.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}
Heavy-Handed Politics

"€œGod willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world
without the United States and Zionism."€ -- Iran President Ahmadi-Nejad

Friday, October 05, 2007

American Thinker: Are Members of Congress Accountable for Anything?

Are Congressmen above the law? The case of Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich against Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) tests this basic question.

Of course there are other reasons to ask the same question. In a year when Congressional committees see no limits to what they will subpoena from the executive branch or about what they will interrogate its officers and employees, they rushed to court to keep the Department of Justice from subpoenaing the records of a Congressman caught with tens of thousands of dollars in his freezer.

Bad as shielding suspicious Congressional cold cash from view may be, insulating Congressmen when attacking ordinary citizens, or worse yet active duty Soldiers, is an invitation to tyranny. We are all potential targets if this holds true. Are they totally unaccountable for......



Powered by ScribeFire.

NEW DRUG

A new drug from DNC Pharmaceuticals:
TRYPHORGETTIN

Doc, what’s up with snooping?

They’re watching you right now.

They counted every beer you drank during last night’s Red Sox game.

They see you sneaking out to the garage for a smoke.

They know if you’ve got a gun, and where you keep it.

They’re your kids, and they’re the National Security Agency of the Nanny State.

I found this out after my 13-year-old daughter’s annual checkup. Her pediatrician grilled her about alcohol and drug abuse.

Not my daughter’s boozing. Mine.

“The doctor wanted to know how much you and mom drink, and if I think it’s too much,” my daughter told us afterward, rolling her eyes in that exasperated 13-year-old way. “She asked if you two did drugs, or if there are drugs in the house.”

“What!” I yelped. “Who told her about my stasher, I mean, ‘It’s an outrage!’ ”

I turned to my wife. “You took her to the doctor. Why didn’t you say something?”

She couldn’t, she told me, because she knew nothing about it. All these questions were asked in private, without my wife’s knowledge or consent.

Read more @BostonHerald.com



Powered by ScribeFire.

LACKING BELIEVABILITY

Stephen Moore of Opinion Journal today writes 'GOP Tax Dilemma: After years of waste in Congress, voters aren't buying the party's fiscal message.

I ever-so-eloquently made this same point just a little over a week ago when I posted a link to a column written by John Boehner, 'Pork Barrel Stonewall.' in which Boehner said House Repubs were launching another effort to stop Congress from stuffing spending projects into bills in attempt to hide them from public scrutiny and proper debate.

My response then was: This would be good policy. However, Mr. Boehner, with all due respect, when it comes to spending, the Republucan party has lost all respect. It's one thing for the Democrats to spend, spend, spend... it's what they do... we have come to expect it. When the Republicans start spending like drunken Dems, you lose all credibility. You start talking about 'fiscal responsibility' and the sort, I then get an attack of MEGO. (My eyes glaze over.)

It appears Mr. Moore agrees with me on this and I haven't changed my mind:
You have no credibility on the issue of financial responsibility of tax payers money and spending.

Abdicating His Role as Parent

By Michael Medved

In a recent Democratic candidates' debate, John Edwards provided a shocking answer to a provocative question. He was asked about a recent controversy in Lexington, Massachusetts, where parents of second graders complained that their children had been exposed to a story in which two handsome princes get married to one another and then lived happily ever after.

Edwards not only indicated he would have been pleased to see his own second grader exposed to any and all pro-gay propaganda, but he offered a pathetic abdication of his role in providing values for his own kids:

"Even in second grade ... I don't want to impose my view. Nobody made me God. I don't get to impose on them what I believe is right."

A leader who's so shaky in his values that he won't try to convey them to his own kids can hardly expect to be an effective president who champions values for the nation at large.

(Emphasis added -- HH)

This kind of attitude smacks of communism; let the state raise and educate my children because they know what's best. Sick stuff.

The Muslim Brotherhood: An Association for Jihadists
By Frank Salvato

One of the more clandestine groups in radical Islam is the Muslim Brotherhood. Originating in Egypt in 1928, the group has been outlawed in Egypt yet it members hold seats in the Egyptian government. That this radically fundamentalist Islamist group is the parent organization to some of the most violent terror groups operating today. It thrives as a pseudo professional association for terrorists while feigning legitimacy as a political movement. Every American should be concerned about its activities, both within the United States and around the world...

Earmarks and Congressional Corruption

By Paul M. Weyrich

Amidst all of the recent moral and ethical corruption scandals in Congress comes news of what appears to be even more patently dishonest behavior. Representative John “Jack” Murtha (D-PA) holds one of the most powerful positions in the House of Representatives, Chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. As such, he controls enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars and can distribute them to whom he pleases under the appropriations system Congress uses to fund projects in Congressional districts. And whom, specifically, does it please Murtha to reward with earmarks? Why, his political donors, of course...

Read on.

Syria Plans Disruption In Lebanon, Hariri Says

By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service

Lebanese parliament member Saad Hariri, the son and political heir of slain former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, told President Bush and other U.S. officials yesterday that he feared neighboring Syria was still determined to obstruct Lebanon's upcoming presidential election and destabilize the region.

"In the meantime, there is a killing machine that has started killing the majority and it has not stopped," Hariri said in an interview, referring to a string of assassinations of anti-Syrian Lebanese legislators. "We believe that somehow, that the Syrian regime will.....

The Denver Post - CSU editor admonished, will keep job
A board chooses the lightest sanction in weighing his use of a vulgarity in an editorial.



Fort Collins - The Colorado State University editor who used the F-word in the student newspaper will keep his job.

The Board of Student Communications on Thursday night agreed to only admonish 20-year-old J. David McSwane, saying he committed two violations of the student media code.



The board picked the lightest sanction offered against McSwane rather than taking no action at all.

McSwane could have been reprimanded, suspended as editor of the Rocky Mountain Collegian or fired for writing "(Expletive) Bush" in a Sept. 21 editorial, said James Landers, CSU journalism professor and interim chair of the board.



The editorial drew national attention and the ire of ......


Powered by ScribeFire.

Liberals slam Hillary over dodge tactics

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been criticized this past week for her evasiveness, dodginess, weasel words and shady connections — not only by her conservative critics but by liberal columnists and reporters.

In pointed political broadsides from some of the major liberal-leaning publications — including the New York Times and The Washington Post — the New York senator has been the target of surprisingly sharp criticism about her refusal to answer policy questions, investigative reporting about her husband's business dealings and unsavory fundraisers, and even assertions that her candidacy was solely beholden to her husband's political influence.

When asked by NBC's Tim Russert in last week's Democratic........

US Troops Win Another Battle in Iraq

Washington Post: 25 of the Enemy Killed in Iraq Gun Battle

By HAMID AHMED
The Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- U.S. forces killed at least 25 members of a rogue Shiite militia in a heavy firefight early Friday, the military said.

The troops were targeting a militia commander believed to be associated with members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force and responsible for moving weapons from Iran into Baghdad, the military said. Read more....

HEADLINE NEWS

Government Investigating More Than 60 ‘Phony Soldier’ Cases
The federal government is currently conducting more than 60 “stolen valor” investigations of individuals suspected of making false claims about their military records, according to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs...

Senators Hesitant to Use Torture, Even to Find al Qaeda Bomb
Senators were hesitant Thursday to align themselves with former President Bill Clinton, who last year told NBC’s Tim Russert that torture would be an acceptable way to get time-sensitive information from known terrorists...

Dems Unwilling to Compromise on SCHIP
Democrats lamenting President George W. Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program on Thursday said they are unwilling to compromise on the measure. Congressional Republicans blamed Democrats for playing politics with children’s healthcare, because they have postponed further action for two weeks...

US Urged to Enlist Asian Democracies’ Help on Burma
The U.S. government should build a coalition with Asian democracies to apply pressure on the military regime in Burma, according to an independent federal body that advises the administration and Congress on religious persecution...

Israel Should Move to Canada or Alaska, Ahmadinejad says
Millions of Iranians attended rallies across the country in support of Palestinians on Friday. In Tehran, tens of thousands of Iranians marched through the streets in honor of “Al-Quds” (Jerusalem) day, chanting “death to Israel” and “death to the U.S.”

From Cybercast News Service

Evans and Novak Political Report
By Robert Novak and Timothy P. Carney

SCHIP: Democrats have expertly used this debate to put the White House on the defensive, rally their base and cultivate expanded support. Whether this skirmish will be relevant in a year, and whether Republicans can fight back, is still up in the air.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), currently providing health insurance for poor children, would be expanded under Democratic legislation to include upper-middle-class "children" (up to age 21). Democrats, however, have very effectively cast the debate over the bill as one over insuring children or not. Mainstream media outlets repeat the Democratic framing, and very few Republicans are able to fight back effectively. Continue reading...

The Money and Connections Behind Al Gore's Carbon Crusade
By Deborah Corey Barnes

Al Gore's campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear. Reporters and commentators follow his every move and bombard the public with notice of his activities and opinions. But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America. And journalists routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore's followers realized how much their man stands to gain? Read more....

Boss Hoyer Says, "We Control This House"

By Jed Babbin

Democratic leaders’ repeated manipulation of the August 2 House vote Republicans apparently won was so severe it could justify censure or removal of Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and of New York’s Michael McNulty, the presiding member at the time of the vote.

That night, in a supposedly-recorded House vote, Republicans defeated -- by 215-213 -- a measure Democrats desperately wanted to ensure that welfare benefits would continue to flow to illegal aliens. The vote was reopened to allow Members to change their votes. When the Cong. Mike McNulty struck the gavel again, the vote was a 214-214 tie. Under the rules of the House, tie votes are a win for the Democratic majority.

According to a source close to the Select Committee’s investigation, “And frankly if you played the [video] tape, that’s what it looked like. On closer examination, believe it or not it’s actually worse.” House Democrats running the Select Committee are very uneasy that -- in its first day of hearings -- the investigation revealed that not only was the vote reopened improperly, but that once reopened, it was then closed early to cut off timely Republican votes in order to produce the tie.

Read more of Boss Hoyer Says, "We Control This House"

Powered by ScribeFire.

Sustaining the SCHIP Veto

The fight in Washington over the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is a classic example of the old adage, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Combine it with the Washington truism that, given the opportunity, Congress will mess up even the best program. This is the current state of affairs for our efforts to help needy children obtain proper healthcare.

How We Got Here:

In the wake of President Bush’s veto, it’s important to look at how we reached this point. Read on...

Powered by ScribeFire.

But don't question my patriotism

"Nearly one out of every five Democrats thinks the world will be better off if America loses the war in Iraq," according to a new Fox News poll.

Ahmadinejad and a Murder in Vienna: An Interview with 'Witness D'

World Politics Review
"On July 13, 1989, a frantic getaway is taking place out front of an apartment house at 5 Linke Bahngasse in Vienna. In an article for the Austrian weekly Profil, the journalists Sibylle Hamann und Martin Staudinger reconstruct the scene:
A secret agent has been shot and he is dragged by two other men between two parked cars. He is bleeding from multiple wounds. A man on a motorcycle pulls up beside them. All four are members of an Iranian terror commando unit that has left behind a bloodbath in a two-room apartment on the fourth floor of the building and is now making its get-away. After a brief exchange of words, the man on the motorcycle steps on the gas, speeding away with one of the perpetrators.
Three men lie dead in the apartment: Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), and his two associates Abdullah Ghaderi Azar and Fadhil Rassoul. The three had been lured into an ambush under the pretense of conducting negotiations with representatives of the Iranian government.

Some 16 years later in summer 2005, one "witness D," an Iranian journalist in exile in France, would charge that...."
READ ON.

Hat tip to LGF

Powered by ScribeFire.

Warplanes: China's Plan To Destroy American Air Superiority
China's Plan To Destroy American Air Superiority
September 24, 2007: American air power has dominated the skies for over sixty years. That's unique in the history of airpower, although similar to the two century run the Royal Navy had in dominating the world's oceans from the 18th century into World War II . At that point the U.S. Navy grew enormously, while the Royal Navy shrank. The Royal Navy lost its position because another the Americans came along with more money, and similar capabilities in operating warships at sea.


Powered by ScribeFire.

Informants, Bombs and Lessons

By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart

In a case built largely on the use of a planted informant, a federal jury in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 27 found environmental activist Eric McDavid guilty of conspiring to damage property by using explosives. McDavid, 29, was accused of planning to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to damage the U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics, the Nimbus Dam, cellular telephone towers and electric power stations, among other targets. McDavid's two co-conspirators, Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and agreed to cooperate with the government in its prosecution of McDavid.

McDavid, Jenson and Weiner were arrested Jan. 13, 2006, after they had scouted a number of potential targets and begun to procure chemicals to manufacture improvised explosive mixtures. Unbeknownst to the trio, the fourth member of the cell, a woman identified only as "Anna" in the court proceedings, was an FBI informant who in 2004 was tasked with infiltrating the extremist fringe of the radical left. Anna met McDavid and the others through their participation in various political demonstrations and learned of their desire to ratchet up their efforts to effect political change. Through Anna's efforts, the group was carefully monitored, and the cabin in Dutch Flat, Calif., where the group met to finalize its plans and construct its explosive devices was wired for sound and video by the government.

Some of the group's plans -- such as bombing the Nimbus Dam -- seem idealistic and far beyond what it could possibly achieve with its rudimentary capabilities and limited resources. Members had also discussed fantastical plans such as attacking a ball bearing factory in an effort to halt the production of automobiles, spilling a tractor-trailer of jam on a highway to interrupt the transportation of goods and storming into a bank and burning all the money instead of robbing it. That said, the testimony of Weiner, Jenson and Anna in this case illustrates a couple of emerging trends in the radical environmental and animal rights movements: the increasing use of violence -- specifically the use of explosives and timed incendiary devices -- and the growing disregard for human life. READ ON...


Powered by ScribeFire.


CLICK TO ENLARGE

WIMPING OUT ON BURMA, AFRAID OF CHINA

"As the junta's misbehavior worsened in Burma (albeit the ruling thugs have rechristened it Myanmar) last week, pundits suggested that we should force China to pressure its client to treat the pro-democracy demonstrators politely - by threatening to boycott next year's Beijing Olympics.

Sorry, but Burma's far more important to China's vision for the coming decades than the Pollution-and-Oppression Games. The bullies in Beijing see the Olympics as a coming-out party - but Burma is a strategic lifeline.

So, sure, if the Burma situation worsens as China stonewalls, we can and should punish Beijing by boycotting the 2008 Games. But we have to have realistic expectations regarding the results.

On the flip side, some Westerners argue that China isn't really the decisive player in Burma - that Western corporations flying under the radar screen do more to prop up the junta than Beijing does.

Absolute bull. This doesn't mean that greedy multinationals don't lurk out in those jungles - but to ascribe more power to them than to Beijing is like blaming purse-snatchers for the junk-mortgage crisis."

-- Ralph Peters

LOSING OUR SOVEREIGNTY WITH LOST

By Frank Gaffney

If Americans have learned anything about the United Nations over the last 50 years, it is that this "world body" is, at best, riddled with corruption and incompetence. At worst, its bureaucracy, agencies and members are overwhelmingly hostile to the United States and other freedom-loving nations, most especially Israel.

So why on earth would the United States Senate possibly consider putting the U.N. on steroids by assenting to its control of 70% of the world's surface?

Such a step would seem especially improbable given such well-documented fiascoes as: the U.N.-administered Iraq Oil-for-Food program; investigations and cover-ups of corrupt practices at the organization's highest levels; child sex-slave operations and rape squads run by U.N. peacekeepers; and the absurd, yet relentless, assault on alleged Israeli abuses of human rights by majorities led by despotic regimes in Iran, Cuba, Syria and Libya.

Nonetheless, the predictable effect of U.S. accession to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea - better known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (or LOST) - would be to transform the U.N. from a nuisance and laughingstock into a world government.

Read more.....

Iraq: Why Blackwater is Invulnerable

Iraqis are upset with Blackwater International, the security firm that provides protection for American diplomats (and many other VIPs) when they travel about. Blackwater recruits experienced military veterans, especially commandos, to do the job. When Blackwater is attacked, they attack right back. Blackwater's aggressiveness and competence is well known in Baghdad, and Iraqi police and civilians stay out of the way. As a result, Blackwater has never lost any of the State Department people they have escorted. But 30 Blackwater personnel have been killed, along with hundreds of Iraqis (armed and unarmed, the terrorist attacks often use civilians for cover). American politicians, who are opposed to the Iraq war, are joining in to attack Blackwater, and accuse it of misbehavior. The State Department remains silent, but is unwilling to give up Blackwater. There are enough experienced people inside the State Department who understand that Blackwater is professional and effective, and you can't beat a perfect record when it comes to security. Considering what high value targets U.S. diplomats are, and the success of Blackwater in defeating hundreds of attacks, the State Department cannot afford to abandon Blackwater. But the diplomats cannot afford to openly defend Blackwater either, lest they anger Democratic politicians who run Congress. So the media circus will play out, and life goes on. MORE....


Powered by ScribeFire.

THE BEAT OF VICTORY IN IRAQ

"The last days on earth of Abu Osama al Tunisi apparently were filled with anxiety: "We are desperate for your help," he said in a letter to al Qaeda chieftains.

A copy of the letter was found by U.S. troops sifting through the rubble of the building in Musayb, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, where on Sept. 25 Mr. al Tunisi had been meeting with two local al Qaeda operatives when an F-16 cut their discussion short.

Mr. al Tunisi was responsible for bringing foreign al Qaeda recruits into Iraq and placing them in operational cells, U.S. military spokesmen said. That effort suffered a major blow when "Muthanna," the al Qaeda emir for the Iraq-Syrian border region, was killed in early September.

Al Tunisi and Muthanna were among 28 local, city or regional al Qaeda leaders killed or captured in September. Two other very big shots nailed last month were Muhammad al Afari, who was responsible for the bloody attack on the Kurdish Yazidi sect in August, and Abu Taghrid, who ran a car bomb network.

Al Tunisi wasn't alone in calling for help. "Al Qaeda has lost half its leadership over the summer, and American intelligence collectors have amassed a huge number of desperate messages from al Qaeda leaders and operatives," reports StrategyPage.

The beat of victory goes on."


-- Jack Kelly

MOQTADA AL-WAXMAN VS. THE HOLLYWOOD HEARTTHROB

By Dr. Jack Wheeler
Behind The Lines

If the folks in Hollywood didn't allow their rabid hate-America passions to overcome the functioning of their business brains when they watched the Blackwater hearings in Congress yesterday (10/02)*, they must have been transfixed by Blackwater CEO Erik Prince and seen nothing but dollar signs.

It was a scene straight out of a movie. The witness was straight out of central casting - Hollywood handsome, all-American clean-cut wholesome, a rawhide-tough former Navy SEAL who can easily think faster and smarter than anyone in the room.

Up against him was a collection of Democrat contributors to Congress' record low 11% approval rating, determined to demonstrate how they earned such public disgust, and led by that quintessence of corruption, Henry Waxman (D-CA), whose eyes bulging out of his sockets and huge buck teeth bulging out of his mouth below his hairy lips make him look like a creepy rat.

Hollywood casting again.

If you watch Erik's face closely (the hearing was broadcast on C-SPAN3*), you can see how hard he is trying not to grimace in revulsion or laugh out loud at the charade. You just know what he really wanted to say:

"Congressman Waxman, I would like to ask you a question: Why are you in league with the chief Shiite terrorist in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr? He controls the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), and it was MOI police who attacked us on September 16. All of the "witnesses" claiming we opened fire and killed 11 Iraqi civilians are Iraqi police with the MOI. Are you just using their lies to smear us or are you in active cooperation with al-Sadr to hurt the war effort in Iraq? If so, perhaps you would be more appropriately addressed as Congressman Moqtada al-Waxman."

Read more...

JOKE OF THE WEEK

TALK ABOUT SPIN

Judy Wallman, a professional genealogical researcher, recently uncovered records indicating that Hillary Rodham Clinton's great-great uncle, “Shifty” Rodham, was hanged as a horse thief and train robbery in the Montana Territory in 1889.

The only known photograph of “Shifty” Rodham shows him standing on the gallows prior to being hung. The following information was hand written on the back of that photograph: "Shifty” Rodham, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885. Released 1887. Arrested by Pinkerton detectives while trying to rob a Montana Railroad Company train in 1888. Convicted and hung in 1889."

Ms. Wallman forwarded these records and the photograph, along with a request for her comments, to Hillary Clinton at her “Hilary for President” office. Hillary's staff of professional image adjusters responded with the following biographical outline:

"Shifty” Rodham was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include the acquisition of valuable equestrian assets. Additionally, he had close dealings with the Montana Railroad Company. Beginning in 1885, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility. In 1887 he took leave to commence dealings with the railroad. In 1886, he was a key player in an important investigation by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency, which ultimately became the United States Secret Service. In 1889, “Shifty” Rodham passed away when the platform, upon which he had been standing, collapsed during an important civic function that was being held in his honor.”

Thursday, October 04, 2007

ROP strikes again

Islamic separatists kill five

"FIVE people, including an army ranger, were shot dead by suspected Islamic separatists today in a spate of attacks in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, police said.

The killings highlighted the almost daily violence in the troubled region where a separatist insurgency since early 2004 has left over 2600 people dead...." More....

ALL BUT FORGOTTEN

I had seen, but had forgotten all about, this video clip. Kudos to Instapundit and LGF for digging up this archive from YouTube.

LGF
posts:
Al Gore's Hypocrisy Revealed

"In the dark days before he emerged as The Goracle, he was a raving right-wing nutjob.

Here’s a 1992 Al Gore speech rescued from the memory hole, in which he blasts George H. W. Bush for ignoring Saddam Hussein’s connections to terrorism and his quest for weapons of mass destruction.

Undeniable proof that the current Democrat position is a cynical political stance, a grab for power and nothing more, with no concern whatsoever for the security of their own nation."


Obama for the Supreme Court?

CNN Meteorologist: ‘Definitely Some Inaccuracies’ in Gore Film
CNN Meteorologist: ‘Definitely Some Inaccuracies’ in Gore Film Photo of Paul Detrick. By Paul Detrick | October 4, 2007 - 11:35 ET CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Finally," in response to a report that a British judge might ban the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" from UK schools because, according to "American Morning," "it is politically biased and contains scientific inaccuracies."

"There are definitely some inaccuracies," Marciano added. "The biggest thing I have a problem with is this implication that Katrina was caused by global


Powered by ScribeFire.

Hillary touts bill to unite illegals' kin - - The Washington Times
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday as president she would push an immigration bill with a path to legalization that unites families.

"We've got to deal with immigration to be sure that we're going to get back to doing what is right and smart in America," she told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.


Yes.... right.... and smart.....
Sorry, 'Hill' ... ain't buyin' it....


Powered by ScribeFire.

Dems Accused of Playing Politics on SCHIP

The House of Representatives will wait two weeks before voting to overturn or uphold President Bush's veto of the proposed expansion of a children's health insurance program, even though they argued earlier that time was the critical issue in forcing the legislation through Congress. Read on.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Republican Leader Pledges Defense of Limbaugh

CyberCast News Servive
House Republicans will rally to radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's defense if Democrats move to consider a resolution that would condemn the conservative icon for using the term "phony soldiers" in a recent broadcast.

"Should House Democrats decide to bring forward a ludicrous resolution condemning Limbaugh, Republicans will take to the floor to set the record straight -- and welcome the opportunity to do so," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement Wednesday.

RELATED:
Elizabeth questions Limbaugh's draft deferment


This is hillarious. It's like a damn soap opera. (HH)


Powered by ScribeFire.

Law of Sea Treaty Hurts US Security, Sovereignty Activists Say
Europe is using international means, such as the Law of Sea Treaty, to impose a “better safe than sorry” regulatory model for the environment that jeopardizes America’s free enterprise system, according to international business attorney and pro-U.S. sovereignty activist Lawrence Cogan...

“[J]udges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.”
—John Adams

THAT WAS SOOOOOO... YESTERDAY

Burma's monks missed word that democracy is now out of favor.
BY DANIEL HENNINGER

Our soldiers like what they do. They want our respect, not pity.
BY ROBERT D. KAPLAN

Hillary's McGovern Moment

By Hugh Hewitt

Out of nowhere this week Hillary Clinton proposed giving every American child a $5,000 bond at birth. The proposal went over like a lead balloon even with Democrats, and left economists and political analysts scratching their collective heads.

It reminded many of George McGovern's 1972 widely ridiculed scheme to provide a social dividend of $1,000 per person to all Americans. In this comparison we do get some clarity: Hillary is very much a return of the 1972 Democrats led by George McGovern and the famed 1984 San Francisco Democrats who, in the words of then UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, blamed America first for all the woes in the world.

It is becoming increasingly clear, indeed blindingly obvious, that Hillary is a radical Democrat, not a liberal Democrat. Her attack on General Petraeus, her appeasement of Iran, her socialization of medicine and now her profligate spending proposals provide fair warning to every American, including liberals, that this Clinton is nothing like the last Clinton, but is a woman of the hard left, far outside the American mainstream.

(Bold emphasis added - HH)

That has been my opinion of her for quite sometime when you consider the totality of her background, comments, and actions from her college days to present.

Where have you been, Hugh?

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

We're winning because the Iraqis want us to--Moqtada al-Sadr included.
BY BARTLE BULL

Heh, heh.

Hey, Hillary Bring Back The Furniture !

Beyond Kyoto
From The American magazine.

When the Story’s Got Children, Who Needs Facts?

From The Balance Sheet, the weekly newsletter of the Business Media Institute:

When the Story’s Got Children, Who Needs Facts?

Leading up to President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program expansion, the media have ignored critical problems. Distracted by cute kids paraded by the left, they forgot to mention that Bush wants to continue the program – and that Congress’s tobacco tax funding won’t work.....

ANOTHER CHINESE TOY BEING RECALLED

"In times of peace the people look most to their representatives;
but in war, to the executive solely."

-- Thomas Jefferson

LOST at sea

A reader left a comment on this post about LOST (sea treaty) and I thought it was worthy and informative enough to post it, knowing that many people may miss reading it if left as just a reader's comment.

The reader/commenter posted it under his acronym of 'Informed Lawyer'. I do not know him/her and I believe it to be their first comment on this blog. At any rate, here is their comment:

Due Process Demands a Thorough Review of UN Law of the Sea Convention, Despite Military Support

One of the most blaring omissions in the statements coming forth from the US military in support of the UN Law of the Sea Convention is a thorough analysis of the treaty's more than 45 environmental articles, regulations and protocols, and numerous other standards that could be used to diminish the military's right to freedom of navigation/ innocent passage.

In addition, recently released reports have described how the US military will be increasing its reliance on private contractors more than 50% during the next 5-10 years. The myriad activities of private contractors designing, formulating, producing, testing, delivering and deploying technologies for military application are highly unlikely to qualify for exemption as 'military activities’ under the UNCLOS. The military brass is quite confident, at least publicly, that they could unilaterally determine what is or is not a 'military activity' for purposes of qualifying for the treaty exemption. And, they believe that they could fit all such activities neatly under one ‘military activity’ tent. They are unlikely, however, to succeed in exempting their supply chains.

Furthermore, the environmentally-obsessed EU member states have 27 votes for every 1 vote cast by the US at the UNCLOS Secretariat meetings, which the administration has been less than forthcoming in explaining.

Lastly, there remains a quaint notion within US constitutional law which is commonly referred to as 'due process'. In the context of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings that are now underway, this means transparency and a thorough publicly aired review. Unfortunately, this has not yet occurred considering that a number of house and senate committees possess oversight jurisdiction which they have yet to exercise to review the various dimensions of the UNCLOS that have not been considered in light of new international environmental law developments since the previous UNCLOS hearings. The American people are entitled to know from their elected representatives how this expansive treaty which will reach into US sovereign territory (land, internal waterways and air above) and into the US regulatory and free enterprise systems, will affect Americans’ pocketbooks, small businesses and daily lives.


*********************************

The ‘LOST 45’ UN Environmental Restrictions on US Sovereignty

By J. William Middendorf II* and Lawrence A. Kogan**

During the past six months, a number of former and current administration officials have declared their support for the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), the largest environmental regulatory treaty in the history of the world. Based on their recommendations, President Bush, as did his predecessor, former President Clinton, agreed to resubmit the LOST to the US Senate once again for ratification.

These officials, many of whom are giants in the conservative movement, have argued that LOST ratification would ensure America’s national security, economic and technological vitality and positive standing within the international community. Regrettably, these claims are very much overstated.

Granted, US LOST ratification would signal our acceptance of long-established customary international freedom of navigation principles, as the US Navy and Coast Guard have asserted. However, the general rule of “freedom of navigation/innocent passage” which the administration relies upon as the chief justification for binding America to this treaty has, over time, been eroded and diminished in scope by the LOST’s more numerous environmental regulatory exceptions.

While the LOST contains only two articles (38 and 87) that refer expressly to the right of “freedom of navigation” and ten articles (17, 19, 21-25, 45, 52 and 211) that refer expressly to the related right of “innocent passage”, there are at least 45 environmental articles in LOST Part XII, plus countless others in Parts V, VII, IX, XI, XII, and XIII and Annexes I and VIII that effectively limit those rights. In addition to these ‘LOST 45 plus’, there are also two recent International Seabed Authority environmental regulations and at least one entire environmental protocol related to the LOST (the LOST UN Migratory Fish Stocks Agreement) which European nations have already employed to create ‘marine protected areas’ that even further burden such rights. Collectively, these overwhelming environmental restrictions on American sovereignty obligate the US government and private US citizens to preserve and protect the ‘marine environment’ and its ‘living resources’ against all kinds of possible human-induced ‘pollution’. This includes pollution generated from water, land and air-based sources (e.g., carbon dioxide), even those located within US sovereign territory, that could directly or indirectly impact the global marine environment. In other words, US courts would be compelled to interpret these LOST 45 plus over our own environmental laws should the US ratify the LOST. Tragically, very few US lawmakers are familiar with these LOST provisions or their relationship to numerous other UN environmental treaties.

Hence, following LOST ratification, US military and commercial shippers would no longer be able to rely on the right to freedom of navigation/innocent passage as an absolute right. Indeed, a growing number of foreign governments and commentators hostile to US interests have argued that, under LOST “the right of unlimited freedom of navigation” is subject to “the obligation to protect the [marine] environment”. This LOST reality was previously corroborated by the Clinton administration’s Oceans Report Task Force organized by former Vice President Al Gore. In light of the LOST’s failure to define exempt ‘military activities’, the 1999 report then warned that the domestic and international environmental obligations imposed by the LOST were being manipulated by foreign governments and environmental activists so as to “conflict [with] the US military’s ability to test, train, exercise, and operate in the marine environment”.

These findings should come as no surprise to this administration. Thirty years prior, the “father of the [first] Law of the Sea Conference”, Malta’s former UN Ambassador Arvid Pardo, declared that, “the new law of the sea must be based no longer on the notion of ‘freedom of the seas’ but on a new concept, the Common Heritage of Mankind (CHM).” Thereafter, Tommy Koh, Singapore’s former UN Ambassador and President of the third Law of the Sea Conference, described the LOST as “a global constitution for [the world’s] oceans” drafted in the image of the UN charter.

This administration, presumably, is also aware that CHM was originally a central planning (socialism)-based wealth redistribution mechanism rooted in the Cold War era. And, with a little homework, it should have discovered that, since 1994 (when former President Clinton submitted to the US Senate LOST amendments that allegedly addressed former President Reagan’s objections), CHM has evolved into a prominent instrument of ‘soft’ socialism within the European-dominated UN environment and sustainable development (UNEP/SD) programs. CHM now encompasses the legal obligation erges omnes – ‘of all to all’, which serves as the primary UNEP/SD rationale for the global governance of the earth’s biosphere. In the context of the LOST, CHM mandates the establishment of a UN-sanctioned global environmental conservation trust that would protect and preserve, through strict non-science and non-economics-based international and national regulations, all human use and exploitation of the oceans and its living and nonliving organisms.

Consequently, following LOST ratification, US commercial businesses including the US military’s industrial and technology suppliers could no longer undertake design, manufacturing, processing, disposal and delivery activities within the US in reliance upon current US federal laws. This is especially true, now that President Bush has forwarded, once again, for Senate ratification four other related UN environmental treaties that would require yet further amendments to existing US federal chemicals legislation.

More importantly, each of these other UN treaties contain the same non-science and non-economics-based European environmental legal principle embedded within the LOST 45 plus, which this president and his predecessor only barely succeeded in defeating at the World Trade Organization (WTO). That legal nostrum is the ‘standard-of-proof diminishing, burden of proof-reversing’, ‘guilty-until-proven-innocent’, ‘I fear, therefore I shall ban’ ‘hazard (not risk)-based’ Precautionary Principle (PP). Unfortunately, the LOST dispute settlement mechanism, with its emphasis on adjudicating environmental rather than trade issues, is unlikely to yield the same positive results as those the US secured at the WTO.

In fact, US LOST ratification would provide other LOST treaty parties (especially those in Europe) with a greater ability to employ their unscientific PP to gradually undermine US military, economic and technological superiority. Such nations, for example, could more easily preclude the US military’s civilian technology and industrial supply chain from designing, producing and delivering effective technologies, products and processes that maintain US military preparedness. They also could disrupt US military logistics by relying upon environmental hazard rather than risk assessments to restrict the otherwise “innocent passage” of vessels operated by the US military’s many private shipping contractors. This is extremely likely to occur where US cargoes passing through navigational straits and territorial waters of other LOST parties include alleged ‘hazardous waste’ and/or ‘dangerous’ substances such as liquefied natural gas, oil, coal, chemicals, computers, electrical and electronic hardware, and perhaps, even genetically modified foods, feed and seed. And, such LOST parties could also cite the existence of hypothetical environmental hazards to limit, on PP grounds, the innocent passage of US nuclear-powered military vessels.

The lack of truth and public transparency surrounding the LOST are hard to ignore. By ratifying the LOST, the US would unleash Europe’s PP and subject US military and economic sovereignty to eventual UN dominance and control. Therefore, the US Senate must publicly review the LOST’s largely hidden environmental regulatory agenda BEFORE it renders its advice and consent. Only by exposing the LOST’s deep dark caverns to the light of day in public hearings convened by the various congressional committees possessing oversight jurisdiction, as had recently occurred in connection with the illegal immigration bill, would the US be able to avoid such a disastrous outcome. Anything less would shortchange Americans and violate their cherished US constitutional right to due process.

* Ambassador J. William Middendorf II previously served as US ambassador to the Netherlands, the European Union and the Organization of American States and as Secretary of the US Navy.
** Lawrence Kogan is president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Trade, Standards and Sustainable Development (ITSSD), a nonpartisan, nonprofit, international legal research and educational organization, and has advised the Bush administration concerning Europe’s use of the precautionary principle to dominate international economic affairs.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

35W BRIDGE COLLAPSE: LIFE CONTINUES ON

Life continues on for some of the victims, but sadly not for all. As you know there were 13 fatalities from that fateful August day. One of the survivors, of course as my readers know by now, was Mercedes Gorden. She is a friend and co-worker of one of my daughters.

Another survivor I would like to highlight is Garrett Ebling. Here is a current message from him:
It was an unsettling moment this morning when I took off my pajama T-shirt to shave. The mirror doesn't lie. I have several reminders of my time spent in the hospital - there are several scars: a long snake that winds from chest to below the navel; two marks where my feeding tube punched into my stomach and where they went in to fix my diaphragm below my right lung; and three incisions that run along the aforementioned snake. I grimaced as if I was staring at Frankenstein, that next summer the mere sight of me at the pool will have kids running away screaming. I felt like the scars had "ruined" me.

As I recover, I also have found that tasks take more time to accomplish. So when I shower I have plenty of time to think. I spent a good amount of time under the hot water thinking about those scars and what they really are. The light bulb finally lit: Scars are really nothing more than stories.

Every scar has a story. I joked to my roommate yesterday that I have more scars than Jesus. (Thankfully God has a sense of humor. I hope.) But that got me thinking about Christ and His scars. When He rose from the dead that Easter morning what did He think as He looked at His hands, His feet, His side? His scars, like mine, tell a story. (Granted my scars didn't save the world from sin.) I can't imagine Jesus thinking "Oh these stupid scars! I went through all that to look like I went through a paper shredder?" No, I think Christ looked at those scars with pride, not pity. It's His scars that tell the story of a loving God who took our burden and buried our sin for good. I think Jesus is proud of His scars.

Tomorrow morning I'll dip back into my routine. The shaving cream will come out and the T-shirt will come off. I vow not to look at my scars with frustration or contempt. Rather, I know that I, too, can use my scars to tell my story - and share my loving God who resurrected me from the dirty river two months ago today.

Pushing for a Muslim school holiday

School to drop Christian, Jewish holidays:
But considering adding Eid ul-Fitr, which concludes Ramadan for Muslims

By Drew Pierson
Sentinel Staff Writer

"There will be three religious holidays for which Montgomery County Public Schools will cancel classes this year: Rosh Hashanah, Christmas and Easter. Yom Kippur, which many MCPS students celebrated this week, began a half hour before sundown on Friday, thus forcing the rescheduling of several athletic and after-school events.

Yom Kippur calls for, among other things, a 12-hour fast to end on the following night. Jews believe it is a day of atonement for sin. When it falls on a school day, it is also a holiday for which MCPS will cancel classes.

But some community members are asking MCPS to recognize a similar religious holiday practiced by Muslims, though it's perhaps lesser known. It is Eid ul-Fitr, the end of the month-long period of fasting called Ramadan, which this year began at sunset on Sept. 12 and will continue until sunset on Oct 12.

During Ramadan, Muslims cannot have food during the daytime, so most wake up before dawn to eat and pray. Eid ul-Fitr, or Eid, is the celebration the day after Ramadan ends, commemorated by food, prayer and time at home with family." More.


Powered by ScribeFire.

Muslim footbaths spark another fight

Indianapolis pastor warns trend is first step in Islamic goal of imposing Sharia law in U.S.
Indianapolis airport officials have announced plans to add footbaths for Muslims who wish to wash before their five-times-daily prayer rituals, and that's just too much for one pastor, who has called for residents to organize and protest.


Powered by ScribeFire.

Judge confronted with Hillary 'smoking-gun' video

Clinton-appointee previously insisted in court senator not involved in alleged crimes
By Art Moore
WorldNetDaily.com

A federal judge who stated in court Sen. Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with the planning and preparation for a scandal-plagued Hollywood fundraiser, received by hand-delivery yesterday a transcript of a videotape that allegedly captures the New York Democrat committing felonies related to the event.


The transcript, along with a letter demanding a hearing, was hand-delivered to Federal Judge A. Howard Matz by Douglas Cogan, a regular contributor to FreeRepublic.com who has followed the case closely and helped produce a documentary.



Powered by ScribeFire.

Are Iran, Russia, China behind dollar's free-fall?

The Link between Economic Freedom and Human Rights

Economic Freedom Empowers People
Economic freedom is essentially about ensuring human rights. Strengthening and expanding it guarantees an individual's natural right to achieve his or her goals and then own the value of what they create.
Read on.

Powered by ScribeFire.

EU MULLS INTERNET CLAMPDOWN TO COMBAT TERRORISM

European Union interior ministers debated Monday proposals to sanction or shut down Internet sites spreading "terrorist propaganda" and bomb-making instructions.

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini told reporters that he had urged the ministers, during informal talks in Lisbon, Portugal, "to make punishable activities of misuse of the Internet.

""My intention of course is not to limit freedom of expression," he said."My intention is ... to introduce sanctions against those who disseminate terrorist propaganda or instruct on websites how to make a bomb. This has nothing to do with freedom of expression.

READ ON.

Blogged with Flock

How To Install A Southern Home Security System

1. Go to a second-hand store and buy a pair of men's Work Boots size 14-16 (used).

2. Place them on front porch along with a copy of Guns and Ammo Magazine.

3. Put a few giant dog dishes next to the boots and magazine.

4. Leave a note on your door that reads:

Hey Bubba,
Big Jim, Duke, Slim, and I went for more ammunition. Will be back in one hour. Don't mess with the pit bulls-- they attacked the mailman this morning and messed him up real bad. I don't think Killer took part in it, but it was hard to tell from all the blood. Anyway, I locked all of the dogs in the house. Better just wait outside until we can get back.

Thomas Sowell: Columbia, Duke and the Media
The real problem on these and other campuses is that no one has to take responsibility. With the power being in the faculty, administrators can evade responsibility, and trustees are not around enough to exercise the ultimate power that is legally theirs.

Marco Martinez: Marine Hero: The 5 Things I Saw that Make Me Support the War
Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless." That's wrong. Violence isn't senseless. Senseless violence is senseless. And I should know.

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own
weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."

-- Samuel Adams --

Muslims' needs roiling schools

By Amy Fagan
Public schools increasingly are being forced to grapple with how to accommodate Muslim students' needs, during Ramadan and throughout the school year, and some cases have spurred community debate.

"We're getting a lot of those inquiries right now because it's sort of ... the new issue they're contending with," said Tom Hutton, a lawyer with the National School Boards Association, which provides school officials with broad guidance on such topics occasionally.

Generally, he said, "schools try to bend over backwards to accommodate religious needs."

Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States, according to a 2002 State Department publication, so it isn't surprising that schools are fielding more special requests.

Read more of 'Muslims' needs roiling schools' @ The Washington Times

Blogged with Flock

A Bible Ban in Our Prisons?

By David Davenport

"It's rare, but score one for Washington bureaucrats who actually recognized the voice of common sense and listened.

You may have heard about this summer?s new policy removing religious books from prison libraries out of fear that fundamentalist texts encouraging violence were part of their collections. Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater--and many did talk and go to court, pointing out that such a policy was overly broad.

In the face of lawsuits, the federal prison folks now say religious books can stay, but only until experts finish a list of what's acceptable. We'd better keep an eye on the list makers, in case they feel that stories about prison doors opening and chains falling off the Apostle Paul and his brethren from the book of Acts are unacceptable.

Crazier things have happened when political correctness and Washington censors are turned loose on religion."

LA County’s Capitulation to ACLU Demand to Remove Cross Goes to U. S. Supreme Court

ANN ARBOR, MI — The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that is has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to review the Law Center’s challenge to the Los Angeles County’s policy decision to remove a small cross from the County’s official seal because it is a Christian symbol. The cross had been a part of the official seal since 1957.

Read more @ Thomas More Law Center

Blogged with Flock

Monday, October 01, 2007

PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM

“Governments are not empowered to grant rights; governments can only limit, or extinguish rights. Governments can, however, bestow gifts upon its citizens. But in order to do so, governments must first take resources from those who have earned them, and redistribute those resources to others. Hillary-care, Obama-care, Edwards-care, and every other form of socialized medicine, is inherently fraught with fraud, abuse, and corruption... If the federal government is to be involved in health care, it should be looking toward encouraging, and providing incentives for private medical care that is determined between the patient and provider. The problem is complex, and cannot be solved by any government program. Health care is certainly one of the primary areas where the principles of freedom should be observed and advanced. Any candidate, or politician, who thinks government can solve the problem better than a free market, should be rejected.” —Henry Lamb

“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.”
-- John Adams --

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Thompson Plummets

Poll results for South Carolina.

Migrants in UK 'reliant' on benefits

By Duncan Gardham
Telegraph.co.uk


The degree to which new immigrants rely on benefits and council housing has been revealed by a survey that looks at how much foreigners contribute to the economy.

The league tables have been compiled by the Left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research on behalf of Dispatches, to be shown on Channel 4 tonight. The figures come from the census and the quarterly Labour Force Survey.

Somalians rely heavily on benefits, according to the statistics - 80 per cent live in social housing and 39 per cent claim income support.

Nearly half of newly-arrived Turks - 49 per cent - rely on social housing, 52 per cent do not work and 21 per cent claim income support. However, 35 per cent are self-employed.

Other nationalities rely on sickness benefit – 10 per cent of those newly arrived from Pakistan claim it, along with nine per cent from Cyprus, and eight per cent from Kenya, Ireland and Jamaica.

Poles work longer hours for less pay and are paid less sickness benefit than almost any other group.

Nigerians are among the best educated, most likely to be working in the public sector and least likely to claim sickness benefit...... Read more.

"BIG ENTERTAINMENT" - Second only to "BIG OIL"

cbs2.com

Is Hollywood Really Going Green? Critics Say No

Energy-Guzzling Studios Try To Reach Carbon Neutrality With Cash

(AP) HOLLYWOOD - From "green carpets" at awards shows to organic fruit served to actors on sets, Hollywood is going all out to promote itself as being environmentally hip.

But is it all just show?

No amount of public service announcements or celebrities driving hybrid cars can mask the fact that movie and TV production is a gritty industrial operation, consuming enormous amounts of power to feed bright lights, run sophisticated cameras, and feed a cast of thousands.

Studios' back lots host cavernous soundstages that must be air-conditioned to counter the heat produced by decades-old lighting technology. Huge manufacturing facilities consume wood, steel, paint and plastic to build sets that are often torn down and tossed out after filming ends.

The energy guzzling continues on the exhibition side, too, with multiplexes drawing millions of kilowatts to power old-school popcorn makers and clunky film projectors that cash-strapped theater owners are reluctant to replace.

A two-year study released last year by the University of California at Los Angeles concluded that special effects explosions, idling vehicles and diesel generators make the entertainment industry a major Southern California polluter, second only to the oil industry......



Powered by ScribeFire.

A Prelude to Health

Hudson Institute
This week's battle over expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, due to expire on September 30, is a foretaste of the larger campaign that will be under the next president over how Americans will get their health care — through government mandates or programs, or through a broader choice for individuals of private plans. It's HillaryCare vs. RomneyCare in microcosm.

First, a quick recap of the SCHIP battle. Both Republicans and Democrats want to raise the amount the federal government spends on health care for low-income children. President Bush wants a $5 billion increase over five years, and the Democrats want a $35 billion raise to expand the program to children from families earning more than the current 200% of the poverty line. The president has promised to veto the larger increase......


Powered by ScribeFire.

Nepal's Fragile Peace Process

International Crisis Group
Kathmandu/Brussels: The Maoist walk-out from government earlier this month has not derailed Nepal’s peace process, but keeping it moving requires compromise, confidence-building and better performance from the mainstream parties.

Nepal’s Fragile Peace Process, the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the challenges of rebuilding cross-party consensus to implement the peace agreement and hold free and fair Constituent Assembly elections on 22 November. If the Maoists do not participate, polls will be impossible, but their leaders need help in winning over dissidents within their movement and moving decisively away from undemocratic tactics.

Even if they rejoin.....



Powered by ScribeFire.

Taiwan’s Losing Battle

Council on Foreign Relations
Taiwan’s latest bid to enter the United Nations under its own name and hold a national referendum on the issue has generated criticism from both China and Taiwan’s major ally, the United States. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas J. Christensen called the referendum “ill conceived and potentially quite harmful” (PDF) and said such a step ignored Taiwan’s national security interests for short-term political gain. The United Nations, which decided to give the China seat to Beijing in 1971, has rejected all applications from Taiwan to join, including in a vote this month (AP).

Domestically, support for independence appears high; one hundred thousand people recently marched on Taiwan’s streets in support of the referendum on joining the UN (BBC). Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has slammed Washington for siding with China (DPA). But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says Washington is opposed to any initiative that appears......



Powered by ScribeFire.

Military Frustration Simmers Toward Some NATO Allies

ThreatsWatch.Org: Commentary:
Lack of Political Will Creating Military Consequences In Afghanistan

By Steve Schippert

You won’t hear it outside private military circles - at least you won’t hear it from them - but long-murmured grumblings are beginning to crescendo regarding some NATO allies’ small relative number and timid nature of contributions in Afghanistan. Behind the scenes, such comments and discussions are usually well beyond earshot of the media. It is, after all, a political issue, not a military issue. And the military services are generally careful not to tread into political territory. But the political affairs and decisions of some are beginning to be perceived as having very real military consequences on the ground in Afghanistan.

Though not publicly voiced, the internal military consternation and dissatisfaction stems from various European NATO members’ reluctance to actually engage the enemy, a reflection of political leadership rather than the uniformed soldiers actually deployed. This dissatisfaction - primarily shared among US, Canadian and British commanders and troops - is the source of the non-specific reference in a statement from the chairman of NATO’s military committee. Canadian Air Force Gen. Raymond Henault reminded that all of NATO’s member nations agreed to the Afghanistan mission “very clearly and very consciously,” and understood then that it would be a long commitment.

The Canadian General, who has seen his nation’s military shoulder its fair share of......



Powered by ScribeFire.

Europeans Want America to Stay in Iraq

Atlantic Community:Policy Workshop "Europeans Want America to Stay in Iraq"
Europeans Want America to Stay in Iraq

The Atlantic Community Editorial Team asked European policy experts for their opinions on proposed ways forward in Iraq. Respondents from ten different countries provided some surprising results....... Read on.


Powered by ScribeFire.

Our Dead Are Our Fault

Why are we funding the U.N.'s “human rights” nonsense?
Anne Bayefsky, National Review Online writes on the Human Rights Council
When President Bush told the United Nations General Assembly this week “the American people are disappointed by the failures of the Human Rights Council,” his words could not have been more timely or deserved. He pointed out “This body has been silent on repression by regimes from Havana to Caracas to Pyongyang and Tehran — while focusing its criticism excessively on Israel.” On Friday, the Council piled the dung heap higher. It wrapped up another session in Geneva by adopting two more resolutions against Israel and no resolutions critical of the human-rights record of any of the other 191 U.N. member states.

This brings the total of anti-Israel resolutions and decisions adopted by the “Human Rights” Council — in only the first 15 months of its operation — to 14. Another four very weak decisions and resolutions have been applied to Sudan. And the Council finally decided to hold a special session of the Council on Myanmar. So adding up the highly selective concerns of the U.N.’s lead human-rights agency: 74 percent of the Council’s moves against individual states have been directed at Israel, 21 percent at Sudan, 5 percent at Myanmar, and the rest of the world has been given a free pass...........



Powered by ScribeFire.

Ahmadinejad walks away with a win -

Los Angeles Times
His Columbia engagement gives him what he wants -- legitimacy -- and his hosts look rude to Islamic eyes.

One of the world's truly dangerous men, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left New York a clear winner this week, and he can thank the arrogance of the American academy and most of the U.S. news media's studied indifference for his victory.

If the blood-drenched history of the century just past had taught American academics one thing, it should have been that ....



Powered by ScribeFire.

Four Red Cross hostages freed in Afghanistan

The Times of India
KABUL: Four employees with the International Committee of the Red Cross, kidnapped earlier this week in Afghanistan, were freed in good health on Saturday, officials said.



The four men - one from Myanmar, one from Macedonia and two from Afghanistan - were taken captive on Wednesday in central Wardak province while working to secure the release of a German hostage.



Mohabullah, the police director of ......


Powered by ScribeFire.

This Will Cause a Firestorm, no?

McCain: No Muslim president, U.S. better with Christian one
BY HELEN KENNEDY

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER



GOP presidential candidate John McCain says America is better off with a Christian President and he doesn't want a Muslim in the Oval Office............


Powered by ScribeFire.

Germany Terror Plot Suspect On Run in Britain

FOXNews.com
A key suspect in the alleged plot to mount an attack in Germany on the scale of 9/11 is on the run in Britain, German security officials disclosed Saturday.



Scotland Yard counterterrorism detectives are hunting the man, who escaped from Germany after a plot to explode bombs at Frankfurt airport and a U.S. airbase. The collective power of the bombs would have exceeded those in Madrid and London in 2004 and 2005.

The plot was foiled on Sept. 4 when three men were ....


Powered by ScribeFire.

Tribal Members Join in Effort To Assist U.S., Iraqi Forces -

Washingtonpost.com
More than 30,000 tribal members in Iraq have come forward to work with U.S. and Iraqi forces over the past six months, a phenomenon that is spreading beyond Anbar province to Baghdad and other regions of the country, according to U.S. commanders.

The Iraqi government, at the urging of U.S. authorities, this month ordered Iraqi army and police units to integrate the volunteers into their operations. "That is huge. This gives them the approval that we are looking for," said Brig. Gen. John F. Campbell, deputy commander of the U.S. military in Baghdad......


I wonder waht Chuck Schumer thinks about this.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Iraq wants security deal with U.S.

Yahoo! News
BAGHDAD - Iraq wants the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the 160,000-stong U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq only through the end of 2008, then replace it with a long-term bilateral security agreement, Foreign Ministry officials said Saturday. Aides to ......


Powered by ScribeFire.

Juan Williams Defends O'Reilly, Rips CNN

Juan Williams has an article that appears in Time Magazine. Once again, Media Matters gets it wrong. This could not be happening so often unless ...... it's intentional?

What Bill O'Reilly Really Told Me - TIME
By Juan Williams
It started with Bill O'Reilly's grandmother. And it blew up into charges of O'Reilly being called a racist and me being attacked as a "Happy Negro" (read that as a lackey or Uncle Tom). More.


Powered by ScribeFire.

ON RELATIONSHIPS

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
-- Socrates

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
-- Groucho Marx

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.
-- Jimmy Durante

I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.
-- Zsa Zsa Gabor

ON MONEY

Money can't buy you happiness .. but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
-- Spike Milligan

I am opposed to millionaires... but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
-- Mark Twain

ON AGING

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. . as you grow older, it will avoid you.
-- Winston Churchill

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
-- Billy Crystal

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.
-- Bob Hope

Paul Jacob: Is the U.S. Senate the world's greatest deliberative body . . . or merely a hundred Lily Tomlins waiting for the phone to ring?
Congress passes many bills without reading them. Some are prepared so close to the vote that not even their sponsors really know what they say.

Can Newt Solve America’s Problems?

Thirteen years ago, then-Rep. Newt Gingrich stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to unveil the Contract with America, a document that crystallized conservative principles and led Republicans to a remarkable triumph on Election Day.

Gingrich was at the top of his game and the country was following closely behind.Of course, times have changed drastically since then. Gingrich was

By Robert Bluey

Blogged with Flock