IDEAS THAT MAKE THE WORLD WORSE

"In the 'post-modern' philosophies that have so affected our current culture, the most harmful fundamental idea is this: Because we don't know everything about something, we can't know anything about it, so any 'narrative' is just as valid as any other.

This is the idea that leads directly to so much muddled thinking, so much acceptance of ridiculous theorizing, and such a lack of moral clarity today.

This idea leads people to accept other ideas that are based on theory, wishful thinking, or ideology, rather than looking to confirm or disconfirm them through scientific study. If we can't really know anything anyway, what's the difference?"

- - Dr. Joel Wade

Bush pins label of 'defeat' party on Democrats

President Bush yesterday said Democrats became the party of "doubt and defeat" during the fight against communism in the Cold War, and said it shows today in their calls for withdrawal from Iraq.

CHRISTMAS AT ARLINGTON

Some 5,000 wreaths are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. Most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

Story was checked out at Snopes.com. Additionally, this is a quote taken from Snopes:

In 2006, Mr. Worcester hopes to expand the Arlington Wreath Project into Wreaths Across America, an effort to place memorial wreaths at more than 230 State and National Cemeteries and Veterans Monuments across the United States.

The 2006 wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington (and other sites) will take place on December 14. Persons interested in participating in this event should contact Wayne Hanson at (703) 971-4148. Those who cannot attend in person may participate by observing a moment of silence at noon hour on December 14 "to reflect on the sacrifices made and freely given by those who will not be home for the holidays."

HeavyHanded thinks this is rather cool and has no connection or financial interest in this matter. Just consider it a public service announcement.

Harold Ford Jr. crashes a Bob Corker campaign event ... and becomes "uncorked"

CRASHING THE PARTY

You can see at YouTube a short video clip of Harold Ford, Jr. making an unexpected and "uninvited" appearance at a Bob Corker campaign event and press conference in Tennessee; arriving in campaign bus complete with clearly marked "Harold Ford, Jr." signage, he attempts to hold an impromptu debate with Corker:



RedState also reports that while Ford tried to confront and engage Corker, Ford volunteers were pulling up Corker signs and replacing them with his own. Tacky, real tacky.

Borders

Oliver North comments on a new staff report prepared by the House Committee on Homeland Security. The report is titled "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border."

Ollie notes that the recently released report tells us a story that many of us suspected and worried about. Our unprotected border is a sieve for radical Islamic terrorists entering into the United States. Hundreds of illegal aliens from countries "such as Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan and Afghanistan" were apprehended crossing into the United States.

But that's not all. There's more:

-- In June 2006, seven Iraqis were caught in Brownsville, Texas;

-- In August, an Afghani man was caught crossing the Rio Grande into Texas;

-- Mueller has testified that a Hezbollah cell had been "dismantled" after officials discovered that the terror organization was smuggling operatives across the U.S.-Mexico border to carry out terror attacks inside the United States.

-- Individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections have changed their Islamic surnames and adopted false Hispanic identities in order to escape detection and blend into American society.

-- Radical Islamic groups that support Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamiya Al Gamat are all active in Latin America. Read Colonel North's column here.

Chinese banks ban North Korea accounts

Beijing (dpa) - "Chinese banks have banned transactions involving North Korea as the international crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programme forces some Chinese firms to rethink investment plans, state media said on Friday.

'Major Chinese banks stopped payments to the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) last week,' the official China Daily said in a report on Chinese business in North Korea." --More at Bangkok Post.

Intimate Enemies: Pyongyang, Beijing, and the Nuclear Factor

China Matters writes:
"So, on top of disappointment and resentment, one can add duplicity and suspicion to the toxic stew of Chinese-North Korean relations. With China seduced by the power and wealth of South Korea and North Korea desperately and secretly flirting with any nation that will take a meeting, it looks like the shared interests and trust between Beijing and Pyongyang has virtually evaporated.

Because of a fundamental divergence of interests and the well-earned mutual distrust it has engendered, it appears that North Korea can no longer be persuaded that Beijing’s policy has Pyongyang’s best interests at heart.

Now China has decided it’s time to show the iron fist beneath the threadbare velvet glove.

What seems to have happened is that China has decided that the current North Korean regime is an unsuitable vehicle for the reliable promotion of Chinese interests, but that regime change or voluntary reform--on Chinese terms--is virtually impossible."

The post is a bit long but is an interesting read if you want to get another view on the China- NKorea relationship. Read Intimate Enemies: Pyongyang, Beijing, and the Nuclear Factor in it's entirety at China Matters.

I'm not a Blair. I'm a real socialist says Segolene Royal

Times Online
The favourite to be France's next President is mending fences with the Left.

"SÉGOLÈNE ROYAL is an admirer of Tony Blair. But as her bid to win the Socialist nomination for France’s presidency gathers pace she has begun to make clear that she remains an old-style leftist.

For months Mme Royal’s party rivals have been demonising her as a Blair-like reformer who will expose France to the mercy of the free markets. Until now the favourite had revealed little of her plans for the economy, but she is showing her hand in the campaign for the party endorsement next month. A glimpse of the Socialist star at work this week in her western fiefdom showed that President Royal — should she win next spring — would keep business under a firm state hand in the old Gallic way.

“The capitalists have to be frightened,” she told The Times. “There is no alternative. They can’t just dispose of people as they wish. They have to be held accountable.” Mme Royal, 53, was chatting in the corridor of the Poitou-Charentes council, in Poitiers, a pretty medieval city. She has presided there since 2004 when she became the first woman elected to run one of France’s 22 regions. More details.

RELATED: From the Scotsman:

" 'I want to unblock Europe and get France out of isolation,' Segolene Royal told a news conference, which came after accusations from party rivals that she lacked clear policy ideas.

Royal said French voters' rejection of the EU constitution last year came amid a climate of indifference towards the bloc.

The EU had to be a counterweight to the United States, she said, setting herself apart from conservative presidential rival Nicolas Sarkozy, who is known for his pro-American stance.

'The world needs Europe, the only peaceful power able to represent an alternative to the American hyperpower,' she said, adding Europe should take initiatives such as proposing an international Middle East peace conference." Read the rest at the Scotsman.

A pox to the European Union, France, and Ms. Royal Socialist. - - HH

Union Federation Wants National Muslim Holiday

UTRECHT, 14/10/06 - "The CNV trade union federation feels that a Muslim feast should be introduced as a bank holiday in the Netherlands. The Christian trade union federation is willing to sacrifice a Christian holiday.

CNV vice chairman Rienk van Splunder wishes 'to offer Muslims the freedom to practice their faith'. The federation is prepared to sacrifice Whit Monday or Easter Monday for a free day during the Sugar Festival. This is the feast day held to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.

Van Splunder feels the feast days of other religions are insufficiently honoured in the Netherlands. By introducing official holidays on such feast days, he hopes to create 'freedom and respect for one another'.

Last year, CNV reported it was not yet prepared to sacrifice Whit Monday for a free day during the Sugar Festival. 'But his can no longer be sustained in 2006,' as Van Splunder stated Friday.

According to Van Splunder, Whit Monday and Easter Monday originate from the Christian tradition but the holidays have long lost their Christian meaning. 'For most Dutch people, these two holidays have turned into extra shopping days'. The CNV vice chairman denies that he is calling into question the Christian tradition of The Netherlands."

A pox to European influence. - HH

Thou Shalt Eat Healthy

From The Brussels Journal:
"A boy aged 10 has been banned from his school dining hall because his packed lunch broke the government’s healthy eating guidelines. [...] Ryan’s lunch consisted of a sandwich, fruit, fromage frais, cake, mini cheese biscuits and a bottle of water. The cake and the biscuits broke the snack limit. They were discovered when a teacher checked his lunch box."

A quote from The Daily Telegraph, 14 October 2006:

[...] Malcolm Goddard, the headmaster, said: “We take healthy eating very seriously and everyone is aware of our new policies.”

A pox to European influence. - - HH

The Threat of Foreign Legal Precedents

“The European Union has just uncovered another dangerous threat to European social stability: home-schooling. Yes, German police recently arrested the mother of children who were being home-schooled. The father had to flee with the children to Austria. The European Court of Human Rights upheld the German ban on home-schooling, which dated back to 1938 in the Nazi era. ... Think about that at a time when Americans, even Supreme Court justices, are advocating the use of foreign legal precedents for American court rulings. Do we really want to start jailing home-schooling parents?”

—Patrick Henry College Professor David Aikman


Story:
Germany Imprisons Mum. Dad and Kids Flee to Austria
"Last Thursday the German police arrested Katharina Plett, a homeschooling mother of twelve. Yesterday her husband fled to Austria with the children. Homeschooling is illegal in Germany since Hitler banned it in 1938. The Plett family belongs to a homeschooling group of seven Baptist families in Paderborn. We wrote about their case last year." Read the rest of the article at The Brussels Journal.

The Necessity of Constant Vigilance

“Judges do not cease to be human beings when they go on the bench. In important cases, it is my humble opinion that finding the right answer is often the least difficult problem. Having the courage to assert that answer and stand firm in the face of the constant winds of protest and criticism is often much more difficult... The Founders warned us that freedom requires constant vigilance, and repeated action. It is said that, when asked what sort of government the Founders had created, Benjamin Franklin replied that they had given us ‘A Republic, if you can keep it.’ Today, as in the past, we will need a brave ‘civic virtue,’ not a timid civility, to keep our republic.” —Justice Clarence Thomas

JUDICIARY

I am quite certain I have posted this quote before, but I like it, so here it is again:

“The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.”

—Thomas Jefferson

VP Bill? Depends on Meaning of 'Elected'

I must admit. I have wondered about this. Dear God, this would be so horrible:

"The prospective presidential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton has given rise to plenty of speculation about the notion of Bill Clinton as the nation's first gentleman. But what about another role? How about, say, vice president?" Read more at the Washington Post.

House Intel Chair suspends Democratic staff member

Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - "House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press Thursday night, Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., a committee member, said that an unidentified staffer requested the document from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte three days before the Sept. 23 story about its conclusions.

The Democratic staffer received the National Intelligence Estimate on global terror trends on Sept. 21." More.

Commentary

Protesting a Bit Too Much
By Rich Galen
The Mark Foley story appears to be losing some steam. I suspect the National Democrats are beginning to get some heat from Gay Democrats that this is getting pretty close to the kind of Gay bashing they have accused Republicans of waging for decades. So now we are back on National Security. And National Security is absolutely the last issue on which the Democrats want this election to turn...

Commentary

No Time for Conservatives to Show Discontent
By Frank Salvato
There is a great deal of talk about Conservatives either not showing up at the polls on November 7th or showing up to cast a protest vote for a third party candidate. Both of these actions are bad for the Conservative cause and horrific for the country. Those who choose to abandon the Republican candidates by executing either of these options will be directly responsible for seating a Speaker of the House named Pelosi and perhaps a Senate Majority Leader named Reid…

Opinion on Muslim Veil Viewed As 'Incitement'

(CNSNews.com) - Is it "incitement" for a television anchor to express his opinion that the Muslim veil shouldn't be worn in the west? An Islamic civil rights group thinks so. Under the heading of "Incitement Watch," the Council on American-Islamic Relations quotes Fox News anchor John Gibson: "Speaking as an American: no Sharia law, no veils. If you're here, be American," Gibson blogged on the Fox News website on Wednesday. "You don't have to conform," Gibson added. You just have to give up the urge to be separate and apart and unwilling to assimilate like the rest of us." John Gibson hosts "The Big Story" on Fox News. CAIR's "incitement watch" appeared as a small blurb in a news brief circulated on Oct. 19.

Who cares what CAIR's view is? I don't. No, it is not incitement. We are a country of laws.....our laws.....American laws. We don't need no stinkin' Sharia law. America embraced the melting pot concept - "E Pluribus Unum"; not the tossed salad concept; not the multiculturalism concept. That is the European way. And, it has not worked out so well for them, has it. The American believes in liberty, capitalism, self determination, individual accountability, small government, and inalienable rights. These were some of the beliefs of our founding fathers. These beliefs have served us well.

Israel Defends Ongoing Spy Flights Over Lebanon

Jerusalem – Israel on Friday defended its ongoing intelligence-gathering flights over Lebanon, one day after head of the United Nations’ peacekeeping force said that anti-aircraft missiles could be used to shoot down Israeli aircraft...

Emulating Hizballah, Hamas Launches Satellite TV Station

Jerusalem – Cash-strapped Hamas launched a satellite television station this week that will broadcast throughout the Middle East. Analysts say the move is an attempt to emulate Hizballah, which runs an influential television station (Al-Manar) in Lebanon...

KGB Letter Outlines Sen. Kennedy's Overtures to Soviets, Prof Says

"The antipathy that congressional Democrats have today toward President George W. Bush is reminiscent of their distrust of President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War, a political science professor says.

'We see some of the same sentiments today, in that some Democrats see the Republican president as being a threat and the true obstacle to peace, instead of seeing our enemies as the true danger,' said Paul Kengor, a political science professor at Grove City College and the author of new book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism.

In his book, which came out this week, Kengor focuses on a KGB letter written at the height of the Cold War that shows that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered to assist Soviet leaders in formulating a public relations strategy to counter President Reagan's foreign policy and to complicate his re-election efforts.

The letter, dated May 14, 1983, was sent from the head of the KGB to Yuri Andropov, who was then General Secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party.

In his letter, KGB head Viktor Chebrikov offered Andropov his interpretation of Kennedy's offer. Former U.S. Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) had traveled to Moscow on behalf of Kennedy to seek out a partnership with Andropov and other Soviet officials, Kengor claims in his book." Read more.

Juan Williams Called 'Black Ann Coulter'

"WASHINGTON -- Since writing a book about the need for African-Americans to take responsibility for their own problems, Juan Williams is now being labeled a 'black Ann Coulter' and a turncoat by black leaders and media personalities."

Zogby: Lieberman Surges, Harold Ford Jr. in Trouble

"As Democrats and Republicans battle for control of the U.S. Senate heading into the last three weeks before Election Day, many races around the nation are too close to call, a new package of Zogby Interactive polling shows."

Dick Morris: Hillary Flip-Flops on Abortion

"Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken no less than four different positions on parental notification for abortion."

Poll: Lieberman Leads by 17 Points

"Sen. Joe Lieberman has built a 17-point lead over Democratic challenger Ned Lamont, according to the first Quinnipiac University poll since the two faced off in a debate this week."

Gov. Murkowski to Hugo Chavez: Stay Out of Alaska

"Alaska's governor criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's fuel program for the state's villages, saying Chavez should be trying to lift Venezuelans out of poverty instead."

North Korea on Another Nuke Test: 'Watch What Happens'

ABC News: EXCLUSIVE

"Oct. 20, 2006 — When asked whether his country would perform more nuclear tests in the coming weeks, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan said to 'Good Morning America' that the world would have to watch the situation closely. 'I think you can closely watch what happens,' North Korea's chief negotiator at the six-party talks told Diane Sawyer today." Read the rest.

In an earlier post, right after the U.N. sanctions were passed, NKorea, indicated it wanted to return to the 6 party talks, and my response at that time was it did not take them long to do a '180', but my guess was that their policy reversal would not last long.

Well here we are a week and a half or so later and we are still pushing China to enforce the sanctions, China is "urging" (?) NKorea to return to multilateral talks, and NKorea saying the sanctions were a declaration of war, and threatening a second test.

So it appears I was right. So for those of you who were hysterically happy about sanctions and NKorea's pyscho-babble about returning to the six party talks ... here's a big, "I TOLD YOU SO".

Can anyone please give me a realistic, and plausible set of plans to deal with this problem. Right now I am still leaning towards the suggestion that Bejing place calls to the 200 or so top generals in the NKorea army and "order" a mysterical disappearance of Little Kim.

“How to deal with a nuclear-armed North Korean rogue state, mad and bad both, is not easily addressed. The US understandably does not want to go it alone with a military option, given the way members of the Security Council played politics over the need to remove Saddam Hussein and are ducking and diving on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But diplomacy does not work with the North Koreans... [T]he North Koreans have continued to up the ante, taking all the aid on offer while continuing to try to build a bomb, and a missile to deliver it. There is no doubting that the diplomacy of containment has failed. But rather than blame the Americans—imagine the outcry if the US went it alone in blockading North Korea’s coasts or bombed its nuclear facilities—it is time to hold the Security Council to account. The very existence of the North Korean regime is an affront to everything the UN is supposed to stand for. Millions are thought to have died in the last famine and malnutrition is a way of life. The country is ruled by hereditary dictator Kim Jong-il, one part buffoon to many parts Big Brother. And its export income depends on running drugs and counterfeit currency and selling weapons. It is time for the permanent members of the Security Council to stop pussyfooting... The whole world is watching for a sign that the UN can do more than talk.”

—The Australian

“The problem for Republicans is that they seem to have run out of ideas. They now ask for votes on two levels, neither of which is appealing. The first is that the Democrats would do a worse job than Republicans, which is like choosing which of two ugly sisters to take on a date. The second is they crave power for its own sake. Republicans have failed to give voters sufficient reason to vote for them, except for one that trumps all the rest—they can better defend the country.”

—Cal Thomas

Israel Returns to Gaza-Egypt Border
Jerusalem – Israeli forces are back in the border area between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, searching for weapons smuggling tunnels for the first time since Israel left the area last year, the army said on Wednesday...

Impeachment Drumbeat Grows Louder
Democratic control of Congress “would make impeachment [of President Bush] a serious reality,” a former U.S. lawmaker blogged on Tuesday...

North Korea puts disabled in camps with "subhuman conditions," U.N. says

"UNITED NATIONS - The North Korean government rounds up disabled people and sends them away from the capital Pyongyang to special camps, where they are sorted by their handicap and subjected to 'subhuman conditions,' a U.N. rapporteur said in a report released Thursday."

Read full story at the International Herald Tribune.

North Korea and the Limits of Multilateralism

Stratfor Intelligence has a good analysis of the situation with North Korea and multilateralism and alliance forming, while comparing it to the alliances that were formed in WWII, and the Cold War. Below is an excerpt looking at the four major players in the region, what their interests are, and why they are content with inaction.

Shared Responsibility and Inaction

"The driving assumption in the case of North Korea was that all of the powers involved were committed to regional stability, understood the risks of inaction and were prepared to take risks to maintain stability and the status quo. But that just wasn't true. There were very different, competing ideas of stability; the idea of inaction seemed attractive and the assumption of risks did not. There was no multilateral action because the coalition was an illusion.

Let's go down the list:

• South Korea: Seoul does not want Pyongyang to have a nuclear device, but it also does not want the slightest chance of a war with North Korea -- South Korea's industrial heartland is too close to the border. Nor does Seoul want the regime in Pyongyang to fall; the idea of the South taking responsibility for rebuilding a shattered North Korea is not attractive. The South Koreans didn't want the North to acquire nuclear weapons, but they were not prepared to act to stop Pyongyang, or to destabilize the regime.
  


• Japan: Japan does not want North Korea to have a nuclear device, but it is prepared neither to take military action on its own nor to endorse U.S. military action in this regard. Japan has major domestic issues with waging war that would have to be worked out before it could make a move, and it is no hurry to solve those problems. Moreover, Tokyo has little interest in posing such an overt threat that the Koreas, its traditional enemy, would reunify (as an industrial giant) against Japan. The Japanese don't mind imposing sanctions, but they hope they won't work.
  


• Russia: Russia is about as worried about the prospect of a North Korean nuclear strike on its territory as the United States is about a French strike. The two countries may not like each other, but it isn't going to happen. Russia would smash North Korea and not worry about the fallout. But at the same time, Moscow wants to keep the United States tied up in knots. It has serious issues with the United States encroaching on the Russian sphere of influence in former Soviet territory. Russia is delighted to see the United States tied down in Iraq and struggling with Iran, and it is quite happy to have the Americans appear helpless over North Korea. The Russians will agree to some meaningless sanctions for show, but they are not going to make the United States appear statesmanlike.
  


• China: China has major internal problems, both economic and political. The Chinese do not want to anger the United States, but they do want the Americans to be dependent on them for something. The North Korea test blast gave China an opportunity to appear enormously helpful without actually doing anything meaningful. Put another way, if China actually wanted to stop the detonation, it clearly has no influence on North Korea. And if it does have influence -- which we suspect it does -- it managed to play a complex double game, appearing to oppose the blast while taking advantage of its ability to "help" the United States. China, along with Russia, has no interest in serious sanctions.

The issue here is not the fine points of the foreign policies of these nations, but the fact that none has an overarching interest in "doing something" about North Korea. Each of these states has internal and external problems that take precedence, in their eyes, over a North Korean nuclear capability. None of them is pursuing stability, in the sense of being prepared to subordinate national interests to the stabilization of the region. The result is that the diplomatic process has failed."

Read the whole analysis here.

Why gas prices dropped

Trust us. It wasn't OPEC or Republicans trying to influence midterm elections.

"Whatever you want to call it - speculators, fast money, hot money - a big part of the drop in crude that we've seen this year is because of selling by hedge funds," says Merrill Lynch technical analyst Mary Ann Bartels.

Hedge fund speculation and sales explain drop gas prices
(Fortune Magazine)

"If the recent plunge in gas prices is the result of a conspiracy by President George W. Bush to help the Republicans retain control of Congress, as 42 percent of Americans believe, according to one Gallup poll, a lot of Wall Streeters wish they'd been in on the plot.

So what really drove prices down - if not an Oliver Stone-worthy scenario involving the Commander-in-Chief, the House of Saud and Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson cajoling his cronies at Goldman Sachs to sink the crude market?

By late summer, hedge funds and other investors had poured billions into long positions in oil, gasoline, natural gas and the rest of what traders call the 'energy complex,' all betting on a replay of the severe 2005 hurricane season that sent prices soaring in the wake of Katrina and Rita. But one day after oil reached a monthly high of $76.98 a barrel on Aug. 7, government meteorologists downgraded their hurricane forecast and cautioned that a repeat of 2005 was 'unlikely.'

That announcement, combined with the end of the summer driving season and a recalibration of the Goldman Sachs (Charts) commodity index that reduced the weighting of gasoline, prompted speculators to head for the exits even faster than they'd piled in." Read on.

A Massive Reporting Deficit

"Networks have spun the federal deficit negatively 35 times since the State of the Union address. Only once did a journalist mention the number was going down without undermining the good news." Read more at The Balance Sheet.

With cash, defectors find North Korea's cracks

International Herald Tribune

BANGKOK - "Last March, Lee Chun-hak, a 19-year-old North Korean, went to the Chinese border to meet with a North Korean money trafficker. Using the trafficker's Chinese cellphone, Lee talked to his mother, who had defected to South Korea in 2003. She told him she was going to get him out.

Lee missed his mother and his sister and brother, and he had a persistent, if half-formed, desire. 'I wanted to go to a country that is more developed,' he said, 'even more developed than South Korea.'

In June, a young North Korean man appeared suddenly at his home with a message: 'Mother is looking for you.' The man then took him by bicycle and foot to the border and handed him over to a North Korean soldier. At the soldier's direction, Lee was ordered to leave his identification card and his Kim Il-sung badge, which is worn by all North Koreans to honor the nation's founder.

The soldier then escorted Lee across the Tumen River, where on the other side two Chinese men in plainclothes handed the soldier his bribe. Lee was free to go." Continue reading.

Israel: Surface-to-air missiles shipped to Hamas

WorldTribune.com:
"Officials said the Israeli intelligence community has received
information that Hamas has ordered and received anti-aircraft missiles. They said the missiles were Soviet-origin SA-7s, which arrived in the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt."

Activists Offer Money for Election-Rigging ‘Whistleblowers’
In an effort to “reclaim democracy,” a left-wing activist group is offering whistleblowers a $250,000 reward to expose “election rigging.” To qualify for the money, a tipster’s information must lead to overturning a House or Senate race and a conviction of the people responsible for rigging the election...

ORWELLIAN

TRAVELING DOWN A SCARY PATH:
The Path of Big Brother

See a Smoker in a Non-Smoking Area? Call 911
If you catch someone smoking in a non-smoking area in Omaha, Neb., call the police. The Omaha Police Department (OPD) is encouraging city residents to call 911 in the wake of the citywide ban on smoking that went into effect on Oct. 2.

[snip]

"It's not an over-reaction, it's a good use of our city resources" that are being squandered on smokers, according to Welsch.

"I think about 13 percent of our total Medicaid expenses are caused by tobacco," Welsch said. "So, I'm paying too much. I don't want to subsidize tobacco use in my state. We should have just enough to break even. For next year, we would have to raise the tobacco tax by about 50 cents per pack -- just to break even."

Smoking isn't the only problem that needs fixing to trim down the costs, Welsch said. There's also a problem with food consumption that needs attention.

We're such a fat country, by and large. Somebody needs to do something, or our Medicaid and Medicare costs are just going to continue to go up and up, not just because of smoking, but because of people being overweight and too lethargic to take their butts outside and walk," said Welsch." Full article.

THE HARRY REID LAND SCAM SING ALONG

Ex-NYSE chief Dick Grasso to return part of pay

Attorney General's office says 'tens of millions' of dollars ordered to be returned; Grasso to appeal.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "A judge ordered former New York Stock Exchange chief Richard Grasso to repay part of his $187.5 million compensation package, a spokesman for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office said Thursday."

Somali Islamists 'near Ethiopia'

BBC NEWS

"Ethiopia's prime minister has warned parliament that Somali Islamist fighters are massing near the border.

Meles Zenawi said Ethiopian troops were ready to defend themselves against possible attack.

He also said he had sent military trainers to help Somalia's beleaguered government but they were not to fight."

CHINA PRESSURES KIM JONG IL

A Chinese envoy meets North Korea's reclusive leader amid International efforts to stop another nuclear test.
Read on...

SETTING THE STAGE FOR: "WE WAS ROBBED"

New Laws and Machines May Spell Voting Woes - New York Times: WASHINGTON — "New electronic voting machines have arrived in Yolo County, Calif., but there is one hitch: the audio program for the visually impaired in some of them works only in Vietnamese.

'Talk about panic,' said Freddy Oakley, the county’s top election official. 'I’ve got gray-haired ladies as poll workers standing around looking stunned.' "

Wal-Mart to sell $4 generic drugs in 14 more states

Yahoo! News

CHICAGO (Reuters) - "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday said it would begin selling $4 generic prescriptions in 14 additional states, including New York and Texas, speeding up the roll-out of a plan that has put pressure on rival retailers.

Wal-Mart said the $4 program covers a 30-day supply of 143 different drug compounds, representing nearly 25 percent of the prescriptions it currently dispenses in pharmacies nationwide."

ABC News: North Korean General: 'War Is Inevitable'

"Oct. 19, 2006 — If President Bush continues to ask North Korea to 'kneel,' war 'will be inevitable,' and it would begin on the Korean Peninsula, North Korean Gen. Ri Chan Bok told 'Good Morning America' anchor Diane Sawyer, in an exclusive interview inside North Korea.

President Bush wants the country to kneel down, Ri said, and North Koreans cannot agree with that."

Israel cannot survive: Ahmadinejad

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called Israel a 'counterfeit and illegitimate regime that cannot survive', in a live broadcast on state television.

'The Zionist regime is counterfeit and illegitimate and cannot survive,' he said in a speech to a crowd in the town of Islamshahr in southwestern Tehran.

'The big powers have created this fraud regime and allowed it to commit all kind of crimes to guarantee their interests,' he added."

South Korean scientists say cancer-killing virus developed

BREITBART.COM

"South Korean scientists have said they have developed a new genetically altered strain of virus which is highly efficient in targeting and killing cancer cells.

The new therapy developed by the team from Yonsei University uses a genetically-engineered form of the adenovirus, which normally causes colds."

Saudi's Propose Reduction in Oil Output

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- "Saudi Arabia's oil minister said Thursday that his country supports OPEC's proposed 1 million barrels-a-day production cut.

'We will try to make the market balanced,' Ali Naimi said, ending two weeks of silence from the world's largest oil producing nation and giving a quick jolt to oil prices."

FBI Questions Someone in NFL Threat

BREITBART.COM

WASHINGTON - "The FBI was interviewing a Milwaukee resident Thursday believed to be responsible for posting what officials think are phony threats on a Web site about radiological dirty bomb attacks on NFL football stadiums this weekend.

The person, described only as a young adult, did not appear to have any ties to terrorist groups, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing."

NBC Universal makes $750M in cuts by reducing staff, scripted shows, news budget

BREITBART.COM

NEW YORK (AP) - "NBC Universal plans to cut US$750 million in operating expenses by the end of 2007 by eliminating employees, cutting back on scripted shows, and slashing its news budget, according to a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal."

Maryland Democrat Representative Steny Hoyer calls Michael Steele 'Slavish'

Steele tries to defy history in Maryland contest

"Cardin, a dry and detailed-oriented career legislator, was upstaged at his Upper Marlboro event Sunday by the irrepressible Rep. Steny Hoyer, who did a comedy routine about the event’s host, Cool Wave Water, and told the audience that Steele had had 'a career of slavishly supporting the Republican Party.' " MSNBC

Cardin apparently approves of Hoyer's remarks, so don't expect an apology. Dem's rarely do, although Hillary did apologize to McCain the other day for a remark made by one of her staffers.

Here's a follow up story from The Washington Post on Rep. Steny Hoyer’s comment during an event for Ben Cardin that Republican Senatorial Candidate Michael Steele has “slavishly” supported the Republican Party. You won't see an apology here. In fact, Cardin assails Mr. Steele for being offended. Only in a liberal mind can one make sense of this.

According to this CNN report Hoyer issued this statement, "I should not have used those words." He further added, "If Mr. Steele did in fact take offense, let me assure him that none was intended," Hoyer said. "But Mr. Steele continuously tries to divert attention from the fact that he is an unwavering supporter of the Republican agenda and of President Bush and Vice President Cheney."

Yes, Mr. Hoyer you are right. Mr. Steele, a Republican running for office, has no business supporting the Republican agenda. This is such a dirty trick. Who would have ever thought this. Another Rovian trick. Perhaps the most devious plan he has devised to date.

Israel using combat drones in Gaza incursion

WorldTribune.com "GAZA CITY — The Israel Air Force is using
unmanned combat aerial vehicles in the military operation in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said." Read more.

Move over Tiger: N. Korea's Kim shot 38 under par his 1st time out

I just recalled this story the other day and joked about it with someone. I have dredged this story back up, courtesy of WorldTribune.com. So take a minute and enjoy.

"South Korea's Pyeonghwa (Peace) Motors Corporation plans to stage an inter-Korean golf game next month in the North's capital city, Pyongyang, company officials say.

"We have agreed with North Korean authorities to hold a friendly golf competition between the two Koreas from July 30 to Aug. 5 at a golf course in Pyongyang," said an official at Pyeonghwa Motors, which has started a business venture in North Korea.

Fortunately for all entrants, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il will not be playing. If the official government media is to be believed, Kim is easily the greatest golfer, the world has ever seeen.

Pyongyang media say North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il enjoys golf, having shot multiple holes-in-one during his first try at the game. He reportedly aced five holes and finished 38 under par on the golf course. The "Great Leader" routinely shoots three or four holes-in-one per round, the government-controlled media reported." More here.

North Korean nuclear crisis - UN sanctions set to sour Kim’s appetites

FT.com

"Are Big Macs and shark fin soup luxury goods? What about James Bond films. Or roasted donkeys? This is the sort of question the United Nations Security Council will grapple with as it starts to define the sanctions to be imposed on North Korea and its idiosyncratic leader, Kim Jong-il, for last week’s nuclear test." Read more.

Germany: Neo-Nazi crimes rise dramatically

United Press International

BERLIN, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- "Neo-Nazi crimes have upsurged in Germany in 2006, according to the country's federal criminal office.

Between January and August, some 8,000 neo-Nazi crimes were recorded, a number that exceeds that of the previous year by more than 20 points, the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper said in its Tuesday issue.

Compared with the 2004 value (5,127 crimes), the number of reported incidents nearly doubled.

Violent crimes grew by nearly 100 to 452, the office said, with 325 people injured.

Officials from the Interior Ministry and politicians from all parties said they were worried by the development." Read on.

Germans are poorer than ever

UPI
Berlin -- "German politicians are debating poverty in a country where some 6.5 million people feel they are increasingly left behind in society, a new underclass that may undermine the stability of any government, observers say.

Commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a think tank with close links to the governing center-left Social Democratic Party, or SPD, the study entitled 'Society in the Process of Reform' was carried out by German research institute TNS Infratest and polled some 3,000 voters on their attitudes toward social justice.

The results of the study have shocked the German political scene. Among the figures was that 8 percent of Germans -- some 6.5 million -- saw themselves as having been completely ostracized, or 'left behind,' in society.

One in five people in eastern Germany and one in 20 people in western Germany were said to belong to the ever-growing group of those who are left behind: People with little education, temporary, insecure jobs or no work at all, and nearly no chance of climbing the social ladder.

Leading sociologists have warned that the growing social inequality may lead to civil unrest similar to last year's riots in France, as Germany has traditionally been a country where the lower class can bank on an extensive social net to fall back into." Read on.

Social workers set 15 minute deadline on caring for elderly

What the? 15 minutes ..... to undress, bathe, and get dressed? What is that about 2 minutes to get them undressed, 10 minutes to bathe, 2 and 1/2 minutes to towel them off and 30 seconds to slap a robe on them?

This is London.co.uk: "Social workers have set a 15-minute limit on the amount of home help they will allow frail and vulnerable elderly people, a shocking watchdog report revealed."

"An increasingly ageing population and issues around central government funding means there is not enough money in the system."

Yes, socialism at it's finest.

Snatching defeat?

Commentary - The Washington Times
By Frank Gaffney

"America's preoccupation with the crises du jour -- the rising terrorist menace to the liberation of Iraq, the Iranian regime's determination to acquire the means to act on its genocidal threats against Israel and the United States and, most recently, North Korea's nuclear coming-out party -- has left Washington ill-prepared to deal with one of tomorrow's major security challenges: the rise of the radical anti-American left in Latin America." Continue.

New Liberal Radio Network Formed

"Air America has filed for bankruptcy, but another liberal radio network appears poised to see if the concept can work if done with others in charge.

Nova M Radio, Inc. based in Phoenix, Arizona officially announced the formation of its new progressive talk radio network, which will feature former Air America host Mike Malloy as one of its on-air personalities. The network is scheduled to debut October 30, just prior to the November elections.

Anita Drobny and Sheldon Drobny, co-founders of the Air America Radio Network along with partner Dr. Mike Newcomb, CEO & Chairman of Nova M Radio, are the principals of the new network.

Joe Trippi, former communications director for Howard Dean's failed White House run in 2004, joins Nova M Radio as a consultant."

Wow. Sounds like a winning team. Bring in three people from the failed Air America Radio Network, add a failed communications director from a failed presidential political campaign, and add a winning liberal agenda, and "walla" .... a sure-fire recipe for success.

I wonder if they, too, will seek out a boys and girls club to help with funding this adventure venture.

The Deficit Is Smaller . . .

. . . but government is bigger.
By Phil Kerpen

"The Treasury Department released the results for the fiscal year 2006 budget last week. As has become the norm in recent years, the numbers blew the official projections out of the water. The deficit, at $247.7 billion, is $175.5 billion less than projected in the January budget, and $48.1 billion less than the White House Office of Management and Budget predicted just three months ago. At about 1.9 percent of GDP, the deficit is lower than it was every single year between 1980 and 1996.

How did this happen?"

- National Review Online

Abbas Says He May Dismiss Hamas Government

JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, warned Tuesday that the current Palestinian political crisis was intolerable and suggested that he would dismiss ...

More unrest in southern Thailand

"The spate of killings began on Monday morning, when two rubber tappers in Yala were shot by the roadside.

Police told local media that two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on the couple.

Later the same day, two government workers were reportedly shot dead in the same area, and several other people have also been killed in Narathiwat province. A policeman was also reported to be among the dead.

The southern provinces are predominantly Muslim, with a separate language and culture to much of the rest of Thailand.

Despite a heavy Thai security presence, attacks such as drive-by shootings or small bombings take place almost daily." Read more at BBC NEWS.

Hmmmm.... a separate language and culture. Whatever implications might there be?

Trial dividing Iraq, says Saddam

"Saddam Hussein has accused prosecution witnesses at his trial for genocide against the Kurds of fuelling division and hatred among Iraqis.

The ousted president said: 'The Zionists are the only ones who will benefit from differences among Iraqis.'

He was addressing the court after several Kurds testified about atrocities allegedly committed by government forces in 1988." Read more at BBC NEWS.

Harry Reid's Real Estate Investing Plan

Human Events

How you can make millions by having Dirty Harry “do nothing” on your behalf? Order now and receive free bonus gift: “Clerical Errors” for Fun and Profit!

Are you stuck in a dead end job so boring that you spend all day at work surfing the web reading witty political commentary? Are you tired of investments that depend on unreliable “market forces” for their returns? Haven’t you always dreamed of a way to make money that was as automatic as the creeping bureaucracy that afflicts our nation’s cash flow like fiscal atherosclerosis?" By Mac Johnson

A lawyer who passed messages to terrorists gets off light.

"It was a case of radical chic and the radical sheik. Yesterday in New York, Lynne Stewart, a self-styled 'civil rights' attorney whose past clients include the Black Panthers and Weather Underground, was sentenced to 28 months in prison for illegally passing messages between her imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, and his followers in Egypt's Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, the terrorist group responsible for killing 62 mostly European and Japanese tourists in Luxor in 1997. Some of those tourists were beheaded; others were disemboweled. The Sheik was also involved in planning terror attacks in New York, for which he is serving a life sentence." More.

Weapons Smuggling Into Gaza 'Uncontrollable,' Israel Says

Jerusalem - "Israel is trying to prevent a Hamas military build-up in the Gaza Strip similar to that of Hizballah in Lebanon, but it has received little help in stopping the weapons smuggling under the Egyptian-Gaza border, Israeli officials said." Read on.

Networks Distort Good Economy to Hammer Bush, Study Says

"Network news stories have painted a bleak picture of an economy in decline in an effort to keep President Bush's approval numbers low, according to a study released Monday by a group dedicated to challenging misconceptions in the media about free enterprise." Read more.

Reid Land Deal Not Sexy Enough for Front Page

"The news that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) failed to disclose a land deal that earned him $700,000 -- three years after he sold the land to a friend's company -- isn't 'sexy' enough for front page news, according to one political analyst.

Since the Associated Press reported on Reid's 2004 windfall last week, the power players of printed news have focused largely on the two-week-old sex scandal surrounding former Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.)." More.

A plan for defusing North Korea crisis

John O' Sullivan of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES writes about his plan. His idea calls for Bejing to place phone calls to about 200 top generals in DPRK's army and dispose of little Kim.

"For America the answer is clear: His downfall and replacement by a civilized regime would be major strategic and moral gain. For China, it is surely no less clear: Kim is useful mainly as an irritant to America and its Asian allies. Beijing, along with everyone else, would actually be better off with a buffer regime in Pyongyang that was friendly to China without being either a nuclear threat or an affront to human decency.

China's long-term interests do not lie with a policy of blackmailing America into 'stabilizing' the murderous Kim regime. Its benefits are trivial (a little gloating over America's difficulties) and its costs could well be substantial. But if Beijing were to make a few telephone calls to its favorite generals in Pyongyang, suggesting they would benefit from his overthrow and the gradual liberalization of his regime, it could advance its own interests and seek some reward from Washington, Tokyo and the U.N. for being an international good neighbor."

Not a bad thought, actually.

North Korea promises response to U.N. sanctions- Reuters.com:
SEOUL, (Reuters) - "North Korea has denounced sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council in response to its nuclear test last week, saying they were tantamount to a declaration of war, its official media reported on Tuesday.

The statement from a Foreign Ministry spokesman, first broadcast on North Korean TV and later carried in its print media, said Pyongyang would not bow to U.S. pressure.

'The U.N. Security Council resolution, needless to say, cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of war against the DPRK because it was based on the scenario of the U.S. keen to destroy the socialist system of Korean-styled centred on the popular masses,' its KCNA news agency reported the spokesman as saying."

Poppycock - Boulderdash - Hogwash

globeandmail.com: What North Korea wants:
"It's all about international recognition and security guarantees, says MAURICE STRONG"

Security ? For whom? He does not give a "rats-a@#" about his people. If he did, he would not be starving them to death.

Have we forgotten already that Kim Jong Sicko Il after getting all kinds of concessions and aid from the Clinton administration, started cheating immediately, before the ink was dry? This was long before being branded as part of the "axis-of-evil" by Bush. This is how dictators, tyrants, and mad men operate. You cannot take a snapshot look of today, listen to and take to heart their moronic statements of today and not analyze them against reality and the recent historical facts of yesterday. I know it is tempting to deny reality when facts get in the way of what you want, but one must not deny the facts, and rely on rhetoric. - HH

North Korea defiant amid fears of second nuclear test

Malaysia Star - Malaysia
SEOUL (Reuters) - "North Korea denounced UN sanctions on Tuesday as a declaration of war, while across the border in Seoul an official said there were signs the ..."

Senate hopes to hinge on corruption charges in N.J.

insider.washingtontimes.com: "The same Democratic leaders who have long hoped to regain control of Congress by blasting a Republican 'culture of corruption' are in danger of losing their shot at the Senate because of accusations of corruption against Sen. Robert Menendez."

THE FALLACIOUS CHARGE OF HYPOCRISY

“Nothing relieves our own throbbing consciences like the exposure of hypocrisy in high places, but this doesn’t reflect well on us. Indignation over hypocrisy is an adolescent emotion. It supposes no one should honor a higher ideal in words unless one follows it in every deed; it holds out hypocrisy as a sin greater than the actual transgression. Many on the Left, for example, grind their teeth at the mention of ‘family values’ because they think it really means Promise Keepers in feed-store caps beating their pregnant wives with Bibles, or happy, shiny people who always keep a sack of rocks handy in case it becomes legal to stone gays. ‘Family values’ is a rather indistinct concept, and even the people who use the phrase don’t quite know what it means, but let one Republican be caught in a motel getting paddled by a bored call girl dressed up like a UN peacekeeper, and the cawing begins: So much for family values! Just because some people fail to live up to particular ideas doesn’t mean those ideas aren’t important. Getting caught doing something you said was wrong doesn’t mean it’s really right. We’re all fallible mortals down here, but that doesn’t mean no one can offer opinions about how we best might live. There are higher ideals that transcend the clay-footed stumblings of the people who speak in their name. A qualified hurrah for hypocrisy, then.” —James Lileks

You are spot on James. Spot on.

We should be in it for the long haul

“Democrats have no plan for keeping America safe, or winning the war against the fanatics. They have opposed most of the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance methods. They have opposed aggressive interrogation tactics designed to get information to protect us, including opposition to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees are treated better than they could expect if they were detained in their homelands... The terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere don’t speak of timetables for withdrawal or bringing their fighters home in time for Ramadan. They’re in it for the long haul. They believe we are not. A victory by Democrats next month will validate their view and encourage them to fight harder. Republicans have been far from perfect in this war. They have barely approached mediocrity in their handling of domestic issues. But to change horses and leaders mid-war is a prescription for a longer engagement, because this is a confrontation that will end only in victory or defeat for one side or the other. That’s why the Republicans need to keep their majority and conservatives need to keep the pressure on them to get back to the original GOP principles that brought them that majority. That’s a better strategy than Republicans acting like Democrat-lite.” —Cal Thomas

losing face

“Kim [Jung Il]’s nuclear test—though a small bang in a cave—may have finally wrecked his nuclear racket. South Korea’s ‘sunshine’ policy—intended to nudge North Korea toward modernity—has failed. Kim’s July missile volley ended Japan’s policy of public quiescence and private uneasiness. Likewise, U.S. diplomacy, aimed at ending North Korea’s emerging nuclear threat, has failed. The Clinton administration attempted to buy the nukes with economic carrots, the Bush administration (with its six-nation talks) tried to pry the nukes loose using a diplomatic ‘squeeze.’ Neither gambit worked, because both strategies to be effective relied on steady Chinese cooperation. Which is why the nuke test may boomerang on Pyongyang. North Korea’s July missile volley embarrassed China. The nuclear test appears to have galvanized it... Kim’s nuke test publicly exposes China’s failure—a major power’s failure on its own border. No one likes to lose face, but ‘face’ is particularly important in North Asian diplomacy.”

—Austin Bay

FREE SPEECH

“Free speech means hearing things you like and agree with, and it means allowing others to speak whose views you do not like or agree with. This—listening to the other person with respect and forbearance, and with an acceptance of human diversity—is the price we pay for living in a great democracy. And it is a really low price for such a great thing. We all know this, at least in the abstract. Why are so many forgetting it in the particular?”

—Peggy Noonan

From Bad to Worse

“Supposed Democratic outrage about Mark Foley cannot possibly have anything to do with Foley’s behavior. In the world of the Democratic left, the only intolerance is intolerance. The only evil is to condemn any behavior that takes place between supposedly consenting adults. Democratic outrage about the Foley affair is a simple stage show to provoke voters. Republican leadership leaves a lot to be desired. The party has got to get focused and tighten the reins of management. But there is little question that there is only one party that still gives credence to traditional values, and that is the Republican Party. To flip power over to the Democrats, the party of social chaos, is simply to take a bad situation and make it worse.”

—Star Parker

When to fight?

“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

—Winston Churchill

Democrats miscalculate on Foley mess

By Carol Platt Liebau

"Despite all the left-wing attempts to portray the Foley matter as a symbol of Republican decadence and corruption, it’s revealed much more about the character of the Democratic Party than about the GOP. Examples are plentiful." Continue.

Angelo J. Vaccaro, a real American hero

By Jerry Newberry
"We as a people need to know about the heroes who are fighting our wars. The honest-to-God heroes, not the phony, overpaid over-hyped and too oft-publicized types.

You know the kind I mean.

The heroes I’m talking about are ordinary people under most circumstances but end up doing extraordinary things because they are suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

War is one of those circumstances."

Read More.

October Surprise: Values Voters Rescue the GOP

By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

"The sleeping giant, called the evangelical church, is about to be awakened by true conservative candidates, who believe in both social and fiscal conservatism. These voters will rise up and keep the Senate in the hands of the Republicans and keep the House in a position of relative political parity. For this to happen, individual candidates will have to take off the gloves and differentiate themselves based on their values, philosophy, and track records. This is not running away from President Bush or national issues; it is an attempt to keep candidates from running against the straw man of 'it’s time for a change' or 'change for change sake.' ” More.

2006 Realignment? No

By Michael Barone:

"What would a Democratic victory -- likely now but not certain in the House races, possible if all the close ones go their way in the Senate races -- mean? Would it mean that we are heading into a political realignment, to a time when Republican positions can no longer rally a majority?

Not really, I think. Right now, it doesn't look like Democrats will end up with the kind of popular vote percentage in House elections won by their party in 1974 (up from 46 percent to 58 percent in two years) or Republicans in 1994 (up from 46 percent to 52 percent)." More.

Democrats don’t know how to fight

By W. Thomas Smith, Jr

"Party politics have always made me uncomfortable – I’m an issues man – and when discussions of such have cropped up, I’ve usually gone to great lengths to focus instead on ideologies that cross party lines because most Americans seem to have more in common than not. But just a few weeks shy of midterm elections and with so much at stake in the war on terror, I’m making an exception.

The Democrat Party’s “message is murky,” writes commentator Howard Fineman in a recent article for MSNBC Interactive. “In the Senate, they decry the Mexican fence, then more than half of them vote for it. They label the Iraq war as a mistake, then vote $70 billion more for it. They object to Bush’s torture [sic] bill, yet flinch at a chance to block it in the Senate.”

Fineman’s comments mirror those of the late Democrat Congressman Morris “Mo” Udall, who said of his own team, when Democrats “form a firing squad, we form a circle.”

So why would anyone in their right mind believe that the Democrats could or would do any better in the prosecution of the war on terror than the Republicans? Not that the latter haven’t made mistakes. In fact, there have been some major miscalculations in the prosecution of the war, as there have been in every American conflict since the Colonial era. There also have been innumerable strategic successes and tactical victories on a variety of fronts since 9/11." More.

Filipinos in North Korea told to prepare to leave -- oct17_2006

Philippine News -- Manila Standard Today

"THE government has alerted 18 Filipinos working in North Korea to get ready to fly home as a result of the tensions caused by the communist state’s nuclear testing, a foreign affairs official said yesterday.

The Philippine Embassy in Beijing had sent representatives to the Filipino’s workplaces to alert them for possible movement, the official said.

Five of the 18 work for different United Nations agencies, four are with the British-American Tobacco Co., and the rest are musicians in Mount Kumgan, a popular tourist spot developed by the South Korean firm Hyundai, according to the official."

China erects barbed wire fence along border with North Korea

International Herald Tribune - France
HUSHAN, China - "China has been building a massive barbed wire and concrete fence along parts of its border with North Korea in the most visible sign of Beijing's ..." Read on.

Oral Arguments in the Case Challenging Removal of Cross from LA County Seal will be Held Tomorrow in Federal Appeals Court

News From Thomas More Law Center

ANN ARBOR, MI — "On Tuesday, October 17th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument in a lawsuit brought by the Thomas More Law Center challenging the decision of LA County officials to remove the small cross from the County’s official seal because it is a Christian symbol. The hearing will be held in the Richard H. Chambers U.S. Court of Appeals Building in Pasadena, California.

The cross had been a part of the official seal since 1957. However, as a result of a letter from the ACLU threatening a lawsuit, the LA County supervisors, on June 1, 2004, decided to target the small cross for removal from its official seal because the cross was a symbol of Christianity. The County’s decision set off a firestorm of protest and resulted in the present lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Ernesto Vasquez, a County employee.

Since their decision, LA County officials in cooperation with the ACLU, have begun the process of removing seals with the small cross from county property." Continue reading.

More Dirt on 'Dirty Harry'

Reid to reimburse campaign for donations:
JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - "Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use." Get the "full scoop" here.

The culture of corruption is not a "Republican problem." Nor is it a "Democrat problem." It is what it is. It is a Washington D.C. problem. It is a problem of politics. Politics stink. Shady characters who are control freeks gravitate to politics. They are in love with themselves foremost, and with power, and with the prestige that comes with it. And those who are not, most often, but not always, eventually fall into the lure of Washington politics and what it can do for them. That becomes what is most important to them, with their party's interest taking a back seat; but still of importance. And alas, what's good for the country, is a consideration that does not even show up on their radar screen. A good argument for term limits.

How judges threaten direct democracy.

By John Fund.

What I saw in North Korea.

Editorial by Suki Kim.

U.S. expects China to lead on sanctions

"Top U.S. diplomats yesterday said they expected China to enforce sanctions unanimously passed by the U.N. Security Council to curtail North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons."

I have little faith in China; I don't trust them one bit. North Korea has always been on a leash of China's. I have not decided whether this last development (the nuclear "dud" test) was a case of China giving the DPRK a longer leash or whether the leash broke.

No matter; in either case, China is the "x" factor and they are neither friend or ally. What's bad for the U.S. is good for China.

Wake up and Smell the Hypocrisy

From The American Thinker:

"Pointing out Democrat hypocrisy is like picking the low hanging fruit of contemporary political discussion. They rush at you on a frighteningly regular basis with bushels of the stuff, insisting that you let them put it in your car so you don’t even have to get up! However, sometimes spending a moment or two analyzing the why of such is worthwhile for what it reveals behind the all too commonplace." Read more.

What's the real truth on Korea's nuke test?

If you have a nuclear test and no one sees it and there is no radiation, is it still considered a nuke test? Kim Jong-Il wants us to believe it was so successful, there was no leakage. Well, now our government tells us that they did find some radioactive particles in air samples we took.

I have seen or read Richter scale readings varying from 3.6 to 4 to 4.2 on their "nuke test". This would equate to the equivalent of roughly 600 pounds of TNT exploding. For reference, the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima was 12,500 tons.

The take on this by a fairly reliable source is that the test was a "colossal failure," and behind the scenes, White House officials and scientists at the Pentagon are laughing themselves silly over the failure of the test, believing Kim Jong Il's scientists "screwed-up big time."

How comfortable would you be if you were one of Kim Jong-Il's scientists? You might be scheduled for a long walk on a short plank.

It's also very possible that "the North Korean plutonium stockpile is worthless" with the plutonium being too polluted, bombs can't be made from it. If that were the case, you wouldn't be able to sell it, as such, to other rogue states.

HILLARY

Do you want the 'goods' on Hillary Rodham Clinton? The Conservative Party of New York State (cpnys.org) is offering a 48 page free downloadable e-book in PDF format. The electronic book, which can be read online, or be downloaded should you desire to keep a copy on your hard drive, is called “Hillary Clinton: What Every American Should Know.”

It burrows into Hillary's core beliefs and fleshes out what they consider to be Clinton’s seven “major scandals.”

Christian BA employee to take legal action over suspension for wearing cross

the Daily Mail

"The airline's uniform code states that staff must not wear visible jewellery or other 'adornments' while on duty without permission from management.

It makes exceptions for Muslim and Sikh minorities by allowing them to wear hijabs and turbans.

Under rules drawn up by BA's 'diversity team' and 'uniform committee', Sikh employees can even wear the traditional iron bangle - even though this would usually be classed as jewellery - while Muslim workers are also allowed prayer breaks during work time.

But Miss Eweida, 55, from Twickenham, insisted her cross, which is smaller than a ten pence piece, was not jewellery but an expression of her deep Christian faith.

She questioned why she was being forced to hide her religion when BA's Muslim and Sikh workers could express theirs." Full article.

The cost to fight terrorism has become much too high for the Frenchies

French special forces to quit Afghanistan
Reuters AlertNet

PARIS, Oct 15 - "France plans to withdraw around 200 special forces from southern Afghanistan at the start of next year following a recent upsurge of violence, the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday.

The French military is participating in different missions in Afghanistan and the small special forces team has been under U.S. control since 2003 as part of operation Enduring Freedom.

Nine French troops have died in fighting in Afghanistan and Le Journal du Dimanche said the relatively high death toll had played a part in the decision to withdraw the forces."

Kerry Admits North Korea Cheating On Nuke Agreement In 1997!

From The Strata-Sphere

"John Kerry’s biggest problem for himself and Democrats is his mouth. This morning on Fox News Chris Wallace challenged Kerry about his claim that Bush let NK get the bomb. Wallace said experts say NK began cheating in 1997. Kerry let slip that ‘of course’ NK was cheating on the agreement, and that we knew (in 1997 that would be President Clinton as the ‘we’). Kerry then made the ridiculous claim that if we just let NK keep cheating on their commitments to NOT build a nuclear bomb, then they would not have built a nuclear bomb. The man is borderline delusional. If we let NK continue to violate their promises and work to build a bomb then they won’t??? Scary how close this man came to being President."

Australian Govt mulls Navy ship offer to enforce N Korea sanctions.

"Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says the Federal Government is still deciding whether an Australian Navy ship will be offered to help enforce sanctions against North Korea for its apparent nuclear test.

'In the meantime, we'll also be considering a full ban as the Japanese have done on North Korean vessels visiting Australian ports,' Mr Downer said."

Electing an Anti-Semite in Minneapolis?"

By Warner Todd Huston: "What would you say about a candidate for office that has the following history?" To find out, read on.

Major newpapers endorse DeVoss

wfrv.com

DETROIT (AP) - " Three of Michigan's largest newspapers endorsed Republican Dick DeVos for governor Sunday.

The Detroit News, The Grand Rapids Press and The Oakland Press of Pontiac each noted DeVos' business background as they chose him over incumbent Democrat Jennifer Granholm as the best candidate to lead Michigan out its prolonged economic decline." Read more.

Judge in Saddam trial to set verdict date on Monday

Reuters.com

BAGHDAD - "A judge trying Saddam Hussein for the killing of 148 Shi'ite villagers in the 1980s will set a date on Monday for a verdict in a case that carries the maximum penalty of death by hanging, court officials said." Read more.

Why Liberals Channel Lucifer
Thinking they are like the very angel of light, liberals have taken to forked-tongue talk of late. And though they drone in pleasant tones, the bile their words create are some of the fiercest deceptions ever spoken.

- By Kevin McCullough

PREJUDICES

Third World Country has a good post on The Benefits of Prejudice.

Prejudice can be beneficial. Approaching all pans on a stove or dishes in a microwave as though they were hot; all guns as though they were loaded; all Mass Media Podpeople, politicians and Academia Nut Fruitcakes as though they were pathological liars: these and other prejudicial positions can prevent a lot of pain and injury.

Prejudice is simply a way of classifying and understanding the world around us.

Go read the whole post.

In South, most call for new policy, own nukes

"In less than a week since North Korea claimed to have tested a nuclear weapon, public opinion in the South has turned sharply against a South Korean policy of engaging the enemy in the belief it will eventually bring peace on the divided peninsula."

Well, it didn't take long for North Korea to do a complete 180. They want to play nice now. How long it will last is anybody's guess.

My guess is it won't last long.

Yahoo! News
N. Korea urges more talks on denuclearization of Korean peninsula

MOSCOW - "North Korea wants six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula to continue, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev said Sunday following talks with his North Korean counterpart.

'The North Korean side several times returned to the point that the six-sided process should continue, that it is not rejecting six-sided negotiations, and that the aim of the full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula remains,' Interfax news agency quoted Alexeyev as saying.

Alexeyev made the comments in Beijing en route to Seoul from Pyongyang, where he held talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Ky-kwan.

'My North Koreans colleagues several times mentioned that Pyongyang would not under any circumstances pass on its nuclear capabilities to another country, or use it against anyone,' Alexeyev said."

Quoting Alexeyev, RIA Novosti news agency said: 'They said that only after analysing the UN resolution would they plan the subsequent character of their actions and set the outlines of the steps and measures that will be taken, including in relation to the resumption of the six-sided process in the near future." Read more.

Democrat Lawmaker accused of assaulting pro-life leader

Operation Rescue chief hurt in encounter at rally for Kansas governor

Pakistan foils coup plot

Asia Times Online

KARACHI - "A plot to stage a coup against Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf soon after his recent return from the US has been uncovered, resulting in the arrest of more than 40 people.

Most of those arrested are middle-ranking Pakistani Air Force officers, while civilian arrests include a son of a serving brigadier in the army. All of those arrested are Islamists, contacts in Rawalpindi, where the military is based, divulged to Asia Times Online.

The conspiracy was discovered through the naivety of an air force
officer who this month used a cell phone to activate a high-tech rocket aimed at the president's residence in Rawalpindi. The rocket was recovered, and its activating mechanism revealed the officer's telephone number. His arrest led to the other arrests." Continue reading.

Kim Jong-il ethnic 'cult' killing 'racially impure'

WorldNetDaily

North Korean regime obsessed with purity, belief in master race, deification of leader

"A growing body of testimony is vindicating President Bush's charge that North Korea is a member of the 'axis of evil' – refugees are reporting the killing of disabled infants and forced abortions of babies believed fathered by Chinese men in an obsessive program based on mystical notions of Korean racial superiority.

At a forum in Seoul, South Korea, several refugees from the north described a policy of state eugenics carried out with extreme repression.

'There are no people with physical defects in North Korea,' said Ri Kwang-chol, a North Korean doctor who escaped last year. Babies with defects are killed by medical staff and quickly buried, he told the London Times.

Among the 'physical defects' that will get a baby killed – even one in the womb – is being half-Chinese." Continue reading.