Stuck on Stupid

2006-10-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Can you spot the idiot “journalists”

Here’s a hint, try this front page story in today’s Washington Post. A Ditzy Duo - reporter Molly Moore and researcher Corinne Gavard – are all aglow over France’s “Baby Boom.” Presumably because, as the article gushes,

The French system also fosters different attitudes about working mothers. French working moms say they feel far less guilt than friends in the United States or Europe because French society recognizes children are well cared-for while mothers are at work.

Early on the Duo states,

While falling birthrates threaten to undermine economies and social stability across much of an aging Europe, French fertility rates are increasing. France now has the second-highest fertility rate in Europe -- 1.94 children born per woman, exceeded slightly by Ireland's rate of 1.99. The U.S. fertility rate is 2.01 children.

The United States Census Bureau begs to differ [.pdf], according to them the US fertility rate is 2.10 (perhaps one or both of the Duo is dyslexic). Is that .09 difference a big deal? Yeah, see my previous post Congratulating yourself into oblivion.

The real demographic story in France is the fertility rate of the unassimilated Muslim population in France who are clamoring for their enclaves to be subject to Sharia rather than French law. Apparently, Molly, Corinne, and the Washington Post don’t want to go there; however the Boston Globe did last year:

There are more than 23 million Muslims in the European Union, about 5 percent of the total population. The fertility rate of Europe's Muslims is three times that of the non-Muslim population. Because of their increasing proportion of older, retired people, European countries need to take in more than 13 million migrants annually to maintain their population-support ratios (the ratio of working-age people to those 65 and over). As a result of immigration and uneven fertility rates, the Muslim population is expected to double by 2015 while the non-Muslim population declines by 3.5 percent. Some projections, based on a continuation of current trends, foresee a Muslim majority in France by 2050, and perhaps in all of Europe

2006-07-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

Rather pathetic

Dan Rather Joins HDNet, Talking to AOL

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Saying the news "needs backers who won't back down," former CBS anchor Dan Rather confirmed Tuesday that he's joining Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for a weekly program that begins in October on HDNet.

The one-hour "Dan Rather Reports" will feature field reports,interviews and investigations. Rather will produce the program and be its host.

"Hard news needs backers who won't back down," Rather said. "Mark Cuban is such a leader. As a team player I intend to give Mark and HDNet all of the hard work, loyalty and fearless, high quality reporting possible…

Rather’s audience will likely number in the hundreds, and that is as it should be.

2006-07-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Big Scam drops a big load

Big Dig Collapse Prompts Renewed
Scrutiny

BOSTON (AP) -- At least 12 tons of concrete collapsed onto a car in a Big Dig tunnel, fatally crushing a passenger and prompting renewed scrutiny Tuesday of a troubled highway project that is already
the costliest in U.S. history. The state attorney general said he plans to treat the site as a crime scene that could lead to negligent homicide charges.

The attorney general's office already has begun issuing subpoenas to
those involved in the design, manufacturing, testing, construction and oversight of the panels and tunnel.

"What we are looking at is anyone who had anything to do with what
happened last night," Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said. "No one is going to be spared."

The collapse happened around 11 p.m. Monday, when the underground highways were relatively free of traffic. About 200,000 vehicles a day travel along the roadways that make up the Big Dig, the $14.6 billion highway construction project that buried the central artery underneath the city.

Four concrete slabs weighing three tons pancaked down onto the passing Buick sedan, killing Milena Del Valle, who was riding on the passenger side, which bore the brunt of the collapse. Her husband managed to crawl to safety through a window that was only a foot wide. He suffered only minor injuries.

Debris shut down part of Interstate 90, backing up traffic for miles
Tuesday. Authorities hoped to reopen it Wednesday, but they were still removing about 30 ceiling slabs from the accident site and checking at least 17 other areas with similar "tiebacks" holding ceiling panels in place.

Gov. Mitt Romney pinned much of the blame on the head of the
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and promised to take legal action to oust Matthew Amorello. He compared the situation to the replacement of former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown after Hurricane Katrina….

2006-07-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Minimal posting ahead

For those readers who are regulars to this blog, you should know that I appreciate your interest in my criticisms and humble opinion(s). I’m sure you’ve noticed that my postings have been sporadic of late.

I have been afforded a grand opportunity that I am grabbing with both hands. It will consume most of my time for the next two months and the majority of my time thereafter. I hope to continue to post here when time permits, but doubt seriously it will be more than a couple of times a week.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas A. Edison

2006-07-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

NY supremes: Our job is to resolve legal disputes not legislate social policy

N.Y. Top Court Rules Against Gay Marriage

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York's highest court ruled Thursday that gay marriage is not allowed under state law, rejecting arguments by same-sex couples who said the law violates their constitutional rights.

The Court of Appeals, in a 4-2 decision, said New York's marriage law is constitutional and clearly limits marriage to between a man and a woman.

Any change in the law would have to come from the state Legislature, Judge Robert Smith said…

Unlike Massachusetts’ supreme court, New York’s seems to regard itself as a group of jurists rather than the center of the universe. Of course Massachusetts is the same state that foists Kennedy and Kerry on America – must be something in the water there.

2006-07-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

NY Times’ Eric Lichtblau: I’m a craven partisan hack, and none too bright either

Lichtblau seems to think the people reading the NY Times are as dimwitted as he (of course as that newspaper’s readership continues to dwindle, that may ultimately be true).

You can pick up the story at Powerlineblog which links to Villainous Company and Patterico's Pontifications.

Some may have thought that I was too coarse in the way I criticized Lichtblau. But each time the weasel opens his mouth, attempting to justify his traitorous behavior, I realize I was too kind.

2006-07-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

STS-121 slips the surly bonds of earth

God’s speed to the crew.

Have a Happy 4th Everybody

2006-07-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hollywood moonbats: We'll be passing the fast daily from one to another

Anti-war protesters begin July 4 fast

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 150 protesters sat in front of the White House on Monday to savor their last meal before starting a hunger strike that some said will continue until American troops return from Iraq…

Some protesters said their fast would continue beyond July 4th.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said she would drink only water throughout the summer, which she said she would spend outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas…

The demonstrators crouched in the muggy evening next to a piece of pink plastic, spread down the road as a table and table-cloth in one. It was covered with wilted pink sunflowers and plates of vegetarian curry, white rice, and beans…

"We have to put our own lives on the line, and I'm willing to do that," said activist Diane Wilson, who pledged to fast until the United States withdraws from Iraq.

[CodePink spokeswoman Meredith] Dearborn said 2,700 other activists nationwide, including actors Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, would work as a relay team passing the fast daily from one to another. [Ed. – Seems a marked improvement over the STDs being passed around Hollywood]

I wonder how soon before Mahatma Sheehan sneaks her first bean taco?

2006-07-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

CIA too tied up leaking to the media to find Osama

CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit

NEW YORK (AP) -- A CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden and his top deputies for a decade has been disbanded, according to a published report.

Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the unit, known as "Alec Station," was shut down late last year. The decision to close the unit, which predated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

The officials told the Times that the change reflects a view that al-Qaida's hierarchy has changed, and terrorist attacks inspired by the group are now being carried out independently of bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The CIA said hunting bin Laden remains a priority, but resources needed to be directed toward other people and groups likely to initiate new attacks.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus."

A former CIA official who once led the unit, Michael Scheuer, told the Times that its shutdown was a mistake.

"This will clearly denigrate our operations against al-Qaida," he said. "These days at the agency, bin Laden and al-Qaida appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

I’m sure bin Laden will be happy to learn that he can breathe a little easier; he too can free up resources, likely redirecting some of the counterintelligence and counter-surveillance assets he expends to remain at large.

2006-07-03T18:16:00.000-07:00

CBS News maneuvering to make sure Katie won’t ‘perky’ it’s ‘over 60’ audience to death

CBS Prepping Viewers for Katie

NEW YORK (AP) -- The soft sell of successor Katie Couric by Bob Schieffer ends with this simple request: "Just watch."

The promotion that has begun airing on CBS News programs is the first step of CBS News' sales job for Couric, who starts Sept. 5 as the new "CBS Evening News" anchor.

The idea is to have Schieffer introduce Couric to his audience, and he ad-libs in his amiable style. Couric appears briefly on the screen, looking serious and talking on the phone, but does not speak.

Phase two later this month will be ads featuring Couric talking about the news and how to cover it, said CBS News President Sean McManus. The ads will gradually branch out to other CBS programs, then to other networks, he said.

In August, advertising for Couric's debut will include specific promotions for segments in the "CBS Evening News," he said.

"There's not a great necessity to let people know that she is starting on Sept. 5," McManus said. "The entire world will know that. We're trying to give a sense of transition."

Couric, McManus, "CBS Evening News" executive producer Rome Hartman and his team met last week for their first nuts-and-bolts planning session on the new broadcast. The newsroom studio where Schieffer and Dan Rather presided over the newscast has been torn down and a new one will rise in its place.

Couric is also traveling to six cities, including Denver and San Diego, in a "listening tour" series of meetings with viewers to hear some of their ideas about what they want for the news.

While it is tempting to give the evening news a revolutionary new look, McManus said it doesn't make sense. The median age of evening-news viewers among the three broadcast networks is over 60, and they're not looking for shocks.

"If we can bring in a younger audience and a different audience, great," he said. "But we would be very shortsighted if we were to do something that would alienate the people who are used to watching the news at 6:30."

2006-07-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Drivel from Times-two

I only got three paragraphs into Baquet and Keller’s poppycock before I could read no more. When I stopped I thought, “What does this remind me of?”

And then it hit me, that old Irving Berlin song Sisters, sisters. (the lyrics follow the paragraphs excerpted from their editorial).

When do we publish a secret?
How the press balances national security with its mission to report the news.

By Dean Baquet and Bill Keller, DEAN BAQUET is editor of the Los Angeles Times. BILL KELLER is executive editor of the New York Times.

SINCE SEPT. 11, 2001, newspaper editors have faced excruciating choices in covering the government's efforts to protect the country from terrorist agents. Each of us has, on a number of occasions, withheld information because we were convinced that publishing it could put lives at risk. On other occasions, each of us has decided to publish classified information over strong objections from our government.

Last week, our newspapers disclosed a secret Bush administration program to monitor international banking transactions. We did so after appeals from senior administration officials to hold the story. Our reports — like earlier press disclosures of secret measures to combat terrorism — revived an emotional national debate, featuring angry calls of "treason" and proposals that journalists be jailed, along with much genuine concern and confusion about the role of the press in times like these.

We are rivals. Our newspapers compete on a hundred fronts every day. We apply the principles of journalism individually as editors of independent newspapers. We agree, however, on some basics about the immense responsibility the press has been given by the inventors of the country…

Sisters, sisters

There were never such devoted sisters,
Never had to have a chaperone, no sir,
I’m there to keep my eye on her
Caring, sharing
Every little thing that we are wearing
When a certain gentleman arrived from rome
She wore the dress, and I stayed home
All kinds of weather, we stick together
The same in the rain and sun
Two different faces, but in tight places
We think and we act as one
Those who’ve seen us
Know that not a thing could come between us
Many men have tried to split us up, but no one can
Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man

2006-07-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

I can’t think of a better way to spend state and federal tax dollars

Police Seize Camera With Pitt-Jolie Photos

WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Police in this western Massachusetts town say they have seized a digital camera with images of celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Africa for an investigation by Los Angeles authorities.

Local police, accompanied by state police and Secret Service officers, went to the Westfield home of William Keys on Tuesday to recover a digital camera's memory stick after three photos that appeared on the Internet were tracked to Keys, police said Friday.

Officers then went to Precision Camera and Video Repair in Enfield, Conn., where Keys works, and recovered the camera. It remains in custody of Westfield police.

No one has been arrested or charged in the case. It was unclear who took the photos.

Keys did not return telephone calls Friday.

"It's an ongoing investigation, and we cannot comment," said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County prosecutor's office.

Seems the culprit may be James Haven, an actor not necessarily known for deep thought.

"I'm so much more than just Angelina Jolie's brother. I'm also Jon Voight's son and Billy Bob Thorton's brother-in-law."

Pitt/Jolie Photo Theft Mystery Revealed

The investigation into the theft of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's baby shower pictures has centered on Jolie's brother, who took a broken camera containing the snaps to a repair shop.

Police targeted two suspects on Tuesday -- Bill Keyes and Adam Beckwith -- who had downloaded pictures of the Hollywood couple's Namibia party held ahead of the birth of their daughter Shiloh Nouvel last month.

However, it has emerged that, rather than stealing the camera's memory card, Keyes and Beckwith were given it by Jolie's brother James Haven.

Haven handed the faulty camera in for repairs in Los Angeles following his visit to the African party.

Neither Keyes nor Beckwith have been arrested yet, according to TMZ.com, but police have seized the camera and Keyes' computer.

I’m not a lawyer, but I would think someone’s expectation of privacy in this circumstance would be nil. Of course we’re talking LA LA Land police and prosecutors here; low-level, star-struck government employees aren’t necessarily guided by logic or the law. I’m mean we’re talking Brad and Angelina here, Folks.

2006-07-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

NJ Assembly Democrats want to exclude ‘tax’ from tax and spend

Budget Impasse Shuts Down N.J. Government

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Gov. Jon S. Corzine shut down the state government Saturday after a deadline to adopt a new balanced budget expired, bringing road construction projects to a halt and furloughing tens of thousands of state employees indefinitely.

State parks, beaches and historic sites were expected to close Wednesday - the day after the July Fourth holiday.

It was a grim climax to a bitter dispute with Corzine's fellow Democrats in the Assembly over his plan to increase the sales tax…

About 45,000 state employees were immediately furloughed. The order allows Corzine to keep 36,000 state employees working without pay. Services such as state police, prisons, mental hospitals and child welfare were to keep operating. The casinos could be forced to close because they require state monitoring, though the casino industry is challenging a possible closure in court.

A bid by Atlantic City's 12 casinos Friday to get state monitors declared "essential employees" who would stay on the job despite a government shutdown is now before an emergency appellate court panel, casino association lawyer John Kearney said Saturday.

July welfare checks have already been mailed, said Corzine's chief counsel, Stuart Rabner. But he said next month's cannot be sent unless a budget agreement is reached.

The dispute centers on Corzine's determination to raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to help close a $4.5 billion budget deficit.

Corzine sees the increase as a vital step toward providing reliable annual revenue, but most Democrats in the Assembly - the lower house of the state Legislature - and several Senate Democrats say it is unnecessary.

Opponents have questioned the need for a sales tax increase, predicting voter backlash and demanding that any increase be reserved for property tax reform. No formal talks between Corzine and legislators were scheduled Saturday. [Ed. – Ah, there’s the rub – the citizenry might discover that the Dems have been spending like drunken sailors and throw the bums out]

Corzine complained that budget efforts "have not resulted in the sort of responsible plan the public has a right to expect."

The shutdown marks the first time the state government has had to close because of a budget dispute.

"What's happening in the Statehouse is shameful," said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, a Republican.

The state Constitution requires a balanced budget by July 1, but the deadline has been missed four times in five years. Nothing happened when deadlines were missed before, but the state never went past the morning of July 2 without an adopted budget. Without one, the state has no authority to spend money. The shutdown lasts until a budget agreement is signed.

2006-07-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

The UN, the Palestinians, and Reuters: No fair! Israel is not allowed to fight back!

Security Council debates incursion

NEW YORK -- A Palestinian representative for the West Bank and Gaza Strip urged the U.N. Security Council yesterday to press Israel to quickly end its Gaza offensive, but the United States said Syria and Iran must first end their role as "state sponsors of terror" and condemn Hamas militants. [Ed. - Don't you just love the quotation marks]

Israel, for its part, insisted during an emergency session of the 15-nation council that its military presence was limited to a small part of southern Gaza and was intended to prevent a kidnapped Israeli soldier from being smuggled out of the area.

Israel was doing all it could to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians and planned immediate steps to improve the humanitarian situation in the area, said Daniel Carmon, Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador.

Palestinian U.N. Observer Riyad Mansour painted a dire picture of conditions in Gaza, where Israeli forces have bombed water pipelines and the area's sole power plant and attacked the Interior Ministry with missiles.

In the West Bank, Israel had detained at least 64 Palestinians including eight Hamas Cabinet ministers and 24 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, he said.

"The council cannot continue to remain passive in the face of such a military aggression against a defenseless civilian population," he said, calling for approval of a resolution condemning the incursion and urging the prompt withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of detained officials.

However, John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called for caution.

"We should not undermine the limited credibility of the council by engaging in debate and rhetoric merely for their own sake," he said. [Ed. – I don’t envy Bolton his job. How hard must it be to enter The Twilight Zone each day for work?]

2006-06-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

ABC and Bawbawa: Star was fired because we told her to lie and she didn’t

Reynolds: ABC Said to 'Make Up a Story'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Ousted cast member Star Jones Reynolds said Thursday she was told she could "make up a story" about why she was leaving "The View" and her colleagues would have gone along with it.

The news that Reynolds wouldn't have her contract renewed for a 10th year on the daytime talk show exploded this week into a bitter war of words involving show creator Barbara Walters…

The truth - that Reynolds' ABC bosses didn't want her back because her personal popularity was plummeting - might never have been known without the fight…

Longtime ABC newswoman Walters has confirmed the intended deception, but said it was done to protect Reynolds' reputation and feelings.

ABC said it canned Reynolds immediately after Tuesday's show because her announcement, and an interview with People magazine, took the network by surprise. Walters told The Associated Press that she felt betrayed and ABC said it couldn't trust Reynolds to tell the truth if she remained on the air. [Ed. - Yes, Folks, that is actually their position]

2006-06-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

Haniyeh: We lob missiles into Israel daily, infiltrated their country killing two soldiers and kidnapping another, and THEY INVADE OUR LANDS? What’s WRONG with those people?

Palestinian PM Lashes Out at Israelis

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Friday that Israel's offensive in Gaza - including the kidnappings of some of his Cabinet ministers - was part of a premeditated plan to bring down the Hamas-led government…

Israel's air force has struck more than 30 targets in Gaza - including the Palestinian Interior Ministry - in response to Sunday's kidnapping of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, by Hamas-linked militants. Thousands of Israeli soldiers backed by tanks also have taken up positions in southern Gaza…

Shalit was captured Sunday when Gaza militants tunneled under the border, attacking an Israeli outpost and killing two other soldiers…[Ed. – Talk about premeditation… The tunnel was over 1,000 feet long. Even given their ratty nature, it took the ‘militants’ months to dig that tunnel]

2006-06-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Si vous ne pouvez pas le construire, volez-le

French Lawmakers Approve 'iTunes Law'

PARIS (AP) -- French lawmakers gave final approval Friday to legislation that could force Apple Computer Inc. to make its iPod and iTunes Music Store compatible with rivals' music players and online services.

Both the Senate and the National Assembly, France's lower house, voted in favor of the copyright bill, which some analysts said could cause Apple Computer Inc. and others to pull their music players and online download stores from France…

Apple described the original version of the copyright bill as "state-sponsored piracy" earlier this year, but a company spokesman was not immediately available to comment on Friday's vote…

I’ve commented before on France’s state-sponsored thievery, see France: Who needs technical prowess? We’ve got legislative blackmail and Those that can, do. Those that can’t, fulminate and litigate.

My advice to Apple, maneuver as best you can within the law while protecting your copyright outside France and extract every last Euro from that country you’re able before it implodes (Marching for mediocrity, at best), dies (Congratulating yourself into oblivion), or erupts in civil war (Will Paris burn, again?).

2006-06-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

Bin Laden: My butchering sociopaths have the right to be buried in their homelands

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden called on President Bush in an audiotape released Friday to release the body of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and said Jordan should allow the slain terrorist to be buried in his homeland.

In the 19-minute message, bin Laden paid tribute to al-Zarqawi and said the former al-Qaida in Iraq leader had been under orders to kill Iraqis who supported U.S. forces in the country. He also vowed more attacks against the United States in the Middle East and Africa.

"We will continue to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan to run down your resources and kill your men until you return defeated to your nation," he said, addressing Bush. His voice sounded breathy and fatigued at times…

The Jordanian government has said it will never allow al-Zarqawi to be buried in his homeland because of a November triple suicide bombing his followers carried out in Amman hotels that killed 60 people...

2006-06-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

Is he a Republican or a Democrat? Only The Shadow knows.

Ex-governor, Scrushy convicted

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- Former Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth chief executive Richard Scrushy were convicted Thursday in a bribery scheme that derailed Siegelman's campaign to retake his former office.

No mention of party affiliation in paragraph one, even though the MSM custom is to put ‘(D)’ or ‘(R)’ following the first mention of a politician's name.

Siegelman, 60, was accused of trading government favors for campaign donations when he was governor from 1999 to 2003 and lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1999.

Still no affiliation mentioned.

Scrushy, who once ran the Birmingham-based rehabilitation chain, was accused of arranging $500,000 in donations to Siegelman's campaign for a state lottery in exchange for a seat on a state hospital regulatory board.

Another paragraph and not a whiff.

The case was tried as Siegelman sought the Democratic nomination for governor, and the trial put him in court during the final weeks of the campaign. He lost to Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley in the June 6 Democratic primary and blamed the charges for his defeat...

There we go. What a surprise, he’s a Democrat!

2006-06-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Funny how Egypt is want to embrace their Arab brothers trying to pour through the hole

Mine Blasts Hole in Gaza-Egypt Border

RAFAH, Egypt (AP) -- Hundreds of Palestinian and Egyptian police formed human cordons on both sides of the Gaza-Egypt border Thursday to block Palestinians trying to get through after militants blasted a hole in a cement wall near the crossing.

Egypt also imposed a curfew on the nearby town of Rafah, ordering all stores, banks and restaurants shut, said Ahmed el-Masri, chief of police there.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene heard men with megaphones screaming that they were from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, and saying they were responsible for the blast. They also threatened "another bold action" after evening prayers, but did not elaborate…

The sound of automatic weapons being fired into the air was heard over Palestinian national songs being blasted from speakers on the Gaza side. Loudspeakers also broadcast voices encouraging Palestinians to keep trying to penetrate the border.

Dozens of Palestinians, mostly young boys, struggled to push through the 12-foot- wide hole and hurdle a second border wall less than 100 yards away, witnesses said.

Boys threw rocks at Palestinian security forces, but at one point stopped in order to pray alongside the border fences... [Ed. – Ever wonder what a hooligan prays for?]

2006-06-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Be still my beating heart, the August issue cannot come too soon

Pregnant Spears Poses Nude for Magazine

NEW YORK (AP) -- Pregnant pop princess Britney Spears is baring nearly all on the cover of Harper's Bazaar magazine. The singer of "... Baby, One More Time" posed in the buff for the cover of the August issue; there's also a photo spread inside.

On the cover, Spears, who is sitting, cups her breasts with her hands and crosses her legs while showing her protruding belly and smiling for the camera of lensman Alexi Lubomirski.

"Nothing to wear?" a cover headline asks. "487 Best new ideas inside."…

An alternate headline might be:

Nothing between the ears? A dozen ways to prove it inside.

2006-06-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Judge Eduardo C. Robreno: Embezzler must make restitution within 600 years

Woman Gets 27 Months in $1.5M Embezzlement

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A woman accused of embezzling more than $1.5 million from a credit union and buying more than 1,500 items, including hundreds of pairs of shoes and a $60,000 swimming pool, has been sentenced to 27 months in prison….

Barachie acknowledged stealing money from the Northampton-Carbon County Federal Credit Union, where she worked, from 1995 to 2003. She pleaded guilty in October to charges of embezzlement and filing a false federal tax return…

Barachie has already begun working to pay back the money she stole by selling her purchases on e-Bay. She's sold 1,000 items so far, bringing in $60,000, defense attorney John Waldron said. Another 500 items are still up for sale.

The judge ordered her to pay $50 a month in restitution while she's in prison and at least $200 a month once she's released. [Ed. – Clearly, math is not Judge Robreno’s strong suit]

2006-06-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Israel to Assad: We always know where you are and you’re always within reach

Hamas leaders arrested; Israeli executed

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces arrested one-third of the Hamas-led Palestinian Cabinet and 20 lawmakers early Thursday and pressed their incursion into Gaza, responding to the abduction of one of its soldiers.

Israeli warplanes also buzzed the summer home of Syria's president, accused by Israel of harboring the hard-line Hamas leaders its blames for masterminding the kidnapping…

Adding to the tension, a Palestinian militant group said it killed an 18-year-old Jewish settler kidnapped in the West Bank. Israeli security officials said Eliahu Asheri's body was found buried near Ramallah. They said he was shot in the head, apparently soon after he was abducted on Sunday.

Army Radio said the arrested Hamas leaders might be used to trade for the captured soldier. Israel had refused earlier to trade prisoners for the soldier's release.

Palestinian security officials said eight ministers of the 24-member Hamas-led Cabinet and 20 lawmakers were arrested, among them Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer and Labor Minister Mohammed Barghouti…

In a clear warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli airplanes flew over his seaside home near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria, military officials confirmed, citing the "direct link" between his government and Hamas. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved in the low-altitude flight, and that Assad was there at the time...

At some point the Arabs in the region are going to figure out that Olmert views the Palestinians controlled by Hamas militants (in Gaza or those harbored in Syria) in the same way Churchill viewed the Germans controlled by the Nazis. The difference of course is that Olmert is presently prime minister while Churchill’s election to the post came nearly too late.

2006-06-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ellison: No Summers, no money

I wonder if this announcement will give MIT’s Nancy Hopkins another case of the vapors.

Ellison breaks Harvard pledge

It's official: Larry Ellison is walking away from a promise to donate $115 million to Harvard University.

The Oracle Corp. founder and chief executive, the world's 15th-richest person, made headlines in 2005 when, in an interview with The Chronicle, he pledged to make a major donation to Harvard to study world health. But Ellison decided against the donation after Harvard President Lawrence Summers announced his resignation earlier this year. Summers will leave the university on Friday.

"It's official," said Oracle spokesman Bob Wynne. "The reason is the relationship he had with Larry Summers, who leaves this week. Larry Summers was the brainchild of this whole concept. With his departure, Larry (Ellison) reconsidered his decision."…

Summers resigned in February, amid faculty uproar over comments suggesting that differences in "intrinsic aptitude" may explain why fewer women than men succeed in math and science…

2006-06-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sleep well tonight, America. Bill Keller and the NY Times have your six

Powerline has Why SWIFT Mattered and NRO has “A Good Program…to Make Us Safer…Is Over.”

2006-06-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

I had no idea that abject stupidity, religious fanaticism, and terrorism were thought to be growth industries

This story is more of the usual one-sided AP dribble about the ‘Israeli-Palestinian violence’ until the final paragraph.

It's clear to me that Steven Gutkin has to be smoking his socks.

Israel sends troops into Gaza Strip

By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel threatened Wednesday to widen the conflict over the abduction of one of its soldiers, sending thousands of troops into Gaza, arresting a Palestinian Cabinet minister and buzzing the summer home of Syria's president, who is blamed for harboring Hamas leaders.

No deaths or injuries were reported in the incursion, launched early Wednesday in southern Gaza. But Palestinians filled up on basic supplies after warplanes knocked out electricity, raising the specter of a humanitarian crisis. The Hamas-led government warned of "epidemics and health disasters" because of damaged water pipes to central Gaza and the lack of power to pump water.

Israel's concern goes beyond the rescue of the soldier and the negative precedent abducting soldiers would set. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government is alarmed by the firing of homemade rockets on Israeli communities around Gaza and support for Hamas in the Arab world, especially from Syria…

Palestinian plans for high-rise apartments, sports complexes and industrial parks in lands evacuated by Israel have given way to despair, with rising poverty, increasingly violent relations with Israel and a looming threat of civil war.

2006-06-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

The headline says it all

Awkward Moments Abound in Penis Pump Trial

BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) -- Serving on the jury in an indecent-exposure trial unfolding in this conservative Oklahoma town has been a giggle-inducing experience.

Former Judge Donald D. Thompson, a veteran of 23 years on the bench, is on trial on charges he used a penis pump on himself in the courtroom while sitting in judgment of others…

Read the whole story. It is at once - bizarre, sad, and not a little funny.

2006-06-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Senate Republicans finally wake up and smell the coffee

Senate warms to 'border first'

Key backers of the Senate immigration bill said yesterday they are willing to consider a compromise that would delay the guest-worker program and "amnesty" portions until the borders have been secured.

The proposal was floated by Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter in an interview Monday with editors and reporters at The Washington Times.

"I think it's worth discussing," said Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican. "Many of us have said we could work on border enforcement and, at the same time, work on other aspects that would take more time."…

The House and Senate approved very different immigration bills, with the House focusing on building 700 miles of fence on the U.S.-Mexico border, boosting enforcement and requiring employers to verify that their workers are here legally. The Senate bill boosts enforcement, too, but also creates a program for future immigrant workers and a path to citizenship for many current illegal aliens.

On Monday, Mr. Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who will lead House and Senate negotiators in the conference committee, told The Times that border security should be the top priority in the final bill and that he is open to a compromise that would make the guest-worker program and path to citizenship for illegal aliens contingent on first ensuring a secure border and improved interior enforcement.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and key backer of the Senate bill, said yesterday he could see that as a possibility.

"I'm open to the idea that you'd have ... border-security benchmarks, interior-enforcement benchmarks, and once that's fulfilled, you start assimilating people," he said.

But just a month ago, many of these same senators -- including Mr. Specter, Mr. Graham and Mr. Kennedy -- voted against a proposal that would have set out a similar timeline requiring border security and improved enforcement before the rest of the Senate bill could proceed…

Many lawmakers say a final bill including any form of "amnesty" would never pass the House, whether those provisions are delayed or not.

"I don't think the House will go for anything that puts citizenship in the bill," said Sen. John Ensign, Nevada Republican, who thinks a compromise bill with a guest-worker program could work, as long as it didn't include citizenship for the millions of illegals already here, as the Senate bill would do…

2006-06-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

chutz·pah /'hut-sp&/ n: supreme self-confidence : NERVE, GALL, see EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

European rights court agrees to hear Tareq Aziz case: lawyer

AMMAN (AFP) - A lawyer for former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, in US custody in Baghdad, said the European Court of Human Rights had conditionally agreed to hear a plea over fears Aziz might be handed over to the Iraqi government.

Italian lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano said the court had first said it wanted to know to whom it was that Aziz had surrendered in April 2003, shortly after the fall of the former regime, by whom and where had he been held since then and at what date they proposed transferring custody.

Di Stefano and fellow Italian lawyer Domenico Marinelli said in a statement on Monday that the safety of their client and other detainees from the former Iraqi regime could be at risk if they were transferred to Iraqi custody…

"Since physical custody is about to be be transferred to the Iraqi government of all detainees my concern is that Tareq Aziz will be punished by the Iraqi government well outside any judicial process," Di Stefano wrote…

The European Court of Human Rights claiming jurisdiction and ‘presiding’ over this case is akin to an old toothless woman attempting to eat an uncooked ear of corn, except that the old woman has every right to try.

2006-06-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

Jill Biden: All things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia

Speaking to a group of 130 twenty- and thirty-something supporters of his leadership PAC last Thursday, [Sen. Joe] Biden [(D-Del.)] indicated that while he thinks he could be an effective chief executive, as far as the job itself goes, he could take it or leave it.

“I’d rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep,” he said.

(Hat tip: Real Clear Politics)

2006-06-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

The Sopranos is a documentary, who knew?

The story below chronicles the fourth incident (that I’m aware of) of an actor on HBO's The Sopranos being convicted of a crime.

'Sopranos' Actor Strikes Plea Bargain

NEW YORK (AP) -- The actor who plays temperamental chef Artie Bucco on "The Sopranos" avoided jail time for driving while impaired in a plea bargain deal, authorities said…

Ventimiglia will also lose his license for 90 days and pay a $500 fine, among other conditions.

He was arraigned May 1 on drunken driving, drug possession and other charges after officers spotted him weaving in and out of traffic. The plea to driving while impaired settled all the charges against him.

A criminal complaint alleged that when police pulled him over, the actor had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and smelled of alcohol.

Ventimiglia's blood-alcohol content was 0.12 - the legal limit is 0.08 - and he was carrying a zip-lock bag with cocaine residue, according to the complaint.

2006-06-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Star no longer blocking the view

Star Jones Reynolds Leaving 'The View'

NEW YORK (AP) -- Don't expect any smackdown between Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones Reynolds on "The View." Reynolds said Tuesday she was leaving the show. She told People magazine, "I feel like I was fired."

Rumors that she was leaving have intensified since the April announcement that Rosie O'Donnell would be replacing Meredith Vieira on "The View" in the fall.

O'Donnell had made several caustic remarks about Reynolds, saying that it was dishonest for her to talk about losing more than 100 pounds through diet and exercise without talking about gastric bypass surgery…

2006-06-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

OMG, you mean NASA told them!

How brain-dead do you have to be to come up with the following headline:

Shuttle Crew Aware of Spaceflight Risks

By SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The seven crew members of the space shuttle Discovery will arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to take one of the biggest risks of their lives. They have a 1-in-100 chance of dying during their spaceflight next month. Those, at least, are the official odds that NASA has long given.

Exactly what the real odds are is a question that looms larger than normal this time.

That is because two top officials at NASA took the unusual step of dissenting from the space agency's decision to go ahead with the launch without fixing the potentially catastrophic problem of foam falling off the external fuel tank - the very problem that doomed Columbia 3 1/2 years ago.

The agency's safety director and chief engineer wanted to wait and fix the problem. But NASA Administrator Michael Griffin decided a July 1 launch is worth the added risk for a variety of reasons…

2006-06-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

FYI

I rarely respond to comments left on this blog and almost never delete them, save spam.

I just deleted a comment made regarding this post. The comment contained what appeared to be the home addresses and telephone numbers of the leaders of CASA of Maryland. While I applaud those who would want to write or call the organization’s leaders to criticize they’re dubious, at best, ‘immigrant assistance’ policies and practices, any such message should be civil, tempered, and directed to the organization at their place of business.

I assume that the leaders of CASA of Maryland have mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, spouses and children, none of whom should or need be subjected to or impacted by whatever criticism one may have of their relative in the organization’s leadership.

While harassing an opponent’s family is, in fact, a tactic embraced by some in CASA of Maryland, one needn’t become a lout to defeat a lout.

2006-06-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

Secretary Snow: Keller, you’re a liar

Kathryn Jean Lopez at NRO’s The Corner posted a copy of a letter John Snow wrote to Bill Keller. (duplicated in full below)

Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Dear Mr. Keller:

The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide. In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.

Your charge that our efforts to convince The New York Times not to publish were "half-hearted" is incorrect and offensive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the past two months, Treasury has engaged in a vigorous dialogue with the Times - from the reporters writing the story to the D.C. Bureau Chief and all the way up to you. It should also be noted that the co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, met in person or placed calls to the very highest levels of the Times urging the paper not to publish the story. Members of Congress, senior U.S. Government officials and well-respected legal authorities from both sides of the aisle also asked the paper not to publish or supported the legality and validity of the program.

Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story. And there was nothing "half-hearted" about that effort. I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror. Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.

You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that "terror financiers know" our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money. The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works. While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective. Indeed, you have done so here.

What you've seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists. I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.

Sincerely,

[signed]

John W. Snow, Secretary

U.S. Department of the Treasury

2006-06-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

For Republicans, John Kerry is the gift that keeps on giving

Democrats split on a 2d run by Kerry
Some embrace recent rhetoric; others say it's time for a new face

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry has intensified his quest to regain the Democratic presidential nomination with a sharp move to the left, presenting himself in high-profile speeches and Senate debates as an unfettered lawmaker and would-be presidential candidate who learned from his 2004 loss that he must fight harder for what he believes. [Ed. – Which might be easier to do if Kerry could determine what, exactly, it is that he believes]

In passionate remarks on the Senate floor and before party faithful last week, Kerry spoke directly to grass-roots Democrats, many of whom remain angry over his defeat in an election they believe Kerry was capable of winning.

“I think I'm a much better candidate at this point in my life than I've ever been before -- much more knowledgeable, much more confident, much clearer and brief, to the point, and highly focused," Kerry said in an interview, noting that those campaign skills would apply equally to a 2008 run for the Senate or the presidency.

While many Democrats remain wary of Kerry, there were signs last week that party activists were welcoming his defiance of the Bush administration -- and some leaders of his own party -- on the war in Iraq, the makeup of the Supreme Court, and on environmental policy.

“They like an aggressive Senator Kerry," said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga , the influential Daily Kos Internet blogger . “A lot of the hostility is dissipating. The first step is to have people not hate you anymore."

But, he added, ``I don't see that translating into support in 2008. If he's going to be a credible 2008 candidate, he's got a long way to travel to regain trust." [Ed. – Hopefully, Kerry can avoid gaining Zuniga’s ‘trust’. The ‘Kos’ endorsement is the kiss of death; none of his eighteen odd chosen have won at the polls.]

Some party officials and Democratic lawmakers said in interviews that they are seeing in Kerry some of the same loser-liberation that has attracted people to former vice president Al Gore…

But colleagues and activists question whether Kerry can persuade his party to give him another try at the presidency in 2008.

“The position [on the war] he took in '04 was really forced, and led to all the verbal gymnastics he went through. I don't know if he can erase that," said Dan Payne, a Democratic consultant who worked on Senate campaigns for Kerry but who was not involved in his presidential run.

Privately, senior Democrats wince at the prospect of another Kerry run for the presidency. One called it "delusional" that Kerry could win the nomination, while another Democratic member of Congress said Kerry ``blew" the race.

“Maybe it's unfair, but the feeling is he lost, and that was his shot, and he can't win and we don't want to run losers," said the lawmaker, who asked not to be named so he could speak frankly about a colleague. "We need a fresh new face."…

2006-06-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

A combat officer’s take on the NY Times

Bumped with a second update

Powerlineblog has A word from Lt. Cotton.

I also have a word for Keller, Lichtblau & Risen – scumbags.

Updated:

Andrew C. McCarthy 's They’re Just More Important Than You Are seconds the notion that Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, is a scumbag.

Michael Barone's The New York Times at War With America wonders who elected Keller the Grand Pooh-Bah of the United States of America

Update2:

Hugh Hewitt thinks Keller is a lying scumbag, and none too bright either.

2006-06-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

The tortured process of removing a boil

CU To Fire Ward Churchill
Professor Has Vowed To Sue If School Fired Him

BOULDER, Colo. -- The University of Colorado announced Monday that it will dismiss controversial professor Ward Churchill.

"Today, I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder," CU Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano said Monday afternoon…

The tenured professor of ethnic studies has repeatedly denied all accusations of misconduct.

He told the Associate Press in mid-June, "The basic situation here is that there was a call by high officials in the state, notably the governor but hardly restricted to the governor, for my termination clear back last February, whether or not it was legal. They were willing to take the heat and go to court if necessary to stand behind an illegitimate investigation."

When his essay was brought to light in January 2005, Gov. Bill Owens, state lawmakers and relatives of Sept. 11 victims in New York immediately denounced it. University officials concluded Churchill could not be fired for the essay, but in March 2005 they launched an investigation into allegations of plagiarism and other research misconduct.

Last month, an investigative subcommittee concluded that Churchill repeatedly fabricated his research, plagiarized others' work and strayed from the "bedrock principles of scholarship."…

A man's character is his fate.
Heraclitus

2006-06-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Bawbawa Wawa and Siwius to air retweads

Barbara Walters Joins Sirius Radio

NEW YORK (AP) -- Whenever he sees Barbara Walters, George Clooney mentions how he's still paying for telling her in an interview that he was never going to marry again.

Future Clooney dates will have an opportunity to revisit that talk, and hundreds of other interviews Walters has conducted for ABC News specials over the past three decades, due to a deal announced Monday with Sirius Satellite Radio.

Sirius will air a weekly two-hour series, starting next year, that replays many of the interviews Walters has conducted since joining ABC in 1976. About four interviews will be featured in each program, with new introductions by Walters to place them into the context of the time.

"It is a wonderful way for them to be heard," Walters told The Associated Press. "So many of them are classics. It is everything from Lucille Ball and John Wayne and Bing Crosby and George Burns to Matthew McConaughey and Julia Roberts."…

Doing radio, she said, has always intrigued her. Don't look for Walters, 74, to be spinning the hits, though...

And since it’s radio, there’ll be no need to cover a camera lens with gauze for Ms. Walters’ closeups.

2006-06-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

William J. “Cold Cash” Jefferson puts damper on Democrat’s ‘Republicans are a culture of corruption’ meme

Jefferson stars in punch lines

NEW ORLEANS -- Rep. William J. Jefferson's constituents here think his ethical troubles are laughable and shake their heads when asked their opinions of the congressman.

The Louisiana Democrat is the subject of a widening bribery probe, and earlier this month, he was forced from his seat on the highly coveted House tax-writing panel.

Mr. Jefferson resisted repeated calls from Democratic leaders for him to step aside, saying his Hurricane Katrina-battered district needed his help to secure funds for rebuilding efforts.

In New Orleans, mentioning his name prompts residents to grin, laugh and usually make a reference to "cold cash."

Mr. Jefferson has not been charged with a crime and maintains that he is not guilty, but investigators revealed that soon after he was videotaped accepting a $100,000 bribe, authorities found $90,000 in his freezer.

Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican who met with business leaders here to assess rebuilding efforts, said New Orleans "has been an important city since before Mr. Jefferson made by far the best real-estate deal ever," referring to Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase.

"First, I thought he was making a joke about our congressman," responded Mark Drennan of Greater New Orleans Inc.

Everyone in the room laughed.

Such exchanges are common in the French Quarter's shops and restaurants. Most of the people interviewed by The Washington Times didn't want to be quoted, saying the eight-term lawmaker hasn't been proven guilty, but they are happy to crack jokes at his expense.

The situation was no laughing matter for House Democrats, who realized that Mr. Jefferson's ethics scandal was hurting their quest to win back the majority in the fall. The caucus voted to strip him temporarily of his seat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and the full House approved the removal.

The corruption probe focuses on business deals that the lawmaker is suspected to have helped facilitate between U.S. companies and African officials in exchange for bribes. Two of Mr. Jefferson's associates have pleaded guilty to helping bribe the lawmaker.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Thursday that a Maryland-based satellite radio firm serving Africa and Asia also is under scrutiny for ties to Mr. Jefferson. The report said the chief executive of Worldspace gave Mr. Jefferson a loan of between $50,000 and $100,000.

Seven other business deals are under review by the Justice Department, the newspaper reported.

Several New Orleanians sat reading the story over breakfast at the Clover Grill in the French Quarter on Thursday.

"Poor guy," one man said.

"He's a crook," another countered.

Court documents say Mr. Jefferson secured profits of a Nigerian company and set them up in his children's names.

During one meeting, an FBI informant said, Mr. Jefferson was asked how long he would remain in Congress.

"I'm gonna get your deal out of the way," Mr. Jefferson is said to have replied. "And I probably won't last long after that."

Mr. Jefferson said this month that forcing him off the Ways and Means Committee "unjustly punishes my constituents ... who, after Katrina, need my leadership on my committee more than ever."…

2006-06-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

Russ “You’re all out of touch” Feingold speaks!

WASHINGTON, Jun. 26 (UPI) — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., one of the few senators to vote against invading Iraq in 2003, says Congress is out of touch with the U.S. people on the war.

"The American people have had it with this intervention," Feingold told NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday. "They do want a timetable for bringing home the troops. And the fact that the United States Senate doesn't get it shouldn't surprise you."

Feingold co-sponsored an Iraq amendment calling for a U.S. withdrawal by July 2007 with former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, D-Mass., last week, but only 10 fellow Democrats and one independent voted in favor of the resolution during Senate debate on the war.

"It's only here in Washington that people don't understand it's time to end this mistake, to end our military involvement there," he told Russert, who introduced Feingold as a potential presidential candidate in 2008.

"The real distinction is between those who adapt their purposes to reality and those who seek to mold reality in the light of their purposes."
Henry Kissinger

2006-06-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

Aksa Martyrs' Brigades: Our plan will turn the West Bank and Gaza into smoldering ruins.

As you read the article below, think about this: the Israeli Defense Force is, pound for pound, the best trained, most lethal and effective military on the planet. As a nation, Israelis are of a single mind – in any ‘it’s them or us’ confrontation the ’them’ will never know what hit ‘em.

Even the dimwitted house apes calling themselves ‘Palestinian warriors’ can’t be stupid enough to launch a WMD attack on Israel, can they?

Al-Aksa claims biological, chemical capabilities

The Aksa Martyrs' Brigades group announced on Sunday that it its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons to be used against Israel.

In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said the weapons were the result of an effort that has lasted for three years.

The statment was a response to an Israeli Security Cabinet decision to give the IDF the green light to prepare all the forces necessary for a military operation against Gaza terror cells.

As of 9:00 p.m. a large contingency of Golani and Givati Brigade infantry troops, along with elite units, were amassing on the Israeli side of the Gaza security fence for a possible ground operation there to rescue kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit.

According to the statement, the first of its kind, the group managed to manufacture and develop at least 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons.

The group said its members would not hesitate to add the new weapons to long-range rockets that are being fired at Israeli communities almost every day. It also threatened to use the weapons against IDF soldiers if Israel carried out its threats to invade the Gaza Strip.

"We want to tell [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz that your threats don't frighten us," the leaflet said. "We will surprise you with our new weapons the moment the first soldier sets his foot in the Gaza Strip."

2006-06-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

Activists: Government should spend $50 million so illegal aliens can move about the nation’s capital more readily

Metro ponders signs in Spanish

Metrorail officials are considering adding permanent Spanish-language signs, system maps, fare-card machines and announcements in stations after a push by immigration advocates.

They say the idea has been discussed for several years within the agency's Office of Project Communications, but no official plans have been made.

The estimated cost of the changes is at least $500,000 per station [Ed – here’s a stations map] and as much as $900,000 for a large, multilevel station such as Metro Center or L'Enfant Plaza.

"It would really depend on what signs, where, what they're made of, the cost of fabricating and installing them," said Murray Bond, director of sales and marketing at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. "It's a strain on the budget, but in a business sense, by giving people better information to use the system, hopefully they'll use it more, [and] every time they use it, we get a fare."[Ed. - You mean the fare currently subsidized by local taxpayers, that one?]

The Urban Institute estimates that more than 1 million immigrants and illegal aliens live in the region, and about 40 percent of them are Hispanic. [Ed. - In other words, the vast majority of the area’s immigrants would not derive any benefit from signs written in Spanish. Additionally, no mention is made of the percentage of the Hispanic illegals who are illiterate. If you can’t read, regardless of language, the written word is useless. Perhaps we should set up special Spanish language schools so illegals can learn to read Spanish before the new signs go up.]

The region annually draws 1 million tourists from overseas, the U.S. government-run Office of Travel and Tourism Industries reports.

Immigration advocates say riders with limited English skills might have difficulty understanding how to transfer between lines or how to use fare-card machines and schedules, and they fear rebuke from Metro staff if they seek help in broken English.

"Many immigrants come from areas where they're not using a Metro system," said Kim Propeack, a spokeswoman for immigrant rights group CASA of Maryland… [Ed. - Ah yes, we’ve seen Kim Propeack and CASA of Maryland before]

Some critics say immigrants should learn English instead of urging Metro to conform, which would send the wrong message about the expectations of those who come to the country... [Ed. – What a quaint concept!]

2006-06-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Murtha proves he’s a blathering old fool, yet again

Murtha reiterates his call for U.S. to pull out of Iraq

American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said yesterday to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami… [Ed. – One wonders how many in the crowd were wearing one of these]

Murtha’s previous forays into his alternate universe can be found here, here and here.

2006-06-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

MD Democrats force through unconstitutional legislation to guard their incumbency

Ehrlich's energy plan veto defeated

ANNAPOLIS -- State lawmakers voted yesterday to overturn Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of the Democrats' energy plan that will postpone a 72 percent rate increase by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. but forces customers to pay interest on the deferred charges.

The company's 1.1 million residential customers will see their bills increase 15 percent on July 1 -- not the 72 percent increase to market rates set earlier this year in a wholesale electricity auction overseen by the utility-regulating Public Service Commission.

However, the money customers save will still be owed to the company, and the customers will have to repay it and about $109 million in interest over 10 years.

Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican seeking re-election this fall, said he vetoed the bill because it forces the debt and interest payments on customers.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said the average monthly interest and debt payment of $2.19 would be canceled out by the elimination of some current fees and by future rate savings.

"There is no interest," Mr. Miller, a Prince George's County Democrat, said after the veto override passed his chamber without debate. "You can't legally say that [in the bill] because it would be an unconstitutional taking under law." [Ed. - Hey the Dems came up with 'affirmative action' for legalized racism and 'undocumented immigrants' for illegal aliens, avoiding the word "interest" should be a cakewalk. How about 'legal tender usage fee'?]

Senate Minority Whip Andrew P. Harris told the Associated Press that Senate Republicans chose not to debate the bill because they knew Democrats had the votes to override the governor.

"There are numerous parts of this bill that are faulty," said Mr. Harris, Baltimore County Republican. "We're not here to work and solve a problem. We're here for political reasons."

Ehrlich spokesman Henry P. Fawell said Democrats overrode the veto to enact a "incumbent protection plan" for lawmakers that does little more than forestall the massive rate increase until after this year's elections…

The Democrats' plan also fires the five members of the commission effective July 1. Members are appointed by a governor, and four of the five members were appointed by Mr. Ehrlich.

A new commission is to be appointed with candidates selected by Mr. Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel County Democrat…

The power company's massive rate increase, which was to take effect July 1 for the utility's 1.1 million residential customers, dominated the General Assembly session. It is also expected to be a flash point in the gubernatorial contest between Mr. Ehrlich and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan quit the race Thursday because of clinical depression.

The bill also permits the new commission to postpone market rates again next June by devising another rate-mitigation plan. Power customers can choose whether to "opt in" to that plan.

Critics call the plan a "quick fix" similar to the 1999 deregulation laws that set the stage for this crisis.

The laws, pushed by Mr. Miller and signed by previous Gov. Parris N. Glendening, a Democrat, capped rates at below-market levels as global energy prices rose.

2006-06-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Two pieces worth reading

Diana West's Deluded America and Heather Mac Donald's National Security Be Damned: The guiding philosophy on West 43rd Street.

2006-06-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

Priceless

Kerry was against cutting and running before he was for it!

The junior senator from Massachusetts tried pushing back his deadline for a slow surrender but only the senators carrying the Angry Left’s water were with him.

2006-06-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

Bias so transparent as to be asinine

UPI takes a page from the AP playbook.

Question: What’s the surest indicator that a political corruption scandal involves a Democrat? Answer: The MSM report on said scandal makes no mention of the party affiliation of the politician(s) involved.

San Jose mayor accused of misconduct

San Jose, Jun. 23 (UPI) — Ron Gonzales is the first San Jose, Calif., mayor arrested for alleged misconduct in office after an obscure garbage contract became a major scandal.

Gonzales was accused in a grand jury indictment of accepting a bribe as part of a conspiracy to help Norcal Waste Systems win a lucrative trash hauling contract.

The indictment does not say whether the mayor allegedly received any money or favors from Norcal, the San Jose Mercury News said.

Also named was the mayor's chief budget aide, Joe Guerra. They were released on $50,000 bail.

I wonder if the Democratic Leadership Council will continue to promote Gonzales’ San Jose: State of the City Address speech which failed to mention bribe-taking in the “to-do” list the mayor touted in his oration.

2006-06-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Parent’s choice: Protect our teenage daughter or display her on Good Morning America

Guess what they chose.

Teen: I'll Marry Man I Met on MySpace.com

GILFORD, Mich. (AP) -- A teenager who flew to the Middle East to be with a man she met on MySpace.com said Friday she intends to marry him.

"I love him very much," 17-year-old Katherine Lester said of Abdullah Jimzawi, 20, who works in his father's business delivering goods to West Bank convenience stores.

Lester appeared on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" with her father and stepmother. Jimzawi also spoke with ABC during a taped portion of the segment, describing how the pair "can't live without each other."

After hearing what Jimzawi said, Lester began weeping.

"It's true," she said. "I love you. That's all I can say."

The two first encountered each other about seven months ago on the social networking web site but have never met face to face.

Lester, who turned 17 on Wednesday, was en route to Israel earlier this month when she was intercepted in Jordan by U.S. authorities who seized her passport and put her on a flight back to the United States.

Jimzawi has told The Associated Press that the two planned to marry and that Lester planned to convert to Islam. Lester, a Christian, declined to say Friday whether she intended to convert.

The two have resumed communication online since she returned home.

"Our initial reaction was to isolate her, to lock her up and just keep her safe here in America," said her father, Terry Lester. "But that's unrealistic because you can see the love they have for each other." [Ed. – Realitywise - it would seem the proverbial apple didn’t fall far from the tree]

Authorities filed a runaway juvenile petition against Lester earlier this week, and a judge ordered her to give up her passport and undergo counseling. If the judge finds that Lester was a runaway, she could be placed under court supervision until she turns 18.

2006-06-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

The magical mystery tour is waiting to take her away

CBS to Send Couric on Tour to Meet Viewers

NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS said Thursday it is sending incoming evening-news anchor Katie Couric on a tour of several cities to meet informally with viewers this summer and hear what they're interested in seeing on the news.

One "town hall forum" is set for July 13 in Denver. Another meeting is planned for San Diego; CBS is not identifying other cities because plans are still in the works…

"It's an attempt to hear from regular folks on a whole broad range of things that will help us make decisions on how we can better serve our viewers," said Rome Hartman, executive producer of the "CBS Evening News."… [Ed. – Who knows, somewhere in the American netherworld (i.e., not Manhattan), among the great sea of unwashed “regular folks,” Katie could run across an idiot savant newscast producer]

The meetings will not be filmed and reporters won't be allowed in to cover them, Hartman said. Denver CBS affiliate KCNC-TV, in a news release issued Wednesday, invited people to fill out a questionnaire if they are interested in participating. One hundred people representing a cross section of the community will be invited, the affiliate said.

"People are not performing for us," Hartman said. "This was Katie's idea to have a really honest, informal dialogue."

Couric will also participate in a charity fundraiser in each city she visits. In Denver, it will be a luncheon benefiting the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center Foundation…

Couric is also embarking on a campaign of sorts. The "CBS Evening News" has long been in last place behind NBC and ABC in the ratings, and part of her job will be convincing people to give her broadcast a try…

2006-06-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Ozzie Guillen – a class act

White Sox Manager Fined for Slur

NEW YORK (AP) -- Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was fined Thursday by commissioner Bud Selig and ordered to attend sensitivity training for making derogatory comments about a reporter this week.

In a separate penalty, Guillen was also suspended Thursday along with White Sox pitcher David Riske after the reliever threw at Chris Duncan of St. Louis on Tuesday night.

Before that game, the outspoken Guillen went into a profanity-laced tirade against Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti and called him a number of names, including a derogatory term that is often used to describe someone's sexual orientation…

"I shouldn't have mentioned the name that was mentioned, but I'm not going to back off of Jay," Guillen said, using another profanity to describe Mariotti.

"The word I used, I should have used something different. A lot of people's feelings were hurt and I didn't mean it that way."

Mariotti recently was critical of Guillen's handling of rookie pitcher Sean Tracey, who could be seen distraught in the dugout last week in Texas after Guillen became angry when the White Sox didn't retaliate for catcher A.J. Pierzynski twice being hit with pitches. Tracey was later demoted to the minors.

Riske was suspended three games by the commissioner's office for intentionally throwing at Duncan, and Guillen got a one-game ban. He and Riske were each fined an undisclosed amount by Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations for Major League Baseball.

Riske's suspension was scheduled to start with Thursday night's home game against the Cardinals, unless the reliever appeals. Guillen was required to serve his penalty Thursday - there was no appeal process available for him.

Both were ejected in the seventh inning of Chicago's 20-6 victory Tuesday night after the right-hander hit Duncan with a pitch.

The benches had been warned in the bottom of the sixth after St. Louis pitcher Sidney Ponson plunked two White Sox batters with the bases loaded.

Guillen, who led the White Sox to their first World Series title in 88 years last season, has gotten into trouble several times with his comments.

In spring training this year, he apologized to Alex Rodriguez for comments he made in a Sports Illustrated article in which he criticized the Yankees' star for waffling on his choice of countries for the World Baseball Classic.

In his first season, Guillen called umpire Hunter Wendelstedt a liar. Later in the season, Guillen sarcastically referred to Buck Showalter of the Rangers as the best manager in the history of baseball and the guy who invented the game - all after Showalter questioned Guillen's knowledge of the rules.

Guillen also went off on a profanity-filled tirade last season against former teammate and fellow Venezuelan Magglio Ordonez, who left the White Sox and joined the Detroit Tigers.

2006-06-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

AP: Masters of the 'nuanced' lead-in

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The GOP-controlled Senate Thursday rejected Democratic calls to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by year's end, as the two parties sought to define their election-year positions on a war that has grown increasingly unpopular…

Reading the Associated Press’ opening paragraph, the reader is led to believe that the dastardly Senate Republicans (all 55 of them) hammered through the rejection. But two paragraphs later we learn:

In an 86-13 vote, the Senate turned back a proposal from some Democrats that would require the administration to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007, with redeployments beginning this year. No Republicans voted in favor of the plan.

The amendment that would have established a withdrawal timetable was offered by Sens. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts; Russ Fiengold, D-Wisconsin; Barbara Boxer, D-California; and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont… [Ed. – The cream of the Senate’s crop]

2006-06-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, isn't that special?

Al Gore's Documentary Wins Special Award

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" will receive a rare recognition from the Humanitas Prize, which honors screenwriting that helps "liberate, enrich and unify society."

"An Inconvenient Truth," which chronicles Gore's quest to draw attention to global warming, will receive the organization's first Special Award in over 10 years, president Frank Desiderio announced Wednesday.

"It's a very important film," he said in a statement. "We want to shine a light on it." [Ed. – As opposed to the non-stop hype the film received for weeks on every conceivable MSM venue]

The documentary's director, Davis Guggenheim, said he was "thrilled" with the recognition, adding that Humanitas "supports the achievements and sacrifices of filmmakers trying to change the world."

Since 1974, the Humanitas Prize has presented awards and grants to TV and film writers whose fictional work reflects "the positive values of life." Documentaries are occasionally recognized with Special Awards. The last such honors went to Bill Moyers and Judith Davidson Moyers in 1995 for their documentary "What Can We Do About Violence."

Just for drill, see if you can find anywhere in the 44 paragraph, 1,373 word Humanitas Prize mission statement a coherent train of thought, much less any mention of PowerPoint presentations brought to film.

2006-06-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Slooooooooooooow news day in Australia

Naomi Watts Arrives for Kidman Wedding

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Actress Naomi Watts jetted into Sydney early Wednesday for her longtime friend Nicole Kidman's hotly anticipated weekend nuptials to country music star Keith Urban.

The Oscar-winning Kidman is set to marry Urban in a lavish wedding this weekend. Details have been carefully guarded, but local media have widely tipped Sunday night for the big event.

Watts - who was born in Britain but raised in Australia - is a close friend of Kidman, who she met when the pair were young actresses in Sydney. The "King Kong" star arrived on a flight from New York early Wednesday wearing a gray sweater and black pants, her hair pulled back with a purple head band... [Ed. – Apparently, the AP reporter was on deadline and hadn’t the time to inquire as to the underwear Ms. Watts’ had chosen to round out her ensemble. Information sadly lost to the ages.]

2006-06-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Connie Chung’s swan song

For those who harbor the illusion that Connie Chung has a talent for anything, get a load of this.

Connie Chung's Serenade Gag A Web Hit

…But the act came off as strange and almost creepy, leaving many unsure of its intent.

“Wow, this is a joke right? Or meant to be slightly humorous?” wrote one poster on Youtube.com. Another exclaimed, “Was there no producer on set?? Where was Maury??” Several posters assumed she was drunk.

Chung assured the New York Times that she was stone cold sober. “I should have had a drink before I went on,” she laughed...

2006-06-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

Qui êtes-vous pour m'appeler un lâche ? Vous Paon.

French PM Apologizes for His Outburst

PARIS (AP) -- France's prime minister apologized Wednesday for calling the opposition Socialist leader a coward in parliament a day earlier during an outburst over financial problems at the parent company of Airbus.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin grew visibly agitated after Socialist leader Francois Hollande accused the government of irresponsibility and questioned him about problems at European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which has seen its stock tumble after Airbus announced delays in its much-touted A380 superjumbo jet and questions surfaced about top executives selling off shares.

"Mr. Hollande, I denounce your facile approach - and I will even say this looking you in the eyes - the cowardice in your attitude," Villepin said Tuesday. "I'll say it again: cowardice."

Outraged left-wing lawmakers in France's National Assembly responded by jumping from their chairs, booing and shouting, "Resign, resign!" The unusual uproar caused the body's president to interrupt the session.

"If some words personally injured you, I regret them and I take them back," Villepin told lawmakers Wednesday during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly, with Hollande looking on.

The apology was as uncharacteristic for Villepin as the initial outburst. He was often praised for his polish and eloquence before a series of crises this spring battered his reputation.

French media made much out of the name-calling, with television and radio stations repeatedly running clips of the incident. Although outbursts are frequent in the National Assembly, the intensity of Tuesday's was rare.

Villepin called Wednesday for "respect" and "dialogue," and Socialist lawmaker Jean-Marc Ayrault acknowledged the apology.

Villepin's approval ratings have been sliding since he tried to push through a youth jobs plan this spring, sparking huge street demonstrations and student strikes at many universities.

The Franco-German showcase company EADS is one of the premier symbols of European industrial cooperation.

During the debate on the company, Villepin pledged to review EADS' French-German ownership and management structure. The French government, which owns 15 percent of EADS, is likely to seek changes to the shareholder pact underpinning the company, he told lawmakers. After that announcement, the company's stock rose sharply.

Pressure has been mounting on Noel Forgeard, French co-CEO of EADS, since it was learned he was among six EADS executives who exercised stock options just weeks before management ordered an internal assessment of production hitches for the A380 superjumbo jet...

Poor old Dominique, it’s bad enough that France is overflowing with recalcitrant workers, unions, students, and “youths” but to have the “Franco-German showcase company” circling the porcelain bowl…

Perhaps another of de Villepin’s polished and eloquent dialogues will do the trick this time.

2006-06-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Democrats: As we have no shame, let’s use the mutilated bodies of American soldiers as political steppingstones

Troop 'redeployment' sought by Democrats

Democrats said yesterday that the United States must start "redeploying" troops from Iraq, calling the recovery of the mutilated bodies of two U.S. soldiers a "grim reminder" of why withdrawal should begin soon.

Republican leaders called the proposal for withdrawal a "cut and run" that would embolden terrorists.

The Senate is expected to spend at least five hours today debating two competing Democratic proposals to start pulling U.S. combat troops out of Iraq.

The killings are "a grim reminder of the price we're paying for a failed policy in Iraq," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip. "It's time for Iraqis to stand up. When will this end?"…

Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat, have sponsored an amendment that calls for "phased redeployment" to begin by Dec. 31. The nonbinding amendment would require the Bush administration to submit a schedule for continued troop withdrawal.

Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin have a binding amendment calling for all combat troops to be redeployed by July 1, 2007. A similar measure offered last week was overwhelmingly defeated in the Senate.

Mr. Kerry and Mr. Feingold -- potential presidential candidates in 2008 -- sent a joint e-mail to Mr. Kerry's 2004 campaign supporters saying that withdrawal will lead to a more effective war on terror…

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats agree that there "should be a redeployment starting sooner rather than later," and downplayed the difference between the Levin and Kerry amendments.

"Even though we have at least two positions, I think if you look at them closely, they are both basically the same: that there should be redeployment of troops. It's a question of when," the Nevada Democrat said. [Ed. – the dim bulb from Searchlight speaks!]

Mr. Levin and Mr. Reed insisted yesterday that their amendment is not "cutting and running," and that it sets no pace or speed for combat troops to leave Iraq. [Ed. – Perhaps Levin, Reed, Kerry, and Feingold should call it ‘slow surrender’]

2006-06-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

Kerry postpones his cut-and-run deadline

Now pushes 2007 as year to remove US soldiers from Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry is pushing back by six months the deadline he wants to set for removing combat troops from Iraq, as he seeks to build support in the Senate for his plan for troop withdrawal.

The proposal to be offered by Kerry today would require President Bush to remove nearly all US troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007. The Massachusetts Democrat's initial plan -- to remove troops by the end of 2006 -- received just six votes in the Senate last week, and the later date is intended to build support for the proposal, said April Boyd, a Kerry spokeswoman.

“Every vote for a deadline withdrawal is Congress saying to President Bush that we will not accept war without an end policy in Iraq," Boyd said.

Yet the concept of any deadline for troop withdrawal remains controversial among Democrats. Prominent Democratic senators, including Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, have rejected the idea of setting a time frame for bringing home troops.

Hoping to build cohesion among Democrats, party leaders yesterday introduced a nonbinding resolution that calls on the president to begin a "phased withdrawal" of troops by the end of this year but does not set a deadline for complete removal.

That resolution, expected to get the votes of most of the Senate's 44 Democrats, would not set any deadline that would force the hands of military leaders, said Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee...

"I would rather be a coward than brave because people hurt you when you are brave."
E. M. Forster, as a small child

2006-06-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Gunga Dan* gets the boot from CBS News

CBS News Says Dan Rather Leaving

By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Dan Rather, the hard-charging anchorman who dominated CBS News for more than two decades but whose final months were clouded by a discredited story on the president's military service, is leaving CBS after 44 years, the network announced Tuesday.

The 74-year-old Rather has complained of being virtually forgotten at CBS Corp. since his exit as anchor last year, six months after the story on President Bush's military service aired. He has said he is considering an offer to do a weekly show at the HDNet high-definition network…

Rather apparently hadn't even seen the report questioning Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service before introducing it on the air in September 2004. When CBS News couldn't substantiate the story following questions about its sources, Rather became a symbol of the incident even as he escaped official blame… [Ed. – I wonder how many times Rather and Bauder tried ‘the dog ate my homework’ lie while in school]

I beg to differ with Mr. Bauder. Rather may not have "seen" the video compilation prior to its airing but he had intimate knowledge of the report’s contents well ahead of time (pdf of the report from CBS' internal investigation is here)

Other of my posts about Rather and ‘Memogate’ are here, here, and here.

* - ratherbiased.com

2006-06-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

The U.S. should definitely spend billions to preserve this snake pit

National Guard Asked to Patrol Big Easy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Mayor Ray Nagin asked the governor Monday to send National Guard troops to patrol his city after a violent weekend in which five teenagers were shot to death and a man was fatally stabbed in argument over beer.

"Today is a day when New Orleanians are stepping up. We've had enough," Nagin said. "This is our line in the sand. We're saying we're not going any further." [Ed. – Funny how whenever New Orleanians ‘step up’ it always falls on someone else to do the heavy lifting]

Nagin said the weekend's slayings were unspeakable and he wouldn't allow criminals to take over at a time when it's trying to rebound from its worst disaster. He said he had spoken to the governor about his request for as many as 300 National Guard troops and 60 state police officers to patrol the city.

The governor's office had no immediate comment Monday. [Ed. – There’s a surprise]

City leaders convened a special meeting to voice outrage after the killings Saturday in an area near the central business district. [Ed. – It was an emergency session of the Indignant and Inept Committee]

The shootings Saturday - plus the fatal stabbing Sunday night in an argument over beer - brought this year's murder toll to 53, raising fears that violence was back on the rise in a city that was plagued by violent crime before Hurricane Katrina drove residents away last year.

Crime has been creeping back into the city: 17 killings in the first three months of 2006, and 36 since the start of April.

At least three other people, ages 16 to 27, have died from shootings in the same area as the killings early Saturday. The five teenagers were in an SUV together when they were caught in one of the bloodiest attacks in this city's turbulent history; the last killing with that many victims was in 1995.

In addition to Nagin's request for troops and state police, the City Council said it would consider increasing overtime for police to put more officers on the street. It also called for a "crime summit" within two weeks…

"We have to deal with it now," Councilman Arnold Fielkow said. "If we don't make people feel safe in their homes, nothing will happen. Let's make this priority Number One."

Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who represents predominantly black eastern New Orleans, said a big part of the solution will be getting young people off the streets and into caring environments such as schools. [Ed. - Yeah, whatever you do, keep them away from their parents and personal responsibility]

She suggested opening schools after hours but didn't say how that could have prevented Saturday's 4 a.m. shooting, which police have said apparently was either prompted by drugs or revenge… [Ed. – Even the bleeding-heart AP recognizes that NOLA’s ‘leaders’ are, at best, morons]

2006-06-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Flag Day!

It's also my birthday so I don't anticipate doing much blogging today.

Picture courtesy of Free Clipart or Photos: www.ace-clipart.com

2006-06-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hey, as long as we’re speculating - Rove could be an extraterrestrial or maybe the Easter Bunny

Apparently, the Associated Press is crushed that Rove won't be charged in CIA leak case. Nevertheless, the AP’s Toni Locy holds out hope against hope that Rove will be “grilled in court as a witness.” Can’t you just picture Locy thinking, “Please, please. Oh, pleeease let that happen” as she typed out this ‘news’ article.

WASHINGTON - Presidential adviser Karl Rove won't be a criminal defendant in the CIA leak case, but he could still end up being grilled in court as a witness.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald could question Rove about whether the Bush administration compromised a CIA officer's identity to retaliate against a political critic.

Still, Rove and the White House could breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday after the prosecutor told Rove's lawyer he wouldn't seek a federal indictment against the political operative.

Rove has been identified as a likely defense witness in next year's trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff. Libby has been charged with lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury about how he learned about Valerie Plame's CIA status and what he told reporters about it.

If Libby's defense attorneys summon Rove to testify, Fitzgerald can cross-examine him about a host of issues, including a July 2003 conversation Rove had with syndicated columnist Robert Novak days before Novak published Plame's name…

Read the rest of her piece if you enjoy conjecture and hearsay masquerading as objective reporting.

2006-06-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Legal observers: We’re here to make sure the police observe the law while arresting our clients who are breaking the law

7 Arrested As Deputies Evict Urban Farmers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sheriff's deputies began evicting people from an urban garden early Tuesday and arrested at least seven as protesters chained themselves to barrels of concrete and others, including actress Daryl Hannah, sat in a large walnut tree.

"I'm very confident this is the morally right thing to do, to take a principled stand in solidarity with the farmers," Hannah said by cell phone. Asked if she willing to risk arrest, she said, "I'm planning on holding my position."

About 350 people grow produce and flowers on the 14 acres of privately owned land, in a gritty, inner-city area surrounded by warehouses and train tracks. The garden has been there for decades but the landowner, Ralph Horowitz, now wants to replace it with a warehouse.

At daybreak Tuesday, 120 deputies, including riot forces, showed up to serve an eviction order that a judge signed last month.

Seven people were arrested for allegedly violating a court eviction order and obstructing sheriff's deputies enforcing the order, said Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Kerri Webb.

As many as 20 demonstrators inside the garden chained themselves to each other, the tree or 55-gallon concrete-filled drums…

Deputies used saws to cut down the chain-link fence around the site. Inside the compound, deputies sawed through chains linking garden supporters. Quigley said he could see sparks flying dangerously close to the people's faces and complained that authorities had removed legal observers from the inside the farm.

"It's really an unsafe situation," Quigley said. "There's no legal observers in here. ... Basically we need legal observers in here to guarantee people's safety."

Webb said the deputies were "taking our time so we make sure the protesters are safe."…

2006-06-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

Unlike the rest of the MSM, Lipscomb examines those pesky things called ‘the details’

John Kerry's Skimmer Scam

By Thomas Lipscomb

As the Kate Zernike front page Memorial Day weekend New York Times story indicates, a number of Kerry supporters were disappointed that Kerry had not vigorously defended himself against the charges of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 Presidential campaign. According to Zernike some "are compiling a dossier that they say will expose every one of the Swift boat group's charges as a lie and put to rest any question about Mr. Kerry's valor in combat."

That might not only be a difficult task but it could backfire badly. As Vanity Fair's acerbic columnist Michael Wolff said in the 3-minute 2-second trailer to a Kerry-sponsored (and Kerry-censored) documentary campaign film by respected producer Steve Rosenbaum, Inside the Bubble, the real problem with the Swift Boat claims was they were "largely true." And as former Dean of the Stanford Law School Bayless Manning has cautioned enthusiastic advocates, "As an attorney, you needn't worry too much about the lies told by your opponents. Your real danger is the lies told by your client." Ask the ghost of Alger Hiss…

And the wild rumpus commenced. "The air was full of explosions," Kerry and crew ran like hell strafing the shore as they went, Kerry experiences his wounding, and heads back to the Swift boat and home. Neither of his claimed crew members confirmed any enemy fire, yet they both "assumed" Kerry had been wounded by it. Curiouser and curiouser.

Kerry's summary of the mission? Here is what he told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press":
"We were in combat. We were in a very, very--probably one of the most frightening--if you ask anybody who was with me, the two guys who were with me, was probably the most frightening night that they had that they were in Vietnam... ."
Kerry in TOUR OF DUTY:

"It was a half-assed action that hardly qualified as combat, but it was my first... . ... [A] minor skirmish, but since I couldn't put my finger on what we really accomplished or on what had happened, it was difficult to feel satisfied. "
Finally, Kerry in TOUR OF DUTY a la recherche... from his "journal" nine days after "whatever" happened in Na Trang Bay:
"A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky."
Take your pick…

Kerry reported to Navy doctor Louis Letson the next morning after duty hours began at 8 AM. Schachte had told him, "No enemy action, no purple heart." Kerry's appeal to Hibbard brought the rejoinder "I have seen rose thorn injuries worse than that. No enemy action, no purple heart." Surely a doctor would be more understanding, not that it mattered. Only Kerry's direct commanders could approve the award.

Kerry lay down on Letson's examination table and told Letson: "We were involved in a fire fight and we received fire from shore." One of the four or five men hanging around the dispensary out of Kerry's sight lowered his head and began to wag an emphatic "no" and stifle a laugh. Letson found 1⁄4 inch fragment sticking out of Kerry's upper arm. It looked like wire about the diameter of a toothpick, he pulled it out with his forceps and flipped it with a tiny "klink" into a steel basin held by his Hospitalman, Jesus Carreon, to the applause of the appreciative audience. Letson was so amused he took a photo of Carreon holding the basin with the 1⁄2 inch fragment barely visible in the bottom of it...

This is Thomas Lipscomb’s second installment in a trilogy examining John Kerry’s four months in Viet Nam 38 years ago. I commented on Lipscomb’s first installment here.

2006-06-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

Dimwits, Halfwits & Simpletons (DHS)

Homeland Security accepts fake ID

The Department of Homeland Security allowed a man to enter its headquarters last week using a fake Matricula Consular card as identification, despite federal rules that say the Mexican-issued card is not valid ID at government buildings.

Bruce DeCell, a retired New York City police officer, used his phony card -- which lists his place of birth as "Tijuana, B.C." and his address as "123 Fraud Blvd." on an incorrectly spelled "Staton Island, N.Y." -- to enter the building Wednesday for a meeting with DHS officials.

Mr. DeCell said he has had the card for four years and has used it again and again to board airliners and enter government buildings, without being turned down once. But he said he was surprised that DHS, the agency in charge of determining secure IDs, accepted it.

"Obviously, it's not working," Mr. DeCell said...

2006-06-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Abu Hamza al-Muhajerin in Arabic means ‘Bull’s eye tattooed on forehead’

Terror group names al-Zarqawi's successor

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web statement posted Monday that a militant named Abu Hamza al-Muhajer was the group's new leader. Al-Muhajer succeeds Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed Wednesday by a U.S. airstrike on his hideout northeast of Baghdad, Iraq.

The successor's name — a pseudonym, as most militants are known by — was not immediately known and did not appear to be on any U.S. lists of terrorists with rewards on their heads. The name al-Muhajer, Arabic for "immigrant," suggested he was not Iraqi.

The choice of a non-Iraqi "emir," or leader, would be significant, signaling that the group was maintaining a foreign Arab command. There were tensions between homegrown Iraqi insurgents and the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi over strategy, and U.S. and Iraqi officials sought to fuel the differences by painting al-Zarqawi as a foreigner killing Iraqis for his own purposes.

The selection could mean that the group will continue al-Zarqawi's efforts to launch a campaign of violence outside Iraq's borders…

2006-06-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

(click image to enlarge)

2006-06-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Palestinian’s choice: Make the land they occupy their independent nation or an Israeli artillery impact area.

Abbas seeks backing of Palestinians

TEL AVIV -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday formally announced a July 26 referendum on negotiations with Israel, disregarding Hamas' boycott pledge and the political fallout from the deaths of seven Gazan beachgoers killed Friday by an errant Israeli shell.

As Hamas' military wing fired small rockets into southern Israel, signaling the end to a 16-month truce, a legislator from the Islamist militant party said Mr. Abbas would be held responsible for the "dangerous" consequences of a vote.

Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Mr. Abbas described the referendum as an immediate necessity to settling his ongoing dispute with Hamas and restoring international financial aid.

"As chairman of the [Palestine Liberation Organization] Executive Committee and president of the Palestinian Authority, I have decided to exercise my constitutional right and duty to hold a referendum over the document of national agreement," Reuters news agency quoted Mr. Abbas as saying in a decree read by an aide.

The manifesto, penned by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, calls for a Palestinian state, alongside Israel, on all of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank…

Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, has accused Mr. Abbas of using the manifesto to try to engineer the downfall of its government…

"Until now they are showing they will behave in a negative way, but how negative I don't know," said Mr. Abed Raboo. "Their rockets were not directed against Israel. They were directed against the referendum. They wanted to threaten us that if we wanted to go on with the referendum, they will undermine the truce."…

Will the Palestinians build a nation or a barrel?

2006-06-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Guantanamo Clarion want ad:
Seeking bed sheets with high tensile strength. Mail donations to the 70 Virgins Express Fund, APO New York 12345

“The response from the American people has been amazing,” said the director of the 70VEF. “With the donations we’ve received, we could make every bed in every hotel in New York City.”

U.S.: 3 Gitmo inmates hanged themselves

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Three Guantanamo Bay detainees hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes, the commander of the detention center said Saturday. They were the first reported deaths among the hundreds of men held at the base for years without charge.

The suicides, which military officials said were coordinated, triggered further condemnation of the isolated detention center, which holds some 460 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Only 10 have been charged with crimes and there has been growing international pressure on the U.S. to close the prison.

Two men from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen were found dead shortly after midnight Saturday in separate cells, said the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, which has jurisdiction over the prison. Attempts were made to revive them, but they failed.

"They hung themselves with fabricated nooses made out of clothes and bed sheets," Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris told reporters in a conference call from the U.S. base in southeastern Cuba.

"They have no regard for human life," he said. "Neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us."…

One of the detainees was a mid- or high-level al-Qaida operative, Harris said, while another had been captured in Afghanistan and participated in a riot at a prison there. The third belonged to a splinter group. Their names were not released…

Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a telephone interview from New York that those held at Guantanamo "have this incredible level of despair that they will never get justice. And now they're gone. And they died without ever having seen a court."

Olshansky, whose group represents about 300 Guantanamo detainees, wept during the interview…

2006-06-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

Murtha: I’m against the war in Iraq and I’m not too thrilled with the Democratic leadership either

The Democrat’s anti-war poster geriatric is suddenly a “liberal maverick” according to “a senior Democratic aide.”

Murtha may seek majority leader job

Rep. John P. Murtha, who has called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq, threw a political curveball yesterday by announcing he would run for majority leader if the Democrats win back the House in November.

The Pennsylvania lawmaker gave no warning before telling members he would challenge Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland for the majority leader role, and the news sent a shock wave through the Capitol.

"Our goal is to win the House back, and if there's an open seat, I'm the candidate," Mr. Murtha said.

Shocked and angered party members, who have been working to appear united as Republican approval ratings decline, said Mr. Murtha's move could potentially devastate their efforts…

The senior Democratic aide said Mr. Murtha is considered a liberal maverick who is not a team player, and too closely aligned with Mrs. Pelosi.

"People feel like there has been a good team in place, and that would not be the case if Murtha was No. 2," the aide said.

Mr. Hoyer and Mrs. Pelosi once battled over the minority leader post, but this week, Mr. Hoyer said no one would challenge Mrs. Pelosi for the speakership if the Democrats win the House…

2006-06-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

ABC News: Part of the Fourth Estate or simply a Fifth Column?

updated: bad link fixed

Nobody, not even an MSM reporter, can be this mind-numbly obtuse. This is a deliberate and pointed attempt to undermine the US intelligence effort in Iraq.

I’m not alone in my take on this, just read the comments offered by other readers.

Captured Zarqawi Aide Spilled the Beans

June 09, 2006 11:08 AM

Alexis Debat Reports:

Ziad_raja_al_karbouly_nrAn Iraqi customs agent secretly working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror cell spilled the beans on the group after he was arrested, Jordanian officials tell ABC News.

Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly was arrested by Jordanian intelligence forces last spring.

Officials say Karbouly confessed to his role in the terror cell and provided crucial information on the names of Zarqawi commanders and locations of their safe houses.

Karbouly also admitted to his role in the kidnappings of two Moroccan embassy employees, four Iraqi National Guards and an Iraqi finance ministry official.

In a videotaped confession, Karbouly said he acted on direct orders from Zarqawi.

Officials say he will not be eligible for any of the $25 million reward money...

2006-06-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore's Minuteman Mourned

Democrats Vow to Fight On After Zarqawi Loss

2006-06-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

A kid who may never reach 17

FBI: Mich. Girl Held in Jordan on Way Home

DETROIT (AP) -- A 16-year-old girl who flew to the Middle East to see a man she met on MySpace.com was detained in Jordan and was headed home Friday, an FBI spokesman said.

U.S. officials persuaded Katherine Lester to take the return flight from Amman, FBI Special Agent Robert Beeckman said from the agency's Detroit office.

Katherine had disappeared from her home in Gilford, in eastern Michigan, on Monday and apparently planned to visit a man whose MySpace account describes him as a 25-year-old from Jericho, said Tuscola County Undersheriff James Jashinske.

The sheriff's department contacted the FBI, which traced the teen to a flight from New York to Amman, Jashinske said. On Thursday night, her family received word from U.S. officials that she had been stopped as she arrived in Amman en route to Tel Aviv, Israel.

Katherine's mother, Shawn Lester, said her daughter had persuaded her in April to help her get a passport so she could go on a two-week vacation to Canada with a friend's family.

On Sunday, they drove to a bus station for that trip, but the family didn't show up. Shawn Lester said she called them, learned there was no trip and brought her daughter home. The next day, Katherine was gone…

"There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence."
Henry Adams

2006-06-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

CO Democratic official serves up the core of the party’s platform – dog shit

Dog Feces Left at Congresswoman's Office

Republican U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's re-election campaign was already heated, and it just got smelly as well: Her staff accused a Democratic activist Thursday of leaving an envelope full of dog feces at Musgrave's Greeley office.

Musgrave spokesman Shaun Kenney said someone stuffed the envelope through the mail slot in the door on May 31 and then sped away in a car. Kenney said most of the preprinted return address was blacked out, but staffers used the nine-digit ZIP code to trace it to Kathleen Ensz, a Weld County Democratic volunteer.

Ensz told The Associated Press she left the envelope at Musgrave's office but said it "wasn't in the office doors, it was in the foyer." Asked what she meant by the act, she declined comment.

Kenney demanded an apology from Musgrave's likely Democratic opponent, state Rep. Angela Paccione of Fort Collins.

Paccione spokesman James Thompson denied the campaign had anything to do with it.

"We find that kind of act to be completely deplorable," he said. "We're not in the business of dirty tricks like that. This type of thing is really out of our control, but of course we'll do anything that we can to discourage this."

Thompson said Ensz, vice chairwoman of a state Senate district committee for the county Democratic Party, has no formal ties to the Paccione campaign.

Kenney said police were asked to investigate. A police spokesman did not immediately return a call.

2006-06-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

So who is leading the Cook County Politburo?

Health status of Ill. politician unknown

CHICAGO - In Chicago's Cook County, where the dead have been known to vote, the county's chief executive is a stroke victim who hasn't been publicly seen or heard from in nearly three months.

No one seems to know for certain whether he is in any condition to run for re-election in November, much less govern the county of more than 5 million people in the meantime.

Confidantes insist 77-year-old John Stroger, the powerful Democratic president of the Cook County Board, is recovering. But his Republican opponent wants a hearing on Stroger's fitness, arguing, "This Soviet-style stonewalling has got to end."

Stroger, a major political figure in Chicago's black community, was felled by a stroke just one week before the March 21 primary. Doctors said Stroger could be left permanently impaired, but they have provided no medical updates since the days immediately after the stroke. Stroger's family and staff have sometimes made conflicting statements about how, if at all, involved he is with work…

2006-06-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

News you can use

It must be a reeeeally slow news day in Sweden.

H&M to Supply Madonna's Offstage Wardrobe

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Onstage, Madonna wears designs by Jean Paul Gaultier; offstage, the 47-year-old pop star and her "Confessions" world tour entourage will choose clothing from H&M's 2006 collection.

Hennes & Mauritz AB, a fashion retailer with over 1,200 stores in 22 countries, announced Thursday that it will supply a complete offstage wardrobe for the Material Girl and her tour band, dancers and crew members.

"Aside from being great fans of Madonna's music and fashion sense, we admire her ability to always be ahead of the trends in everything she does," Margareta van den Bosch, H&B's head of design, said in a statement.

"We look forward to seeing how her touring family translates H&M's seasonal trends to their own personal looks."

The collaboration also will include a specially designed Madonna tracksuit that will be in stores in mid-August and an ad campaign featuring the singer and her dancers, the company said.

"Partnering up with H&M feels like a perfect fit. We'll all get to express ourselves in our own individual ways," Madonna said in a statement. "The dancers and I are excited to go shopping together."…

2006-06-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

The culture of corruption

Here’s an AP story about a politician taking bribes in which the AP makes no mention of his political party affiliation.

Can you guess to which political party the politician belongs? (Hint: if he was a Republican that fact would have immediately followed the first mention of his name and it would have been reported in bold)

I ll. Mayor Arrested in Corruption Probe

CHICAGO (AP) -- A longtime suburban mayor was arrested Thursday following reports of an investigation into whether he took bribes in exchange for pressuring businesses to buy insurance policies.

Nicholas Blase, 77, who has been mayor of Niles for 45 years, was arrested as he left home. He was to appear in federal court later in the day, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Randall Samborn.

Samborn said details of the case, including the charges against Blase, would be announced later.

The Chicago Tribune reported the FBI probe this week, citing court documents that said Blase threatened to withhold liquor and business licenses from restaurant owners unless they bought insurance from an agency owned by his late friend Ralph Weiner.

Weiner paid "significant amounts of bribes" to Blase in return, according to the documents, which the report said became public but were later resealed.

Blase has denied any wrongdoing and called the allegation "crazy." He told the newspaper he steered business to Weiner "because I liked the guy."

Niles, just north of Chicago, has 30,000 residents.

2006-06-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

US version of an IED gets up close and personal with al-Zarqawi

A thousand pounds of precision-guided high explosives can ruin one’s day.

Insurgent Leader Al-Zarqawi Killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, June 8 --Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, was killed early Wednesday by an airstrike --north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born high-school dropout whose leadership of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq made him the most wanted man in Iraq, was killed along with several other people near the city of Baqubah, the officials said.

U.S. warplanes dropped two 500-pound bombs on a house in which Zarqawi was meeting with other insurgent leaders. A U.S. military spokesman said coalition forces pinpointed Zarqawi's location after weeks of tracking the movements of his spiritual adviser, Sheik Abdul Rahman, who also was killed in the blast…

2006-06-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

UN’s No. 2: Real free speech, that quaint American concept, cannot remain ‘unchecked’

Official of U.N. Says Americans Undermine It With Criticism

UNITED NATIONS, June 6 — Secretary General Kofi Annan's deputy assailed the United States on Tuesday for withholding support from the United Nations, encouraging its harshest detractors and undermining an institution that he said Washington needed more than it would admit.

"The prevailing practice of seeking to use the U.N. almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable," said the deputy, Mark Malloch Brown. "You will lose the U.N. one way or another."

In a highly unusual instance of a United Nations official singling out an individual country for criticism, Mr. Malloch Brown said that although the United States was constructively engaged with the United Nations in many areas, the American public was shielded from knowledge of that by Washington's tolerance of what he called "too much unchecked U.N.-bashing and stereotyping."

"Much of the public discourse that reaches the U.S. heartland has been largely abandoned to its loudest detractors such as Rush Limbaugh and Fox News," he said...

2006-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

A Canadian pogrom is but weeks away

Read James Lileks’ Self-Loathing and the Denial of Terrorism.

He is, as usual (and sadly), spot on.

2006-06-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

Mysterious forces first ravage the “Garden of Eden” then restore it.

Personally, I think this is the handy-work of extraterrestrial beings.

Geez, I know science is supposed to be apolitical, but this is a bit much.

Reflooding Restores Wildlife to Iraqi Marshes

In the 1990s the Garden of Eden was destroyed. The fertile wetlands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were diked and drained, turning most of 15,000 square kilometers of marsh to desert. By the year 2000, less than 10 percent of that swampland--nearly twice as big as Florida's Everglades--remained. But reflooding of some areas since 2003 has produced what some scientists are calling the "miracle of the Mesopotamian marshes"--a return of plants, aquatic life and even rare birds to their ancestral home…

David Biello’s article on Scientific America .com goes on for three more paragraphs and 300 words with nary a mention of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime or the Iraqi war.

One wonders whether a ten-years-hence typical product of the American public school systems, who might stumble onto the piece, will make the connection.

(Hat tip: Best of the Web Today)

2006-06-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

A moral victory

That and two bucks gets you a cup of coffee. Getting the most votes in an election gets you a seat (‘tainted’ or not) in Congress. No amount of Allison Hoffman’s blather changes that.

Bilbray keeps scandal-tainted U.S. House seat in GOP hands

By ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

(06-07) 11:02 PDT SAN DIEGO, (AP) --

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray held off a stiff Democratic challenge and will return to Congress to complete the last seven months of the term of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now in jail for taking millions in bribes.

Bilbray won't have much time to savor his victory Tuesday over school board member Florence Busby — the two now will campaign for the November election that will determine who holds the seat for the next two years…

2006-06-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

Laurel Fletcher: It’s ‘unfair’ that these ‘Katrina’ illegal aliens aren’t being paid as much as citizens and legal residents are paid.

Ms. Fletcher, a clinical professor of law at UC Berkeley, also states that these ‘workers’, whose very presence is an ongoing criminal act, should seek redress in American courts.

That makes perfect sense to me, we are, after all, a nation of laws. But I must have missed the day in civics class where you learn that adhering to the laws of this country is akin to ordering from the menu at a Chinese restaurant, picking the item(s) from each column that you like.

Should a ‘worker’ decide to press his case, I wonder what document(s) he’ll use to establish his identity for the court filing.

Illegal Workers Face Hardship in Big Easy

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- They are the backbone of post-Hurricane Katrina reconstruction: Workers who converge at dawn and wait to be picked up for 14-hour shifts of hauling debris, ripping out drywall and nailing walls.

But because many are in the country illegally, immigrant workers rebuilding New Orleans are especially vulnerable to exploitation, according to a study released Tuesday by professors at Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley.

The illegal immigrants often work in hazardous conditions without protective gear and earn far less than their legal counterparts, the study said. Nearly one-third of the illegal immigrants interviewed by researchers reported working with harmful substances and in dangerous conditions, while 19 percent said they were not given any protective equipment.

Illegal immigrants also were paid significantly less - if at all - earning on average $10 per hour, compared with $16.50 for documented workers, the study said.

"What is fundamentally unfair is these are workers who have responded to a national priority to rebuild this city and yet whose rights are being violated," said Laurel Fletcher, director of Berkeley's International Human Rights Law Clinic and one of the study's co-authors.

Under federal labor law, illegal immigrants are afforded the same health and safety protections as documented workers. Regardless of their legal status, laborers can sue most employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act for violation of the minimum wage law and overtime regulations, the researchers said…

2006-06-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

Dick Marty enters his swaybacked horse in the anti-U.S. race, yet again

In an effort keep himself busy at the near useless Council of Europe (which is responsible for overseeing the European Court of Human Rights), it appears Marty intends to trot out this nag every six months (see below).

Probe of CIA prisons implicates EU nations

June 7, 2006

PARIS - Fourteen European nations colluded with U.S. intelligence in a "spider's web" of secret flights and detention centers that violated international human rights law, the head of an investigation into alleged

Swiss senator Dick Marty said the nations aided the movement of 17 detainees who said they had been abducted by U.S. agents and secretly transferred to detention centers around the world.

Some said they were transferred to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and others to alleged secret facilities in countries including Poland, Romania, Egypt and Jordan. Some said they were mistreated or tortured.

"I have chosen to adopt the metaphor of a global spider's web, a web that has been spun out incrementally over several years using tactics and techniques that had to be developed in response to new threats of war," Marty said.

Marty provided no direct evidence but charged that most European governments "did not seem particularly eager to establish" the facts.

"Even if proof, in the classical meaning of the term, is not as yet available, a number of coherent and converging elements indicate that such secret detention centers did indeed exist in Europe," he wrote, saying this warranted further investigation...

In January 2006, when Marty last peddled his story, the European press obliged him with breathless reports like EU states have 'collaborated' with CIA, finds investigator

2006-06-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

The death rate within the invading horde of illegal aliens has increased.

That’s my headline. The Washington Post went with An Increasingly Deadly Trail - Tighter Border Has Illegal Immigrants Risking More Perilous Routes

I’m not sure that Washington Post staff writer John Pomfret picked the best subject for his heart wrenching tale of the plight of “undocumented immigrants.” The distraught mother in the story would seem to be the poster girl for what sociologists vacuously call ‘at risk behavior’.

COVERED WELLS, Ariz. -- It was early on a May morning, still dark, when Border Patrol agent Dan McClafferty first smelled death, its rich odor piercing the desert bouquet of sage, salt cedar and creosote. Following the beam of his flashlight, McClafferty looked under the thorny branches of a paloverde tree and found what he was looking for.

The body of the 3-year-old boy lay still, covered with a jacket and his arms crossed over his chest. His mother, found wandering along a desert highway hours earlier, had carried him there as she had tried to cross into the United States illegally... [Ed. – Further into the article we learn that mother and son were hopped up on Sedalmerk a combination of caffeine, Tylenol and the herbal supplement ephedra -- an amphetamine precursor that is banned in the United States that their coyote gave them].

The article eventually comes to the motivation for Edith Rodreguez’s (the mother) trip.

Like many who cross the border illegally, Rodreguez had been in the United States before. She worked menial jobs in Kentucky, where she met a man who apparently was married. The two had a relationship and Rodreguez got pregnant, Ramos Cardoso said. She decided to have the baby in Veracruz so her mother could help her. Returning to Mexico to have a baby was an unusual decision -- many Mexican women make the reverse trip, traveling to the United States to have their babies so their children will be U.S. citizens.

Earlier this year, Rodreguez decided to return to the United States to show the boy to his father, Ramos Cardoso said. She traveled to Sasabe, joined the coyote's group and walked across the border...

The article also brings us the Rev. John Fife, founder of No More Deaths , whose position is that ‘migrants’ are dying on the Arizona – Mexico border because of US government policy(i.e., enforcing our national borders). He makes no mention of the fact that the aliens who died had free will (a tenet of Christianity) and they chose an illegal clandestine nighttime entry across a desert.

A cursory glance of the No More Deaths’ website indicates that all money and material donations to the group will be used to give aid and comfort to aliens as they illegally enter the United States. It appears none of the money or volunteer efforts will be used to forestall such entry, which would take the ‘migrants’ out of harm’s way.

2006-06-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

Better make it an even 1,000 feet

Two Aussie johns are passing each other on the walkway leading to a brothel.

Exiting john: “Don’t waste your time, Mate.”

Arriving john: “Sorry, how’s that?”

Exiting john: “The Sheilas in there are spooky. They might as well be corpses.”

Mayor Wants Brothels Kept From Cemeteries

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Brothels and cemeteries don't mix and should remain at least 660 feet apart, a local government official said Tuesday.

Paul Pisasale, the mayor of Queensland state town of Ipswich, is part of a movement being led by the Urban Local Government Association to prevent brothels from being built near cemeteries. Prostitution is legal in Australia in limited circumstances.

"There's a lot of families and services that are going on and the last thing you want is someone conducting a spiritual service and a cemetery reflection time for family and a brothel going on next door," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Tuesday.

"It's totally inappropriate. There's a place for brothels and a place for cemeteries and we don't believe the two mix."

2006-06-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Teach your children well

Md. Teacher Accused of Aiding Terror Group

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A third-grade teacher at a Muslim school in Maryland traveled to Pakistan shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, trained with a terrorist organization there and later served as chauffeur for one of that group's leaders during his U.S. travels, prosecutors say…

2006-06-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Some more ‘broad strata of society’* arrests probable

More arrests likely in Canadian probe

TORONTO - Police said Monday more arrests are likely in an alleged plot to bomb buildings in Canada, while intelligence officers sought ties between the 17 suspects and Islamic terror cells in the United States and five other nations.

A court said authorities had charged all 12 adults arrested over the weekend with participating in a terrorist group. Other charges included importing weapons and planning a bombing. The charges against five minors were not made public.

The Parliament of Canada, in Ottawa, is believed to be among targets the group discussed. Toronto Mayor David Miller said CN Tower, a downtown landmark, and the city's subway were not targets as had been the speculated in local media, but declined to identify sites that were.

A Muslim prayer leader who knew the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal, told The Associated Press on Monday that Jamal's sermons at a storefront mosque were "filled with hate" against Canada.

Authorities said more arrests were expected, possibly this week, as police pursue leads about a group that they say was inspired by the violent ideology of the al-Qaida terror network.

"We've by no means finished this investigation," Mike McDonell, deputy commissioner for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told AP. "In fact, you might look at it that, really, we're just starting with the arrests. We have a responsibility to follow every lead."…

* - Canadian Police: Terror suspects from a “broad ‘strata’ of society”

Update:

Andrew McCarthy at NRO offers The Elephant in the Room - The mainstream media continue to suppress the “Islam” in Islamic terrorism.

2006-06-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

50% of Rhode Island’s congressional representatives released from drug rehab clinic

Rep. Kennedy Ends Rehab, Returns to R.I.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Monday he was feeling good after nearly a month in drug rehabilitation and realizes he can no longer take any "mood-altering" substance.

The six-term congressman checked into a rehabilitation clinic on May 5, one day after a middle-of-the-night car crash near the U.S. Capitol that he said he could not remember...

Kennedy was released from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., on Friday. He also had been treated at the clinic over the Christmas holidays…

Kennedy, the son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has been a passionate advocate for improved mental health care coverage and has spoken publicly about his own battles with depression, alcoholism and substance abuse.

A few days after the crash, Rhode Island Democrats endorsed him for re-election.

Republicans have called for him to step down.

"He ought to resign because he can't fulfill his duties as congressman," said Chuck Newton, Rhode Island Republican Party spokesman. "We're a small state and we only have two congressmen, so it really matters if someone can't do the job."

2006-06-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

French workers: Screw the elderly and disabled and we want every other Tuesday off too

Workers ignore bank holiday ban

Paris, Jun. 5 (UPI) — Most bank workers in France planned to take Monday off in yet another blow to President Jacques Chirac's waning authority.

Chirac, whose approval rating already has fallen to 17 percent, had wanted to make Whit Monday a normal working day, reports The Times of London. But even some state employees planned to be absent.

Liberation newspaper columnist Jean-Michel Thénard said France is slipping into a "surrealist world" governed by Chirac's "absurd poetry."

The issue stems from a decision to impose a 0.3 percent corporate tax to fund a nearly $3 billion plan to help the elderly and the disabled by working an extra seven-hour day. The tax was introduced after the 2003 heat wave in which thousands died. [Ed. – Nearly 15,000 people died, many because 20% of French health workers were on vacation and couldn’t be bothered to return to work during the emergency]

But the plan turned sour last year after nationwide strikes and protests, with many workers saying they favor the solidarity but not at the expense of losing one of their 11 annual bank holidays, The Times reported.

Perhaps some of the unemployed French ‘youths’ will volunteer their time to assist the elderly and disabled.

2006-06-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Duke’s Richard Brodhead: They’re guilty until proven innocent, but I’m going to be magnanimous

Duke to Bring Back Lacrosse Team

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Duke University's troubled lacrosse team will play next season, but under strict rules and close monitoring after three players were charged with rape, school President Richard Brodhead said Monday.

"I am, I know, taking a risk in reinstating men's lacrosse," Brodhead said in a statement. "The reinstatement is inevitably probationary."

Brodhead canceled the team's season April 5 after an exotic dancer who had been hired to perform at a March 13 team party told police she was raped by three team members at an off-campus house…

2006-06-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

Hamas: Words can hurt us, so break out the sticks and stones

Hamas seizes TV station as deadline nears

KHAN YOUNIS, Jun. 5 (UPI) — Hamas supporters seized a television station in Gaza Monday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' deadline for recognition of Israel approached.

Armed men forced the staff of Palestine TV in Khan Younis to leave, calling them "dirty collaborators," the BBC reported.

Tensions between Hamas, which has a parliamentary majority, and Abbas' Fatah Party have been rising. Abbas is expected to announce a referendum on recognition of Israel's 1967 borders if Hamas fails to agree, Ynetnews.com reported.

Five people have been killed recently in clashes between Hamas and Fatah, although no injuries were reported in the attack on the TV station...

2006-06-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, how about putting a lock of the kid’s hair on eBay

Pitt and Jolie to Sell Baby Photos

NEW YORK (AP) -- Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will give the world its first peek at their newborn daughter by releasing photos of Shiloh Nouvel, with profits going to charity.

The images, taken at a private photo shoot, will be distributed by Getty Images, the photo agency said Monday. All profits will be given to charity, though no specific foundation was announced.

"While we celebrate the joy of the birth of our daughter, we recognize that two million babies born every year in the developing world die on the first day of their lives," the couple said in a joint statement. "These children can be saved, but only if governments around the world make it a priority."

Deb Trevino, a spokeswoman for Getty Images, told The Associated Press the family would later name the charity that will receive the funds. She would not disclose how much the photos were being sold for, or when they would be distributed…

I wonder if someone is going to tell Brad and Angelina that ‘Shiloh’ was one of the bloodiest (over 20,000 killed or wounded) battles of the American Civil War.

2006-06-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Associated Press: The ‘undocumented immigrant/worker’ pretense isn’t working…
Time to trot out the race card.

Immigration Debate Stirs Racial Tensions

By ERIN TEXEIRA
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- As the fight over immigration reform drags on, an ominous undercurrent to the debate - racism - is becoming more pronounced.

From muttered ethnic slurs to violent attacks, activists say an anti-immigrant backlash seems to be growing in America's neighborhoods and workplaces. A few political leaders have called proposed immigration measures before Congress "racist."

"The climate has gotten demonstrably worse and it is racially charged," said Devin Burghart of the Center for New Community, which tracks anti-immigrant activity. "It's not simply a debate about immigration policy. ... It's about race and national identity and who and what we are as Americans."

Some activists say the House of Representatives started it…

Read the rest and learn how shinning a bright light on a vast criminal enterprise that undercuts American’s law-abiding workforce, sabotages our being a nation of laws, and subverts our sovereignty is racist.

2006-06-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

MD Democrats: Businesses? Hate ‘em. Felons? Love ‘em.

Moves on BGE, Wal-Mart bad for business

Maryland officials are scaring off investment in the state with such anti-business moves as the court-ordered scrutiny of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s energy rates and the law that forces Wal-Mart to pay employee health benefits, business leaders say.

"Wal-Mart yesterday. BGE today. Who's next?" asked William R. Burns, spokesman for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, which represents about 850 businesses employing more than 340,000 people statewide.

He said companies are thinking twice about operating in Maryland after Baltimore Circuit Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr. ordered the state's Public Service Commission to review the utility company's pending 72 percent rate increase and open its books for political leaders.

The lawsuit by Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, a Democratic candidate for governor, also succeeded in voiding the energy plan of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican seeking re-election…

Maryland Secretary of Business and Economic Development Aris Melissaratos, whose chief job is attracting companies to the state, said the judge's ruling was a "huge negative."

"I'm often asked why Baltimore does not have more [corporate] headquarters," he said. "This is the answer. It makes my job that much tougher."

Mr. Melissaratos also criticized calls by Mr. O'Malley and some state lawmakers to review compensation paid to Mayo Shattuck, president and chief executive officer of Constellation Energy Group, which is BGE's parent company, and financial details of a proposed $11 billion merger of Constellation Energy and Florida utility Florida Power and Light Co.

"That is not the realm of legislatures or courts," he said. "Frankly, there are regulatory bodies [such as the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] set up to do those things."...

Perhaps the Maryland Democrats believe the felons they want to add to their constituency will supplant the lost investment dollars and tax revenue of businesses they drive from the state.

2006-06-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thomas Lipscomb: The NY Times' Kate Zernike is inept and Kerry can’t keep his lies straight

The Truth, John Kerry, and The New York Times

Kate Zernike's story on the front page of the Memorial Day Sunday New York Times, "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss," is an unfortunate reminder of the Times's embarrassingly poor coverage of Kerry in the face of the Swift Boat Veterans' for Truth charges in the 2004 election. Now as then, the Times acts as if the issues involved were between Kerry's latest representations of his record and the "unsubstantiated" charges of the Swift Boat group. The Times used the term "unsubstantiated" more than twenty times during its election coverage and continues to make no discernable effort to examine any of the charges in detail.

But there was plenty of evidence in the work of other news organizations that some of the charges, and the Kerry military records themselves, were worth examining seriously. I found numerous problems with Kerry's records on his website in my own reporting for the Chicago Sun-Times: a Silver Star with a V for valor listed that the Navy stated it had never awarded in the history of the US Navy, three separate medal citations with some heavy revisions in Kerry's favor signed by former Navy Secretary John Lehman who denied ever signing them, to name two…

It is time we all got to see a picture of the famous Kerry "lucky hat," rather than another account by the latest star-struck journalist. It is time for Kerry to stop alluding to "records" and start producing them. And it is time media assigned reporters with military experience or the resources to analyze this record and see just who is lying about what.

Read the whole thing.

By the bye, it appears Lipscomb is just getting started.

In any case, it is time for some tough reporting to evaluate the Kerry's claims as listed in Zernike's article. I will be following up with several other key incidents which appear to be widely at variance with these claims. These will include what appears to be the current state of the evidence about the "skimmer" operation Kerry has decided to put in play again and the greatest newspaper coverup in modern history.

2006-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

What a coincidence!

Check out the ads surrounding the WaPo’s Gore Says Don't Count on a 2008 Run

One can only imagine how much that juxtaposition cost. Of course it could be standard pricing after all this is the Washington Post; deep abiding loyalty to their political party likely played a part.

Update:

When first I posted this entry, the WaPo article was surrounded (top, right, and bottom) with ads for Gore’s doomsday movie An Inconvenient Truth. They are now gone.

2006-06-03T22:19:00.000-07:00

Canadian Police: Terror suspects from a “broad ‘strata’ of society”

If that’s the case, someone enlighten me. When, exactly, did Canada become a Muslim country?

Terror suspects appear in court

Brampton, Ont. — Members of an alleged homegrown terror cell appeared in a Brampton courtroom Saturday to face chargers they plotted to attack Canadian targets in Southern Ontario.

In a series of raids Friday, police arrested 12 adults and five young offenders. In the process, they seized enough ammonium nitrate fertilizer to build an explosive device three times more devastating than the one used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

"This group presented a real and serious threat. They had the capacity and intent to carry out a terrorist attack," said RCMP Asst. Commissioner Mike McDonell.

"Our investigation and arrests prevented the assembly of explosive devices and attacks being carried out. At all times, the focus of our investigation was the safety and protection of the public," he added…

The accused, dressed casually in jeans or jogging pants and t-shirts, sported traditional Muslim male beards. Most were Canadian citizens or residents…

Lawyers for the accused, asked that their clients be provided with a Koran, and in one case prescription eyewear…

In court, [Defense lawyer Rocco] Galati was accompanied by Aly Hindy, a Toronto imam and friend of the highly-controversial Khadr family, who have well-established connections to al-Qaeda.

Mr. Hindy, a controverisial Iman, leads an Islamic centre in Scarborough, said he knew several of the accused because they prayed at his mosque but said they were not terrorists.

"He said the charges are to keep George Bush happy, that's all." [Ed. - Yeah, Aly, stick with that defense]

Those (adults) charged as being members of the terrorist cell were:

Fahim Ahmad,
Zakaria Amara,
Asad Ansari,
Shareef Abdelhaleen,
Qayyum Abdul Jamal,
Mohammed Dirie
Yasim Abdi Mohamed,
Jahmaal James,
Amin Mohamed Durrani,
Steven Vikash Chand (alias Abdul Shakur),
Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, and
Saad Khalid.

2006-06-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Bengay?.. Check. Hearing aids?.. Check. Walkers?.. Check.
Well then, we’re off!

Keith Richards and Stones Set to Tour

LONDON (AP) -- The Rolling Stones, assured that Keith Richards is fully recovered from a head injury, will kick off their rescheduled European tour in Milan, Italy, on July 11.

The band is booked for 21 stadium appearances in 11 countries, it was announced Friday. Previously scheduled concerts in Nuremberg and Leipzig, Germany, have been canceled, and 10 other concerts on the tour, which had been set to open May 27 in Barcelona, Spain, have been postponed.

Richards, 62, was injured in late April when he reportedly fell out of a palm tree while vacationing in Fiji…

Not to worry, Babs, the Stones are just doing Europe.

2006-06-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

The simpletons return

Hilton, Richie Reunite for 'Simple Life'

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Those hoping that the new season of "The Simple Life" will supply the answer to what's really behind the famous Paris Hilton-Nicole Richie feud are going to be disappointed - but the former friends do toss a few dishy darts at one another.

The reality-style series, which shows how inept the two celebutantes can be in everyday situations, returns Sunday, 10 p.m. EDT on E!…

"Put yourself on view. This brings your talents to light."
Baltasar Gracian