Don’t go there! – TV Land’s top 100 catchphrases (HT: Fark)

Quote of the Day – Pollster Peter Brown on John Kerry: “Americans know who he is, and have pretty much decided they don't like him.” Ouch. That's my Senator!

Everybody on the peace train, except for you Salman Rushdie.

And if you win, you get this shiny fiddle made of gold

Fox News: “Chavez Vows to Beat 'Devil' In Upcoming Re-Election Bid”

Also, from the Boston Globe “Venezuela’s Great Divider”: “In the '70s and '80s, American liberals established a legacy of opposing right-wing, authoritarian regimes throughout Latin America. They should not stain that legacy by embracing the authoritarian Chávez simply because he comes from the left and joins them in fighting President Bush.”

Big Dig update – From the Boston Globe “AG, alleging negligence, will sue in tunnel cave-in”: “Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly plans to file a lawsuit today against seven companies involved in the design and construction of the fatally flawed ceiling in a Big Dig tunnel, charging that their negligence led to the collapse that killed a 38-year-old Jamaica Plain woman last July.”

Amazing Race 10 update – The Final Four in Morocco

Once again, the Race has boiled down to the point where I have to root for the team I dislike the least. I guess that’s Team Blonde, sure, why not? The four remaining teams start out from Kiev, Ukraine and must head to Ourzazate, Morocco and find an antique shop where they’ll pick up an amulet. The Blondies grab the first flight but it looks like the connecting flight to Ourzazate is late in the evening so a’bunchin’ is a’comin’. However, they miss the connecting flight in Milan while the other teams take a connecting flight through Paris. No matter: everybody’s together again.

In Morocco, teams take marked cars to the next clue. Team Alabama arrives at the antique shop first where they are then directed to Atlas Studios and a “Yield ahead.” The other teams seem lost and they pick up locals to direct them to the shop. It appears that Team Alabama is poised to yield Team Blonde, saying “what goes around comes around.” Huh? What, exactly, have the beauty queens done to Lyn & Karlyn? They’re nuts. No matter: the studios don’t open until 8am so it’s a footrace to the Yield.

Gates open! Wow, now Team Alabama has something to legitimately complain about: Team Blonde arrives at the mat third and yields Lyn & Karlyn. This is the Roadblock one team member must take a chariot around a course and do the Ben-Hur thing while grabbing flags off a line. By the way, I always love it when teams who were planning to yield somebody else get delayed themselves: then the whole concept of “fairness” gets turned on its head. Teams must drive somewhere and then find a café.

Team Bicker gets a flat tire on the way to the next clue. Rob handles it with his usual aplomb. He can’t figure out how to get the jack out of the car. Team Alabama, showing their boundless sense of fair play, quip “You should have yielded the Blondes” as they blow past them on the road.

Next it’s the Detour: Throw it or Grind it. Teams may make two pottery pots or grind olives; the twist is that either task only has three stations so everybody can’t choose the same task. After Team Bicker finally gets their tire changed, they decide to join the others grinding olives, unaware that everybody else is grinding. No matter: the Blondies get way lost on the way to the olive detour and must wait until one of the three teams finishes. The other teams finish and head to the Pit Stop which is a Berber camp in the middle of the desert.

On the way, all the teams are criticizing the Blondies with Team Alabama calling them “evil.” That must be a code word for “racing very well” at least until tonight. Team Blonde arrives last to the Pit Stop but it’s a non-elimination leg so they’ll be around for the next show. Won’t the other teams be upset!

Final standings:

#1 – Team Rehab – Tyler & James – Prize: Treo phone
#2 – Team Alabama – Lyn & Karlyn
#3 – Team Bicker – Rob & Kimberly
#4 – Team Blonde – Dustin & Kandace – Non-elimination leg

Next week – It’s the Rob and Kimberly mutual meltdown.

Extra – This space reserved for recaps from Pat & Kris.

Entitlement reform update - Lawrence Lindsey writes that raising payroll taxes to “save” Social Security is the wrong approach. Hey, didn’t I just say that too?

Today’s least surprising headline: “Palestinian militants attack Israel despite Gaza truce.”

Extra – From Gateway Pundit: “Palestinians Take About An Hour to Break Ceasefire”

Wow, it’s quiet here – Anyway, here’s the lineup for the Sunday morning shows. Looks like a fair representation of the Midwest states plus Governor Ahnold from Cal-ee-forn-ya.

The Iraqi insurgency has cash

Mostly from skimming off oil profits with the help from complicit Iraqi officials, but there’s a little help from the Europeans:

As much as $36 million a year comes from ransoms paid for hundreds of kidnap victims, the report says. It estimates that unnamed foreign governments — previously identified by American officials as including France and Italy — paid $30 million in ransom last year.

That’s $30 million to kill American soldiers. Thank you, NATO “allies.”

Tis the season – The Economist on “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday.” My goal this year is to set not a foot into brick-and-mortar establishments.

The backlash in Holland

From the Economist: “Islam in Europe: Hostility at Home”

Once a country renowned for tolerance of minorities of all stripes, the Netherlands now risks being known for an ugly debate over its growing Muslim population. As preliminary results emerged from general elections on Wednesday November 22nd, it became clear that a previously insignificant far-right party, the Party For Freedom, may claim as many as nine seats in a parliament of 150. The party had campaigned for a halt to all immigration, and in particular was hostile towards Muslims, calling for a ban on the building of religious schools and mosques and for a ban on veils worn by Muslim women.

As I’ve noted before, because European countries are heavily dependent on immigration to prop up the social state, it has led to an influx of people who do not meld with the liberal secularist society. Conflict is inevitable.

Americans love Walmart – Sometime tomorrow, we’re going to get a preliminary figure on the gazillions spent at Walmarts all across the country on Black Friday. Here’s some perspective on the world’s largest retailer from James Lileks via Betsy’s Page and from DJ Drummond on Stolen Thunder.

Everything falls apart

From Fox News: “Shiite group threatens boycott of Iraqi parliament” – “Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday threatened to boycott parliament and the Cabinet if Iraq's prime minister meets President Bush next week, a lawmaker said.”

Meanwhile, David Ignatius writes that only the Arabs can save themselves:

The idea that America is going to save the Arab world from itself is seductive, but it's wrong. We have watched in Iraq an excruciating demonstration of our inability to stop the killers. We aren't tough enough for it or smart enough -- and in the end it isn't our problem. The hard work of building a new Middle East will be done by the Arabs, or it won't happen. What would be unforgivable would be to assume that, in this part of the world, the rule of law is inherently impossible.

Why would Ignatius - who earlier in the article darkly stated “the killers always seem to win in Lebanon” – believe that some culture change would resurrect the rule of law? Further, what kind of rule of law excludes the excesses of the Saudi princes but finds reach enough for this: “Saudi court sentences rape victim to 90 lashes.” It has to be said: these are not rational people.

More – “We’re proud of our suicide bombing grandma”

Happy Thanksgiving! - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Everybody here at Viking Pundit wishes everyone a happy holiday. May we all be napping by 5pm.

Also - Lincoln, Gettysburg, and Thanksgiving.

Make the curve go up (or at least flat) – Here’s professor of economics Andrew Samwick with his take on Social Security reform: “The Administration essentially has to win one key point about the goals of the debate: that the standard for reform should be that under current projections, the final product achieve "sustainable solvency" for the system: a positive and rising Trust Fund balance at the end of the projection period.” (HT: Memeorandum)

The search for resolve - Here’s Tony Blankley on RCP with “Making the last mistake in Iraq”: “If we, the most powerful force on the planet, in a fit of disappointment and anger at our bungling policies to date, decide to shrug off our responsibilities to the future -- we will soon receive, and deserve, the furious contempt of a terrified world.”

I actually believe that most Americans understand the consequences of a Saigon-type withdrawal from Iraq. But I also think they simply don’t give a damn, they just want the troops home. Finally, I’d like to believe that a liberal democracy is the creed of every person in the world, but recent circumstances would suggest otherwise. Those proud purple fingers seem like artifacts from a different era.

Time to negotiate on Social Security

Is there still a chance for Social Security reform? The Wall Street Journal writes that a chastened President Bush is still committed to fixing the problem:

President Bush tried and failed to fix Social Security's long-term finances with his own party in control of Congress. His determination to keep trying, even as Democrats take over, is fueling speculation that he is ready to meet their price for coming to the bargaining table: dropping his goal of letting workers create private retirement accounts.

While Democrats don't take over the House and Senate until January, already some in both parties are reading tea leaves for signs of administration flexibility, including in recent remarks by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten.

Were the president to drop private accounts and call their bluff, Democrats would be challenged to make good on their professed willingness to help ensure Social Security's solvency.

This is in line with a report in the WashPost – “Social Security up for discussion”:

With the elections over and Democrats poised to take control on Capitol Hill, the Bush administration is making a fresh push to persuade them to help rein in the rising costs of Social Security and government health-care programs by offering to open talks with "no preconditions."

Well, I would prefer one precondition: if the White House is going to drop private savings accounts, the Democrats should agree to no additional FICA taxes. Already, some 70% of Americans spend more in payroll taxes than income taxes due in no small part to the fact that the payroll tax rate has steadily risen over time. When Social Security was in its infancy, the rate was 1% - it now stands at 6.2%; some (like me) would argue the rate is actually 12.4% since employers have to match your payment. Of course, since this expense doesn’t live in a vacuum, businesses are forced to pass on the cost in either higher prices or depressed wages.

Fruit of the vine – If you’re somewhat of an oenophile, Slate has an interesting profile of “the greatest vintner in America” by the name of Paul Draper.

Happy Thanksgiving! – From the Boston Globe: “Airline offering a free beer on Thanksgiving flights”