Ejectejecteject.com has the must-read post of the day, in two parts.

But how do we deter people who want to die? How do we deter people who need only the skill and the means to push a button on a briefcase, or open a box cutter and be prepared to do bloody work with it? How do we deter the assassin lost in the crowd at the Superbowl? How do we deter enemies who are so dispersed, so ethereal and fragmentary, that hostile governments can arm and shelter them knowing full well that we will not retaliate with a nuclear attack against millions of genuine innocents in Cairo, or Tehran, or Riyadh?

If a suitcase nuke detonates in Times Square, or Long Beach harbor, or outside the Capitol building, what do we do? Nuke Mecca? Incinerate Damascus? Because – so help me God, I tremble to say it – that is exactly the response our enemies would hope for. They care not a whit about their own people because they have no allegiance to anyone but themselves and their vision of a vengeful and bloodthirsty Allah. A million, ten million innocents under American mushroom clouds are just that many more martyrs gone to paradise. It is they, not we, who dream of a clash of civilizations, with its promised sweeping away of the decadent and godless by the blood and faith of the Believer.

We might yet be able to stop this on the cheap. If we do not, I fear the day will come when 3000 civilians and 1000 American soldiers will look like a very, very small bill to pay.

I think others, like Steven den Beste, have tried to make this point. There are two clocks ticking. One clock is ticking down the time until an Islamist, pro-terrorist government gets the atomic bomb. The other clock is ticking down the time until this period of homicidal madness passes from the Muslim world.

The first clock is considerably closer to zero than the second.

Senator Kerry is wrong. Al Qaeda is not our enemy-- not in the sense of being our only enemy. Al Qaeda is just the most malevolent outgrowth of the homicidal mania metastisizing throughout the Islamic world.

I don't want to be alarmist, but sometimes tough questions have to be faced. Politicians don't like talking about them, but then politicians don't like talking about much of anything.

What would we do if we get nuked? Continue to "hunt down the terrorists" who nuked us? At what point does the the desire to survive outweight the desire to be merciful and sparing in the use of force?

Liberals like to talk about "the underlying causes" for Islamist hatred of America. Well, whether Bush will ultimately turn out right or wrong -- and I admit, the outcome is in doubt at this point -- he does seem to have a theory as to how to reverse those "underlying causes." He wants to spread democracy in the Middle East, toppling dictators by force if necessary, to speed along the hoped-for conversion of the Islamic world to freedom, democracy, and, most importantly, normalcy as regards the non-support of mass-murderers.

What is John Kerry offering? A kind word, a smile, and just hoping that things turn out all right?

That's not enough for me, personally.

Thanks to Random Birkel for the tip.

Posted by: Ace at 11:57 AM | Comments (23)
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Apparently Kerry will also fail his self-declared Global Test:

"Does that mean allies are going to trade their young for our young in body bags? I know they are not. I know that," he said.

Asked about that statement later, Mr. Kerry said, "When I was referring to that, I was really talking about Germany and France and some of the countries that had been most restrained."

"Other countries are obviously more willing to accept responsibilities," he added, as he took questions from reporters in a school yard in Tipton, Iowa.

Ummm, follow-up, please? Which countries are these that Kerry asserts are "more willing to accept responsibilities"? Narnia? Oz? Gondor?

And on that point, James Lileks writes that Kerry's Global Test fails the Reality Test.

Update-- Forgot to Credit: I had dozens of windows open and I couldn't track back to who tipped me to Kerry's admission regarding French and German troops. It was Allah, by way of Right On Red.

Posted by: Ace at 10:30 AM | Comments (11)
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Kerry leads 49-46, inside the MoE (although barely so).

Who slapped New Jersey with the Smart Stick?

Is there any chance of similarly slapping Michigan?

Posted by: Ace at 09:07 AM | Comments (9)
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A very highly regarded US general agrees completely with John Kerry's assessment.

Thanks to Id.

Posted by: Ace at 09:02 AM | Comments (5)
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Oddly enough, the liberal media never seems especially interested in stories about attacks on Republicans or Republican campaign offices.

Perhaps it's because they feel such attacks are sorta justified.

Posted by: Ace at 08:54 AM | Comments (1)
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LauraW notes an ebay auction for a "mystery chip":

This is a true blue straight up mystery chip. It's the rarest of the rare! Plucked from a bag of Lays Salt N Vinny chips on September 28th, the mystery chip looks just like a cowboy boot! Perfect gift for any cowboy or rodeo fan. Act now!

Look, obviously this would make a fine addition to anyone's collection of oddly shaped potato chips. And it goes without saying it's a coversation piece that you'll treasure throughout the ages.

But $1,230.00 for one (1) potato chip? And it's not even a ruffled-style chip.

Posted by: Ace at 07:45 AM | Comments (5)
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A newspaper printed, as a letter to the editor, the same fake email letter that Dan Rather's show featured so prominently last week.

It happens. But what happened subsequently is completely unexpected.

Posted by: Ace at 07:39 AM | Add Comment
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From what I can see from Allah, Who Is All-Wise, it looks to me like Cheney won.

Posted by: Ace at 10:57 PM | Comments (18)
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Thanks, Chris.

Posted by: Ace at 02:53 PM | Comments (19)
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Please knock it off with the silly "Kerry cheat-sheet" and "ILIE" stuff. There's an awful lot of important stuff you can be highlighting. This nonsense is just reducing your credibility, which we dearly need in the coming months.

Yours, etc.,

Ace of Spades

PS: Stop posting crap about Michael Eisner, Walt Disney, and the natural disaster of the week.

Posted by: Ace at 01:56 PM | Comments (14)
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