And their attempt to hamstring recruiting and cut of information about this important form of service to one's nation can only be described as unpatriotic.

Military recruiters are frequently given free reign in New York City public schools and allowed into classes in violation of the school systemÂ’s regulations, according to a report released yesterday by the Manhattan borough president and the New York Civil Liberties Union

The report, based on surveys of nearly 1,000 students at 45 high schools citywide last spring, said the cityÂ’s Department of Education exercised almost no oversight over how much access recruiters had to students at high schools.

“There were recruiters who were in the classroom not to talk to students about reading, writing and arithmetic, but to talk to them about how to get a one-way ticket to Iraq and all the benefits you will accrue by that process,” Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, said at a news conference. “This is something that must be stopped. It’s outrageous, and it gives recruiters a captive audience.”

Wanna bet that the NYACLU wouldn't have a problem with homosexual activists in the classroom explaing the joys of sodomy and the evils of those who have moral objections to homosexual conduct?

No -- they and their coalition of anti-war folks just want to make America (and the world) safe for jihadis -- just like they have here.

After all -- terrorists have rights, but patriots don't, and schools should teach kids to love and embrace Islam and fear and loathe the military.

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It appears that if there is corruption in the Texas courts, it has a big D hanging around its neck.

Mikal Watts of San Antonio, a lawyer and candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator, has done the reputations of the courts and the trial lawyers no good.

As reported by the Chronicle's R.G. Ratcliffe, in 2001 Watts wrote to opposing counsel claiming that his firm's campaign contributions had won the hearts and minds of the justices on the 13th Court of Appeals, "all good Democrats." If Watts and his firm indeed gave campaign gifts with the expectation of influencing the court's decisions, it would constitute an illegal bribe. If Watts was just making an idle threat to intimidate a defendant in a lawsuit, he behaved unethically.

As a well- and largely self-financed candidate for high office, Watts owes voters an explanation: Does he think his campaign donations influence the outcome of cases? Regardless of the answer, Watts should explain to the voters why his outrageous claim does not violate the public trust and disqualify him from the office he seeks.

We constantly hear local Democrats complain that conservatives donating to judicial races "buys justice" in Harris County and the state of Texas. Will they now demand that these claims be investigated -- and that Watts be censured and any judges who he bought be removed from the Court? Or are they clean court chickenhawks?

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I'll concede that I do trust the electronic voting system put in place by my county, even though there is no paper trail. That said, I will also tell you that I preferred (and urged the adoption of) an optical scanner system similar to what my students use to take multiple choice tests at my school.

Why?

Because I knew it would eventually come to this.

Lawmakers have come full circle after devoting more money to high-tech voting machines following the 2000 election debacle in Florida. They now say a return to the paper trails of old is the key to an honest vote, exasperating state election officials.

Legislation pending in the House would require a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast in national elections beginning with the November 2008 ballot. It also would require random audits in federal elections and specifies that the paper ballot is the vote of record in all recounts and audits.

Public confidence in the voting process is at an all-time low, said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., the bill's chief sponsor. "I shudder to think what would happen with another election where millions of Americans don't believe the results," Holt said.

Of course, the reality is that many of those "millions of Americans [who] don't believe the results" are the same folks who believe that the US government blew up the World Trade Center and Pentagon and that George Bush is a fascist planning a military coup so he can set up concentration camps to liquidate Muslims and liberals. What they need is not a paper trail at election time, but greater access to mental health care.

But I think a paper trail is important. We've all lost data and had computer glitches. thre should be something. But it should come at the beginning of the process, not at the end with a receipt-style printout. heck, another easy solution would be to use computer punch-cards -- but of course, the attempted vote-fraud and election theft by Florida Democrats in 2000 show that even that reliable, rational system is subject to failure in the hands of the unscrupulous away from the eyes of a vigilant public.

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It appears that jihadi pig Osama bin Laden is planning to address the American people on the sixth anniversary of his organization's cowardly murder of thousands of innocents.

Osama bin Laden will release a video ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in what would provide the first new images of the terror mastermind in nearly three years, al-QaidaÂ’s media arm announced Thursday.

Analysts noted that al-Qaida tends to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary with a slew of messages, and the Department of Homeland Security said it had no credible information warning of an imminent threat to the United States.

Still, bin LadenÂ’s appearance would be significant. The al-Qaida leader has not appeared in new video footage since October 2004, and he has not put out a new audiotape in more than a year, his longest period without a message.

The cowardly bin Laden, who isn't even a good enough Muslim to embrace his destiny and receive 72 virgins by blowing up his own goat-copulating jihadi ass, will no doubt continue to gloat over the acts of murder his followers committed and demand that Americans begin following the teachings of the (false) prophet Muhammad and the blood-thirsty deity his teachings proclaims.

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You know, if I ever rally get the house the way I want it in terms of setting up a work area in the garage, I'd like to be able to do a bunch of my remodel work myself. That includes redoing some cabinet doors around in the kitchen and the knick-knack shelves in the living room. The big task, though, will be redoing the entertainment center/bookshelf in the living room. And since my wife is planning on an Old West/Ranch House theme for those areas, I'd like to incorporate some hand-crafted western design into these wood to accent that.

Now I've used wood routers before to work with wood, but this will be Greg's big adventure. Fortunately, I've come across a great site that is devoted to wood routers and their accessories. They've got articles that can advise me about the router bits I'll need to accomplish my task, as well as woodworking plans. They even have a great series of articles about how to select the right wood router -- something I hadn't given much consideration yet.

What I especially like about the site, though, is the straight-forward way in which it deals with the subject. There is a great quote that really brings into focus the nature of the tool -- one so simple that it is often overlooked.

A wood router is basically a motor with a bit stuck on the end. All of the features available today simply make it easier, safer, or more efficient to use that basic combination.

Such simplicity makes this a great site for a beginner, and an one that will be useful for those who are more experienced. I'd really encourage folks interested in this sort of woodworking to take a look at Just-Wood-Routers.com for solid, down-to-earth information and guidance on the subject.

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And if this Justice Department decision stands, we could see higher charges for speedy delivery of email, as well as different speeds for delivery of other web content.

The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.

The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality," the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user.

Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web sites faster than others.

The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the "entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers," the agency said in its filing.

Of course, the question becomes whether the internet is more like the telephone company or the post office. The Justice Department argues the latter, with its differential rates for speed of delivery, while I'd argue for the former, which is required to connect all calls in an equal fashion.

Will Congress intervene to overturn this decision?

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And let me be the first to condemn this glaring example of race-based politics used to attack a candidate for office.

When Steve Cohen, a black man, was elected last year to represent mostly white Memphis in Congress, it was seen as a sign that racial divisions were fading in this Southern city.

But less than a year later, Cohen is facing a movement led by white pastors and political activists to defeat him in 2008 and send a white representative to Washington instead.

"He's not white, and he can't represent me. That's the bottom line," the Rev. Robert Poindexter told a local newspaper after a meeting last week of the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association at which Cohen was jeered and booed.

The hostile reception caught Cohen off guard and foreshadowed the challenge he is almost certain to face next year in his first bid for re-election.

* * *

But the preachers have also questioned whether a black man should even represent the 9th District, which is 60 percent white and 34 percent black.

"I don't care how people dress it up," Poindexter told The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis. "It always comes down to race, and he can't know what it's like to be white."

Such blatantly racist and discriminatory behavior on the part of the evil Konservative Khristian Koalition RethigliKlans must be denounced and rejected by every decent American as a violation of the fundamental concept of racial equality which so many fought and died for. those who hold to such views must be expelled from the GOP. Sheet-head KKKlergymen like Rev. Robert Poindexter need to be driven from the pulpit by Christians who accept the teaching of Scripture that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, and the message of racial equality that underlies it.

Oh.

I see the story has been updated.

When Steve Cohen, a white man, was elected last year to represent mostly black Memphis in Congress, it was seen as a sign that racial divisions were fading in this Southern city.

But less than a year later, Cohen is facing a movement led by black pastors and political activists to defeat him in 2008 and send a black representative to Washington instead.

"He's not black, and he can't represent me. That's the bottom line," the Rev. Robert Poindexter told a local newspaper after a meeting last week of the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association at which Cohen was jeered and booed.

The hostile reception caught Cohen off guard and foreshadowed the challenge he is almost certain to face next year in his first bid for re-election.

* * *

But the preachers have also questioned whether a white man should even represent the 9th District, which is 60 percent black and 34 percent white.

"I don't care how people dress it up," Poindexter told The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis. "It always comes down to race, and he can't know what it's like to be black."

Of course, we know the party and the politics of those involved in this dispute. Liberal Democrats out playing race-ho and sowing the same sorts of divisions that the civil rights movement was about destroying. These so-called Christian leaders have turned the message of Dr. King on its head, and call for judging a man on the color of his skin, not the content of his character. It is a shameful move, and hearkens back to the racial policies of the Democrats in that part of the country only a few decades back.

Will the state or national party denounce such racial hate-mongering and expel the perpetrators from its midst, clearly stating that there is no place for racism in the party -- even if it means losing elections because of that principled stand? Will they forthrightly label the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association as a hate-group?

Will the people of these churches remove Rev. Robert Poindexter and his ilk from the pulpit and replace them with American patriots and believers in the equal rights and dignity of every person? Or will the false Gospel of race-hatred and discrimination remain accepted in the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association, while the Gospel of Jesus Christ is repudiated by race-baiting heretics?

Now there may be many good reasons to vote for or against Steve Cohen. As a conservative Republican, I likely would reject him in favor of a candidate closer to my views on the issues. But I will not stand by and see the poison of race-hatred circulate in the body politic of my country.

And I ask Rev. Robert Poindexter and his fellow bigots in the Memphis Baptist Ministerial Association is they will renounce the hatred and re-embrace the message of Martin Luther King and and Jesus Christ that tells us that racism is a vile, sinful contagion of the soul? Or will they have the courage of their convictions and call for Senator Barack Obama to withdraw from the race for the Democratic nomination for President -- and to resign from the US Senate because of his inability to properly represent the people of Illinois, who are over 75% white.

H/T Jay Nordlinger

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Perri Nelson's Website, Rosemary's Thoughts, DeMediacratic Nation, Right Truth, Big Dog's Weblog, Nuke's News & Views, Shadowscope, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Right Celebrity, Faultline USA, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, CommonSenseAmerica, High Desert Wanderer, Gone Hollywood, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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And how do the bison in question feel about this development?

With nowhere else to go,
sex offenders gravitate to Buffalo

Actually, it is a serious story about a serious issue -- but who writes these headlines?

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1 Now that's funny, thanks for the laugh!

Posted by: Just Me at Thu Sep 6 11:07:19 2007 (B1QYg)

2 Be careful though, Buffalo have a very wide stance.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at Thu Sep 6 11:10:22 2007 (Z3kjO)

3 So rather than reaching out for help they 039 re more likely instead to reach for another drink.; accutane %OOO; ambien :-OOO; viagra > ; buy viagra 2599;

Posted by: volks at Tue May 19 07:47:49 2009 (J+OLy)

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We need to reject him at the national level in the presidential race.

We need to defeat him in his congressional primary (in Texas, you can run for both).

He sounds like one of the frothing diarists over at the Cloaca Maxima of the internet.

Posted by: Greg at 10:25 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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And, more to the point, who we must watch.

There are lessons to be drawn from the German terrorism arrests yesterday.

Some obvious points: these men are educated, two of three are German nationals, all seem to have been trained not in Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan, but in Pakistan, a putative ally. It is hard to see how the Iraq war - whether a failure or a success - would have any impact on this tiny cell's attempt at mass murder in the name of God. This is simply the religious violence we have to contend with for the indefinite future. All we can do is what the Germans did: keep up surveillance (with protections against abuse), and run as many to ground as we can.

And this means, unfortunately, greater surveillance of mosques and other Muslim groups, no matter what their composition. It means a willingness to look at the Muslim community intensively, because that is where the violence and terrorism has taken root.

This is not to say that all Muslims are terrorists -- far from it. But unfortunately, the bulk of terrorists today are Muslims of one stripe or another, and we cannot ignore that fact. And as long as Muslim groups run to the defense of any accused individual, and as long as the Muslim community silently allows such extremism to grow in its midst, an cloud of suspicion will unfortunately hang over the community as a whole.

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When things looked bad in Iraq, the Democrats wanted an all-or-nothing plan for immediate defeat at any cost. They wouldn't accept any bipartisan solutions that might give our forces a chance to win, and Iraq a chance to be stable. Well, now that the situation in Iraq is improving daily, the Democrats are willing to look for GOP allies to help get the American military defeat they so desperately need to be successful in 2008.

With a mixed picture emerging about progress in Iraq, Senate Democratic leaders are showing a new openness to compromise as they try to attract Republican support for forcing at least modest troop withdrawals in the coming months.

After short-circuiting consideration of votes on some bipartisan proposals on Iraq before the August break, senior Democrats now say they are willing to rethink their push to establish a withdrawal deadline of next spring if doing so will attract the 60 Senate votes needed to prevail.

Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, said, “If we have to make the spring part a goal, rather than something that is binding, and if that is able to produce some additional votes to get us over the filibuster, my own inclination would be to consider that.”

Democrats would need to lure the 60 senators in order to cut off a likely Republican filibuster.

The emerging proposal by Mr. Levin and Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, would still order the administration to begin pulling at least some combat troops out of Iraq, probably by the end of the year. It is not clear what other provisions the measure may include.

But Mr. Levin, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee and who met Wednesday with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said a compromise may be worth making. It would allow Congress to assert its own voice on Iraq policy, after falling short of that goal in most such votes throughout the year, he said.

Frankly, Congressional micromanaging of the war like this is a bad thing. It was tried back during the Civil War, and resulted in chaos as good generals had to justify bad outcomes before a congressional committee, while political hacks often got a pass from their patrons despite their incompetence. By its very nature, Congress is ill-equipped to direct the war and to set such timetables -- and since the Democrats have made it clear that they are more interested in the political benefit of retreat and surrender, this particular Congress must be considered incompetent and irrelevant to military decision-making.

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Fred Thompson is officially in the 2008 Presidential Race!

At 7:57 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, while taping "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" for broadcast later in the evening, Fred Thompson finally said: "I'm running for president of the United States."

The studio audience responded with thunderous applause.

Thompson rejected the notion that he has waited too long to get into the race for the White House.

"People treat politicians sort of like the dentist -- they don't have anything to do with them till they have to," he said.

"A lot of people have been, of course, running for some time. Everybody kind of changed the rules.

"Usually you don't announce until after Labor Day, but they started running a lot earlier, spending millions of dollars and so forth, and everyone said that you couldn't run this year without raising a hundred million dollars and starting much earlier. I don't believe that," Thompson said, adding that he doubts voters will say: "That guy would make a very good president, but he didn't get in soon enough."

Video of the announcement is here.

Actually, the Thompson campaign might well have the advantage of novelty behind it. After all, how many folks are simply tired of the current crop of candidates on both sides of the political aisle?

Here's the first campaign video.

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I'll admit it -- I've got an old ford Escort that I love to drive. It is a great car that has been reliable for me over a decade. And even though it is now semi-retired, I still love it because of some great features and the fact that it has given me over 200K miles of faithful service with relatively low maintenance costs.

Why did I get the car in the first place? A combination of brand loyalty and dumb luck. I'd been driving a Mercury Lynx (same car, different nameplate) for the previous eight years. Unfortunately, some kids vandalized the car one weekend -- and insurance totaled it out on me and just cut me a check for the value of a car with 160K miles on it. That left me with a nice check and a car that looked awful -- when two days later the tranny dropped two blocks from the Ford dealer. Sitting on the lot was a recently returned lease vehicle with low mileage and an even lower price. I cut arranged financing, cut the check, and drove off the lot in two hours -- probably the easiest sale this guy ever had. I was the proud owner of a white 1995 Ford Escort.

I drove that car to my wife's hometown for our wedding. We took our honeymoon in it. We moved from Illinois to Texas in it - and I even taught my wife how to drive in it. There is even a nice ledge in the hatchback for the dog to sun herself in when we are on the road! This car is really the fourth member of our family.

What can I say -- she still doesn't burn much oil, and still gets right around 28 mpg all these years later. Aside from standard maintenance, I've spent very little on her -- brakes, a new timing belt and water pump, and a few other miscellaneous repairs. But she still handles well, and has a comfortable feel like my favorite chair in the living room. For an old Used Ford Escort, she still seems like a luxury car to me. I plan on nursing her along for as long as I can.

I cried when Ford quit making the Escort. Having driven this one for years (and the Lynx before), I was displeased that I would not be able to get another. And I plan on buying from Ford again in the future. They've earned that loyalty.

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After all, MoveOn’s aim is to punish dissent, not to debate or persuade.

In the Hell Hath No Fury sweepstakes, groups like MoveOn.org are gearing up to take on a new set of perceived traitors in their midst--Democrats who have acknowledged some success from the troop surge in Iraq.

* * *

The group doesn't aim to engage in debate, but to punish and silence Democrats who dare to think for themselves. There's a pattern here: When John Dingell contradicted party orthodoxy on global warming and auto mileage standards this year, MoveOn ran ads in his Michigan district calling the 81-year-old Congressman "Dingellsaurus."

There was a time when liberalism was a patriotic, open-minded strain of political thought which accepted debate and dissent. Today, however, what we see is a totalitarian Left which defines dissent as dangerous (except when it is their own – then it is the ultimate form of patriotism).

We see that best in the current situation. So intent are these folks upon the notion that the Iraq War is wrong and that America MUST lose that it cannot brook any contradiction – even if it is good news for America.

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After all, MoveOnÂ’s aim is to punish dissent, not to debate or persuade.

In the Hell Hath No Fury sweepstakes, groups like MoveOn.org are gearing up to take on a new set of perceived traitors in their midst--Democrats who have acknowledged some success from the troop surge in Iraq.

* * *

The group doesn't aim to engage in debate, but to punish and silence Democrats who dare to think for themselves. There's a pattern here: When John Dingell contradicted party orthodoxy on global warming and auto mileage standards this year, MoveOn ran ads in his Michigan district calling the 81-year-old Congressman "Dingellsaurus."

There was a time when liberalism was a patriotic, open-minded strain of political thought which accepted debate and dissent. Today, however, what we see is a totalitarian Left which defines dissent as dangerous (except when it is their own – then it is the ultimate form of patriotism).

We see that best in the current situation. So intent are these folks upon the notion that the Iraq War is wrong and that America MUST lose that it cannot brook any contradiction – even if it is good news for America.

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You know, he may have been a crappy president who disgraced the office, but he at least has enough respect for the Constitution to not try to grasp for an office denied him.

Bill Clinton ruled out running as HRC's VP tonight during a taping of the CBS's LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

MORE

Dave: “Now there was a discussion last week, and there is I guess a greater discussion, and there’s some confusion, and maybe I’m the only one confused about the eligibility of a man who has been elected twice as President to possibly be named later on the ticket as Vice President. Constitutionally speaking, can that happen?”

Clinton: “I don’t believe so. There are some people who believe it can, and they have contorted readings of the amendment, the 22nd Amendment. But I believe as a matter of general interpretation, you’re supposed to read all the Constitution including all the Amendments as if they were written almost on the same day at the same moment, so they’re consistent with one another. And the Constitution says the qualifications for Vice President are the same as those for President. Now you can read that to mean ‘to serve,’ not ‘to run for.’ But I just don’t believe it’s consistent with the spirit of the Constitution for someone who’s been President twice to be elected Vice President. I just don’t think it’s Constitutional. I don’t think it’s right and I wouldn’t want to do that. I’d want to do whatever I could do to be of highest and best use for her, but there are lots of wonderful people out there, including all the people that are running this time would be good Vice Presidents. And, that’s just not in the cards.”

ALL the current Democrats would be good Veeps? Dennis Kucinich? Mike Gravel? Bill “God wants Iowa first” Richadson? You must be kidding.

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When everyone started carrying on about Katie CouricÂ’s trip to Iraq, I kept my mouth shut. I wanted to see what she had to say on the situation before I made a judgment about the trip.

And interestingly enough, she has come back with a rather surprising assessment.

One week before Gen. David Petraeus is expected to give his report on U.S. progress in Iraq, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric says she has already seen dramatic improvements in the country.

"We hear so much about things going bad, but real progress has been made there in terms of security and stability," Couric said Tuesday. "I mean, obviously, infrastructure problems abound, but Sunnis and U.S. forces are working together. They banded together because they had a common enemy: al Qaeda."

When even the liberals make the conservative case, you know that it must be true – things are improving in Iraq, and the surge is working.

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Well, the Cloaca Maxima of the internet has proved itself good for something. The Daily Kos has been ruled to be a media outlet not subject to FEC regulation, which means that the rest of us bloggers also qualify as journalists.

Bill O’Reilly blasts DailyKos as a “hate site,” but according to a federal ruling released Tuesday, the popular liberal blog is as much a part of the media as Fox News when it comes to campaign finance rules.

The Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint filed against DailyKos by a right-wing blogger who had argued it was illegally acting as a political committee by giving support and free advertising to Democratic candidates.

Adam Bonin, the lawyer who represented DailyKos, called the ruling “a big victory, but everything about the rulemaking and the precedent strongly suggested that there was no other logical outcome.”

The ruling is only a small step in the evolution of government regulation of politics on the Web, but expect it to attract attention because of the prominence of Daily Kos.

The complaint alleged that DailyKos should have to register as a political committee since its primary purpose is promoting Democrats and it raised and spent more than $1,000 pursuing that end.

Now what this effectively means is that when bloggers speak, they are not making campaign contributions. That also means that we are free to speak free of government reporting burdens. Had the ruling gone the other way, many bloggers would have been forced to quit speaking on political candidates and issues, while others (myself included) would have continued speaking and risked arrest for the crime of engaging in political speech.

Now I will note that the complaint was filed by blogger John Bambenek. It is my hope that it was intended as a test case, not to silence a political opponent.

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I guess it is time to show some solidarity with those whose free speech is under assault.

A Swedish Muslim group on Tuesday said it plans to sue a local newspaper for publishing a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body. The Nerikes Allehanda newspaper in Orebro printed the cartoon made by artist Lars Vilks in an August 19 editorial that criticized Swedish art galleries for not displaying Vilks' art.

Mahmoud Aldebe, chairman of the Swedish Muslim Federation, said the group would sue the newspaper for inciting hatred against ethnic groups. "It ridicules our religion. This is discriminating and insulting... they want to see just how far they are able to go by pushing the boundaries of press freedom," he said.

Actually, Mamoud, I think you and your fellow Muslims done a fine job of inciting hatred against yourselves and your faith. After all, between acts of terrorism and attempts to restrict the rights of non-Muslims, you and your co-religionists have managed to lower the esteem in which I once held Islam.

Besides -- since the Qu'ran contains insulting statements denying the divinity of Christ and ridiculing the beliefs of Christians, I certainly could argue that it constitutes an incitement of hate against ethnic groups, and that it is therefore discriminating and insulting towards OUR faith. Do you really want to trade your religion's holy book for a few pathetic drawings of your faith's (false) prophet?

H/T Stop the ACLU

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Hey, taking money from mobbed-up a financier is fine if you are a Democrat -- especially if you helped get him a high political appointments despite his shady past.

A man who has long been dogged by charges that the bank his family owns helped finance a Chicago crime figure will host a Windy City fund-raiser tonight for Sen. Barack Obama.

Alexi Giannoulias, who became Illinois state treasurer last year after Obama vouched for him, has pledged to raise $100,000 for the senator's Oval Office bid.

Before he promised to raise funds for Obama, Giannoulias bankrolled Michael "Jaws" Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution.

Giannoulias is so tainted by reputed mob links that several top Illinois Dems, including the state's speaker of the House and party chairman, refused to endorse him even after he won the Democratic nomination with Obama's help.

Of course, that is how the game is played by Chicago Democrats -- make sure that the mob and the corrupt unions are behind you so they can help turn out the dead and the non-existent vote for you on election day. And if they can fill your coffers with dirty money, so much the better!

Obama isn't a candidate of change -- he's the candidate of the Chicago status quo!

H/T Captain Ed

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Yesterday I wrote about anti-Semitism growing in Briatain. need proof? Here it is.

A British current affairs magazine has compared the Marva and Gadna IDF youth summer programs to Islamic Jihad "summer camps," and questioned what the difference would be if the participants were British Muslims.

In the latest edition of New Statesman, journalist Matthew Holehouse begins his article, entitled "The British children who train to fight in Israel," by stating that Israel denounced the Islamic Jihad summer camps in Gaza, which trained Palestinian adolescents to become suicide bombers, after hearing about them in 2001.

However, he continues, "what went unreported was that at a purpose-built barracks in the Negev desert, every summer, hundreds of Jewish teenagers from Europe, Mexico and America pay to spend nine weeks saluting, marching, firing guns and otherwise pretending to be soldiers."

Holehouse then asks what would happen if these were young British Muslims who had trained in Yemen or Pakistan.

That Holehouse can't recognize the difference between Hamas and the IDF is pretty frightening to begin with -- I'm curious, does he believe teh RAF is the iquivalent of the Terrorstinians launching Qassam missles into civilian communityes? The IDF, for all the propaganda claims of the pro-terrorist left, does not indiscriminately attack civilians -- and as was shown in Lebanon last summer, only hit locations where terrorists were using civilians as cover for their attacks. under international law, Hezbollah was in violation and Israel was not in such situations.

There is no moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel, any more than there was moral equivalence between the US and Nazi germany in 1943. Any attempt to draw an equivalence between Israel and the terrorists out to destroy that nation can be seen as nothing short of anti-Semitism -- and of a variety that is every bit as genocidal as that which ruled in Nazi Gemany.

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I briefly noted last night that Senator Larry Craig is considering not leaving the Senate at this time. What has led to this situation, only three days after he announced his resignation plans?

A telephone call Craig received last week from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., urging him to consider fighting for his seat is affecting CraigÂ’s decision to reconsider his resignation, Smith said.

“It was a little more cut and dried a few days ago,” Smith said. “There weren’t many options. He was basically going to have to step aside. Now, there’s a little more to it.”

On Tuesday, Specter, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested CraigÂ’s GOP colleagues who pressured him last week to resign should re-examine the facts surrounding his arrest June 11.

“The more people take a look at the situation, there may well be second thoughts,” said Specter, a former prosecutor. If Craig had not pleaded guilty in August to a reduced charge and instead demanded a trial, “I believe he would have been exonerated,” Specter said.

Now I happen to agree with Specter's position on the charges. I fail to see how any of Craig's actions constitute criminal activity. He wasn't caught having sex through a "glory-hole" -- he was, if the flirting, if the accusations are true.

The problem in my book is how he handled the situation after he was arrested. The guilty plea (which he now wants vacated) and the attempt to deceive eveyone by hiding the incident indicates a lack of integrity. Simple question -- is Larry Craig trustworthy?

And I think this bears directly on that issue. It comes from a voicemail message left to an individual identified as "Billy" while Craig was traveling to Saturday's announcement.

"Having all of that, we've reshaped my statement a little bit to say, 'It is my intent to resign on September 30,' " Craig says in the voice-mail message. Whiting confirmed that it was Craig's voice.

Craig told his confidant -- whom he identifies as "Billy" -- that Specter would be speaking out on his behalf, and he urged Billy to go before the cameras and make a strong statement as well.

"I'm willing to fight. I've got quality people out there fighting in my defense, and that this thing could take a new turn," Craig said.

Clearly, Larry Craig was out to deceive and mislead everyone as to his real intentions.

Had Larry Craig not made that statement Saturday, I likely would have supported him in his decision to stay on in the Senate. I could have accepted teh desire to keep the incident and the guilty plea secret. But his bait-and-switch move makes it quite clear to me that Larry Craig has no place in the US Senate -- and no place in the GOP.

Indeed, this move shows that Michelle Malkin's characterization of Larry Craig was accurate.

Lying crapweasel.

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I'll be honest -- I never thought much about mortgage before I bought my house. I knew they were secured loans with the money guaranteed by the house itself, but never about the ins and outs of getting one. Today I hear about too many folks who are not good credit risks who got unsuitable loans, and are losing their shirts because of adjustable rates or outrageous payments.

Frankly, I'm glad I'm not looking for a house today or seeking to refinance because I am locked in at a very good rate that I've found I cannot beat. However, I keep hearing about folks getting a bad credit mortgage to try to reduce payments on their home. Others have begun to seek some sort of mortgage payment protection in case adjustable rates increase or unfortunate circumstances cost them a job or otherwise make paying the mortgage untenable.

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You screwed up at every turn, Larry -- you just need to stand by your statement from Saturday.

Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," said Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho's capital.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight—and stay in the Senate."

Just go away with what little dignity you have left.

H/T Malkin

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I never thought we'd find a member of the Kennedy family with lower ethical standards than Senator Teddy the Hutt (D-Chappaquidick).

Now we find out his son does.

Maybe he needs it to pay his rehab bill.

Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Tuesday he's not returning $6,600 in donations he got from Norman Hsu, a prominent Democratic donor whose criminal past was recently revealed.

Several top Democrats, including 2008 presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Kennedy's father, Sen. Edward Kennedy, have said they will return Hsu's donations or give them to charity.

Rep. Kennedy will keep the money because there is no indication that Hsu's contributions to him were illegal, according to his chief of staff, Adam Brand.

"We are complying with all applicable (Federal Election Commission) rules and regulations with regards to campaign contributions," Brand said. "If something changes with respect to those rules, we'll take appropriate action."

Let's see -- a felon on the lam give you money and is suspected of illegal campaign activities, but you see nothing wrong with keeping the cash?

What was your position on Abramoff donations to those not accused of wrongdoing, Congressman?

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Q: Who said this?

"Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary."

A: Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM)

And the Democrats want to claim that conservatives want to mingle religion and politics?

Wouldn't you love to hear this one expanded upon by this latter-day Balaam's ass?

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I'll be honest – I don't like what Mike Rogers does. I believe it is dangerous and, indeed, at least as hypocritical as the things he exposes. And yes, I still hold a grudge over the harm he did to an old family friend, Congressman Ed Schrock, a couple of years back.

On the other hand, when a student needed legal assistance when faced with discrimination based upon his sexual orientation, Rogers was gracious in his willingness to direct the young man to resources and organizations.

So I'll be honest – I've got mixed emotions about the man. But I cannot deny that he has promoted himself into a power position in the blogosphere.

Rogers, sitting on a club chair in his Northwest Washington apartment, is basking in the attention. For three years now, he's been a feared one-man machine, "outing," he says, nearly three dozen senior political and congressional staffers, White House aides and, most damagingly, Congress members on his blog. On Capitol Hill, a typical phone call from Rogers -- "Are you gay?" he'd ask -- is "a call from Satan himself," says a former high-ranking congressional staffer whose name is on the list.

Rogers reasons that there's justice behind his tactics -- "odious," "outrageous" and "over-the-line" as they might seem to his detractors.

In Rogers's mind, if you're against gay rights in your public life and you live a secret homosexual life, all bets are off.

The problem, of course, is that Rogers is every bit as much of a fundamentalist "true believer" as some of those he attacks. And his actions are based upon a rather arrogant assumption – that homosexuals must share a certain set of political and social beliefs to be entitled to what the gay community claims for itself – the right to sexual privacy, and to be let alone.

So if a gay politician who opposes gay marriage (or a gay staffer for such a politician) – or the extension of hate crimes legislation to include crimes against homosexuals – is "anti-gay" and a hypocrite. Under this theory, one's sexual orientation must be the guiding factor in one's political and moral beliefs. And failure to at all times live up to these beliefs – what the Christian faith would call sin – is in his eyes "plain, hate-filled hypocrisy."

And therein lies my problem with Mike Rogers. It is the hypocrisy that permeates his activity. He does not out "friendly" closeted homosexuals, so it is clear that a more solidly pro-gay Mark Foley, for example, could have actually followed the route of former Massachusetts Congressman Gerry Studds and engaged in sex acts with a page safe from any possibility of Rogers would have acted against him. Instead, a series of creepy emails were sufficient for Rogers and others to tear the Florida Republican down last year (though they held the emails for nearly a year to ensure maximum political damage to the GOP, proving that they didn't give a damn about the pages).

But more to the point, Rogers seeks to use the very prejudices he claims to want eradicated to destroy those who do not hew to his agenda. In that, he is the equivalent of the kapos in the concentration camp, or a southern black who would cooperate with the Klan. And just as such morally corrupt individuals may have thought their actions were acceptable, history has judged them harshly, as I believe it will ultimately judge Rogers and his ilk harshly.

After all, this is the many who tried to get one blogger fired for daring to criticize his outing campaign, and temporarily got another's site shut down with false accusations against him. In that, Rogers is very much what those bloggers labeled him – a gay terrorist (or at least a gay McCarthyite), not a gay activist.

MORE EXCELLENT COMMENTARY AT Patterico.

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George W. Bush nearly had a chance to correct one of his father's biggest mistakes.

Unfortunately, friends persuaded David Souter to stay on the Supreme Court.

According to Jeffrey Toobin's new book on the Supreme Court, Justice David Souter nearly resigned in the wake of Bush v. Gore, so distraught was he over the decision that effectively ended the Florida recount and installed George W. Bush as president.

In "The Nine," which goes on sale Sept. 18, Toobin writes that while the other justices tried to put the case behind them, "David Souter alone was shattered," at times weeping when he thought of the case. "For many months, it was not at all clear whether he would remain as a justice," Toobin continues. "That the Court met in a city he loathed made the decision even harder. At the urging of a handful of close friends, he decided to stay on, but his attitude toward the Court was never the same."

Sadly, what we see here is that we have an emotionally unstable individual on the Supreme Court. Would that there were some way to remove him for the good of America.

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I've always liked, or at least respected, Phyllis Schlafly. Her record on conservative issues is one to be admired. However, she has gotten herself caught up in the North American Union conspiracist nonsense, and today produced a column that is quite sad in its nuttiness.

The three-nation summit at Montebello, Quebec, was held behind closed doors, well guarded behind an intimidating fence and plenty of police, but the news conference that followed on Aug. 21 revealed more than the three heads of state had planned.

President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon all refused to deny that the Security and Prosperity Partnership is a stepping stone toward a North American Union.

The $64,000 question was posed by Fox News reporter Bret Baier. He asked all three heads of state, "Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union?"

Their response was positively sensational. Not one denied that SPP is leading to a North American Union. The White House transcript of the news conference allows us to assume that the elites of the three countries are, indeed, moving toward North American integration.

Bush insulted the questioner and those who want an answer by accusing them of believing in a "conspiracy." Bush twice said he was "amused" by such speculation, but as Queen Victoria of England famously said, "We are not amused."

Instead of addressing the crux of the question about plans to integrate the three North American countries, Bush resorted to ridicule. He sneered at his critics as "comical," and accused them of engaging in "political scare tactics" and wanting "to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples."

Harper and Calderon were equally dismissive of the notion.

Somehow, in the mind of Phyllis, ridiculing the ridiculous confirms its truth. But the reality is that there is no North American Union in the offing, simply a continuation of the principles contained in NAFTA. Indeed, the creation of the so-called NAU would require both treaties and Constitutional amendments that would never pass.

So settle down, Phyllis, and the rest of you folks – the NAU black helicopters are not coming to get you. You are dismissed.

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In the battle between environmentalism and public safety, it seems that some folks don't care about human life.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife has set up traps for a bear that attacked a bicyclist on Sunday, and officials say the bear will likely be killed.

But people who live near Banner Forest Heritage Park say the animal did nothing wrong.

Anthony Blasioli, 51, was biking with his two dogs alongside him when he encountered the bear Sunday morning.

The bear charged at the man, cutting his arms, back and neck before he managed to get away. He's being treated at a Tacoma hospital and was listed in satisfactory condition.

Officials think the bear may have been defending its cubs, and that is what has area residents protesting plans to kill the animal.

"It's mean, it's cruel, it's bad," said Mike Leathers. "We're in their territory. The bear and her cubs need to be relocated."

Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Duane Makoviney it's very rare for a bear to attack a human, and they have no choice but to euthanize it.

"It could have been worse. We could have a fatality here and we certainly don't want that to happen," he said.

The bear attacked a person.

Put it down.

The safety of people trumps warm fuzzy gfeelings about a vicious animal.

Posted by: Greg at 10:03 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Today's WaPo has an excellent piece on the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe today.

Hatred of Jews has reached new heights in Europe and many points south and east of the old continent. Last year I chaired a blue-ribbon committee of British parliamentarians, including former ministers and a party leader, that examined the problem of anti-Semitism in Britain. None of us are Jewish or active in the unending debates on the Israeli-Palestinian question.

Our report showed a pattern of fear among a small number of British citizens -- there are around 300,000 Jews in Britain, of whom about a third are observant -- that is not acceptable in a modern democracy. Synagogues attacked. Jewish schoolboys jostled on public transportation. Rabbis punched and knifed. British Jews feeling compelled to raise millions to provide private security for their weddings and community events. On campuses, militant anti-Jewish students fueled by Islamist or far-left hate seeking to prevent Jewish students from expressing their opinions.

Frankly, I think it would be interesting to see a study similar to McShane's carried out in this country today. There has been a steady rise in the anti-Semitic rhetoric on the Left today, as best shown on websites like Kos and DU. On college campuses around the country, anti-Semitic rhetoric is a staple of anti-Israel protest -- but opposition to the brutal face of Islam shown daily by the jihadis is treated as religious intolerance and Americans are urged to "abandon their stereotypes". The Israel lobby is painted as anti-American by some -- while unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism related cases are treated as respected voices of moderation.

Indeed, not only is it time to examine the anti-Semitism running rampant in America, it is also time to closely examine the philo-Islamism that threatens to undermine our struggle against the forces of jihadi terror.

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On the Democrat side, it looks like the DNC can start printing up the Hillary! posters. But among Republicans, there is still a lot of uncertainty about the party's candidates.

Interviews with dozens of Republicans across the country this Labor Day weekend found that despite the already lengthy campaign, which started almost a year ago, many candidates have made either no impression or a negative one, and many voters are still chewing over their options.

Now this doesn't trouble me terribly -- historically, presidential nomination fights are usually just beginning at this point, and I think many Republicans are simply not making a decision yet. Sure, we have been in campaign mode for some time now, but as recently as six months ago none of us had any idea that there would be a Fred Thompson candidacy. A year ago, it looked like a Giuliani/McCain race. Today we see things still up for grabs because voters are taking their time.

If things stay as they are, though, this could lead to something very interesting -- a convention that actually means something as the ticket is hammered out in Minneapolis. This would bring about excitement among the American populace, and show that the voice of the people is being heard.

Besides -- any GOP candidates stock wil rise in the face of a Democrat ticket headed by Hillary Clinton.

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After all, no one can argue that a day care center is a military target.

A Palestinian rocket exploded Monday next to a day care center crowded with toddlers in southern Israel, sparking anger and panic in the frequently targeted town of Sderot and bringing warnings of retribution from Israeli leaders.

No one was hurt, but the blast and the panic underlined Israel's ineffectiveness in the face of the primitive rockets, which fall daily despite frequent Israeli airstrikes and occasional ground offensives.

Terrified mothers rushed to comfort their screaming babies, schoolchildren ran for cover, and angry parents said they wouldn't send their children back to school until they get classrooms outside town.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to provide "better security for the residents," indicating he would step up the Israeli offensive against Palestinian militants.

"We will not limit ourselves in regards to targeting the rocket launchers and those who dispatch them," Olmert said at a news conference in Jerusalem. "The instruction given to the army is to destroy every 'Qassam' rocket launcher and anyone who is involved in their launching against the residents of Israel."

The people of Sderot have been under siege for some time now, as the Terrorstinians continue to bombard this civilian community with Qassam rockets. The international community has remained silent, despite teh fact that these attacks violate every norm of international law.

Olmert's new policy is the minimum step that should be taken in the face of continued attacks upon the civilian population of Israel.

Posted by: Greg at 09:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You folks know me, and that politics is one of the great passions of my life. I look forward to election season the way in a way that some of my friends think is a little bit weird -- but let's just say that I consider this fall to be sort of the equivalent to Spring Training for baseball.

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You know, dialogue.

What a concept.

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Over at the Cloaca Maxima of the internet, KOSsacks wail and gnash their teeth about the President's visit to Iraq.

I was particularly shocked by this comment, who clearly suffers from both BDS and Mother Sheehan's Disease.

My son will be leaving for Iraq in December. He actually believes that he is doing a good thing. It not only saddens me what is happening to so many people, but to also watch my son change overnight from intelligent to indoctrinated.

This craziness has gone on too long!

Supporting the troops my ass!

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary's Thoughts, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Right Truth, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Thoughts, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Walls of the City, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Planck's Constant, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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I mean, on the heels of the Hsu problem, now there is another dirty donor to the Clinton campaign.

Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents to escape bankruptcy and millions of dollars in tax liens.

The founder of the Bombay Palace restaurant chain, Chatwal is one of a growing number of fundraisers in the 2008 presidential campaign whose backgrounds have prompted questions about how much screening the candidates devote to their "bundlers" while they press to raise record amounts.

Chatwal's case reached from his native India to New York City. The IRS pursued him for approximately $4 million in unpaid business taxes, while New York state placed a lien seeking more than $5 million in taxes. He forfeited a building to New York City on which he was delinquent on property taxes and was sued by federal regulators seeking to recoup millions of dollars in loans from a failed bank where he served as a director.

Across the ocean, three Indian banks forced him into U.S. bankruptcy, and he was charged with bank fraud. He was out on bond when he showed up in India in 2001 during a visit by his longtime friend Bill Clinton.

Yet none of the legal and financial woes -- occasionally touched on in American or Indian newspapers or highlighted by political opponents -- raised red flags inside Hillary Clinton's fundraising operation. Chatwal recently said he plans to help raise $5 million from Indian Americans for Clinton's presidential bid.

But none of this caused any concern to the Clinton campaign. I guess they just have low standards -- or maybe, like Hsu, Chatwal was really trying to buy a Marc Rich-style pardon and the Clintons knew it.

Of course, John Edwards has had problems, too.

Former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) faced such questions last week when federal prosecutors in Michigan indicted Geoffrey Fieger, the lawyer famous for defending assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, accusing him of channeling $127,000 in illegal contributions into Edwards's 2004 presidential campaign. Edwards's aides said, and prosecutors confirmed, that the activity was concealed from Edwards and that the candidate cooperated once he learned of problems.

As has Obama.

Similarly, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) gave to charity more than $30,000 in donations from Illinois fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko and his associates after Rezko was indicted in a federal corruption case. "We do our best to go through the hundreds of thousands of people who give to make sure there aren't problems," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. "I wouldn't say it's a perfect process, but we are as vigilant as possible."

But the bulk of the dirty money seems to be headed to Hillary. Could this be a case of (jail)birds of a feather flocking together?

More At Captain's Quarters.

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