Democrats Revamp Surrender Plan

They're not yet ready to surrender their surrender plan.

House Democratic leaders are developing an anti-war proposal that wouldn't cut off money for U.S. troops in Iraq but would require President Bush to acknowledge problems with an overburdened military.

The plan could draw bipartisan support but is expected to be a tough sell to members who say they don't think it goes far enough to assuage voters angered by the four-year conflict.

Bush "hasn't to date done anything we've asked him to do, so why we would think he would do anything in the future is beyond me," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., one of a group of liberal Democrats pushing for an immediate end to the war.

Sharp cookie, that Woolsey. Next thing you know, she might realize Bush isn't paying attention to them for a simple reason. The American people do not want to turn tail and run.

The House Democratic proposal brought a sharp response from Republicans on Wednesday.

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., called the plan a "fig leaf" to distract the public from what he said was Democrats' ultimate goal of cutting off funds for troops in combat.

"We support full funding for our troops who are in harms way — without strings attached," said Putnam, R-Fla., after emerging from a closed-door conference meeting.

Meanwhile, the Democrats plan to lard up the latest Iraq spending bill.

Priorities.

AP: Cop Killer = Freedom Fighter

If you had any doubt the Associated Press is replete with doctrinaire leftwingers, look no further than this New York Post editorial noting the word games played with a story this week about a freakazoid 1960's radical serving a 75-year jail stretch for her part in the murder of three law-enforcement officers in 1981.

To those who remember the infamous 1981 Brinks heist in Nyack, Judith Clark is a self-indulgent '60s radical serving a well-deserved 75-year prison term for her role in the violent deaths of three heroic law-enforcement officers.

But to the Associated Press, which supplies news to the world, Judith Clark is a "former freedom fighter."

That's right. A "freedom fighter."

Now, maybe "convicted cop-killer" is too graphic for the AP, even though it's wholly accurate.

But "freedom fighter"?

Who's writing for the AP these days - Michael Moore?

And so that description remained for several hours until it was changed to "a former black separatist"; that revised description, however, had one glaring problem. This scumbag Clark isn't black.

For one thing, though the leaders of the group belonged to the Black Liberation Army, Clark happens to be white.

The AP justified the change by noting that Clark had said the goal of the Brinks heist "was to finance a Republic of New Afrika consisting of former slave states."

(That's what they claimed, all right. But as Susan Braudy disclosed in her 2003 book about the case, "Family Circle," the real motive for the robbery was that BLA leader Doc Shakur needed money to pay his mortgage and buy cocaine.)

So that's two different descriptions, as the AP went out of their way to distort the English language and do anything they could to avoid calling this piece of human debris what she really is: a cop killer.

The saga continued.

Still later, AP changed the story again. This time, Clark was referred to as "a former radical activist" - closer to the mark, but still rather a grand description for an accomplice to murder.

Clark was in the news in the first place because she's trying to get a new trial based on some hoaked-up technicalities. That's unlikely, but you never can tell.

So take a moment to think kindly of Sgt. Edward O'Grady and Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown of the Nyack police and Brinks guard Peter Paige - dead before their time at the hands of Judith Clark and her accomplices.

It's too bad she wasn't executed for her crimes; then the AP could focus their sympathies elsewhere, like on the Islamofascist terrorists they seem to be so fond of.

Kerry Takes on Swift Boat Donor

The Prince of Pomposity takes on a man who helped sink his hopes in 2004. But with John Kerry, if he really wants to know who wrecked his campaign, he need only look in the mirror.

What a loser.

Banning "Illegal Aliens"

I wonder what Tom Tancredo thinks of this one. No, this pinhead doesn't want to ban illegal aliens, just the words themselves. Good luck with that.

A state legislator whose district is home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants wants to ban the term "illegal alien" from the state's official documents.

"I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."

She has introduced a bill providing that: "A state agency or official may not use the term 'illegal alien' in an official document of the state." There would be no penalty for using the words.

In Miami-Dade County, Wilson said, "we don't say 'alien,' we say 'immigrant.'"

Well, those who abide by our laws, we call them what they are: illegal aliens.

Saying No to Cindy

It's certainly high time someone said no to this incredibly annoying woman and her radical cohorts.

HOW many times have you sat in front of the TV over the last four years, watching anti-war activists march on Washington, chase the ROTC off your local college campus, vandalize war memorials, insult the troops and wreak havoc under the surrender banner?

How many times have you thought to yourself: What can I do?

Here is the answer: Get off the sofa and join the Gathering of Eagles on March 17 in Washington, D.C.

On that day, well-funded, celebrity-studded anti-war groups plan to march to the Pentagon on a protest route that will take them past the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and climax in calls for immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, destruction of America's "global military machine," shutdown of the enemy-detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay and impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (plus an end to "colonial occupation" in "Palestine, Haiti and everywhere" for good measure).

Last time the left-wing, peace-loving fun bunch came to town, their minions gone wild threw rocks at a military recruitment office in D.C's Dupont Circle neighborhood and at a local Fox News van, broke through a Capitol Hill police security cordon, spray painted the Capitol Grounds with impunity, desecrated the Lone Sailor statue that stands watch at the U.S. Navy Memorial and reportedly spat at disabled Iraq war veteran Josh Sparling as he voiced his support for his fellow troops.

Read it all, and come out that day if possible.

Couric Fears Goracle Backlash

You can't make this stuff up.

Katie: Gore Warms Up Hollywood

Along with millions of other people, I was watching the Oscars last night, checking out the dresses. (Personally, I found Penelope Cruz’s the most beautiful and tasteful of the night...)

But as the throngs of celebrities greeted Al Gore as a secular saint, I wondered if this might usher in a backlash against environmentalists. It wasn’t too long ago, afterall, that environmentalists were decried as tree-huggers, and former President Bush railed against them — trying to say it was the spotted owl against logging interests and jobs in the West.

Gore has repeatedly said the environment is not a Democratic or Republican issue; it’s a moral issue. But now that Hollywood has so completely embraced the former vice president, one wonders if this issue will be associated only with liberal causes. The Oscars may give Gore's critics ammunition to reject a school of thought that’s been validated by countless scientists worldwide. Some people I know latched on to a recent Gore global warming conference that was cancelled because of a snowstorm.

It gets worse. Read on if you can take it.

Couric is stupid enough to leave the comments open. Here's a couple of samples:

Katie, get a grip, are you really this stupid?
Al is a dope. While the earth isn't flat I can't say as much for Al's head. Ask him all he did for the "earth" while he was in office. He'll lie, but the answer is NOTHING!
Posted by av1rick at 08:18 PM : Feb 27, 2007

Traditionally, people aren't declared to be "saints" until they have been dead for awhile.

Just because Al has been brain dead for some time, shouldn't qualify him for sainthood.
Posted by pat-m1 at 07:54 PM : Feb 27, 2007

Couric should let someone who knows better have more airtime. Might help her dwindling ratings.

More ridiculous media fawning here.

Embarrassing.

Setting the women's movement back a couple of decades.

UPDATE: Nobody can quite spoof the enviroboobs like Iowahawk.

Repent, Sinners!

Earn Eco-Salvation the Quick and Easy Iowahawk Way

Are you concerned that your profligate personal lifestyle is harming the environment? Losing sleep over the long-term ecological damage resulting from those greenhouse gases constantly emitted by your family, your cars, your pets, and your shrubbery? Do you want to become carbon-neutral, but just don't know how?

Well rejoice, sinner! Carbon atonement is no longer the exclusive preserve of the Malibu set -- with the Iowahawk EcoPals Network! This unique new system lets you, the average Joe planet rapist, cleanse your tortured psyche of the stain of enviro-guilt for as little as $9.95 per year! If enough of you follow this simple three step program, we can save the world for our children -- who will soon be frolicking with healthy polar bears atop Earth's reforested glaciers. Act now before it's too late!

Read the rest.

UPDATE II: How weak is this? The comments just happened to disappear.

Cold Facts on Warming

Who would you trust--Galileo, Einstein, or Al Gore?

Do you think those who have reservations about whether man is creating global warming should lose their jobs and be denied the right to present their views?

Over the last few months, there has been a concerted effort to silence those who have doubts about global warming and man's effect on the climate. The Oregon State climatologist was fired for disagreeing with the "conventional wisdom." A meteorologist with the weather channel demanded that dissenting views not be broadcast. CNN, in particular, has treated skeptics with great disdain.

As an economist, I do not claim to know for certain who is right and who is wrong in this debate, but I do know that attempts to shut down debate are both wrong and dangerous. When I was a student, Keynesian economics was the "consensus," and those few who disagreed, like Milton Friedman and F.A. Hayek, were ridiculed by the economic establishment, and students in many universities were not even exposed to their views. By the late 1970s, it was apparent to those who cared to look at the data and the world around them that Keynesian economics had all been wrong and Friedman and Hayek had been right. Once Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and other government leaders adopted the Friedman/Hayek model, their economies and also the world economy, entered the longest and highest rate of growth ever. History is filled with those who dissented against the conventional wisdom but were proved correct, such as Copernicus, Galileo, Albert Einstein and many others.

Rudy the Liberal-Slayer

Why has former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani surged to a commanding lead in polls so quickly? John Podhoretz tells us there's a good reason why.

Many on the right profess amazement at the lead he's opened up among Republican primary voters, considering his pro-choice views and sloppy personal life.

Meanwhile, writers on the left express disbelief at the notion that a pro-choice Republican candidate might be able to win the GOP nomination. According to the best Leftist analyst of American politics, Michael Tomasky, abortion is simply "too fundamental an issue for most Republican caucus goers and primary voters (even in California, with its likely Feb. 5 primary) to work around."

There's a perfectly simple answer to the Rudy paradox. When Republican voters look at Rudy Giuliani, they know one key fact about him: They know he's no liberal.

They may not exactly know why yet, but they know it.

And they're right.

Rudy may call himself pro-choice. He may have signed legislation mandating benefits to gay couples. He may have been a supporter of gun control. He may even have endorsed Mario Cuomo for governor in 1994. These are all things he's going to have to explain and answer for in Republican debates and the like.

But more than any other candidate in the race, Rudy Giuliani is a liberal-slayer. When he rejects liberal orthodoxy, which he does often, he doesn't just oppose it. He goes to war with it - total, unconditional war.

He spent his political career chewing up liberal orthodoxy and spitting it out - and I think that somehow, in some way, voters in Oklahoma and Kansas get that about him even without knowing the specifics.

Would Cameron Insult Mohammed?

Just mull it over. But you know the answer already.

The Safe Faith to Insult

Cameron and Jacobovici will mortally offend many Christians. Some critics will personally vilify them, while others question their motives and integrity.

But prominent Christian clergymen won't issue any death warrants, and the Vatican won't call upon "all believing Christians" to avenge the insult. Neither Cameron nor Jacobovici will have to spend the next decade or so in hiding.

Now imagine if they'd gone after Mohammad instead of Jesus . . .

Suicide Bombing During Cheney Visit

***Scroll for updated links***

The nutroots must be despondent this morning.

A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, killing at least 14 people and wounding a dozen more. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target.

Cheney's spokeswoman said he was fine, and the vice president later met with President Hamid Karzai in the capital, Kabul, before leaving the country.

There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said 20 people were killed, while NATO said initial reports indicated three fatalities, including a U.S. soldier, a South Korean coalition soldier and a U.S. government contractor whose nationality wasn't immediately known. NATO said 27 people also were wounded.

It appears the Taliban had advance knowledge.

A suicide attack at an Afghan air base where US vice-president Dick Cheney was staying shows that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have penetrated local intelligence agencies, analysts and officials said.

The blast early on Tuesday at Bagram air base near Kabul also highlights the increasing sophistication of the extremist outfits as they prepare for a feared spring offensive against Western troops, they said.

The day before the explosion Cheney warned President Pervez Musharraf of neighbouring Pakistan to crack down on militants regrouping in Pakistan's tribal areas to mount attacks across the border and further afield.

"This shows how much the militants have penetrated the intelligence of the Afghan security forces. It is a most shocking attack," retired Pakistani general turned analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

UPDATE: Like I said, the nutroots are despondent. You just knew this would happen. Assassination Chic: Cheney Edition. Allahpundit also checks in.

I no longer question their patriotism; I question their sanity.

UPDATE II: The hits keep on coming. Limbaugh led off his show with the insane HuffPost reactions, with more reactions from Mark Steyn, Protein Wisdom, and the Strata-Sphere.

Another Clinton Financial Oversight

The shady financial dealings of the Clintons just never end. For two people who are always regaled as being so smart, they sure do have plenty of oversights and fail to disclose pertinent financial information. As usual though, they send out some hack to offer a mealy-mouthed explanation.

Clintons' Charity Not Listed On Senate Disclosure Forms

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton have operated a family charity since 2001, but she failed to list it on annual Senate financial disclosure reports on five occasions.

The Ethics in Government Act requires members of Congress to disclose positions they hold with any outside entity, including nonprofit foundations. Hillary Clinton has served her family foundation as treasurer and secretary since it was established in December 2001, but none of her ethics reports since then have disclosed that fact.

The foundation has enabled the Clintons to write off more than $5 million from their taxable personal income since 2001, while dispensing $1.25 million in charitable contributions over that period.

Clinton's spokesman said her failure to report the existence of the family foundation and the senator's position as an officer was an oversight. Her office immediately amended her Senate ethics reports to add that information late yesterday after receiving inquiries from The Washington Post.

Well, of course, everyone does it!

"The details of the Clintons' charitable family foundation and Senator Clinton's role in it have always been publicly available, but, in an oversight that leaders of both parties have made, it was inadvertently omitted from her Senate filing, which has been corrected," Hillary Clinton's press secretary, Philippe Reines, said yesterday.

Among the institutions receiving grants from the Clinton Family Foundation were Yale University, where both attended law school; groups named for deceased heads of state in Israel and Jordan; a charity connected to the Arkansas businessman who helped Hillary Clinton make $100,000 on a commodities trade that stirred controversy a decade ago, and Internal Revenue Service reports show.

UPDATE: More from Michelle Malkin.

Democrats Grasp for Iraq Plan

Why are they grasping for a plan? The plan is defeat. They just haven't quite figured out how to palatably sell it to the American people, who, much to their chagrin, prefer victory in Iraq. Now perhaps they're backing off a bit.

Internal party divisions, Republican opposition and a president who _ while weakened _ still appears to have the dominant voice on the war have all left Democrats flailing in search of a way to change the war's course.

The Democrats' symbolic measure disapproving of President Bush's troop buildup passed the House only to stall in the Senate. Their plan to place strict conditions on war funding appears to lack enough support within their own ranks to succeed. Another bid to narrow the 2002 resolution authorizing the war is unlikely to garner the 60 votes it would need to be approved in the Senate.

The first signs of impatience among Democrats' allies are sprouting.

"The public is saying, 'We hired you to get out of Iraq _ now figure it out,'" said Tom Matzzie, Washington director of the anti-war group MoveOn.org. "There is a risk that without action, frustration boils over into anger."

Democrats argue that their failed efforts to thwart Bush's war plans will ultimately pay off by ratcheting up pressure for a change.

"The administration is increasingly isolated and they are increasingly at odds with where the American people are," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We're going to keep on going at it until the administration changes course."

But Democrats also are worried about being at odds with public opinion as House and Senate leaders push divergent measures.

There lies the crux of their dilemma. They live and die by polls, and now they realize the public does not want to cut off funding for the effort in Iraq and declare defeat. But they've so empowered the fringe antiwar kooks, they're left trying to pander to them while also trying to keep a shred of foreign policy credibility heading into 2008. Good luck with that.

More at Power Line.

Gore's Own Inconvenient Truth

Sure, perhaps this group is just getting some free publicity, riding the coattails of The Goracle. But who can blame them? He's the biggest thing in Hollywood, after Michael Moore, of course.

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Via Hot Air and Drudge.

UPDATE: More at Instapundit, Captain's Quarters and Right Voices.

Blix: Stop Humiliating Iran

Another useless idiot returns, this time the bumbling Hans Blix.

Former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said that the US, Europe and the UN Security Council are "humiliating" Iran by demanding that it suspend uranium enrichment before negotiations and then dictating its rewards.

His warning came as top members of the UN Security Council met in London to consider additional sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a key nuclear process.

He said the package of economic and political incentives put forward in June 2006 by the US and key European countries, which was later endorsed by the council, did not mention the key issue of security guarantees for Iran or adequately address the possibility of US diplomatic recognition if Tehran renounces enrichment.

"The first incentive, I think, is to sit down with them in a direct talk rather than saying to them 'you do this, thereafter we will sit down at a table and tell you what you get for it'," Mr Blix said.

"That's getting away from a humiliating neo-colonial attitude to a more normal (one). People have their own pride whether you like them or don't," he told a media briefing ahead of a conference on Weapons Threats and International Security organised by a Washington-based research institute on domestic and international challenges.

People also have an interest in self-preservation, whether you like or not, Hans. What about Israel's pride every time they're threatened by the Iranians?

Mr Blix criticised the demand first by the Europeans, then the US, and now by the Security Council, that first Iran must suspend enrichment and then there will be talks where "they will explain what the Iranians will be given".

"This is in a way like telling a child, first you will behave and thereafter you will be given your rewards," he said.

If the shoe fits, so be it.

Weapons of Mass Influence

Today being the 14th anniversary of the first World Trade Center attack, it's sobering to see the inroads Al Qaeda has made, especially when it comes to influencing popular opinon. New Jersey Republican Congressman Jim Saxton discusses how they've accomplished this.

Yes, it is true: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many other Western decisionmakers and political leaders have been influenced about Iraq. This has been done intentionally through a brand of conflict called "fourth generation" warfare.

The al-Qaeda led coalition recognized from the start they had no hope of defeating us on the conventional battlefield. All they had to do was to look at the results of the first Iraq war in 1991 or the short conventional war in Iraq in 2003.

The al Qaeda-led coalition had to ask itself this: how can we, a relatively weak conventional military force, outgunned and outmanned by a technologically superior giant, hope to win a military and political victory in Iraq? Their answer: by making it so costly in terms of bad news, too many dollars, and loss of life that their superior enemy, the United States, would decide the toll was too high and would leave.

Retired Marine Col. Tom Hammes best describes this in his book "The Sling and the Stone": "Fourth generation warfare uses all available networks -- political, economic, social and military -- to convince the enemies' political decisionmakers that their strategic goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit."

In the case of Iraq, the al Qaeda-led coalition has used all these networks and added one more: the Western media. Each morning when the American people awake, including Mrs. Pelosi, the news comes in from Iraq. Al Qaeda has taken care that each event in Iraq -- be it political, economic, social and/or military -- is deliberately created for the purpose of generating "bad news." Let me explain how.

Read it all.

UPDATE: A Blog For All has more on the Battle for Ground Zero and Michelle Malkin notes the forgotten anniversary, February 26, 1993.

Lieberman to Dems: Think Carefully

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman has words of caution for the Democrats in today's Opinion Journal, though asking them to think may be a tall order, since their pathological hatred for President George W. Bush apparently clouds rational thought.

Two months into the 110th Congress, Washington has never been more bitterly divided over our mission in Iraq. The Senate and House of Representatives are bracing for parliamentary trench warfare--trapped in an escalating dynamic of division and confrontation that will neither resolve the tough challenges we face in Iraq nor strengthen our nation against its terrorist enemies around the world.

What is remarkable about this state of affairs in Washington is just how removed it is from what is actually happening in Iraq. There, the battle of Baghdad is now under way. A new commander, Gen. David Petraeus, has taken command, having been confirmed by the Senate, 81-0, just a few weeks ago. And a new strategy is being put into action, with thousands of additional American soldiers streaming into the Iraqi capital.

Congress thus faces a choice in the weeks and months ahead. Will we allow our actions to be driven by the changing conditions on the ground in Iraq--or by the unchanging political and ideological positions long ago staked out in Washington? What ultimately matters more to us: the real fight over there, or the political fight over here?

Read the rest. They'd be wise to listen to him.

Bloated Ex-Pol Wins Oscar

Good thing I didn't bother tuning in for this. I'm thinking this guy should worry more about reducing his waistline than greenhouse gas. Anyway, after he copped the award for best fictional schlockumentary, he appeared ready to make some lame joke about running for president again before the music started and he got yanked. You were almost there fatboy, just like Florida.

Politician-environmentalist Al Gore made a mock attempt at announcing his candidacy for the US presidency at Sunday's Oscars but was yanked from the stage before he could get the words out.

Finally, a reduction in hot air.

Meanwhile, Reuters claims he's been on a 30-year global warming mission, but quite honestly, I can't remember him ever mentioning it during his eight painful years as Vice President, thought in all honesty, I never paid him much attention.

While all the winners walk off the with a golden Oscar statuette clutched in their hands, it was a troupe of environmentalists led by global warming advocate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore who painted the Oscars green.

"An Inconvenient Truth," which tells of Gore's 30-year campaign to warn people about global warming, was named the year's best documentary, and singer Melissa Etheridge was given the Academy Award for original song with "I Need to Wake Up."

Simply put, when he had the power to do something, he passed, which is what the Academy should have done on his joke of a documentary.

UPDATE: More at Planet Gore.

Gushing Over Gore

This is just nauseating. The Washington Post has morphed into Tiger Beat. To borrow a line from Rush Limbaugh, they're having Gorebasms. Via NewsBusters.

Al Gore, Rock Star: Oscar Hopeful May Be America's Coolest Ex-Vice President Ever

In the annals of vice presidential history, tonight will be something different. In his black tux, the man known to his most fervent fans as "The Goracle" will arrive by hybrid eco-limo and, surrounded by fellow Hollywood greenies Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, will stroll down the red carpet at the Academy Awards to answer the immortal question: "Al, who are you wearing?"

Obama Family Tree Includes Polygamists

Of course, all the headlines are breathless in reminding us about Mitt Romney's background, but you have to dig a little deeper if you want to know anything about the Democrat candidates.

Sweetness & Light does just that.

And speaking of fathers, how is it none of this was ever mentioned when Mitt’s father George ran for the presidency in 1968?

Was it because he was adamantly against the Vietnam War, and therefore a far preferable choice to Richard Nixon — at least in the eyes of our watchdog media?

And how often was Mo Udall’s Mormonism mentioned when he ran for president? What were his great grandparents up to?

Or for that matter, who has ever brought Harry “Pinky” Reid’s Mormon ancestors during his campaigns?

Well, since the AP is going to delve into the background and go back a couple hundred years, what headlines might we see if they did the same with Democrats?

Pantsuit Predecessors Include Polyester

Whirlaway Secretly Fathered Edwards

Spock Illegitimate Half-Brother of Kucinich

Steyn: No Yankee Ingenuity

Mark Steyn laments our lack of ingenuity and puts it in historical perspective.

The glamor boys of the moment -- Obama, Edwards -- run on watery pabulum from the easy-listening oldies playlist. Five years after 9/11, we're not looking ahead, we're looking back -- in the legislature, in the courts, in the media: Bush's "lies" about WMD, the Senate vote to authorize the "use of force" against Iraq, Joe Wilson's trip to Niger, Joe Wilson's self-leaking of his mischaracterization of his trip to Niger . . . rear-view mirror stuff, all of it, endlessly. On the dark shapes looming in the windshield -- Iran, Sudan and much else -- we operate ineffectually through yesterday's institutions, like the U.N. and the EU. Two billion dollars from American taxpayers go to the government of Egypt and in return they give Hezbollah's TV network a slot on the state satellite system. At the gas pump, we fund Hugo Chavez and the Saudi radicalization of Muslim populations around the planet. The obvious transformative technology -- an alternative to the global economy's oil dependence -- is as far away as it was on Sept. 10, and the Alexander Graham Bells of our day are busy inventing the ''self-repairing condom'' -- a marvel of nanotechnology to be sure, but not one with much strategic use unless you can supersize it and unroll it down every Wahhabi mosque.

Read the whole thing.

Delirious Warming Warnings

Be advised this will reach a crescendo after the Hollywood nitwits give the idiot Gore an Oscar for his schlockumentary tonight.

The media have recently been blaring what they depict (inaccurately, by the way) as the latest grim warning from the practically unanimous ranks of the world's climatologists concerning global warming. It is time to take two aspirin, lie down and consider the matter calmly.

Read it all, especially all of you out there buried under mountains of snow.

The Surge is Working

There appear to be positive developments in Iraq, though most good efforts will be downplayed or ignored by the media.

Iraq the Model has the latest from Baghdad and Patrick Ruffini notes how it's being played here.

This turnaround in Baghdad is confirmed at home by the media's near-deafening silence. If it seems like you've heard less about how Iraq is spiraling into civil war in the weeks since the surge was announced, this is why. Even some discordant voices in the media are starting to wonder what's happening. Time magazine worries that it's "Quiet in Baghdad. Too quiet." That's right -- a dramatic reduction in violence is actually bad news.

It's too early to claim victory just yet; the operation is just two weeks old. But U.S. troops have been able to accomplish all of this with just one more brigade in-country, with four more on the way by May. These encouraging early returns show the potential for success when we apply concentrated military force to the security problem. When the Army and Marine Corps are on offense, carrying out combat operations and clearing out insurgent strongholds, we win. When we lay back, carrying out routine patrols and playing Baghdad beat cop, we lose.

Meanwhile, Jules Crittenden has an Appeal for Patience.

Palestinian Family Feuds

It's laughable how the media spins stories on the endless violence in Palestine, with the latest example this AP dispatch:

Four Palestinians killed in family feud

Four Palestinians, including two supporters of rivals Hamas and Fatah, were killed in a family feud late Friday and early Saturday, threatening the calm that has accompanied a power-sharing deal between the two groups.

The agreement, reached two weeks ago, halted months of factional clashes that killed 130 people, but Gaza remains volatile because families of some of the victims still seek revenge.

The latest violence broke out shortly before midnight when Mohammed Ghelban, 28, a local commander of Hamas' military wing, was killed in a drive-by shooting outside his home in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.

A 22-year-old man from a Fatah-allied family, Hazem Karouah, was killed several hours later, as was 75-year-old Ismail Sabah, who was caught in the line of fire. Later Saturday, 27-year-old Ghada Karouah died of gunshot wounds.

Thirty-seven people were also wounded in the violence, four critically, hospital officials said.

A regular Hatfield and McCoy feud, now with drive-by shootings. The problem with this report, however, is this is not a family feud. It's civil warfare between two terrorist groups. Soft-selling it by calling it a family feud doesn't hide this obvious fact.

Muslim Nations to Sever Ties With Israel

Severing ties they never had to begin with, and all over a bogus issue.

Malaysia, the chair of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has said Saturday the grouping had agreed to sever ties with Israel over its works at the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid said OIC foreign ministers had agreed in principle to Malaysia's proposal to cut diplomatic relations at an extraordinary meeting in Saudi Arabia during the week.

"We suggested that Islamic countries having diplomatic relations with Israel sever the ties or recall their ambassadors temporarily to show that we are serious and do not engage in mere empty talk," the Bernama news agency quoted Syed Hamid as saying.

The minister said the OIC's secretary general, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, had been tasked with following up on the proposal.

Malaysia has long been a critic of Israel's policies in the Middle East and does not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

I'm sure the Israelis will be crushed by the news.

Pantsuit Talking Points

Everything is carefully scripted when it comes to Mrs. Clinton.

A "talking points" memo distributed to Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters gives them the carefully crafted campaign line on how to deal with a host of nettlesome questions, including Bill Clinton being a drag on his wife and the former first lady's guarded personality.

The four-page memo, obtained by The Post, was circulated to the Democratic front-runner's backers in Iowa as she was getting ready to make her first campaign swing there right after throwing her hat in the ring.

Titled "Surrogate Q + A," it gives detailed answers that supporters should give to 15 questions, including, "Will President Clinton be a drag on the campaign?"

"Of course not," is the prescribed answer. "Americans give President Clinton very high ratings and he is one of the most respected and beloved leaders in the world." The response is followed by highlights of the ex-president's term in office.

What will script say when they're asked about getting whacked by Rudy?

Lying for Fidel

A special anniversary for the New York Times.

Fifty years ago today, The New York Times ran a front-page love letter to Fidel Castro at a crucial moment in the Stalinist thug's drive to take control of the Cuban people.

Timesman Herbert Matthews' 4,400-word article disproved government claims that the rebel leader was dead. More important, it portrayed him as the popular commander of thousands of like-minded revolutionaries - and so gave Castro international stature.

Alas, the story was a tissue of lies.

Read the rest. They're still useful idiots after all these years.

Some People Get It

Ah, don't you just love the Aussies? It's a shame some of the lightweights in this country don't quite understand what's going on. Well, at least someone who's important does.

Jules Crittenden also gets it.

Al Gore Bad for Your Environment

While you get an endless dose of Al Gore stories, be it for his silly documentary, getting awards for his silly documentary, or fawning media praise every time he opens his mouth, we prefer to bring you stories poking fun at this moron.

Is Al Gore Bad For Your Mental Health? from Newsbusters discusses a Toronto Star report which relates the feelings of terror from the nonstop global warming hype.

Al Gore bad for your mental health? Think about it.

The message of environmental destruction being delivered by Gore – and a host of others in recent months – is proving too much to handle for some who feel helpless controlling the forces of nature.

Tears. Sleepless nights. Rage. They're all part of a thought-provoking anxiety over the environment that's being likened to the feeling many had a half-century ago when nuclear war appeared imminent.

"Sometimes I do cry and I don't think I'm the only one," said Jenny Greenop, 23, an environmental studies and biology major at the University of Toronto, when asked about her views on the state of the planet.

It gets better.

"I think it's more than anxiety. I think it's terror."

O'Neill finds similarities between the way people feel today about global warming and the threat of nuclear war back in the 1950s and early '60s "because it's a human threat to life and the environment."

Meanwhile, Al Gore's Recycled Doom traces history back to the late 1980's, when all sorts of apocalyptic predictions were made, none of which have come true.

So why should we believe the hysteria now?

Now comes another warm wave of media smooches and applause with the news of his plan for an international set of “Live Earth” concerts to promote massive government action to curb humanity’s excessive reliance on energy. Impending global doom has become such a hip cause it’s now pushed by Cameron Diaz, Jon Bon Jovi, and a flock of other Hollywood astrophysicists, the homelessness issue having become passe.

Ever since the whole planet-panic kicked in around Earth Day 1970, there have been repeated predictions of impending doom, which didn’t exactly work out. When will someone in the media ever admit this?

Go back to 1989 and 1990. Instead of NBC’s Katie Couric handing the microphone over to Al Gore to lament how Manhattan’s about to go underwater, the same NBC network handed its microphone and camera crew directly to left-wing “Population Bomb” author Paul Ehrlich, awarding him large chunks of air time to imagine America losing the nation’s capital and the entire state of Florida.

In May of 1989, Ehrlich claimed, global warming was going to melt the polar ice caps, causing a flood in which "we could expect to lose all of Florida, Washington D.C., and the Los Angeles basin...we'll be in rising waters with no ark in sight." Ehrlich didn’t give a time frame, but his panicked report clearly suggested doom around the corner.

Don't expect the alarmists to ever admit they're wrong.

Skeptics of global warming are even being compared to Holocaust deniers. It seems that climate science isn’t the only thing leftists monstrously exaggerate.

Don’t expect that in 2027, NBC will challenge Al Gore to explain why his “climate crisis” talk of Manhattan under water never occurred, it being assumed that NBC will still be broadcasting out of New York. By then, the torch of panic will be passed on to a new generation, which will no doubt also ignore the collapsed predictions of yesteryear as they pat themselves on the back as the vanguard of planetary compassion.

Yes, in 2027, we'll have a bunch of very tired people who haven't slept in 20 years babbling incoherently about the next ice age. Or maybe freaking out that in nine more years, we'll get hit by an asteroid.

Purification of Europe

Some sobering commentary from Diana West: Imposing Islamic Law.

I saw something eerie this week. It wasn't an apparition exactly, but rather a head-spinning blur of headlines about global jihad that, rather incredibly, began to take on the unmistakable shape of a British old school tie.

How? Maybe I should start by explaining it was the old school tie that came to mind first in the form of a new publication on British education: namely, a 72-page manifesto (sorry, "guidance") from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) on how British state schools might better accommodate children from the Muslim community, which, according to the 2001 census, makes up 2.7 percent of the British population.

Did I say "better" accommodate their Muslim pupils? I mean, much, much better accommodate them. In fact, if the British were to adopt half of the MCB's recommendations for making British schooling Muslim-friendly, they might as well re-issue the 19th-century boy's school classic as Abdullah Brown's School Days. At the crux of the Muslim council's document is a call for special treatment for Britain's Muslim students that is so special as to reorient the entire British system according to Islamic law.

Read the rest.

More at LGF.

Americans Support Terror?

It appears you can take a poll and pretty much come up with any preconceived result. This could be one of the dumbest of alltime, or at least until later today.

The myth of Muslim support for terror

Those who think that Muslim countries and pro-terrorist attitudes go hand-in-hand might be shocked by new polling research: Americans are more approving of terrorist attacks against civilians than any major Muslim country except for Nigeria.

The survey, conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland's prestigious Program on International Public Attitudes, shows that only 46 percent of Americans think that "bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians" are "never justified," while 24 percent believe these attacks are "often or sometimes justified."

Notice how it's always some prestigious group nobody has ever heard of. The author claims it's prestigious, therefore it must be.

Contrast those numbers with 2006 polling results from the world's most-populous Muslim countries - Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Terror Free Tomorrow, the organization I lead, found that 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are "never justified"; in Pakistan, that figure was 86 percent; in Bangladesh, 81 percent.

Do these findings mean that Americans are closet terrorist sympathizers?

Hardly. Yet, far too often, Americans and other Westerners seem willing to draw that conclusion about Muslims. Public opinion surveys in the United States and Europe show that nearly half of Westerners associate Islam with violence and Muslims with terrorists. Given the many radicals who commit violence in the name of Islam around the world, that's an understandable polling result.

No kidding.

Conveniently left out of his poll is anyone residing in the Middle East. I wonder why?

Junk Science Harmful to Children

Another ridiculous global warming story comes out of the UK:

Global warming concerns are keeping children awake at night

Half of young children are anxious about the effects of global warming, often losing sleep because of their concern, according to a new report today.

A survey of 1,150 youngsters aged between seven and 11 found that one in four blamed politicians for the problems of climate change.

Now what scientific group came up with this gem? Why, a supermarket chain, of course.

One in seven of those questioned by supermarket giant Somerfield said their own parents were not doing enough to improve the environment.

The most feared consequences of global warming included poor health, the possible submergence of entire countries and the welfare of animals.

Most of those polled understood the benefits of recycling, although one in 10 thought the issue was linked to riding a bike.

Pete Williams, of Somerfield, said: "Concerns over our environment dominate the media at present and kids are exposed to the hard facts as much as anybody.

Here's a radical concept which may enable the little urchins to sleep better at night. Try educating them, not indoctrinating them with pseudo-science and propaganda. If all a kid hears 24/7 is some hype how they'll be living underwater in 20 years, they might start believing the nonsense.

Let them be children.

UPDATE: More at Sister Toldjah and Planet Gore.

Doctors Claim Padilla Unfit for Trial

This seems pretty dubious, but let's play along.

Former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla is mentally unfit to stand trial on terrorism charges and physically unable to tell his lawyers what happened to him in a U.S. military prison, doctors who examined him for the defense said in court on Thursday.

The doctors testified that Padilla, held by presidential order for 3-1/2 years in a military brig without being charged, is also unable to tell his lawyers anything about the time he spent in Afghanistan and Egypt, where the government alleges he conspired with Islamist terrorists to maim and murder people.

If asked to review taped conversations that will be used as evidence, he breaks into a sweat, hunches over and rocks back and forth, the doctors said.

"He hits a stone wall and his logic shuts down," said Dr. Angela Hegarty, a neuropsychiatrist who examined Padilla in his Miami jail cell. "His overwhelming anxiety interferes with his reasoning."

Cute of the Reuters "reporter" to use quotes are the term enemy combatant. OK, so what to do with Padilla?

Padilla himself denies he has painful memories, depression or any problems at all and believes he will be sent back to the brig to die there regardless of what happens in court, the defense doctors testified.

Sounds like a plan to me.

Supporting the Troops By Not Supporting the Troops

The sneaky Democrats just won't give up their mission.

Determined to challenge President Bush, Senate Democrats are drafting legislation to limit the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq, effectively revoking the broad authority Congress granted in 2002, officials said Thursday.

While these officials said the precise wording of the measure remains unsettled, one draft would restrict American troops in Iraq to combatting al-Qaida, training Iraqi army and police forces, maintaining Iraq's territorial integrity and otherwise proceeding with the withdrawal of combat forces.

Just don't question their patriotism. They're very sensitive about that.

UPDATE: Jules Crittenden has an excellent Iraq roundup. More at Sister Toldjah and Captain's Quarters.

Don't Send in the Clowns

Tough gig.

Two clowns shot dead at circus.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Two clowns were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during their performance at a traveling circus in the eastern Colombian town of Cucuta, police said Wednesday.

The gunman burst into the Circo del Sol de Cali Monday night and shot the clowns in front of an audience of 20 to 50 people, local police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Reuters. One of the clowns was killed instantly and the second died the next day in hospital.

"The killings had nothing to do with the show the victims were performing at the time of the incident," Henao said in a telephone interview. "We are investigating the motive."

Must be global warming.

Most Dishonest Poll Story Ever

When I first saw this headline, I figured it was a gag. Sure enough, Rasmussen actually took a poll and came up with this gem:

Obama, Clinton Lead Hagel in Election 2008 Match-Up.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama leads Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel by 16 percentage points in the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. The Election 2008 poll, part of a series looking at all potential match-ups, shows Obama attracting 50% of the vote to Hagel's 34%.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton also leads Hagel, but her eight-point advantage is not as commanding as Obama's. A Clinton-Hagel match shows the Democrat on top 48% to 40%.

I understand Hagel is a media darling since he basically has abandoned the GOP and enjoys the klieg lights and CNN interviews because he criticizes the President. But you can look at any poll of potential GOP candidates for 2008 and the guy either comes up last or is bringing up the rear with luminaries such as George Pataki. To even match him up with top-tier Democrat candidates is an insult to our intelligence.

What makes this poll even more ridiculous is the fact the most recent Rasmussen 2008 GOP poll Hagel barely registers. If they were to honestly report the results from that, the headline would read more like Giuliani, McCain, lead all Democrat challengers, which they do.

Funny also how after a couple of weeks of the leftist media reminding GOP voters how "liberal" Rudy Giuliani is, he's the runaway leader in the GOP race.

Sulejman the Mysterious

With the virtual avalanche of news coverage 24/7 on Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears, the story of Sulejmen Talovic has disappeared from the media radar, not that they had much interest once they found out he was a Muslin possibly afflicted with Sudden Jihadi Syndrome.

Sulejmen Talovic does not really fit the SJS pattern either. He was not exactly a law-abiding Muslim. At the age of 12 he pulled a knife on a young girl and threatened her life. Shortly afterwards there was a repeat performance involving his Bosnian landlord. Since his family was war refugees, Talovic got off with repeated warnings. Later he was picked up for shoplifting. While attending Horizonte Instruction and Training Center, in November 2004, the lad was disciplined after he was caught looking up AK-47s on the Internet. Not long after that incident he dropped out of school for good. Apparently, Talovic bided his time until his 18th birthday when his juvie record was expunged and he could purchase weapons legally.

Obviously he was a troubled teen, but a jihadist?

Little is known of his personal life, except that he regularly attended Friday prayers at the al Noor Mosque near the site of the shooting, but stopped when he began working full time at a uniform services company. Oddly, that behavior also fits the pattern of the jihadist, who will often stop attending mosque and frequently will go to great lengths to appear non-religious. Pipes notes that it is common for Islamists to surreptitiously adopt radical Islam, so it is not surprising when his relatives and neighbors say that he was a normal, gentle if perhaps high-strung teen.

You know if this kid were a Mormon or born-again Christian there would be wall-to-wall coverage, calls for gun control, etc. In fact, nearly eight years after Columbine, we're still often reminded of it. Why the media blackout in this case after just over a week?

UPDATE: Michelle notes this Hot Air report, with more at Jihad Watch.

The FBI has ruled out Islamic terrorism as a factor in the Talovic killings. One hopes that agents have done so after sufficient consideration of the possibility – which seems to have been absent from other cases with some similarities to that of Talovic. But in the wake of this, some have rushed to condemn me and others who publicly noted the mainstream media’s reluctance to identify Talovic as a Muslim, and to explore the possibility that his killings were jihad-related. This criticism was misplaced, for that reluctance is real, but it does not apply to all religions – as the Ahmed and Ebrahami cases show. Ibrahim Ahmed is, of course, probably a Muslim, and his murderous rage may have been reinforced by Islam’s belief that those who insult Islam have forfeited their right to live. The refusal of the Associated Press even to consider such possibilities, and its inconsistency in doing so, is readily apparent.

RIP, Jimmy Regan

An absolutely stirring tribute by Mary Katherine Ham at Townhall (h/t to Roger R. and Jim K.).

The ultimate Duke lacrosse player.

There's another Duke lacrosse story, one you won't hear as much about as the one that involves a party, a stripper, and a rape that never happened.

There's another Duke lacrosse player, one you won't hear as much about as those accused of brutally assaulting an exotic dancer in early 2006 at a Durham house party.

There's another Duke lacrosse legacy, one you won't hear as much about as the tainted and race-scarred one a corrupt D.A. left in his wake.

On February 9, 2006, Army Ranger Jimmy Regan died in northern Iraq when the vehicle he was riding in hit a roadside bomb. He was 26 years old.

More from Newsday.

Congresswoman Wants to Arm Sworn Enemy

Nobody has ever accused Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Moonbat) of being the brightest bulb, but her latest suggestion borders on lunacy. Of course, I'm sure President Pantsuit (God, help us) or some other Democrat nitwit would do this this as a peace offering, knowing if we just had the proper amount of dialogue, everyone would love us.

A U.S. congresswoman called on the Bush administration Wednesday to reconsider its ban on selling parts for U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Venezuela, urging improved ties between the two nations.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, told reporters that she was making the first U.S. congressional visit to Venezuela since President Hugo Chavez's December re-election with the message: "I want an immediate repairing of the relations between the United States and Venezuela."

Jackson Lee described Venezuela as a friendly nation that the U.S. should cooperate with and said that the F-16 jets, which are built in Texas, was an issue of concern to her constituents in Houston.

Yes, they're really friendly under their new Communist dictatorship. Well, folks, elections really do matter. Now you have a party wanting to suck up to someone who is working with Iran, Cuba, and al-Qaeda. Swell.

The U.S. State Department has banned arms sales to Venezuela, including parts necessary to maintain its fleet of F-16s, citing a lack of support by Chavez's government for counterterrorism efforts and its close relations with Iran and Cuba.

Venezuela has since begun receiving the first of 24 Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets as part of approximately $3 billion in military deals that Chavez has signed with Moscow.

She said her fact-finding mission to Venezuela was part of an effort by a new Democrat-controlled Congress to show that "Venezuela has many friends in this new Congress."

I have no doubt they do.

Bryan at Hot Air has more, as does A Blog For All.

Elsewhere, check out this New York Sun report on the dubious elections results in Venezuela, certified by the idiot Jimmy Carter.

Hugo Chavez may have lost both the recall referendum in 2004 and the December 2006 presidential election, according to studies conducted by a distinguished multidisciplinary team in Caracas, Venezuela. The team includes the rector of Universidad Simon Bolivar, Frederick Malpica, and a former rector of the National Electoral Council, Alfredo Weil.

Astonishing as it may seem to Americans who believe the contention by Mr. Chavez that he won both elections by a landslide -- 58% to 42% in the recall and 61% to 39% in the presidential election -- the studies show that since 2003, Mr. Chavez has added 4.4 million favorable names to the voter list and "migrated" 2.6 million unfavorable voters to places where it was difficult or impossible for them to vote.

In this country, the lunatic fringe are still whining over the 2000 Florida election, but have no problem with rigged elections in Venezuela.

Negligence of the 9/11 Commission

Not only did the 9/11 Commission fail at investigating Sandy Berger's purloining of National Archive documents that would have shed more light on Bill Clinton's incompetence, but they also neglected to look at the Spanish connection, as detailed by Edward Jay Epstein.

The 9/11 Commission relied on information derived from two captured al Qaeda perpetrators for much of its picture of the conspiracy leading up to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The interrogations of these men--Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or "KSM," who masterminded the plot and got Osama bin Laden to finance it, and Ramzi Binalshibh, who acted as KSM's liaison with lead suicide terrorist Mohamed Atta--were performed by the CIA at secret locations.

KSM claimed that he left almost all the tactical details to Atta, and therefore could not say where Atta went, or whom he visited, in the final months of the plot. Binalshibh claimed he was Atta's only contact with al Qaeda during this period and that, other than himself, Atta never met with anyone on his trips abroad in 2001.

If these accounts are true, it follows that the conspiracy was a contained one, and the 9/11 Commission could preclude outside collaborators, including the participation of foreign countries. Thus, although the CIA was unable to trace the origin of the money supplied to Atta, the commission deemed this gap "of little practical significance" since the CIA's prisoners established that no one else was involved in the plot. Thus, too, when the CIA found that Iran had< "apparently facilitated" the travel of eight of the 9/11 muscle hijackers in flights to and from Afghanistan (by not putting the required stamps on their passports, and by having a top Hezbollah official accompany their flights in and out of Iran), the commission could nevertheless rule out the possibility Iran or Hezbollah were "aware of the planning." The basis for this conclusion was the information provided by KSM and Binalshibh.

But what if these CIA prisoners--who after all are diehard jihadists--were lying?

Read the rest.

Obama the Control Freak

Thomas Sowell takes on The Prophet.

Senator Obama is being hailed as the newest and freshest face on the American political scene. But he is advocating some of the oldest fallacies, just as if it was the 1960s again, or as if he has learned nothing and forgotten nothing since then.

He thinks higher teacher pay is the answer to the abysmal failures of our education system, which is already far more expensive than the education provided in countries whose students have for decades consistently outperformed ours on international tests.

Senator Obama is for making college “affordable,” as if he has never considered that government subsidies push up tuition, just as government subsidies push up agricultural prices, the price of medical care and other prices.

He is also for “alternative fuels,” without the slightest thought about the prices of those fuels or the implications of those prices. All this is the old liberal agenda from years past, old wine in new bottles, a new face with old ideas that have been tried and failed repeatedly over the past generation.

Senator Obama is not unique among politicians who want to control prices, as if that is controlling the underlying reality behind the prices.

Read it all.

When Deranged Moonbats Attack

So nice to see everyone coming together in the spirit of bipartisanship recently ushered in by the Democrats. Michelle Malkin has the story of a lunatic stalker whose actions were totally glossed over in media accounts earlier this week.

U-n-h-i-n-g-e-d. And this is the tip of the iceberg.

Pannell recounted this weekend's ordeal for me:

"I was taking a shower a little after 5pm while two of my housemates were cooking dinner. A man (Stone) came to the door asking for Reed Pannell. He was very polite and had some military literature with him so the housemates assumed he was either a recruiter or a friend of mine from class. As they were waiting for me to get out of the shower, Stone came inside, sat down in our living room, and quietly read the paper while he waited. I rushed out of the shower, came down with just a pair of jeans on and shaving cream still on my face.

At this point, Stone politely stood up, shook my hand, and told me that he had found my address on facebook. He asked if I was a College Republican as it said on my account, I told him yes. He then asked me "Oh, so that means you support the war, right?" and I responded with a yes. He then said that since I was for the war, if I was interested in signing up for the army. At this point I was sure he was a recruiter, and I told him that I'd definitely look into it as soon as I graduate (I'm a junior political science/econ major right now at UMW). This is where something changed in his eyes and he started getting aggressive. He took a step towards me and said that I support the war, yet don't want to fight in it.

Read the rest. No doubt the nutroots will rally around their latest hero.

Cheney: Dems Validate al-Qaeda Strategy

Yes, he's questioning their patriotism. So do I. And Stretch knows it.

Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday harshly criticized Democrats' attempts to thwart President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq, saying their approach would "validate the al-Qaida strategy." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fired back that Cheney was questioning critics' patriotism.

"I hope the president will repudiate and distance himself from the vice president's remarks," Pelosi said. She said she tried to complain about Cheney to President Bush but could not reach him.

Is she for real?

"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the al-Qaida strategy," the vice president told ABC News. "The al-Qaida strategy is to break the will of the American people ... try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit."

In the interview, Cheney also said Britain's plans to withdraw about 1,600 troops from Iraq — while the United States adds more troops — was a positive step. "I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," the vice president said.

Pelosi, at a news conference in San Francisco, said Cheney's criticism of Democrats was "beneath the dignity of the debate we're engaged in and a disservice to our men and women in uniform, whom we all support."

If you really supported the troops, you wouldn't have to keep reminding us. Your actions would reflect it.

Elsewhere, Murtha takes it upside the head.

Rumored ex-Marine John Murtha, Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania, has become the darling of the cut-and-run crowd for trying to place absurd restrictions on our troops, amounting to withdrawal from Iraq. Were Arab sheiks whispering into his ear?

In case you missed the video on "I Love the '80s," Rep. Murtha was caught on tape negotiating bribes with Arab sheiks during the FBI's Abscam investigation in 1980. The Abscam investigation was conducted by Jimmy Carter's Justice Department, not right-wing Republicans.

On tape, Murtha told the undercover FBI agent: "When I make a f***in' deal I want to make sure that I know exactly what I'm doing and ... what I'm sayin' is, a few investments in my district ..."

Before Global Warming Was Cool

News for the non-hysterical.

When Eric the Red led the Norwegian Vikings to Greenland in the late 900s, it was an ice-free farm country--grass for sheep and cattle, open water for fishing, a livable climate--so good a colony that by 1100 there were 3,000 people living there. Then came the Ice Age. By 1400, average temperatures had declined by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the glaciers had crushed southward across the farmlands and harbors, and the Vikings did not survive.

Such global temperature fluctuations are not surprising, for looking back in history we see a regular pattern of warming and cooling. From 200 B.C. to A.D. 600 saw the Roman Warming period; from 600 to 900, the cold period of the Dark Ages; from 900 to 1300 was the Medieval warming period; and 1300 to 1850, the Little Ice Age.

During the 20th century the earth did indeed warm--by 1 degree Fahrenheit. But a look at the data shows that within the century temperatures varied with time: from 1900 to 1910 the world cooled; from 1910 to 1940 it warmed; from 1940 to the late 1970s it cooled again, and since then it has been warming. Today our climate is 1/20th of a degree Fahrenheit warmer than it was in 2001.

Read it all. If you want some facts, that is.

Via Planet Gore.

UPDATE: Back to the hysteria here and here.

When Democrats Attack ... Each Other

A nasty battle between the two leading Democrat hopefuls in 2008 has erupted and there's nothing to do but stand back and enjoy the fireworks.

Barack Obama hit the Hollywood circuit last night and then the war of words erupted.

Barack Obama Dazzles Hollywood.

Checks from Hollywood's A-list stars such as George Clooney, Eddie Murphy and Barbra Streisand added up to a one-night take of $1.3 million for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who earlier Tuesday urged an audience of thousands at an outdoor rally to help him transform America.

Then music mogul David Geffen fired a salvo toward Mrs. Clinton.
Geffen Trashes Hillary.

Hillary Clinton's campaign apparently didn't take too kindly to the harsh rhetoric from L.A. music mogul David Geffen, courtesy of today's Maureen Dowd. Geffen, who is backing Barack Obama, called Bill Clinton "reckless" and clearly is still upset that Clinton didn't grant a pardon to cause celeb native American Leonard Peltier. More Geffen: "Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?"

Heh.

That prompted an angry response from the oily Howard Wolfson over at Pantsuit.com.

Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson issued the following statement today demanding that Barack Obama disavow personal attacks that his campaign finance chair made against Senator Clinton in this morning's New York Times:

"While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband.

"If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money.

It takes a special kind of gall for anyone in the Clinton camp to tell another campaign to return money to a donor. But they've never had any shame, so why start now?

Then Geffen fired back.

"Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it's troubling," Geffen had said.

Touche! Round to Obama, 10-8 if you're scoring at home.

In the meantime, the latest Rasmussen numbers are pretty much the same as last week.

There's little change this week in the Democratic nomination contest. Senator Hillary Clinton continues to lead with 28% of the vote from Likely Democratic Primary Voters nationwide. The latest Rasmussen Reports Election 2008 poll shows Senator Barack Obama still in second place with 24% of the vote. Former SenatorJohn Edwards has support from 11% and former Vice President Al Gore weighs in at 10%.

UPDATE: Sister Toldjah notices it's not just the presidential candidates on the attack. More also at Blue Crab Boulevard.

UPDATE II: Allahpundit and Michelle note Obama has wrapped up the degenerate gambler vote.

Polling Idiocy

In this day and age of endless polling, this one may be one of the dumbest:
Bad Schools Bigger Concern Than Terror: Poll.

Improving public schools and cutting the dropout rate are more important to New Yorkers than affordable housing, jobs and protection from terrorism, according to a survey released yesterday.

More than half of those polled also said New York City high schools don't do enough to prepare students for the workforce, and favored extending the mandatory school age.

The survey, conducted by the Community Service Society, a think tank that addresses urban poverty issues, questioned 1,230 low-income city residents and 500 moderate-to high-income residents.

Overall, 23 percent of those polled selected "improving city public schools and decreasing dropouts" as their top priority from a field of 10 choices.

Twenty-one percent chose building more affordable housing, while 14 percent chose combating terrorism.

Perhaps if New York City students and residents were indeed better educated, they'd understand what's going on in the real world. Still, the news media would serve the public if it didn't just reflexively publish polling data from some dubious activist group without looking further into their agenda.

Tiny Tyrant Remains Defiant

Do we expect anything else from Ahmadinejad?

Iran vowed on Wednesday to press on with its nuclear fuel program, ignoring a U.N. deadline to freeze uranium enrichment or face broader sanctions, but offered to guarantee it would not try to develop atomic weapons.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained defiant as a 60-day grace period Iran had been given on December 23 to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel was expiring.

"We ... will continue our work to reach our right (to nuclear technology) in the shortest possible time," student news agency ISNA quoted him as saying in the town of Siahkal.

With the deadline running out, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been unable to verify Iran's program is wholly peaceful after three years of investigations, was expected to report to the U.N. Security Council by Thursday that Tehran was pursuing enrichment regardless of pressure to stop.

Is there a more useless entity than the IAEA?

"Bananas" Jack

Zev Chafets shreds John Murtha.

Listening to Rep. John Murtha's arguments against the American troop surge in Iraq reminds me of a scene in "Bananas."

Facing an insurgency, the Latin American dictator in that Woody Allen classic reaches out for American aid. But he mistakenly calls in not the CIA, but the UJA - the United Jewish Appeal. Black-hatted rabbis, holding little charity boxes, are soon wandering through the chaotic battle zone.

Like the dictator, Murtha is confused about what does and doesn't work during a sectarian bloodbath.

Tony Blankley has One-Card Monte.

Mr. Murtha has come up with the novel idea to try the game of one card Monte on the public. It is a sign of the awkward times we are in that it is not yet obvious that the Democratic Party public will be able to pick out the one card (out of the one card that is available from which to chose).

To add to the madness, the new argument one sees emerging amongst the more enthusiastic war critics (easily recognizable in public by the tin foil they wear on their heads), is that anyway there is not much of a downside to leaving promptly from Iraq because President Bush's warning of dire consequences are just more Bush "lies."

Also check out Paul Greenberg with Funds to Follow?

Gore May Receive Honorary Doctorate

It's really getting silly now.

"He's in the news and is a legitimate expert on a pressing issue of global concern, climate change, so this level of interest is understandable," Wolter said. "However, no plans have been set and it's unlikely that would occur this spring."

I wasn't aware making things up and spreading hysteria made someone an expert. But let's play along.

Some students at the University are in support of the doctorate for Gore, including University DFL President Shannon Mitchell.

The bipartisan work he did after he ran for office, she said, including his documentary, is deserving of the award.

"He's a leader in an area we all need to be very concerned with," she said.

Ingrid Scantlebury, a first-year political science student, agrees with Gore's work but doesn't feel the University should award him a degree for it.

"It's mainly a publicity thing," she said.

Ah yes, a PR stunt. Thanks, Ingrid.

The University has given 223 honorary degrees to date. Past recipients include Yanni, Charles Schultz, Sandra Day O'Connor and Hillary Clinton.

Others noting this absurdity: Hot Air and Sister Toldjah, who suggests we check out NRO's new link Planet Gore. All the latest from the bloviating blowhard. Some funny stuff there.

More Cowards Than Heros

Came across a wonderful piece (referenced at NRO) in the New York Sun by Alicia Colon. I briefly heard Rush Limbaugh mentioning some military deaths during peacetime, and this must be what he was reading from.

The last Marine funeral I attended was for Adam Ogbu, a 19-year-old Nigerian-American who was my son's best friend. Young Ogbu died while on a Special Forces training run in Texas. He was in perfect health, and the cause of his death was never fully investigated. This was in 2000, and I mention this because the mainstream press is constantly bombarding us with the number of military casualties, and it is clear that the reports are meant to incite anger about the Iraqi war. How refreshing it would be if partisan politics could be set aside and reporters put news in the proper perspective without bias.

The total military dead in the Iraq war between 2003 and this month stands at about 3,133. This is tragic, as are all deaths due to war, and we are facing a cowardly enemy unlike any other in our past that hides behind innocent citizens. Each death is blazoned in the headlines of newspapers and Internet sites. What is never compared is the number of military deaths during the Clinton administration: 1,245 in 1993; 1,109 in 1994; 1,055 in 1995; 1,008 in 1996. That's 4,417 deaths in peacetime but, of course, who's counting?

A neighbor of mine, Harry Colon, was 19 when he was killed in Vietnam. He had been drafted, and many of those protesting against that war have admitted that it was fear of conscription that was behind much of their anti-war activity. It is so pathetic now (while we have this valiant volunteer military) to watch these hoary relics of the 1960s trying to recapture the relevance of that period. Only a few veteran protesters of that era have the integrity to distinguish between these two conflicts.

Also noted at Foreward Movement.

Gitmo Terrorists Cannot Challenge Detention

Oh well.

Guantanamo Bay detainees may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts, a federal appeals court said Tuesday in a ruling upholding a key provision of a law at the center of President Bush's anti-terrorism plan.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding foreigners.

Barring detainees from the U.S. court system was a key provision in the Military Commissions Act, which Bush pushed through Congress last year to set up a system to prosecute terrorism suspects.

Flags fly at half-staff at ACLU headquarters.

Creeping Toward Treason

Frank Gaffney takes the Democrats to task and they're richly deserving of the scorn. Read the whole piece, but this part sums it up quite succinctly.

It is highly ironic that many of those most critical of President Bush for not having a "plan" for post-invasion Iraq are conspicuously quiet about what would happen after their plan for retreat is adopted. They seem irresponsibly unconcerned about the prospect that, after America capitulates, there would be genocidal mayhem in Iraq, creation of a new safe-haven for terrorism there and a general emboldening of our enemies around the world.

Such behavior is even more intolerable when compounded by today's "agitators" demeaning the troops they profess to support -- notably, by comparing them to Nazis, terrorists, rapists and the killing fields -- and threatening to deny them (through one device or another) the means required to accomplish their mission. In the offing are new legislative initiatives aimed at limiting the authority given to the president in 2002 to achieve Iraq's liberation and tying his hands with respect to the growing threat from Iran -- even that the regime in Tehran is currently posing to our troops fighting next door in Iraq.

These critics, particularly members of Congress, must be held accountable for such destructive dissent. Our enemies believe their strategy for achieving a political victory by wearing down the United States is succeeding. They are redoubling their efforts as they perceive the rising power of irresponsible anti-war "agitators."

Antiwar Surge Could Be Costly to Dems

Brendan Miniter explains why embracing defeat in Iraq may prove costly for the Democrats.

We can only hope so.

UPDATE: David Limbaugh has Racing for Defeat.

Iran's Path to Ruin

Robert Haddick explains why Iran is headed toward a path of economic ruin and chaos.

The Iranian people will regret their country's nuclear program.

Instead of bringing them security or status, Iran's nuclear program will only bring Iran economic ruin, internal chaos, and possibly death on a massive scale.

Iran's nuclear program is stimulating a response from actors that have the ability to inflict great harm on Iran. Some of these actors will not be nation-states, but rather will be self-organizing non-state terror groups, operating on their own. There will be several paths of misery for Iran. The only question is from which path this misery will arrive.

Read it all. Haddick also blogs at Westhawk.

Meanwhile, the BBC continues to stir the pot by once again revealing our secret plans to take out the Iranian nuke sites, while the Financial Times says Iran is almost ready to enrich uranium.

And not one to be outdone by his former insane bloggers, the Silky Pony reveals that Israel is the biggest threat, not Iran.

There are other emerging fissures, as well. The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word -- Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close.

A real heavyweight, that Breck Girl.

UPDATE: The Washington Times has a report saying Iran has serious cash woes hampering their nuke efforts.

CAIR Supports Terror

Check out Power Line for the details. This organization needs to be outlawed. More than enough that you need to know can also be found at CAIR Watch. Also linked is a Front Page piece Lying about Al-Arian.

A recent article in American Muslim magazine attempts to burnish the image of Sami Al-Arian, the former University of South Florida professor who last year pleaded guilty to assisting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group. It is but the latest example of the American Islamic community asserting that terrorist operatives like Al-Arian, who is currently awaiting his deportation in a Virginia jail, are blameless victims of prosecutors run amok.

The article overflows with sympathy for Al-Arian. Quoting a friend's question to Al-Arian, the author, Sarah Shields, writes: “Has anyone told you that you look like Gandhi?” U.S. District Judge James Moody had a very different impression of Al-Arian when he sentenced him to 57 months in prison last May. Pointing out that Al-Arian had made no effort to prevent terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic Jihad, the Judge Moody observed, “You lifted not one finger. To the contrary, you laughed when you heard of the bombings.”

Read them all and then ask why they continue to operate.

Pantsuit Calls for Unity in Wartime

You almost have to give her bonus points for sheer audacity. One day she calls for us to get out in 90 days and now she wants us to be united?

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from its Statehouse grounds, in part because the nation should unite under one banner while at war.

"I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day," Clinton told The Associated Press in an interview.

Sure, it would be great if we could unite during wartime. There's just the nagging little issue of your party trying to undermine the President. Minor quibble, I guess.

UPDATE: Check out the latest Vent at Hot Air. In her own words.