Helen Mirren

(my neighbor!)

the Holocaust kitsch special:

Holocaust Remembrance Hanukkah Ornament (Round)

There are so many things to remember “9/11″ and “Pearl Harbor” which is wonderful.. however we should also make a point to NEVER forget the holocaust and the millions of Jews who lost their lives.

Product Information
Instantly accessorize bare wall-space with our Round Ornament. Makes great room or office accessories, fun favors for birthday parties, wedding or baby shower Ornaments, or adding a unique, special touch to gift-wrapped packages. Comes with its own festive red ribbon for hanging. Hang ‘em up!

See the full selection of ornaments here.

I’m not done yet.

There is a global jihad. It’s on, now. Like it or not. Rise to the challenge or not. You don’t want war with Iran? Fine. But never forget for a second that Iran is already at war with you.

Sooner or later, we are going to have to match with action the president’s ambitious post-9/11 promises that our enemies would be pursued globally, relentlessly, and until their defeat. Democracy promotion and regional conferences at which we pretend that the problem — Iran — may be the solution are not going to get this done.

If we’re shrinking from the greater war, of course our troops shouldn’t be sitting ducks in Iraq. If we’re not going to turn them loose against the forces that most threaten them, as well as the rest of us, of course we should get them out of there.

Won’t that give al Qaeda and Iran a crucial victory? No, it would make official the victory they are certain to win if we don’t refocus. Unless our actual, overriding purpose in Iraq is to crush al Qaeda and its sponsors — rather than hope we can delegate the job to the newly trained forces of a Maliki-led government — our enemies will have their victory. All we’re otherwise doing is running out the clock and running up our casualty count.

Wouldn’t leaving guarantee more 9/11s? No, because if we don’t rededicate ourselves to the original mission, more 9/11s are already assured. That, as we should by now know only too well, is what happens when you choose not to fight the people who are sworn to fight you.

“Death to America” is not just a slogan for our enemies. It’s a deeply held conviction, on which they are feverishly acting. Only when we are ready to take them seriously, when our leaders’ brave words are matched by determined deeds, can we win — in Iraq and, more importantly, in the greater war.

That’s Andrew McCarthy. Read the whole thing.

I promised I would fade away for a while and leave you to your Festivus and/or Lefitvus activities. But I can’t resist making one gratifying (in a Schadenfreude kind of way) observation—that in the wake of the Iraq Study Group’s report, the mewling “not in our name” narcissists, pacifists, and isolationists of both the left and the right (an alliance of very uncomfortable convenience) now find themselves squeezed between their twin enemies: evil neocons and old school realist WASPs.

Exhibit A is Glenn Greenwald, who claims that the neocons have been totally repudiated by the realists but fears for his country, because “dangerous” neocon ideas about spreading freedom and democracy have not been eradicated:

As I argued immediately after the election, the disaster of the Iraq War and the resulting rejection of Bush-Republican policies presents a real opportunity to isolate, and relegate back to the fringes, the neoconservatives and more generic crazed warmongers who have dictated our foreign policy over the last five years — the Bill Kristols, Rush Limbaughs, John McCains, Charles Krauthammers, Joe Liebermans, American Enterprise Institutes and Rich Lowrys, who have an insatiable appetite for endless wars that degrade America’s credibility, resources, strength, security and national character.

At a time when most Americans have recognized that this war is a disaster and want to withdraw, this group of radical warriors continues to insist not only that the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do, but that we need more of it — more troops, more fighting, more threats, less diplomacy, less concern for world opinion, more regime change, more wars. …Although the media has yet to realize it, this group is already on the outer fringe of our political spectrum.

On that last point: I doubt it—America hates losing, and is contemptuous of losers. The antiseptic “withdrawal of choice” recommended by the ISG seems pretty unrealistic to me, given the depth of America’s sacrifices to date (unacknowledged by both the anti-war left and the cold-hearted realists of the right) and the nature and stated aim of the enemies the ISG wants us to appeal to.

Greenwald also notes, with growing alarm, that the anti-war crowd’s vision of our nation as a Disneyfied bloodless AmericaLand, where dialogue and compromise and mediation can resolve all thorny “issues,” hasn’t exactly won the day, either. Bush, he remarks, shows no signs of having curbed his appetite for succeeding in Iraq.

Yesterday, the President — jarringly enough — petulantly provoked an argument with Dick Durbin by making clear that he sees himself as Harry Truman, pressing forward with our grand, important wars even in the face of a lack of resolve on the part of Americans.

Good.

The resolve of Americans is, of course, the big question mark in the Iraq war—and in foreign policy. The presidential campaign of 2008 will reveal a great deal about that. And so will events, my dear boy, events.

Do your shopping, stock the liquor cabinet, RSVP those invites, and wean yourselves from the expectation of posting marathons from yours truly. There’s more than ever to write about, but I’m swamped with non-blogging activities. Check back soon.