control, taxes have gone up, services overwhelmed by immigrants. Its a terrible situation, many of my friends are looking to emigrate, White flight very much in operation across the nation.?

(Note – I tried to bold the line about the far right gaining popularity across Europe but believe it or not I (alone, seemingly) cannot figure out how to bold or italicize text in internet posts!)

Jan 2, 2005 - 6:49 am 54. PeterUK:

SandyP,

That is not the half of it,there is the refrigerator mountain,the asbstos scam,the closing of landfill sites,changing the colour coding on electrical wiring for safety reasons,I really like that one,making doing ones own wiring illegal,having to throw dead fish back into the sea because of fishing quotas,chemical safety regulations that put small businesses out of business,health and safety rules that make it impossible to employ anyone,handing power to Brussels so that the only things that MPs can vote on are the trivial or the insane.

Human rights laws that make it impossible to deport a terrorist madman,a National Health Service which is essentially free to anybody who can get here,a benefit system that is similar.An immigration system that has lost control of its borders.A government that thinks that all citizens should carry identity cards,except foreigners.A railway system that is so bound by safety measures it doesn’t work any more.Police who regard their job as an extension of the social services rather than dealing with crime,a Judiciary that protects the rights of criminals above those of the victims and a Prime Minister that thinks it is the dogs bollocks to sign our ancient democracy and common law over to an unelected bunch of second rate politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels.

Talk about selling ones birthright for a mess of pottage.

Jan 2, 2005 - 7:12 am 55. David Thomson:

ìI loved that man. What taints him is Sandra Day O’Connor and not sending the message after the Marine barracks was bombed.î

Ronald Reaganís biggest mistake was his handling of the marine barracks bombing. It provided a clear message to the Islamic nihilists that America can be defeated by terrorism. Also, Bill Clinton could sit back and do nothing about terrorism—and subtly point out that heís merely following the example of the great Gipper. 9/11 probably would have never occurred had Reagan stood tall in Lebanon.

Jan 2, 2005 - 7:54 am 56. Kevin P:

Peteruk:

Oh, Peter, how can you pass up the benifits of a united Europe. All right thinking people know there is no true differences among you, other then language, religion, work ethics, history,world views, to mention some niggling disputes that will be easily overcome by the brilliant beaurocratic wonderpeople in Brussels. A united Europe will lead the world to a greater socialist world, end war, poverty and the general meaness of the human condition. How can you denigrate such a beautifull possibility. Utopia can be achieved. Why would you want to stay British when you could become European. Plus the euro is so pretty compared to that old ugly pound note.

Jan 2, 2005 - 8:45 am 57. Coisty:

David Thomson – “Ronald Reaganís biggest mistake was his handling of the marine barracks bombing”

His biggest mistake was sending the marines there when there was clearly no vital American interest in doing so. The same could be said of sending troops to Somalia. If there’s no real national interest it’s hard to justify casualties.

Jan 2, 2005 - 8:53 am 58. Coisty:

Bat Ye’or quote – “In London, there are many parts of the city where no White people remain, where there were a number of Moslems a few years ago, they now dominate areas of EVERY British city…In London, many of us feel under siege”

I’m a British citizen originally from Northern Ireland yet when I visited London in 2001 I didn’t feel as though I was in my home country. I stayed near Edgware Road where the vast majority of people seemed to be Muslim. There were very few pubs in the area which is bizarre for Britain so I suspected it had something to do with the Muslim population and its lack of shyness about forcing its values on others. As a white person I felt as if I was being watched when I walked down the street.

I feel more at home in a Canadian or American city than I did in London and I resent that. I love watching old British movies and seeing how London looked back in the good old days. What a wonderful city it must have been to live in. If I find it difficult to accept the changes of the last 40 years I wonder how native Londoners themselves feel. Judging by their lack of reaction I guess resigned and demoralised would sum up how they feel.

BTW the news for the UK gets worse today. Here’s a front page story from today’s Sunday Times – “UK police among worst in the world, says report”. Here’s the story http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1423380,00.html

Jan 2, 2005 - 8:59 am 59. Cap'n Billy:

Re: Steve J. at January 1, 2005 06:58 PM:

I am always glad to see these reprobates slither out from under their DU & Daily Kos rocks to regale us with their nonsensical fantasies. It’s good to be reminded from time to time that there is a fifth column in the shadows ready to destroy what is left of this republic if they should ever get the opportunity. Fortunately for the rest of us, thanks to the Roe Effect, their numbers should be slowly decreasing during our lifetimes.

Jan 2, 2005 - 9:34 am 60. John Moore ( Useful Fools ):

redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement

Sorry to bust someone’s bubble, but the KGB worked very hard to enable the nuclear freeze movement, especially in Europe, with funding, organizing and using their agents of influence to plant stories in the press (yes, they owned reporters… surprised?).

Same with the anti-Pershing movement (or were they the same thing – hard to tell with antis).

Leaving after the barracks bombing sent the wrong signal, although I have no idea what the right signal would have been. Does anyone? Stay there and incur more casualties when we had no real national interest in doing so? Invade Lebanon and incur vastly more casualties with who knows what message being sent (we didn’t have many of the magic military toys that we have today)?

At least Reagan bombed Tripoli, and specifically targeted the head of state, and that sent a strong message.

Jan 2, 2005 - 9:51 am 61. Steve J.:

FREE HISTORY LESSON!

Destroy the evil empire.

Raygun no more destroyed the USSR than Noxin put a man on the moon. Both just happened to be in office at the time.

Create the greatest economic growth in history.

Almost tripled the National Debt, forced to increase taxes after the stark failure of trickle-down economics became apparent.

Conquer Carter’s inflation.

That was Paul Volcker who was then chairman of the Fed.

Stopped communism in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

One phrase: Death Squads

Oh yes, 20 years and $100 billion later, Star Wars is still just a movie.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:02 pm 62. PeterUK:

Kevin P

Europe is nothing new,I seem to remember it being there when I was a child.What puts me off is that I am not a socialist and the fact that six of our partner nations were military dictatorships in my lifetime.

In some of the newer countries the communists still haven’t gone away and the enthusiasm with which some of our leftist embrace the EU is enough to convince me that it is a bad idea.

As for “ever closer union”,which seems to have freudian overtones,isn’t there a big bang at some point,two bodies occupying the same space?

Eutopia always smacks of lotus eating and the EU always paints it as a cost free exercise,at my age I know there is no free lotus lunch.

As for the ugly old pound,I wouldn’t mind a shed full of them,at least the pictures are of something that exists or existed,for the euro they even had to make up the architecture.

The clincher is that the EU is undemocratic,the auditors have refused to sign the accounts for the seventh year running,corruption is rife and nobody can point out the benefits of membership,only in the negative terms of losing jobs,inward investment etc.None of which is verifiable.

I cannot see the checks and balances which would prevent a Commissioner of Nationalities becoming dictator

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:15 pm 63. Terrye:

SteveJ:

Nonsense, I was around in the 80’s and I can remember the contortions the Democrats went through trying to ignore the fact that Danny Ortega had the worse human rights record in the region. I knew people from central and south America and today people there are voting, something that was thought impossible 30 years ago.

As for death squads, there is enough sin to go around. The Shining path and FARC have between them killed more than 100,000 of their countrymen. Hugo Chavez is doing the same thing to Venezuala that Mugabe did to Zimbabwe and so spare me the lectures, the left is in no position to pass judgment.

And yes, Reagan did help bring down the USSR, he was the straw…someone like Jimmy Carter would never have had the guts to but that kind of pressure on them or to piss off the Europeans.

There are a lot of people in eastern Europe that thinks he deserves some credit.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:24 pm 64. Terrye:

Coisty:

If I remember correctly the Rangers were in Somolia because the UN people were being killed and Aidid was using food as a weapon. The plan was to feed people and avert a famine. As is so often the case, nothing is that simple.

But if we had not gone in there p[eople would be complaining that we just sat back and let people die.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:27 pm 65. Terrye:

David:

One could just as easily say that if Jimmy Carter had responded differently to the taking of our embassy that Hizbellah might not have felt they could get away with killing the Marines. I remember it well, it was so awful, so many dead. Reagan said it was hard to threaten people who welcome death.

In truth the problem began long before that…how can you tell in hindsight what moment would have been the right moment to act?

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:31 pm 66. JMP:

For Steve J and his other leftist pals who will always hate and denigrate President Reagan, if you think of him as “gormless” try reading “Reagan In His Own Hand”, a composite of his 5 minute radio addresses delivered between the time he left the governor’s office in 1975 and began his candidacy for President circa 1980. It is far more readable and relevant today than “My Life” ever will be. Otherwise, get over it, as you have been consigned to the trashheap of history.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:44 pm 67. David Thomson:

ìOne could just as easily say that if Jimmy Carter had responded differently to the taking of our embassy that Hizbellah might not have felt they could get away with killing the Marines.î

Youíre right. Jimmy Carter started the mess. Unfortunately, Reagan exacerbated the situation by removing our troops from Lebanon. Both men unwittingly encouraged the Mid Eastern nihilists to increase their violence. Reagan, though, was considered a hard-liner. Bill Clinton could always say that he was merely following the example of the former Republican president.

Jan 2, 2005 - 12:58 pm 68. richard mcenroe:

TedN ó I wouldn’t know. I only watched Xena for the bathtub scenes and the fish-flinging. OK, and the exploding rooster…

Jan 2, 2005 - 3:48 pm 69. Terrye:

David:

Yes i know. I was surprised even then when Reagan did not go after them. I think he was so concerned with the USSR that he felt this was a problem that could be contained or ignored. wrong…..

Jan 2, 2005 - 3:56 pm 70. Coisty:

Terrye – “If I remember correctly the Rangers were in Somolia because the UN people were being killed and Aidid was using food as a weapon. The plan was to feed people and avert a famine”

Exactly. No national interest was involved. Bush Sr was to blame for sending the troops but Clinton was the one who expanded their role and allowed the UN to take control. Once again, the problem with both Somalia and Lebanon was a US president sending troops to a country where no US national interests were at stake. When no national interests are at stake “uping” the ante against those who attack the troops becomes an exercise in saving face with no real geopolitical objectives.

Terrye – “But if we had not gone in there p[eople would be complaining that we just sat back and let people die”

If I recall correctly Bush Sr sent the troops to Somalia AFTER he lost the election to Clinton. There was no need to do so and I don’t recall anyone blaming the US for the famine – though if it were to happen today the rhetoric used to justify the Iraq war would be used against the US for not intervening to save lives. But even so, better to be accused of doing nothing than to send troops to a conflict with one hand tied behind their backs and a lack of political will to fight back if challenged. The loss of face was entirely unnecessary because the Somalia intervention itself was unnecessary. That Lebanon and Somalia were later used against the US by Bin Laden was the fault of US politicians for getting into fights that weren’t worth finishing.

Jan 2, 2005 - 4:34 pm 71. Terrye:

Coisty:

People blame the US for everything, you know that.

As far as our national interests were concerned we could have sat out two world wars.

We could have smacked the Japanese around for awhile and told Hitler to come and get us if he wanted us so damn bad. The Germans could not make it across the Channel much less the Atlantic.

But instead of a thanks for dropping by we got a what the hell took you so long from our allies.

We went into Africa to stop a famine because a madman was starving his own people and using a bunch of drugged up gunmen to do it. Not to mention the fact that Osama was involved in the region. The loss of face came about because Clinton did not let the military do its job. So what is new?

but when it was all said and done they got Aidid.

Jan 2, 2005 - 4:46 pm 72. Kevin P:

PeterUK:

Peter, Peter, Peter, why on earth would you want to hold on to the musty idea’s of Cromwell,Chesterton,Hume, Locke, Smith and Churchill when you could embrace Satre,Nietzshe,Foucault,Marx and Chirac. You will feel much better when you submit,er, embrace the new european world. The French and Germans have always been so much better at government and compromising in a group, just look at history. Relax mate.

Jan 2, 2005 - 5:00 pm 73. Kevin P:

Roger:

Sartre

Jan 2, 2005 - 6:17 pm 74. PeterUK:

KevinP

We have Marx,or at least his stiff stting on some prime redevelopment land in Highgate cemetary.I thought that if we sold bits of him of to the international marxist movement,similar to the way bones of saints were put in amulets in meaeival times.Nice little earner and it leaves the mausoleum open to development.

Thats the kind of Europe I’d like to embrace,well apart from that Angelina bird who’s an Italian model

Jan 2, 2005 - 8:19 pm 75. Sandy P:

If Nixon would have taken out Arafish after his order to kill our ambassadors….

Or any of the above would have done something….

As to Star Wars – it’s more than a movie, there’s a lot of tech which has come out of it for everyday usage. A few years ago the WSJ had an article – dentists use some of the stuff invented.

$100 billion – peanuts.

Jan 2, 2005 - 11:34 pm

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