An update to the post below about Poland accepting the US anti-missile defense installation in the face of Russian opposition. Now Russia is threatening to nuke Poland and its allies, which would be us. From the AP story Russia: Poland risks attack because of US missiles:

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland’s agreement to accept a U.S. missile defense battery exposes ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia’s missile force.

“Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent,” Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

He added, in clear reference to the agreement, that Russia’s military doctrine sanctions the use of nuclear weapons “against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them.” Nogovitsyn that would include elements of strategic deterrence systems, he said, according to Interfax.

Scholar and writer Mary Grabar documents just how bad it has gotten in literary studies, with its jargon-ridden, meaning-denying, politically-correct scholarship that tears down authors instead of helping us understand them. Dr. Grabar zeroes in on how our establishment universities are giving the heroic Alexander Solzhenitsyn pretty much the same treatment he received in the Soviet gulags. A sample, referring to his story “Matryona’s Home,” about a woman living out her Christian faith amidst the cruelties of communism:

Under “classroom strategies” in the Norton instructor’s manual, teachers are told that they are likely to encounter the problem of students accepting the “truth” of what Solzhenitsyn has to say: “Because the story answers to most of the myths and preconceptions Westerners already have about Soviet life, the problem will be to make sure that students read it with the same degree of resistance with which they would normally confront any other piece of fiction.” Here we have the apologists for communism directing teachers: All that you’ve heard about the brutality of communism is merely part of our “myths and preconceptions.” Students must be reeducated to “resist” the testimony of Solzhenitsyn as dramatized in his fictional account.

In an interview with the Weekly Standard, McCain Won’t Rule Out Pro-choice Running Mate:

IN A WIDE-RANGING INTERVIEW aboard his campaign plane this morning, John McCain said that he is open to choosing a pro-choice running mate and named former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge as someone who merits serious consideration despite his support for abortion rights. . . .

“I think that the pro-life position is one of the important aspects or fundamentals of the Republican Party,” McCain said. “And I also feel that–and I’m not trying to equivocate here–that Americans want us to work together. You know, Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don’t think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out.” . . .

“I think it’s a fundamental tenet of our party to be pro-life but that does not mean we exclude people from our party that are pro-choice. We just have a–albeit strong–but just it’s a disagreement. And I think Ridge is a great example of that. Far moreso than Bloomberg, because Bloomberg is pro-gay rights, pro, you know, a number of other issues.”

Of the four individuals most frequently mentioned as potential McCain runningmates–Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty–Lieberman and Ridge are pro-choice and Romney, by his own account, was pro-choice until at least November 2004.

So if McCain also just wants pro-lifers and pro-deathers to “work together,” how is this different from what Barack Obama is saying? If he actually DOES pick a pro-death running mate, that strongly suggests the issue is not important to him and he’ll lose the vote of lots of cultural conservatives.

Yes, I know baseball is being eased out as an Olympic sport, though not understanding why. (Surely its popularity in the entire Western hemisphere, plus Japan, makes it more popular than Olympic sports such as synchronized swimming.) But it is wrong to vandalize the game by changing its rules. From Extra Effort Made to Speed Up Baseball:

Starting in the 11th inning of a tie game — as decreed last month by baseball’s international governing body — each half-inning will begin with runners on first and second base, and the manager of the batting team can start the 11th at any point in his lineup.

Maybe they should let batters hit off a tee to make the game end even faster. Do you see why such a sudden death overtime is ruinous to baseball, in a way that it wouldn’t be in soccer or football?

Russia may have thought its invasion of Georgia intimidated its other neighbors, but instead it may have just scared them into action. Before, Poland was reluctant to allow the USA to base anti-missile missiles on its soil, such was the intensity of Russian anger. But now Poland wants the missiles, which come with a guarantee of American protection. Read U.S. and Poland sign missile shield deal:

Officials said the deal included a U.S. declaration that it will aid Poland militarily in case of a threat from a third country and that it would establish a permanent U.S. base on Polish soil in a symbolic gesture underlining the alliance. . . .

If everything goes to schedule, the interceptor base would be ready by around 2012, officials have said. The Czechs have already signed an agreement to host the radar although parliament there must yet ratify it.

Russia has vehemently opposed placing the shield installations in central Europe, saying they would threaten its security and upset the post-Cold War balance of power in Europe.

Moscow has threatened to take retaliatory steps against Poland and the Czech Republic, its former reluctant vassals who are now part of the European Union and NATO.

In the face of Russian opposition, Tusk had argued he could not agree to the shield unless the United States agreed to boost Warsaw’s air defenses and enhance mutual military cooperation.