Hence his call for the disparate factions in Iraq to unite.

Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive "extremism," speaking in an audiotape aired Monday and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida's branch in Iraq.

In the audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said insurgents should admit "mistakes" and that he even advises himself not to be extreme in his leadership.

So, will the cut-and-run-and-surrender crowd that has been crowing that the war is lost finally admit that it is not?

Posted by: Greg at 10:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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How much should we spend to combat global warming? That's the great question put forward by economist Steven E. Landsburg in Slate. He walks his readers through a whole host of assumptions that underlie a calculation of how much is enough.

The answer? It depends.

First, I'll make the extreme assumption that our environmental recklessness threatens to shave 1 percentage point off economic growth forever. Because of compounding, our disposable incomes will be reduced by 9.5 percent a decade from now and by 63 percent a century from now—perhaps because we'll spend 63 percent of our incomes relocating coastal cities. Now toss in some standard (but arguable) assumptions about risk aversion and discounting. (Note to econogeeks: I assumed a risk-aversion coefficient of 1, and I discounted future generations' welfare at an annual rate of 5 percent, partly because we might care less about them and partly because we're not sure they'll exist.) Run this through your calculator, and you'll find we should spend up to about 17 percent of our incomes on climate control—provided that our investment is effective. That's an expenditure level that I expect would satisfy Al Gore.

Change the numerical assumptions, and you'll change the numerical conclusion. Make the discount rate 1 percent instead of 5 percent, and you can justify spending up to a whopping 62 percent of our incomes on climate control; lower the discount rate to 10 percent, and you can't justify spending more than 8 percent of our incomes.

And that is based upon what Landsburg describes as an extreme view of the crisis. My read of the article? Even the most alarmist view of the level of crisis cannot justify the huge expenditures and changes proposed by Gore and the man-made global warming crowd -- especially when one looks at the historical record and sees the many beneficial impacts of the (oft discounted) natural cycle of global warming. After all, Landsburg is making extreme assumptions in his calculations, so more reasonable ones would reduce the percentage of our incomes needed to reduce climate change.

Posted by: Greg at 10:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It looks like the Holy Land Foundation case will need to be retried in Dallas, given yesterday's bizarre happenings when the verdict was read.

A deadlocked federal jury here did not convict any leaders of a Muslim charity who were charged with supporting Middle Eastern terrorists, and the judge today declared a mistrial in what has been widely viewed as the governmentÂ’s flagship terror-financing case.

* * *

The case involved a total of 197 counts, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, years of investigation and preparation, almost two months of testimony and more than 1,000 exhibits, including documents, wiretaps, transcripts and videotapes dug up in a backyard in Virginia.

After 19 days of deliberations, the jury acquitted one of the five individual defendants on all but one charge, on which it deadlocked. A majority of the jurors also appeared ready to acquit two other defendants of most charges, and could not reach a verdict on charges against the two principal organizers and the foundation itself, which had been the largest Muslim charity in the United States until the government froze its assets in late 2001.

It seems pretty clear that this case will be tried again. Here's hoping that it is better presented to the jury with a clearer narrative that will bring about a conviction. After all, money is fungible -- therefore any money given to a terrorist organization has the effect of paying for terrorism, even if it is earmarked for "charitable" purposes.

Posted by: Greg at 09:37 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My father (age 73) sent me this last night. Who knew he watched YouTube?

Watch and enjoy!

Quite honestly, this may be the funniest thing I have seen on the topic.

Posted by: Greg at 01:36 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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How bad is AirAmerica doing? The local affiliate in Austin just switched over to become another one of the ubiquitous Spanish language AM stations here in Texas -- despite the fact that Austin may be the most liberal spot in Texas.

Air America, the home for defiantly liberal talk radio, has quit AustinÂ’s air waves, though it can still be heard online or on XM Satellite Radio. Its previous broadcasting home in Austin, KOKE 1600 AM, has started following a Spanish-language format.

Dave Kaufman, Air America’s vice president of affiliate relations, said Monday the shift happened last week as part of an expected change in station ownership. “Definitely disappointed,” Kaufman reacted. “Whenever we lose any affiliate, it’s disappointing. This was an affiliate better than many, not as good as others. And in a state capital, it’s tough” to take the loss.

A dismayed blogger dug up Arbitron ratings suggesting low listener-ship on the Austin outlet: “Can’t even pull 1 percent in Austin, TX? Amazing but true. don’t ask me why. This is a city that is overwhelmingly Democratic, but the right-wing talk radio stations in town consistently get much better ratings.”

Kaufman played down the ratings, though, saying: “Many stations have better ratings, many have lesser ratings.”

If they can't make it there, can they make it anywhere? I don't think so.

And yet somehow the liberals are deluding themselves into expecting liberal victories in Texas next year.

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This is the first of its kind -- First Temple artifacts found on Temple Mount.

The unauthorized dig of a trench this past summer by the Moslem Waqf on the Temple Mount, in the course of which it was assumed that precious findings were destroyed, apparently had a thin silver lining. Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) personnel monitoring the trench-digging have, for the first time, found traces of the First Temple.

* * *

Archaeological examination of a small section of this level, led by Jerusalem District Archaeologist Yuval Baruch, uncovered fragments of ceramic table wares, animal bones, and more. The finds date from the 8th to 6th centuries BCE; the First Temple existed between the 9th and 5th centuries BCE, having been built by King Solomon in 832 and destroyed in 422.

This will certainly make it harder for those who claim the Jews never had a temple on Temple Mount -- but then again, the Muslim radicals don't really care about historical finds like this one.

Posted by: Greg at 10:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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For all her flaws, I hope that the prediction she makes here after the horrors that accompanied her return to Pakistan come to pass.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto warned Sunday that Taliban and al-Qaida militants have gained ground in Pakistan, making her first public appearance since narrowly escaping a suicide assassination attempt that killed 136 people.

But she said the bombing could unite her and other forces opposed to extremism, including military ruler President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

''He's been the victim of assassination attacks and so have we,'' Bhutto told a small group of journalists inside her heavily guarded Karachi residence. ''I think certainly it will unite all those who are against extremism.''

If she is right, these attacks will provide the necessary ingredients for a new Pakistan, one that embraces democratic values and rejects extremism and terrorism. If that is the case, perhaps the scores killed during her return will not have died in vain.

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Andrew Sullivan quotes a reader today on the principles for a new conservatism.

In doing so, he gives voice to a position advocated by the Cold War critics of the Left and the neo-isolationists of the Buchananite Right -- and the Paulite nutjobs.

The third leg of the tripod, though, is the interesting one, because it's something that comes out of the far left. In fact, it's so far to the left that it wouldn't fit into today's Democratic party. I'd like to see an acknowledgment and rejection of some of the brutality of American foreign policy. I'd like us to explicitly own and reject what we did in places like Iran before the Shah, and in Guatemala.

The first two legs, small government and Constitutionalism, are positions strongly supported by the Right today. Unfortunately, the third leg is a return to the foreign policy of the GOP of the post-WWI era. As we learned with dismay later on, such policies are doomed to failure -- especially in a world that has become even more interconnected than it was in the first third of the twentieth century.

Posted by: Greg at 09:51 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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There once was a fellow by the name of Joseph Kennedy.

As the stock market crashed, he started buying undervalued stocks.

He quickly became one of the richest men in America -- and created an American political dynasty.

This story put me in mind of him.

In a down real estate market, they came to buy. They came early, they came in numbers and they came with bank checks for $5,000.

By 10 a.m. Saturday, more than 700 people filled a hall in the convention center here for what real estate agents say is the largest auction of foreclosed properties ever in Minnesota, with more than 300 houses or apartments for sale in two days. Opening bids ranged from $1,000 — for a three-bedroom house — to $729,000, for a five-bedroom house on 11.9 acres. The crowd was standing-room only, with more waiting to enter. Some were looking for homes, others for investments.

“It’s a symptom of the foreclosure crisis,” said Jim Davnie, a Democratic state representative in Minnesota. Mr. Davnie said he had concern that areas already hit by the foreclosure crisis would now be hit by investors buying properties to rent them out, “which makes neighborhoods less stable than owner-occupied housing.”

But in the loud, overcrowded hall, the misery of subprime loans, exploding adjustable rate mortgages and slumping sales meant one thing: opportunity.

And that is the reality of a market-based economy. There are winners and losers, people who have acted unwisely and those who take advantage of the resulting misfortune. That is part of the visible working of Adam Smith's invisible hand.

Am I saddened by the loss of homes to foreclosure? Yes, I am, for each one represents a tragedy for an individual or a family. But at the same time I realize that the economic cycles will bring in those who win -- and become rich -- every time someone suffers such an economic misfortune.

Posted by: Greg at 09:43 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I was going to ignore this article on internet hacking in Russia, until I got to the very end.

This quote really leaped out at me.

“I don’t see in this a big tragedy,” said a respondent who used the name Lightwatch. “Western countries played not the smallest role in the fall of the Soviet Union. But the Russians have a very amusing feature — they are able to get up from their knees, under any conditions or under any circumstances.”

As for the West? “You are getting what you deserve.”

Gee, I guess they don't teach about Ronald Reagan over there. Too bad, because it was his willingness to challenge a corrupt and unstable Soviet system that enabled the peoples oppressed by the Communist regime to rise up against the tyrants his policies had weakened.

Posted by: Greg at 09:36 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Matt Drudge has an incredible gift for sifting the news and finding important stories. He is lso teh recipient of a lot of early tips. In one recent case, though, was he played by the Hillary Clinton Campaign to get early, prominent coverage of a fundraising coup?

As Senator Barack Obama prepared to give a major speech on Iraq one morning a few weeks ago, a flashing red-siren alert went up on the Drudge Report Web site. It read, “Queen of the Quarter: Hillary Crushes Obama in Surprise Fund-Raising Surge,” and, “$27 Million, Sources Tell Drudge Report.”

Within minutes, the Drudge site had injected Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fund-raising success into the day’s political news on the Internet and cable television. It did not halt coverage of Mr. Obama’s speech or his criticism of her vote to authorize the war in 2002, but along the front lines of the campaign — the hourly, intensely fought effort to capture the news cycle or deny ownership of it to the other side — it was a telling assault.

Mrs. ClintonÂ’s aides declined to discuss how the Drudge Report got access to her latest fund-raising figures nearly 20 minutes before the official announcement went to supporters. But it was a prime example of a development that has surprised much of the political world: Mrs. Clinton is learning to play nice with the Drudge Report and the powerful, elusive and conservative-leaning man behind it.

As noted above, this is the same Matt Drudge that rose to prominence on his coverage of her husband's Oral Orifice Oval Office dalliance with Monica Lewinsky. That makes Drudge a card-carrying member of the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" -- but Hillary seems to be prepared to sell her soul for good coverage.

If she has one to sell.

Posted by: Greg at 09:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Future President Bobby Jindal was elected our nation's youngest governor -- and the first Indian-American to ever reach such an office. The Republican Congressman will replace the incompetent Kathleen Blanco, whose failures during Hurricane Katrina led directly to the deaths of thousands of Louisianans during and after the storm, as well as delayed the federal response to the storm by her inaction.

Rep. Bobby Jindal (R) became the nation's first Indian American governor Saturday, outpolling 11 rivals in Louisiana and drawing enough votes to avoid a runoff election next month.

With about 90 percent of the state's nearly 4,000 precincts reporting, Jindal had 53 percent of the vote. His nearest competitor, state Sen. Walter J. Boasso (D), had 18 percent.

Louisiana holds an open gubernatorial election, with candidates of all parties competing. By drawing at least 50 percent of the vote, Jindal avoided a Nov. 17 runoff race with Boasso.

"Let's give our homeland, the great state of Louisiana, a fresh start," Jindal said to a cheering crowd at his victory party, according to the Associated Press.

Jindal, 36, was making his second attempt to become Louisiana's first nonwhite governor since Reconstruction. The last one was P.B.S. Pinchback, a black Republican who served briefly between 1872 and 1873, at a time when many white voters were disenfranchised.

And who disenfranchised those non-white voters? That would be the Democrats, who were outraged by the notion of a non-white holding political power in the state. The more things change, the more they stay the same -- given the race-based smears of Democrats against Jindal during this and his previous race for governor.

Good luck with Louisiana, sir -- you have quite a task before you, overcoming Louisiana's legacy of Democrat rule, which has left it the nation's poorest, most uneducated and most unhealthy state.

I look forward to voting for you in 2012 or 2016 when you are the GOP nominee for President.

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I will never minimize sexual abuse of a child. Not by a parent, not by a clergyman, not by an educator.

That said, I want to make a point about these numbers from an Associated Press article.

The seven-month investigation found 2,570 educators whose teaching credentials were revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned from 2001 through 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.

However, the article also points out that there are some 3 million educators in the US.

Let's do the math.

2570÷3,000,000=0.000857

There you have it -- less than 1/10 of one percent of teachers received any sort of sanction for sexual misconduct. And if you factor in the total number of teachers who taught during that time, the percentage is even smaller. After all, teachers retired or left the profession or died during those five years, and they were replaced with new teachers.

But even if one assumes the number is ten times as high -- 1% -- that still puts the frequency of sexual abuse at or below the national average for groups like clergy, lawyers and doctors -- and parents.

I've had a former colleague in teaching forced from the profession due to sexual misconduct. I have no tolerance for it, and would report in a heartbeat any teacher I knew of who engaged in such activity. But I continue to be reminded of this situation that I wrote about a few years back.

I watched a colleague suffer through such an accusation a few years ago. A decent, compassionate, dedicated man, he had a trio of girls who were doing poorly in his class accuse him of giving them lewd looks and groping them. It wasn't true -- they just wanted out of his class so they could get As instead of Bs. He was suspended from work, and had to go home and tell his pregnant wife about the accusation (it was a difficult pregnancy, and his wife lost the baby that week). Once cleared, he was still the subject of rumors -- even though one of the girls admitted that she had lied. Even today, four years later, there still lingers a hint of scandal around his name, and certain parents will insist that their children be assigned to other classes. It is certain that he will never be hired as an administrator in this or any other district, despite completing his certification requirements a few weeks after the accusation was made; I wonder if he could even get a teaching job outside of the district. After all, there will always be those who will remember the accusation and be certain that these girls didn't lie.

Some may criticize me for this, but for once in my life I'm going to agree with the NEA on an issue.

“Students must be protected from sexual predators and abuse, and teachers must be protected from false accusations,” said NEA President Reg Weaver, who refused to be interviewed and instead released a two-paragraph statement.

I want abusers out of the classroom -- but I also want real sanctions against those who make false accusations of sexual misconduct knowing that it puts them in control and let's them punish a teacher who "made the mistake" of assigning a student the grade they earned or punishing a disciplinary infraction that a student committed.

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are Carrolling by Done With Mirrors, and The Problems and Course of Rebuilding in Iraq by Dumb Looks Still Free.  Here are the full results of the vote:

Posted by: Greg at 10:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, if they really think that those who use it to go after terrorists are violating the Constitution and international law.

Beginning in 1995, the Clinton administration turned up the speed with a full-fledged program to use rendition to disrupt terrorist plotting abroad. According to former director of central intelligence George J. Tenet, about 70 renditions were carried out before Sept. 11, 2001, most of them during the Clinton years.

I'll take serious the Democrat complaints about rendition when they demand that Bill Clinton be turned over to an international court for prosecution.

Let's start pressing senior democrats on this point -- including the current front-runner for the Democrat nomination.

Heck, let's start asking how the Democrats can consider selecting a nominee known to be, by their standards, an international criminal and human rights violator.

Posted by: Greg at 09:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Explaining once again why "Palestine" can never be permitted to exist as a state -- and why the world needs to accept that the only viable solution to protect Israel is to remove the Terrorstinians from Gaza and the West Bank and resettle them around the Arab world.

Palestinian gunmen planned to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he came to the West Bank in August to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a security chief told Israel's Cabinet on Sunday, a meeting participant said.

Shin Bet security police director Yuval Diskin said gunmen loyal to Abbas' Fatah movement planned to attack Olmert's convoy as it entered the West Bank town of Jericho on Aug. 6. Israel notified Palestinian authorities and they arrested an unspecified number of Fatah militants, the participant said.

It was not clear why Israel, whose military operates freely in the West Bank, left it up to Palestinian security sources to apprehend would-be assassins if they thought Olmert's life was in danger — or why they allowed the trip to proceed.

Although the men admitted they planned the attack, the Palestinian Authority released them last week, the meeting participant said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of closed-door meetings.

This catch and release strategy for terrorists does not work -- and proves that none of the Terrorstinian leadership is serious about real peace.

Posted by: Greg at 09:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Care to guess the politics of whoever perpetrated this outrage?

The gravesite of a Southeast Texas Marine killed in Iraq has been vandalized just days after hundreds of mourners turned out for his funeral.

Lance Cpl. Jeremy Burris of Liberty was 22.

Burris died Oct. 8 when an explosive device went off in the Al Anbar province. His services were held Tuesday.

Workers at Cooke Memorial Cemetery on Friday discovered flags and posters had been torn apart, plus flowers were cast aside. The incident is under investigation.

I cannot even begin to express my horror and outrage over this evil deed.

My prayers are with the Burris family as they struggle with the new pain these America-hating cretins have perpetrated against them and their son, who gave his life for his country.

Here is coverage of Lance Corporal Burris' funeral earlier this week.

UPDATE: Haven't had a chance to get back to this one, but Lee's comment does lead me to link to this story -- which indicates the motive was greed, not hatred of the troops.

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Posted by: Greg at 05:59 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I cannot help but shake my head at how politically correct things have become.

From customers to congressmen, the removal of dozens of photos of U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan – many of them with relatives who use the Paso Robles Post Office, where the pictures had been on display for years behind the counter – inspired outrage Friday.

The photos were taken down after a customer complained that the display was pro-war. When the issue came to the attention of the regional postal center, they asked that Paso Robles postmaster Mike Milby and his staff take them down because they violate a regulation against displays of non-postal business material at any U.S. post office.

“It’s an emotional issue and people look at their post office as a hub of the community, but the post office is there to do postal business and it’s not a place to post things or make displays,” said postal spokesman Richard Maher.

I wonder if we will next hear from some felon or family member complaining that the wanted posters are stigmatizing, too, and so need to go because they result in hurt feelings.

In time of war, why is support for the troops in a government building considered inappropriate anyway?

Posted by: Greg at 08:16 AM | Comments (25) | Add Comment
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I love the Harry Potter books. I was quite sad to see them end. And I wept at the death of Albus Dumbledore in the sixth book of the epic series.

And so I ask this question with all due respect to the incredibly talented author -- why do you find it necessary to make this announcement, and why now, given its seeming irrelevance to the story?

Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.

After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

Frankly, it seems to me that this adds nothing to the story. And while it answers a question about his family (or lack thereof), I don't see where the detail really matters. Rowling really included nothing that can be seen as contributing to this conclusion in the books themselves (my reading of the final novel left me understanding that the "great tragedy" was his role in his sister's death).

Is there any particular reason that Dumbledore should not be gay? No, there is not, and given my high regard for the gay educators I work with I have no problem with a gay man in the position of headmaster. But because of the nature of the the role that Dumbledore fills in the story, I do not see any particular reason that his sexuality is even relevant. I fail to see the information as enriching the story in any manner. As such, I argue that Rowling ought to have remained silent in regard to this particular detail.

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Posted by: Greg at 08:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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You know, I'm all for general expressions of religious faith by politicians, but I wish that Fred hadn't used one to dodge so simple a question.

People ask Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee and television and film actor, what he would do during his first 100 days in office, should he be elected president.

“I really don’t know what I would do in my first 100 days,’’ Thompson candidly and conversationally told an audience today. “It would depend on the circumstances.

“But I know what I would do in the first hour,’’ Thompson told an assembly of religious right voters assessing the Republican field of presidential candidates today. “I would go into the Oval Office and close the door and pray for the wisdom to know what is right’’ – and with that, people stood and applauded the drawling, homespun candidate.

“I would pray for the strength to do what is right,’’ the candidate said. “May God give us all the strength and wisdom to do what is right for our country.’’

That Thompson failed to state even one policy key move for early in his presidency is troubling. Hasn't he devised some centerpiece for his campaign?

On the other hand, my darling Democrat suggests that the Thompson Administration would begin with "sex on the Presidential Seal in the Oval Office with that trophy wife of his."

I could handle that -- think of it as purifying the place after Bill and Monica.

Oh, and I have a vision of my first hour in the White House if I ever became President.

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Most Americans are unfamiliar with "Azzam the American", a US citizen from California who is now an active member of al Qaeda and who serves as the terrorist group's spokesman. Well, thanks to the efforts of Senator Ron Wyden, this traitor who is in the highest echelons of the enemy we fight may not be wiretapped like any other terrorist leader due to his citizenship. The New York Times applauds this extension of protection to our enemies in time of war.

There were bright spots in the week. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon managed to attach an amendment requiring a warrant to eavesdrop on American citizens abroad. That merely requires the government to show why it believes the American is in league with terrorists, but Mr. Bush threatened to veto the bill over that issue.

No doubt these same people think the deaths of American soldiers in enemy hands because of warrant requirements is hunky-dory, too.

Analysis of th rest of the editorial from Jammie Wearing Fool, Riehl World View, The Van Der Galiën Gazette

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As the New York Times continues to use the name given the country by the murderous dictators who have oppressed the country for the entire span of my life, President Bush continues to side with the Burmese people.

President Bush imposed new sanctions Friday to punish Myanmar's military-run government and its backers for a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Expanding on sanctions imposed last month, Bush ordered the Treasury Department to freeze the U.S. assets of additional members of the repressive junta. He also acted to tighten controls on U.S. exports to Myanmar, also known as Burma. And he called on the governments of China and India to do more to pressure the government of the Southeast Asian nation.

''The people of Burma are showing great courage in the face of immense repression,'' Bush said in the Diplomatic Room of the White House. ''They are appealing for our help. We must not turn a deaf ear to their cries.''

I realize that the NY Times has never met a dictator they didn't like, with the possible exception of Hitler. But they can at least follow the lead of those Burmese who oppose the military junta rather than that of the murderous regime.

Posted by: Greg at 04:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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After the Left lied about Rush Limbaugh and his attitude towards the troops, the broadcaster decided to go one better -- he turned it into a charity auction. The result? A $2.1 million dollar winning bid for a letter from the censorious (and mendacious) senators -- which Limbaugh will match.

Too bad none of the national media can bring themselves to truthfully report what Limbaugh actually said, instead choosing to side with the Democrats and the Soros-funded organization that began the smear against the host.

Here's the challenge that Limbaugh made, and that I join in making -- MATCH THE BID!

You folks can do it -- with 41 of you, it comes to only a bit over $50K each. MATCH THE BID!

Every one of you who signed is a millionaire. MATCH THE BID!

And while we are at it, let's talk about your billionaire sugar-daddy, George Soros. MATCH THE BID!

Or quit making it out that you are patriots who care about the country or the troops.

Posted by: Greg at 04:28 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Why doesn't the corrupt government of Mexico adopt the same open border policies for illegal immigrants that they demand of the US?

The bodies of two dozen people washed ashore Friday in southern Mexico after emergency officials received reports that a boat carrying Central American migrants capsized in the Pacific Ocean, a state official said.

Mexican authorities were searching the waters for more bodies around the coastal town of San Francisco del Mar, 200 miles up the coast from the Guatemalan border.

Sergio Segreste, the Oaxaca state public safety secretary, said 24 bodies washed ashore.

Mexico has a much harsher immigration policy than the US does. Hypocrites.

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After all, this comment is not based upon racism – it is based upon looking at the relative life expectancies within different racial groups.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Friday the head of the Justice Department's voting rights office should be fired for saying minorities often die before they reach old age.

A department spokesman said the Oct. 5 remarks by John Tanner had been "grossly misconstrued."

During a panel discussion on minority voters before the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles, Tanner addressed state laws that require photo identification for voting, and remarked that elderly voters disproportionately don't have the proper IDs.

"That's a shame, you know creating problems for elderly persons just is not good under any circumstance," Tanner said, according to video posted on YouTube. "Of course, that also ties into the racial aspect because our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first.

"There are inequities in health care. There are a variety of inequities in this country, and so anything that disproportionately impacts the elderly has the opposite impact on minorities. Just the math is such as that," Tanner said.

Good grief – that last paragraph sounds like the platform of the DNC. Now if Senator Obama wants to declare it to be racist, I’ll support Tanner’s firing immediately upon the disbanding of the Democrat Party and the resignation of every Democrat holding elected or appointed office on the same basis. You go first, sir.

Additional fine commentary at Big Lizards

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But probably wonÂ’t.

Responding to overwhelming pressure from every civilized person on earth with any semblance of intelligence, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee today announced that it had voted to terminate its charter. Just prior to the unanimous vote, the Committee voted to rescind numerous past prizes - including the 2007 prize to itinerant comedian and performance artist Albert Gore of the United States - and award those prizes and all future prizes to the United States military.

"This about face by the Nobel Peace Committee," stated former Committee Chairman and former leader of the Norwegian Labor Party, Trygve Andreesen, "came after hundreds of millions of civilized people sent e-mails, letters, telegrams, text messages, voicemails and carrier pigeon messages demanding that we stop giving awards to Islamic martyrdom supporters like Jimmy Carter, frauds like Rigoberto Menchu and corrupt mass-murderers like Yassir Arafat."

I love the alternate recipient – the single greatest force for good over the last hundred years.

Posted by: Greg at 11:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A job he never should have had.

Mel Martinez, the public face of the Republican National Committee as its general chairman, announced he was stepping down from his post on Friday after serving only 10 months.

"I believe that our future as a party and nation is bright and I have every intention of continuing to fight for our president, our party and our candidates," the Florida senator said in a statement.

His departure was abrupt and his job will not be filled. Martinez wasn't expected to step down until a Republican presidential nominee was selected. The earliest that could occur is February.

Martinez said he was relinquishing the job to spend more time focusing on his constituents and because the RNC had achieved the objective he set when he assumed the job in January.

"It was my goal as general chairman to lead the party as it established the structure and raised the resources necessary to support our presidential candidate and ensure Republican victories next November. I believe we have accomplished those goals," Martinez said.

The decision not to replace Martinez is a sign of how little he will be missed.

That said, we need someone in the position of chairman – and I believe now, as I did ten months ago, that Michael Steele should be that man.

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This article deals with the petty question of forwarding or sending emails by employees.

The presidential campaign season is underway, so be careful what you do and say in the federal workplace -- especially in an e-mail.

That was the key warning at a Senate hearing yesterday on the Hatch Act, which prohibits certain political activities in the federal workplace.

Sending or even forwarding an e-mail on your government computer that advocates the election or defeat of a political candidate can put you in violation of the law and possibly get you fired, federal officials said.

The Hatch Act, passed in 1939, restricts the political activities of federal employees, giving them a shield to ward off pressure from their supervisors or political bosses. Yesterday's hearing examined the law, how it is enforced and whether it may be too rigid in the age of the Internet.

Federal employees still cannot engage in political activity while on duty, in a government office, using a government vehicle or wearing an official uniform. They cannot run for office in a partisan election. They also cannot use their official authority to interfere with an election, and they cannot solicit or receive political contributions.

In 1993, Congress eased some of the restrictions to permit federal employees to take an active role in political campaigns. The changes have allowed federal employees outside of office hours to manage political campaigns, serve as delegates to political conventions, organize fundraisers and distribute brochures for a political party on Election Day outside polling places.

Too bad it didn’t look at the issue of federal employees soliciting campaign contributions on their blogs. I’ve seen a number of such incidents in recent weeks – despite the fact that the OSC indicates that federal employees may not “solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations).”

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Lynch a white boy, get a free trip and red carpet status.

Two of the teens enmeshed in the nationally known "Jena Six" case helped present the most anticipated award during Black Entertainment Television's Hip Hop Awards show broadcast Thursday night.

Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis were introduced by Katt Williams, a comedian and the awards show's host, as two of the students involved in a case of "systematic racism."

By no means are we condoning a six-on-one beat-down," Williams said during his introduction of the teens, one of whom is still facing attempted murder charges in connection with the attack on white student Justin Barker. "... But the injustice perpetrated on these young men is straight criminal."

As Jones and Purvis walked onto the stage at the Atlanta Civic Center, where the awards show was filmed on Saturday, they were greeted by a standing ovation.
"They don't look so tough, do they?" Williams joked as the teens stepped up to the podium.

Both Jones and Purvis thanked a number of people, including family, friends, the "Hip-Hop Nation" and the thousands who came to their small hometown to rally behind their case.

Bullcrap. What was done did condone the lynching of Justin Barker, an innocent white teenager, based solely upon his race. And the only systematic racism I see is the continued attempt to paint these guilty thugs as anything other than what they are – guilty thugs. What happened to them was straight justice – their lionization by the racists at the BET Awards is straight criminal.

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Where do waiters and busboys in Chinatown get this sort of cash?

Something remarkable happened at 44 Henry St., a grimy Chinatown tenement with peeling walls. It also happened nearby at a dimly lighted apartment building with trash bins clustered by the front door.

And again not too far away, at 88 E. Broadway beneath the Manhattan bridge, where vendors chatter in Mandarin and Fujianese as they hawk rubber sandals and bargain-basement clothes.

All three locations, along with scores of others scattered throughout some of the poorest Chinese neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, have been swept by an extraordinary impulse to shower money on one particular presidential candidate -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) ran for president in 2004, he received $24,000 from Chinatown.

At this point in the presidential campaign cycle, Clinton has raised more money than any candidate in history. Those dishwashers, waiters and street stall hawkers are part of the reason. And Clinton's success in gathering money from Chinatown's least-affluent residents stems from a two-pronged strategy: mutually beneficial alliances with powerful groups, and appeals to the hopes and dreams of people now consigned to the margins.

Interestingly enough, about one-third of these folks cannot be located using conventional means like property, telephone or business records. Some are unknown at the address they gave under campaign finance laws. Some indicate they gave contributions because they were ordered to, in a manner almost akin to a protection racket. And a few cannot even legally give to a campaign, as they lack a green card.

Did I just hear the other Hsu drop?

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From the recent pro-troop gathering in front of a Marine Recruiting Station in Berkley.

A showdown between anti-war activists who last month defaced a Marine recruiting office and flag-carrying patriots took over a street in Berkeley on Wednesday with noise levels that reached a half-mile away at the University of California in town.

Berkeley police officers kept the Code Pink contingent of about 150 separated from the group of about 500 led by Move America Forward, the nationÂ’s largest pro-troop organization. The incidents of abhorrent behavior were rare, but included an anti-war demonstrator trying to knife a pro-troop supporter and two code Pink followers burning flags.

A group of Code Pink protesters surrounded a woman and pushed her around after she said that her brother and other family members were protecting the United States in Iraq. The young woman shook with fear and wept.

Well, we know that violence is the stock in trade of the Left, both here and abroad.

But this is the part that I find particularly disturbing.

There were no arrests, and numerous police officers stood watch, including Berkeley Police Chief Doug Hambleton at one point. "As long as people stay peaceful, we're as happy as we can be," Hambleton told the San Francisco Chronicle.

No arrests?

Peaceful?

Excuse me, but the opening paragraphs mention two acts of assault, one of them involving a deadly weapon, against the patriots supporting the troops by the terrorist-sympathizing crew that has branded office’s Marine recruiters as “liars,” “traitors,” and “assassins”. And the chief of police wants to describe the activity as peaceful, and his officers did not consider the incidents to merit arrest? Are you kidding me?

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Al-Qaeda and the Taliban threatened to kill her -- and indicated once again proved that they are more than willing to slaughter innocents in an attempt to carry out their malign agenda.

Two powerful bombs detonated next to a truck carrying former prime minister Benazir Bhutto late Thursday, just hours after she returned from exile to a triumphal homecoming. More than 120 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of Pakistan's worst episodes of political violence.

Bhutto, who arrived in this coastal city Thursday afternoon after eight years away, appeared shaken but unhurt following the blasts. Security officials said the explosions had been set off within several yards of her vehicle as it inched through the streets, with Bhutto being cheered by thousands of supporters. Only minutes before, she had descended from the roof of the vehicle and into an internal compartment.

Later reports indicate that the death toll continues to creep higher (I saw the number 200 mentioned in one report), and over 400 are wounded. I'm curious -- will this persuade some folks of the continued need to fight al-Qaeda, no matter where they are found?

I'll agree with the New York Times' surprisingly sane editorial on this one.

Ms. BhuttoÂ’s greatest challenge will be to redeem this tawdry trade-off by using her popularity and skills to leverage this modest political opening into something resembling genuine democracy. Her first step should be to insist that those parliamentary elections are open to all, including her longtime political rival, Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister. His previous tenure, like hers, was badly flawed. But they are PakistanÂ’s two most popular politicians, and without the participation of both of them there can be no Pakistani democracy.

WashingtonÂ’s help will be crucial in this effort. For too long it has coddled General Musharraf for his supposedly stalwart policies against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. But recently, those policies have seemed scarcely more credible than his hollow promises to accept the constraints of law and democracy or his commitment to free elections.

After belatedly recognizing that the generalÂ’s misrule was dangerously strengthening, not weakening, extremist forces in Pakistan, Washington helped engineer the deal that permitted Ms. BhuttoÂ’s return. Now, it must help her and Pakistan truly move toward democracy.

Bhutto is a flawed figure, as are Sharif and Musharraf. In an ideal world, none would be considered as acceptable leaders to head a government. However, if their presence on the political stage in Pakistan can lead to a resurgence of democracy, it is better than the status quo that has existed for the last eight years and the descent into Islamism that would follow the success of the murderous thugs that left scores of dead and dying in the streets in their attempt to murder the popular and charismatic opposition leader.

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The President proposed a $5 billion dollar increase and expansion of the SCHIP program so that more poor children would be covered by the program -- and the Democrats have in turn claimed that he and his supporters are hate children if they don't support a $35 billion increase that would include not just poor kids, but also their parents and the kids of the middle class. Yesterday the veto of the program was sustained.

A failed veto override on a major children's health insurance program yesterday prompted House Democratic leaders to promise to push a new version of the bill, daring Republicans to oppose them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the new proposal will contain only minor changes. Just before the vote, she had declared: "This is a banner issue for the Congress of the United States."

The vetoed bill would have expanded the $5 billion-a-year program by an average of $7 billion a year over the next five years, for total funding of $60 billion over that period. That would have been enough to boost enrollment to 10 million children, up from 6.6 million, and to dramatically reduce the number of uninsured children in the country, currently about 9 million, supporters say.

While Pelosi is willing to talk to Bush, she stressed that Democrats will accept nothing less than an expansion to 10 million children. "That's not negotiable," she said.

And therein lies the problem. Speaker 11% and Senate Majority Leader 11% and the rest of the 11% Party are so beholden to the Far Left "center" of their party that they are unwilling to consider substantive changes to the bill that could get it near unanimous support.

George W. Bush rightly vetoed the Democrat expansion of the GOP created and supported program, and now he and congressional Republicans are offering a somewhat larger expansion than initially proposed by the GOP -- I've heard figures around $11 billion, as well as the exclusion of illegal alien children and limits on those covered to "only" 300% of the poverty level. These are reasonable changes which Americans support. Will Speaker 11% quit playing politics with children's health and make sure that the children of the poor continue to receive medical coverage?

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Our ancestors wiped them out tens of thousands of years ago. Were they able to call for help? New evidence indicates that perhaps they could.

Neanderthals, an archaic human species that dominated Europe until the arrival of modern humans some 45,000 years ago, possessed a critical gene known to underlie speech, according to DNA evidence retrieved from two individuals excavated from El Sidron, a cave in northern Spain.

The new evidence stems from analysis of a gene called FOXP2 which is associated with language. The human version of the gene differs at two critical points from the chimpanzee version, suggesting that these two changes have something to do with the fact that people can speak and chimps cannot.

The genes of Neanderthals seemed to have passed into oblivion when they vanished from their last refuges in Spain and Portugal some 30,000 years ago, almost certainly driven to extinction by modern humans. But recent work by Svante Paabo, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has made it clear that some Neanderthal DNA can be extracted from fossils.

That is an exciting use of DNA to learn more about the past, including the development of the human species.

Of course, there is other evidence of Neanderthals being able to speak -- and type.

H/T Malkin

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But the judge is out of town, so we have to wait until Monday to see if the case against these supporters of terrorism was proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury.

In an unusual twist in the closely watched and long-running trial of a Muslim charity accused of financing Palestinian terrorists, jurors reached a verdict on Thursday, but their decision was sealed until Monday because the presiding judge was out of town.

Paul D. Stickney, a magistrate judge who accepted the verdict from the jury forewoman about 3:15 p.m., said that he did not have the authority to read it and that it would remain sealed until the return of Chief Judge A. Joe Fish.

Judge Fish is at a conference in West Palm Beach, Fla., his office said in an e-mail message.

The jury spent 19 days considering 197 counts against the Holy Land Foundation, which at one time was the largest Muslim charity in the United States, and five of its organizers and supporters. The case is widely seen as a test of the governmentÂ’s tactics in trying to cut off what it says is American financial support for terrorist groups.

Here's hoping for a guilty verdict Monday morning, sending the clear message that funding terrorists will not be tolerated, whether directly or indirectly.

Next up -- indict the unindicted co-conspirators in this case, including CAIR.

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Yeah, maybe her response was a little over the top, but one can certainly sympathize with her plight.

Fear not, fellow Americans! In these dark days of war, pestilence and Paris Hilton, a new hero has arisen. She is none other than 75-year-old Mona "The Hammer" Shaw, who took the aforementioned implement to her local Comcast office in Manassas to settle a score, and boy, did she!

This was after the company had scheduled installation of its much ballyhooed "Triple Play" service, which combines phone, cable and Internet services, in Shaw's brick home in nearby Bristow. But Shaw said they failed to show up on the appointed day, Monday, Aug. 13. They came two days later but left with the job half done. On Friday morning, they cut off all service.

This was the company that has had consumer service problems serious enough to prompt the trade magazine Advertising Age to editorialize that Comcast and other cable providers should spend less on advertising and more on customer service. And has spawned a blog called ComcastMustDie.com that's filled with posts from angry customers.

Yeah, I'm not terribly happy with Comcast, either, after their recent takeover of Houston cable programming and resultant poor service. They made changes to the lineup and channel locations this week -- and simply decided to place MSNBC, which was scheduled to go on 80, on 99 instead -- without telling anyone or ever making a public announcement. I guess that we were supposed to get psychic vibes from the brain of Keith Olbermann?

Actually, this case reminds me of a recent incident I had with a local fast food place. They almost never get the order right -- and that evening was no exception. As I stood complaining, the response of the management was that I needed to quit complaining and questioning the competence of his employees because "we screw up bigger orders than yours all the time".

And they wonder why we aren't competitive. Pass me that hammer, Granny!

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Mark Steyn comments on this phenomenon, but I think he fails to adequately address the underlying problem behind displays such as this.

Americans do not agree on the basic meaning of the last seven years. If you drive around an Ivy League college town -- home to the nation's best and brightest, allegedly -- you notice a wide range of bumper stickers, from the anticipatory ("01/20/09" -- the day of liberation from the Bush tyranny) to the profane ("Buck Fush") to the myopically self-indulgent ("Regime Change Begins At Home") to the exhibitionist paranoid ("9/11 Was An Inside Job"). Let's assume, as polls suggest, that next year's presidential election is pretty open: might be a Democrat, might be a Republican. Suppose it's another 50/50 election with a narrow GOP victory dependent on the electoral college votes of one closely divided state. It's not hard to foresee those stickered Dems concluding that the system has now been entirely delegitimized.

The problem, it seems, is not that the two sides are unwilling to talk. The problem is instead that one side has determined that any outcome other than one favoring them and their preferred policy outcomes is illegitimate. However, the American people have rejected those outcomes on a consistent basis in every presidential election since 1968. All but three of those races have been won by moderate-to-conservative Republicans – and the three victories by Democrats have been won by individuals who ran as centrist Democrats. New Deal liberalism – not to mention great Society liberalism – has been rejected by the American people at every opportunity. And since the more extreme liberals have been rejected nationally at every opportunity, these same liberals insist that it must be chicanery and fraud that has been at the heart of the defeats. After all, they have embraced the Marxist paradigm that their desired ends are “progress” (hence the adoption of the term “progressive”).

But if the Left rejects the legitimacy of the Right and the success of its ideas and policies (if not always its candidates), where is there room for dialogue? Wherein is the ground for compromise and collaboration when the most vocal elements of that Left coalition insist that their opponents are not merely wrong, but actually are evil and must be crushed? How can we achieve consensus when the starting point of one side is that the other is no different than Hitler and that compromise is collaboration of the sort engaged in by NorwayÂ’s Quisling or the Vichy government in France?

If politics is, as has oft been said, the art of the possible, does the intransigence and denunciation of deviation from the ideologically pure platform demanded by the most vocal element of the Left constitute the death-knell of the politics of consensus-building in America? And if one side becomes so invested in its ideology that the defeat of the American military by a foreign foe is seen as a net positive or its agenda, does there remain any hope for the future of American politics as we once knew it?

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Bad news for the Democrats – American success has left Americans feeling more confident about the war in Iraq.

Whether because of the news from Iraq, or the messages from the White House, Americans are less pessimistic than they were about the future prospects in Iraq. The percentage of those who believe that things are getting better for U.S. troops has increased from 13 percent in March and 20 percent in August to 25 percent now.

Those who believe things are getting worse have fallen from 55 percent in January and 51 percent in March to only 32 percent in this new Harris Poll.

Notice they just can't bring themselves to acknowledge the reality of success in the opening paragraph.

No doubt we will hear new choruses of “We’re Losing – Surrender Now!” from the Democrats. After all, undermining the troops and the war effort are their best hope of electoral victory next year.

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Sadly his disgraceful remarks will be allowed to live in infamy in the Congressional record.

"Where are you going to get that money? Are you going to tell us lies like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old, enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement," Stark said.

"President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress. I urge my colleagues to vote to override his veto," he continued.

The fact that this piece of filth feels safe enough to make such statements if proof that the President is not the dictator or violator of rights that the insane Left claims he is – if he were, then Stark would be hustled off to a prison or gunned down in the streets.

Instead he will be applauded by the rest of the pathologically dishonest Left as a hero – again, proving that the liberties of Americans are safe and sound.

Once upon a time, in a more civilized age, the President and Stark would appoint seconds to determine the date and place where the two men would settle this matter with pistols or sabers at dawn – though the content of his remarks prove that Stark is no gentleman, and he would therefore be unworthy of an affair of honor.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and Mr. Hankey (D-South Park)
Separated At Birth?

Michelle Malkin, Flopping Aces, Stop the ACLU and Right Voices remind us of Stark’s “greatest hits”, including harassing phone calls to constituents and homophobic insults directed at colleagues.

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1 You just insulted Mr. Hanky.

Posted by: rightwingprof at Fri Oct 19 07:16:55 2007 (0o7wJ)

2 Finally some one tells the truth and the right gets their feelings hurt. Open you eyes you are fooling yourself.

Posted by: bush is a piece of excrement at Tue Oct 23 08:24:11 2007 (epqk/)

3 respect

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4 http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-6xAIIYU_frdd_.wsk76.Pw-- NICE ASS http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-LAC7lnYzfqpuvCpftdnLoTaVvWbFhLyC5O6yR85Lng-- HYMEN http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-nC6rsaUmfrKvyNrptVs6ZEE- ASS PARADE http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-_Wq.bn0yYqErUqsBrQLJ5bY- ASSES http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1eE2w9A2bqoB0x9zf9oy_g-- BBS

Posted by: Weter at Tue Aug 5 08:56:50 2008 (qigKM)

5 respect

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6 YUOPORN YOUTBE YUOTUBE OUTUBE YOUR TUBE

Posted by: Mnogo at Mon Oct 27 16:38:51 2008 (MJ2Ud)

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Posted by: Ajciigvd at Wed Oct 7 12:22:23 2009 (L92yo)

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Too priceless!

My fellow Americans, in the coming presidential election, the voters of this nation will plot a course for the future. There are many candidates, each of whom brings a different vision of that future. But only one has the conviction and strength to lead this great country. Only one is a popular television and film actor ready to face the challenges of the 21st century head-on. And, most importantly, there is only one candidate with a bombshell trophy wife nearly a quarter-century younger than himself.

I urge each and every one of you to run a Google image search and see the evidence for yourself: photo after photo of a tall but wrinkled and sagging 64-year-old man—that's me—standing at various gala events, his arm wrapped around a stunning woman with glowing orange skin and beautiful platinum- highlighted hair. A bold woman, squeezed into a dress with a plunging neckline so low her enormous breasts seem almost ready to leap out and scream, "Hey world—look at us! We are married to a famous man we saw in Die Hard 2 when we were in college!"

And in typical Onion fashion, this one gets even better and better.

Now if only we could find someone who does a good Fred Thompson voice to do an MP3 version of this.

H/T Don Surber

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