Getting Nothing But Static From MSM

Illinois Had No Indians

2007-02-23T22:57:00.000-08:00

Reference to the Univeristy of Illinois decisiong to ban the Indian/Native American mascot:

So I guess there were never Indians in this state of Illinois which gets it's name from Indians (of course, "Native American's" today under the PC banner). Huh, that is one wide sweeping politically correct eraser that is being wielded and is scary just like a "book burning session".................What history will be erased next?

Perhaps next in line, renaming all the states that have Indian names ( because of course we referred to Native American's as Indians back then so States were given "Indian Names" - therefore all would have to be renamed to be PC to erase the inappropriate "Indian" history - scrub it scrub it scrub it):

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming.....................

State Names

Watch out Indiana things don't look good for you, given obvious reasons (Suggested new State name: Nativeamerica?)..................You could always go with a name that is "really offensive & politically incorrect" to Anglo Americans (penitence for former sins) like "Hoosiers"..................Sorry "Fighting Irish" is already taken by the golden dome university in your state Nativeamerica's. The folks down in Bloomington probably would not be good with the whole "Fighting Irish" thing anyway......................

They are talking it over on the STLToday blog

STL Blog

McCaskill's Anti-War Dilemma

2007-02-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

The NYTimes ran a story today on Hillary Clinton and how the rabid anti-war core that controls her and McCaskill's party want Clinton's head on a stick unless she publicly proclaims that she was wrong to vote for war with Iraq. John Kerry's former senior adviser provides McCaskill a glimpse into what the demand from today's Democratic party will be related to Iraq with this statement addressing Clinton's vote for war with Iraq:

said Robert M. Shrum, a senior adviser to Mr. Kerry in 2004. “I think there’s this tremendous desire in her campaign not to get into a position where you’re identified with traditional Democratic views. But this is now a party that is strongly antiwar.......................

NYT Link

A hard-core anti-war agenda defines today's Democratic party and it grows daily, confirmed from the 2004 Dem candidates own senior advisor. Not a good tent for a blue dog Democrat from a moderate Midwestern state like McCaskill to be in one would think, regardless of public polls on Iraq. If the anti-war agenda reaches the point of the Dem controlled Congress promoting voting to cut-off funding for the troops (and such a strategy is in the works), that will be a very bad place for McCaskill to find herself in politically. To stay a "true" blue dog she could not vote for such a measure. If she remains a blue dog and votes against such a measure then the rabid anti-war radicals who control her party will come after her just like they are coming after Clinton right now for her vote....................

Her vote on this non-binding resolution today related to increasing troops in Iraq was easy for McCaskill. The future votes McCaskill will be asked to vote for to maintain her parties anti-war position, will become much more difficult for her politically back home................................

Parents Charged for Loaded Gun Brought to School by Second Grader

2007-02-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

I'm a strong "second amendment - right to bear arms" advocate, however, this story is disturbing. Per the STL PD:

A Moscow Mills couple who kept more than 80 firearms in their home were charged Thursday with child endangerment after the woman's 8-year-old son carried a loaded handgun in his backpack all day at school.

The gun was discovered after the child showed the gun to a fellow student and a third student overheard the conversation and told school authorities. The hand gun was loaded and the safety was off. The child's parents have been charged with "easy access to weapons":

Charged in the case are Tina C. Powell, 41, and David Himmel, 43, both of the 600 block of Rolling Meadows Drive. Himmel and Powell were arrested and released after posting $25,000 bond each.............."We're holding the parents responsible for this because of the easy access to weapons," said Lincoln County Prosecutor John Richards................

All 80 guns were legally owned and none were confiscated. According the report the child is remorseful and understands that he made a really big mistake:

"He understands that what he did was wrong, but I don't know if he understands the magnitude of what could have happened," he said (Sheriff Dan Torres) .

Well it's reassuring that the child understands what he did was wrong and I hope that the story educates many on the potential for the huge disaster that we could have seen. No word yet on whether the parents understand the magnitude of error here. The right to own and possess guns is a guaranteed constitutional right via the second amendment, for those who meet the legal requirements. Its a very important right that also carries an equally important responsibility that it would appear was not adhered to by the parents of this child.............

Better custody and care are required of both the guns and the child I'd say.............

Good Technology in Bad Hands

2007-01-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

News that terrorists in Iraq use Google Earth to get the blue prints for their attack points. Via The Telegraph UK:

Terrorists attacking British bases in Basra are using aerial footage displayed by the Google Earth internet tool to pinpoint their attacks, say Army intelligence sources. Documents seized during raids on the homes of insurgents last week uncovered print-outs from photographs taken from Google. The satellite photographs show in detail the buildings inside the bases and vulnerable areas such as tented accommodation, lavatory blocks and where lightly armoured Land Rovers are parked...................

Miracle Ending to Kidnappings: Two Boys Rescued - Abducted Four Years Apart

2007-01-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

Two Missouri teenagers who were kidnapped four years apart, were both rescued today from the same location per the STL PD:

Ben Ownby, the 13-year-old Franklin County boy missing since Monday, has been found alive in Kirkwood -- as well as Shawn Hornbeck, a boy from Washington County who has been missing since 2002.

Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said officers located both boys today in an apartment in Kirkwood. He said the case broke when two Kirkwood police officers went to serve a warrant last night and noticed the white pickup truck that had been the object of an intense search in the Ownby case. Officers went to the apartment today and found both boys inside. Hornbeck identified himself as the boy who has been missing since October 2002. Both boys appeared to be in good health, Toelke said.

The abductor in custody has confessed per the Post:

One person has been charged in the case, identified as Michael Devlin, 41,Toelke said. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bond and being questioned as the news of the boys' recovery was announced. Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Parks told reporters that Devlin had confessed in the case.

How amazing that they not only found recently abducted Ben Ownby but also Hornbeck who has been missing four plus years, together and they both are alive.............truly an amazing and wonderful development.....................

Local STL Fox 2 has video and pictures, NBC 7 also,

A local radio station is reporting that a Michael Devlin apparently posted a comment on the Shawn Hornbeck webpage which if true makes a sick-o an even bigger sick-o monster.............The webpage isn't coming up because of current traffic I'm sure.........................The evil facts on who Devlin is and exactly what he has done will unfold over the next several days and that will be a terrible story to read, but the important thing right now is both children have been found and both are alive. A picture of the monster responsible for this is below.............

Not to minimize or take away from the absolute joy the Ownby's are obviously experiencing, but my goodness how overwhelmed Harnbeck's parents must be after four years to have this joyful ending. Word on the local radio was that Harnbecks parents were being interviewed by Fox about the Ownby abduction when they got the call that their son had been found, alive...............Wow, what an amazing and great ending to this story............................................

Dems Bail on 100 Hour Plan Due to Iraq Spending

2007-01-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

Prediction, the Dem leadership that now controls the Senate & House will attempt to use the Presidents decision to increase the troop size in Iraq to bail them out of their 100 hour agenda promise after taking power. Via NYT:

The office of Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, followed with an announcement that the House would also take up a resolution in opposition to a troop increase. House Democrats were scheduled to meet Wednesday morning to consider whether to interrupt their carefully choreographed 100-hour, two-week-long rollout of their domestic agenda this month to address the Iraq war.

Here is what it will probably sound like: we can't pay as we go because the President is irresponsibly spending money in Iraq, we can't enact the 911 commission recommendations because Bush is spending irresponsibly in Iraq, we can't address the ethics problem in Washington because Bush is spending all the damn kick-back/ pork money in Iraq and oh yea that whole refrigerator cash thing down in New Orleans.....................

President Bush's Iraq Speech

2007-01-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

This quote from the President's speech I think sums it all up (full text):

The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time. On one side are those who believe in freedom and moderation. On the other side are extremists who kill the innocent, and have declared their intention to destroy our way of life. In the long run, the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide a hopeful alternative to the hateful ideology of the enemy – by advancing liberty across a troubled region. It is in the interests of the United States to stand with the brave men and women who are risking their lives to claim their freedom – and help them as they work to raise up just and hopeful societies across the Middle East.............

Lets hope the pessimists don't win, because I don't think this is a battle we can afford to quit and walk away from because it's messy, hard and has not been wrapped up within a couple years......................

Cindy Sheehan "We Put You In Power - We Own You"

2007-01-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

I'd hate to be a dem as they take power of congress. Per the Bussiness Journal:

House Democrats tried to unveil their lobbying reform package today, but their press conference was drowned out by chants from anti-war activists who want Congress to stop funding the Iraq war before taking on other issues.

Led by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a slain soldier, the protesters chanted "De-escalate, investigate, troops home now" as Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., began outlining the Democrats' plans to ban lobbyist-funded travel and institute other ethics reforms. The press conference was held in the Cannon House Office Building in an area open to the public. Sheehan says she has nothing against lobbying reform, but she and her fellow anti-war activists want Democrats to know they will keep pressuring Congress to end the war in Iraq.

"We wanted the Democrats to know they're back in power because of the grass roots," Sheehan says.

Not a good gang to sleep with I say...................................

Judge of Judges Has Ethics Problems

2006-12-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

The new chairman of the Judiciary Committee admits he has possible ethics violations, per the Hill:

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has "accepted responsibility" for possibly violating House rules by requiring his official staff to perform campaign-related work, according to a statement quietly released by the House ethics committee late Friday evening...................The Hill reported last March that two former Conyers’ aides alleged that he repeatedly violated House ethics rules by requiring aides to work on local and state campaigns, and babysit and chauffeur his children. Deanna Maher, a former deputy chief of staff in the Detroit office, and Sydney Rooks, a former legal counsel in his district office, shared numerous letters, memos, e-mails, handwritten notes and expense reports with The Hill............

House Speaker Pelosi is standing by Conyers:

A spokesman for Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Conyers will remain chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Conyers is the "Impeach Bush Whip" and this should become interesting over the next few days:

Conyers had alarmed Democrats, poised to recapture the House after 12 years in the minority, by indicating that he would begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush. In May, a spokesman for Pelosi, said that she told her Democratic colleagues in a closed meeting, "that impeachment is off the table; she is not interested in pursuing it."

Should someone who holds such an important position in government and who steers the qualification of federal judges have such issues of integrity, regardless of their party affiliation or yours? Conyers has no stone throwing latitude in my opinion...........

Video of Saddam Hanging

2006-12-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

The cell phone video of Saddam Hussein hanging from the gallows, via Google:

VIDEO Here

------------------> Update <----------------------(10:52PMCST)

The left & right bloggers are hammering away on the merits of the "hanging". Gateway Pundit (right of center blogger) highlighted several (left of center blogger's) reactions:

Gateway Pundit post

Crooks and Liars, Unqualified Offerings, American Street, and The Huffington Post, and the comments are flying after the post on whether Saddam's hanging is good, bad, or of no impact.......................................Strange to me how the hanging of Saddam by Iraqis and their legitimate government could be divisive, strange perspective indeed..............

Forget the NSA, Clinton Was Spying on Diana

2006-12-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Revelations that the US was spying on Princess Diana and had her wired for sound the night she died, per The Guardian:

The American secret service was bugging Princess Diana's telephone conversations without the approval of the British security services on the night she died, according to the most comprehensive report on her death, to be published this week...............

I wonder if we win see half the outrage from the MSM over this matter that we saw over the NSA? Considering the MSM's reaction and public opinion campaign when it was discovered that we were wire-tapping calls from terrorists into the states, one would think that when it's reveled that a world icon such as Diana was being "monitored" by the Clinton regime, the obvious reaction should be "that is nuts".............................Don't hold your breath for that logical and appropriate reaction however............

Next Iraq Play: Bolster Maliki to Challenge Sadr, Sistani Willing.......

2006-12-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

An interesting and informative article via the NYT's on Iraq and who is the power broker in Iraq. It's the Ayatollah (Ayatollah Sistani):

A wild card in any power struggle among the Shiites would be Ayatollah Sistani. The elderly cleric has generally remained silent in recent months, apparently reluctant to involve himself too deeply in the political quagmire of Iraq. But if it looked like a severe Shiite split might take place, the ayatollah could step in and force the parties to make peace.

This week, though, Ayatollah Sistani said nothing when Mr. Sadr withdrew officials loyal to him — 30 parliamentarians and six ministers — from Mr. Maliki’s government. Baha al-Aaraji, a leader of the parliamentarians, said the Sadr officials would not return until Mr. Maliki had wrested more control of Iraqi forces from the Americans and improved basic services. In a news conference after his meeting with Mr. Bush, Mr. Maliki urged the Sadr followers to rejoin the government.

In the article you get the play by play on the current power struggle. The American play appears now to be to reach out to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the powerful Shiite PM with strong ties to Iran (his Iraqi party members actually fought for Iran in the Iran-Iraq war). He also is a religious conservative (seems that most Iraqis are) and an arch rival of fellow religious clerk Montana al-Sadr, the number one threat in Iraq per American advisors given his militia. Looks like a prop-up of Sadr's rival Hakim to erode Sadr's influence.

This part of the story makes the most sense to me:

A senior Pentagon official said Friday that the Bush administration was also weighing whether to back away from efforts to reach out to Sunni extremists because the approach had not worked, and was alienating moderate Shiite groups...............

Reaching out to Sunni's has not worked it seems to me, and I'm all for reaching out to "moderates" even if moderate is a relative term. That sounds logical.......

Time for Iraqis to Demonstrate Self Determination

2006-11-30T19:43:00.000-08:00

American forces will begin leaving Iraq soon. Reuters reports that it will happen sooner than later:

President Bush will take weeks rather than months to start making changes in Iraq policy after he receives high-level recommendations on the conduct of the war, his national security adviser said on Thursday. Speaking after Bush held crisis talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan, Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said: "There is a real sense of urgency but there is not a sense of panic."......................Bush spoke after reports an independent, bipartisan group will recommend the U.S. military shift from a combat to a support role in Iraq but will not propose a timetable for withdrawal.....................

I have been very supportive of the efforts in Iraq and of President Bush. I think that removing Saddam was a good thing. I would have made the same decision if I was in the President's position at the time in question given the intelligence that was in play. I also think that a democracy in Iraq would be a very positive thing in the region and has been worth investing American resources and lives to attempt to achieve. That said I think it's time for us to turn things over to the Iraqis.

This change comes from a conversations I had with a member of my family who's opinion I deeply respect on all military matters. He is an uncle (actually a 65 year old second cousin who I call uncle) who served in Vietnam as a helicopter gunner and received the purple heart during his service. He is a no nonsense man who is very wise on all military matters in my opinion given his life experiences and he was very bullish on going to Iraq and Afghanistan after 911. However, he said from day one we should go to both countries and take care of the business that needs to be taken care of, win a war, and leave. He said we should send our diplomats over to deliver this message after we killed as many bad guys as we could: "If things don't change and you don't get rid of the remaining bad guys on your own, we will be back and kill a bunch more of them, and those who support them". He suggested we repeat the same model if needed, as many times as needed, only on a more devastating scale each time we had to come back.

His logic of course is that soldiers are warriors who fight wars and they are not policeman, peace keepers or nation builders. I argued back at that time that we owed it the Iraqis to help prop-up their new democracy. We said it would not work unless they truly wanted it and fought for it. I countered that they did............I see his wisdom now............

Do Iraqis want democracy? Sure a great deal do per the polls on the subject, however it's one thing to want something it's a totally different thing to invest completely into ones goal to ensure it is achieved. I have waited patiently like many Americans for the resolve to surface from the Iraqis to win their own democracy but aside from an encouraging story here or there, I have not seen it. I can't think of one country that is a current thriving democracy who was handed the sacred gift of democracy from another country. Democracy is self earned and by being earned by the collective people it holds them together no matter how bad things might get at times. It unites them and makes them a collective people regardless of differences and strife. Iraqis have a decision to make and then a very short window of time to act if they do decide that democracy is their primary goal.

It's time to bring the brave men and woman of the American military home. They have done much and achieved great things. They should be proud of what they have achieved. That said we have done pretty much all we can do at this point. It's time to turn this over to Iraqis and the question of "self determination" must be answered as it only can be by them.....................

The concerns about what happens in the region if we leave are legitimate concerns and serious ones. The same logic would apply to everyone in the region in my opinion that applies to Iraq. We should tell the Iraqis this as we leave: "If you don't get rid of the bad guys we will be back to take care of things again. We won't be building schools or power plants, we will be killing bad guys and then leaving. We will be in and out in about two months and if needed, will come back and do it again and each time we have to repeat that step the worse it will be".........................It's time for Iraq and the Iraqi people to decide their future by actions as well as the region itself.......................

--------------------Update--------------------------

Another military veteran who's opinion I respect greatly feels differently about the coming "Baker Iraqi Study Group" report and needed actions, Greyhawk @ Mudvillegazette and is blogging on the topic................

Doe Has Antlers: 28 Point Missouri Doe

2006-11-28T21:56:00.000-08:00

A post at Wizbang on Deer Check Stations made me think of the Doe with a Rack per NBC4

SARCOXIE, Mo. -- A Missouri hunter has shot a 28-point deer that just happened to be a doe................

It's a hunting plus to know that in Missouri you have a chance of shooting a doe with a 28-point rack let alone a buck. NBC4 has a slide show of the doe and video. Pretty cool story...........................

Pending Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News Strike

2006-11-27T19:23:00.000-08:00

News from E&P that the newspaper Guild members of the Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News, are preparing to go on strike Thursday night:

NEW YORK More than 600 Newspaper Guild members at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News signed up for strike benefits over the weekend, according to guild spokesman Stu Bykofsky, who said the union is also scheduling picket assignments for a strike that could occur as soon as midnight Thursday.

"We are preparing to go on strike as if we were going to go on strike because we cannot wait until Thursday," he told E&P. "We have to be ready to go."

Just one very relevant and important thing for both the Guild & Ownership of all MSM to consider: 2004-2005 National Hockey League Lock-Out.............................

I think there are very few in the MSM who have the product quality or customer loyalty to recover from a shut-down..........................

Russian Spy Dead: It Aint Flonaise Putin's Dealing

2006-11-24T21:14:00.000-08:00

The story about the poising of former Russian spy Litvinenko with a "spray Polonium 210" is the rage this evening. Per Sky they found 210 in his urine.

That aint Flonaise that Putin and his boys were handing out...................Ready to allow the Iranian handlers to control the next move in the Iraq matter?

Hugo Chavez, Iran, Open Borders & Suicide Terrorists

2006-11-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

Hugo Chavez doesn't take kindly to hard questions asked of his new best buddy & ally Iran. Hugo has recalled the Venezuelan ambassador to Argentina per the BBC:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has recalled his ambassador to Buenos Aires following a complaint by Argentina's leader, Argentine media report. President Nestor Kirchner is said to have contacted Mr Chavez over the conduct of ambassador Roger Capella. Mr Capella is accused of supporting former Housing Secretary Luis D'Elia. Mr D'Elia was fired for criticising an international arrest warrant for eight Iranian former cabinet ministers issued by Argentine prosecutors. The warrants were issued over the ex-ministers' alleged involvement in a bomb attack on a Jewish cultural centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, in which 85 people were killed..........................

Hugo Chavez's growing alliance with Iran is certainly concerning when you read reports about the massive suicide squads Iran is putting together per an Iranian expert Ali Alfoneh:

By Abbasi's definition, Iran may not sponsor terrorism, but it does not hesitate to promote suicide attacks. He announced that approximately 40,000 Iranian estesh-hadiyun (martyrdom-seekers) were ready to carry out suicide operations against "twenty-nine identified Western targets" should the U.S. military strike Iranian nuclear installations...................

With Venezuela's South American location and the open Mexican - American borders it's particularly alarming. Alfoneh thinks the bombers would be used in the Middle East Theater, and that might be, but the "Iranian - Hugo - Open Border" combination still is chilling:

Samadi said he had registered 2,000 volunteers for suicide operations at a seminar the previous day.[9] Copies of the registration forms (see Figure 1) show that the "martyrdom-seekers" could volunteer for suicide operations against three targets: operations against U.S. forces in the Shi‘ite holy cities in Iraq; against Israelis in Jerusalem; and against Rushdie............

Alfoneh also suggests that Iran's decision to develop suicide units maybe a telling hint of a weak Iranian military:

Since 9-11, the increased focus on international terror has amplified fear of terrorism. By forming suicide terrorists units, Tehran can, at a minimum, exploit such fear. Already, Western policymakers warn that any strike against Iran could spark a resurgence of Iranian-backed terror. That the Islamic Republic has already formed suicide bomber brigades underscores that point. But the fact that the Iranian leadership must embrace such nonconventional deterrents may suggest that Tehran recognizes that the Iranian military is weaker than Iranian figures admit................

You would think that a country with a powerful military would not need to exploit insane people who want to blow themselves up so Alfoneh's observation makes sense to me............

Mad Cartoonist Storms Newspaper Office

2006-11-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

The mad cartoonist who stormed his former paper with a toy gun, has some tremendous cartoon potential I'd say:

"I'm here to unmask the true conflicts in the newspaper," Varela told The Miami Herald. "They laugh at exiles here. There are problems with payment."............"All that he wants people to know is that he wants the truth to come out," Garcia said. "I think he needs some time to work some things out.".................

I'd say he needs some time to work some things out, and will no doubt get that time...................

Unless there is some unwritten rule against drawing cartoons about fellow cartoonists who go mad, one would think that there could be some seriously funny material here. Come to think about it, there probably is some unwritten rule in the MSM over such things. Too bad, if I could draw I'd pump out a few that come to mind.................

-------------Update---------------------------

A South Florida online paper Broward-Palm Beach New Times (Daily Pulp) is posting on the "mad cartoonist" and is covering the angle that it's part of a total Miami Herald "melt-down". Given the things going on at the Herald over the past year, I see that angle. You have to love this line:

“Warning: The Attorney General Has Determined that working at the Miami Herald Is Dangerous to Your Health".............................

On a serious note, The Daily Pulp thinks things in Miami are about to boil over and this is the latest example:

The entire community needs to do something before there’s another day like today, only instead of a half-baked cartoonist, it’s someone truly intent on doing some serious damage. I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but I’m starting to think there needs to be some kind of town hall meeting with Fiedler, other newspaper editors and reporters, Cuban exile leaders, and anybody else interested in these issues. Stick Michael Putney in there to moderate. Start it at 7:30 and let it last until the wee hours if it has to. This damn town needs some therapy. And quick.............................

Why Does Russia Support Iran?

2006-11-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

With the latest weapons transaction between Russia & Iran being reported, the question of why Russia protects Iran's nuclear aspirations seems worth revisiting. Here is a good refresher via the Carnegie Endowment:

The fact is that in contrast to the United States, Russia has huge political and economic interests with Iran. Iran is one of the main recipients of Russian peaceful nuclear technology and arms sales. Also, Iran is seen as a geopolitical counterbalance to the expanding influence of Turkey, the United States, and Islamic Wahhabism in the South and North Caucasus and Central Asia. Finally, Iranian oil and gas resources (4th and 2nd largest in the world respectively) are a lucrative target for future Russian investment................................By demanding the immediate cessation of Iranian enrichment activities, Russia is following its own economic and security interests and is demonstrating cooperation with the United States (and the West in general) on nonproliferation. By opposing UN sanctions and US military force, Moscow is accommodating its interests in cooperation with Iran and in avoidance of the inevitable economic, political and security damage of war. In this way Russia is also indirectly forging a united front with China, India and many other countries in opposing US unilateralism and arbitrary policy of force, permeated with double standards and a disregard for other nations' differing interests and views...............

It's all about "money" and "influence" in the region and the Russian perception of how to best protect their security buffers...............I would not look for any major changes in the Russian policy on Iran anytime soon.....................

Australia: No Plans for Timeline on Iraq

2006-11-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a reassuring headline via the Australians

Australia has no plans for setting a timeline for the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said Thursday...................

I wonder what the Baker Commission is cooking up? This actually gives me some hope when one of our strongest allies in Iraq is showing up with "stiff knees" that Baker is not cooking up a Syrian sell-out........

NYC Live Poultry Market: Don't Look Them in the Eye.........

2006-11-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

Now that you have had your Thanksgiving turkey dinner, here is a sub-story on "live poultry markets" via the AP

Thousands of turkey, chickens and other fowl are killed every day at hundreds of live poultry markets around the country, with roughly 90 such places in the New York City area alone. Most of the nation's live poultry markets are concentrated in large urban areas with big immigrant populations, such as Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

Once the turkeys are chosen by customers, the birds are snatched up by a butcher who binds their feet and hangs them upside down from a scale. Then comes the unmentionable (hint: it has to do with a blade). The bird then goes into a rotating machine that strips its feathers. And customers walk out with their Thanksgiving turkey in a plastic bag, fresh as fresh can be.

Said one customer: "People say that once you eat a live turkey, you can never go back again,"................

I'm sure PETA is not happy but if you don't look them in the eye, you can get a super fresh and tasty bird:

McIntyre went back and chose the smallest turkey, a white 20-pounder. "I didn't look the animal in the eye. And I didn't look when they killed it."

The strange thing that makes this a story is that the market is in NYC and other large urban cities. Obviously this has been an annual event in rural locations all over the country every year for many years...............Turkey famers have to be chuckling when they read that one......................

Thanksgiving Prayer: deliver us from this food.....

2006-11-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

At Thanksgiving Dinner, my nine year old gave the blessing, and one of his closing lines was "God, deliver us from this food"..............................

He has been learning the Lords Prayer for his God & Country badge in Boy Scouts and seems to have been focused in on the "deliver us from evil" part of the prayer and inserted that line into his Thanksgiving prayer. My wife and I cooked the dinner and we are both good cooks so we actually thought it was hysterical. We have family members and friends who if they had been cooking his prayer might have been appropriate and on the money, like I'm sure many others have in their families and circle.............

Happy Thanksgiving everyone................................

Cards Win - Go Crazy Folks....

2006-10-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

respublica: Screaming red

Cards win to become "World Champs", not much else to say is there...................

Molly Ivins: Americans are Nazis

2006-09-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Molly Ivins in her own words:

I'd like those supporting this evil bill to spare me one affliction: Do not, please, pretend to be shocked by the consequences of this legislation. And do not pretend to be shocked when the world begins comparing us to the Nazis................

David Broder: Apology Due from MSM to Rove

2006-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

The most respected Political Op-Ed journalist in the business (per his peers and Newspaper Editors), states that the MSM owes Rove an apology per WaPo:

Blumenthal's example is far from unique. Newsweek, in a July 25, 2005, cover story on Rove, after dutifully noting that Rove's lawyer said the prosecutor had told him that Rove was not a target of the investigation, added: "But this isn't just about the Facts, it's about what Rove's foes regard as a higher Truth: That he is a one-man epicenter of a narrative of Evil."

And in the American Prospect's cover story for August 2005, Joe Conason wrote that Rove "is a powerful bully. Fear of retribution has stifled those who might have revealed his secrets. He has enjoyed the impunity of a malefactor who could always claim, however implausibly, deniability -- until now."

These and other publications owe Karl Rove an apology. And all of journalism needs to relearn the lesson: Can the conspiracy theories and stick to the facts.

Well said.........but for a great deal of today's media, it's not about the truth, it's about pushing a political agenda like they did in the fictional Plame story..............The politically active liberal left in the media are most to blame for this debacle and once again the entire media establishment finds their credibility bottoming-out at a new low......................

Hat-tip Powerline

Clarie McCaskill Calls President Bush a Killer

2006-09-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Claire McCaskill made an outrageous statement about President Bush Tuesday in the presence of STL Mayor Francis Slay and other state democrats. Pub Def has the story:

McCaskill said she would remind people that "George Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black."

McCaskill is sounding more extreme and more like the Daily Kos netroots every day. Such a crazy moonbat public statement is sure to cost her dearly with moderate voters. The STL Post Dispatch Political Fix blog is also covering the story....

A terrible move on the heels of news that the DSCC is pouring big cash into TV ads in the hard-blue-markets of metro STL & metro K.C (per Political Fix). Not the stuff that winning campaigns are made of and it does not appear to bode well for McCaskill….....

Best Deer Rifle

2006-08-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's almost deer season and this year it's also probably time for a new rifle. That's a good thing but also a difficult thing. I have hunted with a 30.06 Remington for the past 4 years and I like the rifle. I kill a deer pretty much every year with it and have not found a shot it's not capable of making. The past few years I have hunted with thick woods to the south of my stand and open field and wooded fence lines leading to my stand to the north. Great spot with lots of deer and the old 30.06 had killed all but one deer I've pulled the trigger on.......

I'm adding a much more open hunting property this year. It's in northern Missouri on the Iowa line and is farm land that has pockets of woods with lots of distinct tree lines, again leading to my stands. Big-Big deer on the property........The shots could be longer than the 50-100 yards I've usually had so I want to do a full evaluation on the new deer rifle purchase. Here is what I'm considering:

260 - 7mm-08 - 270 - 280 - 308 and of course a new 30.06.................................

I like the idea of an equally fast and even flater shooting cartridge in the smaller caliber rifles so that is why I'm looking down the range. I don't hunt elk or moose and probably never will so I'm buying a deer rifle. If I do hunt elk or moose, I'll take my old 30.06 on the hunt............One of the reasons I like my 30.06 is that it can cut through cover to kill the deer, regardless of what the experts say about there being no brush-busters I've have killed one in that manner, which was the only one I asked the 30.06 to take in such conditions. I don't have an issue with the 30.06 recoil but if I can get better results with less kick, well sign me up. Here is my top three if I move off the 30.06:

#

1: 7mm-08: sounds like the flat shooting fast shot I'm looking for.............

#2: 308: basically the same power as the 30.06 with a flatter more accurate flight................

#3: 270: well everyone who knows someone who has one has heard it's the moon..............

It's that time of year to talk about what the best deer rifle is. Any thoughts.............caliber & model required........................

Willie "Weed Man" Nelson to Endorse Claire McCaskill

2006-08-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

The Missouri Senate race had an interesting story break the other day. Democrat candidate and current state Auditor Claire McCaskill might have a drug story breaking about her as the race begins in earnest. You can watch the video from a Missouri TV station's report over at Red State..............

Willie Nelson is in STL tonight and McCaskill is suppose to hold a news conference with Nelson prior to his show where he will reported endorse her candidacy, per the Post Dispatch Blog. Maybe it's just me but when a possible drug scandal could be breaking, as a candidate do you really want to have a public function with Weed Man Willie endorsing you?

Judge Diggs ACLU Before Ruling Against NSA

2006-08-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

The ruling by US District Judge Anna Diggs against the NSA looks like an inside job by the ACLU. An organization that Diggs serves as Secretary & Trustee, has been feeding the Michigan ACLU cash. Per Chron Watch:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and judicial abuse, announced today that Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, who last week ruled the government’s warrantless wiretapping program unconstitutional, serves as a Secretary and Trustee for a foundation that donated funds to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, a plaintiff in the case ACLU et al. v. National Security Agency. Judicial Watch discovered the potential conflict of interest after reviewing Judge Diggs Taylor’s financial disclosure statements.....................According to her 2003 and 2004 financial disclosure statements, Judge Diggs Taylor served as Secretary and Trustee for the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan (CFSEM). She was reelected to this position in June 2005. The official CFSEM website states that the foundation made a “recent grant” of $45,000 over two years to the ACLU of Michigan, a plaintiff in the wiretapping case. Judge Diggs Taylor sided with the ACLU of Michigan in her recent decision...............

Unbelievable...............Well actually it's not all that unbelievable, the hard left has completely left any shred of objective and moderate standing behind in their sprint to become totally unhinged. Just the latest example of the hard left falling off the floor to a new low point............................

Hat-tip Wizbang who has a good post going on the subject.........

Jim @ Gateway Pundit is leading the blog reporting on this one, check it out.....................

Draw With Hezbollah = Israeli Defeat

2006-08-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

The latest on the Israel - Hezbollah war is gloomy news indeed for Israel, per Fox News:

In a nation mythologized for decisive military victories over Arab foes, the stalemate after a 34-day war in Lebanon has surprised many........

It should do a whole lot more than surprise the Israelis that the military performed so poorly in this war. That is the reaction from the rest of the world, how could they execute this war so poorly?

the wartime solidarity crumbled after Israel agreed to pull its army from south Lebanon without crushing Hezbollah or rescuing the captured soldiers..........

Israel was given the green light to crush Hezbollah by the world but instead came up with a draw............A draw in this battle equals an Israeli defeat regardless of how blindly pro-Israeli pundits frame it...................

Military experts and commentators have criticized the army for relying too heavily on air power and delaying the start of ground action for too long. They say the army underestimated Hezbollah, and that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert set an unrealistic goal by pledging to destroy the guerrilla group.

It was exactly that, poor leadership and a really bad military plan, to achieve the goal that Israel stated it was committed achieving and could achieve...........It did not achieve the goal but rather a draw which again is a defeat that only Israel can be held accountable for.....................

Others blogging about the Israel - Hezbollah cease fire:

Captains Quarters: The french, well french-out..............

Blogging Break - Time Well Spent

2006-08-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged at all this past week. Main reason is once the JonBenet story hit, it engulfed the whole news cycle, completely.................

I thought the coverage 10 years ago was way too much and way over done. After it resurfaced this week and took over again, I said the hell with it, and started watching OLN & Home & Garden network...................

It was a good week to take a break and I'm glad I did........

UN Cease Fire Approved - Will It Work?

2006-08-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

The UN Security Council has approved the Lebanese - Israeli cease fire draft resolution per Fox News:

The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Friday that calls for an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and authorizes the deployment of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon as Israel withdraws.

So, what exactly does the resolution call for? You can review the outline in complete (here) and form your own opinion. For me here are the main and critical points of the resolution:

PP2: Expressing its utmost concern at the continuing escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel since Hezbollah's attack on Israel on 12 July 2006, which has already caused hundreds of deaths and injuries on both sides, extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons,

(I think the verbiage that accurately reflects that Hezbollah attacked Israel is important. Hezbollah was the aggressor and started this war and the resolution accurately reflects that.)

PP3: ..................the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers,

(This resolution will not see light, will be DOA unless that occurs. It is square one for everything else within the resolution to become active.)

PP4: Mindful of the sensitivity of the issue of prisoners and encouraging the efforts aimed at urgently settling the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel,

(encouraging is less-strong than urgently, so it is has a lower holding than the Israeli soldier release. It does however put it on the board and again "encourage" movement that way.............)

PP5. Welcoming the efforts of the Lebanese Prime Minister and the commitment of the government of Lebanon, in its seven-point plan, to extend its authority over its territory, through its own legitimate armed forces, such that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon, welcoming also its commitment to a UN force that is supplemented and enhanced in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operation, and bearing in mind its request in this plan for an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Southern Lebanon,

(This is the most important element in conjunction with PP8 (UN Forces) of the resolution I think. Lebanon extending it's authority over it's territory and disarming the "zone" is the right answer, but their inability to do exactly that after all is the whole reason this war occurred. It is the best and right solution, but only if the Lebanese's government and military is capable of performing the task. Most think they are not, so it is also the most likely factor for full-failure with this resolution as we move forward. I buy a Powerball ticket (1) every week and know the chances of winning are astronomically against it happening. I'm hopeful, but I'm also realistic that it's very highly unlikely to occur. That is my identical position on the Lebanese army being able to successfully fulfill their role and see this resolution to a successful end)

PP8: Welcoming the unanimous decision by the government of Lebanon on 7 August 2006 to deploy a Lebanese armed force of 15,000 troops in South Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws behind the Blue Line and to request the assistance of additional forces from UNIFIL as needed, to facilitate the entry of the Lebanese armed forces into the region and to restate its intention to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces with material as needed to enable it to perform its duties,

(I have no faith that the Lebanese government or military has the will or the ability to defang Hezbollah. Adding a UN force to the mix only marginally increases my optimism that disarming Hezbollah will occur under the resolution. Without the UN forces the odds of it occurring are 1,000,000 to 1, and with the UN force it closes to 999,999 to 1..................)

OP3: Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the provisions of resolution 1559 (2004) and resolution 1680 (2006), and of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, for it to exercise its full sovereignty, so that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon;

(Calls for 1559 to be enforced and again the failure of it being enforced is the reason for this latest war.)

OP14: Calls upon the Government of Lebanon to secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel and requests UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11 to assist the Government of Lebanon at its request;

(other entry points is Syria and closing the arms stream from Syria is the key from a logistical perspective.)

OP18. Stresses the importance of, and the need to achieve, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on all its relevant resolutions including its resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 and 338 (1973) of 22 October 1973;

(Well, in the end regardless of everything else, that is the most important and critical need and I think all logical well minded people hope this is the ultimate outcome.)

Will it work? Doubtful unless Hezbollah is disarmed and prevented from re-entering the "southern blue zone". Based on the those playing the role of disarming Hezbollah I say this is only a pause before the next round and the all out offensive and war................How long? I say days rather than weeks based on the points highlighted above.............................

The disarming of Hezbollah would not be an active question had the Israeli government and military achieved it during the wide-window they were given by the Bush Adm. They didn't so we have all these factors in play and will in all probability have a new factors to consider in the coming days when the hostilities start anew...................

-------------update-------------------------

Other blogging on the UN Resolution:

Captain's Quarters

Wizbang

Bottle Bombers Compound: Peroxides & Hydroperoxides

2006-08-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

The compound that the British Bottle Bombers planned to use was Peroxide based, just like the British bombers from 7-11:

Peroxides and hydroperoxides are highly reactive materials and may be extremely shock-sensitive explosives. Peroxides can form readily in certain organic materials, especially ethers. Simply moving or just screwing the cap off a bottle that is contaminated with peroxides can lead to an explosion, injury and/or death. Read all of the following information carefully!

Acetone peroxide(C9H18O6), or TATP(triacetone triperoxide), the explosive used in today's London blasts, is a high explosive that can be made from common household items such as drain cleaner(sulfuric acid - H2SO4), hydrogen peroxide(H2O2), and acetone(CH3COCH3), a common organic solvent. It is actually a mixture of stereoisomers. In its finished form it is almost undetectable by sniffer dogs or conventional bomb detection systems.

Peroxide based bombs are also the preferred material for Palestinian suicide bombers:

In the occupied Palestinian territories, you can always tell who the 'engineers' (bomb-makers) are: they're the ones covered in burn marks who might be missing fingers, or even a whole hand, who make bombs for the young suicide bombers sent to kill Israelis by the Islamic militant organisations such as Hamas. And there, as in London, their explosive of choice is triacetone triperoxide or TATP. And TATP is the reason for the engineer's disfigurement.

For the same reasons that Hamas uses TATP to send suicide bombers undetected into Israel, the al-Qaeda network has adopted TATP for its terror missions abroad. The substance was included as the trigger in the shoe bomb that Briton Richard Reid tried to detonate on a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001, and in the identical device given to Reid's fellow bomber Sajid Badat, who aborted his mission..............

New UN Plan for Lebanon - Who Will Disarm Hezbollah?

2006-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

The latest from the Israeli - Hezbollah war:

Latest UN Proposal

Latest ceasefire proposal does not call for disarming terror group as precondition to ceasefire; according to deal being formulated, IDF will gradually pull out of Lebanon and will be replaced by an international force including 10,000 French troops.............The proposal will call for Hizbullah’s disarmament in accordance with UN Resolution 1559, but this will not be declared a precondition for reaching a ceasefire............

The UN will not disarm Hezbollah:

The international force will be tasked with preventing the smuggling of Katyusha rockets and arms from Syria and Iran to Lebanon, but it will not disarm Hizbullah.

So if the international force will not be disarming Hezbollah, my question is who will? Without that this is simply a buffer force and is not a solution. Does not sound like Hezbollah is on board yet with the UN proposal:

Hizbullah, for its part, announced that it would not abide by any UN Security Council decision that would not call for the withdrawal of IDF troops from Lebanon.

Hezbollah declares victory:

Hezbollah did not wait for the official UN Security Council announcement on a ceasefire and launched its own media campaign declaring it had 'won the war against Israel.' In the latest video aired on Al-Manar TV the terror group says it “defeated the invincible army” and “July-August 2006: Legend shattered.”

The ground offensive is on hold while the UN deal is worked, but more rockets could trigger the launch of the ground offensive:

Meanwhile the prime minister and Defense Minister Amir Peretz instructed the army to put the next phase of its ground operation in south Lebanon on hold to prevent further escalation and after the White House apparently made it clear that such a move would be detrimental to the diplomatic efforts.

However, a source in Jerusalem said “The international community understands that we cannot accept the continued rocket fire on northern Israel.”

Powerline's Paul Mirengoff and several other bloggers are criticizing the Bush Adm for holding the Israelis back. I'll have to strongly disagree with that logic...........The Bush Adm has done a tremendous job giving Israel time (a month) to destroy Hezbollah. The Israeli strategy was not effective and Bush can't be blamed for that.............................................So Bush is responsible for the ineffective Israeli strategy thus far because the US is now holding Israel back at the 11th hour?

As Glenn Reynolds posted: Bush certainly seems to have hit the sweet spot -- prosecuting the war vigorously enough to anger the antiwar left, but not vigorously enough to please the prowar right........................

-----------------------update----------------------------------

War Analysis via JPost:

But the political echelon thinks differently, and from the first day of this war the politicians, senior officers said, held the IDF back from escalating its offensive and hitting Hizbullah hard. First it was the massive air campaign. Then came the limited, pinpoint ground raids. Only when all that failed did Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his cabinet approve a large-scale incursion into Lebanon and the re-creation of the security zone.

This wishy-washy decision-making process cost the IDF lives, according to one senior officer. "A military force always needs to be on the offensive, pushing forward and keeping the enemy on its toes," he said. "When you sit still for too long, you turn into a target and you begin to get hit again and again." ................

Others blogging on this topic:

Captain's Quarters:

In any event, Siniora's sudden pickiness about his protectors shows that he hardly sees an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah as his worst possible scenario. France and Lebanon have both achieved incoherence.

40,000 Israeli Troops Mass - What Next?

2006-08-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Israel has massed 40,000 troops on the border, the security cabinet has approved expanding the war to the Litani River, and there is a new commander over the IDF. It would appear that after a less than success campaign that most experts admit was far short of the required all-out assault required, it is now ready to be launched if that is the call. The military campaign that many thought had begun time after time over the past month, could be on, but it could be a UN pressure move. We won't know probably until tomorrow. Lots happening in the Israeli - Hezbollah war, and no doubt much more will happen at a blistering pace over the next several days and weeks. Here is a recap of happenings over the past few days and hours:

IDF Given Green Light to Invade by Security Cabinet:

The security cabinet, by a vote of 9-0 with three abstentions, approved plans to expand the IDF ground operation to the Litani, which at some points is 30 kilometers from the border, in order to take out the Katyusha launchers that have wreaked havoc on northern Israel over the past month..........

Hezbollah's Nasrallah: We Will Turn Lebanon into graveyard for IDF:

"You won't be able to stay in our land, and if you come in, we'll force you out," said Nasrallah in a recorded speech shown on Hizbullah's television station. "We will turn our precious southern land into a graveyard for the invading Zionists."....................

Hezbollah Denies Iranian Dead Fighting with Hezbollah:

Hizbullah denied late Wednesday that soldiers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard were fighting among its forces in south Lebanon. According to Channel 10, Iranian fighters' bodies were discovered in the wake of fierce battles between Hizbullah and IDF forces in south Lebanon.

IDF has pushed 10 miles into Southern Lebanon:

Israeli forces pushed about 10 km (6 miles) into south Lebanon early on Thursday, further forward than they have reached before in the four-week conflict, witnesses said. They said Israeli troops, supported by heavy artillery shelling, were at the outskirts of the village of Dibeen. (Reuters)

Wounded Israeli Solders Evacuated So Far:

Nine soldiers that have been hurt in south Lebanon battles were evacuated to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa so far. Another 21 wounded were evacuated to the Nahariya hospital, four of them are in moderate condition and the others sustained light injuries.

If you have not bookmarked the Jerusalem Post & YNet, both which are Israeli newspapers in English, you should. They have the most current coverage on this conflict.....................

The early Israeli strategy has not been successful which was to use limited ground forces and bomb Hezbollah out of Southern Lebanon via an air campaign. It didn't work thus the reason for the new strategy that Israel is broadcasting is ready to be launched. Reports are that the Israeli strategy will be to race to the Litani River and form a controlled border. Then they will work back and encircle and choke off the pockets of Hezbollah and eliminate them. Israel didn't want a massive ground invasion but unfortunately I don't think the UN will solve this and a full force attack will have to occur.

Speaking of the UN resolution options here is the key to any UN plan from the mouth of the Lebanese army, Lebananese Option?:

Early Saturday, a Lebanese Army soldier engaged Israeli commandos that landed for a raid in the southern city of Tyre. The soldier and his armored vehicle were destroyed; six more soldiers died Sunday. "If we have a UN cease-fire, the army is the perfect tool to play the role ... If Hizbullah is disarmed," says a Lebanese general who once held broad intelligence responsibilities, and who asked not to be named. "But if Hizbullah is not disarmed, the army is not capable."

France Caves:

France, supporting Beirut, would like to see Israel begin withdrawing when 15,000 Lebanese troops move south to areas controlled by Hizbollah. The United States and Israel say this cannot happen before a planned strong international force arrives, which France may lead...........

Well they have a nose for a military plan that will fail, do they not........................

Without a strong UN force that can disarm Hezbollah, a UN force is worthless..............It would be a great solution if the Lebanese military could take control of Southern Lebanon, but they can't. Hezbollah controls Lebanese territory not the Lebanese military, which when you go full circle is the whole reason for this war.......................

St. Louis Major Slay: St. Louis Post Dispatch a Chore to Read

2006-08-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

A slightly interesting article by Sylvester Brown of the St. Louis Post Dispatch in today's paper, titled "In his blog, Slay puts Post Dispatch on the block". A few of Brown's points:

In his blog entry (www.mayorslay.com) Wednesday, Slay wrote that the purchase of the Post by Iowa-based Lee Enterprises last year might have been a bad investment.

"The P-D's spotty and often inaccurate coverage of local, state, national, and international news has made opening the hometown newspaper a chore fewer and fewer St. Louisans are willing to face each morning," Slay wrote.....................

That's a pretty strong statement.............I'm not a fan or a critic of Slay who like all metro elected officials is a democrat. He seems to be doing a decent job trying to turn a metro area around that was in ruins just a few years ago. He also seems to be more of a moderate from a political perspective than a radical, so I'd give him a thumbs-up rather than a thumbs-down. That said he is right on the money about reading the Post Dispatch, it is a chore that I simply often just skip.....................It's more than a chore, it's down right painful if your a reasonably informed person.............It's simply a bad paper in a one paper town that to top things off, is as liberal leaning in it's coverage as the NYT or the LAT.........What a treat.....................I could imagine a business group arriving in STL and after reading the Post wondering out-loud if they had landed in Berkeley in error....................

When the democratic Mayor of STL says publicly that the Post Dispatch is a colossal failure, you know it's a really bad paper..................Slay's right the paper is a failure both from a reporting and business perspective. It's simply out of touch and has become irrelevant. He is also right that free markets do a very effective job of taking care of such products.................

Brown, the most liberal reporter on the staff if you don't count Eric Mink, is advocating that the Post take off the gloves and go after Slay:

Maybe now, before he and his powerful allies come up with a lucrative, irrefutable proposal, this publication ought to give him something to watch.

This could get interesting and probably is worth pulling up a chair and watching................................

Hezbollah Armed Drone Shot Down by IAF

2006-08-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

---------updated & bumped to the top of post-----------

YNet has video of the Iranian made drone that Hezbollah sent south being shot down by the IAF. Here............

Previous post on the drone below................................

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Fox is reporting that the IAF shot down a Hezbollah drone aircraft armed with explosives:

Israeli troops shot down an explosive-laden drone aircraft Monday………..The drone, an ababil, was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea near the port city of Haifa………..Officials believe it may have been headed for Tel Aviv……..

Manufacture of the Ababils drone? Iran:

Ababils are Iranian-made aircraft that can be shot from a pneumatic launcher, according to Globalsecurity.org……………

Hezbollah having drones is not a positive development, and there is little doubt now that Iran is giving Hezbollah pretty much every weapon they can and Hezbollah has Iran’s approval to use them……..

Looks more like escalation vs. cease-fire at the moment………

----------------update---------------------

More on the Ababil drones at Global Security 7/14/06:

Hezbollah's remote-controlled attack on a warship Friday marked a first in the militant group's use of "air power" against its powerful enemy, the technologically advanced Israeli military. The Lebanese militia had launched similar unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, against Israel at least twice before, in November 2004 and April 2005, when they crossed over Israel's northern border on apparent reconnaissance flights, lasting just minutes before they returned to Lebanese territory.

(note: I saw the story run several days ago on the drone attack of an Israeli warship but did not see any confirmation and it appeared to be dismissed)

Hezbollah made or Iranian made?:

I think Hezbollah has people capable of rigging explosives to a drone, but I don't think they could develop a UAV on their own," he said. Global Security's website notes that a leading Arab newspaper, London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, once reported that Iran sold eight Mohajer-4 drones to Hezbollah.

Iran fields several types of UAVs, including one, called the Ababil, with a 9-foot-long body, capable of flying for 90 minutes, and able to carry a 90-pound payload. Nasrallah was quoted in 2004 as saying Hezbollah's drones could carry 40 kilograms — 90 pounds — of explosives…………..

---------------update------------------

The Jerusalem Post is reporting the IDF statement on the drone does not confirm that it was in fact armed with explosives:

"It could be that the UAV was packed with explosives," the officer said. "It is also possible that the UAV was launched to send a message of Hizbullah's capabilities."

The article has more details on how the drone was shot down, and lists it as a Mirsad 1 made by Iran:

The Air Force believes that the drone was the same model used by the Hizbullah two years ago and was a Mirsad 1, a small remote- controlled drone with one engine and a small camera. Made by Iran, it weighs about 80 kilos and with a wingspan of 3 meters it could carry a payload of about 40 kilos……..

Vital Perspective's Recap of the Weekend

2006-08-06T21:53:00.000-07:00

Vital Perspective has a very informative and telling recap on the Hezbollah-Israel conflict and the rocket attacks over the past 24 hours....................

Reuters Fake Photo Scandal - How Deep Does It Go?

2006-08-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

On the Reuters fake photo scandal, Reuters has admitted the obvious which is that the photo is doctored and fake. They have also fired the Lebanese based photographer who doctored the image. Charles Gordon of LGF has been pretty much the lead in this one and you can see the whole story line unfold here:

It does flow and look a great deal like the Dan Rather 60 Minute "Rathergate Scandal".............

Pajama Media has a very comprehensive list of bloggers covering the story and some good insight as does Wizbang

It's not all that surprising to me that this occurred to be honest................The liberal leaning MSM have always sought out others who share their political convictions when it comes to filling the ranks, whether it be in their news rooms or hiring sub-contractors in foreign lands................This occurred because the MSM is liberally left of center, and in the end has a political agenda that surfaces regardless of how hard they tell themselves and yell out to us that they are "objective" and their person politics do not play a roll in their coverage......................Any logical, objective, plugged-in person knows nothing could be further from the truth.................

The next question in this scandal is how much of Reuters overall work is fake? Is it 5%, 10%, 25%, or greater fake? Reuters has a great deal of work to do, if they ever want to be in a position to try and restore any credibility...................Also we need to know who hired and managed Adnan Hajj, and what were his political activities before and after Reuters hired him. Were there clear signs that Reuters missed signals that should have lead management to question whether Hajj was the activist that he proved to be?

The MSM won't connect the dots on this one, because it requires that they look in the mirror and see themselves................Subscription rates and advertising revenue however don't have such a blind eye.....................

----------------update----------------

This cartoon from Cox & Forkum sums the whole thing up well indeed....................

-----------------update 8/7-----------------------

It goes deep.........Reuters is admitting to more fake photos published by them that Hajj took. YNet has the details:

News organization withdraws photograph of Israeli fighter jet, admits image was doctored, fires photographer. Reuters pledges 'tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict..........

It's going to take more than that.............

Race for Maximum Damage Leading Up-To Cease Fire

2006-08-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

Appears that we have entered the all out race to inflict maximum damage prior to a possible cease-fire in the Hezbollah - Israeli conflict. Pajama Media has a good recap from today..................

Look for lots of violence and probably the worst leading up to the cease-fire 11th hour talks...................Hezbollah will no doubt hit with everything they have......the question will be how strong will the Israeli response be and what exactly will it be? The other big question for me is whether they will agree to a cease-fire and if not what does that tell us about the party that is pushing hardest for no cease-fire if that does occur.....................

Battle for Tyre Reported to be Under-Way

2006-08-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

Greg Palkot of Fox News is reporting on Fox News that there is major activity in Tyre, Lebanon and it appears that an Israeli ground force movement could be in it's early stages. A huge number of locals have left Tyre over the past few days per The Australian on 8/2:

TENS of thousands of people fled southern Lebanon in a frantic exodus yesterday, fearing a massive invasion by Israeli troops......................Many hilltop villages south of the port city of Tyre were left abandoned yesterday, with cattle and donkeys wandering the empty streets and pet dogs abandoned...........

So who is left? Hezbollah of course:

In Qana, 11km from the Israeli border, a militant from Amal, an armed Shia group aligned to Hezbollah, claimed the battle was about to enter a new phase that would humiliate Israel. "Until now they have tried to attack us from the air and the sea without putting many soldiers in Lebanon, but now they are coming here," Bassim Bourji told The Australian.....................Even in the large port city of Sidon, placards at major intersections declared: "Take note, Muslim armies - the nose of the Jew is being rubbed in the dirt in a fight with just one faction of Lebanon."

Tyre has been the base for daily Katyusha rocket launches and is just out of reach for the IAF to hit them prior to the guerillas fading away, per the BBC:

For its part, Israel's adversary, Hezbollah, fires daily salvoes of Katyusha rockets from Tyre, leaving undulating trails of white smoke from the citrus and banana groves beyond the city's southern outskirts........................But Israel's military response around Tyre shows its fundamental weakness when dealing with a guerrilla army drawn from the indigenous population of southern Lebanon. It can take up to 12 minutes for Israeli aircraft to come and drop their 1,000-pounders on the launch sites - plenty of time for the highly-mobile rocket crews to pack up and escape................

We will know more in the AM reference to what is happening in Tyre.............

-----------------update--------------------------------

Fox is reporting that Israeli commandos are reported to have landed in Tyre. Sounds like things are escalating................

If Israel is sending forces into Tyre, they are going "all out'. Tyre has a less than favorable place in the memory for the IDF and Israel when it comes to Lebanese military operations, per CNN (1997):

Lebanese guerrillas and soldiers ambushed a team of Israeli commandos conducting an air-and-sea raid in southern Lebanon early Friday, killing at least 11 Israeli troops in a three-hour firefight, officials in both countries said.......................Gruesome scene: By dawn, the fighting in southern Lebanon had subsided but smoke from smoldering bushes hung over the battlefield. Guerrillas picked their way through bodies and military gear abandoned by the Israelis in their retreat. One guerrilla packed a severed leg, still wearing a black military boot, into a cardboard box. A Lebanese soldier retrieved the crushed skull of a commando............

You don't go back to such a place at a time like this, unless you intend to hit it with all you have and win decisively, one would think...................

-----------------------update---------------------

The first press update on Tyre per Reuters:

TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Helicopter-borne Israeli commandos landed near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and clashed with Hizbollah guerrillas on Saturday, Lebanese security sources said......................Hizbollah said in a statement one Israeli soldier was killed and many were wounded in the attack. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the operation or any casualties..............Israeli helicopter fire hit a Lebanese army troop carrier during the raid and Lebanese troops fired anti-aircraft guns at Israeli aircraft, the security sources added. Five Lebanese, including an army soldier, were killed in the violence, the sources said........................................

Not much in the report and no clear picture as of yet where this is going.................

--------------update------------------------

As sketchy as earlier reports from Reuters, the Tyre report per the Jerusalem Post is also a bit short:

IAF warplanes bombarded south Beirut before dawn Saturday. Hizbullah's Al- Manar television reported explosions in the city's Shiite neighborhoods. Helicopters fired missiles at Hizbullah targets in the southern city of Tyre.............................

------------------update--------------------------

Fighting in Tyre "door to door" per Fox:

Lebanese military officials said the commandos landed near an orange grove, cut through a barbed wire fence and attacked the second floor of an apartment building.
A resident said he saw the commandos attack the building. "They all had beards. I thought maybe they were Hezbollah," said 18-year-old Qassem Aad, who lives nearby........

Hezbollah Infrastructure in Ruins

2006-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Michael Trotten guest blogging at Instapundit has two good posts up covering the Hezbollah – Israeli conflict. First an aerial photo of the Hezbollah HQ area in the Haret Hreik neighborhood:

photos

Massive damage to the Hezbollah infrastructure…………………

Second his post on the danger Hezbollah faces in not being able to deliver on their promises to their Shiite followers in terms of services and economic necessities. Real fear that their followers will deem the cost of the war too high that Hezbollah started by kidnapping the Israeli soldiers, if they can not delivery services after the conflict. Via Al Bawaba:

Even now, despite the united front exhibited by Lebanon's political parties following the Qana carnage, concerns are being voiced by Lebanese Shiites over Hizbullah's foresight regarding ensuing economic and social consequences when it decided to capture two Israeli soldiers. These voices have also expressed concern over how Nasrallah is to fulfill his vow to refugees for a quick return to their homes…………………….In sum, after the current Lebanon war has ended, a long period of rehabilitation will be required to get Lebanon back on its feet. The effort will require significant international action, whereas Hizbullah may be left with a relatively negligible role in the process.

There are many and multiple measure that will need to be taken when this is all over, to see what the exact damage to Hezbollah has been………………………

Israeli - Hezballah Cease Fire on Monday 8/7?

2006-08-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Per Haaretz, looks like the cease fire will happen on Monday 8/7. Per US State Dept spokesman Sean McComack:

"We certainly would hope that we could achieve something by Friday, but if not, we are prepared ... to work all through the weekend if necessary to get something done, because we are working on an urgent basis to bring about an end to the fighting in such a way that is lasting and durable," he said.........................

Look for a Monday "Cease-Fire" unless serious mop-up time is needed by the IDF.....

---------------------update 8/4-----------------------------

Rich Lowry at NRO’s The Corner, has a projected cease fire timeline for the Hezbollah – Israeli conflict up derived from the sources he has been speaking with. Basically it’s as follows:

- UN cease fire proposal on Monday
- Actual cease fire mid-week with call for international peace keeping force
- France is playing a major role in the ceasefire negotiations
- 9,000 – 10,000 UN troops
- Lebanese military is a shell and not capable of playing any role
- High fear that the Lebanese government will collapse
- If Hezbollah hits Tel Aviv, all bets off and all out war

Hezbollah & Iranian Leaders Sound Like "Bagdad Bob"

2006-08-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today, Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, sounded a lot like Bagdad Bob in his taped statement, you can see @ Nasrallah. First saber rattling:

Hassan Nasrallah threatened to bomb Tel Aviv during a TV address Thursday night, should Israel attack in Beirut. "If you indeed do this, I say this clearly. I won't use terms I used up to now, past Haifa, but I will say clearly and in a way that is not open to interpretation: If you bomb our capital we'll bomb your capital. We'll bomb Tel Aviv and we can do this."...........................

Then theatrical PR attacks against Israeli PM Olmert:

Nasrallah branded Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a "fool" for "declaring a victory too early." "He wants to look like (Ariel) Sharon, (Yitzhak) Rabin, and (Menachem) Begin. Ask him where the accomplishments are that he promised you," Nasrallah said. He added that he was following Israeli analysts...............

Then against the Mossad:

Nasrallah mocked the commando raid in Baalbek: "There were two landings near Baalbek and not in the heart of Baalbek. They stormed a hospital and threw a grenade. Pay attention to the great gain, to search for injured fighters who they didn’t capture during the battle. They weren't there, they kidnapped five civilians and they are hostages. This is intelligence, this is the Mossad?" ...............

Sounds like a very defeated leader............Nasrallah has been on the tube via taped PR announcements almost as much as Bagdad Bob was:

This was Nasrallah's eighth television appearance since the kidnapping of soldiers on the northern border............

(He is attempting to get a message out "hard").....

After Nasrallah's threat against resumings bombing the Hezbollah controlled suburbs, Israel answered per the Jerusalem Post:

The IAF resumed its attacks on southern Beirut on Thursday night with strikes against Hizbullah and Hamas offices in the Dahiya neighborhood, as well as the home of a senior Hizbullah operative.............
(reports this PM of massive bombs hitting Hizbullah locations in Beirut per Fox)

Also today Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a cease-fire, and also is starting to sound like Bagdad Bob, only a much crazier Bagdad Bob:

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a cease-fire in Lebanon and lambasted U.S. policy in the Middle East on Wednesday, saying the United States wanted to "recarve the map" of the region with Israel's help............."We are calling for a cease-fire in Lebanon. We are against the war, against occupation," ........

Ahmadinejad is getting pretty spooked as he watches his Hezbollah front line offensive force melt away, and has America on his mind:

" The United States wants to recarve the map of the Middle East, acting through Israel. The United States is conducting its international policy through deceit, money and treachery," he said.............."If they attack Iran, they know our country, our people," he said. "They should think better before doing that. We can defend ourselves. Iran is a great world power which can protect its interests and its integrity. Only silly people would think about attacking Iran."...........

Ahmadinejad & Nasrallah are cracking hard under the reality of watching the liquidation of their terrorist power-base.....................Sounds like the knock-out could occur over the next two days and if Israel is as close to achieving that as it appears, they will get more days if needed...........

---------------update-----------------------------

Others blogging on this topic:

Kim Priestap has a post up on the topic @ Wizbang

Check-out the Atlas post with a podcast offering @ Atlus Shrugs with Caroline Glick, it's good and very worth a visit..........

Wife Burns Sleeping Husband with Cooking Oil

2006-08-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a painful story, via the AP:

A woman fled with her two children after severely burning her husband with hot cooking oil as he slept, authorities said……… Edna May Sanders turned on the stove Friday and heated about two quarts of oil, waited until the grease reached a simmer and then poured the oil over her husband, covering his head, face, chest and arms…………

Per the Investigator:

"I've been in law enforcement 14 years and that was the worse thing I've ever seen," sheriff's investigator Ricky Fayard said. "His skin was dripping off of him."…….

No report on why she did such a thing but it’s probably a good bet that there has been some type of domestic abuse and some serious issues in this relationship. Must have been pretty bad to result in such a thing……………….

What a rude and painful awakening. I’m thinking that Mr. Sanders is probably going to have some difficulty letting himself go to sleep over the next several days and weeks…………..

Hezbollah Weapon of Choice: Antitank Missiles

2006-08-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Jerusalem Post has an article up covering the preferred weapon of choice by Hezbollah, and their strategy of deploying it:

Over the last two weeks, the tactic used by many of the Hezbollah teams has been to avoid close-range combat, where IDF soldiers' high level of training gives them the upper hand. Instead, the Hezbollah men have been moving to positions high above villages and continuing to fire missiles at the IDF forces. Large stores of missiles were prepared in the hills in advance, for this eventuality……………..

The term "antitank" is misleading; the missiles were originally designed to be used against tanks, but the IDF's Merkava tanks and upgraded armored fighting vehicles are capable of withstanding most missiles in Hizbullah's arsenal. But Hizbullah isn't using them only against tanks. The range of these missiles - up to three kilometers - and the force of their explosive charges make them ideal for attacking groups of soldiers and IDF positions from afar.

I can see how such a weapon would be effective, especially for a guerilla force that hides in the shadows and seeks to ambush. Also, such a weapon does not require a great deal of marksmanship. A force like Hezbollah certainly has lots of eager and radical volunteers, but many of those volunteers lack a great deal of military training or skill. A "just get it close" type weapon certainly would be of high value and could do some real damage. From a skill level Hezbollah is not in the same league as the IDF, but a weapon like this can close the gap some what:

Col. Ofek Buchris, a former Golani battalion commander and the officer now in charge of offensive operations on the northern front, said this week, "Hizbullah aren't as good soldiers as people have been saying, they don't have good combat skills. In shooting battles, we beat them every time. What they do have is good antitank capabilities……………………

Hezbollah Hospitals Aren't Exactly What They Appear

2006-08-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Some interesting revelations about that "hospital" that the IDF commandos launched their operation around and in last night. Per Excite News, via Big Lizards

The hospital, which residents said is financed by an Iranian charity that is close to Hezbollah, was empty of patients at the time of the raid, the guerrilla group said. Olmert said that, although the scene of the fighting is called a hospital, "there are no patients there and there is no hospital, this is a base of the Hezbollah in disguise."

So lets see, we have a hospital in Baalbenk, built by Iran for Hezbollah interests and in the thick of this war, it's empty? Sure it was a hospital, riiiiiiiight.......

Not too much of a stretch to predict that as the facades of other Iranian built charities and facilities in Lebanon are peeled off by the IDF, they will not be what they appear but rather the bunker for weapons of terrorism............................................

----------------------update----------------------------

Greta is covering the "shell hospital" story right now with Lt Col Bill Cowan on Fox. Cowan is stating that Baalbek is the heart and soul of Hezbollah and is the brain and HQ of Hezbollah in Lebanon. He said the IDF should have done more damage to it, but it is the right target in his mind. I agree and I'm going to guess more is being done there than is being reported as of now...........

---------------------update------------------------------

Vital Perspective has video of the Baalbek raid...........

The Major Israeli Offensive Has Begun

2006-08-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

The major offensive has begun in Lebanon and the Israelis appear to have launched the battle to cripple Hizbullah. Reports that a military operation has been launched in Bekaa. Rightwing Nuthouse has a good summary up including this info from the Jerusalem Post:

Earlier, fighter-bombers struck deep inside the country, hitting the Hizbullah stronghold of Hermel, some 120 km. north of the border in the Bekaa Valley, witnesses said. Planes also hit Hizbullah fighters battling with soldiers near the border, as the gunmen fired mortars into Israel...............

Bekaa is the cradle of everything Hizbullah. Per Haaretz:

Baalbek, an ancient city with spectacular Roman ruins, was a former Syrian army headquarters and included the barracks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards when they trained Hezbollah guerrillas there in the 1980s.............

I've consistently posted below ( here & here) that I believe that the IDF has a plan and when it's launched it will be lights-out for Hizbullah, and that plan certainly has just been put into play. Hizbullah has no chance against the IDF when they hatch the real offensive and what better place to do so than Baalbek? Time will tell but for all those who were buying into the line that Hizbullah was holding their own against Israel, I think a much clearer message is about to be revealed that can not be misunderstood or misinterpreted...........................

----------------Update------------------------------

Others blogging on this topic I found interesting:

Captains Quarters has a wrap on what is at stake, and praise for the job the Bush Adm is doing by giving the Israelis the time they need to get this job done:

Israel must win this battle. The US has to keep running interference until Syria and Iran stop funding Hezbollah and the Lebanese government disarms the terrorists. We have to show the resolve necessary to stop accepting hudna and start winning this war. Thus far, the White House has done a masterful job of allowing Israel the space to engage the terrorists and confound their sponsors. Until the terrorists agree to lay down their weapons and stop provoking regional wars, the White House should stick to its guns....................

When all this is over and the hard analysis is done, I think the criticism that Sec. Rice has received will be very off the mark. She and the Administration have done a Herculean job of standing straight and giving the Israelis time, pushing back the usual suspects, I think........................

North Korea Drumming Up Media Coverage

2006-07-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

Is Kim Jong II feeling a bit neglected and under-covered in the news these days? Reports that N. Korea fired rifle shots at S. Korean positions, per Fox:

The incident happened shortly before sunset when North Korean soldiers fired two bullets toward a South Korean guard post in the eastern part of the Demilitarized Zone, said Maj. Kim Tae-hoon of the Joint Chiefs of Staff office. South Korean soldiers immediately fired back six rounds, Kim said.......

Maybe another really unsuccessful missle lauch can get the press coverage rolling again..................

Cost of Cuban Cigars Down - Real Estate About to Sky-Rocket

2006-07-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

Reports that Fidel Castro turned over power (temporarily)to his brother Raul:

HAVANA — Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans he underwent surgery............................

When Castro kicks it and the real estate bull market kicks off in Cuba, get in early and buy like hell.......................It's going to go out the roof.......It will be a market exactly opposite of the market we saw in the movie "The God Father II"...........Don't listen to Michael's re-run advise on Cuban real estate, buy, buy, buy it up............

Raul, do we have a "deal for you"...................

--------------------update--------------------------------

Per Breitbart, Raul is more radical than Castro but will talk with the US on the moon:

Three weeks after taking power in January 1959, Castro named Raul his successor, telling supporters: "Behind me are others more radical than I."...............Yet Raul made occasional conciliatory moves toward the United States. In 1964, he said he was willing to hold talks with the Americans "even on the moon."

I don't think it will come to "moon talk" Raul........Did I mention that we have a "deal you can't refuse"...........How about a tasty plate of linguine and a nice glass of wine.......

---------------update II -----------------------------

Cuba will probably be the first country taken over by real estate developers, without "a single shot fired"............

Supply & Demand - Demand & Supply.............

French PM: Iran's Stabilizing Role? Seriously?

2006-07-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

The Jerusalem Post has several good post up regarding the war:

Olmert - No Ceasefire:

"still many days of fighting ahead of us. Missiles and rockets will continue to land, and hours of fear, uncertainty and yes - even pain, tears and blood - are still expected."........................"The fighting continues," Olmert said. "There is no cease-fire and there will be no cease-fire. The IDF is fighting in the air, sea and land, and at this very moment, the IDF is advancing in the south of Lebanon to destroy the terrorist infrastructures there."................

Assad - Syria Smuggling Arms for Hizbullah:

According to new intelligence obtained by the defense establishment, Syrian President Bashar Assad, alongside senior military officials, is directly involved in the attempts to smuggle weapons and rockets to Hizbullah in Lebanon.............

That's not really a surprise, but this sort of was for me:

According to the defense establishment, the reason Hizbullah has not fired long-range Iranian-made Fajr missiles at Israel is due to Teheran's opposition. Israel now understands that without direct orders from the ayatollahs, Hizbullah is not allowed to use Iranian missiles in attacks against Israel.....................

That might have lead to this statement by the French "Iran a Stabilizing Force":

Israeli officials were bewildered by French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy's comment Monday that Iran plays a stabilizing role in the region, but said this should be seen in the wider context of a French-US tug-of-war regarding whether Iran or Syria is the ultimate bad guy in the region.

Douste-Blazy, who was in Beirut Monday, said, "In the region there is of course a country such as Iran - a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region."

Reports that France is in the thick of discussions to become a central player in a cease fire make the FM's statement even more bewildering...........

Enough Hizbullah Fish in the Net?

2006-07-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

I thought Varifrank was spot on when I read this post over the weekend:

“Why is it that stories coming from Israel this week are so damn pessimistic”?..................“Why would any government be interested in sending a message of their own weakness at the beginning of a shooting war”?..............

Well, you do it because you want the enemy to commit. You want the enemy to be in the best place for you to deal with them, not in a place where they can defend or they can retreat from................

Given the developments today:

Israel Resumes Air Strikes & Widens Ground Offensive

Syria Readies Troops

(could we be so fortunate to take out Hizbullah & Syria in one battle?)

Hizbullah Has Few Rocket Launchers Left

That along with the destruction of Bint Jbail, seems to add up to some serious damage for Hizbullah. I think the Israelis played up Hizbullah to get as many of the terrorists inside the net and get as much of their assets inside the net. The IDF is has just begun the final swipe that very well could cripple Hizullah if enough of the fish are inside the net........................................

Like Varifrank however, I don't think we have seen the start of the final military maneuver until a massive troop force heads out from Israel into southern Lebanon..........

I posted a few post down the damage I think we will see from the Mosad and the IDF once this all over, and it's going to look a lot like the Highway of Death from the first Iraq war..................................

Illegal Immigrants Leave Tons of Cash in Arizona Desert

2006-07-31T17:59:00.000-07:00

For those treasure hunters who have grown bored with the standard beach combing fare, there now is a new frontier for treasure hunting. Per the Arizona Star:

Authorities estimate the 3.2 million-plus entrants caught by the Border Patrol dropped that much garbage in the Southern Arizona desert from July 1999 through June 2005. The figure assumes that each illegal entrant discards 8 pounds of trash, the weight of some abandoned backpacks found in the desert..................

Oh, never mind that was "trash" not "cash"..............Even if it was cash, I'm not sure it would be worth the price required in the search:

Most of the garbage is left at areas where entrants wait to be picked up by smugglers. The accumulation of disintegrating toilet paper, human feces and rotting food is a health and safety issue for residents of these areas and visitors to public lands, a new BLM report says...................

Back to the beach, that metal detector and a cold beverage...........

Hizbullah Road of Death

2006-07-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Iran is supplying Hizbullah with Fajr-5 rockets and they have about a 45 mile range and have 100 kg of explosives. They also are easily detected from their truck launched base making them an easy air attack target and they are very inaccurate. Israel is pushing Hizbullah north which is telling and it looks like its desperation time and Hizbullah is launching weapons of last option that don't work well. Hizbullah is pulling out their last card and it's not an Ace but rather a 4 of spades and it does not complete a straight.............................

Coverage per Jpost:

After a number of Katyusha barrages hit northern Israel over the course of the morning, five Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles landed near Afula shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday. This was the first time missiles of this type have been fired at Israel by Hizbullah. Police in the North said in an official statement that one of the missiles, which landed near Afula, contained 100 kg. of explosives - an amount that could have caused extensive damage and casualties had it struck a building.........

The Fajr-5 is a nasty weapon I'm sure if it hits one's home, but it appears to be less than the most dynamic of weapons.............

I found it strange to read the coverage over the last few days of those who doubted that Israel was handing Hizbullah as expected.

Rich Lowery NRO

Powerline

I thought all along that the IDF was showing the press what they wanted to show them (good strategy). What we have not seen is what the Mossad and Special Forces are doing behind the line and the damage from those operations. I think when the battle facts are all know from this war, the Mossad will have done some very-very serious damage behind the lines and out of the media's reach, to Hizbullah................

What will the damage to Hizbullah look like when the fog of war clears? Do you remember those pictures of the "Road of Death" during the 1991 Iraqi war? It will likely look the same in the Hizbullah zones and be the new "Road of Death" - "Ring of Death" - "Hill of Death"....................

View the future of Hizbullah here...........

I say the Mossad have done some serious "road work", we shall see and I think Hizbullah's troops will look mostly like this:

Hizbullah's Fate

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CQ is on my line also........

Shootings at Jewish Fedration Building in Seattle

2006-07-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

A shooting rampage in Seattle at the Jewish Federation building per King5:

One person has been killed and at least five others have been injured in a shooting at the Jewish Federation at 2031 Third Ave. in downtown Seattle. One suspect has been taken into custody. .................

The obvious question is who did this and is it a terrorist cell..............Well the terrorist is of middle-eastern nationality (Pakistani), but it does not appear that he is part of an organized cell at this point:

Sources told KING 5 the suspect is a Pakistani man with a criminal background. He is from the Tri-Cities but his citizenship is unknown. Officials are on the way to the Tri-Cities to interview his family................

Why did he do it:

"I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," then began shooting, according to Amy Wasser-Simpson, the vice president for planning and community services for the Jewish Federation.....................

Appears to be one very deranged and sick individual who's religious hate is so strong that it allows them to go into a civic office and shoot innocent people with the intent to kill................

Others bloggers covering this breaking story:

LGF

GatewayPundit

AllahPundit

Glenn Reynolds

Neo-Con "Insight" Attacks Secretary Rice

2006-07-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

The far right neo-cons are attacking Condi Rice and trying to get some momentum to get her reassigned, per Insight:

The conservatives, who include Newt Gingrich, Richard Perle and leading current and former members of the Pentagon and National Security Council, have urged the president to transfer Miss Rice out of the State Department and to an advisory role. They said Miss Rice, stemming from her lack of understanding of the Middle East, has misled the president on Iran and the Arab-Israeli conflict...................

I don't agree with that at all...............I think she has done a pretty darn good job politically while clearing the way for Israel to clear out the southern Lebanon boarder of the terrorists that must be removed. I'm not quite sure how you could have a different perspective on Ms. Rice's performance unless you had a set agenda................

Gingrich says Insight is wrongly reporting his views on the story per The Right Angle:

“Newt is supporting Rice,” he told HUMAN EVENTS. “So far she is saying and doing the right things.”..................

I agree 100%.......................Insight has well, "none" related to this story and I find it a bizarre attempt to attack Ms. Rice............what a shameful attack by Insight.................

Vacation Time

2006-07-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's vacation time so I won't be posting until probably 7/24................

Time for a full week at a cabin in northern Minnesota on a crystal clear lake and lots of down time and fun...............Take care and come back soon...........

Support for Basayev on BBC Blog Strong

2006-07-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev was blown-up and killed by Russian FSB special operations per Moscow. A pro Basayev website say his truck carrying explosives blew up in an accident (if true - very fitting). Regardless he is dead, per the BBC:

The most wanted Chechen rebel warlord, Shamil Basayev, has died in an explosion in the neighbouring republic of Ingushetia. Russia's FSB security service chief, Nikolai Patrushev, said Basayev was killed in a "special operation"..................

The story behind the story for me was reading the BBC and the surprising number of pro-Basayev posts on the BBC Blog:

Shamil was a freedom-figther for his country, died for fighting the independence of his land from foreign occupation and would be remembered for his bravery and courage. What a shame that the media now labels freedom-fighters as terrorists and does not projectthe Russian atrocities against a sovereign state that was once acknowledged by the Russians. I beleive a day will come when freedom fighters will be given their true respect!.

Basharat, west lafayette

Basayev's death means nothing. His life meant everything for his people. He was a true hero fighting a Goliath.

MTSaleem, Cardiff

However when a country such of Chechniya wants independence and uses force, the story is different. Why - what is different? The beards?

Curtis Denchance, United Kingdom

Seriously Curtis, your serious? I obviously realize that the Soviet Union has a track record of terrible crimes against many people under their rule. I can see logic in the battle for independence argument on face value before we start talking about who Basayev was and what he has done, however, when you order the bombing and death of innocent school children, you can not be considered noble. Basayev was not noble, he was a terrorist killer. Here is what Basayev ordered back in 2004:

The September 2004 attack on a school in Beslan, in the North Caucasus, led to at least 331 deaths. It triggered outrage in Russia and other countries, as many women and children were among the victims........

I found the number of BBC post sympathizing with Basayev shocking, considering what he had done and how he has viciously killed innocent people including school children................

Also covering the story:

Wizbang

The Moderate Voice

Counter Terrorism Blog

California Yankee

Massive Explosion in Wisconsin Resort Community

2006-07-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

Another massive explosion this time in Wisconsin per
CNN:

ELLISON BAY, Wisconsin (AP) -- A series of explosions damaged a cottage and two other buildings in the resort community of Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, early Monday, sending seven people to hospitals, authorities said. Two people were missing.
The blasts at about 2:30 a.m. ET struck a grocery store, a cottage and a maintenance building with a living quarters on the Door County peninsula, which juts into Lake Michigan, said Chief Chris Hecht of the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Fire Department.

Sounds like another gas leak like in NYC………….Strange how they occurred on the same day though…………….No reason to believe it was terrorist related, as the target would seem all wrong for that………………..

This Weekends Left-Over Meltdowns

2006-07-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

A weekend update, with lots of very interesting topics:

Hugh Hewitt exposes more Times/MSM problems and this one's about the coming subscription issues:

When the new circulation figures for the Times Two appear, it is a guarantee that the any losses will be explained away by reference not to the papers' atrocious editorial decisions, but to the challenge from online competitors. To help the small brained dinosaurs there's a useful new category cooked up by the Audit Bureau of Circulation that counts free papers left in hotel lobbies etc, "Verified Circulation."

You can perfume a corpse, but that doesn't make it less dead. Keep your eye on home delivery, paid circulation. The advertisers will. And my guess is that they won't be happy. Nor will the shareholders or Wall Street..........................

Hugh links: Powerline and Professior Bainbridge

That is of course what I have said often, the only way that the MSM will ever be reformed is via the share holders, subscribers, and advertisers, time will tell........................

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NewsBusters has the latest David Brooks slap down of the netroots:

But over the past few years [Lieberman] has been subjected to a vituperation campaign that only experts in moral manias and mob psychology are really fit to explain. I can't reproduce the typical assaults that have been directed at him over the Internet, because they are so laced with profanity and ugliness, but they are ginned up by ideological masseurs who salve their followers' psychic wounds by arousing their rage at objects of mutual hate.

That's right on the mark of course..................................

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Along the same lines, Gateway is covering the very deranged lefty blogger meltdown that seems to have gone full speed ahead this week:

It's so sad to see the building meltdown of the Left and their Democratic Party these last few years. If you take away their glass house of Bush hatred they're left standing their in naked rage. This weekend one very deranged woman in full blown meltdown threatened the two year old child of popular conservative blogger Jeff Goldstein.

** Also... this weekend Viking Pundit points out a Leftist Saddam-defending human shield and peace activist, Christiaan Briggs, who beat another man into a coma!

Nice folks, huh...........................

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The left is looking like it's on the verge of a full blown explosion and it will probably happen in the next few days, given the momentum they have going in that direction from this past weekend...................................

What the Hell is Wrong with the NY Press?

2006-07-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Now we know why NY Rep Peter King hit the roof over the NYT breaking the SWIFT story and called for hearings. The NYT blew the cover on the SWIFT program while a huge investigation into the planned terrorist attack on the Holland Tunnel was in process but it looks like the NY Daily News used poor judgment this time around and broke a story that should not have been broken, via NY Daily News:

The FBI has uncovered what officials consider a serious plot by jihadists to bomb the Holland Tunnel in hopes of causing a torrent of water to deluge lower Manhattan, the Daily News has learned. The terrorists sought to drown the Financial District as New Orleans was by Hurricane Katrina, sources said. They also wanted to attack subways and other tunnels......................

How serious was the threat, per CNN:

A Syrian national recruited Hammoud into the realm of terrorism in 2003, and Hammoud received weapons training at the Ain Helweh Refugee Camp, which was then located in Syria-controlled Lebanon, Baradei said.

Hammoud was arrested April 27 in his Beirut apartment in a sting coordinated with the FBI before a planned trip to Pakistan, where he was to undergo more training, according to a statement from the Lebanese Interior Security Service.

So we have an very real and active investigation into real killer terrorists and the NYT & NY Daily News are running articles exposing a classified program trying to catch terrorist. What the hell is wrong with the NY Press!!!!! Given Rep. King's reaction to the NYT decision to expose the SWIFT program, it is completely possible that the SWIFT program was part of the investigation of these potential killers and we know the Daily News story was. Even if the NYT story was not related to the Holland Tunnel terrorists, we know it was critical in catching Bali bombing master mind Hambali and we have been told it continued to be a vital tool against terrorism up-until the NYT exposed it. Why else would have King gone so public-angry over the NYT article? ...................

Fox is reporting that the target was the PATH system not the Holland Tunnel:

Hammoud, a Lebanese native and self-professed Al Qaeda operative, was arrested April 27, and admitted to plotting a terror attack in New York City, a senior Lebanese security official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said Hammoud claimed he was acting on orders from Usama bin Laden.

Authorities blasted the NY Daily News for publishing the story:

FBI and New York City officials would not go into details of the plot, but did confirm that the PATH system was the likely target, not the Holland Tunnel, as the Daily News reported. "We have had a number of threats over the months and years, frankly, that would target all of the conveyances across the river," Mershon added.

The person who leaked the investigation is "clearly someone who doesn't understand the fragility of international relations," Mershon said.

"The release makes the investigation more difficult for us; it has greatly complicated what otherwise would be a very smooth relationship, a very smooth partnership, with a number of overseas allied agencies," Mershon added.

The NY Daily News, NYT & LAT's must be very proud of their decision based on "public interest" as must the media that have supported the decision to this point to publish ever scoop they get related to terrorist intel. Such media organizations need a new definition of "public interest".............................

The press needs to quit endangering Americans....................

Lieberman vs. Lamont: Anti-War Barometer?

2006-07-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

This whole Lieberman vs. Lamont race is a fascinating event to me.
WaPo has coverage on the recent debate between the two:

Shunned by many in his own party because of his vigorous support for the war in Iraq, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman clashed in a debate Thursday with a well-financed challenger who has roiled Connecticut politics and turned the Democratic primary into a national test of the antiwar movement……………

Lieberman and moderate Republicans from the Northeast are finding that backing the president's Iraq policy can cost them substantial support within their traditional base…..

The self-inflicted damage done by candidates for supporting the President on Iraq is the conventional wisdom that is being played by the media and the Lieberman vs. Lamont race is the most visable face of the conflict. I don’t doubt that is the case and the polls support that argument but I wonder if that isn’t over simplifying the debate somewhat.

The polls show that Americans are growing tired of the war but there is no shred of evidence showing any warming up to an “anti-war” message and there is a huge difference between growing tired of war and embracing “anti-war”. Cindy Sheehan is anti-war, as is Senator Russ Feingold, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, and increasingly Senator John Kerry. Obviously American’s don’t share the same anti-war views as these public figures, so it will be interesting to see how dominate the anti-war strategy becomes on the left politically. Will it become the centeral theme if Lamont wins?

Aside for Lieberman’s support of the war it’s pretty hard to argue that he is not on the left side of the political spectrum. So is the message that if you are generally a left of center politician but are not anti-war, you’re out?

If that is the case, the Democratic Party is about to move measurably left and will have little if any moderate middle. If that happens and people like Joe Lieberman are not part of the party to give it balance, it’s reasonable to expect the dems to become increasingly anti-war and more extreme leftists. If the Democratic Party was viewed as too left of an option in the past two elections how will they be viewed after such as shift further left?

That can’t be a good thing for the Democratic Party and will be an unappealing options for most Americans I’d think………………If you look carefully, even if they are not doing so in public, I think you will see a lot of democrats wildly rooting for a Lieberman victory over Lamont. They undoubtedly know that a party run by MoveOn, the anti-war crowd and the netroots is a party that will have very little appeal with a majority of Americans……..

Eliminate All Marriages per NY Assemblywoman

2006-07-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

With the recent ruling against gay marriage in NY, via Kurtz @ The Corner, a NY Assemblywoman in NY has an idea: Eliminate Marriage:

According to the Ithaca Journal, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (D-125th District) is proposing that that state laws related to marriage be revised to eliminate the term entirely..........

Lifton’s logic:

“Let's get government out of the wedding business and have everyone, equally, have a civil arrangement,” she said. The proposal Lifton supports would replace the word “marriage” with “civil commitment” in state laws, creating a legal contract she said would be accessible to everyone, while leaving the religious aspect of the union to religious institutions.

Gay marriage is not a hot button issue for me personally, but that said if I lived in NY I would have a serious issue with a law that abolished my marriage for the sake of political correctness………………….

It will be interesting to see how Howard Dean and the DNC react to this proposal. After the ruling Dean released this statement:

"As Democrats, we believe that every American has a right to equal protection under the law and to live in dignity. And we must respect the right of every family to live in dignity with equal rights, responsibilities and protections under the law. Today's decision by the New York Court of Appeals, which relies on outdated and bigoted notions about families, is deeply disappointing, but it does not end the effort to achieve this goal.

"As that essential process moves forward, it is up to the State legislature to act to protect the equal rights of every New Yorker and for the debate on how to ensure those rights to proceed without the rancor and divisiveness that too often surrounds this issue."

Supporting a ban on marriage obviously would be political suicide and is nuttier than anything I’ve heard related to this debate thus far……………………….

Others covering the story I found interesting:

Wizbang's Kim Priestap

Leftist Mexican Candidate to Take Appeal to the Street

2006-07-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

What is it about leftists and when they lose an election, it's "always" a conspiracy, never a win for their opponent and their opponents platform? The phenomenon transcends international borders and became the "battle cry" of the lefty candidate in Mexico who appears to have lost, again in the recount:

Conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon won a narrow victory on Thursday in an election that divided Mexico, but his leftist rival vowed to fight the result in the courts and on the streets..................

He also called a rally of supporters in Mexico City's vast central square for Saturday, raising fears of street protests and further unrest as well as weeks of legal wrangling similar to that which followed the U.S. presidential election in 2000.

"We cannot recognize or accept these results," he said.

Not accepting voting results and taking the election fraud to the street and to the courts, how lefty indeed, Call in Jimmy Carter.................I suppose it never crosses the mind of socialist candidates that the masses even in a country where millions are leaving to come here, don't think that a socialist ideology is all that appealing........................

Any Sport with France in the Championship Isn't Much of a Sport

2006-07-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

I enjoy watching my kids play soccer, but I can't imagine paying for a ticket to watch a match that they were not playing in. The World Cup tournament has come up a big zero in terms of interest in the US again, like it always does...........Given that France is in the championship, I don't think that it is all that surprising that American's could care less. Championship match France vs. Italy:

France booked a World Cup final spot against Italy after Zinedine Zidane's first-half penalty earned victory over a disappointing Portugal in Munich. .......................

I'd say that any sport that has France in the championship is not much of a sport................................................

Grill a Steak Tomorrow for Code Pink & Diane Wilson

2006-07-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Diane Wilson of Code Pink is asking you not to eat tomorrow in protest of the GWOT. Per the WSJ:

On Thursday we noted that Diane Wilson planned to start a hunger strike tomorrow: "I'm just a shrimper whose gonna stop eatin' to stop the war," she said in an interview with Code Pink. Wilson urged others to join her, and said you don't even have to stop eating altogether: "You can drink fruit juices, or anything that's liquid--just no solid food. People can make their choice about how to fast--whether water only or a liquid fast

This got us to thinking, what could we do to show our support for American victory? It seems obvious: Do the opposite of what Wilson is doing. Tomorrow, July 4, we plan to throw a big juicy steak on the grill and devour it in a show of patriotism. We urge you to do the same."....................

Well we had a nice pepper-corn tender loin on the grill this evening and it was dynamite...........................

I had not picked out tomorrows grill offering but after reading this post it's all decided, nice ribeye steaks for the wife and kids and a juicy strip for the Grill Master. Finished with a garlic butter basting and with a side of sautéed mushrooms of course.......................YUM.....................

I will have some liquid refreshment drinks tomorrow while I'm grilling and after my meal as Ms. Wilson has suggested but they will be hops based not juice based.................I gladly don't think I will qualify as a participant in Diane Wilson's protest..........

Ah, the counter code pink protest, how fulfilling and truly satisfying in terms of good cuisine but more importantly, knowing your not a political nut on the 4th of July...................

Greatest Blessing of Liberty: Self Destiny

2006-07-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

The greatest blessing of liberty to me personally is that each and every American has the ability and opportunity to define what and who they become. From our professions, religious beliefs, political ideology, we are free to decide each one of those destinies along with countless important others.

No other country in the world comes close to ensuring the freedoms we enjoy that in turn allow such self defined destinations. Ask a recent immigrant from just about any country in the world what the difference is if you doubt the significance. Along that topic line, I enjoyed the way Dinesh D’Souza, an Indian-born scholar who immigrated to the US addressed that question in his American Enterprise article titled What’s So Great About America?

In America your destiny is not prescribed; it is constructed. Your life is like a blank sheet of paper and you are the artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal of America. Young people especially find the prospect of authoring their own lives irresistible. The immigrant discovers that America permits him to break free of the constraints that have held him captive, so that the future becomes a landscape of his own choosing………..

The fact that every single American is the architect of their own destiny is for me the greatest blessing of liberty indeed……………………….Happy Fourth of July to one and all…………………………..

Jimmy Carter's Fourth of July Offering

2006-07-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

The worst President of all time has an Op-Ed published in WaPo today:

Our government leaders have become increasingly obsessed with secrecy. Obstructionist policies and deficient practices have ensured that many important public documents and official actions remain hidden from our view…………

Jimmy does not understand the concept of fighting a war against terrorism and the need to have sensitive information related to that battle classified. Carter’s idea of battling terrorism was to sit and hope but do nothing for 444 days while modern terrorism was birthed into the beast it currently is……………

Carter offers up a few countries that we should strive to become more like when it comes to a more transparent government:

South Africa, Jamaica, Mali, India, and Shanghai……………..

The worst President has spoken…………It’s almost enough to ruin your Fourth of July weekend & celebration if you would let it. Of course we won't because Carter is an extreme example of a very out of touch individual.............………………………

-----------------Update---------------------------

I'm guessing Jimmy won't be eating tomorrow and is a Code Pink juice fan. See the post above on that matter..............................

European Study: Attending Church Harmful to One's Health

2006-07-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

According to a study by Maastricht University that has been published in the European Respiratory journal, those few remaining European church goers are putting their health at risk attending service. Via the BBC:

Church air was found to be considerably higher in carcinogenic polycyclic hydrocarbons than air beside roads traveled by 45,000 vehicles daily. It also had levels of tiny solid pollutants (PM10s) up to 20 times the European limits……..

The study goes on to state that attending service during Christmas could be especially dangerous to ones health:

The researchers say that December, with churches lighting up candles for Christmas, could be an especially dangerous month for the lungs…….

Those most at risk are the clergy and “devout” worshippers:

The researchers say priests and people working for long periods in churches are at greater risk than ordinary worshippers. However, worshippers devout enough to spend several hours each day in church could also be affected………………

Looks like church candlelight will be the next to go in the drive for a secular Europe……………..The report seems like an attempt to be over-alarming to me…………..

Why Hotels Give Away Free Copies of USA Today - Content

2006-06-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Per the AP:

USA Today acknowledged in a "note to our readers" Friday that it could not establish that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the National Security Agency to provide it with customer calling records, as it previously reported...............

So on a Friday before a holiday, not on the front page, USA Today is whispering via a "note to their readers" that they made a massive mistake and reported some seriously wrong info on a story that never should have been reported?.............. I'd say its a disservice to their subscribers but somehow I have an issue calling hotels subscribers.......The whisper goes on to say:

In an accompanying story, the newspaper reported Friday that lawmakers on House and Senate intelligence committees have said that while the NSA has amassed a huge database calling records, cooperation with the NSA by telephone companies was not as extensive USA Today initially reported on May 11..........

Huh, "not as extensive as initially reported" but to hell with substantiating that it was before running the story? It was kind of important that you got the content right on this before you published it, wasn't it? Nice job...................

Then of course to deflect their massive failing, USA Today throws out a criticism stating those in congress who supported the NSA program now have an issue because the program was not as extensive as it should be:

Lawmakers who support the Bush administration's domestic spying program see the apparent gaps in the database as a problem. "It's difficult to say you're covering all terrorist activity in the United States if you don't have all the (phone) numbers," Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told USA Today. "It probably would be better to have records of every telephone company.".................

So in their whisper to readers disclosing just how wrong they got the story, this is a major part of the new disclosure and new story? Before the false elements were know the Bush Administration did "too much" and "overstepped their authority" and now that we know there is serious factual issues with the story the Bush Administration has done "too little" for those who supported the false report? Nice, thanks for giving us the proper perspective and getting us refocused on the important elements of your false report.....................

There is a reason that hotels leave a free copy of the USA Today on the floor, in the hallway outside your hotel room, it's called quality of content.......................

It's also not that surprising that the lefties who have their ear on the ground to catch the latest conspiracy angle, have their head in a decent to position to read a publication that rests below the threshold of ones hotel room door.........

So what position must their head be in to believe the NYT? I won't go there.......

Others covering the USA Whisper I found interesting:

Blue Crab Boulevard

Look What We Caught - Iranian Agents in Iraq

2006-06-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Coalition forces have captured Iranian agents in Baquba, Iraq per Captain's Quarters via Reuters:

Iraqi and U.S. troops battled Shi'ite militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, and witnesses and police said U.S. helicopters bombed orchards to flush out gunmen hiding there. Iraqi security officials said Iranian fighters had been captured in the fighting, in which a sniper shot dead the commander of an Iraqi quick reaction force and two of his men. They did not say how the Iranians had been identified.....................

The United States and Britain have accused Shi'ite Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs and providing military assistance to Iraq's pro-government Shi'ite militias. However, there have been few instances of Iranians actually being captured inside Iraq.....................

Captured Iranian agents are proof positive that Iran is trying to carve out pockets of control and influence in Iraq as they have done elsewhere in the region via terrorist means. It's hardly a surprise and probably will not have a major impact, but it does answer the question. Sounds like we should stack the border and start getting some serious kill numbers of Iranian agents attempting entry into the conflict.....................

This also can't help Iran in the nuclear stand-off and should remove any doubt of their goals in the region from those still willing to give them any benefit of the doubt, regardless of how thin that might be and how unbelievable they could still give any benefit of doubt.........................................

15 Years for Hurricane Looters

2006-06-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

Three hurricane Katrina looters get 15 year per the AP:

Three people convicted of hauling away liquor, wine and beer from a grocery store after Hurricane Katrina were sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison. The judge said he wanted to send a message that looting would not be tolerated when he gave the maximum sentence to Coralnelle Little, 36, Rhonda McGowen, 42, and Paul C. Pearson, 36, all of Kenner............

If you think 15 years is stiff for a truck load of booze, not so long ago the police shot looters dead for looting so in light of that, I'd say they got off pretty easy................If you want to eliminate all looting in future hurricanes, bring back the old law of "shoot to kill", looting would not be a problem................

President Bush to Media: Your Service is Necessary to Secure the USA

2006-06-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

President Bush in his visit to St. Louis today said the following to the media members covering the event, per the Post's report:

President Bush told members of the media "their service is necessary to secure the United States of America."............

I'd say that was a diplomatic but again a pretty clear statement against the NYT decision to disclose the terrorist banking data monitoring program.................

That said, he is right, we do need the press to start making the right decisions when faced with the next story of this nature..........

Sounds like it was a very positive visit for the President and for Senator Talent..................

---------------update------------------

More from the Post ref Bush's visit and statement about the leaking of intel via the political fix blog:

Bush also had some choice words for the New York Times for breaking the story about a secret administration program to track millions of financial records in search of terrorist suspects. The president contended that the disclosure hurt the government’s effort to protect Americans. “There’s no excuse for anyone entrusted with vital intelligence to leak it, and there’s no excuse for a newspaper to print it,'’ Bush said..............

There is no excuse..............

NYT Asked for Effective Banking Intel Program Then Exposes It

2006-06-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Interestingly enough, the NYT on 9/24/2001 wrote the following editorial (subscription required):

The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity and is readying an executive order freezing the assets of known terrorists. Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies……………..

The Treasury Department also needs new domestic legal weapons to crack down on money laundering by terrorists. The new laws should mandate the identification of all account owners, prohibit transactions with "shell banks" that have no physical premises and require closer monitoring of accounts coming from countries with lax banking laws……………

Now fast forward to last week………………….The NYT decides to publish a story exposing a “legal” classified intel program, that achieves the cooperation and monitoring that the NYT editorial stated was required and they themselves in their editorial called for…………….

The press has a responsibility to report abuses of power by the government and they most certainly are protected under the First Amendment as they should be. The press however has no obligation or right to expose “legal” intel programs while we are at war because they think it’s a “public interest” story. The NYT overstepped their role and have made a massive mistake publishing this story.

They should appear before congress and answer to the American people why they think they alone have the right and responsibility to decide which legal programs are exposed and which are not in this war. They simply are not qualified for that role……….

The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee wrote a letter to the Director of National Intelligence today asking for an assessment of the damages done by unauthorized disclosure of intelligence programs. The press won’t be prosecuted (can’t and should not be) but those who leaked the intelligence may. I’m sure that the NYT will support that since they supported the investigation of leaks related to Valerie Plame and this is a much more serious leak that has done real and massive damage to our intel………………….

Subscribers and advertisers will exact judgment on the press if warranted, as it should be………………..

George Bush Visits STL Wednesday

2006-06-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

President Bush will be in STL on Wednesday to raise money for Senator Talents re-election campaign. Per the Post:

President George W. Bush will be in Clayton on Wednesday to help raise campaign money for U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo...............Wednesday's $2,000-a-plate dinner will be at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton. Co-chairmen include Andrew Taylor, head of Enterprise Rent-a-Car; Sam Fox, chairman of the Harbour Group; and August A. Busch III, head of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.

That is the STL Red Carpet........It does not get any bigger than that from a STL host perspective...........................

McCaskill is having a snarky and disingenuous event it would appear given the timing the same night per the Post:

McCaskill plans to hold a local fundraiser the same night for the Missouri Military Family Fund.....................

The cause is a great one, but picking the same day the President is in town for Talent proves that Howard Dean is certainly pulling the stings on the McCaskill campaign..........................Howard Dean & Clair McCaskill, that does not have a Missouri ring......................

NY Rep. Calls for Congressional Hearing of NYT

2006-06-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

There are in fact now calls from legislative officials, for an investigation of the NYT's for reporting the secrete financial monitoring program used to track terrorist funds. Per BreitBart:

Rep Peter King, R-N.Y., said he would write Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging that the nation's chief law enforcer "begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times _ the reporters, the editors and the publisher. We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous," King told The Associated Press.................

The NYT is not returning calls this weekend..........................

King hits the nail on the head here:

He charged that the paper was "more concerned about a left-wing elitist agenda than it is about the security of the American people."

They in fact do have a left-wing elitist agenda and it is in fact damaging to the GWOT efforts that our men and woman are bravely fighting and winning. It's not just Keller and the NYT, it's the majority of the left:

Democrats and civil libertarians are questioning whether the program violated privacy rights.................

Specter already is getting weak knees:

"On the basis of the newspaper article, I think it's premature to call for a prosecution of the New York Times, just like I think it's premature to say that the administration is entirely correct"........................

I'm a huge 1st amendment proponent and think it must be given every doubt and defended vigorously. That said I think we are at or near the point where we have given the NYT every doubt and it's time for them to appear and explain just what the hell they are doing...............Before congress and before the American people so we can see and hear their explanation.............

If the answers are underwhelming, then it's time for advertisers to seriously consider pulling their advertisement currently with the NYT and placing it in other media..............That is the only thing that will change what is occuring currently at the NYT.......................

Hugh Hewitt's Newsweek Article: It's About Being Effective

2006-06-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

Newsweek did a piece on Hugh Hewitt titled "The Right: The Next Big Thing:

On July 4, Salem Communications, one of the country's largest radio-station owners, will relaunch an old Web war horse called Townhall.com as a hub for its stable of stars (including Bill Bennett, Michael Medved and Hewitt himself). The hope? That "Web 2.0" wherewithal can transform what was once an op-ed clearinghouse into a single nerve center serving the separate conservative communities of talk radio and the Internet.

The goal:

add 6 million Salem fans to Townhall's 1.4 million unique monthly visitors and you've got an audience six or seven times the size of liberal site Daily Kos, the Web's biggest political blog. "We will overwhelm them," he says.............

How will that occur:

Every day, Salem's nationally syndicated hosts will post show summaries, blog entries and podcasts. On the air, they'll encourage listeners to visit the amped-up "Action Center," where users can "push out" petition alerts on customized e-mail lists, set and track fund-raising goals, contact their elected officials and create personal blogs—a first, DeFeo claims, for a conservative Web site. As Kerry '04 blogmaster Dick Bell has said, "the hosts will act as recruiters for the millions of people listening every day—and that could really change the dynamic in terms of impact.".................

Sounds great, I'm looking forward to the launch. There will be a major difference between Townhall & Daily Kos of course, just as there is a major difference today between the left and right blogs. Per Hewitt:

"It's not about getting people angry," says Hewitt. "It's about being effective."

Indeed. Hewitt has a link up pointed to a lefty site that is already complaining about the article. Talk Left complains they look too angry in the article:

Why the venom towards Markos and the hailing of Hewitt? Both pieces come off as being written by journalists with a right-wing agenda. Even the accompanying photos show the bias. In the piece on Kos, there is no picture of him [added: on the first page of the article] only of Bush protesters in Washington state which has nothing to do with the article. For the Hewitt article, there's a nice calm photo of Hugh in suit and tie standing in front of what could be a courthouse right under the headline. It's like they are equating liberals with anarchy and conservatives with justice................

Why the venom? Well that is a very good question that is looking you square in the mirror Talk Left. Venom is an anger product and seldom is in partnership with effectiveness...........................

Russian Diplomats Beheaded

2006-06-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

Four Russian diplomats who were taken hostiage in Iraq were apparently tortured to death and beheaded by the terrorists. Via Gateway Pundit:

In the footage, two men clad in black and wearing black ski masks shout "God is great!" before beheading the first man. Then one militant appears standing over the decapitated body of a second victim lying in a pool of blood, with the head placed on top of the body. The footage of the beheading victims shows a closed room with white walls. The shooting appears outdoors in what looked like an alley between buildings.

The footage was stamped with the logo of al-Qaida. "God's verdict has been carried out on the Russian diplomats ... in revenge for the torture, killing and expulsion of our brothers and sisters by the infidel Russian government," the statement said.

The video begins with a verse from the Quran appearing in white letters on a black screen, and a voice reading "Those who aggress on you, you aggress on them."

Unbelievable sick animals....................How could anyone not be solidly on the side of getting all of these people and removing them for this earth..........

Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace

2006-06-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Rep John Murtha's latest, per the AZ Daily Star:

American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran.......................

Lots of people are saying lots of things about John Murtha these days. This latest statement indicates to me that Murtha is simply insane..................

Missouri Senate Race: McCaskill 49% vs.Talent 43%

2006-06-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Jo Mannis and the St. Louis Post Dispatch have a new poll up on the Talent-McCaskill race that shows McCaskill up 49% to 43%:

Among 800 likely voters polled last week, 49 percent supported state Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, in her quest to replace U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. That compared to 43 percent who favored retaining Talent, who has been in office since 2003. The remaining 8 percent were undecided...............

The 8% undecided and 3.5% margin of error makes this race pretty much a dead heat at this point. The campaigns are just beginning to gear-up and will probably start in earnest in August.

Mannis frames the race up as one focused on "state issues" based on the info learned from the poll, which seems like a strange finding for a Senate election. Per Mannis:

Missouri voters say they're willing to spend more tax dollars to restore Medicaid coverage to 90,000 residents, and strongly support increasing the state's minimum wage for workers. They also continue to overwhelmingly embrace a ballot proposal that would protect many forms of embryonic stem cell research, and one to increase the state's tobacco taxes.

But they disagree with the Republican-led Legislature's recent decisions to eliminate campaign donation limits and a ballot proposal that would require most voters this fall to show government-issued photo identification before they vote...................

Seems logical if it were a Governor or state Rep or Senator race, but this is a US Senator race...............State issues are the key? I find that a strange frame.........

I'm not going to say the poll is wrong but there are some eyebrow raisers right off the bat:

- If a majority of those polled were against the voter ID bill, that tells us that the sample probably had too high of a number of solid democratic voters to be a true reflection of how this race is shaping up. Polling has shown that the voter ID bill had a majority of support after being announced.

- The poll is 36% Dem - 36% Rep - 28% Independent; The Independent percentage seems high to me.

- Region needs much more definition for me on what the break-out is by region area. The north STL country area is strongly democrat and west county is overwhelmingly republican. It would be beneficial to see the STL county break-out to get a real sense of how on target this poll is.

- The biggest indicator that the sample is too heavily dem voters and particularly Independent Dem voters is that Kerry would beat Bush 48% to 40% today.

Again I think the poll population looks a bit suspect but if it is correct I think Talent is still in good shape. He has done a good job and made no mistakes. The Mannis article frames him up on the minority of "all' issues polled however. Here are the issues that defined Talent being on the "wrong side of State issues per the poll:

1) Restore Medicaid Coverage for 90,000 Missouri Residents: 66% vs. 23%

2) Strongly Support Increasing the State's Minimum Wage for Workers: 66% vs. 21%

3) Overwhelmingly Embrace Many Forms of Embryonic Stem Cell Research: 62% vs. 35%

4) Increase Tobacco Taxes: 62% vs. 30%

(Education was #1, Avoiding Tax Increases was #3, so things are not really being tied together real well with the poll - its a bit "off")

The Pollster summed the "state issues" up as:

Pollster Del Ali is head of the Maryland-based firm Research 2000, which conducts polls for a number of media outlets. He said McCaskill is benefiting, at the moment, from the fact that on all the issues mentioned above, she "is on the side of the majority." Talent sides with the poll's minority in opposition to the proposal that would protect all forms of stem cell research in the state allowed under federal law. Talent has taken no position on the other ballot measures or the Legislature's actions.................

Well probably because they are state issues-measures and not Senate measures. Perhaps National and International issues should have had more poll-time in a Senate poll......................Funny, it looks like the poll is telling us that on state issues McCaskill is with the majority and as a state Auditor you would hope-expect that..................McCaskill sounds like a good "state" candidate although she lost the Governor election to Blunt in 2004.........

That will be the deciding factor..............Talent is a Senator and has done a good job, McCaskill is a state level official who has done a good job at the state level. Talent has national experience and presence, McCaskill does not............McCaskill's only hope will probably be that Talent gets swept up in a "Republican Replacement Wave".............

I don't think the replacement wave will happen but Missouri will once again be the bell weather state for this election. If Talent does fall behind once the election starts in earnest then that will be bad news for republicans on a nation-wide level. If he pulls ahead when the campaign begins and wins then the republicans should hold on to both the House & Senate................

Mannies & Del Ali warn us that a political race might break out soon and warns that Talent could go negative:

But Talent has the cash. His last campaign report, filed in April, showed him with more than twice as much in the bank as McCaskill. President George W. Bush is traveling to St. Louis on Wednesday to help Talent raise even more. Ali said that a financial advantage could help Talent build up his image, while damaging McCaskill's. But he added that voters' stances on the issues could be a trump card.

Speaking of Bush, he had a 39% vs. 60% favorable in the poll and he is coming to STL next week. That tells us that there are other polls out there that tell much different results...................

Stay tuned to Missouri's Bell-Weather Senator race............................

---------------------update---------------------------------

Another reason I think this poll may have some potential problems with the sample is the latest Rasmussen poll shows Bush at 44% vs. 55%, via Wizbang

So nationally Bush approval is at 44% but in Missouri he is at 39%? Again I think there might be some sample issues.................

-------------update-----------------------

Wall Street & Zogby show Talent up 49% vs. 43%, just the opposite of the STL poll..................

Jo Mannies is back-peddling all over herself to the point of falling down over the Post Dispatch Talent-McCaskill poll:

As political activists mull over the results of the latest Research 2000 poll, conducted last week for the Post-Dispatch and KMOV-TV, some are likely aware of a different set of numbers released Friday by Zogby International and the Wall Street Journal..........................

Well Jo, yes we sniffed out the bad sample in the STL Post poll right away................The Kerry over Bush question was the dead give away.......................

Bottom line is it's either dead even or Talent up 49% vs. 43% like six months ago. I say it's more like it was six months ago ..................

Can the Post get this right and start reporting things square? This is really embarrassing for the Post.........."sad"..........................I think this is the most embarrassing moment for the Post in recent times..............pathetic......................

One would think that advertising and subscription numbers are in the balance.............................

The "poll" is being discussed on the Political Fix Blog

How can a newspaper get polling results that send up so many red flags, and still run with it? I simply do not understand how that can occur.............

Saddam on New Hunger Strike

2006-06-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

Saddam Hussein went on another hunger strike Wednesday to protest one of his attorney's murder per breitbart:

Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants went on a hunger strike Wednesday to protest the killing of a top attorney on the ousted Iraqi leader's defense team......................

Saddam Hussein went on a hunger strike back in February of this year and that one didn't last too long, just 11 days...................

As I recall, Saddam had a real addition to junk-food:

It turns out Saddam Hussein is a joke-telling, junk food-addicted neat freak who enjoys scribbling poetry and dispensing fatherly dating advice. Five National Guardsmen who were assigned to Saddam's guard detail told GQ magazine that he inhales Doritos by the bagful, cleans everything with baby wipes before he eats, and likes to start his day with a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch. "No Froot Loops!" he would say when offered a substitute for his breakfast cereal of choice..................

"The Butcher of Baghdad is addicted to Doritos, especially soggy ones"........................Nasty....................I'd give this hunger strike less than 11 days until the craving for "soggy Doritos" gets the best of Saddam...........................

Someone should probably explain to Saddam that an act of non-violent civil disobedience such as a hunger strike by a violent murderous Dictators, is usually not a good fit and almost never provides the results one is looking for...................Sort of like a soggy Doritos for most of us..........

Mr. Baseball Bob Uecker Stalked?

2006-06-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that anyone can become a victim of "stalking" but Bob Uecker? Yes per this AP article in the Ledger-Enquirer:

A 45-year-old woman has been charged with stalking Hall of Fame announcer Bob Uecker. Ann E. Ladd was charged with the felony on Tuesday in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. An arrest warrant was issued for her on the same day, according to court documents. Uecker, the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for more than 35 years, filed a temporary restraining order against Ladd earlier this month, contending she had been harassing him for years. Two civil hearings in the matter, including one on Tuesday, were rescheduled because the defendant could not be located.

Weird...........................

TSG has more including letters from Ladd & the court order.

Uecker is better know for his humor and acting than his baseball. His fame has grown greater since his retirement from baseball. Uecker has done play-by-play for the Milwaukee Brewers for 35 years. His undistinguished career became his stick in commercials, most notably the Miller Lite commercials. He had a five year career on TV sitcom Mr. Belvedere but my favorite Uecker role was as the play-by-play man in Major League.....................

Uecker actually won a World Series here in STL as a member of the 1964 STL Cardinals..........................

Could the NYT Swift Scrub Story Help Bush?

2006-06-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

An interesting perspective from the George Mason HNN blog:

Those who believe that Bill Keller and his fellow powers that be in the New York Times are motivated by Bush hatred must think again. For their revelation that Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror " is going to help Bush and the Republicans while undermining the ability of the international community to use technology to fight terror....................

How so? When compared to the anemic efforts of the former administration, it becomes even more clear Bush is doing everything possible to protect the country and win the war:

Taken together with the NSA revelations, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the US was repeatedly hit during the Clinton administration because it failed to use the tools at its disposal and has not been hit because the Bush administration did not. Moreover, while Bill Clinton turned down the opportunity to try Bin Laden because it lacked the evidence it needed to bring him to justice, the tools used by the Bush administration led to the capture of terrorists both here and abroad AND to their successful prosecution................

This latest revelation shows once again that Bush and his administration have and continue to go all out in the GWOT and are more interested in winning the war than political polls or favorable left of center newspaper headlines:

Ironically, this so called "political" administration repeatedly put the good of the country ahead of its political interest not only by keeping the lid on these programs but by appealing humbly to the NYT editors sense of patriotism. They failed repeatedly................

The timing of the story also had suspicious timing just like the secrete prison story by Dana Priest of WaPo:

For this revelation, like the Washington Post rendition, seeks to undermine US-EU cooperation. Dana Priest published her article following the election of pro-American Angela Merkel and during the fence mending trip of the new Secretary Rice to Europe. The NYT revelation followed the "unexpectedly" successful President Bush's trip to Europe.......................

Also Powerline has a link to Ace of Spades that looks at the pro-democrat motive of the article and others like it........

Per Ace:

The left continues to undermine national security in the most despicable, cynical way. I'm quite sure the reasonable liberals at the NYT and WaPo know full well that programs like this are absolutely vital, and their secrecy is likewise vital. However, they have made the most anti-American and evil sort of decision: While tools like this are vital for saving American lives, they will not permit any Republican President to use them. Only Democratic Presidents are permitted to employ the full panoply of powers for protecting American lives.

It's blackmail, pure and simple. Either let a Democrat into the White House, or we will continue to sabotage American security and, in effect, kill Americans. We will keep secrets when a Democrat is in office, but not a Republican. So we offer the American people a choice: Let the politicians we favor run the country, or we will help Al Qaeda murder you.

Powerline:

I think this is actually the subtext not only of the leaks, but of a lot of news coverage. If you don't want news coverage that constantly deprecates the economy, for example, and thereby undermines consumer confidence, the solution is simple: elect Democrats.

Ther story is obviously intended to hurt Bush and the GWOT efforts, but it might not work out that way............................

NYT's Swift Scrub Editorial Explanation

2006-06-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Today's round-up of the NYT "Swift Scrub" article:

NRO's MediaBlog:

Takes a look at the NYT editorial and proves in its own explanation that there was no need to publish the story:

If the Swift executives were the ones to argue for controls, we should be happy to know that those running Swift are in fact good, ethical people. Trying to turn this around on the executive branch — because it didn't first ask for these controls that are now happily in place — shows how illogically intent the NYT is on taking down the Bush administration....................

In the end that is of course what this is all about, taking down the Bush administration.............

Media Blog also looks at the letters to the Editor which appear to be overwhelmingly negative on the decision. This one seems to sum-up what most people think about the matter:

I'd rather know that the bad guys were being caught than having my "interest" in this story satisfied over this morning's cup of coffee................

Lastly MediaBlog makes the sound argument that the government looks at and stores every single one of our financial data every April via those IRS returns......

Powerline has a link to a financial analysis of the cost the NYT is paying for their decidedly left of center focus and editorial decisions:

From a business standpoint, the Times' embrace of far-left politics on page one has been a disaster. I'm reminded of the analysis Michael Medved did years ago, showing that the movie studios' preference for R-rated and X-rated movies is not driven, as popularly believed, by economics. Newspapers like the Times, just like Hollywood, are willing to sacrifice their own economic interests in service of what they think is a higher value. I wonder, though, whether the owners of the Times Company's Class B shares, to whom the Sulzberger family owes a fiduciary duty, share the paper's disdain for profit..................

In the end the economic impact of such a blatant politically left agenda is probably the only thing that can change their agenda............Given this latest story I think that could not be any clearer............................

Congressional Hearing Time for the NYT on Swift Scrub

2006-06-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sounds to me that it's time for a "congressional hearing"........................Not a law that infringes on the constitutional right of a free press, no one wants that and it would be illegal. I personally would not stand for such a thing. I want a very free and strong press but I also want them to be more interested in the safety and security of Americans than the banking privacy of terrorists, that is a requirement that comes with the privilege and responsibility of being the press..........We need "serious" hearing to see why they are not upholding their duty granted to them via the constitution...........This is indeed a serious matter...................

It's time for Keller and NYT management to appear before congress and explain just what the hell they are doing and why...................Tell the American people why they are putting us in danger for a "public interest" focus on a story that effect .000009% of us from a personal information perspective, and was legal. This is no longer about the NYT going after Bush, this now is about the NYT going after every American and putting us in danger because of their deranged "Attack Bush on Everything Mentality". Enough already, it's time for some serious hearings on this matter and it should occur in Congress for all of America to see.....................

News-Flash for Keller and the NYT, its more in my interest to know who is planning to bomb us again and where than to know about the "Swift Scrub" that effects almost zero percent of our fellow Americans...........................

-------------------Update---------------------

I'm saying pretty much the same thing as Hugh Hewitt per his latest post What Does the Congress Think of the New York Times' Assist to Terrorists :

Perhaps the papers would find some supporters among the congressmen and senators, but I believe that a strongly worded condemnation of the papers'actions would pass, and would as Bill argued, send the message that it isn't the Bush Adminsitration the papers are defying, but the legislative branch as well. And then let's have some new hearings on the federal press shield law. If the papers really believe they deserve it, let them send their editors to defend that proposition........

Exactly, it is not against Bush they rage, but against every American on this matter......................................

NYT: Exposes that Legal Intel Program that Should Be Illegal?

2006-06-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

The “matter of public interest” that Keller lists as the reason the NYT ran the story, is in fact the reason that everyone is reading about the story currently. It is what drives the media to gather and produce news and the consumption of news by consumers. It seems to me however, that the impact and effects of publishing such a story also have to be considered.

In both the NYT article and in the LA Times article, both state that the program as “legal”. So if the program is legal but a classified and a valuable intelligence tool that has been directly credited with capturing a high level terrorist (Riduan Isamuddin – Bali Resort bombing mastermind) and providing many valuable leads, then it seems to me that the security of the country and value this program added probably out weights the “public interest” argument issued by Keller…………….

The President through his spokesperson said he was concerned that the NYT had decided to run a story that revealed a classified program that helped protect the American people, via NY Sun:

"The president is concerned that, once again, the New York Times has chosen to expose a classified program that is protecting the American people," a White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said last night. "We know that terrorists look for any clue about the weapons we're using to fight them and now, with this exposure, they have more information and it increases the challenge for our law enforcement and intelligence officials."

Treasury Secretary Snow via the LATimes:

"This is government at its best," said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. "It's responsible government It's government that works This is a program that makes Americans and the world safer." John Snow called it "regrettable" that the program had been made public. "That can only help the terrorists," said Snow, whose department runs the program……….

A former CIA official cited by the LATimes:

A former high-ranking CIA officer said it has been a success, and another official said it has allowed U.S. counterterrorism officials to follow a tremendous number of leads. CIA officials pursue leads overseas, and the FBI and other agencies pursue leads in the United States, where the CIA is prohibited from operating……………….

This story seems to prove to me that there probably is no story regardless of intelligence gathering significant, that would win out over the NYT’s “public interest” singular focus on this topic. Public Interest is an admirable quality almost always, but not in the case where a legal and valuable program is the story and exposing it damages the war against terrorists and terrorism.

Telling terrorists about a legal & classified intelligence gathering program in the name of “public interest” is more important than the intel such a legal program provides in the war against terrorism? Not in my opinion…………......It actually sounds like a crime..............

-----------------Update-----------------------------------

Per this NYT story, here are some details on what was monitored and what was not. It also reveals the "HUGE" value that this program provided in the effort to track terrorists and their money:

The cooperative's message traffic allows investigators, for example, to track money from the Saudi bank account of a suspected terrorist to a mosque in New York. Starting with tips from intelligence reports about specific targets, agents search the database in what one official described as a "24-7" operation. Customers' names, bank account numbers and other identifying information can be retrieved, the officials said.

The data does not allow the government to track routine financial activity, like A.T.M. withdrawals, confined to this country, or to see bank balances, Treasury officials said. And the information is not provided in real time — Swift generally turns it over several weeks later. Because of privacy concerns and the potential for abuse, the government sought the data only for terrorism investigations and prohibited its use for tax fraud, drug trafficking or other inquiries, the officials said.......

I think the NYT has made a "massive mistake" on this one...........................

500 Deliverable WMD Found in Iraq

2006-06-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

We have found 500 deliverable weapons in Iraq that contained WMD, per FOX:

The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday. ...........................

Of course the anti-war, anti-Iraq argument will now move to the claim that the weapons were old and limited. Well OK, we can debate that...............however, there is no debate on whether one of the central pillars of the left's argument has been removed: there were WMD's in Iraq.............That arrow has been removed from the quiver.......

I think that as the report is made public more serious and damaging info will come to light on the WMD issue. Watch the rats run up their position to a new spot and try to defend it..........................................

Why the delay in reporting the WMD's? I think because of concern that they could have been used against our troops as we began to understand that they were in fact in Iraq and we secured them. Also, I think we have only heard the intro on the whole story......................................................

Dan Rather to Prove Cuban's Claim: NBA Fixed?

2006-06-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

By now everyone has heard that Dan Rather's days at CBS are over:

CBS is expected to announce Tuesday that former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather will leave the company after 44 years at the network. Rather's contract runs through November but he is expected to leave the network immediately to pursue other opportunities.............

The interesting part of the story seems to be that Rather may become a blogger and join Mark Cuban's HDNet:

Rather is said to be talking to others about opportunities, including doing a one-hour newscast/interview show for HDNet. HDNet chief Mark Cuban confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that he was talking to the former CBS News anchor...............

Speaking of Cuban, after his team went down 3-2 against the Heat, Cuban is claiming that the NBA is fixed:

Cuban then turned to Stern and other NBA officials who were seated at the scorer's table and was overheard to shout venomously in the jubilant din, ``[Bleep] you! [Bleep] you! Your league is rigged!''

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald makes a great observation over the location of the Dallas team and the greatest of grassy knoll conspiracies:

There could not be a more perfect locale than Dallas for these NBA Finals to resume tonight. Just a few miles from the basketball arena is the infamous grassy knoll, national Mecca of conspiracy theorists. We presume that when the Mavericks' owner, coach and players talk these days about looking at film, it might not be game film but rather Abraham Zapruder's grainy home movie...........

Now back to the Rather-Cuban possible partnership. I believe that the biggest of recent conspiracy frauds blossomed and then fell apart in Texas back in the fall of 2004 via Rather's last story........................If Rather does join Cuban's HDNet, can a Lucy Ramirez "type" giving Rather documents at a live stock auction that proves the NBA is in fact fixed, be far off...................

------------Update-------------------------------------

Look for the Cuban "NBA Fixed" story to "heat-up"......................95-92 Miami wins the championship.................grassy knoll rocket juice............

------------Update--------------------------------------

WaPo has a wrap on Hurrican Dan's career written by Howard Kurtz. It includes a quote from Cuban:

"We hope to do a deal where he produces a show that uncovers news. Information with a payoff. . . . I will tell you that there won't be any corporate considerations. No earnings per share issues. No worries about advertisers and what they might think," Cuban wrote....................

God help us.............the Rather - Cuban connection could be "very" entertaining................

Cuban responds to the NBA rigged claim over at his blog maverick:

Two other things. Apparently the Miami Herald is reporting i screamed at the NBA comissioner after the game the other night. Didnt happen. Didnt say a word to the man. Not a single word. And that was absolutely by intention. Apparently this “reporter” has written he has several “sources”. Well they must be the same sources the tabloids use to find two headed babys and aliens, because it didnt happen...............

Rather, Cuban and stories about two headed babies and aliens...................can't wait.........................

State of Iraq Via a Dead Al-Zarqawi's Secrets

2006-06-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

Great news from Iraq is coming out from the intel found around a blown-up Al-Zarqawi, per AP/MyWay:

Iraq's national security adviser said Thursday a "huge treasure" of documents and computer records was seized after the raid on terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout, giving the Iraqi government the upper hand in its fight against al-Qaida in Iraq.............

Huge is good...............more:

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also said he believed the security situation in the country would improve enough to allow a large number of U.S.-led forces to leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority to depart by the end of next year. "And maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid-2008," he said.........

That would be a very positive development............

"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Rubaie said, adding that the documents showed al-Qaida is in "pretty bad shape," politically and in terms of training, weapons and media.................

The "beginning of the end" is obviously a best case scenario, but it's promising and a good thing for Iraqis and the whole rest of the world..............This deal is getting closer to being done......................

Keith Olbermann Emails - So What..........

2006-06-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

I'm certainly no fan of Keith Olbermann, he's a tin foil hat no talent hack.............That said, I don't see what all the fuss is over the Olbermann Emails, via NYDaily:

Keith Olbermann's vacation isn't going so well. He was forced to apologize yesterday after more of his E-mails found their way to my inbox and exposed the host of MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" as insulting and frequently obscene in an acrimonious exchange with two viewers who taunted him.............Olbermann's antagonists, who asked not to be named, repeatedly claimed in their June 8 E-mails that dead Al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was Olbermann's "hero,"....

Here is how Tin foil Keith reported responded:

"Hey, save the oxygen for somebody whose brain can use it. Kill yourself."...............................

Harsh no doubt and not the most "professional" response...................that said, who cares? No one watches Olbermann, so isn't it sort of like the question "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, does it make a sound"?.................................

I see the whole thing as a non-event......................................Lay off the tin foil hat man, the comment wasn't that big of a deal...........................However, this is the most prime time coverage Keith has gotten in years so maybe he is good with it..............

Scientists Say: Gore Full of Junk Science

2006-06-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Lots of scientists are distancing themselves from Mr. Gore and his "The Inconvenient Truth" movie and Global Warming Campaign, via Canada Free Press:

Professor Bob Carter of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia gives what, for many Canadians, is a surprising assessment: "Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention." .............

The article goes on to bait the question that surely Carter is simply just one very out-of-touch scientist:

But surely Carter is merely part of what most people regard as a tiny cadre of "climate change skeptics" who disagree with the "vast majority of scientists" Gore cites? No; Carter is one of hundreds of highly qualified non-governmental, non-industry, non-lobby group climate experts who contest the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are causing significant global climate change. "Climate experts" is the operative term here. Why? Because what Gore's "majority of scientists" think is immaterial when only a very small fraction of them actually work in the climate field...................

Carter later in the article lays out the junk science charge:

Carter does not pull his punches about Gore's activism, "The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science." .....................

Gore is a nut, no doubt about that.............He seems to be loving this "Gore-fest"..................

More Corruption Finds Dem Pols

2006-06-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Another Democratic politician (former in this case but the crimes were committed while in office), via Gateway and reported by WSBTV:

Former Atlanta Mayor Bill Cambell was sentenced to 30 months in prison and one year of supervised release and fined $6,300 for tax evasion. As the sentencing hearing opened today, Campbell's attorneys acknowledged that the former mayor failed to report more than $40,000 in income between 1997 and 1999. They said that included $20,000 in cash payments Campbell claims were gifts from his mother.

The "culture of corruption" keeps surrounding the dems and finding them as the home base in recent times...................

Missouri Dem Attorney General Returns Donations From Utility He Was Investigating

2006-06-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Missouri Attorney General has a problem and it's a "BIG" problem. Jay Nixon, the AG for Missouri and a democrat who is planning to run against sitting Governor Matt Blunt (Rep) in 2008, took $19,100 from Ameren UE, the utility company that he and his office is investigating over a major dam failure and disaster and actually were in the negotiation stage at the time of the donations per the KC Star:

At the time the donations were made, Nixon’s office was negotiating with Ameren over damages caused by collapse of the Taum Sauk reservoir. The reservoir collapse devastated the Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park and injured the park superintendent and his family....................

The $19,100 donation from Ameren UE made it's way to Nixon's campaign coffers via four "seldom used democratic committees" in STL, per the Star:

The controversy stems from four contributions of $5,000 each that Ameren Corp. made from January through March to four little-used Democratic political committees in the St. Louis area. Ameren is Missouri’s largest power company. On March 31, three of those committees — the 77th State Representative District Democratic Committee, the 73rd District Democratic Legislative Committee and the 24th Senatorial Democratic Committee — each donated $4,800 to Nixon. The fourth — the Democratic Central Committee of Lincoln County — donated $4,700 to Nixon..................

So the question now is did Nixon know the donation came from the utility company he was investigating for a major and significant failure? If he knew the money was from Ameren then not only is his Governorship bid in 2008 over, so is his service as Attorney General. I'm not aware of whether there could be criminal issues with such a donation knowingly being accepted, but it seems there should be. I'm sure that those who understand the Missouri law related to such a matter will begin to inform us on that aspect in the coming days, and I'm looking to see what I can find on that point as well. I'd be astonished if there were no laws preventing an AG from knowingly accepting campaign contributions from a company or individual that they were assigned to prosecute for a crime..............There has to be a law against that...............

Per the KC Star, Nixon had absolute power and the "only" say on whether Ameren would be prosecuted:

At the time the donations were made, Nixon’s office was negotiating with Ameren over damages caused by collapse of the Taum Sauk reservoir. The reservoir collapse devastated the Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park and injured the park superintendent and his family. Federal investigators said in a recent report that Ameren knew of critical problems at Taum Sauk and delayed repairs that could have prevented the collapse. Nixon was assigned as special prosecutor in the case and is the only authority who could press criminal charges against Ameren or file a lawsuit on behalf of the state.

Even if Nixon was unaware of the contributions coming from Ameren (which I believe disclosure is required but that clarification also will be disclosed in the coming days and I'm researching that point as well), then the question becomes who in the Missouri Democratic party did the dirty work of funneling the Ameren money to Nixon via these committee funds? They knew where the money came from and what Nixon was doing with Ameren...........Lots to learn about those involved in funneling this money..............

This is a huge & major development for all Democratic candidates and Dem politicians in Missouri and it's all very bad. Given the steady recent drip of corruption related revelations associated with the Dems the past few weeks, I don't think that there could be a worse story than an Dem Attorney General taking money from a major utility company that the AG is investigating for an awful failure that has harmed the state seriously.................Gas & energy prices are one of the top issues on the voters minds and they are very angry about it and you have an AG taking money from a utility that they are investigating???? This looks like one explosive and very dirty-nasty development that could be a Dem party killer in MO beyond 2006 & 2008...........................Stay tuned this one has serious legs.................

--------Update----------------------------

mogop has a post up here)

He should’ve refunded them promptly when they were uncovered. Instead he insisted initially that Ameren’s donations would not influence his investigation. This one was a no-brainer. Prime-time Nixon? Time to pick up the pace, general,” the Kansas City Star’s Steve Kraske said. Meanwhile, Tony Messenger at the Springfield News-Leader weighed in with this: “The attorney general is stuck in an ethical quagmire of his own. The same attorney general who recently called on Gov. Matt Blunt to veto a new campaign finance law because of donation loopholes is benefiting (sic) from the loopholes that exist in the current law.” Jay Nixon’s arrogance has at long last been exposed by the media and it’s likely this won’t be the last time.......

Insisting that the donations would not influence the AG? Is he serious?..........Not buying it Nixon........................

------------------Update---------------------------

The Missouri Republican State Committee has filed an ethics complaint over Nixon's acceptance of Ameren political donations, per the News Tribune:

The ethics complaint says Nixon illegally concealed campaign donations. The complaint names Nixon and the treasurers of the four campaign committees as violating state ethics laws. “Somebody made all this happen,” said Jared Craighead, executive director of the Republican state committee.............

Craighead is right, "somebody" did make this all happen and we need to know exactly who made it happen and what Nixon knew and when he knew it...................

-----------------update---------------------------

Nixon is not going to recuse himself in the Ameren investigation at this point although the DNR Director Doyle Childers has asked him to, via the Post:

Nixon's attorney Edward Ardini sent a prompt reply to Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Doyle Childers, insisting Nixon will continue the Taum Sauk investigation and accusing Childers' boss, Gov. Matt Blunt, of also having close ties to Ameren..............

Nixon's defense for taking money from Ameren while he is investigating them? Gov Blunt's "brother" is a lobbyist for Ameren..............So what, he works for the utility as he is free to do..............he nor the Governor are the State Attorney General investigating them............a total unrelated attempt to deflect the attention on this very serious matter that resides with Nixon............

Childer's summed it up best:

"The governor is not my attorney," Childers said, noting that Nixon is pursuing Ameren on behalf of the state. "I am deeply resentful for having my attorney take money from my adversary, and I think it's a very serious ethical issue." ................

Indeed.................................

First Marine Report-Out on Haditha

2006-06-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

The first report from the Marines on the ground at Haditha, as to what exactly happened there via WaPo:

A sergeant who led a squad of Marines during the incident in Haditha, Iraq, that left as many as 24 civilians dead said his unit did not intentionally target any civilians, followed military rules of engagement and never tried to cover up the shootings, his attorney said. Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.................

The statement comes via Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich's attorney, but it is the first direct report I've read from a Marine on the ground at Haditha on what exactly happened there, and the article confirms that. Finally we have statements from people on the ground there, instead of pontifications from politicians and MSM reporters who have tried to use the story as an attack on the entire effort in Iraq. Many in the blogosphere have cautioned to proceed slowly on this story until the first hand facts started coming out. Of course the anti-Iraq ammo was to tempting for the anti-GWOT crowd to wait for facts, so ahead they ran..............

Josh White states later in the article that:

Three Marine officers have been relieved of command. In the absence of a public response from Marine Corps officials -- who are declining to comment to preserve the integrity of the investigation -- reports of what happened in the western Iraqi town have been leaking out piecemeal from the Haditha neighborhood and in Washington............

Where has that Haditha & Washington piecemeal drip been coming from? Well the biggest Washington source has been Murtha who stated even before the story had broken that our Marines' were cold blooded killers".........................What the hell is wrong with that former Marine and current US Rep? What a crime for a man who claims to support the troops to say that the Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" before the story had fully been reported let alone the facts.............If this is proven to be a mistake but not intentional, Murtha should resign in the disgrace that already defines who he has become..................

What about the Haditha eye witnesses? Well the credibility of Ali al-Mashhadani is very much in question at this point. Andrew Walden has the recap:

Ali al-Mashhadani, an Iraqi journalist reporting on the Haditha incident was recently re-arrested by the Marines for suspected insurgent ties. He was held for 12 days. Al-Mashhadani had earlier been held for five months beginning August 8, 2005 and ending in January, 2006. According to Reuters, “Among Mashhadani's recent stories was reporting from the town of Haditha in March. Following Time magazine's revelation of accusations that U.S. Marines shot dead 24 civilians there in November, he filmed fresh interviews with local officials and residents that were widely used by international media.” ..................This video is the source of all the images being spread across the international media purporting to show the aftermath of the Haditha incident. The “internationally respected” Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been accused of anti-Israel bias and is funded by numerous left-wing foundations including George Soros’ Open Society Institute. HRW accuses US forces of “torture” in Iraq and Afghanistan which, in one report, it defines as, “interrogation techniques including hooding, stripping detainees naked, subjecting them to extremes of heat, cold, noise and light, and depriving them of sleep….” HRW advocates putting US soldiers under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court--a foreign-controlled judiciary.

So excuse me at this point for giving more credibility to the United States military and their investigative process rather than Ali al-Mashhadani, Murtha, Soros, the MSM and the Open Society Institute.................

If these guys jumped out of their socks once again to slime the military and the war effort and it's proven to be a false charge, I hope they are finally held accountable by a growing majority of Americans for the serious harm they continue to do................

Army Surpasses Recruitment Goal for Twelfth Straight Month

2006-06-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

Under the topic: MSM coverage does not come close in telling the "real picture", news that the Army has surpassed their recruitment quota for the 12th consecutive month:

The Army said Friday it surpassed its recruiting goal for May, marking the 12th consecutive month of meeting or exceeding its target..............

Now one would think that things were not going well on this topic from the various negative reports coming from the MSM, and there was a time when recruitment quota were not being met:

Before it began the streak in June 2005, the active Army had missed its target four consecutive months.................

So if we are on a run of twelve straight months of the Army making it's quota, why is the MSM stuck in a mindset and coverage angle that is so out-dated? I suppose it's all about mind-set and agenda, but it has nothing to do with the truth as the facts clearly show on this topic.................Just another example of why one should use extreme caution when getting their military coverage from the MSM............

No Second Round Tickets for Ahmadinejad to World Cup?

2006-06-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Looks pretty likely that the political nuclear bomb from having Iranian President Ahmadinejad make a visit at the World Cup, won't happen after the Iranian's received a whipping via Mexico in round one, per WaPo:

Iran started strong and played to a tie in the first half, but succumbed completely to a Mexican onslaught in the second half and suffered a 3-1 defeat. With Portugal considered by many the favorite in Group D, and neophyte Angola a considerable underdog, this game was considered to be extremely important. This result, and Iran's already troubling goal differential, has Mexico in great stead............

Not having Ahmadinejad at the World Cup is a good thing.....................way too deep of scars and anti-Semitism history in Germany to have the current version of anti-Semitism hate making an appearance center stage at the event hosted in Germany................

On an immigration related point, why isn't America's soccer team better given the Mexican nationalist talent that should be available to the team?

Current Culture of Corruption Coming from the Left

2006-06-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

A growing list of Dem political scandals has been put together over at Gateway Pundit...........

Even with the scandals on the right getting more press time, the recent trend has such scandals coming from the left and the recent trend will not fit in well with the "culture of corruption" campaign theme the left was hoping to use in 2006......

Looks like it's time for a new theme............

I Had Never Cheered a Human Death Prior to Zarqawi's

2006-06-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Was killing the terrorist leader in Iraq and for that matter the most active leader of terrorism in the world (until Wed that is) important and a huge success? Well of course, this is a very important and positive development. Rummy compared al-now dead-Zarqawi to Hitler from the perspective of being a monster capable of hideously inhuman acts against other humans....................I'd say that's about spot on...............Remember this guy personally cut people's heads off and taped it on video, and killed thousands of other innocent people and many American soldiers.......He is dead and that is an extremely positive thing............

I have never been happy or had a celebratory reaction to "any" person's death until Wed when I heard the news that we had killed Zarqawi and I suspect that many other people share that exact scenario with me.............................It's the right emotion to cheer the death of such a monster...........

Will the violence in Iraq end with the death of Zarqawi? No, it might even spike for a period of time but taking out the evil-monster-leader of the insurgency has to be a "huge" plus and "could" very well lead to a very important and positive trend in Iraq............Lots of Next Generation Terrorist are Already Dead............

Of course the anti-any-war crowd is not happy about Zarqawi's death because it's good news for the GWOT and the war in Iraq. They have been trying to spin it into a non-event in the MSM and online because it's not good for their cause........I don't understand that and don't want to..............I reject it completely.......

Anyone who tries to marginalize for their political agenda the death of a monster who is on par with the worst terrorists of history in terms of rejecting the human code and doing the horrible things that Zarqawi did, has an extremely sick and very questionable home base I'd say..........................How do misguided souls get to that place? What a feeble and discredited place to reside.....................................

So You Want to New Media?

2006-06-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

The Post Dispatch blog has info on a Town Hall announcement by the DNC. It's pretty sad, and way behind the curve. Here is the direct link to the Town Hall. Get out of the way, we have some real hard charging new media savvy people here.......................

It seems to me, politics aside to be a sad announcement that is much like a buggy and horse trying to catch an automobile..................An online town hall is so far behind what is happening online currently, way behind.......... Not that it's a bad thing, its in fact a good thing but also such a 5+ year ago thing and far less effective then what the leading participants are deploying.........................Politicians that did not establish a strong blog and online presence communicating with the new media users some time ago are paddling upstream. Online town halls via the national party I don't think will close the gap for them, regardless of party...................

Online news is now the Top Source For News:

Not surprisingly, newspaper use peaked in the morning; that print media was consumed by 17 percent of the subjects between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. When this media was combined with Web consumption, the potential reach for advertisers climbed to 44 percent. During the same morning period, the number of consumers using magazines jumped from 7 percent to 39 percent, and from 44 percent to 62 percent for television.................

Then new media is becoming the medium for a majority of news at an astounding rate. If politicians are deploying a online town hall as their latest new media initiative, then they are the far left-flat placement of the "bell curve" when it comes to communicating via the new media..............................................

Canadian Terrorists Arrested With Three Times the Ammonium Nitrate Used at OK City

2006-06-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

Chilling news from north of the border, where Canadian officials arrested 17 suspected terrorist suspects who were planning some major fire works, per Fox:

Canadian police foiled a homegrown terrorist attack by arresting 17 suspects, apparently inspired by Al Qaeda, who obtained three times the amount of explosive ingredients used in the Oklahoma City bombing, officials said Saturday. ...................

Did you catch that? These guys had "THREE TIMES" the amount of ammonium nitrate that was used to blow-up the Murrah Federal building in OK City in 1995............................Can you imagine the damage caused by such an explosion?

One of the suspects brother is quoted as stating: "He's not a terrorist, come on. He's a Canadian citizen," Chand said. "The people that were arrested are good people, they go to the mosque, they go to school, go to college."..............................I don't think Chand should pursue a career in legal defense, because his statement of defense does not give one the vision of falsely accused people, given the history we have seen of those committing the current terrorist crimes............Going to the Mosque and attending school/college, seems to be the things terrorist have most in common regardless of who they are........................

Pajamas Media has a comprehensive post up covering the story including lots of blog responses. The insanity of the NSA objections is taken on by Conferate Yankee:

What authorities are not saying—and will almost certainly not confirm—is the distinct possibility that this plot was uncovered via the NSA foreign intelligence surveillance program that the NY Times tried to label a “domestic spying” program. As most international communications into North America filter through U.S. switching equipment, it seems logical that if international communications were involved, the NSA would be the lead agency handing off information their counterparts in Canadian border police and intelligence agencies.

CNN also suggests—but doesn’t support—is that this raid could be tied to the London terror raid conducted Friday that foiled a suspected chemical weapons plot........................

How insane is the view by the left that NSA is not needed or legal? This is yet another example of the real and true threats we face in the GWOT...............not only is NAS legal and within the Presidents constitutional power, this is yet another example of why it is so critical..........It's what, about a 500 miles drive from Toronto to New York?...........................

-------------------------------update-------------------------

Captain Quarters has a post up with relative points on how NSA like intel gathering helped stop this tragedy along with links to others making the same points (here):

The issue of Internet monitoring has some in the US uncomfortable about breaches of privacy. However, the terrorists use that as a decentralized communication method, and a willful refusal to investigate these communications is sheer folly, as this raid attests. Should the Canadians have eschewed their investigation -- and waited until this group killed hundreds or thousands of people before knowing anything about them? The Internet is not a private network, as some could argue the phone systems provide. Communications are not point-to-point but broadcast, and the expectation of privacy in Internet communications should have disappeared long ago.

If we want to catch these people before they strike, then we had better know when, where, and how they communicate for coordination and recruitment, and be prepared to stop them as the CSIS has apparently done today. (via Stop The ACLU

UPDATE: ThreatsWatch notes this development as well, and reminds Americans that the CSIS is not unlike the NSA.......................

Not investigating these communications would be sheer folly, and would be the actions of foolish people and those trying to become victims....................

------------------------update-----------------------------

The Toronto Star is reporting that internet intel and spying provided the leads for the police to break the case:

The chain of events began two years ago, sparked by local teenagers roving through Internet sites, reading and espousing anti-Western sentiments and vowing to attack at home, in the name of oppressed Muslims here and abroad...............Their words were sometimes encrypted, the Internet sites where they communicated allegedly restricted by passwords, but Canadian spies back in 2004 were reading them. And as the youths' words turned into actions, they began watching them........

So NSA like spying was the tool needed to prevent this terrorist attack..............And if you were thinking these guys might not be full blown jihadists, think again:

They traveled north to a "training camp" and made propaganda videos imitating jihadists who had battled in Afghanistan. At night, they washed up at a Tim Hortons nearby............................

When you have travels to training camps and jihadist videos, you have full blown jihadists........................This was a very serious risk and we are very fortunate that the authorities were using all the intel tools at their disposal to catch them. I'll repeat the painfully obvious, how could any rational person not support the NSA?

The Star is also reporting that one of the targets that hit close to home with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service:

The group arrested yesterday allegedly had a list of targets, sources have told the Star, and the Toronto headquarters of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was one of them. So were the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and a smattering of other high-profile, heavily populated areas................

-------------------------update------------------------

A piece of the jihadists puzzle I'd forgotten makes the Canadian ground zero location of this attempted terrorist attack make chilling sense, per Partisan Times.com:

Shortly after 9/11, Osama bin Laden named five "Christian nations" that should be targeted for terrorist attacks: the United States, Britain, Spain, Australia, and Canada. Four of those five countries have been hit; Canada was to be next......................

Technically, Australia was attacked outside its borders, but targeted none-the-less..........................

They mean to follow-through, so the GWOT must have the focus to stop them.........