Madrid, Spain. Spain has been one of the great democratic and economic success stories of the last three decades. But there is now some reason to fear for its future. The Spaniards have moved in two generations from conservative church-going Catholics to some of the most socially liberal people on the planet (the Californians of Europe). Recent surveys have shown the Spaniards to be among the happiest people on Earth. In sum, Spain seems to have everything going for it.  There are problems, however, big problems in paradise.

In all of American history, only a handful of generals -- Grant and Sherman in the Civil War, and Douglas MacArthur with the Inchon landing in the Korean War -- have turned a war around in so short a time as has Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq.  And no one has done it with so few casualties, or so little civilian "collateral damage."  What has happened in Iraq since the troop surge began about this time last year is a tribute to the kindness and the humanity as well as to the courage and skill of U.S. soldiers and Marines.  And to the genius and leadership of David Petraeus.  Grant, Sherman, and MacArthur were national heroes.  Their names were on everyone's lips.  Parades were thrown in their honor.  Grant became president.  Sherman could have been, had he wanted to be.  MacArthur was touted for the Republican nomination in 1952, which went instead to another successful general. David Petraeus, on the other hand, is the Rodney Dangerfield of successful American commanders.  He didn't even make the top ten in Gallup's poll of the most admired men for 2007.

The first thing his wife would do if she became president, Bill Clinton said in South Carolina last week, would be to dispatch him and the first President Bush on an around the world diplomatic mission to repair the damage done to America's reputation and influence by the policies of the current President Bush. George H.W. Bush became friendly with the man who beat him in 1992 when they worked together to raise funds for tsunami relief.  But the elder Mr. Bush made it clear that neither Bill nor Hillary had ever discussed such a diplomatic mission with him, and he wouldn't have been interested if they had, because he strongly supports his son's foreign policy. The episode reminds us that Bill Clinton's relationship with the truth remains problematic.  The theme -- that President Bush's policies, particularly with regard to the war in Iraq, have cost us the respect and support of our traditional allies -- is an article of faith among Democrats.  But it is untrue.  On the whole, our president is a world success.

[Mark Gilligan is TTP's own "Marco," known to all participants in the TTP User Forum.  His first column appeared last month:  Marco The Wizard?  His column will be a regular feature in 2008.] It's the gifting time of the year and for your technological needs we have some suggestions that may make your life easier and your wallet less depleted.  Here are a few... The anti-virus software package offered by AVG is one of the best available - and it's free! If you want the full capacity of Adobe's Acrobat Professional Apps and don't have the several hundred dollars in the budget, you can get its equivalent for only $9.95 at pdf995.com. 

For many conservatives, the most infuriating outrage of the Bush Presidency has been the prosecution and imprisonment of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler in the ass. It is the drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, and the federal prosecutor, Johnny Sutton, who belong in jail, not them. For defending our border from mass foreign invasion, Ramos and Compean will be spending Christmas in solitary confinement, rather than with their families. It's hard to think of a more Christian, a more pro-American thing you could do this Christmas than send them a message of support and a donation to their wives and children. Here's how:

"Blowback" is an intelligence term for adverse, unintended consequences of secret operations. The CIA first used it in a report on the 1953 operation that overthrew the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. Some in the intelligence community (IC) have been working with liberal journalists and Democrats on Capitol Hill to embarrass President Bush and to stymie his foreign policy initiatives. The most successful of these covert operations was the Valerie Plame affair, in which White House officials were falsely blamed for "outing" a CIA undercover officer who was not in fact undercover. (It was then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who inadvertently disclosed Ms. Plame's identity.) The most recent is the new National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and hasn't resumed it. Michael Ledeen, a former consultant to the National Security Council, described the NIE as "policy advocacy masquerading as serious intelligence." The apparent purpose of the NIE is to make it politically impossible for President Bush to take military action against Iran. But the effort has been so bald that it is blowing back on its authors.

OK, it's all set.  We gave you a heads up two weeks ago in Sarasota Rendezvous.  Now the details.  The To The Point Winter Rendezvous will be from Friday February 8 to Sunday February 10 at the Hilton Longboat Key Beachfront Resort in Sarasota, Florida. We have blocked a number of rooms at amazing rate of $199 (that's for a double or less than $100 per person, and realize, this is right on the beach at the highest of high season, when everyone wants to escape from February snow and ice to Florida sunshine). To reserve yours, just click on the Rendezvous picture on the TTP home page (top of the left side bar) or click here for Rendezvous Reservation. The cost of the Rendezvous itself is $285.  That includes dinner Friday and Saturday nights, breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings, and all meetings and activities.  There will be in-depth briefings and discussions by me and To The Point stars such as Jack Kelly and Dr. Joel Wade. And of course, there is the wonderful fun of getting together with your fellow TTPers. We'll do so right on the beach with its world-famous white sugar sand - sunset beach parties with a bar set up on the sand just for us.

If you want to see a bunch of really happy folks who think Christmas has come early for them and can't wait for the coming new year, come to the Capitol Hill Club, the power watering hole for Republicans in Washington. There, you'll see GOP Congressmen, Senators, and their top staffers all slapping each other on the back and saying, "We're not in 2006 anymore, Toto," or "2006 is like, so over."  Happy, happy guys n'gals. And why shouldn't they be?  The President's got their back and they've got the hapless Dems by the short hairs.  It's fun to be in DC this December. What's that?  Do I hear you saying in a tone of cynicism, "Yes, Jack, but the Pubbies never know that when you've got your foe on the ropes, you put him down on the canvas.  As always, they'll let the Dems off the ropes rather than finishing them off." There's a lot of history to justify such cynicism.  Arguing that it's different this time is like the definition of a second marriage:  the triumph of hope over experience. Yet there are three good reasons for such hope:

Those who watched the Republican presidential "debate" in Iowa yesterday (12/12) now understand why the Des Moines Register is such a lousy newspaper. "That was not just the worst debate of 2007, that was the worst debate in Western history, and that includes the ancient Greeks," said columnist Charles Krauthammer.  "There is no record in any major European record of a debate this transcendingly and crushingly dull." This wasn't the fault of the candidates, all of whom turned in credible performances.  The blame for this flop belongs to the debate's moderator, Des Moines Register editor Carolyn Washburn.  While most commentators compared her to an overbearing elementary school teacher, Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard likened her to Nurse Ratched, the villain in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." There was a ray of hope.  The highlight of the debate, such as it was, came when Fred Thompson, like Kesey's hero Randle McMurphy, defied Nurse Ratched.  His putdown was quickly put up on YouTube:

Hillary Clinton has been playing a dangerous game with China.  After over a decade of illegal contributions to the Democratic Party and special favors to the Clintons by the Chicoms, Hillary has turned on her old Chinese friends and sold them out in a desperate bid to win in 2008.  The American dollar and economy have suffered collateral damage in this Clinton double cross with China. "Chinagate" was the name for numerous illegal campaign contributions from the PRC to the Democrats that helped them to win the 1996 elections.  As you may remember back in 1996, the Clintons apparently traded missile secrets to China via Loral in exchange for donations from the PRC.  Thus when Hillary started her run for president, she was in a position to count on the support of the PRC.  Poor residents of Chinatown were making large donations to Hillary.  She was getting numerous suspicious donations from Chinese operatives including Norman Hsu and the Paw family on the west coast, and also from numerous suspicious donations from the East coast.  This might have continued in a simple repeat of the 1996 election scandal if Hillary had any loyalty to her PRC benefactors.  However, the reality was that she had more to gain from selling them out than continuing the game.  Consider the benefits to turning on her former friends:

I'd sure like to make a suggestion for an ideal Christmas gift for someone you really care about:  a membership in To The Point!  Just click on that link and you can sign up a friend for a wonderfully memorable and enlightening month's membership for less than ten bucks - or for those you really care about, a full year. I'd also like to suggest you consider products made by your fellow TTPers. There's WineStar crystal wine glasses offered by Ed & Susan Sanders.  They beat Reidel hands down.  You won't believe how much better wine tastes with Ed & Susan's stemware.  They make a great way to celebrate the Christmas-New Year's holidays, any other holiday, and life every day. Alex & Laurie Alexiev have 800 olive trees on four acres on their ranch near Paso Robles, California that produce the best-tasting, highest quality olive oil you've ever had.  Their Allure Estates Liquid Gold Tuscan-style extra-virgin oil has now won numerous awards.  You can gift yourself with a bottle, as well as your friends. Then there's my sister Judy (an avid TTPer!), with her marvelously illustrated children's book, Jessica The Furry Baroo, that's such a fun way to impart a love of nature and the critters in it to kids. Of course, there's Dr. Joel Wade's new book, Mastering Happiness.  What a great gift for anyone you want to be happy!

Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and probably won't be able to build a bomb before 2015 if it does restart it, a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has concluded.  That's very good news...if it's true. But that's a BIG if.  The NIE is a SWAG (Scientific Wild-Assed Guess), not a statement of proven fact.  It's a SWAG from an Intelligence Community (IC) whose predictive record about the Middle East has been poor.  It's a SWAG that's challenged by Israeli intelligence, whose predictive history is much better.  And it's a SWAG that is diametrically opposed to the last SWAG the IC issued on Iran's nuclear program. An IC that had "high confidence" in a 2005 NIE that Iran was building a bomb and was resistant to international pressure now has "high confidence" that Iran stopped building it two years before that NIE was issued! 

The current Attorney General for the State of Florida is Bill McCollum.  After being a Congressman representing Florida's 5th District for 20 years, he ran for Senate in 2004 only to be screwed by Karl Rove, who wanted Bush's buddy Mel Martinez. Thus we have the pro-illegal alien Martinez in the Senate - but at least Florida lucked out to have McCollum bounce back to be elected its AG last year.  How lucky can be seen by a letter McCollum wrote this week (12/03) in his official capacity to the president of the University of Florida. American universities are today dominated by professors and administrators who viciously attack any attempt at giving their students a pro-America education.    Finally, here is one state attorney general who has the guts to legally prosecute such viciousness.  America needs more Bill McCollums. Here is his letter:

Get ready for a To The Point Winter Rendezvous on the sugar-sand white beaches of Sarasota.  The dates are Friday February 8 to Sunday February 10.  A lot of TTPers are putting a lot of effort into making this work, so that it will the most successful and the most fun Rendezvous so far. Sarasota is Florida's unknown gem.  The Ringling Brothers made the place and for years it was the winter headquarters of their famous circus.  It's on Florida's west coast 56 miles or an hour's drive south of Tampa (so getting there with direct flights or from Tampa International is easy).  It's famous for its white "sugar-sand" beaches, gorgeous sunsets, and many cultural activities, but hasn't got the crowds of snowbirds many other places in Florida have. We'll be updating you with schedules and costs, but we wanted you to know now:  Beach Party Rendezvous, 2/8-10, 2008.  We are going to have a great time.  See you in Sarasota!

The global financial problem, stemming from the U.S. subprime mortgage mess, is a direct result of the irresponsibility and incompetence of the U.S. Congress That Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been engaging in Ponzi scheme with taxpayer-subsidized money is obvious to anyone - even Congressmen - due to a series of major accounting and financial corruption scandals in recent years. Politicians have used the board positions in these organizations to reward political cronies (e.g., the fired and indicted head of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines, was Bill Clinton's Office of Management and Budget director). Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been very major contributors to congressional campaigns. But rather than clean up the mess they created by getting back to market basics, Democrats in Congress decided last week to make the mess much worse.

This Tuesday, November 27, a weird full-page ad appeared in The Washington Times directly targeting conservatives.  Its headline in big bold print:  U.S.-Russia:  Toward a political, economic and military alliance. It was paid for by an outfit called america-russia.net.  It's not clear if these folks are on the KGB payroll, but they might as well be.  They seem to be the same group of Blame America First Conservatives I wrote about back in July of '05:  the folks at American Conservative and antiwar.com infected with the disease of Anti-Semitism, who hate Israel more than they love America, who root for America's defeat in Iraq. Now they're rooting for the KGB Billionaire Mafia that runs Russia. Last February, you learned that Putin is The World's Richest and Most Dangerous Gangster, the most corrupt ruler in world history, having accumulated a personal fortune of over 20 billion dollars - and control over thousands of nukes. You also learned that Bush and Cheney were contemplating exposing Putin's billionaire corruption.  There's been a lot of debate in the White House about this, but it looks like the first salvo has finally been fired.

Denial is the first stage of grieving. Democrats seem stuck there when it comes to the war in Iraq. It's odd that his fellow Democrats are mourning success in Iraq, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said in a speech Nov. 8: "Democrats have remained emotionally invested in a narrative of defeat and retreat in Iraq, reluctant to acknowledge the progress we are now achieving, or even that the progress has enabled us to begin drawing down our troops there." Democrats have been enabled in their denial by a news media which has been reluctant to report the dramatically improving circumstances in Iraq.  But that's changing.  The New York Times has had positive stories two days in a row.  The Los Angeles Times and Newsweek have noticed. This is dismaying for Democrats because journalists are herd animals.  When the bell cows point toward a new story line, the herd stampedes in that direction.  "The herd is likely to grow larger because the evidence of success in Baghdad and elsewhere is so palpable that reporters, regardless of their view of the war, were bound to acknowledge it at some point," said Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard. So Democrats had better work their way through the denial phase of grief fast, because if they're saying in January what they've been saying in November, they'll look ridiculous -- or worse.