RIP -- Senator Craig Thomas

Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died Monday. He was 74.

The senator's family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Just before the 2006 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed.

Two days after the election, Thomas announced that he had just been diagnosed with leukemia.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.

Frankly, Senator Thomas showed great courage and dignity in how he dealt with his illness. His death is sudden, unexpected, and very sad. He and his loved ones are in my prayers at this time.

Wyoming law seems to establish a process for keeping the seat in the hands of the party that won it in the last election, but that means this seat is also in play in 2008. This could make for some interesting dynamics in the 2008 election cycle.

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I'll admit it -- I'm a space geek. I have ever since i was a kid watching the Apollo flights, especially the moon landing. Even now, I still get tingles every time I drive past Johnson Space Center, or when I remember that friends from church are honest-to-God rocket scientists.

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More At Malkin, Liberty News, Bill's Bites, Old War Dogs, Gateway Pundit

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It has to be one of the dumbest stories that I've seen in a long time.

If there could be one place protected from the cancerous infection of pornography and sexual misconducts, one would assume that the Christian church would be that sanctuary. But, recent research is revealing that no one is immunized against the vice-grip clutches of sexual addictive behaviors. The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy. And, to the surprise of many, a large number of women in the church have become victim to this widespread problem. Recently, the worldÂ’s most visited Christian website, ChristiaNet.com, conducted a survey asking site visitors eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct.

Amazingly, there were one thousand responses to the poll conducted by ChristiaNet.com. ChristiaNet.com partnered with Second Glance Ministries in evaluating the poll responses and it seems the Christian community is struggling with many of the same “temptations” that the secular society is faced with.

“The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography,” said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries whose ministry objectives include providing people with information which will enable them to fully understand the impact of today’s societal issues. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust, 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year, and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.

Now I would be curious to see how they define "addicted" here -- that statistic seems o me to be a bit high. But the notion that Christians do not face the same temptations as everyone else is absurd. After all, St. Paul put it well in the seventh chapter of Romans.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

As it was in biblical times, so it remains today. Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.

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I don't like this ruling, but it may have an up-side.

A military judge on Monday dismissed terrorism-related charges against a prisoner charged with killing an American soldier in Afghanistan, in a stunning reversal for the Bush administration's attempts to try Guantanamo detainees in military court.

The chief of military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, said the ruling could spell the end of the war-crimes trial system set up last year by Congress and President Bush after the Supreme Court threw out the previous system. The ruling immediately raised questions about whether the U.S. will have to further revise procedures for prosecuting prisoners, leading to major delays.

Over at The Corner, there is serious concern.

Briefly, an enemy combatant can be any enemy soldier. Such a combatant is unlawful if he has not comported with the laws of war — including belonging to a regular army, wearing a uniform, carrying weapons openly, and not targeting civilians. It should have been easy enough to do this with al Qaeda detainees. If it really has not been done, however, that could be a big problem since it would presumably necessitate re-doing all of the combatant status review tribunals before commissions could go forward.

The government is going to appeal. That, too, could be problematic according to the defense, which says they have only 72 hours to do so and the appellate court for commissions has not been constituted yet.

We don't know enough facts yet to make an assessment of what's going on here. Yet, if things are as the defense claims — and it bears remembering that very often they are not — this would be a demonstration of monumental incompetence. Let's hope that's not the case. Stay tuned.

Actually, this could be the worst thing in the world -- for the detainees. Assuming that the government is stuck with the designation of these terrorists as enemy combatants and cannot change their status, there is a proper status for them -- PRISONERS OF WAR. As such, they would have no access to American courts, and can be held until the conclusion of hostilities -- so that they will not be released until the end of the War on Terror. So unless it is the intent of the Democrats to surrender in that larger conflict (and not just on the Iraqi front), these individuals can be kept safe and sound at Gitmo -- forever.

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Soros owns Halliburton!

To the tune of 3.5% of his firm's portfolio -- the fourth largest stock holding.

I'm curious about how the liberal groups he bankrolls feel about taking money tainted by that association, especially since the purchases were made in the last quarter of 2006 -- well after the time that the Soros-funded groups had defined the company to be the source of all evil in the world.

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I've been arguing with one of my commenters about man's impact on climate change for a while now. He argues that 99.9% of all scientists support the theory of man-made global warming -- and further claims that "hundreds of thousands" of scientists support it while only 10 do not. I've asked him to prove that latter claim, but he either cannot or will not.

I'd argue that it must be cannot, based upon this information. heck, it appears that the IPCC cannot or will not even list those who endorse its positions.

What of the one claim that we hear over and over again, that 2,000 or 2,500 of the world's top scientists endorse the IPCC position? I asked the IPCC for their names, to gauge their views. "The 2,500 or so scientists you are referring to are reviewers from countries all over the world," the IPCC Secretariat responded. "The list with their names and contacts will be attached to future IPCC publications, which will hopefully be on-line in the second half of 2007."

An IPCC reviewer does not assess the IPCC's comprehensive findings. He might only review one small part of one study that later becomes one small input to the published IPCC report. Far from endorsing the IPCC reports, some reviewers, offended at what they considered a sham review process, have demanded that the IPCC remove their names from the list of reviewers. One even threatened legal action when the IPCC refused.

A great many scientists, without doubt, are four-square in their support of the IPCC. A great many others are not. A petition organized by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine between 1999 and 2001 claimed some 17,800 scientists in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. A more recent indicator comes from the U.S.-based National Registry of Environmental Professionals, an accrediting organization whose 12,000 environmental practitioners have standing with U.S. government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. In a November, 2006, survey of its members, it found that only 59% think human activities are largely responsible for the warming that has occurred, and only 39% make their priority the curbing of carbon emissions. And 71% believe the increase in hurricanes is likely natural, not easily attributed to human activities.

Sure seems like we are talking about something less than 99.9% of scientists, and not even what can be reasonably described as a consensus. I guess what I've been getting is junk statistics to go along with the junk science of the supporters of the theory of man-made global warming.

My commenter argues that those who dissent from his beliefs are "outliers" it seems clear to me that those who make such hip, faddish (dare I say cult-like) claims about the metaphysical certainty of and scientific consensus on man's impact on global warming might best be referred to as "In"-liars.

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I wonder -- will Speaker Nancy continue to stand by her man?

Sources tell CBS News that authorities are seeking an indictment against Congressman William Jefferson, D-La., on more than a dozen counts involving public corruption.

Jefferson has been the subject of a ongoing probe in which FBI agents allegedly found more than $90,000 in cash in his freezer in August 2005.

CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports that the Justice Department is expected to unveil the charges later today.

This was the latest development in the 16-month international investigation of Jefferson, who allegedly accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman, $90,000 of which was later recovered from a freezer in the congressman's Louisiana home.

Remember -- this is the same Louisiana Democrat who commandeered rescue craft to help him remove evidence "personal property" from his New Orleans home following Katrina.

More as this develops.

UPDATE: And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a 94-page indictment with 16 charges that could bring up to 235 years in prison for the corrupt Louisiana Democrat (but I repeat myself).

Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.

The indictment handed up in federal court in Alexandria., Va., Monday is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.

Among the charges listed in the indictment, said the official, are racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The text of the indictment can be viewed here.

Oh, and here is this little tidbit about the consequences of this indictment for Jefferson.

Although the indictment will no doubt raise political pressures on him to step down, he does not face any official sanctions in Congress as a result of the indictment alone, according to House rules. But should he be convicted, Jefferson could face disciplinary action including being excluded from votes if he receives a prison sentence longer than two years.

I'm curious -- will Democrats insist he receive be subject to the same sort of limits that Tom DeLay was following his indictment for violations of a law that does not even exist in Texas? Will he lose any committee assignments? Or will they continue to hold him to their bosom as one of their own?

UPDATE II: I knew it -- Speaker Nancy stands by her man.

The charges in the indictment against Congressman Jefferson are extremely serious. While Mr. Jefferson, just as any other citizen, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, if these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power.

Matt Margolis notes the double standard Speaker Nancy applies when it comes to Democrats accused of corruption.

So, Democrats are given the benefit of the doubt--they are considered innocent until proven guilty--while Republicans like Tom DeLay, who was the victim of a politically motivated indictment, are immediately part of a "culture of corruption."

But then again, as one local Democrat blogger points out, hypocrisy on the part of Democrats isn't so bad because they don't claim to have any moral values.

More At Stop the ACLU, Michelle Malkin,
Bright and Early, AJ Strata,
QandO, Hang Right Politics, Dave In Texas, Leaning Straight Up, Pirate's Cove

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Or at least terrorist supporters.

Federal prosecutors have named three prominent Islamic organizations in America as participants in an alleged criminal conspiracy to support a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas.

Prosecutors applied the label of "unindicted co-conspirator" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust in connection with a trial planned in Texas next month for five officials of a defunct charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

While the foundation was charged in the case, which was filed in 2004, none of the other groups was. However, the co-conspirator designation could be a blow to the credibility of the national Islamic organizations, which often work hand-in-hand with government officials engaged in outreach to the Muslim community.

A court filing by the government last week listed the three prominent groups among about 300 individuals or entities named as co-conspirators. The document gave scant details, but prosecutors described CAIR as a present or past member of "the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee and/or its organizations." The government listed the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as "entities who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood."

And let's be clear about CAIR's prior record.

The inclusion of the Islamic groups on the list of alleged conspirators could give ammunition to critics of the organizations. CAIR, in particular, has faced persistent claims that it is soft on terrorism. Critics note that several former CAIR officials have been convicted or deported after being charged with fraud, embargo violations, or aiding terrorist training. Spokesmen for the group have also raised eyebrows for offering generic denunciations of terrorism but refusing to condemn by name specific Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah.

Now the group's active support of terrorism is on the public record -- and I hope the indictments will be forthcoming.

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Tragedy seems to have brought together two individuals who have suffered deeply.

n a match made in tabloid heaven, the father of murdered child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey and the mother of missing-in-Aruba teen Natalee Holloway are dating, FOX News has confirmed.

John Ramsey, 63, and Beth Holloway Twitty, 46, have been romantically involved since January 2007, though the two met at a fundraiser last summer.

The couple has been spotted openly holding hands and kissing in Mountain Brook, Ala. — where Twitty lives — and at an art show at a nearby art museum. They've also been seen at various restaurants.

Ramsey's wife and JonBenet's mother, Patsy Ramsey, died last June of ovarian cancer at the age of 49. Twitty was officially divorced from George "Jug" Twitty in December.

Both single parents share the tragedy of children who are victims of unsolved crimes.

At first blush, there is something that strikes me as unseemly about the relationship -- but in truth, there really isn't. Indeed, one can only hope tat these two people, united by the pain of losing daughters in horrific ways, might find some comfort in their companionship and love.

And may the news media and tabloids have the decency to leave them in peace.

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I've got one of my colleagues at school who absolutely babies his car -- a silver sports car that flies down the road on his daily commute. I'll have to point him this direction to find him a brand new automotive toy with which to pamper that vehicle.

Yeah, that's right -- we're talking car covers here, to protect that paint job and the metal beneath it from the ravages of sun, rain, and other weather-related concerns -- not to mention the little issues of tree sap and bird droppings.

And these are not merely off the rack car covers -- each one is custom made to fit your car, to the specifications you set forth, if you so desire.

And there are not just car covers, but seat covers as well. I'm really rather impressed with the range of products and the reasonableness of the prices that they offer to the buying public.

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Couldn't happen to a more deserving jackass.

Columnist and author Eric Alterman has been released after being arrested Sunday night inside the debate spin room. He was charged with criminal trespass after police say he refused repeated orders to leave.

Goffstown, N.H. police said Alterman was in the spin room as a guest of the Creative Coalition and went to an area reserved for a private reception for WMUR-TV. Police said he was asked by an executive at the party if he was invited to the private area and was asked to leave. A police officer was called after a verbal altercation ensued. According to police, Alterman was asked seven times to leave and became increasingly loud as he refused. After ignoring a final request, police said he was handcuffed and taken from the building.

Alterman spoke with CNN after being released. He called the arrest a “misunderstanding” and claimed he did not refuse orders to leave.

Alterman justifies his unruly behavior by claiming to have been treated brusquely and that his exalted position as a journalist didn't impress the cops enough to make them back down from evicting him from a place he had no right to be.

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Oh my!

That was my reaction when I got pointed to this site that bills itself as an online single dating site for nerds.

And when I actually dropped in to see what such a site would be like? I had a similar reaction.

Oh dear!

I guess the best comparison I can come up with is that box we used to have in the laundry room in my college dorm. You now, the one where folks tossed all those mis-matched and odd socks that came out of the dryer, in the hopes that someone would be able to make a match with a mate.

And I can only hope that the box serves such a purpose. There are some really ... unusual folks hanging out there. Some seem sort of interesting, a few seem amusingly different, others just look weird. But the nice thing about it is that it is a site that doesn't take itself too seriously, and doesn't play the meat market or soulmate game. Rather, it seems to be just a chance for folks to get together and meet -- and if something comes of it, so much the better. And as a free site, the pressure to find "the one" before the next billing cycle is not there.

So if you are that sock with a missing mate, into the box with you. After all, Its Just Coffee!

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The winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are A Cure for “Anti-Zionism” by Joshuapundit, and Sticking To What I Know Best by Dr. Sanity.  Here is a link to the full results of the vote.

Here are the full tallies of all votes cast:

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Now here is a service I can really go for -- one that offers free use of video news stories AND pays you for it! That is the premise behind The News Room, which has a rather comprehensive set of video news reports available for you to mash into your website. All of them are licensed, and you make money when they are viewed -- and make more when someone else picks them up from your site and inserts it into their own. Really, think of this as a viral payment scheme.

What can you get? Well, I noticed stories on last night's Democratic debate, the latest terrorist atrocities in Iraq, Paris Hilton, and dozens of other stories that you would encounter online, on television or radio, or in your local paper. They end up looking something like this on your site.

Sort of neat -- a news brief from AP, embedded in my site with no difficulty at all! And much of the other content comes from major content providers such as Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and Agence France-Press (AFP). Think about it. You get reports from some of the best sources around, and you get paid when your readers take a look at it -- and we are talking dollars, not pennies. Cool!

Now other than money, there are some other advantages to The News Room. There are regular opportunities to receive rewards and prizes for hosting this content. You know, little things like electronics, vacations, and cars that you can earn by placing such material on your site. Imagine that -- improving the content on your website, get paid for it, and possibly get some of these little bonuses. Again, very cool!

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Payback's a bitch, isn't it.

From his second-floor apartment at the counterculture crossing of Haight and Ashbury streets, Arthur Evans watches a new generation of wayward youth invade his free-spirited neighborhood.

The former flower child was among the legions of idealistic wanderers who migrated here during the Vietnam War to "tune in, turn on and drop out."

But Evans, who has lived at the same address for 34 years, says he has never seen anything like this crowd, who use his flower bed as a bathroom and sell pot outside his window.

They're known as gutter punks, these homeless kids with dirty dreadlocks and nose rings, lime-green mohawks and orange spray-painted faces, who panhandle with cardboard signs that riff on their lifestyles. "Please Help Us Get Un-Sober," one reads. Another: "Please Give Us Weed, Beer or Money."

Sometimes aggressive, they block sidewalks as they strum guitars or bang on bongos. Gangs of them skateboard down the middle of Haight Street. Some throw used hypodermic needles into a nearby pond they call Hep-C Lake.

Evans, 64, says they should get help, clean up or go home.

"I used to be a hippie. I wore beads and grew my hair long," he said. "But my generation had something these kids do not: a standard of civilized behavior."

Panhandler Jonah Lawrence, 25, insists it is residents who need civilizing. "They say, 'Get a job!' " he said. "And I say, 'You got clothes for me? Or a place I can take a shower so I can look for work?' It's so bogus to tell me to get a job if I have nothing."

I'd think that an aging liberal hippie would want to help such folks out by giving them clothes and opening his home to them to shower. Instead he wants them to move on.

After all, long-haired, dope smoking, dirty, smelly ne'er-do-wells are part of the hippie tradition.

H/T Malkin

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1 I just come back from a trip to LA, We stayed in Santa Monica. I was amazed at the bums that had set up camp all along a beautifuly garden pathed park paralleling and overviewing the beach. Dirty clumps of debris and mankind were actually encouraged to stay there. Strange that they actually took possession of some of the most valuable acreage in the country. Santa Monicans actually take pride in the way they care for their bums. Meanwhile, just down the road, in Malibu the beaches are walled off and inaccessable. Clearly no tolorance for the bums or even common folk there. Its a strange world we live in.

Posted by: Liberty at Sun Jun 3 02:06:54 2007 (IFhkr)

2 Funny that he happens to be a wealthy real estate developer, who stands to get wealthier if he can jack property values up higher. Doesn't sound like a liberal to me.

Posted by: Dan at Sun Jun 3 07:13:04 2007 (IU21y)

3 Hey, RWR - looks like you called this one right, and I was wrong. The only campaign donation I can find from this guy was to Patrick Kennedy, and most of his business deals are profitable, but focused on urban development. I think you're right to call him an aging liberal.

Posted by: Dan at Sun Jun 3 08:05:25 2007 (IU21y)

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One does have to wonder why the Israelis don't dispatch a Mossad team to take out this Hitler-wannabe.

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said the world would witness the destruction of Israel soon, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Ahmadinejad said last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah showed for the first time that the ''hegemony of the occupier regime (Israel) had collapsed, and the Lebanese nation pushed the button to begin counting the days until the destruction of the Zionist regime,'' IRNA quoted him as saying.

''God willing, in the near future we will witness the destruction of the corrupt occupier regime,'' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying during a speech to foreign guests mostly from African, Arab and neighboring countries who attended ceremonies marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who is known as the father of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

This man has repeatedly said he wants to "wipe Israel off the map" and is developing the nuclear weapons to do so. Seems to me that the time has long-since passed to move beyond sanctions ad diplomacy to deal with the problem -- especially given Iranian support of terrorist cells in Ira.

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The NY Times is right about supporting wounded troops after they get home -- too bad they are constantly seeking to undermine their mission and impose defeat upon them.

Congress is taking the lead in prodding the Bush administration, which shamefully underestimated the cost of treating the wounded. The House is sensibly budgeting $6.6 billion more than last year for veterans health care and processing claims. A series of other measures approved by the House tackle only some of the problems but point in the right direction. The Senate should act quickly on these proposals, which include:

¶Creation of up to five new brain trauma research centers to create comprehensive treatment programs. This is a whole new field of intensive care prompted by the signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, inflicted in roadside bomb attacks.

¶Extending open-ended care for combat veterans to the first five years after their return, from the current two years. This is needed not only because of the backlog in claims and appeals but also because of the slower-evolving nature of postwar stress trauma and other illnesses.

¶A more intensive program to contact veterans who need to know about their rights.

Nothing to disagree with here. Too bad the paper's editors are unwilling to support the troops where they most need it now -- on the field of battle.

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Here's one of those times when I would love to be a plaintiff's lawyer -- I imagine that one could really take this school district to the cleaners.

A high school that had warned against undignified behavior at its graduation ceremony denied diplomas to five students after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during the commencement program.

On May 27, Galesburg High School students and their parents were asked to sign a contract promising to act in dignified way. Violators were warned they could be denied their diplomas and barred from an after-graduation party.

Many schools ask spectators to hold applause and cheers until the ceremonies end but few rigidly enforce the policy.

“It was like one of the worst days of my life,” said Caisha Gayles, one of the five students, who officially graduated, but does not have her diploma to frame and hang on her wall. “You walk across the stage and then you can’t get your diploma because of other people cheering for you. It was devastating.”

The school said the five students can still get their diplomas by completing eight hours of public service, answering phones, sorting books or doing other work for the district.

Uhhhh -- wrong. These kids have already earned their diplomas. They met all requirements established by the state and by the district. Indeed, you even announced as much at graduation that day when some district official announced that the graduates had met all those requirements and you called them across the stage. To impose an additional requirement after the fact -- especially based upon the behavior of other individuals rather than the students themselves -- is hardly reasonable. The actions of other school districts in removing the actual disruptive parties is much more reasonable and defenable.

And there is an additional question -- how far can a district go in denying diplomas? My district had to face that issue eight or nine years ago when a young man decided to moon the graduation crowd. Now he didn't drop trou -- he just raised his gown and shook his butt around at the crowd -- but the district tried to withhold his diploma, only to find itself open to some serious legal issues (especially since that action would have cost the young idiot an full-ride athletic scholarship). And that was for actions committed by the graduate himself, not some family member, friend, or (as one student suggested) enemy looking to cause trouble.

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Well, for starters, it isn't Iraqis who are the problem.

It is what's wrong with this story, however, that makes it so irresponsible. The fact is that, contrary to so many predictions, Iraq has not descended into civil war. Political bargaining continues. Signs of life are returning to Baghdad and elsewhere. Many Sunnis are fighting al-Qaeda terrorist groups, not their Shiite neighbors. And sectarian violence is down by about 50 percent since December.

By far the biggest problem, and the source of most of the violence reported every day, has been al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Qaeda's strategy is to foment sectarian violence by killing both Shiites and Sunnis. How come? If sectarian violence were out of control already, why would al-Qaeda have to stir it up? In fact, it is precisely fear that things will calm down in Iraq that has al-Qaeda working overtime to blow things and people up.

Al-Qaeda's penetration in Iraq is not the fault of the Iraqis, some of whom are mustering the extraordinary courage to fight back. Nor are the Iraqi people to blame for al-Qaeda-manufactured car bombs that go off in markets where Sunnis and Shiites are shopping together. According to Gen. David Petraeus, upward of 80 percent of the suicide bombers are not Iraqis. Al-Qaeda's inhuman violence, including the use of small children as "suicide" bombs, cannot be written off as just part of that whole Iraqi cultural thing, however convenient that might be for the American conscience. As for the United States, if we are driven out of Iraq, it will be by al-Qaeda, not by the flaws of the Iraqi people.

And, of course, an al-Qaeda victory in Iraq does not merely implicate the future and security of the Iraqi people -- who will then in fact be facing a foreign occupying power intent upon controlling their destiny in perpetuity.

There is another problem with the cover story. We didn't intervene in Iraq primarily to save the Iraqi people. We went in mostly for reasons of our own, to protect our interests and our allies from the menace of a serial aggressor whose domestic repression was of a piece with his desire for regional domination. And now that we are in Iraq, the United States, not just the Iraqi people, will suffer the consequences of our failure. If Iraq implodes, if the region explodes, if al-Qaeda gains a victory and a foothold in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, it will be our interests that have suffered.

In other words, getting out of Iraq without a clear and substantive victory not only allows for an al-Qaeda victoey that harms the Iraqi people, it also causes a substantive American loss that undermines the entire Middle East and, ultimately, American interests and security. Regardless of he war's popularity, America will suffer much more greatly as a nation if we accept anything less than the crushing of al-Qaeda there.

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Or is this sort of judicial murder sanctioned by Islamic law and teaching?

A Christian was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammed, and a human rights activist Friday urged Pakistan's president to spare his life.

Younis Masih, 29, was arrested in September 2005 on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore after residents told police he made derogatory remarks against Islam and Muhammad.

On Wednesday, a court sentenced Masih to death under Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws, which rights groups say have been misused against Christians since former President Gen. Zia ul-Haq enacted them in 1980s to win the support of hard-line religious groups.

So, my Muslim readers -- is this acceptable? And if it is, would you find it equally acceptable for a majority Christian country to create a similar law that punished blasphemy against Christianity and Jesus Christ -- say by denying that Jesus is the Son of God and declaring him to be a mere prophet inferior to Muhammad -- with death?

Somehow I didn't think so.

Posted by: Greg at 06:34 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Ann Romney is a very attractive woman -- and Mitt Romney's high school sweetheart.

I know you'd have to have a great relationship with your wife to tell this story to the whole world.

The campaign trail is not all about policy and meetings, however. We have had quite a few good laughs. Last week, my finance director Spencer Zwick and I wanted to make some phone calls to several potential donors. We were going to call from my hotel room, but Ann was in her bathrobe getting ready for an event. So, we went down the hall to call from the lobby. Well, Ann figured that she'd just need a minute to slip on her dress and that we could come back to the room to make the calls. So she opened the door, poked her head out and said: "Hey, do you want to come in here?" But we were now out of sight. And right next to the room in the hallway was a hotel maintenance worker. He looked at Ann, got a big grin, pointed to himself and said: "Who, me?" We're still laughing about that one.

Tell me, could you imagine this scenario happening with any of our recent presidents and first ladies -- Republican or Democrat? Could you imagine them telling this story -- and could you find it believable if they did?

H/T Race42008

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You know the cheesy "Footprints in the Sand" story about how God carries people in times of trouble (yes, I believe it -- but the ubiquitous little parable has become a cliche).

Well, Potry over at The Nose On Your Face has come up with an updated version.

One night Al Gore had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.

This dream interrupted his dream about the never-ending pasta bowl at Olive Garden,
so he was quite agitated as he tried to keep pace with the LORD on the beach.

Anyway, across the sky flashed scenes from AlÂ’s life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
a massive heart attack while giving a speech at a DennyÂ’s
to the six remaining believers in global warming in 2017,
he looked back at the footprints in the sand.

The rest is absolutely priceless -- and I encourage you to visit that fantastic site for political satire.

Posted by: Greg at 05:27 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Breaking News!

Three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods, officials close to the investigation said.

The plot, which never got past the planning stages, did not involve airplanes or passenger terminals, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the arrests had not yet been announced.

Law enforcement officials said the plot may have involved a former airport worker, as well as a former Guyanese goverment official, according to WNBC-TV NewsChannel4Â’s Jonathan Dienst, who first reported the story.

Details were to be given out at a 1 p.m. news conference.

The pipeline takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

The arrests mark the latest in a series of homegrown terrorism plots that targeted high-profile Amerian landmarks.

Say what you will about the Bush Administration, it has certainly done a successful job of stopping terrorist attacks in this country by taking them seriously and running down every lead. Too bad the Clinton Administration didn't do the same following the 1993 WTC bombing -- if they had, 9/11 would never have happened.

Question -- how long until we start hearing Dems tell us this was not a serious plot, that this unfairly stigmatizes Muslims, and that the plot is all Bush's fault anyway?

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I guess he really does wants to alienate the pro-border GOP base in time for the 2008 election. After all, spewing insults at the party's front-line troops certainly isn't a wise move if he has any interest in party-building.

President Bush took on opponents of immigration legislation again today, accusing some of them of fear-mongering and prodding members of Congress to act despite their worries of a backlash at home.

While not saying so explicitly, some people “certainly allege or hint that probably the best way to deal with 11 to 12 million people is to get them to leave the country,” Mr. Bush said, referring to estimates of the number of illegal aliens in the United States.

“That’s impossible,” Mr. Bush went on. “That’s the kind of statement that sometimes happens in the political process aimed to inflame passion. But it’s completely unrealistic. It’s not going to happen.”

The president said the time for comprehensive immigration reform is at hand, with a sweeping bill emerging in the Senate, and with the House expected to take up a bill next month. “This is a good piece of legislation,” he said of the Senate work in progress.

Mr. Bush favors immigration reform that calls for more secure borders, allows for a guest worker program and offers illegal aliens an eventual path to citizenship.

Unfortunately, what most of the GOP base wants is the promised fence, border enforcement, and a road back to their home country for the border-jumping immigration criminals. I talk to Democrats all the time who want the same thing -- but we all seem to be ignored by the Kennedy-Bush axis in favor of amnesty.

Maybe that has a lot to do with the need to lay off the staff of the GOP fundraising call center.

Or posts like this one on blogs that generally favor the GOP.

But sometimes I'm just an old softie at heart. Like, for example, earlier today, I went over to GOP.com to give the Party a quarter, because I figured they might need it to call someone who cared. There's a saying, "even a whore has her pride," and so it is with the GOP. They wouldn't take my quarter. The minimum donation they would accept was four quarters. Being the old softie I am, I went ahead and gave them four quarters, so now they can call four people who care.

And now they know that, whatever the reason they're not getting any real money from me, it's not because I forgot about them, or because I'm just too lazy to make a donation. Now they know that I've put some thought into just how much I value their efforts out in Washington, and I went out of my way to contribute accordingly.

Michelle Malkin offers this option for disaffected GOP supporters to send in instead.

And Peggy Noonan offers this little gem in explaining why the GOP needs to start moving beyond George W. Bush immediately.

I suspect the White House and its allies have turned to name calling because they're defensive, and they're defensive because they know they have produced a big and indecipherable mess of a bill—one that is literally bigger than the Bible, though as someone noted last week, at least we actually had a few years to read the Bible.

The 2008 election is not that far away -- maybe it is time to find a leader to represent what the GOP base really believes.

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Posted by: Greg at 12:59 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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My question is why this should come as any great surprise. After all, we are six-and-a-half years into an administration that has had relatively few major personnel changes over its lifetime.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett, one of President Bush's closest and most trusted aides, said yesterday that he will resign his post in July, leaving a void in an administration that has seen a string of departures as it struggles with sagging public approval ratings.

Bartlett, the father of three young children, said he will seek work in the private sector so he can spend more time with his family. The announcement came on his 36th birthday. "I've had competing families. And, unfortunately, the Bush family has prevailed too many times, and it's high time for the Bartlett family to prevail," he told reporters.

With twin three-year-olds and a six-month-old, it is not unreasonable for a guy who has worked for Bush since he was a 22-year-old fresh out of college to decide that the time had come to move on so that he doesn't lose any more time with his family. Besides, this is a time period when many two-term administrations have seen folks move on in a different direction -- why should this administration be any different?

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Tommorrow?

Hillary Clinton's campaign might want to keep a dictionary handy when their candidate's out trolling for support.

The Democratic presidential hopeful pitched a technology plan to Silicon Valley executives in California Thursday, with the misspelled message, "New Jobs for Tommorrow," plastered in large white letters on a banner behind her podium.

Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be spell check -- and firings.

It's a good thing the sign didn't include a misspelling of potato -- it might have derailed her entire presidential campaign.

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This makes me feel real comfortable with our border security.

The man with a dangerous form of tuberculosis who flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon was identified yesterday as a 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer. Department of Homeland Security officials said he re-entered the country from Canada when a customs agent let him pass despite knowing that the man was being sought by health authorities.

Congressional investigators, who will be holding hearings on the way the case of the man, Andrew Speaker, has been handled, say that the border agent at the Plattsburgh, N.Y., border crossing with Canada decided that Mr. Speaker did not look sick and so let him go.

Russ Knocke, press secretary for the Homeland Security Department, would not confirm the agentÂ’s rationale for releasing the man, saying only that the case was under investigation by its internal affairs and inspector generalÂ’s offices.

Who else is being admitted to the country by low-level employees who decide that the watch-listees don't seem dangerous? It is enough to make one question our entire border security system -- oh, that's right, we don't have one anymore.

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Many miles away
Something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch.

The Loch Ness monster is back — and there's video. A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland's most mysterious lake.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video Saturday.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine viewed the video and hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.

"I see myself as a skeptical interpreter of what happens in the loch, but I do keep an open mind about these things and there is no doubt this is some of the best footage I have seen," said Shine, of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake.

Holmes said whatever it was moved at about 6 mph and kept a fairly straight course.

"My initial thought is it could be a very big eel, they have serpent-like features and they may explain all the sightings in Loch Ness over the years."

How long will it take to debunk this one?

Posted by: Greg at 12:33 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Given the notorious violation of human rights countenanced by the Malaysian judiciary, I suppose that leaving her homeland may be the only option other than martyrdom available to this sister in Christ.

A woman who lost a court battle to change her religion from Islam to Christianity suggested she might leave Malaysia rather than stay without the right to practice the religion of her choice, her lawyer said Thursday.

Malaysia's highest civil court on Wednesday rejected Lina Joy's appeal to have the word "Islam" stricken from her national identity card. The verdict was seen as a blow to religious freedom in this ethnically diverse country made up of Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs.

"I am disappointed that the Federal Court is not able to vindicate a simple but important fundamental right that exists in all persons: Namely, the right to believe in the religion of one's choice," Joy said in a statement released through her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson.

"The Federal Court has not only denied me that right but (denied it) to all Malaysians who value fundamental freedoms," she said.

Sadly, the international community has remained silent on this case. There has been no statement from the United States government, nor has the UN spoken out against this violation of human rights. Have we, as a planet, become so dhimmified that our leaders will not speak out in support of a fundamental human right for fear of inciting the Muslims?

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Posted by: Greg at 12:25 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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What did the Senate say about the Kyoto Treaty?

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--

(1) the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in December 1997, or thereafter, which would--

(A) mandate new commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the Annex I Parties, unless the protocol or other agreement also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties within the same compliance period, or

(B) would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States; and

(2) any such protocol or other agreement which would require the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification should be accompanied by a detailed explanation of any legislation or regulatory actions that may be required to implement the protocol or other agreement and should also be accompanied by an analysis of the detailed financial costs and other impacts on the economy of the United States which would be incurred by the implementation of the protocol or other agreement.

This was adopted unanimously by the US Senate -- 95-0. Ands as I look at the text, I find 65 co-sponsors -- including Harry Reid and Dick Durbin, among other liberal Democrats.

H/t Captain's Quarters

Posted by: Greg at 12:06 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Sponsored Post

My wife and I have had the same furniture since around the time we got married. I mean just about all of it -- dining room, living room, bedroom. It is getting a little worse for wear in some cases, though we have done our best to keep up with it. Still, we talk sometimes about what we would like our next house full of furniture to look like.

I mean, let's talk about the living room furniture for a moment. We definitely need a new sofa -- and my wife has her heart set on a sectional sofa this time around, preferably one with a chaise. We are unlikely to go for leather furniture, though, both due to aesthetics and the fact that we have an indoor dog who could damage the leather with her claws.

The bedroom furniture? Well, she really would like a sleigh bed, though perhaps that isn't as practical as it was when she was more mobile. Me? I'd like to get us a couple of twin or full beds so that my tossing and turning does not disrupt her sleep by setting off her ache and pains but still allows us to share the same bedroom.

And, of course, there is the home office furniture. One piece has to stay -- Dad's old marble roll-top desk that he and mom bought in Asia 20 years ago. However, a new computer desk that harmonizes with it, and some comfortable desk chairs would certainly be appreciated by both my darling wife and I.

Of course, I am talking about a pipe dream right now -- but someday, maybe sooner than I expect, we will make the change.

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