† The End Is Nigh?: Given that Iran and North Korea are hell-bent on developing nuclear armaments, that terrorists would love nothing more than to get their hands on “loose nukes” and unsecured nuclear material from Pakistan and several struggling former Soviet states and that President Barack Hussein Obama turned his back on U.S. obligations to protect Central Europe against Russian aggression by scuttling the missile shield, imagine The Stiletto’s surprise when the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists decided to move the hands of the Doomsday clock back by one minute, from 11:55 to 11:54 PM.

A bit of historical background from The Washington Post:

The creators of the Manhattan Project wound up the symbolic device in 1947 to remind the world of the consequences of abusing nuclear power. Since then, the clock has moved forward 11 times and back eight times. It came closest to midnight in 1953, when the testing of hydrogen bombs nudged it to 11:58, and moved furthest away in 1991, when it slid to 11:43 after the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The clock has been steadily ticking toward midnight since the mid-'90s, as increased terrorism destabilized regions of the world and India and Pakistan tested nuclear bombs.

So why is Armageddon one minute farther away? Hope and change. Yup, just like the Nobel Committee the Bulletin points to “the new era of cooperation is a change in the U.S. government's orientation toward international affairs brought about in part by the election of Obama." As The Wall Street Journal observes:

The Administration has failed to negotiate so much as a pause in Iran's nuclear programs or rein in North Korea. Pakistan remains in a precarious political state. Russia and China are building a new generation of nuclear weapons even as the reliability of America's aging arsenal is increasingly in doubt. Meanwhile, the risks of a Middle East arms race involving current nonnuclear states like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt grows as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes closer to getting his bomb.

† Hope Triumphs Over Reason: The Hopium seems to be wearing off, and voters are starting to come back to their senses. Just 39 percent of Americans said they would “probably” or “definitely” vote to re-elect President Barack Hussein Obama if the 2012 election were held today, according to the Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll of 1,200 adults who were surveyed between January 3-7, 2010.

† Is This Any Way To Run A Transition?: A study by the Partnership for Public Service finds that as of December 31, President Barack Hussein Obama has filled just 40 percent of the roughly 500 top-tier positions have been filled. At the end of his freshman year in office, former President George W. Bush had filled 62 percent of these positions. The report, “Ready to Govern,” notes that 67 appointees are still awaiting Senate confirmation, and recommends that Congress require candidates to name a transition director within two weeks of securing their party’s nomination, and that the number of political appointees that need Senate confirmation – currently something like 1,100 – be reduced. Um, isn’t that what Obama tried to do with all those czars he’s appointed? It’s not working out too well so far (sixth item), and may well be unconstitutional.

† Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race: Washington Post reporter DeNeen L. Brown tries to explain why, in a “post-racial” society, comments by whites about blacks – such as those by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) – “are still considered by some to be offensive”:

It's true that in private conversations at home, on the job, in beauty shops and barbershops, at church and in restaurants, many black people have voiced versions of both politicians' comments. Blacks have privately and publicly debated whether Obama is "black enough." And they've echoed Reid in saying that Obama's skin color and speech have been factors in his political success, because there's a certain truth there.

But such comments are considered, by some, taboo coming from the mouths of white people.

"We can be the best of friends. … There are certain things we can say to each other. [But] it's the same code of: I can talk about my relatives, but when you start talking about my relatives, that is a problem," says Arica Coleman, assistant professor of black American studies at the University of Delaware. …

While elderly blacks sometimes still use the word "Negro," Reid's use of the word was a dead giveaway that the politician is not so racially aware, Coleman says. "Hey, Harry, you didn't get the memo. We don't use that word anymore."  …

Even though many blacks have openly questioned Obama's racial bona fides, Blagojevich's comments were offensive to many. "He has a skewed idea of what black is," Coleman says. "It's as though we are not diverse. As though we all come up with the same background and that someone from Hawaii with an Ivy League education is somehow not black. This is someone trying to define blackness in a very narrow way."

This Washington Times op-ed by Benjamin Tyree (who was deputy editor of the paper’s Commentary pages but is identified here as “a Washington writer”) takes a different tack in explaining why Reid’s comments were so off-putting:

Negro just sounds so antiquated, a term of another era that bespeaks another mentality - that of patronizing whites and reserved seats in the back of the bus for those with dark skins. …

Harry Reid is a Mormon, and his church once had something of a special policy on blacks. They could join the church, but black men, unlike white men in good standing with the denomination, were not admitted to its priesthood. Could this be a dark secret of Mr. Reid's past? Somehow, it seems unlikely. Somewhere deep in the civil rights revolution, his church had a revelation, and that wall of Jericho fell, too, along with so many others.

But that revelation occurred just 32 years ago - when Reid was already 38 years - old so his rush to accuse others of racism (including millions of American voters, BTW) is suggestive of someone who doth protest too much, methinks.

As for Blago, somewhere in the midst of his “stupid” apology (video), he explained that he was speaking metaphorically. He wasn’t talking about skin color (duh), but about socioeconomic status. He’s a graduate of the school of hard knocks and had to work his way through college. No one favored him with a scholarship to an Ivy League school. Arica Coleman thinks Blago’s comment was offensive because he “defin[es] blackness in a very narrow way,” but an equally valid interpretation is that he was challenging the notion of “white privilege.”   

† What Freedom Of Speech Means To Muslims: Since a December 31 ruling by the Malaysian High Court that overturned a government order that forbade a Catholic newspaper from using the word ''Allah'' as a translation for G-d in its Malay-language edition, “many Muslims were angered … saying the word should be exclusive to Muslims, who could be tricked into following Christianity if non-Muslims are permitted to use the term,” reports The Wall Street Journal:

Since the ruling, which the government is appealing, 10 churches have been attacked in various parts of the country with Molotov cocktails or defaced with paint. Arsonists razed the administrative office of one to the ground. A Sikh temple was also attacked with stones late on Wednesday, possibly because Sikhs also use the term "Allah" in some scriptures.

Charles Santiago, an opposition member of Parliament, tells The New York Times that “The church attacks shattered notions of Malaysia as a model secular Muslim nation in the eyes of the international community.''

The Times notes that Malays make up 60 percent of the nation’s population of 28 million and that the Constitution requires them to be Muslim. Though the Constitution also guarantees freedom of religion the government rarely gives permission to build new churches or temples and existing non-Muslim houses of worship are routinely torn down. Most telling, whether they are Muslim or not, women have begun wearing head scarves.

† He’s So Tired, He Hasn’t Slept A Wink; He’s So Tired, His Mind Is On The Blink: Bad news for President Barack Hussein Obama.

† Your Butt Will Look Good In These Jeans: Good news for First Lady Michelle Obama.

† Updates To Previous Posts (eighth item, She Stared Down An Armed Terrorist To Save Her Unborn Baby’s Life): At his sentencing hearing, Naveed Haq’s attorneys “argued that a lifelong mental illness - not hatred of Jewish people, as prosecutors alleged – drove [him] to kill” and requested that the jury’s unanimous verdict in the July 2006 shootings at Seattle's Jewish Federation building be thrown out, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. But King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas noted that “Haq formed his plan, he knew it was wrong and yet he carried it out," and sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole plus 120 years.

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, Is Obama’s Birth Certificate Fake?): AZ State Rep. Judy Burges (R-Skull Valley) is working on a bill to require candidates running for president or vice president to provide proof of both U.S. birth and citizenship to get on the ballot in the state – and for the secretary of state to independently verify the information, reports East Valley Tribune (Mesa, AZ):

The kind of certification Burges wants, though, could be more difficult than simply checking for a valid birth certificate, as the arguments about [Barack Obama’s] legal qualification go beyond whether he was actually born in Hawaii.

A lawsuit filed in federal court in Pennsylvania charged, among other theories, that Obama lost his U.S. citizenship when his mother married an Indonesian man and moved there, and that he failed to reclaim it as an adult. But Judge Barclay Surrick threw out the case without ruling on the legal theory, saying the plaintiff did not have standing to sue.

The U.S. Supreme Court eventually rejected the case.

Burges' bill, if it becomes law, would put the secretary of state in the position of having to determine whether the individual circumstances of a candidate's life disqualify him or her from being on the Arizona ballot.

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, King Of The Heels): State representatives voted 102-11 to censure Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) for Sanford for "dereliction in his duties of office, for official misconduct in office and for abuses of power while in office that has brought ridicule and dishonor to himself, the state of South Carolina, and to its citizens," reports The Associated Press:

The censure has no practical effect on the final year of Sanford's tenure. State law prevents him from running again. …

The censure faces an uncertain path in the Senate. State Sen. Jake Knotts, a Republican and frequent Sanford critic, has said he'll sideline the bill by sending it to a committee because legislators need more time to look at what Sanford has done, including what comes of the ethics charges. Senate leaders have said their body may never vote on censure. …

In addition to the censure, Sanford also faces up to $74,000 in fines from the State Ethics Commission, which contends he broke more than three dozen laws involving travel in pricey airline seats, using state aircraft for personal and political trips and improper reimbursements. A hearing date has not been set.

Meanwhile, the state attorney general is reviewing the ethics investigation to see if criminal prosecution is warranted.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Life Imitates “A Law Abiding Citizen”): IllinoisVictims.org and other victims rights advocates  are protesting Gov. Pat Quinn’s (D) secret release of more than 1,700 criminals from prison – hundreds of them convicted of violent crime – in some cases, after just three weeks. The early-release program was so hush-hush that victims were not notified, reports WLS-TV (Channel 7-Chicago):

The groups say Gov. Quinn had previously promised early release of only non-violent offenders to save the state money.

The governor said he met twice with his corrections director to insist that only non-violent criminals be released but his orders were not followed.

The early-release program was meant to save costs. Known as "MGT Push" – the “MGT” stands for “meritorious good time” – the program sped up the time it took before inmates could earn up to six months' of good-conduct credit. Think of it like this: In IL, a day in prison was calculated in dog years, then inmates were pushed back into society.

In response to the firestorm, Quinn is trying to get the genie back in the bottle and reinstated the requirement to serve at least 60 days in state prison before their sentences can be reduced for good behavior.

Meanwhile, he ordered the state’s Corrections Department to initiate "intensive compliance checks" to get as many of the parolees off the streets as possible, reports The Associated Press:

The new rules require parolees to verify where they are and what they're doing through daily phone calls to an automated statewide parole system, according to a copy of the form parolees must sign. The form says they must visit a parole office - in some cases, hundreds of miles away - twice a week, and refrain from drinking liquor or having any alcohol at their homes. …

State records show that through Wednesday morning, 110 had gone back since Jan. 4, mostly for violent offenses. Forty-two returnees had been convicted of unlawful use of weapons and 17 for domestic or aggravated battery, according to an AP review. Others who have landed back in prison committed such crimes as repeat drunken driving, theft and financial fraud.

Editorial Note: In a National Law Journal op-ed that The Stiletto cited (eighth item), Margaret Colgate Love, a U.S. pardon attorney, praised the Democrat governors of IL, MI and OH for “setting an example in their responsible pardoning that other chief executives would do well to emulate.” She may want to re-think her characterization of Quinn’s pardons as “responsible.”