I was all interested in the filibuster showdown and how it would play out, which is how I became an early member of the Coalition of The Chillin’. But Roberts seems to be sailing through confirmation, and even Dan Balz of the Washington Post sees it happening:

The first day of confirmation hearings for Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to become the 17th chief justice of the United States proved to be a tepid opening to what once was billed as a battle of monumental proportions between left and right.

There may yet be some of the fireworks that were predicted when the first of two Supreme Court vacancies opened up two months ago — particularly this morning, when members of the Senate Judiciary Committee begin to question Roberts. But with Roberts’s confirmation seemingly assured, some of the fight appears to have gone out of the Democrats and they have been forced to shift their strategy.

After watching Roberts’ contemporanous opening statement I see what the democrats are up against. When Roberts described how law and judges work in our system, and how important that role is, every one of the Senators seemed to connect to his vision. He perfectly described our ultimate goal for the rule of law and place of law in our society. Roberts took all the steam out of the room because, even though they do not want to admit it, when Roberts described our legal system it made them all proud. This one is probably over.

The Washington Post also has a poll on Katrina showing the dip in approval for Bush. The left is elated, but I hate to burts their bubble: the federal relief effort was the largest and fastest in history. Katrina was just bigger than anything we have dealt with. We are trying to rescue a region the size of Britain – and doing quite well at it. Bush’s numbers will rebound as the republicans stop getting all nervous about the political fall out and start looking at the good and bad of Katrina. Everyone is focused on the smaller number of things that went wrong – and Bush is not to blame for most of them. In fact right now, it seems, the left is demandinf why Bush didn’t stop their regional leaders from making the mistakes they made!

Gallup has a poll out which shows, not suprisingly, a rebound in Bush’s numbers – as well as all levels of government. What is happening is the initial shock of the storm’s fury and size is sinking in – but wearing off. We are coming to the humble realization we do not control nature. Something we have wished we could do since the beginning of time. We blamed the government for our being humbled by nature. But now with what could be over 99% of the New Orleans people alive and well we see Katrina for what it was (do the math: with a population of 480,000, 1% is 4,800 – if the death toll stays below this number 99% survived). We should be proud to have weathered this beast as well as we did. We took a staggering hit – but we are still standing.

The cost of crying ‘Wolf’ in made up political scandals is going to further erode the chances of good people coming to work for our common good in government, as illustrated in this Washington Post piece. It covers the personal costs of dealing with these political ‘scandals’, borne by the people themselves. Unlike reporters who go to jail on contempt charges, federal employees do not have a corporate backer covering their legal costs. I think it is proper the media pay for all related court costs when they run rampant with unsubstantiated scandals that end up proven wrong in our legal system.

Ralph Peters and the NY Post has some an update on our highly successful joint effort with the Iraqi military to wipe out and capture nearly 500 terrorists in a northern Iraqi city on the Syrian border. It not only shows the Iraqis beginning to really take on their own security, it shows how the fly paper concept is still attracting the thugs to our points of strength. Al Qaeda cannot lose Iraq, it would demonstrate their impotency to all Islam. And so they must throw themselves against us in what could easily be delibating war of attrition on their recruits.

Tony Blankely continues his three part series today with part two on why the Global War on Terrorism is as important as our fight in WW II.

World War II was good, despite the millions of deaths, the limitations on daily lives, the encroachment on peacetime liberties and the arduousness of wartime life. The war was good because the sacrifice was for a noble cause, for the perpetuation of America and the American way of life.

Too many in this country do not see the perpetuation of America and its way of life as good. These are the leftist defeatists and self haters.

As we fly by, it seems lots of polls are out. Todd Lindberg has an interesting piece out today that shows that within the modern democracies of the west, there is only one group opposed to extending democracy: liberal Americans!

The good news is that support for promotion of democracy is quite high among our democratic European allies. In the nine European countries surveyed (including all the big ones), 74 percent of respondents agreed that one role of the European Union should be to help establish democracy in other countries, compared to 22 percent who disagreed.
…
The ugly news, and the explanation for the lower support level in the United States, is the partisan breakdown of the U.S. result. Democrats actually oppose, 50 percent to 43 percent, helpingothersestablish democracy. Right in line with European levels of support for democracy promotion are Republicans, 76 percent in favor to 19 percent opposed.

I guess we have to consider the left to be the anti-democracy party. They don’t seem to want to share our good fortune.

One item off Drudge should have caught everyone’s eyes, and that is this piece on the Iraqi belief 50,000 of our troops could soon be heading back to the US. It is an optimistic prediction, too optimistic for the Bush administration to lay their reputations on. But it is also highly plausible and possible.

How could any newspaper allow an embezzler to write an article about the crime he committed? Ask the Internation Herald Tribune about why they let Benon Sevon have space in their pages and allow him to claim all that money he pocketed didn’t much matter because most of the money went to feed and provide medicine to Iraq’s impoverished citizens. Pathetic. [hat tip: Real Clear Politics]

More liberal fantasizing by E.J. Dionne who appears to be completely over the edge.

The Bush Era is over. The sooner politicians in both parties realize that, the better for them — and the country.

Earth to E.J. – Bush hasn’t even finished year one of his second four year term! The sooner you realize this the better off you will be.

But at least poor E.J. is not alone. Via Instapundit and The New Editor we get to this foaming-at-the-mouth screed in the Baltimore Sun:

The disastrous federal response to Katrina exposes a record of incompetence, misjudgment and ideological blinders that should lead to serious doubts that the Bush administration should be allowed to continue in office.
…
When President Bush stays on vacation and attends social functions for two days in the face of disaster before finally understanding that people are starving, crying out and dying, it is time for him to go.
…
We have a president who is apparently ill-informed, lackadaisical and narrow-minded, surrounded by oil baron cronies, religious fundamentalist crazies and right-wing extremists and ideologues.
…
this ugly, troglodyte crowd of Capital Beltway insiders, rich lawyers, ideologues, incompetents and their strap-hangers should be tarred, feathered and ridden gracefully and mindfully out of Washington and returned to their caves, clubs in hand.

Steady there fella – you might burst a vein. Take a chill pill and come back when the partisan fevers have passed. Right now you are simply doing a great imitation of a troglodyte…

And to end the Fly By with some humor, you gotta read Jayson at Polipundit. Read him just to keep things in perspective, but this is classic Jayson

So, we’ve reached the stage at which Reuters breathlessly deigns to report the Prez’s popularity is quite low in . . . South America, eh?

Mmm, hmm.

I can’t wait to see polling data from Antarctica. And Easter Island too.

I am on pins and needles!