New Move in Plamegate Investigation

The US prosecutor leading the inquiry into the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent says the case will involve fresh proceedings before a grand jury.

Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating whether the White House deliberately revealed the name of Valerie Plame.

The inquiry has already led to the indictment of former vice-presidential aide Lewis Libby on perjury charges.

Mr Fitzgerald's statement that he is working with a new grand jury could mean he is planning more charges.

The term of the last grand jury expired last month.

From The BBC

Warren Community College President Defends Professor’s Harassment of Young Conservative

Professor Admits Radical Diatribe

Student Fights Back

HERNDON, VA –Young America’s Foundation exposed Warren Community College’s radical Professor John Daly, who in an email to student Rebecca Beach, vowed to intimidate those students who host conservative speakers and called for American soldiers in Iraq to murder their superiors.

Instead of admonishing the professor’s intemperate attack on a student’s right of free expression, Warren Community College President William Austin said Prof. John Daly has “first amendment rights” to harass Rebecca. Furthermore, the President is trying to bully Rebecca into silence. He said Rebecca, not Prof. John Daly, is ruining the college’s name by going on talk radio and television exposing Daly’s mean spirited email. More details.

VANITY RUNNING AMOK

Senators Harkin and Specter tried naming buildings after THEMSELVES in the Labor-HHS Appropriations conference. But house rules prohibit this. Staffers on The Hill mocked the move as the latest example of egos completely out of control.

Is ANYONE Surprised By This?

YAHOO NEWS
Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria - The U.N. atomic watchdog agency revealed Friday that Iran received black market nuclear designs that diplomats say appear to be blueprints for the core of a nuclear warhead — a finding expected to used by Washington and its allies in their push to have Tehran referred to the U.N. Security Council. Details.

CUT 'N RUN

Posted at Iraq the Model by Mohammed

"It’s becoming obvious now that most of the regional powers including Arab countries as well as many former Ba’ath leaders began to realize that defeating America and pro-democracy Iraqis is not a reasonable objective anymore and that’s why they are making steps to join and/or support the political process. This came in the form of lowering the ceiling of their demands from an immediate withdrawal of coalition forces to setting a timetable for the process and this is what we’re hearing from the hardcore Sunni parties and people who speak for the Iraqi militant groups and in the Arab League’s attempts to host a reconciliation meeting.

The previous two and a half years lacked such moves and their appearance at this stage indicates that these opposition parties and Arab policy makers are getting tired of armed confrontation with the Iraqi and US forces since this confrontation hasn’t done them any good.

Maybe the most significant recent statement in this regard is the one made by Egypt’s foreign minister when he said that US forces presence in Iraq is necessary to “stabilize the country” and warned that a civil war could erupt if these troops leave now.

Such a statement lead us to the conclusion that countries like Egypt are no longer placing their money on the armed insurgency. And I really think they were forced to make this change in attitude because Iraq now is less than a month away from electing its first permanent (4 year term) government and the situation is no longer representing a temporary or transitional phenomenon but rather a solid transformation that began to take shape.

However, there are still some elements that have different goals of course but they all think that they can reach these goals through pushing America to leave Iraq; I’m talking about elements like Asad, al-Qaeda and Murtha."

• (Heavy is thinking that it cannot be good to be lumped into the same group along with Asad and Al-Qaeda.)

"I can’t imagine why Mr. Murtha said something like “is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region”.

It is really strange when a US representative says something like this few weeks after the elected Iraqi government demanded from the UN to extend the mission of coalition forces for another year; apparently my government (and I) do not think that US military presence is harmful for us and the Arab League also thinks that an immediate withdrawal would be disastrous for Iraq and the region.

However, I agree with Mr. Murtha that some people in Iraq would benefit from an immediate withdrawal but that would be al-Qaeda and there are also countries in the region that would benefit from that too but these would be Syria and Iran!"

ON PLAMEGATE

Rory O'Connor writes, "Let’s recap, shall we? Woodward says he 'does not believe' Libby said anything about Plame; he has 'no recollection' of mentioning Plame or her husband to Libby; but it 'is possible' that he asked Libby about both. And although he told Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie nothing, he says he did tell Post reporter Walter Pincus that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA as a WMD analyst. But Pincus says he recalls nothing of the sort."

Got that? Clear as mud, right? Full article.

Austria holds 'Holocaust denier'

British revisionist historian David Irving is being held in Austria under laws against denying the Holocaust.

An interior ministry spokesman said police in the province of Styria acted on a warrant issued in 1989 to arrest him last Friday.

Mr. Irving was on his way to give a lecture in the capital, Vienna. More.

MUDDLED THINKING

Senators pretended to be concerned over the high gas prices paid at the pump by you and me. Today a $60 billion tax cut bill was passed by a vote of 64-33. It would only make sense then with the high gas prices and all, that this bill would include a $5 billion tax on 'big oil'. They have just caused our prices at the pump to go up. Thanks a lot you economically challenged pick-pocketers.

"If men were angels, no Government would be necessary."
--- James Madison

But of course, men are not angels, so we need government. So then the question becomes: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" -- an old Roman warning that means, "Who shall watch the watchers themselves?"

And the answer is "we, the people" must, and must be kept constantly in mind. This is the advantage that a democracy, and more specifically in our case, a democratic republic has that communism, socialism, fascism, totalitarianism, do not have.

We enjoy the privilege of watching over our watchers; they do not. A fact that our Castro-loving Hollywood crowd cannot grasp.

"God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and defend it."

--- Daniel Webster

Well it Depends on What the Meaning of Specific is.....

Q: "What is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for?" —Tim Russert

A: "Right now it's not our job to give out specifics." —Howard Dean

I would say calling for the "immediate withdrawal" of our troops from Iraq is pretty damn specific, Howie. You and Congressman Murtha better get with Bill Clinton to determine what the definition of "is" is "specific" is.

Those Hollywood Lefties Are Just Too Smart For Us

"[Hollywood activists] were willing to accept -- in fact, they recognized almost viscerally -- that the president's story about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction was too richly timed and too tightly wrapped, and they understood that once a storyteller began to tinker with facts, there was no end to the scenarios he might invent that he might dubiously claim to be 'based on a true story.'"

--- Matt Bai, in the November 13 New York Times Magazine

"Liberty is not to be enjoyed, indeed it cannot exist, without the habits of just subordination; it consists, not so much in removing all restraint from the orderly, as in imposing it on the violent."

-- Fisher Ames

THE WASHINGTON RETREAT

From todays' Opinion Journal featured editorial:

...........Yesterday, Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha became the most prominent Democrat so far to join the pullout chorus. Mr. Murtha is esteemed on Capitol Hill, and in these columns, for his Vietnam service. But yesterday's speech urging a withdrawal within six months could have been written by Howard Dean.

Mr. Murtha says a key to progress is "to Iraqitize" the war, but his deadline would make it more difficult to get Iraqis into the fight. Though tens of thousands still volunteer to fight, no Iraqis want to die in a losing cause or be rounded up or killed if the Saddamists return to power. Iraqis already have reason to doubt U.S. staying power, going back to the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and the failure to prosecute Saddam himself nearly two years after his capture.

Saddam was trying to put just such a fear into Iraqis when he declared at his recent hearing that "I am still the President of Iraq." Ex-Baathists call themselves "The Party of the Return," and "collaborator" lists are posted in mosques. Death threats are common, and the families of those who join the cause of Free Iraq are targeted. The brother of Adel Abdel Mahdi, the current vice president and a potential prime minister after the elections, was recently assassinated.

Every Iraqi thus has to calculate the prospects of victory over the terrorists against the risks of U.S. abandonment. The signal Mr. Murtha is sending is that the risks of abandonment are growing, and that Iraqis might as well sit the fight out. This will only make it harder to train an Iraqi army and thus more difficult for the U.S. to disengage with success. The Murtha pullout could well leave the U.S. facing the terrible dilemma of a far longer stay or leaving in catastrophic defeat.

Read all of it here.

Democrat in 'Gang of 14' raises doubts about Alito

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A Democratic member of the Senate "Gang of 14" raised strong doubts yesterday that he will support the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court and said the chance of a filibuster remains open.

"I have concerns about Judge Alito -- they are strong concerns," Sen. Ken Salazar, a Colorado Democrat who helped lift his party's filibusters against President Bush's judicial nominees, said after meeting with Judge Alito. "I do not yet know whether I will be able to support his confirmation."

Full article.

A New Cause And Effect Of Global Warming

Further proof Bush hates the poor: Poor Suffer Most From Global Warming, WHO Says

Russia Takes Aim at Foreign-Funded NGOs
(CNSNews.com) – Russian lawmakers are considering legislation that will compel non-governmental organizations to register, thus preventing foreign-funded political activity. Critics see the move as a bid to further the Kremlin’s grip on power and prevent a democratic revolution in Russia...

US Retains Control of Internet – for Now
(CNSNews.com) – The European Union and other countries around the world have failed to wrest supervision of the Internet from the United States, but the issue has been kicked into the future rather than settled permanently...

Dems Complain As Republicans Vote to Restrain Spending
(CNSNews.com) – It was a squeaker of a vote – 217-215 -- but a deficit reduction bill finally passed the House of Representatives early Friday morning in a roll call vote. Although some Republicans objected to the bill for various reasons, others hailed it as a step toward fiscal discipline. But Democrats – all of whom voted against the bill -- complained that it cuts programs for people who need them most...

Republicans Question Timing of Dems' Call for 'Surrender'
(CNSNews.com) – As anti-war rhetoric erupts in Congress, Republican leaders want American citizens to consider why it’s happening right now. "Democrats have gone on the attack against the president, and the question we must ask is 'why?' The war on terror is a real war, and we have real enemies,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman...

Bicultural Europe is Doomed

"In a democratic age, you can't buck demography - except through civil war. The Yugoslavs figured that out. In the 30 years before the meltdown, Bosnian Serbs had declined from 43 per cent to 31 per cent of the population, while Bosnian Muslims had increased from 26 per cent to 44 per cent."

--- Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn's newest column in The Spectator is entitled, "Bicultural Europe is Doomed"

In it, he writes:

Three years ago -December 2002 - I was asked to take part in a symposium on Europe and began with the observation: "I find it easier to be optimistic about the futures of Iraq and Pakistan than, say, Holland or Denmark."

At the time, this was taken as confirmation of my descent into insanity. I can't see why. Compare, for example, the Iraqi and the European constitutions: which would you say reflected a shrewder grasp of the realities on the ground?

Or take last week's attacks in Jordan by a quartet of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's finest suicide bombers. The day after the carnage, Jordanians took to the streets in their thousands to shout "Death to Zarqawi!" and "Burn in hell, Zarqawi!" King Abdullah denounced terrorism as "sick" and called for a "global fight" against it. "These people are insane," he said of the husband-and-wife couple dispatched to blow up a wedding reception.

For purposes of comparison, consider the Madrid bombing from March last year. The day after that, Spaniards also took to the streets, for their feebly tasteful vigil. Instead of righteous anger, they were "united in sorrow" - i.e. enervated in passivity. Instead of wishing death on the perpetrators, the preferred slogan was "Basta!" - "Enough!" - which was directed less at the killers than at Aznar and Bush. Instead of a leader who calls for a "global fight", they elected a government pledged to withdraw from any meaningful role in the global fight.

My point in that symposium was a simple one: whatever their problems, most Islamic countries have the advantage of beginning any evolution into free states from the starting point of relative societal cohesion. By contrast, most European nations face the trickier task of trying to hold on to their freedom at a time of increasing societal incoherence.

For the whole article, go here.

ANWR: An Issue of National Security

By Hugh Hewitt

"About two dozen House Republicans are said to be prepared to desert the GOP caucus on the issue of exploring the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge for the vast amounts of oil that might lay below the tundra. Despite the tiny imprint the exploration would leave and despite the enormous advances in technology that make such drilling very safe indeed, these Republican House members reject exploration as unnecessary even in an era of tight supply and three-dollar-a-gallon gas.

Exploration in ANWR is both an economic and a national security issue of the highest rank--a crucial strategic resource that we must at least understand and fully map against disruption in the Middle East or Venezuela, and the extreme hardship such disruptions could work on our national economy and national security.

The House leadership ought to announce the names of those members who could not be counted on to vote for this crucial measure so that the electorate is fully informed of which members they may choose not to support in 2006.

US eyes Cuba's future as CIA says Castro has Parkinson's

CUBAN President Fidel Castro is suffering from Parkinson's disease, the CIA has concluded, and could have difficulty coping with the duties of office as his condition worsens.

The hidden cost of China's hunger for Olympic gold

CHINA'S determination to breed a generation of gold medal winners for the 2008 Beijing Olympics was last night under intense scrutiny after a leading British Olympic medallist professed that he was shocked and disturbed by the training methods.

I Stand Corrected. I Thought They Had No Agenda.

"Senator Jon Corzine was elected governor of New Jersey. He made hundreds of millions in the stock market, then got elected senator, then dumped his wife, and now he dates around. Let no one say the Democrats don't have an agenda."

--- Argus Hamilton

WHAT ARE YOU?

"If you think that Uncle Sam feeds you while Big Business is trying to milk you dry, you're a Democrat. If you think that God feeds you, with a little help from a job through Big Business, while Uncle Sam is milking you dry, you're a Republican."

--- Jay Homnick

"Last week was known as 'A Really Bad Week for Bush.' That of course followed 'A Week of Uncertainty for Bush,' which was teased by its predecessor, 'Hard Times Looming for Bush.' This week ought to be more of the same, but perhaps it will be 'Republicans in Crisis: Really Bad Uncertain Week of Hard Times and Grave Misfortune for Bush.' Got that?"

--- Peter Freire

Well We All Know Kids Will Be Kids...

"[T]hings could return to normal very quickly." —French National Police Chief Michel Gaudin, though he noted that French "youths" burn about 100 cars on an average Saturday night.

News story at Yahoo News.

Damn Those Facts All To Hell... It's Feelings That Matter

Let's all sing together now, "Nothing more than feelings."

"All politics is a reaction to felt needs. You need to get people to feel the need. Our job is to make sure the right felt need is taken into consideration." —John Kerry

"Going up in smoke along with thousands of Peugeots are liberal illusions. Multiculturalism is social poison. Toleration of intolerance isn't sophistication, it's suicide. Work, not welfare, is the key to social integration. Making excuses for violence begets more violence."

--- Jack Kelly

"He is a man of sense who does not grieve for what he has not, but rejoices in what he has." —Epictetus

Epictetus most obviously was not a socialist.

Human Rights Groups Accused of Undermining Capitalism
(CNSNews.com) – Traditional human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are pursuing an ideology opposed to free market capitalism and undermining the changes necessary to spread liberty around the world, according to a newly formed group that offers an alternative. Members of the Human Rights Foundation said their goal is to spread human rights and democracy throughout the Americas..

This should not be a new revelation, but I suspect it is to many people --- to too many people.

ABLE DANGER

Extra BY LOUIS FREEH
Why did the 9/11 Commission ignore "Able Danger"?

Worth reading if you have not done so.

Panel targets border policies
The House battle over border security began yesterday, with the Homeland Security Committee passing an amendment that would compensate local governments for some incurred law-enforcement costs as part of a broad immigration-enforcement bill.

Democrats say Alito not a sure thing
Democrats said yesterday that Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s confirmation is not guaranteed as senators kept the focus on a 20-year-old document in which the Supreme Court nominee asserted that the Constitution "does not protect a right to an abortion."

JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

The "right to privacy," which liberals maintain is implied in the U.S. Constitution and which was used by the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize abortion in 1973, apparently mattered little to Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month when he ruled on a case involving parental rights.

On Nov. 2, Reinhardt wrote the Ninth Circuit Court's decision declaring that the "right to privacy" did not apply to parents who wanted to prevent public school officials in Palmdale, Calif., from giving their elementary school age children a sexually explicit survey. The ruling is but one of many that Reinhardt's critics say qualifies him as one of the most liberal and activist judges in the nation.

Seven decisions that Reinhardt either wrote or supported in were unanimously overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court in a single year.

In the 1990's, in one session, the Supreme Court overturned 28 out of the 29 Ninth Circuit cases they heard.

Here are some quotes from "judge-turned social engineering czar" Judge Reinhardt:

• "They [parents] have no constitutional right, however, to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to do so."
  

• "Liberal judges believe in a generous or expansive interpretation of the Bill of Rights. We believe that the meaning of the Constitution was not frozen in 1789; that, as society develops and evolves, its understanding of constitutional principles also grows."
  

• "We believe that the Founding Fathers used broad general principles to describe our rights, because they were determined not to enact a narrow, rigid code that would bind and limit all future generations."
  

• "It was progressive justices with a view of the Constitution as a living, breathing document who gave full measure to that instrument, not the legal technocrats, not those whose view of the Constitution was frozen as of 1789."
  

• "When lawyers and judges adhere too rigidly to legal rules, they lose sight of the broader purposes for which those rules were created: to do justice."
  

When Stephen Breyer was a Supreme Court nominee in 1994, Reinhardt pressed him to "do justice, not just administer law," if he was confirmed to the high court, which of course, he was.

In deference to the Constitution, Reinhardt told Breyer that he should "Carry on the work of the court's great progressive thinkers."

Reinhardt shows no signs of slowing down in either his willingness to promote his liberal viewpoint or his alleged encroachment on legislative powers. When reporters ask him about being, arguably, the most overturned federal appeals judge in history, Reinhardt routinely smiles as he notes that the Supreme Court reviews only a handful of the decisions he hands down each year. "They can't catch them all," he says.

Full article here.

Hamas Building Army to Resist Disarmament
Jerusalem – Hamas is using the current period of “calm” to build a popular army in Gaza that would resist any future Israeli incursions or any attempt by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to disarm the organization, a senior Israeli military source said...

Ultimate Stupidity

Dispute Over Blood Donations Divides Homosexuals in Australia
(CNSNews.com) – A legal complaint in Australia challenging Red Cross restrictions on blood donations from homosexuals has triggered a squabble within the homosexual community. Some activists accuse others of undermining the “safe sex” message by suggesting that sex between men carries HIV/AIDS risks whether condoms are used are not...

Giving blood is not a "right",and people in need of a blood transfusion do have a "right" to expect and receive clean, untainted, compatible, HIV free blood.

But this rejected donor said 'refusal to allow him to donate contravened anti-discrimination legislation passed in Tasmania in 1998.'

CLICK TO ENLARGE

HOLY MACKERAL

I had a hit on my blog from Peter Townsend. (For those who do not know, he is the lead guitarist of legendary rock band The Who).

Cool or what?

THIS IS SO SAD....IF TRUE

Students Trust UN More Than Federal Government
(CNSNews.com) – College students trust the United Nations more than they trust the federal government, according to survey results released Wednesday by the Harvard University Institute of Politics...

ALITO'S RIGHT ON ROE

—Hugh Hewitt

"With the release of documents from the Reagan Library files, Judge Samuel Alito's 20-year-old application for a job in the Reagan era Department of Justice has surfaced, and with it his position that there is no constitutional right to an abortion in the Constitution.

This opinion does not tell us how Judge Alito would vote when a case arrives before the Supreme Court that relies on the precedent of Roe and Casey--the two major cases finding a right to abortion in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. But it does tell us that Judge Alito understood how wrongly decided was Roe, which is very encouraging to everyone who believes the Supreme Court must return to its original and appropriate role.

Not surprisingly, the left is shrieking over Judge Alito's mainstream pronouncement of 20 years ago, and is redoubling its campaign of vilification directed against him."

MORON More On Hagel

We have been heard a lot from the left about how Pres. Bush lied us into war.. yada yada yada. Now the senators from the left side of the aisle recently have been pushing this same idea quite fervently. It is hitting a nerve with me. We have all heard these same senators make the same comments that Bush made and in many cases, even in stronger terms. The senators on the intel committee see the same intel that Bush sees, unvarnished. In addition many of these same senators were making these kinds of comments when Clinton was in office. Enough with the LYING. (See the list of THEIR LIES here.)

In an earlier post, I posted this link to an article in the Washington Post. What disturbed me most about this article was that it was complete with this left-leaning mealy-mouth crap we have been hearing - but that it was coming from a Republican ... Chuck Hagel.

Well, this prompted a comment from a faithful reader, Anotmo, that I wanted to share. Here it is:

Have you heard the lefts latest response to being confronted with their own words expressing there belief, nay certainty, that Saddam had WMD’s? On Hannity & Colmes last night after a replay of Bill Clinton doing just that, Alan Colmes sanctimoniously replied “but Bill Clinton did not go to war in Iraq”. I have heard others make the same case using the same Democrat talking point words.

Let me see if I understand the point. Believing Saddam had WMD’s and posed an imminent threat to the U.S, it was nobler to have done nothing about it than to have responded if, it later transpires, you find no WMD’s. Let us list the errors in logic inherent in that bit of wisdom:

1. Bill Clinton did lob cruise missiles into Iraq, (thereby ignobly diverting attention from his own tawdry domestic problems), so he did respond.

2. To admit that Bill Clinton also believed Saddam had WMD’s is to admit that President Bush did not lie. (To say that Bush had information denied everybody else without producing it is just a replay of the embarrassingly specious Dan Rather, ‘phony but accurate” argument.

3. Having given Saddam a full year, (thanks to Senator Rockefeller), to hide his WMD’s and having evidence that he did just that, (thanks to Colin Powell), not finding any WMD’s is not to have determined Saddam never had them.

With the above in mind, we can now more accurately reword the Democrats talking point.

Bush did not lie about Saddam’s WMD’s because, based on the same evidence, many others also believed that Saddam had WMD’s, Bill Clinton included, but Bill Clinton abdicated his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief to protect and defend the country by responding only ineffectually in a way that was never intended to address the threat he believed existed but instead to divert the countries attention away from his own moral failings and that makes Bill Clinton better than George Bush because by the time we got to Iraq the WMD’s were gone and all the rest of us who hate Bush are exonerated as well for believing Saddam had WMD’s because we adore Bill Clinton.

Got it? Thanks Anotmo.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined."

--- Patrick Henry

Another 'Less Than Luke Warm' Critique of Fox News' Global Warming Crockumentary

Media at Large: Fox’s Changing Climate

Home heating shouldn’t be a problem much longer, if the media’s full acceptance of global warming is any indication of what’s really happening with the earth’s climate. The usually-balanced Fox News departed from its norm this week for a one-sided special that has some scientists up in arms. Unfortunately, the show also muddled the debate with misinformation........

File This One Under: WEIRD AND CREEPY

'Diaper changer' investigated

NEWTON -- Police last week investigated a bizarre report about a man, describing himself as a professional diaper-changer who asked two mothers if he could perform the chore for their children.
On Nov. 7, according to police, the man walked up to a woman in the parking lot at Store 24 at 991 Washington St. and asked if he could change her children's diapers. The woman, who was putting a bag of diapers in her car, told the man his request was inappropriate and to leave her alone.....

File This Under: Humor

From the Scotsman: Naked Rambler angers sheriff

THE Naked Rambler was jailed yesterday for three months for refusing to wear clothes during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Gordon Liddle ordered Stephen Gough, 46, to cover himself while in the dock , but instead he appeared stark naked. He was led back to the cells while the case was heard in his absence.....

LISTEN UP YOU MORONS

"When political leaders sound the siren of defeatism in the face of terrorism, it only encourages more violence."

--- Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi

(hat tip to EckerNet)

THE INTERNET AND THE U.N.

I have posted a few articles or links here, here, here, here, about the internet and the desire by many to wrest control of it from the U.S., and put it into the hands of others, most notably the U.N.

Claudia Rosett of Opinion Journal does a bang up job as well with here article, " 'Divide' and Conquer? Why dictators are cheering the U.N. Internet turf grab."

Here is a little sampling of what she wrote:

For anyone who cares about the vast freedoms and opportunities afforded by the Internet--for pajama-clad bloggers, for journalists, for businessmen and especially for people in the poorest countries--it is time for a call to arms.....

.....Whether America retains control over the root directory or some other setup ultimately evolves, the clear bottom line right now is that allowing the U.N. to involve itself in these questions is the wrong answer. A U.N. unable even to audit its own accounts or police its own peacekeepers has no business making even a twitch toward control of the Internet.

Worse, the corruption and incompetence at U.N. headquarters, however disturbing, are the least of the problems linked to the U.N.'s bid to control interconnectivity. The deeper trouble is that the U.N. has embraced the same tyrants who in the name of helping the downtrodden are now seeking via Internet control to tread them down some more.

It is worth reading the whole article.

A Laugher.....

U.N. claims U.S. social system violates human rights

UNITED NATIONS -- Problems with U.S. social benefit systems impede people struggling to overcome poverty, the United Nations said.

High health care costs and lack of low-cost housing exacerbate poverty and this can be seen as a human rights abuse, concluded a 17-day fact-finding mission by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Tuesday.

"Resource constraints have limited the reach of the assistance programs, and social discrimination has aggravated the problems in many situations resulting in poverty clearly seen as a violation of human rights," said Arjun Sengupta, the independent expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty of UNHCR.

The purpose of the mission was to learn from the U.S. experience in addressing its income poverty, human development poverty and social exclusion.

HAGEL IS A MORON

He doesn't get it. He never will. He has no chance for a 2008 presidential nomination.

QUICK LINKS

More Than Three Out of Four Adults Support U.S. Justice Department's Crackdown on Illegal Obscenity

Institute for Policy Innovation: Spare US the UNternet; US Does Not Dominate Internet; Neither Should UN

Three in California Charged with Acting as Foreign Agents for People's Republic of China

From Opinion Journal:

"This pretty well captures the intellectual spirit of the Democratic Party circa 2005. Here's party chairman Howard Dean, talking with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday:

Russert: What is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for?

Dean: Tim, first of all, we don't control the House, the Senate or the White House. We have plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections.

Russert: But there's no Democratic plan on Social Security. There's no Democratic plan on the deficit problem. There's no specifics. They say, "Well, we want a strong Social Security. We want to reduce the deficit. We want health care for everyone," but there's no plan how to pay for it.

Dean: Right now it's not our job to give out specifics.

Really, who needs specifics? After all, other than in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Democrats have done very well running on a platform of "Bush is a poopyhead." Why just last week they held onto the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia! You can't argue with that kind of success."

COLOR ME SKEPTICAL

Israel, Palestinians Upbeat About Border Deal
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority were upbeat about a Gaza Strip-Egypt border crossing deal reached Tuesday under intense U.S. pressure. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stayed in the region an extra day and worked through the night brokering the deal that will give Palestinians control over an external border for the first time...

Of course this would be good news, but history paints a bleak picture....... so color me skeptical.

‘The Heat Is On’ Fox News for ‘Global Warming’ Special
(CNSNews.com) – A climatologist Monday was quick to dismiss a Fox News special on “global warming,” complaining that it featured “profoundly juvenile climate science.” The documentary ignored scientific skeptics who believe that human activity is not responsible for catastrophic climate change...

Heavy hopes this isn't the beginning of the end of Fox's center-right position in news reporting. Roger Ailes falling victim to the ramblings of Robert Kennedy, Jr. and the mad professor, Al Gore is a bit disconcerting.

Conservatives Mobilize Against Activist Atheist
(CNSNews.com) – Conservative groups are rising to the defense of America’s Christian heritage by fighting an atheist who wants to remove the motto “In God We Trust” from the nation’s currency...

Senate to call for Bush plan to end Iraq war
The Senate is expected to vote today to demand that the Bush administration "explain to Congress and the American people its strategy for the successful completion of the mission in Iraq."

I have an idea. Let's let Teddy, John F'n Kerry, and Chuckie devise the strategy for the 'successful' completion of the mission in Iraq. I can guarantee you that it would be a doozy; one that a 4th grader could come up with.

NOW, I LIKE THIS IDEA

Can the U.S. find a substitute for the U.N.?
America's representative at the United Nations said yesterday that the organization must become better at solving problems and more responsive to U.S. concerns or Washington will seek other venues for international action.

Memo to Jacque Chirac: This is a bold plan.

CHIRAC ANNOUNCES BOLD PLAN - "REACH OUT"

Chirac cites 'malaise' in riot outbreak
President Jacques Chirac said yesterday that more than two weeks of violence in the poor suburbs of France is the sign of a "profound malaise" and ordered measures to reach out to the angry rioters.

Alleged bomb cells eyed nuclear plant

MEMBERS of an alleged Islamic terror cell in Sydney, Australia, were stockpiling bomb-making materials, undertaking training in terror techniques at Outback hunting camps, police alleged yesterday.

Court lets stand law denying felons a vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court let stand on Monday a Florida law that generally bars convicted felons from voting, even after they have completed their term of prison, probation and parole.

Who's in Trouble?

Dems: We're Not Responsible!
There's been a lot of talk of late about how the Republican Party is in trouble. And it might be, except for the absence of a serious opposition party. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia appeared on "Fox News Sunday" yesterday, and he had trouble answering questions from host Chris Wallace:

Rockefeller: Chris, it is always the same conversation. You know, it was not the Congress that sent 135,000 or 150,000 troops to--

Wallace: But you voted, sir, and aren't you responsible for your vote?

Rockefeller: No. I'm--

Wallace: You're not?

Rockefeller voted for the liberation of Iraq on the ground that it "poses an imminent threat," a claim far beyond anything the Bush administration ever said, but now in retrospect he takes a pro-Saddam position. And this guy is the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, which we guess means he's the most intelligent Democrat.

John Edwards, who apparently represented a Southern state for a single term in the Senate, also voted for the war and has now flip-flopped. Why anyone should care, we're not sure, but the Washington Post published an op-ed by him yesterday:

George Bush won't accept responsibility for his mistakes. Along with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, he has made horrible mistakes at almost every step: failed diplomacy; not going in with enough troops; not giving our forces the equipment they need; not having a plan for peace. . . .

We also need to show Iraq and the world that we will not stay there forever. We've reached the point where the large number of our troops in Iraq hurts, not helps, our goals.

Someone should introduce this Edwards guy to John Kerry*, who, as we noted last month, also thinks the number of troops is Iraq is simultaneously too large and too small.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that "the Democratic National Committee under Howard Dean is losing the fundraising race against Republicans by nearly 2 to 1," and the Drudge Report notes that Dean is afraid to appear on television alongside his Republican counterpart, Ken Mehlman. If the GOP is faltering, it's likely because of the absence of competitive pressure to do better.

* "We've got better vision, better ideas, real plans. We've got a better sense of what's happening to America--and we've got better hair." ------From Opinion Journal

Heavy says:
This piece reminds me of the Chuckie Schumer soundbites I heard a few days ago. The distinquished disingenuous Senator from New York was trying to sell us his foolish drivel about how the two governor races where the Dems HELD ONTO their Democratic governorships was a bellwether that gave them some sort of mandate and was a harbinger of things to come.

He then tried to make the case that the American people were rejecting the Bush doctrine and embracing the vision (yes, you read that write - vision) of the Democratic party.

Now you might ask "What vision?"

Well, moments later Chuckie addressed that very issue. He said that their plans/agenda/vision, well that.... they... have.... you know.... ahhh... been meeting on those ... ahhh... issues... and they would... well ... be announced .... ahhh... sometime .... probably ..... well early in 2006.

So, let me get this straight. The American citizenry are flocking to the left side of the aisle and embracing hot thin air because Chuckie says we are. It brings back memories of John Kerry's super secret plan* on the Iraq war while he was on his ill-fated Presidential campaign.

Who's in trouble?

*Has that "plan" ever been shared with the present administration? (You know after his defeat . ....'cause you couldn't share it during the campaign even if it meant saving American soldiers lives 'cause then it wouldn't be super secret and get you elected.)

Justices won't review "In God We Trust" dispute

The justices rejected an appeal of the decision that dismissed a lawsuit by two attorneys who had challenged as unconstitutional the phrase over the main entrance to the county's government center in Lexington, North Carolina.

"Liberals stoutly maintain that a woman has a privacy right to kill her unborn child, that pornographers have a right to broadcast the most nauseating filth, that scummy traitors have a right to spit on the flag, that adults have a right to have sex with adolescents, and that two men or two women have a right to marry—but two individuals who gave a child life, who fed, clothed, sheltered and nurtured that child, have no right (constitutional or historical, explicit or implied) to control when, where and in what way they will be exposed to sex. And they wonder why, for normal people, 'liberalism' has become a dirty word."

--- Don Feder

"Given [the] association of evil with unhappy people, it is quite remarkable how little attention is paid to happiness as a moral, rather than only a personal psychological issue. Too often the pursuit of happiness (not the pursuit of fun or excitement) is regarded as a selfish pursuit, when in fact it is one of the best things a person can do for everyone in his life and for the world at large. The Founders of America were brilliant in many ways, not more so than by enshrining that pursuit alongside the pursuit of life and liberty."

--- Dennis Prager (He 'da man)

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?"

--- Thomas Jefferson

Senate puts Chertoff on notice

Concerned that the nation's borders are not properly protected against terrorists, illegal aliens and drug smugglers, a Senate committee warned Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that if he fails to correct the situation promptly, they will.

French judge probes bin Laden's brother

A French judge reportedly wants to scrutinize bank accounts of Osama bin Laden's brother for possible money-laundering.

SE Asian Anti-Terror Task Force Mulled
(CNSNews.com) – As Southeast Asian governments consider their next steps in the drive against Islamist terror, plans to set up a regional anti-terrorism task force with significant involvement of Australia, a U.S. ally, could shift the campaign into a higher gear...

Ninth Circuit Judge Calls Court Split ‘Inevitable’
(CNSNews.com) - A judge serving on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says dividing the court is necessary and inevitable because of the administrative stress put on the nation’s largest circuit court. Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain told Cybercast News Service that he is “not interested in the politics of it” but stressed that “the numbers compel a split."

AT WAR

Who Is Lying About Iraq?
A campaign of distortion aims to discredit the liberation.

Norman Podhoretz has a very fine article at Opinion Journal where he takes issue with all the "distortions, misrepresentations, and outright falsifications", as he puts it, on the debate over the Iraq war, and in particular, the accusation the GW lied or misled us into an "immoral (and/or unnecessary) war.

Go read it here.

No Dean apology for Steele
The chairman of the Republican Party yesterday challenged his Democratic counterpart to condemn racist statements against Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, but Howard Dean demanded his own apology and ignored the question.

Saudi jailed for discussing the Bible
A court sentenced a teacher to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for "mocking religion" after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews, a Saudi newspaper reported yesterday.

On France and Immigration

By Michael Medved

In both the United States and France, about 10 percent of the population is foreign born, and many of these immigrants are economically disadvantaged. In France, tens of thousands of these newcomers have rioted for more than two weeks in 300 French cities, but America remains blessedly free of violent immigrant unrest.

This contrast stems in part from the religious outlook of the foreign born: nearly all immigrants to the U.S. identify themselves as Christian and are able to connect with the majority faith in the nation at large, while newcomers in France are overwhelmingly Muslim--afflicted with the fanatical sense of grudge that afflicts many Muslims everywhere, and deeply alienated from secular France.

The French riots also reflect the abject failure of the welfare state: the high taxes and intrusive regulation produce a less dynamic and less entrepreneurial economy--with far less opportunity for newcomers who seek to work their way into the middle class.

From: Beyond the News

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Poll: Americans Back Tough Interrogations

By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, Americans support U.S. interrogators doing "whatever it takes" to get information from terrorist suspects who might be planning attacks against U.S. interests.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows 55 percent of those surveyed support the current policy that allows tough interrogation tactics - while just 30 percent say that techniques now being employed by U.S. intelligence go too far.

Full story

HOMELAND INSECURITY

Border sheriff warns: We're overwhelmed
Texas lawman says not 'if,' but 'when,' terrorists bring dirty bomb into U.S.

From Our ROP 'Friends'

Anti-Christian rampage by 2,000 India Muslims
Organized vandals in buses burn churches, convent, schools, homes of pastors, priests:

They came in buses to the small village of Sangla Hill in the Nankana district of Punjab in India. Some 2,000 organized Muslims first vandalized three churches, a nuns' convent, two Catholic schools, the houses of a Protestant pastor and a Catholic priest, a girls' hostel and some Christian homes, according to Asia News. Full story.

COLLEEN HAS HER PARTY'S TALKING POINTS DOWN

MONTGOMERY, Minn. — For better or worse, Coleen Rowley the candidate for Congress sounds a lot like Coleen Rowley the FBI whistleblower.

The former FBI agent who scathingly exposed the bureau's failure to uncover the Sept. 11 plot is running for a House seat in Minnesota in 2006 as a Democrat, and she is employing her fearlessly blunt style on the campaign trail.

"This was a lied-into war that is a quagmire now," the 50-year-old Rowley recently told a group of rural Democrats in a garage in this small town south of the Twin Cities. ` ongoing deception."

Whether that kind of talk is smart politics is another matter.

The Democrats nationally are struggling with how to oppose the war without looking weak on national security, and some of them see Rowley's head-on attacks — as well as her trip to Texas in August to lend support to Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest at President Bush's ranch — as especially risky in the Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District.

"If you become known as a single-issue candidate against the war in a conservative district, I don't see how that gets you many votes," said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Northfield's Carleton College, in the 2nd District. "So far it seems like some of the moves she's made are counterproductive." Full story at Fox News

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading"

-- Henny Youngman

"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."

-- Alexis de Tocqueville

Berlin Police Encounter Neo-Nazis at Memorial

Associated Press

BERLIN - Some 2,000 neo-Nazis clashed with police on Saturday outside Germany's largest World War II soldiers cemetery, where the extremists had hoped to stage a demonstration in honor of the Nazi soldiers.

Thousands of police were on hand in Halbe to keep the peace between the roughly 2,000 skinheads who had gathered in the town, 30 miles south of Berlin, and the estimated 1,600 counter-demonstrators.

The two sides nearly came to blows when the neo-Nazis surged the police cordon in an attempt to enter the cemetery, which was blocked by the counter-deomonstrators.

Several officers were injured in skirmishes with the extremists, who were driven back and prevented from entering the cemetery.

Earlier in the day, the counter-demonstrators held a rally in honor of victims of Nazi crimes, in protest against the neo-Nazi march.

"We can not allow Halbe to become a regular place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis," Joerg Schoenbohm, interior minister of the Brandenburg region where Halbe is located, told the gathering.

Halbe is home to the burial site of about 28,000 soldiers, most of whom died in April 1945 in one of Nazi Germany's last stands against the Soviet army's advance on Berlin. Several SS officers are buried there.

It has become a regular rallying point for neo-Nazis, who gather there annually on the eve of the Day of Mourning, an unofficial holiday on which Germany remembers its war dead and those of other nations.

I'm Contemplating Going Back to School and Getting a New "B.S." Degree

Chinese Try to Build Better Bra
By Associated Press


BAGUALING, China - The Chinese are serious about building a better bra. There's now a degree in Bra Studies at Hong Kong's Polytechnic University.

And China's biggest lingerie manufacturer, Top Form, has a bra lab at its factory. The company makes more than 60 million bras a year for well-known labels like Victoria's Secret, Playtex and Maidenform.

The Wall Street Journal reports Top Form has been experimenting with various types of padding to give the bust a boost. They've tried air, but like tires it was prone to flats.

Oil-filled pads were too expensive and heavy.

Now, the company is trying a filling made from a thin type of fiberfill, the stuffing used ski parkas.

Egypt thwarts democracy forum
A U.S.-backed conference to promote Middle East democracy ended in chaos yesterday, with Egyptians leaving early after blocking Bush administration proposals to subsidize groups that promote political reform.