hANS bLIX: North Korea situation more urgent

NDTV.com
NDTV Correspondent

Saturday, November 11, 2006 (Stockholm):

"Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said that the situation in North Korea is more urgent than Iran.

He said North Korea's nuclear test were more serious than the 'tiny' quantity of uranium possessed by Iran.

Blix is also the chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission set up by Sweden's government three years ago to pump new life into global disarmament efforts and help free the world of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons."

Bridge to Somewhere

The House GOP needs a new generation of leaders.

OpinionJournal - Featured Article:
As they lick their wounds, Republicans are no doubt wondering what went wrong and what to do now. The answers aren't all that complicated: Revive the reform convictions that earned them power in the 1990s, and start that process in the House of Representatives by electing a new slate of leaders.

Twelve years ago, the Newt Gingrich-led Republicans swept into power as reformers who ran against corruption and pledged to make government 'smaller and smarter.' Somehow, across the years, that conviction was replaced by Tom DeLay and the quest for permanent incumbency, Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis and the 'earmark' brigade, and a retinue of Beltway retainers symbolized by Jack Abramoff. The current leadership let it all happen, and if Republicans want a shot at regaining control in 2008 they'll turn to a new generation to lead them." Continue reading.....

Detained Iran-bound North Korea ship baffles India

MUMBAI (Reuters) - "India has detained an empty North Korean cargo ship bound for Iran after it strayed into Indian waters, baffling coast guard officials and police about the purpose of its voyage.

'MV Omrani-II' developed a snag and entered Indian waters on October 29 and was towed to the Mumbai Port where the crew was being questioned by Indian intelligence and customs officials.

'The crew has not been able to explain why they were sailing an empty vessel to Iran,' a senior coast guard official told Reuters on condition of anonymity on Thursday.

However a senior official at the Directorate General of Shipping said: 'They have told us that because it is a new ship they were testing it. But it is strange that they should need to sail as far as Iran.'"

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly
or too often that this great nation was
founded, not by religionists, but by
Christians; not on religions, but on
the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this
very reason peoples of other faiths
have been afforded asylum, prosperity,
and freedom of worship here."

-- Patrick Henry

Bush Meets With Pelosi; Both Vow Cooperation

washingtonpost.com: "President Bush, confronted face to face with the reality of divided government, broke bread with the two top House Democrats at the White House and vowed not to allow partisan divisions to hobble the remaining two years of his presidency."

THE NONSENSE IS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE

BBC NEWS:

Lawyers 'can wear veils in court'

"Legal advisers and solicitors may wear the Islamic veil in court unless it interferes with the 'interests of justice', judges have been told.

The judiciary were told to use their discretion to interpret the temporary guidance, which covers all courts.

The advice was issued by immigration tribunals chief Mr Justice Hodge after a case had to be halted when a legal adviser refused to remove her veil."

New majority plans early security push

Aviation officials say that may mean policies that could cripple industry

USATODAY.com: WASHINGTON — "Democrats say they will use their majority in Congress to strengthen domestic security by putting millions of dollars into technology at airports and ports and increasing government oversight.

But they also may push policies that aviation officials say could cripple the industry, such as requiring screening of all cargo before it's put on passenger planes.

House Democrats made domestic security a centerpiece of their campaign this year and vowed to fulfill all the 9/11 Commission's recommendations. “Real security” is the first of six policies Democrats will push when they take control of Congress in January, according to a manifesto they recently published to highlight differences with Republicans."

RNC asks Steele to replace Mehlman

The Washington Times: "Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party just lost both chambers of Congress, will leave his position in January, and the post as party chief has been offered to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

'It is true,' Mr. Mehlman told The Washington Times when asked about reports last night that he would resign. 'It's something I decided over the summer. No one told me I needed to. In fact, folks wanted me to stay.'

Mr. Mehlman said he 'told the White House over the summer it was my decision' to leave the RNC post, 'win, lose or draw.'

Also last night, Republican officials told The Times that Mr. Steele, who lost his bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, has been sought out to succeed Mr. Mehlman as national party chairman. Those Republican officials said Mr. Steele had not made a decision whether to take the post, as of last night.

Other Republican Party officials said some Republican National Committee (RNC) members, including state party chairmen, have mounted a move to have Mr. Steele succeed Mr. Mehlman."

Iraqis united on post-vote concerns

The Washington Times: "Iraq's feuding Shi'ite and Sunni politicians both expressed hopes yesterday that Republican political setbacks and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would not trigger an abrupt U.S. military withdrawal from the country.

Although Mr. Rumsfeld's departure inspired few tears in the region, political leaders in Iraq and across the Middle East were worried how the midterm vote would affect U.S. commitments and policy in the region.

The embattled government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said it took heart from President Bush's statements that major Democratic gains in Tuesday's midterm elections will not lead U.S.
forces to abandon the mission in Iraq.

And Qais Abu Ahmed, a member of the Sunni Arab minority, said that despite widespread Iraqi frustration with the foreign military presence, 'any withdrawal of the American army would be a big disaster.'

'There would be at the very least a civil war, if not a major massacre, the next day,' he said."

MI5 tracking '30 UK terror plots'

BBC NEWS : "MI5 knows of 30 terror plots threatening the UK and is keeping 1,600 individuals under surveillance, the security service's head has said.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller warned the threat was 'serious' and 'growing'.

She said future attacks could be chemical or nuclear and that many of the plots were linked to al-Qaeda.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the terrorist threat was 'very real' and spoke of 'poisonous propaganda' warping the minds of young people."

Bolton May Not Return As U.N. Envoy

washingtonpost.com: "Key lawmakers said yesterday they would block the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, all but killing chances for him to remain in the post past December.

For nearly 20 months, President Bush has tried, unsuccessfully, to get Bolton confirmed in a job he has held since August 2005. Bolton then received a recess appointment after not getting enough support in the Senate."

U.S. will train Latin American militaries

Ban lifted to offset trend toward left

USATODAY.com: "WASHINGTON — Concern about leftist victories in Latin America has prompted President Bush to quietly grant a waiver that allows the United States to resume training militaries from 11 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The administration hopes the training will forge links with countries in the region and blunt a leftward trend. Daniel Ortega, an adversary of the United States in the region during the 1980s, was elected president in Nicaragua this week. Bolivians chose another leftist, Evo Morales, last year.

A military training ban was originally designed to pressure countries into exempting U.S. soldiers from war crimes trials.

The 2002 U.S. law bars countries from receiving military aid and training if they refuse to promise immunity from prosecution to U.S. servicemembers who might get hauled before the International Criminal Court. The law allows presidential waivers."

U.S. group again seeks charges against Rumsfeld

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights again will seek criminal charges against outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a German court over detainee treatment at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons.

The complaint also will name Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, former CIA director George Tenet, high-ranking military officers and others.

The center hopes German prosecutors will take up the case under Germany's universal jurisdiction law, which allows them to pursue certain cases originating anywhere in the world, a spokeswoman said on Friday."

Howard Dean to Jon Stewart: We Won't Impeach Bush

"NEW YORK Appearing on Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show' tonight, Democratic Party chief Howard Dean told host Jon Stewart, 'I know half your audience wants us to impeach the president'-- this drew wide cheers -- 'but it's not going to happen.'"

McCain Begins Preliminary White House Run

ABC News: "His party may have taken 'a thumpin',' in the words of President Bush, but ABC News has learned that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his political team have decided it's full steam ahead for his 2008 presidential campaign though he has yet to make the final, official decision."

Analyst: Focus on Future, Not Rumsfeld’s Past
The new Democratic-led Congress should work with President Bush and his new defense secretary to secure the nation and win in Afghanistan and Iraq and not argue about outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, said analysts at one conservative organization. The ACLU is calling for an investigation into what it called “the gross abuse of power committed under [Rumsfeld’s] watch.”

Dems Face May Tough Road Ahead
In winning control of both houses of Congress, the Democratic Party has a chance to change the national political agenda, but some doubt they will have the stage for more than two years...

Conservative Lawmaker Sees ‘Time to Reflect’
American voters used the midterm elections to encourage Republicans to “reflect on how we govern, honestly assess our shortcomings, and propose the best way to move forward,” according to House Majority Whip Roy Blunt...

House GOP Leaders Must ‘Walk the Walk,’ Conservatives Say
As Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives prepare to choose officers for the next two years, analysts said Republicans need leaders who would not just “talk the talk,” but also “walk the walk” regarding conservative values and principles...

Iran, Syria Relieved That Democrats Won
Jerusalem – Iran and Syria say the Democratic win in the U.S. Congress and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could relieve the pressure on them. The Syrian Information Minister noted that incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes the war in Iraq. “This lady has made the word of the American people audible,” he said. “And this is very comfortable.”

Ohhhhhhhhh Nooooooooo......Sen. Lincoln Chafee May Leave GOP

And that is going to hurt the GOP ....... just how?

"Two days after losing a bid for a second term, Sen. Lincoln Chafee said he was unsure whether he would remain a Republican."

You never were a Republican, sir.....

"Chafee lost to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in a race seen as a referendum on President Bush and the GOP. On Thursday, he was asked whether he would stick with the Republican Party or become an independent or Democrat."

It may have been a referendum, in part, on George Bush, and in part on the war in Iraq, whether we should be there or not, or in part on wanting a course change in Iraq. Who knows to what degree each or any of these factors weighed in on the decision making process of the most recent elections. But I submit, that many voters cast votes, or stayed home, in protest of Republicans not staying on the conservative track. Lincoln Chafee, as we all know, was no conservative. He was part of the Republican problem. Good riddance to him.

'I haven't made any decisions. I just haven't even thought about where my place is,' Chafee said at a news conference. When pressed on whether his comments indicated he might leave the GOP, he replied: 'That's fair.'

He doesn't know where his place is? He has no place. He lost it. The RHINO is at large - in the wilderness - with no job - with no party. Go ahead switch partys. The GOP will be better of without ya'.

"Chafee, 53, is a lifelong Republican who has represented Rhode Island for seven years. His father held the same seat for 23 years before that."

Mississippi Rep. Rips Rangel's Smear

"A Mississippi congressman says Rep. Charles Rangel of New York owes the Southern state an apology, and he asks if insults are what Mississippi should expect when Democrats take over leadership in Congress.

Rangel, a Democrat, was quoted in The New York Times on Thursday saying: 'Mississippi gets more than their fair share back in federal money, but who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?' Rangel said he didn't intend to insult the state, but Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss., issued a sharp statement criticizing the choice of words."

Rep. Waxman: Too Many Bush Probes from Which to Choose

"The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.

There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, political interference in regulatory decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of war profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

'I'm going to have an interesting time because the Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over everything,' Waxman said Friday, three days after his party's capture of Congress put him in line to chair the panel. 'The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose.' " Read on.

Al-Masri Tape Mocks Bush, Military

"A new recording Friday attributed to the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq mocked President Bush as a coward whose conduct of the war was rejected at the polls, challenging him to keep U.S. troops in the country to face more bloodshed.

'We haven't had enough of your blood yet,' taunted terror chieftain Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, identified as the speaker on the tape.

He gloated over Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation, claimed to have 12,000 fighters under his command who 'have vowed to die for God's sake,' and said his fighters will not rest until they blow up the White House and occupy Jerusalem." Continue.

Al-Qaida: Army of 12,000 in Iraq

CAIRO, Egypt -- "Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed in a new audio tape Friday to be winning the war faster than expected in Iraq and said it had mobilized 12,000 fighters who had 'vowed to die for God's sake.'

The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported that three U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed Thursday in Iraq, the U.S. military said, bringing the number of Americans who have died in the country so far this month to 25. At least 105 U.S. forces died in October, the fourth highest monthly toll of the war.

On the audio tape made available on militant Web sites, the al-Qaida in Iraq leader also welcomed the Republican electoral defeat that led to the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. He added that the group's fighters would not rest until they had blown up the White House." More.

Democrats aren't the only ones declaring victory this week

Reuters reports from Tehran:

"Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush's defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran.

Bush has accused Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb, being a state sponsor of terrorism and stoking sectarian conflict in Iraq, all charges Tehran denies.

"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday.

"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."

James Taranto at Opinion Journal says, ..... "we are hopeful that the Democrats will do everything possible to prove him wrong."

Indeed.

WorldTribune.com: Saudi analyst: Iran in control, Iraq a 'lost battle'

WASHINGTON — "A leading Saudi analyst has termed the three-year, U.S.-led stabilization campaign in Iraq a 'lost battle.'

Nawaf Obaid, managing director of the Saudi National Security Assessment project, said the United States has failed to win the insurgency war in Iraq. Obaid envisions the splintering of Iraq into ethnic regions, with Iran as the dominating force.

At a two-day conference on U.S.-Arab relations in Washington, Obaid, an adviser to the Saudi royal family, said violence would increase in Iraq." More....

AIran trains thousands of 'martyrdom seekers'

NICOSIA — "Iran has reported the formation of an army of suicide fighters which it hailed as 'trained professionals' with the mission of countering a ground invasion.

Iranian officials said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has recruited thousands of people and trained them for suicide missions. The officials said the recruits were taught how to blow themselves up in front of oncoming enemy main battle tanks and troop carriers as well as how to cross minefields.

'The Revolutionary Guards does not only depend on its technological might because it has thousands of martyrdom seekers and they are ready for martyrdom-seeking operations on a large scale,' IRGC commander Gen. Yahya Safavi said.

In an interview on Iran'a Al Alam television on Nov. 5, Safavi called the suicide troops 'trained professionals', Middle East Newsline reported. He said the troops would be used to stop any ground invasion of Iran."

Continue reading.....

Memo to the winners: No easy fixes for Iraq, Iran, N. Korea

"It‘s always tempting to believe extremely complex problems could be solved with sufficient resolve and bold action. Alexander the Great — ironically a traditional hero of Islam [the name Iskander abounds] as well as in the Graeco-Roman West — mythologically accomplished just that. When confronted with prophecy whoever untied a difficult knot would rule Asia, Alexander simply took out his sword and slashed it, going on to victory after victory to establish the greatest empire the world had ever known. In legend the brave and the beautiful, armed with Danton's “toujours d'audace” — always daring — go on to victory. But in the real world, it is well to remember Alexander’s empire lasted only his short lifetime." Read more of Sol Sanders at World Tribune.

U.S. more than quadruples its robot order for Iraq

A Talon EOD robot on duty in Iraq.
Army-Technology.com

WASHINGTON — "The U.S. military plans a dramatic expansion in what has been deemed a successful robot operation against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Officials said the military has has more than quadrupled its order, with a contract for 1,200 robots to detect and neutralize roadside bombs. The robots would be delivered to the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units of every service in the military." More details.

U.S. naval armada set to sail into Gulf to 'intimidate' Iran

WASHINGTON — "The U.S. Navy has gathered aircraft carriers and troop transports for entry in the central Gulf. Included, officials said, were at least 10 warships that would arrive in the region over the next few days." More at WorldTribune.com

Rush Limbaugh: Why Republicans Lost

"Republicans took a beating on Election Day because they abandoned their conservative principles and in the end stood for nothing, Rush Limbaugh says."

"Liberalism didn’t win anything yesterday; Republicanism lost. Conservatism was nowhere to be found except on the Democratic side.

The root of the problem, Rush said, is that 'our side hungers for ideological leadership and we’re not getting it from the top. Conservatism was nowhere to be found in this campaign from the top. The Democrats beat something with nothing. They didn’t have to take a stand on anything other than their usual anti-war positions. They had no clear agenda and they didn’t dare offer one. Liberalism will still lose every time it’s offered.'

Republicans, Rush said, allowed themselves to be defined. 'Without elected conservative leadership from the top Republicans in the House and Senate republicans are free to freelance and say the hell with party unity.' ”

"I consider the government of the U.S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises." -- Thomas Jefferson

Why Republicans Lost

"With one Republican bastion after another falling as returns poured in for Democrats Tuesday night, the GOP's carefully constructed defenses crumbled. The party's barriers failed to prevent the election from being a referendum on Iraq, George W. Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress. It was a failure of concept as well as execution." Read on....

INCOMING MODERATED DEMOCRATS

Incoming Democrats Will Bring Moderation, Experts Predict
The newly elected members of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives will force the party’s leadership to shift to the center in the name of maintaining control, according to political analysts...

HeavyHanded is not so sure about this assessment. The incoming freshman legislators presumably will do as they are told. Speaker-to-be Pelosi will tell them to tow the party line on major issues if they want to have a chance to make a career out of it. She is going to have a hard enough time holding the reins on the powerful activists such as Conyers, Waxman, etc. and their liberal agenda and want of investigations for everything under the sun (that is if she even wants to); she will not tolerate "newbies" running off the plantation promoting their own agendas and voting their own "minds".

LAND GRAB

Nine States Vote to Limit Gov’t Land-Grab Powers
Voters in 11 states on Tuesday considered the government’s ability to take land for use in private development, and nine voted in favor of greater restrictions on the government...

Reid Backs Lieberman -- now.

Lieberman who had been the most senior ranking Dem on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee apparently now has Dirty Harry Reid's support .... for chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.

Senator Lieberman, thrown under the bus by the Dems and losing in the primary, ran for the Senate anyway, as an independent, and won re-election for his senate seat. The idea of forming a Homeland Security Department was his brainchild so it does make some sense for him to be the chairman of this powerful committee and a way for Dirty Harry to reward Lieberman for being a good Democrat Independent. Lieberman has said he would continue voting with the Democratic Senate Caucus.

The election was a referendum on GOP failure.

Tuesday's Democratic election victory was by any measure decisive, yet in the perspective of history also unsurprising. In the sixth year of a two-term Presidency, Americans rebuked Republicans on Capitol Hill who had forgotten their principles and a President who hasn't won the Iraq war he started. While a thumping defeat for the GOP, the vote was about competence, not ideological change." Continue reading, The election was a referendum on GOP failure, at OpinionJournal.

End of the Revolution: Advice to Republicans

Dick Armey:
"I've always wondered why Republicans insist on acting like Democrats in hopes of retaining political power, while Democrats act like us in order to win"..........................

....................."Moving forward, my advice to Republicans is simple: Don't go back and check on a dead skunk. The question Republicans now need to answer is: How do we once again convince the public that we are in fact the party many Democrats successfully pretended to be in this election? To do so, Republicans will need to shed their dominant insecurities that the public just won't understand a positive, national vision that is defined by economic opportunity, limited government and individual responsibility.

We need to remember Ronald Reagan's legacy and again stand for positive, big ideas that get power and money out of politics and government bureaucracy and back into the hands of individuals. We also need again to demonstrate an ability to be good stewards of the taxpayers' hard-earned money. If Republicans do these things, they will also restore the public's faith in our standards of personal conduct. Personal responsibility in public life follows naturally if your goal is good public policy." Read the rest at OpinionJournal

Bush eyes Democrats for help on amnesty

insider.washingtontimes.com: "President Bush yesterday said he will team up with Democrats to pass an immigration bill with a guest-worker program that his own party blocked this year, and his Republican opponents predicted a bloody intraparty fight but said they cannot stop such a bill from passing.
'We will fight it, we will lose. It will go to the Senate, it will pass. The president will sign it. And it will happen quickly because that's one thing they know they can pass,' said Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican and chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, who had led the opposition to a guest-worker plan. 'I am absolutely horrified by this prospect, but I have to face reality.' "

I am licking my wounds. Obvious disappointment in Tuesday's election results. I was not all impressed with Pres. Bush's press conference yesterday either for many reasons, with the above news story as perhaps my biggest concern.

Parties May Misread Results

"Thus, Bush haters in Congress will see a Democratic victory as a mandate to take the president’s administration apart through oversight and harassment. The word on the street is that the subpoenas have already been prepared and will be served as soon as the next Congress convenes and it’s a sure bet that Democratic staffers are preparing legislative proposals on every issue under the sun that reflects the new liberal mandate they expect today." - David Keene

Mexico's Fox has it backwards

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.,

SAN DIEGO -- "Mexican President Vicente Fox recently raised eyebrows north of the border when he said that Mexicans ought to be grateful for their heritage and asked them to imagine what life would be like had they been born in -- gasp -- the United States.

Well, for one thing, they'd have a much shorter commute to work." Read on....

The rape of justice

"Nothing should be surprising any more about the Duke University rape case. Still, it is a little staggering that, after all these months, District Attorney Mike Nifong has still not interviewed either the accuser or the accused.

Rape is a felony with serious consequences for all concerned. You might think that the District Attorney would have some interest in determining whose story is credible and whose story is full of holes." By Thomas Sowell. Read more.

“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” — James Madison

Media: U.S. Should Throw Billions of Dollars at Global Warming

What will new Congress do? Though emissions-lowering programs have failed around the world, the media continue to embrace plans for more regulation that could crush the American economy.

SOURCE: Business & Media Institute

"How will the new Congress handle world pressure on the “dire” threat of global warming? If the media had their way, the United States would give in and join programs that are proven failures – costing taxpayers up to $180 billion per year in the process.

World leaders are meeting this week in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss a new climate change agreement, and the idea du jour is to make the United States pay up.

The existing Kyoto Protocol, which the United States did not endorse, doesn’t expire until 2012, but the United Nations climate conference aims to decide where the world goes from that pact. Greenhouse gases’ contribution – indeed, humans’ contribution – to global warming remains very much in dispute, but that hasn’t stopped the left-wing crusade against carbon dioxide and other gases." Read more.

HeavyHanded wants to know if Pres. Bush will have any testicular fortitude left to fight the good fight and against ideas such as this, or is he going to lie down and give the Dems everything they want?

Plan to create human-cow embryos

UK scientists have applied for permission to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs.

"Researchers from Newcastle University and Kings College, London, have asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a three-year licence." More at BBC NEWS

MISTAKES

“Some Big Mistakes are made impulsively, on the spur of the moment, while others are made after considerable reflection. In the latter case, the problem usually is that the person allows his intellect to get trampled by his emotions.”

-- Robert Ringer, author and speaker

Al Qaeda Briton 'plotted to kill thousands'

the Daily Mail: "Al Qaeda terrorists planned to use 'dirty bombs' to blow up the Heathrow Express or a Tube train passing under the Thames, a court heard today.

Dhiren Barot, 34, also plotted to strike at the West End's leading hotels and mainline railway stations." Continue....

ABOUT FRANCOIS KERRY

"Whatever he [Francois Kerry]may or may not have intended (and 'I was making a joke about how stupid Bush is but I'm the only condescending liberal in America too stupid to tell a Bush-is-stupid joke without blowing it' must rank as one of the all-time lame excuses), what he said fits what too many upscale Dems believe: that America's soldiers are only there because they're too poor and too ill-educated to know any better. That's what they mean when they say 'we support our troops.' They support them as victims, as children, as potential welfare recipients, but they don't support them as warriors and they don't support the mission.

So their 'support' is objectively worthless. The indignant protest that 'of course' 'we support our troops' isn't support, it's a straddle, and one that emphasizes the Democrats' frivolousness in the post-9/11 world. A serious party would have seen the jihad as a profound foreign-policy challenge they needed to address credibly." -- Mark Steyn

Read more Mark Steyn .

Cast of Characters: Part IV

"This year's elections are not only contests between Democrats and Republicans, they are contests in which the mainstream media are not simply observers and reporters but active partisans.

Remember how the media carried on for weeks about Vice President Cheney's hunting accident? How a Time magazine reporter had a temper tantrum at a White House press briefing because the news wasn't released soon enough -- as if this hunting accident had any significance for the nation, beyond those in the media who were frustrated at being deprived of a Sunday talk show feeding frenzy?

Remember how long we were told that the Bush administration had committed a crime by revealing the identity of a CIA 'agent' as revenge for her husband's having attacked administration policy? Indignant editorials in print and on the air practically salivated at the prospect of seeing Vice President Cheney, or at least Republican strategist Karl Rove, frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.

It was a terrible crime, as portrayed in the media, when they thought it would discredit the Bush administration. Now, very belatedly, it turns out that the leak did not originate in the Bush administration after all, but with a critic of that administration, Richard Armitage."

Read more Thomas Sowell.

Let's Depoliticize Research

“Stem cell research needs neither government money nor politics. It is better to get the government out and let the private sector continue its good work. Those people calling for increased funding could take out their checkbooks and support it. Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research would not be forced to pay for it. The vast majority of medical and scientific breakthroughs in this country’s history have been accomplished by the private sector. There’s no reason for stem cell research to be any different. Let’s end the political debate, and get back to scientific research.”

— Michael Tanner

WAVING THE WHITE FLAG NOT THE ANSWER

“Democrats believe in immediate withdrawal from Iraq. If they succeed in forcing us to leave under these circumstances, the United States will suffer a stinging defeat in the war on terror. The terrorists already believe that they drove the Russians from Afghanistan and Israel from Lebanon and Gaza. They are convinced they chased us out of Lebanon in 1983 and from Somalia in 1993. According to Osama bin Laden and those who share his views, we are militarily strong but psychologically and spiritually weak. Like it or not—and no one likes it—we cannot leave Iraq now without utterly and decisively validating this analysis. We might as well run a white flag up the flagpole at the Capitol.”

— Mona Charen

PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Partial Birth Abortion Cases This Week

"ANN ARBOR, MI — The day after the November 7th general elections, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the 2003 federal ban on partial birth abortions in two cases: Gonzales v. Carhart, an appeal from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Nebraska, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, an appeal from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, submitted a friend of the court brief in the Carhart case supporting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s efforts to uphold the ban. Their brief was filed on behalf of the Law Center, the National Pro-Life Alliance, a nonpartisan coalition of over 600,000 pro-life Americans, and the Catholic League, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization.

The 2003 law bans a particularly barbaric and gruesome abortion procedure used in the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy where the unborn child is removed from the mother’s womb except for the head. The doctor punctures the child’s head, sucks out the brains in order to collapse the skull, and then removes the dead child for the mother.

Immediately after the 2003 Act was signed into law, pro-abortion groups filed lawsuits in New York, San Francisco, and Lincoln, Nebraska. Lower courts and appellate courts found the ban unconstitutional in all three cases." Read more Thomas More Law Center.

Ahmadinejad clamps down on speech

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

TEHRAN -- "Newspapers have been closed, intellectuals arrested, satellite dishes confiscated and Internet traffic disrupted in what is seen as a delayed crackdown more than a year after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became Iran's president.

The trend is prompting some reformers and traditionalists to come together in an unlikely alliance to oppose the president.

The state-owned newspaper Iran reopened recently after a six-month closure prompted by a caricature that mocked ethnic Turks, Iran's most powerful minority, which sparked weeks of rioting. But several reformist journals remain off the shelves.

Iran's leading pro-reform daily, Shargh, was shut down in September, as was Nameh, a political journal with liberal leanings. On Oct. 19, a new moderate daily employing many of Shargh's journalists was pulled from circulation and banned from publishing political news or analysis. Foreign reporters also have been expelled.

It is all part of a crackdown that many Iranian commentators have been predicting since the election of Mr. Ahmadinejad in June 2005. In recent months, several intellectuals and political activists have been arrested and a series of measures put in place to restrict Iranians' access to information from abroad." Read more...

Elizabeth Dole: Democrats Content to Lose in Iraq

"The head of the GOP Senate campaigns on Sunday sought to deflect growing criticism about the war in Iraq, saying her party will prevail in Tuesday's elections partly because 'Democrats appear to be content with losing.'

Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., acknowledged that Republicans face a tight race to maintain control of the Senate, but that voters will focus more narrowly on local issues. Democrats need to take six seats to gain power in the 100-member Senate.

'It's no question it's a very tough cycle,' said Dole, noting that midterm elections are historically rough for the same party as the president.

On Iraq, she said: 'We need to win the war, and it would be disastrous to lose.'

'To pull out and withdraw is losing. The Democrats appear to be content with losing,' she said." Continue....

TAINTED JOURNALISM

I saw, on the Drudge Report last night, his link to the Vanity Fair piece, and feeling that it was going to not only be a hit piece, but a report short on facts, I did skim the article very quickly and dismissed it as garbage .... a last minute attempt to "lob one more hail of bullets", as Rush would say, at the administration and the war on terror and our effort in Iraq, before we go to the voting booth on Tuesday.

It is unfortunate that it is at the point now where whenever I read "news accounts", I have to assume that it is not factual nor real journalism before I immerse myself in whatever drivel they are spooning out.

Reading Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters, it appears my take was spot on about the Vanity Fair piece.

Importing Poverty:

Immigration and Poverty in the United States: "In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty with the goal of eliminating poverty in the United States. Since that time, the U.S. has spent over $11 trillion on anti-poverty programs, providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and services to the poor and near poor. Today, government provides a generous system of benefits and services to both the working and non-working poor. While government continues its massive efforts to reduce poverty, immigration policy in the U.S. has come to operate in the opposite direction, increasing rather than decreasing poverty. Immigrants with low skill levels have a high probability of both poverty and receipt of welfare benefits and services." Continue.

The 2006 choice

"If conservatives believe enough has not been done to advance their agenda, let them work to elect more conservatives, not hand control of Congress over to a party controlled by far-left liberals who have no intention of moderating their tone or watering down their beliefs after the election." Read more

Thomas More Law Center Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Ninth Circuit Decision Eliminating Parents' Fundamental Rights

ANN ARBOR, MI—"The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has submitted a friend of the court brief to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of itself and six United States Congressmen urging the Court to overturn the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Fields v. Palmdale School District, which held that public schools may impart any sexually based information to elementary school children as the schools sees fit, even if parents would object on religious or moral grounds." Continue reading at the Thomas More Law Center.

Black ministers with clout back Ehrlich

insider.washingtontimes.com: BALTIMORE -- "Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. received the endorsement yesterday of a half-dozen black ministers who could sway Democratic voters in the battlegrounds of Prince George's County and Baltimore to cross party lines in the election Tuesday.

Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican, stood on a street corner in South Baltimore surrounded by the ministers and touted his record of reaching out to minorities and implementing policies for urban voters, including programs for drug treatment instead of prison time.

'This is an agenda for people regardless of color,' he said. 'This is white and black and Hispanic and Republican and Democratic. We are changing Maryland for the better.'

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, the Democratic nominee for governor, said yesterday during his final campaign run that he has stopped trying to win over undecided voters as he focused on rallying party faithful to get to the polls."