The Land Down Under

I've been tagged by blogger pal, Ottavio, who writes a fine blog American Interests from his home in Melbourne, Australia. So, here goes:

123 Meme

Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages), open the book to page 123, find the fifth sentence, post the next three sentences and tag five people.

"To the consternation even of some formerly devoted admirers, this included Pol Pot, who had slaughtered one-third or more of his own people in setting up a Communist regime in Cambodia. As a result of all this, Chomsky, too, like Buchanan, was increasingly relegated to the margins and largely forgotten. After 9/11, however, and unlike Buchanan, Chomsky found a newly receptive audience and one bigger than ever."

That is from World War IV, written by Norman Podhoretz. The chapter was about isolationism both on the right and the left sides of the political landscape.

Blogger Ottavio posted on his country's former Prime Minister, John Howard, recently. He passed on the information that Howard was selected to receive the Irving Kristol Award for 2008 from the American Enterprise Institute in D.C. Howard will receive the award at the annual dinner on March 5, 2008.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Howard. He has been a steadfast friend to the U.S., especially in the war on terrorism. According to the AEI press release, "When asked by an interviewer about the Iraq war, he said, "I am not going to be part of a policy which leaves the job unfinished and leaves behind to one or two other countries the responsibility of completing the job; that is not the Australian way of doing things."

"Howard's parents chose "Winston" as his middle name in honor of Winston Churchill. Howard's political defeat in 2007 after a long and successful service was reminiscent of the great British leader's defeat after World War II. Like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan before him, Howard has a strong commitment to the Anglosphere alliance."

Mr. Howard is deserving of this recognition. I'd like for the news to be more widely distributed.

I won't tag anyone. I may not even have 5 readers left that I haven't ticked off with my recent election opinions. C'est la vie.

Today would have been Ronald Reagan's 97th birthday. He would have cheered Mr. Howard on, too. He must be looking down on his Republican party these days, shaking his head in disbelief of all the nonsense.

Me, too.