FOR HIS COMMENTS, REID - LIKE LOTT - SHOULD STEP DOWN

I just saw ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS on the Hannity & Colmes show on FOXNEWS. The segment was largely about the recent departure of Kwesi Mfume from the NAACP. At the end of the segment, Williams vehemently asserted that the Left is racist when it comes to Black Conservatives - Williams should know: He is a Black Conservative.

Williams said that Senator Reid’s comments about Justice Thomas - uttered this past weekend on Russert’s NBC show, MTP - were RACIST, and argued that Reid would have NEVER asserted that a white justice’s opinions were "poorly written." I agree, and I think that Reid should no more be the Leader of the Democrat Caucus in the Senate than Lott should have continued to be the Leader of the Republicans in the Senate.

Lott - after getting pressure from the blogosphere and his caucus - did the right thing and stepped down from the leadership position. Reid must do the same thing.

SPREAD THE WORD!

HERE WE GO AGAIN: COMRAD PUTIN GIVES MORE ADVICE ON DEMOCRACY & ELECTIONS

The last time Pooty-poot Putin gave electoral advice, it was to claim that (1) his puppet won the Ukrainian election; and that (2) the Ukraine election was fair; and that (3) there should be no new election in the Ukraine.

That was THREE STRIKES! Putin should be out of the electoral advice-giving game, but just he can't seem to keep his autocratic trap shut.

Now - during the visit of Iraqi PM Allawi - he is advising the world that he can't see how there can be an election in Iraq as long as it is occupied.

Putin would be listened to more seriously if he gave advice on matters he has 1st hand experience with: like (a) how to shut down free speech, and (b) how to use the State to steal private property, and (c) how to ride roughshod over governors, legislatures and human rights. Not to mention (d) how to sell nuclear reactors to Jihadoterrorists, and (e) how to garner bribes from the likes of Saddam as one perverts the UN Oil For Food Program and obstructs the enforcement of UNSCR's.

Seriously, this derogatory comment by Putin - and his stance on Ukraine - should make it absolutely clear to everyone that Putin is nothing more than a Russian Chirac - and that is someone who is NOT to be trusted.

WHY "CIA INTEL'" IS LIKE "A DICTATOR" TO THE OLD MEDIA AND THE LEFT

Today's big "gloom and doom" Iraq story in the Old Media is based on the leaked CIA cable written by the CIA's Iraq station chief. Apparently he-or-she desribes things there as going badly, and getting worse.

And this is reported in the Old Media as incontrovertible proof that... believe it or not (Heh!): (1) "Bush still lies (when he says things are not too bad in Iraq, and will get better"); and that (2) the Bush Administration is doing a bad job of managing the Iraq War and the GWOT.

(I wonder how TODAY'S Leftists in the Old Media would've reported on WW2 from D-day on - when we took the MOST casualties and had MANY setbacks?! They probably would've been calling for FDR's impeachment! Heck; today's Leftists in the Old Media would've said that FDR's decision to invade Europe before the 1944 election was a politically driven fiasco!)

Why doesn't it surprise me that the Left and the Old Media they dominate spin the "CIA CABLE" story this way!? Well, first because I find it so CONVENIENT that the Left - and the Old Media they dominate - trust any intel' from the CIA that is basically anti-Bush. When the CIA was 100% sure that Saddam had stockpiles of WMD - or when they NOW say that Iran has a surreptitious Nuclear Weapons Program, well then the CIA is an evil and untrustworthy and incompetent agency, to the Left and the Old Media. Like I say: it's so convenient.

It kinda reminds me of how the Left deals with dictators: any dictator that is anti-American is "okay" to the Left and the Old Media: Castro, Tito, Kim, Mugabe, Saddam, Qaddafi - (by the way: they're ALL socialists) - they're all okay, to the Left and the Old Media they dominate... merely indigenous expressions of self-rule and whose rigid policies are based on a reasonable fear of impending American invasion (or "American cultural hegemony!"); however, if a dictator is pro-American, then they're bad to the Left - like Marcos, Pinochet, Musharraf (before he restored democracy), and so on.

This inconsistency or hypocrisy reveals a lot about the Left - and the Old Media they dominate. And it is much more than (and deeper than) an anti-Bush sentiment - because so many of these characterizations pre-date the Bush presidency. It reveals that anti-Americanism is a core value to them - they use it as the basis to grade so much else... almost everything else. Even the GWOT - of the Jihadoterrorists, the Left asks; "how bad can they be if they are anti-Bush and anti-American?!"

Which is why so many people like me think the Left is "for all intents and purposes" a Fifth Column for the Jihadoterrorists - just as they were for the Soviets, (either as dupes or as willing fellow travelers - it matters not).

Which is why fighting Leftism is an important secondary front in the GWOT. We will never become united in the GWOT until the Left abandons their post-modernist aversion to the West and America as the leader of the West.

(As I have written many times before, I think the key to accomplishing this is demolishing the Left's cultural and moral relativism. Once exposed as a morally bankrupt ideology - once "deprogrammed" from their reflexively amoral positions - Leftists can rejoin the good fight to liberate all humanity from tyranny - and the poverty and ignorance that tyranny causes.)

BARGHOUTI FLIP-FLOPS: NOW, HE MAY WITHDRAW FROM RACE

GOOGLE NEWS has 297 stories posted on Barghouti's second FLIP-FLOP on this issue.

Which means he already has a lot in common with another Leftist & former candidate for the US presidency - John Flipflopping Kerry.

Maybe Barghouti will run when his own prison term is up? That would be fine with me: he's currently serving five (5) consecutive life terms for murder and terrorism.

Why the NYTIMES, RICHARD COHEN - and the rest of the LEFT - still just don't get it!

Greg over at the great foreign policy blog - The Belgravia Dispatch (BD) - linked to an article at the NYTIMES Week In Review by Richard Cohen - from Rio where the anti-Americans are gathering for another conference of some sort or another (this is what they do best).

Greg selected this quote (in part) from Cohen's article:

The United States has a strategic problem: its war on terror, unlike its long fight against Communism, is not universally seen as the pivotal global struggle of the age. Rather, it is often portrayed abroad as a distraction from more critical issues - as an American attempt to impose a bellicose culture, driven by the cultivation of fear, on a world still taken with the notion that the cold war's end and technology's advance have opened unprecedented possibilities for dialogue and peace.

Frank Godwin commented at BD:

The world never shared the American belief that the struggle against Communism was "the pivotal global struggle of the age." The Europeans and the Japanese might have shared some of our views because the Soviet wolf was literally at their door. They were, however, quite content to have America do the heavy lifing in that pivotal struggle. Most nations were largely consumed by the same set of domestic challenges all face today. In Latin America nations were either insulated from the struggle entirely or they saw it play out in their domestic politics with little sense of a world conflict.

Even an anti-Communist Latin American or African government did not automatically support any aspect of American foreign policy towards the Soviet Bloc or anywhere else. Much of Africa and some of Latin America was 'non-aligned' meaning that rhetorically they leaned toward the Soviet Bloc but expected most development assistance to come from the West. Today the functional equivalent of the 'non-aligned' myth is making variously disapproving noises about American foreign policy and strident anti-Israeli pronouncements. All the while they adamantly refuse to criticise any American or Israeli opponent, even those who are terroristic or who are a threat to the 'non-aligned' nation itself.

Believing that there was some idylic era where America had a common vision and purpose with the world anytime after World War II distorts the past and serves a partisan political purpose in the present. Are we to believe then that Bush and 'his' War on Terror had us cast out of some Eden of worldly consensus?

I add:

Richard Cohen is WRONG, and Frank Goodwin is right: the Cold War was considered bunk by the Left; when Reagan called the USSR what it was - "an evil empire" - the Left freaked out and thought REAGAN was the warmonger and that he was fomenting an irrational fear; to the Left the USSR - and most tyrants (unless they were in the USA' s sphere of influence) - were benign. Only the tyrants the USA used to in order to oppose USSR hegemony were considered bad by the Left; (i.e.: "Castro good; Marcos bad").

The source of this for the Left is their embrace of post-modernism and the "pomo" rejection of the West. Simply put: Post modernists blame white heterosexual men for all of history's ills; to the pomo Left white heterosexual men are the source of all bad things. All political movements which oppose the West and/or white heterosexual men are good - whether they be feminists, "anti-colonialists," nativists, Islamists, gays, open border advocates, or anti-globalists, greens, etc..

All the Left's "anti-USA, anti-capitalist, anti-globalist, anti-neocon" positions can be seen as attacks on traditional culture and politics of the West - which has been a traditionally white male enterprise - at least until the second half of the last century.

Cultural and moral relativism are the post-facto rationalizations for the Left's insistence on supporting anti-West groups even though most these groups are anti-libertarian and even Luddite. The Left uses cultural relativism and moral relativism to argue that truly evil groups (in any universal sense - for example groups that commit genocide or traffic in slavery, for instance) are (to them) "merely alternative ways of living and behaving and judging."

This is why the Left so OVERVALUES the U.N. and OVERVALUE international unanimity/consensus as prerequisites for international intervention: the only source of universality for the Left is consensus among divergent appearing groups (nations, cultures, races, genders, etc.). Consensus is ersatz universality for the post modernist Left.

Proof that the Left's pomo moral and cultural relativism is in fact morally bankrupt is the fact that absent a cross-cultural consensus they have no basis for interceding to stop genocide when it occurs within a nation - as in the Sudan, or Rwanda - recently. If Hitler was around today, they'd watch him kill German Jews and just shrug their shoulders saying - in effect: "it's none of our business; it is an internal matter" - just as they have with Rwandans and Darfurians. They claim this is nuanced and sophisticated; it is actually morally bankrupt. Another example: cultural relativists have no moral basis for ending all slavery everywhere. To me this proves that the pomo Left is morally bankrupt - a philosphical dead-end, a poltical non-starter.

Further proof of their moral bankruptcy is the utter hypocrisy at the core of their creed: how could white male heterosexual civilization be "bad" (for women, non-Western nations & cultures, etc) if there is no such thing as "bad" - in absolute/universal terms!? It cannot really be "bad" because by their own definition there is no such thing as "bad.". How can Bush be "bad" if there is no such thing as "bad?"! YES: they simply want to have their cake and eat it to. This cannot be done, and it proves the the Left is a hypocritical, false and useless creed.

Neocons are merely universalists - not unlike FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. Neocons believe that all humans everywhere deserve the same human rights. And neocons are willing to take on burdens and risks to help their fellow human beings achieve their human rights; in fact, neocons think it is the duty of the richest and freest and most powerful among us to help our poorer and less free and weaker brothers and sisters enjoy their rights, too.

Richard Cohen is still basically a Leftist trapped in a tired, hypocritical, vapid, useless and amoral ideology. When he and his fellow travelers at the NYTIMES and in the Left abandon their "pomo moral relativism" they will join us in he good fight to make all of our brothers and sisters everywhere be free. Until then, I expect nothing but hypocritical revisionist/fantasist sniping which does nothing but aid the enemies of universal human rights for all humanity everywhere.

SCOTUS FACT: Justices agree with each other - more often than not

An overlooked fact: according to recent surveys, NONE of the Justices votes with any other Justice less than half the time.

Think about that. NONE of the Justices votes with any other Justice less than half the time. It means that all of the Justices have more in common with each other, and agree with each other MORE than they disagree with each other.

I think we should keep this in mind as things heat up (as they are bound to) IF-AND-WHEN a Justice retires and Bush makes a nomination.

We shouldn't let the "one-issue hot-heads" make us lose sight of the fact that most distinguished jurists agree and disagree on many many things, and you can NEVER predict what issues will come before the SCOTUS, or how a person will judge once they become a Justice of the SCOTUS.

So, we should only insist that the nominees be highly qualified. That's all.

ANOTHER KEY POINT: the character of the court will not change if a conservative Justice retires and Bush replaces him with another conservative. So the real battle royales shouldn't occur until Stevens or Bader-Ginsburg retires. Or perhaps O'Connor - who has been a ket swing votes - swinging Leftward more often than not. Which leads me to my advice to the Democrats and the Left: if-and-when Rehnquist retires and Bush selects a qualified conservative - confirm him quickly. If you don't, you're just gonna look like a bunch of sore-losers.

FITTING PALESTINIAN POLL RESULT: "dead heat"

According to this article at THE GUARDIAN, Mahmoud Abbas - the favored FATAH candidate (whose NOM DE GUERE is ABU MAZEN) - is in a DEAD HEAT with Marwan Barghouti, the convicted terrorist and murderer now serving five (5) life terms, and who is "credited" (you should forgive the expression - I'm just momentarily adopting the Palestinian POV) with leading the 2nd Intifada until he was captured by the IDF.

A poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research shows Mr Abbas ahead by 40% to 38%. In the other poll, by Bir Zeit university, Mr Barghouti is one point ahead of the man who had been widely assumed to win January's election. The margin of error in both polls was 3%.

It says something about the Arabs in the occupied territories that these two men are their most popular leaders - now that Arafat and Yassin are dead... Yes, it says something, and that something is not very nice.

There was a bit of hopeful news in one of the polls: support for Hamas is declining.

RTWT. And: stay tuned...

"Annan is merely a symptom of the UN's sickness"

JEFF JACOBY (Boston Globe) :

There was no global uproar when the brutal regime in Libya was chosen to chair the UN's Human Rights Commission. Nothing happened to the UN after its troops allowed Serbs to slaughter 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the "safe haven" of Srebrenica. Sex scandals seem to erupt wherever the UN goes -- the latest involves charges of rape, child abuse, and prostitution by UN personnel in the Congo -- but they never cause heads to roll in Turtle Bay. Annan himself became secretary general despite his failure, when he headed the UN's peacekeeping operations, to pay attention to warnings of genocide in Rwanda. Why should anything be different this time? Oil-for-Food may be the greatest international rip-off of modern times, it may have strengthened one of the world's bloodiest dictators, it may have deprived countless Iraqis of food and medicine, but if history is any guide, the scandal headlines will fade from view long before the secretary general does. By week's end, in fact, dozens of governments, including all the permanent members of the Security Council save the United States, had publicly rallied to Annan's support. Scandal or no scandal, he will almost certainly serve out the remaining two years of his term. Which is just as well. Annan is merely a symptom of the UN's sickness, not the cause of it.

The U.N.'s FAILURES are famous, and Jacoby lists some of the worst - (many of which were on Kofi's watch - a few, like the Rwandan Genocide were tright under his nose!). It's a list of infamy: Tiannamen Square; the Darfurian genocide; the southern Sudanese genocide; Somalia; Uganda; Congo - the list goes on and on: the U.N. most often does nothing as member states commit horrific atrocities and crimes against humanity.

But it's worse than that. The U.N. hasn't just failed to stop most of the world's worst crises and acts of genocide; it has actually been on the sidelines when some little good - (and I mean little good) - was actually achieved in some of the world's crisies by mediation. YUP: Most of the peace accords (many of them somewhat dubious) that were reached over the last few decades have largely been achieved WITHOUT the U.N.'s help and outside their auspices. The Vietnam Peace Accords? No - they were bilateral. Dayton Accords? No - the USA brokered it. OSLO? No - Norway and USA, but mostly Israel and Palestinians. Libya disarmament of WMD? No, again - it was ther UK and the USA. The Armistice between Saddam and the UN Coalition that fought the 1991 Gulf War was negotiated by the USA; unfortunately, it was left up to the U.N. to enforce it - and we know what the result of that was: Saddam ignored the terms of the Armistice while bribing ther U.N. and many members of the UNSC.

Other times - when Human Rights and democracy were fighting to become realized - and the U.N. SHOULD have stepped to the fore it did nothing; Did the U.N. help the Ukraine resolve its recent election crisis? No - Kofi said nary a peep. Surely in Georgia the U.N. must have had a role? NO AGAIN. Does the U.N. have a role in defusing and settling the Kashmir crisis? No - the U.N. has done NOTHING.

It's rather startling when you really look at the record, isn't it? The U.N.: its record is pure failure; it has failed to act when the world stood by and did nothing; and it has even been on the sidelines the few times when negotiations were actually able to achieve something. It's record is U.N.believeably pitiful.

Here's The Astute Blogger U.N. Challenge: Can anyone anywhere name one dozen good things the U.N. has achieved since the Korean War? Enter a list in the comments. The contest will remain open until Kofi resigns...

SENATOR WILL INTRODUCE BILL WITHHOLDING U.N. DUES UNTIL CONGRESS GETS COOPERATION ON OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL INVESTIGATION

According to Kofi Annan's "hometown web page" (Ghana Web Page - themselves citing CBS) :

"Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has stated that in January’s new Senate session he will introduce the U.N. Oil-for-Food Accountability Act, which would call for the United States to withhold 10 percent of its funding in the first year and 20 percent in the second year. Under former President Clinton the United States did refuse to pay some of its U.N. dues in protest."

FOXNEWS is reporting that this bill's introduction will certainly make the U.N. start to feel the heat - which is the intent of introducing such a bill: turning the heat up with the hope of getting cooperation. There's another news story on this bill HERE, (NY SUN). The SUN article relates thast Senator Lugar is being a little too accommodating to the U.N.:

"A spokesman for Mr. Lugar, Andy Fisher, told The New York Sun yesterday that Mr. Lugar was unlikely to take up the U.N. funding legislation until the United Nations completed its own investigation. Mr. Ensign yesterday said he was prepared to send his bill to the floor of the Senate."

THIS IS SOMETHING NEAR TO WHAT THE ASTUTE BLOGGER HAS BEEN CALLING FOR SINCE NOVEMBER. (THE ASTUTE BLOGGER ASSERTS THAT IT WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE TO THREATEN TO WITHHOLD 100% OF THE FUNDS UNTIL THE CONGRESS GETS FULL U.N. COOPERATION.) SEE EARLIER ASTUTE BLOGGER POSTS DEMANDING THIS HERE AND HERE AND HERE AND HERE AND HERE AND HERE. BRAVO! SCORE THIS ANOTHER VICTORY FOR THE BLOGOSPHERE, (albeit partial, so far.)

The US CONGRESS MUST MOVE ON THIS BILL; THE CONGRESS MUST TURN UP THE HEAT ON THE U.N.!

The U.N. must not be allowed to remain U.N.cooperative!

IRAN IN DEFIANCE OF VERIFIABLE INSPECTIONS ALREADY!

According to a Bahrain News Service, Iran IS ALREADY SAYING that it will not allow the IAEA to inspect military sites that are allegedly involved in illegal nuclear arms manufacturing. This - it seems to me - indicates that verifying any deal will be impossible - which EFFECTIVELY nullifies the value of any deal. We better have a "Plan B" and it better be ready to put in action SOON. Sooner - and "too soon" - is always better than later - or "too late" - especially when it comes to nukes in the hands of states that sponsor Jihadoterror - like Iran.

SYRIA TO HOST SUMMIT OF SORTS...

Today, FATAH's new leadership - Abbas, Qorei and Shaath - will be in Damascus to meet with Assad, and then HAMAS in an effort to bury the hatchet. It will be interesting to see just what comes from this - especially coming on the heels of the current thaw between Egypt and Israel (and their exchange of prisoners).

Perhaps - if all Israel's enemies begin sincere efforts to achieve a settlement - one will happen. It seems to me that the House of Saud should be involved at this stage, too. (After all: They're neighbors of Israel, and US alllies. It only makes sense that they would be part of a regional settlement.) STAY TUNED....

DOUBLE AGENTS IN THE FBI?

Ask the average American who is a greater threat to their security - Israel or Jihadoterrorism - and most would say Jihadoterrorism. Most Americans can tell the difference between an ally - like the UK and Israel - a phony/sometime/fair-weather ally like France, and an out-and-out enemy, like al Qaeda and their minions. Many pundits argue that the GWOT was the major reason that Bush gained 10,000,000 more votes this time than in 2000. SO... why is the FBI targeting Israel? ESPECIALLY: why is the Chief of Counter-intelligence targeting Israelis and Jews - as opposed to Jihadodterrorists, their state sponsors and their minions? POWERLINE linked to an article which asks just that. The FBI is aggressively targeting AIPAC - an Israeli lobbying group. FROM THE ARTICLE:

On Friday, Rep. Robert Wexler, a Jewish Democratic congressman from south Florida, sent a second letter to US President George W. Bush expressing "deep concern" about the FBI's ongoing investigation of the lobby group, and urging the president to provide members of Congress with detailed information about the AIPAC probe. Wexler called on Bush to immediately dismiss David Szady, the senior FBI counterintelligence official who is heading the investigation. Senior Jewish community officials have accused Szady of targeting Jews in the past by blocking or slowing their security clearances. As journalist and author Edwin Black reported for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in September, Szady headed a CIA counterespionage group, which tried to force the Jewish former CIA staff attorney Adam Ciralsky out of the agency, by documenting and probing his past contacts with Israel.

Joel Mowbray wrote a column about it in September; link HERE. EXCERPT:

The reported track record of the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, FBI assistant director of counterintelligence David Szady, is also troubling. Szady has for years "led investigations into Jewish American CIA employees believed to be spying for Israel that have also failed to persuade the Justice Department even to investigate the cases," reports Eli Lake of the New York Sun.That’s not all. Stephen Green, who reportedly was interviewed by the FBI for four hours relating to this case (the FBI refused comment), is a free-lance writer on a two-decade long quest to prove that Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and other Jews are actually embedded Israeli spies. Some twenty years of futility later, Green is suddenly all the rage with leftist blogs and "news" sites, as well as (frighteningly) some mainstream news outlets. Until his newfound popularity on the left and in the Arab press, Green’s staunchest support had come from Institute of Historical Review (IHR), which is perhaps best known for its denial of the Holocaust. Green’s two books that purport to document Israel’s vast network of Jewish spies working in the U.S. government have received rave reviews from the Holocaust deniers. And now, Green is being utilized by the FBI.

It could be as simple as anti-Semitism on the part of the FBI or some agents - including the Chief of Counter-intelligence. OR it could be worse. It could be that the Chief of Counter-intelligence is a double agent: a paid employee of the Jihadoterrorists or their state sponsors. SOUND FAR-FETCHED? Maybe. This is pure supposition - but it is also supposition based on recent history. FACT #1: the Chief of Counter Espionage in the CIA was Aldrich Ames - who, is turns out, was bought and paid for by the USSR. For a pittance, a few million bucks. FACT #2, the Chief of Counter Intelligence fore the FBI was Robert Hannsen - who, it turns out, was ALSO bought and paid for by our arch-enemy, also for a pittance - a few million bucks. If the Chiefs of counter-intel’ for both the CIA and the FBI could have been bought and paid for by the relatively hard-up/cash-poor USSR, than certainly a few of the oil-rich Wahhabist princes of the Ummah could have bought a few agents of their own (with their "walking around" money!) no!? Even the chiefs of counter-intel/counter-terrorism, no?!

A reasonable person must conclude that it is possible that wealthy Wahhabists have purchased the allegiance of either some CIA agents, some FBI agents - or both. One must also reasonably accept that the wealthy Wahhabists might have even purchased agents high up in the Agency food-chain - even a chief. The Ames and Hannsen cases prove this is possible - if not: likely.

I have NO evidence of this. How could I? But I find it very troubling that not a single person in the CIA or the FBI has ever been fired over the lapses which led to 9/11. This might be because the chiefs are compromised and covering up for themselves.

Also troubling: Before 9/11, the FBI received specific warnings from field agents about Arabs taking flying lessons - but the FBI HQ in DC ignored those warnings. At best, this was an error in judgement, but maybe it was worse - maybe the agent in the DC HQ was covering up for the Jihadoterrorists; maybe it was the deliberate effort of a double agent hired to cover things up? There’s even more trouble: The FBI has long had a shortage of Arabic speakers, but refuses to hire Israeli Jewish Arabic speakers. See HERE. (Or check out Congressman FJ Pallone's (D-NJ) website; he commented on this issue on 10/20/03.)

SURE, I know: this sounds almost "tin-foil hat conspiratorial." But the absence of any accountability, and the targeting of Israeli organizations coupled with the refusal of the FBI to hire Jewish translators can only be explained by one or the other. And, any FBI chief or supervisor who's an anti-Semite, would have to be have been a likely target for the Jihadoterrorists to turn into a double agent.

SO... WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT THESE APPARENT PROBLEMS?!

I think we should demand that Robert Mueller step down and that Bush replace him with someone who will be willing to do to the FBI what Goss is doing at the CIA: clean house. Either these agents are anti-Semites, double agents, or both. In any case: They gotta go. It's all about accountability.

FOUR ALGERIANS IN BUSH CABINET?!

Okay... NOT Algerian: Algeresque - as in "Bush nominees exemplify Horatio Alger heros," but it did get your attention, didn't it!?

That's what so amazed me about Bush's latest cabinet picks: their individual stories're so Horatio Algeresque - each PROVES that (1) the American Dream is alive and well, and that (2) the elusive qualities which make some people rise to the top from unbelieveably humble origins are qualities that our President admires in people, that (3) he seeks out these kind of people - and depends on them. YUP: these picks say a lot about America, and a lot about Bush, too.

Here're some thumbnails on the four Algerians:

Al Gonzales - the child of migrant workers and the product of public elementary and secondary schools; attended the Air Force Academy then Rice, and Harvard. (Read more HERE and HERE and HERE.)

Condoleeza Rice - the daughter of a minister who grew up in segregated Birmingham. A graduate of college at age 19. A concert pianist, fluent in Russian - and NFL-ese. First black female provost of a major university - Stanford. NSC member under Bush 41, before becoming the Bush 43's National Security Advisor - and soon to be Secretary of State; the first black female to hold that job. More details HERE and HERE and HERE.

Carlos Gutierrez - is a Cuban emigre whose impoverished family came here to escape Castro's totalitarian tyranny when Carlos was just 6 years old. A Bell Hop taught him English. His first job was driving a delivery truck in Mexico - for Kellogg, where he rose to become CEO. More HERE and HERE.

Bernard Kerik - well, beginnings do NOT get any more humble than his: he is the son of a prostitute - who abandoned him; he was then adopted by the Keriks. He grew up on the tough streets of Paterson, NJ and was a high school drop out. He became an army MP in South Korea, a prison warden in NJ - got his GED, then a New York City street-cop on the beat, and then a fearless undercover narcotics detective, and then became one of the most highly decorated cops in NYC history, then the Commisoner of Corrections in NYC, and then NYC Police Commissioner - as Bush said: the same job once held by Teddy Roosevelt. More HERE and HERE.

These are the kind of people that make us all proud to be Americans - and they should make all American proud of their president, too. He has chosen well.

UPDATE: WELCOME POLIPUNDIT READERS and fans of Lorie Byrd (and her blog Byrd Droppings)! Thanks for coming by! Please check out the Dec. & Nov. archives - there's some interesting stuff here you won't read anywhere else. Much of it recently linked to by Roger L. Simon, and Powerline, and Instapundit, and My Pet Jawa, and Dissecting Leftism, and Ace Pilots/Friends of Saddam and The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid and Man Without Qualities and Outside the Beltway. Thanks to all and Cheers!

TIME FOR "HELMS-BIDEN" REDUX

UPDATE: (originally posted 11/24, but it's more relevant than ever, so I just bumped it up!)

In the 1990's, Congress passed a bipartisan bill - the Helms-Biden Act - which forced the federal government to withhold UN dues until the UN reformed. It worked. It's time to use that tactic again - to get UN cooperation with the Congressional committee investigating recent UN abuses - namely the OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL.

Here's a letter I sent to the Chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee - Senators Lugar and Biden. I also sent a few to a couple of other senators on the FR committee and one to Senator Norm Coleman - chairman of the Government Affairs committee - (which is the lead committee investigating the UN's Oil for Food scandal in the Senate), and to a few members of that committee, too.

Read it. If you agree, copy it and send it to your senator. If a few Senators threatened to introduce the Bill, it might turn up the heat on the UN and get the Congress more cooperation. HERE'S THE LETTER:

Dear Senator;

In the 1990's Congress passed the Helms-Biden act - withholding dues fro the UN until they reformed. It worked.

It's time to at least threaten the same thing now: Either the UN starts cooperating with the Congressional investigations in the "Oil for Food Scandal" or we will withhold dues.

This is all about accountability. The American people expect the UN to be accountable. Your committee should demand it on behalf of the American people - and Iraqis. The embezzled monies - maybe as much as $27 billion - must be found and returned to the Iraqi people. A Congressional investigation could help accomplish this - if the UN cooperated. IF YOU PASS A NEW BILL WITHHOLDING DUES UNTIL THEY COOPERATE! THEY WILL THEN COOPERATE!

Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,

UN'S ADVISORY COUNCIL REPORT NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT'S WRITTEN ON

This UN Advisory Panel Report is just plain ol' CRAP; which should surprise no one considering that the USA's rep on this unelected non-representative panel was "General don't rock the boat" Scowcroft!

It recommends enlarging the UNSC. With an expanded UNSC, there could NEVER ever be any authorized war/attack/counter-attack.

Kerry would've acceded to this crap - it's his "global test."

No GOP prez ever will. No patriot could.

BTW: where's the frickin UNSC now that Congo and Rwanda are back at war - one that has killed 3MILLION people in the last 8 years while the UN has its peace-keeping forces RIGHT EFFIN THERE!

The UN: it'd be a bad joke... if it wasn't a counter-productive nightmare.

It's time to pull the plug on our financing them. It's time for HELMS BIDEN REDUX!

Check out this article on the panel's recommendations.

HAT TIP ACE PILOTS AND FRIENDS OF SADDAM.

BUSH IMPLIES SUPPORT FOR WITHHOLDING U.N. DUES IF THE U.N. WON'T COOPERATE WITH THE SENATE'S INVESTIGATION INTO THE OIL-FOR-FOOD SCANDAL

From "Reuters":

Bush, asked if Annan should resign, would not say.

"I look forward to the full disclosure of the facts, get an honest appraisal of that which went on. And it's important for the integrity of the organization to have a full and open disclosure of all that took place with the oil-for-food program," Bush said. "On this issue, it's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil-for-food program," he said. "In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting," he said.

IOW: if there is not cooperation, then the US taxpayers won't support the UN...

IOW: it may soon become time for Helms-Biden Redux! (More HERE. And HERE.)

Bush gets it!

GERMAN UNEMPLOYMENT UP FOR TENTH STRAIGHT MONTH!

FROM THE BBC:

The number of people out of work in Europe's largest economy has risen for the tenth straight month as growth remains stubbornly slow. German unemployment rose 7,000 in November to 4.464 million people, or 10.8% of the workforce. [...] Among the new initiatives are the so-called "one-euro jobs" which top up unemployment benefit. The scheme's formal launch is January, but hirings for these positions are already taking place and affecting the unemployment statistics, economists said. "The deterioration of the labour market does not come as a surprise," said Isabelle Kronawitter at Hypovereinsbank. "Job creation measures probably prevented a stronger increase in the seasonally adjusted numbers."

"New initiatives"!?!? Just more of the same old Left-wing, top-down, elitist, non-market-driven drivel! You'd think that seeing how Reaganism/Thatcherism worked so well in the US and the UK, more Europeans would begin to accept the truth that socialism just doesn't work, wouldn't you!?

What works? CUTTING TAXES - TO ENCOURAGE INVESTMENT; RELAXING LABOR LAWS - TO MAKE IT EASIER TO HIRE AND FIRE. For starters. Sheesh...

KOFI WON'T RESIGN

FOX: "Russia, Britain, Chile, Spain and other nations on the U.N. Security Council strongly backed Annan in recent days, as did non-council members. The 54 African nations sent a letter of support. 'He has heard no calls for resignation from any member state,' U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters when asked whether he envisioned Annan's stepping down. 'If there's some agitation on this issue on the sidelines ... that's healthy debate. But he is intent on continuing his substantive work for the remaining two years and one month of his term.'"

So, if Kofi won't resign, and naturally: he has the support of all those scummy nations who were sucking at the teat of the Oil-For-Food Program!

Well, then there's only one way to force the UN into greater cooperation with the Congressional investigation into the Oil-For-Food Scandal, aka "UNSCAM:" Pass an act that withholds ALL UN dues until we get cooperation - Helms-Biden Redux.

As I discussed here and here and here.

UKRAINE UPDATE

New Ukraine poll looks likely
By Ron Popeski

KIEV ("Reuters") - A new Ukrainian poll of some sort looks increasingly likely as parliament and the Supreme Court press ahead with efforts to resolve a national crisis over a disputed presidential election. ... No more talks were scheduled pending a ruling by the Supreme Court on Yushchenko's complaint of electoral fraud in the November 21 run-off for the presidency. ... Parliament meets on Thursday to begin drafting changes to legislation necessary to implement reforms. Yushchenko said he believed agreement would take 24 hours, but EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, one of the international mediators, said a month was needed for amendments.

There's more - so use the link, AND STAY TUNED...

SYRIAN MOSQUES AID IRAQI INSURGENCY

News-Telegraph: Mosques sending fighters to Iraq

By Jack Fairweather

(AMMAN) A network of Syrian mosques is sending men, money and weapons to Iraq, fuelling the insurgency. An investigation by the Telegraph has shown that Arab volunteers are streaming across the border despite Damascus government claims that it is curbing cross-border terrorism. [...] Several hundred Syrians are recruited, equipped and sent to Iraq every month. Iraqi exiles say that members of Saddam's former Ba'athist regime pay £1,600 a month to the families of the fighters. A senior American official said: "Most of what is bad that comes into Iraq comes from Syria and I have seen little to change my mind about that." The US military says there may be as many as 2,000 foreign fighters in Iraq, many from Syria.

This must simply be brought to a halt.

"WE'LL KEEP THEM ON THE RUN!"

FILE THIS UNDER: "You can run, but you can't hide!"

(AFIS): Coalition Plans to Keep Insurgents on Run, Commander Says

By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2004 -- Successful military operations in Fallujah, Iraq, have put insurgents and foreign fighters on the run, and the military commander of coalition forces in Iraq said today the city is "no longer held hostage to terror."

"We now intend to keep the heat on the terrorists by pursuing them into the new locations that they've gone into and to continue the disruption of their efforts while we have them on the run," he added. ... In the aftermath of Fallujah, Casey said, the coalition hopes to focus efforts on providing better security in Ramadi, capital of the Anbar province, as well as in Mosul and Baghdad. ... "So what you'll see in the next 60 days is a series of operations to enhance security in those three critical regions," he said.

Here's a link to the Multi-National Force Iraq website.

An Astute Political Strategist Agrees: USE OUR U.N. DUES AS WEDGE

In THE HILL: Dick Morris agrees - the Congress should use dues as wedge to get the UN to cooperate fully with the CONGRESSIONAL FOOD FOR OIL SCANDAL INVESTIGATION ... as I suggested here and here and here...

More Proof the Bush Doctrine is Working...

From JANES:

"Damascus under pressure: The Syrian leadership, worried over the possibility of being the next target of the US administration's policy of 'regime change' in the Middle East, has finally started sending out some conciliatory signals. JID's regional correspondent asks whether this will prove too little, too late to save the country's Ba'ath Party regime. [Jane's Intelligence Digest - first posted to http://jid.janes.com – 1 December 2004]"

Syria has recently admitted it has much of Saddam's money (though not as much as we say), and they have made overtures to Israel - as if sincere about seeking to re-open negotiations over the Golan. They may soon even tighten their borders with Iraq. All good signs - to be monitored.

This proves that the Bush Doctrine and the Bush Middle East policies work - and that they've actually struck fear into the heart of the enemy, and have thereby reduced the likelihood of war, terror - and have also therefore already made us all safer.

More from the CSM here.

More Proof That Jihadoterrorism is Global

Here's a news item about a Chechen killed in SW Pakistan today. This is further proof that Jihadoterrorism is global, non-national and not directly related to so-called USA hegemony. The Jihadoterrorists have a global agenda and everyone who opposes it is the enemy: the USA, Israel, Pakistan; the House of Saud; Indians; Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, athiests - EVERYONE who is not Salafist/Baathist Jihadoterrorist.

I wish our side was as united as theirs.... (After 9/11, I shudder to think of what it might take to make the Left come to their senses!)

PENTAGON TO INCREASE TROOP LEVEL IN IRAQ TO 150,000

Click here for a complete GOOGLE NEWS round up.

IMHO: this increase is needed to ensure that the Iraqi elections occur - an occurance which the Jihadoterrorists are deperately trying to prevent. As I wrote earlier: Between Fallujah and February expect non-stop mayhem by the Jihadoterrorists in Iraq.

UKRAINE: DEAL ENDS CRISIS... for now

From the Clog-fella:

"Breaking News - Agreement Signed -- From the press conference at Marinskiy Palace. From what I'm hearing, President Kuchma announced:

1. All parties have signed an agreement. It was a "genuine compromise." There is going to be a revote, though I don't think the type has been decided yet.
2. There is going to be an expert working group to look at the legal issues of the election. They will follow the recommendations of the Supreme Court.
3. All sides are renouncing violence.
4. The protesters are going to stop blocking government buildings.
5. There will be constitutional reform during the upcoming period."

MORE HERE , and HERE.

RATHER REPLACEMENT RACE HEATS UP

DRUDGE linked to a piece in the NY OBSERVER which revealed that Scott Pelley (the number two "in-house" prospect) is actively dissing John Roberts - the number one in-house prospect.

(BTW: Don't you think Lesley Stahl or Steve Kroft would be better in-house prospects, or are they in the in-house outhouse!? I dunno...)

BUT WHAT REALLY SHOCKED ME ABOUT THE ARTICLE is the fact that ANDREW HEYWARD - the president of CBS News - is very very involved in the selection process! WHY IS THIS SHOCKING?! Because Heyward is up to his eyeballs in Rathergate sh*t, that's why. SURE: we shouldn't pre-judge him (and yes: the Thornbrgh Investigation has yet to report), but at the very least, shouldn't Heyward wait until he's cleared before he puts his otherwise TAINTED FINGERPRINTS all over the new person they select!? Sheesh...

ISLAMIC MISOGYNY IN JORDAN

This is a must read. Here's a snippet: "Don’t believe it when people tell you how modern a lot of the people in Jordan are. It's one big facade."

RTWT and find out the shocking reasons why. HAT TIP POLIPUNDIT.

HAMAS TO BOYCOTT ELECTIONS

Hamas is nothing more than a Jihadoterrorist organization that wants to eradicate Israel - so this news is NOT surprising. But until they - and their genocidal cohorts and colleagues in all the other Jihadoterrorist organizations are destroyed there can be no state of Palestine and no peace.

UPDATE/BREAKING NEWS (h/t Guardian): Barghouti to enter race, after all! (AP):

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Associates of Marwan Barghouti said Wednesday the jailed Palestinian uprising leader has decided to run for president, reversing an earlier decision and throwing Palestinian politics into disarray. Barghouti's candidacy would undermine the prospects of interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the presidential candidate of the ruling Fatah movement. Fatah officials have warned that a bid by Barghouti, who is a leading Fatah member and more popular than the staid Abbas, could split the movement.

This does not bode well for the Palestinians...

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN FOR RATHER'S REPLACEMENT

UPDATED: THERE'S A LOT OF SPECULATION ABOUT WHO CBS WILL PICK TO REPLACE RATHER. (H/T Drudge.) I think my nominee could help CBS in the ratings and cure the Old Media of their allergy to bloggers, 'cause my nominee is GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS! The Professor is already sort of an anchorman to the blogosohere, isn't he? The Instapundit introduces his huge audience to posts from far-flung pajamioed bloggers from all over the blogosphere with pithy, erudite and funny repartee - much like a suave anchorman introducing a report from a correspondent in a suit. Instead of "AND THAT'S THE WAY IT IS..." or "Courage" (whatever the heck did THAT mean anyhow?!?) the Professor could sign off each night with "HEH" or "INDEED!" Heh...