What we want

Here are two very interesting essays from one of my favorite columnists, Dennis Prager.

What Do Men Want?

What does a man most want? Answer: He most wants to be admired by the woman he loves.

What Do Women Want?

What a woman most wants is to be loved by a man she admires.

Read both pieces, they are very thoughtful.

Alison in the snow:

Ain't she a sweetheart?

Giving Thanks at Christmas

Victor Davis Hanson puts the comforts of modern life in perspective:

(T)his Christmas we should all at least give ourselves some credit. In the last three decades, the United States — through technological breakthroughs, improved worker productivity, and the importation of globalized production from abroad — has achieved a level of material prosperity for its 300 million citizens unmatched at any time in the history of civilization.

Quite simply, yesterday’s royalty would not make it into today’s middle class.

It's astounding the quantity of luxuries we have at our fingertips, many of which were unavailable at any price a mere thirty years ago. Cell phones with cameras, the internet and all its content, GPS navigation, reliable safe and economic automobiles, iPods loaded with thousands of songs. All these things are available to almost all. To Hanson's list, I would venture to add a host of household luxuries that are but two generations old: clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, automated climate control systems. In short, almost every electic convenience in a modern household. Conveniences that freed a generation of mostly women from the drudgeries of continuous homemaking chores and sent them out to explore all manner of careers and intellectual pursuits.

This Christmas 2010, I am thankful not only for my wonderful, healthy family, but to live with them in such relative oppulence.

Amazing. Simply amazing. From WSJ's brilliant James Taranto:

(Canadian) TV reports that according to the research, raising booze prices by up to 150% "could have a major impact on everything from hospital visits and traffic accidents, to venereal disease."

So far, so good. But "there's a concern" that if prices go up, "those who can't afford it" will "go to the less expensive, and far more damaging, rubbing alcohol, antifreeze and mouthwash to drink."

The proposed solution: "a controlled access program that gives free alcohol to homeless alcoholics." A socialized open bar! Those who drink responsibly pay more to bail out the real drunks.

Government social engineering at its finest, folks.

How corrupt are Wisconsin Democrats? This corrupt:

Short on votes, Assembly Democrats have turned to one of their jailed colleagues for help. According to reports, disgraced State Representative Jeff Wood, currently sitting in jail due to multiple (DWI) arrests, has been allowed to leave jail for the day to return to Madison to vote on the union contracts. (...)

So we are left with this: State union contracts being rammed through the Legislature at the last possible moment, by a body that voters threw out of power a month ago, with the deciding vote being cast by a legislator who had to be let out of jail to vote for the agreements.

What a repulsive display of raw political power. And the taxpayers of Wisconsin are left with the tab.

Update: Against all odds, they failed. The contracts were approved in the state assembly, but didn't clear the Senate.

Stunned Democrats stripped Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker of his leadership position after he abruptly turned on them and voted against new contracts for state workers. (...)

Wisconsin State Employees Union executive director Marty Beil lashed out at Decker, calling him "a whore" for siding with Republicans who opposed the contracts.

What an uplifting debate that seems to have been.

Victor Davis Hanson takes down Julian Assange:

Julian Assange, the public face of WikiLeaks, is, among many things, cowardly. Courageousness would involve meeting with Iranian dissidents, Russian journalists, Pakistani Christians, or Chinese human-rights activists - and then releasing any confidential information that they might have about the torment institutionalized by their countries' authoritarian regimes. That would be risky to Assange, however, since such governments do not customarily go to court against their leakers; they gulag them - or liquidate them.

Hanson goes on to similarly call out Assange on other counts:

Assange is a sorry product of the postmodern West.
Julian Assange is without principles.
Julian Assange is also a juvenile.
Julian Assange is a narcissist.

It's a worthwhile read.