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Some Call It A Bonfire (Or Carnival) Of Classiness....

We call it "Classiness, All Around Us."

Happy/Merry _________-

Ed Driscoll has an innovative suggestion for online merchants:

Default to "Happy Holidays" and then allow each customer to choose if he or she wants to change it to "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hanukah", "Happy Kwanza", "Happy Eid", or heck, even "Happy Festivus". And then have a "Happy TYPE HOLIDAY OF YOUR CHOICE HERE" box for anyone who celibrates a day other than the previous listings to fill in.

Great idea. Instead of sterilizing the holiday season, eliminating or marginalizing Christmas out of concern that people might feel left out, let's instead keep Christmas AND let people express their beliefs. That's just plain American.

2.

Christmas Economy-

Speaking of Christmas, Eidelblog notes yet another anecdotal bit of evidence about America's booming economy, and of the unprecedented wealth to which more Americans than ever have access:

Isn't it a wonderful country that not just the wealthy, but even some of the middle class, are wealthy enough, and have jobs of such economic value, that they can hire people to decorate their homes?

That is pretty amazing, and it's something I have definitely noticed in suburban Houston over the past years. Landscaping companies (and independent contractors) who might otherwise conduct less business during winter months can make bundles of money applying their expertise and talent. It's also a good sign for the overall economy when folks are able to afford something that just a few years ago might have been considered an unreasonable extravagance.

3.

Dumb Political Strategy-

Club For Growth blog explains what I have been saying for quite some time, that the National Republican Senatorial Committee's decision to attack a true conservative in favor of a very liberal Republican incumbent was a disaster:

THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE IS SPENDING MONEY ON ATTACK ADS AGAINST STEPHEN LAFFEY, A FELLOW REPUBLICAN HERE IN RHODE ISLAND. DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE SPENDING MONEY ON THIS NEGATIVE CAMPAIGN, OR SHOULD THEY BE SPENDING MONEY AGAINST DEMOCRATS INSTEAD?

SHOULD BE 9.3%
SPEND AGAINST DEMOCRATS 71.7%
DON‘T KNOW/REFUSED 19%

That the NRSC is the only major Republican group lagging in fundraising is not surprising. It's not brain surgery, people.

4.

Amendments-

The new Cato Unbound blog offers three proposals for Constitutional amendments:

The twentieth century experienced a manifold increase in the size of government, at all levels, but concentrated in the United States at the federal level. The political decision structure accelerated this growth. Congress found itself able to advance popular spending programs separately from the imposition of taxes needed to finance them. Further, the spending process itself was effectively decentralized through the delegation of authority to committees, members of which were necessarily responsive to interest groups. Sporadic efforts to reform the budgetary decision structure have been unsuccessful.

Out-of-control growth of government, unfortunately, is not a personnel issue. It's a systematic issue. We've got to consider changing the way politics happens in Washington, or we'll continue down a truly unsustainable path.

5.

Saddam Hussein Trial-

The Nose On Your Face blog offers a hilarious satirical look at Saddam Hussein's complaints about prison:

2. The rape rooms in this prison are way different, and far less enjoyable, than the ones I used to run.

1. I haven't heard from those two ingrate sons of mine in years.

Go read them all. Funny stuff as always.

6.

Fact Check-

Adam Gurri offers a thorough look at the world (and whether humans are better or worse off), and reviews one of my favorite non-fiction books:

...all the evidence suggests that human beings are, for the most part, better off than they ever have been; they are living longer and their quality of life is at a historical high.

Reasons for optimism and hope abound the world over. Sometimes the constant "everything is terrible" droning of the media can cloud that reality.

7.

A Century-

Suldog-O-Rama offers a nice look at his grandmother's 100th birthday:

One of the more interesting stories about my Grandma was how she finagled dancing lessons for herself when she was a young woman. She couldn't afford to just take them and pay for them, so what did she do? She started her own dancing school.

These past 100 years have been among the more momentous and world-changing in the history of the world. Technology, medicine, geopolitics, communications, transportation... it has all changed so much since 1905. If you know someone who is 100 years old, glean whatever wisdom from them while you can.

8.

Propaganda-

Verifrank takes a look at propaganda:

Do we need propaganda to win the war?, hell yes we do, and from the looks of it we need a lot more! Does the left really REALLY want to say that this snot covered drivel they call reporting is NOT propaganda? Lets go over “the devils resume of Western Journalism in Iraq” shall we?

A nice litany of left-wing propaganda in the press in recent times. Definitely worth a read.

9.

Loving Totalitarians-

The neo-neocon blog explains how the left lost its way:

It's wonderful to be part of a coherent movement, a whole that makes sense, joined with others working for the same goal and sharing the same beliefs. But there's a price to pay when something challenges the tenets of that movement. When that happens, there are two kinds of people: those who change their ideas to fit the new facts, even if it means leaving the fold, and those who distort and twist the facts and logic to maintain the circle dance.

A nice post, and a nice comment thread, as well. I will never forget hearing the chant (from the same folks who opposed the "illegal war" in Afghanistan after 9/11) of "hey hey, ho ho, Saddam Hussein shouldn't go" on campus after President Bush had offered his ultimatum for Saddam to leave the country or face serious consequences.

10.

Conservatives Who Don't Realize How Strong They Are-

PoliPundit, in twin posts (Part 2 is here), notes that Republicans need to believe in their own ideas, and their own electoral success:

So Michigan is turning into a Democratic state? Really?

Let’s look at the results in Presidential elections. Below are the percentages for the Republican Presidential candidate:

1992: 36%
1996: 38%
2000: 46%
2004: 48%

Too often, we talk about the country "moving apart," with blue states getting bluer, and red states getting redder. But most blue states have actually gotten less, not more, firmly entrenched in the clutches of the Democratic Party than before. When Republicans offer voters a difference, voters will respond.

11.

Office Party Antics-

Samantha Burns spots a funny factoid:

According to Canon photocopier repairmen, 32% of their Christmas season calls have been to fix the glass plates after people attempted to photocopy various body parts.

Who knew?

12.

Tony Blair-

By Dawn's Early Light blog takes a look at Tony Blair's big challenge:

The developed world is worried about the spread of AIDS, radical Islam, avian bird flu, and a host of other troubles in the developing world. However without radical farm subsidy reform, starting in Europe (as proposed by the United States) and followed by Japan, the Doha round will accomplish little.

Indeed. European farm subsidies make ours look like chump change. What's worse, they hurt the ability of third world countries to compete in the world market.

13.

Death Wishes-

Michelle Malkin notes that a recovering soldier received a vicious bit of hate mail:

...a US Army soldier named Joshua Sparling received the death wish while recovering from a gunshot wound he received in Ramadi, Iraq. It's the only Christmas card he received. Fox & Friends is urging you to counter the hate by sending your thanks and good wishes to Sparling:

Joshua Sparling
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Do it today.

I know I will. Our heroes, our palladins, our soldiers-- they deserve better than "death wish" mail.

14.

Howard Dean-

Protein Wisdom offers some fun thoughts on the defeatist Democrats, particularly DNC Chairman:

...the national Democrats either 1) are completely incapable of defending a country and sustaining a necessarily muscular foreign policy; or else, 2) Teddy Kennedy, while scrounging around in the family vault for a swig of vintage Absinthe, inadvertantly stumbled upon a Genie bottle, and—after wishing for more Absinthe and a pair of Hooter’s waitresses who “really dig the belly fat”—he used his last wish to ensure that world peace is triggered the moment the US pulls its troops out of Iraq.

Major Democrats, beholden to the radical anti-war base they cottled and cultivated, now are doing their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

15.

Freedom-

Resurrection Song blog wonders if we're being too soft on the European Union:

What exactly can the United States do with European allies who are not particularly friendly to our goals and often openly unfriendly to this administration? Courting them won’t bring them back in line and challenging them will just broaden the anti-American sentiment.

I suggest that America is doing precisely what it needs to do: trying to establish more friendly bonds with emerging democracies in the region like Poland. France and Germany are treated like the countries that they are: diminishing in power abroad and less than vital to America’s new policy needs.

In Europe, as in Iraq, the American response should be “Stay the course.”

Indeed. Whatever we do, we should not try to "repair" the alliances with Europe. But we shouldn't go out of our way to damage those alliances, either.

Also, don't forget to check out all the old Trivia Tidbits Of the Day, the Reform Thursday series, the Quotational Therapy sessions, the most recent Mainstream Melee, the latest Pundit Roundtable, and the Wednesday Caption Contest (entries are due each Tuesday at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time).

Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*November 29, 2005.

WILLisms.com offers a classiness roundup as a bi-weekly feature, every other Tuesday, with 10 blog posts deemed classy. The criteria for submissions: incisive original analysis, quirky topics nobody else (especially the mainstream media) is covering, fantastic graphics, or other posts that took a lot of work. We love to spread the word on upcoming blogs, being that WILLisms.com also fits that description. If you would like to nominate a post on your blog or another blog for inclusion, email us at WILLisms@gmail.com. Write "Classy Nomination" in the subject. You can also utilize this page to make your submissions. The deadline is every other Monday at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Classy.

Posted by Will Franklin · 6 December 2005 05:56 PM

Comments

Posted by: Beth at December 7, 2005 02:14 AM

Posted by: Suldog at December 7, 2005 07:43 AM

Posted by: Sam at December 9, 2005 07:43 PM