GeMatt's Place

04 Elections Still Under Fire 2 Years Later

2006-02-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

An examination of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machine records from the 2004 election found possible tampering and tens of thousands of malfunctions and errors, a watchdog group said Thursday.

They just don't give up do they. How about Maryland? How bout Ohio? How about accepting the fact that the supreme court ruled its all over. There's a time limit on elections: jerks. Either move forward or get over it.

BlackBoxVoting.org describes itself as a nonpartisan but only challenges red states. How does that work?

"It was impossible to determine what information was altered or if votes were shifted among candidates." So why are you still bitching years later? Either replace the system or quit your bitching. Maybe if the vote tabulation machine wern't made by heavy democrat donors someone would care.

Maybe if democrats didn't describe any change in the voting machines as "catastrophic." "Democratic leadership continued to criticize Ehrlich yesterday,... calling the governor's demand for voting paper trails last-minute and inconsistent with his previous opinions."

So they'll bitch about the vote being innacurate but when the fat hits the fire:

"We've already spent a lot of money on the system," . "We would literally be throwing it away." OH NO....

"unjustifiably undermine public confidence in the integrity of the state election process."

"Ehrlich also called on lawmakers to postpone plans to offer early voting because he was concerned that having the polls open days before Election Day would leave the systems susceptible to fraud. Democrats said they didn't agree and planned to move forward."

When the illegal votes favor dems it all 'good enough' but when the votes favor republicans: "I actually think there's enough votes in play in Florida that it's anybody's guess who actually won the presidential race."

State Department Bitter They Have To Follow Policy Of The Elected Government

2006-02-24T01:58:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post runs a report that should shock no one. The effort by Condoleezza Rice at the State Department to consolidate the bureaucracy and bring it into line with the policy of the elected government has created hard feelings among some of the rank and file careerists, who apparently liked their ability to ignore the chain of command and undermine appointees. Some of them have run to the Post and Glenn Kessler to complain about their treatment in the Rice regime:

A State Department reorganization of analysts involved in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil, with more than half a dozen career employees alleging in interviews that political appointees sought to punish long-term employees whose views they considered suspect.
Senior State Department officials deny that and say an investigation has found that the proper personnel practices were followed. But three officials involved in the reorganization, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, acknowledge that a merger of two bureaus reduced the influence of employees who were viewed by some political appointees as disloyal to the administration's policies.

"There are a number of disgruntled employees who feel they have been shoved aside for political purposes. That's true," said one of these officials. "But there was rank insubordination on the part of these officers."

How rank was that insubordination? Previous management encouraged the careerists to bypass key political appointees designated to ensuring that the elected government's policies were carried out, allowing State to thumb their nose at the White House. Since the Administration has the ultimate responsibility for the performance of State, this situation was untenable. Even Kessler reports that the insubordination was reality:

"The suspicion is we would undermine the policy," said one of the officials who have felt sidelined. "That is what all of us find most offensive. We are here to serve any administration." ...
The employees who say that they have been targeted once had a back channel to then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, who they said would on occasion ask them to bypass their superior, John R. Bolton, now the ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton, with backing from allies in the Pentagon and the vice president's office, frequently battled the rest of the State Department on policy issues.

State has always had its cadre of careerists whose outlook is that they run American foreign policy and not the elected President. It's been an example of the Washington bureaucracy for ages, and the Bush administration decided that it has gone on long enough. The President has a right to expect that his foreign-policy initiatives get implemented once so directed at State, and that the legitimate check on that authority resides with Congress and the American electorate, not a few self-important unaccountable apparatchiks at Foggy Bottom.

Al Gore Jockeying For '08 Presidential Run

2006-02-24T01:31:00.000-05:00

The former vice president’s slashing attacks on the administration and his stalwart, if misguided, opposition to the Iraq war leave him without the complications and complexes that will devil Clinton as she seeks to appeal to the unforgiving left of the Democratic Party.

And Gore may be a man whose time has come in his party. It was he who warned of climate change and predicted its consequences. Hurricane Katrina was just a fulfillment of the prophesies Gore wrote about in his late-1980s book Earth in the Balance. He has been an energy-conservation nut for years, and his obsessions with alternatives to oil will play better and better as we come to realize how our addiction to oil has led us to dependency on the dealers of this particular drug — Iran, the Saudi royal family and Hugo Chavez.

The Democratic base’s anger at Gore’s defeat in 2000 was assuaged by the worse Kerry defeat of 2004. The idea that he was an incompetent candidate has been replaced in Democratic iconography by the idea that he was cheated out of the presidency. The hiatus has healed his reputation with the base in much the same way that the negative rap on Nixon for losing in 1960 was ameliorated by the Goldwater wipeout of 1964.

It only shows how radical and out of touch the Democratic Party has become. If their base prefers a bitter old man that panders to radical Islamist propaganda while we are at war against Islamofascist terrorism, then the Democrats had better consider jettisoning their base and starting fresh. No one in their right mind would nominate Al Gore for President after that speech in Saudi Arabia, and if that's what gets the leftist base involved, the Democrats will be better off in the long run without them

Bin-Laden Not Stuck Prior To 9/11 For Fear Of Hitting UAE Prince

2006-02-24T01:14:00.000-05:00

During the winter of 1998-99, intelligence reported that Bin Ladin frequently visited a camp in the desert, adjacent to a larger hunting camp in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, used by visitors from a Gulf state. Public sources have stated that these visitors were from the United Arab Emirates. At the beginning of February, Bin Ladin was reportedly located there, and apparently remained for more than a week. This was not in an urban area, so the risk of collateral damage was minimal. Intelligence provided a detailed description of the camps. National technical intelligence confirmed the description of the larger camp, and showed the nearby presence of an official aircraft of the UAE. The CIA received reports that Bin Ladin regularly went from his adjacent camp to the larger camp where he visited with Emiratis. The location of this larger camp was confirmed by February 9, but the location of Bin Ladin's quarters could not be pinned down so precisely.

Preparations were made for a possible strike, against the larger camp, perhaps to target Bin Ladin during one of his visits. No strike was launched.

According to CIA officials, policymakers were concerned about the danger that a strike might kill an Emirati prince or other senior officials who might be with Bin Ladin or close by. The lead CIA official in the field felt the intelligence reporting in this case was very reliable. The UBL unit chief at the time agrees. The field official believes today that this was a lost opportunity to kill Bin Ladin before 9/11.

On February 10th, Clarke reported that a top UAE official had vehemently denied that high-level UAE officials were in Afghanistan. Evidence subsequently confirmed that high-level UAE officials had been there.

The indispensible Middle East Media Research Institute reported in a two-part series in 2003 on the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-up, a UAE think tank whose patron was the second son of the President of the UAE, and which was a source of vile anti-American, pro-Hitler, anti-Jewish propaganda. The introduction to the MEMRI report explains that UAE officials privately acknowledged that the government-funded Zayed Center was a problem, but reining it in was difficult. The think tank was later closed.

Although many of the leaders of the UAE dictatorship may indeed support the U.S. in the war on terror, it seems clear that, at the least, there is a notable portion of the UAE, including some powerful and/or influential people, who do not. As James Lileks points out (in an article which Eugene linked to earlier today), the risks of a bin Laden sympathizer from the UAE supplying critical US port information to terrorists seems unacceptably high.

UN Goals

2006-02-24T01:11:00.000-05:00

The United Nations Security Council today tabled discussion about how to react to Iran’s ongoing nuclear weapons development in order to take up debate on what to do about U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s recently disclosed weapons capabilities.

“We don’t really know whether Iran is making a bomb, or just making cheap abundant electricity,” said an unnamed Security Council spokesman. “But we have hard evidence that Dick Cheney is armed and dangerous.”

The council will consider a variety of responses, from economic sanctions against Mr. Cheney, to a stringent inspection protocol with all weapons placed under U.N. seal, and 24/7 video monitoring.

“Of course, we cannot rule out a military response,” the source said. “We must keep our options open in dealing with what has quickly become the biggest weapons issue of our time.”

via scrappleface

Racial Profiling Un-American Unless Your Talking About Arabs

2006-02-23T18:23:00.000-05:00

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on the introduction of the End Racial Profiling Act of 2004:

"I am proud to join Congressman John Conyers, the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, as a cosponsor of the bipartisan End Racial Profiling Act of 2004 to end the shameful practice of racial profiling and to ensure that each of our citizens is treated with dignity and fairness.

Fast forward to last night:

"The unilateral decision of the Bush administration to allow the sale of port operations to a foreign government raises serious national security concerns," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

Activists Defeated, The Return Of Nuclear Power

2006-02-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

Nuclear reactor builders are jostling for business as energy utilities take another look at nuclear power. After years of suffering under the environmental activists heel, businesses are once again looking to the promises of nuclear energy.

About 16% of the world's electricity supply comes from nuclear power, and energy demand is increasing. Worldwide, nearly 80% of the 441 commercial nuclear reactors currently in operation are more than 15 years old.

The new interest in peaceful nuclear energy "results from some heavy lobbying(no bias there) by groups involved in building reactors", said Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and from attempts to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs adds "there are also increasing concerns about energy security, particularly in light of the recent disruption of Russian gas supplies in Europe."

Nuclear-industry officials have long said that the majority of growth would come in Asia. Japan is building five new power plants by 2010, and China plans to build 30 nuclear reactors, based on domestic designs, by 2020. China also sees nuclear technology as a major export opportunity, say industry analysts, and is building its second of four power plants for Pakistan, which may lead to a larger order. India has nine power plants under construction, including a fast-breeder reactor that generates its own fuel.

Six countries—Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, the Czech Republic, and Turkey—may build two to five PWRs each, while Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland are now reevaluating plans to phase-out nuclear power.

The US nuclear power industry has been virtually frozen since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, but in the US Congress 2005 energy bill, tax credits worth $3.1 billion, along with liability protection and compensation for legislative delays, were added for the industry. On 30 December 2005, for the first time in years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certified the design of a new reactor.

According to representatives of the electric utilities involved, the US government and the reactor technology suppliers are paying for most of the $150 million the certification process costs. "The utilities are waiting to see if they can get any more subsidies out of the government," says Lyman, "so it's still premature to say if any of them will go ahead." A satisfactory means for disposal of their radioactive waste products has not yet been announced.

But the nuclear power industry believes the first new US order is only two years away. Says NuStart Energy president Marilyn Kray, "Our country needs these advanced nuclear plants."

Abortion Outlawed In South Dakota

2006-02-23T05:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sure the left will be out in full force saying how millions of women will die because of this but I'm thinking the population of South Dakota will be rising soon.

South Dakota's state senate voted on Wednesday for an abortion ban aimed at giving the conservative-tilting Supreme Court an opening to overturn rulings granting women the right to the procedure.

Only an unlikely veto by Republican Gov. Michael Rounds could prevent the legislation from becoming law, people on both sides of the issue said.

"If he chooses to sign it, we will be filing a lawsuit in short order to block it,"said Kate Looby of Planned Parenthood.

Two years ago, Rounds vetoed a similar bill, saying it would wipe out existing restrictions on abortion while it was fought in the courts. A rewritten bill lost narrowly.

Some legislators opposed to abortion rights questioned whether it was premature to challenge Roe v. Wade, and said litigation would prove expensive for the sparsely populated state. An anonymous donor has offered $1 million to the state to defray the costs of litigation.

American's Left To Defend The Border, Without The Government

2006-02-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”), announced plans for the group’s nationwide “Secure Our Borders” campaign in April 2006. Simcox also announced a new operational structure for the original Minuteman Border Project to meet the growing needs of the continued expansion of Minuteman border security operations.

Thousands of MCDC volunteers, augmented by the new national support team, will hold border watch patrols in northern and southern states along an estimated 800 miles of international borders during the month of April. The Minutemen will observe and report suspected illegal border crossings to the proper authorities. As always, they will maintain a “no contact” policy with the exception of providing emergency water to those illegal aliens found in distress in the wilderness.

Last year, MCDC revolutionized the national debate about border security and illegal immigration by focusing the nation’s attention on the dangers of America’s wide-open borders in a post 9/11 world. The Minutemen have demonstrated that the borders can be secured with sufficient political will and dedication.

Since the MCDC 23-mile border watch in April, 2005, interest in joining and supporting the Minutemen has exploded nationwide. MCDC chapters have been formed in southern and northern border states, as well as interior states. To date, 6,500 men and women have passed the required background check and interviews to qualify to become official Minuteman Border Project volunteers – with more waiting in the queue for approval. Over 120,000 people have become friends of the Minutemen through their support and volunteer work.

Given the success of the Minuteman Border Project efforts, and two successful month long 24/7 operations conducted in April and October of 2005, a new national volunteer operational structure has been launched to support the Minutemen. The new structure is necessary to respond to these thousands of volunteers and supporters asking what they can do to help.

MCDC has asked for and accepted the help of experienced border volunteers who have been on the front lines, some for as long as four years. With this expansion we will be ready for the thousands of volunteers who will participate in the “Secure Our Borders” operation in April 2006. This expansion further solidifies MCDC’s ability to continue the largest neighborhood watch effort in American history. The Minutemen will continue their civil defense operations assisting authorities in securing the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada until properly relieved.

Contact MCDC at (520)829-3112 or info@minutemanhq.com

Oscar Committe: Ethics 'Issues' More Important Than Movie Quality

2006-02-22T13:13:00.000-05:00

'Heavy' issues of ethics and morality dominate socially-conscious Oscars.

Oscar has developed a social conscience this year, with weighty real-life themes, ranging from ethics in big business and media to racial tensions, dominating the movies vying for the big prizes.

US inner city tensions, terror in the Middle East, freedom of expression and the thorny subject of tolerance of gays complete the quiver of unusually serious issues inspired by world events that faces Oscar voters this year.

"A few years ago the serious film would have been the odd man out, but there is more bias to them by awards givers and more acceptance for weighty films, both fiction and documentary, by audiences," Marty Grove, columnist for the Hollywood Reporter.

All five of the best picture and best director nominees this year deal with issues that Hollywood once thought too serious and too dark for mainstream movie-goers, as do nominees in several of the other major categories.

"Capote," about the writing of author Truman Capote's seminal novel "In Cold Blood," takes a hard look at journalistic ethics, while George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" is the still-relevant story of a newsman's stand against US senator Joseph McCarthy's repressive 1950s communist witch-hunt.

Movie legend Steven Spielberg's "Munich" tells the story of Israel's tough response to the murder of its athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics, while "Brokeback Mountain," which leads the Oscar race with eight nods, is the aching story of two farm hands who fall in love in the conservative American West.

And the serious 'issue driven' movie pervade more than just the best picture and best director categories.

Fernando Meirelles's thriller "The Constant Gardner," nominated for four Oscars including best supporting actress for Rachael Weisz and best adapted screenplay, tells of the ruthless tactics of a multi-national pharmaceutical company in Africa.

The drama "Syriana" studies the shadowy machinations of US oil firms in the Middle East, and bagged two nominations, including one for Clooney as best supporting actor.

"In the post 9/11 world there are concerns with issues that we face, including morality of the media and of politicians or of global corporations. All of this is grist for the filmmakers' mill" Grove said.

The US-led war in Iraq, a string of high-profile corporate fraud cases including fallen energy giant Enron, US media failures to act as an effective watchdog of government and to check sources have exercised the minds of movie-goers, said popular culture expert Leo Braudy.

"I tend to see it as the dark side of James Bond, escapist movies in which the hero ... triumphs against the single megalomaniac, said the University of Southern California professor and author.

"Now you have a much more globalised world as we see in 'Syriania', when there is an interplay of multiple perspectives of global issues. The James Bond model is too easy now. Life isn't that simple any more," Braudy said. There is no good and evil anymore.

But while the Oscars have this year eschewed classic picturesque epics -- with the exception of "Memoirs of a Geisha," which won six nods, although none in the major categories -- they have forsaken entertainment value.

The nominated filmmakers may be tackling weighty issues, but to the common man, they are engaging in stodgy ideological diatribes that no-one cares about anymore. Films were supposed to be , at one time, about entertaining people. But todays Hollywood crop is more about lecturing the audience about the evils of their society while completely dismissing dissenting opinion.

The Hollywood agenda is clear. Making money is no longer the driving source behind Hollywood movies. Whomever can cast the most negative light on the society that created them is the seeming goal of Holloywood these days.

So long as the messages being sent out are of the appropriately, anti-american, anti-society, all ills in the world are, at the root, the US's fault, it no longer matters the entertainment value of the movie. So long as the propaganda message gets across, it doesn't matter if anyone actualy watches them.

Korean Youths Side With Communist Dictatorship Over US

2006-02-22T01:35:00.000-05:00

Nearly half of South Korean youths who will be old enough to vote in the country's next elections say Seoul should side with North Korea if the United States attacks the communist nation, according to a poll released Wednesday.

At the same time, 40.7 percent of the 1,000 young people surveyed said Seoul should remain neutral in the event of hostilities between Washington and Pyongyang, according to the poll by The Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo dailies. Only 11.6 percent said the South should back its longtime U.S. ally.

The poll, conducted Feb. 16-19, surveyed youths between 17 and 23 years old who will be old enough to vote in next year's presidential election. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The youths named China as South Korea's most important partner for maintaining friendly relations, at 39.5 percent, followed by the United States and North Korea at 18.4 and 18 percent, respectively.

A majority of those surveyed, 54.1 percent, said peaceful reunification was the preferred method for ending the division on the peninsula. But 35.5 percent said the status quo should be maintained if the North and South can peacefully coexist.

Where Does Sensitivity End And Facists Dictatorship Begin?

2006-02-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

Lorenzo Vidin of the Boston Herald asks a couple of pertinent questions, based upon the Danish Cartoon controversy.

The key question is: where do we place that limit? How far must we compromise to respect other peoples’ feelings? Last year, for example, two Scottish Muslim organizations tried to prevent a Glasgow restaurant from obtaining the authorization required to sell alcohol to patrons sitting outdoors, claiming it was offensive to any Muslim passers-by.

Are we going to reach a point where no alcohol will be served in public places, as that could offend Muslims? By the same token, some Muslims are offended by mini-skirts and other revealing clothes. Are we going to implement a culturally-sensitive dress code for Western women on our own turf? The question is not so preposterous, given the acts of kowtowing that abound in the West.

If not, then why not? After all, if we are going to limit rights long seen as inalienable -- rights with which we were endowed by our Creator, to crib a phrase from jefferson -- why shouldn't we accept these more limited restrictions based upon the need to be sensitive to those who utterly reject Western notions of freedom?

Tax Cuts Bring In More Money Than Tax Hikes

2006-02-21T22:49:00.000-05:00

Something than no democrat would ever admit, encouraging growth actually produces growth. Taxation to the hilt only produces bankruptcies.

Ever since the Senate approved the last major tax relief bill, in 2003, revenues have increased every year. In 2004, they went up 5.5%. Last year, they rose 14.5%, the largest increase in nearly 25 years.

Total government collections, in fact, increased more after President Bush's 2003 tax cuts than they did after President Clinton's 1994 tax hikes...

Republicans' decision to reduce taxes on capital gains and dividends provides a good case study in effective tax policy. When we enacted these measures in 2003, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that revenues would decline by $27 billion over the next two years. Instead, it turned out that the tax cut stimulated investment and increased revenues by $26 billion — a $53 billion difference.

American Taxpayers Funding Chinese Arbortions

2006-02-21T18:46:00.000-05:00

Congress is preparing to vote on an amendement that would restore U.S. funding for a United Nations agency accused of subsidizing communist China's coercive population control program.

The United Nations Population Fund's activities assist government efforts to force married couples to have only one or two children at most, according to an investigation by the Population Research Institute in 2001 and determinations by the U.S. State Department in 2002 and 2004. Penalties for breaking the law include heavy fines, loss of employment and other sanctions.

China maintains, at least in some areas of the country, a one-child policy sometimes enforced through a policy of forced abortions. It is believed China performs some 10 million involuntary abortions a year.

"If UNFPA wants U.S. funding, it must cease aiding human rights abuses in China," said Steve Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, or PRI.

Mosher said the UNFPA subsidizes a "despicable" program of forced contraception, abortion and sterilization that should reform or be abolished, not rewarded.

"So-called pro-choice leaders are revealed for the frauds that they are when they support money for this United Nations agency," he said.

Currently, a provision of U.S. law called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment directs the federal government to withhold funding from international organizations that assist coercion in population control programs.

As reported last July, the Bush administration withheld a $34 million payment from the UNFPA to China over the issue of forced abortions.

But Congress members who support abortion rights are about to offer an amendment to the State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill to restore funding for UNFPA.

In a 2004 letter, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said he "determined that UNFPA's support of, and involvement in, China's population-planning activities allowed the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion ... ."

As in 2002, Powell wrote, "UNFPA continues its support and involvement in China's coercive birth limitation program in counties where China's restrictive law and penalties are enforced by government officials."

Mosher noted that UNFPA officials praised China's coercive population control program as recently as 2001.

PRI sent an investigative team to China's Guangdong province in 2001 and discovered that in Sihui County, the UNFPA population control officer's desk was located in the Chinese government's population control office.

UNFPA claimed that Sihui County was free of coercive population control measures, but PRI said it spoke to victims and witnesses who confirmed the presence of coercion in Sihui County, included forced abortion and sterilization.

Even Death Won't Stop Wackjobs From Protesting You

2006-02-21T12:24:00.000-05:00

Wearing leather chaps and vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls from one soldier's funeral to another in hopes their respectful cheers and revving engines will drown out the insults of protesters.

The motorcycle club members calling themselves Patriot Guard Riders are trying to shield mourners from cruel jeers by adherents of a tiny fundamentalist church who picket military funerals to reflect their belief that U.S. combat deaths are a sign God is punishing the United States for harboring homosexuals. Some protesters' signs said, 'Thank God for IEDs,' the improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs, that kill many U.S. soldiers.

"The most important thing we can do is let families know that the nation cares," said Don Woodrick, the biker group's Kentucky captain. "When a total stranger gets on a motorcycle in the middle of winter and drives 300 miles to hold a flag, that makes a powerful statement."

Across the nation, Patriot Guard Riders number more than 5,000. They show up at soldiers' funerals to chant patriotic slogans and wave red, white and blue flags in hopes of overshadowing backers of a Kansas clergyman named the Rev. Fred Phelps.

Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church have caused such a fuss that at least 14 states are considering laws aimed at the funeral protests. During the 1990s, church members were known mostly for picketing funerals of AIDS victims, and they have long been tracked as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project in Montgomery, Alabama.

At a recent memorial service at Fort Campbell, church protesters and sang vulgar songs condemning homosexuals and soldiers. The Patriot Guard was also there, cheering to support mourning families across the street as community members came in a freezing rain to chant "U-S-A, U-S-A" alongside the bikers.

"This is just the right thing to do. This is something America didn't do in the '70s," said Kurt Mayer, the Patriot Guard's national spokesman, referring to the era when protests against the Vietnam war were common. "Whether we agree with why we�re over there, these soldiers are dying to protect our freedoms."

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of Fred Phelps and an attorney for the Topeka, Kansas-based church, said neither state laws nor the Patriot Guard can silence their message that God killed the soldiers because they fought for a country that embraces homosexuals.

The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' extended family. A small group of them appeared last month in West Virginia outside a memorial for the 12 men killed in the Sago Mine disaster. They held signs reading "Thank God for Dead Miners" and "Miners in Hell."

Kentucky, home to sprawling Fort Campbell, was among the first states to attempt to deal with Phelps legislatively. Its House and Senate have each passed bills that would limit people from protesting within 300 feet of a funeral or memorial service. The Senate version would also keep protesters from being within earshot of grieving friends and family members.

The Indiana Senate has passed a bill intended to prohibit protests within 500 feet (150 meters) of funerals. The House is considering the measure.

The bills were written to protect families of soldiers such as Pvt. Jonathan R. Pfender, 22, of Evansville, Indiana, a soldier from Fort Campbell�s 101st Airborne Division who was killed in January by a roadside bomb in Beiji, Iraq.

Westboro church members protested at Pfender's funeral, screaming profanities at mourners as they passed. Family members were shielded from the insults by the rumble of Patriot Guard motorcycles.

From Israel To Iran, HAMAS Goes Panhandling, Carter In Tow

2006-02-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

After loosing its western funding first, then Israeli blood money, HAMAS is now trying to get Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to fund it's terrorists regime.

Ayatollah Khamenei called on Muslims worldwide to provide cash to the Palestinians during his talks with the Islamic radical Hamas movement, state television reported.

“We must make a plan so all Muslims will be able to supply the Palestinians with a yearly 'financial aid package',” Khamenei told Hamas’ political leader Khaled Mashaal on Monday.

“This voluntary gesture will create a spiritual bond among Muslims and the Palestinian cause and have a great impact on the world,” Khamenei said.

He lauded Hamas for not moderating its fierce resistance to Israel after its upset victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections last month.

“The Hamas positions are fundamental and right,” he said, praising Palestinians for electing the Islamic party. “The Palestinian people voted knowing it meant choosing resistance and fighting the Zionist regime.”

Which seems odd considering Former president Jimmy Carter belives the same thing.

Un-American To Supporting American Foreign Policy?

2006-02-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

The Democratic Party has undertaken an organized campaign to drive Vetran, Col. Stephenson, two fellow servicemen and the families of servicemen who were killed in Iraq off the public airways.

Iraqi Combat Vetran, Stephenson and his group Wid-West Hero's Orginazation, ran ads on privately paid for local TV time to promote acceptance of the troops mission, that the media is promoting there own war. That the war fought in Iraq and the war reported in the US main stream media aren't the same war.

The ad features family's that have lost sons or daughters to the Iraq war speaking of the ties between Saddam and terrorists, terrorism in Iraq. That our sons and daughters are dying to spread freedom,

Main message of the ad being support of the the mission is inseperable from support of the troops. The mission to fight terrorists when they lay, not in the rubble-strewn streets of NY city.

The Democratic Party has officially pronounced that Col. Stephenson and his ads are "un-American." Demanding that the ads be pulled, that freedom of speech doesn't cover those who support the government. Denounced by the left as lies and trickery, its all factual, proven even in the liberal left wing, msm.

That such a thing could happen is almost beyond belief--a Marine officer with more than ten years of active duty labeled "un-American" for supporting America's foreign policy. To demand that his free speech be pulled in the most un-american of actions.

Terrorists Training Camp In Our Own Backyard

2006-02-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war'. Neighbors of Muslim encampment fear retaliation if they report to police.

The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter.

The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.

"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."

"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

The encampment in Hancock, N.Y., is run by a front for Jamaat ul-Fuqra called Muslims of the Americas Inc., which operates a school known as the International Quranic Open University Inc.
Every one of the neighboring residents interviewed expressed disappointment and additional concern that federal law enforcement is not investigating the activities, the report said.

"These people need to be investigated," a resident said. "They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops. Who in the h--- is allowing this stuff to happen right here in our own backyard, and why?"

Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in the U.S.

The group seeks to counter "excessive Western influence on Islam" through any means necessary, publicly embracing the ideology that violence is a significant part of its quest to purify Islam. The enemies of Islam, the group says, are all non-Muslims and any Muslim who does not follow the tenets of fundamentalist Islam as detailed in the Quran.

The report says Jamaat ul-Fuqra members have "purchased isolated rural properties in North America to live as a community, practice their faith, and insulate themselves from Western culture. The group has established rural encampments that U.S. authorities allege are linked to murder, bombings and other felonies throughout North America."

The report noted the property is near the Cannonsville Reservoir and Watershed Area, one of several water supply sources servicing New York City and adjacent areas. The investigators noted men appeared to be designated to provide security for the compound, with some posted at guard shacks.

"Although no activity of extreme significance was observed (the presence of armed sentries guarding the perimeter of the compound excluded) during this period of surveillance, it was obvious that measures to insure that the activities taking place at this location were well insulated from public view," the report said.

NAACP Opposes Represental Democracy

2006-02-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

The Department of Justice should postpone upcoming elections in New Orleans until enough black displaced voters have been located, NAACP officials said Saturday.

"We're worried about the voting rights of 'our' people in New Orleans who are not in New Orleans," said Bruce S. Gordon, NAACP president. "People should still have a say in what happens in the communities that were ravaged by Katrina."even if they no longer live there.

Last week, Gordon asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to make sure election procedures are fair. The Voting Rights Act allows federal officials to scrutinize election changes that may hurt minorities.

"If it requires us to take legal action, we will fight this," Gordon said.

In other words, they are afraid that there aren't enough black voters in New Orleans to ensure that Democrats remain firmly in power. They aren't interested in voting rights, but in voting outcomes.

There once was a war fought with the slogan of 'No taxation without representation'. What the NAACP want is entitlement without representation, or actual voters.

Web Makes Uncredable Claim On Cheney Shooting

2006-02-18T13:18:00.000-05:00

Personally I expected the msm to run this like its gospel but,

Website claims they have 'scientific' proof that the Cheney shooting is a coverup.

One word for them: Choke: choke, choke. No-one shoots quail with a punt gun.

I took a view and the errors are glaring. If this guy is such an expert maybe he can explain just what a choke is and its effect on pattern distribution. He admits that the barrel length is approx. the same but make no mention of the choke used by Mr. Cheney, or the gun(side by side?) he used. Any woman should be able to tell you, its about more than the length of your barrel, its how you use it. His gun couldn't even hit a chiken at 30 yards but for 1 'bb'. We're expected to belive that this is the kind of setup for shooting a 4 inch quail?

I happen to own a floating choke shotgun that allows the choke to be removed and replaced at -will (with a wrench). Doing some off the cuff research, its proven that the on-pattern percentage of common chokes varied from 25% on a 'stock' Winchester to a fine 80% on a custom made full choke. You get your 2.4 liter gasoline powered Nissan 240sx and I'll get my 2.4 liter gasoline powered Nissan 240sx and we'll see which is faster? One stock, and one "the same length," the same displacement. It makes for a world of difference under that hood even with same engine displacement, epecially if you don't know the specific modifications made by the owner(turbo, intake, exhaust, etc).

Nothing he has done is the same as Cheneys. What was the moisture content of the shells he's using? Age? Powder type? Shell manafacturer? BB Size? Lead or Lead Free Shot? Nylon Coated? Is there anything the same other than length of the barrel and length/weight of the shotgun shell? I hope no-one belives the shells are the same because they have the same weight. And don't make me bring up the possibility that the shell was a poor quality reload.

Embedded. Yes, Embeded into an artery 1 mm deep where can get circulated into the heart through the circulatory system. I don't remember hearing the shot penetrated his heart straight through the ribcage. Your ribcage has these elongated holes that run their entire length, you might want to check up on that. I would find it hard to belive that the heart would be penetrated yet the lungs be fine with a 13-14 inch spread on his ribcage/face. The lungs are several mms closer to the surface than the heart. Not to mention penetration of the windpipe.

I have to belive old white geezer skin is probaly less durable than shiny new plastic, especially if you rub some vaseline on it. 3mm deep into watermelon rind seems enought to bust into the artery on the neck which I believe has a straight shot down to the heart, or to pop on in through a luck gap near the breastbone. An unlucky ricochet off a rock on the ground could have a trajectory coming from below and hit under the bottom of the ribcage above the diaphram straight into the heart.

And as to the initial claims. 1. The Secret Service ia legitimate law enforcement personal. They have to right to lead, take charge, do the investagation. You only need look to the FBI for fine examples of federal authorities taking charge of local 'incidents'.

2. Press and law enforcements authorities aren't usally allowed to 'interview' people on their death bed. When your on the operating table the last thing you want are reporters screaming, 'spraying it, not saying it', all over the operating room. Just how clean do you think Charlie copper is after running down that street punk through the mud in the foot chase he had a few hours ago? Not to mention he has the right to have his lawyer present at any questioning. Watch some Law and Order SVU and read up on Miranda. They DON'T have the right to interview at will.

Schwarzenegger's Global Warming Solution

2006-02-18T12:27:00.000-05:00

It seems Arnold Schwarzenegger does have a solution to global warming. Make gas so expensive that no-one can use it except those in un-regulated markets. That and more beuracratic paperwork.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected this month to release a plan to combat global warming that recommends raising petroleum prices and requiring industries to report, for the first time, their greenhouse gas emissions.

So in China and India where a catalytic converter is unknow, this will help how? California allready is famous for exporting its polution by buying out of state power, materials, and services. This will only prove that once all business's are out of business that yes you can reduce co2 output by killing off everything. Everything gives off either co2 or methane, you and me included. The only way to fix that in the gov eyes is to either remove us or just send us overseas.
When all the business in California is dryed up it'll be up to the out-of-state taxpayer to bail out this failure of a policy. California will be the most un-competive, anti-busness state in the union.

I can't help but point out that changing the way animal crap is handeled is hardly a path to global warming reversal. And that acid rain causing sulfer is fine but heaven forbid the co2 from the cement used to build the infrastructure get into the atmosphere. Everything comes from something. You can't have a chicken without first having an egg. And as far as Arnold is concerned, you can't have greenhouse gasses without first killing off everything socialy productive.

Journalist See Cheney Shooting As Attack On Them

2006-02-17T15:45:00.000-05:00

For days, the White House news corps has pounded the Bush administration, demanding to learn more about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting companion Saturday.

Cheney finally addressed the incident Wednesday, but the forum in which he chose to do so -- in an exclusive interview with Fox News host Brit Hume -- quickly became another source of contention.

Fox News executives cast the scoop as the result of persistence and the growing clout of the top-rated cable news network.

"We've been after the vice president since Sunday, as everyone has, and our efforts paid off," said John Moody, Fox's senior vice president for news editorial. "I think he wanted to make sure he got a fair interview and a good interview -- good in the sense of thorough -- and Brit is sort of the pre-eminent journalist in Washington right now."

But some Democrats and competing broadcasters charged that Cheney chose to speak only with Fox News because of a perception that the cable channel is sympathetic to the Republican administration. They called for the vice president to hold a news conference with the rest of the media.

Assuming Mr. Whittington doesn’t die and there are not contradictions in Cheney’s account of what happened, this story is over, and it will have no lasting impact on the Bush administration. Because once again the MSM and the left have massively overreacted to a story in an attempt to damage the Bush administration, and the backlash against their overreaction will counteract whatever political damage this story may have caused.

UN Issues Report, Complete With No Actual Knowledge

2006-02-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

In a report released today, the United Nations says the United States should shut down the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, and either release them or put them on trial.

But, get this...

The report, summarizing an investigation by five U.N. experts who did not visit Guantanamo, said photographic evidence and testimony of former prisoners showed that detainees were shackled, chained, hooded and beaten if they resisted.

As Scott McClellan noted, the detainees have been trained to disseminate false allegations. The amazing thing is that people...err, more specifically, the Hate-America Left fall for it, and take the side of the terrorists.

So, the United Nations is basing their entire report on the testimony of suspected terrorists, and not their own firsthand knowledge of what actually happens there.

Bottom line: the report is about as useful as toilet paper, and might as well be used as such.

Chicago Refuses Republicans, Have Better Things Too Do 10 Years From Now

2006-02-16T19:10:00.000-05:00

The Republican National Committee said yesterday that Chicago and 30 other cities were asked to submit bids to host their 2008 convention.

But a spokeswoman for Mayor Richard Daley says City Hall isn't interested in hosting Republicans.

Chicago hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1996 but when it comes to Republicans: thanks but no thanks. They have other better things to do than host the democraticaly elected representatives of their government.

The Olympics 10 years from now was listed as a more important to them than the largest political party in the US.

Governor Of Maryland : "I no longer have confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections"

2006-02-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said Wednesday that he has lost confidence in the state's ability to hold fair and secure elections this fall, and called for paper receipts for Maryland's electronic voting machines, and the delay of early-voting procedures approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature."

'In light of these recent national decertifications and the Maryland General Assembly's decision to override my vetoes ... I no longer have confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006,' said Ehrlich, a Republican, in his letter to Board of Elections Chairman Gilles W. Burger.

Democrats criticized Ehrlich's apparent shift on the paper-receipt issue, noting that he vetoed a bill last year that would have 'studied' the option. Advocates of reforming the state's voting system cheered Ehrlich's remarks, which he made a day before a Senate committee is to hold hearings on a bill that would require a paper trail.

Earlier in 2004, a team assembled by Columbia-based RABA, proved that the voting system was easily compromised, allowing results to be whatever a script kiddie wanted them to be.

RABA team members found that individual machines could be disabled by jamming a voter card into a terminal or lifting it up and pulling out wires. The team guessed passwords on the cards that were needed to access the machines, and found the passwords were contained in the source code of the computers.

The team also said the computer server that tabulates election results did not have security updates from Microsoft Corp. Team members were able to break into the server remotely via dial-up modem.

Wertheimer of RABA Technologies said he was surprised that each of Maryland's machines has two identical locks, which could be opened by any one of the 32,000 keys. The report also stated it was easy to pick the locks.

The president of the company that makes the machines in question, a large democrat donor, assured the public that major software changes were "not needed".

Linda Lamone, administrator of the State Board of Elections, said it would be 'too risky' to install different passwords and make sure election judges had the right passwords.

Too riskty to ensure proper voting tabulation! Democrats hard at work.

Democrats Proving Their Own Point On Private Seceracy

2006-02-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

With all the carrying on with Dick Cheney shooting that guy, it only goes to prove that they themselves are the kings and queens of hypocrisy.

Harry Reid had a stroke, 3 days
Vincent Foster's suicide note, 30 hours
David Barrett report, 10 years

And should we even talk about Kerry's swiftboat war record?

I have enough sense to not attack someone for doing what I do. I don't bitch about people driving fast on the beltway. I don't piss and moan about people who smoke. When will democrats realize that by attacking those who do what they do, they're secretly attack themselves. Oh yea, thats right: Do as I say, not as I do.

At least unlike Kennedy, Cheney's victum is still alive.

University of Washington Says War Hero Not The 'Sort Of Person UW Wanted To Produce'

2006-02-13T19:45:00.000-05:00

The University of Washington has rejected a memorial for UW alum, Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of Baa Baa Black Sheep fame.

"Jill Edwards didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce" and "Ashley Miller commented that are allready too many monuments at UW to commemorate rich white men."

To have our Washington youth revised history so much as this? To compare Boyington (or for that matter any of our WW2 vets) to murderers? What are these kids being taught today? They don't deserve those 20 months Pappy spent being tortured and beaten in a Japanese prison camp...they don't deserve any of what our grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed to free Europe and the Pacific. Is it perhaps because those precious people are soon to be gone that we feel free to engage in leftist amnesia? I'm angry about this...how dare these snot nose, hemp-wearing, pot smoking, drum beating, dreadlock wearing, "gee when is the financial aid check going to arrive", brat kids diss Pappy Boyington?

Another Crazy Discrimination Suit

2006-02-13T19:40:00.000-05:00

On the heels of the woman suing an airline company for racism for being too fat, an Idaho man has sued for discrimination because he refused to take a drug test.

James McNeil was fired from the Idahoan processed potato company in 2004, after he failed to take a drug test.

Now McNeil is suing the company, claiming he was discriminated against because he is mentally retarded.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court, McNeil was unable to provide the urine sample needed for the drug test. He allegedly asked company officials to let him drink some water and try again later, but they refused. He also was allegedly turned down when he volunteered to take a blood test instead.

McNeil claims the company discriminated against him by failing to provide reasonable accommodations for his disability during the test. What that has to do with being retarded I don't know.

Having Solved All Other Human Rights Problem In The World, UN Turn To US Military Prison

2006-02-13T14:08:00.000-05:00

A United Nations' inquiry will call for the immediate closure of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the prosecution of officers and politicians "up to the highest level" who are accused of torturing detainees.

The U.N. Human Rights Commission report, to be published this week, concludes that Washington should put the 520 detainees on trial or release them.

The report calls for the United States to halt all "practices amounting to torture," including the force-feeding of inmates who go on hunger strike.

No mention of the wholesale execution of political dissetents in China. Nothing on the ethnic genocide in Africa. Nothing on Muslim world-wide killing the Infidels. Force feeding to keep people alive is the UN's number one priority.

Just who is on the UN's Commission on Human Rights making these accusations you might ask? Such tribunes of the people as China, Cuba, Egypt, Mauritiana, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe are those passing judgement on us, that is when they aren't massacring their own people, of course.

The fox isn't guarding the henhouse, the fox is passing judgement that a fence around the henhouse is illegal.

Why is the UN relavent anymore? This corruption-clad organization of corrupt socialists who go all out to help terrorists and denounce the United States has no use anymore. Their goal isn't any human rights, their goal is totalitarism, a internation government where they can do what no single country can do. Return the world third world status. Destroy civilization, so local thugocracies can rule supreme.

Arabs Set To Control US Ports Of Entry, 6 Of Them

2006-02-13T00:28:00.000-05:00

A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with know ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.

The Bush administration considers the UAE an important ally in the fight against terrorism since the suicide hijackings and is not objecting to Dubai Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

The $6.8 billion sale is expected to be approved Monday. The British company is the fourth largest ports company in the world and its sale would affect commercial U.S. port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

War At US/Mexico Border Heating Up

2006-02-13T00:07:00.000-05:00

Mexican criminal syndicates are stepping up their attacks on American agents patrolling the border as officials of the Homeland Security Department intensify efforts to stem the flow of immigrants and drugs into the United States, American officials said this week.

In recent months, scores of Border Patrol agents have been fired upon or pelted with large stones as well as with cloth-covered stones that have been doused with flammable liquid and set ablaze. Since October, agents have been attacked in more than 190 cases, officials said on Thursday.

Most of the attacks have occurred along the Mexican border near San Diego, but shootings have also been reported along the border in Texas near the cities of Laredo and McAllen. In the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, there were 778 attacks on agents, up from 374 in the previous fiscal year, Homeland Security Department officials said.

As for the violence on the border, the officials said Mexico had deployed 300 federal officers along its side of the border to help out. But many of the Mexican gangs remain entrenched.

Last week, immigration officials announced that they had seized a cache of weapons, including materials for 33 explosive devices, assault weapons and machine gun assembly kits, in Laredo. Officials believe the weapons were intended for criminals in Mexico.

"These are very sophisticated, hardened criminals who will use violence to protect their criminal businesses," Mr. Chertoff said. "We've got to be prepared to deal very decisively with any violence directed at our Border Patrol agents."

US VP Shoots Attorney

2006-02-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

US Vice President Dick Cheney shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday.

The accident occurred Saturday at a ranch in south Texas where the vice president and several companions were hunting quail. It was not reported publicly by the vice president's office for nearly 24 hours, and then only after it was reported locally by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times on its Web site Sunday.

Katharine Armstrong, the ranch's owner, said Sunday that Cheney was using a 28-gauge shotgun and that Whittington was about 30 yards away when he was hit in the cheek, neck and chest.

Each of the hunters was wearing a bright orange vest at the time, Armstrong told reporters at the ranch about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi. She said Whittington was "alert and doing fine."

"He is very, very lucky that nothing seriously was injured," Sally Whittington said in a story in Sunday's online edition of The Dallas Morning News. She said her father was being observed because of swelling from some of the welts on his neck.

"It looks like chicken pox, kind of," she said of her father's face.

Armstrong told The Associated Press emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended to Whittington before an ambulance — routinely on call because of the vice president's presence — took him to a hospital in Kingsville. From there, Whittington was flown by helicopter to Corpus Christi about 40 miles away.

Whittington shot a bird and went to retrieve it in the tall grass, while Cheney and the third hunter walked to another spot and discovered a second covey.

Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," Armstrong said.

"The vice president didn't see him," she continued. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

McBride said the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident Saturday because they were deferring to Armstrong to handle the announcement of what happened on her property. Armstrong called the local paper about the incident on Sunday.

Armstrong, owner of the Armstrong Ranch where the accident occurred, said Whittington was bleeding after he was shot and Cheney was very apologetic.

"It broke the skin," she said of the shotgun pellets. "It knocked him silly. But he was fine. He was talking. His eyes were open. It didn't get in his eyes or anything like that.

"Fortunately, the vice president has got a lot of medical people around him and so they were right there and probably more cautious than we would have been," she said. "The vice president has got an ambulance on call, so the ambulance came."

Cheney is an avid hunter who makes annual trips to South Dakota to hunt pheasants. He also travels frequently to Arkansas to hunt ducks, among other places.

Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together.

"This is something that happens from time to time. You know, I've been peppered pretty well myself," said Armstrong.

The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential south Texas family since the turn of the last century. Katharine is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He died in October. Cheney was among the dignitaries who attended his funeral.

Cheney was legally hunting with a license he purchased in November, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Steve Lightfoot said. The vice president flew back to Washington on Sunday evening, according to his office.

Jimmy Cater Caught Calling Kettle Black

2006-02-11T23:23:00.000-05:00

In 1977, Mr. Carter and his attorney general, Griffin B. Bell, authorized warrantless electronic surveillance used in the conviction of two men for spying on behalf of Vietnam.

The men, Truong Dinh Hung and Ronald Louis Humphrey, challenged their espionage convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which unanimously ruled that the warrantless searches did not violate the men's rights.

In its opinion, the court said the executive branch has the "inherent authority" to wiretap enemies such as terror plotters and is excused from obtaining warrants when surveillance is "conducted 'primarily' for foreign intelligence reasons."

The Truong case, however, involved surveillance that began in 1977, before the enactment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which established a secret court for granting foreign intelligence warrants.

Democrats and some Republicans in Congress say FISA guidelines, approved in 1978 when Mr. Carter was president, are the only way the president may conduct surveillance on U.S. soil.

Administration officials say the president has constitutional authority to conduct surveillance without warrants in the name of national security. The only way Congress could legitimately curtail that authority, they argue, is through an amendment to the Constitution.

The administration's view has been shared by previous Democrat administrations, including Mr. Carter's. When Mr. Bell testified in favor of FISA, he told Congress that while the measure doesn't explicitly acknowledge the "inherent power of the president to conduct electronic surveillance," it "does not take away the power of the president under the Constitution."

President Of Black Panthers Calls Bush Most Violent Person On Earth

2006-02-11T01:22:00.000-05:00

Malik Zulu Shabazz, the President of the “New Black Panther Movement”, one of the most violent and racist hate groups in our country appeared on Hannity & Colmes (2/9) and called President Bush “the most violent man on the planet” and added that Rev. Joseph Lowery would agree. Lowery was on the show later that evening and didn’t seem to say what Shabazz said he would. In the beginning of the interview, Shabazz condoned the violent actions by Muslims protesting the Muhammad cartoons.

21 Hurt As Van Carrying 28 Tries To Crash US Border

2006-02-11T00:41:00.000-05:00

A U.S. Border Patrol pursuit near San Diego ended on Friday when a van transporting illegal immigrants crashed, injuring at least 21 people on board, including eight critically, police said.

The other injuries were apparently minor, said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. He said the van involved in the crash was carring 28 people.

The pursuit began early in the afternoon when the drivers of three vans and a sedan, possibly transporting illegal immigrants, fled from federal agents near the US-Mexico border in southern San Diego County, authorities said.

The pursuit ended when the driver of one of the vehicles veered, spun out of control, careened off the freeway and overturned in a gully, police said.

Media Anti-Bush Bias So Obvious As To Be Un-Hideable

2006-02-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

So where were the glowing headlines about the economy?

In fact, the lack of headlines prompted a search of the Lexis Nexis database to compare magazine articles written about the topic of economic recovery for President Clinton in 1993 and 1994 and for President Bush in 2004 and 2005; years when the economy began to show significant improvements for both presidents.

The search turned up 320 articles for President Clinton and 260 for President Bush. The searches produced articles published by well-known news magazines, financial publications as well as trade publications...

Not only did US News and World Report and Time Magazine publish significantly more articles about Clinton, but the tone of the articles was very different, as well...

At a time when unemployment was at 6.5 percent, and GDP was forecasted to be 3 percent in 1994, Time Magazine wrote, "which would be no boom, but maybe something much better: a pace that could be sustained for a long time, keeping income and employment growing without igniting a new surge in inflation…. The circle (of spending, production and hiring) may not spin fast enough to produce a boom -- but who wants one anyway? Moderate, steady growth is better."

Now compare it to the one Time Magazine article ("How Real is the Squeeze?") written about economic recovery under President Bush. Keep in mind that at the time the article was written GDP grew 3.9 percent in the first quarter of 2004 (which was subsequently revised upward to 4.3 percent) and unemployment was at 5.6 percent.

"Jonathan Thornton finally found a job this spring after six months of unemployment. "My wife and I almost parted ways after 13 years because of the financial strain," he says. When he started work in April as a crane operator at a screw manufacturer in the Cleveland, Ohio, area, Thornton treated his wife Rita to a few little luxuries -- a day at the salon, an evening out with the girls. "My outlook has definitely brightened," he says. But Thornton's optimism goes only so far. His paycheck has grown, but the family is still just getting by…. There's supposed to be an economic recovery under way. But the numbers paint a confusing picture."

So where's the comment that "moderate, steady growth is better," particularly when the GDP growth and unemployment rate were better in 2004 than in 1993? None to be found

Would Hillary Refuse To Stop Terrorists Attacks? Listen To Political Enemies?

2006-02-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

Prior to her talk at Bridgewater College, scheduled for Thursday night, ACLU KIC(Kook in charge aka president) Nadine Strossen questioned elements of the Bush administration’s surveillance program that have recently been proven effective at stopping mulitple terrorist attacks if Hilary Clinton had been on the job.

“If Hillary Clinton were president, would they (conservatives) feel comfortable with (the electronic surveillance program)? I don’t think so,” Strossen said. Apparently she feels that we (conservatives) would glady sacrafice our lives to Islamofacists to spite Hillary Clinton. Doesn't she know only democrats get off by killing their own. Nevermind the fact that her husband was president, and did use wiretaps. Someone once told me 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' which by extension means if it isn't working it needs to be fixed. Her husband proved that fact first hand.

"Granted, if given the authority over America’s national security apparatus, Sen. Clinton might be tempted to use it to keep track of Bill. However, if President Hillary Clinton had been in office when a 9-11 attack occurred, one assumes she would use the program to listen in on America’s enemies." So in effect your saying that Bush is doing this, and Hillary would too? What about her husband's proven past? I would think if Bush was doing this we'd seen Plame removed, or other NUMEROUS left wing attacks thwarted. It seems only effective againt al-qaeda, too bad. As to Hillary's desire to do so, why don't you quite scare mongering. Look at her husband's monitoring of Strom Thurmand and then talk some shit.

"The ACLU president said she is worried that the administration would expand warrantless wiretaps to 'anti-war activists, environmental groups,' and others." Well I worry some Islamofacists will fly an United Airlines flight into my office building. Which has been proven true? Which one has actually happened? Which one has killed more American citizens?

"Americans are more trusting of the NSA professionals than, say, the ACLU. The ACLU, after all, is the organization that sent out 'monitors' to spy on the Minutemen patrolling the southern border and ignored the illegal aliens crossing into this nation. The ACLU always seems to enjoy obstructing law-abiding persons while defending criminals."

True, so true. ACLU. All criminals love us.

ACLU Forcing Boy Scouts Out Over God Stance

2006-02-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

Troops of Boy Scouts(a private organization) in Macomb County and around the country are scuttling their organizational charter agreements with local governments, fearing legal action from the American Civil Liberties Union for requiring allegiance to God.

An official at the Boy Scouts of America’s regional Clinton Valley Council, which oversees most Scout troops in Macomb and Oakland counties, confirmed this week the group is directing dozens of local packs and troops to seek out new charter agreements in the private sector rather than with government bodies because of possible litigation.

“This will allow us to focus our resources on the children and to continue helping them take part in activities and learn skills, rather than worry about lawsuits and defending the organizations that work with us,” said Kevin Nichols, a supervisor of charter organization and registration matters for the Clinton Valley Council of the Scouts in Waterford.

This pledge, along with any other required acknowledgment of God, poses a supposedly tacit government endorsement or sanctioning of religion violating the Establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution — at least whenever it involves Boy Scout troops in a charter agreement with a government body, the ACLU has contended in recent litigation.

“There wasn’t really litigation threatened. We sent just served them (the Scouts) papers saying that we’d noticed the number of these arrangements with government agencies and we were concerned,” said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the ACLU of Illinois where the controversy first originated. “And they’ve responded by informing us they will go ahead and alter those arrangements on their own.”

The Oath in question, which I once took, is as follows:

On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To Keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

This is the principles the ACLU is attacking. The ACLU is proudly blazing on the path to moral destruction, collecting exorbant lawyers fees all the way.

Muslim World Back Removal Of Freedom

2006-02-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

The Muslim world's two main political bodies say they are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible sanctions, to 'protect' religion from free speech after the publication in Scandinavia of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of Organisation of the Islamic Conference, said in Cairo on Sunday that the international body would "ask the UN general assembly to pass a resolution banning attacks on religious beliefs". How that would play against them and their anti-semitism would prove to be interesting.

"Consultations are currently taking place at the highest level between Arab countries and the OIC to ask the UN to adopt a binding resolution banning contempt of religious beliefs and providing for sanctions to be imposed on contravening countries or institutions," he said.

MP Shaikh Mohammed Khalid Mohammed urged people to stop buying Danish and Norwegian products until both countries apologise.

"So what if businesses in Bahrain will be affected, Islam is far more important than anything," he is quoted as saying.

More important than freedom, more important than Jews, more important than living. It more important Islam not isulted than Islamofacists murdering the innocent world wide.

In order to express their displeasure with the idea that Muslims are violent, thousands of Muslims around the world engaged in rioting, arson, mob savagery, flag-burning, murder and mayhem.

NYTimes Staff Walk Out Over Danish Cartoons

2006-02-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

The editorial staff of the left-wing tabloid 'New York Press' walked out today, en masse, after the paper's publishers backed down from printing the Danish cartoons that have become the center of a global free-speech fight.

For all the talk of freedom of speech, only the New York Sun and two other papers nationally have mustered the minimal courage needed to print simple and not the especially offensive cartoons that have been used as a pretext for great and greatly menacing violence directed against journalists, cartoonists, humanitarian aid workers, diplomats and others who represent the basic values and obligations of Western civilization. Having been ordered at the 11th hour to pull the now-infamous Danish cartoons from an issue dedicated to them, the editorial group—consisting of Ben Smith, managing editor Tim Marchman, arts editorJonathan Leaf and one-man city hall bureau Azi Paybarah, chose instead to resign their positions.

They're said to have "no desire to be free speech martyrs, but it would have been nakedly hypocritical to avoid the same cartoons we'd criticized others for not running, cartoons that however absurdly have inspired arson, kidnapping and murder and forced cartoonists in at least two continents to go into hiding. Editors have already been forced to leave papers in Jordan and France for having run these cartoons. We have no illusions about the power of the Press (NY Press, we mean), but even on the far margins of the world-historical stage, we are not willing to side with the enemies of the values we hold dear, a free press not least among them."

Michael Jackson Loses Price Of Bahrain Welfare Check

2006-02-09T17:05:00.000-05:00

Reportedly, Michael Jackson has been cut off and kicked out by Prince Abdullah, son of the King of Bahrain. "He is no longer, I repeat, not doing it anymore — not funding Jackson, his kids and nanny in an extended stay in Bahrain."

The first clue that this was the case was Jackson's traveling last week from Bahrain to Germany, and then on to Italy — on commercial flights in business class. There was no more private plane.

But now its been told, that the prince has been informed by his family, the al-Khalifa clan, that Jackson is no longer welcome to unlimited generosity from the Bahraini royals.

In fact, Jackson is aware of this. Sources say he had found a couple of wealthy families in Dubai who helped him out, but their largesse was limited.

"Jackson is essentially bouncing around the United Arab Emirates looking for handouts."

Compounding this now dire situation is a sharp, harsh reality: Jackson's $270 million worth of loans owned by Fortress Investments are due on Feb. 20.

Fortress had given Jackson a 60-day extension, which began on Dec. 20, to resolve his problems with it, but nothing's happened. Now Fortress will either foreclose on Feb. 20 or make a deal with Sony Music.

Sony, I am told, doesn't want Fortress to foreclose and send Jackson's loans to a public auction via bankruptcy court. Sony has been negotiating for weeks with Fortress, sources say, to avoid that development.

But either way, Jackson's inability to deal with reality and his financial problems constitutes a veritable house of cards. And it's all about to come crashing down.

Today will be the seventh week in a row that employees at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch have not received paychecks.

University Of Washington Calling For Censorship, Cites Iran's Example

2006-02-09T15:03:00.000-05:00

Too much freedom?

Free speech is a vital characteristic in many societies, including our own. We Americans can more or less say whatever we want about anything we want -- we can even publicly insult our president, provided it is done peacefully. People in some countries cannot even begin to fathom that kind of freedom, but if the educational elitest have their way that'll be a thing of the past everywhere.

What happens when free speech and other freedoms undermine 'respect' for others? Who determines what 'respect for others' is followed? What is respect defined? Will I be arrested for dis-respecting a gang member beacuse I failed to bow?

If a book called for the death of those who don't follow it, is it legitimate to 'respect' it?

By saying our personal liberties can interfere with another aspect of a civilized society, is giving up socital control to those who aren't even in our society. Will we be sell ourselves out to those a world away? Jenna Snavely, The University Of Washington thinks we should.

In a free society, we are all welcome to defend our own beliefs, but should we be forced to change our opinions for a common good? The common good that is not our-own?

Respect for the beliefs of our fellow citizens is something the world seems to be lacking. Respect for free thought. Respect for an individual opinion. Respect for not being a mindless drove programmed by others.

'We cannot simply agree to disagree -- we feel compelled to insult and degrade one another, instead of debating civilly.'

We agreed to disagree and it got us 9/11. Standing by silently, respecting others, is what the Jews did in ww2 and look what it got them.

As Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman told the press, "Freedoms should be accompanied by responsibility." Government enforced responsibility.

Free speech is something America and Europe must always preserve, but tolerance is imperative to the cohesiveness of any society. And when free speech breaches tolerance, society will undoubtedly suffer.

As such, when sensitive issues such as religion arise, tolerance should prevail. Yes, we should censor ourselves in order to keep the peace -- otherwise, hatred and resentment ensue.

Yes, we should bow down to any foreign influence for fear of offending them. Yes we should kill ourselves, to save them the trouble of conquering them. Yes we shouldn't exist, the Islofacits deserve what we don't, our own respect.

It espically rich considering they (UofW) host the highly offensive 'Tunnel of Oppression' that is there for no other reason than to incite hatred.

Colorado Representative Says US Facing War With 'Renegade' Mexican Troops

2006-02-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

Colorado Republican Representative Tom Tancredo said the United States was facing "a war" with renegade Mexican troops over the long, porous border, and urged President George W. Bush to deploy troops there, alleging drug trafficking by the Mexican military.

"We have a war. We are facing a military on the other side of the border," Tancredo told demonstrators protesting illegal immigration outside the US Congress.

"In other places, in other times, that would be an active war," he added, reiterating an accusation that Mexican troops had covered up a drug trafficking operation two weeks ago near the Texas border city of El Paso.

The Mexican government has denied that Mexican troops participated in the January 23 incident.

But Tancredo insisted that Mexican troops were a part of it and repeated his call for Bush to send troops into the border area. "I want my government to protect our borders," he said.

"The Mexican military is facilitating the drug trafficking. They are part of the drug cartels," Tancredo said.

"They (officials) do not want to say the obvious -- that the Mexican government does not even have control of its own military," he said.

Yahoo Selling Out To The Communist Good

2006-02-09T14:19:00.000-05:00

Yahoo Inc. provided information that led to an eight-year prison sentence for a Chinese dissident, an advocacy group for journalists said Wednesday, which would be at least the second time the company has aided Chinese authorities in their crackdown on protesters.

Yahoo Hong Kong provided electronic records that led to the conviction of dissident Li Zhi, according to Reporters Without Borders, which advocates on behalf of journalists.

Last September, Reporters Without Borders revealed that Yahoo helped Chinese authorities convict and jail Shi Tao, a journalist who had written an e-mail about press restrictions.

"Our first reaction is to be appalled at Yahoo helping to give information that puts dissidents in jail," Reporters Without Borders spokeswoman Lucie Morillon said.

Two weeks ago Yahoo's rival, Google Inc., raised the ire of members of Congress when it said it would introduce a site in China that would censor some search results to comply with that that country's laws on certain words.

The House of Representatives Committee on International Relations has scheduled a Feb. 15 hearing on the ethical responsibilities of companies doing business in China. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft Corp. have said they plan to attend.

1000% Inflation, Welcome The Liberal Economy, The UN Dream

2006-02-09T11:53:00.000-05:00

The governor of Zimbabwe's reserve bank last week admitted that his country is in the grip of hyperinflation, with some economists predicting an inflation rate of 1,000% within two months.

This week saw the introduction of a so-called "bearer cheque" worth 50,000 Zimbabwean dollars - 50 times the highest available banknote - but actually worth around half a US dollar and only enough to buy a loaf of bread.

After the much hearlded 'Kick out whitey' polict that liberals touted so mutch as returning the land to its native peoples, and the policy of government controlled food handout program, the country has descended beyond the third world to a status of death assuredly.

The WFP (UN World Food Program) has distributed more than 80,000 metric tons of food since Mar 2002. But when the food arrives, there are widespread claims that opposition supporters are being starved of aid by the government. Only the state-run Grain Marketing Board is legaly allowed to distribute food countrywide.

As dictator Robert Mugabe continues to ban whites from planting any crops and promises to throw in jail those who do, it should come as no surprise that Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of Africa, is now teetering toward total self destruction. Over a million Zimbabweans have fled south to South Africa, in search of food, while many others have died of AIDS.

''The number of those in need keeps soaring and WFP cannot cope on its own. The gap needs to be filled both by the government, as well as by WFP and NGOs. Only a collective effort can hope to combat this crisis" said Kevin Farrell, WFP Representative in Zimbabwe.

NO. Only a change from the racist, dictator govermnet can combat this crisis. But I think we all know the UN is the greates protector of illigatimate governments in the world.

Woman Too Fat For Airplane Seat, Sues For Racial Discrimination

2006-02-09T11:35:00.000-05:00

Woman too fat to fit in small airplane seat, so she sues the airline for racial discrimination.

Nadine Thompson, supposedly 5-foot-8 and between 300 and 330 pounds at the time, was told to buy a second seat to accomadate her 'girth'.

Southwest's policy states that a "customer of size" is someone who can't sit in a seat without having the armrest raised and is sitting on part of the adjacent seat. In his opening statement, Lane said Southwest employees will testify that they saw the armrest up most of the time and that Thompson was sitting on part of the vacant seat next to her.

Thompson, who said she doesn't consider herself a 'customer of size', isn't challenging the policy in court; rather, she claims, it allows any random employee to operate "in a discriminatory way about that policy," she testified.

When Thompson became beligerent, a Southwest employee told her to keep her voice down, she testified. This worker, she claims, behaved like a bully, very confrontational and aggressive, Thompson said, and she decided to stand up to him, admitting that she used profanity.

She asked the workers for their names; the one she had been arguing with said they didn't have to give names. "I said, 'Only racist cowards don't give me their names,'" Thompson testified. "'You might as well have a sheet over your head.'"

Eventually, she went back to the Southwest counter and was given a refund.

An attorney asked her if it's possible that the employees made an honest misjudgment of her size that day. Thompson said no.

"So, it had to be racism?" he asked.

"Yes," Thompson said.

Being to fat is a racial issue accordingly.

NY Times Won't Run Anti-Muslim Cartoons, Will Run Anti-Jew

2006-02-08T00:18:00.000-05:00

The New York Times runs an editorial today objecting to newspapers publishing the cartoons that caricatured Mohammed. The Times feels that the cartoons were needlessly insensitive and pats itself on the back for refraining from running them.

Given the self-righteous moral preening of today’s editoral, it is strange that the Times did not have a problem accepting money from an anti-Israel group, running this anti-Semitic cartoon (scroll down to the bottom of the page) regarding Israel supporters in America.

The cartoon acceptable to the Times depicts a hairy gorilla holding an Israeli flag while sitting atop the US Capitol.

Double standards at work? Apparently, the Times will not run a caricature to inform its readers about the nature of the issue inflaming Muslims, but will gladly take money to run a cartoon that is laden with anti-Semitic motifs and imagery. Protect Muslim sensitivities, but propagate anti-Semitism.

CAIR To Presiden Bush, Please Don't Say Reality

2006-02-01T02:07:00.000-05:00

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says President Bush should avoid using "loaded and imprecise terminology" when he refers to Islam in his State of the Union address.

In a letter to President Bush, CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed suggested that the president be careful to "avoid the use of hot-button terms such as 'Islamo-fascism,' 'militant jihadism,' 'Islamic radicalism,' or 'totalitarian Islamic empire'" in his Tuesday night speech.

"I believe the repeated rhetorical linkage of Islam to terms of violence and extremism is counterproductive and complicates our legitimate foreign policy initiatives," Ahmed told the president.

Repeately 'correct' terminology? Bowing down to redfine a definition to suit a need is un-realistic. What 'Is' is, is defined. So are Islamo-fascism, militant jihadism, Islamic radicalism and Totalitarian Islamic Empires. Defined and playing out on a daily basis.

Never mind that those terms accurately reflect the underlying ideology behind the Islamist jihad being conducted by militant fundamentalist Muslims.

Alito Aftermath

2006-01-31T17:30:00.000-05:00

Now that Alito has been confirmed where's the millions of dead? Where's the liberal high and mighty now? Where is Hillary at? Whats the Kooks up to now?

Microsoft Looses Lawsuit, You Can't Edit Excel Worksheet

2006-01-31T17:24:00.000-05:00

Microsoft has lost a patent dispute with a developer involving the company's Excel and Access product lines; specifically how they interact via spreadsheets. Carlos Armando Amado had filed a patent in 1994: the dispute covers Microsoft's products from March 1997 to July 2003.

So now the patch is out that removes the functionality in Access 2002 that lets users add new data to or edit existing data in a linked Microsoft Excel worksheet. Basicly forking out Excel from Access. Man, that sucks, there are alot of business apllications that use such get-ups. I smell money.

Uh-Oh

2006-01-31T16:40:00.000-05:00

A group representing global newspaper publishers has launched a lobbying campaign to challenge search engines like Google that aggregate news content.

The move comes as the newspaper industry's traditional business model is under pressure with advertising spending shifting away from print and towards the Internet.

The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers, whose members include dozens of national newspaper trade bodies, said it is exploring ways to "challenge the exploitation of content by search engines without fair compensation to copyright owners."

Web sites like Google and its specialised Google News service automatically pull in headlines, photos and short excerpts of articles from thousands of news sources, linking back to the publishers' own site. Google News does not currently carry advertising.

"They're building a new medium on the backs of our industry, without paying for any of the content," Ali Rahnema, managing director of the association, told Reuters in an interview.

"The news aggregators are taking headlines, photos, sometimes the first three lines of an article -- it's for the courts to decide whether that's a copyright violation or not."

The campaign comes as a pending U.S. court case pits Agence France Presse against Google. AFP sued the company last year, alleging that Google News carries its photos, news headlines and stories without permission.

"Everybody will be watching that case very closely," Rahnema said.

The World Association of Newspapers said it would seek a meeting with European Commission officials and look into whether the news aggregators are infringing on their copyrights or brands.

"It's not intended to shoot one over the bow, it's to take a group of people to look at the issue, and look at what options are open to our members," Rahnema added. "The purpose of this isn't to attack Google, but to say that as an industry we don't feel OK with you taking the content and seeing what happens."

Google -- which is facing a similar copyright dispute with the book publishing industry -- has worked in partnership with some newspapers, serving ads to the Web site of the New York Times and selling classified ads for the print edition of the Chicago Sun-Times in a pilot project.

Reuters Group Plc is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers.

Presidential Failure

2006-01-31T16:35:00.000-05:00

John Kerry's failure to convince his fellow Democrats to filibuster the nomination of Samuel Alito proves once and for all his irrelevency politics. It wasn't too long ago when he was his party's presidential nominee, and now he doesn't have the clout to get 40 of his colleagues to join him in a filibuster, which, if you believed his rhetoric, would have prevented return of segregation, slavery, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women.

No, it didn't happen. A mere 25 voted to sustain a filibuster. Just like Ohio in November 2004, Kerry didn't have the votes. The moment Kerry's filibuster failed so handily was the moment his political career got flushed down the toilet. John Kerry may not be ruling out another presidential run in 2008, but his party certainly ruled it out for him.

France Turns Its Back On Normandy

2006-01-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

Tourists in retreat from peace-loving war museum. Now Normandy doesn't belong to us, but it wouldn't belong to the French either were it not for us. That's why the current controversy over the D-Day Museum in France is an abomination.

The museum set up by the French authorities to commemorate the D-Day landings is struggling under a mountain of debt amid a sharp decline in the number of visitors.

The Memorial Museum in Caen, Normandy, has been accused of mismanagement for turning its back on the Second World War to concentrate on subjects from feminism to Father Christmas. In recent months the museum has focused its efforts on transforming into a “place of reflection on the contemporary world”.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Claude Quétel, who was sacked as the museum’s chief historian last year after protesting that it had fallen victim to political correctness. “The vocation of this place was to become the great museum on the Second World War in France. It’s drifting away from that idea, and it’s a dramatic error.”

But the museum’s brochure talks in pacifist tones of the need to “combat the violence around us . . . Peace begins at home, in the office, with our neighbours.”

“It is bizarre,” said Alain Chesnel, who runs tours of Normandy battlefield sites for American visitors. “I don’t advise people to go there. They should be retracing a page of our history, not presenting exhibitions that have absolutely nothing to do with it.”

In 2002 the museum, which is run by Caen town council, opened a €13.72 million (£9.4 million) extension that includes sections on “the principal disorders in the world today” and the need for “eco-responsibility”.

Google Has The Double Whammy!

2006-01-27T13:32:00.000-05:00

C|Net has a story giving the date and location for Google's court case with the government.

"Google's attempt to fend off the government's request for millions of search terms will move to a federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Feb. 27. U.S. District Judge James Ware on Thursday set the date for the highly anticipated hearing, which is expected to determine whether the U.S. Justice Department will prevail in its fight to force Google to help it defend an anti-pornography law this fall."

Reuters reports that Google and other internet companies have been "called" to attend a "Congressional Human Rights Caucus hearing on Wednesday and a February 16 session of the House of Representatives subcommittee on Global Human Rights".

The latter invitation is at the behest of New Jersey Republican and subcommittee chairman Chris Smith, who said in a statement that Google "would enable evil by cooperating with China's censorship policies just to make a buck."

Cisco Microsoft and Yahoo! will also join "State Department officials and press freedom watchdog groups" at the 16 February shindig.

Americans Have No Fear, The Canadian Air Force Is Guarding Us

2006-01-27T12:57:00.000-05:00

Among the hardware being put in place to defend Super Bowl Sunday: CF-18s out of Bagotville, Quebec, F-16s out of Michigan's Selfridge Air National Guard Base, a CH-146 Griffon helicopter out of Kingston, air refuelling tankers and an E-3 AWACS (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) aircraft out of Oklahoma.

For security reasons, the exact times and locations of the exercise, as well as the number of participating aircraft, remain confidential, but there are also H-65 helicopters, "multiple" Cessna aircraft and a C-21 Learjet involved. Citino said there will be "multiple fighter jets."

A news release issued Wednesday by Canadian NORAD region, headquartered in Winnipeg, said the aircraft will be flying "at low altitudes," but in phone interviews with The Star, both Citino and Winnipeg-based NORAD public affairs officer Capt. Jennifer Faubert said most residents in Windsor and Detroit will likely be oblivious to the whole enterprise.

ACLU Getting Rich Suing US

2006-01-26T17:49:00.000-05:00

The ACLU is receiving 200,000$ tax-free cash as compensation for suing the government over the way names get on the no fly list after two journalists were detained at San Francisco while checking in for a flight to Boston.

For those of you that wonder how the ACLU gets their slimy, traitorous hands on our hard earned tax dollars, here ya’ go;

The government will compensate the ACLU for attorneys’ fees, settling a lawsuit initiated by two San Francisco peace activists who were detained while checking in for a flight three years ago.

But at the end of the day this tale does have one small, amusing bit…..the Bush hating enemies of Freedom that caused this ruckus in the first place won’t get one danged dime.

11,000 Dead, Still Voting Americans

2006-01-26T16:15:00.000-05:00

Whenever I hear people bitch about the gov, I often ask them if they voted. Most have great excuses for why they didn't vote. They have no excuse now considering in Washington State over 11,000 people didn't let a little thing like death prevent them from voting. 36,000 that were registered to do it more than once at a time.

Apparently I've been doing this all wrong. I'll get me a posse of dead people and run for congress.

Even there response is a joke. They mmediately canceled the voter registrations for the more than 1,400 dead people, but the other names have been flagged for further scrutiny.

Saddam Top General: WMD Moved To Syria

2006-01-26T14:10:00.000-05:00

I know this goes against the narrative the media and the left want everyone to believe, but another source claims that Saddam's WMDs were moved out of Iraq and into Syria prior to the country's liberation by coalition forces.

The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed.
The Iraqi general, Georges Sada, makes the charges in a new book, "Saddam's Secrets," released this week. He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun.

"There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands," Mr. Sada said. "I am confident they were taken over."

It's hard to get excited about such things now because its been reported for a long time and found virtually nothing gets done about it.

Mr. Sada, 65, told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the weapons of mass destruction to Syria from Iraq approached him in the middle of 2004, after Saddam was captured by American troops.

The pilots told Mr. Sada that two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, Mr. Sada said. Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.

The flights - 56 in total, Mr. Sada said - attracted little notice because they were thought to be civilian flights providing relief from Iraq to Syria, which had suffered a flood after a dam collapse in June of 2002.

Mr. Sada's comments come just more than a month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria."

Maryland Democrats Struggle To Prevent Public From Getting What They Want

2006-01-26T00:32:00.000-05:00

First, a Maryland judge has struck down the traditional definition of marriage, claiming it is irrationally discriminatory. Simple enough. The response:

Even before the ruling yesterday, House Democrats took steps to try to prevent a constitutional ban from reaching a vote on the floor. House leaders made a technical change in procedural rules Thursday, over the objections of Republicans. Residual resentment from that move spilled into yesterday's floor session.

Minority Whip Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert) admonished his Democratic colleagues for what he said was an attempt to shield them from casting a tough vote in an election year. "We should not fear having a debate," he said.

Yesterday, House and Senate leaders met to discuss how to deal with the issue. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) have cast votes supporting the 1973 law against same-sex marriage.

But both also took the position that a constitutional amendment would be premature, because yesterday's ruling came from a single Circuit Court judge, not from the state's precedent-setting high court.

Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), who chairs the Senate committee that would have to approve an amendment for it to advance, said he saw no reason to act before the Court of Appeals has ruled. "One Circuit Court judge's opinion is not cause for amending the constitution," Frosh said.

Political strategists said Ehrlich and Democrats in the legislature probably have recognized the potential for a ballot initiative to provide the governor with a significant political edge as he seeks reelection. Republican political consultant Kevin Igoe said the ruling was like "waving a red flag at a bull" for Ehrlich's conservative base. If the issue appears on a ballot, he said, it would almost certainly drive up GOP turnout.

ACLU Thinks Free Speech Zone Unconstitutional, Sues

2006-01-26T00:18:00.000-05:00

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus won't be making any more legal appearances on the lawn of Polk County's administration building.

The County Commission on Jan. 11 voted unanimously to close the "free-speech zone'' that it created less than one year ago.

The free-speech zone was implemented last year after a church group in December 2004 built a Nativity scene on the lawn of the Neil Combee Administration Building without county permission. In the zone, individuals and groups were allowed to express themselves with displays or other forms of expression.

Care to guess why they decided to end a policy that facilitated the exercise of a fundamental civil liberty? Because of the objections of a so-called civli liberties group.

In late 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union and two co-defendants filed suit against the county over policies in the zone they think are unconstitutional.

After the suit was filed, county officials suspended some of the free-speech-zone regulations as part of a temporary agreement with the ACLU.

I guess the ACLU only supports freedom of for the speech they like.

Google Censors China

2006-01-25T21:37:00.000-05:00

So What, they censor for such European bastions of freedom as France and Germany too.

Google Censors Its Results in China.

Google removes some of the search results available from Google.cn, Google’s new foray into the Chinese market. Typically, anything connected to such things as the Tiananmen Massacre or Falun Gong is censored in China. And now, the Googleplex engineers deliver further building blocks to this Great Firewall of China, as it’s called, thereby indirectly strengthening the politics of the Chinese government. AP writes:

“To obtain the Chinese license, Google agreed to omit Web content that the country’s government finds objectionable. Google will base its censorship decisions on guidance provided by Chinese government officials.”

CNN posts this statement straight from Google:

“In order to operate from China, we have removed some content from the search results available on Google.cn, in response to local law, regulation or policy. While removing search results is inconsistent with Google’s mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is more inconsistent with our mission.

As an emerging economic powerhouse, China is developing rapidly, thanks in no small measure to the Internet. We firmly believe, with our culture of innovation, Google can make meaningful and positive contributions to the already impressive pace of development in China.”

Yes, Google argues their decision is the lesser of two evils... yes, China is taking off fast, and Google wants a piece of the huge market... and yes, there won’t be more Google results when Google is banned completely itself. So, Google, if everything is shiny and happy in the Googleplex, please hand over the list of banned words or sites for every country. It’s a gray zone for sure, so we need transparency. Put that list on a public server in the US, where freedom of speech prevails.

Now, this kind of search censorship isn’t anything new for Google. In fact, the search results in my own country, Germany, have been censored for years; in Google France, something similar is happening. Certain Nazi-related websites like Stormfront.org, for example, are simply missing in Google.de. (Also, in the US some results are removed from Google.com due to complaints received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act – but at least, on those pages you see what you’re missing and you’re pointed to an explanation.) This German and French censorship is already bad, in particular because Google doesn’t clarify this on the results pages. They only have this statement up, admitting they do change results based on a country’s laws (my emphasis):

“Our search results are generated completely objectively and are independent of the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google. Some people concerned about [a specific Googlebomb] have created online petitions to encourage us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Because of our objective and automated ranking system, Google cannot be influenced by these petitions. The only sites we omit are those we are legally compelled to remove or those maliciously attempting to manipulate our results.

What makes this recent case even worse is that, well, while everyone agrees that buying Nazi memorabilia or reading up on “white power” websites is a stupid thing to do in the first place – so it’s “only” an issue of censorship itself (as if that would make it good) – the kind of searches or sites Google now blocks in China might be to promote human rights; to educate people on evil-doings of the Chinese government; or to bring news of recent events in China. Also, in Germany and France you can at least openly protest against the censorship your government is asking from companies like Google. In China, you risk your freedom trying to protest against the government.

Iran Plans To Take OPEC Down With Them

2006-01-25T15:39:00.000-05:00

Iran has pressed OPEC to reduce oil production by 4%.

The United States has opposed any drop in oil production on grounds that it would rise oil prices. OPEC plans to meet on Jan. 31.

Teheran relayed the request for a reduction by 1 million barrels per day in OPEC oil production, now set at 28 million barrels per day.

The ostensible purpose of the proposed reduction is to avoid excessive oil stockpile and would begin in April, Middle East Newsline reported.

"OPEC should not postpone the issue of output reduction," Iranian Oil Minister Hossein Kazempour Ardebili said. "Iran has called for carrying out discussions and making decisions for a one million bpd of oil output cut in the second quarter."

Delaware Doesn't Want Gas Facility Built, Terrorist Concerns

2006-01-25T14:14:00.000-05:00

The change in tune from energy independence to bowing down to theoritical terrorist is done rather quicly it seems.

Maine attorney Ralph Lancaster was appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to serve as special master in the border dispute involving New Jersey and Delaware.

The long-running controversy, was started by British Petroleum's plan to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in Logan Township. Delaware will do everything it can to prevent the project from going forward.

Delaware officials believe the LNG site could be attacked by terrorists, endangering life and property in Delaware.

Is this bush-mongering, inflaming terrrorists to attack us? Or is this fighting for your right to surrender at the most esoteric threat? Delaware surrender monkies?

Dirty Bomb, Dirty Money

2006-01-25T13:51:00.000-05:00

Thus just proves you don't need to actually detonate a device to make a dirty bomb.

Kazakhstan is on a nationwide hunt for dozens of "radioactive dollars" circulating in the country's financial system.

The Kazakh central bank said in a letter to financial institutions the radiation level of the U.S. dollar notes was 100 times above normal. A Kazakh citizen brought them into the country in November, it said.

"(The dollars) pose a direct threat to people's health," said the letter, obtained by Reuters Wednesday.

Officials urged banks and exchange bureaux to redouble efforts to find the notes by checking the serial numbers.

It was not clear how the money, nearly $4,000 in 100-dollar and 50-dollar bills, got contaminated.

The Soviet Union used Kazakhstan, a vast Central Asian state, the for many decades as a testing ground for nuclear weapons after it detonated its first plutonium bomb in 1949.

Voting Machine RAW Data Denied To Alaska Democrats

2006-01-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

The state Division of Elections has refused to turn over its electronic voting files to the Democrats, arguing that the data format belongs to Diebold and can't be made public.

The Alaska Democratic Party says the information is a public record essential for verifying the accuracy of the 2004 general election and must be provided.

The official vote results from the last general election are riddled with discrepancies and impossible for the public to make sense of, the Democrats said Monday. A detailed analysis of the underlying data could answer lingering questions about an election many thought was over more than a year ago, they say.

"Basically what they say is they want to give us a printout from the (electronic) file. They don't want to give us the file itself. It doesn't enable us to get to the bottom of what we need to know," said Kay Brown, spokeswoman for the party.

At this point, it's impossible to say whether the correct candidates were declared the winner in all Alaska races from 2004, Brown said.

The private contractor hired to provide Alaska's electronic voting machines is Diebold Election Systems. It has told Alaska officials it owns the "structure of the database" though the data itself is public.

State officials say the Democrats have it wrong.

"The issue is not about whether public information can be released, because the Division of Elections has already offered to provide the information requested by the (Alaska Democratic Party)," elections director Whitney Brewster said in a written statement. "The issue is that the (Democratic Party) is asking for a file format the state of Alaska uses but does not own."

Diebold told the state it owns the format, which can't be released because it's a company secret.

The latest controversy concerns the database holding the results of Alaska's 2004 general election. Democrats say it's important for them to see the database in its original structure ---- the format in which the data was created and now is stored and reported. That's how they hope to figure out if the votes were registered and reported accurately.

But under the state's contract with Diebold, that cannot be released, Brewster said.

Documents provided by the Democrats show that Brewster contacted Diebold and was told the public data can be released only after being transferred to a common format such as Microsoft Excel.

In a Jan. 6 e-mail, Diebold's lawyer, Charles R. Owen, told Brewster that "the structure of the database file ... is proprietary information."

Diebold has blocked the group's efforts to get election files in California, Colorado and Washington state, March said. But the data format has been released in a Florida county and in Memphis, Tenn., during a challenge of a mayoral election, he said.

What the state has offered leaves out "the forensic traces we need to figure out what really happened," March said. The Black Box group is helping the Alaska Democratic Party.

"The results from the 2004 election in Alaska just plain look squirrelly," March said.

For instance, district-by-district vote totals add up to 292,267 votes for President Bush, but his official total was only 190,889.

Election officials have an explanation. Early votes for statewide candidates were not recorded by House district but rather were tallied for each of the state's four election regions. Those regional totals then were reported for every House district, essentially inflating the vote total many times over.

The results should be reported differently next time, officials have said.

Democrats also contend more than 2,000 Alaskans cast valid absentee ballots that weren't counted in official totals.

Unless they get the entire file, they won't be able to understand what caused the "bizarre and inaccurate reports" from Alaska's 2004 election, they say.

"These votes belong to us," Brown said. "These are all public record. It's wrong that a contractor like Diebold can keep us from seeing the record."

History Of Democrats On Racism, Precedent

2006-01-24T16:01:00.000-05:00

A nice piece I found looking for a history of following precedent blindly.

"To stop the Democrats' pro-slavery agenda, anti-slavery activists founded the Republican party, starting with a few dozen men and women in Ripon, Wisconsin on March 20, 1854," the calendar notes. "Democratic opposition to Republican efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans lasted not only throughout Reconstruction, but well into the 20th century. In the south, those Democrats who most bitterly opposed equality for blacks founded the Ku Klux Klan, which operated as the party's terrorist wing."

Contemporary partisan hyperbole? Consider this 1866 comment from Governor Oliver Morton (R., Ind.), who is immortalized in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall: "Every one who shoots down Negroes in the streets, burns Negro school-houses and meeting-houses, and murders women and children by the light of their own flaming dwellings, calls himself a Democrat," Morton said. "Every New York rioter in 1863 who burned up little children in colored asylums, who robbed, ravished, and murdered indiscriminately in the midst of a blazing city for three days and nights, calls himself a Democrat."

White supremacists worked club in hand with Democrats for decades:

-- May 22, 1856: Two years after the Grand Old party's birth, U.S. Senator Charles Sumner (R., Mass.) rose to decry pro-slavery Democrats. Congressman Preston Brooks (D., S.C.) responded by grabbing a stick and beating Sumner unconscious in the Senate chamber. Disabled, Sumner could not resume his duties for three years.

-- July 30, 1866: New Orleans's Democratic government ordered police to raid an integrated GOP meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.

-- September 28, 1868: Democrats in Opelousas, Louisiana killed nearly 300 blacks who tried to foil an assault on a Republican newspaper editor.

-- October 7, 1868: Republicans criticized Democrats' national slogan: "This is a white man's country: Let white men rule."

-- April 20, 1871: The GOP Congress adopted the Ku Klux Klan Act, banning the pro-Democrat domestic terrorist group.

-- October 18, 1871: GOP President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched federal troops to quell Klan violence in South Carolina.

-- September 14, 1874: Racist white Democrats stormed Louisiana's statehouse to oust GOP Governor William Kellogg's racially integrated administration; 27 are killed.

-- August 17, 1937: Republicans opposed Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Supreme Court nominee, U.S. Senator Hugo Black (D., Al.), a former Klansman who defended Klansmen against race-murder charges.

-- February 2005: The Democrats' Klan-coddling today is embodied by KKK alumnus Robert Byrd, West Virginia's logorrheic U.S. senator and, having served since January 3, 1959, that body's dean. Thirteen years earlier, Byrd wrote this to the KKK's Imperial Wizard: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia." Byrd led Senate Democrats as late as December 1988. On March 4, 2001, Byrd told Fox News's Tony Snow: "There are white n*ggers. I've seen a lot of white n*ggers in my time; I'm going to use that word." National Democrats never have arranged a primary challenge against or otherwise pressed this one-time cross-burner to get lost.

Contrast the KKKozy Democrats with the GOP. When former Klansman David Duke ran for Louisiana governor in 1991 as a Republican, national GOP officials scorned him. Local Republicans endorsed incumbent Democrat Edwin Edwards, despite his ethical baggage. As one Republican-created bumper sticker pleaded: "Vote for the crook: It's important!"

Republicans also have supported legislation favorable to blacks, often against intense Democratic headwinds:

-- In 1865, Congressional Republicans unanimously backed the 13th Amendment, which made slavery unconstitutional. Among Democrats, 63 percent of senators and 78 percent of House members voted: "No."

-- In 1866, 94 percent of GOP senators and 96 percent of GOP House members approved the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing all Americans equal protection of the law. Every congressional Democrat voted: "No."

-- February 28, 1871: The GOP Congress passed the Enforcement Act, giving black voters federal protection.

-- February 8, 1894: Democratic President Grover Cleveland and a Democratic Congress repealed the GOP's Enforcement Act, denying black voters federal protection.

-- January 26, 1922: The U.S. House adopted Rep. Leonidas Dyer's (R., Mo.) bill making lynching a federal crime. Filibustering Senate Democrats killed the measure.

-- May 17, 1954: As chief justice, former three-term governor Earl Warren (R., Calif.) led the U.S. Supreme Court's desegregation of government schools via the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. GOP President Dwight Eisenhower's Justice Department argued for Topeka, Kansas's black school children. Democrat John W. Davis, who lost a presidential bid to incumbent Republican Calvin Coolidge in 1924, defended "separate but equal" classrooms.

-- September 24, 1957: Eisenhower deployed the 82nd Airborne Division to desegregate Little Rock's government schools over the strenuous resistance of Governor Orval Faubus (D., Ark.).

-- May 6, 1960: Eisenhower signs the GOP's 1960 Civil Rights Act after it survived a five-day, five-hour filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats.

-- July 2, 1964: Democratic President Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act after former Klansman Robert Byrd's 14-hour filibuster and the votes of 22 other Senate Democrats (including Tennessee's Al Gore, Sr.) failed to scuttle the measure. Illinois Republican Everett Dirksen rallied 26 GOP senators and 44 Democrats to invoke cloture and allow the bill's passage. According to John Fonte in the January 9, 2003, National Review, 82 percent of Republicans so voted, versus only 66 percent of Democrats.

True, Senator Barry Goldwater (R., Ariz.) opposed this bill the very year he became the GOP's presidential standard-bearer. However, Goldwater supported the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts and called for integrating Arizona's National Guard two years before Truman desegregated the military. Goldwater feared the 1964 Act would limit freedom of association in the private sector, a controversial but principled libertarian objection rooted in the First Amendment rather than racial hatred.

-- June 29, 1982: President Ronald Reagan signed a 25-year extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Republican party also is the home of numerous "firsts." Among them:

-- Until 1935, every black federal legislator was Republican. America's first black U.S. Representative, South Carolina's Joseph Rainey, and our first black senator, Mississippi's Hiram Revels, both reached Capitol Hill in 1870. On December 9, 1872, Louisiana Republican Pinckney Benton Stewart "P.B.S." Pinchback became America's first black governor.

-- August 8, 1878: GOP supply-siders may hate to admit it, but America's first black Collector of Internal Revenue was former U.S. Rep. James Rapier (R., Ala.).

-- October 16, 1901: GOP President Theodore Roosevelt invited to the White House as its first black dinner guest Republican educator Booker T. Washington. The pro-Democrat Richmond Times newspaper warned that consequently, "White women may receive attentions from Negro men." As Toni Marshall wrote in the November 9, 1995, Washington Times, when Roosevelt sought reelection in 1904, Democrats produced a button that showed their presidential nominee, Alton Parker, beside a white couple while Roosevelt posed with a white bride and black groom. The button read: "The Choice Is Yours."

-- GOP presidents Gerald Ford in 1975 and Ronald Reagan in 1982 promoted Daniel James and Roscoe Robinson to become, respectively, the Air Force's and Army's first black four-star generals.

-- November 2, 1983: President Reagan established Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday, the first such honor for a black American.

-- President Reagan named Colin Powell America's first black national-security adviser while GOP President George W. Bush appointed him our first black secretary of state.

-- President G.W. Bush named Condoleezza Rice America's first black female NSC chief, then our second (consecutive) black secretary of State. Just last month, one-time Klansman Robert Byrd and other Senate Democrats stalled Rice's confirmation for a week. Amid unanimous GOP support, 12 Democrats and Vermont Independent James Jeffords opposed Rice — the most "No" votes for a State designee since 14 senators frowned on Henry Clay in 1825."

On The Way To The Clinic

2006-01-24T15:22:00.000-05:00

Its pictures like this that make me wonder about the arbortion clinics aka murder factories aka doctors of choice.

Mexico Offering Maps To Illegally Cross Border

2006-01-24T13:34:00.000-05:00

Mexico's human rights agency says it will give out detailed maps of the Arizona desert, including rescue beacons and water stations, to guide migrants safely through the most popular and deadliest corridor into the United States.

The maps are the latest effort by activists to aid undocumented immigrants as they trek across the border, helping to fuel a raging debate over illegal immigration in Arizona and other parts of the United States.

Two rights commission officials confirmed the quasi-governmental agency had agreed to print and distribute the maps through its state offices to reach Mexican migrants before they ever leave their hometowns. It has not decided how many copies to print or how much it will spend on the project, the officials told The Republic.

The plan's proponents say they are trying to prevent deaths, and they deny the maps encourage people to cross.

"This is good information, and it will save lives," said Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Humane Borders.

But border-control advocates say they fear the maps could embolden people to make the trek.

"I'm afraid that maps and water jugs do nothing but give illegal crossers false hope," Arizona Rep. J.D. Hayworth, a Republican, said in a written statement. "Either we convince potential crossers not to make the journey or, failing that, we stop them from crossing the border."

Last year, the Mexican government outraged border-control activists in the United States by publishing a comic book containing safety tips for illegal immigrants. Soon afterward, the southeastern state of Yucatán published its own guide containing detailed information on routes through the desert.

Humane Borders has produced maps for each of the four main corridors through Arizona: Douglas, Lukeville, Sasabe and Nogales.

The maps show mountains, roads, railroads and cities. Blue flags show where migrant-aid groups have left water tanks in the desert. Blue stars indicate Border Patrol rescue beacons where migrants can push a button to summon help.

Black lines show how far a migrant can expect to get walking one, two or three days.

The maps use red dots to show where migrants have died during the past four years. Humane Borders used data from the Border Patrol, medical examiners and other agencies to pinpoint each death.

Future versions of the maps will include circles showing cellular telephone coverage, Hoover said.

In May, Humane Borders distributed a few maps in Sasabe, Sonora, just over the border in Mexico. But the group decided it needed to get the information farther south, to discourage potential migrants before they even leave their hometowns, Hoover said.

The Human Rights Commission pledged its support in December. The agency is technically independent of the Mexican government, but it is funded by Mexican taxpayers and operates under a government charter.

Apple Chief Jobs To Be Disney's Largest Stockholder

2006-01-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

Britain's Torygraph newspaper is reporting that Disney has bought Pixar in an all-stock deal. Pixar had run out its deal to deliver movies for Disney distribution and was set to strike out on its own; in retaliation, Disney shut down it traditional animation division and replaced it with a CGI division that was every bit as lacklustre as the traditional animation division. Now it's gone ahead and bought Pixar from Steve Jobs, leaving him the single largest stockholder in Disney (!).

The all-share deal will make Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, around $3.5bn and the single largest shareholder in Disney. Jobs created Pixar in 1986 when he paid $10m for the computer animations division of Lucasfilm, owned by Stars Wars creator George Lucas.

Brits Busted With Fake Rock Red Handed

2006-01-23T21:49:00.000-05:00

Russia's main intelligence agency on Monday accused four British diplomats of spying _ using electronic equipment hidden inside a fake rock in a park _ as well as funneling funds to non-governmental organizations.

The announcement came a day after state television channel Rossiya broadcast footage purportedly showing four British Embassy staff using electronic equipment concealed in the rock in Moscow to receive intelligence from Russian agents.

A prominent rights activist warned the accusations could be used as a pretext to crack down on Western-funded groups that are critical of the Kremlin.

Sergei Ignatchenko, a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said the situation would be resolved "at a political level," the RIA-Novosti news agency reported, an apparent indication that the Russian government could expel the diplomats.

The intelligence agency also said a Russian citizen who allegedly had contacts with British agents had been detained and confessed to espionage, according to the Russian Interfax news agency.

Officials at the British Embassy in Moscow and Foreign Office in London declined to comment on the espionage accusations. Prime Minister Tony Blair said at a news conference that he had only heard about the allegations in media reports and had no further comment.

In addition to a post-Cold War chill in Russian-British relations, the announcement reflected a toughening Russian attitude toward NGOs. Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin signed a law severely restricting NGOs' financing and activities.

Moscow has been highly suspicious of groups promoting human rights and democracy since opposition leaders came to power in recent uprisings in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Russian officials have accused Western nations of encouraging regime change in the regions by financing NGOs.

Rossiya said the diplomats had downloaded information onto handheld computers from the electronic gadget hidden in the rock, a process that worked at a distance of up to 65 feet and took only one or two seconds.

Among the diplomats named in the television broadcast were Marc Doe and Paul Crompton. Both are listed in British Embassy directories provided to the media as working in the embassy's political section.

Interfax identified the two others as Andrew Fleming and Christopher Pirt, but they weren't in the directories.

Rossiya also showed copies of documents allegedly showing that Britain had transferred money to non-governmental organizations working in Russia, including one that purportedly authorized a transfer of $41,000 in October 2004 to the Moscow Helsinki Group, a leading rights group that has been a persistent critic of Putin.

Interfax also reported that 12 NGOs had received funds under Doe's signature.

"This is the first time we literally caught them red-handed in the process of contacting their agents here and received evidence that they finance a number of non-governmental organizations," the ITAR- Tass news agency quoted Ignatchenko as saying.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group and a Soviet-era dissident, described the accusations as part of a smear campaign against NGOs critical of the Kremlin.

"They are preparing public opinion for a government move to close us down, which they can now do under the new law," Alexeyeva told The Associated Press. "This will not stop our activities, though. I managed to keep on working in Soviet times."

The Peace Corps pulled out of Russia in 2003 amid spying allegations.

In a statement released following the Sunday broadcast, Britain's Foreign Office rejected allegations of improper dealings with Russian NGOs, saying London gave assistance openly to support the development of healthy civil society in Russia.

But Gennady Gudkov, a retired security service officer and a member of the security committee of the lower house of parliament, warned that foreign states were using non-profit groups "for their own goals."

"I regret that British special services have discredited the very idea of non-governmental organizations," he told AP.

Kerry’s Domestic Spying Position, A Circle Of Hypocrisy

2006-01-23T16:14:00.000-05:00

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos invited former presidential candidate John Kerry (D-Mass) on “This Week” yesterday to discuss a variety of pressing issues facing the nation. Primary amongst them was how the senator felt about domestic spying, and current revelations revealed in a New York Times article last month. During the discussion, Kerry made a rather glaring contradiction that should have set off alarm bells in any investigative reporter.

Stephanopoulos: You've called the program a clear violation of the law.” To which Kerry replied: ‘We don't disagree with him at all. It is a violation of law and we don't disagree with him at all and this is exactly what Karl Rove does.”

Stephanopoulos then asked: “How can you think it's a violation and not disagree?” In the middle of a long answer, Kerry said: “We're prepared to eavesdrop wherever and whenever necessary in order to make America safer, but we put a procedure in place to protect the constitutional rights of Americans and what I believe, George, and I believe it deeply, is you can protect the United States of America without devoiding, without ignoring the constitution of the country.”

As this exchange ensued, Stephanopoulos said: “So you're open to changing the law.” To which Kerry replied: “Of course, if you need to protect, but show us how you can't do what you need to do today. They're never done that. There's nothing in the FISA law that we passed that suggests the president has this power.”

Then came the contradiction. Stephanopoulus asked: “So if you think this is a clear violation of the law why not move to cut off funding for the program?” And the senator responded, “That's premature.”

Excuse me? This program is "illegal," is a "violation of the law," was supposedly never approved by Congress, but it would be “premature” to stop funding it?

Changing Tune As Fact As A Poll Can Close

2006-01-23T13:15:00.000-05:00

In a strange coincidence, right after Senator Hillary Clinton criticized the Bush administration for its lack of unilateral, imperial action against Iran, the New York Times has suddenly developed an interest in the possibility of a pre-emptive attack on the Islamic Republic and its nuclear facilities. David Sanger picks up what Democrats hope to use as the party line against Republicans to prove their national-security mettle:

If diplomacy fails, does America have a military option? And what if it doesn't?

"It's a kind of nonsense statement to say there is no military solution to this," said W. Patrick Lang, the former head of Middle East intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency. "It may not be a desirable solution, but there is a military solution."

"Could we do it?" one administration official who was deeply involved in planning the Iraq invasion said recently. "Sure. Could we manage the aftermath? I doubt it."

Similar fears, he said, gave President Bill Clinton pause about launching a strike on North Korea in 1994. Later that year he reached an accord for a freeze on the North's nuclear production facilities. But in 2003 everything unfroze, and now the North, by C.I.A. estimates, has enough fuel for at least half a dozen bombs.

The Iranians took careful notes then, and here in Washington today the Korean experience underlies diplomacy-versus-force arguments that rarely take place on the record.

Let's clear a major factual misrepresentation in Sanger's narrative. The North Koreans didn't "unfroze" in 2003; they announced that they had never been frozen and had already built a nuclear weapon. What should be obvious to everyone but a newspaper reporter, one does not "unfreeze" and overnight have the ability to refine fissile material into weaponized matter and construct a working nuclear device. The entire 1994 agreement had been a ruse under which they continued their nuclear efforts in a more clandestine manner. This development is one of the reasons why pre-emptive strikes on potential nuclear proliferators has gained such credibility.

All we have heard from the Democrats and their media partners such as the NYT since 2003 is that the administration doesn't work in concert with our allies, and that our arrogance and unilateralism has isolated the United States. Now, suddenly, they want the electorate to believe that they've become more Catholic than the Pope in foreign policy by proclaiming that the Bush administration "outsourced" the Iranian negotiations by doing exactly what they demanded we do with Iraq -- a nation with whom we still were in a state of armed conflict, unlike Iran. And the Times provides this follow-up as a potential legitimization of military force against Iran without even taking the issue to the UN, a step Democrats and the NYT demanded on Iraq and one which held up military operations five months, allowing Saddam to prepare for the invasion and possibly to move the WMD we sought.

RNC's Rich... Bitch

2006-01-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

The Republican National Committee raked in better than $100 million last year and enjoys its largest cash-on-hand lead over its Democratic counterpart in more than a decade.

For the year just passed, the RNC brought in nearly $102 million and had $34 million in the bank. The Democratic National Committee raised $51 million in 2005 but showed $5.5 million on hand at the end of the year.

That cash disparity, which has led to grumbling and fretting by some people in the Democratic establishment, will be a major asset come November, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman argued.

"There's no question it's an advantage," he said. "We are in a position to be able to maintain majorities in the House and Senate by providing campaigns with the resources they need to be successful." Under campaign finance laws, the RNC can make unlimited transfers of campaign cash to other Republican national committees.

The Democrats, led by DNC Chairman Howlin' Howard Dean, spent considerable resources in 2005 on resuscitating state parties and now have operatives on the ground in all 50 states. The party also made a successful investment in helping fund efforts to elect Democrat Timothy M. Kaine governor of Virginia.

Mehlman sought to cast the fundraising as the result of the RNC's "balanced approach" of courting large-dollar donors and working to encourage the small-dollar, grass-roots donor base, which grew by 250,000 new voters in 2005, he said.

He pitches in, too, spending seven or eight hours a week on the telephone thanking donors and soliciting contributions. "I'm a big believer [that] if you call and say thank you as well as asking for something, it's a good deal," he said.

In addition to dialing for dollars, Mehlman has crisscrossed the country in search of campaign cash. In 2005, he appeared at nearly 100 fundraising events.

Proudly Running In Last Place

2006-01-23T12:22:00.000-05:00

“No one’s going to take a back seat to Democrats
on fighting a tough war on terror.”
-U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY),
Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, CNN, January 22, 2006

Kerry Still Bitter Over Not Reading Constitution

2006-01-23T12:07:00.000-05:00

Sen. John Kerry said Sunday he will vote against Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. because he fears Alito would take the country "backwards."

Kerry, the failed Democratic nominee for president in 2004, also voted against now-Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. But Alito, Kerry said Sunday, goes even farther than Roberts in undermining established legal precedents.

A flash point during Alito's confirmation hearings was a 1985 memo he wrote saying that the "Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" despite the Supreme Court's 1973 Row v. Wade decision.

"I think he will shut the door of court access to the average person in America ... ," Kerry said Sunday on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "I will vote against him because I think he will take the court backwards."

I guess that means Kerry thinks that slavery and segregation should still be legal because they were "established legal precedents."

Activists To Force Democrat Filibuster

2006-01-22T16:36:00.000-05:00

Pressure from liberal activists to oppose confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court has been so intense that Democratic senators may be trapped into a filibuster that they do not want to wage.

Despite the consensus that Alito performed well in his confirmation hearings, leaders of liberal organizations opposing him -- Ralph Neas, Nan Aron and Wade Henderson -- demand that Democrats vote against him. Consequently, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is the only Democrat at this writing who has announced in Alito's favor.

That means the number of senators voting "no" will be well over the 41 needed to prevent cloture. Pressure groups then could ask why no filibuster had been launched.

By filibustering Alito the Democrats merely trigger the Constitutional option and lose judicial filibusters forever

Supreme Judge Getting What They Sewed, Getting House Taken

2006-01-22T16:25:00.000-05:00

Angered by a Supreme Court ruling that gave local governments more power to seize people's homes for economic development, a group of activists is trying to get one of the court's justices evicted from his own home.

The group, led by a California man, wants Justice David Souter's home seized to build an inn called the "Lost Liberty Hotel."

They submitted enough petition signatures - only 25 were needed - to bring the matter before voters in March. This weekend, they're descending on Souter's hometown, the central New Hampshire town of Weare, population 8,500, to rally for support.

NY Times Being Ignorant

2006-01-21T01:39:00.000-05:00

The Corner points out this example of the NY Times's breathtaking stupidity, or brazen bias. Here's the first sentence of the Times's article on the Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England case.

In its first ruling on an abortion case in six years, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on Wednesday that reaffirmed the need to include an exception for medical emergencies in a law that restricts teenagers' access to abortion.

And here's how the Court's unanimous opinion actually reads.

We do not revisit our abortion precedents today, but rather address a question of remedy

Seems pretty clear that the Court did not reaffirm anything, but simply opined while not undertaking the question of whether to review or modify its own precedents. Is NY Times writer Linda Greenhouse too ignorant to understand the distinction, too lazy to check her assertion or too biased to report the truth?

Harry Reid Highlighting Democrat Philosophy

2006-01-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday apologized to 33 Republican senators singled out for ethics criticism in a report from his office titled "Republican Abuse of Power."

"The document released by my office yesterday went too far and I want to convey to you my personal regrets," Reid said in a letter.

"I am writing to apologize for the tone of this document and the decision to single out individual senators for criticism in it."

Reid came under attack Wednesday over the report, which was issued by his staff on Senate letterhead, even as he and fellow Democrats released ethics overhaul proposals.

"Researching, compiling and distributing what amounts to nothing more than a campaign ad on the taxpayers dime raises serious ethical questions," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, one of the lawmakers named.

Hero Leaves Legacy To Government For Future US Stability

2006-01-20T14:30:00.000-05:00

Margaret Elizabeth Taylor, who died Nov. 9 at age 98, has bequeathed her $1.1 million estate to the federal government and requested that it be used to help pay down the $8.1 trillion national debt.

Attorney Tom Drake, the executor of her estate, said his client made it "very clear" what her fortune was to be used for. Her will was filed recently in Hancock County Probate Court.

Taylor, of Findlay, was a staunch Democrat who believed the national debt should be paid off and she wanted to do her part, Drake said.

"It's not what I would have advised her to do with it, but she really wasn't interested in my opinion," he said. "In the end, an attorney has to listen to their client. That's what I did."

Treasury Department officials couldn't remember a larger gift, spokesman Stephen Meyerhardt said Thursday.

"It's the biggest in at least the last 15 years, and most likely the largest one ever," he said. "Needless to say, most donations are much, much smaller."

Bureau of the Public Debt records show that U.S. citizens donated a total of $1.5 million toward debt reduction total last year.

Nice to see a democrat that actually puts the money where their mouth was. It's a shame some nobody is the #1 donor to the US. All those famous people, with their 1.5 million dollar cars. Then again, I didn't send in any myself. I guess I'm just glad its not a Saudi.

Democrats Announce New Slogan

2006-01-20T00:31:00.000-05:00

In following the recent surge in overseas support, the California branch of the US Democrat Party has come up with a new campaign slogan.

Leading Democrats said "It'll play well overseas," their primary fund-raising locations. "It might not play well in middle America, but fuck them, we only need 270 Electorial votes to win. This summarizes perfectly the vast majority of California Democrats view on politics. We're using this to re-vitalize our base and let the American people how we stand on the important issue of nation security."

In places like San Francisco, San Quentin, Berkeley and Oakland it market tested through the roof. We think the 'California View' we be an important factor in the 08 election and we want everyone to know where Democrats stand.

No, Not really!

Homosexual Teacher Gets No Jail For Student Assault

2006-01-20T00:14:00.000-05:00

For the second time this week, a homosexual teacher has been given no prison time for sexually assaulting one of his students.

The latest case involves Gary Hoff, a 44-year-old former choir instructor for the Parkview School District in Orfordville, Wis.

According to the Janesville Gazette, Rock County Judge Alan Bates sentenced Hoff to three years probation after he pleaded no contest to one count each of disorderly conduct and misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy, who now is 17.

Bates also ordered Hoff to pay a $1,000 fine, serve 30 hours of community service and have no contact with the victims. Hoff must also surrender his teaching license and participate in counseling and treatment required by his probation officer.

Another sexual assault victim of Hoff, former student Jeb McMahon, now 27, was hoping Bates would be tougher when it came to the sentence.

"I'm not happy with what all's been found in the investigation," McMahon told the court. "I would like to see you set a strong example that this is not something, as a community, we're going to tolerate."

McMahon's assault occurred in 1993 when he was 15, but he didn't report it until last year. Hoff was not charged in connection with that case, only a more recent incident in November 2004 in which he picked up a 17-year-old at the boy's home for a planned "boys' night out."

Prosecutors handling the case stated:

Hoff told the boy other friends had canceled on plans for dinner and a movie, but he still took him out. The boy said Hoff hugged him while driving and being sexually aroused. The boy broke away from Hoff, who told him, "still looking good buddy."

Hoff encouraged the boy to take his shirt off for a photo, claiming he resembled singer Justin Timberlake. He also massaged the teen's back.

Returning home from the movie, Hoff offered the boy $20 to not wear his shirt. The boy said, "this was an easy $20."

"I'm truly sorry to the court and would like to offer my heartfelt apologies to both Jeb and [the 17-year-old boy]," Hoff said during his sentencing hearing.

Hoff, a 17-year veteran of the district quit his position before the school board could take any disciplinary action. During his career, he oversaw many high-school musical productions and the school's Pizzazz Show Choir, which he took to Branson, Mo., for a 2004 competition.

Three months before his arrest on the sexual assault charges, he pleaded no contest to procuring alcohol for another minor in 2004, and was ordered to pay a $243 fine.

As WorldNetDaily is reporting, Gregory Pathiakis, 26, of Brockton, Mass., was given five years probation after pleading guilty to one count of rape of a child, enticement of a child under 16, five counts of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of harmful material to a child.

The jurist handling that case, Judge Suzanne Delvecchio, the first woman to be appointed chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, was honored in 2000 as the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Bar Association's annual dinner.

Both cases are emerging on the heels of national outrage this month after a judge in Vermont gave an admitted child rapist a 60-day jail sentence.

Osama's Tape Littered With Left Wing Talking Points

2006-01-19T23:55:00.000-05:00

Quagmire: "[T]he [American] soldier is caught between two hard options. He either refuses to leave his military camp on patrols and is therefore dogged by ruthless punishments enacted by the Vietnam Butcher (U.S. army) or he gets destroyed by the mines.... The solution is in your hands if you care about them (the soldiers)."

Iraq worse off than before: "On another issue, jihad (holy war) is ongoing, thank God, despite all the oppressive measures adopted by the U.S Army and its agents (which is) to a point where there is no difference between this criminality and Saddam's criminality, as it has reached the degree of raping women and taking them as hostages instead of their husbands."

"Mission accomplished": "[I]f you compare the small number of dead on the day that Bush announced the end of major operations in that fake, ridiculous show aboard the aircraft carrier with the tenfold number of dead and wounded who were killed in the smaller operations, you would know the truth of what I say.

Halliburton/mercenaries: "There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars — which lets us understand the insistence by Bush and his gang to carry on with war."

I guess its no wonder he's recommending liberal, left wing American authors, they're singing his song of defeatism. With citizens like these, we don't need a foreign enemy to fight.

USAID Hijacked To Win The War?

2006-01-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

The Bush administration on Thursday appointed Randall Tobias, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, to the powerful new position of director of foreign assistance, in a move officials said would subordinate US overseas aid programmes to the broader policy objectives of government....

[D]evelopment organisations are concerned that USAID, created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, will lose its independence and that development assistance will become hijacked by a short-term political agenda driven by the “war on terror”....

Two senior State Department officials, explaining the reorganisation, denied that USAID was being “merged” into the department, as critics fear. The two agencies were becoming “aligned”, they said, and the move had the support of Mr Natsios.

USAID website: "USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State."

Liberal Group LCCR Mis-label Conservative Democrat For Alito Stance

2006-01-19T17:34:00.000-05:00

Today, a liberal group, LCCR, posted an AP story titled, "Conservative Democrat Says He Won't Vote for Alito" on their website. The story says that Senator Max Baucus plans to vote against Alito's nomination. LCCR, by posting up this story, is hoping to give the impression that conservative Democrats don’t support Judge Alito.

This stands in contrast to other stories, such as Democrat Ben Nelson announcing his intent to vote to confirm Alito. The headline of that AP story was "Conservative Dem Says He'll OK Alito."

But the truth is LCCR does not even consider Baucus to be a conservative Democrat. In fact, their own legislative scorecard gives him a 100 percent rating for the 108th Congress on issues the liberal group supports. ADA, another liberal group, gave him an 85, which is 20 points higher than Senator Ben Nelson.

So, not only was the AP headline about Baucus lying... but LCCR was being dishonest by giving the impression that they actually believe Baucus is a conservative Democrat.

Web Site Urges Americans To Attack Alaska Pipeline

2006-01-19T16:37:00.000-05:00

A recent posting on a Web site purportedly affiliated with al-Qaida urges attacks against the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and Valdez tanker dock, calling on 'jihadists' to either shower the pipe with bullets or hide and detonate explosives along its length.

The unknown author encourages small cells of four or five mujahedeen, or Muslim guerrillas, living in the United States or in Canada or Mexico to mount the attacks.

The 10-page posting includes numerous links to Web sites providing maps and other basic information about the pipeline.

Attacking oil and gas targets in the United States and other countries is key to bringing down the economy of the "American devils," the author writes, saying the message was posted in response to calls from Osama bin Laden and his top al-Qaida deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The Arabic posting was discovered and translated in late December by the SITE Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization that tracks international terrorists.

Leading Democrat: Partisan Points More Important Than Constructive Reform

2006-01-19T01:57:00.000-05:00

The Washington Note gives us a detailed account of a blogger conference call with Senator Harry Reid(D)... This part was most illuminating:

Senator Reid shared with us that just that day an unnamed Democratic Senator had come to him with a proposal on "ethics reform" ala Abramoff that could be bi-partisan. Reid told this person that this was the wrong time to be engaged in construtive "reform" proposals with the other side. He said that this was the time to draw a line and to show how "our side" differed dramatically from "their side."

This proves that the Democrats are only interested in trying to score political points by pointing the finger on issues of ethics and corruption, rather than being genuinely interested in "cleaning up" politics in Washington.

Sadly, we know how Democrats differ from Republicans. Democrats don't believe they're accountable for their corruption.

US Air-Strike In Pakistan Kills al Qaeda's Chemical Weapons Expert

2006-01-18T23:42:00.000-05:00

ABC News has learned that Pakistani officials now believe that al Qaeda's master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week's U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.

Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by Pakistani authorities as one of four known major al Qaeda leaders present at an apparent terror summit in the village of Damadola early last Friday morning.

He is described by authorities as the man who ran al Qaeda's infamous Derunta training camp in Afghanistan, where he used dogs and other animals as subjects for experiments with poison and chemicals. His explosives training manual is still regarded as the bible for al Qaeda terrorists around the world.

"He wants to cause mayhem, major death, and he puts his expertise on the line. So the fact that we took him out is significant," said former FBI agent Jack Cloonan, an ABC News consultant, who was the senior agent on the FBI's al Qaeda squad. "He's the man who trained the shoe bomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, as well as hundreds of others."

Pakistani officials also said that Khalid Habib, the al Qaeda operations chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Abdul Rehman al Magrabi, a senior operations commander for al Qaeda, were killed in the Damadola attack. Authorities tell ABC News that the terror summit was called to funnel new money into attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"Pakistani intelligence says this was a very important planning session involving the very top levels of al Qaeda as they get ready for a new spring offensive," explained Alexis Debat, a former official in the French Defense Ministry and now an ABC News consultant

As for Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 man, U.S. and Pakistani officials agree that it is still possible but increasingly unlikely that he was killed. If he is alive, he has lost many of those close to him, however.

"Zawahiri, if he slept three hours on a normal night, he's sleeping an hour and a half right now with his eyes wide open," Cloonan said. "He's looking around right now and wondering who handed him up. Not a nice feeling."

Patriot Act Proven Saving Lives

2006-01-18T14:14:00.000-05:00

On January 5, 2005, a drug runner named Noel Exinia, who was engaged in transporting over five hundreds pounds of cocaine from Mexico to New York City, revealed in a telephone conversation that he was interested in other kinds of cargo as well.

He spoke about twenty Iraqis, all between the ages of 25 and 33, who would pay $8,000 to get past the Mexico-U.S. border and into the United States. These Iraqis were, he said, in the Mexican cities of Monterrey, Chiapas and Puebla, and were ready to cross into Texas; ultimately, they hoped to get to the Northeast. According to Exinia, they were “la gente de Osama” — Osama’s people. What’s more, they were “dangerous…really bad people.” Even Exinia, with all his experience in the drug underworld as part of the Gulf Cartel, admitted he was afraid of them.

No one would have known any of this, at least until these Iraqis committed a terrorist act on American soil, had it not been for the fact that Exinia’s call was recorded. The recording was permissible under the U.S. Patriot Act.

Exinia’s previous lawyer, William May, said that he thought the terrorism allegations against his former client were true.

This is what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) are trying to stop. Exinia’s lawyer, John Blaylock, thinks no one should ever have heard anything about Exinia’s phone call. “This is an example,” he maintains, “of a lot of hot air with a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing….Terrorism is the flavor of the week. If they could have, they would have charged him with terrorism to justify the Patriot Act that is coming up for renewal.

With the five-week extension on the Patriot Act due to expire on February 3, the ACLU and CAIR among others, have filed suit against it, and another, closely related element of The President's anti-terror program: the recently-revealed program of domestic surveillance of foreigners conducted without a court ordered warrant. The names of the plaintiffs do not inspire confidence in the merits of the suit. The ACLU’s long-standing antagonism to America’s common defense is well documented; for its part, CAIR has had several of its officials arrested and convicted on various terrorism-related charges, and has never answered questions about where it really stands on Islamic terror. The Fiqh Council of North America’s condemnation of terrorism that CAIR endorsed with much fanfare (and a great deal of mainstream media attention) was flawed, inadequate, and loaded with weasel words and half statements.

That such groups would come out against the Administration’s policies may be the strongest argument in their favor.

Democrat Says Repulicans Hijacked By Religion, Osama bin-Laden

2006-01-18T13:44:00.000-05:00

While being both the darling of the Left, and also a shill for the extreist Left, Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Paul Hackett (D) stakes out an even more untenable position:

"The Republican Party has been hijacked by the religious fanatics that, in my opinion, aren’t a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden and a lot of the other religious nuts around the world."

I guess he's been studing Danforth.

"I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives." "The evangelical Christian influence would be bad for the party in the long run." "Nothing is more dangerous than religion in politics and government..I'll give you examples: Iraq. Northern Ireland. Palestine."

I think this only goes to prove the democrat's base. Lawlessness, godlessness, completely out of touch.

Republicans Receive Greatest Help For Keeping Presidency in '08

2006-01-18T01:51:00.000-05:00

In what is a sure sign that a Republican will be keeping the presidency in 08(So long as its not Rice):

"Have you seen the coming attraction trailer for "Democratic Presidential Nomination '08: Al vs. Hillary"

2 time loser Al "I invented the Internet" Gore VS Hillary "HAMAS Coddleing" Clinton. Rudy must have tears of joy in his eyes. Things are looking good for a long conservative streak. I just hope the GOP can pull together a candidate that can win in both the south and north. First woman president is plausible, first minority president is plausible, but both minority and female?

Blogger criticizes Blogs For Being Different, Connecting To Party

2006-01-18T00:48:00.000-05:00

The National Journal's Daniel Glover is supposedly a big fan of blogs and is the author of the Journal's "Beltway Blogroll" column; blogs are his thing. Yesterday he devoted his column to the bloggers' coverage of the Alito hearings: "The courtship of the blogosphere."

Writing as a friendly critic, Glover criticizes the bloggers' coverage of the hearings. One of Glover's criticisms was our hosts' decision not to invite any 'good' left-wing bloggers to the conservative shin-dig. Powerlineblog asked him to elaborate a bit on the criticism he intimates in his column, and he kindly responded:

Too many of the bloggers, however, seemed to be just parroting what the officials said, without much thought as to whether those thoughts were "blog-worthy." Had those bloggers not been in Washington but watched the officials on C-Span, I am convinced that they would have been more selective about what they wrote. That's really where I was coming from in my piece: The bloggers behaved differently than usual -- at least differently than I've seen in the past -- and I think that's because the [Republican National Committee/Senate Republican Conference] made them feel special.

I have the benefit of having talked to officials in both parties who have been quite honest about how they see blogs as a tool for "reaching the base." They GOP in particular sees blogs as the next talk radio. Good for them, and more power to them in trying to achieve their goals. But despite the partisan leanings of blogs on both sides of the political spectrum (which don't bother me in the least), I see so much more potential for them than that. I absolutely do not want to see blogs develop the same weaknesses as the MSM, and that very well could happen if they let themselves be wooed by the establishment.

I will say that as much as 'objective' reporters might have loved the kind of access you all had last week, I doubt that many, if any, of them would have accepted an invitation to such a forum, precisely for the reason Steve Outing gave. These kinds of events need to be opened to a broader array of bloggers.

I'm not saying Kos or some of the over-the-top bloggers should be invited because they would just make a scene. But why not Josh Marshall or Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft? Or someone like Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber? Or the Bull Moose (Marshall Wittmann) or New Donkey (Ed Kilgore). There are some good bloggers out there who do not agree with the GOP but who I think have earned the right to be invited to cover such events.

And the best thing is how the bloggers on both sides would benefit from the experience. People can learn a lot from spending time with those who challenge their thinking. That's true for bloggers as much as journalists.

Are you kidding me, apparently he doesn't understand blogworthy-ness. And imagine, "parroting" what officials is not preferred to parroting C-Span. No, we shouldn't look up and compare and use resources, we should just stare at the 'boob tube." Take anything an 'expert' assures as fact, be good little sheep. And besides, everyone knows bloggers live by the cut & paste'.

The political party "made them feel special." Isn't that the basis of a grass roots connection? Does he expect us to remain neutral while democrats run our country into the ground? Invite said ruin-makers to be part of our inner circle? It might be true that "bloggers on both sides would benefit from the experience" but I'm doubting the likes of "Bush blew up the levee" and "Do we want a judge who would marry such a weak-willed b*tch?" as part of any party activities much less education? Moonbats aren't know for their ability to learn.

It most interesting that when democrats get their based energized its normal, but a conservative energized base is some kind of Klan meeting than needs liberal slant to validate it's existance. Its our party and we'll invite who we want to, invite who we want to, invite who we want to, you would cry to if happened to you.

In Honor Of Gore's Comments On Law Breaking President

2006-01-18T00:38:00.000-05:00

President Clinton's Bar Suspension Ends Thursday.

After five years of banishment from the legal profession, President Clinton will be eligible this week to reclaim the law license he gave up as a consequence of the inaccurate responses(lying) he gave under oath to questions about his relationship with a White House intern.

Mr. Clinton's suspension from the Arkansas bar, which he formally agreed to a day before leaving office in 2001, expires on Thursday. It is unclear whether the former president will seek reinstatement to the bar, but officials in Arkansas have been preparing for such a request....

A professor of legal ethics at New York University, Stephen Gillers, said he expected Mr. Clinton would seek to reclaim his Arkansas bar membership. "It would just be personal vindication," the professor said. "If he is admitted, he may see it as confirmation of his claim that the original transgression was not as bad as some made it out to be." Mr. Gillers said a law license also could help Mr. Clinton financially, by allowing him to become a rainmaker at a New York or Washington law firm....

While there appears to be little standing in the way of Mr. Clinton's reinstatement to the Arkansas bar, rules for admission in New York and Washington could pose a challenge to him quickly joining those bars. Admission by reciprocity to the New York bar requires that an applicant show that he or she has spent five of the last seven years working as a lawyer....Mr. Gillers noted that at any point Mr. Clinton could try to gain admission to the New York or Washington bars by taking the bar examination. Like other bar applicants, he would also have to demonstrate good moral character.

Washington Gov Wants Fully Open Borders

2006-01-17T18:38:00.000-05:00

Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire and Canadian B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell have asked President Bush to scrap plans making a passport or similar documents mandatory for travelers coming into the United States from Canada.

We want our borders open for any terrorists, drug dealers, smugglers, criminal that wants to come so long as they come through Canada.

The requirement would be a hindrance, Gregoire believes, to Canadians coming into the United States -- and to Washington residents and other U.S. citizens looking to go north for a day or a weekend.

With the number of travelers into Washington from Canada rebounding after a decade of decline, and the 2010 Winter Olympics destined for Vancouver, B.C., Gregoire and her counterpart in British Columbia are worried the federal plans from the U.S. government will torpedo cross-border tourism.

In a letter last month, Gregoire and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell told Bush they are "concerned that stringent requirements are being developed that will significantly alter the quality of life and economic prosperity for law-abiding citizens, while terrorists will continue to falsify any ID we put in place."

The best way to secure Washington's border with Canada, Gregoire said in a recent interview, is to station more well-trained officers at border crossings.

"When we think of terrorists, we think of 9/11, and every one of those people had a passport," she said. "At the end of the day, the best option is full staffing and fully trained people at the border."

Mary Phillips, an 18-year-old from Sumner, had similar concerns last week after crossing into Canada at Blaine with only a driver's license and a birth certificate.

"Locks only keep out honest people," she said, outside the travel information center. "If people want to get in, it's not going to stop them."

Requiring a passport at the border would have put a stop to her spur-of-the-moment trip. A passport costs $97 and takes about six weeks to get. And like most Americans, Phillips doesn't have a passport.

Phillips' friend, Nathan Mack, said he understands the need for security. He has a passport but said requiring one would be a nuisance.

"If they had passed that law, she wouldn't have been able to come here today," he said.

70 Billion Dollars Not Enough For 'Chocolate City'

2006-01-17T18:26:00.000-05:00

Federal programs and funds to help the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Katrina do not go far enough to help, according to lawmakers touring the battered region Tuesday.

"The tools we have in our toolbox are not effective,'' said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., on a flight to Gulfport, Miss., where blue-tarped roof dotted the city's houses. She was with a delegation of senators who also planned to tour disaster sites in the New Orleans area. "We need a new tool.''

Though the federal government has set aside nearly $70 billion for emergency relief and long-term recovery plans, Landrieu said massive reforms at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which distributes disaster relief, and the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the New Orleans levees that were breached by the storm's surge, also are necessary. And she called on Congress to approve a federally aided regional redevelopment program like the one proposed by Rep. Richard Baker, R-La.

"Would it be easier to do your job if you had more specific authority over the allocation of resources and personnel?'' asked Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chaired the hearing.

"At times, yes'' Powell responded. But, he added, "To date the cooperation is extraordinary.''

Several senators said they were troubled by Powell's limitations. Powell, the former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairman who was tapped in November for the recovery post, is tasked with for dealing with plans by Congress, state and local governments, and private businesses to rebuild the region.

More than a half-dozen senators visited the region to examine what more Congress needs to do, four months after the Aug. 29 storm.

"The devastation is so widespread that a sustained federal commitment is going to be necessary,'' Collins said in an earlier interview. "I think Congress realizes that, but there's also a growing concern about whether the money is well spent.''

So far, Congress has approved $67 billion for the Gulf Coast, and President Bush has called for an additional $1.5 billion to strengthen New Orleans levees. But Collins said hard-hit areas - including Gulfport, Miss., and St. Bernard Parish in Louisiana - need more federal resources and attention.

Senators will visit both of those places - nearly obliterated by Hurricane Katrina's high winds and flood waters on Aug. 29 - and tour parts of New Orleans while inspecting progress on rebuilding its levees. They also plan to conduct a hearing on recovery efforts.

"This is really a catastrophe of enormous proportions, and I don't think we appropriated nearly enough to help,'' Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said last week after reviewing damage in the New Orleans area. She is calling for Congress to repeal Bush's tax cuts to help pay for rebuilding costs.

Last month, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, chastised Congress for failing to approve emergency funding, which he said has stalled transportation, school and housing projects.

Mississippi has cleaned up 27 million cubic yards of debris - about two-thirds of the total, said Donald Powell, the federal Gulf Coast coordinator. He estimated that Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties in Mississippi were left with more debris after Katrina than totals after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the World Trade Center from the 2001 terror attacks combined.

Powell also estimated that fewer than 2,000 evacuated families remain in Mississippi hotels, and that 280,000 state residents have received transitional housing assistance.

Racism In The Number

2006-01-17T17:17:00.000-05:00

This piece proudly proclaims "US honours Martin Luther King, but kills dream of equality"

The numbers there based on "the percentage of black students attending schools where most students are non-white increased across the US from 66% in 1991 to 73%"

I'm just wondering how the demographic shift to larger increase of populations of Hispanic origin are taken into account? Oh yea, there not. Black's city-centric lifestyle? Nope either.

In the 1960s, four out of every five American students were white. In the 2003-2004 school year, Latinos were the largest minority, at 19%, followed by 17% black students, 4% Asian students and 1% Native American students. Today, only about 58% are white.

So out of 83% of students are supposed to be the majority for less than 73% of schools. It seems quit the opposite.

3 major issues I have

1. Geographic density. I would have to belive that in the lower density states their are smaller numbers of students per school. These town have a lower incident of minorities because they're smart enough not to move into the middle of nowhere. I'm guessing there're not alot of minority in the middle of n.dakota. The same is true in reverse. Population density in urban area dictates larger schools, and historically, blacks have stuck to large cities. Every public school in DC is majority black, that's the demographics of the city. The same is proudly proclaim by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagins, "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. New Orleans was a chocolate city before Katrina. It is going to be a chocolate city after." I would belive school density would be a major factor but that would make to much sense, besides that wouldn't fit the liberal agenda.

2. Black people want segregated schools. Under the guise that white people can't properly educate black youth, school systems are allowing blacks only schools because of their poor graduation rates. Of course this also bring up the specter of higher dropout rates leading to fewer blacks in school. I'm not saying its right, I'm just saying it was their choice, and they made it. Either do away with it or don't. Affirmative action has proven that racial bias whither positive or negative is believed necessary in America. If you belive otherwise, democrats will call you racists.

3. I went to a majority black school and I'm not black. Their was only one public highschool. If you didn't have the cash to goto a private school, or held idiological differences, then there you were. I have to question the willingness of black people to pay to go someplace where they're an outsider. I sure all hell wouldn't have payed to goto someplace where my safety was in question. The day after the Rodney King/LA riots, you think I wanted to goto school?

Plus most private schools are religious based. What atheists want to send their kid to a catholic school?

Maybe if black people idiolized knowledge and respect instead of drug dealers and criminals there would be social pressure from within to succede, but so long as Kanye West is more popular then Jesse Jackson, education can't be held as a racial goal.

Coward Awaits Fate After 36 Years On The Run

2006-01-17T16:45:00.000-05:00

A Vietnam-era Army deserter who spent more than 36 years on the lam was behind bars Monday, awaiting word on his fate as authorities worked to decide if and how his case would be prosecuted.

Ernest Johnson Jr., 55, was arrested Thursday in Fort Worth on a federal warrant for military desertion — stemming from his 1969 decision to leave Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he was stationed with the Marines. Johnson said he deserted because he opposed the Vietnam War, telling the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a jailhouse interview Friday that the war was "a mistake from Day One."(And We all know 1 persons oppinion is more valid than the elected government's)

He spent the next three decades drifting between California, Oregon, Arizona, Indiana, Michigan and Texas, where he was living with his girlfriend in Fort Worth when officials arrested him Thursday.

Johnson, who used the surname McQueen throughout his life, remained in custody Monday in Mansfield Jail without bail as authorities decided whether he would be sent to North Carolina to face charges. If court-martialed and found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to three years in the brig and be dishonorably discharged, Marine Capt. Jay Delarosa, a spokesman, said in Monday's editions of the Star-Telegram.

"I guess I'll have to take whatever comes my way," Johnson said, adding that he did not believe he should be punished. "I'm not a criminal. I'm not a crook. I've never had one violent offense."

But he said he felt relieved by his arrest after spending more than half his life as a fugitive.

"They were hot on my tail a few times, and they were hot on my tail this time," said Johnson, who said he suffers from prostate cancer and knee and shoulder ailments. "I could have run this time, but I said, 'No, my running days are over with.'"

Delarosa said Johnson wasn't being made an example for younger Marines. Rather, he said, the arrest was a consequence of a decision Johnson made years ago.

Homemade Electrocardiograph

2006-01-17T15:24:00.000-05:00

For those needing a cheap heart monitering device or just to prove you have a heart, here is the writeup on how to build your own electrocardiograph(ecg). While a pc is required, its still mutch cheaper than than plunking down 500 bucks to go see a heart specialist.

Here you will find information how how to build one with less than $10 in parts.

If you can't or don't want to build one yourself, here's the 45 dollar prebuilt device.

Kennedy To Quit Sexist Group Post Facto

2006-01-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

Senator Ted Kennedy, who lambasted Judge Alito on his membership to a Princeton alumni group that once published a satirical editorial that brought on unfounded charges of racism and sexism, was recently caught being a member of a group that did not permit women to become members, exposing his hypocrisy. In a move that can only be described as CYA, Kennedy says he will quit the group.

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — who ripped Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito for ties to a group that discriminates against women — says he’s going to quit a club notorious for discriminating against women “as fast as I can.”
Kennedy was outed by conservatives late last week as a current member of The Owl Club, a social club for Harvard alumni that bans women from membership.

In an interview with WHDH Channel 7’s Andy Hiller that aired last night, Kennedy said, “I joined when I . . . 52 years ago, I was a member of the Owl Club, which was basically a fraternal organization.”

Asked by Hiller whether he is still a member, Kennedy said, “I’m not a member; I continue to pay about $100.”

He then said of being a member in a club that discriminates against women, “I shouldn’t be and I’m going to get out of it as fast as I can.”

The Harvard Crimson reports that, in 1984, the university severed ties with clubs like the Owl, citing a federal law championed by Kennedy.

If it can work for Senator Robert Byrd, a former Klansman, Kennedy certainly has nothing to fear, atleast, not from his fellow Democrats.

Pardon My English wonders:

If Kennedy is not a member of this group, as he claims, why does he need to get out of it? He must still be a member, after all, according to the online membership directory of the Owl Club, he did update his personal information with the group in September

A Democrat's Word Means Nothing

2006-01-17T13:24:00.000-05:00

The ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee has declared for the world that a Democrats' word is worth nothing and that a Democrat can only be "trusted" if an agreement is put on paper. Pat Leahy finally says out loud what we all know:

Senate Democrats have scrapped a "good-faith" agreement they made two months ago to allow the Judiciary Committee to vote today on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr...
Under the terms of the November arrangement presented to reporters by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Democrat Patrick J. Leahy, Republicans agreed to conduct the confirmation hearings after the holidays and Democrats agreed to allow a committee vote on the nomination today.
The only conditions for violating the agreement mentioned at the time by Mr. Leahy was "if something extraordinary comes up that neither Senator Specter nor I anticipate or expect."
Yesterday, Mr. Leahy was not claiming that anything extraordinary had come up. The only explanation he has offered is that Democrats didn't want to cut short their Martin Luther King Day holiday.
But, according to his office, the November agreement was not binding anyway because it wasn't in writing.

Senate Democrats have scrapped the "good-faith" agreement they made two months ago to allow the Judiciary Committee to vote today on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.

"This is a new low in our confirmation process," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican. "Not only because it is virtually unprecedented, but also because it reflects a breach of trust."
According to Judiciary Committee rules, either party can stall a nomination in committee for only one week, meaning that Judge Alito's nomination will likely be approved by the panel during an executive committee meeting next Tuesday.

Although Democratic leaders have not ruled out an attempt to filibuster the nomination, such a maneuver seems increasingly unlikely. Still, conservatives were furious that Senate Democrats "reneged" on their agreement to vote Judge Alito out of committee in time for a full Senate vote on Friday.

"You know it's an election year in Washington when people try things like this," said Joseph Cella, president of Fidelis, a conservative Catholic-based organization. "The Democrats are going through these gyrations of block and delay for the liberal interest groups who butter their bread."

Under the terms of the November arrangement presented to reporters by Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Democrat Patrick J. Leahy, Republicans agreed to conduct the confirmation hearings after the holidays and Democrats agreed to allow a committee vote on the nomination today.

The only conditions for violating the agreement mentioned at the time by Mr. Leahy was "if something extraordinary comes up that neither Senator Specter nor I anticipate or expect."
Yesterday, Mr. Leahy was not claiming that anything extraordinary had come up. The only explanation he has offered is that Democrats didn't want to cut short their Martin Luther King Day holiday.