November 1, 2007
AQI Defeated
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 Stumbles, Needs More Cash: Advisors
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...
The Diplomat Draft
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...
Recipe For Proliferation? EU-3, Then Repeat
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...
An Honor Just To Be Nominated
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...
Fuelled By The Fallen
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...
What's The Opposite Of Irrational Exuberance?
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?...
Civilian Deaths Fall To New Lows In Iraq
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...
Heading Right Radio: Carol Platt Liebau & Prude, Rick Moran
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...
But They're Unaffiliated, Of Course
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...
Did The Post Miss A Step In Chinatown?
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...
Wait 'Til Next Year!
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
Maybe They're Re-Enactors
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...
Feminist Damsel In Distress
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...
Working Theory On Bridge Collapse Is Just 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...
Obama Promises A Rerun
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...
Weblog Awards Polls Open!
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!...
The Earmark Incubator
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...
Irrational Pessimism, Part II: Jobs Report
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...
Vetoing The Flood Of Pork
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...
Heading Right Radio: The Week In Review With The Generalissimo!
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...
Update On The Heading Right Challenge
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...
What A Shock -- Liberal Bias In The Media (Update - Read The Report)
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
Musharraf Declares State Of Emergency
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...
The Navy Sails Into .... Third?
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 --...
Schumer Finds A Wingman
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...
NARN, The Six-On-One Edition
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!...
Hillary's White House Records To Be Opened In February
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...
When Is Victory An Embarrassment?
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...
Navy Sinks The Irish
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 Gets Shakespearean (Update: Elections Delayed)
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". ......
Front Page News: 24 Years Ago ....
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...
The Truth About Sanctions
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...
Toy Junkets
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...
Porking Up Defense In A Time Of War
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...
Taliban Removal Saving 90,000 Children Per Year
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
Lawyers Beaten, Arrested At Pakistani Protests
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...
The Dump Cheney Rumor, Round 46: Wrong Ex-President
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...
Utahns Get Heavy Dose Of Dishonesty From NEA
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...
Missing The Biggest Part Of The Story
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)...
BlogWorld Expo: The Gang's All There
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....
Waterboarding And SERE School: Upcoming Post
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 Incredible Lightness Of Being Congress
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...
Newspapers: Still Rolling Downhill
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...
Heading Right Radio: Rep. Steve King, NZ Bear, Rick Moran
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:...
Did Linda Hirshman Call Tim Russert A Nazi At TNR?
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 Senate RePork Card
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
John Bolton On BlogTalkRadio
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....
North Korea Progresses On Disablement
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...
Tensions Ease With Turkey
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...
Death To Israel Is Just Step One Of Al-Qaeda Manual
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...
Ron Paul's Very Big Day
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...
Useless Idiots, A Century Later
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 SAVE On Immigration?
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...
Time For The F-22
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...
Bhutto To Join Protests
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...
Democrats Hand Their Victory To Bush
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...
Heading Right Radio: Jeralyn Merritt, Sam Adams Foundation's Bob Costello
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:...
The Pork Airlift Of 2007 Has Begun
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...
When Pervez Called Joe And Tom
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
Months, Not Years
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...
Democrats Hold Veteran Spending Hostage
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...
The Open Option Or The Hypocrite Option?
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...
A Bhutto 'Ultimatum'?
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...
Hillary: More Secretive Than Bush
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...
Brownback Endorsement Goes To McCain
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...
Travel Day: BlogWorld Expo!
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,...
Heading Right Radio: Short Session On A Travel Day
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:...
Bush Pushes Musharraf On Elections
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
What Happens In Vegas, Gets Past Me
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....
China Has Another Present For Your Kids - Date-Rape Intoxication
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...
Did State Kill The Iran Democracy Project?
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...
Musharraf Retreats, Sets Election Date
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...
AQI Just A Baghdad Memory
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...
Hillary's Hard Ceiling, Part II
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's Monument To His Donors
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's Iconic Coverage Of The Iraq War
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....
Heading Right Radio: Live From BlogWorld Expo! (Update: Yon Confirmed)
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...
Rudy Giuliani On Heading Right Radio Tomorrow
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
Pervez Replies
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...
All Hail The Pork Queen
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...
Mukasey Confirmed
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,...
Bush Goes To 4-1 On Vetoes
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...
BlogWorld Expo Panel Discussion: Raising The Level Of Discourse
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...
Heading Right Radio: Rudy Giuliani, Duane Patterson, & BlogWorld Expo!
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 Blog Convention Without , You Know .... Blogging
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
Is Everyone's Game Fixed Now?
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...
Thompson Goes Bold On Social Security
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...
'We Can't Afford To Look Back 1,400 Years'
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,...
NARN, The Fixed Questions Edition
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!...
The Secret Plant Life Of Democratic Frontrunners
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
I'm Back
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....
Another Metric Of Success In Iraq
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...
Another Step Towards Reconciliation?
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...
Killing Democracy To Save It?
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...
Sheep? Chickens? At Least They're Not Pigs
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?...
'A Trusted Friend'
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...
Nigeria Busts An Al-Qaeda Ring
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 Fallon: Let Diplomacy Take Its Course
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,”...
Celebrate Veterans Day With Project Valour-IT!
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....
Hamas Continues Its Governing Strategy By Shooting Into Crowds
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...
Heading Right Radio: Veteran's Day, Iran, Fausta, And More
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...
Another Puzzling Endorsement
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...
Media Alert (Update: Clip Added)
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
New Comment System
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...
Turks Use Air Raids On PKK
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...
The Upcoming Gaza Civil War
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...
The Oh-So-Cosmopolitan Mullahcracy
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...
Can We Afford To Engage Sadr? Can We Afford Not To?
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...
Vetoes Add Up Almost As Fast As The Pork
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...
Bhutto Aligning With Sharif
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...
Heading Right Radio: Kenneth Timmerman, Shadow Warriors
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:...
Have The Wheels Come Off For Hillary?
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...
Waterboarding: Two Other Perspectives
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...
Peaceful Nuclear Program, Right?
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
Spitzer's License Plan Runs Off The Road
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...
How Many People Care About The Writers Guild Strike?
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...
Earmarks: 'Everyone's Business'
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....
Bhutto: 'The Terror Of His Own Illegitimacy'
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...
Who Wants To Be The Analog To Kos At Newsweek?
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...
US Attorney: Mukasey Had It Right
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...
McCain Blogger Call
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...
Writers Guild Strike: Another Perspective
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...
Bridge Over Troubled Water
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...
Heading Right Radio: King Banaian, Energy Policy, & More
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...
Fact-Finding Trip Disclosure
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...
It's Wednesday, So We Must Have A New Position
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
Musharraf: I'll Quit ... In A While
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...
Democrats Try Timetables Again
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...
Russians No Longer Have Georgia On Their Minds
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....
Did Mukasey Insist On Reopening The TSP Investigation?
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...
We're Popular!
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...
API Live Blog I: Overview Session
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...
API Live Blog II: Seismic & Geophysics
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...
API Live Blog III: Heading Right Radio Webchat
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!...
Heading Right Radio: Webchat Only Session 3 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
It's Rove
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....
The Grand Jury Asterisk
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...
No DiploWimps At State: Volunteers For Iraq Fill All Jobs
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...
Deferring Immunity
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...
Maliki Approves Trial For Shi'ite Militia Leaders
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...
Democrats Lose Another Veto Challenge
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...
Iraqis To Christians: Come Home
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...
Heading Right Radio: Live From Corpus Christi Airport (Update: 4 pm CT)
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:...
9th Circuit Supports Bush Administration On State Secrets Objection
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...
Just Another Texas Sunrise
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
Economic Juggernaut Of China Just A Mirage?
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...
Consulting Success
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...
PML-Q Wants Emergency Rule Ended
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...
The Silly Season Keeps Congress In Session
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...
Unfortunately, This Qualifies As A Minor Democratic Scandal
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
Dollar Bill's Other Schemes
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 Altered Calculus Of Risk
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...
Define 'Undecided'
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 Islamic leader A Harry Reid staffer A radical Chicano separatist Wow. This looks "rather" like a scandal. Well, maybe. Putting these activists on camera under the impression that they represented non-partisan undecideds would have been very misleading, and completely inappropriate. Not having watched...
Note To Post: Some Subtlety Required
The Washington Post editorial board takes Democrats to task today for their intellectual inertia on Iraq. They scold Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi for refusing to recognize their errors early in the session and the gains made by General David Petraeus since then in their insistence on interfering with a mission that clearly has succeeded. However, they also scold the Bush administration for their efforts to keep Nouri al-Maliki from looking like an American puppet: Iraq's politicians aren't the only ones suffering from inertia. On Wednesday, House Democrats passed an Iraq spending bill that would have required Gen. Petraeus to abort his successful strategy, limit operations to counterterrorism and training, and withdraw all troops by the end of next year. Democratic leaders acted as if nothing has changed in Iraq since January. Perhaps the most charitable interpretation of their initiative is that they knew it would never survive scrutiny by...
Right Question, Wrong Questioner
I have little patience for wealthy televangelists who flaunt their riches as a badge of honor while representing a religion that eschews material pursuits. They deserve the criticism they receive for their self-aggrandizement -- but some of their more notable critics have little room to talk. Congress wants the IRS to take on televangelists while their own members greedily suck up lobbyist money and repay them in billions of dollars in pork: A U.S. senator is putting a new and troubling spin on the question: "What would Jesus drive?" Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who is pressing tax-exempt churches to be more open about their finances, told The Times that "Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey." Given that example, Grassley asked, "Do these ministers really need Bentleys and Rolls-Royces to spread the Gospel?" Actually, they do, according to a politician who attends a Georgia church that...
The Swiss Option
Has an opening appeared for a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear weapons standoff? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged that Iran might have a neutral third party such as Switzerland perform their uranium enrichment in order to appease Western nations who insist Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons: Iran's President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Dow Jones Newswires Sunday that he would be consulting with Arab nations on a plan to enrich uranium outside the region in a neutral country such as Switzerland. Such a plan would allow Iran to develop its nuclear energy program while potentially easing fears that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. "We will be talking with our (Arab) friends," he said in exclusive comments to Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' heads of state summit in Saudi Arabia. Under a proposal put to Tehran by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council,...
November 19, 2007
The Quagmire Continues
Almost nine years ago, the United Nations sent a military force to take over the administration of Kosovo from Serbia, of which it had been a part, on and off, for centuries and continuously for decades, Having kicked out the Serbian government from its province, the UN and the international community gave Kosovo a de facto recognition as its own political entity -- and for almost nine years, they have pretended they did no such thing. Europe has once again warned Kosovan separatists not to declare independence, this time after a referendum on their status: Foreign ministers from several EU countries have urged Kosovo Albanians not to declare unilateral independence following Saturday's elections. Independence without foreign support could isolate Kosovo, they warned. A party led by a former Kosovo Albanian rebel is set to win the polls, which were boycotted by the Serb minority. Hashim Thaci's party seeks to declare...
Iranian Nobel Laureate: Stop The Enrichment
Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi will soon make the Iranian traitors list, as conceived by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ebadi has called for suspension of the uranium enrichment program and demanded that Teheran negotiate in good faith for a peaceful nuclear-energy program with the UN, offering a rare display of domestic dissent on the issue: Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi has called on Iran to suspend its controversial nuclear work to avert what she says is a mounting threat of war the US. "Using nuclear energy is every nation's right, but we have obvious other rights including security, peace and welfare," she told a press conference. .... Correspondents say Ms Ebadi's comments represent an unusually explicit condemnation of the government's entrenched policy at a time of mounting tension with western powers. "We can hear the evil sounds of war drums, however far away. We don't like it but there is probability of war," she...
More Ecumenical Cooperation In Baghdad
The Los Angeles Times reports more good news coming from Iraq, and this time they focus on Baghdad. The ground-up reconciliation started by Sunni sheikhs in Anbar has spread to the capital, and now it includes Shi'ites as well. The Shi'ites have formed their own groups to work with Americans and Iraqi Army soldiers to expel terrorists, but more importantly, they've formed groups with the Sunnis as well (via The Corner): Despite persistent sectarian tensions in the Iraqi government, war-weary Sunnis and Shiites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants on both sides, U.S. military officials say. In the last two months, a U.S.-backed policing movement called Concerned Citizens, launched last year in Sunni-dominated Anbar province under the banner of the Awakening movement, has spread rapidly into the mixed Iraqi heartland. Of the nearly 70,000 Iraqi men in the Awakening movement, started by Sunni...
The Lagging Indicator
When a newspaper really misses the point, they usually do so on the front page. The Washington Post does that today in an intriguing but incomplete analysis of the sudden reinvigoration of the Bush administration. While Peter Baker notes that the White House seems to have started a winning streak at home and abroad, he wonders whether it will ever move the needle on Bush's approval ratings, without asking the next question: The war in Iraq seems to have taken a turn for the better and the opposition at home has failed in all efforts to impose its own strategy. North Korea is dismantling its nuclear program. The budget deficit is falling. A new attorney general has been confirmed despite objections from the left. After more than two years of being buffeted by one political disaster after another, President Bush and his strategists think they may finally be getting back...
The Nonexistent Ballad Of Jihad Jane
In another era, Nada Prouty might have had songs written about her. In this era, one struggles to find newspaper coverage of the woman the New York Post has dubbed Jihad Jane. Prouty has pled guilty to a number of charges stemming from her attempts to retrieve classified information on Hezbollah while working at the FBI and CIA -- and that may not be the extent of the damage from Jihad Jane: FBI fraudster Nada Nadim Prouty not only used a sham marriage to get jobs with access to secret terrorist intelligence - her current husband is a State Department employee who has held sensitive posts in Middle Eastern embassies, The Post has learned. Her third hubby, Gordon Prouty, 40, now works for the State Department in Washington, a spokesman confirmed Friday night. He had been stationed at American embassies in Egypt and Pakistan. A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd,...
Not The Government's Business
Can an employer set conditions for staff to use only English in the workplace? The EEOC believes that to be discriminatory, and has launched lawsuits at a number of companies to stop them from doing so — including the Salvation Army, one of the most respected charitable institutions in America. Both the House and Senate passed language overruling the EEOC’s interpretation, but now Nancy Pelosi may strip the language after facing a rebellion from the Hispanic Caucus. At Heading Right, I wonder why the Hispanic Caucus wants to pick a fight on this subject. The EEOC action will create more discrimination than it resolves, thanks to the natural reaction of the market to its costly burden on businesses. Employers have rational reasons to ask employees to communicate in a common language, and arguing for more government intervention will not likely be a winning message in future elections....
Britain Tackles Domestic Terror
The British have always had a soft spot for animals, and have led the movement to treat them as humanely as possible. For that reason, the British have long shown tolerance for terrorist tactics of animal-rights activists, including bombings, blackmail, and character assassination. According to Der Spiegel, that appears to be changing. A new countering movement has rapidly gained favor among the British, who may have had their fill of terrorists altogether: The British are waging a new war on terror, but this one is at home and is one in which they appear to be gaining the upper hand. When it comes to animal experiments, militant groups like the Animal Liberation Front, founded in 1976, have long enjoyed extensive support and a monopoly on opinion rarely questioned in public. Even when they resorted to extreme measures like setting fires or sending letter bombs, they could consistently bank on a...
Why Do People Not Speak Up?
Jackson Diehl takes note of the undiplomatic smackdown delivered by King Juan Carlos of Spain to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez last week, but turns the question around. Rather than just applaud the king's public chastisement in asking Chavez, "Why don't you just shut up?", Diehl wants to know why more of the world's leaders haven't spoken up against Chavez' scheme to transform Venezuela into a Cuba with oil. Chavez will accomplish that in less than a fortnight: Crude and clownish, si, but also disturbingly effective. Borrowing the tried-and-true tactics of his mentor Fidel Castro, Chávez has found another way to energize his political base: by portraying himself as at war with foreign colonialists and imperialists. Even better, he has distracted the attention of the international press -- or at least the fraction of it that bothers to cover Venezuela -- from the real story in his country at a critical...
No Shocker: Court Approves Musharraf Election
To no one's great surprise, the reconstituted Pakistani Supreme Court has approved the election of Pervez Musharraf to the civilian presidency. The approval will allow Musharraf to resign as promised as army chief of staff while retaining executive authority. It may also open a path to a negotiated end to emergency rule, even though few put any credibility in the court: A Supreme Court hand-picked by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf swiftly dismissed legal challenges to his continued rule on Monday, opening the way for him to serve another five-year term — this time solely as a civilian president. The opposition has denounced the new court, saying any decisions by a tribunal stripped of independent voices had no credibility. Musharraf purged the court Nov. 3 when he declared emergency rule, days before the tribunal was expected to rule on his eligibility to serve as president. ... Monday's court ruling could hasten...
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Relaunch Of The Crows Nest
I've begun a relaunch of The Crow's Nest today, the blog-within-the-blog here at Captain's Quarters. The Crow's Nest contains links to articles of interest, but which don't fit into the normal style and substance of CapQ. It's my way of highlighting blog posts that otherwise wouldn't get a mention here, and of supporting some great bloggers. Expect to see a couple of fresh posts each day with the best of the blogosphere represented. Today we have links to a Fred Thompson interview at Pajamas and a spicy response from Norman Podhoretz to Andrew Sullivan. The Crow's Nest is only available through the web version of Captain's Quarters, so be sure to check the site even if you normally read from the RSS version!...
Heading Right Radio: Jim Geraghty, Jay Lakin & Internet Gaming
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 change of pace for HRR listeners in the first half hour. Our guest will be former talk-radio host Jay Lakin, who left ABC Radio in 2004 to concentrate on his new business in on-line gaming. With Congress preparing at least four bills to control the Internet gaming industry in the US, Lakin wants to talk about the impact they will have on American gamers and the Internet in general. In the second half, Jim Geraghty of National Review's Campaign Spot will update us on the push-polling scandal that has the Republican primary campaign atwitter today. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! UPDATE: Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs has anti-jihadi activist Brigitte Gabriel as a guest...
Push Polling: Whodunit?
The scandal of the day in the Republican primary race is a whodunit worthy of Ellery Queen. A survey taken by a firm named Western Wats turned into a strange anti-Mormon and anti-Mitt Romney push poll. No campaign has taken credit for the poll, and no campaign has been spared accusations of conducting it -- including Romney's own campaign. Jim Geraghty appeared on Heading Right Radio to explain the erupting scandal, and he has been covering it at the Campaign Spot all day long. Mark Hemingway wrote at NRO that he suspected Mitt himself was behind it: However, there’s a growing chorus of voices speculating Romney push polled himself. “I smell a dirty trick. I suspect a pro-Romney motive to inoculate against future use of the religious issue and to breed sympathy for Romney … a 20-minute call is the work of an amateur. The long call is designed to...
The Handy Little Camcorder, And More
I blame McQ. He and I met for the first time on our tour of Chevron and the Blind Faith facility in Texas, courtesy of the API. McQ brought a nifty little camcorder, which miraculously survived a beating on the rig, and it looked intriguing enough to investigate once I returned home. The Aiptek IS-DV2+ will not have anyone dumping their more substantial video cameras any time soon. However, its low cost and flexibility makes a nice addition to the blogger toolbox. It combines several key functions into a package no bigger than a fist, and only takes two AA batteries to run it. The IS-DV2+ (the model shown below is the IS-DV2) takes 8-megapixel digital photographs, as well as digital video. The quality of the latter is not quite as good as one might want for treasured family events, but for blog videos, it does just fine. It has...
November 20, 2007
AP Story On Bilal Hussein Doesn't Sound Convincing At The BBC, Either
The AP reported on the charges filed against its Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, Bilal Hussein, and attempted to defend itself at the same time. The BBC reports on it this morning as well, but the AP's defense doesn't exactly improve by switching to its competitor (via Michelle Malkin): The US military says it will recommend criminal charges against an Associated Press photographer detained in 2006 on suspicion of helping Iraqi insurgents. The Pentagon says additional evidence has come to light proving Bilal Hussein is a "terrorist media operative" who infiltrated the news agency. The case will be passed to Iraqi judges who will decide if he should be tried. AP says its own investigation has found no evidence that he was anything but an Iraqi journalist working in a war zone. The agency's lawyers say they have been denied access to Mr Hussein and the evidence against him, making it impossible...
Narcissistic Deviancy Comes Of Age
As the price of technology drops, the barriers to entry for the markets they represent do as well. The blogosphere provides an excellent example of this dynamic. The cost to publish has become almost non-existent, and now millions of people (including me) have created their own on-line publications. BlogTalkRadio allows anyone with a phone line and an Internet connection to become a talk-radio host on any topic -- and we have thousands of hosts in the network with almost as many topics. Self-publication has grown into a mass movement, a revolution in how information gets disseminated and absorbed. This dynamic has a darker side, too. As the price drops on video technology and publication, a strange new phenomenon has arisen -- the need for people to put themselves on display in the most extreme moments of their lives. A certain class of narcissistic deviants have been unable to commit their...
Progress Must Be Real If The Gray Lady Reports It
The New York Times finally discovers a breaking news story from Iraq -- that life has improved as a result of the surge. Well, for most of the rest of us, that hardly qualifies as breaking news, as we have tracked the decline in violence and the rise of commerce for the last three months. The Paper of Record catches up today with a front-page story and even an accompanying interactive graphic: The security improvements in most neighborhoods are real. Days now pass without a car bomb, after a high of 44 in the city in February. The number of bodies appearing on Baghdad’s streets has plummeted to about 5 a day, from as many as 35 eight months ago, and suicide bombings across Iraq fell to 16 in October, half the number of last summer and down sharply from a recent peak of 59 in March, the American military...
UN Admits AIDS Hysterics
The United Nations grossly overestimated both the scope and direction of AIDS infections, its scientists will admit later this week. The actual numbers in almost every theater have proven to be much less than UN reports indication, in some places less than half of that asserted. Outside researchers say that their demands for government funding motivated them to essentially lie about the gravity of the situation: The United Nations' top AIDS scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they have long overestimated both the size and the course of the epidemic, which they now believe has been slowing for nearly a decade, according to U.N. documents prepared for the announcement. AIDS remains a devastating public health crisis in the most heavily affected areas of sub-Saharan Africa. But the far-reaching revisions amount to at least a partial acknowledgment of criticisms long leveled by outside researchers who disputed the U.N. portrayal of...
AQI: The Sopranos Of Iraq
As it turns out, those of us who watched The Sopranos may have better insight into al-Qaeda in Iraq than we knew. Major General Rick Lynch, commanding US forces in central Iraq, claims that the sixth season of the show reveals all there is to know about AQI -- that it is nothing more than a crime syndicate, and most of its Iraqi members little more than hired guns. Cutting off the money has helped cripple the terrorist organization (via Memeorandum): Abu Nawall, a captured al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, said he didn't join the Sunni insurgent group here to kill Americans or to form a Muslim caliphate. He signed up for the cash. "I was out of work and needed the money," said Abu Nawall, the nom de guerre of an unemployed metal worker who was paid as much as $1,300 a month as an insurgent. He spoke in a...
Chenega -- Governmentese For 'Hose The Taxpayer'
Another no-bid government contract, another half-billion dollars thrown down the hole … another Alaska story? It seems so on the surface, but as with many pork pulls, it gets spread around quickly. The Department of Homeland Security now admits it made a mistake in assigning a no-bid federal contract to Chenega Technologies for radiation-detection equipment at security checkpoints on the basis of disadvantaged ownership for Alaskan tribes, an effort pioneered by Hall of Fame porker Senator Ted Stevens. However, Stevens hardly is the only member of Congress benefiting from Chenega’s sweetheart deals. At Heading Right, I take a deeper look into Chenega and its connections in Washington. Chenega execs have an interesting pattern of contributions, one that calls into question its supposed Alaskan Native status. It also shows that no-bid contracts at Chenega have not been limited to this one award -- and readers may be surprised at the amount...
The Birth Of Christ
Yesterday, I received an intriguing CD in the mail, a Christmas cantata with a powerful backstory. The Birth of Christ celebrates the Biblical story of the Nativity in soaring arias and beautiful orchestral music. That, however, only forms part of the story. Liam Neeson explains how Catholics and Protestants came together in an area of the world marked more by their bitter division to celebrate their shared belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior: Public television will air the concert in the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the DVD and the CD are available for purchase now. Today on Heading Right Radio, I'll interview the composer, Andrew T Miller, and the producer, Raymond Arroyo, on how the Irish choirs of the two denominations came together to sing about peace and love, and why Miller felt compelled to launch his cantata in that manner....
The End Of hEsc?
A new breakthrough in stem-cell research has allowed two independent teams of researchers to generate pluripotent stem cells from normal human skin. Both teams tested their slightly different processes and grew many varieties of human tissue from their stem cell colonies, a success that may transform the stem-cell debate -- or end it permanently: Researchers in Wisconsin and Japan have turned ordinary human skin cells into what are effectively human embryonic stem cells without using embryos or women's eggs -- the two hitherto essential ingredients that have embroiled the medically promising field in a long political and ethical debate. The unencumbered ability to turn adult cells into embryonic ones capable of morphing into virtually every kind of cell or tissue, described in two scientific journal articles to be released today, has been the ultimate goal of researchers for years. In theory, it would allow people to grow personalized replacement parts...
Where Are The Damn Monkey Pictures?
Apparently, America has a strong export capability in political analysis, even in analysts with a track record of scandal. A Kenyan presidential candidate hired Dick Morris to help win the election, even though Morris has no history in Kenyan politics, and traveled to the country on a tourist visa. No problem, says his new boss -- Morris works for free: Political consultant Dick Morris, who rose to prominence as a key adviser for President Bill Clinton and then fell from grace after a scandal involving a prostitute, has surfaced as a political consultant in an unlikely place -- Kenya. Leading presidential candidate Raila Odinga has brought Morris on as a consultant to help him beat incumbent President Mwai Kibaki in next month's elections. Last week Morris arrived in Kenya on a tourist visa and held a press conference saying he believed Odinga was poised to win the election. "I think...
Team Giuliani Conference Call: Live Blog (Update: Youngsters For Rudy?)
This conference call actually involves the Giuliani campaign in Iowa, introducing Rep. Pete King as one member of Rudy's team in the key state. The chair of the House Homeland Security panel wanted to talk about illegal immigration, and especially Mitt Romney's latest attacks. King says that Romney's plans to use state troopers to combat illegal immigration never got implemented. He also noted that Romney's lack of action came after 9/11, apparently a pre-emptive strike on the reciprocal criticism of Giuliani's statements during his term of office. Questions: * Iowa wants to know about the NAFTA superhighway coming through the state -- Giuliani will not support any kind of NAFTA superhighway, anywhere. * Can you contrast the differences between Romney and Giuliani on the illegals already here? -- King mostly just talked about closing the border, both for security and to restore faith in federal government. No legalization without closing...
Heading Right Radio: Birth of Christ, And Some Jazz, Too
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 special show. We'll talk with the composer and the producer of The Birth of Christ, Andrew T Miller and Raymond Arroyo, about their new project and the effort it took to bring together the Catholic and Protestant choirs in Dublin, and why it was important that they do so. I'll have clips of a few of the beautiful tracks of the cantata, and talk about how Miller and Arroyo pulled all of this together. After this beautiful modern-classical music, we'll bring you a little Jazz -- Jazz Shaw, that is, of Middle Earth Journal and the new BlogTalkRadio show, Midstream Report. Jazz and I both wrote about the mysterious doings at Chenega Technology. We will bring both stories together and review the underlying...
Should Hillary Start To Sweat?
If the basis for her anxiety comes from the latest WaPo/ABC poll, not really. The poll shows Barack Obama ahead of Hillary Clinton in Iowa with six weeks (or less) to go before the caucuses open the primary season. However, the polling history and a small sample both fail to instill confidence in its conclusions: The top three Democratic presidential contenders remain locked in a close battle in Iowa, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) seeing her advantages diminish on key issues, including the questions of experience and which candidate is best prepared to handle the war in Iraq, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) draws support from 30 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, compared with 26 percent for Clinton and 22 percent for former senator John Edwards (N.C.). New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson received 11 percent. The results are only marginally...
Wounded Warriors Hit A Second Time -- In The Wallet
In a story that only makes sense in Bureaucratia, soldiers and Marines wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face a second hit to the wallet on their return home. If their wounds cause them to be discharged from the service, the Department of Defense sends them a medal -- and a bill (via Memeorandum): The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments. To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases. Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back. You read that right, even if you had to blink twice and reread it to be sure. The DoD has sent letters telling wounded soldiers and Marines...
Musharraf Retreats?
Pervez Musharraf appears to have changed course, two days after George Bush sent a heavy-duty envoy to demand an end to emergency rule. He has released most of the political dissidents he arrested over the past few days, and the rest may be released as soon as tomorrow: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf freed thousands of opponents from jails Tuesday in a sign he is rolling back a wave of repression under emergency rule and flew to Saudi Arabia to talk about the future of an exiled rival, Nawaz Sharif. Saudi officials said there were efforts to arrange a meeting between Musharraf and Sharif, who was ousted as prime minister by the general's 1999 coup. However, a Pakistani official said Musharraf's goal was to prevent Sharif from returning before parliamentary elections Jan. 8. Back home, the political cauldron continued to boil, with dozens of journalists detained for several hours after clashing...
November 21, 2007
Is This What Victory Looks Like?
The momentum has been shifting away from the terrorists in Iraq and towards peace ever since the US demonstrated its commitment to the mission with the surge. Over the last five months, violence has dropped precipitously and normality has begun to return, which even the New York Times noticed yesterday. Some skeptics still insist that the situation only improved because Iraqis left the country in droves. Guess who's coming back to town? (via AJ Strata) The figures are hard to estimate precisely but the process could involve hundreds of thousands of people. The numbers are certainly large enough, as we report today, for a mass convoy to be planned next week as Iraqis who had opted for exile in Syria return to their homeland. It is one of the most striking signs that not only has violence in Baghdad and adjacent provinces decreased dramatically in recent months, but confidence in...
Pakistani Opposition Wavers
After a unanimous call to boycott the upcoming Pakistani parliamentary elections, opposition parties have suddenly shifted course and hinted that they will participate after all. The change in tone followed the release of most, although not all, protestors, lawyers, and opposition party officials. Even the party of still-exiled Nawaz Sharif said that a boycott made no sense unless all parties rejected the poll: Opposition parties wavered Wednesday on whether to boycott crucial Pakistani elections, backing off their most strident calls to shun the vote unless President Gen. Pervez Musharraf ends his state of emergency. The government continued to roll back a wave of repression, freeing several hundred more opponents across the country, as the president returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia to discuss the future of an exiled rival, Nawaz Sharif. ... Bhutto said late Tuesday that it would be a "good sign" if Musharraf quits his army post,...
Good News For GOP In Nebraska
The Republicans need some good news in the upcoming Congressional races for 2008. Faced with a slew of retirements and a tough numerical disadvantage in the Senate races, the GOP's prospects for gains look bleak, especially in the upper chamber. However, they appear to have firmed up their prospects for a hold in Nebraska, as the expected primary challenge has ended: Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns (R) has a clear path to the Senate, at least for the time being, after Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning (R) dropped out of the race for retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) seat on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that, at a press conference in Omaha, Bruning said he was ending his months-old campaign, which had raised $1 million and threatened Hagel with a primary challenge before the senator announced he would not run again. Johanns, who entered the race after Hagel’s departure, was...
Minnesota Official Lied About List
Mark Ritchie won election as Minnesota Secretary of State on a promise to "depoliticize" the office after beating the incumbent, Mary Kiffmeyer. Ritchie said that the Republican incumbent ran the office in "a partisan and unprofessional manner for the past eight years". It therefore surprised Minnesotans when people who do business with Ritchie's office began receiving e-mail soliciting donations for his political campaign shortly after his election. Ritchie denied giving the e-mail addresses to his campaign, but he has now changed his story: Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie now says that he personally gave his campaign a list of participants in a state-sponsored "civic engagement" program so it could send them a campaign newsletter that asked for a political contribution. Ritchie, a DFLer, was elected on a platform of de-politicizing the office, which supervises elections. He has been under fire since two Republican activists who attended the office's publicly...
Marcus Vs Krugman (Vs Krugman)
People don’t often get to see the equivalent of blogwars between major media columnists, but Ruth Marcus gives Washington Post readers a special treat in her column this morning. She takes on Paul Krugman, who inexplicably has turned into a Social Security crisis skeptic after years of nearly-hysterical warnings about imminent collapse. After Krugman scolded Barack Obama for having the temerity to consider Social Security concerns and criticized the Post editorial board for its supposed panic on the issue, Marcus decided to take a stroll down Paul Krugman Memory Lane. What caused Krugman to reverse himself so baldly? At Heading Right, I explain that it was the same thing that caused most of the Democrats to also do an about-face on Social Security. Nothing frightens Democrats like George Bush, and in this case, it caused most of them to lose their minds on the fiscal time bomb of Social Security....
Add Another Lectern To The Stage
The next Republican debate in Iowa promises something new, different, and controversial -- Alan Keyes. The Des Moines Register decided that the one thing these debates lacked are fringe candidates with microscopic constituencies and invited Keyes to attend the December 12th afternoon affair: Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes has accepted an invitation to participate in the last scheduled — and in some ways most important — Republican debate before the Jan. 3 first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucus. The Des Moines Register's Republican Presidential Debate is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Dec. 12 at Iowa Public Television's Maytag Auditorium in Johnston, Iowa. At last report, all major Republican candidates except former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani have also accepted the invitation to participate. The Des Moines Register has a reputation for putting on fair and informative events. Their debates have become an Iowa tradition that reporters and editors from across the nation take seriously....
Give Thanks By Sending Thanks
Tomorrow, Americans will gather together and give thanks for all the blessings of our lives. Some Americans will not have that opportunity, and ironically, they are as a unit one of our greatest blessings. The men and women who keep this nation safe and who protect the freedom and liberty of others will not have the luxury of a holiday from their missions. Now we can send them a message of thanks straight from our cell phones. The major cell carriers have agreed to participate in The Giving Thanks Campaign, which asks Americans to text a message of support that will get delivered to men and women all over the world wearing the US uniform. All you have to do is send a text message from your cellphone to 89279 to brighten someone's day -- and it won't cost a penny. I sent my message already and received two responses....
Wife Or Child -- Which One Has The Best Foreign-Policy Experience?
And here I thought that the dumbest statements of this extended political season would come in the quiz shows presidential debates. The latest kerfuffle in the Democratic primary centers on whether living abroad as a child carries more weight on foreign policy than being First Lady. It's akin to watching two guys in a bar debate whether playing Pop Warner football gives more credibility than playing Madden 2007 when criticizing NFL head coaches: Fog may have diverted Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plane from her campaign stop here on Tuesday, but that did not prevent her from continuing her attacks on Senator Barack Obama’s experience. It was an odd moment. Mrs. Clinton, her voice piped in over a sound system, apologized for missing the event, expressed concern about the safety of food and toys from overseas and, pivoting off the overseas topic, tweaked Mr. Obama for saying on Monday that living...
The New Willie Horton? Not Quite
Mitt Romney has had a tough week. Just days after someone push-polled Iowans in an ugly display of bigotry, a new attack has floated into the blogosphere regarding Romney's judicial nominations as Governor in Massachusetts. One of his appointments, Kathe Tuttman, released a violent offender on his own recognizance on an assault complaint -- and the suspect promptly fled to Washington and killed a young newlywed couple: The father of a Washington woman slaughtered along with her new husband - allegedly at the hands of a convicted Bay State killer - said his daughter’s accused murderer never should have been released from prison here. “It’s because of stupidity in Massachusetts that my daughter is dead,” said Darrel Slater, 55, who is preparing to bury his daughter, Beverly Mauck, 28, and her husband Brian Mauck, 30. The couple was executed in their home in rural Graham, Wash., Saturday after an alleged...
Heading Right Radio: The (Short) Week In Review!
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; 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. Have the Iraqis scorned defeat with their feet? Will the new technology in stem-cell research end the debate over hEsc? Can anyone keep a straight face while Hillary and Barack argue over their "experience" as a qualification for the nomination? 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 for the instructions. Also, you can subscribe to Heading Right...
Comments Policy Update
We've been on the new comments system for a few days now, and I'm pretty happy with the results. The Disqus system allows for direct replies, user ratings, and takes the processing load from my servers. It also does a better job of keeping spam out of the comments section than Movable Type, which makes it easier to maintain as well. As noted earlier, we will move towards restricting comments to registered users only. I'm going to start that process today to keep the trolls and sockpuppets out. We've had a few take advantage of the new system, and I want to keep from having to overmanage that aspect of it. For the next couple of days, comments from unverified users will get reviewed by me and posted if appropriate. By Monday, commenters will need to have a Disqus registration in order to participate in the CapQ forums. Thanks for...
Official Denouncement Of Ahmadinejad?
The mullahcracy may have had enough of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A well-connected state-run newspaper in Iran accused him of "immoral" behavior by calling opponents of the nuclear program "traitors". The Islamic Republic has close ties to supreme cleric Ali Khameini, and its editorials usually reflect the viewpoint of the ruling clique: In a hard-hitting editorial on Wednesday, the paper said the president's treatment of his critics was immoral, illogical and illegal. It was referring to a recent speech by Mr Ahmadinejad when he described people opposed to his nuclear programme as traitors and accused some senior former nuclear negotiators of spying for foreigners. The paper said Mr Ahmadinejad was using this tactic to discredit his political rivals prior to the parliamentary elections due early next year. It called on Iran's judiciary to perform its duty and punish people who make baseless allegations and cause public anxiety. What to make of this?...
November 22, 2007
Petitioning Iran
Iranian interference in southern Iraq has more than just the Americans demanding its cessation. A petition drive protesting the mullahcracy's involvement in violence has garnered over 300,000 signatures, including hundreds of leading Shi'ite clerics. The message -- get out now (via CapQ reader Bill N): More than 300,000 Iraqis including 600 Shi'ite tribal leaders have signed a petition accusing Iran of sowing "disorder" in southern Iraq, a group of sheikhs involved in the campaign said. The sheikhs showed Reuters two thick bundles of notes which contained original signatures. The sheikhs said more than 300,000 people had signed the pages. Such a public and organized display of animosity toward neighboring Shi'ite Iran is rare in Iraq. Iranian influence has grown steadily, especially in the predominantly Shi'ite south, since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. "More than 300,000 people from the southern provinces condemned the interference of the Iranian regime...
New Ethics Woes For Clinton
InfoUSA now faces an SEC probe, one that could indirectly, at least, involve Bill and Hillary Clinton in the middle of an election campaign. The data processing company spent millions on Bill Clinton as a consultant and has flown Hillary around on its corporate jets. Now the SEC wants a look at the company's books, spurred on by stockholders who sense something amiss in the benefits showered on the former First Couple: The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into InfoUSA, a Nebraska company that used corporate funds to fly Hillary Rodham Clinton around the country, and one of only two companies to put Bill Clinton on its payroll after he left the White House. The firm, a major provider of database-processing services, disclosed little about the nature of the probe in a filing to shareholders released yesterday. The two-sentence filing said only that InfoUSA received a letter...
Why Pork Is DC's Favorite White Meat
When we talk about white meat on Thanksgiving, most picture a finely roasted turkey, carved thin, with delicious gravy and trimmings. In the context of federal government, however, the white meat refers to pork, which is never cut thin but dropped thickly onto the backs of taxpayers. Why white meat? As our friend Jazz Shaw reminds us, it's both red and blue and the favorite meal of Congressmen of both parties. Today's Washington Post demonstrates that Republicans still have not quite learned their lesson from 2006: House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) roundly assailed the "Democrats' Labor-H Spending Nightmare" in a news release that preceded Bush's veto of the labor, health and human services and education spending bill last week. Blunt decried the "spending spree" hidden in the transportation, housing and urban development bill. House Republican Conference Chairman Adam H. Putnam (R-Fla.) dismissed the now-vetoed labor, health and education bill...
Giving Thanks
Today is the traditional day in which Americans count their blessings and give thanks for them. In reviewing the past year, the biggest blessing I have is the First Mate -- and the donor who saved her life with a kidney transplant in March. Our friend Rich and his wonderful, supportive family has been undoubtedly the biggest blessing in our lives this year, and we thank God for the blessing he has given us. We have many other blessings, too, in family and friends. While we cannot spend the holiday with our families in California, we get to spend it with our extended family here in Minnesota. They have been a constant blessing to us over the past six years, not just in the love they have shown our son when he joined their family, but in how they have embraced us as family, too. I hope your day is...
The Little Admiral Discovers Olives
We just returned from our Thanksgiving celebration, exhausted from the food and the fun. Our granddaughter, the Little Admiral, managed to combine the two: Her big cousin Allie, seen just behind her, taught her that little trick tonight. We were both surprised she didn't know it already! I hope everyone learned a new trick or two today to have fun with their loved ones. Technical notes: I used my Aiptek IS-DV2+ camera to shoot a few dozen shots of the event. I even let the Little Admiral and her cousin Connor take a few shots. I took this picture without the flash in 8-megapixel mode, and it looks pretty good. It's hard to keep a camera this small still, and the Little Admiral was moving when I snapped the shutter, but it still looks good enough for candid photography. I noticed that the batteries tend to run down fairly soon...
November 23, 2007
Clinton Wins Support From Another Ethics-Challenged Administration
This story challenges the boundaries of satire. Hillary Clinton captured the vital corrupt-foreign-leader constituency with Bernadette Chirac's endorsement yesterday. The wife of the French ex-president said that she thought Hillary had the makings of a president, although her personal experience at that may not play too well on the campaign trail (via Memeorandum): U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won surprise backing from the wife of former French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday, together with a pledge to join her on the campaign trail. The Chiracs' political affiliations are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Clintons', but the former French first lady said she had always thought Democratic candidate Clinton had the makings of a U.S. president. "She's a woman who is not liked by everybody. But she's strong and she has convictions," Bernadette Chirac, well-known for a forceful character of her own, told the weekly Le Figaro...
Sarkozy's Triumph
New French President Nicolas Sarkozy has won an impressive and historic victory over the French unionists. After announcing his economic reforms, union activists tried to invoke 40 years of successive victories for French socialism by once again rushing to the barricades and shutting down public transportation in a massive strike. Days later, faced with unprecedented public anger, the strikers have returned to work in defeat: Traffic on French trains, subways and buses started returning to normal Friday after striking transport workers ended a nine-day walkout over President Nicolas Sarkozy's reforms. Pockets of resistance remained, and restoring full service to the nationwide rail service and public transport in Paris and other cities was expected to take days. But the victory for Sarkozy was clear as workers voted on Thursday to end the strike after talks opened on his plan to end special retirement privileges for half a million train drivers and...
Another Sign Of Progress
The Guardian reports that over 40% of the foreign terrorists who went into Iraq for al-Qaeda had Saudi citizenship, a trend that has been reported repeatedly over the last two years. A raid on an AQI camp in Sinjar on the Iraqi-Syrian border reconfirmed this trend. Since the raid early this year, the number of terrorists trying to cross into Iraq has declined dramatically, showing that the quiet efforts of the Saudis may be paying off -- even though a significant portion of the "Saudis" may be anything but: Overall, US officials reported that the number of foreign fighters entering Iraq this year dropped from 80-110 a month in the first half of the year to around 40 in October, partly due to the Sinjar raid. After the raid the number of suicide bombings in Iraq fell to 16 in October - half the number seen during the summer months...
Uttar Pradesh In Coordinated Terror Attack
The largest state in India suffered a series of bombings that appeared coordinated and targeted at the legal system. Five attacks occurred within minutes of each other, a hallmark of al-Qaeda plots: At least 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured today in as many as five nearly simultaneous bomb blasts outside court houses in three cities in northern India, the authorities said. All were in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state. The first blast went off in the state capital, Lucknow, at 1:05 p.m., just outside the entrance to the city court house, near a bicycle stand used by lawyers to park their bikes. Noone was killed. Television stations broadcast images of lawyers, dressed in their formal legal uniform of black suits, high collars and white ties, fleeing from the area, which was devastated by the blast. Two more explosions went off within five minutes. One...
Can You See Me Now?
Federal agents routinely request tracking data from cellphone companies to determine the travel and assembly habits of suspects, and courts have granted them unusual leeway in obtaining the data. Are these terrorist suspects that could present a clear and imminent danger to the lives of Americans? No — just drug dealers and other usual suspects of American crime. Why, then, do the courts allow this tracking without the normal establishment of probable cause? At Heading Right, I look past the somewhat-misleading tilt of the article, which makes this sound like an NSA-style "warrantless surveillance" program, which it isn't. Federal agents get warrants, but without making a factual basis for probable cause. In counterterrorist efforts where thousands of American lives could be at risk, Americans could understand the wide latitude courts give for such requests, but should that apply to normal criminal investigations? Also at Heading Right, JASmius takes a look...
November 24, 2007
Thank You, John Howard
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has conceded defeat in the national election as the Labour Party assumes control of Parliament. Perhaps America's staunchest defender of the global war on terror among world leaders, Howard now gives way to Kevin Rudd, and may find himself out of government altogether. Howard may be the first PM to lose his own seat in almost 80 years: Australian prime minister John Howard's 11 year reign has ended with a landslide election victory for the opposition Labour Party. Kevin Rudd, the former diplomat, was set to become Australia's 26th prime minister, less than a year after rising to the top of an opposition party which has been in the political wilderness for more than a decade. Mr Rudd accepted victory and addressed supporters in Brisbane after Mr Howard telephoned the Labour leader to concede defeat. Mr Rudd vowed to write a new page in Australia's...
A Nervous Interlude
The Lebanese Army has taken control of the nation as an impasse over Lebanon's presidency continues. Emile Lahoud, the Syrian-backed president until his term ran out yesterday, announced a state of emergency, which Prime Minister Fouad Siniora immediately repudiated. The Army, meanwhile, has taken a low-key approach to control, and Lebanon has mostly held its collective breath: Lebanese factions failed to reach agreement on replacing President Emile Lahoud, whose term expired at midnight Friday, leaving Lebanon without a head of state for the first time since its 1975-90 civil war. Hours before stepping down, Lahoud ordered the already mobilized army to take control of security in the country. Despite fears of strife between the country's camps -- divided over ideology, foreign patrons and their share of power -- the deadline for replacing Lahoud, a 71-year-old former general, passed peacefully, with the army deployed across the uneasy capital since morning in...
Just North Of South
BBC correspondent Brian Barron gives his impressions of Yemen in a dispatch today that suffers from a little too much soul-searching over the lack of soles. Barron seems preoccupied with his feet and less interested in reporting on the impulses that pushes Yemen to the forefront of the war on terror. After he finally finds a "decent pair of British size 10", the issues facing Yemen finally come into focus: Piety prevails today. Yemen seems in the grip of an almost feverish bout of mosque building. One Sanaa columnist reckons 50,000 mosques have risen across the nation, compared with 12,000 new schools. ... To the north lie rich neighbours like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, though Yemen remains one of the world's poorest countries. To the south, just across the Gulf of Aden, lies the failed state of Somalia and troubled Ethiopia. With corruption allegedly on a huge scale,...
Sharif Returns Amid Bombings
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan today as radical Islamists killed 35 people in two suicide attacks on military installations. Pervez Musharraf has apparently changed his mind about keeping Sharif in exile after meeting with Saudi leaders last week. Sharif adds more uncertainty about the direction of Pakistani politics in a month of roller-coaster changes: Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf will allow his bitter rival Nawaz Sharif to return home tomorrow, ending seven years of exile in Saudi Arabia, Musharraf's spokesman said. "Yes he will be allowed to land," retired General Rashid Qureshi told the Observer, referring to Sharif's planned arrival at Lahore airport this afternoon aboard a chartered Saudi jet. Musharraf ejected Sharif, whom he deposed as prime minister in a 1999 coup, from Pakistan when he tried to return last September. Four hours after landing in Islamabad the burly politician was bundled onto a...
Movie Review: Enchanted
What would happen if a Disney princess got unceremoniously dropped into real life? As the grandfather of a five-year-old girl who practically lives in Disney Princess motif, I have to admit the thought crossed my mind more than once. It also crossed minds at Disney, and the new film Enchanted and its cast fulfills most of the promise of the premise. *** A few mild spoilers exist in this review. *** Minnesota-based Amy Adams plays Giselle, a very limited young lady from an enchanted-forest cottage who only dreams of True Love's Kiss. James Marsden plays her equally benighted young prince, Prince Edward. When Edward's wicked stepmother Narissa (voiced and played deliciously by Susan Sarandon) reckons that the marriage of the two will strip her of her crown, she pushes Giselle down a wishing well that sends her out of a New York City manhole -- and into the path of...
November 25, 2007
Democrats Lose Footing On Iraq
The Democrats thought that Iraq would make the 2008 elections a cakewalk -- that voters would throw flowers in their path, joyously celebrating their liberation from a complete American defeat. As it turns out, a funny thing happened on the way to the cakewalk -- the US forgot to lose. As the situation improves in Iraq, the Democrats now face the task of defending their prior rhetoric and retooling the message in order to avoid the defeatist label in 2008: As violence declines in Baghdad, the leading Democratic presidential candidates are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on Iraq: acknowledging that success, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the economy. Advisers to Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama say that the candidates have watched security conditions improve after the troop escalation in Iraq...
Sharif Home After Reaching 'Understanding'
The return of Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan went better than his last visit, where security forces bundled him onto a plane within hours of his arrival. This time, the former Prime Minister left the airport and successfully transited to his home, as planned in Saudi Arabia this week. While Sharif still opposes Musharraf, he has apparently accepted the presidential election as a fait accompli: Speaking to the BBC from inside his plane, Mr Sharif said there was little room for any understanding with Mr Musharraf. He said his objectives were to rid the country of military rule and to strengthen democracy. ... BBC Pakistan correspondent Barbara Plett says Mr Sharif remains opposed to Gen Musharraf, but that he no longer poses a direct threat because the military leader has recently secured another presidential term by declaring an emergency. His return on Sunday would be in time to file nomination papers...
The Hair Of The Balkan Dog
With the status of Kosovo beginning to create a political firestorm in the Balkans, one might be tempted to rethink the actions that brought Europe to liberate the province and then occupy it without any thought of what should follow. Not Richard Holbrooke, one of the architects of the disintegration in the Balkans. He writes in the Washington Post that, like everything else, Kosovo's woes are the fault of the Bush administration -- and that we should send a lot more American troops to garrison the Balkans: Recent American diplomacy led by Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and special envoy Frank Wisner, working closely with E.U. negotiator Wolfgang Ischinger, has largely succeeded in persuading most of our European allies to recognize Kosovo rapidly. But NATO has not yet faced the need to reinforce its presence in Kosovo. Nor has serious transatlantic discussion begun on Bosnia, even though Charles English, the...
Bad Economy? Not So Far, Although Good Luck Reading About It
As a presidential election draws near, the opposition party inevitably begins talking about how poor the economy has begun. This election has seen an early start to this kind of talk, recalling the 2004 rhetoric about how the rebounding US economy then resembled the Great Depression -- laughable in retrospect and educational in review. It appears that Christmas shoppers have both laughed and learned this weekend as well: The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country. According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent...
The Turkish Laundry
The Times of London has an intriguing article today based on a series of interviews with a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative currently detained near Istanbul. Louai al-Sakka could be the biggest terrorist of which no one has heard, or an egomaniacal lunatic given to flights of fancy. If the former, he may hold the key to a number of AQ plots, including 9/11, and show how AQ uses Turkey as a terrorist laundromat (via Memeorandum): Since being convicted as an Al-Qaeda bomb plotter last year, Sakka has decided to reveal his alleged role in some of the key plots of recent years, providing a potential insight into the unanswered questions surrounding them. His story is also one of a globetrotting terrorist in an organisation that is truly multinational. He is an enigma and, despite his involvement in three terrorist outrages involving British citizens, he is virtually unknown in this country. By...
Back To Swat
The Pakistani military has committed ground troops to Swat, where a Taliban insurgency had taken control of the first settled area. The army says it has severed enemy lines of communication and killed over 200 militants, and wrested control of mountaintops from the forces loyal to Maulana Fazlullah. If so, it represents the first major military action since Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule in part to fight the radical Islamists: Pakistani troops have begun a major ground offensive against pro-Taleban militants in a former tourist resort in the North West Frontier province. Military officials say more than 200 militants have been killed in the past week, but there is no independent confirmation of those figures. A curfew has been imposed in the area around the Swat Valley, about 160km (100 miles) from Islamabad. Thousands of civilians are reported to have fled from the fighting. We've heard before that the army...
November 26, 2007
Is Bill Poison In Iowa?
Bill Clinton has finally begun campaigning in Iowa, sixteen years after he began running for President. Iowans appear to welcome him warmly on behalf of his wife, but Hillary's opponents have reminded them that when she takes credit for his successes, she has to take responsibilities for his failures as well. That formula forced Al Gore to keep Bill at arm's length in the 2000 race, and former Clinton official Donna Brazile says she knows why: Bill Clinton's shadow over the 2008 nominating race creates potential pitfalls for his wife and for her opponents. Hillary Clinton risks being seen as something other than her own candidate, while her opponents risk offending Iowa Democrats who revere the former president. "I think it's going to come down to: Do you really want Bill Clinton back in the White House?" said Donna Brazile, who ran Democrat Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. ... The...
Pakistani Opposition Ready For Elections
Opposition figures Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have thus far played coy about participating in the January 8th parliamentary elections. Although Bhutto told supporters she would decide on the elections last week, she has kept her options open. Sharif didn't rule out running for Parliament either, although his party had earlier called for boycotts. Both have now signaled willingness to participate by registering as candidates: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has filed nomination papers for the country's general elections, but insists he may boycott the poll. Mr Sharif says he will not stand for election unless President Pervez Musharraf lifts the state of emergency. Benazir Bhutto has now filed papers for three parliamentary seats. There are signs that Gen Musharraf will step down as head of the army and be sworn in for another term as president this week. The next move rests with Musharraf. If he does not...
Bringing Their Own Dimes
Two years ago, we recommended that Republican donors withhold contributions to the party's Congressional and Senate committees to send a message regarding their support for incumbents who didn't get the message about spending, judicial confirmations, and a wide variety of other issues of importance to Republican voters. While that effort was limited to 2005, the committees have seen their donations decrease ever since. Now they trail the Democrats by significant margins, and they have begun to look for BYOD candidates -- as in bring your own dime (via CapQ reader Mr. Morelock): Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say. At this point, strategists for the National Republican Congressional Committee have enlisted wealthy candidates to run in at least a dozen competitive Congressional districts nationwide, particularly...
The Unbearable Flexibility Of Barack
What happens when a candidate declares that he represents a different kind of campaigning — one based on conviction rather than calculation? Usually calculation wins out, as Fred Hiatt notes in regard to Barack Obama. As the year has progressed, Obama appears a lot more flexible than he advertised. At Heading Right, I look at the beneficiaries of Obama's newfound flexibility -- the NEA, the antiwar activists, and the trade protectionists -- and marvel at the fortune that led his evolution as a candidate towards the complete spectrum of Democratic special interests. So much for a campaign of conviction, eh?...
Lott To Retire
A difficult season for the Senate Republican Caucus just got tougher with the retirement of Trent Lott, the Minority Whip -- at least in the short term. The four-term Senator from Mississippi will leave the Senate at the end of the year, and the Republicans will have to scramble to ensure that they keep the seat in GOP hands: Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said Monday. Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in Pascagoula and Jackson later in the day to reveal his plans. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective at the end of the year. No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health....
Sadr Objects To De-Baathification Reform
One of Congress' key reconciliation goals has finally getting attention from the Iraqi National Assembly -- and it's playing into the hands of a familiar nemesis. The parliamentary bloc loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr has resurrected itself in opposition to the reform of de-Baathification, asserting that they want to see justice, not mercy, for members of the Saddam Hussein regime: A draft law that would ease restrictions on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, a measure seen by the Bush administration as crucial to national reconciliation, was presented in parliament on Sunday for the first time. A powerful Shiite faction quickly objected to any moves to bring the Baathists back into government jobs, and a table-pounding argument erupted in the closed-door session, forcing postponement of the debate. ... In the wake of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, thousands of members of the Sunni-dominated Baath Party were dismissed from military and government...
The Islamist Plot To Attack -- Arizona?
The Washington Times serves up a nice, juicy slab of red meat to conservatives today with an exposé of an Islamist plot to attack the US through Mexico. According to Sara Carter, Fort Huachuca had to change its security procedures after determining that radical Islamists had forges an alliance with Mexican drug cartels to attack it. The US has detained Afghans and Iraqis in Texas after detaining them in connection to the plot: Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility. Fort officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington...
How Serious Is Annapolis?
Many questions surround the peace talks at Annapolis this week, not least among them how far the Bush administration plans to climb out on the ledge to get a settlement. With the Syrians deciding to attend, the prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appear brighter than any recent time, at least on the surface. The White House will not publicly push for any particulars, though, leaving some to wonder whether the conference will succeed at any level: President Bush's national security advisor said Sunday that the president would not adopt a more activist role in Mideast peace negotiations that start today, even though many observers believe the United States must step up its direct involvement if the effort is to succeed. On the eve of a U.S.-convened conference in Annapolis, Md., launching the first formal peace talks in seven years, Stephen J. Hadley said Bush believed Washington's...
Iraqis Offer Long-Term Security Partnership
The Iraqi government has offered the US a long-term security partnership that envisions a lower profile for American troops, as well as economic advantages for US investors. The agreement would replace the current UN mandate, which Iraq wants extended only to the end of 2008. It might also revive conspiratorial criticisms that have dogged the Iraq effort (via Memeorandum): Iraq's government, seeking protection against foreign threats and internal coups, will offer the U.S. a long-term troop presence in Iraq in return for U.S. security guarantees as part of a strategic partnership, two Iraqi officials said Monday. The proposal, described to The Associated Press by two senior Iraqi officials familiar with the issue, is one of the first indications that the United States and Iraq are beginning to explore what their relationship might look like once the U.S. significantly draws down its troop presence. In Washington, President Bush's adviser on the...
Gloves Coming Off?
The Republican primary fights have mostly focused on one-way attacks on Hillary Clinton, but that appears to be changing. Increasingly specific criticisms have started between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, both ironically using Hillary as a benchmark. Have the gloves come off for Republicans with six weeks left to go before the Iowa caucuses? In a big strategic shift, Rudy Giuliani hammered Mitt Romney’s record Sunday on three fronts, saying it was time to “take the mask off and take a look at what kind of governor was he.” Using some of the toughest language of his campaign, Giuliani, in an interview with Politico, slammed Romney on health care, crime and taxes. At the same time he portrayed the one-time moderate as a hypocrite on a host of social issues who lives “in a glass house.” It was easily the most sweeping attack Giuliani has delivered against Romney in this...
Heading Right Radio: Monday, Monday With Rick Moran
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Rick Moran of Right Wing Nut House joins us to talk over the Monday morning issues -- and we have a full plate! Among those we'll discuss: * The supposed terrorist plot to attack Fort Huachuca -- on the level, or imaginary? * Trent Lott's retirement * Annapolis * The Iraqi offer of a security partnership * The lack of enthusiasm (and contributions) for Republican Congressional candidates 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:...
Clinton Trails All GOP Candidates: Zogby
Part of relying on polls for analysis includes knowing whether the pollster has credibility. Zogby Interactive has a reputation for questionable results, but it usually can at least identify trends. Their latest trend shows the inevitability of Hillary Clinton sinking the Democrats next year: Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton trails five top Republican presidential contenders in general election match-ups, a drop in support from this summer, according to a poll released on Monday. Clinton's top Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, still lead Republicans in hypothetical match-ups ahead of the November 4, 2008, presidential election, the survey by Zogby Interactive showed. Clinton, a New York senator who has been at the top of the Democratic pack in national polls in the 2008 race, trails Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mike Huckabee by three to five percentage points in the direct matches. In July, Clinton...
How To Answer An Asinine Question?
Mansoor Ijaz wants to paint Romney as a bigot for refusing to commit to nominating a Muslim to the Cabinet if elected. He claims, as do others linking to this story, that Romney's answer demonstrates a latent anti-Muslim bias. Instead, Ijaz demonstrates the absurdity of identity politics. Pay close attention to the question and the answer in this exchange: I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that "jihadism" is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today. He answered, "…based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration." Romney, whose Mormon faith has become the subject of heated debate in...
November 27, 2007
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, 67%-26%
If a war over Christmas really exists, it's not much of a fight. We're heading into the part of the calendar where we can expect to read about retailers who substitute "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas", with critics claiming the former as a dilution of the significance of the season. As it turns out, two-thirds of Americans in almost all demographic groups prefer the traditional greeting (via the Political Machine): As the holiday season begins, 67% of American adults like stores to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in their seasonal advertising rather than “Happy Holidays.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 26% prefer the Happy Holidays line. It's as much of a sweep as anything anyone will ever read in a poll. The only demographic categories giving "Merry Christmas" less than 60% were Black (50%-44%) and Other (55%-37%) ethnic categories, and people making under $20,000 per year...
Musharraf's Farewell To The Troops
For those playing the will-he-or-won't-he game with Pervez Musharraf, the first position seems to be the winner. The newly-elected president of Pakistan has made his farewell inspection of the troops, in apparent preparation for his resignation as Army chief of staff tomorrow. He gave no indication whether the emergency order would end at the same time as his military commission: Pervez Musharraf visited troops Tuesday to bid them farewell, a day before he planned to stand down as military chief to become a civilian head of state in a move aimed at easing the country's political crisis. A guard of honor composed of service personnel from the army, navy and air force greeted him as he arrived at armed forces headquarters in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital Islamabad. Musharraf, who wore his general's uniform, did not make any comments to journalists who were being taken on a military-conducted...
The American Non-Empire
The charge of empire-building gets made repeatedly by critics of the United States, to the point where counterargument rarely occurs. This passivity comes in part from the unquestionable international military reach of the US and its commercial, cultural, and political influence around the world. However, the term "empire" means much more than influence and reach, as Jonah Goldberg notes in today's Los Angeles Times: Critics of American foreign policy point to the fact that the U.S. does many things that empires once did -- police the seas, deploy militaries abroad, provide a lingua franca and a global currency -- and then rest their case. But noting that X does many of the same things as Y does not mean that X and Y are the same thing. The police provide protection, and so does the Mafia. Orphanages raise children, but they aren't parents. If your wife cleans your home, tell...
Congress, The AAA Affiliate Of K Street
In days past, politicians only turned to lobbying when their constituents had had enough of them, as The Politico reminds us. Now, however, with millions of dollars chasing billions in federal contracts and grants, lobbying and public service have changed places. Trent Lott's sudden retirement may signal that a Congressional career may serve as the minor leagues in pork-barrel politics. Congress has become the minor leagues of lobbying. At Heading Right, I note that Lott's rise to the K Street majors comes as no accident. Congress can blame itself for becoming its AAA affiliate....
Bush: You Know It Don't Come Easy
George Bush wants to push for a negotiated settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before he leaves office in 2009, but doesn't want to inflate expectations to the extent that a failure would provoke renewed violence in the West Bank. His opening remarks reflect the tension between those goals, imploring world leaders to work against the extremists while noting the difficulties ahead: President Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday at the Annapolis conference that the time is right to relaunch Mideast peace talks because "a battle is under way for the future of the Middle East." Bush said it won't be easy to achieve the goal of creating two states — Israel and Palestine — living side by side in peace after decades of conflict and bloodshed, yet he urged the two sides to work together for the sake of their people. "Today, Palestinians and Israelis each understand that...
Do Arabs Fear Democracy More Than Israel?
With a number of Arab nations sending diplomats to engage Israel in peace negotiations today in Annapolis, the Wall Street Journal notes where Arabs so far have not gone: Baghdad. Despite the establishment of many other embassies in Iraq's capital, Arab nations have yet to send emissaries to their recently-liberated brethren. Even the feckless UN has begun planning their return to Iraq, so what keeps Iraq's neighbors away? "Not a single Arab ambassador" is represented in Baghdad today, a senior U.S. diplomat in Iraq noted in a telephone interview last week. Ostensibly, the Arab complaint is that the Iraqi government is led by sectarian Shiites who have failed to look after the interests of Iraq's Sunnis. That would be more credible if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki weren't meeting regularly with the Sunni sheiks from the Anbar Awakening Council, and if billions in oil revenue weren't flowing from the central government...
Should The FCC Regulate Cable?
The Federal Communications Commission chair has declared that the thresholds of cable penetration have exceeded the minimum necessary for FCC regulation and intends on bringing cable under its jurisdiction. Kevin Martin may not have a majority of commissioners on his side, however, and Congress has bristled at the notion of an expansion of agency power. The heart of the issue lies in whether cable is a monopoly, where market forces have little sway: The Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote today on whether it will consider applying broad regulations to a cable television industry that has been largely unregulated at the federal level for more than 20 years. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin is pushing the commission to take up the issue, but support among other members is uncertain and the vote is part of a crowded agenda still being assembled last night in a process one staff member...
Journalistic Malpractice At The Christian Science Monitor
Yesterday, Mansoor Ijaz stirred up controversy by claiming that Mitt Romney was an anti-Muslim bigot after supposedly refusing to consider Muslims for Cabinet positions. Romney, while not specifically denying the quote, told CNN that he didn't want to use religious affiliations as credentials for any presidential appointments: Governor Romney: "… But I also think that suggesting that we have to fill spots based on checking off boxes of various ethnic groups is really a very inappropriate way to think about how we staff positions. I'm very pleased that, among my Cabinet members, for instance, I had several African-American individuals. I had people of different backgrounds. But I don't go in every circumstance I'm in and say, OK, how many African-Americans, how many Hispanic-Americans, how many Asian-Americans, and fill boxes that way. I fill responsibilities based upon people's merit and their skill. And, sometimes, it includes many ethnic minorities. And, other...
Annapolis: Return To The Road Map
The first fruit of the Annapolis Conference has arrived, and it's a road map. The White House just announced its commitment to hold both sides accountable to the road-map agreement, and the acquiescence of the Israelis and the Palestinians to meet its obligations on the way to a peace treaty by the end of 2008: We express our determination to bring an end to bloodshed, suffering and decades of conflict between our peoples; to usher in a new era of peace, based on freedom, security, justice, dignity, respect and mutual recognition; to propagate a culture of peace and nonviolence; to confront terrorism and incitement, whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis. In furtherance of the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, we agree to immediately launch good-faith bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty, resolving all outstanding issues, including all...
Heading Right Radio: Jim Geraghty & Bill Paxon
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Jim Geraghty joins us today to discuss several stories from the campaign trail. Has Mike Huckabee surpassed Fred Thompson and John McCain in the Republican primaries? Former Rep. Bill Paxon will talk about Rudy Giuliani's strategy for tomorrow's YouTube debate. 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:...
50,000 By November?
The Bush administration announced yesterday that they would seek a security partnership with Iraq to replace the UN mandate currently regulating the American military presence. The New York Sun notes that the details show a massive change in troop levels by the end of 2008. The reduction could leave barely a third of the troops in Iraq from their present levels, and could dramatically impact the 2008 elections (via Political Vindication): With the eyes of the world focused on the Middle East peace talks in Annapolis, Md., President Bush's war tsar, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, quietly announced that the American and Iraqi governments will start talks early next year to bring about an end to the allied occupation by the close of Mr. Bush's presidency. The negotiations will bring to a formal conclusion the U.N. Chapter 7 Security Council involvement in the occupation and administration of Iraq, and are expected...
November 28, 2007
Pervez Gives Up The Uniform
Pervez Musharraf has finally fulfilled his promise to resign from the military and rule as a civilian. More than three years after pledging to retire as Army chief of staff, and weeks after his gambit to run for the civilian post as an active-duty general, Musharraf finally bid his comrades farewell in an emotional valediction. At least one of his political opponents stated that it made "a lot of difference": President Pervez Musharraf stepped down Wednesday from his powerful post as Pakistan's military commander, a day before he was to be sworn in as a civilian president in a long-delayed pledge not to hold both jobs. During a change of command, Musharraf relinquished his post by handing over his ceremonial baton to his hand-picked successor, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani. "(You) are the saviors of Pakistan," Musharraf said in an emotional final speech to the troops. He appeared to be blinking back...
Sarkozy To Paris Rioters: My Patience Is At An End
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has a track record for dealing harshly with rioters, and he issued a warning to those stoking the latest round of antisocial violence. France will not approach these people as political activists, but as murderers who simply haven't yet found success: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to bring to justice rioters who shot at police in Paris in urban unrest that followed the death of two youths. Mr Sarkozy, visiting policemen injured in the riots, said such shootings could not be tolerated. ... Mr Sarkozy touched down from a state visit to China on Wednesday morning and headed straight to a hospital in Eaubonne, northern Paris, to visit some of the 120 officers injured in the rioting. Afterwards he said: "Opening fire at officials is completely unacceptable... [this] has a name - attempted murder... Those who take it into their hands to shoot at officials...
The Cabbie Factor
The last few months have shown a remarkable decline in violence in Baghdad and Iraq, and the Western press has finally begun reporting it in earnest. For a while, the media would report the numbers but include enough anecdotal reporting to cast doubt on them. Now even the anecdotal reporting supports the progress made by the Americans and Iraqis in dialing down the violence. Today's Washington Post reports on the cabbie factor for measuring progress: Haider Abbas, a 36-year-old taxi driver, had only a few moments to answer what is often a life-or-death question in this city: Would he drive a passenger home? The home, on that scorching afternoon last month, happened to be in Adhamiyah, a notoriously dangerous neighborhood where several cabbies had been gunned down. Abbas hadn't been there in two years. But the fare pleaded that it had become safer, so the cabbie reluctantly agreed to go....
Florida Firewall Holding
Rudy Giuliani will likely have home-field advantage in tonight's CNN/YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, as Florida's Republicans have maintained their support for the GOP national front-runner. Rudy has a commanding lead in the Sunshine State, considered his firewall against a potential domino effect for Mitt Romney if Iowa and New Hampshire go to the former Massachusetts governor: If the Florida Republican primary were held today, the former New York City mayor would finish on top with the support of 38 percent of likely primary voters, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. That's 21 points ahead of his closest rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who got 17 percent. Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee are tied at 11 percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is at 9 percent in the survey, followed by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 5 percent, Rep. Duncan...
Hollywood's Messaging Meltdown
Hollywood studios have offered Americans a steady diet of antiwar messaging, but Americans aren't biting. Major releases have tallied less than independent documentaries in US theaters, while family fare and more mainstream films profit from their collapse. Investors Business Daily wonders whether Hollywood has gotten the message on messaging: Why doesn't Hollywood cut to the chase the next time it wants to insult the public with a new war-on-terror film and just call it "Bombs Away"? As movies depicting U.S. troops as bad guys and terrorists as sensitive, misunderstood souls continue to crank out, the industry needs to take its puny box office returns as a wake-up call from the public. Despite top star billings, big-foot directors, the best publicity money can buy and critical acclaim, the public just isn't biting. The problem is the content. "Redacted," gave us the Christmasy theme of Iraqi rape starring U.S. troops as rapists....
Downplaying The Shift In Public Opinion
The media appears to be spinning at warp speed today, as Pew announces its polling data on the war. The recent and remarkable reversal in Iraq has made an impression on the public, with double-digit changes to the assessment of military efforts. At the Washington Post, that news gets buried on page A10 with a headline that focuses on the popularity of the war -- a headline that belies the reporting over which it sits: The debate at home over the Iraq war has shifted significantly in the two months since Gen. David H. Petraeus testified to Congress and President Bush ordered the first troop withdrawals, with more Americans now concluding that the situation on the ground is improving. A new poll released yesterday underscored the changing political environment, finding the public more positive about the military effort in Iraq than at any point in 14 months as a surge...
McCain Conference Call
John McCain started off this week's call by talking about his recent trip to Iraq. He told us that he had a "better" meeting with Nouri al-Maliki and his Shi'ite VP. McCain says troop morale remains high, but that General Petraeus expects a small uptick in violence from al-Qaeda; they see their position badly eroding and may try to seize some momentum. He stresses that drawdowns should come as a result of facts on the ground, not political schedules. Questions: * Economic philosophy -- We needed a restraint on spending, and McCain says he's for tax cuts of all kinds. He wants any future cuts more focused on middle-income Americans. He also wants less regulation to decrease the government burden, and we need to end out-of-control spending. Any efforts to expand government will meet with his veto. * Iowa, Romney on Muslims -- McCain acknowledges that the effort hasn't paid...
A Huckabee Surprise?
Mike Huckabee may throw a monkey wrench into the well-laid plans of Mitt Romney. According to the latest Rasmussen polling, Huckabee has opened a lead over Romney in a state that Romney thought he had sewn up weeks ago: The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind. National frontrunner Rudy Giuliani gets just 12% of the vote in Iowa at this time while former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the only other candidate in double digits at 11% (see crosstabs). Given the margin of error, the challenges of determining the relatively small number of people who will participate in a caucus, and other factors, the race is far too close to call at this point in time. However, the fact that Romney is no...
Why We Called It Clintonesque (Update: Bill Would Have Voted For War)
Common wisdom holds that Bill Clinton provides his wife with her biggest political asset on the stump, but yesterday demonstrated that the former President can also supply her with hurdles as well. Campaigning in Iowa, Bill attempted to rewrite history by claiming to "oppose[] Iraq from the beginning" -- leading ABC and bloggers to uncover a treasure trove of statements that expose that assertion as a lie (via Memeorandum): Former President Bill Clinton portrayed himself as having been against the Iraq war "from the beginning" while campaigning Tuesday for his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, in Iowa. "Even though I approved of Afghanistan and opposed Iraq from the beginning," said Clinton, "I still resent that I was not asked or given the opportunity to support those soldiers." Clinton has long been critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and called it a "big mistake" as far back as November of 2005....
Heading Right Radio: Special Elections
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 to two candidates in special Congressional elections. First we have Robert Latta, who is running for Ohio's 5th district seat, in a conversation taped earlier today. Afterwards, we welcome Rob Wittman, hoping to fill Virginia's 1st-CD seat left open by the passing of Jo Ann Davis earlier this year. Both seats are crucial to the Republicans and will serve as bellwethers for the 2008 election. 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:...
Musharraf To End Emergency Rule?
Pakistan's Attorney General tells the Daily Times that the parliamentary elections will not be held under emergency rule, and that the newly-civilian president may lift his emergency decree within days. If so, this represents an amazing reversal for Pervez Musharraf, who had given every indication that the PCO would continue for at least the next several weeks (via the Weekly Standard): Attorney General (AG) of Pakistan Malik Muhammad Qayyum said on Tuesday that the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) would be lifted “very soon”. “It is for sure the elections will be held under the constitution and not the PCO,” he told Daily Times. He said when the Presidential election was held the constitution was fully operative and General Musharraf was re-elected for another term as a constitutional president. When asked if he could suggest a time frame for the lifting of emergency rule and revocation of the PCO, he said...
It Might Boost Their Cred
After picking rhetorical fights with the monarchs of Spain and Saudi Arabia, Hugo Chavez apparently has more sparring energy to expend. He called out CNN for "instigating his murder," seizing on an error on a recent broadcast as a signal to Venezuelan assassins: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday CNN may have been instigating his murder when the U.S. TV network showed a photograph of him with a label underneath that read "Who killed him?" The caption appeared to be a production mistake -- confusing a Chavez news item with one on the death of a football star. The anchor said "take the image down" when he realized. But Chavez called for a probe in an interview on state television, where he repeatedly reviewed a tape of the broadcast, questioning why the unconnected photograph and wording were left on screen for several seconds. "I want the state prosecutor to...
CNN/YouTube Live Blog Tonight!
Tonight at Heading Right, the BlogTalkRadio conservative show hosts will live-blog the CNN/YouTube debate, starting at 7 PM CT. Just as we do with every Republican debate, we will provide a blizzard of instant reaction, pointing out the victories and the stumbles of the candidates and the questioners. It's a great fast-paced companion to the debate itself. At 9:30 PM CT, we will hold our traditional debate recap at Debate Central, talking about the winners and losers of the debate. Did CNN do a better job in question selection than the previous YouTube debate? Which candidates rolled with the format, and which got rolled by it? Join us at BlogTalkRadio to find out! UPDATE & BUMP: Tonight we'll have some great bloggers at Heading Right, including a new member, Jazz Shaw from Middle Earth Journal and Midstream Radio. In fact, I think he's already started. Joining us for the Debate...
CNN/YouTube Debate -- CNN Wins (Update: A Major Error Mars Their Night)
So the Republicans finally braved the CNN/YouTube format, and the most apparent result was that CNN and YouTube did their homework. For the most part -- with a few glaring exceptions -- the network eliminated the silliness and stuck to substance. The questions hit hot topics and sparked some fierce debate. With a couple of exceptions, Republican fears of crypto-Democratic hit questions failed to materialize, and the candidates responded substantively to the rest. I expected the debate to descend into silliness and gotcha moments. The only gotchas came from the candidates. Truthfully, this may have been one of the least "gotcha" and most substantive debates we've had this year. Now, who won among the candidates? I'd have to lean towards Mike Huckabee. He steered clear of personal attacks, allowed his natural personality to emerge, and used his sense of humor to great effect. If people wonder why Huckabee has made...
November 29, 2007
The Plant Life Of Anderson Cooper And CNN
CNN and YouTube had weeks to select the questions for last night's debate, poring over 5,000 submissions to select the handful that made it to the candidates. They even flew a few of them to the debate in order to allow them a response to the answers provided by the Republican presidential hopefuls. Yet within minutes of the debate, bloggers discovered what CNN missed -- that one prominent questioner flown to Florida by CNN worked on the campaign of a Democratic rival, and that at least three other questioners have declared support for Democratic candidates. Michelle Malkin rounds it up: The best thing about Republicans agreeing to do the CNN/YouTube debate is that it created yet another invaluable opportunity to expose CNN’s abject incompetence. Retired Brig. Gen./gays in the military lobbyist/Hillary-Kerry supporter Keith H. Kerr wasn’t the only plant at the CNN/YouTube debate. The plant uncovering is in full-swing over...
Largest Sunni Volunteer Mobilization Launches
The US surge strategy has pushed al-Qaeda to the outer edges of western Iraq and convinced native insurgents to switch sides and fight against the foreign terrorists. AQI has attempted to find a toehold on the perimeter to keep from getting swept out of Iraq entirely, and they have relied on their usual methods of terrorism to gain the acquiescence of the locals. As a result, the US has accepted 6,000 Iraqi Sunnis in a volunteer force to man checkpoints and fight AQI -- the largest volunteer mobilization in Iraq: Nearly 6,000 Sunni Arab residents joined a security pact with American forces Wednesday in what U.S. officers described as a critical step in plugging the remaining escape routes for extremists flushed from former strongholds. The new alliance — called the single largest volunteer mobilization since the war began — covers the “last gateway” for groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq...
Hugh And Mansoor, And A Media Alert
Hugh Hewitt took on Mansoor Ijaz over the supposed Muslim bigotry of Mitt Romney on last night's show, just before the presidential debate. Hugh challenged Ijaz to find independent corroboration on the record for his account of the question and answer, and Ijaz reacted by calling Romney a liar: HH: I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and on the record means your name is on it. Now I’m not saying it didn’t happen. I’m just saying no one has yet corroborated on the record your account. You’ve had people… MI: I just completely disagree with what you’ve said, but go ahead. What’s the point? HH: Okay, the point is that Romney says he understood you to ask a different thing, and answered a different way. You disagree strongly with that. MI: No, I’m telling you what Romney said is a lie. Why is corroboration important in this case? Ijaz...
About That Economy ....
As the presidential election continues to draw nearer, we keep hearing about our collapsing economy from the usual media hysterics. The housing market is near collapse! The credit crunch! The subprime markets are melting, melting, I say! Well, what about the actual economy? Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8 percent. The GDP estimates released today are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month. In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 3.9 percent ... The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from exports, personal...
Former Soviet Uranium For Sale In Slovakia
Slovakian authorities arrested three men in connection to a plot to sell radioactive material that could have formed the core of a terrorist weapon. Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian tried to sell almost a pound of uranium powder that would have served as the center of a so-called "dirty bomb", one that would spread radioactive material to contaminate inhabited areas. So far, the target of the trio's marketing remains unclear: Two Hungarians and a Ukrainian arrested in an attempted sale of uranium were peddling material enriched enough to be used in a radiological "dirty bomb," Slovak authorities said Thursday. First Slovak Police Vice President Michal Kopcik said the three suspects, who were arrested Wednesday afternoon in eastern Slovakia and Hungary, were peddling just under a pound of uranium in powder form that investigators believe came from somewhere in the former Soviet Union.... It remained unclear to whom the suspects were...
Building The Bentley
Robert Novak asks whether one could imagine legendary Mississippi politicians cashing in on their legislative careers in the manner that Trent Lott will attempt when he leaves the Senate. Unfortunately, Novak seems to have forgotten that we have seen members of Congress cashing in while still in office over the last few years — William Jefferson, Allan Mollahan, Robert Ney, and Randy “Duke” Cunningham among them. At least Lott waited until he left to reach for the really big money. At Heading Right, I applaud Novak's outrage, but question his naivete. Trent Lott didn't help build this pork-barrel Bentley without intending to take it for a spin himself. As far as Mississippian displeasure is concerned, I award them the Captain Louis Renault award for their shock, shock! that Lott wants to sell out for big lobbyist money after decades of shoveling pork back to those same Mississipians....
Why Does Vista Suck? (Update: Yes, I Use Firefox, But ....)
I have to ask this question, because for the dozenth time in two days, I have to restart Internet Explorer after it locked up, on a brand-new Compaq desktop system. I dutifully have Vista check for a solution before restarting the program, and when it restarts, it locks up again when I try to maximize it for display. Nor is this the only problem Vista has. Its DNS tables have a weird habit of suddenly getting very stupid. It forgets how to connect to various blogger sites, sometimes for quite a while, then just as suddenly rediscovers them. Occasionally, when I lose my patience, I flush the DNS -- a process that involves several steps, including opening a command window in a special manner that requires me to answer a useless Vista prompt as to whether I really want to do this. About half of the time, the DNS flush...
ACU Endorses Romney? (Update: Keene, Not ACU)
Another unusual endorsement has appeared in a cycle full of them, and this time, Mitt Romney hits the sweepstakes. Struggling all year to shed his Massachusetts centrism, Romney won an important conservative endorsement from David Keene of the American Conservative Union. Like Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani and the National Right To Life endorsement of Fred Thompson, this one may leave ACU's constituents scratching their heads: Less than 24 hours after former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) jousted with his rivals over his conservative credentials at the CNN/YouTube debate in Florida, he is set to receive the endorsement from American Conservative Union President David Keene. Keene said he became "convinced that Mitt Romney represents our best hope for 2008" and added that in the weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, 2008 he would work to persuade "my fellow conservatives that if we are serious about electing a...
Striking Writers Cancel Democratic Debate
This story goes well with the CNN brouhaha today, even if it makes little sense. The December 10th Democratic debate on CBS from Los Angeles got canceled -- due to the writers strike. Leading Presidential candidates refused to cross a threatened picket line (via Hot Air): A labor dispute which has darkened US light entertainment and chat shows claimed another victim on Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of a CBS News debate among Democratic White House hopefuls. The debate, scheduled for Los Angeles on December 10, was nixed after candidates including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said they would refuse to cross a picket line that the Writers Guild of America Union had threatened to set up. "CBS News regrets not being able to offer the Democratic presidential debate scheduled for Dec. 10 in Los Angeles," CBS said in a statement. "The possibility of picket lines set up by the Writers...
Heading Right Radio: CNN Debate Debacle, Economic Non-Debacle
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Rob Neppell, aka NZ Bear, joins us to debate the debate. Did CNN have it in for the Republicans, or did they just get incompetent in researching the questioners? We'll take your calls on this question, so tune up your dialing fingers! In the second half, we'll talk about the economic outlook with our friend King Banaian from SCSU Scholars. The economics chair of St. Cloud State University will explain the latest economic numbers showing an almost 5% annual growth rate in the third quarter, and talk about the risks hyped by the media in the last few weeks. And if we have time, I'll explain why Vista sucks. Call 646-652-4889 to join the conversation! And don't forget to join our chat room! Did you know...
The Six-Week Emergency
How long does it take to get to the end of a political emergency? Longer than it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, but shorter than it takes to get to the next election, at least in Pakistan. Pervez Musharraf now says he expects to cancel the PCO that sent his nation into a paroxysm of unrest by December 16th, the first time that he has given an end date for the state of emergency: Musharraf's decision to end emergency rule by Dec. 16, revealed in a television address to the nation, came the same day he was sworn in as a civilian for his second five-year term as president. He resigned as army chief on Wednesday. Seeking to end months of political crisis, Musharraf urged Pakistan's leading opposition figures — former prime ministers Sharif and Benazir Bhutto — to participate in the Jan. 8 parliamentary...
Give Up, And We'll Consider It A Deal
Osama bin Laden seems rather desperate to get the Western nations out of Afghanistan. In a new audio tape partially released by al-Jazeera, Osama tells Europeans that the American-led invasion of Afghanistan was unfair, because Mullah Omar's government didn't know about the 9/11 plot. Osama insists that he kept it very quiet: Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on the Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to excerpts of a new audiotape broadcast Thursday on Al-Jazeera television. Bin Laden said it was unjust for the United States to have invaded Afghanistan for sheltering him after the 9/11 attacks, saying he was the "only one responsible" for the deadly assaults on New York and Washington. "The events of Manhattan were retaliation against the American-Israeli alliance's aggression against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and I am the only one responsible for it. The Afghan...
Dickie Scruggs, Hillary Fundraiser
The buzz around Trent Lott's departure from the Senate had focused on his familial connections to now-indicted Mississippi lawyer Dickie Scruggs, Lott's brother-in-law. However, the political connections go in an entirely different direction. Scruggs has had his latest fundraiser canceled -- by Hillary Clinton (via Memeorandum): A Dec. 15 fund-raising event for Hillary Clinton at the home of prominent Mississippi trial laywer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is off, now that Scruggs has been indicted for bribery. Bill Clinton was set to be the star attraction at the event at Scruggs’s Oxford, Miss., home. Hillary Clinton wasn’t scheduled to attend. It was the first event that Scruggs, who made a fortune suing the tobacco industry in the 1990s, had offered to host for Clinton, a campaign spokesman said. It was canceled on Wednesday, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided his home and the federal indictment was announced. ... Over the years,...
NBC Needs A New Host, And A Media Alert
I'll be on the Hugh Hewitt show at 7:30 pm CT tonight, talking about Mansoor Ijaz and probably a little about the CNN/YouTube debate as well. However, as an anonymous e-mailer points out, CNN isn't the only network showing its bias today. In this YouTube, NBC host Erin Burnett thought she'd give George Bush the business -- the monkey business, that is. She calls him a "monkey" as part of a report on Nicolas Sarkozy's trip to China, and then backpedals when her guest scolds her: "I don't know what you mean, but that's my President," the man responds, after Burnett tries to say that she meant "monkey in the middle". She then pretends that she meant Angela Merkel, or Joe Scarborough attempts to give her that out. This is pretty pathetic, even for MS-NBC, a pseudonetwork mostly known for as the Keith Olbermann Asylum. I recall when reporters gave...
Mr. Murtha Goes To Okinawa
John Murtha has spent most of the last two years demanding an end to the deployment in Iraq -- well, apart from the time he spends porking up appropriations in the House. He has insisted that the war has been lost, and in January plotted to kneecap the surge before it began. Murtha has worked tirelessly to declare defeat this year, threatening the funding for General David Petraeus unless it gets tied to a retreat. Tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will contain the figurative redeployment of Murtha to Okinawa (via Hot Air and Bill's Blog): "I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves." Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes...
November 30, 2007
The Irish Job
There's nothing like a great heist movie. Whether you like it hip and ironic (Oceans Eleven), played for laughs (The Pink Panther), romantic (The Thomas Crown Affair), or gritty (Heist), they give us a vicarious thrill of the forbidden. And when people do try to make them a reality, it quickly loses its charm. For instance, it's difficult to see how this would make good cinema: Irish police were hunting for a beer bandit who stole 450 full kegs from the Guinness brewery — the largest heist ever at Ireland's largest brewer. National police said a lone man drove into the brewery — a Dublin landmark and top tourist attraction — on Wednesday and hitched his truck to a fully loaded trailer awaiting delivery to city pubs. Diageo PLC, the beverage company that owns Guinness, said the brewery had never suffered such a large-scale theft before in its 248-year history....
Bhutto To Campaign In Elections
Benazir Bhutto has declined to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in Pakistan -- at least for now. Instead of uniting with Nawaz Sharif in his refusal to engage in the January 8th polls, Bhutto has announced her intention to run, while holding onto the option of withdrawing if conditions change. The move leaves Sharif in the cold, and perhaps hints of a rapprochement between Bhutto and Musharraf: Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was gearing up on Friday for a January election as another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, hoped to persuade her to boycott the vote. Bowing to international pressure, President Pervez Musharraf stepped down on Wednesday as army chief and on Thursday, hours after taking the oath as civilian president, promised to lift emergency rule by December 16. He also vowed that parliamentary elections would go ahead on January 8 and urged everyone, including Bhutto and Sharif, the prime...
Define 'Extremely Hard'
Howard Kurtz reviews the CNN debacle in his column today, an extension of his blog post at The Trail last night. He leads with CNN's expression of regret over the inclusion of General Keith Kerr, a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign steering committee on gay and lesbian issues. But at the end, Kurtz includes this strange defense from CNN's Washington bureau chief David Bohrman: Bohrman said he had no problem using questioners who have voiced support for other candidates as long as they are not donors or formally affiliated with any campaign. "We bent over backwards to be fair," he said. "We're not perfect. But we tried extremely hard." Extremely hard? That seems very questionable, as James Joyner points out in a quote Kurtz includes just before this. Within minutes of the broadcast, bloggers using nothing more than Google unearthed Kerr's connection to the Hillary Clinton campaign. With the other...
Bush: No Strings On War Funding
President Bush demanded a clean funding bill from Congress for the Iraq mission, and warned that he would veto anything that had timetables for withdrawal. If Congress doesn't pass the supplemental appropriation by Christmas, he warned that the Pentagon would have no choice but to shut down other operations to shift funds -- and that layoffs in the holiday season would take place: President Bush warned Congress yesterday that the Pentagon will soon have to start laying off civilian employees and reducing operations at U.S. military bases unless lawmakers send him an emergency war funding bill that does not mandate troop withdrawals from Iraq. Escalating a dispute with Democratic lawmakers over his request for $196 billion in supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush complained that a delay in providing the money is jeopardizing important military efforts. "The missions of this department are essential to saving Americans'...
More Bad News For Democrats On War
If Democrats hoped to ride a wave of discontent on the war to electoral victory in 2008, they may face a harsh awakening. New Rasmussen polling released yesterday shows a surge in confidence among American voters in the war, reaching its highest levels in two years. A small plurality now believes that Iraq will continue to improve, a far cry from just four months ago: The latest Rasmussen Reports tracking poll finds that 47% of Americans now say the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror (see crosstabs). That’s up from 43% a month ago and reflects is the highest level of confidence measured since December 2005. Over the past 35 months, confidence in the War on Terror has been higher than today only twice, in November and December 2005. The 47% who believe the U.S. and its allies are winning is up significantly from earlier in...
Did The Dem YouTube Debate Have Republican 'Plants'?
The Los Angeles Times decided to take a look into whether CNN changed its vetting procedures between the Democratic and Republican YouTube debates. James Rainey found that CNN also allowed two questions from Republicans supporters to enter the Democratic debate in July, but doesn't present any evidence that actual campaign figures got flown to the auditorium: A review by the Los Angeles Times of the debate sponsored by CNN and YouTube four months ago found that the Democratic presidential candidates also faced queries that seemed to come from the conservative perspective. At least two of the citizen-interrogators had clear GOP leanings. ... During that session, one video questioner asked the candidates to choose between raising taxes or cutting benefits in order to save Social Security. Another demanded to know whether taxes would rise "like usually they do when a Democrat comes in office." A third featured a gun-toting Michigan man,...
Dems: Murtha Makes Surrender More Difficult
The Politico has a must-read analysis of the circumstances surrounding the John Murtha statement today that the surge is working in Iraq. Not only does John Bresnahan cover the multiple assertions this year that the Pentagon and White House were being dishonest in insisting on the surge's success, it also quotes aides on the Hill stating that Murtha's shift will damage the Democrats: Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the "surge is working." This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the full $200 billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations in Iraq in 2008. Murtha's latest comments are also a stark reversal from what he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs...
Disappointment In London
The European Union closed out its latest round of talks with Iran over its nuclear program, proclaiming disappointment over the results. Javier Solana said the two sides would meet again in a month, but that will not stop the matter from returning to the UN Security Council. The US will press for another round of harsher sanctions: The European Union said it was disappointed after talks with Iran on Friday seen as a last chance to avert U.S. pressure for tougher international sanctions over Tehran's disputed atomic program. The absence of a breakthrough at the London talks means six world powers meeting in Paris on Saturday will try to agree new penalties to propose to the United Nations, despite differences in their approach to halting Iran's nuclear program. "I have to admit that after five hours of meetings I expected more. I am disappointed," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana...
The Anti-Endorsement
Over the last two weeks or so, conservatives have offered some unusual endorsements early in the race. Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani despite his pro-choice personal views, which came as a shock to Robertson's Religious Right followers. National Right to Life endorsed Fred Thompson shortly after he rejected their project of a constitutional amendment against abortion on federalist grounds. Yesterday, David Keene of the American Conservative Union endorsed Mitt Romney despite his deep reservations expressed in February over convenient conversions. (Keene will join me on Monday's Heading Right Radio show to talk more about this; he gave a good argument last night on the Hugh Hewitt show.) Most of these endorsements come with explanations about electability and priorities for the war. I have argued that those arguments apply more towards explaining support in the general election. Rush Limbaugh picks up this same thought and presses it forward: It was fascinating...
Hostage Situation At Clinton NH HQ
Unfortunately, this isn't a joke. A man who claims to have a bomb strapped to his torso has taken over the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters in Rochester, New Hampshire. Police have it surrounded (via Michelle Malkin): Officials with the campaign confirmed that there were two workers taken hostage in the office on 28 North Main St.. A woman and her baby told workers at a neighboring business that she was released by the hostage-taker. "A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape,'" witness Lettie Tzizik said. There are several police officers positioned across the street from the office, crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, according to a reported...
Heading Right Radio: The Week In Review!
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below. Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Duane "Generalissimo" Patterson joins us once again for a 90-minute romp through the past week in politics. We'll chat about the YouTube debate, Mansoor Ijaz, John Murtha, Bill Clinton, and maybe even a few non-prevaricators! As always, Duane will preview tonight's Hugh Hewitt show, too, so don't miss a minute ... On Monday, we will talk with the ACU's David Keene about his endorsement of Mitt Romney, and ask him about the state of the conservative movement today. Put that on your schedule now! 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...
Comments Policy Update II
We've gone about two weeks with the new comment system from Disqus at CapQ, and I'm pleased to see it working as well as it has. The folks at Disqus have received a lot of feedback from the commenters here, and have quite a list of updates to implement. The outstanding issues that I've seen include: * Absolute timestamping (time zones are the trip-up, I understand) * Viewer option for threading or flat displays * Either a preview option or an edit option * Sorting options on an individual basis (hot, old, new, etc) They have a couple of requests from me, too, and I look forward to their implementation. Some people have written me with questions about the change. I'd like to address the answers to everyone: Why change at all? -- I have been dealing with an increasing level of trolls and sock-puppets, and quite frankly, it's made...
The Ever-Despicable Helen Thomas
Skip CNN's self-inflicted wounds, and save your outrage for the doyenne of the White House press gaggle. Helen Thomas decided to get her feelings about the American military out into the open today: Q Why should we depend on him? MS. PERINO: Because he is the commander on the ground, Helen. He's the one who is making sure that the situation is moving — Q You mean how many more people we kill? MS. PERINO: Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front row position, bestowed upon you by your colleagues, to make such statements. This is a — it is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we, at the United States, are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive. Q Do you know how many we have since the start of this war? MS. PERINO:...
About
Ed Morrissey has blogged at Captain's Quarters since 2003, and has a daily radio show at BlogTalkRadio, where he serves as Political Director. Called "Captain Ed" by his readers, Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather.
My Other Blog
The Crows Nest
The Ever-Despicable Helen Thomas
Skip CNN's self-inflicted wounds, and save your outrage for the doyenne of the White House press gaggle. Helen Thomas decided to get her feelings about the American military out into the open today:
Q Why should we depend on him?MS. PERINO: Because he is the commander on the ground, Helen. He's the one who is making sure that the situation is moving —
Q You mean how many more people we kill?
MS. PERINO: Helen, I find it really unfortunate that you use your front row position, bestowed upon you by your colleagues, to make such statements. This is a — it is an honor and a privilege to be in the briefing room, and to suggest that we, at the United States, are killing innocent people is just absurd and very offensive.
Q Do you know how many we have since the start of this war?
MS. PERINO: How many — we are going after the enemy, Helen. To the extent that any innocent Iraqis have been killed, we have expressed regret for it.
Q Oh, regret. It doesn't bring back a life.
MS. PERINO: Helen, we are in a war zone, and our military works extremely hard to make sure that everyone has the opportunity for liberty and freedom and democracy, and that is exactly what they are doing.
I'm going to move on.
So should Thomas' employer -- and should have 30 years ago, when she was last coherent.
Comments Policy Update II
We've gone about two weeks with the new comment system from Disqus at CapQ, and I'm pleased to see it working as well as it has. The folks at Disqus have received a lot of feedback from the commenters here, and have quite a list of updates to implement. The outstanding issues that I've seen include:
* Absolute timestamping (time zones are the trip-up, I understand)
* Viewer option for threading or flat displays
* Either a preview option or an edit option
* Sorting options on an individual basis (hot, old, new, etc)
They have a couple of requests from me, too, and I look forward to their implementation.
Some people have written me with questions about the change. I'd like to address the answers to everyone:
Why change at all? -- I have been dealing with an increasing level of trolls and sock-puppets, and quite frankly, it's made me overreact in some cases of off-topic commentary and other issues. I'd rather have a registration system that keeps those issues from popping up at all, and take it off my plate entirely. I tried Typekey, but that caused more problems than it solved.
Why Disqus? -- Movable Type does not include a very good comment-management system, and the Typekey option didn't work well. Disqus was suggested by a CapQ reader who works there, and I liked the easy interface and the threading, voting, and other features of the system.
Why the threading? -- One of the issues I had to police before was off-topic commentary. With threading, that mostly polices itself. People can reply to specific comments, and if that goes off on a tangent, it's limited to that thread. Commenters can also vote other comments into disappearing on their displays so that they don't need to trip over commentary they feel is off-topic.
I don't like moderation -- Well, neither do I. I'm actually not moderating Disqus for content, but for verified registration. If you want your comments to appear immediately, verify your registration with Disqus, and it doesn't wait at all to appear. Those comments that do get held for verification have to wait for me to check the queue and clear the backlog. I will require verified registration and block all other comments in the next couple of weeks, so please make sure you complete the verification process with Disqus soon. I'm waiting for some of the above fixes to come first.
Thanks for your patience. I'm hoping to improve the experience here at CapQ with these changes. Feel free to post your thoughts on this in the comments section for this post. Both myself and Disqus will be keeping a close eye on them!
Heading Right Radio: The Week In Review!
Note: This post will remain on top until show time; newer posts may be found below.
Today on Heading Right Radio (2 pm CT), Duane "Generalissimo" Patterson joins us once again for a 90-minute romp through the past week in politics. We'll chat about the YouTube debate, Mansoor Ijaz, John Murtha, Bill Clinton, and maybe even a few non-prevaricators! As always, Duane will preview tonight's Hugh Hewitt show, too, so don't miss a minute ...
On Monday, we will talk with the ACU's David Keene about his endorsement of Mitt Romney, and ask him about the state of the conservative movement today. Put that on your schedule now!
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:
Hostage Situation At Clinton NH HQ
Unfortunately, this isn't a joke. A man who claims to have a bomb strapped to his torso has taken over the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters in Rochester, New Hampshire. Police have it surrounded (via Michelle Malkin):
Officials with the campaign confirmed that there were two workers taken hostage in the office on 28 North Main St.. A woman and her baby told workers at a neighboring business that she was released by the hostage-taker."A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape,'" witness Lettie Tzizik said.
There are several police officers positioned across the street from the office, crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, according to a reported at the scene.
Hillary Clinton is not at the campaign headquarters. Otherwise, the Secret Service detail would probably have already dispatched the bomber.
At one time, one could have written these kinds of people off as impotent lunatics, but the world has changed. It's still likely the work of a lunatic, but the kind of lunacy involved makes the difference between a hoaxer and a real bomber. For the sake of all involved, let's hope it's the former and not the latter.
We'll keep an eye on this story during our BTR show this afternoon for updates. If you comment on this thread, keep it responsible.
UPDATE: No one got hurt, and the hostage taker got arrested. Prayers answered -- and a couple of big cheers for the Rochester PD.
The Anti-Endorsement
Over the last two weeks or so, conservatives have offered some unusual endorsements early in the race. Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani despite his pro-choice personal views, which came as a shock to Robertson's Religious Right followers. National Right to Life endorsed Fred Thompson shortly after he rejected their project of a constitutional amendment against abortion on federalist grounds. Yesterday, David Keene of the American Conservative Union endorsed Mitt Romney despite his deep reservations expressed in February over convenient conversions. (Keene will join me on Monday's Heading Right Radio show to talk more about this; he gave a good argument last night on the Hugh Hewitt show.)
Most of these endorsements come with explanations about electability and priorities for the war. I have argued that those arguments apply more towards explaining support in the general election. Rush Limbaugh picks up this same thought and presses it forward:
It was fascinating to me, as I said, to watch this because it hit me upside the head -- even though, as I say, I instinctively knew this -- that all of the top-tier candidates, because of these questions... See, there's always a silver lining in everything. There's always an upside. Some of you might not think of this as an upside or a silver lining, but the genuine moderate as opposed to conservative aspects of three of the top-tier, four of the top-tier candidates were on full-fledged display last night. There was one candidate who did not display any moderateness or liberalism or have any of his past forays into those areas displayed, and that candidate was Fred Thompson. Now, this is not an endorsement. You know, I don't endorse during primaries. I just point out: These are things I noticed, and I've told you during the course of this one campaign year that one of the things that's bothering me, is I'm a Reagan conservative, and I believe in conservatism. It's in my soul and it's in my heart, and I know it is the best way for us to manage our affairs to ensure the most prosperity for the most, to continue our freedom, to protect our country.Conservatism sees people and sees potential. Liberalism looks at people and sees victims. Liberalism looks at people and sees incompetence, and, "We gotta help 'em out and keep 'em forever dependent so we'll always have power." Conservatives don't want to use the government to empower themselves. They want to get government out of the way to empower other people. So, to me it matters, and we have a campaign now where most of the candidates are not genuine conservatives. They may be saying they are, but in their past they have done some things that are not conservative in any way, shape, manner, or form -- and I think a lot of those things are being overlooked even by friends of mine in the conservative media because the obsession is Hillary. "Well, we gotta have somebody who can beat Hillary, and we can't have the perfect candidate," and so we gotta make the choice here based on who's best equipped to win and beat Hillary. I understand that, and whoever the nominee is, I'm going to support them. So don't misunderstand here. But I don't like seeing "conservatism" being watered down as the way it's defined. I don't want people who are not conservative being said to be representatives of the "new conservatism." There is no "new" conservatism. There is conservatism, and you either are or you aren't.
I like almost all of the Republican candidates, for different reasons. My conservatism is of the Goldwater mold, the "leave us alone" faction, as Grover Norquist describes it. Some of these candidates have more of that, and some have less. Thompson, in my mind, has more of it, and a much stronger defense of federalist principles than most.
However, electability does factor into the decision-making process. So far, Fred has not changed, but expectations did. He has performed in the campaign much like he did in the precampaign, which is to say deliberately, thoughtfully, and philosophically. Unfortunately for those impatient for him to join the campaign, he did not assume a personality for the sake of a presidential run. Thompson gives us the authentic Thompson, for better or worse, and the question is whether one can run a philosopher's campaign and hope to beat candidates running in beauty-contest mode. John McCain, by the way, has a similar problem.
Like Rush, I could support almost anyone who appeared on the stage in Florida on Wednesday. I don't feel comfortable endorsing a specific candidate at this point because I don't see a complete match for my policy goals in any one of them. I can wait until the primary to decide -- and some of the conservative activists who endorse against their interests may have been better advised to do the same.
Disappointment In London
The European Union closed out its latest round of talks with Iran over its nuclear program, proclaiming disappointment over the results. Javier Solana said the two sides would meet again in a month, but that will not stop the matter from returning to the UN Security Council. The US will press for another round of harsher sanctions:
The European Union said it was disappointed after talks with Iran on Friday seen as a last chance to avert U.S. pressure for tougher international sanctions over Tehran's disputed atomic program.The absence of a breakthrough at the London talks means six world powers meeting in Paris on Saturday will try to agree new penalties to propose to the United Nations, despite differences in their approach to halting Iran's nuclear program.
"I have to admit that after five hours of meetings I expected more. I am disappointed," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters, adding he would meet Iran's negotiator Saeed Jalili again before the end of December.
Iran, which had earlier vowed to pursue its disputed atomic program come what may, said it thought the negotiations had been "positive" and that talks would continue.
Solana responded negatively when asked whether Iran had brought any new initiatives to the table. He told reporters that Jalili had not proposed enough to keep from being disappointed. Jalili, on the other hand, sounded delighted, as did Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki when speaking to Basiji militia members. Mottaki declared that America had "lost" the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program.
We'll see. The US will now demand the EU's full cooperation on sanctions, as well as Russia and China. After hosting the inordinately-quiet Annapolis peace conference this week, all of these players in the Iranian drama owe us a few more chits, and the White House will not hesitate to leverage them for harsher economic and diplomatic penalties on Teheran. Russia and China may balk, but the EU will probably have little choice but to comply. Nicolas Sarkozy stripped Europe of its fig leaf a few months ago, pointing out that war will be the only other option open to the West.
This may turn into a game of economic chicken. If the West squeezes hard enough, either the mullahs will have to back down and stop their enrichment, or the economic collapse will force Iranians to replace the mullahs. Let's hope the squeeze works before their nuclear device does.
Dems: Murtha Makes Surrender More Difficult
The Politico has a must-read analysis of the circumstances surrounding the John Murtha statement today that the surge is working in Iraq. Not only does John Bresnahan cover the multiple assertions this year that the Pentagon and White House were being dishonest in insisting on the surge's success, it also quotes aides on the Hill stating that Murtha's shift will damage the Democrats:
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq and he now says the "surge is working." This could be a huge problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the full $200 billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations in Iraq in 2008.Murtha's latest comments are also a stark reversal from what he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful Defense Subcommittee on the House Appropriations Committee, has previously stated that the surge "is not working" and the United States faced a military disaster in Iraq. ...
But Pelosi, who is scheduled to speak to a Democratic National Committee event in Virginia on Friday, will surely face tough questions from reporters regarding Murtha's statement on the surge.
"This could be a real headache for us," said one top House Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Pelosi is going to be furious."
Pelosi, readers will recall, aligns herself closely with Murtha. She had backed Murtha in a power play earlier, to her detriment when he lost. She has tied herself almost completely to his anti-war rhetoric, using his military experience as a shield for Democratic defeatism. His defection on the issue will leave her twisting in the wind.
It won't do wonders for Murtha, either. Bresnahan points out four examples from this year alone when Murtha derided the administration for either dishonesty or incompetence in its insistence that the surge was working. He even berated the press during a "recent" conference, yelling at a reporter about the administration's credibility. His own credibility -- and by extension, the credibility of the entire Democratic caucus -- has now been greatly diminished as a result.
The timing couldn't possibly be worse. The Democrats want to torpedo the Iraq war supplemental and force the White House to agree to a withdrawal. Now Murtha says that he could foresee another two years of heavy engagement before withdrawing significant US forces, which matches in rough strokes the new security partnership agreement signed by Nouri al-Maliki and Bush this week. Their anti-war legislative position has now almost completely eroded, and Murtha has exposed Pelosi to another spectacular failure.
Did The Dem YouTube Debate Have Republican 'Plants'?
The Los Angeles Times decided to take a look into whether CNN changed its vetting procedures between the Democratic and Republican YouTube debates. James Rainey found that CNN also allowed two questions from Republicans supporters to enter the Democratic debate in July, but doesn't present any evidence that actual campaign figures got flown to the auditorium:
A review by the Los Angeles Times of the debate sponsored by CNN and YouTube four months ago found that the Democratic presidential candidates also faced queries that seemed to come from the conservative perspective. At least two of the citizen-interrogators had clear GOP leanings. ...During that session, one video questioner asked the candidates to choose between raising taxes or cutting benefits in order to save Social Security. Another demanded to know whether taxes would rise "like usually they do when a Democrat comes in office." A third featured a gun-toting Michigan man, who in an interview Thursday said he had voted twice for President Bush, who wanted to know if the Democrats would protect his "baby" -- an assault rifle he cradled in his arms.
Another questioner from that forum who seemed to have clear conservative credentials was John McAlpin, a sailor who asked Clinton: "How do you think you would be taken seriously" by Arab and Muslim nations that treat women as "second-class citizens"?
McAlpin's MySpace page features pictures of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Republican presidential candidate.
It depicts Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly as a friend, while offering a caricature of a bearded, turban-wearing "Borat Hussein Obama" -- a derogatory reference to Obama, the Democratic candidate who as a youth attended a Muslim school.
The format leaves limited ability to weed out partisans. The main complaint that followed from the first debate was the inordinate amount of silliness that CNN and YouTube allowed in the Democratic debate. That included the questioner who called his rifle his "baby", and those complaints came not from the Democrats but the Republicans, who wanted to avoid all of the nonsense.
CNN's main failure, and the only real "plant", was General Keith Kerr. They didn't just allow his question, they flew him to the debate, and then allowed him almost as much screen time as Duncan Hunter to make a speech. Kerr serves on Hillary Clinton's steering committee on GLBT issues, a fact that he apparently failed to disclose to CNN, who didn't bother to use Google and spend ten minutes vetting him. That failure to disclose on Kerr's part certainly shows an intent to deceive, and renders his and Hillary's insistence that they had no intent to plant questions laughable.
The other questioners had ulterior motives in asking their questions, and CNN may have had some in selecting them, even if it was just to spark some controversial statements from the candidates. Just as in the Democratic debate, though, the questions themselves weren't outrageous and certainly can be expected from the campaign trail, especially in the general election. In this loose format, questions can come from anyone -- just like a real town-hall forum -- and candidates should be prepared to answer them. Either all presidential candidates have to prepare for a wide range of questions, or we should junk the format altogether and go back to journalists writing the questions.
In fact, given that CNN decided which 33 YouTubed questions it wanted to present, they effectively did that anyway. They just outsourced the scut work to YouTubers. In the future, CNN and YouTube may want to consider my original proposal to collaborate with bloggers in the selection process. At least we know that bloggers can use Google properly.
More Bad News For Democrats On War
If Democrats hoped to ride a wave of discontent on the war to electoral victory in 2008, they may face a harsh awakening. New Rasmussen polling released yesterday shows a surge in confidence among American voters in the war, reaching its highest levels in two years. A small plurality now believes that Iraq will continue to improve, a far cry from just four months ago:
The latest Rasmussen Reports tracking poll finds that 47% of Americans now say the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror (see crosstabs). That’s up from 43% a month ago and reflects is the highest level of confidence measured since December 2005. Over the past 35 months, confidence in the War on Terror has been higher than today only twice, in November and December 2005.The 47% who believe the U.S. and its allies are winning is up significantly from earlier in the year. During the first nine months of 2007, the number believing that the U.S. fell as low as 33% and reached the 40% level just once. During calendar year 2006, an average of 40% believed the U.S. and its allies were winning. That average was 45% in 2005.
In what may be just as significant a finding, only 24% of voters now believe the terrorists are winning. That’s down from 30% a month ago and represents the lowest level of pessimism recorded since 2004.
The Rasmussen Reports telephone survey also found that 35% of all American voters expect things to get better in Iraq over the next six months while 32% expect the situation to get worse. That’s the first time in years that a plurality has given a positive assessment on the situation in Iraq. The recent increase in optimism is substantial. Just four months ago, in July, 49% of American voters offered a pessimistic assessment of the situation in Iraq and only 23% expected things to get better.
The crosstabs hold some intriguing data. On the general question for the GWOT, almost all demographics now have majorities or pluralities believing that the US and its allies are winning. The only demographic categories that believe the US is losing are Democrats and liberals. Across all other age, gender, and ethnic demos, large pluralities or majorities believe the US and the West are prevailing.
That certainly denotes a clear and narrow defeatism. That's less clear but still present on Iraq's prospects in the next six months. Women, blacks, and 18-29 year old voters have small pluralities for worse prospects. Democrats, on the other hand, have a wide plurality (45-12) predicting failure, and self-described liberals have a majority (51-13). Democrats and liberals have a large investment in that failure, and they're not ready to relinquish it.
They may run into some serious electoral trouble if they continue to cling to defeat. In both categories, self-described moderates and political independents break sharply with Democrats. For the GWOT, moderates believe the US is winning, 44-24, a significant plurality, and independents follow closely at 47-21. On Iraq, it's a tossup; moderates tie at 32, while independents skew slightly negative at 34-29. The trends clearly show most voters moving away from the Democrats, and if the situation continues to improve in Iraq, that will only continue.
With the spending bill up in the air, the Democrats want to play to their anti-war base and argue for defeat and retreat. If they continue to do so, the anti-war base will be all they have left by the time the 2008 elections arrive.
Bush: No Strings On War Funding
President Bush demanded a clean funding bill from Congress for the Iraq mission, and warned that he would veto anything that had timetables for withdrawal. If Congress doesn't pass the supplemental appropriation by Christmas, he warned that the Pentagon would have no choice but to shut down other operations to shift funds -- and that layoffs in the holiday season would take place:
President Bush warned Congress yesterday that the Pentagon will soon have to start laying off civilian employees and reducing operations at U.S. military bases unless lawmakers send him an emergency war funding bill that does not mandate troop withdrawals from Iraq.Escalating a dispute with Democratic lawmakers over his request for $196 billion in supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush complained that a delay in providing the money is jeopardizing important military efforts.
"The missions of this department are essential to saving Americans' lives, and they are too important to be disrupted or delayed or put at risk," Bush said at the Pentagon after he received more than two hours of briefings. "Pentagon officials have warned Congress that the continued delay in funding our troops will soon begin to have a damaging impact on the operations of this department."
Congressional Democrats blame Bush for the delay because he refuses to accept a $50 billion funding bill that includes a requirement to begin pulling combat troops out of Iraq and changing the U.S. military mission there. The House passed the bill earlier this month, but Republicans blocked it in the Senate.
We've seen this play before, and the Democrats lost it when they had a lot more reason to win than they do now. In May, they played chicken with the White House over the inclusion of troop-withdrawal language, and the Pentagon made the same threat then. When it became very clear that Bush would veto the bill even with substantial Republican dissatisfaction over the war, the Democrats decided that they could not withstand defunding troops in a battle zone.
Seven months later, much has changed, and all of it bad for the Democrats. The surge strategy succeeded in dramatically reducing sectarian violence. It chased al-Qaeda's terrorists to the margins of Iraq, where the bolstered American forces -- working with ever-increasing Iraqi Army units -- continue to aggressively pursue their remnants. It has even sparked a ground-up reconciliation movement by focusing on tribal alliances rather than top-down efforts by the central government, which has begun doing the same thing.
Even the war's biggest Congressional critic, John Murtha, has finally acknowledged reality and admitted that the surge strategy worked.
One might think that the Democrats would take a hint and abandon their old, failed strategies. President Bush tweaked them further by noting that the Iraqi National Assembly has already managed to pass a budget, showing more reconciliation than the American Congress. The House and Senate leadership that insisted on premature declarations of defeat will simply not have the credibility they had as late as last May, when they failed to infringe on the executive. They're not going to succeed now when their defeatism has been revealed to even John Murtha, who also acknowledged that the timeline offered by the House was unrealistic -- unless America abandons its heavy equipment and bugs out like the Democrats apparently desire.
Define 'Extremely Hard'
Howard Kurtz reviews the CNN debacle in his column today, an extension of his blog post at The Trail last night. He leads with CNN's expression of regret over the inclusion of General Keith Kerr, a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign steering committee on gay and lesbian issues. But at the end, Kurtz includes this strange defense from CNN's Washington bureau chief David Bohrman:
Bohrman said he had no problem using questioners who have voiced support for other candidates as long as they are not donors or formally affiliated with any campaign. "We bent over backwards to be fair," he said. "We're not perfect. But we tried extremely hard."
Extremely hard? That seems very questionable, as James Joyner points out in a quote Kurtz includes just before this. Within minutes of the broadcast, bloggers using nothing more than Google unearthed Kerr's connection to the Hillary Clinton campaign. With the other questioners, CNN apparently didn't even bother to peruse their posted profiles on their YouTube accounts, where they could have easily discovered their professed support for their candidates.
The irony in this is that Google owns YouTube -- and that Google paid for Kerr's flight to St. Petersburg so he could participate in the debate. Apparently Google doesn't know how to use its own product. Google didn't broadcast the debate, however; that was CNN's function, and their name lent this whatever journalistic credibility it had.
Memo to CNN: quit trying to excuse this away. No one tried "extremely hard" to vet these questions. Obviously, no one tried vetting them at all. The continuation of the pretense only damages your credibility even further than the debate did.
What a shame, too, because the questions themselves weren't so bad. The plants revealed their own prejudices against the GOP, and the candidates did a good job of swatting them aside. The worst inclusions didn't come from the plants, but from CNN's decision to include insulting questions about Confederate flags and the Bible, which revealed CNN's prejudices about Republicans. Mitt Romney gave the best response to this when he asked contemptuously why the flag question even got selected for a presidential debate. Otherwise, with just over 30 questions in the debate, most of them focused on policy in substantive ways and provoked perhaps the best intramural exchanges in the debates this year.
CNN blew it, and blew it big -- and they didn't try extremely hard to avoid it. They got extremely sloppy and careless, and they got caught.
Bhutto To Campaign In Elections
Benazir Bhutto has declined to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in Pakistan -- at least for now. Instead of uniting with Nawaz Sharif in his refusal to engage in the January 8th polls, Bhutto has announced her intention to run, while holding onto the option of withdrawing if conditions change. The move leaves Sharif in the cold, and perhaps hints of a rapprochement between Bhutto and Musharraf:
Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was gearing up on Friday for a January election as another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, hoped to persuade her to boycott the vote.Bowing to international pressure, President Pervez Musharraf stepped down on Wednesday as army chief and on Thursday, hours after taking the oath as civilian president, promised to lift emergency rule by December 16.
He also vowed that parliamentary elections would go ahead on January 8 and urged everyone, including Bhutto and Sharif, the prime minister he toppled in 1999, to take part on what he described as a level playing field.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, the country's biggest party, said it had made a very difficult decision to take part in the election while reserving the right to withdraw.
Bhutto has some conditions for her participation. She wants the independent Elections Commission reinstated, and she also wants provincial allies of Musharraf suspended to keep any interference to a minimum. She's not likely to get her wish on the latter, but it may not make much difference. Bhutto has an opportunity to marginalize Sharif, and she appears ready to grasp it.
Sharif finds himself in a tough spot. First, he didn't get the same deal Bhutto received, and his criminal conviction for corruption leaves him ineligible to run for office anyway. With Bhutto rejecting his call for a boycott, Sharif risks having his party seriously underrepresented in parliament, which will leave the government in the hands of Bhutto and Musharraf.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan in hope of finding an alliance with Musharraf that would restore democracy and fight the terrorists -- or at least that's what the US hoped. That possibility remains, and it would keep Sharif and his party on the sidelines for the foreseeable future, if Musharraf really restores democracy. If Bhutto allies with Musharraf and the newly-civilian president continues his dictatorship by other means, Sharif will have avoided the taint of collaboration with a tyrant when the dictatorship eventually ends.
Sharif has a tough choice ahead of him. He will likely reverse himself and contest the elections, having left himself that opening. He didn't return to Pakistan to become a political analyst.
The Irish Job
There's nothing like a great heist movie. Whether you like it hip and ironic (Oceans Eleven), played for laughs (The Pink Panther), romantic (The Thomas Crown Affair), or gritty (Heist), they give us a vicarious thrill of the forbidden. And when people do try to make them a reality, it quickly loses its charm. For instance, it's difficult to see how this would make good cinema:
Irish police were hunting for a beer bandit who stole 450 full kegs from the Guinness brewery — the largest heist ever at Ireland's largest brewer.National police said a lone man drove into the brewery — a Dublin landmark and top tourist attraction — on Wednesday and hitched his truck to a fully loaded trailer awaiting delivery to city pubs.
Diageo PLC, the beverage company that owns Guinness, said the brewery had never suffered such a large-scale theft before in its 248-year history.
Well, the joke's on them. Only 180 kegs of it were Guinness stout. The rest of the kegs held Carlsberg and -- the horror! -- Budweiser. One can imagine the disappointment when the trailer gets unhitched and inspected.
Ireland has a history of hijackings and thefts in alcohol and cigarettes, although not usually from the brewery itself. The IRA used to finance its activities through such thefts, selling the beer cheaply and without the usual onerous Irish taxes to supporters and sympathizers among pub owners. Gangs continue this activity to this day, neither not unlike the Mafia in this country that ran similar activities.
Like I said, pretty charmless. Instead of Thomas Crown, it's closer to Goodfellas. However, if you find yourself in Dublin, the brewery itself is anything but charmless. You can have a great pint of Guinness stout at a bar that provides one of the highest viewpoints of the entire city, after a great tour of the facility and the requisite souvenir shops.
Mr. Murtha Goes To Okinawa
John Murtha has spent most of the last two years demanding an end to the deployment in Iraq -- well, apart from the time he spends porking up appropriations in the House. He has insisted that the war has been lost, and in January plotted to kneecap the surge before it began. Murtha has worked tirelessly to declare defeat this year, threatening the funding for General David Petraeus unless it gets tied to a retreat.
Tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will contain the figurative redeployment of Murtha to Okinawa (via Hot Air and Bill's Blog):
"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care of themselves."Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but Mr. Murtha said he was most encouraged by changes in the once-volatile Anbar province, where locals have started working closely with U.S. forces to isolate insurgents linked to Al Qaeda.
He said Iraqis need to duplicate that success at the national level, but the central government in Baghdad is "dysfunctional."
No thanks to Murtha and his defeatist ilk in Congress, of course. If the Congressional Democrats had had their way in January, we would have abandoned the Iraqis to the terrorists and left behind a failed state and destroyed credibility.
I'll give him a half-cheer for finally recognizing reality. Perhaps when the rest of the Democrats grow up, we'll make some real progress.
NBC Needs A New Host, And A Media Alert
I'll be on the Hugh Hewitt show at 7:30 pm CT tonight, talking about Mansoor Ijaz and probably a little about the CNN/YouTube debate as well. However, as an anonymous e-mailer points out, CNN isn't the only network showing its bias today. In this YouTube, NBC host Erin Burnett thought she'd give George Bush the business -- the monkey business, that is. She calls him a "monkey" as part of a report on Nicolas Sarkozy's trip to China, and then backpedals when her guest scolds her:
"I don't know what you mean, but that's my President," the man responds, after Burnett tries to say that she meant "monkey in the middle". She then pretends that she meant Angela Merkel, or Joe Scarborough attempts to give her that out.
This is pretty pathetic, even for MS-NBC, a pseudonetwork mostly known for as the Keith Olbermann Asylum. I recall when reporters gave us reasoned, articulate reports on events and facts, not nonsensical name-calling. If NBC wants its news division to have more credibility than CNN, then they need to find another job for Erin Burnett. The deer-in-the-headlights look on her face shows that she understood her faux pas immediately.
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