A good discussion of whether Denmark is the vanguard of resistance to Eurpoean dhimmitude, or not, may be found at Gates of Vienna here and especially here.

Danish leaders and public figures openly say what the rest of Europe dares not. In some of the stricter PC regimes, such as Belgium, they would likely be under legal sanction for what they say.

It may be that Denmark will not withstand the Islamic onslaught. The Danes may well cave to anti-Semitism, or be cowed into submission. They may only hold out a year or a decade longer than Sweden before they are overrun.

But they hold up a mirror to us here in America, and remind us of the future that is careening towards us, and demonstrate a way to face it with dignity.

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On Sunday, in response to a Tim Russert question, Representative Murtha actually suggested that we could have run the Zarqawi operation out of Okinawa.

What an idiot. Froggy at Blackfive does a beautiful job explaining why.

Apparently Murtha also believes that Somalia and Beirut are good models for the proper use of American military power. Or non-use, I should say. Murtha said, "in Beirut President Reagan changed direction, in Somalia President Clinton changed direction, and yet here, with the troops out there every day, suffering from these explosive devices, and being looked at as occupiers [blah blah blah]"

Let's follow that logic a bit. Murtha would have advised Washington to withdraw after Valley Forge; Madison to give up after the burning of the White House; Lincoln to throw in the towel after Bull Run, both of them; FDR to redeploy all troops to San Diego after Bataan; etc. etc. you get the picture.

How long must we wait until Murtha takes MacArthur's advice and just faaades away. Not soon enough, I say.

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As far as I know, the Russians are famous for two aerial manuevers: "ramming" and the "cobra." Ramming is pretty self explanatory. It's what Russian pilots did in WWII when they didn't have any ammo. The cobra is a modern tactic, and if you've ever wondered what it looks like in practice, there's a textbook example by an Su-35 pilot in this Sukhoi highlight video (at 4:15).

There's also a cool shot of an Su-27's 30mm cannon firing (at 3:24).

And that Su-47 is a freaky lookin thing. It looks straight out of a Japanese monster movie.

Although the cobra manuever looks like something you'd use in a dogfight, it's real purpose is to confuse AWACS radars. The idea was for a group of four planes to fly towards the AWACS plane, with two in the front and two hidden closely behind the leaders. Then when the American radars got a lock, the two Russian planes in the lead would pull up into a cobra. In theory, this would confuse the radar long enough for the two lead planes to hit the deck, and when the radar regained its lock, the radar operators would think that the two trailing planes were the ones that they had been looking at originally. Then the two planes that had escaped the radar could attack from below.

If you ask me, it doesn't sound plausible, but that's what I read.

Update: More ultramaneuverability here, from what I think is an Su-37.

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If the mere existence of a sport can be viewed as evidence of American superiority over the rest of the world, it is soccer.

There's real football, and there's futbol. They can't even fucking spell it right.

We suck at soccer because we don't care about it. We don't care about it because it is a stupid game.

You will never ever hear me say, "It's amazing, even though the score was 0-0, I really enjoyed watching that game."

Soccer is fun to play because all you do is run around and kick a ball. Soccer is boring to watch because all they do is run around and kick a ball.

When the foreign announcers say "gooooooooooooool!!!!" we laugh. But we're not laughing with them.

Beckham is eurotrash.

When Sylvester Stallone made that movie about soccer, he had to mix in a subplot about escaping from prison or some shit like that just to make it interesting, and it still sucked. The only movie about real football that had a prison subplot is The Longest Yard. It's now considered a classic, and they didn't even escape!

Soccer is like a slow, boring version of hockey, but without the fighting, or skating, or sticks, or guys getting slammed into a wall, or any action whatsoever.

Soccer is slower and more boring than golf, only there's more scoring in golf even though golfers are all trying not to score!

Soccer is basically like watching a high school football practice. A bunch of guys running back and forth across a field for three hours. Except the guys at my high school were cuter.

I root against the U.S. because the sooner we get knocked out, the sooner I get to stop hearing idiots complain that Americans don't like soccer.

If I have to, I root for Brazil because they come closest to making the game entertaining.

Feel free to add your own.

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The following is a paper I did for an undergrad class almost ten years ago. I found it on my crappy old laptop, in a DOS directory if you can believe it. Funny how I still remember the basic DOS commands.

I haven't changed anything except for the first word of the essay, in reference to the year, and removal of the footnotes. I apologize for the excessive use of the passive voice, the unwieldy subordinate clauses, redundant modifiers and other hallmarks of a desperate undergrad's writing syle. Most everything I wrote back in those days was done at the last minute, with a hangover and barely proofread.

But I got a good grade, and it is on a subject of general interest and therefore blogworthy, I hope. more...

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What's this all about?

Check Preston's blog for details.

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I'm excited that they've decided to make a feature length 24 movie! Interestingly, they've decided not to do the "real-time" thing for the film. Of course, with two hours available to the writers, they might have had just enough time for Jack to drive from Santa Monica to Van Nuys during rush hour before the closing credits start to roll.

The moviemakers don't need my advice, but in case any are reading here it is: Jack meets Jason!

Think about it.

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Reading some of what passes for journalistic analysis regarding today's Supreme Court decision in Hudson v. Michigan, only reinforces my opinion that 90% of all reporters are idiots.

Check the AP reportage for example:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that police armed with a warrant can barge into homes and seize evidence even if they don't knock, a huge government victory that was decided by President Bush's new justices.

The 5-4 ruling signals the court's conservative shift following the departure of moderate Sandra Day O'Connor.

Dissenting justices predicted that police will now feel free to ignore previous court rulings that officers with search warrants must knock and announce themselves or run afoul of the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said Detroit police acknowledge violating that rule when they called out their presence at a man's door, failed to knock, then went inside* three seconds to five seconds later. The court has endorsed longer waits, of 15 seconds to 20 seconds.**

On the contrary, the Court upheld the knock rule. The Fourth Amendment still requires police executing a search warrant to knock first, announce their presence and provide the occupants a reasonable opportunity to open the door voluntarily. Today's ruling did not change that rule.

What the Court did do is apply the brakes to an out of control "exclusionary rule." Hudson v. Michigan is a quite sensible decision, and not even particularly conservative, in my opinion. I wonder if the AP reporter even read it.

Proponents of an expansive exclusionary rule want it to apply to any evidence obtained in the prosecution of a suspect, whenever the police fail to follow a procedural rule. In other words, some people believe that a judge should throw out all evidence against a defendant whenever the police fuck up, no matter what kind of fuck up it was. As Scalia noted, that would mean a "get-out-of-jail-free card" in many cases. This is what is known in the popular culture as "getting off on a technicality."

So, wouldn't it have been more accurate for the AP to describe today's decision as the Court limiting the ability of criminals to "go free" on "technicalities?"

The Hudson case does not overturn the exclusionary rule. It simply says that if police screw up on their constitutional requirement to knock before serving a search warrant, and the search later turns up a bunch of evidence that proves the dude was guilty as sin, the judge does not have to throw out all the evidence and let the guy go. I think that's totally reasonable. The exclusionary rule still applies when the cops commit more serious constitutional violations, like searching a house without a warrant.

Critics of the Hudson decision will say that without the exclusionary rule police might simply ignore the knock and enter requirement. Maybe so, maybe not. The Court pointed to other means available to punish cops for failing to knock, civil lawsuits and disciplinary measures for instance. Also, the Court pointed out that the knock requirement isn't even a hard and fast rule. Police can legally enter without knocking if they have reason to believe that evidence might be destroyed were they to knock first.

But the main point is that the cure would be much worse than the disease. If we were to let criminals go free just because the police failed to knock even though they had a valid search warrant, there would undoubtedly be crooks walking around who should be behind bars. The Hudson decision prevents this potential miscarriage of justice and restores balance to a small part of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. Or to put it in Johnny Cochran-ese:

Just 'cuz the cop didn't knock,
don't mean we let the perp walk.

I give the New York Times opinion writer more slack for his wrongheaded piece, because at least that's an editorial. I would be disappointed if I didn't find wrongheadedness in a NYT editorial.

To be fair, some reporters seem to understand the Hudson case better. Two examples of more balanced articles can be found at CNN's site and at The Christian Science Monitor. Although I do have a semantic nit to pick about the Monitor's assertion that the decision is a setback to "privacy rights." While the right to privacy is related to Fourth Amendment freedoms, the two are not identical. As everyone should know by now, the right to privacy is not enumerated in the Constitution, whereas protection from unreasonable searches and seizures is.
_______________

* Again, the AP reporter "forgot" to mention that the criminal's door was unlocked.

** Here the AP reporter "forgot" to mention that the standard for deciding how long to wait is based on how long it would take a suspect to flush the evidence. Therefore, a reasonable wait time might be only a couple of seconds, depending on the particular evidence in the case.

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The lack of humor out there never ceases to amaze me. Here's the latest Lindsay Logan related email sent to me by one of the teeming rabble. The subject line is " HI..... F U!!!"

Whay dont you get it? uuuuu you have, or had her email,so?
leave the girl alone, dont you have other things to do in youre fucking
life
exept for hunting down celebrities? i guess not! plz tray to learn that
they
are still ordinarry peaps, she just lucky to have that opportunity and job!
and she certanly strugles with for her best more then you do to
yourself!
GET A LIFE MAN, I MEEN CMON ,HAVE SOME RESPECT!

Let me clue you in on something Mr. Jariv Voroshilov. Anyone who would spend even five seconds writing the e-mail you wrote to me is by definition a loser. That's a scientific fact. Look it up.

Plus anyone who does a google search for "Lindsay Logan's email" is a stalker as well as a loser. That would be you. Seek help.

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Today is Valdemar's day, which, as longtime visitors of this blog well know, is Denmark's version of flag day. It's when Danish people celebrate God's gift of the Dannebrog to them in the year 1219. I've retold the legend before, but you can read another humorous version at The Moron's Euroblog.

I got an email this morning from visitor Drake, who loves my blog by the way. (I actually encourage anyone and everyone to e-mail me for the purpose of telling me how much you love my blog.) Anyways, Drake alerted me to the following bit of information, Danish exports are UP!

As reported by The American Thinker:

The MSM in Denmark yesterday cited a brand-new report from the Danish ‘Institut for Konjunktur-Analyse’ that unambiguously shows that the “cartoon crisis” has had a positive impact on Danish exports. The export business is literally booming and the result for the first half of 2006 is expected to be the best in the last 4 years.

Here’s an article from Denmarks largest financial newspaper. Unfortunately it’s in Danish (you might be able to extract the essentials from the headline nevertheless.) The article basically says that while the export to Islamic countries has gone down, this is more than compensated for by an increase in export to other countries, especially the USA! Senior analyst Joern Thulstrup is quoted as saying: (translated) “It’s an overlooked fact in the Danish debate that Denmark is held in very high regard in the USA, and this is really paying off in regard to business.”

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Hear Johnny Cash reading this poem in in his inimitable voice here. It was a hit record in 1974.

Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."
I said, "Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it."

He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing 'Oh Say Can You See.'
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.

"And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

"On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II.
She hung limp and low a time or two.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land she's been abused--
She's been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.

"And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before,
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning,
We take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought I do like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag."

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England's The Sun newspaper will pay you £100 if they use your picture in the paper. All you have to do is wave the flag of St. George next to some local landmark, to show yourself as England's "furthest flung fan."

Hey, if I sent in a picture of myself next to the Hollywood sign, butt naked and waving a crusader symbol, I could be a page 3 girl, earn roughly $184.24, and piss off some islamofascists all at the same time!

Posted by: annika at 06:42 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Jeez, Louise. You could probably get $200.00 from all your readers if we pitched in. On the oher hand, the picture wouldn't be so great when your opposing counsel moves to enter it into evidence in your first obscenity trial.

Posted by: shelly at June 13, 2006 10:30 AM (BJYNn)

2 I'd buy THAT for a dollar! (Aw, nuts. What movie is that from?) P.S. Apparently my normal blog URL is "questionable content". SurelyYoureNotSerious dot com get's caught because of Us dot com.

Posted by: Trint at June 13, 2006 11:01 AM (SlSdA)

3 Robocop.

Posted by: reagan80 at June 13, 2006 11:03 AM (zjeeZ)

4 FIRST DIBS ON BEING THE CAMERAMAN!!!!

Posted by: Casca at June 13, 2006 01:22 PM (rEC2k)

5 "... if I sent in a picture of myself next to the Hollywood sign, butt naked and waving a crusader symbol... and piss off some islamofascists all at the same time!..." The problem is, that'd come off as hot & sexy, not offensive. Oh, wait, that is the point... hell yeah, go for it, then! Let's piss off some facists!

Posted by: elmondohummus at June 13, 2006 04:43 PM (xHyDY)

6 I'm in for a hundy, and I'll watch out for the cops!

Posted by: Pursuit at June 13, 2006 06:41 PM (n/TNS)

7 ...and you'd be making an old man very, very happy.

Posted by: Jim Treacher at June 14, 2006 07:42 AM (kdu5D)

8 Of course, you could wrap yourself tastefully in the flag too... but what the hell, you aren't anyone in the 'sphere until you've got naked pictures floating around that could compromise a future cabinet position/supreme court nomination.

Posted by: Hugo at June 14, 2006 11:53 AM (NG6N7)

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I star in another movie! This one has a sad ending, but shows my dramatic range.

Directed by Victor.

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1 Funny stuff Now I know the site, I can make cool films of my own! Wicked...

Posted by: Robert Nanders at June 13, 2006 01:32 AM (IjaK0)

2 Definitely one of my finest productions! annika, I must say you're a joy to work with. Can't wait to work with you in another film...I'll have my people call your people, 'k?

Posted by: Victor at June 13, 2006 05:50 AM (L3qPK)

3 That ending was fucking brilliant! Bravo!

Posted by: reagan80 at June 13, 2006 09:03 AM (zjeeZ)

4 Annika, I was enthralled for the first third, felt my lids sinking a bit as we passed the mid point, revived by the heart pounding chase and crisis resolution and pissed off that the trailer I saw the other day gave too much away.

Posted by: strawman at June 13, 2006 09:09 AM (G2Zzw)

5 And we even got to see Casca cry...

Posted by: ElMondoHummus at June 13, 2006 04:44 PM (xHyDY)

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Okay, you've all seen these things, a list of questions supposedly designed to help you get to know me better. Really, this list is pretty lame. The only things you need to know about me are that I'm totally awesome, totally hot, and I can kick your ass at tennis or trivia any day of the week. Other than that, what's to know? I'm pretty boring.

I once had a 100 Things list up, but I got tired of it and I haven't yet gotten in the mood to revise it. The following thirty questions are a meme that many of the Cotillion babes are answering this week. In our collective wisdom, we have all decided that questions like "what color is your bathroom" and "what fabric detergent do you use" are burning issues that our readers' lives cannot be considered complete without knowing the answers thereto.

So without further ado:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30 a.m.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, never pearls.
3. What was the last film you saw at the movie house? United 93
4. What is your favorite TV show? I never miss American Idol or 24, but the best show on tv is Lost.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Starbuck's old fashioned donut, and a coffee.
6. What is your middle name? Grace
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Spanish
8. What foods do you dislike? I don't dislike sushi, but I'm afraid to eat anything raw.
9. What kind of car do you drive? 1994 Mazda MX-6
10. Favorite Sandwich? Thick slices of mozarella cheese with pesto, romaine lettuce and sun-dried tomato on a sesame seed roll. Try it.
11. What characteristic do you despise? When someone takes themself too seriously.
12. Favorite item of clothing? I'd have to say shoes.
13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a holiday where would you go? I totally want to see Japan.
14. What color is your bathroom? It is apartment beige.
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Ann Taylor.
16. Where would you like to retire? Hungary or Portugal.
17. Favorite time of the day? Right now, 4:45 p.m. because then it's almost time to go home.
18. What was your most memorable birthday? When I was in Jamaica. Correction, I don't really remember much about that day.
19. Where were you born? Copenhagen, Denmark.
20. Favorite sport to watch? Used to be basketball but the NBA sucks these days, so it's football.
21. What are you wearing right now? Coincidentally it's shiny black basketball shorts and my "guns+bombs=peace" t-shirt.
22. What star sign are you? Aries.
23. What fabric detergent do you use? Tide unscented.
24. Pepsi or Coke? I drink Coca-Cola, for a strong America.
25. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl.
26. What is your shoe size? 8.
27. Do you have any pets? Sadly, no.
28. Any new exciting news youÂ’d like to share with your readers? My boyfriend and I are getting an apartment together next semester!
29. What did you want to be when you were little? Firefighter, if you can believe it.
30. What are you meant to be doing today? Writing something more creative than this.

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1 Coke contains certain additives that make it easier for the comunists to control our minds... I'm just saying.

Posted by: Jody at June 12, 2006 07:02 PM (nY5iS)

2 you lie. you lie!

Posted by: annika at June 12, 2006 07:18 PM (fxTDF)

3 Don't take this wrong, Annie, but unless the boyfriend is a classmate, you need to rethink the decision. Third year law school/bar preparation and non-law student roomies don't mix. Really. From next year to the date you take the bar exam, you need to eat, breathe and live law. You need to be a law nerd. Or, you risk losing control and having to take it over. A fate worse than death. I know people who couldn't face it the second time and did something else.

Posted by: shelly at June 12, 2006 08:22 PM (BJYNn)

4 you guys have been talking to my mom, right?

Posted by: annika at June 12, 2006 08:46 PM (fxTDF)

5 Coke, dammit! All American drink! Pepsi's the communist one! Hey, wait a minute... Coke's logo is all red. And Pepsi's is red, white, and blue... DAMMIT, Jody! You, you... aw, crap, you got me all messed up now!!!! Up is down, black is white, night is day... but dammit, I still say Coke is it!

Posted by: elmondohummus at June 12, 2006 09:33 PM (DXodP)

6 "Coke is American! Pepsi is Fwench! Channeling our inner Fudd, are we? (this page "Elmer Fudd-ized")

Posted by: ElMondoHummus at June 12, 2006 09:50 PM (DXodP)

7 Who here *didn't* know the answer to number 12?

Posted by: Victor at June 13, 2006 02:38 AM (l+W8Z)

8 Um, I'm sorry but I don't remember anyone here approving of this young fellow you call a boyfriend....and now you're moving in? You kids never call anymore!

Posted by: Pursuit at June 13, 2006 06:44 PM (n/TNS)

9 Thirty nine (39%) percent passed the Bar this time, Annie. Want to knuckle down and get serious, or go back to typing and filing for lawyers? Think about it.

Posted by: shelly at June 14, 2006 12:21 AM (BJYNn)

10 Where did you get the "guns+bombs=peace" t-shirt?

Posted by: Mark at June 19, 2006 05:17 PM (XgufL)

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A recent conversation between Randi Rhodes and Jerry Springer, dealing with subjects of a more personal nature.

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Hangin' out on Sunday afternoon in Phineas' garage.

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Does it even need to be said that if this questionable rumor is true, I hope our boys took a few extra hard swings just for me?

Update: AQ feelin the heat just a little? Via Preston, whom all the girls dig.

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Peter does product endorsements.

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Here's two articles from the anti-war, often anti-American Associated Press, that give cause for optimism to those of us who want victory.

Ignore the predictably negative headline and check out some key quotes from this article:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death doesn't mean an end to the insurgency in Iraq — but it could mean a change in strategy.

"What Iraqi Sunnis want in Iraq is different from what al-Zarqawi wants," said Sadeq al-Musawi, who until February was President Jalal Talabani's political adviser. "Sunnis want to push out foreign forces from Iraq. Al-Zarqawi ... wanted Islamic rule and wanted to instigate civil war between Sunnis and Shiites."

The death on Wednesday of the al-Qaida in Iraq leader could also provide an opening for the Iraqi government to try to woo Sunni insurgents.

Deputy Prime Minister Salam Zikam Ali al-Zubaie, a Sunni, said the national unity government of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was open to contacts with armed groups except those involved in the killing of civilians or opposed to the U.S.-backed political process.

There have been contacts in the past between envoys of the U.S. and Iraqi governments and various insurgent groups, but none is known to have produced any deals or progressed beyond the preliminary stages.

"Al-Qaida in Iraq and its supporters must be shaken by al-Zarqawi's death," al-Zubaie said Friday. "It has given security forces a boost," al-Zubaie said.

A 2004 Associated Press analysis named a dozen young terror suspects as front-line leaders, their hands stained with the blood of attacks from Bali to Baghdad, Casablanca to Madrid.

Al-Zarqawi, who sat atop the 2004 list as the biggest threat after bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, died Wednesday when U.S. forces dropped two 500-pound bombs on his hideout northeast of Baghdad.

. . .

Globally, security forces have also had considerable success. Another four of the top 12 young militants in the 2004 list have met violent ends — in shootouts in Saudi Arabia, under U.S. bombardment in Iraq, or in an Algerian terror sweep. The seven who remain at large are on the run, and none has been able to match al-Zarqawi's success at launching large-scale attacks since mid-2004.

. . .

Joining al-Zarqawi in the list of dead militant leaders is Nabil Sahraoui, who took over the North African Salafist Group for Call and Combat in 2004 and announced that he was merging it with al-Qaida. Sahraoui did not have much time to savor his power play. The militant, who was in his 30s, was gunned down by Algerian troops that same year east of Algiers.

Habib Akdas, the accused ringleader of the 2003 bombings in Istanbul, Turkey, and another member of the class of 2004, died during the U.S. bombardment of the Iraqi city of Fallujah in November of that year, according to the testimony of an al-Qaida suspect in U.S. custody. Turkish security forces believe the account and say Akdas, who was also in his 30s, is dead.

Syrian-born Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa, who has emerged as an even more senior leader of the Istanbul bombings, but who was not included in the 2004 list of top terror suspects, is in a Turkish jail awaiting trial on terror charges.

Two other men who were on the 2004 list met their ends at the hands of security forces in Saudi Arabia.

Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, 30, who rose from high school dropout to become al-Qaida's leader in the kingdom, was cornered and killed by security forces in Riyadh in 2004, shortly after he masterminded the kidnapping and beheading of American engineer Paul M. Johnson.

In 2005, Saudi forces shot and killed Abdelkrim Mejjati, a Moroccan in his late 30s who was believed to have played a leading role in the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca that killed more than 30 people. Mejjati came from a privileged background, attending an exclusive French school in Morocco before turning to terrorism. He was sent to Saudi Arabia on bin Laden's orders, becoming one of the kingdom's most wanted men.

For most of those at large, life is anything but easy.

I've always been an optimist on Iraq and the War on Terror. I remained so even during the darkest days when the temptation to jump sides became too much to resist for better conservatives than I.

Still, I've never been one who, on this blog, was quick to announce certain "victories" as "turning points" or signs of "light at the end of the tunnel." I know that in war, as in life, the road to victory is often tortuous (definition 1). For every bit of good news, there's some bad news that the opposition will trumpet, so it's hard being an optimist when no one knows the ultimate outcome with certainty. But I'm a lot more hopeful today than I was a week ago. Maybe, just maybe, we've crested a hill over there.

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