Kevin McCullough wants to wish the ACLU a Merry Christmas. Go join in!

Go get as “Christmas” a Christmas card as you can find… something that says.. “Joy To The World”, “For Unto Us A Child Is Born”, but at least “Merry Christmas”, put some of your own thoughts into it, sign it respectfully and zip it off in the mail to

ACLU
“Wishing You Merry Christmas”
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004

Others pitching in with publicity for Kevin’s campaign include Michelle, The Larsonian, Ed Driscoll, Chasing the Wind, Citizen Journal, CalCon, Martin’s Musings, Stop the ACLU, Conservative Musings and Oblogatory Anecdotes.

Bashing the effort is the Subjective Scribe.

Check out what Kobayashi Maru has to say about the global warming, er freezing trend.

Wednesday: “The four hottest years on record [in Europe] were 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Ten percent of Alpine glaciers disappeared during the summer of 2003 alone. At current rates, three quarters of Switzerland’s glaciers will have melted by 2050.” [emphasis added]

Thursday: “The ocean current that gives western Europe its relatively balmy climate is stuttering, raising fears that it might fail entirely and plunge the continent into a mini ice age.” [emphasis added]

Via Pamela, who is guest blogging over at LBC.

Seitel has more here (via this post). And Don Singleton agrees that Europe has more pressing problems than freezing or thawing.

(I almost filed this post under the “science” tag and then thought better of it.)

In Hawaii, the mother is not responsible because at the time the meth was taken, the baby was not a “person.”

Jay has a great post over at Wizbang today. Go check it out.

There are two ways of measuring the completion of a task: by time, and by action. A lot of Democrats wish to define the end of the Iraq war by a calendar — so many troops out by such a time, more by a later date, complete withdrawal by a third, and the like.

But I don’t think this is one of those tasks that can be measured that way. I think that President Bush intends it to be one of the latter — to be determined by events, not time — and I think he’s right.

…

The only advantage a calendar-based approach is to tell the enemy just how long they have to hang on until we leave and let them win by default. And I don’t think that is such a great idea.

As anyone who is paying attention to politics knows, Bush gave a big speech yesterday outlining the strategy for victory in Iraq. TOL commented last night, and excerpted a portion where Bush mentioned Marine Corporal Jeff Starr, who was killed fighting terrorists.

But what you might not remember, is that the reason that Jeff Starr became the name to mention, is that he was inaccurately portrayed by the New York Times excerpting a portion of a letter found on his laptop, and then bloggers (with Michelle Malkin taking the lead) used their collective megaphone to point out that there was more to Jeff’s letter than the NYT published.

Here is what the NYT excerpted:

Another member of the 1/5, Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr, rejected a $24,000 bonus to re-enlist. Corporal Starr believed strongly in the war, his father said, but was tired of the harsh life and nearness of death in Iraq. So he enrolled at Everett Community College near his parents’ home in Snohomish, Wash., planning to study psychology after his enlistment ended in August.

But he died in a firefight in Ramadi on April 30 during his third tour in Iraq. He was 22.

Sifting through Corporal Starr’s laptop computer after his death, his father found a letter to be delivered to the marine’s girlfriend. “I kind of predicted this,” Corporal Starr wrote of his own death. “A third time just seemed like I’m pushing my chances.”

And the piece that Bush quoted yesterday, is what the NYT left out.

“Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I’m writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I’m pushing my chances. 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 that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.”

Blogs such as Patridiots and Daily KOS are beating the “what Bush left out” drum, pointing out that Corporal Starr was on his third tour of duty and was not going to reinlist. But many others are very pleased with the speech, and apparently think that it’s about time that Bush took the “come out swinging” approach.

By mentioning Jeff Starr, I think Bush was making a specific effort to honor a fallen soldier who was besmirched by the New York Times through selective editing, and I say, “Excellent speech, Mr. President.”

More on the speech and related matters from Suitably Flip, Smash, ITA, Jeremiah Stoddard, Moderate Voice, Glittering Eye, California Yankee and Trucker Philosophy.