Meeting of the Morons

I haven't bothered wasting time on Don Imus and his idiotic comments last week, but earlier today he really dug himself a hole and then later did a radio spot with the racist thug Al Sharpton.

Don Imus lashed out at the Rev. Al Sharpton and the chairwoman of the congressional black caucus today, telling them: "I can't get any place with you people!"

The besieged radio shock jock had spent most of his syndicated morning radio show apologizing for calling Rutgers women's basketball players "nappy-headed hos" last week.

Imus' contrition campaign skidded off the road in a horrific foot-in-mouth crash on Sharprton's [sic] radio show a few hours later.

Hot Air has video of his spot with Sharpton. Meanwhile, calls for his firing continue.

James E. Harris, president of the New Jersey chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, demanded Sunday that Imus "resign or be terminated immediately."

Allison Gollust, a spokeswoman for MSNBC, said the network considers Imus' comments "deplorable" and was reviewing the matter.

Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio - Imus' employer and the owner of his New York radio home, WFAN-AM - said the company was "disappointed" in Imus' actions and characterized his comments as "completely inappropriate."

The low-rated MSNBC is probably reveling in the attention, considering some of the addlebrained morons they employ in their "news" division.

UPDATE: He's been suspended by MSNBC.

More from Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarters, Sister Toldjah, baldilocks, Ed Driscoll.

National Nuclear Day in Iran

Little Mahmoud is feeling his oats.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Monday that his country was now capable of producing nuclear fuel on an "industrial scale" in an expansion of the uranium enrichment program that the United Nations has demanded it halt.

The announcement suggests Iran has succeeded in operating a larger number of centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran. The country has said its goal is to install and start working with 3,000 centrifuges.

But Ahmadinejad did not specify how many centrifuges were now operational as he spoke at a ceremony at the facility, marking the one-year anniversary of Iran's first success in enriching small amounts of uranium.

"With great honor, I declare that as of today our dear country has joined the nuclear club of nations and can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale," Ahmadinejad said. The move expands a key nuclear process that the United Nations has demanded the country halt.

Meanwhile, this report at Hot Air say the 3,000 centrifuges are already installed. If so, that's extremely troubling news.

However, since deception is always part of the game, check out Psychopath vs. Psychopath at Pat Dollard, a most interesting account (hat tip: Fight4TheRight).

According to a buzz in the intelligence community, Russia is gearing up to betray Iran. According to sources in Moscow, Putin has quietly decided that he has milked the Iran nuke game for all the political and financial advantage it was worth, and now intends to singlehandedly bring it all back from the brink. He is absolutely not going to allow a cabal of Islamic lunatics to build a Bomb on the Motherland's southern border. How is Russia going to betray Iran and stop them from getting The Bomb? Well since the Iranian bomb was actually coming to them from Russia, Russia has the power to ultimately stop the process. Maybe not frever, but for a long time. And I hope the implications of what I've just said haven't escaped you: all along, we didn't need to worry about Iran "developing" a bomb, we needed to worry about Russia "giving" them one. Somehow, the truth of all this has been kept from the spotlight. At least, if the Moscow Rumor Mill is to be believed, they are not going to go through with it. And the shit that hits the fan between Iran and Russia should be very interesting indeed.

Read the rest.

More thoughts over at The Sandbox.

Elizabeth Edwards Afraid of "Rabid" Republican Neighbor

Such haughtiness. A gun-toting Rudy Giuliani supporter strikes fear into Mrs. Silky Pony. Goodness knows, he probably chews tobacco, listens to country music, and shops at Wal-Mart.

The horrors!

Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home -- and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.

Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way near his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person.

"I wouldn't be nice to him, anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who, when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

But Johnson defended the occasion he brandished a gun, saying those on his land didn't have the proper approval.

"I use the gun for protection, and I considered that an appropriate time," Johnson said. "Sometimes you have to take drastic measures."

Edwards views Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres.

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract.

"I have to budget. I have to live within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."

They've never met the guy, but already know they wouldn't be nice to him.

I bet they would if he had some cash to dole out to them.

UPDATE: More from Bryan at Hot Air, The Sandbox, Right Voices, Ed Driscoll, Flopping Aces, Riehl World View.

Zach Johnson Wins The Masters

It's always enjoyable to see some new faces break through on golf's biggest stage, and today the mostly unknown Zach Johnson held off Tiger Woods, among others, to claim the Green Jacket.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- A strange week at the Masters saved the biggest surprises for the end Sunday -- a green jacket for unheralded Zach Johnson, and beating Tiger Woods at that.

Johnson pulled away from Woods and the rest of the pack with three birdies in a crucial four-hole stretch along the back nine of Augusta National, closing with a 69 for a two-shot victory and only the second of his career.

Johnson, 31, is the least accomplished Masters champion since Larry Mize chipped in to beat Greg Norman in a playoff 20 years ago, but this was no fluke. Even as some of the thrills returned in the final round, Johnson kept his calm.

And there wasn't anything Woods could do about it.

Woods looked like a lock when he took the lead after a short birdie on the second hole, only this major didn't work out like so many others. Johnson and three other players came after him, and Woods was the one who backed off with sloppy mistakes -- a broken club and shots that either found the water or the bunker, too many putts that stayed out of the cup.

It was the third time Woods lost a lead during the final round of a major, and the first time he failed to get it back.

Johnson finished at 1-over 289, matching a Masters record last set in 1956 for highest winning score. And it ended a streak of the winner coming out of the final group at Augusta National ever year since 1991.

After Johnson bogeyed 17, Justin Rose climbed to within a shot on the 16th hole, but Rose unraveled with a double bogey on 17 to fall out of contention. Woods was just not his usual self today and seemed very frustrated with his play.

I had to occasion to meet Johnson and his wife, Kim, while I was working at the 2005 PGA Championship, and they're a very unassuming Midwestern couple. Since that time I had followed Johnson's progress, and today he's broken through into golf's upper echelon. His professional life has completely changed, but it's safe to say this fine young man will not be affected by stardom. Congratulations to Zach Johnson and all his family and friends.

(Getty Images photo)

Al-Sadr Calls for Attacks on U.S. Forces

Why is this piece of garbage still breathing?

The renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged the Iraqi army and police to stop cooperating with the United States and told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate on pushing American forces out of the country, according to a statement issued Sunday.

The statement, stamped with al-Sadr's official seal, was distributed in the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Sunday a day before a large demonstration there, called for by al-Sadr, to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," the statement said. Its authenticity could not be verified.

As soon as he ever shows his face inside Iraq, he needs to be whacked.

Some good news was buried in this report:

U.S. forces also captured a senior al-Qaida leader and two others in a raid Sunday morning in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The al-Qaida figure was identified as "the gatekeeper to the al-Qaida emir of Baghdad" and was linked to several car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital, the military said in a statement, without naming the captive.

More at Captain's Quarters.

Iran Warns of More Kidnappings

Hey, they've gotten everything they wanted and more out of doing it already, why not continue?

Buoyant Teheran warns of further kidnappings

Hardliners in the Iranian regime have warned that the seizure of British naval personnel demonstrates that they can make trouble for the West whenever they want to and do so with impunity.

The bullish reaction from Teheran will reinforce the fears of western diplomats and military officials that more kidnap attempts may be planned.

The British handling of the crisis has been regarded with some concern in Washington, and a Pentagon defence official told The Sunday Telegraph: "The fear now is that this could be the first of many. If the Brits don't change their rules of engagement, the Iranians could take more hostages almost at will.

Via Jihad Watch. Meanwhile, they have a big celebration planned tomorrow.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran and announce the beginning of operation of 160 additional centrifugues, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

Natanz is one of many nuclear facilities Iran is building, mostly with Russian aid.

Also at Strata-Sphere.

UPDATE: Lawhawk has an Iran roundup. Also check out Kharnival of the Humiliations at Forward Movement.

Pelosi's Gift to Our Enemies

David Limbaugh slaps down the Damascus Diva.

It frankly astounds me that people aren't making a bigger deal of the colossal impropriety of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's unauthorized trip to Syria. Where is the outrage?

I realize Democratic leaders and those they answer to have unmitigated contempt for President Bush. I realize they believe the public rewarded their hatred and their antiwar posturing in the November congressional elections.

But according to the latest news reports, Mr. Bush is still in office. This means he is still commander in chief and primarily in charge of U.S. foreign policy.

Read it all.

Say Thanks, You Ungrateful Brits

You've almost got to give this guy style points for sheer audacity.

Say thank you, says hostage taker’s brother

The London-based brother of the Iranian general who personally ordered the kidnapping of the 15 servicemen in the Shatt al-Arab waterway condemned Britain’s ingratitude after their release last week.

Salman Rahim Safavi, an academic and brother of Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said: “We sent the boys back as a gift to the British people and Tony Blair didn’t even say thank you.”

Safavi, who is in close contact with his brother in Iran, warned that the Tehran leadership has been angry about British reaction since the hostages arrived home and hinted at a tougher response in future.

He said in his first interview: “Tony Blair is unfair. Only a day after we released his soldiers Blair denounced Iran and described us as a country that supports terrorism. This is unacceptable.

“Blair is just like George W Bush. After we cooperated with America in Afghanistan against the Taliban, Bush called us part of the axis of evil.”

So let's get this straight. You kidnap the sailors in Iraqi waters, parade them around for two weeks, realize the game is up, send them home, and they should say thanks? The scary thing is, there are probably a lot of Brits who agree with this maniac.

Meanwhile, the frightened fifteen may be cashing in (via LGF).

Ridiculous.

Mark Steyn is not amused by any of this:

Tony Blair was at pains to point out that the hostages were released ''without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature.'' But he's missing (or artfully sidestepping) the point: Tehran didn't want a deal. It wanted the humbling of the Great Satan's principal ally. And it got it. Very easily. And it paid no price for it. And it has tested in useful ways the empty pretensions of the U.N., the EU and also NATO, whose second largest fleet is now a laughingstock in a part of the world where it helps to be taken seriously.

Read the rest.

More Iran items, in particular, Fred Thompson blogging at Red State, at Riehl World View, Captain's Quarters, Six Meat Buffet, EU Referendum.

Sean Penn Video Fisking

Found this at the American Thinker.

Sean Penn the pompous clown gets smacked down.

Quite amusing.

Edwards Worms Out of Debate

What is John Edwards so afraid of?

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday pulled out of a second debate co-hosted by Fox News Channel, saying the cable network has a conservative slant.

The Edwards campaign said it will not attend the Sept. 23 debate hosted by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, but officials added that Edwards will participate in a different debate hosted by the institute and CNN.

"We believe there's just no reason for Democrats to give Fox a platform to advance the right-wing agenda while pretending they're objective," said Jonathan Prince, Edwards' deputy campaign manager.

It's the second time Edwards has decided to skip a debate because of its affiliation with Fox News. Edwards decided in March that he would pass on an Aug. 14 debate in Reno, Nev., co-hosted by Fox News and the Nevada Democratic Party.

Jonathan Prince sure comes off as smug and arrogant as his boss. You know these twits would whine like babies if FNC ignored them and didn't cover their campaign, which is what they should do.

Peace Morons Squabbling

Few things are more enjoyable than watching far-left kooks going at each other. I hope these idiots are charged with tax evasion.

Crawford Peace House hit by strife

With allegations of money mismanagement, threats of court action and some members leaving, a group that has sponsored war protests in President Bush's adopted hometown has been anything but peaceful.

The Crawford Peace House recently lost its corporate charter with the state, and a former member who now has rights to the name is threatening legal action because the group continues operating.

Sara L. Oliver and some others are calling for a state investigation as to why only $14,700 is now in its bank account, saying tens of thousands donated during Cindy Sheehan's 2005 war protest are unaccounted for.

"There are people who have said, `Don't say anything because you'll hurt the peace movement,'" Oliver said. "But if the peace movement isn't pure and transparent and holy as it can be at its heart, then it's just like George Bush: lying, thieving, conniving, backstabbing bastards."

John Wolf, who co-founded the Crawford Peace House in 2003 in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom white-clapboard house just across the railroad tracks from downtown, denied allegations of wrongdoing. He said the claims were by only a few people and would not hurt the work of the Crawford Peace House, which is planning a fourth anniversary celebration Sunday.

He said the Peace House has an accountant and has kept diligent records, which soon will be posted in its Web site. He said most of the $285,000 raised in 2005 was spent on food, van and bus rentals, gas and a large tent for the rallies at several events.

"All of this money was given to us to take care of people who came here, and that's what we did," Wolf said Friday. "If somebody has fantasies, I can't affect that."

The Crawford Peace House bank account had only $3 in early August 2005, but Sheehan's monthlong vigil in ditches off the road leading to Bush's ranch brought thousands of people and donations from across the country. Because the rural campsite was small, most protesters spent much of their time at the Peace House, which also became headquarters for Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq in 2004.

Wolf said he plans to turn in the franchise tax report next week — nearly a year late — to the Texas Comptroller's Office to regain the Peace House's corporate charter. The report was not filed sooner because the house's volunteer director was overwhelmed with other tasks and was confused about whether the paperwork had to be filed if no taxes were owed, he said.

UPDATE: Killgore Trout reminded me of this piece from Sweetness&Light: Did Cindy Sheehan Commit Fraud With Charity Claim?. S&L also notes the current story and has a variety of other Cindy Sheehan links.

Lame Excuses All Around

Way below the radar, there were three GOP Congressmen who visited Damascus several days before Nancy Pelosi and her feckless entourage did. Now they're trying to spin their way out of the mess and distance themselves from the Damascus Diva, according to Robert Novak.

Three Republican congressmen, who visited Damascus three days before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived, were eager to disassociate themselves from the Democratic leader and make clear they did not even know she was going to Syria.

When President Bush assailed Pelosi for her Syrian mission, she noted that Republican Reps. Frank Wolf of Virginia, Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania and Robert Aderholt of Alabama made the same journey. Some news reports gave the false impression that they all were on the same congressional delegation. While Wolf stressed that he and his two GOP colleagues support Bush's Iraq policy, their mission to Damascus violated the president's policy, as did Pelosi's.

Meanwhile, Pelosi and her crew are still working on damage control. Good luck with that.

Despite Pelosi's boasts of a successful summit with Assad, she botched big-time by delivering a peace message to the Syrian leader from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - prompting Israeli officials to issue a statement correcting her.

"You can imagine our surprise to hear from Mr. Olmert that that's not what he wanted at all," said Rochester Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter, who was traveling alongside Pelosi and asserted that Olmert gave Pelosi explicit instructions.

Slaughter blamed right-wing media outlets for fueling the political uproar over the congressional trip to Syria, though the left-leaning Washington Post ran a scathing editorial slamming their "foolish" renegade diplomatic excursion.

"We did not deviate a half an inch from the policy of the United States of America," said Slaughter, who along with Pelosi had ignored White House and State Department requests that they not go to Syria.

More from Jules Crittenden.

Previously: Pelosi: Syria Trip Strengthened Ties, Pathetic Pelosi

Brits' Shame Blame

Ralph Peters goes off on the freed hostages.

A soldier's law in the U.S. Army holds: "The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters." Yesterday, the two officers on a panel of former British hostages delivered nothing but excuses for their disgraceful conduct.

No matter how codes of conduct for prisoners of war are worded, none countenances voluntary collaboration with the enemy. A POW doesn't have to engage in daily violent resistance, but he's obligated to avoid providing active support to his captors.

The Brit hostages failed the test, and theirs was a failure of leadership. Perhaps the enlisted sailors and Royal Marines can be redeemed, but their officers need to be cashiered.

Another ironclad military rule - not always fair, but generally wise - runs that, "An officer is responsible for everything his subordinates do or fail to do." While the two Brit officers, held separately from their sailors and marines, obviously couldn't control every subordinate's actions, the speed with which some enlisted personnel complied with what their captors asked says a great deal about the atmosphere prevailing in the unit.

Read the rest.

Goracle a "Gross Alarmist"

Dr. William Gray hammers the environmental extremist and fulltime blowhard Al Gore.

A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" Friday for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming.

"He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech.

A spokeswoman said Gore was on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Nashville Friday; he did not immediately respond to Gray's comments.

Gray, an emeritus professor at the atmospheric science department at Colorado State University, has long railed against the theory that heat-trapping gases generated by human activity are causing the world to warm.

For a guy who never seems to shut up, Gore is always coveniently unavailable for comment when someone trashes him.

Power Line dissects the story as it relates to media bias. Also at Sister Toldjah, Forward Movement.

Pelosi: Syria Trip Strengthened Ties

Wow, she really is insane. How can you strengthen ties when you don't have any to begin with? And as an aside, she's got some serious man-hands (AP photo).

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deflecting White House criticism of her trip to Syria, said Friday she thinks the mission helped President Bush because it showed the United States is unified against terrorism despite being divided over the Iraq war.

Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus earlier this week, against the president's wishes.

"Our message was President Bush's message," Pelosi said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Portugal, where she stopped briefly en route back to the United States.

"The funny thing is, I think we may have even had a more powerful impact with our message because of the attention that was called to our trip," the California Democrat said. "It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive."

UPDATE: LGF also notes this piece from the Daily Star of Lebanon.

We can thank the US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, for having informed Syrian President Bashar Assad, from Beirut, that "the road to solving Lebanon's problems passes through Damascus." Now, of course, all we need to do is remind Pelosi that the spirit and letter of successive United Nations Security Council resolutions, as well as Saudi and Egyptian efforts in recent weeks, have been destined to ensure precisely the opposite: that Syria end its meddling in Lebanese affairs.

Pelosi embarked on a fool's errand to Damascus this week, and among the issues she said she would raise with Assad - when she wasn't on the Lady Hester Stanhope tour in the capital of imprisoned dissidents Aref Dalila, Michel Kilo, and Anwar Bunni - is "the role of Syria in supporting Hamas and Hizbullah." What the speaker doesn't seem to have realized is that if Syria is made an obligatory passage in American efforts to address the Lebanese crisis, then Hizbullah will only gain. Once Assad is re-anointed gatekeeper in Lebanon, he will have no incentive to concede anything, least of all to dilettantes like Pelosi, on an organization that would be Syria's enforcer in Beirut if it could re-impose its hegemony over its smaller neighbor.

Specious Global Warming Hysteria

Nothing like more ridiculous climate warnings as we shiver through a 40-degree April day in the Northeast.

We're all going to die!

Billions of people face shortages of food and water and increased risk of flooding, experts at a major climate change conference have warned.

The bleak conclusion came ahead of the publication of a key report by hundreds of international environmental experts.

Agreement on the final wording of the report was reached after a marathon debate through the night in Brussels.

People living in poverty would be worst affected by the effects of climate change, the gathered experts said.

"It's the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit," said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

It all boils down to wanting more of our money.

"The challenge is now to support those people living in the most vulnerable areas so that they are able to adapt and improve their ways of life."

Here's an idea. Start with the $64 billion looted by the UN in the Oil-for Food scam. Then maybe we can talk.

UPDATE: More at Planet Gore.

Liberals Pushing Impeachment

It appears the far left has a political death wish, while their constituents are not busy wishing death upon their opponents (hello, HuffPosters).

Congressional Democrats say their constituents are clamoring for something even the most liberal lawmakers promise they won't pursue: President Bush's impeachment.

"I get one call after another saying, 'Impeach the president,' " said Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat and one of Mr. Bush's most relentless critics on the Iraq war.

"It's a simple process but a very divisive thing," Mr. Murtha said. "You've got to measure what it's going to do to the country, and at this point I don't see that happening. Instead we'll fight it out on the issues."

Some members speculated that the Democratic takeover of Congress and passage of Iraq withdrawal timetables in both the House and Senate have emboldened liberals across the country who want to see the president embarrassed during his final 21 months in office.

"The timing is all wrong," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat. "If this were the first two years of his administration I would advocate impeachment. A lot of people at home say impeachment, and I'm sure he committed a lot of impeachable offenses, but think about it practically."

Mr. Nadler said impeachment hearings would be pointless and would only distract the country from the presidential election next year.

When even Burger Boy Nadler and Crazy Jack are against it, you know it's a bad idea. But that won't deter the insane left fringe.

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, said he thinks impeachment has merit. In a video on his 2008 presidential campaign site, Mr. Kucinich tells supporters: "We need to reevaluate the direction of this administration by looking at its conduct in office, by determining whether it has faithfully followed the laws of our nation. I'm prepared to start that process."

Pelosization of the Middle East

Amir Taheri demolishes the pathetic Nancy Pelosi. The damage done by this idiotic woman could be incalculable.

Hating America, Loving Nancy

What would the Middle East look like if the Pelosi Doctrine becomes the matrix of U.S. foreign policy?

America would withdraw from Iraq before the new Iraqi regime is capable of defending itself against its internal and external foes. Iraq's fate would be in the hands of rival regional powers - led by Iran's Islamic Republic - along with their clients in Iraq.

Afghanistan's new democratic regime would also come under possibly fatal pressure. The country's fate would then be in the hands of rival powers - notably Iran, Pakistan and Russia - in conjunction with their Afghan clients.

In the absence of pressure from Washington, the region's current trend toward reform and liberalization would largely come to a halt. Concerned about the rise of radical forces and greater hostility from revolutionary actors, such as the Islamic Republic in Tehran and the revived al Qaeda, Arab regimes would postpone democratization and revert to repressive methods.

Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" would fade into memory, as Syrian troops return to Beirut to resume occupation.

The Pelosization of U.S. foreign policy would also encourage the "one-state" camp with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Most regional powers support a two-state solution in the context of the Saudi Peace Proposals - but the two-state option is based on the assumption that America remains an active element in its support, rather than a mediator hedging its bets.

Pelosization could plunge the Middle East into endless civil and regional wars, facilitate the return of terrorist organizations now facing defeat and ultimate destruction, and, in time, threaten U.S. national security on a grander scale. That, in turn, could force the United States into wars bigger and costlier than the ones in Afghanistan and Iraq that Pelosi regards as mistakes.

Opinion Journal also weighs in this morning.

So this is Democratic foreign policy: Assure our enemies that they can ignore a President who still has 21 months to serve; and wash their hands of Baghdad and of their own guilt for voting to let Mr. Bush go to war. No doubt Democrats think the President's low job approval, and public unhappiness with the war, gives them a kind of political immunity. But we wonder.

Once we leave Iraq, America's enemies will still reside in the Mideast; and they will be stronger if we leave behind a failed government and bloodbath in Iraq. Mr. Bush's successor will have to contain the damage, and that person could even be a Democrat. But by reverting to their Vietnam message of retreat and by blaming Mr. Bush for all the world's ills, Democrats on Capitol Hill may once again convince voters that they can't be trusted with the White House in a dangerous world.

The blood will be on their hands.

Thou Shalt Not Question The Goracle

More tolerance from the left, as noted by Deroy Murdock. Via Michelle Malkin, who has Gorebots Gone Wild.

Leftist hate: Gore fans abuse, threaten Gore foes

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research recently generated headlines when it announced that former Vice President Al Gore's Nashville estate "devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours" of electricity in 2006, "more than 20 times the national average."

This free-market think tank's phones lit up when it analyzed Nashville Electric Service's public records and identified an inconvenient gap between Gore's conservationism and his energy consumption. The research center's one-page press release was greeted with enough megawatts of hatred to power the South.

"I was accused several times of being a 'stupid, redneck bitch,'" recalls Nicole Williams, who fielded numerous calls. "I repeatedly was called a 'whore' and asked 'Whose whore are you?' for three days straight, almost as if those were talking points ... I was shocked by these sexist insults _ basically attacking my gender."

The calls continued beyond Williams' Nashville office.

"I had to change my home number and get an unlisted number," Williams says.

"I got about 10 death threats by phone. I got the 'I'm gonna get you'-type threats more than 100 times ... I worried I would get shot walking to my car."

Williams discovered her obsolete address posted online. "If they could find my old home address, it would not be so hard to find a current one."

It gets worse. As typified the the usual leftists rants, they expose themselves as illiterate morons.

"W.T.F. difference would it make if he was (sic) using 1000 times more energy than the average household if it came from clean energy?" Thomas Grinnell wondered. "Don't think about that too much. It will give your southern mullet a headache."

"You really should concentrate on what Southerners do best," D. Hunter advised. "Sodomizing and impregnating little children!"

Christopher LaBarge declared: "I hope you all die slowly and have your hearts and brains trampled to pieces you small-minded, ignorant, backwoods ideologues."

"We should have flattened the South when we had the chance!" wrote Mount Laurel, New Jersey's Robert Dodelin. "If ever you confederates (sic) want to leave the Union please do. We Nothen (sic) states would love to stop having to subsidize you with our tax dollars."

Read the rest, but be advised, it actually gets worse.

UPDATE: Paleo Lithics has an account of Gore being heckled at Concordia University in Montreal.

Taliban Johnny Seeks Commutation

This piece of garbage should have been executed years ago, so he may not want to push his luck.

The lawyer and parents of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh asked President Bush to commute his 20-year prison term, citing the case of an Australian man who was sentenced to less than a year for aiding terrorism.

Lindh, 26, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by American forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and support terrorists but pleaded guilty to lesser offenses, including carrying explosives for the now-defunct Taliban government.

Lindh's lawyer and father said the lighter sentence given to Australian David Hicks should be reflected in Lindh's case.

"It is a question of proportionality. It is a question of fairness, and it is a question of the religious experience John Walker Lindh had," attorney James Brosnahan said. "And it was not in any way directed at the United States."

Lindh converted to Islam and went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance, which received U.S. backing.

Maybe Brosnahan should take it up with the lawyer who negotiated the original plea. Oh wait, that was Brosnahan himself.

Brosnahan brokered Lindh's plea deal and said it was the best he could do in the political climate immediately after the 2001 attacks.

"In the atmosphere of the time, the best John could get was a plea bargain and a 20-year sentence," said Lindh's father, Frank Lindh. "We love our son very much. He was wrongly accused when he was found in Afghanistan."

Oh well, you took the deal.

John Edwards is a Sleazebag

When Elizabeth Edwards announced her cancer had returned a couple weeks back, there was a widespread outpouring of sympathy for her and her family, but also the hope her husband wasn't using the news to garner sympathy for his campaign.

Well, now it appears he's been trying to cash in on the news.

Democratic White House hopeful John Edwards' team has been collecting e-mail addresses from supporters who've sent his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, notes - and using them for fund-raising requests, aides acknowledged yesterday.

The link on Edwards' campaign Web site invites people to "send a note to Elizabeth and John" and features a sad letter from the former senator penned just after the couple found out her breast cancer had spread and is now incurable.

But people who've been sending such well wishes have been hit with e-mail solicitations from Team Edwards, asking for donations just as all candidates are looking to post big online fund-raising numbers.

Maybe he'll try and blame it on his campaign manager, the lowlife David Bonior.

Either way, this is incredibly sleazy, but not altogether unsurprising.

More from Sister Toldjah and Michelle Malkin.

New bin Ladin Video Coming?

So says Centcom.

Maybe Osama is sending a message to his girl Rosie.

More from Allahpundit.

UPDATE: Counterterrorism Blog says the report is inaccurate.

Wear My Hijab Day

Show your enlightenment by wearing the symbol of female oppression. One can only assume Wear Your Burka Day is to follow.

It may be more visible than ever today at McMaster University, where a professor organized a Wear My Hijab day. Women, whether Muslim or not, were invited to wear a head scarf all day to show support for those who regularly wear it…

Yasmeen Khattav, a politics student at McMaster, wears a hijab and supports the Wear My Hijab event, adding that she has never felt any pressure not to wear her head scarf on campus. She said that, while women are sometimes forced to wear coverings abroad, most do so by choice. She said that to the extent coercion occurs, it should be blamed on the culture of the offending country, not on the Islamic faith.

Via Sweetness& Light.

Pathetic Pelosi

It seems this dunce is just too stupid to realize how bad she looks.

Pelosi Syriasly Bungles Mission

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday met with Syrian dictator and terror sponsor Bashar Assad - drawing an immediate slap from the White House for rewarding his "bad behavior."

And, to make matters worse, she botched a peace message she carried from Israel.

Vice President Dick Cheney was livid, saying Assad has "been isolated and cut off because of his bad behavior. And the unfortunate thing about the speaker's visit is, it sort of breaks down that barrier."

"It means that without him having done any of those things he should do . . . he gets a visit from a high-ranking American anyway. In other words, his bad behavior is being rewarded," Cheney told ABC News Radio.

Now the moron is in Saudi Arabia.

I wish they'd keep her.

British Hostages Return

The kidnapped British sailors have returned to the U.K., but all is not well. The regime has only been strengthened by humiliating the Brits and the appeasers think this is a sign feckless diplomacy actually accomplishes something.

Mahmoud's 'Gift'

While we can be grateful for the captives' release, no one should conclude from this episode that the Iranian government is taking a new peaceful turn, or that its President has become Mahmoud the Munificent. If anything, the events of the past two weeks show the opposite--notably the influence inside the regime of the Revolutionary Guards, who provoked the incident by seizing the sailors in Iraqi waters only hours after a unanimous vote in the U.N. Security Council to stiffen sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. Their objective was clearly to create some negotiating leverage and humiliate Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is leaving office later this year. Hostage-taking has been a tool of Iranian foreign policy going back to 1979, and this was merely another turn of that wheel.

Over in London, they're feeling even worse.

They're free, but Britain has been humiliated

Relief at the freeing of the British sailors and Marines in Iran is tempered with dismay at the humiliation to which they and the country they serve have been subjected.

The 14 men and one woman are due to return to Britain today, in time to be reunited with their families for Easter, a point not lost on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he announced their release.

The Government will congratulate itself on securing their liberation within the relatively short period - given the complexities of dealing with the various power centres in Iran - of 12 days. It will also be pleased that they are physically unharmed, though we do not yet know the psychological pressures they may have been put under. An initial high-risk policy of taking the abduction to the United Nations Security Council was replaced by low-key diplomacy, in which the dispatch to Teheran of Sir Nigel Sheinwald, Tony Blair's foreign policy adviser and Britain's ambassador-designate to Washington, seems to have been crucial.

Meanwhile, Amir Taheri has notes the usual deception on the part of the Iranians.

Iran's Crackdown

WAS the crisis over the cap ture of the British hostages part of a smoke screen for a crackdown on dissidents in Iran?

The question is posed in Tehran as the establishment debates the future of the regime's foreign and domestic policies.

The crackdown is beginning to gather pace. Several publications critical of government have been shut down, and numerous officials regarded as "not revolutionary enough" elbowed out, especially in the provinces. And now the regime seems to be setting the stage for show trials that recall the worst days of Stalinism in the Soviet Union.

UPDATE: More at Hot Air.

HuffPosters Call for Karl Rove's Murder

Such a nice bunch. Been a busy couple of weeks for the hatemongers at the Huffington Post. Calling for Dick Cheney's murder, wishing a painful death for Tony Snow, and now calling for the murder of Karl Rove (via Weasel Zippers).

Just a sampling:

Respectfully disagree. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I think it's high time that some people, namely this piece of human filth known as Karl Rove, and the richest one percent of this nation who have stolen 90 percent of the nation's wealth, be dragged screaming from their mansions and limo's and publicly lynched.

By: revoltnow on April 04, 2007 at 10:11am

Well, Fat Bastard eat your GOLD MEMBER, finaly people with balls, wish I was there to tourch your Gas guzziling Chariot, and shove you on a spit.

By: puppetmaster on April 04, 2007 at 10:41am

It's about time Rove got pelted! now can someone pelt him with bullets please.

By: bellgirl on April 04, 2007 at 11:00am

Hey Bush Fascists:

Kinda scary ain't it? Yer man out in public, among the people who he knows deep down support him, gets pelted. Get used to it fascists. The hatred is real and justified and deserved. Next time maybe they'll get their hands on him and give him the whoopin' he needs, to within an inch of his despicable life. You traitors ain't seen nothin' yet. You-all think yer gonna get away with yer crimes against this country and its peoples? It's only just begun.

By: Constructivist on April 04, 2007 at 11:47am

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving target!! Rove is nothing but a greedy coward fat liar who has brought this great nation down the toilet with his criminal activity. It's time for a revolution...like the French revolution ...like another person posting said....go to their mansions, drag them out while their squealing like the fat greedy pigs they are -and then off with their heads!!

By: fedup07 on April 04, 2007 at 11:52am

The nonsense goes on for nine pages so far. These people are totally out of control.

Previously: Goons Attack Karl Rove, Tony Snow's Cancer Has Returned.

UPDATE: Since we're on Rove and the leftwing obsession with him, check out the latest from Michelle Malkin: Land of the lost: Left-wing blogs get punked. Man, do they look stupid.

Yale Students Arrested for Burning U.S. Flag

Three Yale students have been arrested for burning a U.S. flag (hat tip Joey Jojo Jr.).

Three Yale University students have been arrested on charges of setting fire to an American flag hanging from the porch of a Chapel Street home.

The three were arrested early Tuesday after police on patrol spotted the burning flag and tore it from the pole where it was mounted to the house, police said.

Said Hyder Akbar, 23, Nikolaos Angelopoulos, 19, and Farhad Anklesaria, also 19, were arrested on charges ranging from reckless endangerment to arson.

Angelopoulos and Anklesaria, who are two freshmen are both foreign citizens. Anklesaria is British and Angelopoulos is Greek.

Akbar, a senior, was born in Pakistan, according to police, but is a U.S. citizen. Both Anklesaria and Angelopoulos had to turn over their passports.

Akbar worked as an informal translator for U.S. forces during the invasion of Afghanistan and later published a memoir, "Come Back to Afghanistan," based on his experiences there, the Yale Daily News reported Wednesday.

At their arraignment in Superior Court a few hours after their arrests Tuesday, bond was kept at $25,000 for Angelopoulos and Akbar, but was reduced to $15,000 for Anklesaria. They remained jailed Tuesday night.

First of all, they should all be tossed out of Yale, but instead, they'll probably become campus celebrities. Second, the two foreign students should immediately be deported. Rather than being thankful for receiving an Ivy League education in this country, they spit in our faces. Akbar should be stripped of his citizenship and sent back to Pakistan, the ungrateful punk.

Goons Attack Karl Rove

I blame the Democrats for fostering a climate of hate. Looking at you in particular, Charles Schumer.

White House Advisor Karl Rove was the target of a protest on the American University campus Tuesday night, News4 reported.

Rove was on the campus to talk to the College Republicans, but when he got outside more than a dozen students began throwing things at him and at his car, an American University spokesperson said.

The students then got on the ground and laid down in front of his car as a protest.

The students said security officials picked them up and carried them away so Rove could leave.

You expect this stuff in places like Venezuela and Iran, but these leftwing fringe thugs are getting completely out of hand. Of course, had the police rightfully arrested them, then the media would be howling about free speech rights being infringed.

More at Hot Air.

Kidnapped British Sailors May Be Released

Little Mahmoud is making a big show of it, but it appears the kidnapped British sailors may be freed.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will pardon and set free 15 British sailors and marines being held in Iranian custody.

Speaking at a news conference on the diplomatic crisis, Ahmadinejad said the 15 detainees had violated the country's territorial waters and praised the border guards who captured them, honoring three men with medals for bravery.

"I thank the border guards who bravely protect our borders and also arrested the violators, and I grant them the bravery medal to their commander," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad was speaking after a senior Iranian official on Wednesday welcomed UK efforts to negotiate the release of the marines and sailors.

Iran's parliament speaker Gholamali Haddadadel told an Iranian state broadcaster's Web site that British efforts to negotiate the detainees' release were "appropriate."

"The British are trying to solve the issue of their arrested soldiers with negotiations and this is appropriate action," Haddadadel was quoted as saying.

But he added: "The British should agree to their mistake and change their behavior of before."

Of course, the hairy freak may change his twisted mind, so we'll see what shakes out.

UPDATE: Allahpundit has a slew of fresh links.

Aussie Terrorist as Candidate?

As crazy as this sounds, apparently they're serious.

Hicks as Democrats' candidate

The Australian Democrats today took the extraordinary step of saying they would welcome convicted terrorist David Hicks running for the party as a candidate.

Sandra Kanck, the Democrats' leader in South Australia which is Hicks' home state, said she would be happy for him to seek a political career as a Democrat.

"I certainly wouldn't rule him out (as a candidate)," she said.

Her comments follow her ongoing criticism of the South Australian Government over the confessed supporter of terrorism.

She said Hicks should be released on home detention when he recovered from his ordeal at Guantanamo Bay.

That prompted a quick response from South Australian Premier Mike Rann.

"I mean, who knows what the Democrats will do. They will probably ask him to be a candidate," Mr Rann said from Chile yesterday.

And Mr Rann was not wrong, with Ms Kanck responding that 31-year-old Hicks, who is due to return to Australia in the next month to serve out his jail term, could run as a candidate if he wanted.

"The national executive would consider any protest (against Hicks) but I'd be surprised if any such protest occurred," she said.

"I think if I was in his shoes I'd be wanting to keep a very low profile."

More Stupidity in New Jersey

Michelle Malkin notes the ridiculous decision by a New Jersey high school to conduct a terrorism drill. What's so ridiculous about it? Read on.

Last month, New Jersey's Burlington Township High School held a mock terrorism drill. "You perform as you practice," Superintendent Chris Manno told the Burlington County Times. "We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."

But the "real as possible" conditions included no bomb-vest-donning jihadists shouting "Allahu Akbar." No red bandana-wearing martyrs with visions of 72 virgins dancing in their evil heads. No America-hating plotters enraged by Israel's existence or driven to establish a worldwide caliphate.

Nope. Two local police detectives took on the role of hostage-taking Christian gunmen. According to the paper, "Investigators described them as members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in separation of church and state. The mock gunmen went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class."

I guess they were so afraid to offend anyone. So they decided to offend the majority of people in this country.

Idiots.

Pelosi Sucks Up to Dictator

Naturally, Nancy Pelosi and the AP call this fascist thug President.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad assured her of his willingness to engage in peace talks with Israel.

Pelosi said she and other members of her congressional delegation raised with Assad their concern about militants crossing from Syria into Iraq, as well the Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.

The Californian Democrat spoke to reporters shortly after talks with Assad at the end of a two-day visit to Syria, which the White House has criticized as undermining American efforts to isolate the hard-line Arab country.

She said the delegation gave the Syrian leader a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert whose essence was that Israel was ready to hold peace talks with Syria.

She did not say more about the message, but Israel has previously made such talks conditional on Syria's cutting off its support for hardline Palestinian groups and Hezbollah.

"We were very pleased with the assurances we received from the president that he was ready to resume the peace process. He's ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel," Pelosi said.

She's even dumber than I thought. Sure, she's really concerned about terrorists crossing into Iraq from Syria. So why the hell is she there groveling before this piece of garbage?

Andrew Cochran asks a logical question:

Why Are American Officials Meeting With Terrorists' Supporters?

Secret War Inside Iran

Shhh! Just between you and me, I've got a big scoop. Turns out the U.S. is conducting secret raids inside Iran. But it's a secret, so don't tell anyone, OK?

Oh wait, some idiot already did.

A Pakistani tribal militant group responsible for a series of deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005, U.S. and Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News.

The group, called Jundullah, is made up of members of the Baluchi tribe and operates out of the Baluchistan province in Pakistan, just across the border from Iran.

It has taken responsibility for the deaths and kidnappings of more than a dozen Iranian soldiers and officials.

I'd quote more, but it's a secret.

Now look. Someone else has found out.

WTF! Can't anyone keep a secret?

Oh well, at least the story of the raids to be conducted between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. on April 6 is still a secret.

Goracle's Global Goofiness

Let's hope a lot more guys like Bob Murray step forward and tell it like it is.

"Some wealthy elitists in our country," he told the audience, "who cannot tell fact from fiction, can afford an Olympian detachment from the impacts of draconian climate change policy. For them, the jobs and dreams destroyed as a result will be nothing more than statistics and the cares of other people. These consequences are abstractions to them, but they are not to me, as I can name many of the thousands of the American citizens whose lives will be destroyed by these elitists' ill-conceived ‘global goofiness' campaigns."

William F. Buckley calls this nonsense an inquisition.

The whole business is eerily religious in feel. Back in the 15th century, the question was: Do you believe in Christ? It was required in Spain by the Inquisition that the answer should be affirmative, leaving to one side subsidiary specifications.

It is required today to believe that carbon-dioxide emissions threaten the basic ecological balance. The assumption then is that inasmuch as a large proportion of the damage is man-made, man-made solutions are necessary. But it is easy to see, right away, that there is a problem in devising appropriate solutions, and in allocating responsibility for them.

To speak in very general terms, the United States is easily the principal offender, given the size of our country and the intensity of our use of fossil-fuel energy. But even accepting the high per-capita rate of consumption in the United States, we face the terrible inadequacy of ameliorative resources. If the United States were (we are dealing in hypotheses) to eliminate the use of oil or gas for power, would that forfeiture be decisive?

Well, no. It would produce about 23 percent global relief, and at a devastating cost to our economy.

Read the rest of both.

We need more free speech and less eco-babble.

Keith Richards: "I Snorted My Father"

I think I've heard it all now. And you know what? I believe him.

I wonder if he smoked his bones as well.

Rolling Stone 'snorted father's ashes'

Rolling Stones wildman Keith Richards claims he snorted his own father's ashes during a drugs binge.

Richards made the extraordinary admission in an interview with NME magazine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," he said.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared, he didn't give a s***.

"It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002 aged 84.

Read on, it actually gets better. He actually ingested strychnine and lived to tell about it.

He may just be indestructible.

Also at Hot Air.

(Photo via The Keith Shrine)

Going Fishing

They've got impeachment on their minds, as noted by J.R. Dunn at The American Thinker.

The Democrats need to impeach Bush. It's not optional - it's something they have to do. Not simply because of who Bush is or anything he may have done, but as an act of vengeance for Bill Clinton. Clinton's impeachment was a blow to their amour propre, their pose of being morally superior to the opposition, one that has rankled ever since. In much the same way that a gang-banger feels compelled to erase an insult through violence, the Democrats have to take down the succeeding Republican president, no matter how bad it makes them look or what price they have to pay. Only then can they at last move on. And perhaps not even then.

No, not even then. They're incapable of shame.

Read the rest.

Your Democrat Leadership

This one has already gone viral, at Drudge, LGF, Hot Air, among other outlets. Stretch pays her respects to the Islamofascists while in Syria.


Found this one of The Pantsuit at Michelle Malkin. Cute, isn't she? I imagine Bill has seen that face a couple thousand times after he was busted cheating.

Michael Ware Update

LGF has it with assorted links via Confederate Yankee.

Since the left has gotten themselves all in a lather about people being "smeared" (as if they don't smear people on a daily basis), I thought it would be fair to note this.

UPDATE: Jules Crittenden has The Newsman More Terrorists Trust. He gets a lot more morons visiting him, which comes with the territory, I guess.

How a Bogus Story Became Page One News

The Washingtown Post jumps off the deep end into Daily Kos and Olbermann-esque conspiracies today.

Well, the author does have a book to plug.

Another Rovian Conspiracy shreds this junk from beginning to end.

The Trouble With Islam

Tawfik Hamid, a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, details the obvious.

Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right.

But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense.

Keep reading. It gets worse.

Welcome to Presidential Politics

Rudy Giuliani should have known it wouldn't be a cakewalk. Now he's finding out, as John Podhoretz notes.

The Giuliani '08 juggernaut just ran head-on into Podhoretz's First and Last Law of Politics, namely: No politician seeking the nation's highest office can do as much damage to another as he can do to himself.

Read it all.

No More Churchills

Ralph Peters asks Where's Winston?

THE greatest shock from the Middle East this year hasn't been terrorist ruthlessness or the latest Iranian tantrum. It's that members of Britain's Royal Marines wimped out in a matter of days and acquiesced in propaganda broadcasts for their captors.

Jingoism aside, I can't imagine any squad of U.S. Marines behaving in such a shabby, cowardly fashion. Our Marines would have fought to begin with. Taken captive by force, they would've resisted collaboration. To the last man and woman.

You could put a U.S. Marine in a dungeon and knock out his teeth, but you wouldn't knock out his pride in his country and the Corps. "Semper fi" means something.

And our Aussie allies would be just as tough.

What on earth happened to the Royal Marines? They're members of what passes for an elite unit. Has the Labor government's program to gut the U.K. military - grounding planes, taking ships out of service and deactivating army units - also ripped the courage from the breasts of those in uniform?

Read the rest.

Meanwhile, Tony Blair says the next couple of days are crucial.

Blair told Scotland's Real Radio that Ali Larijani's suggestion of talks offered hope of an end to the crisis. "If they want to resolve this in a diplomatic way the door is open," the prime minister said.

But if negotiations to win the quick release of the 15 sailors and marines stalled, Britain would "take an increasingly tougher position," he said.

Increasingly tougher than doing nothing means what, exactly?

Former FBI Agent Missing in Iran

Of course, details are sketchy, no name is given, and don't expect the Iranians to be cooperative.

The United States asked Iran on Monday to provide information about a former FBI agent believed to have gone missing several weeks ago while on private business there, U.S. officials said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the family and employer of the man reported him missing and the State Department sent an official inquiry on Monday to Iran via Swiss diplomats, who act as a go-between with Tehran because the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.

Can't Nancy Pelosi just pop over after she's finished sucking up to the chinless opthamologist?

Relations are very tense between the United States and Iran, particularly over its nuclear program. The two nations have not had diplomatic ties for nearly 30 years.

The missing man, described by officials as middle-aged, is believed to have been visiting Kish, an Iranian resort island and free-trade zone in the Gulf. He is not believed to be of Iranian descent and his wife lives in the United States.

Speaking of the Iranian nuclear program, the latest is they'll be ready to go by 2009, according to The Blotter.

A spokesperson for the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, declined to comment citing the "extreme sensitivity" of the situation with Iran.

Yeah, they don't want to upset their bosses in Tehran.

Not that I have must trust in this report, but the time is soon at hand to take out their program, despite the strenuous objection of Democrat foreign policy honcho Rosie O'Donnell.

The United States will be ready to launch a missile attack on Iran's nuclear facilities as soon as early this month, perhaps "from 4 a.m. until 4 p.m. on April 6," according to reports in the Russian media on Saturday.

According to Russian intelligence sources, the reports said, the US has devised a plan to attack several targets in Iran, and an assault could be carried out by launching missiles from fighter jets and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf.

When they start giving specific times and dates like your cable provider, time to perk up and take things seriously.

Others blogging on the latest nuke story include LGF, Hot Air, and Sister Toldjah.

Tale of Two Rulings

Media bias is never more obvious than with the reporting of the two Supreme Court rulings today. First, we have the Guantanamo Bay case from this morning, as noted earlier. Take the first paragraph of the story, which obviously favors the Bush administration.

A closely divided Supreme Court said on Monday it would not decide whether Guantanamo prisoners have the right to challenge their confinement before U.S. federal judges, avoiding a test of President George W. Bush's powers in the war on terrorism.

Now, let's contrast how a closely divided court, which was actually 6-3, is portrayed in the cockamamie ruling on global warming.

In a defeat for the Bush administration, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a U.S. government agency has the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that spur global warming.

By a 5-4 vote, the nation's highest court said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "has offered no reasoned explanation" for its refusal to regulate carbon dioxide and other emissions from new cars and trucks that contribute to climate change.

The ruling in one of the most important environmental cases to reach the Supreme Court marked the first high court decision in a case involving global warming.

So now a 5-4 vote isn't reported as closely divided, it's simply a defeat for the Bush administration. And the case which wasn't really all that closely divided, isn't that a defeat for the terrorist supporters from the ACLU?

Watch and see which of these cases gets more coverage on the networks, as if you have to guess.

More on the media reaction to the latter case at NewsBusters.

Tough Talk From Dingy Harry

If he wants to drive off the cliff, he's more than welcome, so long as he takes the rest of his cut-and-run bunch with him.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday he will try to cut off funding for the Iraq war if President Bush rejects Congress' proposal to set a deadline for ending combat.

The move is likely to intensify the Democrats' rift with the administration, which already contends Democrats are putting troops at risk by setting deadlines.

"It's time the self-appointed strategists on Capitol Hill understood a very simple concept: You cannot win a war if you tell the enemy you're going to quit," Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday at fundraising luncheon for Sen. Jeff Sessions.

In recent weeks, the House and Senate voted separately to finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but set an end date for combat in Iraq. The House proposal orders all combat troops as of Aug. 31, 2008, whereas the Senate orders some troops to leave right away with the nonbinding goal of ending combat by March 31, 2008.
The House and Senate are working on a final proposal that can be sent to the president by the end of the month.

Mindful that they hold a shaky majority in Congress and that neither chamber has enough votes to override a presidential veto, Democrats are already thinking about the next step after Bush rejects their legislation.

Being from Nevada, you'd think he'd know when he's playing a weak hand, but his bitterness is getting the best of him.

Meanwhile, although I'm always a bit dubious of Dick Morris, he makes some good points today, and he may be right as to where things are headed.

But Bush will, inevitably, win the game of chicken. Pelosi and Reid have too much sense to be caught denying funding to troops in combat. Bush will make the price of obstinacy too great for the Democrats to bear.

Nobody will want to be in the position of cutting off funding and appearing to undermine the troops during a war.

But the consequences for Pelosi of a retreat will be serious: She'll leave behind her the party's left - who will never vote for funding without also mandating withdrawal. Pelosi will have to scramble and craft a majority with a combination of Republican votes and support from the center of her own party.

The speaker will probably wind up having to vote against the majority of her Democratic members. That spectacle won't be healthy for her future authority or control.

If the Republicans are smart, they will let Pelosi hang by her own rope and will force her to break her party apart by twisting arms for every last vote to pass a funding bill.

Inadvertently forced into triangulation, Pelosi and Reid will be the unwilling instruments of a schism in their party from which it may not recover until after the 2008 election.

It way well be Reid is just bluffing, knowing cutting off funding will have disastrous political consequences. But time is running short and the Democrats will soon be forced to choose: the troops or the far-left fringe of their party.

What Does Media Bias Smell Like?

How long until someone has an allergic reaction and sues USA Today?

Joint Promotion Adds Stickers to Sweet Smell of Marketing

A PROMOTION scheduled to begin today may prompt hotel guests to exclaim, with apologies to “Apocalypse Now,” that they love the smell of advertising in the morning.

Guests at Omni luxury hotels will find small scented stickers on the front pages of their free copies of USA Today. A blackberry aroma will suggest that the guests start the day at their hotels with a cup of Starbucks coffee “paired with a fresh muffin.” The promotion, to be tested for at least six months, is being sponsored by Omni Hotels and Starbucks Coffee.

It is one of two ideas being explored by the Gannett Company, the parent of USA Today, in the increasingly popular realm of scented advertising. The other concept Gannett is testing is to let marketers add scents to the ads they run in the pages of USA Today. Another national newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, owned by Dow Jones & Company, is also looking into scenting its ad pages.

Seeing Maureen Dowd at the top of the link above reminds me of the faint odor of cheap scotch and mindless prose.

Supreme Court Will Not Hear Gitmo Appeals

Aww, the poor terrorists.

A closely divided Supreme Court said on Monday it would not decide whether Guantanamo prisoners have the right to challenge their confinement before U.S. federal judges, avoiding a test of President George W. Bush's powers in the war on terrorism.

Over the dissent of three justices, the nation's high court said it would not rule on the constitutionality of part of an anti-terrorism law that Bush pushed through the U.S. Congress last year that takes away the right of the prisoners to get judicial review of their detention.

I hope this makes for a very bad day for our nation's enemies (looking your way, ACLU lawyers).

Via Sweetness & Light.

CNN Hack Heckles McCain

It would be interesting to see how long any reporter who heckled, say, The Pantsuit, lasted on the air.

I think we know the answer.

CNN, if they plan to retain any credibility, or what little they have left, needs to dismiss Michael Ware.

Thompson Announces Presidential Bid

Tommy Thompson, that is.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson is joining the Republican presidential race.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Thompson called himself "the reliable conservative."

Thompson also served as health and human services secretary during President Bush's first term, and claims to be the only GOP candidate who has helped assemble both a state and federal budget.

And you thought I was talking about Fred? Well, more on him from Robert Novak.

In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has improbably transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in national polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles, because he is filling the conservative void in the Republican field.

Republican activists have complained for months that none of the big-three contenders -- Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney -- fits the model of a conservative leader for a conservative party. The party faithful have been waiting for another Ronald Reagan. But in the past year, nobody mentioned Thompson as the messiah until he appeared March 11 on ''Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.''

UPDATE: More on Fred Thompson at Hot Air. Check out the video.

Lawsuits First, Safety Second

Debra Burlingame opines on the craven Democrats and their quest to protect CAIR and the Flying Imams rather than the American public.

This is the kind of no-brainer legislation that every member of Congress should vigorously support. Yet House Democrats reacted to King's proposal as if he'd thrown a bomb into the House chamber itself.

According to witnesses in the gallery and on the floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi displayed a classic deer-in-the headlights look as the Democratic leadership went into a huddle - plainly eager, not to embrace this common-sense measure, but to sidetrack it.

Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, took the floor to oppose King's motion - and to defend the lawsuit against John Does. "We should be tolerant," he argued; people shouldn't be singled out because they "look different."

In fact, the flying imams triggered concerns by a variety of unusual actions, as well as words that roused the concern of another Arabic-speaking passenger. Witnesses say that House members started booing Thompson.

Finally, a member of the leadership realized how this would look to Americans watching on C-SPAN: Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) was seen staring at Thompson and repeatedly drawing his hand across his throat - an urgent signal to get off the floor.

With Democrats realizing they couldn't argue against King's measure, it went to a vote, and passed, 304 to 121.

Every one of those 121 votes aimed at defeating protection for "John Does" was a Democrat - indeed, more than half of all Democrats present voted "nay."

And, with the exception of Rep. Anthony Weiner (Brooklyn), Democrats from the New York-New Jersey metro area led the way in voting against it.

Read the rest.

If the Democrats manage to sidetrack or excise this legislation in the Senate or in conference, they must pay in 2008. The American public should not and will not tolerate pandering to the goons from CAIR over their own security.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has John Doe vs. The Moonbats.

New Clue in Earhart Mystery

Some will probably suggest Bush was behind it.

The previously unknown diary of an Associated Press reporter reveals a new perspective.

A team that has already found aircraft parts and pieces of a woman's shoe on a remote South Pacific atoll hopes to return there this year to search for more evidence, maybe even DNA.

If what's known now had been conveyed to searchers then, might Earhart and her navigator have been found alive? It's one of a thousand questions that keep the case from being declared dead, as Earhart herself was a year and a half after she vanished.

Whiny Libs Offended by Rove Rap

You knew it was just a matter of time.

Liberals have zero sense of humor.

More Huffington Ugliness

Perhaps this is meant to be an April Fool's gag or something, but it's just plain vile. But I guess that's par for the course over there.

Reacting to Fecklessness

A couple of opinion pieces today underscore the price we're paying for being so pusillanimous, both here and in the U.K.

Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe has the smell of irresolution.

What could Al Qaeda have hoped to gain by shattering this relative lull with last week's horrific attacks? The carnage included a suicide bombing in a Baghdad market that killed at least 60 people, mostly women and children, and a triple car-bomb massacre in Diyala province that left 28 civilians dead. But why now? With Washington's top Democrats embracing the surrender agenda -- Senate majority leader declared on Tuesday that "this war is not worth the spilling of another drop of American blood" -- why would the terrorists unleash a renewed wave of slaughter and mayhem?

For that matter, why would Iran have chosen this moment to seize 15 British sailors and marines? One of the hostages was forced to write a letter urging the British government "to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and let them determine their own future." But Britain has been withdrawing its forces from Iraq, reducing troop levels from 40,000 in 2003 to just 7,100 as of February. Prime Minister Tony Blair recently announced that 1,600 more troops will be pulled out this spring. So what was the point of Iran's unprovoked ambush?

The answer in both cases is that this is how totalitarian aggressors react to faintheartedness.

Meanwhile, Mark Steyn laments the timidity with which Great Britain has responded with after their sailors were taken hostage by the Iranians.

On this 25th anniversary of the Falklands War, Tony Blair is looking less like Margaret Thatcher and alarmingly like Jimmy Carter, the embodiment of the soi-disant "superpower" as a smiling eunuch.

But this is a season of anniversaries. A few days ago, the European Union was celebrating its 50th birthday with the usual lame-o Euro-boosterism. I said up above that the 15 hostages are "British subjects." But, as a point of law, they are also "citizens of the European Union." Even Oxford and Hoover's Timothy Garton Ash, one of the most indefatigable of those Euro-boosters, seemed to recognize the Iranian action was a challenge to Europe's pretensions. "Fifteen Europeans were kidnapped from Iraqi territorial waters by Iranian Revolutionary Guards," he wrote. "Those 14 European men and one European woman have been held at an undisclosed location for nearly a week, interrogated, denied consular access, but shown on Iranian television, with one of them making a staged 'confession,' clearly under duress. So if Europe is as it claims to be, what's it going to do about it?''

Short answer: Nothing.

Actually, as LGF notes, they will do something: capitulate.

I'm all for the plan put forth by Jules Crittenden, who also has the Kharnival of the Iranities.