9/11 ties suspected in plot

The Boston Globe

"Dozens of arrests were made in Italy and Pakistan yesterday as investigators pressed their probe in Europe and South Asia. The new arrests brought the total of those in custody in the case to more than 70. In Britain, law enforcement authorities searched the homes of those arrested in connection with the bomb plot and froze their bank assets." More.

Terror roundup widens
Arrests of young Muslims in a terrorist plot to blow up U.S.-bound passenger jets soared yesterday, with Pakistan and Italy rounding up dozens of suspects. Britain froze bank accounts of 19 of 24 persons arrested a day earlier. Read on.

Venezuela's Chavez Runs for Re-Election

CARACAS, Venezuela

"President Hugo Chavez declared his candidacy for re-election on Saturday with warnings that Washington is trying to undermine December's presidential vote and destabilize Venezuela.

Chavez arrived punching his fist in the air at the electoral council's headquarters in downtown Caracas, where throngs of supporters from across the country formed a sea of red _ the color of his political party." More.

Expert: Iran Poised To Be 'Mother of All World Threats'

WASHINGTON -- "For anyone who still thinks the Israeli-Lebanon war is just a border scuffle, one Middle East expert shouts a dire warning:

'As soon as a cease fire occurs, the ‘Hezbollah Blitzkrieg' will crumble the ‘Lebanese Republic of Weimar' and install its own ‘Khumeinist Republic' on the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The consequences of such a development are far beyond imagination for the region and the world. Hezbollah would have paved the way for Iran to create the mother of all world threats since Hitler.' " Read more.

Europe, Thy Name Is Cowardice

Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their lives as England and France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated too long before they noticed that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to toothless agreements.

Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the Soviet Union, then East Germany, then all the rest of Eastern Europe where for decades, inhuman, suppressive, murderous governments were glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities. Read on.

Venezuela troops fire on Colombia

NEWS.com.au

"ABOUT 70 Venezuelan soldiers and a helicopter entered neighbouring Colombia firing weapons near a settlement there, local officials said overnight.

The troops crossed the border near Cucuta, Colombia, in the settlement of Guaramito, some 640 km north east of Bogota, according to Gladys Fuentes, a local authority at the settlement." More.

El Salvador to send 380 soldiers to Iraq
Houston Chronicle - United States
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - El Salvador will send 380 troops to Iraq later this week to replace a unit weakened by the deaths of two soldiers and the ...

Venezuela's president says Fidel Castro is in a battle for life
KESQ - Palm Desert,CA,USA
The two leaders are close friends and allies. And Hugo Chavez (OO'-goh CHAH'-vez) says he remains optimistic about the Cuban leader's recovery. ...

The untold story of Cynthia McKinney's final demise

By Matt Towery

McKinney lost handily. Beyond that, her final hours before eventually conceding defeat made for the most underreported and bizarre story of a political exit I've ever seen in my years of participating in or analyzing political races around the country. Read on.

Londonistan

Melanie Phillips

Having allowed the country to turn into a global hub of the Islamic jihad without apparently giving it a second thought, the British establishment is still failing even now. Read on.

ABOUT THE DEMO'S

Unhinged Dems will lose it

Lorie Byrd

For the better part of the past couple of years most pundits have been predicting huge gains for Democratic candidates in the 2006 elections.


Dems -- exactly where we want them to be
David Limbaugh

More noteworthy than Ned Lamont's defeat of Joseph Lieberman is the loony left's and Democratic leadership's puffed-up reaction to it.

ON LIEBERMAN

Lamont's victory will hurt Democrats in the long run

Charles Krauthammer

With the defeat of Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary in Connecticut, anti-war forces are poised for a takeover of the Democratic Party. Tuesday's exhilarating victory, and the elan and electoral legitimacy gained, may carry the newly energized Democratic left to considerable success in November.

Joe Lieberman's War of Independence
Kathleen Parker

Forget the war in Iraq, the war on terror, or any other war against which Connecticut citizens are said to have voted by defeating Joe Lieberman and nominating Ned Lamont for the U.S. Senate.

The Dems roll up their last moderate
Ross Mackenzie

Lieberman is for all intents the party?s last nationally known moderate ? and if not the last, then certainly its most visible and symbolic one.

The United Nations fails freedom - again

By Oliver North

On Wednesday, Aug. 9, when Israel finally launched a major ground operation into Lebanon aimed at crushing Hezbollah terrorists, there was a collective gasp from the striped-pants set at U.N. Headquarters in New York. Read on.

"Studies Prove": Part III

Townhall.com
By Thomas Sowell

"Often we hear that 'all the experts agree' that A is better than B or that 'studies prove' A to be better than B. But one of the reasons for this can be that only people who favor A over B are likely to get the money to conduct studies or be given access to the data needed for a study.

A few years ago, a book by William Bowen and Derek Bok paraded various statistics that they interpreted as proving the success of policies of preferential admission of blacks to colleges and universities.

A chorus of praise for this study was heard throughout the media and echoed in academia and among liberal politicians. The study was later cited in a landmark Supreme Court decision on affirmative action.

Not everyone thought this was a great study, however -- or even an adequate study. But no one was allowed access to the raw data on which the Bowen and Bok study was based. So no one else could run the numbers for themselves and reach their own conclusions." Continue.

The Left has no answer to London plot

By Mike Gallagher

I had a really weird reaction to the news that British authorities thwarted a massive terror attack on scores of American and British passenger airliners this week. Naturally, I felt a wave of appreciation and pride for the intelligence gathering personnel who managed to head off this latest evil scheme. I was enormously relieved that countless men, women and children were spared a terrible death by the maniacal Islamic extremists hellbent on slaughtering the innocent.

But I immediately wondered what Cindy Sheehan and Ned Lamont are saying now. Read on.

OPINION

BY DANIEL HENNINGER
Democrats knife Lieberman on the eve of the airliner plot.

EDITORIAL

A terror plot is exposed by the policies many American liberals oppose.

Taiwan launches its 14th bid to rejoin the United Nations
Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK
Taipei - Taiwan, for the 14th consecutive year, has launched its bid to rejoin the United Nations to break out of its international isolation, an official said ...

Arrest in Pakistan led MI5 to airline terror plot suspects

Scotsman.com News

THE endgame was played out in the glare of publicity, with a series of dawn raids across the country and unprecedented disruption to Britain's airports.

But the intelligence operation which officials say defeated the most audacious plot yet conceived against civilians in Britain began more than a year ago and thousands of miles away, The Scotsman can reveal.

Well-placed sources last night revealed that it was intelligence passed on by the authorities in Islamabad that alerted Western intelligence agencies to the threat in Britain.

'Pakistan has been very helpful in this,' said one British official last night." Read more.

24 held in raids... including convert and young man with £300,000

Scotsman.com News

'There were people coming to the [bungalow] at night-time, around midnight, almost every night. I have no idea what they were doing, but they certainly were not living there, as they left a few hours after they arrived.' - Neighbor Peter Whitelock

Story in full.

Airline terrorists were days away from massacre at 30,000 feet

Scotsman.com News

* Airports across the UK on alert as terror strike looks to have been foiled
* Nine aircraft may have been targeted for destruction
* Twenty-four arrested in raids, including recent convert to Islam

'We are confident that we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction and commit mass murder,' he said. Put simply, this was a plot to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale.' - Stephenson, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police

Story in full.

Scramble starts for political advantage - Nation/Politics - insider.washingtontimes.com

insider.washingtontimes.com

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

"Republicans and Democrats both seized on yesterday's terrorist arrests in Britain as they jockeyed for position in an election year, with Republicans now relishing upcoming fights over wiretaps and detainees and Democrats saying the situation underscores President Bush's failures on the home front.

As part of an effort to label Democrats as less qualified to protect Americans, Mr. Bush said the foiled plot is a 'stark reminder' that 'the nation is at war with Islamic fascists' and that his administration has 'given our officials the tools they need' to fight it." More. (Registration required)

"The Arab habit of blaming everything on the United States, or Israel, or the West in general, strikes many observers as evidence of faulty logical processes, or an abdication of basic political responsibility. But it is also part of an unspoken ceasefire pact--a reminder among Arabs that they have agreed not to attack each other and will focus their energies on external enemies in order to keep the peace at home."

Lee Smith, The Weekly Standard

AIRPORT SECURITY

I see where Gov. Mitt Romney and Gov. Schwartzenegger both have activated their states National Guard to patrol and provide security to their respective airports, due to the recent plot uncovered in Britain which triggered an elevated terror watch status at U.S. airports.

Maybe one of the governors could make use of this unemployed individual to help out with airport security. He seems to have all the necessary tools needed for the job: loaded guns, one being an AK-47, and a bullet proof vest.

Egypt stops coup plot against Mubarak

Opposition group member suspected of planning overthrow

Egypt has arrested a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group who confessed to involvement in a plot to overthrow the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, an Egyptian official told the Galil Report.

The suspect, identified as Abed al-Munemhem Abu al-Futuh, allegedly admitted during interrogation to helping lead the plot, which officials say was still in an "elementary stage." Details of the alleged coup are being withheld, but Egyptian officials told the Galil Report investigators are focusing on a series of conversations al-Futuh had with Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Syria.

The plot was halted just days after Mahdi Akif, leader of the Brotherhood in Egypt, announced his group would train members in military tactics to fight alongside Hezbollah in Lebanon and to join Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip, which borders the Egyptian Sinai desert.

Excerpt from the Galil Report. Available by paid subscription only.

Egyptian-Gaza Border Closed Under Threat of Attack -- 08/10/2006

Jerusalem - "The Egyptian-Gaza border was closed on Thursday because of security alerts, as U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his concern that the Israeli-Hizballah war in Lebanon was overshadowing the Palestinian cause." Read on.

Kofi Annan - what a piece of garbage ... a waste of skin. He is completely clueless ... lacking judgement, analytical skills, and comprehension; besides being a moral idiot.

PETA and Hizballah to Join Forces?

Heh, heh.

PETA Rescuers Travel to Middle-East War Zone
Aiding animals caught in the middle of a war zone is a top priority for the group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, even if it means working with terrorist organizations like Hizballah...

Save them donkeys while you get your a@@ shot up. Makes no difference to me.

"With few exceptions - countable on your fingers - a Palestinian moderate in practice can usually be defined as someone who apologizes for terrorism in good English" -- Barry Rubin, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs

"Diplomacy that preserves a status quo in which terrorists win concession through violence ensures future bloodshed. Hezbollah is not a movement whose existence diplomats should intercede to preserve." -- Michael Rubin

Immoral Equivalency

Diplomatic criticism evenly distributed is without meaning.

An op-ed piece written by Michael Rubin in March of 2002 addresses moral equivalency and is just as relevant today. Here are some excerpts:

• The moral-equivalency labeling of both sides as equally at fault is increasingly in vogue at the UN, in European capitals, and at the US State Department. Diplomacy is about smoothing ruffled feathers, not taking sides in conflict. But do morality and equivalence go together? Perhaps, but only if catalyzing conflict and encouraging terror is moral.

• Rather than promote peace, moral equivalency encourages war. When warring parties' positions are automatically morally equalized, then both sides might as well take more extreme stances.
  

• While it sounds noble, the rhetoric of moral equivalency is not only empty, but also destructive. To equate blame is to deny responsibility. And to deny responsibility is to remove disincentive for violence.

• The quickest way to end terrorism is not to spout platitudes, but rather to create consequences.

Full article.

"If they (the Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." -- Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, October 22, 2002, as quoted in the Lebanon Daily Star

Israel is not the bully here

By Michael Costello

THE most powerful influences on global opinion are television pictures. An experienced TV journalist will tell you that the picture is the story. No picture, no story. Those same journalists will tell you that a powerful picture will overwhelm reality. The picture becomes reality.

That's why there is such a global outcry for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon. The pictures of death and injury, of lives ruined and property destroyed, are horrifying. All decent human instinct demands a ceasefire immediately. The pictures say that what Israel is doing is out of all proportion to the injury done to it and the threat posed to it. Global opinion seems to be solidifying around the view that it's all Israel's fault.

The trouble is that these reactions, understandable given the power of the images, do not stand up to sober analysis. They contain within them the seeds of greater strife in the future. More.

Romney to activate National Guard for Logan Airport

Boston.com

"BOSTON --Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday activated the National Guard to help with security at Logan International Airport for the first time since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, after a terror plot targeting U.S.-bound flights was foiled in London.

The security alert was raised at Logan and airports around the nation early Thursday after officials in Great Britain disrupted a plan to blow up airplanes from England to the United States." More.

Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe

USATODAY.com

"Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a 'carbon-neutral lifestyle.' But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed.

For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.)

Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself." Read on.

Facing Aiding Terrorism Charges

WTAP

"Twenty-year old's Ali Howssaiky and Osama Abulhassan are facing charges of money laundering to aid terrorism. This comes after a traffic stop Tuesday led police to thousands of dollars in cash, several disposable cell phones and instructions of how to obtain private flight information. Police also found a list of flight passengers in the car.

'It also had information about airport checkpoints, and what would be accomplished there, so this is a little bit unusual,' Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks says." More.

Sheriff Mincks also says the disposable cell phones are especially important, because it appears their final destination was supposed to be overseas.

'They are digital and can be used to detonate car bombs,' he says.

Residents say it is scary to think of terrorism in the Mid-Ohio Valley."

3 Egyptian Students Taken Into Custody

BREITBART.COM
By GREGG AAMOT
Associated Press Writer

MINNEAPOLIS

Three Egyptian students who were being sought for failing to turn up for an exchange program at Montana State University were taken into custody Wednesday, more than a week after they arrived in the United States.

One student was arrested in Minnesota, and two others surrendered to authorities in New Jersey. They were among 11 students being sought by law enforcement after they failed to attend a monthlong program on the English language and U.S. history and culture in Bozeman, Mont., the FBI said. More.

Britain facing 'most sustained threat since WWII', says Reid

Guardian Unlimited Politics

Britain is living through its most threatening time since the second world war, John Reid, the home secretary, warned today." More.

'Airlines terror plot' disrupted

BBC NEWS

Police at Glasgow Airport
All airports have been put under the restrictions

A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit 'mass murder on an unimaginable scale' has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said." More.

MUSING

As I ponder the uselessness of the United Nations, and its lack of credibility, and it's total inability because of the political nature of this pathetic organization to accomplish anything, I wonder how it is that the United States, under the auspices of the United Nations, was able to act and drive Saddam Hussein and Iraq out of their Kuwait invasion.

FUND RAISING

This past weekend my son and I participated in a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society. I have done this particular fund raiser once a year for the last year 8 years, starting after my brother lost his wife at the young age of 39.

It is a worthy cause and I enjoy it immensely. We have now raised, for cancer research, over one million dollars, in these 8 events. Hopefully, some day we will have answers and solutions to this dreaded disease.

Israeli Cabinet Approves Wider Offensive

JERUSALEM, AP -Israel's Security Cabinet approved a wider ground offensive in Lebanon, a Cabinet minister said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Arab satellite TV Al-Jazeera reported that 11 Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas ... more

"If you took Western news outlets at face value, you'd think that every Arab hamlet, no matter how humble, must have at least one thriving American and Israeli flag merchant. For whenever the Big or Little Satan sneezes, it seems all anyone has to do is run down to Achmed's Flag Emporium to set one on fire for the cameras." —Jonah Goldberg

"If a drunken Mel Gibson did indeed call out, 'Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world,' then there can be only one possible place for a man who believes such things: as the next Secretary General of the United Nations." —David Frum

"Although the main cure [to the situation in Lebanon] is the elimination of the Zionist regime, in this stage an immediate ceasefire should be implemented... Britain and America, as the main associates of the Zionist regime in its offensive to Lebanon, should compensate Lebanon's damages. Those governments should answer for their crimes in Lebanon." —Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad

Build it and they will won't come

Or you could not build it. You could vote to build it, but later vote not to build it. Or you could vote to build it but not fund it. Put it this way:

"Sen. Arlen Specter voted to approve a border fence with Mexico in principle, then voted for requiring consultations with Mexico before any fence may be built, then voted against funding it, then voted to spend $1.8 billion to build it. Pennsylvania's other GOP senator—Rick Santorum—consistently voted to build the fence and voted against consultations. Last week, the Senate voted 94-3 for the funding. It voted in July by 71-29 not to fund it. It voted by 56-41 in May to consult with Mexico about the fence (effectively killing it). After in the same month it voted by 83-16 to build it—in principle. We thought the Senate was supposed to be collegial but this is like clown college... And that doesn't mean the 370 miles of fence and 461 miles of vehicle barriers will be constructed. We await final votes on the underlying bills and reconciliations with the House. So, let's not count this as a victory. The only thing we can say about the vote to pay for a fence is that it gets voters angry about the illegals' invasion a bit off the senators' and their parties' backs as the midterm elections approach. We can also say of Arlen Specter and his kowtowing to Mexico—ah, do we have to think about him? But we can say Rick Santorum behaved fittingly in this convoluted and embarrassing episode." —Pittsburgh Tribune Review

"Twenty-eight dead civilians in a village from which 150 Katyusha rockets have been launched against Israel doesn't seem 'disproportionate' to me. What's 'disproportionate' is the idea that civilian life should be allowed to proceed normally in what is, in fact, a terrorist launching platform." —Mark Steyn

"There will be no peace in the general Middle East until Iranians and Arabs have true constitutional government, free institutions, open markets and the rule of law. Without these reforms, they will continue to fail, seeking easy refuge in the shreds of mythical ancestral honor—and this pathetic neurosis of blaming nearby Israel for the loss of it." —Victor Davis Hanson

"It is vital to understand that while world opinion may be just the random collective judgment of mankind—it is usually not random, but rather, in part at least, a propaganda-manipulated opinion." —Tony Blankley

"I say this struggle is one about values. Our values are worth struggling for. They represent humanity's progress throughout the ages and at each point we have had to fight for them and defend them. As a new age beckons, it is time to fight for them again." —British Prime Minister Tony Blair

"Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage." —Thomas Szasz

"Judges...rule on the basis of law, not public opinion, and they should be totally indifferent to pressures of the times." —former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger

Castro's Torch to Pass
By Peter Brookes
The good news is that Latin America's longest reigning dictator, Cuba's Fidel Castro, may soon meet his political and physical demise. The bad news is that he may be replaced with a younger, more ambitious, more dangerous Latin American strongman – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez…

Appeals court ruling broadens noncitizens' rights

Chron.com

"Judges extend rights to noncitizens
They cannot be subjected to excessive force or falsely imprisoned

By HARVEY RICE
Houston Chronicle

"The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in an El Paso case that noncitizens have a constitutional right to be free from false imprisonment and the use of excessive force by law enforcement personnel.

The ruling by a three-judge panel extends Fourth Amendment rights to noncitizens throughout the 5th Circuit, which includes Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, said Suyash Agrawal, attorney with the Susman Godfrey law firm." Read on.

McKinney alleges voting irregularities

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Shortly after the polls opened on Tuesday, allegations of voting irregularities began appearing on U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s campaign Web site.

At 8:14 a.m., the first complaint appeared: “Less than an hour into voting, McKinney’s name is not on ballot, opponent’s is,” read an item on her blog.

Other similar allegations would follow throughout the day as 4th Congressional District voters decided whether to send McKinney back to Congress, or give the Democratic nomination to runoff opponent, Hank Johnson, a lawyer and former DeKalb County commissioner.

The McKinney Web site noted voting machines not working or mysteriously casting incorrect ballots, “insecure” voting equipment, police harassment, and poll workers refusing to hand out Democratic ballots.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office kept an eye on the elections, with 15 roving monitors on the ground in the 4th District, said spokeswoman Kara Sinkule.

Sinkule noted that the complaints were only coming from the McKinney campaign. “We are not having voters saying we are having equipment malfunctions,” Sinkule said.

When McKinney beat out five opponents in the Democratic primary in 2004 to re-claim her congressional seat, she did not question the voting machines’ accuracy or the results. On Tuesday, she was anything but silent on the issue." Full story.

DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT

CNSNews.com - Rep. Cynthia McKinney lost a Democratic runoff election to former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson on Tuesday. McKinney, dogged by controversy for allegedly hitting a Capitol Police officer at a security checkpoint last March, thanked her supporters - and never mentioned her opponent by name. "I wish the new representative from the 4th Congressional District well," McKinney said in a concession speech in which she praised the (anti-U.S.) leaders of Cuba and Venezuela.

Israel Fighting Free World’s War on Terror, Defense Minister Says
In its war against Hizballah, Israel is “fighting the war of the free world against terror,” and it expects the international community to support its efforts, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Wednesday...

Hundreds Die in Sri Lanka, as UN Focuses on Lebanon
While the world’s attention in riveted on the Middle East, a raging conflict in Sri Lanka is drawing relatively little attention from the United Nations, despite the fact that almost 600 lives have been lost over the same period as the Israeli-Hizballah fighting...

Conservative Defeats Incumbent 'Big Spender' in Michigan GOP Primary
First-term U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz of Michigan lost his chance for re-election in Tuesday’s Republican primary, swept aside by former State Rep. Tim Walberg, the favorite of conservative groups. Advocates of limited government and lower taxes say Congressional Republicans should sit up and take note...

Lieberman loses primary
Anti-war challenger Ned Lamont defeated three-term incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman in yesterday's Democratic primary here after a campaign that turned into a referendum on the Iraq war and President Bush.

United Nations breaks its promise

SeattlePI.com

"Once again, the United Nations has failed to keep a promise, at the cost of many lives. Making promises that cannot be kept is hard on the credibility of an organization. Doing so knowingly and repeatedly destroys it.

In 2000, Israel withdrew from Lebanon, relying on the U.N.'s promise to keep the border area from being remilitarized. If the U.N. did not have the power or intent to carry out this promise, it should never have made it.

Since that time, the U.N. not only has failed to keep its promise, its forces stood by and watched as the area was reinforced with impenetrable bunkers, stockpiled with weapons and civilian residences were used to squirrel away weapons launchers. All that happened while U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan silently stood watching; it has been on his watch that Hezbollah initiated this most recent round of civilian bloodshed in the Middle East." More...

A New Rebellion in an Old Conflict
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
Discontent in a former leftist rebel group has fed fears of a return to civil war in El Salvador.

President Alan Garcia

Peru: A reinvented Alan Garcia
Monday Morning - Beirut,Lebanon
Once reviled for leading Peru to economic ruin, the charismatic ex-president Alan Garcia -- who has been sworn in as president again -- reinvented himself as a ...

HOW DANGEROUS IS VENEZUELA?

Ignore Venezuela at our own peril
Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauderdale,FL,USA

The United States is trying to ignore Venezuela. ... But the hard fact is Venezuela poses a real danger to US interests, more than any other country in the world. ...

Venezuela 'to cut ties with Israel'

ITV.com - UK
Venezuela is likely to sever ties with Israel in protest at its war against Lebanon, President Hugo Chavez has said. The move follows ... More...

Right and wrong

Times Online

To teach the distinction is right. To drop it is wrong.

The proposal that schools should no longer be required to teach teenagers to understand the difference between “right and wrong” is as astonishing as it is absurd. Instead, under plans put forward to simplify the National Curriculum, children will be encouraged to develop what officials describe as “secure values and beliefs”. At the same time, the draft reforms, submitted to the Education Secretary in March, delete the requirement to teach pupils about Britain’s cultural heritage. Instead, schools should dwell on the benefits of British membership of the European Union. Rarely have officials drawn up proposals so inept, so out of step with current thinking and so likely to stir up public anger." Read on.

"World opinion" is worthless

Townhall.com
By Dennis Prager

"If you are ever morally confused about a major world issue, here is a rule that is almost never violated: Whenever you hear that 'world opinion' holds a view, assume it is morally wrong.

And here is a related rule if your religious or national or ethnic group ever suffers horrific persecution: 'World opinion' will never do a thing for you. Never.

Supporters of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah Movement hold a poster of Abbas during a rally in support of his call for a referendum in the main square of the West Bank town of Ramallah, Monday, June 5, 2006. Just hours before a deadline, Abbas on Monday said he will not back down from an ultimatum to the Islamic Hamas group to accept a plan implicitly recognizing Israel. Abbas has given Hamas until Tuesday to accept the proposal, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Accepting the proposal would require Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, to implicitly recognize the existence of the Jewish state. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

'World opinion' has little or nothing to say about the world's greatest evils and regularly condemns those who fight evil.

The history of 'world opinion' regarding the greatest mass murders and cruelties on the planet is one of relentless apathy." Read on.

"...............with few exceptions, one only hears conservatives use the term 'Islamo-fascism.' Nearly the entire academic world that discusses the issue is far more concerned with the threat of 'Islamophobia' than of Islamo-fascism."
--Dennis Prager

Jews shot in Seattle, Left angry at Mel Gibson

Townhall.com
By Dennis Prager

"On July 28, 2006, a Muslim entered the building of the Seattle Jewish Federation and shot every Jew he saw, murdering one woman and wounding five others.

On the same day, Mel Gibson was arrested on DUI charges and while intoxicated let loose with anti-Semitic invective at the Jewish police officer who arrested him.

Question: Which story has most troubled the Left?

The answer is known to any American who can hear or read.

So, the real question is: Why? Why has the shooting and murder of Jews elicited less angst from the Left than the anti-Semitic statements made by Mel Gibson when drunk?" Continue.

More Iranian Hyperbolic Threats

Iran says US or Israeli Attack Will Face "Raging Sea"
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Any U.S. or Israeli attack against Iran will be returned by a force 100 times stronger, the head of the Revolutionary Guards said on Monday, as pressure mounts on Tehran's atomic work and its support for Hizbollah. More

Morocco Arrests 44 Terrorist Suspects

Asharq Alawsat Newspaper

RABAT, Morocco, AP -"Moroccan security services have arrested 44 suspected terrorists and dismantled a network allegedly planning attacks in the North African country, the state news agency reported Monday.

The suspects, who included five former soldiers with explosives expertise, were tracked" More...

Iran: Muslim world must defend Hizbullah

Ynetnews
"Spiritual leader Khamenei calls on 'entire Muslim community' to assist Lebanese terror group, charges US, Britain and Israel with attempt to 'eradicate Islam from region' " More...

Unholy Triangle: Russia Supports Iran which Supports Hezbollah

By Michael Kraft

Buried in the avalanche of news about the Lebanon crisis is an important and negative development in the U.S. government’s relations with Russia over its soft approach to Iran, Hezbollah’s prime backer. More...

Hizballah UAV Further Illustrates Iranian Support

By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

"One cannot understand the current conflict in Lebanon without understanding the degree that Iran has sponsored Hizballah and built up its arsenal. And just as Iran is the key to understanding the present realities of the conflict, so too is its sponsorship a critical factor in understanding what Hizballah's future will be after a ceasefire is eventually reached."

Big Oil reinvests big profits to tap costlier reserves

Big Oil's record profits attract attention and outrage, but an independent study has found that oil companies do exactly what economic textbooks say they should do with all that money: They invest it in oil exploration and development efforts that eventua..... More.

Cubans in dark on fate of Fidel

Cubans have no idea whether dictator Fidel Castro is lying at death's door or sitting up and watching reruns of "Jeopardy." More...

Commentary

Sudden Jihad Syndrome in Seattle
By Daniel Pipes

About 4 p.m. on Friday, July 28, on the eve of the Jewish sabbath, a Muslim terrorist of Pakistani origins named Naveed Afzal Haq forced a 14-year-old girl to get him into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building by holding a gun to her back. He then pulled out the two large-caliber semi-automatic pistols he had just purchased and went on a murderous rampage. Haq killed one woman, Pam Waechter, 58, an assistant director at the federation, and injured five others, one of whom was 17 weeks pregnant...

Korean Conservatives Accuse Gov’t of Risking Military Ties With US
In a new sign of strain in the U.S.-South Korean military alliance, the Pentagon has signaled an intention to further reduce the numbers of U.S. troops there and speed up the transition of wartime operational command to the South Koreans. The development has set off alarm bells among conservative Koreans who accuse their liberal government of damaging the half-century-old relationship and risking the country’s security...

Lebanon Presses Its Own Ceasefire Plan; No Vacuum, Bush Says

Jerusalem – Lebanon, backed by the Arab League, is calling for an immediate ceasefire and the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese Army troops in southern Lebanon. The plan has the support of Hizballah ministers in the Lebanese government, something that concerns Israel...

No kidding. Israel should be concerned about such a plan.

Chicago Mayor Likely to Veto ‘Living Wage’ Law
During his 17 years in office, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has yet to veto a bill passed by the city council, but that is likely to change over the next month because of an ordinance that would force the city’s largest retailers -- including Wal-Mart -- to pay employees a “living wage” by 2010...

Illegals From Terror-Sponsoring Nations At Large in US
Almost half of the illegal aliens arriving in the U.S. from terrorist-sponsoring or "special interest" nations in the past few years have been released into the American population following their apprehension, according to an internal government audit obtained by Cybercast News Service...

ACLU: No 'Jesus Memorial' for Katrina Victims

"The American Civil Liberties Union is objecting to plans for a hurricane memorial in St. Bernard Parish that will feature a cross bearing a likeness of the face of Jesus." More....

Iran Hints at Aug. 22 Doomsday for Israel

"Noted Middle Eastern scholar Bernard Lewis warns that Iran is preparing for an apocalyptic 'end of time” – and that it could come as soon as August 22." More...

EGYPTIAN STUDENTS VANISH IN THE BIG APPLE

Eleven Egyptian students who were supposed to travel to a Montana university after flying to JFK airport late last month disappeared in New York, spurring federal authorities to issue a nationwide alert, officials said yesterday.

The students - who were traveling with six classmates from Mansoura University in Egypt - had their student visas revoked for failing to show up at Montana State University in Bozeman, the officials said. More....

Captured Hezbollah Terrorist Confesses

JERUSALEM - A captured Hezbollah terrorist who took part in the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the war in Lebanon has confessed he received military training in Iran, according to a recording of his interrogation.

Under questioning by Israeli authorities, Hussein Ali Suleiman, 22, revealed he was sent to Iran twice for weapons and explosives instruction.

Full Story

US plans to challenge Shi'ite cleric Sadr and his militia

The Boston Globe:
US tries to curb a powerful Iraqi and his militia

By Farah Stockman

WASHINGTON -- "Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shi'ite Muslim preacher who has steadfastly fought against American forces in Iraq, has emerged as one of the most powerful leaders in the country, holding the key to ending the tit-for-tat sectarian violence that threatens to drag Iraq into civil war, US officials say." More...

Anti-war protesters break into airfield and cockpit of US military transport

Scotsman.com

POLICE ordered a security review at Prestwick airport yesterday after anti-war protesters boarded a US military aircraft unchallenged. More...

Muslim nations should consider arms for Hezbollah - Malaysian ...

Forbes - USA
... Syed Hamid also criticized a United Nations draft resolution on ending the conflict which has been rejected by Lebanon because it does not call for the ... More...

Useless Nations (UN) News

Arab nations demand Israel be told to withdraw troops from Lebanon
Radio New Zealand - Wellington,New Zealand
Arab nations have demanded that Israel be told to withdraw its troops from Lebanon as part of any UnitedNations resolution to end the current conflict.

Arab League Stalls Cease-fire Effort at United Nations
New York Sun - New York,NY,USA
UNITED NATIONS - After weeks of pleading with the UN Security Council to impose an end to the fighting in Lebanon, the Arab League yesterday forged a delay ...

All Eyes on Lieberman

By Hugh Hewitt
Townhall.com

"All eyes are on or at least ought to be on Connecticut today, specifically the Democratic primary for the Senate seat currently held by Joe Lieberman, who is being challenged by Ned Lamont the wealthy champion of the left-wing of the party--the "netroots" as they're now called. Fueled primarily by rage against Lieberman's vote for and continued support of the war in Iraq, Lamont has seen his lead fall in recent days. But if he holds on and forges a win, a shudder will course through the entire party.

No less an expert on Democratic politics than Martin Peretz, long time editor-in-chief of the New Republic, predicts that a Lamont victory will begin a long run of power for the hard left within the Democratic Party. On Sunday, ABC analyst Cokie Roberts said a Lamont win would be a disaster for the Democrats.

Connecticut is center stage in a great political drama. A Lamont win in Connecticut today is a message to the entire nation that the party of FDR, Truman and JFK is no more."

Senate Abandons Judicial Nominees

By Tom Fitton

Soon the 109th Congress will come to an end after having compiled one of the worst records on judicial confirmations in modern political history—a remarkable “accomplishment” given the fact that one party has held Congress and the White House for six years.

More...

It's Time For Congress To Recognize 'Socialism' is a Religion

By Malcolm Hedges

Socialism (and its variants: Communism, Democratism and Progressivism) runs amuk in our government and society because they ‘pretend’ to not be a religion.

More...

Wahhabism Spreading Across the Globe? by Jim Kouri, CPP

By Jim Kouri, CPP
NewsByUs

"Wahhabism is a fundamentalist movement, named after Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703-1792). It remains the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia."

BULLET POINTS:

• Wahhabists see their role as a movement to restore Islam from what they perceive to be innovations, superstitions, deviances, heresies and idolatries.
  

• Wahhabism was considered a small sect within Islam until the discovery of oil in Arabia, in 1938. Enormous oil revenues provided the means to spread the beliefs of Wahhabism throughout the Middle East.

• US government and intelligence experts have reported that Islamic extremism is on the rise and that the spread of Islamic extremism is the preeminent threat facing the United States.
  

• According to reports, the State Department and USAID are carrying out efforts to counter the global propagation of Islamic extremism.

• A number of sources have reported that Saudi private entities and individuals, as well as sources from other countries, are allegedly financing or supporting Islamic extremism.

• The government agencies told GAO staff that Islamic extremism is being propagated by sources in countries other than Saudi Arabia, such as Iran, Kuwait, and Syria.
  

Complete article.

The Islamization of America: From Mecca to Medina and conquering Americans from within

KurdishMedia.com
By Aland Mizell

"Many times the Ottoman Empire tried to take over the whole of Europe but failed to do so. The Ottoman Empire could not conquer the West by sword, but now Muslims are using a different strategy to conquer the West to bring it under the Islamic realm. Today the West is being the victim of their own values, such as freedom of speech and _expression, so that Muslims are using ‘Democracy’ as a tool and taking advantage of democracy to disseminate Islam to all the corners of the world." Read on.

Hizballah’s rocket offensive against Israel is orchestrated from a rear command located in the Syrian town of Anjar

DEBKAfile

While Israeli officials keep on insisting that Syria must be kept out of the conflict, the fact is that the Assad regime is already in it up to their ears – with a leading role in the Hizballah rocket attacks on northern Israel.

The command which coordinates the pace of those attacks is located at the Anjar base of the Syrian Army’s 10th Division opposite the Lebanese town of Az Zabdani. It is manned by Iranian and Hizballah officers, who take their orders from a Syrian military intelligence center in Damascus to which Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers are attached. It is headed by a general from one of Syria’s surface missile brigades. This joint command is provided with the most up-to-date intelligence and electronic data available to Syria on targets in Israel and IDF movements. The timing and tempo of Hizballah rocket strikes are set according to that information."

Massive nuke smuggling confirmed

662 confirmed cases worldwide from '93 to '04 raising terror fears

Sen. John Kyl, chairman of the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Subcommittee, is suggesting it's time for a 'Manhattan Project' commitment by the U.S. to prevent nuclear terrorism, confirming 'there have been plenty of efforts by terrorists and smugglers to acquire nuclear materials.'

Pointing out that terrorists would need no more that nine pounds of plutonium or 35 pounds of highly-enriched uranium to create a nuclear explosion, Kyl headed a hearing with top government experts on the prospects of detection and prevention of the feared nuke attack on the U.S.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency between 1993 and 2004, there were 662 confirmed cases of smuggling of nuclear and radiological materials.

'And those were just the instances that we know about,' said Kyl. 'Of those confirmed cases, 21 involved materials that could be used to produce a nuclear weapon, and over 400 involved materials that could be used to make a dirty bomb.'" From the G2 Bulletin. By paid subscription only.

Ice Cream and cake

Go to Babalu Blog and read the post on "Ice cream and cake." I command you to read it; for it is good.

Reform Jewish Movement Leaders Call for End of United Nations ...

Religious Action Center (press release) - Washington,DC,USA
... Menitoff, Executive Vice President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), issued the following joint statement urging the United Nations to lift ... Read on.

Rockets via Donkeys

Syria efforts to supply Hizballah continue, since Israel has taken out the roads from Syria to Lebanon. They now are using donkey trains loaded down with rockets going cross country to supply Hizballah.

The command and control for the war from the Hizballah side is located on a Syrian army base that is located on the Syrian, Lebanon border. Located at this base is a joint command with Hizballah terrorist, Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Syrian Army. It is from this location that they give the orders on each and every rocket that is fired.

Also from my phone there now is intelligence that Hizballah has chemical warheads and that if and when they feel the end is near they will use them.

From Yoni The Blogger

Sen. Harry Reid is doing his best to produce a "do-nothing Congress"

By John Fund

The "peace" Democrats are back.

It's a dream come true for Karl Rove.
BY MARTIN PERETZ

A Far Cry From the Party of FDR

By Hugh Hewitt
Townhall.com

"Listen to Michigan Democratic Congressman John Dingell on Detroit television recently: 'I don't take sides for or against Hezbollah; I don't take sides for or against Israel.' John Dingell is not a marginal figure. He is among the most senior Democrats and, if Democrats regain a majority in the House, he'll regain his chairmanship of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.

Another Democrat, Lynne Woolsey of California, has gathered 22 co-sponsors among her party's members for her 'Iraq War Powers Repeal Act of 2006,' a bill that would brand the American effort on behalf of the new Iraqi government as an occupation--and declare the war over.

On the last day of July, the senior Democratic leadership of both House and Senate declared unity on the position of a quick exit from Iraq, thus making November's elections a referendum on cutting and running. Whatever the Democrats have become, it is a far cry from the party of FDR, Truman and JFK. If they win in November, the United States will lose the war."

WE MUSN'T LOSE HEART

"The Iraq war is being played out against a backdrop of bitter partisan politics in the United States. Of those on the front lines, 70% get out after four years of service, with no long-term benefits. All they want is praise for their valor and service. They want to be able to say. 'I served at Fallujah, Najaf, or Mosul' and be respected for their dedication. Their valor is absent from this war because it is not reported. In Fallujah for instance, 100 Marine squads engaged in 200 firefights in cement rooms, using rifles, pistols, grenades and knives. By any historical comparison, this was extraordinary. In Hue City in 1968, there was one fight inside a house. In the entire history of the SWAT teams in the United States, there have not been 200 fights with automatic weapons inside rooms. Yet the courage of our soldiers and Marines in battles in Fallujah, Najaf, etc. received little press notice. Now we face the test of whether the press will place the tragedy of Haditha in perspective, or whether Haditha will unfairly become a false symbol... What happens if the youth of America adopt the same fractious attitudes as their political leaders? Who then will serve? In the tone of our criticisms while we are at war, we as a nation should be very careful that we do not undercut our own martial resolve. If we as a nation lose heart, who will fight for us?"

—Bing West, former assistant defense secretary

"For the United States, the current phase of this War for the Free World began on September 11, 2001. For others, like Israel it has been going on for decades and represents an unmistakably existential threat. We cannot afford to pretend that there is an appropriate way for the United States to fight Islamofascist totalitarians and the terror they wield against us, then insist that our allies must negotiate with and try to appease such groups when they are in the Islamofascists' cross-hairs." —Frank Gaffney, Jr.

"A nation that loses its focus on children is a nation that's losing its grip on the future. A disturbing new study, just out from the Marriage Project at Rutger's University, makes it clear that America's family culture is steadily eroding. According to the study's authors, we are slowly shifting from a society of child-rearing families to a society of child-free adults. They cite four leading indicators for this drastic conclusion. Here are just a few. The marriage rate has plunged 48 percent since 1970; today only half of adults are married. What's more, these married couples—already fewer in number—are waiting longer to have their first child and having fewer overall. Movies and TV constantly market the child-free lifestyle of teens and young adults. A nation that is child-free is a nation that is less free as it is trading away its future."
—Tony Perkins

This is what ails Europe. It will be a tradgedy if we follow in their footsteps.

"It is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve."

—Henry George

Cameron condemns 'disproportionate' Israeli response and PM's silence on issue

"DAVID Cameron broke his silence on the crisis in Lebanon yesterday, criticising Tony Blair's position and risking the wrath of the White House by condemning Israel's actions as 'disproportionate'. "

Aaarrrgghhh. I am getting so tired of this lame 'disproportionate' garbage. It is a totally useless argument. Disproportionate means out of proportion, out of balance, incommensurate, asymmetric, excessive, inordinate, irregular, lopsided, nonsymmetrical, off-balance, overbalanced, superfluous, too much, unbalanced, uneven, unreasonable, unsymmetrical, unequal, ...... ah yes .... UNEQUAL.

There's the problem.... unequal. Liberals hate inequality. Dumb-down ... level the playing field ... take from the 'haves' and give to the 'have-nots'. Maybe Israel should give some of their high tech weapons to Hezballoh to make it 'fair'. Fairness ... another concept liberals love.

Only a liberal would concern themselves with a 'fair war'. They don't like to keep score; they adhere to the 'no winner' concept. It's kinda' silly of them to think that these same goofy principles apply to wars too. Don't ya' think?

Democrats mum on 'corruption'

"Democrats have reined in their use of the "culture of corruption" mantra in their efforts to oust congressional Republicans from power, fearing the slogan would backfire after two senior members of their own party were implicated in ethical scandals."

Read on.

Hezbollah attacks seen as Iran diversion

"Hezbollah's July 12 attack on Israel is seen by some Bush administration officials as a bid to break the West's unified focus on forcing Iran to stop enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons."

Read on.

Mystery cloaks raid on 'empty' hospital

"Hezbollah militants continue to maintain a tight guard around a hospital they say is empty, days after Israeli commandos stormed it in a dramatic midnight raid into the heart of the militia's territory."

Read on.

BP shuts down Alaskan oil line

"In a sudden blow to the nation's oil supply, half the production on Alaska's North Slope was being shut down yesterday after BP Exploration Alaska Inc. discovered severe corrosion in a Prudhoe Bay oil-transit line."

Read on.

Drats. This will affect the oil futures, driving up gasoline prices even more. Will someone please develop the transport apparatus used on Star Trek so we can just zap ourselves from one place to the next.

Detroit's Arabs under scrutiny

"DETROIT - With Hezbollah in its biggest fight in years, federal agents said this week that they're keeping close tabs on its presence in metro Detroit, where support for the militant Lebanese-based group runs high among some Muslims and Arab-Americans, raising concerns that terrorist cells could be activated."

More and more Germans become Muslims

SOEST, Germany – "More and more Germans are converting to Islam. Last year approximately 4,000 persons became Muslims.

According to the Central Islam-Institute in Soest, the numbers have been rising since the turn of the century. Up to the year 2000 the annual number of conversions stagnated at 300, but it has been rising ever since."

FBI: Hezbollah Can Strike in U.S.

"A handful of money scams uncovered across the United States in recent years bearing Hezbollah's fingerprints have some experts worried that if orders were given to launch a terror attack against the U.S. the means are in place to do so."

Syria 'ready for possible regional war'

"Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem crossed into Lebanon Sunday for the first visit by a top Syrian official in more than a year, Lebanon's state news agency said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Fawzi Salloukh, Moallem said 'Syria is ready for the possibility of a regional war if the Israeli aggression continues.'"

"Kennedy: Jury's Out on U.S. Democracy

HONOLULU (AP) -- The United States is not making the case for freedom, democracy and Western law to the rest of the world, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said Saturday."

Computer hackers get lesson on cloning passport, cash card tags

Yahoo! News

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - "High-tech passports touted as advances in national security can be spied on remotely and their identifying radio signals cloned, computers hackers were shown at a conference.

Radio frequency identification technology, referred to as RFID, used in cash cards and passports, can be copied, blocked or imitated, said Melanie Rieback, a privacy researcher at Vrije University in the Netherlands.

Rieback demonstrated a device she and colleagues at Vrije built to hijack the RFID signals that manufacturers have touted as unreadable by anything other than proprietary scanners." More.

Sadr's Ties with Sunni Militants Go Sour

ThreatsWatch.Org
New Center Emerging, Hakim to Meet Sunni Leader as Reconciliation Council Continues Its Work

By Kirk H. Sowell

"Iraqi politics continues its realignment as the Sunni Muslim Scholars Association (MSA) turns from viewing the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Sadriya movement as their natural allies among Iraqi Shia to renewed dialogue with the more moderate SCIRI, which is head of the ruling United Iraqi Alliance. One of the more interesting developments of 2005 was a kind of de facto alliance between the intensely anti-American MSA and the Sadriya. Yet over the past year, the MSA has gradually distanced itself further and further from foreign jihadists such as al-Qaeda and have at the same time come to blame Sadr’s Mahdi Army for both vigilante violence against Sunni militants and atrocities against Sunni civilians." More.

Al-jazeerah Supports Santorum Foe

Senator Santorum Repugnant Remarks on Islam, Iran, and Syria By Mohammed Khaku

By Mohammed Khaku

Al-Jazeerah, July 25, 2006

"Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) remarks at the National Press Club on Wednesday July 19th 2006 calling for regime change in Iran and described "Islamic fascism" as the "great test" of this generation, as threatening to the United States as last century's German Nazism and Soviet communism was inappropriate. These prejudicial remarks were derogatory, and highly unbecoming for a member of US senate. The Senator rhetoric in a public forum demeans both himself and the party he represents, particularly at a time when entire Middle East is in turmoil. Muslim of Lehigh Valley strongly condemned Senator remarks outrageous, inflammatory and un-American." Read on.

Santorum Closing the Gap

PhillyBurbs.com

The Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - "The latest independent statewide poll shows Democratic challenger Bob Casey with a slight lead over Republican incumbent Rick Santorum in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race.

According to the poll, 45 percent of voters in the survey supported Casey while 39 percent supported Santorum.

In mid-June, a Quinnipiac University poll of 1,076 registered voters found Casey with a 52 percent to 34 percent lead over Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican.

The new poll, which appears in Sunday editions of The Morning Call, shows 43 percent viewed Santorum favorably and 34 percent unfavorably, compared to a 42-38 favorable-unfavorable split in March.

Casey notched a 39 percent favorability rating and a 21 percent unfavorable score, compared with a 38-18 split in March.

The poll results carry a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points."

Advocates of 'proportion' are just unbalanced

BY MARK STEYN
SUN-TIMES

'Disproportion' is the concept of the moment. Do you know how to play? Let's say 150 missiles are lobbed at northern Israel from the Lebanese village of Qana and the Israelis respond with missiles of their own that kill 28 people. Whoa, man, that's way 'disproportionate.'

But let's say you're a northwestern American municipality -- Seattle, for example -- and you haven't lobbed missiles at anybody, but a Muslim male shows up anyway and shoots six Jewish women, one of whom tries to flee up the stairs, but he spots her, leans over the railing, fires again and kills her. He describes himself as 'an American Muslim angry at Israel' and tells 911 dispatchers: ''These are Jews. I want these Jews to get out. I'm tired of getting pushed around, and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East.''

Well, that's apparently entirely 'proportionate,' so 'proportionate' that the event is barely reported in the American media, or (if it is) it's portrayed as some kind of random convenience-store drive-by shooting."
Read on.

Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

Ynetnews
Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged.

A Reuters photograph of smoke rising from buildings in Beirut has been withdrawn after coming under attack by American web logs. The blogs accused Reuters of distorting the photograph to include more smoke and damage. More.

Jihad Watch asks, "Has Reuters now fully committed itself to being an arm of the Hizballah propaganda machine?"

Who's commenting on this? Many folks, including Little Green Footballs, Captain’s Quarters, & Power Line.

It's not just about land

"For about the last half-century, globalization has bypassed most of the recalcitrant Middle East -- economically, socially and politically. So there are now few inventions and little science emanating from the Islamic world -- but a great deal of poverty, tyranny and violence. And rather than make the necessary structural changes that might end cultural impediments to progress and modernity -- such as tribalism, patriarchy, gender apartheid, polygamy, autocracy, statism and fundamentalism -- too many Middle Easterners have preferred to embrace the reactionary past and the cult of victimization.

Victimization turns out to be the real creed of the Middle East, uniting disparate Shi'ites, Sunnis, dictators, theocrats and terrorists. "They did it to us" offers an easy explanation of why Islamic states are now weak and offer little hope to millions of their poor, who, ironically, emigrate to the much pilloried West by the millions. U.S. aid, Israeli concessions, windfall petrol profits and, most of all, appeasement of radical Islamists can do nothing to alleviate these perceived grievances.

Instead, there will be no peace in the general Middle East until Iranians and Arabs have true constitutional government, free institutions, open markets and the rule of law. Without these reforms, they will continue to fail, seeking easy refuge in the shreds of mythical ancestral honor -- and this pathetic neurosis of blaming nearby Israel for the loss of it." Full commentary.

--- Victor Davis Hanson

Bombs on German Trains: A Middle Eastern Connection?

SPIEGEL ONLINE
Two suitcase bombs found in German trains early this week have set off a debate on the safety of the German rail system.

"A leak from the investigation into a pair of unexploded bombs found on trains in Germany this week has produced a strange detail -- a bag printed in Arabic. German officials won't confirm anything, but the case has ignited a national debate about rail security.

Two suitcase bombs discovered early this week in western German train stations may be traceable to the Middle East according to Friday reports. Both bombs -- packed in abandoned pieces of luggage and left on separate trains -- were found by officials in lost-and-found centers on Monday and Tuesday. One package allegedly contained a plastic bag printed with Arabic writing. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the bag came from the Lebanese capital of Beirut, but German officials wouldn't confirm the story. 'We don't give out details on the results of an ongoing investigation,' said Ullrich Schultheis, a spokesman for the German Attorney General's office in Karlsruhe." Read on.

Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa

Sunday Times - Times Online
Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa

"IRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, an investigation has revealed.

A United Nations report, dated July 18, said there was “no doubt” that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.

Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.

The disclosure will heighten western fears about the extent of Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons programme and the strategic implications of Iran’s continuing support for Hezbollah during the war with Israel." More.

Bipartisanship: An Alien Concept to the Dems

Don Surber makes a good point when he says, "A new generation of Democratic Party Purists has emerged. They consider bipartisanship to be collaboration. They consider themselves to be younger and better educated than the rest of us. And they have all the judgment of 5-year-old with a sugar bowl."

In another post, Surber steers us to an editorial in The Philadelphia Inquirer referencing this quote:

"Lieberman has no divine right to be a senator from Connecticut, a truth that seems only lately to have dawned on him. Iraq is as urgent an issue as there is, and if primary voters want a candidate who is more aligned with antiwar views, they have every right.

"What's lamentable about the campaign against Lieberman is that it has gone beyond a debate on Iraq to an attack on the very ideas of bipartisan compromise and divergent voices within a party.

"If that point of view triumphs in the Democratic Party, it will court permanent minority status."

The Demos revel in criticizing Bush for calling him a divider and not a uniter. They like to remind anyone who will listen to them about the President's pledge in the beginning of his first term that he would be a uniter.

Of course, the Demos had no interest in seeing this pledge becoming reality. All they had to do was to take a stand against everything Bush says or does. When the Demos speak of bipartisanship and reaching across the aisle, they are merely saying, "Do what we want. You're in power, we're not, but should be, it's our right, our place, to be in power. Oh, and Bush sucks."

The Brink of Madness

"Our present generation too is on the brink of moral insanity. That has never been more evident than in the last three weeks, as the West has proven utterly unable to distinguish between an attacked democracy that seeks to strike back at terrorist combatants, and terrorist aggressors who seek to kill civilians."

--Victor Davis Hanson

From his latest piece The Brink of Madness: A Familiar Place. Read it here.

New lethal superbug found in Scottish hospitals

A VIRTUALLY untreatable new superbug has been found in Scotland for the first time after causing death and panic in hospitals in the US and England.

Democrats feuding over midterm tactics

A family feud has erupted over voter-turnout tactics as the Democratic Party tries to regain control of the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections. Continue reading.

Fluid battle line challenges Israeli forces - The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe
Slow going as troops advance into Lebanon

GHANDOURIYE, Lebanon -- The battles swirling around shell-shattered ghost towns along the border demonstrate just how confused the front line has become for Israeli ground forces as they try to fight their way deeper into southern Lebanon.... More...

Classified intelligence bills often are unread - The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe
Secret process can discourage House debate

WASHINGTON -- Nearly all members of the House of Representatives opted out of a chance to read this year's classified intelligence bill, and then voted on secret provisions they knew almost nothing about. Read on.

Paris Hilton to Magazine: I'm Celibate

The Herald-Mail ONLINE

"During the interview, Hilton also displayed some political illiteracy.

Shocking: I'm stunned.

When asked about British Prime Minister Tony Blair, her response was: 'Who? ... Oh, yeah, he's like your president. I don't know what he looks like.'

More amazement: I'm stunned, again.

Hilton also told the magazine she collects $500,000 in fees just to show up at parties and other events from Las Vegas to Tokyo. Her best-paying gig, she said, was a recent Austrian appearance.

'I had to say `hi' and tell them why I loved Austria so much,' she is quoted as saying.

And why does she like Austria? 'Because they pay me $1 million to wave at crowds!' "

Now THIS does not surprise me. I wonder if she will donate any of this hard-earned money to charity; or will she keep all of it so she doesn't have to go on the public assistance payroll.