Every year since we’ve lived here, we’ve seen the Torrance Police Officers’ Association escort Santa Claus into each and every neighborhood. To do this, they have to start right after the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Santa (left) rides on a 30 foot long holiday float pulled by a light truck while the police cruisers (right) lead and follow the float throughout the evening. The procession stops for a few minutes at walking-distance intervals so the kids from toddlers to geriatrics can come and see Santa.

Mona Charen has a great syndicated article today: Media don’t share Marines’ view of Iraq

Here’s a few of the high points:

One does not sense that members of the military share the belief so widespread in the press and Congress that the Iraq war is going very badly.

Certainly an understatement for those of us who bother to learn what’s going on for real.

I do know that since Vietnam, liberals have viewed every exercise of American military power (with the exception of those undertaken by Bill Clinton) as preludes to disaster. The very first question Ronald Reagan was asked at his first presidential press conference concerned El Salvador. The question: Did he think it was going to turn into another Vietnam? Democrats invoked Vietnam with every other sentence during the controversy about aiding the resistance in Nicaragua. More recently, just days into the Afghanistan war, The New York Times ran a front-page lament calling that conflict a new “quagmire.”

Liberals seem always to believe that America will lose its wars, and when it doesn’t, that it should.

Did ya notice the “Democratic exemption” afforded to Clinton? And that even success is a “quagmire” when Republicans are involved. And everything is Vietnam?

And, finally, Damsel related this incident she saw in another post to me over our chatroom session. Ms. Charon included it in her article. Let it just sink in . . .

A small group of Iraqis were turned away from [a] food distribution point, though they had been waiting in line for hours. They were given vouchers and told they could come to the front of the line the next morning when supplies would be replenished. These few unhappy souls were then besieged by press types eager to tell their story.

At the same site, the Marines had repaired an old Ferris wheel. The motor was dead, but when two Marines pushed and pulled by hand they could get the thing turning to give rides to the children of the Iraqi employees. A U.S. photographer watched impassively. “Why don’t you take a picture of this?” demanded one Marine. The photographer snorted, “That’s not my job.”

Asshole photographer. Asshole media.. Think about this before you buy the Times or tune in the “alphabet outlets” - ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS (need I go on?)

Update: Wizbang has a nice article about Joseph Lieberman’s (D - sometimes, DINO - otherwise) article encouraging President Bush to tout our successes in Iraq.

Notable people asking for clemency in the Tookie Williams case are not a new phenomenon. Moreover they don’t give a shit about Williams; they are merely against the death penalty.

Quite a long time ago, San Quentin death-row convict Caryl Chessman was defended by the anti-death-penalty crowd of the day:

The unusual case, along with the popularity of [Chessman’s four] books [he wrote while on death row], led to an outpouring of pleas on his behalf from throughout the world. Among those who wrote: Eleanor Roosevelt, Pablo Cassals, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, William Inge, Norman Mailer, Dwight MacDonald, Christopher Isherwood, Carey McWilliams, Billy Graham, and Robert Frost.

These people were from both ultra-left and religious-right anti-death penalty groups. They also didn’t give a shit about Chessman.

Ironically, the Governor of California who finally allowed the execution saying his hands were tied, was an avowed opponent of capital punishment, [Democrat] Edmund G. Brown.

Governor Schwarzenegger needs to follow the law and and let the execution proceed, just as Governor Brown did.

See Caryl Chessman page in the University of Southern California archives.

Taken during our after-dinner stroll, a Chinese elm tree is silhouetted against sun-reddened clouds.

Growing in clusters on 3 foot (1 m) stalks rising out of a cabbage-shaped purple succulent, these lovely little bells attract hummingbirds in late autumn. Each little bell is about 3/4 inch (2 cm) long.

Back in 1985, Damsel and I took time off from work to take her son JJ to the West Imperial Terminal at Los Angeles International to watch some scenes being shot for Karate Kid II. We met the Karate Kid and Mr. Miyagi that day. We had a friend that was working as part of the production crew, and arranged for JJ to meet them. Both actors were outgoing and friendly and each took the time to talk to JJ and seemed to be glad to meet him and chat for a few minutes. Our friend Ralph Nelson, the still photographer for the production, snapped this shot of Pat and JJ. Our sense of Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio was that of good down-to-earth folks who enjoyed meeting their fan base.

Read a little bio on Pat Morita from WikiPedia. Rest in peace, Mr. Miyagi, wax on - wax off - must have focus . . .

Bruce Willis was presented with a framed copy of a Michael Yon photo from Iraq of a soldier carrying an injured Iraqi child. This photo is now available from Michael Yon: Online Magazine.

Many people say this is the most important photograph of the Iraq war. Some have called it “a national treasure.” The image most completely embodies my experience throughout Iraq.

Late-season variegated daisies adorn spots in the flowerbed.

Stan Katten, a former RAND Corp. analyst and a San Pedro, California resident, wrote an interesting article about the real losers in the November 8th special elections (emphasis added):

People, not governor, are real losers in special election

Immediately following the Nov. 8 special election, several editorials and opinion columns said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the big loser because all four propositions he supported were soundly defeated. Wrong! The big losers were all the people of California.

Why, given all the political mistakes Schwarzenegger allegedly made, including calling for the special election in the first place? Well, we elected a non-politician to be governor, didn’t we? Weren’t we fed up with career politicians who made most decisions to retain their offices rather than for the benefit of the people? Then, like the maverick, unpredictable, gullible voters we are, we failed to give the governor the tools he needed to do our work.

So aren’t the majority who voted for the dysfunctional status quo, and thus all of us, the big losers?

Katten concludes who the actual losers were:

Don’t capitulate to Democrats

Where do we go from here? The governor said he recently had a very good meeting with the legislative leaders, who said they sought to solve the state’s problems in concert with the governor because they thought that was what the people wanted. (They didn’t want this earlier in the year?)

Let’s fervently hope so, but compromise with the Democrats heretofore has meant “do it our way,” and their way means bankruptcy or higher taxes, already among the highest in the nation, or huge bond issues, which are higher taxes in disguise, paying $2 for every $1 spent.

No, the governor wasn’t the big loser, and the unions weren’t the big winner. All the people of California were the big losers, and the election likely was only the beginning of their losses.

Read the whole article in the Daily Breeze.

Some of the talking heads on the left make no more sense than the Moron Magpies, Beckel and Jeckle . . .

Did these birds ever say anything that made sense?

Appologies to Paul Terry and Terrytoons©.

Putting Thanksgiving in perspective, I present an excerpt from an email I got today from a soldier in Mosul, Iraq.

As I sit here and write this on Thanksgiving, although I have a lot to be thankful for this year, I thought I would share a little with you about what I am thankful for today. I am thankful for my family, they have been there for me, and without their guidance, I would be completely lost. I am thankful for God, that he has seen fit to protect me this last year, that he helps my battalion make it safely back home, that he continues to protect the troops that will still be here, and that he has taken into heaven with open arms, the men and women who have given their lives in this war, who he just couldn’t live without in heaven. I am thankful that I was born in America, and not a country like Iraq. As strange as it may seem, I am thankful that Americans still have the right to voice their opinions about this war (whether I agree with them or not), if America still has the right to voice it’s opinion, that means we’re doing our job over here, and doing it well! Most of all, I am thankful for my fiancé, who has braved one of the most ultimate in hardships this last year, and stuck with me throughout it all. For certain, true love does exist. Finally, I am thankful that there are people back home who understand what we are fighting for, and proud of us.

God Bless!

Sincerely,
Sgt. Furman
Mosul, Iraq

And now you know why I’m so proud of these guys; let’s support them any way we can.

Inset photo credit Army Combat Training Centers

Damsel asked what I am thankful for on this day. Here’s a few things, although the list is certainly bigger than this.

• As I look at other places in the nation and the world today, I am thankful for the climate in California.
• I am thankful for technology and the ability to sit here and view pictures from Mars and deep space; to share thoughts, images, music and humor with others.
• I am thankful to have been given the talent and motivation to succeed in my career.
• I am thankful for our home and the shelter and comfort we enjoy.
• I am thankful for jazz, blues, classical, and symphonic music; and to have good taste in my preferences.
• I am thankful for and proud of our men and women serving in the armed forces, and the protection they provide.
• I am thankful and proud to be a right-thinking American.
• I am thankful for and proud of the United States of America and the freedom we enjoy.
• I am thankful for food, family and football on this day.
• Most of all, I am thankful for Damsel and the life and love we share together.