RudyCarrera.com

It boggles the mind to behold what devious methods people use to attack their fellow man. This brings biological warfare to a whole new level, unfortunately.

Hope and Change, eh? Does President-to-be Obama HOPE that the problem will go away, and that maybe Hamas will CHANGE leadership? Such leadership. I hope this isn’t a portent of things to come.

One of the few people who still have a kind thing to say about Adolf Hitler speaks, courtesy of Liberal Fascism.

RBO has an amazing collection of links to what’s going on in Gaza.

Utter idiocy from England. “School” has negative connotations? So does ‘Labour’.

The apocalypse must be getting ready to occur. I’ve never linked to the crud posted at The Huffington Post on principle, as most of the bloggers there are certifiable lunatics. This post by Harold Ambler, however, could not be resisted, as it pokes holes into the rubbish bag of Al Gore’s hot air regarding global warming.

Read it and enjoy. We receive an early Christmas present courtesy of HuffPo, of all places!

Congratulations to John Atta-Mills for not only winning the presidency in Ghana, but for the peaceful transition of power. Ghana is Africa’s model for stability.

It begins. Israel is now involved in a ground war with Gazan Palestinians. May this be short, quick, and may they take out Ismail Haniya and the other devils pushing Palestine into ruin.

Political lists come and go, but Rachel Marsden’s list is the first one worth reading for the year. It’s especially interesting as she suggests we keep an eye on both the serious (Israel/Palestine) and ridiculous (Blago/Chucky!).

And as a theist, I could have told him that. Take a look at Matthew Parris’ article imploring that Christianity be kept in Africa. It’s actually a heartening read, especially so since it comes from the fingers of an atheist.

This is a minor miracle. The myth of Hamas as the valiant martyr is finally beginning to crack among the ’saner’ governments in the Middle East and the Umma. That Hamas is protesting against Egypt and the Egyptian government isn’t amused bodes well for the end of this mess.

Sad to see the ‘glorious’ Russian military in tatters. They’re obviously off to a fine start, aren’t they? Considering the horror stories of having to serve in that infernal army (as many of my contacts have attested to from their first-hand experiences), I can see why one would have the temptation to run away and use every trick in the book to get out of that service. Thank God for volunteer armies.

Wow, the first day of the year started off great! If we can pull another 364 like this, we’ll all be happy this year.

To a year of friends passing, fortunes dwindling, political strife, war in the Holy Land, bitter faction infighting in the Church, I say be gone to you! 2009 will indeed be better than what we went through, friends. May everything balance out for all of us.

Happy New Year!

Conservative Home, a British site, defines it well.

The London girl in question is Asma Assad, wife of Syria’s ‘president,’ Bashar al-Assad. She’s hip, beautiful, and the Times are obviously trying to soften Syria’s image with this puff piece on her. One can only hope she softens the head of the dictator.

Very cool. Breitbart is thoroughly entertaining in performing pinch-hitting duties for Dennis Miller, himself a riot on most days when he’s not overdoing it with his thesaurus. He shoots the breeze with some rather cool guests, including Roger L. Simon of Pajamas Media. Maybe Andrew needs a radio show (as if he doesn’t have enough to do!).

One of the greatest historians of our generation has died.

Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal pens an admonition to Israel in the need to secure victory against Hamas rather than to ‘quiet’ them. Hamas knows this lesson very well, and isn’t about to change their tack.

HT: Hugh Hewitt.

This is what Russia considers a good leader: a murderous traitor to his own people, killer of so many of Russia’s ethnic groups and imprisoner of untold scores of innocents, not to mention what that worthless butcher did to Russian and other clergymen. Russia continues its descent into Hell, where they seem all too happy to go to.

My favorite gun-toting lesbian conservative hottie (hey, who doesn’t have one of those?) comments on the the fragile situation in the whole of the Middle East, the Indian Sub-continent and Central Asia. It’s one big powder-keg, kids!

Joel Stein is sadly typical of liberals today. They live in a bubble, have no wish at all to actually try making dialog with the people they scorn so much, and are frankly simpletons in their view of conservatives and the world in general. Red Bits of Ephemera hammers these points rather nicely.

Thunder Pig, The Muqtada and JoeSettler are giving good coverage of the current conflict from the Israeli side.

And apparently Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah-controlled-Palestinian leader, wanted Israel to attack, though he denies it to his Arab brethren.

The Wall Street Journal tackles the issue of Network Neutrality. I’d love to see opposite views on it, as I’m looking to see what the pros and cons are.

2008 was one of the worst years I’ve had in some time. Work was inconsistent, health was shaky at times, but these paled in comparison to the loss I felt. Two dear friends left the Earth.

The first was a hard one to shake. A dear friend, John, who went to school with me from 2001-2003 became a good friend while we were in a fraternity together. He was 18 at the time, and I was about 31 or so. We hit it off, as I had returned from an extended period of traveling around Eastern Europe, and he was about to embark on his own adventures. I advised him to see as much of the world as he could before settling down, and that I’d provide him with as much material support as I could. He took me up on the offer, and traveled farther than I ever did, eventually. In the early part of the year, he asked about going to Russia, and I advised against it. I suggested he go to my old stomping ground in Macedonia, where I was confident my friends would be able to take good care of him. Sadly, four days into the trip, he was in a car that crashed on Mt. Vodno, the high peak of the city, and died shortly after impact. I’ve not quite forgiven myself for sending him there, but time heals all wounds in one fashion or another.

The next major passing was of my friend Yvette. She was an absolute peach of a woman who could light up a room with no effort at all, and be charming to everyone she met. She married my good friend, had a son, but the marriage didn’t last. She would remarry, but would also contract cancer, which she suffered with for years. I was out and about, but would get reports from my friend, Karen, on her condition. She passed on the 17th of this month, and today was her burial. It was a bit heartbreaking to see friends I had not seen in nearly 10 years, in some cases, gather for such a tragic event. But gather they did, in order to honor the memory of a good and lovely woman.

To my friends, I wish them God’s embrace and comfort. To the rest of us, I can only hope 2009 is better for us all.

- Rudy

Hamas never learns. They continue to pick and pick at Israel, expecting that ‘the world community’ will bind the hands of the Jewish state. Not a chance. After being shelled throughout the holiday season, Israel is reacting as it should.

Victor Davis Hanson prepares the readership for the belly-aching here.

The Washington Times gets a nice scoop with this story. Unlike some attention-hounds who like to frolic on the beach while trouble lurks, the current president and his veep, without seeking any glory, do their jobs and comfort troops and their families. Indeed, let’s see how our new President-Elect handles himself with our armed forces.

Guinea went through a coup a few days ago. A military one. Forgive me for not seeming to care, but it happens to often as to lose its shock value.

PETA manage to make themselves look more petty than normal. A fine Christmas gift!

Kosovo will be recognized by Serbia eventually, so says their PM. It still galls Serbians to read this, but Kosovo, for the time being, is no longer part of the country. They’ll have to normalize eventually and wait for EU integration in order to go back into the region. May that day come soon, and in a peaceful fashion.

Iraq, of all places, gives a Christmas present to its beleaguered Christian community.

The Palestinians in Bethlehem are making merry for the first time in 8 years, and even getting work done in conjunction with the Israelis. Gaza, of course, is a pit, thanks to the evil incompetence of Hamas. Shame be to them for ruining their people’s chances of having a country.

After perhaps the most hellish year of my life in terms of lost friends, economic downturns, weird health and not-terribly-good work, I feel like I’m having to drag myself across the finish line of the year. Thankfully, I’m feeling pretty good about 2009 already, as things in real life are looking pretty good to me.

It’s my hope that all of you, dear friends and contacts, end the year with something festive, and that we can regroup for a wonderful year to come.

Merry Christmas!

Rudy

Roman Dobrokhotov made waves shouting at Dmitri Medvedev several days ago. It seems opposition to him and Putin ruining Russia is mounting. Maybe Russia has a chance after all.

God blessed me with a rather brutish physique, so I am in danger of being seen as a metrosexual. Sadly, some of my fellow males aren’t so lucky, and it’s pissing some women off. Melissa Clouthier has more here.

My God, these cows are embarrassing! Can they stay in Iran? That’d make a wonderful Christmas present!

UPDATE: More on this from Iranian Freedom, a great blog I came across.

Amazing. Even beauty queens are peddling drugs in Mexico.

Journalism at its laziest. You’d figure after the Jayson Blair scandal that the Times would actually bother with things like checking sources. Hah!

It’s bizarre to think of Egyptian despot Hosni Mubarak as being a political wise-man, but he’s sensing danger from Iran. If he is, so should we. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial talks more of this worrying idea.

I figured the jerk who threw a shoe at President Bush was a Baathist or of that ilk. Walid Phares has confirmed my suspicion.

I’m pleased to see that President Bush finally listened to the populace regarding controlling the border. The Minority Report has more on the story.

John O’Sullivan makes the case that Sarah Palin and Margaret Thatcher have much in common. I agree, as Palin will be a strong voice for Conservatism in the future, provided she is given a chance by the pompous types in the Beltway.

‘Special Report’ won’t be the same without Brit. He’ll still be working with Fox for the time being, however.

I guess miracles still happen, if Ron Kessler’s article on the balance being shown by the Washington Post is to be believed, and Ron’s earned his credibility as far as I’m concerned. Even E. J. Dionne, an unabashed liberal (but a Catholic in good standing as well), has been doing his job well. I’d hate to see the WP become a conservative rag. The balance for a paper this size may do it well in terms of sales, as it looks like their more liberal-leaning counterpart, the New York Times, will probably tank in 2009. Good riddance.

Attorney-General Moonbeam has decided to make war with the straight population of California. If he overturns that ban, I hope Californians do everything possible to crush his career afterward.

HT: K-Lo.

The main kvetch the press had against President Bush was that he didn’t talk to them enough, and for good reason. They were rarely of any use, and certainly weren’t supportive, at least not like how they are in their lust for our new president.

I’m not 100% happy with some of President Bush’s decisions, and I don’t think he’s done anything worthwhile during this current economic crisis, but overall, I’m of the opinion the history will be far kinder to him that our current critics are.

Read the AP/Yahoo! story here.

‘Deep Throat’ has died. After having his identity hidden for so long by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the the three met this year in a reunion over the infamous ‘Watergate’ scandal that would ruin Richard Nixon.

Thank God for Samir Sumaida’ie!

Thanks to the shenanigans of local corrupt politicians, the Financial Times reports that Bulgaria will lose EU funding. Some countries never learn.

I love Serbs, but after seeing articles coming out of their press like this, I have to wonder if they’re suffering still from a national psychosis. How embarrassing.