It is rare in the history of our politics for an election for an office other than president to have profound consequences for the future of our nation.  But one such election is next Tuesday January 19th, when voters in Massachusetts will select someone to fill the two remaining years of the U.S. Senate term of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Massachusetts is the bluest state in the nation.  A yellow dog running on the Democrat line ought to be able to defeat any Republican by at least 20 points.  A perfect storm is required to elect a Republican statewide in Massachusetts.  But for this this election -- which  is more important than almost every other Senate race in history -- that perfect storm may have formed.

In a March, 2008 interview John Brennan, then the chief adviser on intelligence matters for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, said he thought the Bush administration was too concerned about terrorism. Mr. Brennan's more relaxed attitude toward the threat of Islamic terror is reflected in the National Intelligence Strategy for 2009, in which global warming and pandemic disease (the H1N1 virus) compete with al Qaeda for the attention and resources of the Intelligence Community. A shift in focus to natural disasters from terrorism prevention is part of the reason why the inspector general for Department of Homeland Security said, in a report issued in November, that DHS' National Operations Center is "unable" to do its job of ensuring coordination among the 22 agencies that comprise DHS. That relaxed attitude evidently also was shared by President Obama, whose initial reaction to the attempted Christmas terrorism by the Blow Your Balls Off For Allah Bomber was annoyance that his vacation was interrupted.

OK, folks, time to get serious - The Remember the Alamo Rendezvous in San Antonio is three weeks away.  You really really do not want to be square and not be there.  This is your opportunity to help launch the Defund & Disobey Revolution of 2010.  Your opportunity to revel in fellowship with other members of the TTP family.  You owe it to yourself, you owe it to America.  I'm counting on seeing you there. *** They sure know how to party in Louisiana, don't they?  The party of the year is shaping up there - a Recall Party!  Turns out Louisiana law allows for a recall election to throw an elected official - including a federal one (except for judges) - out of office.  This most specifically means Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu. The effort is being organized by moveonmary.org.  They need volunteers, they need money.  Mary Landrieu stole the election from Woody Jenkins back in 1996 and was bribed with "the Louisiana Purchase" to vote for ZeroCare.  She was re-elected in 2008, which means Louisiana (and America) is stuck with her until 2014 - but now there's a chance to throw her out on her tush this year.  We should all pitch in.  Let's party!

[Letter to the Wall Street Journal] This is in response to "Our Incompetent Civilization" by Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens. Mr. Stephens ascribes failures to profile Moslems at airport security, think rationally about climate change, or eliminate Somali pirates to "civilizational incompetence."  Such failures are not due to a lack of ability but to a lack of will.  It is not civilizational competence that we lack but civilizational confidence. On the same day as Mr. Stephens' article (01/04/10), Der Spiegel ran an editorial bemoaning the lack of Western outrage at recent Moslem attacks on Danish cartoonists who caricatured Mohammed.  It was entitled, "The West Is Choked by Fear."  But fear of what? Whatever that fear is of, it is the cause of our collapse of civilizational confidence.  Please allow me to identify it.  It is the fear of envy.

We are pleased to announce a new special feature of To The Point available to all TTP members:  The To The Point Business Network. There is already the TTP Social Network where TTPers can share their opinions and plan social activities with each other.  But what about sharing business expertise and opportunities with each other? There is so much business experience, knowledge, and creativity possessed by TTPers.  So we have decided to synergize it.  These are troubling economic times.  But synergized TTPers can help each other overcome them - and even flourish during them. Whatever your business talents and abilities are, whatever your economic situation, you'll find fellow TTPers willing to share their thoughts and ideas with you, willing to help - just as you can help them.  The link to the To The Point Business Network is in the left side bar of the TTP home page, just below the Main Menu categories.  So join and sign up now, and start making 2010 a business success story for you and your family.  Many thanks to TTP general manager Miko, and Marco "The Wizard" Gilligan, for making this possible!

Happy New Year!  Doesn't it feel great to be rid of 2009?  To be rid of the entire furshlugginer decade of the Aughts?  And what is to be our battle cry as we enter 2010? Fired up and ready to go! The battle cry is ours now.  It no longer belongs to that failed schmuck who used it in the long past days of yesteryear to con his way into the White House.  Besides, his supporters are so dejected and demoralized that if he tried to fire them up he would be pushing on a string. So - what can we expect to accomplish, what can we expect the world to accomplish, in 2010? First, we can expect it to be chaotic - and the definition of a chaotic system is that small differences in the initial conditions result in really big differences in the outcomes, making the outcomes unpredictable at the start.  In other words, expect the out-of-the-blue unexpected. Second, realize that America is not the center of the Universe.  Not any longer.  More and more countries will behave as if America and its president are irrelevant - like tiny Honduras not reinstating Zelaya or giant China snubbing Zero in Copenhagen.  Events in other countries will be more world-changing than events in America. The best current example is Iran.