October 1, 2006
Al-Qaeda Home Movies
The Times of London has new video of the 9/11 hijackers from more than a year prior to the attacks. Unlike other martyrdom videos that have been released, these tapes appear to have been less formal affairs. Without a soundtrack for some reason, no one can be sure what al-Qaeda's intent was in taking them, but they look more like home movies than anything produced for a specific purpose: It is the first time that a videotape has appeared of Mohammed Atta — who flew an American Airlines plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center — at a training camp in Afghanistan. It fills in a significant gap in the timing of the build-up to the attacks on the United States. Dates on the tape show Atta was filmed on January 18, 2000, together with Ziad Jarrah, the pilot of United Airlines flight 93, which crashed in...
Look Forward For Security
Richard Clarke takes to the pages of the New York Times to deliver a lesson that everyone should have learned after 2004. The controversial former counterterrorism chief reminds Americans that we cannot secure the nation through blame games, and that the time has long since passed for us to exercise hindsight and start looking forward: For most Americans the history is clear and well told in the 9/11 commission report: Almost 3,000 people were killed. In the years before that terrible day, the Clinton administration prevented some attacks and tried to destroy Al Qaeda and its leadership, but was unable to do so, in part because the institutional bureaucracy did not believe the magnitude of the threat. As for the Bush administration, it deferred action on Al Qaeda until after 9/11, and then took a number of steps in response, including invading Iraq, but was also unable to destroy Al...
Turkey Warns Iraqi Kurds On Terrorism
Newsweek's Lally Weymouth conducts an intriguing interview with Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, in which he warns Iraq and the US to curb Kurdish terrorists -- or Turkey will do it themselves. Gul has plenty to say on Iraq's internal security troubles, and issues a warning to America about withdrawing from Iraq: Q. So, would Turkey invade northern Iraq to bring the PKK under control? A. We will do whatever is necessary to fight this organization. I want to give the message that if our friends don't help us, we will do the job ourselves. ... Q. In the United States many people believe the time has come to withdraw. A. How can you leave a vacuum over there? Then, what will happen? All the neighbors of Iraq and the U.S. should work hand in hand with the Iraqi government and the different tribes in Iraq to bring stability. I...
A Graphical Depiction Of The Challenge In Afghanistan
With Pervez Musharraf appearing to retreat in the war on terror and Hamid Karzai demanding results, the situation in Afghanistan and the Waziristan region appears to be inexplicably troublesome of late. Musharraf and Karzai have more trouble than just borders in this situation, though, and what we are now seeing may be a nationalist movement that has escaped Western attention until now. The Toronto Sun's Eric Margolis explains the problem, and Swaraaj Chauhan at The Moderate Voice produces an interesting map to underscore his point. In order to understand the difficulties, Margolis argues, one has to understand the tribalism in play: Tribal politics lie at the heart of their dispute. The 30 million Pashtuns (or Pathans), the world’s largest tribal society, are divided between Afghanistan and Pakistan by an artificial border, the Durand Line, drawn by divide-and-conquer British imperialists. Pashtuns account for 50-60% of Afghanistan’s 30 million people. The Taliban...
What's The Difference Between The Mafia And Congress? Scale
Ever wonder how caucuses in the House choose their leadership? In the Senate, it comes from seniority. In the House, they determine it like a multi-level marketing plan. As the New York Times reports, money talks ... loudly: To move up the ladder in Congress, you must do more than win votes. You are, quite literally, expected to pay your dues. If you are a rank-and-file member of the House, the amount is up to $100,000. If your ambitions are to preside over a powerful committee, the duty is $300,000. For a top party leader, the tally can climb beyond $600,000. Make those checks payable to the Republican or Democratic Congressional campaign committees. ... Four years after Congress tried to reduce the influence of money in politics by rewriting the rules of how campaigns are financed, Republicans and Democrats alike have found myriad replacements for the river of financial contributions...
In A Word -- Yes!
The London Times asks if Kofi Annan has blood on his hands as he prepares to end his term as United Nations Secretary-General. Apparently the Times does not consider this a rhetorical question, as it provides a rather lengthy answer: Srebrenica is rarely mentioned nowadays in Annan’s offices on the 38th floor of the UN secretariat building in New York. He steps down in December after a decade as secretary-general. His retirement will be marked by plaudits. But behind the honorifics and the accolades lies a darker story: of incompetence, mismanagement and worse. Annan was the head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) between March 1993 and December 1996. The Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 men and boys and the slaughter of 800,000 people in Rwanda happened on his watch. In Bosnia and Rwanda, UN officials directed peacekeepers to stand back from the killing, their concern apparently to...
The Al-Qaeda Video, More Watchable Than Before
My friend John from Power Line spent the better part of today cleaning up and re-editing the captured video from the al-Qaeda training facility. (I blogged about it this morning.) John's efforts can be viewed through this Power Line News link. Be sure to check it out -- if the earlier Times of London version gave you downloading headaches, John's version should play much more smoothly....
October 2, 2006
Putin Has Georgia On His Mind
Russia appears to be on the verge of war with the former Soviet republic of Georgia after watching four of its citizens arrested on espionage allegations. Vladimir Putin put his forces in Georgia on high alert and instructed them to defend their bases, a major point of contention between the two nations. He also warned Georgia that it couldn't count on American support if hostilities broke out: Infuriated by the arrests of four Russian officers on spying charges, Moscow has put its troops in Georgia on high alert and ordered them to "shoot to kill" to defend their bases in the former Soviet republic. In his first public comments on the escalating crisis, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, yesterday accused Georgia of "state terrorism" and compared the arrests to the repressions of Stalin's secret police chief, Lavrenty Beria. The commander of Russian military forces in Georgia, General Andrei Popov, said...
Convention Security 'Bigger Than The Super Bowl'
Think of it as the hangover after an awards celebration. In the aftermath of winning the Republican National Convention, the magnitude of the security preparations has dawned on state and local officials. Estimates of personnel go between 5,000 and 10,000 police officers, while the Twin Cities currently employ 1,400 combined: Security will be the biggest concern -- and the biggest expense -- for the convention, with plans for as many as 10,000 officers to be deployed and $50 million to be spent to protect delegates, media and high-profile politicians. "Everything we do is different after 9/11," said Rob Allen, a deputy chief with the Minneapolis Police Department. "A Twins playoff game, a Vikings game, a parade, all are different. You can't turn back the clock on how you do security." Although the Twin Cities has attracted larger crowds -- such as at the 1992 Super Bowl -- it has never...
My Teams Make The Playoffs
It came down to the end of the baseball season, but the two teams I follow both made the playoffs, which means I will have to watch some playoff games this year. For my favorite baseball team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the wild card spot tasted even sweeter as they clinched it at the end of a San Francisco sweep. The Dodgers finished off their traditional rivals and got to celebrate on their turf: Los Angeles beat San Francisco 4-3 in what might've been Barry Bonds' last game for the Giants, and ended up even in the standings with San Diego. The Padres held the tiebreaker based on head-to-head record and earned the West crown. "We're looking forward to getting this thing started," Los Angeles manager Grady Little said. "What's taken place here started last year. Everything has been positive." The Dodgers could have won the divisional championship had San...
Iran Sending Jihadists Into Afghanistan?
The Guardian reports that Western intelligence agencies have discovered a new source of jihadists in Afghanistan, and it comes as a bit of a surprise. The Sunni-based Taliban have apparently received a boost in personnel from the Shi'ites in Iran: Knock-kneed with fear, the young prisoner perched on the edge of his chair in the windowless Afghan intelligence office. Eyes bloodshot and hands trembling, he blurted out his story. Abdullah had reached the end of a pitifully short career as a Taliban fighter. He had been arrested hours earlier, just 10 days after signing up to the insurgency. But the 25-year-old with a soft face and a neat beard had something unusual that aroused the intelligence agents' curiosity. "I come from Iran," he said in a quavering voice, wringing his hands nervously. "They told me the Americans had invaded Afghanistan and I should go and fight jihad. But I was...
Behold The Power Of Pork
The power of appropriators to shape legislation in all other areas of policy gets amplified through the use of pork-barrel politics, and John Murtha in particular has mastered this technique. The New York Times profiles Murtha and gets him on the record, bragging about his effectiveness in using pork to gain power: Members have watched with envy as Mr. Murtha has used earmarks to remake Johnstown, Pa., an impoverished former steel town that now includes a Murtha highway, a Murtha airport and Murtha health centers. He has steered billions of dollars to his district over the years, including more than $80 million in the defense spending bill passed Friday, according to a preliminary tally. Mr. Murtha’s patronage has transformed Johnstown into a national hub of the defense business, attracting giants like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. He even built one contractor from scratch. In 1988, Mr. Murtha asked the chancellor...
New Iran Policy Toughens Sanctions
Condoleezza Rice will have a new tool in her pocket in the showdown with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. The Senate quietly passed a new Iran policy on Saturday, one which President Bush is expected to sign, that allows for sanctions on any business that supports Iran's nuclear or advanced weapons programs. When she travels to Cairo tomorrow, Rice intends on unveiling the implications of the new policy in an attempt to further isolate Teheran: Bolstered by a new sanctions bill against Iran, Secretary of State Rice will press Arab foreign ministers tomorrow in Cairo to instruct banks in the region to cut ties to any entities contributing to Iran's nuclear program, support for terror, or pursuit of advanced conventional weapons. If the gambit in Cairo succeeds, it will boost American efforts to punish Iran for its defiance of international resolutions on its nuclear program. In the last 18 months,...
Political Dishonesty In Minnesota Politics
One of the most jaw-droppingly dishonest ads that I have seen in years comes from the Patty Wetterling campaign in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. The ads have appeared on prime-time television throughout the state, and not only display dishonesty but sheer ignorance. Wetterling accuses Michelle Bachmann of wanting to raise taxes through an increase in the sales tax: Michele Bachmann says she's for lowering taxes, and yet she supports replacing the income tax with a national sales tax," says Wetterling. Under a national sales tax, all taxable goods and services - including daily basics like milk, bread, groceries, clothing, new tires and prescription drugs - could cost 23% more. Lower and middle-class Minnesotans would pay more taxes under this plan, up to $4,077 more per year," says Wetterling. "I find it incredible that Michele Bachmann wants to place a heavier burden on the people who can least afford to pay...
Frist Didn't Surrender To The Taliban
An earlier AP report on Bill Frist and comments he made on the status of Afghanistan had some Republicans reaching for their hemlock, but as it turns out, Frist claims that the report misquotes his remarks. Here's what the AP reported: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government. The Tennessee Republican said he had learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated by military means. "You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government," Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. "And if that's accomplished we'll be successful." ... The senator said he had been warned to expect...
Whatever Happened To ... Katie Barge?
A couple of local bloggers have tracked down one of the Democratic operatives responsible for stealing Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele's confidential credit report last year. My NARN colleague Michael Brodkorb found Katie Barge, late of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, now working for Media Matters: Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization’s roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters’ chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock’s personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over...
October 3, 2006
How The Geneva Convention Protects Western Troops
A coroner's inquest in the UK concluded that two British soldiers, captured by Iraqis in March 2003, were executed by Saddam's officers after a few hours of torture. The finding confirms accusations made by Tony Blair during the operation: IRAQI officers loyal to Saddam Hussain filmed their cold-blooded murder of two British bomb disposal officers who were captured after a roadside ambush. An inquest was told that Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 36, and Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24, thought that they were being taken to hospital for treatment, but instead they were moved to a compound run by Saddam’s military intelligence. The harrowing ordeal lasted for hours until Iraqi agents killed the pair. The soldiers were buried in a shallow grave. The Geneva Conventions do not appear to have helped Allsopp and Cullingworth. Iraq entered into the covenant in 1956, and so operated under its strictures, at least in theory. Neither...
Iranians Offer France For Enrichment
An eleventh-hour offer to resolve the nuclear standoff has come from Iran's negotiators, the Jerusalem Post reports this morning. Picking up on a concept from early in the conflict, the deputy chief of Iran's nuclear agency suggested that another country handle uranium enrichment for Iran, only this time Mohammed Saeedi has proposed the French instead of the Russians: A top Iranian nuclear official proposed Tuesday that France create a consortium to enrich Iran's uranium, in a bid to satisfy the international community's demands for outside oversight of Tehran's nuclear program. "To be able to arrive at a solution, we have just had an idea. We propose that France create a consortium for the production in Iran of enriched uranium," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, told France-Info radio. "That way France, through the companies Eurodif and Areva, could control in a tangible way our enrichment activities," he...
Hamas Rejects 1100-1 Prisoner Swap For Shalit
Hamas appears prepared to act as reasonably as ever, the Jerusalem Post reports. Egypt announced that Hamas had refused to accept a deal to free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, even after the Mubarak government tried offering up to 1,100 Palestinian prisoners in exchange: Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Monday that Israel had offered to release up to 1,000 prisoners in exchange for captured soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but Hamas had turned down the proposal. "[There was] a deal that could have freed 900 to 1,000 prisoners, but sadly they have decided to keep holding him," he told Al-Arabiyeh Television. Egypt has been mediating between Israel and Hamas over the release of Shalit, who was abducted at Kerem Shalom on the Gaza border on June 25. Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz told Israel Radio on Sunday that the IDF might step up military operations in...
UK Says No Way To Guantanamo Nine
With all of the international cries for the US to release the remaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, it may surprise some that not everyone wants to take back the terrorists we have detained for the past five years. The UK has rejected the return of nine British subjects at Guantanamo, objecting to American demands for ongoing security aimed at keeping the freed detainees from rejoining the jihad: The United States has offered to return nearly all British residents held at Guantánamo Bay after months of secret talks in Washington, the Guardian has learned. The British government has refused to accept the men, however, with senior officials saying they have no legal right to return. Documents obtained by the Guardian show US authorities are demanding that the detainees be kept under 24-hour surveillance if set free - restrictions that are dismissed by the British as unnecessary and unworkable. Although all are...
Blankley Says Hastert Must Go
The Washington Times' Tony Blankley has joined a small chorus of voices calling for the resignation of Denny Hastert as Speaker of the House: The facts of the disgrace of Mark Foley, who was a Republican member of the House from a Florida district until he resigned last week, constitute a disgrace for every Republican member of Congress. Red flags emerged in late 2005, perhaps even earlier, in suggestive and wholly inappropriate e-mail messages to underage congressional pages. His aberrant, predatory -- and possibly criminal -- behavior was an open secret among the pages who were his prey. The evidence was strong enough long enough ago that the speaker should have relieved Mr. Foley of his committee responsibilities contingent on a full investigation to learn what had taken place, whether any laws had been violated and what action, up to and including prosecution, were warranted by the facts. This never...
Rate Of Increase In Federal Budget Highest Since 1990
Brian Riedl at the Heritage Foundation has taken a look at the growth in federal spending, and sounds the alarm in a new analysis. Riedl points out the shell game played by Congress in this session that has allowed spending to increase at the highest rate in sixteen years: Federal spending in 2006 is set to rise 9 percent, the largest increase since 1990 and enough to earn Congress near failing grades from the Heritage Foundation’s third quarter report card.[1] Most families facing steep new expenses would cut back on additional spending. However, the Senate is preparing to bust fiscal year (FY) 2007 discretionary spending caps by at least $32 billion to: 1. Reimburse the Pentagon for the $9 billion raided from its budget earlier this year and given to domestic programs, as well as fund additional defense and border security programs ($26.8 billion in total); 2. Fund another massive...
Three Years Of CQ
Three years. 8,156 posts. Over 109,000 comments and 16,000 trackbacks. 23 million visits. And the best blog community in the 'sphere. It all started with this post: Welcome to the Captain's Quarters! So, naturalists observe, a flea Hath smaller fleas which on him prey And these have smaller still to bite 'em, and so proceed ad infinitum. Thus every poet, in his kind, Is bit by him who comes behind. -- Jonathan Swift I love this quote, and I've had it memorized since I first read it in Tom Burnham's Dictionary of Misinformation. In fact, I think it explains blogs and their popularity, and in some degrees their incestuousness. Glenn Reynolds or Andrew Sullivan read a news story, and they post a commentary, and then other blogs post commentaries to their commentaries, and so proceed ad infinitum. Don't get me wrong - I think that's terrific! We need an open...
When He Tells Us He Got Abducted By Aliens, Call Me
After having salacious messages to teenage boys exposed by ABC News last week, disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley disappeared, later turning up at a mental-health facility claiming that he suffers from alcoholism. When that apparently didn't turn down the heat, his lawyer dragged out another pop-culture form of victimhood in a supposedly "blockbuster" press conference: Former Rep. Mark Foley's attorney said Tuesday that his client was molested between the ages 13 and 15 by a clergyman. Foley had represented the West Palm Beach district for 12 years and was seeking re-election until his sudden resignation last week after the disclosure of lurid online communications with teenage congressional pages. "This is part of his recovery," Roth said, declining to identify the clergyman or the church. Ah, yes. Alcoholism has become rather passe' these days, what with Bob Ney ostentantiously checking himself into a treatment center after his guilty verdict for corruption....
The Next Great Internet Sensation
I had a chance to take a look at a website that will delight porkbusters across the political spectrum. The good folks at OMB Watch, in conjunction with The Sunlight Foundation, will launch FedSpending.org on October 10th. FedSpending actually steals a march on the Coburn-Obama federal database by putting all of the federal contracts and grants in the federal budget in a searchable database. And let me tell you, if the federal government makes it work one-tenth as well as this, we've spent our money well indeed. FedSpending didn't just restrain itself to FY2005. They assembled spending data for every year since FY2000, and the amounts account for the majority of federal spending. Just as the government directed, FS separates contracts and grants into two separate databases. Users will be able to sort spending by state, Congressional district, recipient, and by program. Porkbusters can look up individual contractors and grantees...
A Reminder Of Depravity
Continuing rumors of ancient atrocities led German authorities to excavate a site that some thought contained the bodies of Nazi victims from World War II. This gossip proved all too accurate; they discovered a mass grave that the Nazis used to bury its youngest and most helpless victims: Authorities in western Germany have found a mass grave containing 35 bodies, many of them of young children, and are checking whether they may have been victims of Hitler's program of forced "euthanasia" that killed tens of thousands of people with physical and mental disabilities. The search of the site in a cemetery in the town of Menden near Dortmund began last week after rumors and eyewitness testimony that the cemetery contained the bodies of Nazi victims. Among the bodies found so far are 20 skeletons of children believed to have been aged between one and seven. Most of them were buried...
October 4, 2006
A Fine Whine About Immigration Reform
The Washington Post offers up a typical doomsday scenario in order to highlight the lack of progress on comprehensive immigration reform, but winds up demonstrating everything wrong about the reformers' economic arguments. Sonya Geis allows growers full vent about their disappearing work force, but never quite makes the connection between their labor shortfall and the compensation they offer: Bins of Granny Smith apples towered over two conveyor belts at P-R Farms' packing plant. But only one belt moved. P-R Farms, like farms up and down California and across the nation, does not have enough workers to process its fruit. "We're short by 50 to 75 people," said Pat Ricchiuti, 59, the third-generation owner of P-R Farms. "For the last three weeks, we're running at 50 percent capacity. We saw this coming a couple years ago, but last year and this year has really been terrible." Farmers of all types of...
OMB Wants A Few Good Bloggers
The Office of Management and Budget will host the new Coburn-Obama database, and they want to continue in the reform spirit. In that effort, the OMB wants to draft bloggers to support its other clean-government initiatives: The Office of Management and Budget is turning to bloggers for help in pushing the OMB's government reform plans after last week's success of its pet project, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, also known as the Coburn-Obama bill. ... Bush signed the bill last week, flanked by the bloggers who had led the charge, including those from Porkbusters.org, Townhall.com, Instapundit.com and Human Events Online's Right Angle blog. Soon afterward, OMB Deputy Director Clay Johnson III spent an hour with the bloggers. Right after that, OMB Director Rob Portman and Johnson appeared at a luncheon to talk about OMB's government performance push. Portman also talked about the blogger fest, saying, "Clay asked them,...
Britain Ready For Sanctions On Iran
Britain has decided that the Iranian negotiations have run aground and plan to pursue sanctions. The Guardian reports that Javier Solana's briefing on Iranian intransigence provided the straw that broke the camel's back: The British government signalled yesterday the latest round of negotiations with Iran had failed and that it will begin a push within the next fortnight for targeted UN sanctions against Tehran. ... The British official, talking to journalists in London on condition of anonymity, said Javiar Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, had at the weekend briefed the five permanent members of the security council - the US, Britain, France, China and Russia - plus Germany and reported that Iran had failed to suspend uranium enrichment as the UN had demanded. Mr Solana, on a visit to Finland yesterday, said a telephone call to Ali Larijani, Iran's leading nuclear negotiator, yesterday failed to produce any breakthrough. The...
A Conversation Among Conservatives
Last night, I had the opportunity to participate in a round-table discussion with a few excellent bloggers of the Right regarding the Foley debacle and its implications. The conference call was hosted by Conservatives With Attitude and is now podcasted here. Joining hosts Michael Ross and Michael "A.J. Sparxx" Illions were myself, Lorie Byrd of Wizbangblog, Betsy Newmark of BetsysPage and John Hawkins of RightWingNews. I enjoyed the discussion, even though I was in the minority on the issue. We talked for about forty minutes or so, and I think CQ readers will enjoy the debate. We decided afterwards that we would like to make this a semi-regular affair, so keep your eyes peeled for more podcasted debates with this panel in the future....
North Korea Threatens Nuclear Tests
Kim Jong-Il apparently figured the spotlight of world attention had strayed too far from the Korean Peninsula for too long. Yesterday, Kim threatened to conduct a test of his nuclear weapons, an act that received immediate worldwide condemnation -- but little else: World leaders lashed out at North Korea's vow Tuesday to test a nuclear bomb sometime "in the future," but offered no clear plan for dealing with aggravated tensions over the dictatorship's nuclear weapons ambitions. U.S. intelligence officials said they had been monitoring recent movement of people and vehicles around at least one suspected test site. But because North Korea has never conducted a nuclear test, it is difficult for intelligence agencies to determine how close the regime may be to setting off a bomb. The North Koreans did not elaborate on when a test would occur or whether it would be conducted below ground, which experts say is...
Are These The People To Trust With Truth?
Google has made itself into the essential tool for Internet research, a success that all free-market fans applaud. Now one of its executives wants to expand its use into "truth predictor" functions that would assess the honesty of politicians: Imagine being able to check instantly whether or not statements made by politicians were correct. That is the sort of service Google Inc. boss Eric Schmidt believes the Internet will offer within five years. Politicians have yet to appreciate the impact of the online world, which will also affect the outcome of elections, Schmidt said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday. He predicted that "truth predictor" software would, within five years, "hold politicians to account." People would be able to use programs to check seemingly factual statements against historical data to see to see if they were correct. "One of my messages to them (politicians) is to...
Rudy Gets A Majority
It's early, but it's consistent with other polling taken over the last few months. The front-runners for the 2008 nominations are Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, and only Giuliani gets majority support in a general election, according to the latest Marist poll. Republicans who want to hold the White House need to look at these numbers; they're amazing. Giuliani gets majority support for his political views across almost all political demographics, and a plurality of Democrats. Thirty-two percent of Democrats want him to run in 2008. His candidacy has gained support from last year, something that only Newt Gingrich can say, and then only from fourth place. John McCain has suffered a significant drop in his support from February; perhaps his new emphasis on conservative values has caused some revisionism among his former fans on the Left. I like Rudy, but his positions on guns bother me. I'm not as...
Patty Wetterling Overplays Her Hand
Patty Wetterling has done few things right in her latest campaign to win a seat in Congress. She seriously misrepresented Michele Bachmann's position on taxes this past weekend in an ad so poor that even the Star Tribune noticed. The Mark Foley scandal seemed tailor-made to Wetterling' she made her name as a tireless advocate for missing and exploited children after the tragic loss of her own child in the 1990s. She could have been expected to contrast Foley's now-suspect interest in the subject with her own bona fides, leveraging that track record to scold the Republican leadership for not protecting the teenaged pages on Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, she has managed to remind voters of her ongoing problems with the truth. After posting a tough but largely accurate statement on her site yesterday, Wetterling fabricated details for her latest television and radio ads: It shocks the conscience. Congressional leaders have...
October 5, 2006
Mob Rule At Columbia
When Democracy for America invited me to participate in a panel debate about the war in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 at Macalester College, I wondered whether the staunchly liberal setting would result in some sort of donnybrook due to my defense of the war. I needn't have worried; Macalester proved itself polite, classy, and welcoming, if predictably unenthusiastic about my point of view. No one chased me from the dais, and no one interrupted our debate. Unfortunately, Columbia University didn't demonstrate the same class and etiquette when Jim Gilchrist tried to speak about his Minutemen organization last night. Eliana Johnson reports in the New York Sun that a mob of students assaulted Gilchrist, shut down the event, and then cheered their version of free speech: Students stormed the stage at Columbia University's Roone auditorium yesterday, knocking over chairs and tables and attacking Jim Gilchrist, the founder of...
Israel Sacks Its Toughest War Critic
It seems that Israel has found its analogy to Douglas MacArthur. Just as the legendary American general forced his own cashiering onto Harry Truman by intimating that the President lacked the will to win in Korea, Major General Yiftah Ron-Tal criticized his superior publicly and got a discharge for his trouble: Israel's army chief fired a top general Wednesday over his criticism of the war in Lebanon and government policy, the army said. The dismissed officer, Maj. Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal gave unauthorized interviews to several Israeli news media earlier Wednesday, an army statement said. Ron-Tal said army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz must "accept responsibility" for the shortcomings of Israel's 34-day war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, which ended Aug. 14. Halutz, in a letter to Ron-Tal, said he was terminating the general's stay in the military immediately. Halutz said Ron-Tal's decision to make public statements was "unacceptable," the...
Russia Targets Georgians
The Russians do not want to let go of a grudge. They have apparently started a de facto pogrom against Georgians within their borders after the arrest of four alleged spies in Tbilisi this week. The release of the suspects has apparently done nothing to slake the Russian thirst for revenge: Georgians living in Russia felt the Kremlin's wrath yesterday as it retaliated against its neighbour following the spying row between the two countries last week. Police raided Georgian restaurants and other businesses in Moscow, apparently looking for minor legal violations in order to force their closure or criminalise their owners. The Kristall casino and Golden Palace entertainment complex were closed down after it was discovered that their Georgian owners were "criminal bosses" according to Russian state TV. Russia imposed an economic embargo on Georgia following the crisis, which also saw Moscow hint at military action against its neighbour after...
Appeals Court Hints At Reversal On NSA Surveillance
After Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's relentlessly mediocre ruling that ordered an end to the NSA's warrantless surveillance of terrorist communications, many experts believed that the ruling would not survive an appeal. Taylor herself appeared to forestall a reversal by refusing to stay her ruling pending the appeal. The Sixth Circuit resolved it themselves yesterday in a unanimous ruling granting the stay pending their review of the case, dropping a broad hint as to their inclinations: The Bush administration can continue its warrantless surveillance program while it appeals a judge's ruling that the program is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The president has said the program is needed in the war on terrorism; opponents argue it oversteps constitutional boundaries on free speech, privacy and executive powers. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave little explanation for the decision. In the...
Iraqi Tribes Get Enthusiastic About Counterterrorism
When Nouri al-Maliki negotiated a deal with tribal leaders in Anbar to fight terrorists, some wondered whether the tribes would follow through on their pledges. That question appears answered, according to the LA Times, which reports that they have responded with surprising enthusiasm to the government's call for assistance: U.S. officials say the decision of some tribal leaders to begin going after insurgents reflects growing public anger over attacks that have killed or injured more than 8,000 Iraqis, according to local government figures. They also say there has been growing alarm on the part of some tribal leaders over insurgents' demands for adherence to strict Islamic law. U.S. military leaders say that alarm has inspired a sense of partnership that didn't exist earlier. "It's only frankly been the last six months that they've recognized two things: One, they can't do it themselves, and two … they had much more in...
Does This Mean No Blogging, Too?
The Iranian Supreme Leader has a lot on his mind these days. With the nuclear standoff, the spread of Islamist power, managing Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, and propping Moqtada al-Sadr up in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Khameini has little time to spare on less important matters. However, he apparently considers self-gratification a pressing (ha!) matter of state: Deliberate masturbation during the month of Ramadan renders a fast invalid, Iranian Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Khameini has ruled. Khameini, who is Iran's most powerful political and religious figure, was asked on his website : "If somebody masturbates during the month of Ramadan but without any discharge, is his fasting invalidated?" "If he do not intend masturbation and discharging semen and nothing is discharged, his fasting is correct even though he has done a ḥarām (forbidden) act. But, if he intends masturbation or he knows that he usually discharges semen by this process and...
Hospilunchiblogging
E-mail response and blogging may be light over the next 24 hours or so, as the First Mate has experienced another little bump in the road, although one that was not completely unexpected. As we continued to throw off the viral infections that have plagued her since the beginning of the year, we had to keep an eye on her pancreas function to ensure that it didn't reject. We've been pretty lucky up to now, as the transplant managed to survive without immunosuppression for longer than we anticipated. However, her labs have shown some disturbing trends of late; I'd like to explain it, but the mechanics of this escapes me. I'd start sounding like that song that goes, "The knee bone's connected to the leg bone," except in this case it's "the amylase is connected to the lipase, and the lipase is connected to the glucose". It's got a lousy...
Ethics And Policy In Election-Year Chat
Earlier this morning, I took a few minutes to participate in a chat session hosted by the AP's Otis Hart on ethics in national politics. I joined Nick Gillespie from Reason and Judd Legum from Think Progress, and we managed to put aside partisan battles -- for the most part -- to talk about how ethics impact elections and politics: asap: OK: We hear a lot about the term "ethics" in connection to politics. What sorts of things do you think voters are thinking of when they worry about ethics? Morrissey: I think that local races will still focus mostly on policy ... Morrissey: but the ethics issues will certainly be part of that consideration, as it should be. Gillespie: ethics and politics are like oil and vinegar. you need a mix of both, but they separate as soon as they hit the plate. Legum: I think it goes to...
October 6, 2006
A Rare Victory For Judicial Modesty
The California appellate court has denied an attempt to overturn the state's "one man, one woman" rule on marriage through judicial. In an unfortunately remarkable decision, they upheld an appeal on an earlier decision by a San Francisco judge overturning the law, and told the plaintiffs from the original case that the judiciary cannot create new rights: In the latest turn to a long and winding legal fight over same-sex marriage, a California appeals court on Thursday upheld the state’s ban against it. The 2-to-1 decision, which reversed a lower court’s finding that the ban violated the California Constitution, said the plaintiffs in the case were asking the courts “to recognize a new right,” a step it said only the Legislature or the voters could take. “Courts simply do not have the authority to create new rights,” said the decision, written by Justice William McGuiness, “especially when doing so involves...
These Petards Are Made For Hoisting
The Palestinians have continued tunneling under the Gaza-Egypt border, presumably to smuggle arms across the border without attracting attention. They managed to literally blow that today, and the illicit weapons they smuggled into the tunnel apparently provided their undoing: An explosion collapsed a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border early Friday, trapping five terrorists inside and killing at least one, Palestinians said. The Aksa Martyrs' Brigades said the five were members. The group refused to say what they were doing. The group said the explosion was not caused by an IAF air strike, after first blaming Israel. They refused to say what they were doing in an illegal tunnel that inexplicably blew up? Why would they need to spell it out for anyone?...
Czech Jews Targeted By Jihadists
Islamists planned to round up dozens of Czech Jews and kill them in a spectacular raid on a synagogue, Reuters reports. The radical Islamists planned to target the small remaining Jewish community surviving after the Holocaust: Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday. The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled. When those demands -- which were not specified by the sources -- were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added. The Czechs refuse to give any details to the plot, which they apparently foiled on September 23rd. On that day, Czech security...
North Korea: War Is Coming To American Soil
A rambling, disjointed editorial by a man known as Kim Jong-Il's "unofficial spokesman" tells Asia Times readers that North Korea does not intend to build its nuclear weapons to use as bargaining chips. Kim will build them to turn American cities into "towering infernos": The first message is that Kim Jong-il is the greatest of the peerless national heroes Korea has ever produced. Kim is unique in that he is the first to equip Korea with sufficient military capability to take the war all the way to the continental US. Under his leadership the DPRK has become a nuclear-weapons state with intercontinental means of delivery. Kim is certainly in the process of achieving the long-elusive goal of neutralizing the American intervention in Korean affairs and bringing together North and South Korea under the umbrella of a confederated state. Unlike all the previous wars Korea fought, a next war will be...
Nuclear Terrorism Or Better Enforcement?
A disturbing report in the Times of London raises the question about whether terrorists have increased their efforts to find nuclear material, or whether the West has improved its ability to stop them. Confirmed incidents of nuclear trafficking have increased sharply since 2002, with most of the material falling into the "dirty-bomb" category: SEIZURES of smuggled radioactive material capable of making a terrorist “dirty bomb” have doubled in the past four years, according to official figures seen by The Times. Smugglers have been caught trying to traffick dangerous radioactive material more than 300 times since 2002, statistics from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) show. Most of the incidents are understood to have occurred in Europe. The disclosures come as al-Qaeda is known to be intensfiying its efforts to obtain a radoactive device. Last year, Western security services, including MI5 and MI6, thwarted 16 attempts to smuggle plutonium or uranium....
Missing The Low-Hanging Fruit
In all of the heat surrounding the NSA warrantless surveillance program and SWIFT banking intelligence, we seem to have lost track of the uncontroversial communication taps allowed by law. The Washington Post reminds us in an editorial that we have no bar to reviewing prisoner communications, and yet the imprisoned terrorists already in our custody have little problem sending mail to their jihadist friends unmolested: THE BUSH administration has pushed aggressively for expanded surveillance powers, military commissions and rough interrogation techniques. When it comes to fighting the war on terrorism, just about anything goes. Except, that is, those routine steps with no civil liberties implications at all that might significantly interrupt terrorism -- such as, say, reading the mail of convicted terrorists housed in American prisons. The federal Bureau of Prisons, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine wrote, "does not read all the mail for terrorist and other high-risk inmates...
Playboy's Top Ten Blogs
Earlier today, I received a nice e-mail from Glenn Greenwald, informing me that Playboy had selected their Top Ten Political Blogs -- and that Captain's Quarters made the list. Pam Spaulding at Pam's House Blend got the advance look at the feature from the November issue (Pam contributes to Pandagon, one of the other blogs nominated). Glenn's blog also made Playboy's list, and I appreciate his heads-up. The other blogs selected by Playboy are: * Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish * Power Line * Daily Kos * TPM Cafe * Hit & Run * Tapped * The American Scene Here's what Daniel Radosh wrote about CQ: The swaggering Ed Morrissey puts his back into blogging. His ability to dig up stories make him a must-read in right-wing circles beyond the blogosphere -- Rush Limbaugh reads Morrissey's posts on the air. Radosh wrote about CQ once before, almost exactly a year ago,...
October 7, 2006
US Deal On Iranian Sanctions?
The US announced yesterday that a deal had been reached with the other permanent members of the UN Security Council to apply sanctions against Iran for their failure to comply with UNSC resolutions demanding a halt to their enrichment program. None of the nations announced any specific steps, but the New York Times reports that they have all agreed in principle to a reversible, phased application that will isolate Iran economically and diplomatically: The United States said it had won agreement on Friday from the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany to seek sanctions against Iran over its refusal to shut down a nuclear enrichment program that could be used to build bombs. While the State Department praised the agreement, which was reached at a one-day meeting here of senior officials from the six nations, American diplomats conceded that there could still be long...
DMZ Tensions Escalate
With Kim Jong-Il threatening a nuclear test and his neighbors demanding that he stop the preparations for it, tensions have mounted at the DMZ separating North and South Korea. This morning, an incursion by a handful of DPRK soldiers resulted in warning shots by South Korean troops: On the frontier between North and South Korea, South Korean soldiers fired warning shots after five North Korean soldiers crossed a boundary in the Demilitarized Zone separating the countries' forces, South Korean military officials said. It was unclear whether the North Korean advance, which happened shortly before noon local time, was intended as a provocation, an official at South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on condition of anonymity, citing official policy. No one was hurt, and the North Koreans retreated. "It's not clear whether it was intentional or whether it was to catch fish," he said, adding four North Koreans were unarmed...
Security Barriers Passe'?
The near-ubiquitous concrete pillars in front of buildings in American cities have quietly started to disappear, even in high-risk terrorist targets in New York. The New York Times reports that building owners have begun removing them as their efficacy came under question in dense urban centers: They started appearing on Manhattan streets immediately after September 11: concrete and metal barriers in front of skyscrapers, offices and museums. Some were clunky planters; others were shaped artfully into globes. They were meant to be security barriers against possible car or truck bombers in a jittery city intent on safeguarding itself. But now, five years later, their numbers have begun to dwindle. After evaluations by the New York Police Department, the city’s Department of Transportation has demanded that many of the planters and concrete traffic medians known as jersey barriers be taken away. So far, barriers have been removed at 30 buildings out...
Northern Alliance Radio On The Air
The Northern Alliance Radio Network is back on the air at AM 1280 The Patriot. John Hinderaker will be on from 11 am - 1 pm CT with Brian and Chad from Fraters Libertas. Mitch and I will take over from 1-3, and King and Michael get in the Final Word from 3-5. Colonel Joe Repya, who just returned from Iraq, joins us at 2 pm to discuss the war and the progress being made. If you're not in the Twin Cities, The Patriot has an excellent Internet stream at its website. This morning, we got a caller from Finland, and we've taken calls from China on occasion. Join us wherever you are by calling 651-289-4488!...
I Love Canadian Troops, Too!
Readers of CQ know that I follow Canadian politics and have become something of a Canada-phile ever since the Gomery Inquiry. Canadians, I have found, are friendly, gracious people, and their country has a well-deserved reputation for hospitality. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for the Canadian military, which has a long tradition of honorable service, and they are currently adding to and enhancing that reputation in Afghanistan in the fight against radical Islamist terrorists. Too many Americans seem disinterested in our northern neighbor and close ally. I'm always delighted when Americans take an interest in Canadians -- even when those Americans are Democrats. Michelle Malkin reports that the Democratic Party made a big show of "supporting the troops", and to be fair, they didn't specify their nationality: That picture looked pretty strange to one of Michelle's military readers, and a little poking around turned up where...
October 8, 2006
Sauce For The Goose
Earlier today, Mitch Berg wrote a post about a Star Tribune article on Republican Congressional candidate Alan Fine, who is competing for Martin Sabo's MN-05 seat against Keith Ellison. The Strib highlighted a years-old arrest of Fine for domestic abuse, one which later got expunged as the charges were withdrawn: Minneapolis congressional candidate Alan Fine was charged with domestic violence in 1995 and nine years later had his record expunged, in a case in which he and his first ex-wife give different versions of the events that led to him ending up in the Hennepin County jail. His wife at the time, Rebecca Wexler, dropped the abuse charge, and Fine succeeded in having the case removed from Hennepin County court and police records, according to documents recently obtained by the Star Tribune. Fine, who is the Fifth District Republican candidate, said in a recent interview that he never struck Wexler....
The Compounded Tragedy Of Dahianna Heard
Dahianna Heard became a widow this past March, when her husband Jeffrey got killed in an ambush delivering supplies to American troops near Fallujah. Jeffrey worked as a contractor in Iraq after serving in both the Army and the National Guard. She and her one-year-old son will have to live without him, and in a particularly cruel twist of fate, will have to do so while being deported back to her native Venezuela: Dahianna and Jeffrey Heard often talked of their life after the war as a dream they would live together: buy a house, raise a family, travel abroad. But Jeffrey, a Casselberry contractor for a security company supporting U.S. troops in Iraq, was shot to death this spring during an ambush of his convoy near Fallujah. Now his wife, a Venezuela native raising their 1-year-old son, faces possible deportation. One reason: They hadn't been married long enough. She...
A Split In Teheran?
The visit to the US by former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami had approval from the highest levels of government, the London Telegraph reports, and it served a clandestine American purpose. The US contacted Khatami on his trip to carry a message back to Iran's Guardian Council, the real power of the Islamic Republic, in an attempt to manuever around Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: The Bush administration made secret overtures to former Iran president Mohammed Khatami during his visit to the United States last month in an attempt to establish a back channel via the ex-leader. American officials made the approach as part of a strategy to isolate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mr Khatami's hard-line successor, by using the former president as a conduit to the Iranian people. They also hoped that Mr Khatami would report his conversations to senior members of Iran's theocratic regime who are wary of the current president. Diplomatic sources said...
Rice's Diplomacy In Middle East Starting To Pay Off
Herb Keinon sheds some light on the murky efforts by Condoleezza Rice in confronting the radicalism in the Middle East, especially as it relates to the Israeli-Palestinian mess. His length analysis points out the progress Rice has made in the past several weeks in convincing the existing regimes that democratization presents a far less significant threat, especially in the long term, than Iranian- and Syrian-backed radical Islamists. This slow realization has begun paying dividends as the Arab states now see organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas as threats to their own survival as well as Israel's: Remember, as well, that unlike the days when Colin Powell led the State Department, now there is largely one source of foreign policy power in Washington, and it rests with Rice. She needs some kind of achievement. Forming a coalition of moderate Arab states to counterbalance Iran, Hizbullah, Syria and Hamas would fit the...
A Pocket Veto On Border Fence?
Mickey Kaus has checked the calendar and wondered if George Bush might issue a passive-aggressive veto on the Secure Fence Act passed last week by Congress. Normally, bills passed by Congress become law if the President signs them or does nothing for ten days, but the Constitution also provides an exception for this in Article I, Section 7: Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections,...
DNC Still Can't Find An American Soldier To Support
The Democratic Party website has been changed since the discovery that they used a picture of a Canadian soldier on the page that proclaimed their support for "our troops". Apparently, though, they still can't find a picture of an American soldier to support: Does anyone at the DNC know what an American soldier looks like? They accuse the Republicans of hiding behind the flag all too often. This appears to be a much more blatant example than anything I've seen from the GOP. UPDATE: Even the photo at the top of the page is suspect. Fred, in the comments, notes that the people cheering with fists upraised comes from a stock-photo website....
October 9, 2006
North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test
North Korea conducted a nuclear test today that has set the world on edge, according to Pyongyang's announcement and confirmation through seismic monitors. The yield, however, looks almost impossibly small: North Korea said Monday it performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test, claiming it set off a successful underground blast in a "great leap forward" that defied international warnings against the communist regime. The reported nuclear test sparked condemnation from regional powers who said that, if confirmed, it would be a serious threat to regional stability. The U.S. called for immediate U.N. Security Council action. ... South Korea's seismic monitoring center said a magnitude 3.6 tremor felt at the time of alleged North Korea nuclear test wasn't a natural occurrence. The size of the tremor could indicate an explosive equivalent to 550 tons of TNT, said Park Chang-soo, spokesman at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources — which would...
Will Baker Bring Back Federalism For Iraq?
Both the New York Times and the London Times indulged in a little speculation about the advice James Baker will give the White House after his Iraq Study Group concludes its research into war policy. The NYT focuses more on the open nature of the inquiry, while the British newspaper believes a decision has already been made: James A. Baker III , the Republican co-chairman of a bipartisan commission assessing Iraq strategy for President Bush, said today that he expected the group to depart from Mr. Bush’s call to “stay the course.” In an interview on the ABC News program “This Week,” Mr. Baker said, “I think it’s fair to say our commission believes that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of ‘stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’ ” Mr. Baker, who served Mr. Bush’s father as secretary...
Russia Flacks For Kim Jong-Il
The seismic record of today's nuclear test by North Korea reveals a very small impact, almost so small that nuclear experts wonder if it isn't a hoax by Kim Jong-Il. Russia, however, wants everyone to know that they're very impressed by the test: Russia's defense minister said Monday that North Korea's nuclear test was equivalent to 5,000 tons to 15,000 tons of TNT. That would be far greater than the force given by South Korea's geological institute, which estimated it at just 550 tons of TNT. By comparison the bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima during World War II was equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT. The AP reports that Pyongyang alerted Russia to the test two hours before the test took place. Perhaps Russia is working from their pledged yield. In the meantime, one has to believe that South Korean seismologists would have a better position with which...
Did 9/11 Put Teflon On Rudy?
The New York Times, never one of Rudy Giuliani's fans, does a profile of the former mayor today that reports on an intriguing quality Giuliani seems to have gained after 9/11. His performance under fire appears to have forged a political suit of Teflon for Rudy, one that deflects a number of issues that would derail other candidates: For many loyal Republicans — and more than a few independents and Democrats — his national security message seems to work, blotting out the central question facing his candidacy: whether a supporter of legal abortion, gay civil unions, immigrants’ rights and gun control; a thrice-married, Catholic New Yorker whose split with his second wife took place publicly and none too neatly, can win Republican presidential primaries and caucuses. “I’m well to the right of Rudy on social issues,” said Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Republican Party in Palm Beach County, Fla., after...
Secure Fence Act Has Secure Support
Yesterday I analyzed the possibility that the lack of a presidential signature on the Secure Fence Act (HR 6061) might be an attempt at a pocket veto. President Bush has never given very enthusiastic support to any border solution that didn't include a plan for normalization for illegal immigrants already inside the US. Mickey Kaus started counting the days since Congress passed the bill and wondered whether the White House had decided to simply ignore the bill to death. I took a few minutes at my lunch break to contact a senior staffer on the Hill who has worked the immigration issue. He told me that, as some CQ commenters had speculated, Congress has not formally sent the bill to the President. That means the clock has not started for his signature. The 10-day period starts only after Congress formally prints and delivers the bill for the President to sign...
The Farce Is Strong With This One
CQ reader Consabo decided that we needed a moment to lighten up, and he sent this parody of Star Wars now appearing on YouTube. Normally I don't go in for too much of the parodies on the site, but this one is simply too good to let pass unremarked. If you wonder what happened behind the scenes of the Galactic Empire, this short movie explains everything (rated TV-14, I'd say): Hope you enjoy the brief moment of geekery here at CQ!...
Pelosi Speech A Revelation In More Than One Way
Hugh Hewitt points to a speech by Nancy Pelosi that seems rather interesting in light of today's nuclear test by North Korea -- but also in another way that Hugh missed. Pelosi spoke in April 2003 to accept an award -- to which we'll soon return -- from the Global Security Institute. In that speech, she gives her perspective on missile defense, even post-9/11, which the Democrats might want to bury: "Some of our most significant foreign relations achievements over the last 30 years were our agreements with the former Soviet Union to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenals – the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the START treaties. "Yet by shredding the ABM Treaty and flirting with the unthinkable – 'usable' battlefield nuclear weapons – the Bush Administration turns the clock back on three decades of arms control. "The United States must not create new nuclear weapons and ignite new...
Fizzlemas In North Korea
Bill Gertz writes in tomorrow's Washington Times that the nuclear test performed by North Korea may not have been nuclear at all. American intelligence has begun reviewing the seismic data and are increasingly convinced that the test was either a failure or a hoax: U.S. intelligence agencies say, based on preliminary indications, that North Korea did not produce its first nuclear blast yesterday. U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that seismic readings show that the conventional high explosives used to create a chain reaction in a plutonium-based device went off, but that the blast's readings were shy of a typical nuclear detonation. "We're still evaluating the data, and as more data comes in, we hope to develop a clearer picture," said one official familiar with intelligence reports. "There was a seismic event that registered about 4 on the Richter scale, but it still isn't clear if it...
October 10, 2006
China Rethinks Its Alliances
The nuclear test by North Korea yesterday may have produced results which Kim Jong-Il did not anticipate. China issued an unusually harsh response to their client state, and the London Times reports that Beijing may reconsider its relationship with the impulsive Stalinist: CHINA responded with rare fury to neighbouring North Korea’s nuclear test, resorting to language generally reserved for imperialist opponents rather than communist friends. Beijing’s response was unusually swift. “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has ignored the widespread opposition of the international community and brazenly carried out a nuclear test,” it said. Long gone are the days when China and North Korea described their relationship as being “as close as lips and teeth”. Indeed, North Korea’s test has delivered China to a diplomatic crossroads: it can choose to act tough with a troublesome neighbour or to stick with the cajoling and persuasion that have now been seen to...
Bridge To Nowhere Senator Defeats Reform Again
Ted Stevens, who championed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere and threatened to quit the Senate if denied his pork, has quietly undermined another attempt at pork reform. Robert Novak reports that Stevens stripped a key requirement in the Defense appropriation that would have required a review of all earmarks: Sen. Ted Stevens, considered the Republican king of pork, just before the pre-election congressional recess killed a requirement for the Defense Department to evaluate unauthorized earmarks imposed by members of Congress on the Pentagon. Freshman Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma had won Senate passage of the ''report card'' as part of the Defense appropriations bill. The evaluation would show that the military really does not want most of the estimated $8 billion in earmarks added by Congress this year. However, Stevens succeeded in stripping the reform from the final version of the bill before it was signed by President Bush. Coburn...
North Korea Threatens Nuclear Launch
Kim Jong-Il either needs a hug or a straitjacket. North Korea followed its rogue nuclear test by issuing an explicit threat to attack the US with a nuclear missile unless we allowed Pyongyang to operate its counterfeiting business without interference: A North Korean official threatened that communist nation could fire a nuclear-tipped missile unless the U.S. acts to resolve its standoff with Pyongyang, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday. "We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes," the unnamed official said on Monday, according to a Yonhap report from Beijing. "That depends on how the U.S. will act." Yonhap didn't say how or where it contacted the official, why no name was given or why it delayed reporting until Tuesday. ... "We have lost enough. Sanctions can never be a solution," the official said. "We still have a willingness to give...
Kim: Just Another Shrimp On The Barbie
The Australians have stepped up to the plate, as they always do when tyrants threaten global security, in the wake of the North Korean nuclear test. They didn't bother to wait for the UN Security Council to slap sanctions on the Kim Jong-Il regime, and told the UN that they had better snap to it themselves: Australia will impose a range of measures on North Korea, including curtailing visas and supporting any U.N. sanctions, in response to the country's nuclear test, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday. ... "We were urging our friends and allies in the United Nations to pass a resolution imposing sanctions," Downer told reporters. Downer said the nuclear test had made the region less secure, and that North Korea had "humiliated" its biggest ally, China. Australia has diplomatic relations with North Korea, restoring them six years ago after Pyongyang insisted that it would behave itself and...
Mexico Wants UN To Block Fence
Mexico wants to take the border fence authorized by Congress last month to the UN, in order to get it stopped. Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez says that Mexican lawyers will research their cause to determine whether the UN can intervene: Mexico's foreign secretary said Monday the country may take a dispute over U.S. plans to build a fence on the Mexican border to the United Nations. Luis Ernesto Derbez told reporters in Paris, his first stop on a European tour, that a legal investigation was under way to determine whether Mexico has a case. The Mexican government last week sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border. President-elect Felipe Calderon also denounced the plan, but said it was a bilateral issue that should not be put before the international community. ... "What should be constructed is a bridge in...
Paper Trails At The Voting Booth
E. J. Dionne tackles the controversy over electronic voting machines that has arisen since their rushed implementation following the 2000 presidential election. Dionne argues that a little paranoia isn't always a bad thing: Sometimes, paranoids are right. And sometimes even when paranoids are wrong, it's worth considering what they're worried about. I speak here of all who are worried sick that those new, fancy high-tech voting systems can be hacked, fiddled with and otherwise made to record votes that aren't cast or fail to record votes that are. I do not pretend to know how large a threat this is. I do know that it's a threat to democracy when so many Americans doubt that their votes will be recorded accurately. And I also know that smart, computer-savvy people are concerned about these machines. The perfectly obvious thing is for the entire country to do what a number of states...
Saddam's Trial Resumes
The trial of Saddam Hussein continued today, and the testimony painted a grim picture of life and death under his regime's grip: Prison guards under Saddam Hussein used to bury detainees alive and watch women as they bathed, occasionally shooting over their heads, a former female prisoner testified Monday in the genocide trial of the ex-president. Speaking in Kurdish through an Arabic interpreter, the 31-year-old witness recalled what she saw as a 13-year-old girl who was detained during Saddam's offensive against the Kurds in the late 1980s. ... A prison warden she identified as Hajaj - whose name has been given by earlier witnesses in the trial - "used to drag women, their hands and feet shackled, and leave them in a scorching sun for several hours." "Soldiers used to watch us bathe," said the woman. The guards also fired over the women's heads as they washed. The woman said...
Guest Post: Senator John McCain On North Korea
Please welcome Senator John McCain as a guest poster at Captain's Quarters. He delivers a tough, no-nonsense reponse to the latest provocation from North Korea. Time for Decisive Action on North Korea Korea doubts the world’s resolve. It is testing South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and the United States. They launched seven missiles in July, and were criticized by the Security Council, but suffered no serious sanction. We have talked and talked about punishing their bad behavior. They don’t believe we have the resolve to do it. We must prove them wrong. I am encouraged by the Security Council’s swift and strong condemnation of the act on Monday, but the permanent members must now follow up our words with action. We must impose Chapter 7 sanctions with teeth, as President Bush has proposed. China has staked its prestige as an emerging great power on its ability to reason with North...
Oops -- He Did It Again? (Updated: False Alarm)
Japan has announced that they suspect North Korea conducted another nuclear test in the last couple of hours. Details are sketchy and contradictory, but Japan said they detected a tremor from North Korea: The Japanese government detected tremors on Wednesday that led it to suspect North Korea had conducted a second nuclear test, officials and news reports said. Shortly after Japan said it suspected another test had been conducted, the country's meteorological agency reported a magnitude-6.0 earthquake shook northern Japan. U.S. and South Korean monitors said they had not detected any new seismic activity in North Korea on Wednesday. It may have sensed a pre-quake tremor from its own territory which confused their sensors. A nuclear test that caused a 6.0 earthquake in Japan could never have been missed by South Korea. Still, Japan's quake may have been coincidental to a nuclear test. More as this develops ... UPDATE: It...
October 11, 2006
Kim: Sanctions An Act Of War
Kim Jong-Il seems determined to have himself a little war, whether anyone else wants it or not. This morning, the North Korean Foreign Ministry warned that any applications of sanctions against them would result in "physical" responses: North Korea said Wednesday it would respond with "physical" measures to counter U.S. pressure against the communist regime after its claimed nuclear test. "If the U.S. keeps pestering us and increases pressure, we will regard it as a declaration of war and will take a series of physical corresponding measures," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The North didn't specify what the measures would be. "We were compelled to prove that we have nuclear weapons to prevent the increasing threat of war by the U.S. and protect our sovereignty and survival," the North said, criticizing an alleged nuclear threat from Washington and sanctions....
Allen Stock-Option Story Pays Thin Dividends
I haven't followed the latest controversy in the Allen-Webb campaign for the Virginia Senate seat, mostly because I found it less than compelling. Apparently, so do Virginia voters; they have Allen up by six points according to last week's Rasmussen poll despite the Webb campaigns weird smears of Allen as a secret Jewish racist. This kerfuffle revolves around stock options owned by Allen in 2000 that supposedly didn't get disclosed. The Webb campaign, boosted by Bloomberg News, claims that they were worth $1.1 million dollars at one point (emphasis mine): In March 2000, Allen held 60,000 options when Xybernaut shares closed at an all-time high of $23.75. That would have made the options worth $1.1 million, less commissions and fees, had Allen exercised them. At that time, Allen could have paid $5.47 and $1.56 respectively for two groups of options, sold them and pocketed the difference. He was awarded another...
South Korea Shrugs
South Korea has decided to continue its policy of appeasement despite the obvious results shown with North Korea's nuclear test. President Roh Moo Hyun eschewed urgent action and instead called for a period of extended "coordination" between the nations trying to convince Kim Jong-Il to return to the bargaining table: THE prospects for tough, swift action against North Korea were scuppered yesterday when it became clear that South Korea will not abandon its policy of engagement with its totalitarian neighbour, in spite of North Korea’s claimed nuclear test. As the US and Japan called for tough punishment for Monday’s test and experts predicted that a second may be imminent, leaders in Seoul appeared to have accepted that they will have to live with a nuclear North Korea — at least until Washington can be persuaded to engage in direct talks with the isolated Stalinist state. ... Diplomats said last night...
The Latin Mass Returns
Catholics celebrated Mass for centuries in the primarily Latin rite of the Tridentine Mass. In order to understand the Mass, Catholics had to learn Latin, as vernacular was used for nothing except the homily. Forty years ago, the Catholic Church decided to use vernacular for all portions of the Mass in order to make Catholicism more personal and approachable for modern Catholics, many of whom never learned Latin and found the Tridentine Mass too frustrating and incomprehensible. Predictably, the reform urge took on a very autocratic nature, and Rome demanded an end to all Tridentine Mass celebrations except those specifically authorized by the Church. That may be changing. The Times of London reports that Pope Benedict XVI will authorize all priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass, only forbidding it when bishops explicitly forbid it in writing: THE Pope is taking steps to revive the ancient tradition of the Latin Tridentine...
India To Refine America's Gasoline
America has not built a new refinery in almost 30 years, and the increaded demand for gasoline has our existing refineries operating at near-maximum capacity. The Bush administration has often proposed easing environmental rules that handcuff refiners from opening new facilities in order to meet the new and varied demands for different mixtures for regional requirements, but to no avail. Now a massive new refinery has been built for American production of gasoline, but Americans might be surprised to discover its location: Sitting on the edge of the water in the Gulf of Kutch on India's western shore is one of America's dirty secrets. A mass of steel pipes and concrete boxes stretches across 13 square miles (33sq km) - a third of the area of Manhattan - which will eventually become the world's largest petrochemical refinery. The products from the Jamnagar complex are for foreign consumption. When complete, the...
It's The Economy, Even If The Media Doesn't Report It
Bill Clinton got elected on the James Carville slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." Fourteen years later, it's the media playing stupid, as a roaring economy has been treated with more secrecy than national-security programs by newspapers and television news channels. Michael Barone points out the hypocrisy: The Labor Department Friday announced that the number of jobs increased between April 2005 and March 2006 not by 5.8 million but by 6.6 million. As an editorial in the Wall Street Journal notes, "That's a lot more than a rounding error, more than the entire number of workers in the state of New Hampshire. What's going on here?" The most plausible explanation, advanced by the Journal and by the Hudson Institute's Diana Furchgott-Roth in the New York Sun, is that lots more jobs are being created by small businesses and individuals going into business for themselves than government statisticians can keep track of....
A Brookings Review Of The Clinton Effort On North Korea
My earlier posts on North Korea has created a debate about when the Kim regime began its cheating on the 1994 Agreed Framework. This has taken up a large part of the comments thread on John McCain's guest post from yesterday. The Brookings Institution, hardly a apologist for conservatives, makes the timeline pretty clear in a review that has plenty of sympathy for the Clinton administration (emphases mine): When entering office, President Bush understandably wanted to revise the Clinton administration's approach to North Korea. The latter had a number of important accomplishments over roughly a five-year stretch from 1994 to 1999, but it had stalled by 2000. The Clinton administration helped produce the important 1994 Agreed Framework, under which North Korea effectively froze its major nuclear programs and promised effectively to undo whatever nuclear weapons progress it had earlier made at its small research reactor (the same one now at...
GOP Straw Poll (Updated)
GOP Bloggers have a new straw poll, and these are getting more and more sophisticated. We will be able to track responses by CQ readers as the poll continues. I'll check on it later this evening and update my post with the trends. UPDATE 9 PM CT: In 14 hours, CQ readers have cast over 4200 votes, and the results are interesting. In the votes for acceptability, Giuliani and Romney come close to a tie (2685-2650, Romney). However, in the first-choice selections, Giuliani leads substantially with 35.9% of all CQ readers. Romney drops back to 20.9%, barely ahead of Newt Gingrich with 19.9%. George Allen gets 6.8%, and everyone else winds up in the hash. The highest unacceptability ratings came from a surprising source. 54.2% of all CQ readers found Chuck Hagel unacceptable. George Pataki got 45.6% disapproval, and John McCain came in third at 42.3%. Bill Frist got 23.8%...
Harry Reid And The Culture Of Corruption
Once again, we discover why the Democrats quietly dropped their "culture of corruption" theme for the upcoming midterms. The AP catches Harry Reid without a disclosure on real-estate deals that netted him $700,000 in profit: Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show. In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews. The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations. He's never been charged with wrongdoing - except for a 1981 federal securities...
October 12, 2006
British Revamp Defamation Laws To Protect Free Speech
Americans have grown used to a tort system that zealously protects free speech involving criticism and reporting involving public figures. In the US, any public figure that sues for defamation, libel, or slander has the burden of proof to show that the speech intentionally and maliciously defamed and damaged the plaintiff. However, even in other Western nations, the protection on free speech varies widely, and has been loosest in Britain. The UK requires defendants to prove their published allegations in court or to pay damages. One of the most famous examples of this dynamic is George Galloway, who won a judgment against the London Telegraph for their reporting on his connections to the Oil-For-Food program. That kind of award may soon be in the past. The Law Lords have overturned a judgment against the Wall Street Journal Europe and stated categorically that the law should protect journalism on stories of...
Japan Imposes Sanctions, North Korea Threatens
Japan unilaterally imposed severe sanctions on North Korea in response to its nuclear test earlier this week, and the Kim regime responded by promising "strong countermeasures". Pyongyang warned Japan to keep its eyes open for the specifics, saying that North Korea does not issue empty threats: The Japanese government decided on a package of additional economic sanctions against North Korea on Wednesday in response to the regime's claim of a nuclear test, including a ban on all imports from the country and the docking of North Korean ships in Japanese ports. The sanctions are expected to go into effect after they are approved by Japan's Cabinet Friday. "We will take strong countermeasures," Kyodo quoted Song Il Ho, North Korea's ambassador in charge of diplomatic normalization talks with Japan, as saying in an interview on Wednesday when asked about fresh sanctions by Japan. "The specific contents will become clear if you...
Gaza Descends
Gaza has begun its descent into all-out civil war as the economy continues to tank and no one has the political will to solve the problem. Hamas has committed summary executions of protesting government workers unhappy with the lack of pay, and Fatah has struck back with attacks of its own: As Yusuf Siam stood to greet mourners, a boy arrived with a handful of papers marked from the al-Aqsa Brigade, a Fatah-affiliated militant group, and handed them out. The letter offered condolences to the family and then vowed revenge. "For the families of the people who lost their sons at the hands of Hamas we swear that their blood will not be spilt for nothing," it said. "We will give a lesson to Hamas." There are signs that this is more serious than rhetorical rivalry between militants. "The Palestinian situation is marred by sharp divisions and battling; it is...
France Facing Intifada
The French police have suffered 14 injuries a day trying to quell riots in the Muslim housing projects as the nation has started to recognize that they face an organized, armed resistance. While management says that the confrontation involves organized crime, the boots on the ground say the issue has evolved into a less secular conflict than the politicians care to acknowledge: Radical Muslims in France's housing estates are waging an undeclared "intifada," or uprising, against the police, with violent clashes injuring about 14 officers each day. As the Interior Ministry announced that nearly 2,500 officers had been wounded this year, a police union declared that its members were "in a state of civil war" with Muslims in the most depressed "banlieue" estates. Banlieue, which means outskirts, is the commonly used euphemism for the low-income housing projects heavily populated by unemployed youths of North African origin. The police union said...
Cowboy Diplomacy Looks Pretty Good These Days
After ridiculing George Bush as a unilateralist cowboy for most of his term in office, the New York Times demands more unilateralism from the White House in its editorial today. The Gray Lady wants Bush to start bypassing the United Nations on a range of issues, a rather startling 180-degree turn: Closing our eyes for another two years isn’t an answer. Washington needs to assert its leadership, no matter how tattered, on all these fronts. We suspect that cargo inspections and a cutoff of military and luxury trade will not be enough to get North Korea to back down. But having started there, Mr. Bush now needs to tell China and Russia that all future relations will be judged on how they hold the North to account. Beijing and Moscow would find it harder to say no if Mr. Bush made a clear pledge — no caveats and no fingers...
Reid Offers To Disclose His Land Deal ... Five Years Late
Harry Reid, stung by the AP's exposure of his complicated land deals with a lobbyist he helped make rich through his personal interventions in Congress, has told the Senate Ethics Committee that he will file amended disclosure statements that would reveal his business relationships for the first time. Reid claims the amendment would be "technical": The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said his office contacted the Senate ethics committee on Wednesday and offered to correct his financial disclosure statements if they misrepresented his ties to a land deal in his home state in which his family made a profit of about $700,000. In a statement, Mr. Reid did not acknowledge errors in the disclosure forms but said he was ready to make a “technical correction” if the ethics committee determined that adjustments were needed. ... In 2001, the timeline showed, ownership of the land was transferred to a...
Final Push For The Rightroots Candidates
The Rightroots campaign started by a handful of conservative bloggers, including yours truly, has raised over $200,000 for the slate of candidates in competitive elections. The money will come in handy for these Republicans in their efforts to keep control of Congress with the GOP. However, time has almost run out for contributions to these campaigns, as fellow founder Wizbang! notes: You can still make a difference, but time is short. It takes time for ABC Pac and the campaigns to do the paperwork on the money that's received, so for contributions sent into Rightroots to have a chance to make an impact in this election cycle, they really should be received by October 15th. We have our deadline -- so be sure to make those final contributions before the clock runs out. Thank you for your continued support!...
October 13, 2006
Standing On Chapter VII
The usual suspects of appeasement took center stage again last night at the UN after the US circulated a draft resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea. Russia and China objected to the use of Chapter VII language in the proposed sanctions, which could later support military action against Kim Jong-Il, but John Bolton said he would not back away from the reference this time: The American push to win Security Council backing for tough, swift sanctions against North Korea appeared to be set back by China and Russia on Thursday, in an echo of the obstacles the United States faces in a similar push to punish Iran. The United States circulated a softened draft resolution to the Security Council in response to North Korea’s assertion that it conducted a nuclear test on Monday. The United States pressed for a vote by Friday, but China and Russia immediately signaled their opposition...
A Chat About Immigration
Nick Gillespie of Reason's Hit and Run and Judd Legum of Think Progress joined me in another chat-room debate hosted by the Associated Press' ASAP, moderated by Otis Hart. Last week the topic was ethics, and this week we took on immigration -- and it got pretty lively. In fact, Otis had to pare down a few of the exchanges in order to stay on topic and to stay within his word-count limitations, and he did a fine job. Here's a taste of the exchange: asap: Do you think there should be a border fence dividing the U.S. and Mexico? Nick Gillespie: absolutely not. one of the great moments of the 20th century was when the berlin wall fell... one of the most disturbing of the current century -- a century of globalization and increasing integration of the world -- is a fixation on keeping mexicans out of america. Nick...
Warner Declines
Virginia Governor Mark Warner bowed out of the 2008 presidential race yesterday, stating that he wanted to spend more time with his family rather than pursue the White House. By vacating the center, Warner has left a hole in the party's offerings -- and an opportunity for at least one Democrat to seize the moderate position: Mr. Warner, who five years ago became the first Democrat elected governor of Virginia since 1989, had drawn broad interest among party leaders assessing the potential 2008 field, both as a centrist elected in a Southern state and as a wealthy entrepreneur able to finance his own campaign. But at a news conference in Richmond and in a subsequent interview, he said he had increasingly turned against the idea of running as he found that the obligations of even exploring a candidacy were consuming him and taking him away from family obligations. He said...
Reid's Interventions And Family Connections, 2003 Edition
I spent most of the evening last night performing some research into the various machinations of the Harry Reid real-estate transactions that netted him a 175% return on his initial $400,000 investment, and the manner in which he hid his partnership with Jay Brown from the Senate. In this research, I discovered a Los Angeles Times article from June 2003 that outlines a lot of the structure that appears to have allowed Reid to ensure his success in his real-estate ventures. Not surprisingly, it shows Reid and his family at the center of efforts to promote developments that benefitted Reid and his cronies: Over the years, Reid has used legislation to move federal land into private hands and private land into the public realm. He says he has done so to preserve scenic and environmentally sensitive areas while freeing up more land for urban growth. Such was the case with...
Is Kim Bluffing?
Kim Jong-Il has made a career lately of issuing threats and rattling sabers, but Westerners who do business in North Korea report that the populace has little inkling of war on the horizon. In fact, recent reforms have allowed capitalism to gain some momentum after the massive famine nearly leveled the nation: Western businessmen who work inside North Korea, including several from Britain, provide a very different view of the country from the goose-stepping parades and patriotic dance festivals that are its most celebrated public face. Many say that behind the military rhetoric of its relations with the United States is a country that is keen to reform itself economically and many of whose residents seem increasingly "normal" to outsiders. ... Visitors to Pyongyang report that private markets, once banned, now sell a variety of consumer items such as television sets and a wider range of food, albeit expensive, than...
Maybe They Should Attend The School Of Hard Knocks
The New York Sun reports that two college students decided that planting fake bombs in the subway would be a humorous way to blow off some midterm steam. New York City officials are less than amused: Police have arrested two college students for placing five fake bombs around the city's subway system as a hoax. Officials said none of the packages – including backpacks, duffel bags, and a plastic tube used to transport documents – contained hazardous material. Robert Barrett, 21, of Angola, N.Y., and Jaime Davis, 21, of Allentown, Pa., were each charged with five counts of placing a false bomb, police said. Police said the satchels were discovered September 28 between noon and 3 p.m., the day police allege they were planted. Subway passengers and transit workers reported the bags inside subway cars and various stations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, police sources said. At least one was reported...
Was Patrick Lane Development In Rory Reid's District?
Earlier this morning I wrote about Rory Reid, Harry Reid's son, and his position on the Clark County Board of Commissioners around the same time that his father's Patrick Lane LLC benefited from a zoning change that allowed commercial/retail development of their parcels. It turns out that the district Rory represents includes Patrick Lane, and the Las Vegas Review Journal noted that in an October 2004 article on the development of a new Wal-Mart. This comes from Lexis-Nexis and has no link, but the article is dated October 5, 2004 (note: CQ reader Dennis S provides this link): A controversial Wal-Mart Supercenter probably will be built on public land next to McCarran International Airport, but one county representative hopes he will score points with residents if a new soccer complex is included in the project. County Commissioner Rory Reid, who oversees the older neighborhood, sent developer Marnell Corrao Associates away...
October 14, 2006
The Identity-Theft Scare
We have heard a great deal about identity theft over the last few years, and the ever-increasing risk in the age of the Internet of having our names and credit ruined by imposters. An entire industry of cybersecurity generated from the hype. These fears crescendoed when reports of lost and stolen laptops from various federal agencies arose over the past few months, computers which held the personal data of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers. But does the problem really exist on the level claimed by the security providers and the media that reports breathlessly on identity theft? In today's Washington Post, Professor Fred Cate of Indiana University says the risk has been vastly overrated by government and industry officials. The researcher for cybersecurity says that most identity theft comes from more mundane sources: Identity theft is getting a lot of attention these days -- from news stories about missing laptops...
Dialogue
One of the more unfortunate and utterly predictable reactions to Pope Benedict XVI's speech at the University of Regensburg -- which called for dialogue between faiths -- was the violence, death threats, and demands for submission by Muslims worldwide. Moderate Muslims scolded the Pope for daring to criticize apparent inconsistencies in Islam, and even some Westerners who purport to uphold freedom of speech told the Pope he should have kept his mouth shut. The Muslim reaction resulted in at least one murder, a rather chilling response to a call for open and honest dialogue. After a series of apologies and clarifications, some Muslim scholars have finally answered the Pope's call. Islamica Magazine has created a panel of dozens of Islamic scholars, and they have crafted a scholarly response to the Regensburg speech: An open letter to the Pope from 38 top Muslim clerics in various countries accepts his expressions of...
The Answers To The FedSpending Pop Quiz
On October 3rd, I posted about the coming Internet sensation for pork-barrel spending foes: FedSpending.org. The interactive database provided by OMB Watch and the Sunlight Foundation holds five years of federal spending on contracts and grants, sortable by congressional district and containing plenty of details on the projects the money supported. The data comprises six years of spending, allowing for the proper historical context. OMB Watch and the Sunlight Foundation spent a lot of time and money on this project when the Coburn-Obama federal budget database seemed very unlikely to pass, and now it serves as a benchmark for pork investigators to demand from the federal site when it launches. When I wrote the post, I had been given access to the beta site, but only on the condition that I didn't reveal any of the data -- which was really frustrating, because the site provided so many interesting nuggets...
Northern Alliance Radio On The Air
Mitch Berg and I will be taking to the airwaves again today for the Northern Alliance Radio Network, starting at 1 pm CT on AM 1280 The Patriot. We'll be discussing the events of the past week, including Harry Reid and his land deals and the prospects of the upcoming election. If you're not in the Twin Cities, listen to the Internet stream on the station web site, and join the conversation by calling 651-289-4488....
UN Security Council Agrees On Sanctions
The US says that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have reached agreement on the final language for the resolution that will impose sanctions on North Korea. The agreement comes just before the scheduled UNSC vote: The United States, Britain and France overcame last-minute differences with Russia and China on a U.N. resolution imposing punishing sanctions on North Korea, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Saturday. "We are very pleased at this outcome and look forward to the council's imminent adoption of the resolution, co-sponsored by all 15 council members," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters after a brief closed council meeting. The Security Council was expected to approve the resolution unanimously Saturday afternoon. The language will have an explicit disavowal of military action, but Kim Jong-Il has said he will consider any such resolution an act of war. China's support for the sanctions might convince him otherwise....
Sea Of Blue? (Updated)
We're a little more than three weeks out from the midterm elections, and a sense of pessimism can be sensed from the Right. It's expressed best, although briefly, by Power Line, which takes a look at the polling reports at Real Clear Politics and sees a "sea of blue". Dafydd at Big Lizards sees most of the races that give Power Line the blues as too close to call. Hugh Hewitt remains as optimistic as ever, but Hugh is an undying font of optimism anyway. I'm inclined to lean towards Dafydd's analysis, which you should read in full. The GOP will no doubt lose seats in the midterms, but I'm not sure that the Democrats have enough momentum to wrest control of either chamber. The Senate races are more of a national campaign, but the Democrats have to pick up six seats -- and they're likely going to lose New...
I Think We Got Their Attention
Guess who wants to come back to the table? North Korea wants six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula to continue, Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev said Sunday following talks with his North Korean counterpart, Russia's Interfax news agency reported. "The North Korean side repeatedly insisted that the six-sided process should continue, that it is not rejecting six-sided negotiations, and that the aim of the full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula remains," Alexeyev said. He made the comments in Beijing en route to Seoul from Pyongyang, where he held talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Ky-kwan, the news agency said. "My North Korean colleagues said several times that Pyongyang would not under any circumstances pass on its nuclear capabilities to another country, or use them against anyone," Alexeyev said. Is Kim running short on that French brandy already?...
October 15, 2006
South Koreans Have Had Enough Engagement
The South Koreans have pressed for engagement with North Korea and the Kim Jong-Il regime for decades. They have protested against the American military presence in their nation and tried to appease their northern neighbor into playing nice on the peninsula. Kim's latest nuclear test appears to have finally demonstrated the folly of that approach. In less than a week, public opinion has shifted profoundly towards a hard-line policy and even arming the South with nuclear weapons: In less than a week since North Korea claimed to have tested a nuclear weapon, public opinion in the South has turned sharply against a South Korean policy of engaging the enemy in the belief it will eventually bring peace on the divided peninsula. A JoongAng newspaper poll, several days after the reported nuclear test Monday, found 78 percent of respondents thought South Korea should revise its policy, and 65 percent said South...
A Mild Rebuke From The Home Town Paper
Harry Reid's financial shenanigans have caused a bigger stumble than he first thought. After hanging up on an AP reporter who asked about the undisclosed transaction that hid his partnership with a controversial Las Vegas attorney, Reid has sounded a much more humble tone. He now promises to cooperate with the Ethics Committee on the Patrick Lane LLC land deal that netted him a 175% profit on his six-year investment in real estate, during a time when he pushed hard for freeing federal land in Clark County to spur development. The Las Vegas Review-Journal sounds unconvinced in its editorial today: The Associated Press on Wednesday reported that our own Sen. Reid may have violated Senate rules by failing to report the 2001 transfer of land he owned "to a partnership in which he maintained a personal stake." Three years later, Sen. Reid made $700,000 when the partnership sold the real...
Godspeed, Michael Monsoor
Whether or not one agrees with the war in Iraq, no one can dispute the courage and honor of the American citizen soldier/sailor/airman, the volunteers that serve our country and defend liberty and freedom around the world. The latest example of the selflessness that these men and women demonstrate comes from Michael Mansoor, a Navy SEAL who gave his life to save his comrades. When an Iraqi insurgent tossed a grenade into a position occupied by Mansoor and four others, Mansoor instinctively dove -- on top of it: Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret. "He never took his eye off...
Low Blow
Looking decidedly un-Presidential this weekend is Hillary Clinton and her camp, after Maureen Dowd related a quote from one of the Senator's advisors that belittled John McCain for a tape his North Vietnamese captors forced him to make while a POW. The Daily News blog pointed out the quote on its site yesterday: Privately, Hillary’s camp was not overly upset by the McCain swipe because it suspected he was doing the bidding of the White House and that he ended up, as one adviser put it, “looking similar to the way he did on those captive tapes from Hanoi, where he recited the names of his crew mates.” The "McCain swipe" was McCain's reaction to Hillary blaming the North Korean nuclear test on the Bush administration. McCain pointed out that the Kim regime had been violating the Agreed Framework signed by the Clinton administration as far back as 1997 according...
Patriot Rally
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be attending the Patriot Rally this evening in the Twin Cities. Hugh Hewitt will host an evening that intends to rally Republicans and to review the issues at stake in the mid-term elections. The Patriot will have Senator Norm Coleman as a special guest, plus the potential for a couple of surprise guests. I'll try to live-blog from the event, and I'll have the camera along with me. UPDATE, 7:30 PM: I just got a connection to the Internet here at intermission. I'm here with a lot of terrific people from the MOB, including Brad, The Lady Logician, the Buddhist Republican, and many more, including my NARN compatriots. We've just heard a great slate of Republican candidates, including Mark Kennedy, Alan Fine, and Michele Bachmann. Michele had a tremendous motivational speech reminding us of the stakes involved in the election; she's always inspirational on...
October 16, 2006
US Keeping Pressure On China
The US, fresh from its Security Council victory, has now begun to ensure it maintains its success in isolating North Korea. John Bolton told the UN that China had a "heavy responsibility" to police their joint border and inspect all shipments crossing it, while Beijing complained that those expectations are too high: In an unusual show of regional unity, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia lined up to back the US-drafted measures, which aim to punish Pyongyang for its claimed nuclear bomb test last Monday. ... China called for calm and emphasised that the UN resolution did not permit military force. Academics said Beijing is reluctant to check all cargo crossing its long land border with North Korea or to take any step that might lead to a collapse of its neighbour and an exodus of refugees. "China will carry out the decision of the security council," said Zhou Yongsheng,...
Getting Reid Into The Mainstream Media
The New York Post runs a column I wrote this weekend covering the Harry Reid land deal that has exposed his murky connections to Nevada developers and the legislation that he sponsors to benefit them. Titled "Reid's Smelly Windfall: Back-$cratching With Developers", it brings a wider audience to the controversy: Reid has now told the Senate Ethics Committee that he'll amend his past disclosure statements to for the first time cover the business relationships that AP has exposed. But he calls the amendment "technical" - which suggests it won't explain why his original "disclosures" misled the public on the nature of a partnership that made him a $700,000 windfall. ... What Reid failed to disclose was his 2001 transfer of ownership of two parcels of land to Patrick Lane LLC - an entity in which he was partnered with one Jay Brown. AP notes that Brown is a lobbyist, with...
Stewart To Claim Uncontrolled Emotion Defense
Lynne Stewarts faces sentencing today for acting as a conduit for terrorist Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the "blind sheikh" who helped organize the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. She transmitted his commands to his followers while in an American prison, helping to launch a terrorist network, and Stewart got convicted for providing material support. She has spent most of the intervening time traveling the nation and speaking out against the government, claiming she did nothing wrong and that the Bush administration wanted to silence her. Now, however, the New York Sun reports that she will change her tune significantly for her sentencing hearing: The New York lawyer who was convicted of material support for terrorism after carrying messages for her client, terrorist sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, is scheduled to be sentenced today to as much as 30 years in prison. She and her allies are...
New York Times: House, Senate Races A Toss-Up
The New York Times has a new election-projection site that covers the Senate, House, and governor races from all around the country. Dan at Riehl World View points out that the Gray Lady seems to have a much different analysis than what we've seen from conventional wisdom, and that the GOP seems to be in the thick of it yet. In the Senate, the NYT shows that the GOP has 47 solid seats with two leaners: Virginia and Arizona. That might come as a surprise to Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, where he has held a solid lead on Jim Pederson the entire campaign. Rasmussen has Kyl with a double-digit lead in its last two polls. Democrats only have 40 solid seats, with eight leaners, including Minnesota. The latest MinnPoll shows Klobuchar up by over 20 points, which is laughable, and even the NYT understands that. Other leaners include Pennsylvania, Ohio,...
The Taboo Has Lifted
For decades after the end of World War II, no one dared mention the acquisition of nuclear weapons in Japan. This taboo came from having suffered the only use of nuclear weapons in wartime as well as a revulsion to any offensive military capability after the atrocities Japan perpetrated in the first half of the 20th century. However, with Kim Jong-Il rattling his own nuclear saber, the taboo has begun to lift for the Japanese: Shoichi Nakagawa, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's policy research council, said he believed Japan would adhere to its policy of not arming itself with nuclear weapons but added that debate over whether to go nuclear was necessary. "We need to find a way to prevent Japan from coming under attack," Nakagawa told a television program, referring to what Tokyo should do following North Korea's reported nuclear test. "There is argument that nuclear weapons are...
Meet The Proposed House Leadership, Part I
If the Democrats take over either or both chamber of Congress, the commitee chairs will obviously switch, in most cases to the existing ranking member of each panel. For the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which determines tax policy, a Democratic majority would place Charles Rangel in charge. Robert Novak gives Chicago Sun-Times readers a taste of what people can expect from a Rangel-led committee: Republican-oriented tax lobbyists are interpreting late-campaign solicitations as a requirement for a ticket to enter the office of Rep. Charles Rangel as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in a Democratic-controlled House. Both free-lance and corporate lobbyists have received telephone solicitations for Rangel's leadership PAC (political action committee), which distributes funds to Democratic congressional candidates who need them. Rangel is virtually unopposed in his Harlem district. The lobbyists, who give almost exclusively to Republicans, are told that the contribution would be ''a nice...
Do We Have Another 9/11 Figure?
Reuters and a Spanish newspaper have claimed that the US has another 9/11 conspirator in custody. Mustafa Setmarian allegedly trained the 9/11 attackers in Afghanistan and helped plot the Madrid bombings, and El Pais reported yesterday that he has been transferred to US custody: A suspected Al Qaeda leader accused of being involved in the Sept. 11 attacks and planning the 2004 Madrid train bombings has been imprisoned in a secret U.S. jail for the last year, Spain's El Pais newspaper reported Sunday. Mustafa Setmarian, 48, a Syrian with Spanish citizenship, was captured in Pakistan in October 2005 and is held in a prison operated by the Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistani and European security service officials told the newspaper. ... The capture of Setmarian, the alleged founder of Al Qaeda's Spanish network, was reported in May of this year. The Spaniards would like to get their hands on Setmarian, and...
Why The War On Terror Can't Be A Law Enforcement Action
Today's sentencing of Lynne Stewart, who turned herself into a conduit for an Islamic terrorist who had already conspired to attack the United States once, demonstrates the fecklessness of pursuing terrorists through the civil courts. A federal judge sentenced Stewart to 28 months in prison for assisting Omar Abdel Rahman in activating his terrorist network while the US held him in custody -- and then temporarily released her on her own recognizance: A firebrand civil rights lawyer who has defended Black Panthers and anti-war radicals was sentenced Monday to nearly 2 1/2 years in prison — far less than the 30 years prosecutors wanted — for helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his followers on the outside. ... The judge said Stewart was guilty of smuggling messages between her client and his followers that could have "potentially lethal consequences." He called the crimes "extraordinarily severe criminal conduct." But in...
The Failure Of Local Media On The Ellison-Fine Race
Over the weekend, we had an opportunity to interview Rochelle Olson from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, who wrote a rather amazing article about the Republican candidate for Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, Alan Fine, a little over a week ago. The interview exposed the thinking behind the editorial decisions of the local media, in the stories they cover and the stories they do not, and the facts they decide to publish and those they do not. We'll come back to that story in a moment. Today's Front Page Magazine article provides an example of the sins of omission in the local media on this race. Over the weekend, DFL candidate Keith Ellison attended an event sponsored by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Pembroke Pines, Florida. One might wonder why a politician from Minnesota running for Congress in Minneapolis would take a weekend off less than a month before...
October 17, 2006
Weldon Under Investigation, Names Leaker
Rep. Curt Weldon, who had championed the investigation into the Able Danger project and had been a strident critic of the 9/11 Commission, faces a grand jury investigation into allegations of corruption involving his daughter and a Russian energy corporation. FBI agents raided the houses of his daughter and a close political ally, while Weldon insisted that the investigation was politically motivated: Federal agents raided the homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and one of his closest political supporters yesterday as part of an investigation into whether the veteran Republican congressman used his influence to benefit himself and his daughter's lobbying firm, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The investigation focuses on actions the Pennsylvania congressman took that may have aided clients of the business created by his daughter, Karen Weldon, and longtime Pennsylvania political ally Charles Sexton, according to three of the sources. ... The investigation focuses on...
How Key Is Immigration In The Midterms?
Many people have derided the Republican efforts to establish tough border security and hard-line policies on illegal immigration as simple election-year rhetoric. Critics have called it fear-mongering. Democratic candidates, however, have increasingly embraced the supposedly right-wing position in this year's midterms: In Washington, the Democratic leadership in Congress has maintained a united front on immigration, demanding legislation that would legalize illegal immigrants and create a guest worker program to ensure a reliable legal flow of foreign workers. ... The vast majority of Democrats in Congress support their leadership’s call for legislation that would grant legal status to illegal immigrants and toughen border security. And politicians of all stripes go against their party leaders, on occasion, to address regional concerns. But the appearance of some candidates vying to be tougher than Republicans on border security, particularly in tight races in conservative states, shows how divisive the immigration issue remains. The tough...
How Unhappy Are The Chinese?
Apparently, Kim Jong-Il's nuclear surprise last week didn't just upset the various democracies in the Pacific. The Australian reported yesterday that Beijing has begun to consider a move that would have outraged the world fifteen years ago, but which might get tacit support now that North Korea has gone nuclear: THE Chinese are openly debating "regime change" in Pyongyang after last week's nuclear test by their confrontational neighbour. Diplomats in Beijing said at the weekend that China and all the major US allies believed North Korea's claim that it had detonated a nuclear device. US director of national intelligence John Negroponte circulated a report that radiation had been detected at a site not far from the Chinese border. ... The balance of risk between reform and chaos dominated arguments within China's ruling elite. The Chinese have also permitted an astonishing range of vituperative internet comment about an ally with which...
How Dare You Attack Me, And By The Way, Here Are A Couple More Disclosures
Harry Reid went on offense yesterday ... of a sort. Claiming that his failure to properly disclose his partnership with Jay Brown -- an attorney with ties to a zoning-commission bribery case and reported links to organized crime -- amounted to a Republican plot to make him look dishonest, Reid filed amended disclosures five years after the fact to note the transfer of his properties into his and Brown's LLCs. His big offensive ground to a halt, though, when he revealed two other land transactions that had never been disclosed, and another mini-scandal erupted involving his use of campaign funds: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton, where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use. Questioned about the expenditures by...
March 2001: Iraqi IIS Wants To Attack American Assets
Joseph Shahda has continued his excellent work at the Free Republic forum in translating captured documents from the Iraqi government. He has taken a close look at document CMPC-2003-006758, translating it from the Arabic and revealing the intent of Iraq to attack American interests. The memo from the IIS complains about the election of "Bush the Son" and talks about the need to exhort terrorists to attack America: In the name of God the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate The Presidency of the Republic The Intelligence Service Mr: The Respectful Assistant Director of the Apparatus Operations. Subject: The New American Policy Toward Iraq Aside is a notice for the 10th Directorate and attached is a note from the respectful Mr. Director of the Apparatus on 24/3/2001 that your Excellency and the two gentlemen directors of the 4th Directorate and 10th Directorate to study in what is issued on the 10th...
What's At Stake In North Korea
Some people have begun to claim that further opposition to North Korea's nuclear weapons programs is pointless and advise acceptance and containment as an ongoing policy. That might make some sense in a vacuum, especially if no one wants to perform the tough tasks ahead in enforcing sanctions on the Kim regime. However, the AP reminds us of the stakes involved in this question, and that North Korea's defiance hasn't taken place in a vacuum at all: The head of the U.N. nuclear agency warned Monday that as many as about 30 additional countries could soon have technology that would let them produce atomic weapons "in a very short time," joining the nine states known or suspected to have such arms. Speaking at a conference on tightening controls against nuclear proliferation, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said more nations were "hedging their bets" by developing technology that is...
October 18, 2006
The Left Hates Gays?
Apparently, the Left hates gays and believes that private sexual preferences belong on the front page. BlogActive, a site known for outing closeted gays in politics, now claims that Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) has engaged in homosexual activity in the bathrooms of Union Station. Michael Rogers writes: I have done extensive research into this case, including trips to the Pacific Northwest to meet with men who have say they have physical relations with the Senator. I have also met with a man here in Washington, D.C., who says the same -- and that these incidents occurred in the bathrooms of Union Station. None of these men know each other, or knew that I was talking to others. They all reported similar personal characteristics about the Senator, which lead me to believe, beyond any doubt, that their stories are valid. He'd better hope they're correct, or he will have one hell...
Dershowitz Experiences The Clinton Double-Standard First-Hand
Alan Dershowitz, writing in the New York Sun, complains of a double standard applied by the media to him and Bill Clinton. Dershowitz elicited a wave of criticism and outrage when he argued that American law should set up a narrow exception to the laws against torture in order to allow accountability for it. However, when Bill Clinton made the exact same argument during an NPR interview, the media never bothered to report it: In a recent interview on National Public Radio, Mr. Clinton was asked, as someone "who's been there," whether the president needs "the option of authorizing torture in an extreme case." This is what he said in response: "Look, if the president needed an option, there's all sorts of things they can do.Let's take the best case, OK.You picked up someone you know is the No. 2 aide to Osama bin Laden. And you know they have...
Where Have All St. Cloud's Men Gone?
Here in the Twin Cities, we have gotten used to the rich fantasy life of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Minnesota Poll. I covered the folly of the MinnPoll last July, showing that the poll has consistently and significantly underrepresented Republican support. In fact, over the last twenty years, its final analysis prior to an election has underestimated Republican support by an average of over seven points. In only one race in 20 years has the MinnPoll overestimated the Republican votes. My good friend King Banaian at SCSU Scholars dissects the problem in the latest "analysis" from the Star Tribune's polling. Earlier, they had shown DFL candidate Patty Wetterling ahead of Republican Michele Bachmann by eight points in Minnesota's 6th District, a district that had voted for Bush by 57% two years ago. How could the district have shifted that much? Apparently, it came from an exodus of men. The Star Tribune's...
Technocracy In Palestine?
Mahmoud Abbas may appoint a new Cabinet of technocrats to replace the Hamas government that has drawn economic santions from former benefactors in an attempt to get money flowing to the Palestinians. Instead of appointing politicians and faction leaders to the ministries, Abbas wants to handpick Palestinian professionals for the jobs: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday promoted the idea of a Cabinet of technocrats as a way to ease crippling Western sanctions, but pledged not to force it on Hamas, who reacted coolly to the idea. Abbas addressed reporters for more than an hour at his headquarters in Ramallah on Tuesday evening. In his strongest endorsement yet of the technocrat idea of a Cabinet made up of professionals instead of politicians, he said it should be "considered seriously" as a way out of the current deadlock. ... The idea was endorsed earlier Tuesday by a group of academics,...
Mullahcracy: Fast Internet Connections Threat To Islam
The Iranian mullahcracy has made some strange decisions regarding access to information, but if they wanted to alienate their younger generation, they may have hit on the perfect way to do so. Iran's government has banned Internet access speeds above 128 kilobytes per second, roughly equivalent to twice the speed of dial-up, in order to keep Western culture from polluting the Islamic Republic: Iran's Islamic government has opened a new front in its drive to stifle domestic political dissent and combat the influence of western culture - by banning high-speed internet links. In a blow to the country's estimated 5 million internet users, service providers have been told to restrict online speeds to 128 kilobytes a second and been forbidden from offering fast broadband packages. The move by Iran's telecommunications regulator will make it more difficult to download foreign music, films and television programmes, which the authorities blame for undermining...
The Non-Confrontational Approach To Sanctions
Condoleezza Rice wants to make sure that the application of sanctions do not create an opportunity for unnecessary confrontation, hoping to avoid provoking North Korea into a military response. In what might be a sop to China, Rice has asked nations to inspect North Korean goods on their own territory rather than stopping shipping or attempting to bar material at a border: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will urge the countries of northeast Asia to create a strict system of radiation monitoring and inspections to prevent North Korea from smuggling nuclear materials into or out of the country, a senior State Department official said Tuesday. But in what appears to be an effort to cajole China to enforce the new United Nations sanctions against North Korea aggressively, the United States will ask the countries to focus their efforts on conducting inspections in their own territories, including ports, and on suspicious...
Mitch Berg, Editor Extraordinaire
My radio partner Mitch Berg takes on the task of editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a job that apparently became obsolete several years ago at the Twin Cities newspaper. In our interview with Rochelle Olson regarding her October 7 article on Alan Fine, the reporter declared that all of the facts that provided the proper context for Fine's arrest could not fit within the space limitation of the article. Considering that the article ran to a length of 1,214 words, this seems like such a silly argument that neither Mitch nor I could believe she used it. A newspaper leaves out key facts out of a 1200-word article because they don't fit the paper's view of the story, not because it won't fit into that kind of essay length. To give readers a sense of what that kind of space means, most of the op-ed columns I write have...
Guest Blogger: Senator Rick Santorum
Please welcome Senator Rick Santorum as a guest blogger to Captain's Quarters. I asked the Senator to give me his analysis of his race and his look at the tone of the election. As you can see from his post, Senator Santorum responds quite clearly on all counts. He's figured out the blogging style as well, and perhaps we can get him to join us again soon. The Fight – We Must Keep It Up The debates are over, and I’m feeling great. Yet, I can’t deny that the heat is on to ensure voters understand the choice they’re making before they go to the polls in 20 days. And campaigning hard we are … yesterday I was in Philadelphia for several events and today I’ll be spending dusk ‘til dawn campaigning back home in Southwest PA. Those reading this blog hopefully understand the stakes in this year’s Election (Btw:...
Hugo's Planes A No Go
Venezuela's air force will find itself a dozen planes short after Spain cancelled a sale to Hugo Chavez last night. The deal got scotched through US intervention after Washington refused to allow American technology to be transferred to Chavez: The US has stopped Spain selling 12 military aircraft to Venezuela by refusing to allow American military technology to be used in the planes. Venezuela planned to buy the aircraft from the Spanish company Eads-Casa but US determination to prevent Hugo Chávez building up his armed forces wrecked the deal, according to the deputy president, José Vicente Rangel. ... Mr Rangel said replacing the US technology with French or Israeli parts had made the €500m (£335m) deal too costly. Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain's foreign minister, confirmed that what would have been his country's biggest arms deal was now just a sale of naval vessels. Spain had also refused to support Venezuela's...
October 19, 2006
A Little Judicial Restraint Bites The GOP In Florida
A Florida judge exercised judicial restraint and deference to the legislature in an election ruling yesterday, but don't expect the GOP to jump with joy over it. Leon County judge Janet Ferris ruled that polling places cannot post signs explaining that Mark Foley's votes will count for Joe Negron in the midterm election November 7th: A judge on Wednesday barred election supervisors from posting signs in polling places explaining that votes cast for former Representative Mark Foley would go to the substitute candidate. The judge, Janet E. Ferris of Circuit Court in Leon County, issued her decision days before voters can begin casting ballots under the early voting system of Florida. Judge Ferris, ruling on a complaint by the Florida Democratic Party, said the Legislature had not authorized such postings in its law on replacement candidates. The law requires the original candidate’s name to be the ballot if the change...
BBC: Al-Qaeda Back, Aiming At Britain
Some have speculated that the al-Qaeda terror network has dissipated, spent after a series of attacks on Western capitals and financial centers and the American destruction of their proxy state in Afghanistan. However, security sources tell the BBC that AQ has managed to reorganize itself and reorient their strategy to make the UK their primary target -- and they're training on the home team's turf: Al-Qaeda has become more organised and sophisticated and has made Britain its top target, counter-terrorism officials have told the BBC. Security sources say the situation has never been so grim, said BBC home affairs correspondent Margaret Gilmore. They believe the network is now operating a cell structure in the UK - like the IRA did - and sees the 7 July bomb attacks "as just the beginning". The cell-structure organization is nothing new; AQ used the same organization in Europe and the US before 9/11....
Rush: I'm Not At War With Bloggers
Rush Limbaugh spoke at length yesterday on his show, explaining his criticism of Glenn Reynolds for the "pre-mortem" that gave the Instapundit a rare long-form post this past weekend. Rush says that his motives have been misunderstood: Now, I got a couple of e-mails I was checking here during the break from people who say, "Oh, no, Rush! Don't get in a war with conservative bloggers. If the media rips you guys apart, it's all over." I am not at war with conservative bloggers. I quote countless posts from many blogs on this program. I use them as resources. I'm referring to one blog post, and I don't even know who it is. This all got started when I cringed when I saw the use of the term "premortem" on a blog site called Insta-Pundit. It hurt me; it irritated me as much as when Tom Davis, congressman from Virginia,...
Clinton Has Company
A day after Alan Dershowitz noticed a profound double standard on the debate over limited use of torture, it turns out that neither Dershowitz nor Bill Clinton represent an extreme in thinking on its use. A new BBC/PIPA study shows that a third of people worldwide believe that torture should be an option when interrogating terrorists in certain circumstances: Nearly a third of people worldwide back the use of torture in prisons in some circumstances, a BBC survey suggests. Although 59% were opposed to torture, 29% thought it acceptable to use some degree of torture to combat terrorism. While most polled in the US are against torture, opposition there is less robust than in Europe and elsewhere. More than 27,000 people in 25 countries were asked if torture was acceptable if it could provide information to save innocent lives. Some 36% of those questioned in the US agreed that this...
Economic Hypochondria
George Will has an excellent column in today's Washington Post that touches on the most frustrating aspect of national election coverage -- the economy. He uses a perfect phrase, "economic hypochondria", to describe the irrational gloom that pervades the coverage of a massive economic expansion: "Worst economy since Herbert Hoover," John Kerry said in 2004, while that year's growth (3.9 percent) was adding to America's gross domestic product the equivalent of the GDP of Taiwan (the 19th-largest economy). Nancy Pelosi vows that if Democrats capture Congress they will "jump-start our economy." A "jump-start " is administered to a stalled vehicle. But since the Bush tax cuts went into effect in 2003, the economy's growth rate (3.5 percent) has been better than the average for the 1980s (3.1) and 1990s (3.3). Today's unemployment rate (4.6 percent) is lower than the average for the 1990s (5.8) -- lower, in fact, than the...
October 20, 2006
House Intel Leaker Found?
A number of CQ readers pointed out a report last night in the Los Angeles Times that indicates that the House Intelligence Committee may have found the New York Times' source for their national-security scoops. An unnamed Democratic staffer to the commitee has been suspended pending an investigation: House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press Thursday night, Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., a committee member, said that an unidentified staffer requested the document from National Intelligence Director John Negroponte three days before the Sept. 23 story about its conclusions. The staffer received the National Intelligence Estimate on global terror trends on Sept. 21. "I have no credible information to say any classified information was leaked from the committee's minority staff, but...
China To Cut Off Kim's Oil
China has begun to consider an energy embargo on North Korea, a step that almost certainly would cause the Kim regime to face serious domestic pushback in Pyongyang. If Kim does not return to the six-party talks, North Korea will start getting darker than that satellite picture making the rounds: China is prepared to step up pressure on North Korea in coming weeks by reducing oil shipments, among other measures, if the country refuses to return to negotiations or conducts more nuclear tests, Chinese government advisers and scholars who have discussed the matter with the leadership say. If Beijing does take a tougher line on its neighbor and longtime ally, the action is likely to bolster its relationship with the United States. Washington has urged Chinese leaders to use all the tools at their disposal to put additional pressure on Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader. Among the most potent...
Hezbollah Used Cluster Munitions Against Israel
Israel has taken worldwide condemnation for its use of cluster munitions in the war against Hezbollah this summer. Human Rights Watch esitimated that as many as 4 million bomblets got shot ino Lebanon by the Israelis, a quarter of which have yet to be cleaned up and which cause casualties every day. However, HRW didn't disclose until yesterday that both sides used cluster munitions: The Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah fired cluster munitions during its 33-day war with Israel last summer, in strikes that caused one death and 12 injuries, according to a report released this week by the New York-based Human Rights Watch. The group expressed alarm over the rising supply of these controversial weapons to non-state armed groups. "We are disturbed to discover that not only Israel but also Hezbollah used cluster munitions in the recent conflict, at a time when many countries are turning away from this kind...
Speaker [Fill In The Blank]?
One of the Republican nightmares of these midterm elections can be expressed in two words: Speaker Pelosi. If the GOP loses control of the House, Nancy Pelosi would move from Minority Leader to the Speaker's chair, and assume the third position in line of succession to the Presidency. Republican candidates have spoken about the need to keep the San Francisco Leftist from that position and hope to inspire conservatives to turn out on Election Day to prevent it. However, the Washington Times reports that Democrats might not elect Pelosi as Speaker if they gain a thin majority: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's prospects for becoming the nation's first female House speaker depend not only on a Democratic victory in November but also on her ability to prevent any Democrats from voting against her -- primarily centrists opposed to her liberal stances. At least one Democratic House candidate has pledged not to...
CAIR Execs Defend Ellison Against Their Endorsement
Keith Ellison, the DFL candidate for Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District, has had his connections to CAIR and to the Nation of Islam criticized on Twin Cities blogs such as mine and especially Power Line, and CAIR's executives have had enough. The Minneapolis Star Tribune, which has done nothing to cover Ellison's connections to both groups, runs an op-ed piece by CAIR executive director Nihad Awad and CAIR board chair Parvez Ahmed that basically calls us racists: There has been much sound and fury in certain circles about the American Muslim community's support for Keith Ellison and his campaign to represent Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District. A handful of right-wing bloggers, agenda-driven commentators and political operatives have used scurrilous smear tactics in an attempt to derail his campaign and to marginalize American Muslim voters. These smears and distortions send an un-American message of intolerance and bigotry. We are proud of our personal...
The Anchoress Has The Conn
Many CQ readers know that the First Mate and I volunteer our time at Twin Cities Marriage Encounter, both as the president couple of the board and as weekend facilitators. This weekend, we will help stage an Engaged Encounter for affianced couples looking for a head start on communication skills. We've not done a weekend in over a year due to our health problems, but we felt that the shorter EE weekend format would work well for us. That means that I will not be blogging again until Sunday, although I may unleash a prepared essay on Saturday just to keep things lively. However, I want to make sure that the CQ community doesn't miss a beat, so I have invited one of my favorite bloggers to take over the ship in my absence. The Anchoress excels at long-form political essays, analysis, and Catholic theology. Most CQ readers probably already...
The Instapundit Surprise
Earlier this week, Glenn Reynolds posted a "pre-mortem" analysis on the GOP and why they may have trouble motivating voters to the polls. Many criticized Glenn for engaging in defeatism (and not just Glenn), but many do not realize that Glenn has never been much of a Republican. He's more a thinking Libertarian -- what Jon Henke calls neo-Libertarians -- who has voted with the GOP because of their strong national-security stance. I've been reading Glenn for years and understood that, but can also understand those who lacked that context for their reactions to his long post. Those who faulted him for his early analysis might want to take a look at Glenn's latest on the subject. He voted through an early-voting effort in Tennessee, and of course the big race for Volunteers is the election to replace the retiring Bill Frist. Glenn had interviewed Harold Ford and offered praise...
October 21, 2006
I have the Conn!
I recall in the film Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr's character talked about "having the Quan," which had something to do with self-confidence and positive thinking. I however, have the Conn - thanks to the good Captain, Ed Morrissey. This apparently means I am at the helm of his fine vessel. Now that I'm here, I don't know what the man was thinking! I don't know a rudder from a...you know, the thing that shifts a sail? Ah, well. Expect no sea-faring metaphors for this weekend. Ed has graciously handed over control of Captains Quarters Blog to yours truly until sometime Sunday. I was very thrilled and flattered to be asked by Ed to do some guest posting for him while he and his First Mate go help young couples find their sea-legs on an Engaged Encounter Weekend. Ed is my first and favorite Blogfather, a first-rate writer and researcher,...
Was Star Trek Fascist?
I wrote this earlier in the week and teed it up for the weekend. As long-time CQ readers know, my nickname came from my love of the various incarnations of Star Trek. It started in the 1970s, when I started watching the original series on re-runs, which inexplicably drove my father (the Admiral Emeritus) up the wall, considering he spent almost 30 years of his life working on the space program (Gemini, Apollo, and the Shuttle). I cheered when the movies came out, grew addicted all over again with The Next Generation, and finally ran out of enthusiasm somewhere in the middle of Deep Space Nine. I never attended the conventions, for a variety of reasons, and now catch a rerun or two occasionally. Even when the various shows were must-see for me, though, I always had some discomfort with the future that ST presented, especially on The Next Generation....
There's an art to good politics
Peggy Noonan wrote a column in this week's WSJ that touched on the artlessness of our current crop of politicos, none of whom seem to posess the deft and graceful footwork of presidents and legislators of the past. She wrote: The dance is where you see the joy of the joust. It's a gifted pro making his moves. It's a moment of humor, wit or merriness on the trail; it's the clever jab or the unexpected line that flips an argument. It's a thing in itself and is so much itself, so distinctive, that whether you are left, right or center, red team or blue, you can look at the moves of a guy on the other side and say with honest admiration: "Man, that was good." FDR, of course, could dance. He gets caught breaking a vow he'd made in Philadelphia when first running for president. What to do?...
Fallaci gifts pontifical school
The headline is deplorable (she deserves to be named) but I knew immediately that they were writing about the great Oriana Fallaci, here: Atheist gifts pontifical school in will An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict XVI, a school official said Saturday. Oriana Fallaci had described the pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict... In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true." You'll want to read the whole article, it's pretty good....
Don Giovanni Swept into Hell - Updated
Ah, here's the stuff! Someone has uploaded the chilling Commandatore scene of from the 2000 Metropolitan performance of Don Giovanni, with Bryn Terfel as Giovanni, the wonderful Ferruccio Furlanetto as Leporello and Sergei Koptchak as the Commandatore. Some might be familiar with this scene as it was depicted in Milos Foreman's film, Amadeus. This is the part wherein the evil and unrepentant rakehell/rapist/murderer Don Giovanni, having flippantly invited the ghostly statue of the Commandatore (whom he had killed in the opening scene, after trying to rape his daughter) to sup, finds the statue has accepted. The chilling being is an entity Giovanni can neither charm nor best, and it challenges Don Giovanni to face up to his life, repent of his sins and embrace his last chance for salvation. I don't know how the good Captain feels about embedding stuff from youtube, so the link is here. Don Giovanni...
Back At Home
We just returned from facilitating the Engaged Encounter weekend, and once again, we're exhausted but happy to have been of service to a group of fine young couples and helping to build families. The First Mate and I plan to do nothing but relax around the house tomorrow, and that means I'll get a chance to catch up. That doesn't mean that The Anchoress has to sail off quite yet. She's posted some excellent articles here today, and hopefully she will continue tomorrow. Maybe we'll have a blog-off or something ... I just got done reading the comment thread on the Trek post -- great responses from all of you. Dafydd at Big Lizards wrote me a lengthy e-mail about the post, and I'm hoping he'll either post it at Big Lizards or let me post it here. Fascinating, as Spock might say. For now, however, I'm calling it a...
October 22, 2006
Guest Blog: Dafydd ab Hugh Responds
After my post yesterday about Star Trek, my former co-blogger Dafydd ab Hugh wrote a lengthy exposition on the question of whether Star Trek was fascist. Dafydd writes science fiction and has tremendous insight into the ST environment -- plus he's always willing to argue arcane points in depth, which is what we have in common. Here's his response, which he has graciously allowed me to post here. And no, this is not another attempt at work avoidance. -- CE I rise to make a correction: the original series Star Trek did have money. They used the pseudo-sci-fi term "credits." For example, in "the Trouble With Tribbles," Cyrano Jones negotiates with the bartender about how much each tribble will cost; Lt. Uhura and Ens. Chekov are at the bar, and Uhura falls in love with the things. So Pavel Chekov does the gallant thing and offers to buy her one....
BBC Confesses To Being British
We in the blogosphere often take the mainstream media to task for their unannounced biases, charges which most editors and reporters strenuously deny. Admitting to bias would undermine the credibility of most news organizations, especially American outlets, after having built objectivity as the pinnacle of journalism. Apparently that quality does not hold the same significance in Britain, however, as their primary media source found in an impartiality summit" that The Beeb is anything but.
WaPo gives three veiled perspectives
Interestingly, the Washington Post is carrying three op-ed pieces today touching on women and Islam, Clothes Aren't the Issue, by Asra Q. Nomani, How I Came to Love the Veil by Yvonne Ridley and Coverings Uncovered by Farzaneh Milani. In Nomani's piece, the veil is incidental to the rest of the article, which focuses on the problem of domestic violence within Islamic houses, and how that "permitted" violence can be extrapolated as permissable violence within the world: Western leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, have recently focused on Muslim women's veils as an obstacle to integration in the West. But to me, it is 4:34 that poses the much deeper challenge of integration. How the Muslim world interprets this passage will reveal whether Islam can be compatible with life in the 21st century. As Hadayai Majeed, an African American Muslim who had opened...
NYT's Calame: Oops. Our Bad.
The New York Times' public editor, Byron Calame, initially supported the publication of the confidential national-security program that tracked terrorist financing through the Swift banking program. Now, at the end of his column and far past the "jump", Calame acknowledges that the Times made the wrong decision: Since the job of public editor requires me to probe and question the published work and wisdom of Times journalists, there’s a special responsibility for me to acknowledge my own flawed assessments. My July 2 column strongly supported The Times’s decision to publish its June 23 article on a once-secret banking-data surveillance program. After pondering for several months, I have decided I was off base. There were reasons to publish the controversial article, but they were slightly outweighed by two factors to which I gave too little emphasis. While it’s a close call now, as it was then, I don’t think the article...
Funniest Headline EVER!
I read this headline and almost died laughing: GOP Losses Could Spark Partisan Warfare Because clearly we've been living through an era of sweetness and light as far as politics and political theater are concerned. There have been no partisan snipings, no "scorched earth" policies over the past 6 years. Of course, from what we're seeing elsewhere, another headline could be quickly written: Dem Losses Could Spark Limited Rioting. You see, there are some paranoid types on the left who are predicting nothing less than a Bush Administration declaration of Marial Law. Sister Toldjah posts some gorgeous hysteria/paranoia from one Lyn Lear Davis, Beverly Hills Matron type: When I asked Gore Vidal at dinner why the White House seemed so serene and at ease about the vote, he replied that, this time around, the Bush-Cheney henchmen could simply call on martial law. He glumly noted that we are so far...
Anchoress raises anchor to depart...
Now that the good Captain and his First Mate have returned from their sojourn, I am going to take this opportunity to hoist anchor (is that the phrase) and detach my dingy from the Captain's accomodating vessel. Ed is back (he's probably watching football...) so, this extra pair of hands can stand down. I want to take this opportunity to heartfully thank Ed for inviting me to guest-blog for him; it was both terrifying and fun. I don't think I embarrassed him too badly, but I am quite aware of my limitations and therefore admit that now he's returned the quality of the blog will rise like a fresh incoming tide, lifting all posts - which is good, because it will clear out my debris. [See my note below -- CE.] The truth is, I have to go make a Brandy Alexander Pie for a friend who keeps asking for...
October 23, 2006
The Depth Of The Democratic Bench
Yesterday's big political news came from Meet the Press, where Senator Barack Obama raised a few eyebrows with an admission of presidential ambitions. Obama, a first-term member of the upper chamber, contradicted earlier statements that indicated that he would not run in 2008 for the Democratic Party nomination: Sen. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat who won instant celebrity after his keynote address to the 2004 Democratic national convention, said Sunday he might run for president in 2008. "I don't want to be coy about this," Obama said on NBC's Meet the Press. "Given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility." After initially ruling it out, he said, the door has opened "a bit." The 2008 presidential race is wide open, and Obama has been urged by many Democrats, such as fellow Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, to run this time rather...
Iraq: Don't Panic
The elected government in Iraq has hit the road, trying to keep its Western allies from panicking and retreating in reaction to a spike in violence over the past month. Deputy PM Barham Salih met with British ministers in an attempt to shore up Coalition resolve: Salih, in London for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other British ministers, made clear his anxiety about the change in tone in London and Washington, where senior figures are questioning whether the current strategy in Iraq is viable. "I'm obviously concerned about the debate both in the U.S. and Europe, I have to say, because there is too much of a pessimistic tone to this debate -- even I would say in certain circles a defeatist tone," he told BBC radio. "We need to be realist but not defeatist. We need to understand that there is a need of utmost urgency...
The French Intifada Continues
The AP continues its reporting on the slow-motion uprising in the Muslim ghettoes in France, where the police insist that violence against them has become organized by Islamist radicals. Calls that draw police and even fire department response wind up as ambushes, with rocks, baseball bats, and even teargas deployed against them: On a routine call, three unwitting police officers fell into a trap. A car darted out to block their path, and dozens of hooded youths surged out of the darkness to attack them with stones, bats and tear gas before fleeing. One officer was hospitalized, and no arrests made. The recent ambush was emblematic of what some officers say has become a near-perpetual and increasingly violent conflict between police and gangs in tough, largely immigrant French neighborhoods that were the scene of a three-week paroxysm of rioting last year. One small police union claims officers are facing a...
Casting My Vote
As it happens, I will likely be out of town on Election Day this year, so for the second time in my life, I applied for absentee ballots for the midterm elections for both the First Mate and I. Yesterday we filled out the ballots and today I'll send them off in the mail. I rather like the absentee ballot process. It gives me a little time to research the issues with the ballot in front of me, an opportunity I probably would not take otherwise. For the FM, it gives her the ability to take her time while I walk her through the voting process; even though the election officials allow me to assist her in the booth, she feels rushed and pressured with the amount of time it takes for me to read the ballot to her. Both of us supported the Republican candidates on our ballot, and...
A Spoiler In Indiana?
Democratic plans to recapture control over the House may run into an unexpected buzzsaw in Indiana. Incumbent Democrat Julia Carlson has blown a 20-point lead and now trails Republican Eric Dickerson, according to a local poll (via Right Wing News): The WTHR poll -- conducted by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, and based on responses of 468 likely voters in the 7th Congressional District -- was startling, though, particularly in the wake of a poll of 400 likely voters, taken in September for WISH (Channel 8), that showed Carson with a lead of 20 percentage points. WTHR reported its poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Dickerson, a former auto dealer, has run his race largely on his own. He beat the Republican Party's endorsed candidate in the primary and has run his campaign with virtually no state or national support since....
Secure Fence Act Signing Set For Thursday
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker Denny Hastert jointly announced that Congress has sent the Secure Fence Act to the White House for President Bush's signature. The two Congressional leaders issued the following statement: “Today we are transmitting H.R. 6061, Secure Fence Act of 2006, to the President. This legislation is a key component to keeping America safe and stemming the tide of illegal immigration. The American people demand a secure border, and this Republican Congress has responded to the American people's demand for a secure border by increasing the physical barriers and infrastructure along the border, and by providing state of the art monitoring technology. We look forward to the President’s signature of this legislation. “Unfortunately, the House and Senate Democrat Leaders voted against the Secure Fence Act. The Democrat immigration plan would fail the American people, allow dangerous criminals into our country and would set our homeland...
James Webb, Meet Al Gore
During the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore's assertion that he had created the Internet inspired a cavlacade of criticism that continues to this day. Gore, who did help foster the growth of the Internet but could hardly claim to have created it, gained a reputation as a braggart and an egotist. Politicians used to bloviating about their accomplishments took notice and more care in ensuring that the facts supported their statements. Apparently James Webb did not get that memo. He recently claimed credit on his campaign website for proposing and leading the "fight" to include an African-American soldier in the Vietnam War soldier's memorial: In 1982 he first proposed, then led the fight for, including an African American soldier in the memorial statue that now graces the Vietnam Veterans memorial on the National Mall. Today, one of the men who truly can claim to have "led the fight" makes clear...
October 24, 2006
A Groundpimple Of Support!
Yesterday I wrote about my effort to win the mayoralty of Eagan, MN, by staging a write-in campaign, starting with my and the First Mate's absentee ballots. Well, this idea has really caught on, folks. I can reveal here that my campaign has picked up steam. I got another Eagan resident to commit to casting his vote for me. At this pace, I'll have twelve votes when Eagan residents go to the polls. Twelve! I'm already planning my triumphant march to City Hall. I might just drive over, though. It's easier on the back. You've heard of the Dean Scream? Of Joe-mentum? Now we've got ... Ed-ertia! UPDATE: Start up the bandwagon -- I've received my first endorsement. I've cornered the crucial martini-swilling bloc vote ... nothing can stop us now, except sobriety and common sense!...
The Niqab Dismissal
A Michigan judge threw out a lawsuit brought by a Muslim woman because she refused to show her face while testifying. Paul Paruk may have started another round of legal battles over the niqab, which only exposes the eyes, by ruling that witnesses must show their faces in court in order to allow a determination of their veracity: Ginnah Muhammad, 42, wore a niqab – a scarf and veil covering the head and face that leaves only the eyes visible – for a court hearing in Hamtramck, near Detroit. She was contesting a $2,750 (£1,470) charge from a car hire company for damage to a vehicle she said was caused by thieves. Paul Paruk, the district judge, told her that he needed to be able to see her face to gauge whether she was telling the truth. He advised her that if she did not remove the veil while testifying...
Allen On Porkbusting, Webb Absent
If anyone thinks that Washington hasn't at least heard the outcry over pork-barrel spending, George Allen's post at Redstate will provide enough evidence for even the most hardened cynic. Running for re-election in a tight campaign, Allen understands that the key to victory is to convince fiscal conservatives that he has joined the reform effort, and he outlines his case: Porkbusters represents citizens demanding accountability from their government. That is grassroots activism at its very best, and I share their goal. Congress doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. Toward that end, I have supported a “Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights,” including: * The Line Item Veto: Senator Talent and I have taken the lead on legislation proposing a Constitutional amendment to give the President the authority that 43 State governors presently possess, and which I had as Governor of Virginia – the line-item veto – which would...
Famine Returns To North Korea
In a real sense, Kim Jong-Il may have nuked his food supply heading into winter on the Korean peninsula. The sanctions that Pyongyang provoked have cut deeply into the crucial aid that would have kept his subjects from starvation: North Korean food shortages have grown worse after its recent nuclear test led donors to withdraw aid, the UN says. The UN official monitoring human rights in North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, said the food shortage was critical. North Korea is already short of food and this year floods have damaged the harvest, making matters even worse. President Kim Jong-Il's nuclear test has led to international condemnation of the secretive regime and sanctions against its nuclear programme. Put simply, Western nations don't plan on bailing Kim out of another famine, especially when everyone knows that any food aid will first go to the military. Had Kim not tested his nukes and his...
It's The Economy, Stupid MSM
Investor's Business Daily took the mainstream media to task over its coverage of the economy in its editorial yesterday, making the case that media outlets have a political bias against Republicans. Despite an economic boom that has created 6.6 million jobs, increased federal tax revenues, and tamed inflation while generating strong growth, the media has relentlessly focused its coverage on negative, anecdotal stories (via Newsbeat1): You are v-e-r-y tired. . . . You will believe everything I say. . . . Just keep your eye on President Bush's sinking polls. . . . Pay no attention to that low jobless rate . . . or the shrinking budget deficit . . . or the record Dow. That, it seems, is the spell that's again been cast over a strangely receptive public as the Nov. 7 election nears. Despite an economic boom that's nothing short of amazing, especially given the obstacles...
GOP Not Sharing The Wealth?
In a season where the balance of power remains at serious risk in the Senate, the Washington Times reports that some Republican Senators do not appear anxious to help protect their majority. Senators with large campaign warchests and who do not face the voters this year have made only nominal transfers to the NRSC, allowing the Democrats to gain a large advantage in the final days of the midterms: Senate Republicans with enormous campaign war chests are refusing to transfer significant amounts of money to help fellow Republicans who are cash-strapped and face defeat in the final weeks of the campaign. The stinginess alarms some of the Republican Party's top campaign strategists, especially because it is in such stark contrast to the millions of dollars that Democrats have transferred to their candidates in need. Control of the Senate will come down to a half-dozen close races next month, and both...
Meet The Proposed House Leadership, Part II
The New York Sun reviews the possible ascension of John Conyers to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and its potential for impeachment mischief. Despite demurrals from Nancy Pelosi, Conyers has continued to sharpen his pencils in preparation for an opportunity to bring charges against George Bush, and a Democratic majority would provide that opening: John Conyers, a Democrat of Michigan, is now in line to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which has the authority to begin hearings and an investigation into whether the planning and selling of the Iraq war was a constitutional crime. Last week, the Washington Post first reported that if Ms. Pelosi, a Democrat of California, becomes House majority leader, she will keep the seniority system intact for selecting committee chairmen in Congress. An aide to Ms. Pelosi confirmed the report yesterday. Mr. Conyers's office has released two reports in the last year...
Meet The Democratic Leadership, Part III
Jane Harman serves on the House Intelligence Committee as the ranking Democrat on the critical national-security panel. As such, her seniority should get her the chair in the event of a Democratic majority after the midterms. However, personal and political conflicts with fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi will likely get her and her experience passed over in favor of a disgraced former federal judge: Representative Jane Harman has gained national prominence as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, but even her supporters now concede that she is unlikely to become chairman if her party wins control of the House. Standing in her way is another California lawmaker, Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ speaker-in-waiting, who would have the power to pick the leader of each committee. The relationship between the two has soured in recent years over political rivalries and policy disputes, and Congressional officials on both sides of the...
CQ On The Air Tonight
I have the privilege and the pleasure of appearing once again on Rob Breckenridge's The World Tonight on CHQR radio in Calgary. I'll appear at 9:35 pm CT, and we'll be discussing the border fence and the midterm elections. If you don't live in Calgary, you can listen to the show on the Internet stream on the station's website at the above link. Rob has an excellent radio show, and I've thoroughly enjoyed all of my appearances....
October 25, 2006
Venezuela Surrenders On Security Council Seat
Hugo Chavez has signaled a retreat from Venezuela's efforts to gain a UN Security Council seat. Venezuela has offered to withdraw, as long as its rival Guatemala does the same and allows another country to assume the UNSC seat: Venezuela says it will withdraw from a bitter contest to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council if its rival, Guatemala, does the same. Venezuela's foreign minister also said the US must end its "crude blackmail" of other nations in trying to secure a seat for its favoured candidate. Neither Guatemala, which Venezuela says is a US proxy, nor Venezuela have polled enough votes yet to gain a seat. Guatemala has reportedly rejected Bolivia as a compromise candidate. Bolivian President Evo Morales earlier said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered to let Bolivia take his country's place in the race. Bolivia, like its ally, Venezuela, has strained relations with...
Misunderestimated, Again
The conventional wisdom of these midterms casts George Bush as Kryptonite to Republicans in close races, with candidates practically stumbling over themselves to achieve maximum distance from the President. The New York Times reports that conventional wisdom seems to have misunderestimated Bush again, even in a slanted news piece that offers an analysis that it proves wrong after the jump: President Bush cannot show up just anywhere in the waning days of this midterm campaign. But there is a certain class of Republicans who are somewhere between eager and willing to have him at their sides. There are those facing ethical questions or struggling to recover from gaffes. There are those desperate for the cash Mr. Bush can bring in just by showing up for lunch. There are those who need the president to turn out a demoralized base. And there are those who, like Vern Buchanan, the Republican candidate...
China: North Korea Won't Test Again
China announced last night that Kim Jong-Il has no plans to conduct a second nuclear test, attempting to assuage fears in the global community of further provocations by the unpredictable dictator. The foreign ministry also clarified earlier reports of an apology from Kim, saying that Pyongyang had not apologized but wants to return to the six-party talks: China gave its first full public account Tuesday of its recent diplomatic mission to North Korea. An official said leader Kim Jong Il did not apologize for the atomic explosion, but he did say there were no plans for a second nuclear test. North Korea's reclusive leader expressed willingness to return to six-nation talks over his government's nuclear program if financial restrictions levied by the United States are first resolved, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met with Kim last week during a trip to Pyongyang with...
Running On Honesty
Many pundits analyze the midterms as a referendum on the war in Iraq. They explain the poor polling for Republicans in a growing dissatisfaction with the progress shown on that front, and some Republicans have tried emphasizing other parts of the Republican platform to counter the trend. Not so here in Minnesota, where Mark Kennedy has decided to make sure his potential constituents know exactly where he stands: As his fellow Republicans try to distance themselves from the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, Senate candidate Mark Kennedy is airing a TV ad in which he squarely states his support — "even though I know it may not be what you want to hear." The 30-second ad, running statewide for at least a week, is Kennedy's latest attempt to catch up to Democratic front-runner Amy Klobuchar. Looking into the camera, Kennedy acknowledges that "we've made some mistakes in Iraq" but says...
CAIR, Islamic Jihad, And Keith Ellison
Gary Gross at Let Freedom Ring follows in Scott Johnson's footsteps to show ties between CAIR and Islamist terrorism, and remind readers of ties between CAIR and Minnesota Congressional candidate Keith Ellison. The Muslim interest group bought significant television advertising here in Minnesota to explain away its ties to Hamas and its front group, the Holy Land Foundation, in order to remove the political poison from their relationship to Keith Ellison. Gary takes a look at the people who front for CAIR, specifically Ahmed Bedier: Ahmed Bedier has acted as Sami Al-Arian’s spokesman. One Google search on the internet of both their names provides over 200 results…mostly news stories containing quotes from Bedier about Al-Arian and his legal troubles. He was even the motivating force in trying to get Al-Arian’s trial moved out of Tampa! Al-Arian, one will recall, recently pled guilty to assisting terrorist organizations (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) and...
Have Yourself A Murderous Little Quds Day
Iran held its Quds Day celebrations on the last Friday of Ramadan, and last Friday it indulged itself in an orgy of hatred towards Israel and America, demanding the destruction of both. As Steven Stalinsky notes at the New York Sun, the only aspect of Quds Day more astonishing than the day-long hate festival was the utter lack of interest in it by the Western media: It is disturbing when the entire leadership of one nation, along with hundreds of thousands of its citizens, comes out with celebrations and parades every year that call for the annihilation of another country. It is more twisted that no world leaders or international bodies, including the United Nations, have denounced the activities surrounding Quds Day, an Iranian holiday introduced by Ayatollah Khomeini that is marked on the last Friday of Ramadan. ... President Ahmadinejad gave a series of speeches leading up to and...
Barone On Bush
One of my favorite analysts, Michael Barone, pens a must-read blog about his meeting with George Bush. The President has decided to go full tilt on defending the mission in Iraq, and Barone covers the effort: First of all, Bush started off with a lengthy monologue, trying to put a historical perspective on where we are now. He clearly sees his primary mission as protecting the American people from the terrorists who want to do everything they can to hurt and destroy us and our civilization. He makes the point that we ought to listen to their words when they threaten to kill us–even though our first instinct is to flinch and turn away from threats that, if taken seriously, are extremely disturbing. Later he returned to this theme. The September 11 attacks made it clear, he said, that we're at war, and we're still at war. These terrorists want...
October 26, 2006
A Muddle On Same-Sex Marriage
The big news yesterday came from the New Jersey Supreme Court, which gave an odd split decision on the subject of gender-neutral marriage. On one hand, the court ruled that gay couples have no expectation of the right to marry -- and on the other hand, they ordered the state legislature to provide them with a way to gain all of the incidentals to marriage. It almost guarantees another round of condemnations for judicial activism, and does little to clarify the issue in any significant way: New Jersey’s highest court ruled on Wednesday that gay couples are entitled to the same legal rights and financial benefits as heterosexual couples, but split over whether their unions must be called marriage or could be known by another name, handing that question to the Legislature. In a decision filled with bold and sweeping pronouncements about equality, the New Jersey Supreme Court gave the...
South Koreans Start Enforcing Sanctions
The South Koreans have begun to block entry to North Korean officials whose travel has been restricted by the UN sanctions, the first concrete steps of implementation seen by Seoul since the UNSC passed the resolution. They also committed to some efforts to implement the economic sanctions in coming days: South Korea said Thursday it will ban the entry of North Korean officials who fall under a U.N. travel restriction — Seoul's first concrete move to enforce sanctions imposed after the North's nuclear test. Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok also said Seoul will control transactions and remittances relating to inter-Korean trade and investment with the North Korean officials, Yonhap news agency reported. ... Seoul's Thursday decision begin enforcing a part of the sanctions came a day after North Korea warned its neighbor against imposing the punishment and a day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gently prodded South Korea to...
Is It Time For A Moon Shot On Energy?
On May 25th, 1961, President John Kennedy told the nation that America would go to the moon. The Soviet Union had beaten the US to space, launching its Sputnik satellite in 1957 and stunning Americans, who thought of the USSR as a backwards Asian nation. One month before this joint session of Congress, the Soviets beat us again, sending Yuri Gagarin into orbit in April as the first man in space and the first to orbit the earth. Alan Shepard only made it to suborbital space three weeks before this speech, a sterling achievement but a disappointment after Gagarin's mission. Kennedy faced an anxious Congress and made his bold statement: First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will...
Diagnoising Death through Demographics
As a long-time fan of Mark Steyn I looked forward to reading this interview with him out of Human Events, just as I have long-anticipated his book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. One of Steyn's consistant themes over the past few years is a warning that Europe was not merely the sick patient of the West - that she was actively transitioning from life unto death, and death will bring no victory, only only backward momentum: Basically the European nations are dying and the populations in them are turning into relatively hostile Muslim populations, not all of them terrorists, but all of them, almost all of those people not sympathetic to America and American interests. And I feel that the great assumption that we all have, that the present tense is somehow permanent, or that it’s like technological progress. You know, it’s like, cars...
Michael J. Fox on CBS and the goo of victimhood
Michael J. Fox is going to do a couple of minutes with Katie Couric this evening on the CBS Evening News. In considering what that will be like, I realize that 30-minute broadcast news shows are essentially pointless. In the space of a few minutes, Couric cannot be more penetrating than a prop knife, and between greetings, sympathetic murmurings and a background briefing to get viewers up to speed (and time to thwack the deserving Rush Limbaugh) there will be no time to ask a question that someone really needs to ask Mr. Fox: If your ads are not meant merely to generally paint Republicans as heartless science-hating bastards content to see you suffer, why did you make an ad similar similar to the McCaskill one for the Maryland race, supporting Cardin...WHO DOES NOT SUPPORT ESCR? I am sure Couric will not ask that question with the excuse that there...
My Two Cents On Rush
The Anchoress filled in for me today, and admirably, in two excellent posts; if you haven't read them, then for goodness' sake, start scrolling immediately. On the latest of these, though, I have to take exception with one point, where I think she has inadvertently erred. She had this comment about Rush Limbaugh's commentary on Michael J. Fox: Like Betsy Newmark, I basically think - from what I've read - that Limbaugh was very foolish in his initial response to the McCaskill ad by Fox. I'm not excusing his bloviating, but I do think I understand why Limbaugh lost it. Several CQ readers objected to this characterization of Rush's commentary, and I think rightly so. The Anchoress relied on the media's reporting on his commentary, rather than the transcript. Here is what Rush said about Fox: I must share this. I have gotten a plethora of e-mails from people saying...
October 27, 2006
Democratic Smear Campaign In Minnesota's SD-51
Voters know that the final two weeks of an election season have arrived when the hit pieces start coming in the mail. My friend Pam Wolf in State Senate District 51 has spent her entire campaign focusing on the issues that matter to Anoka County voters -- like the imposition of taxes on their community to build a football stadium for the Vikings without their consent. Rather than debate actual issues, the Democratic Party (called the DFL in Minnesota) spent their time digging through Pam's divorce records and cobbled together a string of ludicrous charges onto a full-color flyer they have dropped all over SD-51. Pam details the charges in her rebuttal: Dear Friends, You may have seen some literature or a television ad from the DFL saying something to the effect that Pam Wolf doesn't pay her taxes. That's ridiculous. I think that what the DFL is calling your...
Blogger Roundtable On The Economy
Once again this week, I was pleased to join Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine and its Hit & Run blog and Judd Legum of Think Progress for another Internet chat rountable hosted by the AP's Otis Hart. This time we debated the economy and its import to the upcoming elections. Here's a taste of the conversation: asap: How do you balance the notion of free trade with the plight of American workers and the state of the environment? Edward Morrissey: I don't know that I see a "plight" when unemployment is 4.6% and private industry compensation grows faster than the rate of inflation ... Edward Morrissey: Free markets find more efficient use of resources, which tends to degrade the environment less, although not perfectly, obviously. Post-communist Eastern Europe is a great example of that. Nick Gillespie: for starters, the state of the american environment has never been better. in every...
Wetterling Campaign And DCCC 'Highly Deceptive'
Earlier this week, Patty Wetterling's campaign for the MN-06 Congressional seat and the national DCCC began airing an advertisement on local television that branded Michele Bachmann as soft on crime. Michele Bachmann. Michele friggin' Bachmann! I laughed out loud when I first saw it and wondered how anyone in their right mind could possibly think that a strong conservative like Michele would ever oppose jailing repeat sex offenders for life. The only way she might oppose that is if she had the opportunity to vote to shoot them into space. Even the Star Tribune noticed this disconnect from reality. Eric Black, who really does do good work at the Strib, calls this advertising "highly deceptive": A highly deceptive ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee takes one vote out of context to distort congressional candidate Michele Bachmann's record on crime. The 30-second ad, which has been airing for about a...
Kean More Than Holding His Own
Thomas Kean, Jr has shown surprising strength against an incumbent Democrat in New Jersey, not normally known for its kindness to Republicans. He has tied Robert Menendez in the latest New York Times/CBS poll -- and that seems surprising in itself, considering the track record of CBS polls: Thomas H. Kean Jr., the Republican challenger for United States Senate in New Jersey, has capitalized on his father’s reputation to offset voters’ qualms about his inexperience. Senator Robert Menendez has been buoyed by discontent with President Bush. The result in this heavily Democratic state is an extremely tight race, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. The poll suggests that Mr. Kean, a state senator, has done surprisingly well in a year when other Republicans are struggling even on friendlier turf not because of Mr. Kean himself, but because of his father, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, one of...
Rightroots -- A Final Push
We have come down to the final ten days of the midterm campaign, and the fundraising for our Rightroots candidates has had amazing success. As of this morning, we have raised over a quarter-million dollars for the key races that could determine which party controls Congress. That money came in small to moderate donations from readers of CQ and other blogs, ordinary citizens like us who want to put their political contributions where they can have the most effect. For the final ten days, we want to focus on the ten candidates that we feel have the best opportunity to win their races. We are asking for one final round of contributions for these Republican challengers: Michele Bachmann (MN-06) Mike Bouchard (MI-Sen) Max Burns (GA-12) John Gard (WI-08) Thomas Kean (NJ-Sen) Mike McGavick (WA-Sen) David McSweeney (IL-08) Ray Meier (NY-24) Peter Roskam (IL-06) Michael Steele (MD-Sen) As some of the...
Shalit For 1,000 Players To Be Named Later
The status of Gilad Shalit appears to be a little closer to resolution, according to sources speaking to London-based Al-Hayat, an Arabic newspaper. According to these sources, Hamas has dropped its demand for the immediate release of 1,000 Palestinians for Shalit under increasing pressure from Egypt: Reportedly, the Hamas leadership has withdrawn its demand that concurrent with Shalit's release, Palestinian security prisoners would be immediately released by Israel. Instead, Hamas is said to be willing to free Shalit, and wait two months for Israel to release some 1000 prisoners Al-Hayat claimed that Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal was expected to hear Israel's response to the proposal when he travels from Damascus to Cairo next week to meet with head of Egyptian intelligence Omar Suleiman. Israel had agreed in principle earlier to release a large number of Palestinian prisoners in order to get Shalit back. However, Mashaal reneged on the offer, embarrassing...
Signed In Broad Daylight
George Bush signed the Secure Fence Act, as promised, in a public ceremony at the White House yesterday morning. He cast his signature as one step of progress on the journey towards immigration reform: President Bush signed into law on Thursday a bill providing for construction of 700 miles of added fencing along the Southwestern border, calling the legislation “an important step toward immigration reform.” The new law is what most House Republicans wanted. But it is not what Senate Republicans or Mr. Bush originally envisioned, and at the signing, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, the president repeated his call for a far more extensive revamping of immigration law. A broader measure, approved by the Senate last spring, would have not only enhanced border security but also provided for a guest worker program and the possibility of eventual citizenship for many illegal immigrants already in the country....
A Look At Keith Ellison's Legislative Record
We have highlighted MN-05 Congressional candidate Keith Ellison's ties to CAIR and the Nation of Islam during this election cycle, mostly because the Star Tribune has gone AWOL on their duty to inform their readers of Ellison's track record in politics. However, as Swiftee notes, Fifth District voters have plenty of reasons to vote against Ellison on the basis of his record in the Minnesota legislature. If voters want to make it tougher to get deadbeat dads to pay child support, make it easier to file false police reports, and allow drivers to have open containers of alcohol in their vehicles while driving, then Ellison's your man: 1. 2005-2006 Legislative Session he authored a bill that would remove the state's ability to crack down on people who are delinquent in paying child support. ... SEE HF 1288: Driver's license suspension for nonpayment of support repealed. 2. 2005-2006 Legislative Session he...
You Only Get A Bigger Fire
I love politcs. I know that convention dictates that we all disparage politics, belittling the people who engage in it and questioning the sanity of those who closely follow it, but my three-year run as a blogger makes demurrals less than believable. Democracies run on politics, and I feel strongly that citizens need to engage the processes in order to achieve a truly representative government. With all of this comes a wide range of behaviors in political campaigns. Some, such as Mark Kennedy's latest advertisement, demonstrate the honor that many politicians truly have in their efforts to provide leadership. Others, such as Patty Wetterling, remind us that some will sacrifice honesty for winning if necessary. And then we have the George Allen - James Webb campaign for the Senate seat in Virginia, which I think may have set a record for mudslinging. This contest started off badly and never really...
October 28, 2006
Apology
I owe someone an apology. I'm not going to get into who and why, but he knows who he is, and he knows what it's about. I apologize for breaking a confidence; I should have avoided it. That's all....
George Allen Interview, Part I
Bump to Saturday. I had the opportunity to conduct an e-mail interview with Senator George Allen, currently in a tough fight for re-election in Virginia. Senator Allen answers some extensive questions about the midterm elections, energy policy, the economy, and the media coverage of the Virginia race. The second half of the interview will get posted tomorrow morning. I appreciate the opportunity to answer questions here on Captain’s Quarters, one of the best of the best in the blogosphere! CQ: Republican leaders have spoken about the threat of Democratic control of the House in order to ensure a strong turnout from the GOP base. In your estimation, what are the biggest problems that would create for a Republican-controlled Senate and the White House? GA: I am concerned that a number of the positive policies we’ve been working on will be threatened – tax relief for families and small businesses, measures...
George Allen Interview, Part II
Bumping both posts to to Saturday -- and welcome Instapundit readers. This is the second part of my interview with Senator George Allen. In yesterday's installment, Senator Allen talked about economic policy, immigration, and taxes. He concludes by discussing his race and the messages that Republicans must communicate in these midterm elections. CQ: Energy policy and national security have become inseparable since 9/11. You have offered an energy-reform policy to reduce dependence on foreign oil. How would that work, and what how does your opponent differ on energy policy? How soon can we achieve self-sufficiency for energy under both plans? GA: I absolutely agree that energy independence and protecting our homeland go hand-in-hand. We must declare an end to our strategic dependence on oil from the Middle East and from any other foreign source that has the potential to jeopardize our national security and economic vitality. When I recently spoke...
Isn't This What We Want In The Senate?
Rick Santorum is facing the fight of his life to win re-election to the US Senate, against Bob Casey, Jr, his Democratic challenger. He has struggled to get himself back into position to compete against Casey after starting off twenty points behind. Recently, Casey delivered a horrendous performance in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, which has helped put some wind behind Santorum's sails; Casey gave an incoherent dissertation on terrorism that had jaws dropping across Pennsylvania and the nation. I've put the passage in the extended entry, and the most disturbing part of it is that the Inquirer endorsed Casey anyway. Instead, Santorum has been focused on national security and terrorism in a way that reveals Casey as the pretender he is. His new stump speech, which borrows its title from Winston Churchill (deliberately, I'm sure), is called "A Gathering Storm", and it lays out the challenge in front...
Michael Steele Corrects The Record
Michael Steele has produced a devastating advertisement in response to the ads flooding Maryland on behalf of Benjamin Cardin featuring Michael J. Fox. Fox claims to support Cardin because Steele opposes stem-cell research. However, Steele actually supports stem cell research, while Cardin voted against the kind of legislation Fox wants to pass. Steele found a spokesperson who will make the hypocrisy clear for Maryland voters -- his sister: I’m Dr. Monica Turner. Congressman Ben Cardin is attacking Michael Steele with deceptive, tasteless ads. He is using the victim of a terrible disease to frighten people all for his own political gain. Mr. Cardin should be ashamed. Here’s something you should know about Michael Steele. He does support stem cell research, and he cares deeply for those who suffer from disease. How do I know? I’m Michael Steele’s little sister. I have MS, and I know he cares about me. Dr....
The Anchoress Clarifies
Earlier this week, The Anchoress wrote two provocative and intelligent posts here at CQ (lucky me!), including one that criticized Rush Limbaugh on a particular point for the Michael J. Fox brouhaha. She has clarified her remarks but stands her ground in this new post. Be sure to read it all....
Notify Beijing
The South Koreans have noticed unusual activity at a suspected North Korean nuclear site, and speculation has started that Pyongyang may be preparing another test. If so, it may push Beijing to action that they have only recently considered: South Korean and U.S. officials are monitoring the construction of a new building and other activities at a suspected North Korean nuclear site, trying to determine if the communist country is planning a second test detonation, news reports said Saturday. South Korea is keeping a close watch on the movement of trucks and soldiers at the Punggye-ri site in the North Korea's remote northeast, Yonhap news agency reported, citing several unidentified military officials. One official, however, said a second test was "not believed to be imminent." "We are closely monitoring to see if these are preparations for a second nuclear test," another official was quoted as saying. South Korea has also...
Northern Alliance Radio On The Air
Mitch and I will be on the air between 1-3 pm CT this afternoon for the Northern Alliance Radio Network on AM 1280 The Patriot. We'll be covering the elections, including Wetterling/Bachmann and the latest from their debates as well as the Michael Steele ad in response to the Michael J Fox efforts on behalf of Benjamin Cardin. And, in the second hour -- Michael Barone! CQ readers outside of the Twin Cities can listen to the show on our Internet stream at the station's web site (linked above), and you can join the conversation by calling 651-289-4488. UPDATE: Fixed bad link -- thanks to CQ reader Stoo....
Just A Little Sweeter
Earlier today, I received a package in the mail from the White House. In recognition of the efforts made by the various bloggers to get the Coburn-Obama federal spending database legislation passed, the White House offered to send us official copies of the signed bill once the government had printed them. The offer took me a little by surprise, as I was unaware that could be done. I ordered two copies. Figuring to frame them, I went to Michael's and shopped for the materials. Actually, I first asked about a custom framing solution, but when the estimate came to around $350, I thought it sounded like the kind of government programs we hoped to stop with this legislation. Instead, I found a way to do it myself and bought a frame and some backing paper. While we measured the printed bill -- it comes on 10 x 15 sheets, so...
October 29, 2006
A Coup In Palestine?
Can a president of a government conduct a coup? That question may soon find an answer in the Palestinian territories, as Mahmoud Abbas insists that he will dissolve the Hamas government in favor of an appointed technocracy. The threat comes as Hamas still refuses to form a national-unity government that will meet the requirements of Western nations for a restoral of badly-needed subsidies: Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said he will dissolve the Hamas-led government within two weeks if the Islamic group does not agree to form a governing coalition with his Fatah Party, Palestinian officials said. Abbas told the European Union's top diplomat that he would replace the Cabinet with an apolitical panel of professionals, the officials said Friday. The moderate Palestinian president has raised the idea before but promised not to force it on a reluctant Hamas. His new stand suggested a willingness to take a stronger line...
The Condescension Of HAVA
George Will has another excellent column today, this time on the paternalistic and condescending nature of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Enacted in 2002 amid a panic induced by one close presidential election -- the second such election in 208 years, spread across 50 states -- HAVA took voting-infrastructure decisions away from the states and spent billions of dollars on the notion that the world's oldest representative democracy had citizens that were just too stupid to vote correctly: For over two centuries before Congress passed HAVA, Americans voted. Really. Unlike today, those who were elected -- Clay, Webster, Lincoln and lesser lights -- often were more complex and sophisticated than the voting machinery. Using pencils to make marks on paper and later using machines to punch holes in paper ballots, voters -- without federal help; imagine -- caused Congresses and presidents to come and go. States ran elections; some...
Strange Resignation Talk
Jules Crittendon, one of my favorite columnists, usually has a gimlet-eyed bead on the truth and excellent analysis, which is why he should be a must-read for anyone interested in national politics. Every once in a while, and less often than I do, Jules throws a shoe -- and today's the day. Jules demands Bush administration resignations in order to rescue the war in Iraq, and he wants them in the next week ... from Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney? [T]he United States must remain committed to Iraq. We must quietly apply pressure on Iraqi leaders to take control of their country, to look beyond personal, partisan, sectarian objectives. We must increase the number of U.S. advisors attached to Iraqi army and police units. We must put enough troops in Iraq to destroy the Shiite militias, and hand bellicose Iran’s proxy forces another defeat, on top of their defeat in...
Just Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
I decided to take the day off and have a little fun with the First Mate and the Little Admiral this afternoon, and it stretched well into the evening. We drove 80 miles to a fun little place called Pleasant Valley Tree Farms, a pumpkin patch with plenty of old-fashioned fun for the younger set. My son was a bit amused when we told him of our plans -- he wondered why we had to drive 80 miles to find a place like this -- but it was well worth it. As soon as we arrived, our four-year-old granddaughter started running all over the place, unable to decide which activity she wanted to do first. She played on the playground, rode John Deere tricycles for a while, took us through a cornfield maze (not the FM's favorite activity today), and dragged the Captain through the "Spooky Trail". We took a...
October 30, 2006
Palestinian Jihad Part Of Iraq Insurgency
A new document translated by Joseph Shahda indicates that the Saddam Hussein regime agreed to allow the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to stage suicide operations within Iraq in the opening days of the American invasion. Document CMPC-2003-015588 is a handwritten memo from the Foreign Ministry's Arabic Department recounting the meeting between PFLP officials and representatives of the Iraqi government. It also makes a reference to a neighboring country as having given permission for the PFLP to make these arrangements: The Embassy of Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria. Interest Section of the Republic of Iraq Damascus Number: 1/110 Date: 25/3/2003 Secret and Confidential and Immediate Foreign Ministry/ The Arabic Department Subject: Meeting This mornining of 25/3/2003, Mr. Khlaed Ahmad Gibril and Dr. Talal Naji the Deputy of the General Secretary of the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine (General Headquarters) visited our mission and met...
Checkbook Politics Still Drawing Interest
In 2002, Russ Feingold and John McCain convinced Congress and the American people to sell out the First Amendment in exchange for getting the big money out of politics. Accept these limitations on free speech, proponents of the BCRA asked, and we'll keep rich people from buying our elections. On that basis, it passed both houses and George Bush signed it into law. So how has it worked? The First Amendment restrictions have worked rather well; people still cannot criticize incumbents in the final 60 days before an election, a development that would have shocked and angered the men who wrote and adopted the First Amendment as a check against professional politicians. However, the money keeps on rolling into politics, only now it goes outside the channels of accountability, as the Los Angeles Times reports: Unions, corporations and wealthy individuals have pumped nearly $300 million this year into unregulated political...
What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?
Rick Santorum will hold a press conference later this morning to discuss the record of his opponent for the Senate, Bob Casey Jr, in his previous position as state Treasurer. Santorum will point out that Casey invested Pennsylvania pension funds in a series of companies that do business in Iran. Appearing with Santorum to discuss the role of state treasurers in investment decisions will be Sarah Steelman, Missouri State Treasurer. Santorum bases his allegations on a series of investments by Pennsylania pension funds such as PSERS and SERS. The two funds have invested a total of $175 million in companies that do business with the mullahcracy. These investments seem rather focused on China, which brings up a raft of other questions about what Pennsylvania pensions support. This list is for SERS: CHINA PETROLEUM AND CHEMICAL 4,086,635 CHIYODA CORP Y50 2,086,923 PETROCHINA CO 'H'CNY1 7,327,793 PTT PUB CO THB10 (ALIEN MKT)...
We Apologize For The Inconvenience
A series of technical breakdowns kept CQ off the air this morning, and I was not able to post much as a result -- and now I'm off to the day job. Hosting Matters got the problem resolved fairly quickly, but I have a narrow window in which to work, unfortunately. It does give me an opportunity to open a thread for CQ readers, though. We're entering the last week of the mid-term campaign, and most of us are waiting for the big-time, last-minute smears to arise. Where and when do you think they will appear, and what effect do you think they'll have? NOTE: I did have to make a change to the comments script tp avoid the spambots. If you have trouble posting a comment, reload the page and then try again. It does work now....
It's A Blog Party, And CQ's Invited
What are you doing for Election Night? Hopefully CQ readers will follow some of the coverage on CNN, because I'll be part of blogger coverage for CNN in the evening of Election Night. The Los Angeles Times reported the story this morning that CNN will invite about two dozen bloggers to a blog party, where they intend to check our reactions to breaking news on their main broadcast as well as provide continuous coverage through CNN Pipeline: Who says the mainstream media don't respect the blogosphere? CNN is trying to incorporate bloggers directly into its coverage of next week's midterm elections by inviting them to an "E-lection Nite Blog Party," an event aimed at corralling some of the top online opinion makers in one place to provide instant reaction as the results come in. The cable news network plans to host more than two dozen bloggers from across the political...
Have Conservatives Changed The Paradigm?
It would be the highest irony if the evidence of conservative evolution came on the occasion of a bruising midterm election, but two stories by the media today appears to indicate that conservatives have successfully changed the paradigm of politics over the last generation. A CNN poll indicates that a majority of Americans now believes that government tries to do too much, while the New York Times reports that Democrats have begun producing less liberal candidates in order to win seats in Congress. Both together show that the Reagan Revolution has continued to influence politics well past the end of his administration. The CNN poll shows that the current polarization does not apply to the question of government's size: A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative...
October 31, 2006
Steele Steals Prince George's County
Michael Steele picked up an important endorsement yesterday; in fact, he picked up several of them, all Democrats, and all from the Democratic bastion of Prince George's County. The county executive and five of the county councilors joined more Democrats from the community in repudiating the Democratic Party's disregard for their county and their lack of African-American candidates: A coalition of black Democratic political leaders from Prince George's County led by former county executive Wayne K. Curry endorsed Republican Michael S. Steele's bid for the U.S. Senate yesterday. The support from Curry, five County Council members and others barely a week before Election Day reflects their continued disappointment that the Democratic Party has no African American candidates at the top of the ticket and a sense that the county is being ignored, officials said. "They show us a pie, but we never get a slice," said Major F. Riddick Jr.,...
Back To One-Note Campaigning
After watching his remarkable primary victory dissolve into a pathetic also-ran campaign for the general election, Ned Lamont has decided to return to the one-note campaign that energized anti-war activists earlier. The endorsed Democratic candidate for Connecticut's Senate seat has decided to spend the last week of the campaign focused on the Iraq War: Returning to the issue that won him the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in August, Ned Lamont has begun intensifying his attacks on Senator Joseph I. Lieberman over the Iraq war with television and Internet advertisements as well as campaign appearances, and aides said on Monday that the emphasis would continue through Election Day. “We’re going back to our roots, so to speak,” said Tom D’Amore, a senior adviser to Mr. Lamont. “They don’t want to talk about that issue, and we don’t want it to go away. Not just because they don’t want...
Germans And Israelis Have Trust Issues
The Israelis requested German troops as part of the scaled-up UNIFIL forces that would enforce the terms of Resolution 1701. Ehud Olmert went out of his way to request the troops from the Angela Merkel government, a remarkable development sixty years after the Holocaust. Germany, feeling vindicated after generations of effort to atone for the Nazi atrocities, sent their contingent to Lebanon and the Mediterranean, believing that a new age of trust was within its grasp. Unfortunately, as Der Spiegel reports, it didn't quite work out that way: It started so well. But now, questions surround Germany's mission to Lebanon. Not only have Israeli planes buzzed German ships, but the naval mission has fewer rights than at first promised. The German parliament is demanding answers. One thing is certain, when Germany's Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung visits Israel and Lebanon the end of this week, there will be no shortage...
Not Shying Away From National Security
Rick Santorum continues to rely on national-security issues as his main focal point for the home stretch to the midterm elections. Despite the advice of analysts, Santorum refuses to subjugate issues such as terrorism and Iran in favor of economic and social issues, declaring the war on terror and all its implications the most critical points of consideration for voters: In an election season in which the Republican Party's leaders and pollsters are advising GOP candidates to emphasize the economy and avoid the Iraq war and national security, Pennsylvania's junior senator prefers to address hometown crowds by invoking the nearly unpronounceable name of the Iranian president. When Senator Santorum is on the stump, he delivers "The Gathering Storm," a speech named after the first volume of Winston Churchill's history of World War II. In the speech, he lists recent threats and atrocities perpetrated by Islamist terrorists and orchestrated by Iran....
Another Success For Non-hEsc Research
British researchers have grown a new liver from umbilical-cord stem cells, a breakthrough of immense proportions that promises the potential of almost-instant organ transplantation: British scientists have grown the world's first artificial liver from stem cells in a breakthrough that will one day provide entire organs for transplant. The technique that created the 'mini-liver', currently the size of a one pence piece, will be developed to create a full-size functioning liver. Described as a 'Eureka moment' by the Newcastle University researchers, the tissue was created from blood taken from babies' umbilical cords just a few minutes after birth. As it stands, the mini organ can be used to test new drugs, preventing disasters such as the recent 'Elephant Man' drug trial. Using lab-grown liver tissue would also reduce the number of animal experiments. Within five years, pieces of artificial tissue could be used to repair livers damaged by injury, disease,...
What Spooks Lorie Byrd?
Lorie Byrd talks about what frightens her in these midterm elections at The Examiner today: The scariest political scenarios are similar to those in the movies because control over the outcome there is also in our hands. So instead of yelling, “Don’t go in there,” to characters on a movie screen, what I find myself wanting to yell each election season is, “Get out there and vote.” Those on the right, not wanting to see “The Return of the Tax Monster” and those on the left wishing an end to the 12-year run of “The Creatures from the Red States” can do something about it. Not only can citizens vote to keep their political nightmares from coming true, but they can still contribute money to candidates they would like to see win, as well as volunteer for their campaigns and volunteer to help their preferred political party “get out the...
John Kerry Supports The Troops As Special-Education Cases (Updated!)
John Kerry has never hidden his contempt for the armed forces very well, not even when he served as an officer in the Navy. Yesterday the mask slipped a little bit, as John Ziegler at KFI notes on his website, and Allahpundit mirrors at Hot Air. At a political rally for California's Democratic challenger to Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor, Phil Angelides, Kerry told the Pasadena City College crowd to study hard and get an education -- or wind up like the losers in the military: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” Wow. Just wow. It's worth recalling that Kerry at one time aspired to command these same men and women from the White House, and...
Trick Or Treat!
A nice surprise while I was manning the door this evening: My son and daughter-in-law moved into the city earlier this year, and due to their schedules, I assumed we wouldn't see the Little Admiral tonight. Here she is in her Tinkerbell outfit, complete with wand. (I noticed that Tinkerbell/fairy outfits seem to be pretty popular this year, at least in our neighborhood.) She was pretty wound up when she first arrived, but settled down a little here. She helped me pass out the candy, but she's a lot more generous than I am; she handed it out six at a time, and we wound up running out as the last of the trick-or-treaters knocked on our door. I'm glad the First Mate and I didn't miss her this Halloween, and I figured I'd share the moment with my friends here at CQ....
Local TV Station Gives Wetterling A 'D' For Honesty
Patty Wetterling and the DCCC have continued to run advertisements on local TV that distort the record of Michele Bachmann to the point of complete lies. That judgment comes from local ABC affiliate KSTP-TV (video here), saying the ads are so deceptive that they bear special scrutiny. Earlier, the Star Tribune called the ads "highly deceptive" as well. One wonders why Wetterling and the Democrats continue to to use such demonstrably false allegations against Bachmann. Painting her as soft on crime makes as much sense as painting Wetterling and the Democrats as tax-cutters -- but then again, they've tried that, too, and the Star Tribune called them on it as well. It looks a lot like desperation....
The Fresca Smear
Only seven days remain of my campaign to garner enough write-in votes to win election as the Mayor of Eagan. My brutal schedule had me talking with a guy in Eagan about my candidacy just a couple of days ago, and then again today. I was busy lining up campaign appearances at the grocery store and my local Best Buy (in the DVD section), when I came across this post at IMAO: I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have no evidence that Glenn Reynolds is gay. While it is a well known fact that Glenn Reynolds murders hobos, it has hardly ever been suggested that he has sex with them first (or afterwards). Also, while puppy smoothies are a well known aphrodisiac in the gay community, it's not as solid an indicator of gayness as seeing a guy drink Fresca. Fresca? Why, I've enjoyed the grapefruit-enhanced taste of Fresca since...
About
Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.
My Other Blog
The Crows Nest
The Fresca Smear
Only seven days remain of my campaign to garner enough write-in votes to win election as the Mayor of Eagan. My brutal schedule had me talking with a guy in Eagan about my candidacy just a couple of days ago, and then again today. I was busy lining up campaign appearances at the grocery store and my local Best Buy (in the DVD section), when I came across this post at IMAO:
I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have no evidence that Glenn Reynolds is gay. While it is a well known fact that Glenn Reynolds murders hobos, it has hardly ever been suggested that he has sex with them first (or afterwards). Also, while puppy smoothies are a well known aphrodisiac in the gay community, it's not as solid an indicator of gayness as seeing a guy drink Fresca.
Fresca? Why, I've enjoyed the grapefruit-enhanced taste of Fresca since I was a young lad! If this got out, it could doom my efforts to win election. I decided to do a little misdirection and throw my political opponents off track. I visited a kindergarten classroom earlier in the day and told the children that if they listened to their teachers and parents and cleaned up well after fingerpainting, they would succeed in life -- otherwise they'd end up as a Senator from Massachussetts. And Lord knows how embarrassing that can get.
Anyway, I think I dodged a real bullet with the Fresca issue, and it's a good thing, too. I planned to talk to a couple of people at the local Subway this weekend about my candidacy, and having to explain the Fresca in my hand would just slow my momentum. With any luck, I may roll up as many as fourteen write-in votes, after which I can enjoy a nice cold Fresca in celebration.
But don't say anything to anybody in the meantime.
UPDATE: My Canadian connections offer some advice; John from Newsbeat1 suggests that I get some electronic voting machines to help seal my victory. I'd try that, but the last time I did, they made me clean all the displays from where I wrote my name. With Fresca, actually.
UPDATE II: You think the folks at Fresca might send me a free case with all of these links?
Local TV Station Gives Wetterling A 'D' For Honesty
Patty Wetterling and the DCCC have continued to run advertisements on local TV that distort the record of Michele Bachmann to the point of complete lies. That judgment comes from local ABC affiliate KSTP-TV (video here), saying the ads are so deceptive that they bear special scrutiny. Earlier, the Star Tribune called the ads "highly deceptive" as well.
One wonders why Wetterling and the Democrats continue to to use such demonstrably false allegations against Bachmann. Painting her as soft on crime makes as much sense as painting Wetterling and the Democrats as tax-cutters -- but then again, they've tried that, too, and the Star Tribune called them on it as well. It looks a lot like desperation.
Trick Or Treat!
A nice surprise while I was manning the door this evening:
My son and daughter-in-law moved into the city earlier this year, and due to their schedules, I assumed we wouldn't see the Little Admiral tonight. Here she is in her Tinkerbell outfit, complete with wand. (I noticed that Tinkerbell/fairy outfits seem to be pretty popular this year, at least in our neighborhood.) She was pretty wound up when she first arrived, but settled down a little here. She helped me pass out the candy, but she's a lot more generous than I am; she handed it out six at a time, and we wound up running out as the last of the trick-or-treaters knocked on our door.
I'm glad the First Mate and I didn't miss her this Halloween, and I figured I'd share the moment with my friends here at CQ.
John Kerry Supports The Troops As Special-Education Cases (Updated!)
John Kerry has never hidden his contempt for the armed forces very well, not even when he served as an officer in the Navy. Yesterday the mask slipped a little bit, as John Ziegler at KFI notes on his website, and Allahpundit mirrors at Hot Air. At a political rally for California's Democratic challenger to Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor, Phil Angelides, Kerry told the Pasadena City College crowd to study hard and get an education -- or wind up like the losers in the military:
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Wow. Just wow. It's worth recalling that Kerry at one time aspired to command these same men and women from the White House, and claims to still want to lead them. How would these people react to taking orders from a Commander-in-Chief who believes them to be uneducated, lazy losers?
We'll see if Kerry's peers in the Democratic Party support Kerry's description of our fighting men and women. If Democrats that have had John Kerry campaign on their behalf refuse to address Kerry's remarks or openly supports their characterization, it will expose the hypocrisy and the contempt that the Left has for the military. All of the talk of "supporting the troops" will be revealed as lip service.
Will Ned Lamont repudiate Kerry's words? Will Bob Casey, Jr dispute his mentor's characterization of our military as a junkyard for goldbricking idiots? Will Benjamin Cardin affirm that soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines don't have what it takes to succeed in life? Here in Minnesota, does Amy Klobuchar agree with Kerry's analysis? (h/t: Michelle Malkin)
UPDATE AND BUMP: Do you want to support the troops? Then make your contribution to Soldier's Angels. They have a new effort called Project Valour that will be raising money from various bloggers. I have not had an opportunity to sign up for a particular team, but given the theme of this blog, I'll root for the Navy. Whichever team you choose, you will be helping our men and women who put their lives on the line for all of us ... even those who belittle and disrespect them.
UPDATE II: Okay, I've joined now, and here's the donation button:
UPDATE III: Okay, Kerry has managed to confuse the issue even more this afternoon while I was at work. On one hand, he claims that the entire issue got engineered by "right-wing nut jobs", led by a "doughy Rush Limbaugh". Later this afternoon, though, he claimed the problem was a "mangled joke" that was supposed to slame George Bush.
Well, no. Kerry can't have it both ways. Either it's a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy or he botched the joke, but he can't seriously push the blame onto Republicans if he screwed it up and didn't bother to correct the record until later. Quite frankly, I'd be willing to buy this version -- few politicians could really be this stupid -- except that he has been this stupid on a number of occasions. He called American soldiers rapists and murderers in his Senate testimony in 1971, and just last year accused them of terrorizing Iraqi families on midnight raids for no reason.
But then, that's our John Kerry. He insulted the troops before he lauded them, and he was the victim of a smear before he botched his own prepared speech. And that Secret Service son of a bitch tripped him on that ski slope, too. It's a revealing moment for Kerry and anyone/everyone who rises to defend him, but honestly, it's not going to change anyone's mind about Kerry. We already knew this about him, and his lame excuse-making after his paranoid rantings have always been par for the course with J. Forbes. I doubt this will keep candidates from taking his contributions and shunning him on the stump, even though his behavior in the last 24 hours should at least embarrass the candidates working with him at the midterms.
What Spooks Lorie Byrd?
Lorie Byrd talks about what frightens her in these midterm elections at The Examiner today:
The scariest political scenarios are similar to those in the movies because control over the outcome there is also in our hands. So instead of yelling, “Don’t go in there,” to characters on a movie screen, what I find myself wanting to yell each election season is, “Get out there and vote.”Those on the right, not wanting to see “The Return of the Tax Monster” and those on the left wishing an end to the 12-year run of “The Creatures from the Red States” can do something about it.
Not only can citizens vote to keep their political nightmares from coming true, but they can still contribute money to candidates they would like to see win, as well as volunteer for their campaigns and volunteer to help their preferred political party “get out the vote” on Election Day.
It's not enough to boo from the cheap seats. If you want to avoid the scariest political scenarios, you have to get involved.
Keep an eye on NRO today for a symposium on the same topic.
UPDATE: NRO posted their Symposium of Spooky, including my contribution. I'm in some pretty spectacular company -- be sure to read the whole thing.
Another Success For Non-hEsc Research
British researchers have grown a new liver from umbilical-cord stem cells, a breakthrough of immense proportions that promises the potential of almost-instant organ transplantation:
British scientists have grown the world's first artificial liver from stem cells in a breakthrough that will one day provide entire organs for transplant.The technique that created the 'mini-liver', currently the size of a one pence piece, will be developed to create a full-size functioning liver.
Described as a 'Eureka moment' by the Newcastle University researchers, the tissue was created from blood taken from babies' umbilical cords just a few minutes after birth.
As it stands, the mini organ can be used to test new drugs, preventing disasters such as the recent 'Elephant Man' drug trial. Using lab-grown liver tissue would also reduce the number of animal experiments.
Within five years, pieces of artificial tissue could be used to repair livers damaged by injury, disease, alcohol abuse and paracetamol overdose.
And then, in just 15 years' time, entire liver transplants could take place using organs grown in a lab.
The "disaster" to which the Daily Mail refers involved six young people who had an unpredicted reaction to a new drug regime, one that almost killed them. The development of liver tissue from umbilical stem cells means that human drug and therapy trials may not require humans -- making the process that much safer and quicker, and helping to bring new treatments to market much sooner.
Of course, the main focus will be on transplantation. Liver transplants are notoriously tricky, even live donors; people donate a portion of their livers, betting that they can live a normal and healthy life with only a portion, which usually works out well. If scientists can grow enough liver tissue for these transplants, it will eliminate the need for live transplants, and perhaps most cadaver donors as well. Hopefully that will lead to other types of organ transplants, especially kidneys and pancreases.
Once again, we see that non-hEsc research produces results. We do not have to grind up our progeny in order to live longer and healthier lives. We should allow our resources to follow our successes, especially when we talk about federal funding. The Anchoress has more, as does The Corner.
Not Shying Away From National Security
Rick Santorum continues to rely on national-security issues as his main focal point for the home stretch to the midterm elections. Despite the advice of analysts, Santorum refuses to subjugate issues such as terrorism and Iran in favor of economic and social issues, declaring the war on terror and all its implications the most critical points of consideration for voters:
In an election season in which the Republican Party's leaders and pollsters are advising GOP candidates to emphasize the economy and avoid the Iraq war and national security, Pennsylvania's junior senator prefers to address hometown crowds by invoking the nearly unpronounceable name of the Iranian president.When Senator Santorum is on the stump, he delivers "The Gathering Storm," a speech named after the first volume of Winston Churchill's history of World War II. In the speech, he lists recent threats and atrocities perpetrated by Islamist terrorists and orchestrated by Iran. He follows each threat and atrocity with the refrain, "This is evil." ...
While vulnerable Republican incumbents in Virginia, Ohio, and Montana are running advertisements attacking Democrats for raising taxes, Mr. Santorum is criticizing Mr. Casey for being too passive on national security. One recent Santorum ad features footage of a North Korean missile launch spliced with pictures of President Ahmadinejad of Iran, a nuclear mushroom cloud, and Chinese oil platforms near American shores. An announcer ends the 30-second montage by saying, "We just can't take a chance on Bob Casey." ...
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Santorum shrugged off his party's advice. "I think I have a better understanding of what is going on in the minds of people in Pennsylvania than pollsters based in Washington," the two-term senator said. "I run my campaign based on the important issues of the day."
"This stuff needs to be said and I need to say it," he added.
Santorum has a tough battle ahead of him. Most pollsters have him down by eleven or twelve points to Casey; Santorum says his internal polls show a seven-point gap. Neither represent very good news for an incumbent with the leadership role that Santorum has (#3 in the Senate). If anything indicated a warm-and-fuzzy message, those polls would do it.
However, like Mark Kennedy, Santorum prefers to emphasize the issues he thinks matter most in the long run. Economic policies can be adjusted, and social programs can get recalled. Losing focus on national security can get people killed, and as terrorists have proven, that may mean thousands of people at a time. Pennsylvania voters need to know those stakes, regardless of the political cost, and Santorum is determined to ensure they do.
Rick Santorum deserves election, especially faced off against a challenger of the caliber of Bob Casey, Jr. If Pennsylvanians agree, they need to work hard to get out the vote to return their Senator to his seat a week from today.
Germans And Israelis Have Trust Issues
The Israelis requested German troops as part of the scaled-up UNIFIL forces that would enforce the terms of Resolution 1701. Ehud Olmert went out of his way to request the troops from the Angela Merkel government, a remarkable development sixty years after the Holocaust. Germany, feeling vindicated after generations of effort to atone for the Nazi atrocities, sent their contingent to Lebanon and the Mediterranean, believing that a new age of trust was within its grasp.
Unfortunately, as Der Spiegel reports, it didn't quite work out that way:
It started so well. But now, questions surround Germany's mission to Lebanon. Not only have Israeli planes buzzed German ships, but the naval mission has fewer rights than at first promised. The German parliament is demanding answers.One thing is certain, when Germany's Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung visits Israel and Lebanon the end of this week, there will be no shortage of things to talk about. He will want a more detailed explanation from Israeli politicians, for examples, as to why their fighter jets buzzed a German ship last Tuesday and why a German naval helicopter was approached by Israeli jets on Thursday night. And when Jung visits the Lebanese government, concern within Germany's parliament about Beirut's wish to limit the activities of the German-led UN flotilla off the coast will surely be on the agenda.
And the German naval mission -- which aims at preventing Hezbollah from receiving arms smuggled in by sea -- had gotten off to such a promising start: A large majority in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, supported the mission and Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke enthusiastically on Sept. 20 of the mission's "historic dimension." She said that "it was impossible to overstate the significance of how much Germany is now trusted," that Israel "explicitly requested" that German soldiers take part in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL.
This trust, though, suddenly doesn't seem to go very far.
No one really knows what happened with the Israeli flyover, which the Germans insist included a couple of rounds from Israeli guns. The Israelis denied that it ever happened, and since then the situation has relaxed somewhat. Regardless, the German opposition has latched onto the incident as part of its argument against engagement in the UNIFIL force. The ship involved, the Alster, technically isn't part of the UNIFIL force but is a support ship for the German contingent in the UN force. The spy ship has provided needed intelligence to the Germans in Lebanon.
That, however, is another point of contention. The Germans claim now that the Lebanese will not allow them full range of options for their naval deployment. Merkel had promised that both the Lebanese and the Israelis would not place any restrictions on their movement. Now it seems that Merkel oversold the agreement with the Lebanese, which is demanding permission for German ships to navigate its ports. It's not just the Lebanese government making these decisions, either. Hezbollah has blocked Spanish troops from carrying out missions in the sub-Litani region; when they demanded support from the Lebanese Army, they declined to respond, forcing the Spaniards to retreat.
The Europeans apparently have begun to discover the futility of UNIFIL, a futility that many pointed out when the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 1701. It would have been better to form a new force, one that had UN-dictated terms of engagement and one that had the authority to enforce 1701. Instead, the Germans have found themselves between three entities which have never accepted the terms of 1701 and have no intention of abiding by it for very long. The Israelis did not get their soldiers back, and because the UNIFIL contingent has no real authority, no one can certify that Hezbollah has not begun to re-arm. Hezbollah wants their weapons for their next effort against the Israelis. The Lebanese government has sent its army to the sub-Litani region for the first time in decades, but it won't stop Hezbollah from re-establishing themselves in opposition to them.
The Germans will have to decide whether to continue its participation in this charade, seeing as how the three principals have long since given it up.
Back To One-Note Campaigning
After watching his remarkable primary victory dissolve into a pathetic also-ran campaign for the general election, Ned Lamont has decided to return to the one-note campaign that energized anti-war activists earlier. The endorsed Democratic candidate for Connecticut's Senate seat has decided to spend the last week of the campaign focused on the Iraq War:
Returning to the issue that won him the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in August, Ned Lamont has begun intensifying his attacks on Senator Joseph I. Lieberman over the Iraq war with television and Internet advertisements as well as campaign appearances, and aides said on Monday that the emphasis would continue through Election Day.“We’re going back to our roots, so to speak,” said Tom D’Amore, a senior adviser to Mr. Lamont. “They don’t want to talk about that issue, and we don’t want it to go away. Not just because they don’t want to talk about it, but because it is the issue of our time and for future generations.”
The shift back to Iraq follows two months in which Mr. Lamont, seeking to rebut criticism that he is a one-issue candidate lacking the depth to replace Mr. Lieberman, worked to cultivate an image as a successful businessman with broad interest in domestic policy matters like education and health care. But that effort does not appear to have helped him in the polls, where Mr. Lieberman has remained solidly ahead.
Dan Gerstein, a spokesman for Mr. Lieberman, said of the shift: “They tried to broaden to other issues, but without any kind of agenda, no new ideas. And it failed.”
The failure has become rather brutally apparent. Lamont stands for nothing exceptional apart from his opposition to the Iraq War. While that gave Lamont an initial edge over incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman, his demonstrable lack of substance on any other issue made it easy for Connecticut voters to tire of the millionaire's flyer. His attempts to expand his message only showed that he had none.
Lieberman, who lost the nomination by just a few points, now has an eight-point lead over Lamont. It had been higher, but the Republican, Alan Schlesinger, improved from microscopic support to 9%. Ironically, Lamont's supporters have been talking up the Republican, convinced that a surge for Schlesinger will steal support from Lieberman -- as if Lieberman didn't already have a long track record in Connecticut.
This was the only option left open to Lamont. Lieberman has a solid record in support of the Democratic agenda in the Senate, giving Lamont little to discuss except Iraq. His attempts to broaden his repertoire made him sound like nothing more than a Lieberman wannabe. The only surprise here is that it took Lamont this long to return to the only theme he has. Democrats have tried to tone down the anti-war rhetoric to avoid losing yet another election cycle they should win, and perhaps this impulse bled into Lamont's campaign as well. Whatever the reason, Lamont is clearly losing this election, so he has little to risk by returning to his limited message now.
Steele Steals Prince George's County
Michael Steele picked up an important endorsement yesterday; in fact, he picked up several of them, all Democrats, and all from the Democratic bastion of Prince George's County. The county executive and five of the county councilors joined more Democrats from the community in repudiating the Democratic Party's disregard for their county and their lack of African-American candidates:
A coalition of black Democratic political leaders from Prince George's County led by former county executive Wayne K. Curry endorsed Republican Michael S. Steele's bid for the U.S. Senate yesterday.The support from Curry, five County Council members and others barely a week before Election Day reflects their continued disappointment that the Democratic Party has no African American candidates at the top of the ticket and a sense that the county is being ignored, officials said.
"They show us a pie, but we never get a slice," said Major F. Riddick Jr., a former aide to then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening and a former county executive candidate. "We are here today to say we've waited and we've waited and we're waiting no longer."
Steele, who as lieutenant governor is the first African American elected statewide in Maryland, said he was humbled by the support. "I said I did not want this [campaign] to be so much about party but about the people," he said. "And these people understand that."
Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, said the endorsements could be significant. "This is going to go through the black community like a rocket," he said. "It's going to be the talk of the county, the state, maybe even the nation."
While Benjamin Cardin's campaign continued to mumble about George Bush hand-picking Steele, these black politicians understand more that Cardin was hand-picked by the party establishment over the more well-known and potentially stronger Kweisi Mfume, the former NAACP leader and Congressman. His marginalization in the primary has come at a cost, and it's starting to become significant.
These aren't just any politicians in Maryland. These people rose through the Democratic Party and won their offices with the party's support. They have benefitted to some significant degree from the party -- and yet their dissatisfaction at Benjamin Cardin and his selection as the nominee has led them to repudiate their party. It's a signal that the Democrat's most loyal constituency may rethink their decision to vote in lock step for a party that has ceased engaging them. Wayne Curry noted this when he said, "The party acts as though when they want our opinion they'll give it to us," promising an end to that dynamic.
In Maryland, Democrats comprise 56% of the electorate while Republicans only have 25% of voter registrations. This state is among the bluest in the nation in that sense, and yet they managed to elect a Republican governor four years ago. Prince George's County has just fired a warning shot across the bow of the Democrats, and it might have sunk Cardin's hopes for the Senate. Maryland voters, especially those in PCG, will notice this endorsement and reconsider their opinion of Michael Steele. The Democrats better hope that they can contain the damage to Maryland.
Have Conservatives Changed The Paradigm?
It would be the highest irony if the evidence of conservative evolution came on the occasion of a bruising midterm election, but two stories by the media today appears to indicate that conservatives have successfully changed the paradigm of politics over the last generation. A CNN poll indicates that a majority of Americans now believes that government tries to do too much, while the New York Times reports that Democrats have begun producing less liberal candidates in order to win seats in Congress. Both together show that the Reagan Revolution has continued to influence politics well past the end of his administration.
The CNN poll shows that the current polarization does not apply to the question of government's size:
A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative premise that, as the Gipper put it, "government is not the answer to our problems -- government is the problem." ...Queried about their views on the role of government, 54 percent of the 1,013 adults polled said they thought it was trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. Only 37 percent said they thought the government should do more to solve the country's problems.
Politics follow shifts in public opinion, and the Democratic Party has tried to steal a march on Reagan's party in the midterm elections:
In their push to win back control of the House, Democrats have turned to conservative and moderate candidates who fit the profiles of their districts more closely than the profile of the national party.One such candidate, Heath Shuler, was courted by Republicans to run for office in 2001. Mr. Shuler, 34, is a retired National Football League quarterback who is running in the 11th Congressional District in North Carolina. He is an evangelical Christian and holds fast to many conservative social views, like opposition to abortion rights.
“My guess is that if Democrats are in the majority, it’s going to be because of these New Democrat, Blue Dog candidates out there winning in these competitive swing districts,” Representative Ron Kind of Wisconsin, co-chairman of a caucus of centrist House Democrats, said in an interview.
But if candidates like Mr. Shuler do help the Democrats gain majority control of Congress, it could come at a political price, which may include tensions in the party between its new centrists and its more liberal political base.
It shows the success of the Reagan message, and once again underscores the profound impact he had on American politics. His Western conservatism has resonated because it based itself on the truths that informed the founders of the nation: that government which governs least governs best. America does best when it allows individuals to live their lives free of government interference, when it respects private property, and when it keeps most political questions as close to local governments as possible. It's the marvel of the Constitution that it reveals all of these truths, and Reagan (and Barry Goldwater before him) understood how to communicate that exceptionality.
If the Republicans find themselves in trouble at the midterms, it may come in reaction to the extent that they have failed to grasp the Reagan message. The smaller-government message will still win elections, but the question may be for whom it wins those contests when the GOP fails to tend to its Reagan legacy. (via Heritage Foundation Policy Blog)
It's A Blog Party, And CQ's Invited
What are you doing for Election Night? Hopefully CQ readers will follow some of the coverage on CNN, because I'll be part of blogger coverage for CNN in the evening of Election Night. The Los Angeles Times reported the story this morning that CNN will invite about two dozen bloggers to a blog party, where they intend to check our reactions to breaking news on their main broadcast as well as provide continuous coverage through CNN Pipeline:
Who says the mainstream media don't respect the blogosphere?CNN is trying to incorporate bloggers directly into its coverage of next week's midterm elections by inviting them to an "E-lection Nite Blog Party," an event aimed at corralling some of the top online opinion makers in one place to provide instant reaction as the results come in.
The cable news network plans to host more than two dozen bloggers from across the political spectrum — including sites like RedState and Daily Kos — at a Washington Internet lounge where they can monitor the election returns on a slew of flat-screen televisions. (Each blogger will get his or her own monitor, which can be tuned to any channel.) There will be free wireless access — and plenty of food and beverages, natch.
CNN Internet reporters Jacki Schechner and Abbi Tatton have been assigned to cover the gathering and provide regular updates on the air about the topics that are generating the most chatter.
"Bloggers are leading the conversation," said David Bohrman, CNN's Washington bureau chief. "You could argue that most of the political dialogue in this country is happening online, so if you don't incorporate that into your coverage, you're missing a major element."
I've been working with CNN for a few days on the arrangements, which have now been finalized. I'll be flying into DC on Tuesday afternoon, freshening up at a hotel, and then heading over to the restaurant where we will set up. The physical description of the workspace in the Times has more details than what I have heard, but it all sounds first-class. I'll be joining Lorie Byrd and Kevin Aylward at Wizbang, Betsy Newmark at her eponymous blog, Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft, John Aravosis at Americablog, Patrick Hynes at Ankle Biting Pundits, and a number of others.
Needless to say, we'll all be live-blogging the event. I will also be calling into the Election Night coverage at AM 1280 The Patriot, which will go live after the end of the Hugh Hewitt show at 8 pm CT. Our show starts at 7 pm ET and will run until the outcome of the election is no longer in doubt, or until around 2 am ET, whichever comes first. I'm hoping that CQ readers will stick around regardless of the outcome and celebrate another example of democracy in action.
UPDATE: Hmmm. The CQ community seems to think poorly of my decision. I'll elaborate a little on my decision to join CNN's coverage.
First, CNN has its biases, but it has handled blog coverage fairly well. They have made it a staple of their daily reviews, and the two women organizing this effort (Abbi Tatton and Jackie Schechner) have done their best to cover the blogs in an even-handed way.
Second, I am not getting paid to appear on CNN. They are covering my expenses, but they have made no demands of positive coverage or even that I will watch CNN's coverage on this evening. They are covering my expenses, just as anyone who engaged me as a public speaker would do, and even then it's limited to a round-trip ticket and one night at a Marriott-brand hotel. I may have my price, but that and a free meal ain't it, if you know what I mean.
Third, if we fail to engage CNN and acknowledge when they attempt to be fair, then why should they bother? Abbi and Jackie have juggled invitations, acceptances, and declines in order to ensure that the blogging bunch will be evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. They've tried their best to stage a balanced program for CNN viewers, at least as far as the bloggers go.
I understand that some people do not like CNN, and I respect it. However, we talk a lot about using our efforts to get CNN and other media outlets to recognize other points of view. I think we have to recognize their efforts to do so.
We Apologize For The Inconvenience
A series of technical breakdowns kept CQ off the air this morning, and I was not able to post much as a result -- and now I'm off to the day job. Hosting Matters got the problem resolved fairly quickly, but I have a narrow window in which to work, unfortunately.
It does give me an opportunity to open a thread for CQ readers, though. We're entering the last week of the mid-term campaign, and most of us are waiting for the big-time, last-minute smears to arise. Where and when do you think they will appear, and what effect do you think they'll have?
NOTE: I did have to make a change to the comments script tp avoid the spambots. If you have trouble posting a comment, reload the page and then try again. It does work now.
What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?
Rick Santorum will hold a press conference later this morning to discuss the record of his opponent for the Senate, Bob Casey Jr, in his previous position as state Treasurer. Santorum will point out that Casey invested Pennsylvania pension funds in a series of companies that do business in Iran. Appearing with Santorum to discuss the role of state treasurers in investment decisions will be Sarah Steelman, Missouri State Treasurer.
Santorum bases his allegations on a series of investments by Pennsylania pension funds such as PSERS and SERS. The two funds have invested a total of $175 million in companies that do business with the mullahcracy. These investments seem rather focused on China, which brings up a raft of other questions about what Pennsylvania pensions support. This list is for SERS:
CHINA PETROLEUM AND CHEMICAL 4,086,635
CHIYODA CORP Y50 2,086,923
PETROCHINA CO 'H'CNY1 7,327,793
PTT PUB CO THB10 (ALIEN MKT) 3,687,533
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL A SHS 14,851,692
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL 'B' SHS 29,411,353
SIAM CEMENT CO THB1 (ALIEN 2,530,536
SINOPEC SHANGHAI PETROCHEMICAL 576,838
And for PSERS:
CHINA PETROLEUM & CHEM CORP 546,280
CHINA PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL 14,548,562
CHIYODA CO 129,611
CHIYODA CORP 86,860
PETROCHINA CO 23,095,275
PTT PUB CO THB10 (ALIEN MKT) 7,343,945
ROYAL DUTCH PETE CO 454,300
ROYAL DUTCH PETROL 46,842,797
SIAM CEMENT CO THB1 (ALIEN) 8,304,114
SIAM CEMENT CO THB1 (NVDR) 8,222,788
SINOPEC YIZHENG CHEM FIBRE 1,296,727
In May 2005 Steelman demanded an end to US investments in companies doing business with unfriendly nations. She made it a public crusade after discovering that Missouri had investments in Arab Bank, under investigation from the FBI regarding potential terrorist connections and at the time the subject of a lawsuit brought by the widow of a man shot to death in Gaza. John Linde Jr died in an ambush of an American diplmatic convoy that was supposed to interview Fulbright scholarship candidates, a terrorist act that even embarrassed Yasser Arafat. Her rhetoric reflected her amazement at finding this investment:
“This is like financial friendly fire on our troops and our citizens,” Steelman said. “It is an outrage for our retirement fund to hold more than $80,000 in investments in Arab Bank while it is under investigation for allegedly financing terrorists and is being sued for helping kill Missouri citizens. This must stop and stop now.”In addition to Arab Bank, MOSERS also is directly invested in a number of foreign companies that are engaged in development and investments in Iran. American companies are prohibited by current U.S. policy from doing business in Iran.
In fact, Steelman discovered that Missouri did business with companies like Royal Dutch Petroleum, Siam Cement, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, and Chiyoda -- the same companies in which Pennsylvania pensions still invest.
Santorum will point to a bill passed by the Pennsylvania House in 2003 (HR 263), a direction from the legislature to PSERS, SERS, and the State Treasury to identify those investments that had any connection to companies or nations doing business in Iran, as well as Libya, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, and North Korea. It's clear that the legislature wanted Pennsylvania to redirect their investments away from such companies and projects. However, Casey apparently has done nothing to keep Pennsylvania funds from supporting companies that do business with the same nations that threaten us.
Keep an eye out for this press conference. The fallout should be interesting.
Checkbook Politics Still Drawing Interest
In 2002, Russ Feingold and John McCain convinced Congress and the American people to sell out the First Amendment in exchange for getting the big money out of politics. Accept these limitations on free speech, proponents of the BCRA asked, and we'll keep rich people from buying our elections. On that basis, it passed both houses and George Bush signed it into law.
So how has it worked? The First Amendment restrictions have worked rather well; people still cannot criticize incumbents in the final 60 days before an election, a development that would have shocked and angered the men who wrote and adopted the First Amendment as a check against professional politicians. However, the money keeps on rolling into politics, only now it goes outside the channels of accountability, as the Los Angeles Times reports:
Unions, corporations and wealthy individuals have pumped nearly $300 million this year into unregulated political groups, funding dozens of aggressive and sometimes shadowy campaigns independent of party machines.The groups, both liberal and conservative, air TV and radio spots, conduct polls, run phone banks, canvass door-to-door and stage get-out-the-vote rallies, with no oversight by the Federal Election Commission. Set up as tax-exempt "issue advocacy" committees, they cannot explicitly endorse candidates. But they can do everything short of telling voters how to mark their ballots.
Because they can accept unlimited donations from any source, the committees — known as 527s — have emerged as the favored vehicle for millionaires and interest groups seeking to set the political agenda. ...
Named for a section of the IRS code, 527s have been around for years but became a political force in 2004 after the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 — also known as the McCain--Feingold Bill — limited donations to political parties. Groups such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on the right and America Coming Together on the left contributed $600 million that year, with a heavy focus on the presidential race.
The midterms have generated lower contributions, but the process has become more sophisticated. In Colorado, three liberal millionaires have funded a 527 named Coloradans for Life, attacking the Republican incumbent for not being sufficiently pro-life, when the Democrat is more pro-choice than the Republican. The largest contributions to 527s this year come from unions, which amounts to $60 million of the $300 million collected thus far by the tax-free advocacy groups.
Who tops the list in individual checkbooks? Bob Perry, who financed the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth, has contributed $5.5 million for conservative issues. He's matched by Jerry Perenchio, with another $5 million for similar purposes. George Soros and Peter Lewis fund liberal groups with donations of $3 million and $1.6 million respectively, and they're joined by John Hunting with another $1.6 million. The top two 527s both come from unions (SEIU, $23.2 million and AFSME, $16.3 million).
Ironically, the Times found all of these figures at Opensecrets.org, the web site devoted to full disclosure in politics. This represents the real reform of the campaign system in the US; disclosing whose money supports which politicians. If that money went directly to the candidates in question, we could draw direct lines between politicians and contributors. We could also hold the campaigns and political parties responsible for their campaign messages, rather than witness the slew of attack ads that come from left field, especially in the final weeks of the election cycle.
John McCain and Russ Feingold sold America a bill of goods. Restricting free speech did not free us from checkbook politics; in fact, it made the problem worse by allowing it to hide behind these so-called advocacy groups. We should be ashamed of buying such a scheme, almost as much as the men who sold it to us in the first place.
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