May 1, 2005
The Guardian (UK) reports that Jacques Chirac has made some progress in turning around what would have been a devastating loss in the upcoming plebescite to approve the new EU constitution. Polling now indicates that the French favor the constitution by a slim but unstable margin, with many who now support it saying they may change their minds: Opinion polls out this weekend show for the first time that a majority of French people intend to vote in favour of the European draft constitution next month. The two surveys, carried out for Le Monde and the Journal du Dimanche, found that 52 per cent supported the draft constitution and 48 per cent opposed it. But a large proportion said they might still change their minds ahead of the 29 May referendum - 24 per cent in the Le Monde poll and 30 per cent in the other survey. However, with...
Jack Kelly of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette makes the argument that the GOP has lost political momentum through the lackadaisical effort of its legislative caucuses, especially in the Senate, since the elections last year. Kelly writes that a lack of effort and basic competence in the Republican leadership has allowed the Democrats to bounce back from their stunning defeats, assisted by an ever-willing Exempt Media: Democrats may have been waxed at the polls last November, but they're running rings around Republicans in the public relations battles so far this year. Consider: * Polls indicate a majority of Americans agree with President Bush that reform of Social Security is needed, and about half of Americans favor his plan to permit workers to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts. But in the most recent poll (taken for CBS April 13-16), only 25 percent of respondents indicated they...
The degradation of the United Nations continues apace under the moral authority of the Kofi Annan administration. The AP reports that UN peacekeepers sexually exploited Liberian women and children in the same pattern as they did in Congo and several of the other UN assignments: UN peacekeepers sexually abused and exploited local women and girls in Liberia and more accusations are expected, a UN spokesman said Friday. ... "The allegations range from the exchange of goods, money or services for sex to the sexual exploitation of minors. The peacekeeping department here in New York as well as the mission on the ground are taking appropriate follow-up action," he said. A UN official speaking on condition of anonymity said the number of allegations could eventually total 20. The head of the mission in Liberia, Jacques Paul Klein, is to step down when his contract expires at the end of the month,...
As further evidence of the Left's efforts to chase the religious from all public debate, a conclave of secular humanists and Leftists have gathered in New York to strategize on the further marginalization of religious belief, issuing dire warnings of the impending secular Apocalypse by theistic Anti-Christs. The Washington Post reports that Democratic politicians, People for the American Way, and assorted anti-religious groups have assembled to hiss at pictures of Bill Frist, among other activities: Secular humanists and leftist activists convened here over the weekend to strategize how to counter what they contend is a growing political threat from Christian conservatives. Understanding and answering the "religious far right" that propelled President Bush's re-election is key to preventing a "theocracy" from governing the nation, speakers argued at a weekend conference. "The religious right now has an unprecedented influence on American politics and policy," said Ralph White, co-founder of the Open Center,...
Michelle Malkin is rightly outraged over a leak that has exposed the names of American servicemen in Iraq involved in the Giuliana Sgrena incident, and much more. The PDF file has been published by the Italian media, and lists not just the names of the men cleared in the accidental death of Nicola Calipari, but also the following strategic information: * An itemization of IEDs and VBIEDs deployment techniques which have been most effective, * An analysis of the tactical strengths and weaknesses of specific checkpoints along "Route Irish", * Combat readiness assesment of the units and soldiers involved, * A detailed description of how the checkpoint is laid out, * Exact grid locations of various assets. * Details of how checkpoint searches are set up and executed * Details of how checkpoints are expected to deal with approaching vehicles, including threat assesment methods. * A statistical analysis of "normal"...
Earlier today, alert CQ readers noted an exchange on Fox News Sunday between Juan Williams and Bill Kristol on the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown. A complete transcript is not yet available, but this partial Google Video transcript will demonstrate the ludicrous lengths to which the Left will go towards smearing respected jurists with false charges in order to convince people that they are "extremists": JW: The second point to be made here is, Bill, If they had a real debate about people like Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers brown, the American people would say these folks are too extreme. Even republicans have said that in the case of Priscilla Owen and her rulings in Texas -- BK: Which Republican was that? JW: In fact, a majority of -- BK: Wrong, wrong, dead wrong. His testimony, his recent testimony on the hill -- JW: He said he didn't mean what...
May 2, 2005
For those who have noticed that the daily Day by Day cartoon has stopped displaying on the site, this hiatus is only temporary. I am rearranging some elements of the site in order to improve load times and add a new sponsorship slot. DBD will likely appear at the top of the left column later tonight. In the meantime, please be sure to visit Chris Muir's site to catch up to Damon, Jan, Sam, and Zed and their latest hilarious and timely commentary on current events....
After new polling emerged showing that Liberals have rebounded significantly from the initial Adscam revelations, a Tory MP from the Liberal stronghold of Ontario has announced his preference to delay new elections, throwing the upcoming no-confidence vote into doubt: Cracks appeared yesterday in the Conservative Party's plan to topple the Liberal government at the earliest opportunity as several leading Tory parliamentarians insisted the decision isn't final and one central Ontario MP said a vote should be delayed. "I've said for a while that I don't think we should be going to an election right now," said Larry Miller, the Tory MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, in a radio interview Saturday. "Ultimately the choice will be out of our hands, but that's what the majority have said here and that's what I'll take back [to caucus]." The interview, aired by CKNX-FM in Wingham, Ont., was immediately seized upon by the Liberals as...
Italian investigators working with Americans on the shooting that left commando Nicola Calipari dead and Giuliana Sgrena wounded will present a rebuttal to the American report that they released yesterday without proper redaction, which the BBC reports will challenge American conclusions about the nature of the incident. The Italians plan on disputing earlier contentions that Italy kept Calipari's mission a secret and a key issue of the timing of the warnings: Correspondents say the Italian report will reply point by point to the Pentagon inquiry, which recommended that no disciplinary action be taken against the soldiers involved in Calipari's death. ... Italy says at least three troops opened fire on the car taking freed hostage Giuliana Sgrena to Baghdad airport with Calipari and a second Italian intelligent agent. Italian newspapers say an Italian reconstruction of events show the US authorities were informed of the operation to release Sgrena several hours...
Proving that not all hyperbolic idiots occupy the left side of the political spectrum, Pat Robertson returned political stupidity to a fair and balanced position by proclaiming American federal justices as a greater danger to the US than the murderous terrorists who killed over 3,000 people on 9/11: "Over 100 years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings," Robertson said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." ... Confronted by Stephanopoulos on his claims that an out-of-control liberal judiciary is the worst threat America has faced in 400 years - worse than Nazi Germany, Japan and the Civil War - Robertson didn't back down. "Yes, I really believe that," he said. "I think they are destroying the fabric that holds our nation together." I don't care what side Robertson supports --...
Requests for delays on trials for Jean Brault and Chuck Guité may result in the lifting of the publication ban currently in place for Guité's testimony. Lawyers for the two key Adscam figures requested continuances until September to prepare their defenses, with Justice Gomery due to rule on releasing embargoed testimony tomorrow or Wednesday: Lawyers for Jean Brault and Chuck Guité have requested that their clients' joint trial on fraud and conspiracy charges be delayed until September. Jury selection is currently scheduled for June 6 but lawyers for the two men say the sponsorship inquiry will still be sitting at that time. A judge will decide Wednesday whether to grant the request. Just as before, the proximity of the criminal trial provided one of the key rationales for Gomery's publication ban. He based the blackout for Canadian citizens on the notion that with a trial so close to the inquiry...
The Exempt Media has decided to take another whack at bloggers and the exercise of free speech, this time in the Washington Post. Brian Faler writes in tomorrow's edition about the upcoming Congressional action exempting bloggers from the FEC's upcoming Internet regulations, and his article heavily emphasizes the notion that bloggers can serve as Trojan horses for political campaigns: The FEC requires candidates to disclose their expenditures, including any payments to bloggers, in periodic reports to the government. Some bloggers also disclose their financial relationships with candidates, but they are not obliged to reveal those payments, and the agency recently said it is not proposing requiring them to do so. Some election law experts want the FEC to reverse that policy, saying it gives campaigns the opportunity to use ostensibly independent blogs as fronts to create the illusion of grass-roots support, mount attacks on their opponents and disseminate information to...
Stephen Harper came out of a Conservative caucus meeting tonight vowing to table a no-confidence motion as soon as possible, adding that the Tory caucus had unanimously backed his strategy: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper emerged from a caucus meeting late Monday night, saying his party cannot support the government and that a vote of confidence should take place as soon as possible. Harper called the decision "unanimous," declaring that his party remains committed to defeating a Liberal government "mired" in corruption scandals. "It is also apparent that the Liberal party does not today have the support of the majority of members of the House of Commons," he said. "It should face the House of Commons in a vote at the earliest possible opportunity." Harper had a number of difficulties in getting to the point where a no-confidence vote could be introduced, and he's not there yet. Earlier, of course, the...
May 3, 2005
The attempt to ensnare House Majority Whip Tom DeLay in ethics violations may be backfiring on House Democrats, whose own ethical closets have a skeleton or two making an appearance. Two Democratic Congressmen have accepted travel money from the same lobbyist that involved one of DeLay's aides, and now Democratic outrage has given way to a series of rationalizations: At least two aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and two Democratic congressmen received travel expenses initially paid by lobbyist Jack Abramoff on his credit card or by his firm, internal records of the lobbying firm show. Longtime House ethics rules that applied to the 1996 and 1997 trips to the Northern Mariana Islands have strictly prohibited lawmakers and their staffs from accepting any congressional trips from lobbyists or their firms. DeLay's office and one of the lawmakers, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said they had no knowledge that Abramoff or...
The Washington Post publishes an odd obituary today on the suicide death of Edward von Kloberg III, a lobbyist who relished working for some of the twentieth century's worst leaders and most bloodthirsty tyrants. Kloberg jumped to his death two days ago in Rome, leaving behind a lengthy suicide note and apparently a town fascinated by his appalling line of work: As part of Washington's image machinery for more than two decades, Edward von Kloberg III did his best to sanitize some of the late 20th century's most notorious dictators as they sought favors and approval from U.S. officials. A legend of sorts in public relations circles, he counted as clients Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Samuel K. Doe of Liberia; Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania; the military regime in Burma; Guatemalan businessmen who supported the country's murderous, military-backed government; Mobutu Sese Seko of the former Zaire; and, in a figurative coup...
I have received a number of e-mails questioning why I am not posting testimony that is subject to the publication ban. I have explained this in previous posts, but the number of these e-mailed queries appears to be increasing, which demonstrates pretty clearly that Canadians have reached a high level of frustration with Justice Gomery's blackouts. I am not in Canada, and I am not attending the hearings. I do not have firsthand access to the testimony. I did have a source for that kind of access during the Jean Brault testimony, but that source has since stopped sending that material. I do not know whether he/she feels as though the Canadian government had tracked them down and need to be much more discreet, or whether they just don't have access to the testimony any more. I have yet to find another source -- but if I can find one...
A Conservative MP with the memorable name Inky Mark claims that the new Liberal survival strategy will rely on buying Tory MPs in order to undermine Stephen Harper. Mark told the Canadian media in several interviews that the Grits attempted to induce him to switch parties in exchange for an appointment to the foreign service or to the Senate: Conservative MP Inky Mark says the Liberal party is trying to woo him by offering him an ambassadorship or Senate position. Mr. Mark said in several interviews Tuesday that he was approached by an unnamed cabinet minister who offered him a position in a phone call last Friday. "The suggestion was that well, maybe, well, there must be something that I want, right?" Mr. Mark said in an interview with CBC Newsworld Tuesday in Ottawa. "The minister said this?" the reporter asked him. "The minister said that. Perhaps I would like...
The American military has seized a letter intended for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi which chastises the terrorist leader of the Iraqi "insurgency" for huge failures and plummeting morale of the jihadis. The letter, written by another al-Qaeda figure, starts by greeting Zarqawi respectfully but quickly dresses him down for poor performance: The letter -- which never refers to al-Zarqawi by name -- is written to Sheik Abu Ahmad, a name not known to be used by the militant leader or his followers. But supporters often call al-Zarqawi the Sheik or Sheik Abu Musab in letters and on Web sites. "What has happened to myself and my brothers is an unforgivable crime, but God will punish the oppressor," the letter reads. "I swear by God that you will be asked about what happened to us because you have not asked about the situation of the migrants. Morale is down and there is...
Twenty-five years ago this week, Saddam Hussein first tested the mettle and will of the West by covertly launching a terrorist attack against an Iranian embassy in London, ostensibly by Iranian rebels against the Ayatollah Khomeini. Six terrorists took over the embassy at Princes Gate on April 30, 1980, touching off a six-day standoff that ended after the crack British commando squad SAS saved all but two of the hostages and killed all but one of the terrorists. The Scotsman publishes a retrospective today of Operation Nimrod, the rescue plan which the SAS implemented almost flawlessly and which still remains one of the most successful counterterrorist operations ever. Michael Howie spoke with operation designed Clive Fairweather to review the politics involved, both before and after, and the effect that Saddam's attack and the SAS response had on global politics. A number of aspects of the Princes Gate attack continue to...
Hugh Hewitt noted the case of Amanda Twellman-Dieppa, a young woman facing a terminal cancer diagnosis after suffering since her teen years through extensive chemotherapy and radiation. She has tried everything to beat the cancer but has not been lucky enough to be successful. Her family has discovered that a New Jersey pharmaceutical company, Medarex, is developing a new drug (MDX-060) that targets lymphoma receptor CD30, which might help Amanda survive her cancer and take up her active lifestyle once again. Medarex, however, initially refused to provide MDX-060 to Amanda, as it still is going through trials and is considered experimental. The company has made it through Phase II FDA trials, however, and the FDA would allow emergency use for the drug as long as Medarex agreed to its use. The drug was between trials, and told Amanda to wait for the next trial, which was supposedly a few weeks...
May 4, 2005
It isn't often that one reads an endorsement of George Bush's foreign policy in the pages of the British left-wing newspaper The Guardian, even with a string of caveats and wait-and-see admonitions. Today, however, the Guardian runs an opinion piece by Max Hastings warning the British Left that dismissing the efforts of Bush and the so-called neocons on transforming the Middle East risks ignoring the real progress that has been made: The greatest danger for those of us who dislike George Bush is that our instincts may tip over into a desire to see his foreign policy objectives fail. No reasonable person can oppose the president's commitment to Islamic democracy. Most western Bushophobes are motivated not by dissent about objectives, but by a belief that the Washington neocons' methods are crass, and more likely to escalate a confrontation between the west and Islam than to defuse it. Such scepticism, however,...
There are times when one has to feel a bit of sympathy for Vladimir Putin. The beleagured Russian president scored a diplomatic triumph when he successfully arranged to have George Bush and other world leaders visit Moscow for the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the European phase of World War II this week. However, Bush has changed the itinerary for his travel to include visits to former Soviet republics Georgia and Latvia to celebrate the democracy movements flourishing on Russia's border, and Bush can claim that Putin practically forced him to do so: President Bush's attendance, by the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin, at next week's Red Square parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe is meant to recall the great wartime alliance that defeated Nazi Germany. It's a coup for Putin. But Bush is making stops on the way to...
The Pakistanis arrested a senior al-Qaeda leader who not only ran the terrorist network in Pakistan but also allegedly masterminded two assassination attempts on Pervez Musharraf. Abu Farraj al-Libbi has been held for several days by security forces, who held off on announcing his arrest until this morning: Pakistani security forces have arrested the al Qaeda mastermind who planned assassination attempts against President Pervez Musharraf, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday. ... Al-Libbi, a native of Libya who authorities say is a close associate of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden and acted as al Qaeda's operational chief in Pakistan, was arrested earlier this week, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press. ... Al-Libbi is accused of masterminding two bombings against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003. The military leader escaped injury but 17 others were killed in one of the attacks. He is accused of...
Iraqi security forces captured Saddam's nephew over the last few days near Tikrit, where he had been financing and directing the ex-Ba'athist insurgency. Ayman Sabawi is the son of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, the captured half-brother of Saddam who wound up in Iraqi hands after Syria turned him over to Baghdad. Sabawi himself has been a naughty boy. He and a contingent of his fellow dead-enders got caught red-handed with a cache of arms, apparently trying to carry on the work of his father and uncle. No word on whether he holed up in an unusued latrine hole like Uncle Saddam before surrendering to the countrymen he tried so desperately to kill in increasingly cowardly ways....
After spending weeks screeching about the alleged ethical abuses of Republican Whip Tom DeLay, Congressional Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi suddenly came down with a case of laryngitis when several Democrats were found to have the same problems as DeLay in their travel arrangements. The GOP now wants Pelosi to back the same investigations for these Democrats as she demanded for DeLay, and calls her silence "hypocritical": House Republicans called Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a hypocrite yesterday for not demanding investigations into new ethics questions that have arisen about the travel of her fellow Democrats. "She demanded an investigation into [Majority Leader] Tom DeLay, but hasn't said a word about these Democrats who have done the same thing," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican. "If she doesn't call for investigations into her fellow Democrats, then it's clear she's being a hypocrite." Republicans are wondering why the California representative won't...
Thanks to a new source, I have received an extensive amount of the testimony given by Chuck Guité last Thursday and Friday under the publication ban. This testimony will take me hours to review for content, so please bear with me. I will start posting excerpts and analyses of what I've read tonight, when I have some time to properly review the material. Keep checking back here for updates....
Here's a taste of what one can expect to read now that the publication ban has been lifted on Chuck Guité's testimony, just minutes after I received a good deal of it from a covert source. (UPDATE: The ban is back in place now.) Guité testified about the purchase of Vickers & Benson by American interests and how the buyers had concerns about maintaining the government revenue streams that existed at the time. Guité acknowledged that the contracts meant millions of dollars to V&B and that without some sort of guarantee, the sale might fall through. Guité knew who to call-- Alfonse Gagliano, who possibly reached out to Paul Martin: CG: And then, not to take too much time, the same applies as we talked about this morning; there has to be a Canadian entity within V&B to maintain that. So I met with the V&B people. I discussed it...
With the publication ban mostly lifted on Chuck Guité's testimony at the Gomery Inquiry after a dizzying series of judicial rulings this afternoon, the only question that remains is what has been withheld from the public. After spending a few hours working through the first two days of testimony, it appears that the only part of Guité's testimony still subject to the ban involves a personal loan given to the lobbyist by Groupaction and Jean Brault. In fact, although the repayment came due in April 2002, Guité never paid it back -- and he continued to invoice Groupaction for his work. This strange arrangement caught the attention of the inquiry: MR. ROY: Okay. On April 19, 2001, you borrowed a sum of $25,000 from a company owned by Groupaction, or a part of the Groupaction Group of Companies called Alexsim Inc. Société Immobilière, and I am referring now to pages...
I'd love to post more tonight, but my Toshiba Satellite laptop has decided to start shutting itself down every hour or so, making detailed research into the Gomery testimony almost impossible. I have an extended warranty on it, but that would require me to send it in for repairs, and it would likely take three or four weeks to get it back. I haven't been terribly enamored of this machine since I bought it, and I'm liking it less and less as I go along. I'll have to get back to working on it tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be watching The Last Of The Mohicans, the terrific 1992 Daniel Day-Lewis version with one of the best film scores ever. I may have more access to the redacted Guité testimony by then. If not, I'll continue to work on some of the more interesting, unreported aspects of his testimony instead....
May 5, 2005
For those who keep thinking that the Mahmoud Abbas era of Palestinian politics has anything new to offer, the news keeps offering one rebuttal after another. Reuters reports today that key Palestinian Authority security figures have no intention of disarming terrorists within Gaza or the West Bank, despite the roadmap initiatives for peace and any pledges made by Abbas to the Israelis: The Palestinian Authority reiterated Wednesday it had no intention of disarming militants despite constant Israeli calls for such a move and a recent pledge to crack down on unlicensed weapons. The announcement came amid growing friction between armed factions and security forces following the arrest of two Hamas men after a gunfight Monday night. The militants were accused of planning to attack Israel in defiance of a cease-fire. "We have no intention of withdrawing arms of resistance," Rashid Abu Shbak, the head of the internal Preventive Security Service,...
An upcoming biography of Frank Sinatra includes recollections from Jerry Lewis that appears to confirm the rumors of Sinatra's involvement in Mafia business. The Guardian (UK) reports that Lewis offers an anecdote revealing that Sinatra nearly got caught while muling $3.5 million through New York customs in the 1940s: In an interview for a new biography of Sinatra, Lewis is quoted as saying of the Rat Pack member: "He volunteered to be a messenger for them. And he almost got caught once ... in New York." As he passed through customs, Lewis says, Sinatra was stopped by officials who started to open the suitcase he was carrying. Inside, says Lewis, were notes to the value of "three and a half million in 50s". But the customs officers were distracted by the crowds of people trying to catch a glimpse of the singer and aborted their search. Had they not, claims...
To emphasize a point I made earlier today, the AP reports that Palestinians have begun voting in municipal elections across most of the territories today -- and are expected to deal the so-called moderates of Fatah a blow. Election observers expect a big mandate for Hamas, and even PA president Mahmoud Abbas tried to cut a deal with the terror organization to delay mid-summer parliamentary elections in the face of withering public support for Fatah: Palestinians voted for local governments in dozens of towns and villages across the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday in a contest that is expected to boost the Islamic militant group Hamas and could foreshadow results of parliamentary elections in July. The ruling Fatah party of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, plagued by allegations of corruption after 10 years in power, is increasingly concerned Hamas will rout it in local voting and in the...
The Globe and Mail reports today that Liberal Party activists channeled over $300,000 in illegal cash drawn from Adscam sources into electoral efforts in Quebec. An upcoming Gomery witness has indicated that the money came from Chrétien crony Jacques Corriveau, a familiar power broker in the Sponsorship Program scandal: Senior Liberal organizers allegedly showered about $300,000 in cash on Quebec ridings held by the opposition during the 1997 federal election campaign, The Globe and Mail has learned. Michel Béliveau, a close supporter of former prime minister Jean Chrétien, made the allegation in preliminary interviews with members of the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship program. Mr. Béliveau is scheduled to testify today about allegedly receiving the cash from Jacques Corriveau, another Liberal supporter and close friend of Mr. Chrétien, who got millions through the sponsorship program in the 1990s. The testimony would be the first by a Liberal official describing illicit...
May 6, 2005
The Liberals may not leave office willingly if a no-confidence vote tied to a budget amendment succeeds, according to Liberal House leader Tony Valeri. The Globe and Mail reports that the Liberals intend on arguing that a failure on a budgetary procedural motion cannot equate to a no-confidence motion, making it more difficult for the Conservatives to bring down Paul Martin's government: The House of Commons will vote within two weeks on a motion calling on the government to resign after the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled against Liberal attempts to scuttle the vote. But government House Leader Tony Valeri announced the Liberals would not call an election should they lose that vote, because they don't consider it one of confidence. That move was greeted with anger by the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois. Conservative House Leader Jay Hill raised the spectre of involving Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson, saying...
It didn't exactly equate to smooth sailing, but Tony Blair can enjoy a glass of champagne in celebration of his third consecutive term as Prime Minister today after securing a majority win for his Labour Party. While the Conservatives ate into that majority by creating a swing of almost a hundred seats, Blair still has a significant margin of 66 seats despite worries that the Iraq War might force Labour to govern from a minority. Blair focused on the positive as he announced his intention to form the new government: Tony Blair has said that he has "listened" to the British public and has a clear idea of what they want for Labour's historic third term in power. Mr Blair spoke outside Number 10 after visiting Buckingham Palace, where the Queen asked him to form a new Government, following the election victory. ... "The Queen has asked me to form...
Michelle Malkin has been following the case of Larry Franklin, who had been accused of stealing classified information on Iran from his post at the Office of Special Plans and passing it to AIPAC, a pro-Israeli group. This case has received little fanfare from the media and the blogosphere, probably in part because of the Sandy Berger case and the strange unwillingness on the part of the government to aggressively pursue Berger's violations, especially before the election. However, Michelle points out a Newsday report from yesterday which shows why the Franklin case should be making more of a splash. It turns out that not only was the material classified, it actually had one of the highest possible classifications -- Top Secret/Compartmentalized, also known as Codeword classification, meaning that the information directly impacts the national security of the United States: An analyst in a controversial Pentagon intelligence office was charged yesterday...
Sometimes I have all the luck ... After getting a good amount of feedback on my laptop problems, as well as reading through some similar issues over at Dean Esmay's, I was able to determine a couple of things about my Toshiba Satellite laptop: 1. An earlier model of the Satellite (the 5005) had almost exactly the same problems as my A65 -- overheating, shutdowns, and slow response from the processor which gets increasingly worse over time. In that case, Toshiba settled a class-action suit from Satellite 5005 owners by giving them $500 each, or a $1500 credit from Toshiba Direct if they returned their computers to Toshiba. Unfortunately, that does not apply to the A65. 2. Toshiba didn't learn much from that costly debacle, if their design of the A65 is any indication, considering my current laptop is a replacement of the defective model I first bought. 3. Like...
Michel Béliveau continues his testimony at the Gomery Inquiry today, and it looks like Béliveau may be taking one for the team. Despite testifying that two prominent Adscam operatives had been suspected of running illegal fundraisers by Liberal Party leadership, Béliveau claims that the $300,000 spent from illicit Sponsorship Program money is his responsibility alone: On Thursday, Mr. Béliveau told the Gomery inquiry how he dealt with the party's financial emergencies by asking for more than $300,000 in cash from people connected to the sponsorship program. Mr. Béliveau is the first party official to back up in testimony claims that illicit cash payments were used to cover party expenses while Mr. Chrétien was prime minister. A jittery Mr. Béliveau acted repentant and insisted he acted alone and never informed other Liberal officials. "It was me and no one else. I'm taking the responsibility." In every political scandal, one person usually...
If you missed Hugh Hewitt's show last night, you missed one of the funniest and strangely compelling endings to a radio broadcast ever. Hugh broadcast his show from Disneyland yesterday as the granddaddy of theme parks celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. Despite being the best political talk show on radio, Hugh likes to spice it up occasionally by switching to fun locales and covering cultural topics -- and when he does, you can expect him to come up with a way to torture his producer, Generalissimo Duane, in some novel and hilarious way ... hilarious to us, of course. This time, Hugh came up with the fabulous idea of sending Duane through the slow-boat ride, It's A Small World. Those of us who have been to Disneyland on multiple occasions -- I grew up in nearby Cerritos and literally lived next door to it for two periods of my...
Has Harry Reid gotten nervous about the upcoming confrontation on judicial confirmations? The AP's David Espo reports that Reid has privately told Republican Senators that he does not plan on endorsing filibusters on Supreme Court nominees except under "extreme" circumstances: Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has privately told individual Republicans he doesn't intend to block votes on any Supreme Court nominees except in extreme cases, according to officials familiar with the conversations. At the same time, Reid has declined in private — as well as in public — to offer the type of firm no-filibuster assurance that might help him prevail over Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. in a struggle over President Bush's conservative court appointments and rules covering future confirmations. ... "I can never say there will never be a filibuster because I cannot say that," he said recently on the Senate floor. "But I don't think this Senate...
As if the Democrats couldn't look more foolish than they already have this session, now Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has taken to calling George Bush names while the President represents the US at World War II memorials around Europe. Reid called Bush a "loser", in what has to be the oddest case of projection so far this year: In the course of a discussion on filibusters and Senate rules, Washington's top Democrat gave the 60 juniors a lesson in partisan politics, particularly about the commander in chief. "The man's father is a wonderful human being," Reid said in response to a question about President Bush's policies. "I think this guy is a loser. "I think President Bush is doing a bad job," he added to a handful of chuckles. He's a loser, eh? Let's take stock: A. He beat an incumbent VP for a popular President after two terms...
The city of St. Paul lost one of its heroes early this morning when Sgt. Gerald Vick, a two-time Medal of Valor recipient, died in a hail of gunfire while protecting the citizens of our state's capitol. Police have two suspects in custody: Police said Antonio Alexander Kelly, 27, and Harry Jerome Evans, 32, were being held on probable cause in the shooting of Sgt. Jerry Vick, which happened across the street from Erick's bar about 2:20 a.m. St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington announced the arrests at 12:10 p.m., saying Kelly was arrested at 3:30 a.m. and Evans was arrested at 10:15 a.m. Evans was covered with mud and appeared to have been hiding. Vick, a member of the department's vice squad, was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Harrington said. Vick had been shot in an alley near 7th and Forest Streets after exchanging shots with...
The fallout from the retreat of Britain's Labour Party from its previously unassailable majority has implications for Northern Ireland and the Good Friday agreement that has kept the Troubles at bay. Tony Blair's political dominance had kept Northern Irish politics firmly fixed on the center, where moderate Unionists governed with some cooperation from moderate Republicans and kept the extremists relegated to the fringes. However, the British election resulted in a reversal, with the moderate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) losing all but one of its seats. The anti-agreement Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by radical Ian Paisley picked up three of the seats, while the moderate republican SDLP took over the South Belfast UUP seat, the first time a republican has represented that district: The Ulster Unionist party was in meltdown last night after its leader, David Trimble, lost his seat to Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionist party and what was...
May 7, 2005
I normally avoid reading Maureen Dowd with the same enthusiasm I avoid reading junk mail; typically, one learns nothing and the entire exercise only annoys the reader. Once in a while, in a fit of masochism, I check out her latest rant just to see whether she's improved at all. If today's column gives any indication, Dowd may actually be getting worse with time. Today's screed manages to be racist, condescending, and just flat-out foolish all at once, with a dash of self-congratulatory classical references thrown in for good measure. Dowd starts off by writing about chimeras -- cross-bred animals that bioengineers have created in labs as part of cloning research -- and manages to transform the subject into a hysterical rant about the coming theocracy. First, though, Dowd has to show off a little about her grasp of Greek mythology: I've seen just about every werewolf, Dracula and mermaid...
Someone should tell John Kerry that the election is over. Today's New York Times has a profile of the erstwhile candidate, turning around a moribund and singularly unaccomplished 20-year Senate career by pushing a new government program of health insurance for kids in our St. Paul back yard. The reason for this sudden interest in legislation -- Kerry notoriously only has six pieces of legislation to his name after two decades in Congress -- is rather obvious to everyone, even Sheryl Stolberg: More than an ordinary senator, less than a presidential nominee, Mr. Kerry is a politician betwixt and between. He has more than $8 million in the bank and an e-mail list of three million supporters, yet must still prove himself to fellow Democrats, keeping his presidential prospects alive even as he insists it is too soon to talk about 2008. Mr. Kerry has made children's health care his...
While Mahmoud Abbas talks about Israeli provocations and his Gaza security chief refuses to disarm the terrorists, the Palestinians themselves have taken their cues and acted accordingly. This morning, Palestinians shot an anti-tank missile at a school bus full of children in a Gaza settlement: Palestinians on Friday morning fired an anti-tank rocket on Friday morning at school bus carrying children outside the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom, shaking the fragile lull in violence. The rocket failed to hit the bus. A mortar shell also hit a Gush Katif settlement. No damage or casualties were reported in either case. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four Qassam rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot predawn Friday. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that several people had been treated for shock. Soon we will hear the usual excuses from the Palestinians. The attackers were from Islamic...
In the excitement of the banned Guité testimony coming to light, I missed another significant piece of testimony in the Gomery Inquiry. Serge Gosselin, a Liberal Party pollster, testified that Chrétien crony Jacques Corriveau paid him directly for his work on behalf of the party and had no idea that Corriveau kept the payments off the books: A federal Liberal pollster and researcher was paid more than $60,000 by a friend of Jean Chretien for partisan activities, including work during the 2000 election campaign, the sponsorship inquiry was told Thursday. Serge Gosselin, one-time aide to unity minister Stephane Dion, said he vetted campaign billboards and other material on behalf of Jacques Corriveau. Gosselin was told by inquiry counsel Guy Cournoyer there's no evidence Pluri Design, Corriveau's company, ever passed the bill on to the Liberals for the work. "Are you surprised to find that for services of an essentially political...
The Cedar Revolution either gained a large amount of credibility or a giant headache this morning as exiled resistance leader Michel Aoun returned to Lebanon for the first time since Syria forced him to flee in 1990. Aoun wants to run for office in the newly-freed country, describing himself as the "grandfather, father and son" of the democracy movement: Exiled Lebanese opposition leader Michel Aoun has arrived in his homeland for the first time in 14 years. The anti-Syrian former prime minister's chartered flight from France touched down in Beirut at 1400 GMT. He is due to address crowds at a mass rally celebrating his homecoming in the capital's Martyrs Square. Mr Aoun, 70, a Christian hardliner, was expelled from Lebanon in 1991 after failing in his attempt to end Syria's military presence. Aoun didn't exactly represent unfettered democracy during his tenure as Prime Minister. He tried to retain Christian...
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be broadcasting live from White Bear Lake Superstore this afternoon from noon to 3 pm, in another of our series of live remotes at this terrific sponsor. If you're in the area, come on down to visit us, and maybe find a great deal on a new set of wheels while you're there. If you're outside of the Twin Cities, you can find our Internet stream at AM 1280 The Patriot's site. Call us at 651-289-4488 if you want to join the conversation. Today's second-hour guest will be Brian Anderson, author of South Park Conservatives. It's a provocative book making a big splash in the punditry this month, and Brian has plenty to tell us about the future of politics based on his research. Stay tuned!...
May 8, 2005
Yesterday, Charles Schumer called on President Bush to dial down the rhetoric of the people opposing the Democrats' use of the filibuster, claiming that "harsh language" undermines the political process: In his radio appeal, Schumer sought to draw Bush more directly into the fray by urging the president to denounce some conservatives who have used harsh language to criticize the Democrats. "I am making a heartfelt plea to you, Mr. President. When you came to Washington, you said you wanted to change the climate in D.C.," Schumer said. "Those stating these abhorrent views count themselves as your political allies. One word from you will bring a halt to these un-American statements. That would be a way to strengthen democracy here at home." The senator referred generally to some activists comparing judges to the Ku Klux Klan and terrorists. The same AP report by Devlin Barrett notes that the Democrats started...
Vladimir Putin made an offer to the former Soviet republics to return to the Commonwealth of Independent States, the confederation that took the place of the USSR when the Communists lost control of Russia and its republics gained their independence. Putin used the celebration of its victory over Nazi Germany to argue for greater collaboration between Russia and its neighbors, but the lessons of the sixty years since V-E Day shows these nascent democracies the wisdom of keeping Moscow at arm's length: Russian President Vladimir Putin told leaders of the troubled Commonwealth of Independent States on Sunday that their grouping of ex-Soviet republics remained relevant today and urged them to defend its existence. At a summit held the day before commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, Putin said the grouping of 12 out of the 15 former Soviet republics had a key role in combatting...
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has desperately looked for ways to fend off a call for elections, trying to delay all efforts to remove the Liberal government for its massive embezzlement and electoral-fraud scheme in Adscam. Last week he cut a deal with NDP leader Jack Layton to take $4.6 billion more in taxes from Canadians and redirect them to NDP's legislative priorities. Now the price tag for Martin's continuing political career has gone past the $10 billion mark, as Martin cut a deal with Ontario to send $5.7 billion over the next five years to the Liberal power base he so desperately needs: Ontario will be getting an extra $5.75 billion in federal financial support over the next five years -- money that will mainly go into immigration, skills training and post-secondary education. ... McGuinty inherited a huge deficit from the former Progressive Conservative government. He started a campaign...
Perhaps Harry Reid should get out more often before pronouncing personal judgments on people he doesn't know. Two days after calling Janice Rogers Brown a "bad person" and accusing her of a hidden agenda to return the US to Civil War status, the editor of the Sacramento Bee writes a long and passionate defense of Brown that should give the entire Democratic Senate caucus pause before signing onto Reid's disastrous filibuster project: I know Janice Rogers Brown, and she knows me, but we're not friends. The associate justice of the California Supreme Court has never been to my house, and I've never been to hers. Ours is a wary relationship, one that befits a journalist of generally liberal leanings and a public official with a hard-right reputation fiercely targeted by the left. ... I find myself rooting for Brown. I hope she survives the storm and eventually becomes the first...
I want to wish all CQ readers a happy Mother's Day, and hope you all have a chance to either be with your mothers or your children on a beautiful Sunday in May. I'll be taking the First Mate out with our son and daughter-in-law to brunch at Khoury's, a local favorite with a delicious brunch every Sunday. The local staff has started to recognize us, in fact. We'll get our Little Admiral fix as well as a big midday meal. Since my mother will celebrate Mother's Day with my sister in Southern California -- I sent flowers on Friday -- I figured I'd post a Mother's Day greeting today. She occasionally comments here as Vayapaso, and here she is with a somewhat disreputable local radio-show host whose name escapes me at the moment: Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Stay away from those book-signings, though....
The finest of Tennessee's blogs got together for a major blogging conference this weekend, BlogNashville. Instapundit has been covering it extensively throughout, providing video and photo links and even tips for those looking for proper WiFi access. Longtime CQ friend and Rocky Mountain News columnist Linda Seebach was kind enough to mention my work on the Adscam scandal during one of the panels, and Ian from The Political Teen has the video here. They picked a great weekend for the conference, too. The weather looks beautiful in Nashville and this has been a rather slow news period, as Glenn himself mentions tonight....
Upcoming Gomery Inquiry witness Beryl Wajsmann left a lengthy statement in the comments section of this post on CQ. Mr. Wajsmann serves as President of the Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal and his pending testimony before the Inquiry promises to shed much light on Adscam. In order to ensure that everyone gets a chance to read his statement, I'm pulling it out of the comments and posting it separately. (Note: I'm awaiting confirmation from Mr. Wasjmann that sent the message, but the IP address and the e-mail from IAPM matches. UPDATE 5/9: I've confirmed this as coming fro mMr. Wajsmann.) ------------- INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OF MONTREAL 8 May 2005 Montreal WAJSMAN AND GOMERY Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.” I just wanted to drop you a note to tell you that I can not only stand the heat, but we’re...
May 9, 2005
No one will ever mistake the autocratic rule of Singapore as an open society, but even by Singapore standards, the silencing of this blogger seems rather heavy-handed: A Singapore student said on Monday he has shut down his blog and apologized unreservedly after a government agency threatened to sue for defamation. Chen Jiahao, a 23-year-old graduate student in the United States, told Reuters he closed down his personal Web site after A*STAR, a Singapore government agency focusing on science and research, threatened legal action for what the agency said were untrue and serious accusations. ... On Sunday he posted the new apology on his "Caustic Soda" blog, saying "I unreservedly apologize to A*STAR, its Chairman Mr. Philip Yeo, and its executive officers for the distress and embarrassment caused to them." "They sent me an e-mail with these words," Chen told Reuters on Monday by telephone from the United States, where...
The Boston Globe reports that John Kerry has transformed himself into that most hackneyed of political clichés, the "outsider" candidate, despite having spent the last twenty years in Washington DC. Using the hilarious notion of turning a twenty-year career in the Senate into outsider street cred, Kerry insists on firing up crowds by talking about how Washington ignores the little people: Gone was his stump speech railing against President Bush's Iraq war policy, the sluggish economy, and the Republican agenda; even mentions of Kerry's Senate career and Vietnam War service had disappeared. Instead, Kerry -- a veteran politician who has held office for 21 years -- took off his suit jacket and roamed a small stage in Louisiana's Old State Capitol to push a new message: Get angry at Washington. ''Washington seems more and more out of touch with the difficulties the average family is facing," Kerry told the crowd...
The North Koreans have sent a "conciliatory" message asking for a resumption of the multilateral negotiations the US insists on using as a framework for non-proliferation talks with the Kim regime. In fact, the message was so conciliatory that the North Koreans now claim that they never wanted any other kind of framework than the six-nation approach: Capping a week of rising tension with a conciliatory note, a foreign ministry statement issued late Sunday said Pyongyang was ready to sit down and resolve the standoff through six-party talks. "Our will to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and seek a negotiated solution to (the nuclear standoff) still remains unchanged," the statement said Monday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. It also dropped a precondition to a resumption of the six-way talks by denying it had ever asked for separate, one-on-one talks with Washington, a demand the United States has rejected....
Bloc Quebecois made its intentions clear today in response to an assertion by Liberal Party leader Tony Valeri last week that the Grits can ignore a no-confidence rider on a budget amendment. BQ party leader Gilles Duceppe warned that such a blatant disregard for protocol will result in a demand to Canada's governor-general to dissolve the Liberal government by decree: The opposition will ask Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson to intervene if the Liberals lose a coming vote and won't resign, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe says. "That would be the duty of the Governor General to call Paul Martin and to tell him a few things about democracy,'' Duceppe said Monday as the country's federal political leaders attended VE-Day ceremonies in Holland. Nor is BQ alone in its ire. Stephen Harper, the Tory leader in Parliament who will likely force the issue on the amendment, warns of severe and immediate...
Benoit Corbeil testified at the Gomery Inquiry today that several Liberal Party activists and bureaucrats received illicit campaign contributions, including some currently serving on Prime Minister Paul Martin's staff. Included on the list was Daniel Dezainde, named in Beryl Wajsmann's statement to Captain's Quarters last night as well: Eight Liberal officials, including high-ranking Quebec wing executives and political staff in the current government of prime minister Paul Martin, are among people who received cash payments for the 2000 election, the Gomery inquiry has heard. The revelation came from Benoît Corbeil, the executive director of the party's Quebec wing from 1998 to 2001. Among those whom he said got cash in envelopes for election work are Irène Marcheterre, director of communications of Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, and Richard Mimeau, a Martin loyalist who is Mr. Lapierre's special assistant for Quebec. Another current political staffer whom Mr. Corbeil said received cash was...
This evening, I had the pleasure of speaking at length with Beryl Wajsman, the president of Institute for Public Affairs of Montreal and an upcoming witness for the Gomery Inquiry looking into Adscam. Our first contact came when Beryl posted an unsolicited statement in CQ's comments section, which I reposted separately to ensure that everyone had a chance to read it. Beryl, it turns out, is a man who does not remain silent gladly. As his statement suggests, he is a man of strong opinions and convictions, a man who speaks bluntly, and someone who needs little prompting to discuss difficult subjects. Despite the differences in our political viewpoints, I found Beryl very convincing and his enthusiasm contagious. Over the next couple of days, I plan on transcribing the interview and posting it in serial form. I don't want to try quoting Beryl without having a transcript in front of...
It's nice to see that judicial nominees are finally getting a defense from the personal attacks and political smears of the Senate Democrats. Too bad that the GOP isn't the group providing them. After the endorsement by self-described liberal Ginger Rutland of the Sacramento Bee yesterday for Janice Rogers Brown, Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice joined the fight on the pages of the Washington Times today: The judicial confirmation process has become so savage in recent years that it would take a brave nominee to offer himself or herself for consideration. California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, for example, has been charged in a recent NAACP "Action Alert" with being "hostile to civil rights" and "having extreme right-wing views." I do not agree with all of Justice Brown's opinions, but I write this to show how prejudicially selective the prosecution of her is by the Democrats, the NAACP,...
May 10, 2005
If Charles Schumer wanted to turn public opinion against George Bush in the rhetorical battle over judicial nominations, his efforts have backfired on him, if the AP gives any indication. After Schumer's radio address decried Republican rhetoric for being "harsh", the wire ssrvice (through MS-NBC) reports today on Minority Leader Harry Reid instead as unprecedented in his personal attacks: In an institution that prides itself as a last bastion of civility, the Senate’s new Democratic leader has on occasion turned to playground taunts and name-calling in his four-month tenure. After accusing President Bush of lying about his role in a fight over judicial filibusters, Sen. Harry Reid last week called the president a “loser.” And Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan? He’s a “political hack,” according to the formerly soft-spoken Nevada Democrat. ... Late last month, Reid complained that Vice President Dick Cheney’s pledge to break a tie if necessary and...
The Washington Times reports today that Frist has decided to pull the trigger on the Byrd option using Priscilla Owen's nomination as the catalyst. Owen gives Frist the widest possible support at the moment, as well as being one of the two nominees who have waited the longest for confirmation: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans for Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to be the judicial nomination on which he uses the "nuclear option" against Democratic filibusters later this month, according to Republicans familiar with his plans. Justice Owen, first nominated to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals four years ago yesterday, has often been seen as the most likely nominee to be pushed though. And when Mr. Frist, Tennessee Republican, made his final offer to Democrats last month to avoid a showdown, he mentioned only one nominee: Justice Owen. ... She has impeccable academic credentials, received the...
Benoit Corbeil made an interesting reference to a phone call from Alfonse Gagliano during his Gomery Inquiry testimony yesterday. According to Corbeil, Gagliano called to dissuade his former associate from testifying, warning him that his reputation was at stake: The lawyer for a sponsorship inquiry witness said Monday his client felt intimidated after Alfonso Gagliano called him and warned him about his reputation ahead of his potentially damaging testimony. Former party official Benoit Corbeil told the inquiry Gagliano called his home last month, warning him his reputation would be destroyed if he implicated top Liberals in an alleged illicit financing scheme. "He said 'listen, Benoit, people will come out against you, unanimously,''' said Corbeil, one-time boss of the party's Quebec wing. "(He said) 'you'll lose your reputation and you'll lose friends.''' Corbeil received the call from Gagliano last month after telling reporters that Gagliano knew of illicit money transfers to...
Stephen Harper tabled his no-confidence amendment this afternoon after much debate as to whether it constituted a legal demand for dissolution, and won a narrow 153-150 vote as the NDP could not rescue Paul Martin and the Liberals. However, the Liberals still refuse to recognize the amendment's mandate for new elections: In what was a Parliamentary squeaker, the Conservatives teamed up with the Bloc Quebecois, to defeat the Liberals who were backed by the NDP and two Independents by a vote of 153 to 150. Opposition members rose to their feet and broke into applause after House Speaker Peter Milliken announced the results. Conservative Leader Stephen Harper rose and accused the Prime Minister of clinging to power "at all costs." ... But the Liberals insist the vote holds no such power. Seeking to clarify confusion over the consequences of the Conservative motion, the Liberals convened an emergency press conference earlier...
The Washington Post has finally sniffed out the Silence of the Cheese, the voter-fraud scandal in Milwaukee that helped turn Wisconsin blue in the 2004 Presidential election. Michelle Malkin points readers to a new development that the Post reported late this afternoon: About 4,500 more ballots than registered voters were cast in the election last November in Milwaukee, investigators said Tuesday. Also, more than 200 felons voted improperly in Milwaukee, and more than 100 instances of suspected double-voting were found. No charges have been filed. Investigators found no widespread conspiracy, just isolated incidents, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said. "I don't think there's an election in this municipality or this state that would have been decided differently even with those numbers," said Mayor Tom Barrett, a Democrat. Barrett wants this entire embarassment to go away, and the spin is designed for the national media to go back into silence mode. Having...
Former Liberal activist Benoit Corbeil continued his testimony at the Gomery Inquiry today, revealing the covert campaign that Adscam money funded for the Grits. Corbeil also started talking about other scandals that so far have not found much resonation with Canadians: The federal Liberals ran their 2000 election campaign in Quebec with two parallel staff — only one of which was on the payroll at their Montreal headquarters, the sponsorship inquiry was told Tuesday. Former Quebec wing boss Benoit Corbeil said then-public works minister Alfonso Gagliano ran a team of 30 “fake volunteers” who included ministerial aides as well as lawyers and engineers. ... “There were two sections at the headquarters — there was the registered section, where I worked, and there was the unregistered section,” Mr. Corbeil told the inquiry. “Anyone who says they weren't aware of it ... either they've lost their memory or they aren't telling the...
He may be one of the loudest voices supporting the filibuster now, but less than five years ago, Senator Pat Leahy sang a different song on the floor of the Senate. According to the Congressional Record and an intrepid CQ reader, Leahy showed far more sympathy for the plight of judicial nominees back when Clinton did the nominating. Incredibly, he relied on then-Governor Bush's argument during the 2000 campaign that all nominees should receive an up-or-down vote to make this statement during the Senate debate on James Teilborg: Both parties have nominated those we consider to be our best choices. Obviously, I strongly support my friend of over 20 years, AL GORE. But I also know that the Republican Party has nominated a very distinguished Governor, George W. Bush. I mention this because Governor Bush and I, while we disagree on some issues, have one very significant issue on which...
May 11, 2005
Osama bin Laden built al-Qaeda from many component groups across Southwest and Central Asia, North Africa, and even Europe, all focused on the Islamist ideal. Holding these disparate groups together must have had its difficulties even while AQ had momentum. Now that it has had almost four years of unrelenting pressure, the AP reports that the fissures have started larger cracks in AQ, which may lead to its total collapse: American and Pakistani intelligence agents are exploiting a growing rift between Arab members of al-Qaida and their Central Asian allies, a fissure that's tearing at the network of Islamic extremists as militants compete for scarce hideouts, weapons and financial resources, counterterrorism officials say. The rivalry may have contributed to the arrest last week of one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants, a Libyan described as al-Qaida's No. 3 and known to have had differences with Uzbeks. Captured Uzbek, Chechen and...
Today's Washington Times analyzes the fighting in Operation Marador and asserts that Iraq has transformed itself into al-Qaeda's last stand -- which was one of the objectives of the Bush administration: The war in Iraq is increasingly looking more like a showdown with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda followers than a battle primarily against Saddam Hussein loyalists. The shift is making the fight a focal point of the U.S. global war against Islamic terrorists and one that might dictate whether the U.S. wins or loses, said a senior official and an outside expert. "If they fail in Iraq, Osama and his whole crew are finished," said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, a military author and analyst. The changing dynamic was highlighted this week when the U.S. military launched a major offensive in western Iraq, primarily against foreign jihadists who crossed the border with Syria to join the al...
Now that the Liberals have defied a no-confidence motion passed by Parliament, their next step may well be tabling their own motion of confidence soon to try to assure the public that the Liberals still have a right to govern. John Ward of the Canadian Press explains that without some sort of explicit act that shows yesterday's no-confidence vote as a fluke or a trick, the nation will reject the Liberal explanation for why they have not yet left office: xOpposition procedural manoeuvres may not topple the minority Liberals, but experts are predicting the government will likely have to bring forward its own confidence motion soon. Without a demonstration that it actually does have the confidence of the Commons, the government could find itself unable to govern. The problem that leads to all of this uncertainty is a lack of explicit rules dictating parliamentary procedure. A minority government which loses...
An Italian news site reports that Iraqi forces have claimed to have either killed or seriously wounded terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi during Operation Matador. While this is not the first time such a rumor has been floated, it would come as no surprise that Coalition forces hope to capture or kill the al-Qaeda leader (via Hugh Hewitt): The Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is "serious injured, possibly dead" according to Colonel Fouad Hani Hassan, commander of the fifth division of the Iraqi armed forces, cited by 'Elaph', a popular website in the Arab world. Al-Zarqawi, considered al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, is believed to have been injured in the major offensive US-led forces have been carrying out in the western Anbar province over the last few days. Operation Matador is centred around the town of Qaim, just a few kilometres from the Syrian border, and is aimed at destroying the...
In response to the damaging loss on the contentious no-confidence motion last night, which the Liberals have refused to acknowledge, Paul Martin has now offered to table the budget motion for a vote on May 19th, eight days away. However, the Tories and Bloc Québécois have refused this offer, demanding that the Liberals table the motion today if they continue their refusal to recognize yesterday's vote to dissolve the government: Prime Minister Paul Martin has called for a vote on the budget for next Thursday, a move that could topple his fragile minority government. However, the opposition Bloc Québécois and Conservatives refused to co-operate, saying they're not prepared to wait, and want a vote today. "I am proposing that there will be a vote that day on the budget bill and that vote will be a vote of confidence," Mr. Martin told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday after an emergency cabinet...
Pity the poor United Nations. Not only is the management at Turtle Bay hopelessly corrupt and inept, its new blogosphere apologists don't appear very bright, either. Not only did they run a lame attack post about Roger L. Simon's recent focus on history's largest embezzlement scam, they sent out e-mails to bloggers asking us to promote it: 20% of Roger L. Simon's blog entries during the month of April make reference to the Oil-for-Food controversy. 0% of Roger L. Simon's blog entries during April make reference to the following UN-related issues[...] Is Simon's hyper-focus on a single UN-related issue based on deep convictions? Unbending principles? Moral outrage? Maybe. Then again, there's his explanation: "Thanks to the Secretary General of the United Nations for providing this blog with its first 50,000+ visitor day." - Roger L. Simon UND then lists a number of UN initiatives that supposedly have been or are...
Better put on your seat belts -- Ottawa's in for a bumpy ride tonight. After the Liberals ignored a no-confidence motion that passed by three votes, the Tories have upped the ante by refusing to allow for an adjournment, and immediately moved a new no-confidence motion: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper moved what he deemed a no-confidence motion in the government, the second such move made by the Tories in two days. ... Mr. Harper said the government has "lost the moral authority and democratic legitimacy to govern this country. Madame Speaker, today is one of those more difficult days where it falls to the Leader of the Oppostion to tell the... government that they cannot carry on," Mr. Harper said in a speech to the House Wednesday afternoon. It appears to be part of an opposition tactic to continue to push for a confidence motion to be recognized in the...
It may be somewhat of an anticlimax after the fireworks at Parliament this evening, but the Gomery Inquiry heard testimony today that the money-laundering schemes at the heart of Adscam did not arise accidentally. Daniel Dezainde testified today that Jacques Corriveau bragged to him about how Corriveau himself had created the kickback structure himself to allow the Liberals to avoid campaign-finance regulation: Jacques Corriveau, a close friend of Jean Chrétien who made $8-million in sponsorship subcontracts, candidly told an official at the Quebec Liberal party wing that he had set up a kickback system, the Gomery inquiry heard Wednesday. Daniel Dezainde, who was the director-general of the Liberal Quebec wing in 2001, said that the admission came during a lunch he had with Mr. Corriveau. He said Mr. Corriveau told him: “In the past, I set up a system of kickbacks with communication agencies and I kept a part of...
Continue reading "Adscam: Kickback Scheme Intentional" »
May 12, 2005
Just when I think I've seen everything that the Minnesota Vikings can do to look stupid -- from taking a knee in a championship game and thereby neutralizing the league's most potent offense, to a star athlete walking off the field before a game had been decided, to a coach that ran his own Super Bowl ticket-scalping syndicate that exploited Vikings players for his own profit -- this morning's news reminds me that true stupidity plumbs its own new depths every day. The Vikings' leading rusher ran afoul of airport security three weeks ago with a kit to beat NFL drug tests featuring some interesting prosthetics: The NFL was considering whether to penalize Minnesota Vikings running back Onterrio Smith after it was revealed he was caught at the Twin Cities airport with an elaborate contraption designed to beat drug tests. A search of a bag Smith was carrying April 21...
The Palestinians have a parliamentary election scheduled for July 17th that appears to be headed for a significant victory for Hamas. The Fatah faction supporting President Mahmoud Abbas has agitated for a postponement to avoid this political debacle, which would surely reveal his status as an unmandated leader elected on the basis of a fraudulent vote. Today, one of Abbas' senior aides upped the ante, saying that the current Parliament had not yet passed a new election law, making elections in July almost impossible: The Palestinian parliamentary election set for July should be postponed, a senior Palestinian official said in an interview published Thursday, another sign that the ruling Fatah Party is deeply worried about the electoral prospects of militant Islamic groups. The election, only the second in the 11 years since the Palestinian Authority was founded, is scheduled for July 17, but Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a senior aide to...
Yesterday, CBS News reported that Ken Starr had come out against the filibuster rule change, and they quoted him as saying that the change represented a "radical departure" and that he opposed its implementation. This got a tremendous amount of exposure in the blogosphere, especially among those who normally vilify the former Whitewater special prosecutor at every other opportunity. Ramesh Ponnuru at the National Review Online contacted Starr to confirm his position on the Byrd/nuclear option -- and the response is quite different from what CBS first reported: "In the piece that I have now seen, and which I gather is being lavishly quoted, CBS employed two snippets. The 'radical departure' snippet was specifically addressed -- although this is not evidenced whatever from the clip -- to the practice of invoking judicial philosopy as a grounds for voting against a qualified nominee of integrity and experience. I said in sharp...
Since Paul Martin and the Liberals refused to recognize the no-confidence motion of Tuesday and the adjournment yesterday as valid signs that the Liberals can no longer effectively govern, the Tories have decided to take a different tack in proving how little power they have left. Conservatives shut down the Commons today on an early adjournment after the Liberals refused to bring their budget motion immediately, and have now started boycotting committees: The Conservatives succeeded in a bid to adjourn the House of Commons for the day, in another move to paralyze the proceedings of government and force an immediate confidence vote in the government. The motion that the House be adjourned until Friday at 10 a.m. passed in the House of Commons before noon on Thursday, 152 to 144. It was supported by the Tories and the Bloc Québécois, part of a strategy to block or stall the activities...
Feeling a bit under the weather today and coming to the end of this major headache project at work this week and next, I decided to take an evening off from blogging and watch the History Channel's special on the War of 1812. Titled "First Invasion", the two-hour show reviews what for many Americans is a forgotten war, but one that clearly shaped our early notions of nationalism and ability to stand among other nations. The war started over an issue that had largely been resolved before the first shot was fired, and the greatest American victory of the war came two weeks after the treaty that ended it was signed. Our capitol was sacked, and only saved from burning to the ground by a hurricane and a tornado that inflicted more damage on the invaders than the American militia that the British swatted aside like flies. The Canadians beat...
May 13, 2005
A mob of outraged and disaffected Uzbeks have freed 23 Muslim defendants from the prison where they awaited trial on terrorism charges, and created a riot in the streets of Andijan. Soldiers have been taken hostage and the government has forbidden news agencies from the area, while Uzbekistan's neighbors have sealed their borders: Outrage over the terror trial of 23 Muslims exploded into broader unrest in eastern Uzbekistan on Friday when armed protesters stormed a jail to free defendants, clashing with police in violence that brought thousands of protesters into the streets. At least nine people were killed and dozens wounded, witnesses and officials said. One protester, who put the death toll as high as 20, said 30 soldiers were being held hostage because they were shooting at demonstrators. Two of the dead were children, Sharif Shakirov, a brother of one of the defendants told The Associated Press. President Islam...
Winding up some of the strangest testimony yet at the Gomery Inquiry, Daniel Dezainde continued to insist that he has remained in fear of his life after being told by Joe Morselli that he was "at war" with Dezainde, prompting two visits to the RCMP. Dezainde also managed to squeeze in more complaints about Beryl Wajsman, including alleged rudeness on the golf links, although what that has to do with Adscam has everyone scratching their heads: Four years after a nasty encounter with a threatening, finger-pointing Giuseppe (Joseph) Morselli, a Liberal official testified yesterday that even now he is still fearful of the friend of Alfonso Gagliano. Former senior party executive Daniel Dezainde told the Gomery inquiry that he saw the RCMP last month, ahead of his testimony, to talk to the police about his safety concerns because he was still apprehensive of Mr. Morselli, a onetime party fundraiser. "I...
Just when we thought the smears on judicial nominees from the Democrats could not get any worse, Harry Reid moved from mere bullying to full-blown McCarthyism last night during the Senate debate. In an impromptu remark made during a prepared speech on the floor, he flatly stated that Henry Saad represented a security risk to the United States according to Saad's confidential FBI files: Minority Leader Harry Reid strayed from his prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday and promised to continue opposing one of President Bush's judicial nominees based on "a problem" he said is in the nominee's "confidential report from the FBI." Those highly confidential reports are filed on all judicial nominees, and severe sanctions apply to anyone who discloses their contents. Less clear is whether a senator could face sanctions for characterizing the content of such files. "Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway," Mr. Reid said...
Tommy Lasorda has a blog. Yesterday he offered some "Fatherly Advice": My father had five sons, and one day he called a family meeting, sat us down, and told us he wanted to bring his brother’s son, Mario, to America. He told us to treat him as an equal because he was family. When Mario arrived, my father told Mario he could live with him so while he worked hard, he could save his money and eventually bring his own family to America too. Mario was lazy; he did not work hard, he did not save any money and his trip to America was a failure. When he returned to Italy, he blamed his failure on my father instead of taking responsibility for his own actions. I was so mad at Mario, I wanted to go to Italy, find him, and throw him into the Adriatic Sea for ruining my...
Reuters analyzes the latest manueverings in the Canadian Commons and sees little chance of the Liberal government surviving, regardless of when a confidence vote is held: The main opposition Conservative Party wants the vote immediately but indications are that whenever it is held, the Liberals have a poor chance of surviving, even though the vote will be close. "This government is finished," a senior member of the cabinet confided. If the Liberals fall next Thursday it would open the way to a June 27 election. The Liberals and their left-leaning New Democrat allies have 151 seats in the 308-seat parliament, while the Conservatives and the separatist Bloc Quebecois have 153. The speaker of Parliament is a Liberal but he only votes in case of a tie. One seat is vacant. To have any chance of winning the Liberals need the support of two independent members of Parliament, at least one...
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced this afternoon that after the completion of debate and vote on the highway bill, the next order of business on the Senate agenda will be the confirmation debate for Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown to their appellate court seats. This means that a filibuster will likely be attempted in the coming week, certainly on Brown if not Owen, and Frist says that such obstructionism will be rejected: The Majority Leader will continue to discuss an appropriate resolution of the need for fair up or down votes with the Minority Leader. If they can not find a way for the Senate to decide on fair up or down votes on judicial nominations, the Majority Leader will seek a ruling from the Presiding Officer regarding the appropriate length of time for debate on such nominees. After the ruling, he will ensure that every Senator has...
May 14, 2005
Uzbekistan has ended the uprising that began with the jailbreak of 23 supsected Muslim terrorists by having soldiers fire on a crowd of protestors, sending thousands running from the demonstrations that appeared to shake the Uzbek autocracy: Soldiers loyal to Uzbekistan's authoritarian leader, a U.S. ally, opened fire on thousands of demonstrators yesterday to put down an uprising that began when armed men freed 2,000 inmates from prison, including suspects on trial for suspected Islamic extremism. Bursts of automatic gunfire continued to rattle across the center of Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city today as troops loyal to hard-line President Islam Karimov sought to put down the insurrection, Agence France Presse reported. The death toll from yesterday's violence in Andijan was not known. The government said nine died before the shootings in the square but gave no overall figure. Witnesses said dozens may have been killed by the troops, who rode into the...
The comments made on the Senate floor by Harry Reid about the information in the FBI file of Henry Saad have provoked a reaction from the Justice Department, the AP reports this morning. One day after Reid referred to a vague "problem" in Saad's file, Justice sent a letter to both Reid and Majority Leader Bill Frist about the proper use of FBI files: The Justice Department is edging into the Senate controversy over judicial nominees, writing key lawmakers after Democratic Leader Harry Reid publicly referred to an FBI file on one of President Bush's controversial appointees. "The letter expressed concern about recent remarks on the floor of the Senate which alluded to an FBI background investigation file provided by the Department of Justice to the Senate Judiciary Committee on a confidential basis in connection with a judicial nomination," a department official said Friday night. The official, who spoke only...
The AP reports this morning that the Volcker investigators that resigned over the last interim report may have done so because it hid key information about Kofi Annan and his lack of cooperation with the investigation. Robert Parton's files show that Annan failed to mention his contacts with Cotecna when first confronted about the conflict-of-interest issue with his son's employment at the OFF contractor: Secretary-General Kofi Annan neglected to mention two key meetings when he was first questioned last year about contacts with his son's company when it was soliciting business under the U.N. oil-for-food program. After investigators first interviewed Annan in November, the secretary general revised his account of those contacts, which occurred just months before the company won a U.N. contract. Though Annan acknowledged meeting with the officials in subsequent interviews, his revisions raised doubts for the probe's chief investigator, Robert Parton. In the months after the initial...
May 15, 2005
The Washington Post reports that one of the largest and most powerful unions in politics has attacked the Congressional Black Caucus for its engagement with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer of African-Americans. The SEIU has long targeted the world's largest retailer for what it calls worker exploitation, but the CBC has cozied up to Wal-Mart instead: The Service Employees International Union has angered a number of African American House members by protesting Wal-Mart's involvement in a Congressional Black Caucus fundraiser. The conflict between two mainstays of the Democratic Party began after Anna Burger, SEIU secretary-treasurer, wrote caucus members "to express our disappointment that the Congressional Black Caucus has given Wal-Mart an opportunity to fashion a false image as a friend of African Americans and of working people generally." SEIU and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sponsored an April 27 caucus fundraiser. The union has criticized Wal-Mart's personnel practices as anti-labor. Caucus member...
Last week, Newsweek published allegations that Guantanamo Bay interrogators had flushed a Qu'ran down a toilet while questioning captured terrorists as a psychological ploy. While other news media based similar reports strictly on rumors floated by the terrorists themselves, Newsweek attributed its story by Michael Isikoff and John Barry to an unnamed source within the American intelligence service, lending the Newsweek report much more credence. That credence and the Newsweek report touched off riots across Afghanistan and Southwest Asia, costing at least nine lives and setting back American efforts to build diplomacy towards more moderate Muslim communities. Now we find out that after nine people lay dead and anti-American sentiment now runs as hot as ever, Newsweek says that it got the story wrong from the beginning: Two weeks ago, in our issue dated May 9, Michael Isikoff and John Barry reported in a brief item in our periscope section...
As I promised earlier, I've returned the daily display of Day by Day to CQ. Instead of at the top of the content, I've set it to display in the left sidebar. I've been meaning to get that done for over a week, but work issues have impinged on blogging time for the past two or three weeks. However, I wanted to make sure that Day by Day got back to its daily rotation on CQ in time for the launch of Chris Muir's new DBD collection -- which should be coming within days now! If it's been a bit quiet here at CQ this weekend, it's due to a combination of babysitting the Little Admiral and some nasty cold and flu activity at the house, including me. I did manage to get in for an hour at the Northern Alliance Radio Network show yesterday, but most of my time...
The Conservatives have decided to stop playing games with Parliamentary obstruction -- a game they have won for three straight days -- and focus their entire effort to topple the government on the upcoming budget motion Thursday: The federal Conservatives, after a week of bitter parliamentary gamesmanship, now appear willing to pin their hopes for a spring election on one high-stakes roll of the dice Thursday when the federal budget comes to a vote. “We will respect that vote,” Jay Hill, Tory House Leader in the Commons, said Sunday. Prime Minister Paul Martin has said that, if his minority Liberal government loses the budget showdown, it will mean an immediate election. It's been unclear until now what would happen if the government wins. Under parliamentary rules the Conservatives could still try to table another non-confidence motion to bring down the government later in the current session. Mr. Hill signalled, however,...
May 16, 2005
Robert Novak writes today that the pro-abortion lobby has financed a series of fishing expeditions into the financial records of judges deemed likely for federal appellate and Supreme Court nominations, and that one of the people with the pole is none other than a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Mike Rice and his partner Craig Varoga, who used to work for Reid, work for NARAL Pro-Choice America and have begun work to collect financial dossiers on judges and justices around the country: On May 5, the U.S. Judicial Conference in Washington received a request from a man named Mike Rice from Oakland, Calif., for the financial disclosure records of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Edith Jones (5th Circuit) of Houston. A 20-year veteran on the bench, Jones is a perennial possibility for the U.S. Supreme Court. The demand for her personal records is part of a major intelligence...
The Washington Times notes that GOP chairman Ken Mehlman continues to perform quietly (in relation to Howard Dean) but effectively in his outreach towards the African-American community. In a sign of increasing success, Mehlman's efforts resulted in the conversion of a key Pennsylvanian politician, touching off concern at the national level for Democrats: City Councilman Otto Banks, the biggest vote-getter in Harrisburg, Pa., held a campaign fundraiser in the Pennsylvania state capital Friday with the help of Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman that sent new fears rippling through Democratic ranks. Mr. Banks, 33, a political newcomer, stunned Harrisburg's black community when he left the Democratic Party in March to become a Republican, starting what Mr. Mehlman and other Republican officials say they hope will become a realignment trend that will consign the Democrats to permanent minority status. Mr. Mehlman said Friday that he met with Mr. Banks before the party...
Newsweek has not quite recovered its balance after being forced to admit that their report of US interrogators flushing a Qu'ran down a Gitmo toilet cannot be substantiated. In a series of media appearances characterized elsewhere, Newsweek editors maintain that they ran the item in good faith but that their source later backed off the claim. However, in today's Washington Post, it is becoming clear that Newsweek has adopted a new strategy for dealing with the deadly mistake which now has claimed 16 lives -- they're blaming the Pentagon for not denying the story: [Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker] said that a senior Pentagon official, for reasons that "are still a little mysterious to us," had declined to comment after Newsweek correspondent John Barry showed him a draft before the item was published and asked, "Is this accurate or not?" Whitaker added that the magazine would have held off had military...
Sometimes the United Nations acts as if it wants to provide do-it-yourself satire for websites like Scrappleface and The Onion. Today's example comes from Kofi Annan himself, who warned the Bush administration that any attempt to hold Iran accountable for its violations of the non-proliferation treaty would run into UN Security Council impotence: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned the Bush administration that the Security Council might deadlock if asked to punish Iran for its nuclear program. The United States and Britain have called for Iran to be brought before the Security Council if it carries out threats to resume efforts to make nuclear fuel. The United States and Britain believe the fuel could be used for bombs, while Iran contends that it is to generate power. China and Russia, which have strong economic ties to Iran, might veto any push to sanction Iran, Annan suggested in interviews with USA TODAY....
One of the complaints about our choice of allies in the War on Terror reflected on Kuwait's restrictive political environment, especially towards women. This was especially true after American troops led the way for a UN coalition to liberate Kuwait from Saddam's invasion in 1991, but that criticism got revived recently with the current Bush administration's focus on democratization. Now that issue can be put to rest, as Kuwaiti women have finally been granted complete political rights in the conservative Arabic country: Kuwaiti lawmakers approved political rights for women Monday, clearing the way for females to participate in parliamentary elections for the first time in the Gulf nation's history. ... The nation's Cabinet asked for the vote Monday in a surprise move after a number of attempts had been stymied by fundamentalist lawmakers. The bill was approved 35-23 with one abstention and immediately became law. Scores of women activists in...
Frequent CQ commenter Aileron has this to say about Newsweek's reporting standards, and that of the American media in general (boldface emphasis mine): ... there is absolutely no legitimate reason to run a story like this. Newsweek ran the story knowing that it would excite the passions of the world's muslim population. Contrast this with the media's refusal to show pictures of our fellow citizens jumping out the the world trade center. We were told that such pictures would unneccessarily anger the American people and lead to violence against Muslim Americans. The MSM will show us endless Abu Ghraib pictures, and Newsweek goes so far as to print false stories to inflame muslims against the U.S. This type of reporting does a disservice not only to the victims of the violence it caused, but also to our Country - one of the few Countries actually committed to religious tolerance and...
The Senate Democrats have reportedly made a new offer to the GOP to avert a showdown over the use of the filibuster to block nominees to the federal court. They sweetened the same offer made last week to confirm three nominees to five today, and specifically picked three that they will now demand be withdrawn from consideration, in return for a pledge to forego future filibusters except in "extreme circumstances": With a showdown looming, a small group of Senate Democrats floated a compromise Monday on President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, offering to clear five for confirmation while scuttling three others. Under the proposal, circulated in writing, Republicans would have to pledge no change through 2006 in the Senate's rules that allow filibusters against judicial nominees. For their part, Democrats would commit not to block votes on Bush's Supreme Court or appeals court nominees during the same period, except in extreme...
Give Newsweek a small modicum of credit -- they learned a lesson from the CBS debacle over the Killian memos that the Tiffany Network itself still hasn't bothered to figure out. A couple of hours ago, Newsweek retracted its false story about flushing Qu'rans down Gitmo toilets that started deadly riots in the Middle East, costing 16 lives: Newsweek magazine, under fire for publishing a story that led to deadly protests in Afghanistan, said Monday it was retracting its report that a military probe had found evidence of desecration of the Quran by U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. Earlier Monday, Bush administration officials had brushed off an apology that Newsweek's editor Mark Whitaker had made in an editor's note and criticized the magazine's handling of the story. ... Whitaker released a statement through a spokesman later Monday saying the magazine was retracting the article. "Based on what we know now,...
May 17, 2005
The Conservatives have taken the gloves off and started their election campaign two days before a confidence vote on the Canadian budget is scheduled. Tories started their ad campaign by asking voters why Prime Minister Paul Martin wants them to wait for a new election, and at the same time tries to negate the budget as an election issue: The federal Conservatives unleashed a series of radio attack ads yesterday that declare Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals "desperate" and mired in corruption -- a tone that could carry through an election campaign anticipated to begin later this week. The Tories are also preparing to publish their campaign platform which, The Globe and Mail has learned, will include a number of Liberal-oriented social initiatives, including a commitment to increase foreign aid to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product by 2015. The pledge, along with cash for daycare and infrastructure spending,...
Alert CQ reader Retired Military noticed a headline at Yahoo! News this morning about the outbreak of the Sober.q virus that has dumped neo-Nazi German and English e-mail into inboxes around the world, including here at CQ. Yahoo! and/or the AP have called the Nazi material "right wing": Computer Virus Spews Right-Wing Spam A computer virus spewed neo-Nazi-tinged spam in English and German into inboxes over the weekend. ... Most of these messages contain links to news stories with content that "smells of right-wing political rhetoric," said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee Inc.'s antivirus emergency response team. But a small percentage contain links to a Web site that tries to infect visiting machines with the virus, he said. Among the many messages was one with the German subject line "60 Years of Freedom: Who's Celebrating?" referencing the end of World War II. Another read: "Honorable Action" and contained a...
The Peabody Awards luncheon yesterday provided a stage for the reunion of Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, who were honored for their journalistic prowess in revealing the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that had already been addressed by the Pentagon before CBS ever found out about it -- and both of whom later disgraced themselves in one of the worst breaches of journalistic ethics ever revealed in broadcast history. In comments that reflected the cluelessness of the Peabody voters, Mary Mapes continued to insist that the story she presented on CBS' 60 Minutes II was factually true and that CBS covered it up for "corporate" reasons: After the ceremony, Mapes, who is writing a book, said she never believed that CBS News investigated whether the disputed facts behind the National Guard story, were in fact true. “They made a corporate decision, not a journalistic one,” she said. She also defended the...
Paul Martin has bought the support of Conservative MP Belinda Stronach with a ministerial position, changing the balance of power in Parliament and possibly saving the Liberal Party's grip on power. Martin induced Stronach to cross the aisle this morning by making her the Minister of Human Resources: Martin said he and Stronach share common beliefs on questions of policy and politics, including the Gomery commission investigating the sponsorship scandal. "Based on these shared beliefs, she and I have agreed that she fits more comfortably, can serve more appropriately and can contribute more substantially as a member of the government caucus," he said. "Accordingly, I am very pleased to announce that Ms. Stronach will cross the floor and has agreed to join the cabinet as Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development." The move could give the Liberals a better chance of passing a crucial confidence motion on the federal...
When the Syrians assassinated Rafik al-Hariri in February, they must have imagined a period of disorder in which to consolidate power in Lebanon through their military and intelligence apparatus. Bashar Assad had to have thought that the Hariri clan would trouble his western horizon no more. That gives the current rise to power of Hariri's second son Saad, who has led the Future opposition coalition to the top of the polls for Lebanon's upcoming election, a certain poetic tinge: The son and political heir of slain former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri said on Tuesday the anti-Syrian opposition would sweep Lebanon's general elections and indicated he could lead the government after the ballot. Saad al-Hariri, taking over the mantle of his father who was assassinated on Feb. 14, predicted the opposition would win 80 to 90 seats in the 128-member parliament. The 35-year-old Hariri is expected to repeat his father's landslide...
Today's New York Times shows that Newsweek is sticking with its strategy of blaming the Pentagon for not censoring its false report of Qu'ran abuse at Gitmo. While Newsweek's editorial board finally issued a retraction claiming that the story could not be substantiated, which one would consider either an indictment of its single anonymous source or its reporters or editors, the magazine believes that the US military should have superceded Newsweek's editors and made the decision not to run the information: In the interview, Mr. Whitaker expressed frustration at the Pentagon for not informing the magazine of questions about the accuracy of the original account until about 10 days after it was published. He added that the magazine was continuing to report on the underlying accusations of Koran desecration. An article in the current Newsweek said the original report, written by a veteran investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff, and the magazine's...
Belinda Stronach's defection to the Liberal Party came as a surprise to to Conservative leader Stephen Harper, who claims that Stronach never consulted him on her concerns or thoughts on crossing the aisle. However, Harper comes in a distant second in the betrayal stakes as the Canadian Press reports that Stronach never even bothered to consult her boyfriend on her abrupt about-face -- her boyfriend being Peter MacKay, Harper's second in command for the Tories: With news reverberating around Parliament Hill of Belinda Stronach's blockbuster bolt from the Tories to the Liberals, the indelicate question was unavoidable: "What about Peter MacKay?" Stronach's well-publicized romance with the Conservative deputy leader could hardly have come to a more stunning end. Sources confirmed the pair are taking a "break" from the photogenic relationship first made public in January. "Suffice it to say, I'm very happy and quite smitten," MacKay beamed at the time....
Good news for CQ readers -- I just got at least a three-month lease on blogging from the First Mate, and I'll explain why. About ten days ago, I received an invitation from Governor Tim Pawlenty's office to meet the Governor. After calling to confirm that the invitation was on the level (you never know with some of my friends), I found out that a representative group of Minnesota bloggers had been invited to the Governor's mansion for a reception intended to honor new media in Minnesota. All of my Northern Alliance colleagues had been invited, as well as some of the MOB bloggers that we know so well -- Doug at Bogus Gold, Patriot Blog, First Ring, Kennedy vs The Machine, and others I know I'm forgetting. The Minnesota Governor's mansion is unusual in that it sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood -- a rather ritzy and...
After the surprise defection of Belinda Stronach sent a shock wave through Canadian politics, the Conservative Party recast its electoral strategy for Thursday's vote. Instead of following the Liberal Party strategy that allows Martin to contest the confidence vote on the entire budget, Stephen Harper has instructed the Tories to pass the main budget and instead contest the amendment containing the agreement that brought Jack Layton and the NDP into alliance with Martin: The Conservatives will vote in support of the federal budget, but will still try to defeat the Liberal minority government on separate legislation that proposes $4.6 billion in spending on housing and the environment, Tory Leader Stephen Harper announced Tuesday night. "It's our intention to support Bill C-43, the original budget," Harper said, looking tired after a long day for the Conservative frontman that included the surprise defection of high-profile former leadership contender Belinda Stronach. "We'll oppose...
May 18, 2005
With all sides acknowledging that a deal cannot be reached, the GOP will move Bush's judicial nominees for confirmation today, starting with Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. This sets the stage -- finally -- for resolution of the unprecedented obstructionism that has kept the Senate from voting on almost a third of Bush's nominations to the appellate courts, the worst Senate record on nominations in recent history: Republicans, led by Majority Leader Bill Frist, spent yesterday accusing Democrats of using "unprecedented" tactics to block nominees who have majority support in the Senate. They said the minority party is shirking its constitutional responsibility to provide "advice and consent" on judicial nominees by preventing final votes on them. Democrats, led by Minority Leader Harry Reid, argued that by filibustering the nominees -- whom they describe as conservative judicial activists far outside the mainstream -- the Senate is officially registering its refusal...
George Galloway flew to the US to testify before the Senate investigative committee and to accuse them of being "Zionists" who conspired with George Bush to declare an illegal war against Saddam Hussein. Galloway later proclaimed himself greatly satisfied with his own performance, but his performance met with decidedly poorer marks back home. The Scotsman notes that Galloway appeared evasive and deceitful during direct testimony and never did provide any answer for the evidence and testimony that has exposed him as corrupted by UNSCAM bribes: GEORGE Galloway yesterday failed in his attempt to convince a sceptical US Senate investigative committee that he had not profited from oil dealings with Iraq under the UN’s controversial oil-for-food programme. Despite a typically barnstorming performance full of bluster and rhetorical flourishes, the former Glasgow Kelvin MP was pinned down by persistent questioning over his business relationship with Fawaz Zureikat, the chairman of the Mariam...
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has developed a national reputation for its lunatic-fringe editorial board, but today's editorial supporting Newsweek's reporting on flushed Qu'rans highlights their complete descent into moonbattery. The editors at the Strib today raise eyebrows by endorsing "fake but accurate" as a desirable journalistic standard not once but twice -- which calls into question the quality of every single article they publish: Newsweek used as a source a "senior government official," normally a Cabinet secretary or someone fairly close to that rank, who had previously been a reliable source. It then showed the report to two Pentagon officials before publication. One declined comment and one corrected another aspect of the story. Neither challenged the Qur'an-in-the-toilet statement. Only after the report had been printed did the original source back away from his assertion that he had seen the confirmation in a military report on abuse at Guantanamo. On reflection,...
Yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer also noticed that Ken Mehlman has been working quietly to develop new ties to the African-American community, as I noted Monday as a contrast to Howard Dean's stewardship of the DNC. The Inquirer remarks on Mehlman's success in developing candidates for strategic races in Pennsylvania, which just barely went into the Democratic column in 2004 and where Democrats can hardly afford to lose any further ground: Give us a chance, we'll give you a choice. That's the party mantra as Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, travels around the country speaking almost weekly to black and Hispanic audiences. The emphasis is on shared social values and economic opportunity. President Bush's backing of education reform, and recent increases in home ownership and small businesses among African Americans are touted. Outreach and advisory committees are being formed nationally, statewide and locally. Monday's news was the conversion of...
Howard Dean has a well-known problem of foot chewing, and he indulged himself again yesterday on his new favorite subject, Tom DeLay. Despite the lack of any criminal investigation into DeLay -- and the bogged-down ethics allegations that have now enveloped a host of Democrats along with the GOP House whip -- Dean just can't stop declaring DeLay guilty before even being indicted: "There's corruption at the highest level of the Republican Party, and they're going to have to face up to that one of these days, because the law is closing in on Tom DeLay," Dean said in a telephone interview before heading to an appearance today in Phoenix. "I think he's guilty . . . of taking trips paid for by lobbyists, and of campaign-finance violations during his manipulation of the Texas election process," Dean said. The DNC chairman sang a completely different tune in the winter of...
I've held off mentioning the Not One Dime campaign, where Republicans have pledged to withhold all 2005 contributions to Senate campaigns and the national party until the GOP forces a vote on the Byrd option and eliminates filibusters on judicial confirmations. Now that Bill Frist has moved to do that, we need to make sure that we continue our pressure on the individual Republican Senators to ensure they support the motion when it comes up for a vote. Please call the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121, and ask to speak to at least one of the "wobblies" today. I called earlier and spoke to staffers in the offices of Susan Collins and John Warner; Chuck Hagel, Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chaffee, and John McCain will be on my list later. Call while the offices are open and make sure you speak to someone live, and if you can do it, call as...
Harry Reid has already begun shutting down the Senate before the GOP even introduces a motion for cloture to confirm the nomination of Priscilla Owen, according to a statement by Bill Frist: “What a difference a day makes. Less than 24 hours after he complained the Senate is ignoring issues important to Americans, Democrat Leader Harry Reid today threatened progress on an energy bill, a jobs bill, disaster relief, and a closed intelligence meeting. “To close down the committees over the judges issue is not only counterproductive, it could hurt Americans looking for work or suffering at the gas pumps. “Despite any differences over the judges, the American people want their government to continue working on issues important to them. They want the Senate to do its job. “Despite his suggestions to the contrary, Senator Reid’s actions speak volumes. It would appear the Democrats’ threat to shut down the Senate...
Another Conservative MP has gone public with allegations that the Liberal Party has attempted to bribe Tories with ministerial positions or Senate seats to buy votes on the upcoming confidence motion in tomorrow's session. Following the public outing by Inky Marks and the scandalous betrayal by Belinda Stronach, Gurmant Grewal came forward this evening to reveal that the Grits had offered a Senate seat for his wife and a Liberal sinecure to keep him from voting No on the budget: The Surrey, B.C. MP, whose wife Nina is also a Tory MP, alleges he made an audio recording of the offer from Liberal cabinet minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff. The allegation comes a day after Belinda Stronach shocked her Tory caucus colleagues by jumping to the Liberal cabinet. Mr. Martin insisted the move was Ms. Stronach's initiative and that the Liberals were...
May 19, 2005
In an attempt to jump-start multilateral negotiations with North Korea, the US used low-level direct contacts with the Kim regime through the United Nations, according to an anonymous US embassy official. According to the Boston Globe and an AP report in USA Today, nothing substantial about nonproliferation was discussed, but assurances were given to the Kim regime on sovereignty and security: U.S. officials met with North Korean officials in New York last week to discuss American policy toward the Stalinist state, a U.S. Embassy official in Tokyo said Thursday. "We can confirm that we had working-level contact with North Korean officials on Friday, May 13, in New York," an embassy official said. "This channel is used to convey messages about U.S. policy, not to negotiate." ... A report in Japan's Asahi newspaper on Thursday said senior U.S. State Department officials told North Korean officials on Friday that Washington recognizes the...
With the two budget motions tabled today with the potential for a no-confidence result that could collapse the government -- in the middle of a royal visit from Queen Elizabeth II -- the developments in attendance and last-minute maneuverings have been dizzying. Last night's allegations of vote-buying by Tory MP Gurmant Grewal appeared to mirror those made earlier by MP Inky Marks, only this time Grewal made a tape of the conversation and named Tim Murphy, Paul Martin's chief of staff, as the initiator of the offer. Politics Watch reviewed the tape (available here from CTV), and Romeo St. Martin reports that Murphy used extreme caution in approaching Grewal: At no time during the tape does Murphy make an explicit offer to Grewal, and he carefully chooses his words and speaks about hypothetical situations. The tape suggests that Murphy is more interested in Grewal abstaining than having the MP crossover...
Roger L. Simon has a letter from the counsel for a Oil-For-Food witness that had been promised anonymity, but found out that he had been exposed as a source of information for the Volcker Commission. The letter from Pierre Mouselli's attorney, Adrian Gonzales Maltes, includes a statement from whistleblower Robert Parton explicitly stating that the Volcker Commission leaked this information without his knowledge, an astounding development since Mouselli was Parton's witness and Parton negotiated Mouselli's cooperation personally: "As to the one individual with whom I worked who had such [identity] protection, and from whom I had obtained evidence concerning conversations with the Secretary General, the IIC violated his Confidentiality Agreement during the course of the investigation. Without my knowledge or that of the witness, and in violation of the Confidentiality Agreement, members of the Committee provided the name of the witness -- and the substance of his statements -- to...
Perhaps in an era where mainstream journalists appear to be embracing the "fake but accurate" standard for publication stories like this should not surprise us, but one would think that key figures in the communication industry would be more careful in how they express themselves. The latest outbreak of unsubstantiated allegations against the US military comes from Linda Foley, the president of the Newspaper Guild and the Communication Workers of America. According to WorldNet Daily and a video at Say Anything, Foley has dug up the hoary Eason Jordan urban legend of American assassinations of journalists in Iraq: According to a tape of her remarks, Foley said: "Journalists, by the way, are not just being targeted verbally or … ah, or … ah, politically. They are also being targeted for real, um … in places like Iraq. What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there's not more...
With Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean calling for Tom DeLay's immediate imprisonment despite a lack of a conviction or even indictment, one wonders how he can feel so confident about getting either one. Perhaps it helps when the Democrats have their own in-house district attorney with apparently no concern over any appearance of conflict of interest. The Houston Chronicle reports today that the supposedly non-partisan Travis County DA investigating charges of corruption among DeLay's staff spent last week fund-raising for the Democratic Party: Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who denies partisan motives for his investigation of a political group founded by Republican leader Tom DeLay, was the featured speaker last week at a Democratic fund-raiser where he spoke directly about the congressman. A newly formed Democratic political action committee, Texas Values in Action Coalition, hosted the May 12 event in Dallas to raise campaign money to take control...
The UPI reports today that King Abdullah of Jordan told a Saudi newspaper that Jordan wanted Abu Musab al-Zarqawi extradited to Amman prior to Saddam Hussein's removal by US forces. Saddam refused to extradite the terrorist mastermind, providing him sanctuary instead (courtesy of Laurie Mylroie): Jordan's King Abdullah revealed Thursday that Iraq's former Baath regime had refused to deport Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for ongoing terrorism in Iraq. Speaking in an interview with Saudi daily al-Hayat, Abdullah said Zarqawi, a Jordanian, is well entrenched in Iraq and that "he and terrorists like him thrive in such places where security and stability are non-existent." ... "Since Zarqawi entered Iraq before the fall of the former regime we have been trying to have him deported back to Jordan for trial, but our efforts were in vain," Abdullah added. One of the arguments that anti-war protestors have made against George Bush was that...
CTV reports that independent MP David Kilgour has announced his intention to vote with the Conservatives in opposing C-48, the budget amendment and the confidence motion that could collapse the Liberal government: The combined votes of all Liberal and NDP MPs, as well as Independent MP Carolyn Parrish, adds up to 152 -- the same number as the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois. That leaves Independent MPs David Kilgour and Chuck Cadman to swing the result. Just hours before the vote, Kilgour pledged publicly to vote for the budget, but against the additional spending package. Cadman, however, is still holding his cards very close to his chest. Watch for abstentions. Those wild cards will come out, if they exist, for the C-48 vote and may well determine who outfought whom in this political battle. If only Cadman abstains, Martin loses. UPDATE: C-48 vote just complete -- Cadman voted with the Liberals....
Ian at the Political Teen has video of MS-NBC's Connected Coast to Coast, where the Not One Dime post I wrote yesterday (not today, Tony!) got major airplay. The segment was, I think, very fair and deliberately balanced and worth the download time even if you're on dial-up. Ornery, one of the blogs featured on the segment, posed this scenario for its readers: President Hillary Clinton and a Democratic Senate majority in 2009. My answer to that will be the same as it would have been for 214 years -- if that's what the voters want, then they will get the judicial confirmations that match. It's really that simple, and it always has been. To answer one last question posed by an e-mailer after the segment aired, even if MS-NBC considers me a stalwart conservative, I consider myself center-right. I don't oppose gay marriage, although I don't exactly support it...
May 20, 2005
After a round of criticism of Terry Moran of ABC News in the blogosphere for his part in White House briefing controversy, the veteran reporter engaged in an excellent if somewhat contentious on-air interview on Hugh Hewitt's radio program. In the course of the interview, Moran made two startling admissions. The first was that the media does have a reflexive anti-military bias: There is, Hugh, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media. One that begins from the premise that the military must be lying, and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong. I think that that is a hangover from Vietnam, and I think it's very dangerous. That's different from the media doing it's job of challenging the exercise of power without fear or favor. The second was that his brother runs the excellent blog Right Wing Nuthouse, who apparently got swamped...
In the aftermath of the failed Tory bid to unseat the Liberals and Paul Martin, the pundits will start analyzing the failure in light of the seemingly unbeatable revelations that have come out from the Gomery Inquiry. As party leader, Stephen Harper bears the ultimate responsibility for the strategy of this no-confidence effort and its execution, as the G&M's Brian Laghi reminds readers this morning: The man who prides himself on his skill as a political tactician lost the biggest gamble of his political career last night. And, at least according to some, it didn't need to be that way. After his defeat on a vote designed to force a spring election, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper finds himself today with a chunk of his political capital spent, a temperamental image with the Canadian public, and some members of his party sniping at him for what they believe was the frittering...
Bill Frist will take another step towards invoking the Byrd Option of getting a ruling that filibusters are out of order on judicial nominees this morning, when he introduces a motion for cloture on the confirmation debate for Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen: This morning, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will take an official step to proceed toward a vote on Owen's nomination, starting the clock ticking toward a showdown over whether Democrats will retain their right to block judicial nominees with the filibuster. Shortly after the Senate convenes this morning, Frist, R-Tenn., will file a cloture petition, which requires the approval of 60 of 100 senators, to end debate on Owen's nomination. Last session, Democrats blocked Owen and nine other appellate court nominees. He has renominated seven of them this year. Under Senate rules that petition must "ripen" for two days while the Senate is in session --...
After my post this morning on Terry Moran and his brother Rick at Right Wing Nuthouse, I received this e-mail from CQ reader Adam S: Absolutely. So is the blood of my loved ones in the armed forces being spilled in Iraq. Terry Moran and others like him in the media that do there best to destroy our military are a disgrace. So disgraceful that only a blood relative could stand up for them. So I guess by posting this you are saying that Terry and the MSM are all great Americans and all that nonsense in the blogsphere is bull? Where do you stand? Where do I stand? I think my posts on the subjects of the military, foreign policy, and the war in Iraq speak for themselves. I fully support this administration's strategy and implementation of the war on terror, and I think that the media has engaged...
Senator Rick Santorum apologized for his remarks during the Senate debate yesterday that used Adolf Hitler as part of an analogy about Democratic insistence on using the filibuster for judicial confirmations. He said he "meant no offense" by bringing up the most notorious genocidal maniac in history: "Referencing Hitler was meant to dramatize the principle of an argument, not to characterize my Democratic colleagues," Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the GOP leadership in the Senate, said of his remarks Thursday. ... Santorum said that Democratic protests over Republican efforts to ensure confirmation votes would be like the Nazi dictator seizing Paris and then saying: "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It's mine." Santorum later said in a release that his remark "was a mistake and I meant no offense." The Republican Jewish Coalition applauded the statement. "Sen. Santorum is sensitive to...
USA Today picks up on a building realization in political circles that Howard Dean may not have been the best choice to represent Democrats as the party tries to find some appeal to centrists. Jill Lawrence uses the same contrast as I did earlier this week between Dean and his GOP counterpart, Ken Mehlman, to plumb Democratic dissatisfaction with the Vermont governor's first 100 days on the job: Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is courting black and Hispanic voters on a regular basis. Beyond the usual run of speeches, fundraisers and meetings with donors, he has visited Latino neighborhoods and historically black campuses. He has attended black-oriented receptions and ceremonies, spoken to minority chambers of commerce and raised money for Otto Banks of Harrisburg, Pa., a black city council candidate new to the GOP. Dean, who reaches Day 100 as Democratic National Committee chairman Monday, is for the...
I just completed a taped interview with Rob Breakenridge at Corus Radio Network about a wide range of political topics, American and Canadian. The program, The World Tonight, airs on Canadian radio at 9:30 PM EDT. For those who don't live in Alberta, you can catch the interview on the live stream at CHRQ's website at the above link. Rob had some great questions for me about the judicial filibusters, John Bolton, and the collapse of the no-confidence effort in Ottawa. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did! ADDENDUM: Before you listen to my interview, don't forget to catch Michelle Malkin filling in for Bill O'Reilly on The Factor tonight on Fox News Channel....
May 21, 2005
Power Line posted late last night that the local broadsheet, the Star-Tribune, finally noticed that the Governor had invited several Metro-area bloggers to the mansion for a meet-and-greet last Tuesday. Scott and John do a good job of poking holes in the reporting of Mark Brunswick, so I don't necessarily want to cover the same ground, but some aspects of Mark's report are just too good to pass up. First off, I can confirm what Scott says about having received no contact from Brunswick about this report despite the four days it apparently took him to write it. I display my e-mail address right on my website, just below the Day by Day cartoon now, and I can assure readers that my e-mail service works just fine. (In fact, this morning I've already received three offers from former Nigerian heads of state who need to get millions of dollars out...
NDP leader Jack Layton has joined with Bloc Quebecois chief Giles Duceppe in calling for an RCMP investigation into potential vote-buying in the case of Gurmant Grewal. Grewal taped two conversations with key Liberal leaders, including PM Paul Martin's chief of staff Tim Murphy, during which Murphy alluded to a future appointment to the Senate for Grewal's wife in exchange for an abstention on Thursday's no-confidence motion: NDP Leader Jack Layton yesterday joined calls for the RCMP to investigate a taped conversation in which it is alleged that the Prime Minister's chief of staff suggested to an MP that the government would be more free to discuss a possible Senate appointment only after he and his wife, also an MP, abstained on Thursday night's confidence vote. Mr. Layton backed Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who on Thursday wrote the RCMP asking them to investigate the matter. ... In the conversation,...
The London Telegraph has a disturbing report on Russia's increasing police state spinning out of control in the Caucasus, which not only will complicate the war on terror but threatens to create an explosion of terror across the region. Vladimir Putin's security forces have reverted to Soviet-style corruption, brutality, and accountability, leaving little choice for the residents of the southern area of the Russian federation but to fight: To the West, President Vladimir Putin presents the face of a staunch partner in the war on radical Islam, waging a legitimate fight against extremists in the south of his country. As evidence of what he is up against he cites the brutal seizure of the school in Beslan last year, the downing of two Russian airliners by Chechen suicide bombers and numerous other attacks that the Kremlin regards as terrorism pure and simple. But even as he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with western...
9:56 CT - Fight starts. Looks like both fighters are ready. 9:57 CT - Okay, it looks like only one of them were ready. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get their butt kicked in 53 seconds before, and I watched Mike Tyson when he still had skills. Andrew Golota never even had a chance to throw a low blow. In fact, HBO says Golota threw 11 punches at Lamon Brewster, but I think at least half of those were just his arms pinwheeling while he hit the canvas three times in less than a minute. I don't get into boxing the way I did ten or fifteen years ago, but not much else was on TV tonight ... and not much boxing went on tonight either, for that matter....
For those who have argued for a Palestinian state as a resolution to Middle East violence, this development should cause some hesitation about the idea of sovereignty on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Scotsman reports that al-Qaeda has gained a toehold in Gaza by recruiting disenchanted terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad: AL-QAEDA has established a foothold in Palestine with a new militant group based in Gaza formed by extremists who have become disillusioned with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Amid the biggest flare-up of violence in Gaza since a ceasefire was declared three months ago by Palestinians and Israelis, the Jerusalem Post has quoted unnamed Palestinian Authority security officials as saying that a new group called Jundallah or 'Allah's Brigade' had links to the terrorist organisation headed by Osama bin Laden. The new terror group consists mainly of former Hamas and Islamic Jihad members who believe these two...
After much deliberation and consultation on finances, I finally decided that an upgrade for the Official Malfunctioning Laptop Of Captain's QuartersTM was overdue. Thanks to two generous gift certificates from my last birthday, Amazon wound up getting my business even if they didn't handle my last order very well. I took a trip out to Best Buy to see if they could beat the Amazon price on two models on which I had focused: the Sony Vaio FS640 and the HP 1040 US. Going to the store also gave me an opportunity to see both models to get an idea of their physical build, and also to see if anything else looked better for the money. Both models would have worked for me. I want to get back to an old hobby of DVD production for family films, and while my desktop does that reasonably well, I've gotten so used...
May 22, 2005
9:01 - On filibusters: "We need more than one party in charge." Perhaps the Democrats could start winning majorities in order to ensure that. 9:04 - Confronted with Democrats' quotes opposing filibusters in the past, Dean changes the subjects. Now he's complaining about Bush's "town meetings" as an example -- WTF? 9:05 - First reference to Tom DeLay! 9:07 - He brought crib notes for his interview to cover his Tom DeLay. Cute. 9:08 - Russert plays the "jail sentence" clip, and Russert slams him with his earlier Osama quote. Response: "I don't think I'm prejudging [DeLay]." Then he says a jury will decide that, even though he hasn't even been indicted. Russert then reads Barney Frank's quote and Dean refuses to acknowledge the issue, saying that his "admonishments" by the House equals a criminal conviction in court. 9:10 - Howard thinks he's Harry Truman! 9:13 - Retraction on DeLay?...
The Democrats in the Senate have complained that judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown is outside of the mainstream, an extremist that threatens American personal freedoms. Ted Kennedy charges her with "a deep hostility to civil rights," which Charles Hurt notes in a short article in today's Washington Times. For Ted's idea of how freedom and civil rights should be protected, Hurt notes this passage from Brown's testimony at the Judiciary Committee: Mr. Kennedy also expressed concern about a case Justice Brown handled involving racial slurs in the workplace and scolded her for not being more concerned about such behavior. Justice Brown wrote that the First Amendment guarantees free speech and prohibits the federal government from ordering a supervisor not to use racial slurs. "How does that possibly advance the cause of justice and fulfill what we were trying to do to deal with this kind of verbal harassment in the...
First Lady Laura Bush encountered vociferous protests in Jerusalem as she toured the city, trying to use her normally calming and diplomatic presence to encourage Palestinians and Israelis to push for a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the issues facing them. Instead, when she visited the mosque at the Dome of the Rock, militant-led protestors decried the visit in light of the false Newsweek reports of Qu'ran desecration: Protesters besieged Laura Bush during her visit Sunday to two of Jerusalem's most sacred sites, with Israeli police locking arms to restrain the crowd and Secret Service agents packed tightly around America's first lady. ... Anti-American sentiment is running high in the Mideast because of a variety of factors, including a now-retracted report in Newsweek that Pentagon investigators had found evidence interrogators at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, in washrooms to...
Newsweek again issued a mea culpa for its false report of Qu'ran desecration, this time issued from Richard Smith, the magazine's editor-in-chief. As in previous statements from the magazine, the apology comes complete with an explanation of how they didn't do anything wrong and that the Pentagon bears responsibility for not stopping them from printing the story: As most of you know, we have unequivocally retracted our story. In the light of the Pentagon's denials and our source's changing position on the allegation, the only responsible course was to say that we no longer stand by our story. We have also offered a sincere apology to our readers and especially to anyone affected by violence that may have been related to what we published. To the extent that our story played a role in contributing to such violence, we are deeply sorry. ... One of the frustrating aspects of our...
After spending the day cleaning out the office and the garage -- and really not finishing either after several hours, which should tell you all you need to know about the scale of the job -- I went out with my son and daughter-in-law to see Star Wars, Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. The First Mate begged off, since she felt tired out from the day and also since she's successfully avoided experiencing any of the six Star Wars movies up to now, and didn't want to lose her perfect record. ** SPOILERS ** Plenty of bloggers have already commented on this film, and I've read their reviews, which helped in keeping my expectations in check going in. Because of that, and the fact that the last two movies had so many problems, I wound up pleasantly surprised by RotS. The movie starts at a fast pace, with the...
May 23, 2005
I missed this yesterday in my busy day, but don't miss it if you haven't yet read it. For those who doubt whether George Bush's policy of democratization as a weapon against Islamist terror in the Middle East will prove successful, Fouad Ajami writes about his experiences on a tour of the region and the recognition and admiration that Bush has achieved from Arabs in giving them hope for modernization and liberty. His essay, adapted by Opinionjournal from a recent lecture, makes clear that pursuing Scowcroftian "stability" no longer remained a possibility: "George W. Bush has unleashed a tsunami on this region," a shrewd Kuwaiti merchant who knows the way of his world said to me. The man had no patience with the standard refrain that Arab reform had to come from within, that a foreign power cannot alter the age-old ways of the Arabs. "Everything here--the borders of these...
The Liberal Party sent new Cabinet minister Belinda Stronach to campaign in a critical federal by-election in Labrador this weekend in order to ensure the retention of a Commons seat for the Grits. While the seat in Goose Bay has historically been safe for the Liberals, with only one Tory elected in the last 50 years, the appearance of Stronach might not make for the best reminder of Liberal politics at the moment: Belinda Stronach was among three Liberal cabinet ministers campaigning in Labrador yesterday, two days before an important federal by-election in the region. The newly minted Human Resources Minister gave her first major speech since defecting from the Conservative Party last week, supporting Todd Russell in tomorrow's by-election to succeed the late Liberal MP Lawrence O'Brien. If the Tories can pull off an upset, they can gain a seat in the Commons and once again have a thin...
Despite the media grandstanding of John McCain in attempting to fashion a compromise that winds up tossing judicial nominees under the bus, fellow GOP Senator George Allen predicts that the Senate will be forced to adopt the Byrd option and rule filibusters out of order for judicial confirmations. Allen told ABC yesterday that the Republicans have the votes to do it on Tuesday: Sen. George Allen, Virginia Republican, said yesterday that he doesn't think a compromise can be reached with Senate Democrats and predicted his party has the 51 votes needed to employ the so-called "nuclear option" that will prevent the filibustering of judicial nominees. "I just think that it is not that big of a deal for senators to exercise their constitutional responsibility," Mr. Allen said on ABC's "This Week." "I think that we'll get the constitutional option done, and we'll vote on judges." Also yesterday, Senate Majority Whip...
As the blog Riding Sun noted yesterday, the Qu'ran-flushing urban legend Newsweek printed earlier this month wasn't their first excursion into anti-American pandering abroad. In February, while they printed innocuous covers of George Bush and Oscar nominees for their American editions, the weekly magazine used this cover in Japan: The translation of the headline is "The Day America Died," in an apparent reference to George Bush's re-election. Instead of informing us of our demise here in the States, however, Newsweek gave us a picture of George Bush with the headline, "America Leads ... But Is Anyone Following?" Apparently, Newsweek somehow believes that corpses lead and that some people follow them. Magazines with foreign editions routinely edit for their target populations. However, Newsweek's editorial choices for Japan, a staunch ally of the US, do not appear to reflect their market but an editorial desire to undermine American ties to the Japanese...
The Democrats have recently begun a scare campaign that claims Republicans want to eliminate the filibuster altogether, not just for judicial nominations but also for legislation. This new conspiracy theory states that the GOP will set a precedent on Tuesday that makes it easy for the majority to cast off this particular Senate tradition. Unsurprisingly, John McCain mouthed this canard to the press: "We're talking about changing the rules of the Senate with 51 votes, which has never happened in the history of the United States Senate," Mr. McCain said, adding that he was worried that eliminating the filibuster for judicial nominees would lead to the elimination of the 214-year-old parliamentary tactic altogether. "If you have 51 votes changing the rules of the Senate, nominations of the president is next, and then legislation follows that, and we will now become an institution exactly like the House of Representatives," Mr. McCain...
In all probability, we are less than 24 hours from the Senate deciding whether to return to majority rule on confirmation of judicial nominees or an endorsement of the usurpation of nominating authority by the Senate minority. Various reports have moderates in both parties working towards compromises that might be acceptable to enough Senators in both parties to block the showdown on the Constitutionality of the filibuster as applied to judicial nominations, but time is quickly running out on such efforts. George Bush made his expectations clear this morning: "My job is to pick people who will interpret the Constitution, not use the bench from which to write laws," Bush said from the White House. "And I expect them to get an up or down vote, that's what I expect. And I think the American people expect that as well — people ought to have a fair hearing and they...