George W. Bush understands the world in which we live. If ever we have been blessed with a leader, by the grace of God, it is now.

We live in the crossroads of world history. It is a moment that perhaps we do not fully understand. It is moment that George Bush does. Great leaders grasp their moment. They understand that which is bigger than themselves. They almost instinctively know that something larger than themselves is transpiring and that they have been cast on the stage of history by the Director of life to do His bidding. It is His call. George W. Bush gets it. Thank you, Mr. President for standing tall, picking up that mantle, and carrying us forward in the face of our enemies both here and abroad. Thank you for your faith and trust in the Author of Life, your dependence on the One who directs the affairs of men, and your unwavering commitment to the responsibility He has given you.

If you haven’t read the President’s speech at the U.S. Naval Academy please take the time to do so here.

Some excerpts…

These terrorists have nothing to offer the Iraqi people. All they have is the capacity and the willingness to kill the innocent and create chaos for the cameras. They are trying to shake our will to achieve their stated objectives. They will fail. America’s will is strong. And they will fail because the will to power is no match for the universal desire to live in liberty.

This is an enemy without conscience — and they cannot be appeased.

Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a message across the world that America is a weak and an unreliable ally. Setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would send a signal to our enemies — that if they wait long enough, America will cut and run and abandon its friends. And setting an artificial deadline to withdraw would vindicate the terrorists’ tactics of beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder — and invite new attacks on America. To all who wear the uniform, I make you this pledge: America will not run in the face of car bombers and assassins so long as I am your Commander-in-Chief.

Victory in Iraq will demand the continued determination and resolve of the American people. It will also demand the strength and personal courage of the men and women who wear our nation’s uniform. And as the future officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, you’re preparing to join this fight. You do so at a time when there is a vigorous debate about the war in Iraq. I know that for our men and women in uniform, this debate can be unsettling — when you’re risking your life to accomplish a mission, the last thing you want to hear is that mission being questioned in our nation’s capital. I want you to know that while there may be a lot of heated rhetoric in Washington, D.C., one thing is not in dispute: The American people stand behind you.

Today in the Middle East freedom is once again contending with an ideology that seeks to sow anger and hatred and despair. And like fascism and communism before, the hateful ideologies that use terror will be defeated by the unstoppable power of freedom, and as democracy spreads in the Middle East, these countries will become allies in the cause of peace.

In mourning the loss of our fallen soldiers, Mr. Bush cited the following…

One of those fallen heroes is a Marine Corporal named Jeff Starr, who was killed fighting the terrorists in Ramadi earlier this year. After he died, a letter was found on his laptop computer. Here’s what he wrote, he said, “[I]f you’re reading this, then I’ve died in Iraq. I don’t regret going. Everybody dies, but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it’s not to me. I’m here helping these people, so they can live the way we live. Not [to] have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators_. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.”

There is only one way to honor the sacrifice of Corporal Starr and his fallen comrades — and that is to take up their mantle, carry on their fight, and complete their mission.

Mr. President, thank you. May God continue to guide you in His path. Thank you for your willingness to assume this awesome and incomprehensible responsibility.

May God bless you.

You can read the President’s unclassified strategy for Iraq here.

John Hinderaker takes AP reporting Calvin Woodward to the woodshed.

If you haven’t seen the kerfuffle over MoveOn.org’s use of British soldiers in their American Troops Stuck in Iraq ad, and the subsequent attempt to photoshop pants on the poor chap, check it out here, here.

A US Army Captain responds:

These are not your normal everyday U.S. soldiers though. If you look at the frame they are actually British soldiers. One is in shorts (we don’t have shorts as a normal combat uniform) and the others are all clearly wearing British pattern fatigues. So, my point is that these [turkeys] pretend to argue on my behalf and bash the president in the name of my crying wife, and they don’t even know what an American soldier looks like! Anyway, it really [ticked] me off.

And Generation Why appreciated the timing of the “Where are the Republicans” voiceover in the ad.

More from Michelle, ABP, Mark in Mexico, Yippee Ki Yay, Suitably Flip.

Alternative post title: “Liar, Liar, Pants on …“

If you haven’t seen it yet, Paul English has a cheat sheet on how to reach a human in the world of Intelligent Voice Response systems. IVR companies react, and Paul responds.

Via Dan Gillmor and KPaul at MFP.

That’s the recommendation of the Arkansas State Police, per KTVE.

If a deer comes into the road State Police say you should not swerve. They say they’ve seen it all too many times the car swerves and hits an immovable object. Police recommend hitting the animal, however if that animal is a horse or cow they recommend you get out of the way.

Hey, someone had to be #2.

Jonah Goldberg has a very interesting discussion here about the use of torture.

I haven’t worked out all the answers for myself, but it seems to me that a great clarifier in this area is to substitute “torture” with “deadly force.” Surely, there’s nothing wrong with shooting a terrorist in the head before he can push the button that blows up New York. Surely, there’s everything wrong with shooting an innocent person for no reason whatsoever. The only way it’s different for torture is if you believe torture is worse than killing. We should greet assertions along these lines cautiously.

More back and forth between Goldberg and Ramesh here and here.

Neither Andy McCarthy nor, I take it, you would countenance the torture of an innocent person under any circumstances, even if that means New York has to go. If that’s not an absurd conclusion–and it isn’t–then why is it absurd to conclude that while there are a great many things we can do to a terrorist who is withholding life-saving information, and we can do more to that terrorist than to an innocent party, there are nevertheless some things we cannot do, even at the cost of New York? And if that’s the case, what’s left of the usefulness of invoking the ticking time-bomb?

And here.

Aerial bombing by its very nature inevitably results in the killing and maiming of innocents and combatants. For some unknowable number of people this means a lifetime of pain, psychological and/or physical. And yet, advocates of an absolute torture ban (or at least the ones who are not complete pacifists) do not argue for a total ban on aerial bombing in all circumstances.

Similarly, I’ve never heard a thorough and succint explanation as to why executing a captured soldier on the battlefield is immoral, but blowing him up in his sleep isn’t. But we can discuss this in the morning.

When life hands you lemonade, make lemons. Apparently that’s the approach the New York Times is taking when it comes to reporting on the economy:

Gasoline is cheaper than it was before Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans. Consumer confidence jumped last month and new home sales hit a record. The stock market has been rising. Even the nation’s beleaguered factories appear to be headed for a happy holiday season.

By most measures, the economy appears to be doing just fine. No, scratch that, it appears to be booming.

But as always with the United States economy, it is not quite that simple.

Consumer confidence is bouncing back from what was arguably some of its worst readings in years. Gasoline prices-the national average is now $2.15, according to the Energy Information Administration- have fallen because higher prices tamped down demand and supplies in the Gulf Coast have been slowly restored. The latest read on home sales, released today, contradicts virtually every other recent measure of housing activity that generally indicate a slowdown. And yes, manufacturers’ fortunes are on the mend, but few besides airplane makers are celebrating.

It all means that the economy is likely to end the year with a splash, but that does not mean the broad economic picture next year will be even better.

“The economy is doing great, but there must be bad news in here somewhere. There has to be, and we’ll find it.”

Cindy Sheehan is upset that the AP published a photo captioned “Anti-war activist CindySheehan waits for people to show up at her book signing near President Bush’s ranch on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 in Crawford, Texas.”

It’s a great picture.

UPDATE: Rusty has caption contest winners for this picture. More caption contests here and here.

Lawhawk derides: “The Sheehanapalooza Tour comes to a crashing halt as Cindy Sheehan’s book signing event in Crawford, Texas is a book signing consisting of herself and a gaggle of media hounds looking for primo crowd shots.”

And Sweetness & Light has more pictures, including a protectively cropped shot that Reuters used.