START OVER?

Read why AJ Strata thinks it's "time to throw the entire bunch out of Congress and start from scratch. Then dump all the judges and prosecutors and decsion makers and get new blood."

Time to Acknowledge the Reality of War

The New Media Journal
by Frank Salvato

"Only the naïve can continue to argue that the conflict currently taking place in the Middle East is between Israel and the Palestinian Authority."

[snip]

"Radical Islamists are continuing a centuries-long war on anything and everything that does not kow-tow to their psychotic and intolerant version of religion."

[snip]

"Now that nuclear weapons are fast becoming part of the threat, it is time to reject the idiocy of political correctness. It is time that those of the fifth column, both here in the United States and abroad, start to accept the undeniable fact that the world is facing a global conflict that pits the free world against those who embrace a radical Islamic ideology.

As Israel engages in war against Syria, Lebanon and Iran, their very existence hanging in the balance, we would be wise to understand that victory for those who champion freedom is not certain. It is possible that we could lose this war and nuclear capable Islamic regimes don’t do anything to tip the scales in our favor." Read more.

Calling Ahmadinejad's bluff

The American Thinker

"Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has been making murderous threats against the Jewish state for months and months. The Israelis don’t like big rhetorical gestures, but they know perfectly well that leaving Ahmadinejad’s genocidal boasting unanswered would send a signal of lethal vulnerability to a monster. We are seeing their answer shaping up even now.

We can’t know the outcome of the battle now in progress. However, it is clear that Israel has called Ahmadinejad’s bluff. So far, there are two signs for the world to see: Israeli freedom to act as it wants, and the impotence of Syria and Iran to protect their proxies on the borders of Israel." More...

Israel uncowed by missile threat

The Australian

"GRASPING the strategic nettle posed by the 13,000 missiles in Hezbollah's possession, Israel has sent its warplanes to strike the militia's headquarters compound in Beirut along with bridges and other Lebanese infrastructure.

About 100 targets have been hit in the past three days.

After years of cautious tit-for-tat engagements with Hezbollah, the Israeli Government has decided on a head-to-head confrontation with the Islamic organisation despite the prospect of missiles striking Israeli cities." More details.

Israel Steps Up Assault on Beirut Suburbs

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- "Warplanes bombed Beirut's southern suburbs again early Sunday, witnesses reported, after a day in which Israel tightened a noose around this reeling nation with the heaviest air strikes yet in the four-day-old conflict" Details.

The Left should be supporting Israel in this war

By Eric Lee

"Israel is under attack -- unprovoked, brutal attack. Attack by forces such as Hamas and Hizbollah with which socialists have nothing in common."

[snip]

"The real question for socialists when a war like this breaks out is to look at what will happen if either side wins. Let us imagine that Israel wins -- meaning that the captured soldiers are returned and the rocket attacks from Gaza and Lebanon end. The result will not only be good for Israel, but good for the Palestinians and Lebanese as well. The Islamo-fascists will be weakened. Democratic and secular forces will be strengthened. Socialists should cheer this on.

Now image what happens if Hamas and Hizbollah win. They over-run the Jewish state, slaughtering and expelling its several million Jewish inhabitants. They create a reactionary theocratic dictatorship along the lines of their benefactor, Iran. No one benefits -- not the Jews, not the Arabs. This a result that only fascists could applaud.

Some socialists are pacifists and oppose all wars. But most of us understand that sometimes a country has to fight. And sometimes two peoples go to war against each other, and we have to take sides. We look at the reasons behind the fighting and more important -- we look at the consequences of victory for one side or the other."

[snip]

"Our view as socialists of Hamas and Hizbollah should be absolutely clear: these are the enemy. We have nothing in common with Islamo-fascism and look forward to it suffering a crushing defeat in battle."

A very good piece written by a self admitted socialist. Go and Read more.

Hat tip to American Future.

Israel's Existence at Stake

RealClearPolitics
By Charles Krauthammer

WASHINGTON -- Next June will mark the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War. For four decades we have been told that the cause of the anger, violence and terror against Israel is its occupation of the territories seized in that war. End the occupation and the 'cycle of violence'' ceases.

The problem with this claim was that before Israel came into possession of the West Bank and Gaza in the Six Day War, every Arab state had rejected Israel's right to exist and declared Israel's pre-1967 borders -- now deemed sacred -- to be nothing more than the armistice lines suspending, and not ending, the 1948-49 war to exterminate Israel." More.

Venezuela not to cut oil supply to U.S.

People's Daily Online:
"Although the Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corporation had decided to stop distributing gasoline to 2,000 gas stations in the United States, Venezuela had no plans to reduce its oil supply to the U.S., the country's energy minister said on Friday." Read more.

Anti-Chavez Protesters Demand Fair Vote in Venezuela
FOX News - USA
CARACAS, Venezuela - Political opponents of President Hugo Chavez marched through Venezuela's capital on Saturday demanding that elections authorities take ...

Shell finalises agreement with Venezuela
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
... signed a new contract replacing its previous agreement to independently pump oil at the Urdaneta West field, the state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA ...

Israel News

Israeli raid hits Lebanon-Syria border

Israel says it has only bombed in Lebanese territory

No Israeli attack on Syria: Syrian official

Crisis seen as chance to reshape Mideast

The Boston Globe: Vying powers look for an edge

JERUSALEM -- "The escalating Hezbollah-Israeli confrontation is just one of several political and military showdowns playing out simultaneously as competing players vie to reshape the Middle East according to their own interests." More.

Arab states take dim view of 'adventurism' by Hizbullah

The Daily Star

"US allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan indirectly accused Hizbullah on Friday of harming Arab interests but also condemned the Israeli assault on Lebanon The remarks came amid fears of a wider regional conflict after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted Friday that Israel was not powerful enough to take on Iran and warned the Jewish state not to attack regional ally Syria.

While not naming Hizbullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdul-lah II warned of the risk of 'the region being dragged into 'adventurism' that does not serve Arab interests,' according to a joint statement published by Amman's official Petra news agency after the two met in Cairo.

Similar language was used earlier by Saudi Arabia, which indirectly accused Hizbullah of adventurism in provoking Israel's onslaught on Lebanon and putting all Arab nations at risk." More..

US 'could be going bankrupt'

"The United States is heading for bankruptcy, according to an extraordinary paper published by one of the key members of the country's central bank.

A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency, according to research by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff for the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, a leading constituent of the US Federal Reserve." Read on.

Democrats pull ad with flag-draped coffins

Yahoo! News

"ROCK HILL, S.C. - Democrats pulled an Internet ad that showed flag-draped coffins Friday after Republicans and at least two Democrats demanded it be taken down on grounds the image was insensitive and not fit for a political commercial." Read on.

The longer we dither, the more likely it becomes that we will sadly and unnecessarily find ourselves in a military confrontation of some sort, with all the terrible consequences that entails.

Faster, please. Your options are narrowing. You cannot escape the mullahs. You must either defeat them or submit to their terrible vision. There is no other way.

-- Michael Ledeen

To Capture or Kill

In light of the recent ruling by the Supreme Court, the murderous Islamofascists that we encounter on the battlefield should be killed instead of being taken prisoner. Few have any beneficial tactical knowledge, they don't abide by Geneva Convention rules, and become a huge problem once in captivity, thanks to our Supreme Court's lack of understanding of war and of the Geneva applicability.

Historically, combatants who break Geneva Convention rules of warfare by acting as, or comingling with, citizens were executed. However, as it stands now, the Geneva rules apply to us but not them. Additionally, we have now bestowed legal rights unheard of heretofore to terrorists who are not bound by any rules.

Lt. Col Ralph Peters (US Army-ret.) author of Never Quit the Fight, says : "We need to clarify the rules of conflict. But integrity and courage have fled Washington. Nobody will state bluntly that we're in a fight for our lives, that war is hell, and that we must do what it takes to win.

This isn't an argument for a murderous rampage, but its opposite. We must kill our enemies with discrimination. But we do need to kill them. A corpse is a corpse: The media's rage dissipates with the stench. But an imprisoned terrorist is a strategic liability."

I like how he thinks. He also had this to say which I agree with one hundred percent: "Our policy toward terrorists and insurgents in civilian clothing should be straightforward and public: Surrender before firing a shot or taking hostile action toward our troops, and we'll regard you as a legal prisoner. But once you've pulled a trigger, thrown a grenade or detonated a bomb, you will be killed. On the battlefield and on the spot."

The ultimate goal in the War on Terror, as in any war, is to win. General MacArthur said, "It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it." Winning means killing your enemy.....and for those who commit acts of terror and use the civilian population and put them square in the middle of the battlefield, lose the rights he once had.

The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.

-- Ulysses S. Grant

"Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state."

-- George Mason, 1788

States of Terror

Syria, Iran and their proxies wage war on Israel.

Israel's military invasion and naval blockade of Lebanon is being denounced in European capitals and at the United Nations as a "disproportionate" response to the kidnapping this week of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah. Israel's decision late last month to invade Gaza in retaliation for the kidnapping of another soldier by Hamas was also condemned as lacking in proportion. So here's a question for our global solons: Since hostage-taking is universally regarded as an act of war, what "proportionate" action do they propose for Israel?

[snip]

Critics of the Bush Administration will surely find a way to blame it for the current crisis, on the theory that this is what happens when you push for change in the Middle East. But the real problem is the growing perception among Arab regimes and terrorist frontmen that the U.S. is so bogged down in Iraq, and so suddenly deferential to the wishes of the "international community," that it has lost its appetite for serious reform. This has created openings for the kind of terror assaults on American allies we are now witnessing.

More.

Time to Acknowledge the Reality of War
By Frank Salvato

Only the naive can continue to argue that the conflict currently taking place in the Middle East is between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Further, only the interminably stupid can continue to claim that this conflict is about land or any instituted US policy in the Middle East. It is now clearer than ever that the hostilities taking place in the Middle East are based in a conflict of ideology jockeyed by religious fanatics hell-bent on world domination…

The Sicko's at the ACLU; and Their Sick Views

Gov't Documents Prove Abuse of Patriot Act, Says ACLU

(CNSNews.com) - The federal government is blocking foreign scholars who disagree with the Bush administration's policies from entering the country, according to a leading civil rights watchdog. But advocates for stronger immigration laws argue that the government is only trying to protect the U.S. from terrorists and their supporters. The American Civil Liberties Union claimed Wednesday - based on government documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request - that officials are misusing the PATRIOT Act's "ideological exclusion" provision to keep academics who oppose the U.S. government's agenda out of the country. "The American public suffers when our government abuses anti-terrorism laws to shut out voices and ideas that it doesn't want us to hear," said ACLU attorney Melissa Goodman. "America has a rich tradition of robust academic debate. The government dishonors that tradition when it censors ideas at the border." Full Story

Islamic Group Blasts Israel's 'Attacks on Civilians'

(CNSNews.com) - A U.S.-based Islamic civil rights group is urging American Muslims and "other people of conscience" to urge their elected representatives to condemn the Israeli attacks on "civilians in Gaza and Lebanon." The Council on American-Islamic Relations says American Muslims should tell Congress and President Bush that Israel's attacks "only serve to strengthen extremism in the region and that the United States must adopt a more balanced Middle East policy." Israeli officials have said they are attacking terrorists who hide in and among civilian populations. Israel's target is the terrorists who kill civilians, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dan Gillerman said in a CNN interview on Friday. "For them, every dead [Israeli] civilian, every dead child, is a cause for celebration. For us, every dead civilian is a tragedy. That's the difference between us and them," Gillerman said. Full Story

What? Don't Blame Bush?

US Initiative Praised as African AIDS Infection Rate Eases
Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) – President Bush’s anti-AIDS initiative has been cited by campaigners in Africa as a key reason for the decline in new HIV/AIDS infections across the continent...

‘Global Warming’ TV Special ‘Misleads Public,’ Scientist Says
(CNSNews.com) - A program on “global warming” set to debut on the Discovery Channel Sunday night “misleads the public,” because it relies on “just a few scientists with a particular personal viewpoint on this subject,” says a climatologist who has seen the two-hour special...

Our Elected Morons at Work

Senate denies funds for new border fence
Less than two months after voting overwhelmingly to build 370 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, the Senate yesterday voted against providing funds to build it.

One Culture, Indivisible

By Herman Cain

"We know the Islamic terrorists do not respect national borders, other cultures or political structures. Neither do millions of the illegal aliens – whom many in our government and the private sector want to reclassify as "guest workers" – present in our country. Every time this year illegal aliens have protested legislation that would seal our borders and enforce immigration laws, television cameras have captured scores of Mexican flags and homemade signs claiming the U.S. stole the American Southwest from Mexico.

We must look at the big picture. The war on terrorism is not merely a war waged in Iraq or a war strictly against Islamic terrorists, and the desire to protect our borders and enforce our laws does not make us racists. The true enemy is permissiveness and multiculturalism, which threaten our democratic ideology and culture." Read more.

Putin silences the airwaves

By Jeff Jacoby

"Since coming to power in 1999, Putin has seized control of the country's major TV channels, all of which are now under the thumb of the government or its allies. Local media outlets rarely challenge the regional governors, most of whom are Kremlin loyalists -- especially since Putin abolished the popular election of regional officials two years ago. A bill now before the Russian Parliament would broaden the crime of "extremism" to include media criticism of public officials. If convicted, journalists could be imprisoned for three years and their publications closed down."

[SNIP]

"Just as in the old days," Garry Kasparov, the chess champion and Russian democracy activist, wrote in a New York Times column on Monday, "Moscow has become an ally for troublemakers and anti-democratic rulers around the world. Nuclear aid to Iran, missile technology to North Korea, military aircraft to Sudan, Myanmar and Venezuela, and a budding friendship with Hamas: These are the West's rewards for keeping its mouth shut about human rights in Russia."

Read more.

"And, of course, al-Qa'ida never need to sign the Conventions now, do they? As the ultimate beneficiaries of the progressive mindset, they get all the benefits with none of the obligations. We're bound, they're not. If you're captured with the severed head of a U.S. soldier in your knapsack, you're covered by Geneva..." —Mark Steyn

"[The Supremes] declared illegal President Bush's military tribunals for the likes of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver and bodyguard. First, because they were not established in accordance with congressional authority. And, second, because they violated the Geneva Conventions. The first rationale is an odd but fixable misreading of congressional intent. The second is a grotesque and unfixable misreading of the Geneva Conventions."
—Charles Krauthammer

"The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly." —Theodore Roosevelt

This Makes Sense....NOT!

Senate bill seeks more pay for aliens
The Senate immigration bill would require that foreign construction laborers here under the guest-worker program be paid well above the minimum wage, even as American workers at the same work site could earn less.

It’s Always Israel’s Fault
By Alan Caruba

The Israelis have tried every thing they could to mollify the Palestinians and the neighboring Arab states. They have done this despite having fought several wars that gained it the territories the Arabs want returned, along with all of the rest of Israel. There is a lesson here somewhere for the Israelis and for the rest of the world. It has something to do with punishing one’s enemies until they give up…

British Foreign Office Under Fire for Engaging With Radical Muslims
London - The British government has drawn too close to the radical international Islamic movement, a prominent think tank here has charged...

China, Russia Inch Toward Tougher Line on Iran
China and Russia have for the first time agreed to back a legally binding U.N. Security Council resolution compelling Iran to suspend its nuclear activities, but they show no sign of doing the same in the case of North Korea...

Democrats’ Political Ad Includes Flag-Draped Coffins
Republicans say Democrats ought to be ashamed of themselves for using the flag-draped coffins of U.S. troops who died in Iraq for political gain...

‘Black Culture’ Blamed for Hurricane Katrina Woes
Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina flooded the city of New Orleans, some prominent black conservatives and religious leaders blame cultural problems among African Americans, not the government, for “the great breakdown witnessed during and following” the natural disaster...

MIDDLE EAST ON FIRE?

Breaking: Captured Soldiers Heading for Iran?
(CNSNews.com) – Israel says it has learned that the Lebanese-based Hizballah intends to transfer the two Israeli soldiers it abducted on Wednesday to Iran. That word came today from a senior official in Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Israel is now linking Iran, Syria, Hizballah and Hamas all together in what it calls an “axis of terror and hate” that threatens the entire world...

Iran, Syria Attacking Israel Through Hizballah, Analysts Say
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – The Israeli government said it is holding the government of Lebanon responsible for attacks along its northern border, but Israeli analysts and government sources said that Iran and Syria are ultimately behind the attack...

Bush Concerned About ‘Fragile Democracy’ in Lebanon
(CNSNews.com) - The Iranians can’t expect to “wait out” the United States; Russia can’t expect to have good relations with the U.S. if it doesn’t encourage democracy; and what’s happening to peace efforts in the Middle East is “pathetic,” President Bush told a news conference in Germany on Thursday...

Rockets, Blockades and Determination…
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) – In this tiny Middle Eastern country where Israelis have known a major war almost every decade since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948, the mood on Thursday was somber. But newspaper editorials and Israeli pundits insisted that victory is Israel’s only option...

The Rest of Murtha's FBI Tape
American Spectator - USA
What is on the rest of Congressman Jack Murtha's now infamous FBI tape? Much more than the available video reveals. Thanks to the ...

"Whatever enables us to go to war, secures our peace."

-- Thomas Jefferson

Commentary

My Testimony in the Leak Case
By Robert D. Novak
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed my attorneys that, after two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to me has been concluded. That frees me to reveal my role in the federal inquiry that, at the request of Fitzgerald, I have kept secret...

Israel Sees Hizballah Provocations As 'Act of War'
Jerusalem – The abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hizballah militants in southern Lebanon Wednesday was not a terrorist attack but an act of war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said. That war has now expanded to two fronts -- Lebanon in the north and Gaza in the south... Read.

NEA Official Denies Support for Homosexual Marriage
An executive in the nation’s largest teacher’s union has denied that the group supports homosexual marriage. He said a resolution to that effect had been mischaracterized. One NEA member who is "morally opposed” to homosexual marriage said the issue “should not even be on our agenda.”

Blame America: US Groups Detail US Human Rights Violations
A coalition of U.S. nongovernmental organizations insists that the United States is engaged in ongoing violations of an international human rights treaty. "The unnecessary loss of life resulting from Hurricane Katrina and the discriminatory nature of evacuation plans for New Orleans Parish constitute human rights violations," said a coalition spokesman...

Infant mortality reduced in Peru

"Peruvian cabinet president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski informed that the infant mortality index has reduced from 33,000 to 23,000 between the years 2000 and 2004. He expressed his hopes to push the numbers down to 19,000 by 2015." Read on.

Guess who is paying more in taxes now?

"Yesterday's political flurry over the falling budget deficit shows that even Washington can't avoid the obvious forever: to wit, the gusher of revenues flowing into the Treasury in the wake of the 2003 tax cuts. The trend has been obvious for more than a year (see our May 23, 2005, editorial, 'Revenues Rising'), but now it's so large that Republicans are trying to take credit while Democrats explain it away." Read more.

Nations Sending Iran to Security Council

Forbes.com

"World powers agreed Wednesday to send Iran back to the United Nation's Security Council for possible punishment, saying the clerical regime has given no sign it means to negotiate seriously over its disputed nuclear program." Read more.

US House Dems Vow To Oppose Peru FTA On Labor Standards
Easy Bourse (Communiqués de presse) - Paris,France
... Dow Jones)- Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday said they would oppose a free trade agreement between the US and Peru, citing inadequate ...

Venezuela's Citgo To Stop Gas Sales To Hundreds Of US Stations
KETV.com - Omaha,NE,USA
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum has decided to stop distributing gasoline to some 1,800 US stations. Citgo ...

Senate Committee: ‘Brokaw’s Objectivity Compromised in Global Warming Special’

From NewsBusters.org

"In a fine example of life imitating a Marx Brothers movie – which should give you a clue as to what should be done with your drinking vessels! – Republicans on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works issued a press release Wednesday concerning a documentary that former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw has done for the Discovery Channel about global warming (hat tip to NRO’s Media Blog). No matter how hard you try, you just can’t make this stuff up: “Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw’s lack of objectivity and balance on the issue of global warming appears to have tainted his upcoming Discovery Channel documentary called: ‘Global Warming: What You Need To Know’ airing on July 16.” More.

COMMENTARIES

1. How the death tax shafts black Americans (Human Events)
2. Estonia creates an economic miracle with low, flat taxes (Heartland Institute)
   Key quote: "The first time I heard the name Milton Friedman, it was in propaganda newsletters that said there is one very bad and very dangerous economist, and his name is Milton Friedman. I was quite sure, when he is so dangerous for the Communists to be telling me this, he must be a good man."
3. The surgeon general’s second-hand smokescreen (Reason)
4. Dos and don’ts on energy policy (Human Events)
5. What New Jersey makes, the government takes (Reason)

Networks Serve as Deputy for Food Police

From The Balance Sheet

Do you feel comfortable eating that Big Mac? That frappuccino? If so, the food police haven’t gotten to you yet. But they have gotten to the media, who help them get out their anti-personal-responsibility, pro-lawsuit, pro-government-regulation message. More.

Whither tax incentives after WTO accession?
Viet Nam News - Hanoi,Vietnam
With the conclusion of bilateral negotiations with the US, Viet Nam has now finalised 28 such agreements with various trading partners as needed for membership ...

We expect US to keep us in chains, says British banker

ONE of three bankers facing extradition to the United States under controversial British laws yesterday told of his fears about the treatment they will face when they arrive in America this week.

Muslim Brotherhood

"Jordan is worried about new developments regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, a Middle East group looking to create an Islamic theocracy in Egypt, Jordan, Israel and ultimately around the world. Hamas was created as an offshoot of the Brotherhood in Egypt. Egyptian Brotherhood leader Mahdi Akif has been serving the past few years as a de facto spiritual leader of Hamas, ever since Israel assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin in March 2004."

From The G2 Bulletin.

Commentary

The Lieberman Primary - A Test of War Support?
By Paul M. Weyrich
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman is a garden variety liberal on most issues. But two things make Lieberman stand out among his fellow Democrats.

Military on pace to meet recruiting goals for this year

USATODAY.com
WASHINGTON — "The Army exceeded its recruiting goal for June, staying on track to meet its target of 80,000 new soldiers this year, the Pentagon announced Monday." Story.

Bush approves 'Cuba democracy' fund

BBC NEWS

"US President George W Bush has approved an $80m (£43m) fund which he says will go towards boosting democracy in Cuba.

Mr Bush said the fund would help the Cuban people in their 'transition from repressive control to freedom'." Details.

Court: Illinois U. Must Reinstate Group

Las Vegas SUN

CHICAGO (AP) - "A federal appeals court ruled Monday that an Illinois university must reinstate a student group that had its status revoked over its requirement that members pledge to adhere to Christian beliefs." Read on.

State appeals blocked voter ID law

Georgia Asks State Supreme Court to Reinstate Voter ID Law
Lawyers say decision creates risk of confusion among voters, officials.

A Fulton County judge erred when he stopped enforcement of Georgia's new photo voter ID law, and the state Supreme Court should move immediately to reverse the decision before 'voter confusion' and 'further disruption' of the primary elections, lawyers for the state said in documents filed Monday."

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Full story.

Terror Attacks Hit Commuter Trains

By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor

(CNSNews.com) - At least 135 people are reported dead, 300 injured, in a series of coordinated explosions on commuter trains in Mumbai (Bombay), India, Tuesday, Reuters reports. The blasts - a total of seven, reports said -- hit during the evening rush hour. According to the Press Trust of India, all the explosions happened in first-class cars. So far, there have been no claims of responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on Islamic militants who want India out of Kashmir.

China Offers Alternative, Non-Binding North Korea Resolution

"Backed by Russia, China has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution in response to North Korea's recent missile tests that is milder than one the U.S. and its allies are supporting." More.

Hamas Using American Press to Bash Israel, US

Jerusalem - Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is using a platform provided by the Washington Post to spread anti-Israel propaganda to the American public, Israeli analysts said." More.

Hamas Leader Will Bring Destruction on Middle East, Egypt Says

Jerusalem - "Egypt has warned Syria that it should expel the Damascus-based Hamas leadership or risk the destruction of the Syrian regime." More.

PROOF THAT ABORTION WAS NOT A CONCEPT OUR FOUNDERS COULD EVEN IMAGINE

"The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them."

-- Thomas Jefferson

Senate bill may restrict police

This is why I have said over and over again that we need border control first. Our elected officials cannot be trusted in getting the job done right. Comprehensive legislation is going to contain sh*t like this in it:

Senate bill may restrict police
"State and local police would be prohibited in key ways from helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement combat illegal immigration under Senate legislation, a wall that opponents say would lead to rampant fraud, hamper efforts to deport future illegals and tfhreaten nationa; security." Read on.

We will end up with some bastardized form of immigration reform that will largely be unappealing to most American citizens. Get control of our borders first, then if it takes a couple of years to wrangle over all the different ideas complete with every imaginable nuanced version stuffed into a comprehensive bill like a g*d damned pinata, we'll at least have stopped the flood of illegal immigrants into a more manageable trickle.

These elected idiots are banking on the fact that we are even less intelligent than they and don't think they are going to be held accountable for their insidious view on immigration. We cannot allow this to happen.

Chechen terrorist leader killed
Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord who masterminded the Beslan school siege and dozens of other horrific attacks across Russia, was killed yesterday after eluding capture for more than a decade, top Russian officials said.

Governance and Good Intentions

"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."

—Daniel Webster

"If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour?"

—Thomas Jefferson

The Media's Dereliction of Duty

OpinionEditorials.com
By Robin Mullins Boyd

"The media has consistently focused on alleged atrocities by US soldiers since the war in Iraq began, but it recently has gone on a feeding frenzy. Ever since John Murtha announced that “our Marines killed Iraqi civilians in cold blood”, the media has been on a mission to publicize and dramatize any report that comes out of Iraq regarding alleged bad acts by our soldiers.

The stories are splashed on the front pages. They make the cover stories in magazines and are usually called “special reports”. Day after day, details are touted as “breaking news” in the media. Anonymous sources and neighbors of the victims are cited as “experts”. Photos of Iraqis pointing to bullet holes in walls and blood stains on the floor are published as evidence of crimes by US military. Every story about any minutia of information surrounding the investigation includes a rehash of the “alleged acts” and a recounting of all the “other investigations” of other atrocities. Every story has an undercurrent of “this is just the tip of the iceberg.” Read more.

QUESTIONING THE U.N., IT'S PURPOSE, AND EFFECTIVENESS

POST ROLLED UP

By Anotmo, guest contributor

I cannot ignore the recent events involving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

I have a question for our liberal friends. The question I have is quite apart from the more obvious one regarding how they can now continue to view the Israeli's as the bad guys, or at least equally culpable as the Palestinians, when Israel voluntarily gave up the Gaza strip, forced their own people, sometimes at gun point, to evacuate the area; and turned it over to the Palestinians, only to have the Palestinians then use the area as a base of operations from which to continue their attacks on Israel? No, my question for our liberal friends is even more fundamental to their ideology. "“What, exactly, is it that liberals believe their vaunted and revered United Nations can/should/will now do to address and ameliorate this conflict?"” Indeed, as soon as one asks that question, a still more fundamental question arises. "“Why do such things continue to happen while the United Nations remains extant?"” Is it not the purpose of the United Nations to otherwise resolve such issues?

Liberals seem to perceive the United Nations as some deliberative third party arbitrative body of wise and reasonable council who will sit down and intelligently work out a mutually agreeable resolution to world conflicts, much as, (they perceive), a Labor Relations Arbitration Board does for Labor/Management conflicts here in the U.S. Of course, the first thing wrong with that view is that the United Nations has no such arbitration authority except as might be enforced by its own standing army, in which case it would be nothing more than yet another player on the world stage pursuing its own agenda through force of arms. As Benjamin Franklin observed: "“Force shittes upon reasons back"”.

More importantly, however, is that the liberal'’s view of the United Nations is just plain wrong. Its participants are not as described above and their purpose is not to end conflict by arriving at mutually acceptable resolutions. It'’s participants are representatives of their respective nations and their purpose is to pursue their nations agenda using whatever means are available to them within the United Nations just as their nations continue to pursue their agenda using whatever means are available to them on the world stage. The one is just a microcosm of the other with the sole essential difference being that the relative powers of the participating nations within the United Nations are artificially contrived while those within the world at large are dictated by actual economic, military and moral might.

In fact, that is precisely why liberals so venerate the United Nations. Not because it can wisely and peaceably resolve conflicts in the best interests of the world at large but because it negates the real world superior power of the United States and may thereby prevent conflicts from being resolved in the latter'’s favor. Nowhere is this clearer than when Koffi Annan'’s second in command recently lamented that what was needed was for the United States to allow it'’s military to be used to enforce the, (consistently anti U.S.), will of the United Nations. In point of fact, when conflicting nations do choose to negotiate a mutually agreeable resolution, they do so through their own diplomatic, ambassadorial and allied resources, not through the United Nations where the conflicting interests of so many others just complicate matters.

To answer my own questions, then, there is nothing that the United Nations can or will do to resolve the Palestinian/Israel conflict. It has raged and will continue to rage despite and perhaps even because of the existence of the United Nations. That is so for all conflicts, not just the Palestinian/Israel conflict, because its members understand the United Nations to be just a more favorable forum within which to advance their own interests than is the real world and because the United Nations has no enforceable authority by which to resolve conflicts contrary to those interests. History itself bears this out.

The value of the United Nations, from the liberal point of view, is to externally stop the United States of America from doing whatever it is that the liberals do not want the United States of America to do but which they are internally unable to stop. Some grand and high minded purpose that is.

Japan, Korea, and the United Nations

Japan Praised for Stance on North Korea
(CNSNews.com)

"As the U.N. Security Council moves towards voting on a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile tests, hopes for a unified international response appear to be fading fast.

Not only are China and Russia (North Korea's closest allies, both with veto powers) sticking to their opposition to a legally binding council resolution, but a gap between U.S. allies Japan and South Korea over how to handle the threat is widening.

Political scholar Ralph Cossa argued that last week's launch of seven long, medium and short-range missiles was a test not only of the weaponry, but also a test of neighboring countries' and the international community's willingness to stare down North Korea.

Shrugging off North Korea's threats of "stronger measures" and "devastating consequences," Japan is pushing for a resolution. China and Russia are pressing for the council to adopt a non-binding presidential statement instead of the resolution.

Like Japan and the U.S., China, Russia and South Korea had earlier also appealed to the Kim Jong-il regime not to go ahead with the launches, but have since been equivocating.

"Thus far Beijing has all-too-predictably tried to have it both ways, criticizing the missile launches but also standing in the way of harsh UNSC action while hoping that 'all sides will maintain calm and restraint,' " said Cossa, president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Pacific Forum.

"Like the Chinese, the Russians are also back-peddling, opposing sanctions in favor of a 'diplomatic solution.' "

Cossa noted that there was a time when Security Council action, including the threat or actual imposition of sanctions, was considered a "diplomatic solution."

Asked about the stance of China and Russia, Cossa said China had still not made the transition from its professed role as "protector of the Third World," to one that is being promoted by Washington -- that of a "responsible stakeholder" in the global system.

In Moscow's case, "Russia is making itself irrelevant or digging itself into a deeper hole with Washington."

The two countries' position "does not serve their long-term interests; nor does it bode well for the UNSC's future relevance," he said.

According to Carnegie Endowment senior associate Robert Kagan, Russia and China are trying to "resist the encroachments of liberalism" -- an approach seen in their blocking of Western sanctions against Sudan and Iran, and their embracing of dictators in Belarus, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and Burma."

FAIR USE

Israel-bashing at the United Nations

"You can dress up a dictator in a suit, but he's still a thug. The same goes for the UN Human Rights Council. New name but brutish business as usual."

It didn't take long for the council, which replaced the discredited UN Human Rights Commission, to get into Israel-bashing mode.

Right off the bat, at its inaugural session last month, the council singled out only one state - Israel - for denunciation. Never mind that there are atrocious human rights violations being committed in numerous countries. More.

Mexican Economic Woes Complicate Illegal Alien Debate

(CNSNews.com) - Charges of election fraud have heightened tensions over Mexico's future as American politicians debate what to do about illegal immigrants arriving from Mexico. But while the Mexican presidential election results are headed to court, it's time for the U.S. to adopt a different approach toward its neighbor to the south, according to a Latin American expert from Georgetown University.

Instead of linking illegal immigration to America's national security interests, U.S. politicians should be more concerned about how an unstable Mexican economy will affect those national security interests, said Arturo Valenzuela, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown. He spoke at a panel discussion at the Center for American Progress on Friday.

"A whole host of domestic policies and other kinds of considerations come into the bag and it makes it very difficult to think about all interests in regard to Mexico."

"Who in the immigration debate has stood up and said, 'Wait a minute, Mexico's going through one of the complex transitions that is taking place in the world today. It is in our fundamental interests that Mexico be a stable, prosperous country in the future," he said.

However, many conservative politicians want immigration reform to concentrate on border enforcement first. As Cybercast News Service previously reported, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett and other conservative leaders wrote President Bush in June, stating that "we need proof that enforcement (both at the border and in the interior) is successful before anything else happens."

At Friday's panel discussion, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico James Jones said a focus on Mexico's internal problems needs to be combined with an emphasis on preventing American employers from hiring illegal aliens.

"If we really were serious about stopping immigration, we would do two things: one, we would help Mexico develop the economic opportunities in its own country, and two, we would have tamper-proof identity cards for people in the United States and a very strict enforcement against employers," Jones said.

FAIR USE.

DAMN, WE ARE BAD!

I know the U.S. is the evil incarnate with our capitalism, our bigotry, our exportation of western values and morality and fast food, the evil-user of natural resources, raper of mother-earth and foremost culprit of global warming, among many other sins too numerous to mention.

But I never really had total understanding of how bad we really are; I had never considered this:

‘18 With a Bullet’: Exporting U.S. Gang Life to El Salvador
New York Times

The documentary “18 With a Bullet” suggests that crime doesn’t pay much. Young members of the 18 street gang in San Salvador, this Wide Angle special on PBS reports, earn about $60 a week selling marijuana. No wonder they have to shake down bus drivers for protection money too.

But the film has a larger, more disturbing point. Usually, when the United States is criticized for exporting American culture and values, the references are to fast food, sugary beverages, violent movies and inane television shows. Now “18 With a Bullet” illustrates the ways this country is exporting gang culture as well.

Salvadorans who emigrate to Los Angeles, for instance, sometimes become part of street gangs there. When these young criminals are deported to their home country, as many were after the civil war ended there in 1992, they just set up shop in the new location.

That's right folks. It is our fault. Damn. Have we no conscience?

Judge Rules FBI's Jefferson Raid Legal

WASHINGTON (AP)

An FBI raid on a Louisiana congressman's Capitol Hill office was legal, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan said members of Congress are not above the law. He rejected requests from lawmakers and Democratic Rep. William Jefferson to return material seized by the FBI in a May 20-21 search of Jefferson's office.

In a 28-page opinion, Hogan dismissed arguments that the first-ever raid on a congressman's office violated the Constitution's protections against intimidation of elected officials.

Jefferson's theory of legislative privilege "would have the effect of converting every congressional office into a taxpayer-subsidized sanctuary for crime," the judge said.

Full story.

"The Democrats have many mantras and slogans: 'grim milestone,' 'hopeless quagmire,' 'culture of corruption' and 'Karl Rove's dingo ate my baby.' But for a while they've had one big overall slogan, dripping with gusto: 'Together, America Can Do Better.' Not will, or should, or must, but 'can.' It's like saying, 'Together, Frenchmen can win a hot-dog speed eating contest.' Doesn't mean it's going to happen, or that you'd want to watch. But it's typical of modern politics—vague and patriotic, but not so patriotic it would unnerve a Dixie Chick. Together, America Should Be Greater! Together, America Might Go Further! Together, Democrats Can Win Elections! Providing the Republicans stay home."

—James Lileks

"You gotta hand it to these guys: 'Redeployment' is ingenious. I'll bet the focus-group consultants were delirious: 'surrender,' 'lose,' 'scram,' 'scuttle ignominiously,' 'head for the hills' all polled poorly, but 'redeploy' surveyed well with all parts of the base, except the base in Okinawa, where they preferred 'sayonara' —that's 'redeploy' in any language. The Defeaticrats have a clear message for the American people. Read da ploy: No new quagmires. This is the most artful example of Leftspeak since they came up with 'undocumented immigrant.' In fact, if it catches on, I'll bet millions of fine upstanding members of the Undocumented-American community now start referring to themselves as Redeployed Mexicans."

—Mark Steyn

"A recent Wall Street Journal editorial summed up New Jersey's fiscal problems: 'The Garden State has raised taxes nearly every year since 2000 and nearly twice as much per resident as the next highest tax state. Yet, no surprise, Trenton still has the biggest budget crisis outside of the states ruined by Hurricane Katrina. This taxing binge hasn't balanced the budget because state expenditures have ballooned by $8 billion, or about 45 percent, in six years.' [Governor John] Corzine claims new spending is necessary because state schools and services are under-funded and that's why he 'needs' to raise taxes again, this time by a proposed $1.5 billion. Schools and services are anything but under-funded, but Corzine carries the Democrat's tax-and-spend gene and he is not about to cut taxes or reduce spending in the face of facts... Democratic infighting isn't over tax increases; it's about which taxes to raise. Most Democrats oppose an increase in the state sales tax, fearing political reprisals. They prefer to boost already high property taxes instead... The more New Jersey raises taxes, the faster the exodus of businesses to other states, thus draining the state of tax receipts and leading Democrats to raise taxes again to make up for the lost revenue. It then becomes a vicious circle..."

—Cal Thomas

Compare and contrast this to the news story I posted earlier here. This is what happens when taxes are reduced and the economic climate is friendly to businesses.

"On the eve of a holiday that used to stir patriotic emotions—the Fourth of July—it has been painful to see examples of how little remains of that glue that holds a society together... Patriotism is not chic in the circles of those who assume the role of citizens of the world, whether they are discussing immigration or giving aid and comfort to the enemy in wartime. The decline and fall of the Roman Empire was as much due to the internal disintegration of the ties that bind a society together as to the assaults of the Romans' external enemies. The pride of being a Roman citizen was destroyed by cheapening that citizenship by giving it to too many other people. The sense of duty and loyalty eroded among both the elites and the masses. Without such things, there could be no Roman Empire. Ultimately, without such things, there can be no United States of America. In neither case have tangible wealth and power been enough to save a country or a civilization, for the tangibles do not work without the intangibles." —Thomas Sowell

And I fear there are more citizens than we care to admit that don't give a "rat's a##" if this were to happen; they would like to see "an even playing field" so that life will "be fair" to all of the "citizens of the world."

ABOUT FAMILY AND POVERTY

"Literally trillions of dollars have been spent since the 1960s to address poverty, both in the United States and in developing countries, in exactly the manner that Revs. Wallis, Sharpton, and Jackson suggest we should continue doing today. That is, to cast poverty not as something that individuals rise above and out of, but as something that bureaucrats spend other people's money on to eliminate. The result, after trillions spent, has been negligible results and massive social costs... On the other hand, what is quite clear is that the likelihood of a black child in the United States living in poverty is five times higher if that child is living in a home headed by a single parent than in one headed by married parents. It is also true that the incidence of child poverty in homes headed by married parents is virtually no different between blacks and whites... Rev. Sharpton wants to continue to insist that 'The problems in our community have been systematic and because of structural problems within the system.' The black left has dominated black life and thinking for the last 50 years. Black family life is, on average, in much worse shape today than 50 years ago and black poverty persists. Our Lord is merciful and forgiving. But surely we should not expect infinite patience. We have some responsibility to learn from the errors of our ways."
—Star Parker

"Ours is a time of impermanence, of virtual reality in which acts become speech, and speech is said to include the basest actions. The effect is that both speech and action lose their moral power. Whether it is the small gesture that adorns daily life or a common respect for the national flag, our public discourse seems to have lost touch with the symbolic, and therefore with much of the grace of public life. American society no longer seems able to value simple gifts, like the respectful gestures that make it a society instead of just a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing much."

—Paul Greenberg

U.S. warns Iran to halt nukes or face 'action'

U.S. officials yesterday accused Iran of stalling negotiations and said the deadline has arrived for the country to halt nuclear production or face sanctions in the United Nations. Details.

Seoul pushes talks with North

South Korea distanced itself yesterday from Japanese-led U.N. moves to slap punitive sanctions on North Korea over a series of missile launches last week, with Seoul insisting that Cabinet-level talks go ahead tomorrow. Full story.

Bad News

Oh .... no wait.... it's good news...... isn't it? Well it's good new for the GOP. But it's bad news for the Dems .... and it's good news for us. What's good for us really isn't good for the Dems, 'cause that means it's good for Bush ..... and what's good for Bush isn't good for the Dems even if it is good for us. Got it? Am I right?

Portman expects decrease in deficit
The economy and federal revenues are growing at such a rapid rate that the deficit will shrink in the short term, President Bush's chief budget official says.

A Quid Pro Quo?

The Washington Times reports on a story I linked earlier. In the story in the Washington Times, they report:

"A bankruptcy trustee for a carnival company whose owners received a pardon from President Clinton is seeking to garnish the bank accounts of Mr. Clinton's brother-in-law to recoup more than $100,000 in loans.

Anthony D. Rodham, one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's two brothers, got the loans from United Shows of America Inc. after its owners obtained the presidential pardon in March 2000 over the objections of the Justice Department."

Captain's Quarters is calling it a quid pro quo and I think correctly so. Hillary Clinton's brother, got several loans from a company whose owners got pardoned for bank fraud by her husband before leaving office and Mr. Rodham never made payments on them.

Captain Ed then goes on to say, "The President overruled his Department of Justice and provided presidential pardons for two people who robbed banks and their depositors through fraud, and two months later the same two people started sending money to the President's brother-in-law, laundered through their company as "loans" without ever seeking repayment."

This should be investigated and Hillary will need to provide some answers on this and could become another embarrassment she will have to overcome if she seeks her party's nomination for the Presidency.

N. Korea Says It Wants Its Money Back, Then It'll Talk

Los Angeles Times
SEOUL — "North Korea will return to talks on its nuclear program if the United States releases $24 million in frozen funds held in a bank in Macao, a senior diplomat said in an interview published today.

In the most explicit statement of its demands since a barrage of missile tests Wednesday, North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Han Song Ryol, said his country was looking for a 'minimal gesture to restore trust.' " Continue....

Democrats lack a plan on Iraq war
Pueblo Chieftain - Pueblo,CO,USA
... or not. Master strategists John Kerry and Jack Murtha both demand an immediate withdrawal and the devil take the hindmost. Kerry ...

N.Korea envoy says sanctions are declaration of war
Reuters - USA
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea considers sanctions against it as a declaration of war, its deputy ambassador to the United Nations was quoted as saying by South ...

Kremlin tightens reins on free market

When President Vladimir Putin calls a staff meeting, the heads of some of Russia's most prominent companies are at his beck and call. Details.

Carnival puts bite on Hillary's brother

A bankruptcy trustee for a carnival company whose owners received a pardon from President Clinton is seeking to garnish the bank accounts of Mr. Clinton's brother-in-law to recoup more than $100,000 in loans. Read on.

Social Security battle reignites

The seemingly dead issue of Social Security reform came to life again in recent weeks, with President Bush saying it should be high on the agenda and Democrats warning that Republicans are resurrecting their plan to privatize the system. Details.

Russia offered to help N. Korea

Russia secretly offered to sell North Korea technology that could help the rogue state protect nuclear stockpiles and safeguard weapons secrets from international scrutiny, but officials backed off after the arms flirtation was publicized. Full story.

Unprecedented challenges arise in nations with shrinking numbers

MercuryNews.com

WASHINGTON - As the U.S. population speeds toward 300 million, the growth is producing headaches for Americans fed up with traffic congestion, sprawl and dwindling natural resources.

But the alternatives are pretty scary, too. Just look at Europe and Japan, which are on the verge of such big population losses that several countries are practically begging women to have babies.

``Europe and Japan are now facing a population problem that is unprecedented in human history -- declining population over time with an increase in the percentage of old people,'' said Bill Butz, president of the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington think tank." Full story.

And there's a lot of hot air.

Al Bore Gore, in a Rolling Stone interview, said extracting oil from the oil sands in Canada was a waste of energy and was harmful to the landscape, and that "For every barrel of oil they extract there, they have to use enough natural gas to heat a home for four days…It's truly nuts. But you know, junkies find veins in their toes. It seems reasonable to them because they've lost sight of the rest of their lives."

Alberta's Conservative premier, Ralph Klein responded by saying, "I don't listen to Al Gore in particular because he's a Democrat, and not only that, he's about as far left as you can go," adding, "I don't know what he proposes the world to run on. Maybe hot air.'

A knee slapping quote form 'Alberto' in this interview: "I must confess I'm beginning to lose my objectivity with Bush and Cheney."

Relying on "experts," he states, "A top insurance executive at Lloyd's of London said just the other week that if we don't act now to prevent this looming catastrophe, 'we will face extinction.'

Poor Al. Poor, poor Al.