A FATAL LIBERAL HANDICAP
The most consistent theme running through liberal-left opinion since September 11, 2001, has been concern for the well-being of the enemy. The latest example is the contrived scandal over the CIA destroying tapes of interrogations of two captured terrorists. The first instinct of responsible members of Congress is to fulfill their duty to protect Americans from attack. Now they are pushed by ideological zealots to not only accord foreign adversaries "rights" that will protect them from effective U.S. counteraction but to harass their countrymen on the front lines in this deadly conflict. Indeed, for a liberal, the entire concept of an adversarial "us and them" is to be rejected. Adversaries are just people whom we have not taken the time to understand. Nothing could be more fundamentally wrong as a basis for dealing with the real world. An unwillingness to differentiate between friend and foe is a fatal handicap in making national policy.
GUN FREE ZONES: AN INVITATION FOR MASS MURDER
Matthew Murray, 24, entered the New Life church in Colorado Springs as services were getting out Dec. 9, and opened fire, killing Stephanie Works, 18, her sister, Rachael, 16, and wounding two others. There were shootings earlier this year at shopping malls in Omaha and Salt Lake City, where the body count was higher. Murray attacked a church because if you want to kill Christians, that's a good place to find them. Why the other would-be mass murderers choose shopping malls for their murder sprees? An obvious reason is because shopping malls are a target rich environment. If you want to kill a lot of people, go to where there are a lot of people to kill. The other reason is that these shopping malls proudly advertised themselves as "gun free zones."
THE IRONY OF INTEL INCOMPETENCE
"Blowback" is an intelligence term for adverse, unintended consequences of secret operations. The CIA first used it in a report on the 1953 operation that overthrew the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. Some in the intelligence community (IC) have been working with liberal journalists and Democrats on Capitol Hill to embarrass President Bush and to stymie his foreign policy initiatives. The most successful of these covert operations was the Valerie Plame affair, in which White House officials were falsely blamed for "outing" a CIA undercover officer who was not in fact undercover. (It was then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who inadvertently disclosed Ms. Plame's identity.) The most recent is the new National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and hasn't resumed it. Michael Ledeen, a former consultant to the National Security Council, described the NIE as "policy advocacy masquerading as serious intelligence." The apparent purpose of the NIE is to make it politically impossible for President Bush to take military action against Iran. But the effort has been so bald that it is blowing back on its authors.
REAGAN ON RUSHMORE
There is a growing movement among conservatives to have the image of Ronald Reagan carved into Mount Rushmore, joining George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. To facilitate this noble goal, former Congressman (and accomplished photographer) Fred Eckert and artist Ted Williams have created photo-art that realistically depicts what Reagan on Rushmore would actually look like: 
They are offering gallery-quality prints that are display ready - no frame necessary, just put it up on the wall. The photo-art is good enough to fool a gullible liberal. "Haven't you heard? Reagan's on Rushmore now - there's the proof!"
TO THE POINT BEACH PARTY!
OK, it's all set. We gave you a heads up two weeks ago in Sarasota Rendezvous. Now the details. The To The Point Winter Rendezvous will be from Friday February 8 to Sunday February 10 at the Hilton Longboat Key Beachfront Resort in Sarasota, Florida. We have blocked a number of rooms at amazing rate of $199 (that's for a double or less than $100 per person, and realize, this is right on the beach at the highest of high season, when everyone wants to escape from February snow and ice to Florida sunshine). To reserve yours, just click on the Rendezvous picture on the TTP home page (top of the left side bar) or click here for Rendezvous Reservation. The cost of the Rendezvous itself is $285. That includes dinner Friday and Saturday nights, breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings, and all meetings and activities. There will be in-depth briefings and discussions by me and To The Point stars such as Jack Kelly and Dr. Joel Wade. And of course, there is the wonderful fun of getting together with your fellow TTPers. We'll do so right on the beach with its world-famous white sugar sand - sunset beach parties with a bar set up on the sand just for us.
DICK CHENEY’S SILVER LINING TO THE INTEL REPORT FRAUD
As one who believes that diplomacy ought to be how to most persuasively say "Nice doggie!" until your sniper gets the range, I've never had much regard for the pinstriped weenies infesting our State Department. Today this specifically includes the three of them who wrote the nonsensically sensational National Intelligence Estimate on Iran - Thomas Fingar, Kenneth Brill, and Vann Van Diepen. But no matter how dubious its findings or motivations, the geopolitical reality is that it has taken the military option for dealing with the threat of Iran off the table. Yet the threat remains. There is only one solution for the geopolitical problem that is Iran: regime change. The current mullacracy ruling Iran must be replaced, removed from power. The only question is how. Not militarily, and not democratically, for the mullahs will never allow free elections. The only viable option for achieving regime change in Iran is revolution from within. Which brings us to the civil war in the White House between Condi and Cheney. This NIE debacle is her doing. And he sees a silver lining in it.
WE’RE NOT IN 2006 ANYMORE, TOTO
If you want to see a bunch of really happy folks who think Christmas has come early for them and can't wait for the coming new year, come to the Capitol Hill Club, the power watering hole for Republicans in Washington. There, you'll see GOP Congressmen, Senators, and their top staffers all slapping each other on the back and saying, "We're not in 2006 anymore, Toto," or "2006 is like, so over." Happy, happy guys n'gals. And why shouldn't they be? The President's got their back and they've got the hapless Dems by the short hairs. It's fun to be in DC this December. What's that? Do I hear you saying in a tone of cynicism, "Yes, Jack, but the Pubbies never know that when you've got your foe on the ropes, you put him down on the canvas. As always, they'll let the Dems off the ropes rather than finishing them off." There's a lot of history to justify such cynicism. Arguing that it's different this time is like the definition of a second marriage: the triumph of hope over experience. Yet there are three good reasons for such hope:
FRED THOMPSON AND THE IOWA CUCKOO’S NEST
Those who watched the Republican presidential "debate" in Iowa yesterday (12/12) now understand why the Des Moines Register is such a lousy newspaper. "That was not just the worst debate of 2007, that was the worst debate in Western history, and that includes the ancient Greeks," said columnist Charles Krauthammer. "There is no record in any major European record of a debate this transcendingly and crushingly dull." This wasn't the fault of the candidates, all of whom turned in credible performances. The blame for this flop belongs to the debate's moderator, Des Moines Register editor Carolyn Washburn. While most commentators compared her to an overbearing elementary school teacher, Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard likened her to Nurse Ratched, the villain in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." There was a ray of hope. The highlight of the debate, such as it was, came when Fred Thompson, like Kesey's hero Randle McMurphy, defied Nurse Ratched. His putdown was quickly put up on YouTube:
A RELIGION FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN ROMNEY’S
Most religions contain beliefs and practices than adherents of other religions consider off-the-wall weird. But no matter how strange stuff like wearing sacred underwear may seem to some (there's actually an official site explaining it: Mormon Underwear), it's very hard to see how the religion of Mormonism is dangerous to our national security. Mitt Romney's speech yesterday (12/06) should dispel any real concern that his faith somehow disqualifies him for the presidency. I encourage you to read his speech entire, for it's impressive. Yet there is a religion that is in fact a grave danger to America, and believing in it should disqualify anyone aspiring to the presidency. It's not an alien faith of foreign invention like Islam, but homegrown, originating right here in the US. Among the members of its church are many of our country's most prominent citizens, including several presidential candidates. I refer, of course, to...
THE CLINTON COW IN THE CHINA SHOP
Hillary Clinton has been playing a dangerous game with China. After over a decade of illegal contributions to the Democratic Party and special favors to the Clintons by the Chicoms, Hillary has turned on her old Chinese friends and sold them out in a desperate bid to win in 2008. The American dollar and economy have suffered collateral damage in this Clinton double cross with China. "Chinagate" was the name for numerous illegal campaign contributions from the PRC to the Democrats that helped them to win the 1996 elections. As you may remember back in 1996, the Clintons apparently traded missile secrets to China via Loral in exchange for donations from the PRC. Thus when Hillary started her run for president, she was in a position to count on the support of the PRC. Poor residents of Chinatown were making large donations to Hillary. She was getting numerous suspicious donations from Chinese operatives including Norman Hsu and the Paw family on the west coast, and also from numerous suspicious donations from the East coast. This might have continued in a simple repeat of the 1996 election scandal if Hillary had any loyalty to her PRC benefactors. However, the reality was that she had more to gain from selling them out than continuing the game. Consider the benefits to turning on her former friends: