CAIR Revealed

An interesting read by INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY.

Trail Of Terror: We've wondered why the Council on American-Islamic Relations director has spurned Senate invitations to answer terror charges. Now we know.

For the first time, evidence in a major federal terror case puts CAIR's current executive director — Nihad Awad — at a Philadelphia meeting of alleged Hamas leaders that was secretly recorded by the FBI.

After the Associated Press last week reported the bombshell, CAIR denied claims of ties to Hamas. "That's one of those urban legends about CAIR," said Parvez Ahmed, CAIR's chairman. "It's fed by the right-wing, pro-Israeli blogosphere."

In fact, the evidence was revealed by an FBI agent who testified at the terror-financing trial under way in Dallas.

Her name is Lara Burns, and she's the lead investigator in the case against operators of the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Muslim charity in America. CAIR, which she says received startup funding from HLF, is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, according to court exhibits.

President Bush froze HLF's funds after 9/11. It's now accused of being a Hamas front, and its leaders — including one of CAIR's founding directors — are on trial for allegedly funneling more than $12 million to aid Palestinian suicide-bombing operations.

Burns placed both Awad and his ethnic-Palestinian pal Omar Ahmed, who founded CAIR with Awad, at a Philly meeting last decade where she says Hamas leaders and supporters hatched a plot to disguise funds for Hamas suicide operations as charity for HLF.

Full story.

Human Rights Watch on Hezbollah

Marc Schulman of American Future blogs that "At long last (it took them a year), Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued a report on Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israel during last year’s war. Here’s the first two paragraphs of the summary:

During its armed conflict with Israel from July 12 until August 14, 2006, Hezbollah claimed at various times that its rockets were aimed primarily at military targets in Israel, or that its attacks on civilians were justifiable as a response to Israel’s indiscriminate fire into southern Lebanon and as a tool to draw Israel into a ground war. In fact, the former claim is refuted by the large number of rockets that hit civilian objects far removed from any military targets, whereas the latter arguments are inadmissible under international humanitarian law.

Hezbollah forces in Lebanon fired thousands of rockets into Israel, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian structures. Hezbollah’s means of attack relied on unguided weapons that had no capacity to hit military targets with any precision. It repeatedly bombarded cities, towns, and villages without any apparent effort to distinguish between civilians and military objectives. In doing so, Hezbollah, as a party to an armed conflict governed by international humanitarian law, violated fundamental prohibitions against deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians.

A future HRW report will focus on 'allegations' that Hezbollah repeatedly used civilian shields."

NOT A GOOD THING

"Hardline Islamic law could be introduced across Malaysia under reforms
proposed by the country's chief justice.

As the nation in south-east Asia celebrated 50 years of independence
from Britain yesterday, its government was preparing to discuss a plan that
would revolutionise the legal system put in place by its former colonial
administrators.

As Kuala Lumpur witnessed celebrations that included parades, fireworks
and a fighter-jet fly-by attended by the Duke of York, the proposal pointed to
the deep differences which locals say are poisoning social relations beyond the
glitter and skyscrapers of Malaysia's modern capital city."

Read 'Malaysia considers switch to Islamic law' at the Telegraph.

Wayne Homeowner Kills Intruder

A Dudley, N. C. homeowner shot and killed an intruder who broke into his home early Friday, according to authorities.

Three armed men broke into the home at about 12:30 a.m. while the family was asleep. The three intruders held two adults as hostages, as well as their four children, ages 4, 5 and 8, at gunpoint while ransacking their house.

While the robbery was in progress, one of the suspects fired a shot, causing the man who lives in the house to grab a gun and return fire.

Too bad for Antione Logan Chestnut, 19, of 109 Evelyn Circle in Dudley. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The other two intruders fled in a vehicle. One of the suspects was later arrested, while the third is still at large.

Judge halts illegal immigrant notices

SAN FRANCISCO - The Social Security Administration cannot start sending out letters to employers next week containing notification of more serious penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Ruling on a lawsuit by the nation's largest federation of labor unions against the U.S. government, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the so-called "no-match" letters from going out as planned starting Tuesday.

The AFL-CIO lawsuit, filed this week, claims that new Department of Homeland Security rules outlined in accompanying letters threaten to violate workers' rights and unfairly burden employers. Chesney said the court needs "breathing room" before making any decision on the legality of new penalties aimed at cracking down on the hiring of illegal immigrants.

Full story at YAHOO News.

Mexico trucks to roll on U.S. highways

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration can proceed with a plan to open the U.S. border to long haul Mexican trucks as early as next week after an appeals court rejected a bid by labor, consumer and environmental interests to block the initiative.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco late on Friday denied an emergency petition sought by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and consumer group Public Citizen to halt the start of a one-year pilot program that was approved by Congress after years of legal and political wrangling.

The Transportation Department welcomed the decision and said in a statement that allowing more direct shipments from Mexico will benefit U.S. consumers.

The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement approved broader access for ground shipments from both countries but the Clinton administration never complied with the trucking provision. A special tribunal ordered the Bush administration to do so in 2001.

"This is the wrong decision for working men and women," Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, said in a statement after the court ruling. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law." The Teamsters represents truckers that would be affected by the change.

The emergency stay was sought on grounds the administration's pilot program had not satisfied the U.S. Congress' requirements on safety and other issues. But the appeals court ruled otherwise. Read more.

Lacking Experience

“Sen. Hillary Milhous Clinton has been lumbering around the political landscape talking about herself as commander in chief. She joined the Senate Armed Services Committee as a freshman seven short years ago and has managed to pick up enough military jargon to sound like an Army major on his third tour of duty in the Pentagon’s administrative office. She has taken on the world-weary sound of a veteran European diplomat—although she has not carried out even one day’s duty as a diplomat... Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2000, her only recent professional employment had been as a lawyer in Little Rock, Ark., while her husband, coincidentally, was governor of that state. She represented clients who sometimes had an interest in getting to know her husband better. She has never managed anything larger than a Senate office, although she did exercise the traditional first lady’s prerogative of trying to get various members of her husband’s staff fired... She doesn’t have the government management experience of a Reagan, Carter or Bill Clinton. Nor does she have the international, military or naval experience of an Eisenhower, Hoover or a Franklin Roosevelt...[T]he cliche that she is the experienced candidate is just hooey.”

—Tony Blankley

Going Cold Turkey

It is of my opinion that one of the reasons, of which there are many, that health insurance is so expensive is because insurance companies are forced to include so many benefits in their policies. The insurance company has no option but to comply, or be forced out of business by our government regulators. The consumer has fewer choices, and the options they do have are more expensive because the insurance companies costs are that much higher because of forced coverages.

Consumers should be able to pick and choose what coverages they want included in their insurance plans; this would help bring prices down, and consumers could tailor their coverages to what they need.

Paul Jacob agrees:

“In every state of the union, medical insurance is regulated. In some, it’s heavily, heavily regulated. Oregon legislators, for instance, just added a few new mandatory benefits to all health insurance policies: contraceptives, prosthetics and orthotics, and treatments for injuries caused by intoxication... Do you really wonder why health insurance costs so much? I don’t. The American health care system is addicted to regulation. Our legislators are the pushers. We need to go cold turkey.”

“The interesting and complicated phenomenon of climate change is still being figured out, and as much as those determined to turn it into a crusade of good vs. evil may insist otherwise, the issue of global warming isn’t a closed book. Smearing those who buck the ‘scientific consensus’ as traitors, toadies, or enemies of humankind may be emotionally satisfying and even professionally lucrative. It is also indefensible, hyperbolic bullying. That the bullies are sure they are doing the right thing is not a point in their defense. For as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote long ago, ‘The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding’.”

-- Jeff Jacoby

“Multiculturalism’s goal is not to teach about other cultures, but to promote—by means of distortions and half-truths—the notion that non-Western cultures are as good as, if not better than, Western culture. Far from ‘broadening’ the curriculum, what multiculturalism seeks is to diminish the value of Western culture in the minds of students. But, given all the facts, the objective superiority of Western culture is apparent, so multiculturalists must artificially elevate other cultures and depreciate the West.”

-- Elan Journo

Back to school blues

By Victor Davis Hanson

Last week I went shopping in our small rural hometown, where my family has attended the same public schools since 1896. Without exception, all six generations of us — whether farmers, housewives, day laborers, business people, writers, lawyers or educators — were given a good, competitive K-12 education.

But after a haircut, I noticed that the 20-something cashier could not count out change. The next day, at the electronic outlet store, another young clerk could not read — much less explain — the basic English of the buyer's warranty. At the food market, I listened as a young couple argued over the price of a cut of tri-tip — unable to calculate the meat's real value from its price per pound.

As another school year is set to get under way, it's worth pondering where this epidemic of ignorance came from.

Read on.

The Entangling Relationship With China

By Herb London

While trade sanctions against China are being discussed on Capital Hill, the Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States in a game called “Who will blink first?”

Several leading Chinese Communist officials have warned that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter Congressional plans for trade sanctions. Some have called this China’s “nuclear option” since dumping U.S. bonds could trigger a dollar crash at a moment when the currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.

Read on.

Why I'm a Conservative

Every so often I hear from a self-anointed right-wing commissar that I'm not really a conservative simply because he's disagreed with something I wrote. The most annoying aspect of being called on the carpet is that it serves to remind me that some of those on the right can be every bit as dogmatic and self-righteous as the pinheads on the left.

Read more of Why I'm A Conservative by Burt Prelutsky.

Liberals Plan to Gut FISA

The liberal Center for American Progress organized a panel discussion to criticize a newly-passed bill that expands the Bush administration's wiretapping program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Wednesday.

Read on.

Pyongyang's Upper Hand

Thanks to feckless diplomacy, Kim Jong Il may preserve his nuclear program.

Read on.

The CIA and al-Qaeda

In intelligence it's not so much what you don't know as what you won't know.

Al Qaeda was initially formed in 1988, when the Soviet Union announced the humiliating withdrawal its forces from Afghanistan, whence it had invaded in 1979. The Saudi magnate, Osama bin Laden, and Abdullah Azzam, the charismatic Palestinian co-founder of Hamas, birthed al Qaeda from the Services Bureau (Mektab al-Khidmat) the pair had set up in the mid-1980s to promote the so-called "Arab Afghans"-- Muslims from around the world (but mostly from Arab nations) who flocked to Afghanistan to fight in the jihad.

Read on.

Worrying About Hillary

Many of the Democratic congressmen who ousted Republicans in marginal House districts last year privately express concern about the impact on their re-election prospects if Hillary Clinton is nominated for president.

Because of the strong possibility that Sen. Clinton indeed will be the party's candidate, these congressmen will not openly express their fears. But they dread her impact from the top of the ticket.

Read on.

Uh-oh, Canada

If Canada's national health-care system is so dang wonderful, why are so many Canadians coming to America to pay for their own medical care?

Why is the hip replacement center of Canada in Ohio -- at the Cleveland Clinic, where 10 percent of its international patients are Canadians?

Read on.

Presidential Leapfrog

The nominating process gets curiouser and curiouser.

The way things are going, the first votes in the 2008 Presidential election may yet be cast in 2007, more than 10 months before the national elections next November. This is not an improvement. Read on.

“What was lost in Vietnam was not just a war but American credibility... And, as Iran reminds us, the enduring legacy of the retreat from Vietnam was the emboldening of other enemies.” —Mark Steyn

“Al-Qaida, and its associates and sympathizers throughout the Islamic world and beyond, understand very well what is at stake in Iraq and Afghanistan—and what a glorious opportunity an American defeat there would give them. Do we?”
—Paul Greenberg

“Illegals are responsible for an estimated 1,800 to 2,500 murders each year in the United States... At the lowest estimate, every two years illegals murder almost as many Americans as jihadists in Iraq have killed in the entire war. Instead of bringing the troops home, how about sending the illegals home?”
—Don Feder

“Did you know that when a patient is diagnosed with cancer in the United States, it takes an average of four weeks to begin treatment? It’s 10 months in the United Kingdom. It’s called ‘rationing of care.’ That’s what you get with national health care. When government rations the care, that means bureaucrats are making medical decisions.” —Sen. Tom Coburn

“According to the Statesman, the blogger who ‘outed’ [Sen. Larry] Craig did so in order to ‘nail a hypocritical Republican foe of gay rights.’ But there is nothing hypocritical about someone who is homosexual, believes homosexuality is wrong, and keeps his homosexuality under wraps. To the contrary, he is acting consistent with his beliefs. If he has furtive encounters in men’s rooms, that is an act of weakness, not hypocrisy.” —James Taranto

“The Democratic National Committee Saturday voided Florida’s Democratic primary and stripped the state of its convention delegates. Florida will hold a primary but their votes won’t count. That should get them in practice for the general election.”
-- Argus Hamilton --

Union sues to block new rules forcing employers to fire illegals

Innocent workers could lose their jobs, court filing alleges
By Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle

Labor unions went to court Wednesday to block Bush administration rules designed to force employers to fire illegal workers, saying the regulations will sweep up innocent immigrants and U.S. citizens because of flaws in government record-keeping.

The rules, set to take effect next week, "would place millions of U.S. citizens and (legal) noncitizens ... at risk of losing their jobs" because of government errors and employers' fears of prosecution, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates in San Francisco and Alameda County argued in a U.S. District Court lawsuit.

The unions asked a federal judge in San Francisco for ...

Complete story.

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TB patient to be deported because of illegal status

Four family members also tested positive but are not contagious
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mexican day laborer jailed in Gwinnett County for refusing tuberculosis treatment is an illegal immigrant and officials have begun the deportation process, officials said Wednesday.

Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway said Francisco Santos acknowledged to agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he is in this country illegally.

Full story.

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FEC Fines Political Group From 2004 Race

FEC Fines Political Group From 2004 Race
By JIM KUHNHENN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- An independent political group allied with Democrats and heavily bankrolled by billionaire George Soros has agreed to pay $775,000 to the Federal Election commission for violating campaign laws during the 2004 presidential campaign.The civil penalty, announced Wednesday, is the third largest fine ever levied by the FEC.

Full story @ washingtonpost.com

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Democratic fundraiser is a fugitive in plain sight

California authorities have sought businessman Norman Hsu for 15 years. Since 2004, he has carved out a place of honor raising cash for such candidates as Hillary Rodham Clinton.

WASHINGTON - For the last 15 years, California authorities have been trying to figure out what happened to a businessman named Norman Hsu, who pleaded no contest to grand theft, agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish.

"He is a fugitive," Ronald Smetana, who handled the case for the state attorney general, said in an interview. "Do you know where he is?"

Hsu, it seems, has been hiding in plain sight, at least for the last three years.

Continue reading.

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MoveOn Slams Democrat for 'Flip-Flop' on Iraq

The anti-war group MoveOn.org announced on Wednesday that it is launching an ad campaign against a Democrat -- calling attention to Rep. Brian Baird's support of "President Bush's failed policy in Iraq.

"The Washington State Democrat is acting "against the views of his constituents" and against his previous voting record, the liberal group said.

"Congressman Baird's new position, in favor of keeping our troops in an un-winnable civil war in Iraq, is out of line with the majority of ....

Continue reading.

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Nation of Islam Allowed to Review PBS Documentary on Moderate Muslims

A conflict of interest involving the radical Nation of Islam and the Washington, D.C., affiliate of the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) is an example of unethical journalism that benefits extremist Muslims, according to a national security expert and a Hollywood filmmaker.

Martyn Burke, director of documentary films at ABG Films, and Frank Gaffney, president of the conservative Center for Security Policy, produced a documentary for a PBS series - "America at a Crossroads" - that focused on Muslims in America, Europe, and Canada who speak out against Islamist extremists.

Their documentary, "Islam versus Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center," was, after a protracted battle, rejected in April by WETA, the PBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.The film is going to air on .....

Read on.

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"Your love of liberty - your respect for the laws - your habits of industry - and your practice of the moral and religious obligations, are the strongest claims to national and individual
happiness."

-- George Washington --

Why would the media lose the public's trust?

BY DANIEL HENNINGER

In Search of a New Attorney General

The resignation of Attorney General Gonzales opens up the opportunity for the president to add to his highest rank of advisors a prosecutor skilled in the investigation, indictment prosecution and conviction of terrorists, a spokesman for the vigorous steps taken over the past years to combat terrorism abroad and at home--someone who is a skilled defender of laws such as the recent revisions to the foreign intelligence surveillance act.

Beltway types have warned the president that nominating the wrong person could lead to a bruising battle with the Senate's Judiciary Committee, but as we saw during the hearings of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, most of the Democrats on that committee couldn't bruise a nominee even if given a bag of hammers.

The confirmation hearings of the next Attorney General provide an opportunity to remind the public again of the nature of the war in which we find ourselves, the scale of the threat and the necessity both of a vigorous response and a steady vigilance.

—Hugh Hewitt

“We have tried to apply common sense to our pollution problems... There are three kinds of pollution today: real, hysterical, and political.”
-- Ronald Reagan --

“No doubt one may quote history to support any cause, as the devil quotes the Scripture.” —Learned Hand

“[N]ow we have this tax-averse society, rallied by the Republicans, tax-averse where everything becomes sort of a right-wing, libertarian refusal to let government spend any money or raise any money.” —Eleanor Clift, Newsweek

“If we wore our politics on our sleeves in here, I have no doubt that in this and in most other mainstream newsrooms in America, the majority of those sleeves would be of the same color: blue... That is not particularly surprising, given how people make career decisions and that social service and activism is a primary driver for many journalists.” —David Boardman, Seattle Times

“Since the late 1980s, this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change.” — Sharon Begley, Newsweek

Media Still Using Wrong Number for Uninsured

New Census data shows increase in uninsured, yet no distinction made between Americans and non-citizens.

By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute

It’s like a broken record – the same push for socialized medicine using misreported data from the same government institution. Only this time, the data used is more current. “But there was bad news on this front [the poverty front] as well,” said NBC “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams August 28. “The number of Americans without health insurance has gone up from nearly 45 million in 2005 to 47 million Americans last year.” Williams was wrong. According to the U.S. Census Report, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006,” a little more than 10 million of those uninsured are not citizens of the United States or roughly 22 percent of the total. CBS “Evening News” took it one step further. The network went to .....

Continue reading: Media Still Using Wrong Number for Uninsured

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SCHIP: September Showdown

Congress and the White House are poised for a showdown over reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program before the program expires on September 30, with both houses having passed legislation that the president has vowed to veto.

While President Bush and majorities in both houses of Congress support reauthorization of SCHIP, each offers a very different approach. The president wants Congress to focus on the original intent of the program – to provide coverage for children whose families make too much for them to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private coverage.

The House passed its SCHIP bill by a nearly party-line vote of 225-204 on August 1 that includes greatly-expanded eligibility for SCHIP and other major provisions not directly related to the program. Eighteen Senate Republicans joined 48 Democrats and two Independents in approving a somewhat more modest SCHIP bill by a veto-proof 68-31 vote on August 3. Members will try to reconcile the significant differences between the House and Senate versions when they return from their August recess, but Senate Republican Whip Trent Lott has said if the final conference report “gives one iota beyond” the provisions in the Senate bill, Republicans will withdraw their support.

That means that in order to override a presidential veto, House conferees would have to give up ...

Continue.....

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Networks: Bashing Airlines Is Just the Ticket

Who’s to Blame for Your Delay?

While the networks were quick to blame airlines and CEOs for flight delays, the media were not as willing to blame the government-run air traffic system.

The Boyd Group, an aviation consulting company that has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek and other media, also faults the government-run Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic control (ATC) system.

“The main cause of delays is the decades-long inability of the FAA to construct an ATC system that meets the demands of the air transportation system. The ATC system is not a static set-piece to which we must adjust our aviation system. Instead, it is a vital part of our infrastructure which the FAA has repeatedly failed to keep updated,” states the Boyd Group Web site.

The Boyd Group continued: “The FAA has consistently wasted billions over the past 25 years, often on programs that only get so far and are then cancelled.”

Continue reading.

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Democrats Win Morning-Show Primary

Watching network morning show anchors interview the Democratic presidential candidates often makes you wonder if you've seen tougher interviews on overnight acne-care infomercials. Their questions are often so simple and promotional that you wish they'd just go ahead and wear their "Hillary!" or "Obama '08" buttons on the set.

There is no pretense of political balance. They are actively rooting for a Democratic victory next year, and they have the power to make a real difference. Notwithstanding their overall loss of audience in the last decade, ABC, CBS and NBC morning shows draw nine times the audience of their cable-news competitors and are geared toward the mostly apolitical mainstream, which makes them an important free-media showcase for presidential hopefuls. A new study shows that if this year's campaign coverage on the TV morning shows were a primary election, the Democrats would win in a landslide of attention and hyperbole.

Read on.

Is Larry Craig The Face Of The U.S. Senate?

The simple explanation for the Senate's corruption infection would be a standby aphorism: "power corrupts." But that's too easy. Our Founding Fathers recognized that a body of glory-seeking power players would take advantage of their situation. To that end, they strictly circumscribed the power of the Senate and placed senators under the control of their state legislatures.

Today, however, those controls have been jettisoned. Senators are directly elected, meaning they must find some payoff for voters. That payoff comes in the form of earmarking. As long as the payoffs keep coming, voters keep voting.

This is especially true for Democratic politicians, whose voters are often dependent on the tax dollars their senators bring home. When Republicans engage in sex scandals or clear-cut corruption, they resign or face the wrath of their constituents -- ask Mark Foley, Jack Ryan, Bob Livingston, Bob Packwood, Ed Schrock and Don Sherwood, among others. When Democrats engage in sex scandals or clear-cut corruption, they retain their seats as long as they keep the cash flowing -- just ask Gerry Studds (re-elected six times after having sex with a male congressional page), Barney Frank (re-elected eight times after his gay lover ran a male escort ring out of his apartment), Mel Reynolds (re-elected despite facing an indictment for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse of a 16-year-old campaign worker), Sen. Charles Robb (re-elected despite credible sex scandal allegations) and Gus Savage (re-elected despite fondling a Peace Corps volunteer).

Larry Craig will almost certainly resign his Senate seat. But Craig is a symptom of a deeper problem plaguing our politics. Until voters insist on honesty rather than payoffs, corruption will remain endemic to the halls of power.

Read more of  'Is Larry Craig The Face Of The U.S. Senate?'
By Ben Shapiro

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Russia Under Putin, Assuming Soviet Characteristics

Before the Cold War concluded, the late Dr. Robert Krieble and I traveled the length and breadth of what was then the Soviet Union. Dr. Krieble taught how to start a business with very little or no capital. I taught how to win elections. Each of us was accompanied by two or three colleagues. 

One thing was clear: The Russian people were well educated. If an old U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT or TIME MAGAZINE were left behind they devoured it for months. The content was debated extensively. The people were far more dedicated than we expected. Boris Yeltsen and his associates initially gave the okay for ...

Read more of  Paul Weyrich

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Sarko Steps UpThe French President's Un-Chirac foreign policy.Wednesday,

Nicolas Sarkozy made headlines this week by telling his diplomatic corps that "an Iran with nuclear weapons is for me unacceptable." But the French President did more in his speech than name the gravest current threat to global security, itself a feat of clear thinking. He also signaled that France means to be something more on the international scene than an anti-American nuisance player.

That's worth applauding at a time when the conventional wisdom says the next U.S. President will have to burnish America's supposedly tarnished reputation by making various policy amends. In Germany, under the conservative leadership of Angela Merkel, foreign policy views have been moving closer to the Bush Administration's, not further away, while new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made clear he will not depart significantly from the pro-American course set by Tony Blair.

But it is Mr. Sarkozy who, true to his reputation, has been the boldest in stepping up to his global responsibilities. On Afghanistan, he told the assembled diplomats, "the duty of the Atlantic Alliance as well as that of France," is to "increase efforts." He then announced he would be sending additional trainers to assist the Afghan Army. On Israel, he said he "would never budge" on its security. He warned about Russia, which "imposes its return on the world scene by playing its assets with a certain brutality," and he cautioned against China, which pursues "its insatiable search for raw materials as a strategy of control, particularly in Africa."

Read more @ OpinionJournal

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MISS TEENAGE SOUTH CAROLINA

It's official. Miss teenage South Carolina has the answer as to why so many American students cannot find the United States on a map. It's a case of MDD.

You may have not picked up on this since her answer was ... should we say a little on the rambling side, and seemingly a tad incoherent.

However, through careful listening, Heavy Handed was able to extract from her answer that Americans clearly suffer from Map Deficit Disorder (MDD).

LIBERALISM AND HOMOSEXUALITY

"The liberal view of homosexuality is based on two claims: an empirical one and a moral one. The empirical claim is that sexual orientation is inborn, a trait over which one has no control. The moral claim is that homosexuality is no better or worse than heterosexuality; that a gay relationship, like a traditional marriage, can be an expression of true love and a source of deep fulfillment. Out of these claims flows the conclusion that opposition to gay rights is akin to racism: an unwarranted prejudice against people for a trait over which they have no control.

For the sake of argument, suppose this liberal view is true. What does it imply about the closeted homosexual who takes antigay positions? To our mind, the implication is that he is a deeply tragic figure, an abject victim of society's prejudices, which he has internalized and turned against himself. "Outing" him seems an act of gratuitous cruelty, not to mention hypocrisy if one also claims to believe in the right to privacy.

According to the Statesman, the blogger who "outed" [Senator Larry] Craig did so in order to "nail a hypocritical Republican foe of gay rights." But there is nothing hypocritical about someone who is homosexual, believes homosexuality is wrong, and keeps his homosexuality under wraps. To the contrary, he is acting consistent with his beliefs. If he has furtive encounters in men's rooms, that is an act of weakness, not hypocrisy.

Defenders of "outing" politicians argue that the cruelty is not gratuitous--that politicians are in a position of power, which they are using to harm gay citizens, and therefore their private lives are fair game. But if the politician in question is a mere legislator, his power consists only of the ability to cast one vote among hundreds. The actual amount of harm that he is able to inflict is minimal.

Anyway, most lawmakers who oppose gay-rights measures are not homosexual. To single out those who are for special vituperation is itself a form of antigay prejudice. Liberals pride themselves on their compassion, but often are unwilling to extend it to those with whose politics they disagree."

-- JAMES TARANTO

Hillary

One of the great ironies of this year’s Democratic presidential primary is that the very accusations that the rabid Left hurls at President Bush apply equally to Hillary Clinton. This, in addition to her waffling on Iraq and her centrist posturing, is a key element of the distrust the base feels towards the former First Lady.

The caricature of President Bush created by the left is an authoritarian, secretive, and arrogant politician who rewards loyalty above all else. Hmm, what other famous political name can easily be associated with these tendencies? It has seemingly been forgotten in the era of Bush Derangement Syndrome, but the Clinton White House wasn’t known for its openness to scrutiny or contrary opinion and had a pretty black and white view of who was friend or foe.

Read more of Richard Collins' column 'Hillary’s Heavy Handed History'

Yes, he wrote "Heavy Handed". That's got to be some kind of infringement doesn't it?

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The Mob Wins

Alberto Gonzales became intimately familiar with what departing White House adviser Karl Rove calls "the mob" -- the howling mass of Democratic members of Congress, bloggers and media commentators who despise all things Bush. His tenure as attorney general, and now his departure, represent a triumph for the mob.

The mob doesn't win only when it chases a target from office. It also scores a subtle victory when it forces the administration to keep in office an ineffectual or politically wounded official to demonstrate that it won't get pushed around by its frenzied detractors. Thus, Gonzales remained attorney general long after everyone but President Bush had decided that he was ill-suited for the job. The administration suffered months of unnecessary embarrassment as it stuck by Gonzales on the theory that giving in to the mob would be worse -- only to see Gonzales resign anyway.

Read more of Rich Lowry

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Secularists Often Behave As They Claim Christians Do

Newsweek's Anna Quindlen recently wrote that a presidential victory for Rudy Giuliani "wouldn't be a good thing for this country, but his candidacy may wind up being a good thing for his party," which Quindlen obviously believes has been hijacked by the Christian right.

Giuliani's strong poll numbers, said Quindlen, perhaps "indicate that the end is nigh for the stranglehold the Leviticus Lobby has had on the GOP."

Read more of  David Limbaugh

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Liberals' Desire To Be Loved Is Their Achilles' Heel

I have spent a good part of my life trying to understand people I disagree with, whether on the right or the left, whether members of my own religion or of other religions or of no religion.

In particular, I have wanted to understand people who hold leftist positions. Many people who hold them are personally decent, some very much so -- yet they hold positions that I believe increase cruelty (e.g., advocating withdrawal from Iraq); increase criminality (e.g., more lenient attitudes toward punishing criminals); hasten the decline of Western society (e.g., pushing multiculturalism); and undermine liberty (e.g., expanding government, passing more and more laws, taking away ever larger percentages of citizens' money).

Read more of Dennis Prager

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Vanishing England

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - Perhaps there will not always be an England. An exodus unprecedented in modern times, coupled with a record influx of foreigners, is threatening to erode the character of the land of William Shakespeare and overpowering monarchs, a land that served as the cradle for much of American thought, law and culture.

Read more of Cal Thomas

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After AG PiñataTwo priorities: Presidential power and the war on terror.

Democrats finally got their man yesterday, as Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation so he'd no longer be a political "distraction" as Attorney General. President Bush accepted with regret and rued that his longtime friend had been "dragged through the mud for political reasons." The decision was probably inevitable, but it should also teach the White House a lesson in the kind of qualities Mr. Bush will need in a successor.

Mr. Gonzales made more than a few political mistakes, and his management at Justice will not be taught in case studies. Yet the great irony of his tenure is that he is hardly the hyper-partisan political actor that Democrats portrayed him to be. He's more a conciliator than fighter. His greatest mistake is that he underestimated the political assaults that would come his way once Democrats took Congress.

Read more @ OpinionJournal

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The 'Blue Dog' Moment: So far, they're spending like other Democrats.

A high-stakes budget showdown is shaping up this fall between President Bush and Congressional Democrats. The debate will also be a moment of truth for the so-called "blue dog" Democrats: the 48 self-described fiscal conservatives in the House Democratic Caucus.

The bone of contention is the $22 billion in domestic spending that Democrats passed in their budget resolution above what Mr. Bush requested in his own budget. The Democratic spending plan would increase non-defense expenditures by 6.5% next year--more than double the inflation rate. The White House is threatening vetoes if .....

Read on.

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At UVM, no-gender facilities are added

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The University of Vermont's big new student center doesn't just have women's bathrooms and men's bathrooms.

It also has gender-neutral bathrooms, a feature added to accommodate transgendered people, as well as those with some disabilities. The four single bathrooms in the new Dudley H. Davis Center -- each with a toilet, sink, shower, and lockable door -- cost about $2,500 a piece to build. Their wall signs identify each as "gender neutral restroom."

"It's about inclusivity and accessibility and the importance of meeting all people's needs, not just a few," said Annie Stevens, assistant vice president for student and campus life

READ MORE @ The Boston Globe

Huh ?

"....meeting all people's needs, not just a few."... (?)

Meeting the needs of 99.9% of the population is just a few?

Australia Sets 'Values' Test for Prospective Citizens

Asserting that Australia has been built on values based on "Judeo-Christian ethics," Prime Minister John Howard's government has introduced a new test for would-be citizens.

READ MORE @ CNSNews.com

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Egypt Backing Hamas by Failing to Stop Weapons Flow

Jerusalem – The deputy head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, told Israeli lawmakers on Sunday that Hamas has smuggled some 40 tons of explosives into the Gaza Strip since taking over the area in June. Egypt is considered a strong U.S. Middle East ally...

READ MORE @ CNSNews.com

Law firm will consider legal action against Rep. John Murtha

Christian law firm hopes that once its client is cleared of charges in connection with the so-called Haditha massacre, it will consider legal action against one of the men responsible for the accusations: Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha.

READ MORE @ OneNewsNow.com

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New York City’s Khalil Gibran International Academy An Incubator For Islamist Radicalization—Thomas More Law Center Enters Fray

ANN ARBOR, MI – Claiming it is nothing more than a thinly disguised incubator for Islamist radicalization, the Thomas More Law Center, a national Christian public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it will represent a group of citizens opposed to the September 4 opening of the publicly funded Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) by the New York City Department of Education. KGIA, which will immerse its students in Islamic culture, has three fundamentalist Islamist imams on its Board of Advisors, as well as other promoters with connections to militant Islamic organizations.

“This proposed public school is nothing more than an incubator for the radicalization that leads to terrorism, as a NYPD Intelligence Report warned Americans just about two weeks ago,” cautioned Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center. “Rather than use the public school system to assimilate Muslims and other immigrants into American culture, New York City is doing everything it can to keep them isolated – a target rich environment for recruiting potential new homegrown terrorists and a recipe for a future 911 disaster, according to my read of the NYPD Report,” said Thompson.

READ MORE @Thomas More Law Center

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Saudis set up force to guard oil plants

Financial Times

France's Sarkozy raises prospect of Iran airstrikes

YNet News

Computers. Damn them.

My pc crashed -- had to go out and get a new one. Damn!!!

I will be going to the Minnesota State Fair tomorrow (Monday). I will see if I can shout a hello to Dennis Prager. He will be broadcasting live from the AM 1280 (The Patriot) building.

I am going to eats lots of food too. Yum, can't wait.

Georgia is becoming a shining star. But will Russia drag it back into darkness?

BY MELIK KAYLAN

TBILISI, Georgia--On Aug. 8, a missile the size of a bus struck near a village some 50 miles north of this Eurasian country's capital city, Tbilisi. It failed to explode. In all likelihood the missile came from Russian jet fighters violating Georgian airspace, as Georgians quickly claimed--the incident was eerily similar to one in March, when Russian attack helicopters flew at night and, without provocation, fired missiles into Georgian territory.

In both cases, Georgian authorities showed the world radar flight path data as proof. The world did nothing the first time, and will likely do nothing again. Meanwhile, unexplained incursions continue daily. This is the kind of near-lethal brinkmanship which Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili believes will only encourage more belligerence from Russia. Continue.