A man in the arena

It took me a very long time to decide that abortion is wrong and should be illegal. I understand the issues. I do not want an intrusive and powerful government. I love and respect women, and I would never advocate any kind of suppression of their rights.

However, I read a Ben Stein column a few years ago that hit me in the gut. He was speaking to a college audience, Pepperdine I believe. He said that prolifers were abolitionists of the 21st century. And that in hundred years people will be as baffled by the killing of children as we are baffled by the idea of slavery in America. I did not agree with the argument then, but it shook me up.

After a long time I decided that we do not have enough information to say that you are not killing a human being when you have an abortion, and we have to err on the side of life. I know most of my friends disagreed with me, and would think that I was a fascist. I call it as I see it.

This column has made that decision much easier. Malkin writes that a British doctor has found "Babies moving their limbs at 8 weeks."

8 weeks.

Think about that.

If you have not seen the O'Reilly Letterman Donnybrook yet, I humbly suggest that you watch it.

I happen to respect both f these guys. Letterman is hysterical, and what O'Reilly did when he took on the Red Cross after 9-11 was the closest thing to heroism that journalism can reach.

Letterman has no real argument and O'Reilly is on the money. Now that we are in, we have to win (Call that the Johnny Cochrane Argument.) The audience's reaction is priceless. They, subtly, come around to O'Reilly's points. Which are very good.

None.

In the past I could sympathize with Letterman's point. Everyone wants to have sympathy for a woman who has lost her son. I am the first blogger to say that the Left and Right need to respect each other more and communicate better.

However, you have gone to far. You want to hang out with an anti-US, pro-Castor scumbag who is actively trying to destabilize Columbia? You think that is ok? You have crossed the line from grieving mother to anti-American shill.

Please go to Hell.

I have to admit Clinton is quick.

From Malkin:

At the end of the discussion, Klaus Schwab, the forum's founder and organizer, asked Clinton what advice he would give the next U.S. president, noting that the next president might either be married to Clinton or listening in the audience--an apparent reference to Sen. John McCain, seated in the first row along with Microsoft's Bill Gates and other invitees.

"In this world full of culturally charged issues I think we should make it clear that Senator McCain and I are not married," Clinton joked. The audience burst into laughter. The cameras cut away to a chuckling Michael Douglas. As the global elite roared, Clinton guffawed: "Oooh, we'll be on the news with that tonight!"

I hope RedState is right. It will be a Conservative triumph if the legal profession gets together and stops the Borking of Judges. This will not be a political Republican victory. It will be a Conservative victory in the sense that the legal professional will remain true to its centuries old obligations.

I cannot believe that the Weekly Standard published this.

I have joined MySpace and Friendster. My highshcool girlfiend is on Friendster. And her entry descibes someone who is just the kind of girl I would e-mail. She is happily married, and I wish her only the best.

I see this as a evidence that my taste has always been excellent.

I have been reading Carl Jung lately, and I realized I am an extravert. Most people see this as obvious. I always thought I was an intravert. Way to be self-aware Eifert.

Late in the evening, while attempting to sleep, I received a phone call. My presence was demanded at The Black Rooster. A wonderful bar, where if I hit the dartboard everything is ok.

When you are a political geek, nothing beats having a Capitol Hill staffer say "How do you know all this stuff?"

I lie awake at night worrying about Iran. Someone is going to hit Iran. And Iran is going to retaliate. Even if we do not do it they will assume our complicity and may hit us.

I know many people in the intelligence and military communities. NO ONE is as worried as I am.

And that worries me.

Check out this page. The song that starts automatically rocks. Anthony is one of my oldest and dearest friends and the other guy on this is Skip. And he is outstanding.

I am now on Myspace. Some of my good friends are on it; some are not. A friend who was scheduled to go to Iraq was on it, so I jumped on to stay in touch. If you are on let me know.

The most important thing is that Mika Tan is on it. And she is the best porn star ever.

What a country!

I stopped by Kramerbooks tonight and bought “Lives of the Mind” by Roger Kimball. It is a collection of essays discussing the ideas and lives of some of the most influential intellectuals in Western Civilization.

The chapter on Wittgenstein is great. The brooding self-involved Austrian shifted philosophy to the study of linguistics in the 20^th Century. He went after everyone including Bertrand Russell with ruthless logic and Karl Popper with a fireplace poker.

I have never read his work in its entirety. It has the feel of silly word games. And Wittgenstein wrote “What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.” All of the interesting things can only be spoken of, understood, incompletely. I can accept that the truth will always be obscured and still seek it out.

In the end, after all his arguments, fights, self-loathing and lost loves, his last words were "Tell them I've had a wonderful life."

Next: Santayana.

It is quite obvious that Alito will be confirmed. Now that the Democrats have made a spectacle of themselves, can we expect the Republicans to skewer them…?

Of course not. In the 1990s Republicans confirmed the most liberal judge on the court, Ginsberg, by a huge margin. Why? She was qualified and had the required integrity. But this was after Bork! He was slammed even though he was qualified and had the required integrity. Why did the Republicans not hit back?

Republicans are obviously as partisan as Democrats. Just not on this issue. People like Orin Hatch and Arlen Specter respect the process of the law and the Supreme Court. They do not take it as political theatre.

Yes it is wonderful that on this issue, this one issue, the Republicans are taking the high road. …..I guess I cannot complain about it. Any integrity in DC is a good thing.

My internet access is still a mess.

However, I am enjoying a nice Martini.

The story here is unimportant. The guy is a loser who is trying to relive his highschool days. But take another look. He is a sex offender because when he was 18 he had sex with his 14 year-old girlfriend. Huh? What are the details? Did you know any Seniors who dated Freshman in your school? Lock them up. The bastards!

The details here may prove that he is a scum bag. However if they don't, labelling someone as a sex offender for the rest of their life because they broke a law that is rarely enforced is insane.

Whenever you read a column titled Michelle Malkin: The Radical Right's Asia Pitbull you know it will be neither fair nor balanced. The exception here is that the column went straight to stupid:

"RAND Corporation, a conservative think tank founded in 1948 to promote freewheeling capitalist ideals and conduct secretive research for the federal government. It gained notoriety during the Vietnam War by its involvement with some of the more sinister aspects of the war effort."

That is a brilliant description of the least partisan and most respected Think Tank in America.

A racist demagogue is still the mayor of new Orleans. Isn't that great?

Do New Yorkers realize how lucky they are that when they were attacked Rudy was mayor?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=P1GZUWR5TMZN5QFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/opinion/2006/01/15/do1502.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/01/15/ixportal.html

According to FoxNews, Larry Wachowski of Matrix fame has gender issues. He has left his wife, is dating a dominatrix, yada yada yada. Who cares? Let him be a weirdo. This is an example of the press attacking a guy's personal life to make money. He is not open about this. He has made n press announcements. At some point he will have to defend himself in public, and then the press will call him flamboyant, the headlines with yell that he is "open" about it, and people like myself and Minus will rip him for not having the decency to enjoy his perversions in private.

On this I am not a Conservative. I am a Reactionary. Let us go back to a time when the press left the private in private.

Here is a discussion on Iran that is quite frightening. There are two very interesting points made. First, Bush really does not give a damn about the polls and will hit Iran if he feels their Nukes are a threat. I think this is true. If he cared about polls he would have been concerned about the U.S. people turning against the Iraq War a long time ago.

The second point is more troubling. Why did the President meet with all the former State and Defense Department heads? To discuss what he already has done or what he might do? There is a history of Presidents calling in former Cabinet heads to gather advice. Could they have been talking about Iran? Would Albright, Schlesinger, Eagleburger, etc. have wasted time discussing past moves or future crises?

My internet access is spotty. I'll begin blogging again next week.