November 1, 2007
Michael Yon reports on a meeting held between US forces and the Iraqi Islamic Party, whose spokesman comes from a politically influential tribe in Iraq. At the meeting, Yon noticed that the usual singular focus on security issues has declined to a lower-priority agenda item, and that rebuilding issues now receive the most attention. The IIP spokesman explained why: “Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated,” according to Sheik Omar Jabouri, spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party and a member of the widespread and influential Jabouri Tribe. Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer...
Hillary Clinton's campaign admitted the scope of her debate debacle in a conference call with supporters yesterday. Despite raising the most amount of money in the campaign thus far -- well over $80 million -- they implored backers to start getting even more money for the work necessary to reverse the damage she did this week: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) top advisers, doing damage control after the candidate’s debate performance Tuesday, told supporters on a conference call Wednesday that the campaign needed more money to fight back. Mark Penn, Clinton’s senior strategist and pollster, and Jonathan Mantz, the campaign’s finance director, told the supporters on the call, which The Hill listened to in its entirety, that they expect attacks from Clinton’s rivals to continue, and she will need the financial resources to deflect their attacks. Clinton came under withering assault in the Philadelphia debate, and some supporters on the...
America has a problem in filling in its front-line positions in a war zone. Volunteers have not materialized, and the mission faces collapse without the numbers necessary for success. The leaders have determined that the Charlie Rangel approach has become necessary -- and the rank and file have begun to mutiny. Are we talking about the Army? The Marine Corps? No, their re-enlistment rates and recruitment goals show no troubles -- unlike at the State Department: Uneasy U.S. diplomats yesterday challenged senior State Department officials in unusually blunt terms over a decision to order some of them to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad or risk losing their jobs. At a town hall meeting in the department's main auditorium attended by hundreds of Foreign Service officers, some of them criticized fundamental aspects of State's personnel policies in Iraq. They took issue with the size of the embassy -- the...
Eli Lake offers a recap of the Democratic approach to Iran, calling it the "ask nicely" approach. Leading Democrats in Congress and in the presidential primaries have latched onto the word "diplomacy" as if it has never been tried with Teheran. They offer no reason to hope that another round of sweet talk alone would have any more success than previous attempts: Finally, at least for Democrats who say they are nominally interested in halting the Mullah quest for nukes, there is the Mohammed ElBaradei option. Perhaps, the time is ripe, as the director general of the International Atomic Energy told CNN on Sunday, for "creative diplomacy." Time to lower the temperature and accept for now Iran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the cooperation they promised back in 2003. Senator Boxer, a Democrat from California, is intrigued. She said everyone wants to avoid a confrontation with Iran. "We don't...
The 2007 Weblog Awards team has announced the finalists in the various categories -- and Captain's Quarters has the honor in being named a finalist in two categories, Best Blog and Best Conservative Blog. Voting begins tonight and will run through next week. In fact, the winners will be announced at the Blog World Expo, where I will be next week as a speaker, an exhibitor, and as an excited attendee. I will be there to represent BlogTalkRadio, of course, and on both days will participate in panel discussions. On Thursday, I'll talk about "Raising the Level of Discourse in the Political Blogosphere," and on Friday my panel will discuss "Political Blogs and the Political Press: From Antagonists to Co-Players?" I'm looking forward to seeing the winners announced Thursday night -- and to meeting bloggers from across the spectrum during the conference. There is still room and still time to...
People complain that Hollywood doesn't recognize the heroism and sacrifices of our men and women in the military, preferring to focus on contrived plots about misconduct and torture instead. One man in Hollywood has responded to that challenge. Kevin Major Howard, who played Rafter Man in Full Metal Jacket, has converted two of his classic roadsters into racing tributes to Marines who have given their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The effort of Fuelled By The Fallen is explained in their video: Howard has come up with a unique and memorable way to honor the Marines who have given their lives for their country, as well as those still serving now in OIF. They need some corporate sponsorship to keep their efforts alive, and they have begun to have some success. Warner Brothers, which produced FMJ, has included the Memorial Car in its upcoming 20th-anniversary DVD release. They can use...
In 1996, Alan Greenspan warned that “irrational exuberance” contributed to an overvaluation of the stock market during the days of the dot-com boom. A few years later, events proved him correct. Now according to a poll taken by USA Today, the majority of the country has descended into pessimism about the nation and its direction on a number of fronts — economic, security, political, and in foreign affairs. Could this be the opposite of irrational exuberance? At Heading Right, I wonder what could be bumming out America, given the objective measures of success. It certainly appears to be at least a non-rational response, and I ask what common national experiences could have that kind of influence. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?...
As the casualty rates in Iraq for American and Iraqi soldiers continue to decline, the focus shifts to civilian casualties. In order to stabilize the country, the security forces have to drive attacks and deaths down to the point where native security forces can take control and allow the US to concentrate on rebuilding efforts. In October, the Coalition showed continued progress towards that goal, with civilian casualties dropping to a level not seen since 2005: Iraq's civilian body count in October was less than half that at its height in January, reflecting both the tactical successes of this year's U.S. troop buildup and the lasting impact of waves of sectarian death squad killings, car bombings and neighborhood purges. ... American commanders credit the buildup, which reached full strength in June, with slowing sectarian bloodshed. They say the decision to send 28,500 more troops to Iraq has made a difference...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we'll talk with Carol Platt Liebau, whose new book Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, Too!) takes on the current culture of oversexualization. Why has the pejorative "prude" taken on worse connotations than "slut"? Why do preadolescent girls now routinely dress in provocative clothing that would have given pause to adult women a generation ago -- and how does that harm girls and women? Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House (and BTR!) joins us in the second half to talk about his post about Ron Paul, the Hillary Clinton meltdown, the LA Times non-story, and more! Also joining us will be Patterico from Patterico's Pontifications, who has closely followed the LAT and New Rupblic stories. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And...
Media Matters insists that it has no intention of supporting a candidate, but it's hard to tell that from its content. As Jonah Goldberg noted, the site went into a full-throated defense of Hillary Clinton by attacking Tim Russert for ... well, asking questions about issues: After the October 30 Democratic presidential debate, numerous media figures commented that co-moderator Tim Russert had acted as, in the words of The New York Times, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (NY) "third toughest opponent on the stage." During the debate, Russert asked a total of 30 distinct questions (not including follow-up questions). Fourteen were either questions directed to Clinton or questions directed to other candidates about Clinton. Many media outlets took note of Russert's focus on Clinton. Russert has received media attention for his conduct toward Clinton in previous debates as well, including criticism following a debate he moderated in 2000, when Clinton was...
According to one of Hillary Clinton's donors, the Department of Justice has begun investigating the candidate's fund-raising activities. The AP reports that the DoJ came calling to one donor whose contribution came among many from New York's Fujian community, which have come under as much scrutiny as those bundled by the notorious Norman Hsu. However, the story shows a potential glaring error on the part of the New York Post's reporting on the story: On the wall of Hsiao Yen Wang's apartment, a cramped, 17th-floor public housing unit on the city's Lower East Side, are photographs of her husband, David Guo, a cook who specializes in Fujian cuisine. One photo stands out: Guo shaking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's hand, a memento from a $1,000-a-person fundraiser for the New York senator held in New York's Chinatown last April. Last week, Wang got another memento — a calling card from a Justice...
Hey, New York! Guess who the Dodgers found looking for a job? Joe Torre was hired Thursday to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers, taking the job two weeks after walking away from the New York Yankees. Torre moved from one storied franchise to another, getting a three-year contract. He takes over a team that finished fourth in the NL West this season and hasn't won the World Series since 1988. The 67-year-old Torre becomes the Dodgers' eighth manager since they moved west from Brooklyn for the 1958 season. Torre grew up in Brooklyn, rooting for the rival New York Giants and detesting the Dodgers. "As a kid growing up, you didn't like them," Torre said on WFAN radio in New York less than an hour before the hiring was announced. "As a player, to me the Dodgers were the Yankees of the National League because ... you either loved them...
November 2, 2007
The Islamists in Pakistan's Swat region have taken some tough blows in the past few days, losing over 70 fighters while their leader, Maulana Fazlullah, ran off to avoid the Pakistani Army. They desperately need some good publicity and a way to undermine military morale. Capturing dozens of soldiers would certainly do the trick -- but faking it might be easier: Islamic militants said Friday they had freed 48 government troops after they surrendered during fighting in northwestern Pakistan, a region increasingly falling under the control of extremists who are challenging Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. ... They escorted journalists to two-story concrete building in the town of Charabagh to show off 48 men said to have surrendered during the fighting. Most were described as paramilitary troops from the Frontier Corps, and were freed later. "We have surrendered to these mujahedeen," said Barkat Ullah, 24, who, like other captives, was...
Ruth Marcus doesn't care much for the post-debate spin coming from Hillary Clinton or her spin teams. In a mild rebuke, Marcus tells Clinton that acting like a damsel in distress hardly helps uphold the feminist ideal. Instead of crying sexism, Clinton should revel in her front-runner status: The Hill newspaper, listening in on a conference call with Clinton fundraisers, quoted chief strategist Mark Penn being even more explicit about the "backlash" he was detecting among female voters: "Those female voters are saying, 'Sen. Clinton needs our support now more than ever if we're going to see this six-on-one to try to bring her down.' " Please. The Philadelphia debate was not exactly a mob moment to trigger the Violence Against Women Act; if anything, this has been an overly (pardon the phrase) gentlemanly campaign to date. Those other guys were beating up on Clinton, if you can call that...
The NTSB's working theory on the St. Anthony Bridge collapse involves design flaws and overloading, according to comments by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. That prompted questions by two state legislators about the role of maintenance and whether a lack of it didn't also have some role to play in the collapse, but Peters said that the legislators have misinterpreted her remarks (via Mitch): The top federal transportation official said that investigators have a "working theory" of why the 35W bridge collapsed in August: a poorly designed metal component called a gusset plate and excessive weight on the bridge that day. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters' comments Thursday mirrored statements she made in August, a week after the collapse, and like her previous comments immediately led to controversy. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the collapse, has said a formal finding will not be available for at least a...
Barack Obama sat down with the New York Times to discuss his views on Iran, and how he has the policy that will unlock the stalemate with the mullahs. However, what the Times and Obama fail to realize is that Iran has heard the proposal before from the US and others. They didn't take it when we offered it then, and they don't appear prepared to do so now, either: In an hourlong interview on Wednesday, Mr. Obama made clear that forging a new relationship with Iran would be a major element of what he pledged would be a broad effort to stabilize Iraq as he executed a speedy timetable for the withdrawal of American combat troops. Mr. Obama said that Iran had been “acting irresponsibly” by supporting Shiite militant groups in Iraq. He also emphasized that Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program and its support for “terrorist activities” were serious...
The 2007 Weblog Awards polls have opened! Cast your votes for your favorite blogs in a number of categories. Each person can cast one vote per day per category, which means you can spend the next week visiting the excellent site created by Kevin Aylward of Wizbang in Movable Type's new 4.0 system. Captain's Quarters has the honor of being nominated in two general categories -- Best Blog and Best Conservative Blog. I'll leave the link to vote at the top of the Crow's Nest for the week,along with the graphic to remind people to keep voting -- but don't forget that the best part is checking out new blogs and new voices. Explore the blogosphere and hopefully find a couple of new friends in the process!...
Pork-barrel politics hits the front page of the Washington Post today, with a look at what Jeff Flake once called the "earmark incubator", Concurrent Technologies. The defense contractor that John Murtha helped birth and keeps well fed turns out to be a charity case -- a real charity case, recognized as one by the IRS. Its tax-exempt status turns out to be only one of the oddities surrounding this pork warehouse: Behind the rise of Concurrent is Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, who helped arrange funding to launch the organization in 1988. Murtha has since arranged millions of dollars more in directed congressional appropriations called earmarks. Now Concurrent has nearly $250 million in annual revenue and 1,500 employees. Concurrent is a prime example of how to marry entrepreneurial savvy, influence on Capitol Hill and arcane procurement rules to create budget magnets in...
Yesterday, I wrote about the blinkered pessimism Americans have adopted of late. At Heading Right, I parsed a USA Today poll that showed voters despondent over the political and economic direction of the country -- despite continuing strong growth and a dramatic improvement in Iraq. New data continues to show the irrationality of the mood, as jobs have expanded again and unemployment remains at near-record lows: U.S. employment soared at its fastest pace in five months in October led by strong gains in services, easing concerns about the state of the economy and suggesting further Federal Reserve rate cuts are highly unlikely in the near term. Meanwhile, factory orders managed a small gain during September, a welcome surprise amid indications the manufacturing sector and economy in general are slowing. Nonfarm payrolls rose 166,000 in October, the Labor Department said Friday, up from September's 96,000 gain, which was revised down by...
President Bush just added another resident to Vetoland, this resident being the water projects bill that got saturated with pork-barrel projects in conference. Despite having enough votes to override his veto, Bush sent the bill back as a protest against its escalating earmarks: An increasingly confrontational President Bush on Friday vetoed a bill authorizing hundreds of popular water projects even though lawmakers can count enough votes to override him. In doing so, Bush brushed aside significant objections from Capitol Hill, even from Republicans, in thwarting legislation that provides projects for a host of aims, including those that would repair hurricane damage, restore wetlands and prevent flooding in communities across the nation. ... The $23 billion water bill passed in both chambers of Congress by well more than the two-thirds majority needed to vacate a veto and make the bill law. Bush objected to the $9 billion in projects added during...
NOTE: This post will ride on top until the start of the show. Newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Duane "Generalissimo" Patterson of the Hugh Hewitt Show joins us to review the week's top stories. We're going 90 minutes again, and we have plenty of topics to cover. How badly did Hillary damage her candidacy at the debate this week? Will Obama's silliness on Iran help right Hillary's ship? How much lower do casualties in Iraq have to drop before it makes a sound in the mainstream media? Has the corner been turned on pork? All of that and much, much more, including the sneak peak at tonight's Hugh Hewitt show! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here...
On Monday, I issued a challenge to six Democratic presidential candidates to reach across the aisle and appear on Heading Right Radio to broaden their message to Americans across the political spectrum. This challenge came out of a great discussion we had on the Heading Right Radio show that day about the impulse towards echo chambers in American politics. After considering the issue after the end of the show, I wrote: In order to improve the tone, I've decided to invite the Democratic presidential candidates to appear on Heading Right Radio for an interview and a chance to speak to the reasonable, rational people of the center-right and conservativism. Those who have heard my interviews know that I allow guests to speak their minds, do not interrupt, and treat them with respect even when I disagree with them. With that in mind, I have sent e-mail requests for these interviews...
Instapundit calls this a dog-bites-man story, but it does have a twist. Instead of the Media Research Center issuing a report on media bias, today's study comes from another bastion of conservative thought: Harvard University. Not only did the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy find that the media treats Democrats better than Republicans, it also finds that the media gives more air time to the Democrats as well: Just like so many reports before it, a joint survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy — hardly a bastion of conservative orthodoxy — found that in covering the current presidential race, the media are sympathetic to Democrats and hostile to Republicans. Democrats are not only favored in the tone of the coverage. They get more coverage period. This is particularly evident on morning...
November 3, 2007
Pervez Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, apparently not content to wait for the Supreme Court decision on his presidential election victory last month. So far, he has given no reason for the declaration, although the military activity in Swat and Waziristan is presumably the basis: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday, state TV said, ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn his recent election win. The report gave no reason for the emergency but it follows weeks of speculation that the president — who is also chief of the army — could take the step, amid rising political turmoil and Islamic militant violence. "The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order," a newscaster on Pakistan TV said. Musharraf had awaited a decision from the Supreme Court...
Last week, I got off to a slow start in the Project Valour-IT fundraising competition, lingering at the dock while my Navy teammates struggled. After finally raising the sails, I'm happy to report that the Navy team has moved into .... third place. The Army and the Marine Corps teams still have a lead on us, but we've got a good wind now and we're closing the gap. If you haven't yet done so, be sure to help the Navy team push into the lead. But whichever team you support, all of us win. Project Valour-IT helps our wounded warriors of all branches by purchasing laptops for severely wounded service members. As of October 2007, Valour-IT has distributed over 1500 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country. Help the people who gave their bodies and their health to keep this nation secure and strong --...
Chuck Schumer had pressed the Bush administration to nominate Michael Mukasey as Attorney General after the departure of Alberto Gonzales, only to see his fellow Democrats rip Mukasey apart over waterboarding. With leading Democrats insisting that they would oppose Mukasey, everyone waited to see whether Schumer would disavow the man on whom he had insisted, or find the courage to stand on his own to support the man he championed. In the end, Schumer found a third way -- by finding a wingman: The nomination fight over attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey effectively came to an end yesterday, as two key Senate Democrats parted from their colleagues and announced their support for the former judge despite his controversial statements on torture. The orchestrated announcements by Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) virtually guarantee that Mukasey will be approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, to...
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be on the air today, with our six-hour-long broadcast schedule starting at 11 am CT. The first two hours features Power Line's John Hinderaker and Chad and Brian from Fraters Libertas. Mitch and I hit the airwaves for the second shift from 1-3 pm CT, and King Banaian and Michael Broadkorb have The Final Word from 3-5. If you're in the Twin Cities, you can hear us on AM 1280 The Patriot, or on the station's Internet stream if you're outside of the broadcast area. Today, Mitch and I will talk about how the mean men gang up on Hillary Clinton in debates. We'll also talk about the unusual place where Chuck Schumer found his testicular fortitude on Michael Mukasey, and much much more! Be sure to call 651-289-4488 to join the conversation!...
Reacting to pressure from public-interest groups as well as criticism from fellow Democrats, the Clintons have decided to open Hillary's White House records to the public by the end of February. The Clinton library will break the seals and begin publishing records in January, and all records will likely be available by the time the primaries have settled the question of the Democratic nomination: The Clinton library is readying a trove of detail about Hillary Rodham Clinton's eight years as first lady in the White House for release in late January, government lawyers said in a court filing. ... Even so, the documents appear likely to become public within a month of their release by the archives, as the general election heats up in February. The New York Democratic senator faces growing questions about her husband's resistance to releasing some documents from the Clinton administration, which ended nearly seven years...
The Times of London answers the question in an editorial today -- when one has invested in defeat. The "Petraeus Curve" has exposed defeatists in Britain and the US, and as a result, no one wants to talk about the obvious and significant progress being made in Iraq. Success, it seems, has become too embarrassing for the media and some politicians to acknowledge (via Memeorandum): In Iraq, it seems good news is deemed no news. There has been striking success in the past few months in the attempt to improve security, defeat al-Qaeda sympathisers and create the political conditions in which a settlement between the Shia and the Sunni communities can be reached. This has not been an accident but the consequence of a strategy overseen by General David Petraeus in the past several months. While summarised by the single word “surge” his efforts have not just been about putting...
It really looked like the Irish had their act together. They finally started running the ball, improving over their league-last 34 yards per game to well over 200 yards. They played ball control but managed to toss the ball as well. Unfortunately, despite playing against an undersized Navy team, the defense couldn't keep the Midshipmen out of the end zone, either, sending the game into three overtime sessions. The Fighting Irish simply couldn't keep their 43-year winning streak alive: It took 44 years and three overtimes for Navy to beat Notre Dame. The Midshipmen snapped an NCAA-record 43-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish with a 46-44 victory today in triple overtime. Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada threw a 25-yard TD pass to Reggie Campbell on the first play of the third overtime, then found him again in the end zone for the 2-point conversion. Notre Dame cut the lead to two on...
November 4, 2007
Pervez Musharraf's seizure of power yesterday did not extend as far as feared, but instead falls in a legal gray area. The assemblies continue to operate and the status of press freedom remains unchanged, according to the Guardian's Ali Eteraz. However, Musharraf appears to have taken a page from Shakespeare's Henry VI, and rounded up all the lawyers: Traditionally, a PCO [Provisional Constitutional Order] is an order which suspends the constitution and dissolves all fundamental rights as well as legislation and judiciary, installing martial law. Except that Musharraf's PCO only dissolves the judiciary (for overstepping its limits and interfering with the war on terror) while leaving the Assembly intact. The limited scope of the PCO means the current situation is something less than martial law. Yet it cannot rightly be called an emergency either, because that does not involve a PCO. This in-between situation is being called "emergency plus". ......
The Washington Post front-pages a story about a Fred Thompson friend who has a drug dealing conviction from 24 years ago. Apparently looking for a Norman Hsu analog in the Republican primaries, Matthew Mosk tells all about Philip Martin and his private jet service to Thompson, but pushes the age of the conviction down a few paragraphs into the story (via Memeorandum): Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing. Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as...
Democrats have objected to the Bush administration's pursuit of sanctions against Iran as a precursor to war. They have ignored the Iranian intransigence on nuclearization and treated the White House as the source of the problem. In doing so, they have given signals to Russia and China to continue their obstructionism on sanctions at the UN Security Council. Jim Hoagland explains why Russia, China, and the Democrats are pushing the Bush administration to the war option as the sole remaining recourse: And by mid-November, Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will report on whether the Iranians will now admit that they received and then developed P-2 centrifuges and got other nuclear technology from Pakistan, as was reported in this column in 1995 and as the IAEA has charged since 2002. This is one basic that Bush critics frequently overlook -- in part because it gets lost in...
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the past two leaders of the Consumer Product Safety Commission have traveled extensively on the dime of the industry they regulate. Working from FOIA requests, Elizabeth Williamson discovered nearly $60,000 worth of junkets provided to acting chair Nancy Nord and her predecessor Hal Stratton from 30 trips to places like Hong Kong and a golf resort in Hilton Head (via the Political Machine): The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards. The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal...
Republicans and Democrats alike share one common impulse in Congress: to pork up any appropriation that exits the legislature. One might think that this impulse would get diminished in a time of war, especially regarding defense appropriations. Instead, the opportunity to earmark for their own political purposes grows more attractive given the vital nature of the underlying appropriation. This year, over $3 billion in pork will get attached to the defense appropriation bill representing 1,337 separate earmarks -- and that's just in the House version: Even though members of Congress cut back their pork barrel spending this year, House lawmakers still tacked on to the military appropriations bill $1.8 billion to pay 580 private companies for projects the Pentagon did not request. Twenty-one members were responsible for about $1 billion in earmarks, or financing for pet projects, according to data lawmakers were required to disclose for the first time this...
The removal of the Taliban ended the brutal application of shari'a law that resulted in executions, mutilations, and oppression for Afghanistan's adults. Now a new study by Johns Hopkins University shows that the destruction of the Taliban saves thousands of children every year through access to modern medicine. The mortality rate for children under five years of age dropped by 25% in the five years since 2001: Close to 90,000 children who would have died before age 5 in Afghanistan during Taliban rule will stay alive this year because of advances in medical care in the country, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday. The under-5 child mortality rate in Afghanistan has declined from an estimated 257 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2001 to about 191 per 1,000 in 2006, the Ministry of Public Health said, relying on a new study by Johns Hopkins University. The U.N. and aid agency...
November 5, 2007
The debacle continues in Pakistan, as police beat and arrested lawyers protesting the emergency rule of Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad today. The Islamist party leader Liaqat Baloch estimates that 500 members have been imprisoned, a fate he narrowly avoided by fleeing Lahore: Legions of police firing tear gas and swinging batons clashed with lawyers Monday as security forces across Pakistan blockaded courts to quash protests against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency. At least 350 were detained. In the biggest gathering, about 2,000 lawyers congregated at the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore. As lawyers tried to exit onto a main road to stage a rally in defiance of a police warnings not to violate a ban on demonstrations hundreds of officers stormed inside. Police swung batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse the lawyers, who responded by throwing stones and beating police...
Senior Republican leaders went to an ex-president hoping to get him to influence George Bush to knock Dick Cheney off of the 2004 ticket, according to a new book. Did they visit the ex-president with the most influence over George W -- his father? That would at least have been worthy of the Washington Post's time and effort to report. Instead, they look at the revelation that Gerald Ford turned down the request to give the current president unsolicited advice on the selection of running mates: He may have been his White House chief of staff in the 1970s, but by 2004, former president Gerald R. Ford harbored serious reservations about whether Vice President Cheney should be kept on the ticket for reelection. According to a new book, senior Republican figures approached Ford about getting President Bush to dump Cheney in 2004 and, while Ford rebuffed them, he seemed sympathetic...
Tomorrow, Utah voters will decide whether to launch a school-voucher program to allow parents more choice in educating their children. The NEA has launched a full assault against the program, and in some cases against the truth, as the Wall Street Journal notes: A new report from the Utah Foundation shows the state's public education could certainly use a shake-up. The states most similar demographically to Utah, by measures such as student poverty and parental education, are Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Utah finishes last in this group, based on eighth-grade scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Utah youngsters trail the pack across the range of core subjects -- last in math, last in reading, last in science. Still, the unions are banking that fear of the unknown will trump demonstrated incompetence. The opponents have raised a bundle to disseminate their predictions of doom, including...
The New York Times runs a post-mortem on the S-CHIP legislation that appears headed for another narrowly-upheld presidential veto, showing the missteps on all sides that led to the impasse. The White House attacked it early and harshly, the Senate Republicans favoring it failed to make its case to the Bush administration, and House Democrats cut out House Republicans from the development of the bill. It all sounds like another happy day of gridlock. At Heading Right, I note that most of this inside-baseball look at the S-CHIP expansion failure covers ground already known to most. The real story gets missed by the Gray Lady, which is the actual policy and its fatal flaws. The Times neglects to mention the two biggest points in the debate and why those issues torpedoed the expansion plan. (via Memeorandum)...
Have you made your reservations for BlogWorld Expo yet? This week's festivities in Las Vegas promise to deliver the best that the blogging world has to offer, and the conferences will feature some of the most prominent bloggers in its conferences. The conventions will provide support, information, and advice that will put lie to the phrase, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Rick Calvert talks about the blogging lineup: This is a great line up if I do say so myself! Hugh Hewitt, Jerome Armstrong (MYDD), John Hinderaker (Powerline Blog), Jeralyn Merritt (Talk Left), Glenn Reynolds (The Instapundit), Joe Sudbay (America Blog), Ed Morrissey (Captains Quarters), Sean-Paul (The Agonist), NZ Bear (TTLB), Pam Spaulding (Pam’s House Blend), Jim Hoft (Gateway Pundit), Brad Friedman (Brad Blog), Mary Katherine Ham (Townhall.com) Nate Wilcox, Dean Barnett (The Weekly Standard), Professor David Perlmutter, Michael Medved, Roger L. Simon, Kevin from Wizbang and more....
Last week, I linked to Malcolm Nance's article on waterboarding and torture in the New York Daily News, and the comment section erupted in debate. Two criticisms got repeated airings in the comments section: that Nance had not properly described waterboarding, and that he had violated confidentiality agreements in discussing SERE training. Since last week, I have contacted two sources on the subject, one a SEAL for over 30 years and the other a former SERE instructor. In the next day or so, I will have a lengthy post in response to this issue. It's safe to say that both sources found Nance's column appalling, and for similar reasons -- and had a lot more to say about the current debate. Keep your eyes open for more on this topic soon here at Captain's Quarters....
The Wall Street Journal takes a sympathetic look -- of sorts -- at the travails of the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress. Despite holding both chambers, their leadership appears unable to move its agenda -- and now find themselves with lower approval ratings than the lame-duck President they expected to steamroll after the midterm elections. Now they face the possibility of losing ground in maintaining their majorities, especially in the House: The way in which Senate Democrats wavered and then consented to the confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general reflects the party's broader struggle to make headway on its national-security agenda, despite President Bush's unpopularity. On questions such as Mr. Mukasey's stance on waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the war in Iraq, Democrats have been stymied by Republicans in Congress and the White House. That has sparked frustration among supporters, especially those on the left, who anticipated that last year's congressional...
The marketplace has continued to judge the Dead Tree Media as wanting. Editor & Publisher released the subscription rates for major newspapers, and almost all of them lost significant ground in both the daily and Sunday subscription rates from this time last year. Among the losers -- the New York Times and the Minneapolis Star Tribune: New York Times: -4.5% daily, -7.6% Sunday Strib: -6.5%, -4.3% Washington Post: -3.2%, -3.9% Boston Globe: -6.7%, -6.5% Atlanta Journal-Constitution: -9.1%, -9.2% Interestingly, the Los Angeles Times managed a small bump upwards, at least in the daily numbers. They grew daily subscriptions by 0.5%, one of the few bright spots for the industry report. They lost 7% on Sunday subscriptions, however. The market has changed, and these numbers reflect the changed paradigm in news delivery. The dead-tree delivery system has not recovered from the impact of the Internet, and the spread of broadband will...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we'll welcome NZ Bear of the Truth Laid Bear ecosystem, AKA Rob Neppell of Kithbridge, his new consultancy firm. We'll talk about Kithbridge, as well as the latest events at the Victory Caucus concerning Iraq, Afghanistan, and especially Pakistan. We'll also talk about the upcoming BlogWorld Expo in Vegas, which starts on Wednesday. Representative Steve King (R-IA) joins us in the second half to talk about S-CHIP and his new CUT resolution. Stay tuned! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
What exactly have they put in the water at The New Republic? First its leadership can't seem to find an exit strategy with both hands and a flashlight for publishing fabulism, despite TNR having written the book on it in 1998 with Stephen Glass. Now Linda Hirshman, in defending Hillary Clinton from the big Y-chromosomed meanie at Meet The Press, decides to go the Pastor Niemoller route and winds up implying that Tim Russert is some kind of Nazi: Last summer the Nevada Democrats pulled out of a debate sponsored by Fox News. Loaded, racist and all the rest, the Dems decided it was incoherent for them to pretend Fox was a media outlet like any other. Tim Russert is worse, because he has the mantle of the venerable NBC, network of Nipper, the radio dog. Bulletin to Democrats: Just Say No to Russert. ... Oh, and for you Obama...
The Club for Growth has published its RePork Card for the Senate, three months after doing the same for the House. Certain similarities exist between the two lists, such as the heavy tilt towards Republicans at the top end of the list, as well as the bipartisan level of failing grades for this assessment. It also features a reversal of the old 80/20 rule, where 80% of the problem exists in 20% of the population. In this case, 80% of the solution is found in only 20% of the population. Here are the four Senators who score 100% on anti-pork initiatives in the Senate this year: Coburn (R-OK) 100% 15 / 15 DeMint (R-SC) 100% 13 / 13 Burr (R-NC) 100% 15 / 15 McCain (R-AZ) 100% 2 / 2 John McCain missed a lot of votes because of his campaign schedule, but he's been consistently excellent on pork-barrel reform....
November 6, 2007
If you didn't get to hear it live, be sure to download the podcast of Pamela Geller's interview with former Ambassador John Bolton. This makes three appearances on Atlas Shrugs Radio for the former UN ambassador, who is promoting a new book, Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations. Bolton lays it on the line on BTR, so be sure to hear it for yourself....
The process of disabling North Korea's nuclear program has gone well thus far, according to the lead American representative on the team. Sung Kim believes that they will completely disable the closed Yongbyon facility by the end of the year, as scheduled: US experts have made a "good start" to the process of dismantling North Korea's main nuclear facility, the leader of the US team has said. Sung Kim praised North Korean officials at the Yongbyon reactor, which produced weapons-grade plutonium, as being "very co-operative". Pyongyang agreed to end its nuclear programme in return for diplomatic concessions and economic aid. US officials say they hope to disable the reactor by the end of the year. The Yongbyon plant closed when the DPRK agreed to the settlement at the six-nation talks. The disablement process involves the removal and disposal of the fuel rods, of which Yongbyon had 8,000, thus necessitating some...
George Bush has successfully reduced the tension along the Iraq-Turkey border during his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His promise to work with Turkey to end terrorist incursions across the border by the Kurdish guerilla group PKK has stopped talk of a cross-border invasion. Erdogan said he will "trust" Iraqi officials and Bush to meet their commitments in ending the attacks: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left Washington reassured Tuesday after President George W. Bush called Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq a common enemy and promised greater help against them. A large-scale Turkish incursion into northern Iraq was now unlikely, said analysts. But they saw tacit US approval for surgical strikes on rebel targets across the border in Bush's promise to provide Ankara with "real-time" intelligence on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) movements. Bush also announced better communication channels between the top echelons of the Turkish and...
Ray Ibrahim has painstakingly translated hundreds of previously unreleased al-Qaeda documents that he found in a search of the Library of Congress. His efforts led to the publication of The Al Qaeda Reader, published in August. He told a recent George Washington University audience that these documents address jihadis directly and have a much different message than the propaganda AQ aims at the West (via Newsbeat1): The documents address many ideas supported by Al Qaeda, such as suicide bombings and violence against the west. Bin Laden and his allies use Muslim beliefs and laws to show that these actions are acceptable in certain cases, Ibrahim said. He said the documents offer three options for non-Muslims - submit to Islam, live under Islam or die. "The bottom line is the West is damned if they do and damned if they don't unless they accept the three choices," Ibrahim said. ... In...
Say what you will about Ron Paul and his supporters, but they know how to raise money. Using Guy Fawkes and the movie V For Vendetta as a questionable hook for a fundraiser, Paul's campaign took in over $4 million in a single day -- and without spending hardly any money at all, except transaction fees. That surpasses Mitt Romney's impressive launch day, and comes close to Hillary Clinton's record of $6.2 million for a one-day total (via Memeorandum): On Monday, a group of Paul supporters helped raised more than $4.07 million in one day — approaching what the campaign raised in the entire last quarter — through a Web site called ThisNovember5th.com, a reference to the day the British commemorate the thwarted bombing. Many fans of Mr. Paul know of the day primarily through a movie based on the futuristic graphic novel “V for Vendetta,” by Alan Moore and...
Anne Applebaum notices a decline in a particular American export, in quality if unfortunately not in quantity. She reminds us that the Bolsheviks seized power this week 90 years ago, and just as with almost every dictatorial movement abroad, an American managed to gussy it up to undermine democracy back here at home. In days past, those exports included luminaries like John Reed and Walter Duranty. Nowadays, the intellectual level has dropped down to the supermodel level: Ninety years ago this week, a Bolshevik mob stormed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, arrested the provisional government and installed a "dictatorship of the proletariat." Though the Russian Revolution is no longer widely celebrated (not even by Russians, who instead commemorate the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow in 1612), I felt it important to mark the occasion. In honor of the anniversary, I reread " Ten Days That Shook the World,"...
A new proposal on border security and immigration control via employer sanctions has begun to make the rounds on Capitol Hill. Brian Bilbray (R-CA) and Heath Shuler (D-NC) have sponsored the SAVE Act, which would mandate operational control of the border and secure ID verification at employment as a strategy to curtail illegal immigration. They have won sponsors as diverse as Duncan Hunter and John Murtha, and the pair hopes to gain the attention of House leadership: Two ardent proponents of border security are teaming up to introduce a bipartisan bill aimed at curtailing illegal immigration through employer sanctions. Reps. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), who were both elected after strongly criticizing President Bush’s approach to immigration reform, are unveiling a bill Tuesday that has already attracted the support of dozens of members. ... The Secure America with Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act focuses on three areas: employment...
The Pentagon has grounded its mainstay of air defense after an F-15 fighter disintegrated in flight during a training mission in Missouri. The pilot survived, but the F-15 fleet may not. Most of the 688 aircraft have already lived far beyond their design life, but Congress has shown great reluctance to spend the money necessary to upgrade to the F-22: The Air Force has grounded its entire fleet of F-15s, the service's premier fighter aircraft, after one of the planes disintegrated over eastern Missouri during a training mission, raising the possibility of a fatal flaw in the aging fighters' fuselage that could keep it out of the skies for months. Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, ordered the grounding Saturday after initial reports indicated that the Missouri Air National Guard fighter plane had broken apart Friday in midair during a simulated dogfight. The pilot ejected...
The political instability in Pakistan may get more intense by the end of the week, according to Der Spiegel. If Benazir Bhutto proceeds with her plans to join the lawyers and judges in the streets to protest against Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency, she could push the military dictator and erstwhile president into either expanding the emergency or getting toppled from power in a countercoup: With leaders from across the world twisting the arm of Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to retreat from his declaration of emergency on Saturday, the most intense pressure may be brewing from inside the country. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who has so far refrained from mobilizing her supporters against Musharraf's installation of military rule, may go on the offensive later this week. Protests so far have been led by the country's lawyers, who staged marches in cities around the country on Monday and Tuesday. But...
The Senate Judiciary Panel reported Michael Mukasey's nomination to the full Senate today, recommending confirmation by an 11-8 vote. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein voted to support Mukasey, as announced earlier, all but guaranteeing his confirmation on the floor of the Senate later this month. The opposition of the other Democrats transformed what had been a victory for them into another triumph for the White House: Amid protests outside the Justice Department and opposition by key Democrats, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 Tuesday to send the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general to the full chamber for a confirmation vote. Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, two key committee Democrats who said last week they would vote for confirmation, gave him the majority vote needed to advance his nomination. Every panel Republican voted for Mukasey and every other Democrat opposed the nomination. Feinstein, D-Calif., argued that a leaderless...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we'll reach across the aisle to talk with TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt. Jeralyn and I will both appear at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas this week, and we'll discuss the event -- and maybe find something on which to debate. In the second half, I welcome Bob Costello from the Sam Adams Foundation to talk about his fine organization and their efforts to find conservative, federalist solutions to American political issues. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
Recall when Democrats insisted that they had cleaned up Congress with their ethics bills this session? The “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007”, the first bill considered by the upper chamber in the 110th Congress, specifically prohibited the practice of "airdropping" earmarks into legislation. An airdropped earmark is one that suddenly appears in the conference report between the two chambers when it appears in neither the House nor the Senate version prior to the conference. The Pork Airlift has begun, as defiant as the brave airlift in postwar Berlin that kept the residents of the free city alive. This time, it just keeps the power of porkmeisters from declining. Sources on the Hill have a list of airdropped earmarks and their sponsors: 1. South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD for the Thomas Daschle Center for Public Service and Representative Democracy Sponsor: Byrd, Reid, Johnson, Harkin Amount: $1,000,000 2...
Pervez Musharraf reached out and touched a couple of people in Congress today, Senator Joe Biden and Rep. Tom Lantos. Both men chair the Foreign Relations Committees in Congress, and both have a great deal of influence on how aid gets disbursed, and under which conditions. Preliminary word is that the conversations did not resemble the heartwarming television commercials we saw in the past for long-distance services: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf reached out to Democratic leaders in Congress on Tuesday amid growing concerns that U.S. aid should be restricted or cut off until he restores democracy. Musharraf called Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., and Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairmen of the House and Senate committees that deal with foreign relations. Biden, D-Del., said he told the Pakistani president it was critical he allow the elections in January as planned, and that he "take off his uniform" and "restore the rule of...
November 7, 2007
Iran announced that it has expanded its working centrifuge system to 3,000, making uranium enrichment to weapons-grade fissile material achievable within a year. The Iranians announced this as an intermediate goal nineteen months ago on the way to 54,000, at which point they could produce a bomb every two weeks: Iran has achieved a landmark with 3,000 centrifuges fully working in its controversial uranium enrichment program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday. Ahmadinejad has in the past claimed Iran succeeded in installing the 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. Wednesday's claim was his first official statement that the plant is now fully operating the 3,000 centrifuges. "We have now reached 3,000 machines," Ahmadinejad told thousands of Iranians in Birjand in eastern Iran, in a show of defiance of international demands to halt the program believed to be masking the country's nuclear arms efforts. In April 2006, the State...
House Democrats will try to keep George Bush from vetoing their expanded domestic spending by tying the noncontroversial Veterans Administration spending to it. The attempt to extort approval for Democratic budget expansion has already started to backfire, as Republicans moderates have abandoned a budget they may have otherwise supported -- and the Senate will undo their work in any case: Congressional Democrats stumbled ahead Tuesday with a plan lumping the popular budget for veterans programs with a health and education bill that President Bush has promised to veto. House Democratic leaders slated a vote on the House-Senate compromise bill for Tuesday night in an apparent attempt to use the politically untouchable veterans budget to increase the vote tally for the health and education funding bill, a top Democratic priority that fell just short of a veto-proof margin this summer. But if anything, the power play solidified GOP opposition to the...
Alan Dershowitz argues that the debate in the Senate this week regarding waterboarding demonstrated a level of hypocrisy beyond the issue of Congress demanding that an Attorney General nominee enforce laws they refuse to write. In today's Opinion Journal, the Harvard professor notes that almost everyone would expect the executive branch to use whatever means necessary in the ticking-bomb scenario to protect innocent American lives -- and therefore Michael Mukasey answered correctly that the circumstances would dictate (under current law) whether a particular application of waterboarding violates the law. In fact, the hypothetical became reality for the Israelis, and will likely do the same for Americans: Recently, Israeli security officials confronted a ticking-bomb situation. Several days before Yom Kippur, they received credible information that a suicide bomber was planning to blow himself up in a crowded synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish year. After a gun battle in...
Benazir Bhutto has issued an "ultimatum", in the wording of the BBC, warning Pervez Musharraf that she plans to demonstrate on Friday against his rule by emergency decree. Telling Pakistanis that "We are under attack," Bhutto hopes to generate a large enough protest to get Musharraf to reverse the decree and restore democracy -- but perhaps not large enough to dislodge him entirely: Attorneys' attempts to demonstrate have been repeatedly put down with police force. However, a violent clash with Bhutto's supporters would dramatically escalate the political crisis engulfing a country that is also battling rising Islamic militancy. "We denounce the government ban, and want to make it clear that our supporters and leaders will reach Rawalpindi for the rally," Babar Awan, a senior member of her Pakistan People's Party, told The Associated Press. .... Bhutto said Tuesday that Musharraf's resort to authoritarian measures was a "breach of trust" with...
While many in the media deride President Bush for his supposed reluctance to face reporters, Ruth Marcus points out that it could be worse -- and if the Democrats win, it likely will be. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have held hardly any press conferences during presidential campaigning, a time when candidates usually throw themselves in front of anyone with a microphone and a camera: It's not as if this president has been Mr. Openness. But by some important measures, George W. Bush is more accessible to the reporters who cover him than are some of the leading candidates to succeed him -- most notably Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The candidates' reluctance to engage in regular give-and-take with reporters on the campaign trail does not bode well for how they would behave if ensconced in the White House, swaddled in protective layers of presidential prerogative. Through the end...
Sam Brownback dated Rudy but married McCain: Sam Brownback, a Kansas conservative and favorite of evangelical Christians, will endorse his former Republican presidential rival John McCain, GOP officials said Wednesday. The nod could provide a much-needed boost, particularly in Iowa, for the Arizona senator and one-time presumed GOP front-runner whose bid faltered and who now is looking for a comeback. Republican officials said Brownback will announce his support for McCain later Wednesday in Dubuque, Iowa, and then travel with the candidate to campaign in two other cities in the state. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly pre-empting the announcement. This seems like a much better match for Brownback than Giuliani, whose leanings on social policy made for a lot of eyebrow-raising when the two met last month. John McCain's positions match up more closely with his Senate colleague. The endorsement will not have much direct...
Today I'll be traveling to Las Vegas to attend the BlogWorld Expo on Thursday and Friday. I'll be speaking at two panels on Thursday, as well as being an exhibitor for BlogTalkRadio. I'm looking forward to meeting some of my good friends in the blogosphere, many for the first time in person, like Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House and a few of my BTR colleagues. There's still time to register and head out to Sin City, if you want to join us for a fun event and lots of blogging support! I'm going to try -- try -- to do my Heading Right Radio show today at 4 pm ET. I can't commit to it, because I don't know whether I'll be able to check into a hotel in time for it. If that doesn't work, we'll be on the air at the regular time Thursday and Friday,...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (3 pm CT), I'm just going to do a quick 15-minute show and interact with the Webchat visitors. I just landed in Vegas, so we can talk about BlogWorld Expo, or we can talk about the waterboarding post from earlier today that Instapundit linked. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
George Bush told the media today that he gave Pervez Musharraf some friendly but firm advice -- settle on one career, and do it fast. Bush told Musharraf that he had to resign as army chief of staff and stay on schedule for parliamentary elections, but he did not say whether he insisted on restoring the judiciary and legal communities in Pakistan. So far, Congress does not appear impressed: President Bush told Pakistan's president on Wednesday that he must hold parliamentary elections and step down as army leader. "You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time," Bush said, describing a telephone call with Gen. Pervez Musharraf. "I had a very frank discussion with him." Bush revealed the call to Musharraf during an appearance with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, at George Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Va. Sarkozy issued a statement supporting Bush's...
November 8, 2007
I'm out here in Sin City for the start of the BlogWorld Expo tomorrow, as a speaker on two panels tomorrow and an exhibitor for BlogTalkRadio Thursday and Friday. I had most of the day open after doing a slightly abbreviated 40-minute version of Heading Right Radio today, so I thought I'd get out of the hotel room and see a show. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a gambler. I'm not opposed to it for any moral reasons; I just don't get enthusiastic about playing games in which, even in the most favorable conditions, I'll lose whatever I bring to the table eventually. In Las Vegas, this can reeeeaaalllly handicap the fun quotient. I went to Rio, an unusually festive casino with a free dance show at the bottom of each hour complete with ceiling-mounted floats and dancing girls -- and that was fun the first time I saw it....
As if the Chinese toy industry had not dug its own grave any deeper, the Consumer Product Safety Commission ordered another import recalled after determining that ingestion can cause chemicals to convert to GHB. That compound is commonly known as the date-rape drug, and both the US and Australia have scrambled to get Aqua-Dots and Bindeez out of the hands of children: Millions of Chinese-made toys have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful “date rape” drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads. With only seven weeks until Christmas, the recall is yet another blow to the toy industry — already bruised by a slew of recalls last summer. In the United States, the toy goes by the name Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday...
A decision by the State Department to transfer funds for Iranian democracy activists to its Iranian Affairs office spells the end of the American effort to support democratic change in the Islamic Republic, its former director said. Scott Carpenter, in an interview with Eli Lake of the New York Sun, says that the end of independent operation of this project signals that the money will no longer support efforts to get past Internet censors and other means of information reporting that is critical to the success of democratic movements: The former director of President Bush's flagship democracy program for the Middle East is saying that the State Department has "effectively killed" a program to disburse millions of dollars to Iran's liberal opposition. In an interview yesterday, Scott Carpenter said a recent decision to move the $75 million annual aid program for Iranian democrats to the State Department's Office of Iranian...
Pervez Musharraf responded to pressure from the US by formally setting a new election date for parliamentary elections, signaling a short run for his emergency rule. This ends a great deal of confusing and contradictory statements by his ministers, who had alternately assured people that the elections would be held as scheduled and called into question whether they could be held at all in the present political climate. That climate worsened overnight as Musharraf began rounding up supporters of Benazir Bhutto: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has decided that parliamentary elections will be held by February 15 and reiterated plans to step down as head of the Army, partial concessions to the pressure building on him from Washington and inside Pakistan since he declared a state of emergency over the weekend. However the embattled president still seemed headed for direct confrontation with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who said today's announcements...
The New York Times reports that US forces have "routed" al-Qaeda in Iraq from the Baghdad region. General David Petraeus' new strategies have pushed them out of "every neighborhood", and that only an eighth of the city remains to purge the other militias from control. The new, aggressive tactics of the Americans and the rise of the Iraqi Army have solidified the victory over the terrorists (via Memeorandum): American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned. Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, “there’s just no question” that violence...
USA Today reports on its latest Gallup polling that Hillary Clinton's negatives put her in the most precarious position in a general election than any other Democratic candidate. Eighty-five percent of Republicans, a majority of married men, and over a third of all women say they will never vote for the former First Lady, worse negatives than any other major contender running against her. While her strategist attempts to spin those numbers, Democrats may be getting nervous: More than eight in 10 Republicans and more than half the married men in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll say they definitely wouldn't vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. The poll provides an early snapshot of who's ruling out Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama, the three leading candidates for the Democratic nomination. Clinton, who tops national polls of Democrats, is strongest within her party. Only 10% of Democrats said they'd rule...
Charlie Rangel recently cost the American taxpayer $3 million in earmarks for his Monument to Me, a series of proposals to fund programs at CCNY that use his name as titles. Rangel may cost American taxpayers billions with his latest tax schemes, one of which benefits those nearest and dearest to his campaign coffers -- including a donor already undergoing an IRS audit: The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has proposed legislation that would effectively halt some current tax audits of people who get a tax break for living and operating a business in the United States Virgin Islands. Many beneficiaries of the tax break are campaign contributors to the lawmaker, Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, according to data collected by CQ MoneyLine, which tracks political contributions. At least one of them, Richard G. Vento, is currently under audit, according to court filings. Mr....
Michael Yon has not yet won a Pulitzer for his news coverage, although he certainly deserves one for his free-lance journalism. He may qualify even more for his photojournalism, capturing a second iconic image of the war and now a hope for victory and peace. His first moment came when a searing image of an American soldier cradling a wounded child in a battle zone sank into the consciousness of America. Now a moment of ecumenical unity in a land savaged by sectarian strife may symbolize the progress and hope that lies within Iraq: Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved. Copyright 2007 by Michael Yon. The picture you see shows Muslims and Christians restoring the cross to the top of St. John's Church in Baghdad. The Iraqis wanted Americans to see that they have unity at the ground level, and consider their Iraqi nationality more important than their sectarian differences....
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we'll be talking live with people at BlogWorld Expo. We'll be demonstrating the fun and excitement that people can have by being their own talk show hosts. We may still get an interview in with Michael Yon, but that will likely be a taped interview if we can go with it. UPDATE 1 PM CT: Just finished a 15-minute interview with Michael Yon from Iraq. He's got plenty to say about the progress seen in Iraq, and how the media has missed the story. Make sure you catch this chat! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you...
Tomorrow on Heading Right Radio, we'll broadcast live again from the BlogWorld Expo. Duane Patterson will join us at the BlogTalkRadio booth to do our normal Friday Week in Review, which runs 90 minutes. We will also have our first blog interview with Rudy Giuliani, who spoke to us between appointments today for a quick recorded interview. Giuliani talked about: * The Robertson endorsement -- He sees this as showing that the Republicans have prioritized the war on terror and government overspending higher than any other priorities, and thinks those issues work the best for him. * Polling -- "I'm the only candidate that can defeat Hillary Clinton in those places." You'll see which places he means, and how critical they may be for the GOP in 2008. * Judicial confirmations -- "I know how to do this better than anyone else," based on his experience. "They [the Democrats] policticized"...
November 9, 2007
Benazir Bhutto had threatened to lead a rally against the emergency rule of Pervez Musharraf today, possibly sending hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis into the street in protest. Some had questioned whether the Army would obey orders to disperse such a large crowd as easily as they had with just a few hundred lawyers and their supporters, or whether the military might mutiny and send the country into chaos. Musharraf made sure we never found out: Security officials barricaded former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto inside her home behind barbed wire, concrete blocks and armored cars on Friday morning, and turned out in force in the nearby town of Rawalpindi to quash a planned rally, dispersing protesters as they tried to assemble. With conflict between Bhutto and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at a pitch, police early Friday began surrounding Bhutto's home, under orders to prevent her from leaving to lead the...
Guess which presidential candidate has the temerity to talk fiscal responsibility while outstripping the other candidates in pork-barrel spending? It turns out the Woodstock museum was only the headline act in a long concert of earmarking for Hillary Clinton. Not only does she lead the Senate delegation in this cycle's presidential race, but despite her junior status, she earmarked more than five times more money than her nearest competitor: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has won tens of millions of dollars more in federal earmarks this year than her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, even though two of them have significantly more Senate seniority. A review of the first three appropriations conference reports finished by Senate and House negotiators shows that Clinton has successfully requested at least $530 million worth of projects. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), Clinton’s chief rival for the nomination, has so far won $40.6 million in...
The Senate stayed up past its bedtime last night to struggle with the confirmation for a man Democrats pushed as a "consensus candidate" for Attorney General. Instead of a smooth start to Judge Michael Mukasey's short tenure as the head of the Department of Justice, the Democrats turned the vote into a bitter partisan contest -- and still lost: A divided Senate narrowly confirmed former federal judge Michael B. Mukasey last night as the 81st attorney general, giving the nominee the lowest level of congressional support of any Justice Department leader in the past half-century. The 53 to 40 vote came after more than four hours of impassioned floor debate, and it reflected an effort by Democrats to register their displeasure with Bush administration policies on torture and the boundaries of presidential power. The final tally gave Mukasey the lowest number of yes votes for any attorney general since 1952,...
As expected, Congress overrode George Bush's veto on a popular water-works appropriation bill that added over 50% in pork while in conference committee. Last night, the Senate overrode the veto 79-14, with two Democrats joining 12 Republicans in a vain attempt to stop runaway spending. In this case, the pork-barrel express had a bipartisan crew: A year after Democrats won control of Capitol Hill, Congress delivered its clearest victory yet over President Bush yesterday, resoundingly overturning his veto of a $23 billion water resources measure -- the first veto override of Bush's presidency. The 79 to 14 vote in the Senate was followed last night by final passage of a huge, $151 billion health, education and labor spending bill. House and Senate negotiators also reached agreement on a transportation and housing bill that increases spending on highway repair in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse and boosts foreclosure assistance...
One of the difficulties of attending an event like BlogWorld Expo is the sheer busy-ness that accompanies it. I'm exhibiting for BlogTalkRadio as well as being a speaker at the expo, and still trying to get around to see some of the offerings by other vendors. That takes quite a bit of time, and it's difficult to compress that into a blog narrative for readers. Yesterday, I participated as a panelist on a subject matter that intrigues me: raising the level of discourse in the blogosphere. We had a pretty good mix of bloggers on this panel, with Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit, Roger Simon, Jeralyn Merritt of Talk Left, Natasha (whose blog I cannot recall), and Michael Medved -- who got stuck with moderating the panel on 30 seconds' notice. He did a great job, but I'm certain he was rightly nonplussed to have to handle a panel with...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we have a pre-recorded interview with Rudy Giuliani, and our normal week in review with Duane Patterson live from Blog World Expo! We'll have surprise guests dropping by while we talk about the week's political developments .... Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
A funny thing happened to me at the BlogWorld Expo. I stopped blogging. And while it seems a strange way to celebrate the success of the first industry convention for the blogosphere, those many who attended will understand. The success is undeniable. Dozens of exhibitors set up shop at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and not just with card tables and folding chairs. The booths showed obvious capital investment, just as professional as any other trade shows I've attended in past careers. I helped man the BlogTalkRadio booth, and we had very few quiet moments in two days of blogger celebration. I spent most of both days on my feet, talking with bloggers and entrepreneurs about BTR and its potential for their ventures, and at least as much time simply swapping stories with friends old and new. In fact, the booth commanded so much attention that I wound up attending...
November 10, 2007
One of my favorite films, John Sayles' Eight Men Out, tells the story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, who threw the World Series for gambler cash. It shows what happens when people feel an entitlement to something other than integrity. Although the film has ample sympathy for the players, it also shows how people can rationalize selling out that integrity in excuse-making when they can't face the reality of their own actions. Today we have two stories that show the impulse did not die in 1920. First, the Hillary Clinton campaign fixed a question-and-answer session at an appearance at Grinnell University, although no one will admit that Hillary herself knew which questioner to address: According to a report on the Grinnell University Web site, the Clinton campaign arranged for some of the questions for the candidate to be asked by college students: "On Tuesday Nov. 6, the Clinton campaign...
People have questioned Fred Thompson's campaigning style since his formal entry into the presidential race two months ago, but few will question his courage after his latest policy pronouncement. Thompson continues his campaign of ideas by unveiling a comprehensive Social Security reform plan that relies heavily on private accounts and recalculation of benefits. As the Washington Post notes, Thompson becomes the first candidate to offer a detailed plan to rescue Social Security from oncoming collapse: Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson yesterday proposed slowing the growth of Social Security benefits and creating voluntary, government-matched savings accounts, becoming the first candidate of either party to offer a detailed proposal to fix the nation's retirement system. Thompson's plan draws on ideas favored by conservatives: a reduction in benefits, rather than an increase in payroll taxes; and a shift toward private accounts, rather than government-provided payments. As a result, the proposal drew immediate criticism...
Six weeks ago, terror struck the archipelago nation of the Maldives, a popular tourist resort nation comprising hundreds of islands in the Indian Ocean. A bombing attack and a riot involving radical Islamists in the same week have put this sleepy, hospitable, moderate Muslim nation on the front lines of the war on terror, and they are not at all happy about it. They face the loss of their standard of living if the radical Islamists succeed in pushing the Maldives back to the 7th century: On Sept. 29, the two faces of the Maldives collided when a homemade bomb exploded in a park in the capital, Male, wounding 12 tourists, threatening the critical resort industry and sending the clear message that even this remote corner of paradise is not immune to terrorism. The attack, and a bloody confrontation days later between police and masked Islamic extremists armed with harpoons,...
The Northern Alliance Radio Network will be on the air today, with our six-hour-long broadcast schedule starting at 11 am CT. The first two hours features Power Line's John Hinderaker and Chad and Brian from Fraters Libertas. Mitch and I hit the airwaves for the second shift from 1-3 pm CT, and King Banaian and Michael Broadkorb have The Final Word from 3-5. If you're in the Twin Cities, you can hear us on AM 1280 The Patriot, or on the station's Internet stream if you're outside of the broadcast area. Today, Mitch and I will have lots on our plate -- the BlogWorld Expo, Hillary's phony Q&A sessions, and much much more! Be sure to call 651-289-4488 to join the conversation!...
I know Hillary Clinton sponsored federal funding for the Woodstock Museum, but who knew she took Joni Mitchell's song about the concert so literally? Apparently heeding the lyrical call to "get back to the garden", Hillary's team has plants popping up all over the campaign trail: For the second time in as many days, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has had to deal with accusations of planting questions during public appearances, FOX News has learned. In a telephone interview Saturday, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, said he was approached by Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler to ask a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question on funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline. The encounter happened before an event hosted by Iowa State Sen. Gene Frais on a farm outside Fort Madison, Iowa. Clinton's Iowa campaign confirmed to Fox News that one of its staff...
November 12, 2007
Some of you may have noticed a lack of content yesterday. I don't often take a day off, but since returning from Las Vegas, I've had what seems to be a migraine and a bout of insomnia. I'm feeling much better today, but yesterday was a nice recharge day. I didn't even open the computer once, and I'm not sure I can recall the last day that happened. Thanks for your patience. Time to get to work....
The news keeps improving in Iraq. According to the US military, rocket and mortar attacks continue to drop in Baghdad and throughout the country. After peaking in the early days of the surge, the numbers have declined ever since to a two-year low: Rocket and mortar attacks in Iraq are reported to have fallen to their lowest levels for nearly two years. The US military said such attacks in October fell to 369, half the level during October 2006. This is the third month running of reduced rocket fire. Mortar and rocket attacks in Baghdad showed a similar pattern, falling to 53 in October from more than 200 in June. US officials said this was in part due to the US troop surge for the capital launched in February. Other reasons for the reduction were the discovery of arms caches following tip-offs from Iraqis, the killing of more insurgents and...
One of the more remarkable stories of the "surge" has been the alliance of native insurgencies with American and Iraqi forces to drive out foreign terrorists. Everyone understands this as a marriage of convenience. The insurgents made the mistake of allying themselves with the foreigners and discovered that the American infidels had much more respect for Iraq than the Islamist extremists did. After experiencing the brutality of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the native insurgents decided to cast their lot with the US and the elected Iraqi government, at least temporarily. Nouri al-Maliki has broached an amnesty plan that may keep them in the fold permanently: During an address in which he described the changes in Iraqi security as "remarkable" and pronounced the country "revived," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday announced his latest push for an amnesty program for insurgents, a plan that he said would allow Iraq to move past...
That explanation came from Pervez Musharraf, who told a gathering of foreign journalists that his emergency decree intended to save democracy from itself. He also announced that parliamentary elections would likely take place in January as previously scheduled and not delayed until February. However, he also would not commit to lifting the PCO suspension of the constitution, which means the elections will almost certainly be held while Musharraf governs as a dictator: Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, announced Sunday that he wanted parliamentary elections to be held by early January but did not set a date for ending emergency rule, making it likely that any elections will take place with the constitution suspended and most civil liberties banned. Musharraf, wearing a grim expression and a dark blue business suit, told foreign journalists that he had declared a state of emergency Nov. 3 "to save the democratic process" from a paralyzing...
Harry Reid lost big last weekend on his budget extortion, and he lashed out in response to those who undermined his efforts to push pork through the White House in this session’s budget. Calling 19 Republicans “sheep and chickens”, Reid had to acknowledge that his attempts to extort a signature through combining appropriations to avoid vetoes had come to naught. Instead, the bloated Labor/HHS bill will likely see a veto, and the Democrats can’t override it. At Heading Right, I note that the epithets "sheep" and "chickens" don't mean much when coming from porkers. Democrats have let Republicans off the hook for fiscal irresponsibility with their pork-protection rackets. Will the GOP be smart enough to return to its roots of fiscal responsibility and limited government now, or will the same chickens who came to roost in 2006 return in 2008?...
Those three words cemented Norman Hsu's standing in the Democratic Party. A lengthy Wall Street Journal report brings readers a comprehensive narrative of the con man's case, including his embrace by the Democratic Party, and especially Hillary Clinton. Her appearance at a combined Hsu birthday bash and fundraiser clinched his status as a prime mover, a status Hsu used to raise funds and defraud investors: He hosted a March 2005 fund-raiser for freshman Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's political-action committee. He threw a party in his SoHo loft for Harold Ford Jr.'s Senate bid. In June 2006, at the St. Regis in San Francisco, he combined a birthday party for himself with a fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton, who was running for re-election to the Senate. She appeared live on closed-circuit TV. "Hello, Norman!" she said, according to attendees. "Happy Birthday!" The audience included former California governor and now state Attorney General...
The war on terror shifts to Nigeria today, as the African nation announced it has captured a ring of al-Qaeda terrorists red-handed with explosives. Investigators cast a wide net and captured alleged terrorists in three different states. The men have suspected links to the Nigerian Taliban, unaffiliated with the Afghanistan/Pakistan version that got chased out of power following the 9/11 attacks: A group of militants with suspected links to al-Qaeda in northern Nigeria has been arrested according to Nigeria's internal security service. A State Security Service spokesman said men in three states were detained and explosive-making devices were found. Nigeria has not suffered a terrorist attack and despite occasional arrests of suspected Islamic militants there is no evidence of al-Qaeda in Nigeria. In September, the US embassy warned Nigeria is at risk of a terror attack. A group of Islamic militants were found with fertiliser and explosive-making devices, following investigations...
Admiral William Fallon, the commander of CENTCOM, throws some cold water on hard-Left conspiracy theories and hard-Right wishes. He tells the Financial Times that CENTCOM has not plotted imminent attacks on Iran, and thinks that the rumors abounding on the subject do not help the diplomatic efforts on which the Bush administration has concentrated (via Memeorandum): The Pentagon is not preparing a pre-emptive attack on Iran in spite of an increase in bellicose rhetoric from Washington, according to senior officers. Admiral William Fallon, head of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, told the Financial Times that while dealing with Iran was a “challenge”, a strike was not “in the offing”. “None of this is helped by the continuing stories that just keep going around and around and around that any day now there will be another war which is just not where we want to go,”...
BlogWorld Expo had plenty of reasons to make attendance last week worthwhile, but meeting Chuck Ziegenfuss was one of the best. Chuck began the Project Valour-IT fundraising effort at Soldier's Angels, the fund that gives voice-operated laptops to severely wounded veterans who need help in re-establishing themselves in civilian society. I joined the Navy team, which appears to have solidified our hold on last place. Yikes! The contest is all in fun, but the donations go to a great cause and to wonderful people who risked their lives and health for our nation. On Veterans Day, please find a few more dollars to support the men and women who need and deserve our support. And to our veterans -- including the Admiral Emeritus and all three of my mother's brothers -- thank you for your service to our nation....
The last we looked in on Gaza, Hamas complained about the increasing "terrorism" of open protests in the territory they took by force earlier this year. Today they apparently devised their own solution to this threat to peace in the Palestinian area -- by shooting into a crowd, killing six and wounding 130 in the ensuing stampede: Six people were killed after Hamas-controlled police opened fire on a Fatah rally in Gaza City today in some of the worst violence seen since the Islamist movement took control of the Gaza Strip five months ago. .... But the sight of a yelling mob waving posters depicting the Fatah founder and shouting insults against Hamas was always going to risk provoking the heavily armed members of Hamas's "executive force" who were recently renamed as police. At one point the crowd began to shout "Shi'ite, Shi'ite" as an insult against Hamas which enjoys...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), we'll celebrate Veterans Day with some good old-fashioned political freedom! Topics will include the BlogWorld Expo and its future, Iran and the statement from Admiral Fallon, and my upcoming trip to Houston. Why? Listen and find out -- and weigh in on its implications. Joining me at the top of the hour will be Fausta, who is sponsoring the Third Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean. We'll talk to her about the festival and what we can expect to read! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now...
The National Right To Life Committee will announce its presidential endorsement in the Republican primaries tomorrow, and according to early reports, Fred Thompson won the brass ring. In its way, the NRLC's selection may be even odder than Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, especially considering that Thompson spoke of his opposition to a Constitutional amendment banning abortions: Fred Thompson will pick up the support of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) tomorrow, according to two Republicans familar with the decision. For a candidate who came up empty-handed last week when three prominent Christian conservatives endorsed GOP hopefuls and is falling in both national and early state polls, the move comes at a critical time. NRLC is the most prominent anti-abortion group in the country, with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters. A spokesperson for the organization declined to comment on their endorsement decision, but...
I'll be on CNN's "Out In The Open" tonight with Rick Sanchez, discussing the question-planting scandal on Hillary Clinton's campaign. I'm not sure when the segment will air, so you will have to watch the whole show -- 7-8 pm CT. I'll have more later ... UPDATE: Here's the segment: I like Rick Sanchez. He had a good sense of humor, and he made it fun to discuss this....
November 13, 2007
As part of my ongoing efforts to improve the experience for the Captain's Quarters community, I have decided to try a different system of publishing comments. Instead of using Movable Type's native system, I wanted to try something closer to a forum -- where commenters can reply to specific comments, shown as nested so that people can track specific threads on a topic. Many people have asked for a system that would organize comments better, and I agree that we have gone long enough with the simple linear system that we have used until now. This morning, I shifted the comments program to Disqus, a system created by a member of our CapQ community. It integrates tightly into Movable Type through a plugin, and it appears very simple to use and manage. Given the level of effort needed at the moment to keep the comment threads free from spam and...
Turkey promised not to invade Iraq after tense negotiations -- but they didn't pledge to ignore the PKK, either. Turkish warplanes bombed PKK targets inside Iraq but caused no casualties. The raids underscore the critical issue of cross-border terrorism and its potential for disaster: Turkish warplanes bombed three Iraqi villages near the border town of Zakho in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on Tuesday but caused no casualties, a security official said. The bombings were carried out before dawn on villages known to be frequented by fighters of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Batoufa and Darkar districts of northern Iraq, the Kurdish official told AFP on condition of anonymity. He said a small disused police checkpoint was shelled in a separate incident. The US promised to share real-time intel with Turkey on PKK movements and operations as part of the stand-down last week. It's possible that the...
A day after committing an atrocity against Fatah protestors, Hamas took steps to ensure justice -- by rounding up and jailing the dissenters. The terrorist group arrested hundreds of people, apparently for assaulting their bullets as they attempted a peaceful path through a crowd estimated at 200,000 people in Gaza: Hamas says it has rounded up dozens of Fatah activists in Gaza, a day after a huge rally commemorating Yasser Arafat ended in gunfire killing seven people. Witnesses say security forces opened fire on unarmed crowds after the rally turned into a protest against the Hamas movement's takeover of Gaza in June. Hamas says its police came under attack from Fatah gunmen and returned fire. Fatah party officials allege 400 of their supporters were arrested and dozens more ordered for questioning. Mahmoud Abbas broke out the heavy-duty rhetoric in response to the massacre and stampede. He told Hamas that they...
Many people point out the relative sophistication of the Iranian people as a contrast to their 7th-century leadership as a reason why the mullahcracy is doomed. The British got a taste of this disconnect in a ministerial meeting at a recent peace conference when treated to the Iranian perspective on homosexuality. The big question for the Iranians is whether a noose works better as a cure, or a brick wall: Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learnt. Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged. President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays...
The sharp drop in violence around Baghdad has shown the success of General David Petraeus' aggressive new tactics in counterinsurgency. With the militias retreating, most of Baghdad has begun returning to normalcy, with former refugees returning to their homes. It has also created an opening for engagement between Mahdi Army elements and Petraeus' command, according to Fox News: Top U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus has met with representatives of Muqtada al-Sadr, once one of the top enemies fueling the insurgency against the elected Iraqi government, FOX News has confirmed. The general has not met personally with al-Sadr, the military said, but the meetings come as the Pentagon is softening its approach to the firebrand Shiite leader who recently eased his hard-line stance with a ceasefire call last August. Al-Sadr's aides have been quietly working with U.S. military officials to discuss security operations. ... First reported over the weekend...
George Bush issued another veto of an appropriation bill this morning, sending Labor/HHS funding back to Congress for overspending. Democrats howled over the veto, while Bush approved the defense spending bill: President Bush, escalating his budget battle with Congress, on Tuesday vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs prized by congressional Democrats. He also signed a big increase in the Pentagon's non-war budget although the White House complained it contained "some unnecessary spending." The president's action was announced on Air Force One as Bush flew to New Albany, Ind., on the Ohio River across from Louisville, Ky., for a speech criticizing the Democratic-led Congress on its budget priorities. The Labor/HHS bill had over 2,000 earmarks, helping to push its budget more than $10 billion over that requested by the White House. Among those earmarks were $500,000 to the National Council of La Raza, over $10 million for an...
Pretty soon, we will need scorecards to keep up with the shifting alliances in Pakistan. As Pervez Musharraf slapped Benazir Bhutto with a week-long house detention to keep her from attending rallies, the former Prime Minister demanded that Musharraf step down from all offices. Bhutto also publicly suggested an alliance between her faction and that of Islamist Nawaz Sharif, a scenario guaranteed to send jitters through Washington: Former premier Benazir Bhutto urged Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf to quit as president Tuesday as she sought to form a united front with other opposition leaders against the military ruler. In her most direct challenge yet to Musharraf since he declared emergency rule, Bhutto said he was a failed leader whose time was up and vowed never to serve under him in government. ... From inside the house she moved to forge a coalition of opposition parties in an apparent bid to isolate Musharraf...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), renowned author Kenneth Timmerman joins us to discuss his new book, Shadow Warriors: The Untold Story of Traitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender. We can expect a very provocative interview with Timmerman, as he explains his investigation into a bureaucracy that committed itself to undermining the policies of an elected government. If true, this could be the one of the most dire challenges to democracy in the US since J. Edgar Hoover. Don't miss this show! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
For a candidate whom everyone expected to march confidently to her party's nomination, Hillary Clinton has begun stumbling and cannot seem to right herself. First came a disaster of an answer at the last presidential debate, and the breathtaking attack on Tim Russert for having the temerity to question her about an immigration issue in her home state. Next came the revelations of question planting at campaign events. Now Drudge reports that the Clinton campaign warned Wolf Blitzer not to get tough in this week's debate, or else: CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne...
Earlier, I wrote about the practice of waterboarding after reading a piece in the New York Daily News by Malcolm Nance. Nance, who served as an instructor at the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE), wrote that he considered the practice to be torture, without question, and therefore illegal. Given his description of the practice, I thought he made a good argument. A number of commenters questioned Nance's conclusions, description, and qualifications, and I decided to get a second opinion. Fortunately, I have a resource for more information on this issue. Captain's Quarters readers will remember Mike the SEAL, who has served this nation in several capacities, including as a decades-long member of the elite commando team as well as a first responder in his community. Mike wrote several extensive posts here at Captain's Quarters while overseas in various capacities in 2004 and 2005. I'm fortunate enough to count...
Iran has claimed for years that it only pursues nuclear technology for peaceful power generation, and that the West has no reason to suspect that they have any nefarious purposes in building centrifuges and reactors. Western critics of the Bush administration's tough policy on Iran insist that the entire issue may be manufactured entirely, and that Iran has the right to pursue nuclear power. They may have a more difficult time offering apologias for Teheran after today's release of plans for uranium warheads from the mullahcracy: Iran has met a key demand of the U.N. nuclear agency, handing over long-sought blueprints showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of warheads, diplomats said Tuesday. Iran's decision to release the documents, which were seen by U.N. inspectors two years ago, was seen as a concession designed to head off the threat of new U.N. sanctions. But the diplomats said Tehran...
November 14, 2007
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has decided to withdraw his plan to offer drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. The decision comes too late for both his approval ratings and Hillary Clinton, who both defended and distanced herself from the plan within a two-minute span during the last Democratic presidential debate: Gov. Eliot Spitzer is abandoning his plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that opposition is just too overwhelming to move forward with such a policy. The governor, who is to announce the move formally on Wednesday, said in an interview Tuesday night that he did not reach the decision easily. “You have perhaps seen me struggle with it because I thought we had a principled decision, and it’s not necessarily easy to back away from trying to move a debate forward,” he said. But he came to believe the proposal would ultimately be blocked, he said, either...
The Writers Guild went on strike earlier this month, suspending television and film production in Hollywood while they tussle with the studios over residual payments. So far, this has received significant coverage in the media, and today, Newsweek offers one writer the opportunity to explain the reason the writers walked off the job. What Douglas McGrath fails to provide is a reason to care about the issue: When video came into being, a new accommodation was made, allowing a small residual for tapes and then DVDs. I am not being hyperbolic when I say "small." For a DVD sold for $19.99, we are paid 4 cents. To put that in perspective, that means that to pay for one tank of gas, a writer needs to sell 1,500 DVDs. To put it another way, it's a penny less than if we returned an empty can of Coke. We negotiated this formula...
The Washington Post shines some light on the efforts by porkbusters to shine their own light on earmarks in appropriations bills. Elizabeth Williamson focuses on earmarks in the recently-signed defense appropriation, and reports on the new websites that help vet the pork and its beneficiaries: Who put a million dollars for an "Extended Cold Weather Clothing System" into the 2008 defense spending bill President Bush signed yesterday? The item is one of thousands that can be found on EarmarkWatch.org, a new Web site that enlists voters' help monitoring congressional spending. The site supplies users with the tools they need to research earmarks and, creators say, "a forum for lively debate over what constitutes a worthwhile expenditure of federal funds -- which earmarks meet pressing needs, which are political favors, and which are pure pork." It took three clicks to turn up four lawmakers behind the hand-protection earmark yesterday: Democratic Reps....
Benazir Bhutto attacks Pervez Musharraf in today's Washington Post as a man afraid to confront Islamists but all too eager to oppose democrats. The former Prime Minister calls Musharraf a dictator who had the opportunity to side with freedom and democracy, but instead remained consistent with his past actions and clung to power for his own personal reasons. If the West wants a fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, Bhutto warns that they have backed the wrong horse: Musharraf knows how to crack down against pro-democracy forces. He is, however, unwilling or unable to track down and arrest Osama bin Laden or contain the extremists. This is the reality of Pakistan in November 2007. The only terror that Musharraf's regime seems able to confront is the terror of his own illegitimacy. This is the second time Musharraf has imposed martial law and the second time he has sacked judges since...
Via a number of sources, Markos Moulitsas has won a column assignment at Newsweek. In a press release, the magazine announced that Markos will occasionally appear in both the print and on-line versions of the periodical as the presidential campaign rolls towards its November 2008 conclusion. Markos himself comments that he expects "heads exploding in wingnutlandia today," but also expects the conservative columnist Newsweek will hire to balance his entries to explode a few heads on his side as well. Don't count me among the explosions. While I don't find Markos to my taste, his win is a positive step forward for the blogosphere, and I congratulate him on that. I also give high marks to Newsweek for engaging the blogosphere and opening themselves to the talent that has developed organically within it. Too many media outlets treat us as a plague instead of the consumer focus group we are...
Mary Jo White, the former US Attorney that won convictions against the Blind Sheikh and his gang of radical Islamist terrorists in the first attack on the World Trade Center, writes that new Attorney General Michael Mukasey had it right when he refused to issue a blanket interpretation of waterboarding as illegal. She explains that Congress has not made it that simple, and that the Judiciary Committee unfairly placed the responsibility on the executive branch. White insists that no easy answers exist on interrogative techniques. At Heading Right, I agree with White, who argues much the same point I have over the last few weeks. White complains about the ambiguity that Congress has created and argues that Mukasey can't be held responsible for Congress' failure to provide a yes-or-no option to their question. White understands what happens when ambiguity reigns at the juncture of intelligence, law enforcement, and questions of...
John McCain held another of his regular blogger conference calls today, and once again issued his call to "get on the bus" -- and to have bloggers get off of the couches. He also spoke about Pakistan, calling for free elections and strengthening the democratic process. McCain also said that there were "complications", however, and the Pakistani intel services primary among them. He's also concerned about growing influence of Islamists in the middle- and high-ranking positions in the Army. Casualties taken in the fight against Islamists has impacted Musharraf's mandate to continue the war. McCain doesn't think that Bhutto is the answer, either -- and he warns that the last time we abandoned an ally in that region, we wound up with the Iranian mullahcracy. "Democracy is tough," McCain said, but it's still the best policy for the long term in our foreign policy. "Elections don't necessarily mean democracy, but...
Shawna Benson wrote a lengthy comment on my previous post -- and in many ways a better argument than Douglas McGrath made in Newsweek or Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post. I'm going to highlight it as its own post. I'm dismayed that so many people lack understanding of the issues involved. I am a conservative living in Hollywood, an aspiring TV writer, and believe me, I'm no union lover. But, consider the following: * Not every writer sells work every year. Yes, there is the MBA (Minimum Basic Agreement) for works sold to studios, and many writers make more than the MBA on a screenplay sale, but often that screenplay is the result of a year or more in writing. The contracted minimum for a screenplay today is between $53,000 and $99,000. TV writers, who often only write one or two scripts in a season, can make up to...
Remember when bridge used to occupy a place in American life where it brought people together rather than pushing them apart? Card games like bridge, rummy, and pinochle formed the center of social interaction in many communities, and gave people a way to connect when other issues divided them. The actions of one group of players in an international tournament has degraded that sense of community and introduced sharp divisions inside their organization (via Memeorandum): In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest. At issue is a crudely...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), my good friend King Banaian of SCSU Scholars joins us to deconstruct the battle over the Democrats' analysis of war costs. They claim that Iraq and Afghanistan has cost our economy as much as $2 trillion already; the Republicans scoff at their methodology. Our favorite economist and Mayor of the MOB tells us what we need to know about both. In the first half of the show, The API's Rayola Dougher explains the latest CRA analysis of pending energy legislation. They conclude that the policies contained within will have significant adverse impact on the economy. Note: The API has invited me to take an expenses-paid fact-finding trip to Houston and the Gulf of Mexico for the next two days. The one stipulation is that I disclose...
I will travel the next two days to Houston and Corpus Christi on a tour arranged by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The tour includes other bloggers, including Bruce McQuain of QandO, who announced it earlier today. We will take a tour of Chevron's Blind Faith platform before they deploy it -- a platform designed to pump a new field in the Gulf of Mexico. We will also tour their visualization center, get a briefing on deepwater drilling, and have a lengthy Q&A session with Chevron representatives. Obviously, I hope to get a better perspective on oil drilling, the petroleum industry, and energy policy as a result. However, Captain's Quarters readers should know that API has covered my travel and lodging expenses for this trip. The following disclosure statement comes from API and it constitutes the only stipulation for the trip: API has underwritten Edward Morrissey’s travel expenses to attend...
First she sounded sympathetic to the idea during a televised debate, and within moments had refused to endorse it. Afterwards, she changed her mind and endorsed it. Now today, after Governor Eliot Spitzer shelved a plan to issue New York drivers licenses to illegal aliens, Hillary Clinton shifted her position yet again to oppose the idea entirely: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor. Clinton has faced criticism from candidates in both parties for her noncommittal answers on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses. Spitzer abandoned the effort Wednesday. "I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal," Clinton said in a statement. "As president, I will not...
November 15, 2007
Pervez Musharraf attempted to calm the chaos in Pakistan today. He announced his resignation as Army chief of staff, making himself a civilian president, by the end of November. He also began work on a caretaker government, according to US diplomatic sources: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and his aides worked to finalize a caretaker government Thursday, while his two opposition rivals opened talks on forming an alliance against him. A U.S. diplomat was allowed to cross the barricades and heavy police cordon surrounding the house in the eastern city of Lahore where opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been confined since Tuesday. Bryan Hunt, the U.S. consul general in Lahore, emerged an hour later and said he had told Bhutto of Washington's wish for Musharraf to lift the emergency, quit as army chief and free opposition politicians and the media. ... In an Associated Press interview Wednesday, Musharraf said he expects...
Over the spring and summer, the Democrats tried putting timetables for withdrawal onto funding bills for the war in Iraq. At that time, they claimed that the war had been lost, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid explicitly declaring defeat on the floor of the Senate during the debate. In the end, they lost the battle for defeat and retreat as the Bush administration backed them into a corner, even while losses spiked in the early days of the surge. Now, of course, the strategy and tactics of General David Petraeus have proven successful. Violence across all markers has dropped precipitously, and even the slow motion of the Maliki government has begun to take up reconciliation proposals, including a general amnesty demanded by the Sunnis. Al-Qaeda terrorists have all but abandoned western Iraq, and their senior leadership continues to lose membership. One might think that the Democrats would reconsider their...
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming .... home. For the first time since Georgian independence, the Russian troops stationed in the former Soviet republic will withdraw. Georgia will regain control over its two restive provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for the first time, although some Russian troops remain, with apparent Georgian coordination: A top Russian general said early Thursday that Russia has completed its withdrawal of troops that had been based in Georgia since the Soviet collapse, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. The presence of Russian troops in the ex-Soviet republic was one of the longtime irritants between Georgia and its giant neighbor. "There are no more Russian troops in Georgia, there remain only peacekeepers ... in Abkhazia and those that are part of the combined forces in South Ossetia with the participation of Georgia," the news agency quoted Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Troops Gen....
Michael Mukasey has gotten off to an auspicious start in his first week on the job as Attorney General. He has apparently convinced the Bush administration to authorize the necessary clearances to re-open the Justice probe into the role its attorneys played in the NSA's terrorist surveillance program (TSP). Congress had wanted an accounting of the establishment of legal parameters for the warrantless surveillance program, and had been stymied under Alberto Gonzales' tenure: The Justice Department said yesterday that it has reopened an internal investigation of the role played by its lawyers in the administration's warrantless surveillance program, marking a notable policy shift just days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. The investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was abandoned in July 2006 after President Bush refused to give security clearances to the OPR lawyers conducting the investigation, according to documents and congressional testimony. That...
Has anti-Americanism gone out of vogue on the Continent? With eastern Europe showing unabashed enthusiasm for free-market economics and Nicolas Sarkozy warmly embracing the US, it appears that we have become the belle of the European ball. Gordon Brown, who at first wanted to establish credibility as an anti-Blair, now wants to play catch-up: Nicolas Sarkozy's star turn in America last week didn't escape notice in London, which used to pride itself on the "special relationship." Of late, the friendship has felt less than special. On becoming Prime Minister this summer, Gordon Brown threw a few bones to the Harold Pinter gallery. He brought the America-skeptic Mark Malloch Brown from the U.N. to serve in his cabinet. In his first meeting with President Bush, the PM was all straight talk, making a point to strike a contrast with the chumminess on display whenever Tony Blair dropped by Camp David. Little...
We have arrived at the Chevron headquarters in Houston for the start of our two-day briefing on oil technology and energy policy. The building, interestingly enough, used to be the headquarters for Enron until a few years ago; the trading floor that manipulated energy prices was here. Right now, we've already started the first session, which gives an overview of the whole industry. I'll pick it up from about 10 minutes in. 1:41 pm CT - We have been tipped to read NPC's industry analysis. It's a must read. 1:42 - Recommended non-industry publications: Wired and MIT's Technology Review. 1:44 - Chevron believes that the odds of building a new refinery in the US is "very slim". They have to rely on increasing efficiency and capacity at existing refineries. The environmental concerns will keep them from ever building a completely new facility. 1:45 - Their success rate on new exploration...
This session focuses on geophysics and seismic science. Barney Issen is speaking in this session, and now we're using the panoramic displays, which are quite impressive. We're going to get a remedial lesson in seismic science, and we should have some good questions on this. 2:07 - Geological analysis was always limited in the oil industry by the limitations of drilling. Computers drive the analysis now; it takes enormous horsepower to do the seismic imaging that we need to find deposits. 2:11 - The first 3-D surveys were "puny things" that took pallets of tapes, which had data that would fit easily into an i-Pod. Now they take pallets of hard drives from the boats doing the seismic readings. Those original 3-D surveys took 3 CPU-months on a Cray to complete the analysis. 2:17 - I'm also recording these in digital format. I may not stream them later, but I...
I'm hosting an interactive live blog for the next hour from Chevron's headquarters, where the API has arranged a blogger briefing on energy policy and oil technology. Join us in the webchat from 3-4 pm CT!...
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (3 pm CT), we'll be doing a webchat-only session while I receive briefings at Chevron's headquarters in Houston. There will not be a live radio show today -- but you can ask questions while I live blog the session, and get a chance to get your questions answered! Keep an eye on my live blogs this afternoon .... Update: Just to clarify, the webchat will be the live blog for the session, so be sure to tune in! API has underwritten Edward Morrissey’s travel expenses to attend the Chevron location tour in Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. Edward is not required to blog about API initiatives. The only requirement as a condition of underwriting these expenses was to include this disclosure of this relationship on his blog. Did you...
November 16, 2007
Even during an afternoon of presentations, one could not escape the latest buzz in the blogosphere yesterday. Blackberries around the room lit up when Newsweek announced that Karl Rove would join them as a part-time political commentator. It neatly bookended Markos Moulitsas' announcement of his new gig, and completely recast Newsweek's effort: Less than three months after leaving the Bush White House, Karl Rove is becoming a member of a community not all that popular with administration officials: the media. Newsweek has signed the president's former deputy chief of staff as a commentator who will turn out several columns on the 2008 campaign through inauguration day. The move is not likely to prove popular among liberals who believe the mainstream media have been too soft on the Bush administration. "We want to give readers a feel for what it's like to be on the inside," says Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham....
A federal grand jury in Barry Bonds' home turf placed the asterisk on his home run record that baseball declined to provide. Bonds received indictments for perjury and obstruction of justice yesterday for his actions in a federal investigation into illegal distribution networks of steroids. Given that he claimed no knowledge of steroid use, the perjury indictments demonstrate the grand jury's conclusion from the evidence that Bonds knew well that he juiced himself to win baseball's most prized records: Barry Bonds, baseball's home run king, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could go to prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs. The indictment, culminating a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes, charged Bonds with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could be sentenced to...
After facing a mini-mutiny earlier this month over assignments to Iraq, the State Department will announce today that they have filled the open positions with volunteers. Foggy Bottom management told staff that without getting enough volunteers to fill 48 remaining slots for foreign-service officers, mostly coordinating rebuilding efforts, Secretary Condoleezza Rice would break with recent tradition and assign FSOs on a mandatory basis: The State Department expects to announce, perhaps as early as today, that volunteers have filled all 48 open jobs at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for next year and that it will not order any foreign service officers to work there against their will, officials said yesterday. Volunteers for the last three or four positions are currently being vetted. Once that process is completed, a senior department official said, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will ask personnel officers to assure her that everyone selected "does in fact...
The Senate Judiciary Committee decided to punt on the question of telecom immunity for the moment. By a 10-9 vote, they stripped the proposed changes to FISA legislation of any reference to protecting communications companies from expensive lawsuits for cooperating with the NSA on surveillance. The topic will go to the full Senate for debate while members of both parties look for a compromise solution that will keep the White House from vetoing the legislation: Reflecting the deep divisions within Congress over granting legal immunity to telephone companies for cooperating with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a new domestic surveillance law on Thursday that sidestepped the issue. By a 10 to 9 vote, the committee approved an overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that dropped a key provision for immunity for telecommunications companies that another committee had already approved. The Senate...
Nouri al-Maliki passed another small milestone in reconciliation yesterday, and the New York Times noticed the progress. Despite predictions that Maliki would protect his allies, the Iraqi Prime Minister approved the trial of two high-ranking Shi'ites in the Health Ministry for running sectarian militias that kidnapped and killed hundreds of Sunnis. The action will help bolster the Maliki government's reconciliation efforts by meeting another key demand of Sunni leaders for accountability among Shi'ites (via Big Lizards): Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq has approved the trial of two Shiite former officials who are accused of killing and kidnapping hundreds of Sunnis, according to American advisers to the Iraqi judicial system. The case, which could come to trial as early as this month, would be the first that involved bringing to trial such high-ranking Shiites for sectarian crimes. An Iraqi judge ruled last month that there was sufficient evidence to...
The Democrats thought they had turned the corner in the battle against George Bush when they overturned his veto on the pork-filled water projects bill last week. Yesterday they discovered that the White House has plenty of fight left as the House could not override his veto on the proked up Labor/HHS funding appropriation. They fell almost twenty votes short, and now must rework the bill to gain enough strength to pass it: House Democrats were unable to override President Bush's veto of a key domestic spending bill yesterday, forcing the party back to the drawing board on some of its most important domestic initiatives, including early-childhood education and heating-bill payments for the elderly. With a vote of 277 to 141, Democrats lost their bid to defy Bush's veto of the labor, health and education bill. The vote was a setback for the Democratic social agenda championed by House Speaker...
Last week, we heard Michael Yon talk about his iconic photograph of Muslims and Christians restoring the cross to the dome of St. John's Church in Baghdad. Now the church has opened, and Muslims flocked to the church to send a message to their Christian countrymen -- please come home: Most Reverend Shlemon Warduni, Auxiliary Bishop of the St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Diocese for Chaldeans and Assyrians in Iraq officiated standing directly beneath the dome under the Chaldean cross. Speaking in both Arabic and English, Bishop Warduni thanked those American soldiers sitting in the pews for their sacrifices. Again and again, throughout the service, he thanked the Americans. LTC Stephen Michael at St John’s. LTC Michael told me today that when al Qaeda came to Dora, they began harassing Christians first, charging them “rent.” It was the local Muslims, according to LTC Michael, who first came to him for...
Note: Time change -- 4 pm CT. Today on Heading Right Radio (4 pm CT), I'll do a 30-minute show from the airport -- if I can get their on time -- to review the fact-finding tour I'm on with API and Chevron. I'll take your questions about the trip, and hopefully have some fun while waiting to squeeze into the puddle jumper! Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know that you can listen to Heading Right Radio through your TiVo service? Click here for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right Radio through iTunes now by clicking this link:...
The most liberal appellate court in the federal judiciary handed the Bush administration a big victory regarding its terrorist-surveillance program (TSP) at the NSA. A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the administration correctly asserted its ability to protect state secrets in pursuing leads on terrorists. As the judges noted: Having reviewed it in camera, we conclude that the Sealed Document is protected by the state secrets privilege, along with the information as to whether the government surveilled Al-Haramain. We take very seriously our obligation to review the documents with a very careful, indeed a skeptical, and not to accept at face value the government’s claim or justification of privilege. Simply saying “military secret,” “national security” or “terrorist threat” or invoking an ethereal fear that disclosure will threaten our nation is insufficient to support the privilege. Sufficient detail must be—and has been—provided for us to make a meaningful examination. The process...
That was the view from my balcony this morning in Corpus Christi. It should have been the last Texas sunrise I saw on this trip, but unfortunately my luck on airline travel ran out this evening. I had a tight transfer schedule to get me from Corpus Christi through Houston to Minneapolis this evening, but a static discharge assembly on our Continental Express flight had to be replaced. It delayed the flight for two hours, and I missed my connection. Instead of being home, I'll spend the night in Houston instead. That means I'll miss most of the Northern Alliance Radio Network tomorrow, but my partner Mitch Berg will hold down the fort. I'll make it home tomorrow afternoon, rested and relaxed after an easy flight home. At least that's what I hope! In the meantime, I'll work on some of the podcasting from the conference and tour of...
November 17, 2007
For the last few years, analysts have warned that China's growing economic power would threaten America's leadership position on trade and and the global economy. Two days ago, in a mostly overlooked Financial Times report, an American economist threw a healthy dose of cold water on such speculation. The tea leaves, Albert Keidel insists, show an economy barely over half of what most analysts assumed in China: China's economy is 40 percent smaller than most recent estimates, a US economist said Wednesday, citing data from the Asian Development Bank and guidelines from the World Bank. Albert Keidel, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former US Treasury official and World Bank economist, made the comments in a report published by the US think tank and in a commentary in the Financial Times. Keidel told AFP he made the calculations based on a recent ADB report...
How successful has General David Petraeus proven himself to be? So much so that the Pentagon has decided to hire him as a consultant while still commanding an American army in the field. In an unprecedented move, the Department of Defense has recalled Petraeus temporarily to chair the commission that will decide which officers will make the best leaders in the future conflicts America will face: The Army has summoned the top U.S. commander in Iraq back to Washington to preside over a board that will pick some of the next generation of Army leaders, an unusual decision that officials say represents a vote of confidence in Gen. David H. Petraeus's conduct of the war, as well as the Army counterinsurgency doctrine he helped rewrite. The Army has long been criticized for rewarding conventional military thinking and experience in traditional combat operations, and current and former defense officials have pointed...
Buried in a report about John Negroponte's visit with Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad is a development that may signal some turbulence for Musharraf in the days and weeks ahead. While Musharraf shrugged off the American envoy's insistence that Musharraf end emergency rule and resign as Army Chief of Staff, he may find the same call from his own party harder to ignore: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf told a top US diplomat Saturday that he would only call off emergency rule when the security situation improves, a senior presidential aide told AFP. Musharraf met John Negroponte, number two in the US State Department, for two hours of talks which diplomats had said the US official would use to send "a very strong message" to end the two-week-old state of emergency. ... Mushahid Hussain, secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, told Dawn television it would be "appropriate and internationally welcomed" for...
In one of the sillier moves in this session of Congress, Harry Reid will have the Senate gaveled to order every four days in the next few weeks, just to ensure that George Bush will make no recess appointments. As few as two Senators may be present for these operations, but that will be just enough to extend the bitterness over the battle to nominate and confirm presidential appointments to federal agencies and the judiciary: Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), in a showdown with the White House over executive branch nominations, refused yesterday to formally adjourn the chamber for a planned two-week Thanksgiving break in order to thwart President Bush's ability to make recess appointments. Rather than allowing the Senate to take a full break, Reid employed a rarely used parliamentary tactic by scheduling "pro forma" sessions twice a week until early December, when Congress returns for three...
A nude woman fleeing a groping imposter? Lying about academic credentials in court? Owning a controlling interest in a Texas law firm without having a license to practice law? In these days of Norman Hsu and the Fujian fundraising scandals, this case may only qualify as a minor embarrassment to Hillary Clinton and Texas Democrats. Mauricio Celis got indicted on a slew of charges yesterday as I left Corpus Christi, and the fundraiser may join Hsu in the rogues' gallery for the 2008 cycle: A major contributor to Democratic causes and political races was indicted Friday on charges of falsely holding himself out as a lawyer and impersonating a public servant. Mauricio Celis, a Corpus Christi businessman, has a controlling interest in the CGT Law Group of Corpus Christi even though he is not a lawyer. Now, he's being accused of practicing law without a license. Texas law prohibits anyone...
November 18, 2007
Jazz Shaw at Middle Earth Journal noticed a story buried at the Washington Post regarding the biggest embarrassment in the House of Representatives, William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson. The man who commandeered a National Guard detachment to act as his personal moving company during Hurricane Katrina and who kept $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer had new allegations of corruption filed in federal court on Friday. These won't result in new criminal charges, but they do show how Dollar Bill liked to redistribute wealth from the rich to the Jeffersons: Federal prosecutors on Friday accused Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) of soliciting bribes in two alleged schemes that had not been previously disclosed. The allegations, detailed in a seven-page document filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, will not result in new charges, prosecutors said, but they plan to present them during Jefferson's federal bribery trial as evidence of a...
The Times of London has a fascinating look at the war on terror from the perspective of Tony Blair. The former British Prime Minister still believes that the US and the UK acted correctly in removing Saddam Hussein, and in fact it matched his own long-stated policy of pre-emptive action in defense of the West when obvious threats arose. The calculus of risk changed dramatically after 9/11, a change that most people still fail to understand (via Memeorandum): It was 9/11 that created the political bond. “The moment I saw what was unfolding and realised the scale of it,” Blair told me, “I felt a really deep sense of mission.” It was clear to him immediately, he said, what it was he had to do. With Bush showing, in those early days, a restraint and a focus that hadn’t been expected of him, Blair toured the world helping to put...
CNN has come under hefty criticism for its last debate, including allegations of staging questions and misrepresenting featured audience members. Doug Ross rounds up the allegations arising at Gateway Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fool, and Hot Air, and they do tend to make CNN look a little foolish: CNN hits bottom and digs: All six debate questioners appear to be Democratic Party operatives. So much for "ordinary people, undecided voters". To paraphrase Junior Soprano, CNN is so far up the DNC's hind end, Howard Dean can taste hair gel. In a nutshell, CNN's six "undecided voters" were: A Democratic Party bigwig An antiwar activist A Union official An I