Resolutions

Think I'll stick with my tried and true:

--Drink more water;
--Drink less coffee;
--Smoke less;
--Exercise.

Actually, I have recently made progress in drinking less coffee. Iron will. And my exercise isn't that bad.

Matters of significance:

--Dumbo soon will be President. Absolutely nobody knows what he will do, or if he has any competence at all. Or if he's sane.

--Blagojevich. I'm pulling for him. I expect that in the rough and tumble of politics he's far smarter than dumbo, and I would like to see that illustrated.

--Israel and Hamas. I very much hope Israel is serious this time. Even though they seem to have dithered since that first very excellent day, I can't believe they're not going to crush Hamas, or at least decisively and clearly whip and bloody them. They simply can not suffer another defeat such as they suffered from Hezbolah in '06. If that happens again no Arab will ever again fear a Jew. Israel will have immense firepower but female courage. They have no choice but to do damage, and almost certainly that means at the cost of their nation's blood.

Some have argued that this is a political stunt, something to bring Labor and Kadima up in the polls. I can't believe that. There's too much time yet before the elections, six weeks. In six weeks everyone will know if it was a stunt or not. If it's a stunt, Benjamin is elected. --It is possible Olmert, Livini, and Barak miscalculated the difficulty, but I just don't believe it's possible they can quit at any point where Hamas can plausibly claim victory. --I would note Egypt and Saudi Arabia want Hamas defeated, and Egypt, amazingly to me, has been publicly severely critical.

--The economy? Who knows? I think the downturn has been panic, and that things should stabilize soon at some lower level of world wealth but without depression. I just don't see any lessened desire either to produce or to consume, and I see no destruction that should severely damage either; I just see fear... of what might happen. As that eases money should flow again and commerce resume. And the lower oil prices are a trillion dollar stimulus. --It is very necessary to avoid a government stimulus. That's debt, an infertile expenditure, and more governmental power and control of the citizenry. That I fear more than loss of wealth.

--Global Warming? It's becoming a public joke. Again, the great fear there is increased governmental control through cap & trade or whatever regulation they come up with, but it's so expensive, and now so laughable among so many, that I just don't see it as a great threat. Environmentalists will continue to do damage, they're always a net negative, but since there will be countervailing force the damage shouldn't be disastrous.

--And so forth and so forth...

--And dumbo. This really is the unknown. I consider him inept, dishonest, cowardly, totalitarian, and a friend to America's enemies. I'm fairly certain about all of that, but that doesn't mean I'm at all certain what he will do. --I wonder what the press coverage will be once decisions start being made? It still will be necessary to extol his great virtues, and certainly necessary to defend him against any attack from Republicans, still, a decision (whoever actually makes it) is something solid, there has to be a response. I will note that I think the first severe criticism is going to come from foreign nations. I expect most nations actually feel a patronizing contempt for him: only America would be so unsophisticated as to elect an affirmative action black as their leader. Once he starts doing things Americans do, they will pat him on the head, and while being polite, ignore him as well as they can, more so than they've ever ignored any other President.

These are my prejudices. I presume they're correct, but I just don't know. That's why I like this Blagojevich stuff so much. It's one area where he actually has to take some position in the three weeks yet before his inauguration. It will be the first evidence of how he will respond to a genuine political difficulty, and so will be the first real information we've ever gotten about him. --So far he seems to be getting his lines from Harry Reid. But Reid is going to get whipped.
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--And will note that on my walk saw the Eagle again today. A great pleasure, but what the heck does he eat with everything all frozen over? It occurred to me that with those great wings he can't possibly get through the brush to get a rabbit. What the heck does he hunt?