Eye-catching Christmas decoration

Agent 1 sent this just before Christmas and it got buried in Ed.'s slush pile. Good for a smile at any time. Be sure to read the message below the picture.

This year I truly outdid myself this year with my Christmas decorations. That's the good news. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost crashed when they drove by.
Second, a 55-year-old lady grabbed the 75-pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize he was fake until she climbed to the top. She was not happy. By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that.

My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up onto my front lawn!

Prognostications for 2013

Making predictions about what will happen in the future is a mug's game. Rather than put my sterling track record (lifetime pct .988) on the line, let me tell you (mostly) what's not going to happen in 2013.

America will not fall over the fiscal cliff, at least not all the way. Absent an agreement in the Senate, taxes will (effectively) be increased and spending will be cut, as planned. Most Americans will still be able to get by. No-one will be selling apples of Wall Street or Main Street USA.

Haiti will not be repaired, rebuilt or reconstructed. Billions of dollars in aid money will continue to be poured down the rathole with no apparent effect. Michaëlle Jean will continue to be invisible, at least in her native land.

Hellery Clinton will not announce her candidacy for the presidensity. The campaign will move ahead anyway, with the support of the lamestream media and Democrats living overseas who don't actually have to cope with the Obama maladministration.

Zimbabwe's dictator, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, will not lose an election to Zuma wannabe Morgan Tsvangirai or anyone else. Indeed, it's quite possible no election will be held. The zimkwacha (Zimbabwe dollar) will not be reintroduced, as remaining supplies are used up as toilet paper.

Pope Benedict XVI will do nothing to lead the Roman Catholic Church back to the traditional Faith of our fathers. But nor will he abdicate, for fear of the fight that would ensue between Cardinal Bertone -- the man who would be pope -- and the thousands of good Catholic clergy and laypeople who think Bertone is the Antichrist whose arrival is imminent.

Bumbling, horse-faced Peter Mackay will not be Canada's Minister of Defence a year from now. The stench of mismanagement and opacity enveloping the proposed purchase of F-35 fighters for the Royal Canadian Air Force won't go away. At least one head must roll, and Machackey's contains nothing but air, so off it comes!

Gary Bettman, the Jewish American lawyer responsible for the Americanization (hence destruction) of hockey, will not be head honcho of the National Hockey League at this time next year. He has the outward support of a majority of NHL owners, but look for someone to check him into the boards shortly after he presents the Stanley Cup.

Christians (in name, at least) will continue to be persecuted, imprisoned and murdered by Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia [We're running out of space! Ed.], and by Communists in China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, [Enough martyrs! Ed.] The Church and Western leaders will continue to say we must show tolerance to our poor misunderstood enemies, learn to accommodate them and celebrate diversity!

Note from Ed.: Walt has scribbled a note at the bottom of his manuscript: "That's all I can stands. I can't stands no more!" Hmmm. Well, in spite of his less-than-rosy forecast, Walt and I wish you a New Year filled with peace and prosperity.

10 reasons behind sexual violence in India

In the spirit of peace on earth, goodwill to men... errr, men and women... errr, people [OK. Ed.] Walt has tried to lay off the Indians and Muslims during this holiday season. However, the rape of a 23-year-old medical student on a bus in New Delhi cannot pass unnoticed.

Sadly, rape is all too common in South Asia, not least because women are regarded in Hindu and Muslim societies as second-class citizens in every sense of the word. In India, "Eve-teasing" has existed for centuries. In the civilized world this "sport" would be called what it is -- sexual harassment.

The only thing surprising about this particular case is the severity of the attack. The victim has now died, turning the matter into a murder case. The Indian government promises that the trial of the 6 (yes, six) accused will be fast-tracked. In India that means they might appear before a judge before they die of old age. Or not. It's India, so no-one can say.

Olga Khazan and Rama Lakshmi of the Washington Post put together a list of ten reasons why India has a sexual violence problem. Walt has reversed their numbering, in the Letterman style, to put the most important reason at the end. Here's the list.

10. Few female police

9. Not enough police in general

8. Blaming provocative clothing

7. Acceptance of domestic violence

6. A lack of public safety

5. Stigmatizing the victim

4. Encouraging rape victims to compromise

3. A sluggish court system

2. Few convictions

1. Low status of women

Walt's experience of India is admittedly limited. But I have been there and have reason to believe the list is accurate. I knew about "Eve-teasing", for example, long before this week and know someone who was victimized in this way back in the 1980s.

And I heard a women's rights advocate interviewed on the CBC this week. She said a woman who goes to an Indian police station to report being raped is not unlikely to be assaulted again (especially if she is of a lower caste) by the police men.

We have a new agent -- hereinafter known as Agent 93 -- who contends that this problem is, if not unique, at least worse amongst "Indians in India" than amongst Indians in America, Britain or Canada. Maybe so, but even in the ABC countries at least half of the ten reasons given still obtain. The fight for justice for women is a long way from being won.

Further reading: Click here to read the post by Olga Khazan and Rama Lakshmi, with full explanations of all ten points.

Walt Whiteman's World year in review

It's the time of year when there's not a lot of news. Nothing happens between Christmas and New Year's. So the media (Phil Space, Prop.) have to fill space [geddit? Ed.] With retrospectives on the year that was. WWW is better than the lamestream media, but not that much better. So, over to Ed. for a look back at developments in Walt Whiteman's World.

Thanks, Walt. Here's a quick summary of your blog's readership for 2012. Let me throw some numbers at you. 35%. 55%. 80%. That's right! 80%!! Daily readership of WWW did not increase by 80%!! But it did increase.

Most popular post, again this year: "Where next? Swaziland next?" Can't figure out why people in places like Russia, Turkey and India keep hitting this. I also wonder why no-one ever comments. Perhaps typing with one hand is too difficult.

The video sequel, "Swazi girls doing the reed dance -- VIDEO!", has just now started getting a lot of hits. As nearly as I can see, no-one from Swaziland has ever looked at either of these posts.

New record for most hits in one day: "Learn this new Christmas song...and pass it along!",  which rode the crest of the wave of backlash against politically correct "Happy Holidays". Bookmark it for next year.

Most popular foreign language post: "Charles DeGaulle warns about Muslim immigration". As we ran the text of le Général's prescient prediction in French, we didn't think many people would read it, mais nous avons tort.

Related post that's being circulated in the USA, Canada and not-so-Great Britain: "How can we be silent in the face of Islamization of our country?"
Surprise of the year: the continuing popularity of "Death by cactus: a prickly situation", posted on 26 June. I figured this would be a one-day story, maybe a week at best, but it has been one of the top three most-viewed items for the last six months, sometimes beating even the Swazi girls. Why do people read this? Or are they just looking at the picture of the saguaro cactus?

Where you are: Walt has regular readers all over North America, Europe (including Russia), and parts of Asia (including Russia). South America and Africa, not so much. Top ten countries (as of today) are: USA, Russia, Turkey, Canada, India, UK, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, France, Australia.

How you look at us: The big three browers are the ones you'd expect, but the order of finish tells a story: Chrome (31%); Firefox (30%); Internet Explorer (25%). And Safari is now in fourth spot, Opera in fifth.

Your operating systems are: Windows (far and away the leader -- 78%), Linux (See? It still exists! -- 11%), with Macintosh, Android, iPad and iPhone not even at the three-quarter pole. Big question for the future: Will the advent of Windows 8 make any difference? Walt's prediction: No, because no-one's going to buy it if they don't have to. Lifetime pct .987.

Worst new technological development: Google's new and useless user interface for Blogger. Another proof of the old adage: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I keep thinking about changing platforms to WordPress but am just too lazy.

Coming soon, maybe even tomorrow: Walt's predictions for 2013.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & Happy New Year

Walt and Ed. send you

BEST WISHES

for a

HAPPY & HOLY CHRISTMAS

and a New Year filled with

peace and prosperity.

The Nativity of Christ

by Vladimir Borovikovsky

19th century

Kerry for State Secy? Really??!!

Yesterday, the Prez nominated Sen. John Kerry to replace the departing Secretary of State, Hellery Clinton. Another triumph for political correctness and the Democratic Party.

Of course Obama could have done better. Kerry was not his first choice. He really wanted to appoint a black woman, viz. Susan Rice. If Ms Rice had only been disabled or a lesbian, the Prez could have hit the Trifecta there.

Sadly, Ms Rice blotted her copybook by her inept handling of State's reaction to the Benghazi "incident" -- the terrorist attack that she tried to pass off as a protest against an insensitive video. If she had told the truth, Obama wouldn't have had to tell a lie -- so goes the reasoning -- thus she must walk the plank.

That leaves us with Kerry, the former Democratic presidential candidate who couldn't manage to defeat the most-reviled Republican since Herbert Hoover.

Kerry's chief qualification, according to Obama, is that he won't need "much" on-the-job training. That's because he's been doing dippy [= diplomatic. Ed.] stuff for decades, and knows how all that unpleasantness should be handled. Right?

Errr, maybe not. Did John Kerry learn anything from his OTJ training in the Philippines in 1986? Then and there, Senator Kerry was a member of the US Congressional observer team sent to monitor the country's presidential election, in which Corazon Aquino was trying to oust the thoroughly corrupt orifice, Ferdinand Marcos.

P.J. O'Rourke happened to be present at the Thrilla in Manila. [Wasn't that something else? Ed.] Here's what he wrote in Rolling Stone.
Most of the Potomac Parakeets were a big disappointment. Massachusetts senator John Kerry was a founding member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, but he was a bath toy in this fray.

On Sunday night...thirty of the computer operators from [the elections oversight commission] walked off the job, protesting that vote figures were being juggled. Aquino supporters...took the operators, most of them young women, to a church, and hundreds of people formed a protective barrier around them. One of Cory Aquino's top aides [went] to the Manila Hotel.... She came back with Kerry, who did nothing.

Kerry later said that he didn't talk to the COMELEC employees then because he wasn't allowed to. This is ridiculous. He was ushered into an area that had been cordoned off from the press and the crowd and where the computer operators were stitting. To talk to the women, all he would have had to do was raise his voice.... But all Kerry did was walk around like a male model in a concerned and thoughtful pose.

Aha! Exactly the kind of posturing required of a Secretary of State! What O'Rourke condemns is what Obama sees as the best of all qualifications -- the ability to look concerned but do nothing.
Not much on-the-job training required. Indeed. Just the guy we want!

Footnote: P.J. O'Rourke's assessment of Kerry (as he was 26 years ago) was excerpted from "Goons, Guns and Gold", which originally appeared in Rolling Stone, and was reprinted in Republican Party Reptile, reviewed here on November 22nd.

Stop being a computer-illiterate geezer! Reclaim your youth!

Listen up, fellow fogies! If you have the feeling that the world is passing you by, that you don't know what's going on any more, that you might as well get measured for your box... it doesn't have to be that way!

You'd never guess it from my picture [or maybe you would! Ed.] but Walt is a senior citizen. But I'm not going quietly into the Home. And I'm not going to live like a hermit here in my log cabin either. I don't get out as much as I used to physically, but I get out mentally more than I ever used to. And it's all thanks to joining the wired world.

I got dragged into the computer age kicking and screaming. As recently as 20 years ago I wrote nasty letters on my trusty IBM Selectric. (Mrs. Walt finally threw it out in 2005. It had been used as a doorstop until then.) And I still have a broad-nibbed fountain pen that uses real ink. But my implement of choice nowadays is definitely my desktop PC.

Don't bother looking for me on Facebook or LinkedIn or elsewhere, because I'm not into the anti-social media. But I do spend hours online, writing this blog, exchanging e-mails with my Agents, friends and acquaintances around the world, reading the mainstream and out-of-the-stream media, and just surfing. All this keeps me connected and keeps me young(ish).

And my computer helps me manage my life: do my banking, pay my taxes, claim my entitlements, keep three sets of books, catalogue my library and so on. I learned to use spreadsheet and word processing programmes, desktop publishing software, all kinds of other stuff. About the only thing I don't do on the computer is play games... Unless you count Solitaire! Oh, and Literati.

But there are people of our generation -- "senior citizens" is the PC term -- who aren't enjoying the benefits -- and coping with the frustrations -- of computers and the Internet. Why? Because they don't know how and are afraid to ask.

Many communities have programmes and courses to help us old folks become computer literate. Some of the courses are even free. [You said in today's earlier post that means paid for by someone else's tax dollars. Ed.] But you need to be able to get out of your house or the Home to attend the teaching sessions, right? Not any more!

Kathryn Harwood, one of Walt's old(ish) high school chums [They had high school, way back then? Ed.] has set up a little online business called Eldersurf.

In the privacy and comfort of your home, with your own computer, Kathryn will guide you through the steps and processes you need to know to do whatever you want to do. Her blog lists these possibilities: send and receive photos; get onto Facebook; do a spreadsheet; make your photos better; do a photo album; subscribe to a podcast; get into iTunes; see yourscreen better; organize your contacts; print documents; buy a book or reserve a library book, and many more. She'll even teach you how to sit at your desk properly, so your back doesn't hurt!

Kathryn evidently shares Walt's belief in working to get what you want, and getting what you pay for, so there's a reasonable charge for her service. And, if you know nothing about computers but want to keep up with Walt, I'd say it's a good investment. Highly recommended!