August 1, 2004
Ann Gerhart provides Washington Post readers with an analysis of a term tossed around the Fleet Center in Boston with wild abandon last week, and in the ultimate paragraph, acidly notes one person who avoided it: Today's phrase: ROCK STAR Definition: A label affixed, often with wild abandon, on any Democrat capable of raising the pulse of delegates assembled inside Boston's FleetCenter. Especially popular with the punditocracy, which used it more than 200 times last week. Examples: David Gergen on CNN says Bill Clinton is a rock star. Jake Tapper on ABC and Rudy Giuliani, talking to reporters, both tag Michael Moore with it. Hannah Storm on CBS manages to declare Bill Clinton and Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama rock stars in the same paragraph. Says Greta Van Susteren on Fox News: "I hate to overuse the term" -- oh, go ahead -- "but 'rock star' is the term everyone...
Car bombs in Baghdad exploded outside two churches, one Catholic and one Armenian, causing dozens of injuries and pointing towards a widening of targets in Iraq by Islamofascist terrorists: Two car bombs exploded just minutes apart outside two nearby churches in central Baghdad during Sunday evening services, injuring at least 20 people, witnesses said. The attacks appeared to be the first targeting churches during the 15-month violent insurgency. U.S. military officials said at least one and possible both of the blasts appeared to have been booby-trapped cars in the city's Karada neighborhood. More news will be forthcoming; as I'm posting this, it's been announced that two people have died in the attacks. However, the deliberate targeting of churches announces a new low for the Islamofascists, and perhaps a true revelation of their aims. These are not freedom fighters -- these are people determined to wipe out all non-Muslims, or at...
Those of us who covered John Kerry's stumble with the Marines at Wendy's on Friday missed a more significant story, one which highlights the phoniness behind the Kerry/Edwards "men of the people" act. Alert CQ reader James O'Toole sends this Midhudson News report today that the Wendy's visit was a mere photo op, while a decidedly more upscale meal waited for them on the bus: While Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, and their families were having a “lite” lunch at Wendy’s in the Town of Newburgh Friday, drumming up local support right after the national convention in Boston, their real lunches were waiting on their bus. A member of the Kerry advance team called Nikola’s Restaurant at the Newburgh Yacht Club the night before and ordered 19 five-star lunches to go that would be picked up at noon Friday. Management at the restaurant, which...
It's Friday, so it must be time for another edition of the Captain's Caption Contests! This week's theme is Politicians In Space, and here we have the official Democratic nominee for the presidency being surprised by having a photograph taken on a campaign event. Too bad his friends John Glenn, Bill Nelson, and Bob Graham couldn't have told him what cameras do. Those Democratic Republican rascals! Guest judging this week will be Pat from Dr. Santy, a fine blog and a loyal reader. As always, leave your comments on the comments page, and as always, put your best caption entries in the comments section -- NO e-mail, please! (E-mailed entries will be specially marked by CQ Archives security personnel and shoved down Sandy Berger's pants.) The contest will remain open until 8 pm Sunday, August 1st, at which point the comments will be closed and Pat will pick the winners....
Gallup announced the results of its USA Today/CNN poll taken after the Democratic national convention. Instead of polling "adults", as Newsweek did, Gallup focused on likely voters, a much more reliable indicator of voter behavior. Their polling shows that Kerry went from a marginal tie -- one point up -- to four points down over the convention, which puts him behind at the edge of the margin of error: In the survey, taken Friday and Saturday, the Democratic ticket of Kerry and John Edwards trailed the Republican ticket of Bush and Dick Cheney 50% to 46% among likely voters, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 2%. Before the convention, the two were essentially tied, with Kerry at 47%, Bush at 46%. The change in support was within the poll's margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points in the sample of 763 likely voters. But it was nonetheless a stunning...
While I was driving home from work on Friday, local radio buzzed about St. Paul mayor Randy Kelly and his silence so far on the presidential race. Kelly, a DFL member (Democrat-Farmer-Labor, the state Democratic party), had hinted that he might remain neutral, declining to endorse John Kerry, a stance which worried Democrats in this traditionally liberal capitol city. Kelly announced today that he will not remain neutral, and Democrats will be sorry they pressed the issue: St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly broke Democratic Party ranks on Sunday to announce his support for President Bush's re-election. "George Bush and I do not agree on a lot of issues," Kelly said in a statement. "But in turbulent times, what the American people need more than anything is continuity of government, even with some imperfect policies." Kelly, who said he's remaining a Democrat, said the economy is going in the right direction....
John Kerry may not have received a post-convention bounce from American voters, but the news isn't all bad for the Democratic nominee. Today he received his first newspaper endorsement; unfortunately, the newspaper is the European and far-left Observer: Kerry insists he will be a different President. Under him the US would achieve its foreign policy ambitions through leadership of the international alliance system, accepting the compromises that that implies. Kerry would restore the treaty system covering the spread and testing of nuclear and chemical weapon systems, that Bush has jettisoned. He would cooperate in relieving Third World debt; he would be sympathetic to the Kyoto accords. He would not prevent sex education and the use of condoms in the campaign to fight Aids. He would back science and stem cell research. He would encourage alternative energy technologies. The Observer pushed the envelope when it comes to political bias. Instead of...
August 2, 2004
Palestinian forces fired on Fatah reformers in the West Bank yesterday, injuring no one but sending the message that any challenge to Yasser Arafat's grip on power would result in a bloody civil war. Meanwhile, Arafat's Palestinian critics grew more bold in calling for an end to corruption: Gunmen claiming allegiance to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat fired warning shots outside a meeting hall in the West Bank city of Nablus where members of his Fatah movement gathered Sunday to discuss internal reforms, witnesses said. No one was injured when about 15 masked members of the Al Awda Brigade fired their weapons to express displeasure over what they said was a move against the Palestinian leader. About 60 Fatah activists from rural areas outside Nablus were meeting to discuss the recent political turmoil in the Palestinian Authority and draft a protest statement to Arafat, said one of the activists, Ghassan...
John Kerry has a plan to increase foreign participation in Iraq and retreat forthwith, but he's not going to share it with anyone until he's elected, the Washington Post reports. Kerry did announce that he will pull the vast majority of American troops out of Iraq before the end of his first term in office: John F. Kerry pledged Sunday he would substantially reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq by the end of his first term in office but declined to offer any details of what he said is his plan to attract significantly more allied military and financial support there. In interviews on television talk shows, the Democratic presidential nominee said that he saw no reason to send more troops to Iraq and that he would seek allied support to draw down U.S. forces there. "I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops," he said on...
Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani again emphasized his moderating influence on Iraq by strongly condemning the wave of Islamofascist bombings targeting Christian churches in Iraq this weekend, killing eleven in five coordinated attacks. Sistani urged all Iraqis to "collaborate" with the interim Iraqi government in order to end the terror, and he was not only Muslim cleric to do so: Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani said in a statement that Sunday's assaults on Christian churches "targeted Iraq's unity, stability and independence." ... The more senior al-Sistani said: "We condemn and reproach these hideous crimes and deem necessary the collaboration of everyone — the government and the people — in putting an end to aggression on Iraqis," said the cleric, who is based in the southern city of Najaf. "We assert the importance of respecting the rights of Christian civilians and other religious minorities and reaffirm their right to live in their...
What a great weekend! CQ readers entered what I think was a record number of captions for the weekend contest, and Pat at Dr. Sanity had quite a job trying to pick the few, the proud, and the very clean winners. Even John Kerry had to plumb the depths of CQ in order to get through all the entries: Pat's winners are as follows: Captain's Award (Man On A Mission?) - Mike G: "I am John Kerry, reporting for duty!" You Have The Conn #1 (The Populist Award) - Jim S: Okay, I'm ready to meet with the common folk now. You Have The Conn #2 (Politics Begins At Conception) - Rightwingduck: This sperm has a one in million chance of becoming a human being. You Have The Conn #3 (Nuance And Courage Twin Award) - Charles Austin: (both are by charles austin, so I counted them as one) I...
My good friend, the Commissar at the Politburo Diktat, will live-blog all day today from the Citigroup building, one of the threat targets identified this weekend by the Department of Homeland Security. Keep checking back all day today on the status of security. In fact, keep checking back at PD as a regular habit -- it's a great blog, one of the best satirical sites as well as featuring straightforward insightful commentary. UPDATE: The AP reports on security measures being taken on the ground and notes that workers in the area are "defiant" to Islamofascists: Financial institutions identified as targets of a terrorist plot in three cities opened for business Monday under stepped-up security and defiant words from people who said they won't be cowed by the extraordinary intelligence pointing to a potential attack. Police sealed off some streets in New York, put international-finance employees in Washington through extra security...
George Bush announced today that he will implement the key recommendation from the 9/11 Commission, creating a new national intelligence "czar" and layering two levels of management onto existing intelligence agencies. However, Bush plans to avoid having the new position placed in the White House in order to maintain more independence for the new organization: President Bush said Monday he is asking Congress to create the position of a national intelligence director, to serve as the president's principal intelligence adviser. ... The national director of intelligence will report to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Bush said. The president also revealed plans to create a national counter-terrorism center. "This new center will ... become our government's knowledge bank for known and suspected terrorists," Bush said. The reporting structure reverses that recommended by the 9/11 Commission if CNN has its information correct, which I suspect they do not. The commission's...
August 3, 2004
North Korea suspended its participation in inter-Korean negotiations across a broad front of issues due to the defections of several hundred Northerners to the South, enraging the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-Il, and his communist government. Despite its pleas to North Korea to rejoin talks, Seoul refuses to budge on its position of granting refuge to North Korean refugees abroad: North Korea has boycotted scheduled cabinet-level talks with South Korea, angry over the defection of hundreds of North Koreans to the South last week. Pyongyang described the mass defection as an act of "kidnapping and terrorism committed by South Korean authorities in broad daylight." ... The two Koreas have been at odds over the defection and Seoul's earlier refusal to let pro-unification activists visit Pyongyang for the 10th anniversary of the death of the North's founding leader, Kim Il-Sung on July 8. North Korea also scrapped maritime and military talks with...
Pakistan has suddenly hit a hot streak in capturing al-Qaeda suspects, arresting two more to bring their total to four over the past month. Either their intelligence has improved or someone's singing: In the latest arrests, one of the men was apprehended at a bus stop in the Hafizabad town in Punjab province but the officials were unsure of his nationality. "He first said he was from Yemen but later changed his statement to say he was Egyptian," one of the officials who asked not to be named told Reuters. "We are still checking his nationality. He does not have a passport." In another swoop, authorities arrested a foreign al Qaeda suspect along with two Pakistanis who were traveling to the eastern city of Lahore, also in Punjab, from the nearby town of Sheikupura Monday night. The key capture, the one that made headlines last week, was Pakistan's arrest of...
In a sign that John Kerry may lose his last bastion of defense -- a sympathetic mass media -- the AP rips Kerry in an analysis of his "secret plan" to increase foreign troops and reduce American presence in Iraq. Ron Fournier writes that Kerry's plan is not only reminiscent of Nixon, but that it's ultimately irrelevant: John Kerry (news - web sites) says he can "put a deal together" as president to drastically reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq (news - web sites), a pledge reminiscent of Richard Nixon's secret plan to end the Vietnam War and Dwight D. Eisenhower's promise to stop fighting in Korea. Like those Republican presidential candidates, the Democrat's blueprint for peace lacks detail and has critics squawking. ... But when asked for hard evidence that his victory would produce a troops-reducing deal for America, neither Kerry nor his fellow senators cite anything other than...
Jennifer Harper at the Washington Times takes a look at how the themes sounded by the Democrats at their nominating convention have resonated with the American public. So far, Harper finds that the Democrats have been mostly unsuccessful in creating any buzz from their slogans, with one notable exception (via Drudge): Teresa Heinz Kerry's "shove it" phrase to a Pittsburgh editor was the most cited Kerry campaign message in the press last week — mentioned 381 times in American publications, according to Factiva, a Dow Jones/Reuters company that tracks daily press mentions. ... Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign mottos did not resonate with the press, according to Factiva. "One America" got 57 mentions, "Hope is on the way," 50 mentions and "America can do better" just 21 by week's end. So much for the entire convention! The only lasting impression was made by the candidate's wife, in an attack on...
August 4, 2004
Senior security officials told AFP that the al-Qaeda computer expert captured three weeks ago played a much more important role for AQ than simply technical support, and that the data captured along with him revealed much of AQ's communications infrastructure: Naeem Noor Khan, 25, alias Abu Talha, arrested in the eastern city of Lahore on July 12, "is in the top hierarchy of Al-Qaeda's external operations wing," a security official closely associated with the latest Al-Qaeda swoop told AFP Wednesday. Khan had not only been creating websites and secret email codes for Al-Qaeda operatives to communicate with each other, he had also actively plotted terror attacks, the official said on condition of anonymity. "He was involved in planning for attacks at Heathrow airport London some time ago and was wanted by the US government," the official said, but was unable to say exactly when the Heathrow attack was planned. Capturing...
The AP's Ron Fournier analyzes reaction to the orange alerts issued this week by the Department of Homeland Security and deconstructs the politics rather adeptly. However, Fournier and many others missed a key issue in the debate over using the so-called "old" material for a fresh alert: The politics of terrorism has Democrats tied in knots. Each time President Bush raises fears of a possible attack, the political debate shifts from his most troublesome issue to one of his strongest (the war on terrorism) while Democrats fight their impulse to question the president's motives. ... Campaign officials said Kerry would like to believe that Bush is acting in the nation's interest. Even if he didn't give Bush the benefit of the doubt, there are enormous political risks to Kerry questioning the president's motives, the officials said, because a subsequent terrorist strike would make him look politically craven and shortsighted. Criticizing...
An alert reader who wishes to remain anonymous sends over this tip regarding British security alerts in February 2003 at Heathrow. As reported in the London Guardian, British security went on high alert that month as the Islamic festival of Eid came to a close: Heathrow was last night being patrolled by 1,500 anti-terrorist police and troops after intelligence warnings identified it as a likely target for an imminent attack by al-Qaida-linked militants armed with anti-aircraft missiles. The move was sanctioned late on Monday after high level meetings at Scotland Yard headed by Assistant Commissioner David Veness, who requested immediate army back-up and support from Heathrow's neighbouring forces, Surrey and Thames Valley. The prime minister was told of the threat and rubber stamped the deployment of 450 soldiers from the Ist Battalion the Grenadier Guards and the Household Cavalry. Those warnings turned up nothing significant, and eventually Tony Blair faced...
John Kerry took steps yesterday to shore up weakening support in akey constituency -- the media -- by promising more news conferences if elected to the White House: Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said Tuesday he would hold news conferences at least once a month if elected in November. "I don't have anything to hide," he declared. ... President Bush, the man Kerry hopes to unseat in November, has held 12 formal news conferences since taking office, though he routinely has short question-and-answer sessions at White House photo opportunities. Of course, it's easy for Kerry to hold press conferences, given the broad range of responses he routinely gives on any issue. One could ask the Senator why he hasn't held many press conferences during his campaign, given this new commitment. After all, the media up to the convention had been his best friend, even if he kept shooting himself in...
With John Kerry constantly harping on the theme that George Bush hasn't yet implemented all of the recommendations in the weeks-old 9/11 Commission report, and with Bush himself promising to use executive orders to push them through quickly, one gets the impression of a broad consensus that these results are beyond question. However, at a public hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, several former national-security officers advised Congress to go slow and rethink the commission's conclusions: Former government officials told Congress on Wednesday not to rush to adopt all of the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. They expressed reservations about a key recommendation — creating a national director of intelligence — and questioned whether focusing on issues related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might worsen other problems that became apparent after the war in Iraq. The people urging caution aren't just Congressional staffers and low-level functionaries looking...
While so many of us are focused on elections and Islamofascist terrorists, many of our younger citizens await the next cinematic installment of the wildly popular fiction series that focuses on a battle between good and evil. Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire has been filming all summer without any indication who would portray the corporeal evil that haunts Harry and his friends, Lord Voldemort. At one point, practically every British actor who hadn't yet appeared in the series was rumored to have been cast in the role, including -- laughably -- Rowan Atkinson, better known as Mr. Bean. Now Warner Bros. has finally announced who will fill the robe of the character so evil that witches and wizards avoid speaking his name, a man whose very face inspires fear and dread. Ralph Fiennes? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has been named. Ralph Fiennes, who played memorable evil guys in "Red Dragon" and...
August 5, 2004
Pakistan's capture of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan continues to roll up both terrorists and their operational plans, as the AP reports this morning. Using the data recovered from Khan and Ahmed Ghailani, the UK has arrested a number of suspected Islamofascists based in part on surveillance data of Heathrow airport and other recovered data: Pakistan gave British authorities images of London's Heathrow Airport and other sites that were found on the computers of two arrested al-Qaida fugitives, intelligence officials said Thursday. ... Several news reports in Britain said that one of the suspects arrested in a sweep against militants late Tuesday, variously identified as Abu Eisa al-Hindi or Abu Musa al-Hindi, was believed to be a senior member of al-Qaida, and had been plotting an attack on Heathrow. Britain's Metropolitan Police refused to say whether al-Hindi was among those arrested, and Pakistani officials contacted by The Associated Press had no...
Today's editorial from the New York Times sets new lows for intellectual bankruptcy and is made largely irrelevant by Howard Dean going off his meds last night. The Times castigates the Bush administration for botching security alerts in a self-contradictory morass of insinuation and innuendo. It starts out by acknowledging the warnings this week were justified by the data at hand, but quickly goes downhill from there: The administration was obviously right to warn the country that Al Qaeda had apparently studied financial institutions in three cities with the idea of a possible attack. But the delivery of the message was confusing. The color-coded threat chart doesn't serve the purpose for which it was invented, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is hopeless as a public spokesman on this issue. The Bush administration needs to come up with a method of communication that informs the public in a calm, clear...
CQ reader and blogger Athena pointed out a report from Reuters which demomstrates the futility of relying on the United Nations as a genuine partner in the struggle against Islamofascist terrorism. A UN investigator has submitted a report claiming that terror fears are exaggerated in order to erode human rights: A United Nations investigator has called on governments to stop whipping up exaggerated fears of terrorism among their populations, in an apparent reference to the United States and Britain. And in implicit criticism of Russia and China, Greek Lawyer Kalliopi K. Koufa said in a report that the world community should be more alert to a growing trend to label as terrorists groups seeking to exercise the right of self-determination. Fear of terrorism "out of proportion to its actual risk and generated by states themselves or other actors" can be exploited to make people accept "counter-terrorism measures that unduly curtail...
August 6, 2004
In another significant development for the upcoming presidential campaign, the AP-Ipsos consumer-confidence survey returned its highest numbers of the year as more Americans trust that the economy has really rebounded and will continue its upward trajectory: Consumer confidence surged during the past month to its highest level since the beginning of the year, with Americans feeling better about their own finances and more optimistic about the future despite renewed terror threats and rising oil prices. Consumer confidence has been rising for the past four months as the economy has been on a solid path to recovery. The AP-Ipsos consumer confidence index climbed to 104.8 in August, up from 92.0 in July, led by consumers' perceptions of their own finances and optimism about the future. It's yet another sign that the Kerry/Edwards campaign of class warfare and economic pessimism has failed to capture the imagination of the electorate, which is experiencing...
Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr executed a flip-flop on his part-time insurgency again, this time within 24 hours, which has to be a record of some sort. The New York Times reports that less than a day after initiating armed insurrection -- again -- and getting the worst of the battle -- again -- Sadr appealed for a truce with Iraqi and American security forces ... again: The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr called for a national uprising against American and allied troops Thursday morning, then backed off near midnight after a day of fighting between his guerrillas and American and Iraqi forces. ... One American marine and several insurgents were killed in Najaf, where marines fought alongside Iraqi policemen and National Guard troops. At least a dozen more soldiers and dozens of insurgents were wounded in both Baghdad and Najaf, though exact casualty counts were unavailable late Thursday night....
The BBC reports this morning that an al-Qaeda suspect arrested by the British last year but released until this week carried detailed plans of US Navy battle group formations, allowing him to advise other terrorists how to evade American pickets at sea: Lawyers trying to extradite a British man to the US on terrorism charges have told a court he was found in possession of US naval intelligence. ... Details of US battleship formations in the Gulf had also been found during an earlier arrest, the court heard. British police had arrested Mr Ahmad, but released him without charge, in December 2003. Bow Street Magistrates' Court was told documents containing details of battleship formations and vulnerabilities were found near him during that arrest. Not only could that information aid AQ operations avoid detection by the American Navy, but also could have helped develop plans to attack the ships themselves. Many...
After the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth ad and book came out this week, the Kerry campaign (as well as the ever-helpful John McCain) demanded that the Bush/Cheney campaign "denounce" the hundreds of veterans who spoke their minds in "Unfit For Command". Instead, the Bush campaign has upped the ante, and the Kerry campaign can't afford to meet the bid: The White House yesterday distanced itself from a political ad that questions John Kerry's Vietnam service and called on the Democratic presidential nominee to join President Bush in demanding an "immediate cessation" of all advertisements by outside groups. "We have not and will not question Senator Kerry's service in Vietnam," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The president is calling for an immediate cessation to all the unregulated soft money activity." In one quick shot, the Democrats have their hypocrisy exposed. No one denounced...
Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan's friends and colleagues at al-Qaeda headquarters will be irate when they read that Khan decided to assist infidels in a sting operation after he was captured, leading to the string of AQ arrests worldwide: A high alert for U.S. financial institutions against a possible al Qaeda attack was also prompted by information gathered from the Pakistani computer engineer, according to intelligence and government sources. "After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," the source said. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz," he added. So much for honor amongst thieves! Computer hackers may be a different breed anyway, and AQ leadership may well decide to avoid using them in the future after getting burned in such a trite fashion. It...
John Kerry must have made major improvements in the past week in his secret plan to end the war. This morning, he told NPR that the Kerry/Edwards plan would "significantly reduce" American forces in Iraq within one year, rather than the four years he claimed as late as last weekend: On Iraq, Kerry lays out his plan to ease U.S. military involvement by increasing international involvement and appointing a high commissioner to act as a liaison with Iraq. "I believe that within a year from now we can significantly reduce American forces in Iraq," Kerry tells Inskeep. Edwards adds that Kerry's proposal to create a "fresh start" has the capacity "to convert this from an American occupation to an international presence helping the Iraqis provide for their own security." The NPR report does not report if Kerry provided any additional details on this plan, nor does it explain how he...
Rasmussen reports in its daily tracking poll that George Bush's approval numbers have risen to their highest point since before the Democratic convention, showing a remarkable resiliency and the ineffectiveness of the rehashed attacks on display at Fleet Center last week: Fifty-three percent (53%) of American voters say they approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Another 46% disapprove. The past three days represent the President's highest ratings since the Democratic National Convention began. In fact, today's reading is the highest in over a month. Bush has reached the 53% Approval level just three times since mid-May. Among those who work in the private sector, 58% give the President their Approval. Just 49% of government employees do the same. Among those who are retired, Bush earns a 51% Approval rating. As one might expect, Bush's approval rating dropped for a period of time after...
August 7, 2004
The AP reports on a piece of human effluvia that produced a video of himself being beheaded in order to deliberately hoax the world into thinking that Islamofascists has brutally murdered another hostage. Why? To protest Islamofascism? No. To protest the war? No. Surely it couldn't be just to get himself some world attention? BINGO! And guess where he lives: The American, Benjamin Vanderford, reached by The Associated Press in San Francisco, said he videotaped the staged beheading at his friend's house using fake blood. Vanderford, 22, said he began distributing the video on the Internet months ago in hopes of drawing attention to his one-time campaign for city supervisor. When his political aspirations waned, he thought the video would serve as social commentary. "It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now," Vanderford said. "I did this for a couple of reasons. One is...
The director of the Democratic Party's two-week-old effort at "religious outreach" resigned yesterday in an effort to quell mounting criticism at her selection after filing an amicus brief supporting the removal of the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance: The director of religious outreach for the Democratic Party says she resigned this week because of criticism over her support for removing the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. The Democratic National Committee is seeking a replacement for the Rev. Brenda Bartella Peterson, who resigned Wednesday after serving less than two weeks in the newly created position. DNC spokesman Jano Cabrera said the party had nothing more to add to her resignation statement. ... On Wednesday, Peterson resigned and cited "recent negative publicity" from the amicus brief in the pledge case that she and 31 other members of the clergy signed. Tone-deafness abounds at the DNC. Did...
George Bush struck all the right notes in his campaign appearance yesterday in New Hampshire, a state in which he and John Kerry remain deadlocked. In addressing the crowd about removing Saddam Hussein from power, Bush challenged Kerry to make up his mind about the fight against terrorism instead of trying to have it both ways: President Bush challenged Democratic rival John Kerry on Friday to give a yes-or-no answer about whether he would have supported the invasion of Iraq "knowing what we know now" about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. "I have given my answer," Bush told a cheering crowd. "We did the right thing and the world is better off for it." ... Bush also said Kerry's criticism of his Iraq policies merely shows the Democrat doesn't understand who America is up against. "My opponent said something the other day I strongly disagree with -...
Our Northern Alliance Radio Network will be streaming again to the world this afternoon, noon to 3 PM CT, at this link (requires Microsoft IE). Last week's issues have been resolved -- we hope -- and we're back in the studio again for today's show. Be sure to tune us in at the link and let us know what you think!...