Monday, December 31, 2007

PAKISTAN WILL ACCEPT OUTSIDE EXPERTS TO REVIEW THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION

NYTIMES: In Reversal, Pakistan Welcomes Outside Help With Inquiry on Bhutto
WASHINGTON — Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States said Monday that his government would welcome outside experts to help investigate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, reversing Pakistan’s earlier rejection of international help.

But the ambassador, Mahmud Ali Durrani, said his government would not endorse a separate inquiry modeled after one carried out by the United Nations after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, in 2005.

“Pakistan is open to international expertise, international support and international help because it’s in our interests,” Mr. Durrani said in a telephone interview. He added that details of any assistance still needed to be worked out.
  • I BELIEVE A CAREFUL REVIEW WILL VINDICATE THE POLICE THEORY: SHE WAS KILLED BY THE BOMB FORCING HER HEAD AGAINST THE VEHICLE, AND NOT THE BULLETS.
  • THE EFFORTS BY ANTI-MUSHARRAF/ANTI-AMERICAN FACTIONS TO CREATE EVEN GREATER INSTABILITY IN PAKISTAN - BY CREATING GREATER DISTRUST OF MUSHARRAF - WILL FAIL.

THESE FACTIONS INCLUDE THE PPP, SHARIF, AL QAEDA, AND THE MSM AND THE DEMOCRATS.

IN GAZA, THE NEW YEAR IS JUST LIKE THE LAST: FATAH AND HAMAS KILLING EACH OTHER

BBC:
Three die as Gaza factions clash

Map showing Gaza Three people have been killed and a number wounded as the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas clashed in the south of the Gaza Strip.

Three people were shot dead at a Fatah rally in the town of Khan Younis, at least one of them a Hamas policeman.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier called for a "new page" to be opened in ties between Fatah and Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June. However, a Hamas spokesman said Mr Abbas's speech offered nothing new.

  • YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE NEW?
  • IF THE PALESTINIANS STARTED TO BEHAVE LIE CIVILIZED PEOPLE.
  • AND IF THEY ADHERED TO OSLO OR THE ROADMAP.
    • THEY PREFER THE KORAN AND THE PLO CHARTER.
    HEY: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

    UPDATE: IT'S WORSE:
    At least five Palestinians were killed and around 40 wounded in armed clashes on Monday between Fatah loyalists and Hamas police in the south of the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

    A 12-year-old boy, two other civilians and a member of the Hamas police were killed in exchanges of gunfire during a rally east of the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis, the sources said.

    Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan told AFP that the rally marking 43 years since the founding of the secular Fatah movement had turned into a "gunbattle".

    • IS THIS BUSH'S FAULT OR ISRAEL'S!? ER UM... NO.
    • WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT THE READINESS AND DESIRE OF PALESTINIANS FOR DEMOCRACY AND STATEHOOD!?

    IT SAYS THAT IT WOULD BE DEADLY DUMB TO GIVE THEM A STATE.

    IS THIS A PICTURE OF MONICA CARRYING BILL'S LOVE-CHILD?

    And is she wearing the infamous blue dress?


















    Nope. But it's what I imagined she'd look like.

    BIRD FLU SPREADS

    MIGHT 2008 BE THE YEAR IT BECOMES A PANDEMIC? MAYBE... HERE'S MORE BAD NEWS: IHT/AP:
    Egyptian health officials reported the deaths Monday of two women from bird flu, bringing to 19 the number of the country's fatalities since the lethal H5N1 strain first appeared here last year.

    The deaths, along with those of two other women just days ago, bring to four the number of women who died from the strain in a single week.
    ORLANDO SENTINEL/AP:
    LONDON - An outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm in eastern England was confirmed Tuesday as H5N1 -- the same virulent strain that has killed scores of people around the world.

    Bird flu's return to Britain -- weeks before the Christmas holidays -- is a yet another blow to Britain's farmers, already struggling after livestock herds were hit this year by foot-and-mouth and bluetongue.

    Thousands of free-range turkeys, ducks and geese were being slaughtered at a farm in Redgrave in the county of Suffolk, about 80 miles northeast of London.

    The source of the outbreak has not been identified but was closely related to the strains found in the Czech Republic and Germany earlier this year, acting Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg said.

    THE FACT THAT THIS FLU GOES FROM WILD BIRDS TO DOMESTICATED BIRDS, AND NOW TO HUMANS AND FROM HUMANS TO HUMANS MEANS IT CANNOT BE STOPPED.

    IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF WHEN...

    HILLARY IS CLUELESS ON PAKISTAN

    THOM HOULAHAN VIA POWER LINE:
    Sen. Clinton really didn't know that the upcoming elections were for individual seats in Pakistan's parliament. She actually believed that Bhutto, Nawaz and Musharraf would be facing off as individual candidates for leadership of the country in the upcoming elections.

    Sen. Clinton didn't know that Nawaz Sharif isn't allowed to run for office in Pakistan because of a felony conviction. She didn't know that President Musharraf won't be on the ballot because he's already been elected.

    Sen. Clinton, a candidate for the leadership of the free world, apparently doesn't know the first thing about the country referred to by some as "the most dangerous place on earth."

    • HILLARY IS LESS QUALIFIED THAN KERRY WAS AND HE WAS UNFIT TO COMMAND.
    • BTW: I HEARD HILLARY SAY THAT SHE WOULD NOT SUPPORT AID TO PAKSITAN.
    • ESSENTIALLY SAYING THAT SHE WOULD PULL THE RUG OUT FROM UNDER OUR ALLIES FEET AT A TIME WHEN THEY NEED IT MOST.

    SHE HAS NO BRAINS, NO MORALS, AND NO QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENCY.

    CULTURAL RELATIVISM

    VIA SUGIERO AND PASTORIUS:



    8 MINUTES. WTWT.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    ALL THE BEST TO YOU AND YOURS!

    SURGE VINDICATES RUMSFELD: PROVES HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT TROOP LEVELS

    This is just an aside, but an important one:

    The surge was successful and it was done with a surge merely 30,000 more troops.

    Not with 500,000 troops.

    Just a GRAND total of 180,000.

    A total more in line with Rumsfeld than McCain or Shinseki.

    It was all about ROE and offensively targeting the enemy and NOT troop levels.


    And also about gaining time for the Iraq forces to step up. And they have.

    Rumsfeld is vindicated.

    VIDEO PROVES THAT BHUTTO WAS NOT SHOT

    ANALYSIS HERE.

    READ THE POST AND WATCH THE VIDEOS AGAIN, AND THEN DECIDE FOR YOURSELF.

    DON'T LET THE MSM TELL YOU WHAT YOU'RE SEEING.

    LET YOUR OWN EYES DECIDE.

    JEWISH WORKERS IN RUSSIA FACE VISA PROBLEMS

    If only the Jewish community there would think wisely and leave, considering the returning reign of communism (or Putinism, if you think of the brand new dictator now posing as the prime minister there), maybe this wouldn't be an issue. The JTA reports:
    MOSCOW (JTA) -- New visa rules in Russia are stoking anxiety and frustration among Jewish groups here, forcing them to get in line quickly with new laws to avoid fines or the expulsion of their foreign employees from Russia.

    While the changes, which went into effect Oct. 18, do not specifically target Jews, the new rules for multiple-entry business visas -- which cover the sub-sections of religious, humanitarian and cultural visas -- are having a huge impact on Jewish organizations.

    Large Jewish groups, some of which employ hundreds of foreign workers and their families, are fighting their way through the maze of paperwork and bureaucracy surrounding the new rules, and many still do not understand exactly how the rules are to be applied.

    The new rules, hastily instituted by the Russian government amid the heavily anti-Western rhetoric of December’s parliamentary campaign, are still not clearly understood by those who will be most affected by them.

    [...]

    For the Chabad-led federation, which has an estimated 500-plus foreign employees and family members in the country, most of whom hold either Israeli or U.S. citizenship, this constitutes a tremendous weight on operating costs. Employees will be able to stay in Russia for no more than 90 days out of every 180, and every 180 days they will have to go to their countries of origin to renew their visas. That's a lot of plane tickets.
    Not to mention money. The Russian-Jewish community should understand that the time has come to pack their bags and leave, to avoid the encroaching reign of communism anew. If they were to do that, all these matters wouldn't be a problem and a lot of money would be saved.

    JULIE HILDEN ON THE EHRENFELD CASE AND UK VS US LAW

    Findlaw's Julie Hilden (via La Shawn Barber) talks about Rachel Ehrenfeld's problem with Saudi billionaire bin Mahfouz, and regarding the UK's ludicrous libel laws, she says:
    Make no mistake, this is a clash of cultures: one that so values speech and openness that it leaves significant room for irremediable, damaging error; and another that so values reputation and privacy, that it errs in favor of what is, in effect, government censorship accomplished by the courts.
    In a way, it is a culture clash, given how the UK is subject to madness of its own making. Hilden suggests solving the mess this way:
    Rather than contending with these elusive trans-hemispheric cases as the Internet slowly makes borders and oceans less and less relevant for distribution and reputation purposes, it might make the most sense for the U.S. and U.K. to enter into a defamation treaty. The treaty would ask both U.S. and U.K. courts to give up jurisdiction in defamation cases in which the other country has a stronger interest, based on factors such as the intended dissemination of the allegedly defamatory statement, personal jurisdiction over the defendant, and the location of the plaintiff’s primary reputation, and therefore, of his or her alleged damages.
    Is this a workable answer to the problem? So far, most likely not, because it could still give the UK jurisdiction what's published in the US. With the way that the UK is being run on prejudice, Americans cannot afford to have a country that the Pilgrims sought to leave for the right reasons ruling over them from a distance.

    But of course! It's Bush's fault!

    Bush derangement syndrome strikes again


    "Just as the dictator was allowed to neglect the task of tracking down Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida operatives within his country, just as he was given a pass when Pakistani officials shared nuclear secrets and technologies with rogue states, just as he was allowed to thwart democratic initiatives in his country and the region, Musharraf never faced a serious demand from the Bush administration to protect Bhutto. And in the absence of that demand from the government that props him up as what Bush once referred to as "our guy," Musharraf - who has survived many assassination attempts himself - failed to take the steps necessary to save Bhutto or to foster democratic processes. The Bush administration failed Benazir Bhutto and now she is dead. With her died the prospects of stability and democracy"


    More here:


    Posted by John Ray

    LEFT-WING GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES REPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA

    You couldn't make this up. After years of complaining about the Howard government's alleged oppressive nature, the Rudd government has announced plans for nationwide internet filtering to prevent Australians from coming into contact with objectionable content.

    As reported by news.com.au:

    EVERY Australian with an internet connection could soon have their web content automatically censored.

    The restrictions are planned by the Federal Government to give greater protection to children from online pornography and violent websites.

    Under the plan, all internet service providers will have to provide a "clean" feed to households and schools, free of pornography and other "inappropriate" material.

    Australians who want uncensored access to the web will have to contact their internet service provider and "opt out" of the service.

    They emphasize protecting "the children" from pornography and violence, but they admit they have not yet defined objectionable materials:

    Senator Conroy said the clean feed, also known as mandatory ISP filtering, would prevent users from accessing prohibited content.

    "We will work with the industry to get the best policy," he said. "(But) Labor is committed to introducing mandatory ISP filtering."

    Senator Conroy said the Australian Communications and Media Authority would prepare a "blacklist" of unsuitable sites.

    It is unclear exactly what will be deemed inappropriate material.

    The adoption of mandatory ISP filtering comes on top of the former government's offer of free internet filtering software for home computers.

    You will note that the Howard government had offered free filtering software that parents could use as they see fit. An altogether different approach from the statist oppression advocated by the Rudd government.

    Nick & Nora Charles at the Thin Man Returns note that Australian voters should have thought about this sort of thing before last month's election!

    The Left is so predictable, after all. It's the same old failed system, time and time again.

    Hat tip: the inimitable Tim Blair.

    Foolish Editor Thinks Coverups Work

    We read:


    "News that gifts for needy children at the Community and Family Resource Center were stolen days before Christmas was shocking and upsetting.

    Arrested in connection in the CFRC theft were three siblings, ranging in age from 10 to 12 years of age. Their cases were held in family court, where names are not part of the public record because of the ages of the suspects. We did not publish their names, nor any other description, other than their ages and that they are related.

    So those who advocated a return to slavery were assuming that the suspects are black. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But their race is irrelevant. People of all races commit crimes.

    Source

    Who does he think he is kidding? If the thieves had been white he would have announced it immediately with a great cry of triumph. In the USA, nine out of ten crimes are committed by blacks and people are aware of that. Even if people don't read any statistics, the black/white gap in criminality is so large that it just can't be covered up. The media do often omit racial descriptions but is there really anyone who does not know on such occasions that the omitted word is "black"?

    In the case above the thieves had recently arrived from a major center of black population (Chicago), were already clients of the welfare center and had a mother whom the authoriities thought was neglecting her chilren. And the 12 year old already had a criminal record of 7 offences. Obviously Mormons! Or that's apparently what our idiotic self-appointed media censors want us to think.

    The one sure result of these media coverup policies is that they reduce people's trust in the media -- and that is DEFINITELY a good thing.

    Posted by John Ray

    Sunday, December 30, 2007

    IMHO: the video shows Benazir Bhutto was NOT hit by any bullets

    LGF has posted the video which is also at you tube.

    HERE IT IS AGAIN:




    I watched it several times.

    I don't see any bullets enter or exit Bhutto.

    I have seen other videos of people being shot and in them I always saw the bullet exit with flesh and blood. This is the case with the famous Zapruder film: you can see Kennedy's head get blown up/blown off/blown to pieces - after all, the bullet doesn't hangout in side the body of the victim: it enters and exits, VIOLENTLY! It's bloody.

    There's no blood in this Bhutto video. I think it proves that the shooter missed.

    IMHO.

    *******UPDATE:

    CNN has the tape too. I watched their copy a few times.


    NOW I AM SURE THAT SHE WASN'T HIT BY ANY BULLETS.

    Zain Verjee - the superhot CNN correspondent from Kenya - narrates the report and she regurgitates what everyone else is saying: that the tape shows "Bhutto SLUMPING forward as if shot - just as her scarf wafts up a bit."

    Bulls**t.

    • THIS IS NOT IN FACT WHAT HAPPENED.
    • SHE IS NOT SLUMPING.
    • REPEAT: SHE IS NOT SLUMPING FORWARD.

    Here's the proof:

    • If you watch CAREFULLY, you can see that she FIRST moves her right arm back, off the roof of the vehicle as if to attempt to get back into the safety of her armored vehicle before she is hit.
    • If she had already been hit in the head or neck the arms would've flailed up and away or to the wound, reflexively.
    • She is obviously attempting to get back down-and-into her vehicle.
    • THE BOMB GOES OFF BEFORE HER HEAD IS BACK UNDER THE ROOF.
    • That's when the bomb exploded.
    • THE BLAST OF THE BOMB PROBABLY DROVE HER HEAD DOWN AND INTO THE SUNROOF LEVER, JUST AS THE PAKISTAN AUTHORITIES SAID.

    Watch it yourself.

    Watch her VOLUNTARILY move her arm FIRST - as if cogently trying to duck back into the vehicle. This is not what a person shot on the head and neck does.

    END OF STORY.

    GOVERNMENT'S POLICIES ARE TO BLAME FOR THIS MURDER ATTACK

    Two army officials were murdered in a terrorist attack in Wadi Telem. It goes without saying that it's because the government's lack of interest in properly enforcing the law encourages this to happen.

    FRANCE HALTS DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH SYRIA

    BBC: France to halt links with Syria
    President Sarkozy wants Syria to use its influence in Lebanon

    France is to suspend diplomatic contacts with Syria, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

    Links will be restored only when France has proof that Syria is not blocking progress towards installing a consensus president in Lebanon, Mr Sarkozy said.

    Lebanon has been without a president since November, as rival pro- and anti- Syrian factions argue over who should fill the post.
    • THIS IS PROGRESS, BIT LET'S FACE IT: ASSAD SHOULD HAVE BEEN WHACKED ALREADY.
    • AT LEAST THE WEST LOOKS LIKE WE'RE UNITED AND WE'RE GONNA STOP PUSSY-FOOTING AROUND.

    ZARDARI -BHUTTO'S CORRUPT WIDOWER - CYNICALLY PICKS TEENAGE SON TO "LEAD" PARTY


    BBC: Bhutto's son named as successor: Bilawal Bhutto
    Bilawal says his father will run the party while he is away

    Benazir Bhutto's 19-year-old son Bilawal has been chosen to take over her Pakistan People's Party, after her assassination on Thursday.

    He will become leader in a ceremonial capacity while he finishes his studies at Oxford University.

    Bilawal told journalists at the Bhutto family home: "My mother always said democracy is the best revenge".
    • THIS IS THE HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY AND CORRUPTION AND DEMONSTRATES THE UTTER NOTHINGNESS OF PAKISTAN'S SO-CALLED DEMOCRACY.
    • A 19 YEAR WILL CO-CHAIR A PARTY!? SHEESH; THIS SHOULD PROVE ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT THE BHUTTO'S PARTY IS NOTHING MORE THAN A FRONT FOR THE FAMILY CORRUPTION ENTERPRISE.
    • AND WHAT DOES THIS "OXFORD EDUCATED" PUNK THINK OF DEMOCRACY? IT'S "REVENGE." THIS IS SICK.
    • AND WHY IS HIS LAST NAME BHUTTO AND NOT ZARDARI, LIKE HIS INCREDIBLY CORRUPT FATHER? OOPS. THAT'S WHY.
    • WHAT A FREAKIN' SHAM.

    WE NEED TO BACK THE ARMY AND MUSHARRAF AND STOP PUSHING THESE PSEUDO-DEMOCRATS. THEY'RE SCUM. LIKE FATAH AND ABBAS, THE BHUTTO ARE SCUM WE SHOULDN'T BACK.
    • GET THE FEELING I DON'T FEEL FOR THE BHUTTO'S!?
    • YOU'RE RIGHT.
    SHE WAS SCUM. SHE AND SHARIF WERE DESTABILIZING PAKISTAN - WHICH HELPED THE JIHADISTS - THEIR BUDDIES.

    THE USUAL LEFTIST SOLUTION: KILL PEOPLE

    The idea that social and political problems can be solved by exterminating wholesale entire groups of people is an important part of the Leftist vision. The most obvious examples in the 20th century were the attempted genocide of the Jews and Gypsies by the National Socialists of Germany and the extermination or democide of the kulaks and the attempted genocide of the Ukrainians by the Soviet Communists. Those crimes obviously did not do much to improve the social and political conditions in either the Third Reich or the Soviet Union.

    Leftists have not given up on solving their political problems by the mass death of their opponents, however. In a recent online publication, called the Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel, a leftist who calls himself David Lindorff suggests that American could be saved by the mass death of those Americans he doesn't like. He thinks it will be caused by global warmening:
    The area that will by completely inundated by the rising ocean—and not in a century but in the lifetime of my two cats—are the American southeast, including the most populated area of Texas, almost all of Florida, most of Louisiana, and half of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as goodly portions of eastern Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. While the northeast will also see some coastal flooding, its geography is such that that aside from a few projecting sandbars like Long Island and Cape Cod, the land rises fairly quickly to well above sea level. Sure, Boston, New York and Philadelphia will be threatened, but these are geographically confined areas that could lend themselves to protection by Dutch-style dikes. The West Coast too tends to rise rapidly to well above sea level in most places. Only down in Southern California towards the San Diego area is the ground closer to sea level.

    So what we see is that huge swaths of conservative America are set to face a biblical deluge in a few more presidential cycles.

    Then there’s the matter of the Midwest, which climate experts say is likely to face a permanent condition of unprecedented drought, making the place largely unlivable, and certainly unfarmable. The agribusinesses and conservative farmers that have been growing corn and wheat may be able to stretch out this doomsday scenario by deep well drilling, but west of the Mississippi, the vast Ogallala Aquifer that has allowed for such irrigation is already being tapped out. It will not be replaced.

    So again, we will see the decline and depopulation of the nation’s vast midsection—noted for its consistent conservatism. Only in the northernmost area, around the Great Lakes (which will be not so great anymore), and along the Canadian border, will there still be enough rain for farming and continued large population concentrations, but those regions, like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, are also more liberal in their politics.

    Finally, in the Southwest, already parched and stiflingly hot, the rise in energy costs and the soaring temperatures will put an end to right-wing retirement communities like Phoenix, Tucson and Palm Springs. Already the Salton Sea is fading away and putting Palm Springs on notice that the good times are coming to an end. Another right-wing haven soon to be gone.

    So the future political map of America is likely to look as different as the much shrunken geographical map, with much of the so-called “red” state region either gone or depopulated.

    His belief in the consequences of global warming is obviously mistaken. But what is important is his unashamed admission that what he thinks will "save" America is the death and destruction of his political opponents.

    Note also, that he intends to show no mercy on the survivors:

    The important thing is that we, on the higher ground both actually and figuratively, need to remember that, when they begin their historic migration from their doomed regions, we not give them the keys to the city. They certainly should be offered assistance in their time of need, but we need to keep a firm grip on our political systems, making sure that these guilty throngs who allowed the world to go to hell are gerrymandered into political impotence in their new homes.

    There will be much work to be done to help the earth and its residents—human and non-human—survive this man-made catastrophe, and we can’t have these future refugee troglodytes, should their personal disasters still fail to make them recognize reality, mucking things up again.

    That's not really surprising. The history of our most recent 10 or 12 natural disasters should amply prove that massive and effective private relief efforts motivated only by philanthropy came from conservative areas, and were carried out by conservative people, and especially by conservative religious people. From the Leftists, all the victims of Hurricane Katrina received was the dubious honor of being used as yet one more cudgel with which Leftists could attack the President.

    As we go to the polls in 2008, all Americans should remember what the Leftists who dominate the Democratic Party desire: the death and destruction of as many of their political opponents as possible, and the use of any political tricks necessary to deprive any survivors of any rights or political power at all.

    It's the same old Leftist program that we have seen at work in National Socialism, Communism, Castro-ism, Mugabe-ism, and Chavez-ism. A high speed lane to ruin.

    How does Hillary draw the line?

    Would it be okay for you to break into an empty home because you wanted a nicer place to stay?

    Would it be reasonable for you to break into a family's home because they had a spare bedroom and might be looking for a full-time nanny?

    Would it be acceptable to crash a party at the Playboy mansion because Hef had plenty of extra food, drink and some really cute females?

    Would it be fair to sneak into the local YMCA to work out because you didn't want the hassle of siging up and paying a membership fee?

    Would it be justifiable to sneak onto a large corporate campus because they had advertised some jobs in the paper?

    Would it be advisable to allow millions of non-citizens to enter the country without sanction, while paying for their health-care and use of public services?

    * * *

    I'm just wondering how that line gets drawn by folks like Hillary Clinton?

    The Incredible Success of the Bush Doctrine

    On an earlier post, I made the comment that Benazir Bhutto’s assassination should remind voters that we still live in a very dangerous world, and we need a grown-up as president with the wisdom and the strength of character to utilize our military to protect our interests and our citizens. I went on to say that this rules out all Democrat candidates.

    Since some either do not understand what this means (or PRETEND not to understand), lets explore this further. All through the 1990’s, a Democrat administration dealt with Islamic terrorism as if it were a problem for the civilian criminal justice system to handle, and refused to deal with Osama Bin Laden. They also failed to send support to our troops under fire in Somalia, leading to a massacre and a shameful pull-out (Blackhawk Down). This policy and actions got us a series of horrendous terrorist acts and the murder of thousands of our citizens and of others – including the attacks on the Khobar Towers, on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, on the USS Cole, on the World Trade Towers in 1993 and eventually to the horrors of 9/11.

    President Bush changed this policy after 9/11 and sent our military to hit the Islamic terrorist groups where they had training camps and were supported with money, training and refuge. We have defeated the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan; we have defeated them and other terrorist groups in Iraq and cut off their funding and access to oil revenues and oil supplies; we have turned aside Libya and North Korea in their quest for nuclear weapons; we have possibly slowed Iran’s similar quest; and we have made it possible for government forces to defeat the Islamists in Ethiopia. Throughout this period the Bush Administration has somehow managed to remain on good terms with other Islamic states and kept the oil flowing.

    AND SINCE 9/11, THE EXPECTED FOLLOW-UP ATTACKS ON AMERICA AND ON AMERICANS HAVE SIMPLY NOT HAPPENED – AN INCREDIBLE RECORD IN THIS PERIOD OF EXTREME VIOLENCE.

    Since all major Democrat candidates for the presidency have vowed to pullout our troops from Iraq (some say Afghanistan too) and return to the former policy of dealing with the Islamic butchers with our civilian criminal justice system, I call them not-grown-ups who will be risking the lives and fortunes of Americans everywhere. I call people who think they can right 1000 year-old religiously based disputes by discussing the issues with brutal dictators who thrive on these feuds and violence – I call them not-grown-ops who live in a fantasy land.

    The major Republican candidates are the only ones who have vowed to continue the President’s policy with respect to Islamofascism. We need to continue this policy, knowing full well that there will always be some sort of terrorist activity among Muslims around the world no matter how much we succeed. Militant Muslims seem to know only one way to deal with people who do not agree with them, and resistance to modernity and women’s rights runs deep.

    Iraq says most of Al-Qaeda network destroyed in 2007

    Dec 29, 2007 Breitbart.com (Excerpt)

    "The Iraqi interior ministry lauded its achievements over the past year on Saturday, saying that 75 percent of Al-Qaeda's networks in the country had been destroyed in 12 months.

    Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf also outlined sharp falls in the numbers of assassinations, kidnappings and death squad murders.

    He told a news conference that increased patrols along the borders with Saudi Arabia and Syria had slowed infiltration by militants and played a key role in Iraq's improved security situation.

    "We have destroyed 75 percent of Al-Qaeda hide-outs, and we broke up major criminal networks that supported Al-Qaeda in Baghdad," he said.

    "After eliminating safe houses in Anbar province, which used to be Al-Qaeda's base, we moved into areas surrounding Baghdad and into Diyala province. Al-Qaeda headed north and we are pursuing them," he said."

    MORE PROOF MEXICO IS A NEARLY A FAILED STATE

    BBC:
    Police die in Mexico convoy raid

    Mexico map Seven police officers have died after gunmen attacked a convoy carrying three alleged kidnappers arrested in northern Mexico, officials have said.

    Two of the suspects were freed in the raid which took place about 48km (30 miles) south of the city of Zacatecas.

    Two police officers escorting the detainees were also wounded when the gunmen opened fire in Friday's attack.

    The third suspect, who did not escape, is being questioned in Mexico City, the federal attorney general's office says.

    According to officials, the seven dead officers were six local police and a traffic officer.

    The three alleged kidnappers had been arrested earlier in the day when police stopped a lorry bearing Texas license plates.

    A kidnap victim was rescued and a fourth suspect killed during that incident.
    • MEXICO IS A LAWLESS SOCIALIST STATE RUN BY CORRUPT POLITICIANS AND NARCO-TERRORISTS.

    WE NEED A FENCE NOW.

    2007: THE WEST'S YEAR OF FAILURE

    From this December 28, 2007 article in Spiegel Online International:
    Ongoing difficulties in Iraq. A Taliban offensive in Afghanistan. And now the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. For the West, 2007 has been a year of failure and missteps.

    [...]

    There are three lessons to be learned from the strategy followed by the US to this point.

    Lesson one: The conflict with radical Islam is not the hobby of a US president gone berserk. This will become all the more clear next November when American voters go to the polls. Bush, who cannot run for re-election due to term limitations, will go, but the conflict with Islam will remain. In fact, it is growing more intense. That, at least, is what the murder of this exceptionally brave woman in Pakistan has given to the West: a high degree of clarity. The radical Islamists will not tolerate any democrats, even if they come from their own countries. They are looking for a showdown, apparently at any price. They will even accept the failure of a country as big and proud as Pakistan.

    Lesson two: Bush will not be in a position to do much to end this conflict. He is a war president and an unsuccessful one at that. Even if he talks about diplomacy, it sounds like preparation for war. His partners in Berlin, Paris and London will have to act cleverly in this difficult situation. Any belligerence or crowing must be avoided so as to not damage the Western position as a whole. As strange as it might sound, this beleaguered president must be ushered into retirement with dignity and civility.

    Lesson three: The classic military intervention -- Bush's formula against the danger of terrorism -- has not been successful up to now and will not be so in the future. And the situation in nuclear-armed Pakistan is clearly not one where any sort of military operation should be considered....
    The article, avoiding insofar as possible any reference to Islam, emphasizes the role of diplomacy (Even with "thugs"!), which has been, for the most part over the past fourteen centuries, an abject failure with any Islamic nation. The Spiegel article, overlooking the religious element and the emphasis which Islamic terrorism places on Islamic jihadi-martyrs' status in eternity, also attempts to draw fallacious comparisons between the present clash of civilizations and the Cold War:
    A look back and the Cold War -- an era full of provocations on both sides -- provides a useful model. In 1953, construction workers building the great Stalin Allee in East Berlin, rebelled against their communist government. Many in the Soviet zone hoped that the West would support their fight against the East German communist dictatorship. In West Berlin, the US propaganda station RIAS became shriller -- but nothing more was done.

    In Budapest in 1956 there was the same calm discipline. The armed Hungarian students (this writer's father among them) rebelled against the Moscow puppet regime. They were hoping for Western help, but that hope was in vain. The students saw this as a betrayal. For tens of thousands, my father included, there was nothing to do but flee from the Soviet tanks rolling in.

    The West's abstention was painful; in fact, it was unbearable -- but it made political sense.

    These provocations continued until the dismal high point -- the military putsch by General Wojciech Jaruzelski in Warsaw in 1981. The armies of the West stayed in their barracks. Soviet Communism broke apart all by itself a short time later.
    Toward the end, however, the article also states the following, thus ending on a contradictory note:
    The West has to protect itself and its people with everything modern technology has placed at its disposal....[T]here is an important role to be played by the military and by secret services -- but primarily in the service of targeted operations against terror camps and cells. While mass invasions have proven useless, pinprick operations continue to have an important place in the West's arsenal.
    In my view, the article overlooks a necessary component of victory in this long, long war against Islamic expansionism: Stop whitewashing Islam by calling it "the religion of peace."

    [Hat-tip to Mark Alexander, where I found the article from Spiegel Online International]

    Marc Morano uses facts to answer an "ad hominem" attack from an alleged scientist

    One would have hoped that a scientist would have put scientific points to Morano but it was not so. Bill Houck [billhouck@bellsouth.net] (the Bill Houck of the EPA, I assume) wrote rather condescendingly to Marc Morano (of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee) as follows:

    Assuming you are sincere in your beliefs about the lack of evidence proving `global warming', I would encourage you to look back 45 - 50 years ago and consider the (400 or so) "prominent scientists" or doctors the tobacco companies would parade around who would insist that cigarette smoking was not proven to be seriously harmful to your health. Perhaps 400 said no while many thousands accepted the obvious about smoking without feeling compelled to write or make public statements about it. After all, it was obvious.

    Even if the warming/dimming concerns are exaggerated, there's no great down side to halting excessive and unnecessary pollution. Certainly everyone would want an environment that is as clean as possible.

    Morano replied politely as follows:
    Thank you for writing. You may have a good point with your tobacco analogy. Please read this article, I do tend to agree with the comparison.

    As for the "thousands" of scientists who believe we face a "climate crisis," where are they? The UN IPCC had only 52 scientists write the alarmist Summary for Policymakers in 2007. There are no "thousands" of UN scientists. Even the UN says "hundreds" but they are not involved in the media hyped summary. Many of the "hundreds" of UN scientists are skeptical of the alarmist summary written by the 52 scientists. Many of the skeptics are profiled in our report.

    Even the National Academy of Sciences and American Meteorological Society's "consensus" statement was only voted on by two dozen or so governing board members, rank and file scientists never had a say. Take a look at this post, an environmental scientist admits he never looked at evidence of man-made climate fears, he just parroted the UN's line. Because of the new Senate report of over 400, he is now reconsidering his views. See here

    Finally, as for your "no great downside" to halting pollution. Of course that statement is true. But that is not what we are facing. Because of fears of a "tipping point" and we "must act now" and "it's cheaper to act now than wait" the US and other nations are being rushed into meaningless and ineffective international treaties and complete climate symbolism for huge costs domestically.

    In over three decades of global warming fears, there has been no single proposal that would have a detectable impact on temperatures if fully enacted and the alarmists are correct about the science. Even if Kyoto, the grandaddy of all climate agreements were being complied with, it would not have a detectable impact on temps 50 or 100 years from now. (this is not in dispute, Gore's own scientist Tom Wigley has said this).

    There is no such thing as an "insurance" policy against warming when it comes to current proposals. The upcoming cap-and-trade LIeberman-Warner bill in the Senate would not have a detectable impact on global temps, but will cost poor and middle class Americans huge amounts in higher energy bills. All economic pain for no climate gain.

    Would you buy and insurance policy that had a huge up front premium for absolutely no payout at the end of the term? If you would, then by all means support all of the current climate bills. But if they were "insurance policies" they would be shut down for insurance fraud for taking money and not paying any benefits.

    Cleaner burning technology and wealth creation go hand and hand. Saddling our economy with UN mandates and new layers of federal bureaucracy will only make us poorer and not 'solve' the "climate crisis."

    After attending the last four UN climate conferences in a row, I can tell you unequivocally that if we were facing a man-made climate "crisis' and the UN were our only hope to "solve" it, we would all be doomed.

    Please read this very long speech to understand the scientific and economic and technological issues.

    Please do not continue parroting the meaningless line about "insurance" policies or how "thousands" of scientists endorse a mythical "consensus" unless you can show a shred of evidence for your claims.

    Above exchange received by email from Marc Morano [marcmorano@gmail.com]

    Posted by John Ray

    MORE INCREDIBLE IMAGES OF BHUTTO'S ASSASSINS

    DAWN - VIA DRUDGE:
    DawnNews TV aired chilling images of an armed assassin taking a shot at her as she acknowledged the cheers of jubilant party activists from the sunroof of her bullet-proof vehicle. ...

    They show a young clean-shaven man, wearing a waistcoat and dark glasses, inch inconspicuously towards the slow-moving vehicle of Ms Bhutto.

    Standing closely behind is a man believed to be the suicide bomber with a piece of cloth draped around his face.

    The first image catches the duo looking straight into the camera.


    Another image shows the sharpshooter open fire on the unsuspecting political leader with remarkable aplomb.

    He is just a couple of metres away from his target.

    One of the party activists clinging to the vehicle seems to have spotted the assassin, whose upraised hand carries a gun.


    The third image shows activists around the vehicle ducking their heads in reflex, suggesting that the gun has been fired.

    Unfazed, the assassin is still in their midst.


    Crucially, Ms Bhutto has disappeared from the sunroof. And, equally crucially, the suicide bomber has yet to blow himself up.
    SEE THE IMAGES HERE.

    • THESE IMAGES PROVE THE SHOOTER WAS AN ASSASSIN.
    • THEY DO NOT PROVE THAT BHUTTO WAS HIT BY ANY BULLETS HE FIRED.
    • THEY DO NOT PROVE THAT BHUTTO'S HEAD WAS NOT INJURED ON THE LEVER.

    MORE INFORMATON NEEDS TO BE RELEASED - AND THE IDENTITIES OF THESE TWO ASSASSINS NEEDS TO BE DISCOVERED AND SHARED.

    Saturday, December 29, 2007

    THE AL GORE WEEKEND NATIONAL WEATHER FORECAST

    NOPE, IT'S NOT FOR MORE WARMENING; IT'S FOR MORE SNOW...

    BOSTON:
    Storm Watch Issued For More Snow
    December Record Likely To Be Set

    BOSTON -- It looks like December could be one for the record books, as the National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch Saturday evening for most of Massachusetts.

    Boston needs only 1 more inch of snow to set a December record and the forecast makes that possible.
    WISCONSIN:
    The snow fell wet and heavy Friday. It fell heavier at times, but it was steady for most of the day.

    As the white stuff piled up around Racine County, the people responsible for keeping the streets and sidewalks clean throughout watched their reserves of street salt dwindle and the cost of snow removal rise.

    In Racine, Public Works Department officials said the city could go over budget slightly, by roughly $10,000, to cover overtime. But that’s a worst-case scenario, according to Tom Eeg, the city’s assistant public works commissioner.

    Officials in the department responsible for keeping the city streets clear, budget more than $450,000 for the snow removal season — roughly $200,000 for supplies, including road salt; and $260,000 for salaries for the employees who help clean the streets when it snows.

    Snow is plowed Friday afternoon along Lake Avenue in Downtown Racine. Photo by Gregory Shaver, Journal Times

    The winter season started early in southeastern Wisconsin.

    “This is sooner than typical,” Eeg said. “This December has been a little heavier than usual.”
    WASHINGTON:
    Sno-Parks full of snow, expecting more
    Friday, December 28, 2007 8:12 AM PST
    By The Daily News

    Information on snowmobiling and cross-country ski conditions Wednesday from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Further information is available at the web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/.

    Mount St. Helens

    Marble Mountain Sno-Park (elevation 2,700 feet) -- 3 feet of snow, including 2 feet new, with more snow expected. Continued plowing planned.

    Cougar Sno-Park (elevation 2,200 feet) -- 2 feet of snow, including 1 foot new, with more expected.

    Ape Cave Sno-Park (elevation 1,900 feet) -- Starting this year, a Sno-Park permit is required at the Trail of Two Forests parking lot on Road 8303, from which it's about a quarter-mile walk to Ape Cave. No snowmobiles allowed.

    For updated information, call (360) 449-7800.

    Wind River Highway

    Lone Butte Sno-Park (elevation 3,140 feet) -- 29 inches, with 24 of it new and more expected.

    For updated information, call (509) 395-3400.

    Mount Adams area

    Atkisson Sno-Park (elevation 2,760 feet) -- 40 inches, with 24 new. Conditions fair.

    Pineside Sno-Park (elevation 2,700 feet) -- 40 inches, with 24 new. Conditions fair.

    For updated information, call (509) 395-3400.
    • ER, UM... THAT'S THE NORTHEAST, THE MIDWEST AND THE WEST: ALL COVERED IN SNOW. MORE THAN USUAL.
    • AND MAY I REMIND YOU THAT EUROPE IS HAVING THE MOST SNOW IN DECEMBER FOR 56 YEARS.

    AL GORE: PLEASE STFU.

    HOW AL-REUTERS MAKES THE NEWS

    Barry Rubin talks about some of the Reuters news agency's anti-Israel propaganda, which they still continue to churn out endlessly.

    HOOTERS'N SHOOTER: DOES INSTAPUNDIT HAVE AN ALIBI?

    I only ask because we all know Glenn is a big fan of boobies and guns....

    KNOXVILLE/AP-CNN:
    A customer who was upset over his tab fired several shots into a Hooters restaurant, leaving a manager and another patron in critical condition Saturday, police said.

    Police were searching for the man, who left on foot just after midnight, Lt. Kenny Miller said.

    Managers asked the man to leave after he refused to pay his bill, according to Miller. The man went outside and started firing shots from a .40-caliber handgun at the building, Miller said.

    A customer leaving the restaurant and a manager inside were in critical condition Saturday at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

    No other details were immediately available.
    • BOOBIES AND ALCOHOL DO MIX.
    • ALCOHOL AND FIREARMS DON'T.
    SERIOUSLY, I HOPE THEY FIND THE GUY, AND FRY HIM - AFTER A TRIAL, OF COURSE...

    (THE ONLY SHOOTERS THAT SHOULD BE PERMITTED NEAR HOOTERS ARE TEQUILA SHOOTERS.)

    UK GOVERNMENT: NO MORE "WAR ON TERROR"

    According to this from the UK:
    The words "war on terror" will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country's chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.

    Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless "death cult."

    The Director of Public Prosecutions said: 'We resist the language of warfare, and I think the government has moved on this. It no longer uses this sort of language."
    And no more "Islamic terrorism," either:
    The term "Islamic terrorist" will also no longer be used. Officials believe it is unhelpful because it appears to directly link the religion to terrorist atrocities.
    Changing the language used will not change the facts. Obviously, the Lefists don't understand that reality. Most terrorist atrocities are indeed linked to Islam.

    LISBON TREATY NOT A DONE DEAL

    UK TELEGRAPH: 'States like Britian could derail' new EU treaty
    The new EU treaty might not be ratified because "sensitive" countries such as Britain will pick over the detail of a text that many consider is too "close" to the rejected Constitution, the man in charge of the process has said.

    Slovenia, which takes up the EU's rotating presidency on New Year's Day, is preparing itself for a torrid six months as most member states attempt to push the treaty through national parliaments before the summer.

    Janez Jansa, Slovenia's prime minister, told The Daily Telegraph that a smooth ratification could not be taken for granted. "We cannot exclude the possibility that something will go wrong," he said.

    The "sensitive cases" - Britain, France, the Netherlands and Ireland, which is required by its constitution to hold a referendum - are all expected to try to rush through ratification by the end of June 2008.

    Mr Jansa said that after French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution in 2005, Europe's elites were using the parliamentary route rather than risky popular votes to ratify the accord.
    • "RISKY POPULAR VOTES" - YES: DEMOCRACY IS SO... MESSY AND INEFFICIENT.
    • THE LISBON TREATY IS ABOUT AS POPULAR IN EUROPE AS THE SHAMNESTY BILL WAS HERE. IT'S A DEAL THE ELITES WANT, NOT THE PEOPLE.
    • PEOPLE WANT MORE RESPONSIVENESS IN THEIR GOVERNMENT, NOT LESS.

    LET'S HOPE THE TREATY FAILS.

    HILLARY CLINTON ARRIVES IN JAPAN?

    AP: Ancient Mammoth Carcass Arrives in Japan
    The frozen carcass of a 37,000-year-old baby mammoth unearthed this summer in Siberia arrived in Japan on Saturday for tests that researchers hope will shed new light on the internal structure of the ancient beasts, an official said.

    The 4-foot gray-and-brown carcass arrived at Tokyo International Airport on Saturday afternoon, said Mitsuyoshi Uno, an official with the joint Russo-Japanese mammoth-study project that is overseeing the research.

    Discovered in May by a reindeer herder in northern Siberia's remote Yamal-Nenets region, the frozen mammoth's trunk and eyes are virtually intact and it even has some fur, but its tail and ear were apparently bitten off, Russian officials said.
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS. This ancient mammoth carcass isn't Hillary.Sorry. Never mind.

    [ASIDE: I wonder if those teeth-marks can be matched to Bill?]

    India suspends rail service to Pakistan

    YAHOO/AFP:
    New Delhi has suspended two train services to Pakistan following violence in the wake of the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, the railways ministry said.
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Two trains were "cancelled on security considerations with immediate effect until further notice," the ministry said in a statement late Friday.
    • IF AL QAEDA IS INDEED BEHIND THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION THEN THE INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER AND KASHMIR IS WHERE THERE COULD BE SOME DANGEROUS ADVENTURISM AND ESCALATION.
    • AL QAEDA - WHICH THRIVES ON CHAOS AND EXPLOITING OLD HATREDS - WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE REGION DEVOLVE INTO CHAOS AND WAR.
    • IN THIS SENSE, WE SHOULD SEE THE BHUTTO ASSASSINATION AS THE EQUIVALENT TO THE DESTRUCTION OF IRAQ'S GOLDEN MOSQUE.

    LET'S HOPE THIS EFFORT FAILS.

    NOTE: DOUBTING AL QAEDA'S ROLE IS - IMHO - A FORM OF MHS: MUSHARRAF DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.

    Christmas Bad; Kwanzaa OK

    We read:
    "A judge has refused to stop a Shelby County lawmaker from holding a Kwanzaa party in a public building, ruling that the celebration would not be a religious gathering.

    County Commissioner Henri Brooks organized the party, open to the public, scheduled for Wednesday night at the county's main administration building.

    Probate Court Clerk Chris Thomas filed a lawsuit to block it, arguing he was denied permission to hold a Christmas party in a county building.

    Judge Walter L. Evans dismissed the suit. Lawyers for Brooks argued the party would not violate rules against religious gatherings in public buildings.

    Source
    Background on Kwanzaa here

    Posted by John Ray

    There's a lot we DON'T know about CO2

    The article excerpted below is written so as not to threaten Warmists but the great gaps in knowledge that it notes show how shaky the assumptions fed into climate "models" have to be

    So far, scientists have no reliable way to measure all these fluctuating carbon emissions. Temperature predictions based on future CO2 levels, therefore, could overestimate the risk of greenhouse warming -- or dangerously understate it. "A quarter of all the CO2 that is emitted is going somewhere, and we don't know where," said David Crisp at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he is senior scientist for the $270 million Orbiting Carbon Observatory, set for launch next December. "That raises a lot of red flags."

    Moreover, as governments try to prevent climate change through emissions trading -- where buying and selling emissions rights is expected to top $70 billion by the end of next year -- regulators must track CO2 no matter where it comes from or where it goes, to verify transactions.

    To pinpoint the places where the planet naturally absorbs CO2 emissions, researchers have turned North America into a test lab. No other region is so thoroughly monitored; nor does any other area emit as much carbon dioxide -- about 27% of the world's annual total.

    The U.S., Mexico and Canada together release about 2 billion tons of carbon as CO2 into the air every year -- 85% from the U.S. alone -- but only about a third of it typically is absorbed by so-called carbon sinks, such as new forests, grasslands, crops and soil. The rest is either in the air or unaccounted for. That is according to a new study of 28,000 measurements collected every week from 2000 through 2006 and analyzed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's online CarbonTracker system.

    The CarbonTracker offers a portrait of the continent in carbon dioxide, locating where greenhouse-gas upwellings are strongest and where new plant growth and soil most readily remove it from the air. Greenhouse-gas emissions were highest in the Midwest, which released more CO2 than any country except Russia, China, India, and the U.S. as a whole. By the same token, CO2 was absorbed mostly east of the Rocky Mountains and in northern Canada, where vast boreal forests hold twice as much carbon as tropical woodlands.

    These detailed calculations reveal a countryside where these natural carbon-storage zones are failing, the NOAA researchers determined. The higher temperatures that result can, through more frequent wildfires and prolonged droughts, further interrupt ancient cycles of carbon storage, spilling even more carbon into the air....

    An unusually severe U.S. drought in 2002, the NOAA researchers discovered, left an extra 360 million tons of carbon in the atmosphere -- an amount equal to the annual emissions of 200 million cars -- by stunting plant growth that normally might have absorbed the gas. "We lost half our natural sink," said NOAA geochemist John Miller. In Europe, a severe drought in 2003 left more than 500 million tons of carbon in the air.

    In turn, the dry weather from higher temperatures also has made wildfires in the western U.S. more frequent, longer-burning and harder to extinguish. Large-scale fires in western and southeastern states can release as much carbon dioxide in a few weeks as motor-vehicle traffic there does in a year, University of Colorado researchers reported this past October in Carbon Balance and Management.

    In a single week this fall, they reported, wildfires in Southern California released 7.9 million metric tons of CO2 -- equal to 25% of the monthly fumes from every car, truck, factory and power plant in the state.

    Source


    Posted by John Ray

    Worst Congress in History Crafts Untenable Defense Bill

    Bush continues to fight the good fight! DT readers may recall my post from last week, indicating that Bush might not be wild about signing the omnibus bill... And voila, one week later: out comes the veto pen again, just when the Dems thought they had sneaked another fast one past the President.

    The President has a very valid reason, as you will see from his "Memorandum of Disapproval" linked above, and also from Gateway Pundit's excellent post below. This is what happens when the Dems play chicken with the military, is fast and loose with the American people, and tries to sneak in "poison pills" to an otherwise very important bill.

    Now let's see the Dems fight a new streamlined bill for our troops, now that the news of their glaring omission/betrayal is out, and especially in light of world tensions now that Bhutto has been assassinated--denying the troops the funding they need now--no strings attached--would IMO be tantamount to political suicide for the party's fall fortunes:
    The worst Congress ever is criticizing President Bush’s expected veto of H.R. 1585, the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.

    The White House believes the bill is "A Danger to Iraq's Progress"...

    Obviously, the White House is very concerned about Section 1083 because the provisions included risk imposing financially devastating hardship on Iraq that will unacceptably interfere with the political and economic progress.

    The Defense Appropriations Bill also includes over 2,000 earmarks.
    I've seen some criticisms of this even from bloggers I respect. But personally I like a guy who does the right thing, even if it goes against the grain or comes at a not particularly opportune moment with primaries coming up next week. Leaders don't get to pick when mistakes happen; but they do need to correct them. I'm standing behind the President on this one.

    Friday, December 28, 2007

    Mexican army disarms entire police force near U.S. border

    VANCOUVER SUN/REUTERS:
    Mexican troops disarmed the entire police force of a town near the U.S. border today after a failed attempt to kill the police chief raised suspicions it was infiltrated by drug traffickers.

    Troops and police from the state of Baja California took over the beach resort town of Rosarito, just south of the sprawling border city of Tijuana, near San Diego, Calif.
    [CLICK TO ENLARGE MAP.]

    The force's 200 guns will be checked to see if any were used in the mid-December attack on Rosarito's chief of police in which one of his bodyguards died.
    "We recognize that the enemy is inside our house and for this reason we are purging the ranks," Baja California state police chief Daniel de la Rosa told reporters.

    "We need to have confidence in our police."


    Since taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent some 25,000 troops to bring order to areas where drug gangs are strong, such as along the U.S.-Mexico border and in the western state of Michoacan. Despite these actions, about 2,500 people have died so far this year in turf wars among different drug gangs.
    • THIS IS ANOTHER REASON WE NEED A FENCE.
    • ANYONE WHO OPPOSES THE FENCE HAS MORE CONFIDENCE IN THE MEXICAN POLICE THAN MEXICO DOES!

    GOOD NEWS FROM CHINA - ON TWO FRONTS

    NYTIMES:

    CURRENCY:
    China’s currency rose steeply against the dollar this week, feeding speculation that Chinese authorities, yielding to international pressure and economic realities at home, were allowing their currency to appreciate more rapidly.

    The currency, known as the yuan or renminbi, rose 0.9 percent this week — faster than over any week since China stopped pegging it to the dollar on July 21, 2005. Thursday, the yuan rose 0.37 percent, the largest one-day increase since the peg ended. On Friday, it rose 0.18 percent, to close at 7.3041 to the dollar in Shanghai trading.
    HONG KONG:
    Beijing will allow Hong Kong to directly elect its leader by 2017 and all its lawmakers by 2020, the territory's chief executive said Saturday.

    Donald Tsang said the move was a ''most important step'' in the former British colony's political future.
    • I LIKE THESE DEVELOPMENTS.
    • I THINK THEY WILL HELP WORLD MARKETS NEXT WEEK - WHEN THEY MIGHT REALLY REALLY NEED IT.
    • ESPECIALLY IF PAKISTAN TAKES ANOTHER TURN "SOUTH".

    QUESTIONS: WERE THOSE THREE SHOTS AIMED AT BHUTTO OR THE BOMBER? DID THE BLAST'S FORCE KILL HER?

    There are conflicting reports about the cause of Bhutto's death:
    Conflicting reports about what caused the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are fueling questions about the circumstances of her assassination.

    Benazir Bhutto died Thursday after a suicide bombing at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

    Bhutto's political party disputed official versions of the incident, accusing the government of lying. Video footage of Thursday's attack on Bhutto contains a murky shot of a hand firing a pistol three times, but the Pakistani government said Bhutto -- who was standing through her vehicle's sunroof -- was not hit.
    I have watched the CNN video of the shooter shooting three shots a dozen times.
    • There is a relatively small report.
    • There is a relatively small flare from the gun - one in fact is all I could make out.
    • There is almost no recoil after the shots are fired.

    Therefore, I think the gun was a small caliber.
    Not the caliber of someone looking to make a certain kill.

    At the distance the shooter was from Bhutto - half a car length - he should have been able to hit her. I feel that an experienced shooter shooting with his own gun would have hit his target from the range depicted in the video.

    There are conflicting reports about whether he did; officially - he did not. (And by the way, we don't need another autopsy to find out if she was hit: the clothing Bhutto was wearing at the time she died would tell the story. Her family could give it to a international team AT ONCE, and clear this up.)

    So, why did he miss Bhutto? Was he a decoy? OR...

    • PERHAPS HE WASN'T AIMING AT BHUTTO?
    • PERHAPS THE SHOOTER'S TARGET WAS NOT BHUTTO?
    • PERHAPS THE SHOOTER'S TARGET WAS THE BOMBER?
    • PERHAPS THE SHOOTER WAS PART OF BHUTTO'S SECURITY?

    I'd like to see a diagram depicting where the bomber was in relation to the car, the shooter and to Bhutto. From other, videos it appears to me the bomb was not directly behind her car. Was the bomber next to the shooter - and therefore obviously his accomplice, or in front of the shooter?

    Why didn't the bomb destroy Bhutto's car - was it the armor which protected it?

    Was her skull injury a result of the blast forcing her head into the lever, or because someone in her car pulled her down too violently?

    Which sunroof-lever had the blood on it - right-front (or rear), left-front (or rear)?

    Answers to these questions would clear everything up.

    Open letter to NBC Sports regarding Keith Olbermann

    December 28, 2007

    To whom it may concern,

    The choice of Keith Olbermann as a commentator for NBC Sports is ill-conceived at best.  Olbermann's virulent liberal commentary on MSNBC has received plenty of attention in so-called "red states", which comprise key markets for NFL football.  Rest assured that, in general, these markets do not appreciate Olbermann's sentiments.

    Just days ago, Olbermann received a runners-up award for Media Research Center's Worst Reporting for 2007, stating: "Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda - worse for our society. It's as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was."

    He has called the commander-in-chief a fascist, referred to Mike Wallace's son as "monkey", questioned the results of the 2004 elections, used a "Seig Heil" salute to mock another commentator, and sprinkled numerous discussions with talk of impeachment of various administration officials.  Several of Olbermann's actions have been interpreted as beyond the pale (specifically the Wallace and the "Seig Heil" incidents, the latter drawing a reprimand from the Anti-Defamation League).

    The list of Olbermann's grievous mistakes and attendant apologies are many.  That you can continue to employ a virulently partisan and unpopular character in a sportscasting role deserves your reflection and, we hope, correction.

    Sincerely,

    Doug Ross

    GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES CANCELED FLGIHTS

    OH. SORRY. IT WAS HEAVY SNOW:
    United Airlines, hit hard by weekend storms in the Midwest, canceled dozens more flights Thursday as the second storm since Christmas threatened to pile 20 inches of new snow on Colorado.

    Up to 8 inches of new snow were expected in Denver, which set a record for its snowiest Christmas with the nearly 8 inches that fell Tuesday.

    United canceled 168 flights nationwide Thursday mostly because of the weather in Denver, its second-largest hub, to help prevent planes from being stranded there. That's about 5 percent of the airline's daily schedule.

    "There will be impacts in other parts of the system and we're doing our best to accommodate everyone," United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.
    WILL AL GORE AND THE OTHER ECO-NUTSIES PLEASE STFU.

    Huckabee as Elmer Gantry

    More political fakery

    "How does the Republican frontrunner in Iowa further ingratiate himself with the locals with just a week to go before the first votes are cast in the 2008 presidential election? He gets a dog called Dude and goes out shooting with his buddies, of course. It doesn't matter that it's freezing cold and there's nobody to greet with a big Arkansas howdy. It's about creating that experienced outdoors man look, and reminding all those Iowan evangelicals how much you enjoy their kind of fun. And getting yourself photographed with a gun can only help shore up those all-important Second Amendment credentials.

    Luckily for Mike Huckabee, and anyone else within call, there was no sign of Vice-President Dick Cheney, who famously (and almost fatally) sprayed his 78-year-old pal Harry Whittington with birdshot during a similar hunting trip in Texas in February last year. Early in the campaign, Mr Romney played loose with the truth when he claimed to be a "lifelong hunter". He later had to admit he owned neither a gun nor a hunting licence. To many, it was a startling oversight for someone whose presidential campaign is heavily dependent on early success in states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, where recreational shooting is a way of life."

    More here

    Posted by John Ray. Elmer Gantry was a religious fake in the famous Sinclair Lewis novel of that name

    Immigrant-Rights Groups Try to Suppress Broadcast

    The usual Leftist attempt to silence opposition rather than debate it:

    "Immigrant-rights groups are criticizing the organizers of an upcoming radio event that will promote a crackdown on illegal immigration. The groups accuse the Federation for American Immigration Reform of endorsing bigotry and racism. FAIR is sponsoring a broadcast marathon for Thursday and Friday in a downtown Des Moines hotel. The event is expected to attract 22 radio talk show hosts from across the country to discuss immigration.

    ``We don't agree with their views that are demonizing immigrants, and we don't appreciate their coming to Iowa telling us what we should think about immigrants,'' said Alicia Claypool, chairwoman of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.

    Critics have said FAIR's hard anti-immigrant line has discouraged a fair debate.

    The Center for New Community, a Chicago-based immigrant rights advocacy group, disagrees with FAIR's purpose and encourages the hotel to cancel the event....

    Stein accused critics of the planned broadcasts of trying to obstruct free speech ``and people's right to be heard on public policy issues.''

    Source

    So it is not fair for conservatives to put their views forcefully? To do so "discourages debate"?? I think that tells us how weak the Leftist case is.

    Posted by John Ray

    Al Qaeda killed Bhutto; So what do WE do now?

    After its bitter defeat in Iraq, it is obvious that Al Qaeda's new goal is to incite as much strife in Pakistan as possible, and murdering the former Prime Minister may be as incendiary as was the killing of Franz Ferdinand (murdered by an Islamist Serb) in sparking 'The Great War':
    A spokesperson for the al-Qaeda terrorist network has claimed responsibility for the death on Thursday of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

    “We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen,” Al-Qaeda’s commander and main spokesperson Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a phone call from an unknown location, speaking in faltering English. Al-Yazid is the main al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan.

    It is believed that the decision to kill Bhutto, who is the leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was made by al-Qaeda No. 2, the Egyptian doctor, Ayman al-Zawahiri in October.

    Death squads were allegedly constituted for the mission and ultimately one cell comprising a defunct Lashkar-i-Jhangvi’s Punjabi volunteer succeeded in killing Bhutto.

    Bhutto had just addressed a pre-election rally on Thursday in the garrison town of Rawalpindi when the bomb went off.
    Sowing the seeds of Civil War in Pakistan is exactly what AQ attempted to do when it murdered hundreds of fellow Muslims who committed the sin of praying at the Shiite Mosque in Samarra: AQ was less concerned with innocent Muslims it murdered than it was with doing whatever was necessary to maximize the chances of chaos and Civil War. Fortunately the surge has defeated them there, but Al Qaeda is still a dangerous enemy elsewhere. And they obviously are trying the same strategy in Pakistan, although it is worth mentioning that the bombing also helps the pro-Taliban opposition leader Nawaz Sharif enormously in his war against Musharraf (indeed, it would not surprise me if Sharif were involved somehow in the plot):
    Bhutto’s death also makes former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Pakistan’s top opposition figure. Sharif has attempted to appeal to Islamic militants, arguing that Pakistan needs to pare down its cooperation with the United States. Sharif has already capitalized on Bhutto’s death, visiting the hospital where she was declared dead, blasting Musharraf for providing Bhutto with insufficient security, and calling for a reunification of Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party and his own Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
    Here is the bottom line now: Under no circumstances can we abandon Musharraf the way Jimmy Carter abandoned the Shah of Iran when the going got tough (and that worked out real well, didn't it...). Of course, this is exactly what Al Qaeda is counting on, but withdraw our support now (unless we have already found another pro-American replacement...) would be to put scores of nukes directly into the hands of sworn enemies who have vowed to bring mass murder to as many American, European, and Israeli "Infidels" as possible. At that point a US military option against Pakistan cannot be overlooked. And at that point protecting our borders takes on a whole new ominous meaning.

    If the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda are able to topple Musharraf, the chances of nuclear war will be greater than at any point since the Cuban Missile Crisis. So, it does beg the question: with the stakes as high as they are for the entire world, can the United States really afford to elect some rank amateur as President? God help us if we do.

    (NOTE: as an slight modification to VDH's list, is being the wife of a President--who didn't even have a security clearance--more important than strategic defense of American interests--and who like her husband has been getting illegal money from the Communist Chinese and Saudi Arabia--really count as "experience" that Americans would want in the Oval Office facing down our enemies in an Armaggedon scenario? I think not.)