THE MAN WITH A PLAN.



You do have to laugh at the left wing media's crowing over John Kerry's imagined masterful performance in the first TV debate with W. I think Mark Goldblatt over at NRO catches the right mood in this article....



"Steve Martin used to have a routine in which he pretended to be a slick television pitchman, striding back and forth across the stage, calling out, "You can make a million dollars and pay no taxes! That's right, you can make a million dollars and pay no taxes!" After several times, he finally looked straight into the camera and described his two-step plan: "First, get a million dollars. Got it? Okay, good. Now..."



The Martin plan is a fair approximation of John Kerry's two-step solution for winning the war in Iraq: First, bring our traditional allies fully on board; and second, replace American troops with international troops to fight the insurgency and keep the peace."

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QUOTE OF THE DAY.



"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost." - Billy Graham.

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A TALE OF THREE CITIES.



First Samarra, now Sadr City and then hopefully Fallujah. The US is now doing what it always SHOULD have been doing, namely wiping out the vermin that hide in this terrorist havens. The only way to deal effectively with the terrorist threat is to hunt them down and kill them and it is reassuring to finally see the US prosecute this policy.

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CROSSING THE ATLANTIC.



One magazine that I always look forward to reading is "The Atlantic." Anyone else out there reading it? This months (November) edition has some great articles, including a very insightful one on "The Green Zone" in Baghdad. There's a great piece on Education (revealing a way to raise student achievement that's sensible, cheap and relatively straighforward) and another good one on "Forensic theology." It's not right wing, but is is thought provoking.

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A LITTLE FRENCH HUMOUR...



Sort of. I did laugh at some of these jokes made at the expense of the French. This is my favourite;



"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France." —Jay Leno.

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JANET LEIGH DEAD.



I alway's thought she was a great actress, and I am sad to hear that Janet Leigh is dead at 77 . Of course she will be remembered for her role in Psycho, but she was brilliant in "A Touch of Evil" and the "The Machurian candidate" Rest in peace.

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BONO, JULIE AND ME.



OK - wait over. I asked the question what did St. Bono, Julie Andrews and myself have in common. The answer....we were all staying in the same well-known Paris city centre hotel on Saturday evening. (Separate rooms, btw!)



I couldn't help but reflect on the nature of celebrity. There were lots of muted whispers as guests spotted our famous fellow residents moving amongst us. Both Julie and Bono were surrounded by their little entourages and it got me thinking if it is possible to gain the enormous level of fame these people enjoy all around the world and yet remain normal?



I mean, how can you stay grounded when all around you people fawn and ingratiate themselves to win your favour? And why are some of these celebs, like Bono, fooled into thinking that just because they can write or sing a song, that somehow entitles them to become an international political guru? Seems to me John Lennon has a lot to answer for!



That said, my weekend in Paris was very pleasant. Strolling through Le Jardines des Tuilieres, admiring the fantastic architecture, sipping a double expresso whilst absorbing the elegance of Parisians...how civilised and how very pleasant.On Friday evening my wife and I dined at Le Meurice where the food, and service, was splendid.



I was struck by the rabid anti-Americanism of the intellectual elite. Bookshops are full of anti-Bush drivel and anti-US paranoia. This is a culture struggling not to embrace dhimmitude. The TV channels have numerous Arab stations feeding the need for news from the ever growing Islamic population. There are more than four million Muslims now in France, and Islam is the second religion. Up to 25% of the under 25's are Muslim. The future for France has a large crescent shaped shadow over it.

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KILROY WAS HERE.



A very succinct piece by Johnathan Peace over at Samizdata on the threat posed to the Tories by the UKIP. When he says, "The Tories to my mind have lost their bearings in the last six months. The decision by leader Michael Howard to flirt with Bush-bashing anti-Americanism, even to the point of letting colleagues work for the wretched John Kerry, looks like an act of supreme folly." I second that emotion.

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