Betsy Hoffman Calls it Quits

And good riddance I say. Betsy Hoffman, president of the University of Colorado has finally done the university and the state a service by resigning. As president, she defended indefenisble conduct by the athletic department, even going so far as to defend the use of "cunt" as a term of endearment.

Lately she exhibited her incapacity by describing criticism of the execrable Ward Churchill as the "new McCarthyism."

With Hoffman reduced to irrelevance, the university is working on an "early retirement" for the faux indian Churchill.

She shouldn't have to go long before she finds a new job. One so tolerant of academic fraud and plagiarism should have no difficulty finding a job at one of those university's whose e-mails keep showing up in my spam box offering PhD's for a couple of hundred bucks. Perhaps Ward Churchill could finally get his degree at her college.

Iraq's Democrat Party

I doubt that I am the only observer struck by how much the Iraqi Sunnis behave like United States' Democrats when they lose an election.

Religions Are All About The Same

A Muslim man "protects" his famlies honor by killing his 8 year old daughter for adultery, then killing her younger sisters because he expected them to follow her sinful path.

Bibi recounted how she was awakened by a shriek as Ahmed put his hand to the mouth of his stepdaughter, Muqadas, and cut her throat with a machete. She said she looked on helplessly from the corner of the room as he then killed the three girls -- Bano, 8, Sumaira, 7, and Humaira, 4 -- pausing between the slayings to brandish the bloodstained knife at his wife, warning her not to intervene or raise alarm.

"I was shivering with fear. I did not know how to save my daughters," Bibi, sobbing, told AP by phone from the village. "I begged my husband to spare my daughters but he said, 'If you make a noise, I will kill you."'

"The whole night the bodies of my daughters lay in front of me," she said.

"I thought the younger girls would do what their eldest sister had done, so they should be eliminated," the father, Ahmed said, his hands cuffed, his face unshaven. "We are poor people and we have nothing else to protect but our honor."

Race, Race, Race

It's all about race. Jimmy Breslin puny imagination seems unusually feeble today. The primary issue surrounding the New York transit strike? You guessed it, race.

Nothing like a supporting argument, but as a howl at the moon leftist, Jimmy Breslin just knows that it's all about race.

On The Road Again

I'll be airborne much of today and with only occasional computer access until I get back Friday.
I'll blog all I can.

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas! What are your doing here? Well, as long as you're here, I thought I'd post Norman Rockwell's "Alabama Christmas."

Iranian Lunacy

Can we really sit by an allow Iran to build a nuclear bomb? If you still think we should trust diplomacy, watch what passes for reasoned discourse in Iran.

Unfortunately, the West has forgotten two horrendous incidents, carried out by the Jews in 19th-century Europe - in Paris and London, to be precise. In 1883, about 150 French children were murdered in a horrible way in the suburbs of Paris, before the Jewish Passover holiday. Later research showed that the Jews had killed them and taken their blood. This event caused riots in Paris back then, and the French government found itself under pressure.

A similar incident took place in London, when many English children were killed by Jewish rabbis. These two incidents still haunt the minds and souls of the Europeans, but due to the growing influence of the Zionist lobby in Europe - or to be precise, the influence of the Jews - these two incidents are, unfortunately, never mentioned.

Ho Hum, The Media Tells The Side of the Story They Want You to Hear

When Federal District Judge James Robertson resigned from the FISA oversight court in protest of Bush warrantless surveillance, it made news. What won't make news is that Robertson was widely considered to be the most partisan and leftist of all of Bill Clinton's judicial appointments.

Robertson, 67, has ruled consistently against the Bush administration's handling of enemy combatants. On July 15 this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed his 2004 ruling that a military commission could not try alleged terrorist Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

In private Washington practice before going on the court, Robertson was an aggressive civil rights advocate. He spent 1969-1972 with the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, serving for a time as the organization's chief counsel in Jackson, Miss. In 1994, Clinton named him to the federal bench, where he remains despite his resignation from the FISA court.

So, Should They Monitor The YMCA?

One of the truly stupid ideas to come out of 9/11 was the random search. I was on a business trip with a South Korean colleague than and he was given the thorough going over each direction. I saw a white haired little old lady being searched.
The excuse was that it would constitute racial profiling if only men and women of Middle Eastern origin were searched.
True, but it constitutes stupidity and a waste of resources to search little old ladies.

Now the MSM wants us to be angered because the Bush Administration focused on Islamic sites when searching for nuclear bombs.

Makes sense to me.

Just Wait Until The New York Times Hears About This

The Bush Administration was flagrantly spying on American Muslims in an effort to prevent a nuclear terrorist attack!

How dare they?

Justice for the New York Times

The New York Times is paying the price for the tenor of its "reporting." The value of New York Times stock has fallen 35.7% so far this year.

At some point, the stockholders might exert at little editorial influence over the Times, don't you think?

Why They Hate Us

I can clear this up for liberals right now. Muslims don't hate us because of the Crusades, or because of Israel or because of oil. They hate us because they think that we tempt all of their children to this.

Should The War on Terrorists Have the Same Power as the New York Times?

Ann Coulter points out an interesting irony in the NSA spy affair. The Bush Administration was behaving as if it were the New York Times.

In order to report the story, the Times said it obtained:

copies of online conversations and e-mail messages between minors and the creepy adults;

records of payments to the minors;

membership lists for Webcam sites;

defunct sites stored in online archives;

files retained on a victim's computer over several years;

financial records, credit card processing data and other information;

The Neverland Ranch's mailing list. (OK, I made that last one up.)

Would that the Times allowed the Bush administration similar investigative powers for Islamofacists in America!

Quick! Somebody Call Greta van Sustern!

This had the potential to become the next missing pretty white girl miniseries on Fox!

But alas, it appears that we know what became of the lost jackass penguin.

The saga took a dark turn early Thursday after anonymous phone calls to Amazon World and to GMTV, a BBC morning television show, in which the caller said he had dumped Toga into Portsmouth harbor in a plastic bag.

Penguin sighting
Bright said the calls seemed to jibe with a report the zoo received Wednesday night. A boater returning from a trip through Portsmouth harbor told a friend: "It must be cold out there; I've just seen a penguin." Bright said the friend, realizing it must have been Toga, called the zoo.

The Real Acts of God

Monday will mark the first anniversary of the great Asian tsunami that killed an estimated 300,000 people from Thailand to east Africa. It was the worst, but not the only, natural catastrophe to decimate broad areas of that hemisphere. Early this past autumn, a powerful earthquake struck northeastern Pakistan, killing at least 87,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands of others vulnerable to a harsh winter.
These twin disasters had at least two things in common. Each struck a predominately Muslim area of the world and the first and most generous responder in each case was the Christian world.
I can't know what proportion of Muslim clerics preached that earthquakes, tsunamis or hurricanes represent Allah's vengeance wreaked upon an impious world. But we do know that many did.
It's similar to what happens when a disaster strikes this country. The media will run to Jerry Falwell or Al Gore's old buddy, Fred Phelps, of Godhatesfags.com fame, who can usually be relied upon to blame American decadence for provoking God's punishment in the form of a tragedy, natural or man-made.
Environmentalists invoke their own weird faith to explain things, but it doesn't get enough airtime. The media are very protective of those who think as they do.
While the tragedies themselves may have satisfied these hateful clerics' fondest dreams, the aftermath was their worst nightmare. First and most generous on the scene after both catastrophes were representatives of Christian nations that the clerics had taught their adherents to hate. Americans, Britains, Australians, Canadians, Japanese and continental Europeans poured money and personnel into the affected regions distributing food, water, blankets and shelter. What most victims saw from their fulminating Muslim brothers was - nothing.
Imagine the contrast. Here on one side the victims of these disasters have their own imams telling them that their misery is Allah's doing, while on the other hand, their suffering is being ameliorated by supposed infidels.
And, it's having an effect. While polls are generally loathed in this corner of the paper, one did catch my eye this past week. According to A. C. Nielson, America's standing in the Muslim world has soared. Since May, Pakistanis who think favorably of the United States has doubled to 46%. Meanwhile, those holding unfavorable views have declined just as dramatically, to 28%. In Indonesia, 65% of Muslims have a more favorable opinion of the United States since last year's tsunami.
Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden's standing has suffered, as 73% believe that his style of terrorist attacks on civilians are never justified. His disapproval numbers have nearly doubled among Pakistanis.
And perhaps equally as informative are the anecdotes. In Pakistan, the new favorite toy among the children is the Chinook helicopter painted in US colors. The huge, heavy lift two rotor Chinook has become the workhorse of the earthquake relief effort. We happened to have quite a few of them next door in Afghanistan.
An imam was all but booed and hissed out of his mosque by his flock when he launched into one of those clichéd anti-US rants that had come to pass for sermons in the Muslim world.
Clearly we are winning the war on both fronts - on the battlefield and in the hearts of those we touch. John Murtha, John Dean and all their acolytes are fools.
But expediency is not the reason we should give assistance where it is needed, regardless of faith. We should do it just because it's the right thing to do. What the heck! We even fed the Soviet Union when their public policy was our burial. But it's nice to know that we do reap tangible rewards when we sow kindness.
While we must forever remain vigilant and are fully justified in defending ourselves against those who intend us the gravest harm, we should drain the swamp these vermin breed in and refill it with charity and wherever possible, democracy.
I personally do not approve of referring to such natural tragedies as earthquakes, hurricane and tsunamis as "acts of God," as it implies a sort of vindictiveness that I do not believe that the God I pray to intends. The real acts of God in these events are the unconditional generosity that animates us to send so much to people whose most prominent spokesmen advocate our extermination. In the end, it does both sides good.
Merry Christmas.

Ban The Burqa!

First France forbids headscarves. Now the Netherlands is banning the burqa.

It's becoming a movement. Kinda like honor killing and beheadings.

Swingers - Head For Canada

Canada could be remaking itself into a paradise for United States sixties era liberal Democrats. Not only have the courts created a right to gay marriage, but now group sex.

In a ruling that radically changes the way courts determine what poses a threat to the population, the top court threw out the conviction of a Montreal man who ran a club where members could have group sex in a private room behind locked doors.

“Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society,” said the opinion of the seven-to-two majority, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.

But, of course, I live in Washington, where sex with farm animals is legal.

Maybe that's why we have so many liberals living here.

"Thuggish" Equals Black?

The head of the New York Transit Workers Union seems to be engaging in a bit of racial profiling.

And what may have begun inadvertently, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Tuesday that union leaders had "thuggishly turned their backs on New York City," took on a life of its own yesterday as minority leaders and union members attacked the mayor's conduct as objectionable, or worse. "There has been some offensive and insulting language used," said Roger Toussaint, the union leader. "This is regrettable and it is certainly unbecoming for the mayor of the city of New York to be using this type of language."

But others were more extreme in their response. Leroy Bright, 56, a black bus operator who is also a union organizer, saw racial coding in Mr. Bloomberg's choice of words. "The word thug is usually attributed to people of color whenever something negative takes place," he said, adding that the language was "unnecessarily hostile."

Al Sharpton too: "How did we become thugs? Because we strike over a pension?"

"I do not think the language would have been used in a union that was not as heavily populated by people of color," he added. "And whether he intentionally did it or not, he offended a lot of people of color and he ought to address that, and come to the bargaining table."

Condidering what a shallow reservoir of sympathy the transit workers have to draw on, I don't think it's helpful to their cause to start disparaging legitimate criticism as racist.

History Did Not Begin in 2001

Now that the initial hysteria has abated, in spite of MSM efforts to fan the flames, it seems that George W. Bush did not establish any new precedents in its wiretapping. In fact, previous presidents have done similar things without invoking the New York Times ire, including the greatest president of all time, Bill Clinton and the sainted Jimmy Carter.

Previous administrations, as well as the court that oversees national security cases, agreed with President Bush's position that a president legally may authorize searches without warrants in pursuit of foreign intelligence.
"The Department of Justice believes -- and the case law supports -- that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes and that the president may, as he has done, delegate this authority to the attorney general," Clinton Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick said in 1994 testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
That same authority, she added, pertains to electronic surveillance such as wiretaps.
More recently, the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court -- the secretive judicial system that handles classified intelligence cases -- wrote in a declassified opinion that the court has long held "that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information."
Such warrantless searches have been at the center of a political fight in Washington after the New York Times reported Friday that the Bush administration had a program to intercept communications between al Qaeda suspects and persons in this country, a story whose publication coincided with the congressional debate over reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act.

Is anybody else struck by the irony of all this? Here we have the New York Times claiming to be the champion of privacy rights, and it was this same newspaper that tried to gain access to the private and sealed adoption records of Chief Justice John Roberts' children so that they could use them as a weapon against his nomination.

Saddam Reads The New York Times

And believes it too.

"Saddam Hussein accused the White House on Thursday of lying about his alleged stockpiles of chemicals weapons and reiterated claims he made on Wednesday that he was tortured in U.S. custody.

Speaking at the start of the seventh session of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, the former Iraqi president immediately rekindled his battle of words with Washington.

“The White House are liars. They said Iraq had chemical weapons,” he told the court."

I'm just speculating here, but I don't think that the Democrats will find it comforting that their rhetoric has become indistinguishable from Saddam Hussein's.

When Will You Friggin' Idiots Think What You're Told To Think!

Newsweek is very unhappy that Americans are not marching to the MSM's tunes anymore.

It's not fair, of course, to suggest that all citizens are indifferent to violations of their privacy and their rights to free speech. Yet as I've watched this debate play out, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that not enough Americans really care.

Perhaps the reason that most Americans are not outraged by this is that they read the whole story and learned that Americans are not being randomly wiretapped. In order to earn the NSA's attention, one must receive or make a call to a known or suspected terrorist overseas.
I think most Americans would be outraged if their government did not follow up on leads like that.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Cindy Sheehan feels that the media harmed her cause.

If the media had not been so bored and so anti-Bush, on one would ever have heard of this simpleton.

At Least He Wasn't Beheaded

Even though he led Saudi Arabia into the World Cup soccer tournament, head coach Gabriel Calderon was fired yesterday.

And with that, the Saudi Kingdom strides boldly forward into the 14th. century.

Rockefeller Lied - Again

This has become a real pattern - Jay Rockefeller endorses some Bush administration anti-terror initiative in private, then when the opportunity arises, stabs the president in the back.

"I have no recollection of Senator Rockefeller objecting to the program at the many briefings he and I attended together," Senate Select Committee on Intelligence chairman, Pat Roberts said. "In fact, it is my recollection that on many occasions Senator Rockefeller expressed to the vice president his vocal support for the program," most recently, "two weeks ago."

He was for it, until political expediency made it profitable to be against it.

Of Course, If The New York Times Had It's Way

Donald Rumsfeld notes that it's been almost a full year since we've heard anything from Osama bin Laden and speculates that he's cut off from his command structure.

"I think it is interesting that we haven't heard from him for close to a year," Rumsfeld told reporters en route to Islamabad.

"I don't know what it means, but I suspect in any event if he is alive and functioning that he is spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught," Rumsfeld said.

"I have trouble believing he is able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong," he said.

Of course, if the New York Times and the Democratic Party had their way, then he could just call his operatives on the phone.

Global Warming Alert

The worst snowstorm in 50 years strikes Japan.

The blizzard claimed the lives of six people in Fukui prefecture, 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) west of Tokyo, mostly older men who fell from their roofs as they shovelled snow, a prefectural official said.

Nearly two meters (6.5 feet) of snow piled up in Fukui on Sunday, with the weather agency forecasting another 70 centimeters (2.3 feet) to fall by Tuesday morning.

Get 'em On Ebay

The Chinese government is harvesting organs from executed prisoners and selling them to the west.


"We should be cautious -- this is sensitive. There is no need to bring in lawyers or consultants," says Dr. Na, one of the Chinese "doctors" involved in the trade. "We should do the agreement on trust."

Maybe John McCain is Right

Eminem "music" used as torture? I know I'd talk.

Why I Hate Mass Transit

As long as some newspaper somewhere allows me to pontificate in a corner, I will always favor widening highways to building mass transit systems. And here's the biggest reason why.

Under threat of legal action, more than 30,000 New York City transit workers went on strike early Tuesday, shutting down the nation's largest public transportation system just days ahead of Christmas.

"Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected," said TWU President Roger Toussaint. "The Local 100 executive board has voted overwhelmingly to extend strike action to all MTA properties immediately."

It's also one more reason why I recommend doing your Christmas shopping online.

Legalize, Then Sic the Lawyers and IRS On Them

Glenn Reynolds knows just how to deal with tin pot lefty dictators.

Cap Guns Make Great Christmas Gifts

There is still at least one place where you can purchase the kinds of presents you got as a child.

You can even get one these: "An official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time"

The President's Power To Wage War

President Bush's insistence that he had the authority to order wiretaps has at least one advantage over his critics, informed opinion.

George Will and the Wall Street Journal have actually researched the matter and find the president is right and his critics are not just wrong, but abyssmally and even embarassingly ignorant.

Retroactice Opposition

John Kerry's for-it-before-I-was-against-it rhetoric is now the foundation of Democratic party philosophy.

It's Called Backwards

Nancy Pelosi seeks a "new direction" in Iraq.

"Tonight the President acknowledged more of the mistakes he has made in Iraq, but he still does not get it. Iraq did not present an imminent threat to the security of the United States before he began his war of choice. The President's speech tonight was further evidence that after almost three years, he still does not understand that crucial fact.

"President Bush persists in pursuing a flawed policy that has not made the American people safer nor made the Middle East more secure. It is time for a new direction in Iraq -- not more of the same."

The French Can't Handle The Truth

When one looks around to the most squalid and despairing places on earth, one finds that a disproportionate number were former French colonies.
This is not an accident. It has to do with the savagery that marked French colonization.
Now, somebody thinks that it's about time that the French were taught a more sanitized themselves.

[C]ompeting views of history have set off an emotional debate in France and places it colonized, following passage of a law here mandating that French schools give more emphasis to the positive aspects of French colonization.

Critics call the law an effort to obscure abysmal treatment of blacks and other indigenous peoples during colonial times and suggest that it mirrors a similar attitude toward immigrants in France today.

One cannot always hide from the truth, as was proven by the Paris riots.

The Washington Post Casts A Skeptical Eye On Ronny Earle

The Washington Post, of all places, doubts the legitimacy of the criminal charges against Tom Delay.

It may be, as the judge found, that the money-laundering statute technically applies in this situation, but its use here strikes us as odd. Ordinarily, money laundering would be taking criminal booty -- say, drug money -- and finding a way to transform it into legitimate-looking funds. In this case, though, the "proceeds of criminal activity" -- the corporate-funded campaign checks -- are the same as the alleged criminal activity itself. Indeed, with the conspiracy charge thrown out, the money-laundering statute is being used as something of a stand-in for the election law -- except that it carries a bigger penalty. And there's always reason to pause when a prosecutor seems to be shaping the law to fit the circumstances.

Tom Delay might consider hiring Washington governor Christine Gregoire. As attorney general, she helped the teacher's union constuct a system nearly identical to Delay's to evade a voter-passed law that placed restrictions upon certain union political expenditures.

Brought To Heel

Not so long ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a refreshing change from all those cautious politically correct politicians who played by unwritten rules. One manifestation was when he called Democrats "girlie men."

But, he's been through the re-education camps now, and it's hard to tell him from any other politician, except for his accent that is.

Two years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger stood before 10,000 supporters outside the state capitol in Sacramento, waved a broom and told the cheering crowd, "We're going to clean house!" With his latest moves it appears he's more interested in negotiating an extension of the lease.

Why They Love Us

Ever since 9/11, librals have been wringing their hands and trying to understand why Muslims hate us. It must be our fault.
What they, and most other have missed is that in at least the two most populous Muslim nations, America's favorable ratings have been soaring. And, it's because we are Christians and behave a Christ would have us act.

Released today, the poll commissioned by the nonprofit organization Terror Free Tomorrow and conducted by Pakistan's foremost pollsters ACNielsen Pakistan shows that the number of Pakistanis with a favorable opinion of the U.S. doubled to more than 46% at the end of November from 23% in May 2005. Those with very unfavorable views declined to 28% from 48% over the same period. Nor is this swing in public opinion confined to Pakistan. A similar picture is evident in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. Again that's largely because of American generosity in the wake of a natural disaster. A February 2005 poll by Terror Free Tomorrow showed that 65% of Indonesians had a more favorable opinion of the U.S. as a result of American relief to the victims of last December's tsunami. If these changes in Pakistan and Indonesia influence thinking in other countries, then we could be looking at a broader shift in public sentiment across the Muslim world.
While support for the U.S. has surged, there's also been a dramatic drop in support for Osama bin Laden and terrorism. Since May, the percentage of Pakistanis who feel terrorist attacks against civilians are never justified has more than doubled to 73% from less than half, while the minority who still support terrorist attacks has also shrunk significantly. There's been a similar increase in the number of Pakistanis disapproving of bin Laden, which rose to 41% in November up from only 23% in May.

Another Step Toward Victory

This is another crushing blow to Al-Zarqawi, the Democratic Party and the New York Times.

Sunni leaders have concluded that their interests are served better by democracy than by insurgency.

Key Sunni Muslim leaders in Iraq's violent Anbar province have concluded that their interests lie in cooperating with the United States, and they are seeking to extend a temporary truce honored by most insurgent groups for last week's elections.

A prominent Sunni religious leader in Anbar province, Sheik Abed al-Latif Hemaiym, told The [Washington, not the New York] Times in an interview in Amman that Sunnis were prepared to work with the Americans.
"We now believe we must get on good terms with the Americans," Sheik Hemaiym said. "As Arab Sunnis, we believe that within this hot area of Iraq, facing challenges from neighboring nations who want to swallow us, especially the Iranians, we feel we have no alternative."

It sure looks like we're winning, which is why this story will not appear the the [New York] Times or on CBS, NBS, ABS or CNN-BS.

Bad Santas On The Rampage

Forty men in Santa Claus costumes bring a reign of terror to New Zealand.

A group of 40 people dressed in Santa Claus costumes, many of them drunk, rampaged through New Zealand’s largest city, robbing stores and assaulting security guards, police said Sunday.

The rampage, dubbed “Santarchy” by local newspapers, began early Saturday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an Auckland overpass, said Auckland Central Police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty.

She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage containers, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on buildings.

Hypocrisy as a Defense?

"She's not even a vegetarian," says the father of a suspect in an ecoterrorist bombing.

How About In Chicago or Newark?

Suspected vote fraud in Iraq commands headlines. The same thing in the United States, where Democratic Party machine politics rule doesn't even raise eyebrows.

Political Correctness Wilts Somewhat At WSU

I am an employee of Washington State University and I can tell you that my conservative views have gotten me in a bit of heat now and then. At least a couple of times, I could have been fired except that I also write for a newspaper and people there know better than to pick fights with people who buy printer's ink by the barrel.
But, there is definitely a climate of intimidation here for others who do not have the means to defend themselves.
It's summarized nicely here, in a column by Mark Tapscott.

Am I Missing Something?

From what I've been able to glean from this phony scandal about George Bush spying on Americans, comes down to this. In the course of monitoring known or suspected terrorists overseas, occasionally one of these terrorists makes or receives a call to or from someone in the United States.
In those circumstances, what President Bush essentially ordered is that intelligence services do not hang up.
Last night on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes, Victoria Toensing, who had some part in developing the strategy confirmed as much.
Makes sense to me. Isn't that precisely what we would want to know? Why is everyone so pissed off?
I agree fully with Scott Ott's view.

And, although Scott Ott is just kidding, this line from the AP story linked to above has this paragraph: The intelligence official would not provide details on the operations or examples of success stories. He said senior national security officials are trying to fix problems raised by the Sept. 11 commission, which found that two of the suicide hijackers were communicating from San Diego with al-Qaida operatives overseas.

"We didn't know who they were until it was too late," the official said.

In other words, we very well could have prevented 9/11 if this program had been in place before.

If Something Wonderful Happened, Would the Democrats Notice?

Today there was a very successful election in Iraq. Fully 80% of Iraqis voted and there was almost no violence. Even the BBC is finally confessing that Iraq is stabilizing.

This is a great day for America and for our soldiers who are one gigantic step closer to coming home.

So, have the Democrats noticed? Nope.

Update, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the LA Times seem not to notice either.

Just checked again. Still nothing on the Democratic National Committee website. But, for a change, there is a non-negative link, about the party's "groundbreaking gender identity descrimination program in New Jersey."

I assume that, what they really mean is "anti-discrimination." So, may we infer from the DNC website that gay rights in New Jersey is more important to America's future than winning the war against terrorists?

The Biggest Problem in the World

As far as I can tell, so far as Joe Klein is concerned, all the troubles in the world could be solved if politicians were as smart as Joe Klein.

I suppose we should all be as cynical too.

It's Not Good New! It's Not! It's Not! It's Not!

Is the Washington Post trying to be funny today, by making itself a political cartoon lampooning the chronically negative MSM?

For President Bush, the strong turnout for Iraq's election yesterday may represent the best day since the fall of Baghdad 32 months ago because all major factions participated in the political process, according to U.S. and Middle East analysts. But the sobering reality, they added, is that the vote by itself did not resolve Iraq's lingering political disputes.

After weeks of an increasingly divisive debate at home that helped sink the president's approval rating to an all-time low, the Bush administration appeared buoyed by the throngs at the polls and the low violence. Flanked in the Oval Office by six young Iraqis, all with a purple-stained finger signifying they had voted, Bush called the election a "major milestone" on the road to democracy.

"It's the best moment since Baghdad fell . . . but it's at least 18 months late," said Henri J. Barkey, a former State Department Iraq policy planning expert now at Lehigh University. "The fall of Saddam Hussein was a moment. This is just a moment of relief."

This Is Why I Will Always Rely On My Own Car

New York City's transit union has called a strike. Seven million New Yorker rely upon mass transit to get to work.

Wouldn't New York be a better place if the city had put something into streets and parking facilities over the years, instead of packing people into subways like ants?

$150,000 Taxpayer Funded Apartments for Alcoholics?

Would you like a $150,000 apartment in downtown Seattle, free of charge? If you are an alcoholic who has failed alcoholism treatment programs at least 6 times in your previous 15 years of raging alcoholism, and ended up in the slammer more often than you can count, then you qualify.
King County has begun selecting the lucky 75 from among its most hard-core alcoholics who will be rewarded with an apartment in the newly constructed, $11.2 million Downtown Emergency Service Center facility called 1811 Eastlake. King County plans to choose those who have drained the most money from the county’s criminal justice and emergency budgets.
At times, I marvel at how much expense is required to repair the damage done by the compassion fascists in the first place. It may come as a surprise to many of you that homelessness, as we know it now, is a creation of liberalism and good government. It’s not that the conditions that predispose the homeless to their miserable status are new. But, what has happened over the last few decades is that the lower rungs of the ladder have been kicked out, placing the lowest steps out of reach for those who grasp is shortest.
Unlike most who regularly pontificate on the topic, formulate policy, or who exploit the homeless for their own, self-serving moral exhibitionism, I have actually worked (yes worked), eaten and conversed with the demographic that we now call “the homeless.”
In those days, we called them “bums.”
In my youth, I worked as a farm laborer in Central California. It was piecework. We were paid for each box of produce we picked. To get a job, one simply presented oneself to crew boss at the field where the produce was ripe for harvest, signed up and went to work. In those fields I worked alongside migrant farm workers who were either guest workers from Mexico, recent Asian immigrants, career alcoholics, and occasionally, another child laborer, like me.
All of us lost our jobs thanks to good government and Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez unionized the fields, meaning that he controlled who was permitted to work there. The career alcoholics did not live in circumstances that even made union membership or 40 hour workweeks practical. Good government ensured that the farmers had to generate mountains of paperwork before adding an employee to the roll, meaning that it wasn’t worth the trouble to hire bums who wandered in irregularly when their funds ran low. And, of course, nobody was paid in hard cash at the end of the day anymore. Employees had to wait for a paycheck issued at the end of the month, with income taxes, Social Security and union dues deducted. And Cesar Chavez had a big family to support.
There were other jobs available to the not-yet-homeless back then too. Street people could rustle up cash by making themselves available to businesses that occasionally needed a little extra muscle on the loading dock or had a stockroom that needed sweeping once a month or so. Today it makes much more sense to call a temporary employment agency or pay an employee already on the payroll little overtime.
Urban renewal and health inspectors forced the demolition of the shelters that many of these people called home. The people I worked alongside spent their nights protected from the weather in so-called “single room occupancy” hotels, or SRO. These were forced to close by health and building inspectors who decided that these hotels did not meet sanitation and other standards. Perhaps not, but they were certainly better than sewer grates, where many of the street people now find warmth.
And now, we’ve come full circle, to the 21st century version of the SRO. Only this time, it’s costing taxpayers a good deal of money. The old SRO’s were privately funded, profit-making ventures. The residents were responsible for their own rent and did in fact work to pay their own rent, buy their own food and restock their booze supply.
The 1811 Eastlake is largely taxpayer funded, costs far more than an SRO ever would, and simply warehouses its inhabitants. Residents may live there indefinitely, rent-free and may drink as much as they want, as long as they don’t leave the building to cause a public disturbance.
Yesterday’s bums were at least permitted dignity denied today’s homeless.

Kerry Jokes About Impeachment

John Kerry caused nervous twittering when he imagined aloud that a Democratic victory in the House of Representatives next year could result George Bush's impeachment.

Sen. John Kerry said last night that if Dems retake the House, there's a "solid case" to bring "articles of impeachment" against President Bush for allegedly misleading the country about pre-war intelligence, according to several Dems who attended.

Attempting to distance Kerry from Kerry, Kerry's spokesman David Wade insisted that Massachusetts' junior US senator was just kidding. Wade: "Is it really a story that, with a smile on his face and to ensuing laughter, at a Christmas party for his hardest working troops who are still working to win in 2006, a Democrat joked about why these diehard Democrats needed to keep dreaming of a Democratic Congress? Impeachment jokes in Washington are as old as Don Rumsfeld and as funny as Dick Cheney is gruff. Only the truly humorless would say bah humbug to the rarest of partisan red meat." Wade said Kerry often asks this question: "How are the same Republicans who tried to impeach a President over whether he misled a nation about an affair going to pretend it does not matter if the Administration intentionally misled the country into war?"

But, Kerry said pretty much the same thing a month ago.

Roll Call editor Mort Kondracke has been around Washington forever, and is anything but a sensationalist. So it's pretty striking to see his fairly serious speculation (subscription required) about whether Democrats might try to impeach George W. Bush if they win back the Congress in 2006. He even thinks John Kerry's been floating an impeachment trial balloon:

...[S]aid Kerry, "How are the same Republicans who tried to impeach a president over whether he misled a nation about an affair going to pretend it does not matter if the administration intentionally misled the country into war?"

A Reporter Discovers The Perils of Believing the MSM

"Think about everything you’ve heard about the conditions in Iraq, the role of U.S. forces, the multi-layered complexities of the war.

Then think again.

I’m a journalist. I read the news everyday, from several sources. I have the luxury of reading stuff newspapers don’t always have room to print. I read every tidbit I could on Iraq and the war before coming.

Everything I thought I knew was wrong."

From an embedded reporter in Iraq. Hat tip: The Blogfather

I still haven’t seen U.S. troops engaged or encounter car bombs or explosives. But I did see them play backgammon with some local police and Iraqi soldiers. I saw them take photos with more locals and make jokes mostly lost in translation. They gave advice and expertise to local troops on how to conduct a neighborhood patrol. They drank the local customary tea, and many admitted they’ve become addicted to it. They know several locals by name. I didn’t hear one slight or ridicule of a very distinct culture. One soldier mentioned it might be a good idea to clean up the trash around one polling place, and another commented on the status of women in the culture, but they were nothing but respectful, friendly and buddy-buddy with the Iraqis they mingled with today.

And this is good stuff.

More than anything in the last few days I’ve heard from soldiers and commanders that people back home don’t quite get it. They don’t see the real picture. They don’t get the real story. Some of them, like Lt. Col. Gregg Parrish, look seriously pained in the face when he says only a part of the picture is being told; the part of car bombs and explosives and suicide bombers and death. It’s a necessary part of the picture, but not a complete one, he says.

I’ve listened to the soldiers and Parrish about the missing pieces of the puzzles that don’t reach home. My selfish, journalistic drive immediately thinks “Perfect. A story that hasn’t been told. Let me at it.”

Ah, but the real question is: Will your editors let you print it?

"If I am truly unbiased, then I need to get used to this one simple fact; that the untold story, might in fact, be a positive one. It takes a minute to wrap my mind around it, as a news junkie that became a news writer. The great, career-making, breaking news stories usually don’t have happy endings; they usually revolve around disturbing news, deceit and downfall. Nasty political doings. Gruesome crimes and murders. Revealing secrets.

But I’ve come upon something that is none of those. Not this aspect of it. There are politics to this war and controversies and investigations. But there is another side."

You'd Never Know This Was Their Idea

It's true! The Patriot Act was originally the brainchild of the Democratic Party. Now they plan to filibuster its renewal.

"Because of 9/11, we rushed to judgment on a number of provisions in that bill," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said. "We certainly shouldn't do that this time."

"Because of 9/11, we rushed to judgment on a number of provisions in that bill," he said. "We certainly shouldn't do that this time."

More Bad News For Democrats

Whew! I know this set my mind at ease. It turns out that Katrina was more deadly to whites than blacks.

Statistics released by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals suggest that fewer than half of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were black, and that whites died at the highest rate of all races in New Orleans.

Liberals in the aftermath of the storm were quick to allege that the Bush administration delayed its response to the catastrophe because most of the victims were black.

Damu Smith, founder of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, in September said that the federal government "ignored us, they forgot about us ... because we look like we look."

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in October said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasn't fit to help the storm's victims because "there are not enough blacks high up in FEMA" and added that, "certainly the Red Cross is the same."

Bad News For Democrats

The polls will soon be closing in Iraq and it seems that all has gone pretty well and Iraqis are genuinely thrilled at their prospects.

[V]iolence overall was light and did not appear to discourage Iraqis, some of whom turned out wrapped in their country's flag on a bright, sunny day, and afterward displayed a purple ink-stained index finger — a mark to guard against multiple voting.

"The number of people participating is very, very high and we have had very few irregularities," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told The Associated Press. "It is a good day so far, good for us, good for Iraq. This is a first step for integrating the Sunni Arabs and bringing them into the political process and integrating them into the government."

The high Sunni turnout appeared to result in reports of a shortage of ballot materials in Fallujah and Ramadi.

Conspicuous Consumption in China

To show off their their new wealth, the rich in China are going for $17 apiece apples.

As big as softballs and as shiny as gems, the precious produce typically goes from the farm to the glitzy retailers of Japan's big cities -- where the high prices charged for such fruit have earned this nation its reputation as the land of the $15 apple.

But this year, the most costly crates of Katayama's "Japan's Best" apples are bypassing Tokyo's chic Ginza district and heading to China instead. There, Japanese apples are being scooped up by the Lamborghini-driving, Gucci-toting nouveau riche in Beijing and Dalian at $17 a piece, or roughly 100 times the price of a Chinese apple. Some of the finest specimens, with dragon designs and Chinese characters in their peels, retail for more than $100 each.

It's a bit like the gold foil sushi that was popular in Japan back in the 1970's, when a few Japanese were getting suddenly and extemely rich.

Is It Possible That He's Just A Raving, Hate-Filled Lunatic?

Thank God for analysts. They've certainly set my mind at ease. These analysts say that Iranian "President" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is just putting on a carefully calculated show when he says that he wanted Israel wiped off the map and the Jews, if not exterminated, at least relocatd to Alaska.

But while some analysts put his remarks down to excessive zeal, inexperience and an inability to distinguish between domestic and international audiences, others say his repeated verbal attacks were clearly planned.

“These comments are not being made by accident,” said Tehran-based political analyst Mahmoud Alinejad. “This is something he has deliberated and thought out.”

“He is pursuing it (the anti-Israel line) because he doesn’t really have any choice internally. Otherwise he will be sidelined,” said Alinejad. “It’s very hard, even for people like Rafsanjani, to adopt a more moderate stance.”

I suppose that also explains why he claims that Allah bathed him in light during his recent United Nations rant and I'm sure it was the same careful calculation that led him to claim that the General Assembly was so rapt that no one in the audience blinked during his speech.

Truth Leaking Out

The boots on the ground have a different view of events in Iraq than Washington elites, who gain their perspective from cocktail parties.

We know the streets, the people and the insurgents far better than any armchair academic or talking head. As military professionals, we are trained to gauge the chances of success and failure, to calculate risk and reward. We have little to gain from our optimism and quite a bit to lose as we leave our families over and over again to face danger and deprivation for an increasingly unpopular cause. We know that there are no guarantees in war, and that we may well fail in the long run. We also know that if we follow our current plan we can, over time, leave behind a stable and unified country that might help to anchor a better future for the Middle East.

A similar story on CNN.

The unit I spent the day with is one month shy of going home. The commander, Capt. Patrick Moffett, was very optimistic about progress in Iraq, and by some accounts Baquba is a real success story. Attacks have dropped 30-40 percent since last year, and the Iraqi police in the city actually are able to conduct some operations on their own.

I'm planning on going out on patrol with Iraqi forces tomorrow, which should be interesting. They don't have armored vehicles, so it's a bit dicey. But I think it's an important story. It's worth seeing them operate for myself.

I'm always incredibly impressed by the U.S. service members I meet here. They are not all as optimistic and supportive of the mission as the captain I spent time with today, but they are all dedicated to their units, devoted to their fellow troops. I think a lot of us in the states forget how difficult it is for the families of these soldiers and marines, airmen and sailors.

Meanwhile, this is the view from academics and media elites.

At Columbia, the course catalog indicates that this spring the anthropology professor, Nicholas DeGenova, who called for "a million Mogadishus" and said "the only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military," will be teaching a graduate class on "The Metaphisics of Antiterrorism." At least he isn't teaching spelling. At the University of South Florida, our Josh Gerstein reports elsewhere on this page, there's talk of rehiring Sami Al-Arian, whose lawyers conceded during a recent trial that he had "an affiliation" with the people in Palestinian Islamic Jihad. That is a deadly terrorist group.

Meanwhile, Harvard and Georgetown universities announced this week that they had received $10 million each from a Saudi Arabian prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, to fund Islamic studies. Alwaleed, the so-called Saudi Warren Buffett, has also amassed sizable stakes in Citigroup and in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, owner of Fox News Channel and of the New York Post. The prince became notorious when Mayor Giuliani turned down a $10 million gift from him after September 11, 2001, because the gift came with a statement saying that America should tilt its foreign policy more in favor of the Palestinian Arabs.

Energy Crisis Solved!!!!!

According to the National Academy of Sciences, each cow generates between 80 and 110 kilograms of methane each day. Now that's something, considering that the average cow only eats about 10 kilograms of food per day and the energy content of that feed is less than half that of methane on a kilogram per kilogram basis.

That means that cows produce more than 20 times more energy in methane than they consume in feed each day.

Tah Dah! Instead of reducing the amount of methane that cows produce, we simply need to capture it. Then we can tell the Saudis to kiss our butts.

Of course, it's just possible that the National Academy of Sciences is wrong.

Moonbats Move In For The Kill

The lunatic fringe continues to grab a bigger and bigger piece of the Democrat Party and its institutions, like the New York Times.

Read here about some of the organizations that the Democrats bow before these days.

The WCW (The World Can't Wait) ad was the handiwork of C. Clark Kissinger, created by the Maoist radical in June 2005. Kissinger is a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Maoist vanguard dedicated to promoting civil unrest in the U.S., as evidenced by the organization’s key role in initiating the deadly Los Angeles Riots of 1992. RCP is so violent, it is considered extremist even by other Maoists. In 1987, Kissinger also created the rabidly anti-American group Refuse and Resist, which excoriates the U.S. for its alleged quest to achieve “global dominance and superiority over other people” – a goal with “raising the specter of a police state” and possessing “a distinctly fascist aura.” Moreover, in 2001 Kissinger initiated the Not In Our Name (NION) antiwar project, which condemns “the injustices done by our government” in its pursuit of “endless war”; its greed-driven “transfusions of blood for oil”; its determination to “erode [our] freedoms”; and its eagerness to “invade countries, bomb civilians, kill more children, [and annihilate] families on foreign soil.”

Poor Tookie

Michael Ramirez reminds us of the big picture.



"Yu-chin Yang Lin's tombstone asks: "Can we get clemency? Yen-i Chang's headstone asks: "Or a Nobel Prize? Tsai-shai Chen Yang's grave marker says: "I would love to have written children's books . Albert Owens monument says: "I would have loved to read a children's book to my children. The caption says: "Tookie Williams' Victims.

Honesty Filters Through The Cracks

One thing I've always noticed. If one can keep a debate alive long enough, honesty will ooze through the cracks that contaminate (from a liberal's point of view) the discussion with truth.
That's finally beginning to happen with the torture debate.

There's also last week's ABC News report that 11 of 12 captured al Qaeda kingpins who have talked only did so after being waterboarded. This would appear to contradict so many glib suggestions, such as those in an open letter yesterday from Congressmen calling themselves the New Democrat Coalition, that such techniques "just plain don't work." The truth is that sometimes they do work.

But let's say waterboarding were banned. The critics are still conveniently vague about just what interrogation techniques they would allow. The Post frowns on "other CIA pressure methods." Well, what are they? Sleep deprivation? Exposure to hot and cold? Stress techniques such as kneeling for a long time? Or how about good cop-bad cop interrogation of the kind practiced in the average American police precinct? That can certainly be "degrading" and "cruel" if you interpret those words in the most expansive manner.

Terminated

One of the most vicious, evil men in America breathed his last at 12:01 AM.

Forget that bogus crap about Tookie Williams having been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize - damned near anybody can make such a nomination. He was a vicious mulitiple murderer whose street gang, the Crips, was responsible for uncountable thousands of murders and untold misery in black neighborhoods.


As death penalty opponent Ed Morrisey so eloquently phrases it,"the only redemption can be found in the next life, not here -- and certainly co-authoring a few "Just Say No To Gangs" kids' books weighs pretty lightly against the maelstrom of destruction for which Tookie is responsible."

Or, as Baldilocks so eloquently phrases it: "Leaving aside those who oppose the death penalty for moral/religious reasons, few of you have seemed motivated to move into my South Central LA neighborhood to see what “Tookie” and his Crip co-founder Raymond Lee Washington (who’s burning in Hell right now) have wrought for the last thirty-odd years. And I know that you won’t be choosing to live here anytime soon. That’s understandable; however, don’t tell me that we should coddle these TERRORISTS like “Tookie” and those he created if you don’t have to put up with them. (Okay, you can tell me, but you can expect a barely polite response and that’s if I’m feeling generous.)
Secondly—and this is especially for people like Jeremy: black people are thinking, functioning humans who, when adult and without some actual mental deficiency that they can’t control, are just as responsible for their actions as are members of any other race of people. We’re not murderers by nature (that is, any more than any other set of humans are). Therefore, we don’t need a separate, lower standard of behavior in any area, whether it’s education, employment or criminal justice.

When black people do well, they deserve recognition; when they do wrong, they deserve the consequences—no more or no less than any other."


I know this, if I was in any kind of trouble, I don't think I would want Snoop Doggy Dogg as my advocate.

Impotent

And neither viagra or cialis will help. It's the UN that's impotent. Clearly Syria has no plans to leave Lebanon alone and continues to assassinate opponents in Lebanon and guess what? The UN is impotent to stop it.

And You Say Democrats Aren't Anti-Christian?

Check this out.

Of course, once word got out about the offensive sticker, the Democrats took it down, but at least one person was able to save a copy.

Would Abortions Be Okay?

US Senator Tom Coburn original day job was obstetrician, and he still practices (For all you liberals, that means he is a doctor who delivers babies).

It's against Senate rules to have a job on the side, even if you do it for no financial gain as Coburn does. Republicans are trying to change those rules, but Democrats, most notably Barbara Boxer opposed the change.

The most curious "no" vote came from Barbara Boxer of California. Like several senators. she has not found her duties a barrier to outside activities. She is the proud author of a new political novel called "A Time to Run." It tells the story of someone who easily could be Ms. Boxer herself. The heroine is a liberal Democratic senator from California named Ellen Fischer who bravely challenges the nomination of a Supreme Court nominee who she fears would oppose Roe v. Wade. The novel tells us that the Boxer-alter ego entered politics out of the best of motives--"knowing she'd spend the rest of her life (in public service)--that she'd been put here on earth to save its endangered children."
The reviews have not been kind. W.C. Varones, a frequent reviewer for Amazon, flatly declared: "This isn't Barbara Boxer's book. It was written by (collaborator) Mary-Rose Hayes, whose prior works are a string of cheesy romance novels that went straight to out-of-print." When it comes to sex scenes the novel's prose may not be lifeless, but it is overripe: "Greg's naked body was long and elegant, his embrace enveloped her utterly, and they meshed with ease and grace. He smelled good too, faintly and astringently of aftershave. He was clinging to her as if he'd never let her go, it was all so easy and right."

This is not to single out Ms. Boxer for ridicule. Other senators have tried their hand at creative endeavors, from Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) and his Christian song lyrics to Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) and her own political potboilers. Senate rules expressly allow members to be compensated for "works of fiction . . . where the payment is not offered because of the author's Senate status." But does anyone really believe that publishers would be lining up to publish dreck such as Ms. Boxer's were it not for her "Senate status"?

Liberal as a Perjorative

Along with Barbra Streisand, George Clooney is one of the Left's true deep thinkers. And he's bothered that "liberal" has become a term of derision.

"Yes, I'm a liberal and I'm sick of it being a bad word," the actor-director tells the Sunday Times of London.

"I don't know at what time in history liberals have stood on the wrong side of social issues. We thought that blacks should sit at the front of the bus, that women should be allowed to vote, that maybe McCarthy was a jerk, that Vietnam was wrong and strip-bombing Cambodia was probably stupid. We've been on the right side of all these issues."

Well it wouldn't be if people like Clooney did not call themselves liberals. That makes it almost synonymous with arrogant, ignorant jackass.

No Contrary Opinions Allowed

Whatever the Democratic Party's position on the war is (and who really knows?), Lieberman does not share it. And so he is a target of vitriole attainable only by the left.

One Final Lesson

Since his conviction and death sentence, Tookie William has supposedly had a death row conversion and has used his new enlightenment to dissuade others from following his path. Well he has one more lesson to teach tonight, consequences.

The state Supreme Court late Sunday refused to grant a stay of execution for gang member and convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, meaning Williams will be executed early Tuesday unless the governor grants clemency or a last-ditch federal appeal succeeds.

Nevermind that "nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize" crap you might read, that is a joke. Tookie Williams was convicted of a quadruple murder and very probably committed more he was never tried for. And the gang he founded is responsible for uncountable murders and other misery in black neighborhoods and beyond.

Kooks Square Off With The Moonbats

The far left is at war with the extreme left.

"You have to be careful that you don't say things that fail to unify the party. What Dean said, frankly, created more divisions than unified the party over what we ought to do in Iraq," said Leon Panetta, former Clinton White House chief of staff.

And of course, the debate revolves around not what is best for the country, but what is best for the Democrats in next year's midterm elections.

Slanderous

Another word we need to start applying to Democrats.

After finishing his evening prayers, al-Zarqawi probably retired to his personal quarters in a safe house on the outskirts of Baghdad. Being the holy warrior that he is, he put on his smoking jacket, twisted the cap off a Budweiser and lit a Marlboro. He then looked through the news clippings of the day, chuckling to himself and raising his beer in a toast to Kerry.

I'd like to know if John Kerry was as concerned about terrorizing children on this day, or this one.

Unpatriotic

Democrats get furious at the word, there's really no other way to describe them. Read this paragraph from today's Washington Post.

Lieberman's contrarian behavior is not out of character -- he is far more hawkish than the majority of Democrats, and he has vigorously backed invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein from the beginning. But the latest defense of Bush and his stinging salvos at some in his own party have infuriated Democrats, who say he is undercutting their effort to forge a consensus on the war and draw clear distinctions with Republicans before the 2006 elections.

Even the Washington Post recognizes that the Democrats are putting their own political fortunes ahead of the country's best interests.

In fact, even the Democrats say it: Many Democrats were appalled by Lieberman's comments, although few were willing to reprimand him publicly.

"Senator Lieberman is past the point of being taken seriously in the caucus because everything he does is seen as advancing his own self-interest, instead of the Democratic interest," said a senior Senate Democratic aide, who described discontent in that chamber as "widespread."

The "Democratic interest," not the national interest.

I'll take their word on it, and call it what it is - upatriotic.

Out of Context????????????

Howard Dean is trying to take the coward's way out of the hole he's dug himself for ths defeatist rhetoric.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said yesterday that his assertion that the United States cannot win the war in Iraq was reported "a little out of context."

Now, considerind that all he and his party has had to say lately is that we are losing in Iraq and should surrender immediately, how can he claim that his words were "taken out of context?"

Go F%$& Yourself

Condoleezza Rice seems to have smoothed over the US media created riffles with Europe.

Some ministers, such as Bernard Bot of the Netherlands, had indicated they still had deep concerns over U.S. policy, despite a week-long effort by Rice to defuse the tensions. But afterward, ministers reported that they were satisfied with the U.S. position.

"Secretary Rice has covered basically all of our concerns," Bot said, adding that if the secret prisons existed -- which he called "pure speculation" -- Rice "has made it quite clear" that the United States did not violate international law in such facilities.

It suppose that's good, but I'd just as soon send The Big Man over to Europe to present the US side of things.

Self Inflicted Wounds

The ever vigilant and unbiased press went after Karl Rove's scalp, but they might have done their greatest damage to themselves.

Why make a federal case out of it? Two reasons emerge. The first is if Patrick Fitzgerald indicted Karl Rove for violating this law, Mr. Rove likely would resign and the Bush presidency would be significantly damaged. The alternative explanation is that the press is merely pursuing a possible violation of federal law and any damage to the presidency is therefore the self-inflicted wound of Ms. Plame's outer. If it is the former, then the conservative paranoia about the press isn't paranoia. If the latter, then the Beltway press has lost its mind; they are making the practice of journalism more litigious for all the rest of us.

If the Libby case goes to trial, Mr. Libby himself will be a sideshow compared to what his lawyers are likely to display to the public about the practice of journalism. It has been reported that his lawyers plan to make wide demands for reporters' notes. One can imagine them issuing subpoenas for the pen-and-pencil reporting notebooks of Matt Cooper, Judith Miller and others, having a hand-writing expert transcribe the notes, and then asking the reporters to read--or try to read--their notes on the stand against a transcript onscreen. That won't be pretty. Unless these reporters have the handwriting of nuns and recall of Garry Kasparov, they will look like fumbling fools. Any of us would.

"Tis the Season for Cranks and Jackasses

We all know what this time of year means. The decorations, the Christmas trees, the strings of lights, the candy canes and the long lines at the checkout counters can only mean one thing. ‘Tis the season for a small, shrill, unhappy knot of malcontents to complain about all of the rest of us who enjoy and celebrate the Christmas season. You know of whom I speak. Newspaper editors are probably smart enough to reserve column space for their inevitable appearance. They’re the crybabies who affect extravagant offense whenever they see a public display acknowledging Christmas.
They can’t bear a nativity scene. Only Dracula finds crosses less bearable. Even Santa Claus ticks them off. They have a hair-trigger indignation reflex that is triggered by anything remotely or even tangentially Christian. They have the ACLU on their cell phone speed dial. And, the ACLU probably has a red hotline phone dedicated strictly to receiving phone calls from these high-strung nitwits.
And, quite naturally, the season got off to an early start this year right where one would predict, in King County, Washington. In the Seattle suburb of Medina, a parent howled in protest because somebody put up a giving tree in a local elementary school. The tree had little mitten ornaments with gift suggestions written on them. And pupils were encouraged to take the ornaments, buy and wrap the suggested present and return it to the school so the items could be given to someone in need.
And I’m quite sure that absolutely no one was surprised when one of the parents found the tree to be an offensive symbol of Christianity and demanded its removal. The school, quite predictably, caved in. And so now the little mittens are on a countertop in the school office.
"We covered the star and called it a giving tree. We hoped it would suffice, but it didn't," the school’s office manager, Chris Metzger said. "Now we just have a giving counter."
The charity survives, but the loathsome Christmas tree is gone.
The ironic thing is, that Christmas trees are not really Christian. Cutting trees and bringing them into the house is an old druid custom celebrating the winter solstice. The truly Christian part of the giving tree was the generosity to the needy. And that’s the part that survived this jerk’s attack. Neither the complainer nor the school understands that.
Of particular interest is that these attacks on Christmas so often occur in public schools, where tolerance is preached, but rarely practiced. And intolerance is always rewarded.
The giving tree was intended as a lesson for the children of a prosperous neighborhood so that they might understand that not everybody has life as easy as they do. The kids certainly learned something about their fellow man, and about what an ugly side he can have when he forgets where grace comes from. And, a few will learn how to draw attention to themselves and force their will on others.
I wonder if it’s seasonal affective disorder that makes these people act like this. I wonder if they have as much problem with this in Australia.
I remember the only time I ever visited the White Elephant store in Spokane on the day after Thanksgiving. It was about 10 years ago and standing outside the store that day was a small crowd of weirdos with picket sign asking that parents not buy their children military themed toys.
It would have just been one more encounter with another curious example of these pathological moral exhibitionists, except that there was a story about them in the Spokane Spokesman-Review the next morning. In that story, the picketers were quoted as saying that they do that every year and picketing the White Elephant is the most fun they have all year. I really had no difficulty believing that these people found that acting as sanctimonious nuisances was their idea of a good time.
I suspect that the people who emerge from their dimly lit rooms each year to crusade against everyone else’s Christmas cheer feel much the same way as those screwy picketers. They don’t care so much about whether or not a Christmas tree is an intrusive religious symbol. They actually look forward to Christmas as an opportunity to behave like jerks.
Hopefully, they will all get coal in their stockings.

The DNC Record of Support for the Troops

Neatly summarized here.

Global Warming My Ass!

I have lived in the Pacific Northwest for 24 years now. In that time, I have endured 14 record low daily temperatures in December. The most recent was Tuesday, when the thermometer read an even zero, breaking the previous record by six degrees. That means that, in the relatively brief time that I've lived here, nearly half of the temperature records have been broken, all since 1983.
Global warming my frozen ass!


Day sunrise sunset av hi av lo mean rec hi rec low
1 7:13AM 4:02PM 38°F 27°F 32°F 54°F (1941) -19°F (1985)
2 7:14AM 4:02PM 37°F 26°F 32°F 53°F (1941) -17°F (1985)
3 7:15AM 4:02PM 37°F 26°F 32°F 59°F (1958) 15°F (1985)
4 7:17AM 4:01PM 37°F 26°F 31°F 54°F (1946) 7°F (1972)
5 7:18AM 4:01PM 37°F 26°F 31°F 50°F (1965) 0°F (1972)
6 7:19AM 4:01PM 37°F 26°F 31°F 54°F (1965) 0°F (2005)
7 7:20AM 4:01PM 37°F 25°F 31°F 52°F (1987) -6°F (1980)
8 7:21AM 4:01PM 36°F 25°F 31°F 50°F (1940) -9°F (1972)
9 7:22AM 4:01PM 36°F 25°F 31°F 55°F (1975) -10°F (1972)
10 7:23AM 4:01PM 36°F 25°F 30°F 53°F (1968) -9°F (1961)
11 7:24AM 4:01PM 36°F 25°F 30°F 53°F (1993) -12°F (1961)
12 7:25AM 4:01PM 36°F 24°F 30°F 48°F (1955) 10°F (1961)
13 7:26AM 4:01PM 36°F 24°F 30°F 54°F (1995) -4°F (1972)
14 7:26AM 4:01PM 35°F 24°F 30°F 51°F (1977) 3°F (1945)
15 7:27AM 4:01PM 35°F 24°F 30°F 57°F (2002) 7°F (1945)
16 7:28AM 4:01PM 35°F 24°F 30°F 50°F (1959) -13°F (1964)
17 7:29AM 4:02PM 35°F 24°F 29°F 51°F (1976) -15°F (1964)
18 7:29AM 4:02PM 35°F 24°F 29°F 48°F (1941) -5°F (1964)
19 7:30AM 4:02PM 35°F 24°F 29°F 53°F (1941) -10°F (1984)
20 7:30AM 4:03PM 35°F 23°F 29°F 50°F (1940) -11°F (1949)
21 7:31AM 4:03PM 35°F 23°F 29°F 50°F (1940) -11°F (1990)
22 7:31AM 4:04PM 35°F 23°F 29°F 54°F (1955) -16°F (1983)
23 7:32AM 4:04PM 35°F 23°F 29°F 53°F (1964) -15°F (1983)
24 7:32AM 4:05PM 35°F 23°F 29°F 47°F (1947) -9°F (1983)
25 7:33AM 4:06PM 35°F 23°F 29°F 49°F (1980) 0°F (1983)
26 7:33AM 4:06PM 34°F 23°F 29°F 57°F (1980) 0°F (1948)
27 7:33AM 4:07PM 34°F 23°F 29°F 59°F (1980) -3°F (1988)
28 7:33AM 4:08PM 34°F 23°F 29°F 52°F (1965) 3°F (1988)
29 7:34AM 4:09PM 34°F 23°F 29°F 47°F (1980) -20°F (1990)
30 7:34AM 4:10PM 34°F 23°F 29°F 49°F (1998) -32°F (1968)
31 7:34AM 4:10PM 34°F 23°F 29°F 50°F (1958) -30°F (1968)

Gloomy Democrats

Emmett Tyrrell sums up what it must be like to be a hand-wringing, doom and gloom liberal.

I do not think anything can be done to cheer them up. Certainly improvement in the economy is not going to cheer them up. What could be done? If growth were to rise from 4% (third-quarter growth has just been revised up from 3.8% to 4.3%) to 5% they would only fret about inflation or perhaps the rape of the environment. And do not try to cheer them up with a hearty Merry Christmas. They suffer some bugaboo about that too. The best course is to avoid all serious discussion with them. Talk to them about the New Deal or the New Frontier. Remind them that Chelsea Clinton is almost old enough to run for president, and she has never been accused by an Independent Counsel of lying.

Democrat Lunacy Paying Off For Bush

The Democrats have finally gotten loonie enough to pay dividends for Bush.

After months of political erosion, President Bush's approval rating improved markedly in the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, largely tracking Americans' more positive attitudes toward the economy.

The survey, conducted Dec. 2-6, showed Mr. Bush's approval rating at 40 percent, up from 35 percent a month ago, which was the low point of his presidency. His gains primarily came among men, independents, 18-to-29-year-olds and conservatives. He remains a fiercely polarizing figure, with an approval rating of 79 percent among Republicans, 12 percent among Democrats and 34 percent among independents.

The New York Times credits the economy, but I credit the opposition for making Bush look so good in relief.

Breakthrough in the Cancer Fight

This could have real promise.

Scientists have discovered how cancer spreads from a primary site to other places in the body in a finding that could open doors for new ways of treating and preventing advanced disease.

Instead of a cell just breaking off from a tumor and traveling through the bloodstream to another organ where it forms a secondary tumour, or metastasis, researchers in the United States have shown that the cancer sends out envoys to prepare the new site.

Intercepting those envoys, or blocking their action with drugs, might help to prevent the spread of cancer or to treat it in patients in which it has already occurred.

Katie Couric's Fantasy Land

Katie Couric is upset that that air marshall killed that nut yesterday. She thinks air marshalls should shoot to wound.

"Do they always shoot to kill, Tony? In other words, I guess the average person [on the Upper West Side of Manhattan?] hearing this might think: isn't there a way where they could have shot this person and not killed him? Wounded him or incapacitated him in some way without killing him?"

Why not just shoot the gun out of the bad guy's hand, like Roy Rogers?

Would it surprise you to learn that Katie Couric was a cheerleader in high school?

The Democrats Hall of Mirrors

No wonder the Democrats so passionately hate George Bush. It has nothing to do with the war, it's just that he has preempted them on just about every other issue.

That’s why instead of a real debate or an alternative agenda, we get more of the same old, same old: flushed Korans, federal blame for floods in New Orleans, or purported fibs by Scooter Libby — always on the outside chance that some misdemeanor might still turn into a Monica-like felony, and thus make up for Democrats’ inability to provide a comprehensive alternative agenda.

If Karl Rove has copied former Clinton adviser Dick Morris’s playbook, then the frustrated Democrats of the House and Senate in turn have modeled themselves after the crabby contrarian Republican Congress of 1998 — and we all know who ultimately won that showdown.

It doesn't make me particularly happy that he has managed to outspend Democrats, but doing so has crippled the opposition.

'Tis the Season For Jerks

Christmas is recalled in Seattle.

Two suburban school districts have had to do some backtracking over holiday religious issues, one for lunch menus with the words "Merry Christmas" and the other for a "giving tree."

In Federal Way, between Seattle and Tacoma, December lunch menus for all 23 elementary schools were recalled and reprinted with the words "Happy Holidays" at a cost of $494 after a new nutrition services employee mistakenly prepared them with the greeting "Merry Christmas," spokeswoman Diane Turner said.

The 11,500 misworded calendar-style menus were never distributed and were recycled, Turner added.

Using "Merry Christmas" on the menus violated school system policies because "it has a religious connotation for some people," Turner said.

"Our objective is to provide information to the diversity of the people that we have in our district," she said. "We try to respect each individuals point of view."

In tony Medina, east of Lake Washington, a Christmas-style tree bearing mittens labeled with gift ideas was up for about a week at Medina Elementary School before it was removed, office manager Chris Metzger said.

The idea was for pupils to take a mitten, get the listed gift, wrap it and bring it to school to be given to someone at Lake Hills Elementary School in a less well-off section of neighboring Bellevue.

Some parents had put up the spiral, lighted tree with a star at the top, but it was removed Monday after another parent complained that it had religious connotations, Metzger said. The mittens were transferred to a counter in the office so the gift program could continue.

"We covered the star and called it a giving tree. We hoped it would suffice, but it didn't," Metzger said. "Now we just have a giving counter."

All these spineless bastards who crumble before whiny leftist jerks need a pep talk from Foamy the Squirrel.

If Only They Cared This Much About the Country

Democrats are now worried that they'll suffer an electoral backlash in next year's election if they keep preaching surrender. What they should be worried about is the effect their defeatism is having on the morale of our soldiers and their enemies.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) and Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), the second-ranking House Democratic leader, have told colleagues that Pelosi's recent endorsement of a speedy withdrawal, combined with her claim that more than half of House Democrats support her position, could backfire on the party, congressional sources said.

These sources said the two leaders have expressed worry that Pelosi is playing into Bush's hands by suggesting Democrats are the party of a quick pullout -- an unpopular position in many of the most competitive House races.


So, what matters is not that our soldiers will be dispirited at the prospect that Democrats discard what they have won with their sacrifice, or that our enemy will be energized at the prospect of having a victory they never could have won by force of arms handed to them on a silver platter. What matters is that a few Democrats might lose reelection.

Howard Dean Endorses Code Pink

It's official.

Enough Rope to Hang Themselves

Is Karl Rove really this smart?

While watching Hannity and Colmes on Fox News last night cover John Kerry's pronouncement that our troops in Iraq are no better than terrorists it suddenly struck me: Karl Rove has made suckers out of the democrats again.
Remember how the Bush team kept strangely silent for months while democrats unleashed increasingly powerful attacks against Bush's Iraq policy and its results? Remember the agonizing questions about why Bush did not speak out in defense of his policy and its indisputable achievements in Iraq? The answer is in the phrase, verbal momentum.
What the heck is that? Well all right, I just made it up. But what it means here is the tendency to defend and even extend a position one has taken when it is first challenged, before the higher brain functions like logic have a chance to kick in. Of course the longer those higher brain functions take to kick in the further the position will be extended and with a lot of politicians that gives plenty of time to get way out in left field. Howard Dean and John Murtha spring to mind for example.
The reason this is important is that there's a pretty fine line between vigorous opposition to your country's policy during war and behavior that most Americans regard as treason. Stay on one side of the line and your criticism drains support from your political opponents. Cross the line and you are suddenly in political no man's land.

If Karl Rove really is this smart, then he should be ruling the world.

Monied Blacks Shun Black Museums

I don't normally approve of those who commit sociology in public, but I'm sure this says something, even if I'm not sure what.


In recent years there has been a proliferation of black-oriented museums, memorials and cultural centers that cost millions to run. But some museum executives wonder how well they will fare when several existing institutions are struggling and corporate sponsorships often do not cover the costs of day-to-day operations. Among the problems, some experts say, is a lack of contributions from black people -- especially prominent entertainers and athletes -- whose history is celebrated by these institutions.

Monied Blacks Don't Contribute To Black Museums

I don't normally approve of those who commit sociology in public, but I'm sure this says something, even if I'm not sure what.


In recent years there has been a proliferation of black-oriented museums, memorials and cultural centers that cost millions to run. But some museum executives wonder how well they will fare when several existing institutions are struggling and corporate sponsorships often do not cover the costs of day-to-day operations. Among the problems, some experts say, is a lack of contributions from black people -- especially prominent entertainers and athletes -- whose history is celebrated by these institutions.

(Almost) All Ward Churchill (Almost) All the Time

While the execrable Ward Churchill has largely faded from the news, one blogger has a bulldog grip on the vermin and won't let go. Jim Paine is still on the case and there is still a lot of news coming out.

Churchill call him a "self-appointed executioner."

What's Worse?

I keep wondering. The press has made a big deal about the US paying Iraqi newspapers to run "basically factual" stories about good things happening in Iraq.

Many of the articles are presented in the Iraqi press as unbiased news accounts written and reported by independent journalists. The stories trumpet the work of U.S. and Iraqi troops, denounce insurgents and tout U.S.-led efforts to rebuild the country.

Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said. Records and interviews indicate that the U.S. has paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of such articles, with headlines such as "Iraqis Insist on Living Despite Terrorism," since the effort began this year.

Note the "basically factual" part. These are true stories. The US media doesn't trouble itself with being basically factual and certainly present "only one side of events."

Are the US media pure because they only tell one side of the story and don't bother with being "basically factual" free of charge?

Rummy had a bit to say about that yesterday.

Mr. Rumsfeld spoke to a group of academics at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. The Pentagon chief cited a "false and terribly damaging" Newsweek story that American guards flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
He cited a New York Times editorial that equated U.S. troops with the police state of Saddam Hussein, and to press reports quoting two Iraqis' unsubstantiated assertions that American soldiers attacked them with lions.
"Government has to reassess continuously, and we do," the defense secretary said. "So, too, it's useful, I believe, for the media to reassess."
Mr. Rumsfeld said the press is too fixated on the Iraq casualty count, which includes more than 2,000 American troops killed.
"It's appropriate to note not only how many Americans have been killed -- and may God bless them and their families -- but what they died for, or, more accurately, what they lived for," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
When he meets with troops in Iraq, "They ask, 'Why aren't the American people being given an accurate picture of what's happening in Iraq?' "
Mr. Rumsfeld acknowledged the risks of reporting a war firsthand, saying, "They have a tough job that's not easy, and a number of them have put their lives at risk, and some have been killed."

Loose Lips Sink Ships?

There was once a time when even whispering military secrets was tantamount to treason. No more. Today our 5th column media is in a race to do as much harm as possible to the war effort.

I guess it's okay to assist America's enemies, when your real enemy is in the White House.

It's Chistmas! You Gotta Problem WithThat?

Once Foamy the Squirrel weighs in, the debate is settled.

For Once I Agree With Saddam

"Why don't you just execute us?" the brutal ex-dictator demanded.

Hear Nothing Positive, See Nothing Positive, Speak Nothing Positive

Democrats, and their press allies, continue to present the public with a view of Iraq that portrays nothing but failure in Iraq. This conflicts with what those on the ground see.

The U.S. military is having significant success securing the Syrian border - previously a sieve for Iraqi and foreign insurgents/ terrorists seeping into Iraq. Result: It's tougher for Syria-based Sunni insurgents to orchestrate or support attacks in Iraq. Suicide bombings are down 30 percent since the October referendum.

International pressure on the Syrian regime - including the possibility of punitive U.N. economic sanctions over the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - may also be "encouraging" Damascus to decrease its support for the Iraqi insurgency.

Abu Musab al Zarqawi's cast of al Qaeda killers seems to be in increasing disarray. Recent intelligence reports suggest near-mutiny in al Qaeda's ranks - most likely thanks to U.S. forces capturing/killing operatives in large numbers, cash crunches and an influx of "green" recruits.

And here's the critical point that the press wishes to divert your attention from.

[M]arshalling Iraqi and Coalition forces against the foreign terrorists could make Iraq al Qaeda's last stand. A high-visibility defeat for Zarqawi would be a severe blow to al Qaeda's prestige as a movement - hindering operations, fund-raising and most importantly, recruitment.