Russia blasts Iranian president

In its strongest statement yet against the Iranian president and others' comments denying The Holocaust and other anti-Jewish statements, Russia left no doubt about its public position.

"Following statements by President Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials on Holocaust and Israel ... we view attempts to review well known historical facts of the Second World War, including those connected with the Holocaust, as unacceptable," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Speculation on these issues contradicts the United Nations Charter and views of the international community," it added.

Russian officials also warned of possible consequences for Iran.

Ahmadinejad's remarks could drive Iran into international isolation, said Mikhail Marguelov, head of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council.

"The Iranian president's xenophobia discredits the co-sponsors of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, including Russia," Marguelov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station Thursday.

"There is a feeling that Iran has taken upon itself the mission of stirring up the Middle East conflict and doing services to all sorts of extremists, and it may lead to the international isolation of Iran," Marguelov said.

Isolation would damage the interests of the Iranian people and hamper the country's economic development "in which Russian firms are actively involved," he added.

Russia's strongest statement prior to this one, concerning the Iranian proposal to move Israel to Europe, was by a relatively low level diplomat who said, "The proposal is unacceptable."

TAGS: Russia, Iran, xenophobia

Wal-mart protesters make children cry

This is sick. These people are despicable. A group calling itself WakeUpWalMart.com was protesting the usual yada yada yada against Wal-mart - inside the store - in North Lauderdale, Florida. Store officials had to call the police to get them to leave. Two protesters were arrested, both were black, so, of course, now it's Wal-Mart racism along with the usual yada yada. It was Broward County Sheriff's deputies who made the arrests, not Wal-Mart security.

But that's not the worst of this story, by far. The protesters handed out gift boxes to children in the store. When the kids opened the boxes, they were empty. This made some of the children cry.

Who would do such a thing? What's wrong with these people? How many of the children know, care, or can do anything at all about Wal-Mart employment practices? If anything at all needs to be done about Wal-Mart employment practices, that is. It's Christmas, for Gods sake. Leave the little children alone.

TAGS: WakeUpWalMart.com, child abuse

University administrator forbids Christmas

And also forbids the 4th of July, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day and others that she has yet to name. Patricia Sonntag, director of the Office of Services to Students with Disabilities at California State University Sacramento, which will be known in the future as Cal-Suc, sent an email to her staff on December 9, saying,

Time has come to recognize that religious discrimination, as well as ethnic insensitivity to certain holidays, is forbidden.

The directive only applies to those who staff her office, which must be one of the most colorless and humorless places to work on the planet, at least outside of North Korea.

Ms. Sonntag, obviously mentally disabled herself, added that the ban (her ban) was being imposed

"in order to avoid offending someone else" because Sacramento State is "a secular university and we are a public service area that has a diverse employee and student populations [sic] even in our private offices."

I thought that a private office was private, you know, by definition. Oh, well. The university has tried to distance itself from this moron by declaring that her ban on any holiday decorations whatsoever for any holiday whatsoever, "was well-intentioned but strays from the established practice." The public affairs spokesman for the university declared that the university "has no guidelines prohibiting holiday decorations," aside from the responsibility of supervisors, "to ensure that employees do not spend an unreasonable amount of work time decorating."

Catholic League president Bill Donohue called the policy a violation of free speech rights. "It never occurs to these secular supremacists that it is their aversion to anything religious - or patriotic - that accounts for their desire to muzzle free speech."

Well, he's probably wrong, there. Since she is in charge of this particular office she can outlaw any and all holiday decorations if she wants to do so. At least until the university officials gather up some courage and fire her stupid ass.

I am happy to report that Gregory Rasputin Is Finally Dead Day was not included on her list of banned holidays.

TAGS: California State University Sacramento, politically correct

Bush briefed Congress a dozen times on eavesdropping

President Bush, in his Saturday radio address, lashed back at critics, especially those in the Congress, of his authorization of NSA eavesdropping. The president has readily admitted to authorizing dozens of wiretapping requests by the NSA to monitor international communications with suspected terrorists in the U.S., many of whom are U.S. citizens. It is unlawful to wiretap U.S. citizens without a court order.

This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security.

This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties and that is exactly what I will continue to do as long as I am president of the United States.

The president said that the wiretapping was used only to intercept international communications with people inside the U.S. who had "a clear link" to al- Qaida or related terrorist organizations.

The president, appearing angry at the uproar in Congress, said that congressional leaders had been briefed on the program's activities more than a dozen times. Bush pledged to continue to authorize the program.

I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related groups.

So, take that!

TAGS: George Bush, NSA, eavesdropping

Happy 'Gregory Rasputin Is Finally Dead' Day

Actually, it was yesterday, but since it's just a bit past midnight here, I'll go with this breathtakingly critical report, anyway.

Rasputin had managed to endear himself to Tsar Nicholas II, or rather, to his beloved wife Alexandra, because of the mad monk's eery influence over the Tsar's only son and heir, Alexander. Alex suffered from hemophilia, inherited from Britain's Queen Victoria. Keep in mind that intermarriage between European royal families was common and the British royal family was the most powerful at the time and therefore royal brides and grooms from Britain were highly prized. Anyway, the story of Rasputin's entrance on the scene in the Russian court and his activities there are a long story which you can read here.

The upshot of all this was that various members of the Tsar's staff decided that Rasputin had to go. On 16 December, 1916, after a lot of planning, this is how they did it:

They invited him to a party. There they fed him cakes and wine laced with potassium cyanide. Rasputin ate enough cake and guzzled enough wine to kill six men. It didn't kill him, although he did compain of a burning stomach and being drowzy. He laid down on the floor to take a nap. The conspirators thought he was dead. Suddenly, he jumped up and began walking around the room, examining artwork. One of the shocked conspirators left and came back with a pistol. As Rasputin was admiring a piece of artwork, the conspirator shot him in the chest. Sure that he was dead, another of the conspirators bent over Rasputin's body when the monk suddenly rose up and grabbed him by the throat. It required repeated stabbings with a knife to loosen his grip. They again were convinced he was dead until Rasputin got up and ran for the door. He was chased down and shot several more times. Then his still undead body was beaten, wrapped up in a carpet and dumped into the river through a hole chopped in the ice.

One account of the trials and tribulations of the conspirators and their attempts to make Rasputin really truly dead can be found here. One thing I learned in my exhaustive 10 minutes of research for this post was that Rasputin was a follower of a little known sect of the Russian Orthodox Church called the Skopsty. Followers of the Skoptsy believed that to be forgiven for your sins and to reach God, you had to commit sins, and the more the merrier. Rasputin was a rabid follower of the Skopsty creed and traveled the countryside sinning to his heart's content. He became such an expert at drunkeness, gambling and debauchery of the ladyfolk that he soon began wearing robes and calling himself a Staretz, or monk.

A Skoptsy Staretz. I've got to look into that as soon as I can say Skopsty Staretz three times rapidly in succession.

TAGS: Gregory Rasputin, Queen Victoria, Tsar Nicholas II, The Mad Monk

Lieberman: Bush has turned the corner

Joe Lieberman says:

The last two weeks have been critically important and I believe may be seen as a turning point in the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism.

I believe the president has begun a new conversation with the American people, looking back and talking again about why we went into Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, why we remain there, why success in Iraq is so critical to America's national security, and how we intend to win.

On the bruhaha amongst the Democrats over his ongoing support for the Bush administration's long-term goals in Iraq, Lieberman had this to say.

The difference in this town - here in Washington - on the war is not between Democrats and Republicans; it's between people who believe essentially we've already lost in Iraq and it's time to get out - and most of the rest of us who believe not only have we not lost, but we're winning.

That says it all about the most vocal cut-and-run liberals. And their response? DNC chair Howard Dean's brother, James Dean (whom I thought died in a car crash many years ago in Hollywood when his Porsche ran out of navigable road surface) starts a "Get Joe Lieberman" committee in Connecticut.

TAGS: Joe Lieberman, George Bush, Iraq, War On Terrorism

UCLA: Matt Drudge unmasked

I just found this 2 day-old post at Free Republic. I don't remember seeing it mentioned too much around the blogosphere. A very cleverly conceptualized UCLA study has confirmed the liberal bias in the MSM - much to the surprise of the research team.

I suspected that many media outlets would tilt to the left because surveys have shown that reporters tend to vote more Democrat than Republican," said Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist and the study's lead author. "But I was surprised at just how pronounced the distinctions are."

"Overall, the major media outlets are quite moderate compared to members of Congress, but even so, there is a quantifiable and significant bias in that nearly all of them lean to the left," said co‑author Jeffrey Milyo, University of Missouri economist and public policy scholar.

What these guys did was to take the Americans For Democratic Action (ADA) numerical rankings for members of Congress (100 being most liberal and 0 being most conservative with 50 being a perfect "centrist") and apply the ADA numerical rankings to media reports. The media was measured using the ADA scale by how many times the media favorably mentioned a particular politician - his speeches, for instance - and applying the same ADA number to the media. The UCLA study included the media's treatment of the think tanks, from the liberal NAACP to the conservative Heritage Foundation.

To avoid any charges of bias, the team's leaders assured that the research assistants were evenly divided between Bush and Gore supporters and the research project accepted no outside funding. They reviewed the last 10 years of media archives to compile their numbers. The results were not to surprising, except to the researchers.

"A media person would have never done this study," said Groseclose, a UCLA political science professor, whose research and teaching focuses on the U.S. Congress. "It takes a Congress scholar even to think of using ADA scores as a measure. And I don't think many media scholars would have considered comparing news stories to congressional speeches."

Of the 20 top media outlets studied, 18 scored left-of-center. They found, among other things, that the most liberal biased media outlet was The Wall Street Journal, followed by CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Only Fox News' "Special Report With Brit Hume" and The Washington Times scored right of the average U.S. voter.

Some surprises:

The fourth most centrist outlet was "Special Report With Brit Hume" on Fox News, which often is cited by liberals as an egregious example of a right-wing outlet.

The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. "One thing people should keep in mind is that our data for the Drudge Report was based almost entirely on the articles that the Drudge Report lists on other Web sites," said Groseclose. "Very little was based on the stories that Matt Drudge himself wrote. The fact that the Drudge Report appears left of center is merely a reflection of the overall bias of the media."

Yet another finding that contradicted conventional wisdom relates to National Public Radio, often cited by conservatives as an egregious example of a liberal news outlet. But according to the UCLA-University of Missouri study, it ranked eighth most liberal of the 20 that the study examined.

"By our estimate, NPR hardly differs from the average mainstream news outlet," Groseclose said. "Its score is approximately equal to those of Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report and its score is slightly more conservative than The Washington Post's. If anything, government‑funded outlets in our sample have a slightly lower average ADA score (61), than the private outlets in our sample (62.8)."

The study pointedly left out editorial and OP/ED pages. The study's directors said that they were more concerned with bias in news reporting than with declared editorial bloviating.

"Past researchers have been able to say whether an outlet is conservative or liberal, but no one has ever compared media outlets to lawmakers," Groseclose said. "Our work gives a precise characterization of the bias and relates it to known commodity - politicians."

Aha! I knew it all the time. Matt Drudge is a closeted liberal leftie commie pinko fag fifth-columnistic Trojan Horse.

TAGS: media bias, liberal media, UCLA, Matt Drudge

Krauthammer's cry from the wilderness

So a Holocaust-denying, virulently anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist, on the verge of acquiring weapons of the apocalypse, believes that the end is not only near but nearer than the next American presidential election. (Pity the Democrats. They cannot catch a break.) This kind of man would have, to put it gently, less inhibition about starting Armageddon than a normal person. Indeed, with millennial bliss pending, he would have positive incentive to, as they say in Jewish eschatology, hasten the end.

Charles Krauthammer points out some terrifying facts about Iran's certifiable leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Everyone knows where Iran's nuclear weapons will be aimed. Everyone knows they will be put on Shahab rockets, which have been modified so that they can reach Israel. And everyone knows that if the button is ever pushed, it will be the end of Israel.

But it gets worse. The president of a country about to go nuclear is a confirmed believer in the coming apocalypse. Like Judaism and Christianity, Shiite Islam has its own version of the messianic return -- the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam. The more devout believers in Iran pray at the Jamkaran mosque, which houses a well from which, some believe, he will emerge.

When Ahmadinejad unexpectedly won the presidential elections, he immediately gave $17 million of government funds to the shrine. Last month Ahmadinejad said publicly that the main mission of the Islamic Revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam.

And as in some versions of fundamentalist Christianity, the second coming will be accompanied by the usual trials and tribulations, death and destruction. Iranian journalist Hossein Bastani reported Ahmadinejad saying in official meetings that the hidden imam will reappear in two years.

After his U.N. speech in September, Ahmadinejad was caught on videotape telling a cleric that during the speech an aura, a halo, appeared around his head right on the podium of the General Assembly. "I felt the atmosphere suddenly change. And for those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink. . . . It seemed as if a hand was holding them there, and it opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic Republic."

And now the cry from the wilderness:

Negotiations to deny this certifiable lunatic genocidal weapons have been going nowhere. Everyone knows they will go nowhere. And no one will do anything about it.

I believe in my heart that George Bush will do something about it. Something, to paraphrase Australian Prime Minister John Howard, "appropriately lethal."

TAGS: Charles Krauthammer, Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Israel, nuclear weapons

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Intimidation

A great editorial cartoon at Lucianne.

Hell, I'm not too proud. I'll rip it for you.


TAGS: Iraq, vote, election, purple finger, Lucianne

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California legislature opting for secession?

The California legislature enacted a law in 2002 that granted illegal immigrants the favored in-state student tuition rate to all California colleges, junior colleges and universities. That rate would not be offered to out-of-state students. The United States Congress, having run into this problem long before, enacted a law in 1998 which required any state which offered special tuition rates to illegal residents to offer those same tuition costs to "all US citizens". Therefore, the California legislation was clearly illegal.

And everybody knew it.

Mr. Brady (Michael J. Brady, Attorney at Law) said California officials knew their tuition law that took effect in 2002 was unfair and illegal. "Former Governor Gray Davis initially vetoed it, saying it violated federal law and that it would cost California $65 million [in damages]," Mr. Brady said. "He sent it back to the state Legislature with that warning, but they re-enacted the same law," which Mr. Davis (courageously) eventually signed.

Mr. Brady said administrators of the University of California system also recognized that the state law was invalid, and they refused to implement it unless they were "given immunity." As a result, he said, California lawmakers enacted an "immunity statute," which says that if the state tuition law is declared illegal or unconstitutional, schools in the University of California system would not be held liable for retroactive tuition differences.

So, now comes lawyer Michael J. Brady and Kris W. Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of 42 named non-resident students in the California systems claiming damages for being overcharged for tuition to California schools in violation of federal law. Exactly what Gray Davis and the administrators of the University of California system feared would happen.

We're not talking cab fare here. The tuition differential between resident and non-resident students in the University of California system is $20,000 per year. In the California State system it is $11,000 per year and in the California Community College system it is $6000 per year. Lawyer Brady says that a non-resident student in the University of California system could be owed up to $300,000 by the state.

Well, if the university systems are not liable for this money and the legislature sure as hell isn't going to pay out of the member's pockets, who gets stuck with this bill? The good old generous taxpayers of California, that's who. They deserve it. They elected that bunch of morons.

The last time I remember such overt defiance of federal law by state legislatures was in the decades prior to the Civil war. South Carolina's Ordinance of Nullification, for instance, which forced President Andrew Jackson to send naval gunboats to Charleston to enforce federal law. The various state legislatures' defiance of federal authority eventually led some of them to secede and the Civil War was on.

Note to California legislators: There is a list here of 53 politicians killed in the Civil War which was brought on by state legislatures' defiance of federal law.

TAGS: California, tuition, illegal immigrants, politicians, lawsuit

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More on Morgan Freeman

In this post I tried to remember the admonishment from Judge Leonard White (Morgan Freeman) at the end of The Bonfire of the Vanities. I remember this because, in spite of the movie being a bomb, this speech transfixed me. After an hour of searching, I found the movie's script here. Now, this is the script, not a transcript, so it may not be 100% accurate as to the exact ass-chewing that Freeman gave to the assembled court, but it's close.

Judge White (Freeman) rises on the bench like an eagle. He pounds the gavel repeatedly.

DEMONSTRATORS: Justice. We want justice!!! We want justice!!!

JUDGE WHITE: Justice! You want justice?! I'll give you justice!

Finally, the courtroom goes quiet. White looks around. Everyone is quiet. And then a single VOICE rings out...VOICE: You racist pig!

JUDGE WHITE: You dare call me a racist! Well, I say to you, you -- a mob who dares to come into these walls -- I say to you, what does it matter ... the color of a man's skin? If witnesses perjure themselves ... and a prosecutor, a sworn officer of the court, enlists the perjurers ... and a district attorney throws a man to the mob and lawyers carve up that man for his money... and men of the cloth, men of God take the prime cuts!

Now you tell me -- IS THAT JUSTICE?!

Silence.

JUDGE: I don't hear you!

More silence.

He comes down off the bench, facing the mob.

JUDGE: I'll tell you what justice is not. Justice is not the will of the few and it's not the will of the many. Justice is not politics. Justice is the law. And the law is man's feeble attempt to set down the principles of decency. Decency!

And decency is not a deal. Or an angle, or a contract, or a hustle or a campaign or a trick or a bid for sympathy. Decency is not the beast that bays for money, power, dominion, position, votes and blood! Decency is what your mother taught you! Decency is in your bones!

Do I make myself clear?!

Now go home. Go home now. Be decent people. Be decent.

A moment of quiet as White comes down and faces Sherman.

JUDGE: You're free to go, Mr. McCoy.

TAGS: Morgan Freeman, The Bonfire of the Vanities, racism

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Morgan Freeman is ON FIRE

What's not to like and admire about these statements from one of my favorite actors? (I started to type, "favorite black actors.")

Morgan Freeman says the concept of a month dedicated to black history is "ridiculous."

"You're going to relegate my history to a month?"

Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."

The actor says he believes the labels "black" and "white" are an obstacle to beating racism.

"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man"

Wow! I really like that. Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors, if not my favorite. One thing that made March of the Penguins so endearing to me was Freeman's voice. And his intro of War of the Worlds? Frightening. Even in the bomb The Bonfire of the Vanities, his speech to the courtroom at the end of the movie left me spellbound. As best I can remember parts of it, "Go on home now and be decent. Be decent like your grandmother taught you. Just be decent."

Morgan Freeman seems like a decent man to me.

La Shawn Barber has more.
Joe Gandelman has some thoughts
Conservative Cat
Bill Nienhuis
Clear and Present

Cake Eater Chronicles


TAGS: Morgan freeman, racism, Black History Month

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John Murtha from his Lay-Z-Boy

Via Opinion Journal:

We've got nation building by the U.S. military, and that's not a mission for the U.S. military. I've said this over and over again: They're not good at nation building. You've given them a mission which they cannot carry out. They do the best they can, but they can't do it.
Rep. John Murtha, from a Lay-Z-boy somewhere in Washington, DC, USA

Well, while the good Rep. Murtha is sitting on his ass in Washington, these guys say:

On this side of the world, saying something and coming through and doing it means a great deal. Iraqis know that we mean what we say by staying and helping them get on their feet.
U.S. Marine Maj. Neil F. Murphy Jr., Camp Fallujah

As we prepared to visit the Iraqi units and polling sites in Mosul, I noticed the ink stained fingers of all the soldiers who voted early. I turned and looked over to the division sergeant major in the vehicle next to me and he was grinning from ear to ear. I held up my finger to see his, and he showed me his ink-stained finger and then a quick thumbs up. I'd never seen him so happy. Genuinely excited. He felt safe enough to go shopping last week, and now to vote on top of that? The optimism among the Iraqi soldiers and the Iraqis as we drove around Mosul is contagious.
U.S. Army Major Chris Hanna with the 5th Brigade, 87th Division (Training Support) in Al Kindi

I've seen more smiles than anytime ever before. There seems to be an uplift of the spirits of all the individuals we pass from most everyone and all ages. I believe that the Iraqi people are seeing that the impossible might become the possible after the election. The vast majority of the populace seems to appreciate, not only the Iraqi soldiers, but us.
Sergeant First Class Larry Bull, 5th Brigade, Mosul

Parents and their children are "walking the streets waving at the Americans and Iraqi-army patrols as they pass by."
Sergeant Major James Keesee, Mosul

The streets are filled with children playing soccer.
Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Cooney, Mosul

This is huge. The Iraqis have worked so hard to make this happen. The American soldiers are simply going to make sure this happens.
Capt. Kelly Lewis, 3rd Infantry Division, Baghdad

Most of the Iraqis I've talked to in the Tigris River Valley area are genuinely optimistic about this election. What gives me hope is that most of the Sunni Arabs I've talked to, at least in this area, have voiced their support for [former Iraqi Prime Minister] Iyad Allawi - a Shia Arab - because of his stance supporting a united Iraq.
Major Mike Doherty with the 5th Brigade, Mosul

We can always say we were here. It's like the whole country is holding its breath right now. Everyone is anticipating this chance to change the direction of their country. This is truly an incredible time to be here, to be witness to something that is historic in so many ways.
Lt. Col. Frederick P. Wellman, Baghdad

This is where we turn the corner; where the Iraqi people make the decision to collectively put the insurgency in the ground.
Lt. Col. Scott Morrison, 5th Brigade, Mosul

Now, we will witness the power of the individual Iraqi citizen as they slough off the burdens of their past; discount the present feeble attempts of the terrorist and assume responsibility for their future.
Col. Michael C. Cloy, 5th Brigade, Mosul

With the exception of a child, freedom is the greatest gift one human being can give another.
Master Sergeant Barry Kerby, 5th Brigade, Mosul

Sometimes it feels like we're beating a dead horse, but maybe this here today will be the culmination of it all.
Staff Sgt. Jason Scapanski, 101st Airborne, Salahuddin province

I am proud as an Iraqi because our country is becoming a center of attraction for all Arab countries. The new situation in Iraq, the democratic system, is starting to put pressure on the Arab systems to make some changes toward democracy.
Mohammed Wadi, Shiite schoolteacher, Baghdad

It is a national wedding day. We are all happy because we will choose a parliament that will last for four years. I hope we can choose the right people to achieve our dreams.
Jalal Talabani, Kurdish President, Sulaymaniyah

I think that Rep. Murtha should consider retirement now that he seems to have fully discredited himself.

TAGS: Murtha, Iraq

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Don't tell anyone he said this, but . . .

John Kerry speaking to 100 veterans of his losing '04 campaign:

If we take back the House, there's a solid case to bring articles of impeachment against this president.

or . . .

If we win back the House, I think we have a pretty solid case to bring articles of impeachment against this President.

depending upon the recollection of the listener.

Then he said, according to witnesses, "Don't tell anyone I said that."

Uh-huh

TAGS: John Kerry, loser

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"This is where we turn the corner . . . "

This is where we turn the corner; where the Iraqi people make the decision to collectively put the insurgency in the ground.

Lt. Col. Scott Morrison with the 5th Brigade in Mosul, Iraq.

Reports from all over Iraq are coming in of millions of Iraqis dressing up in their best to go to the polls to vote. Children playing in the streets and smiling faces everywhere. And very little murdering occurring (Iraqi police arrested a terrorist with 72 bombs destined for polling places). One soldier described the atmosphere in Mosul as "one large playground".

Another said that Iraqis and their children are "walking the streets waving at the Americans and Iraqi-army patrols as they pass by,"

Said an Iraqi soldier,

I want all the killing and bleeding to stop. I want children to live a happy life.

How could anyone say this was wrong, much less that we should turn tail and abandon these people?

Lots more here:
Secular Blasphemy: split between secularists and sectarians more or less like the US
New York Times: But . . .
Washington Post: But . . .
BBC But . . .
Austin Bay: says no if's, and's or but's.

Indepundit: "Freedom marches forward." Smash has reports from all over Iraq.
Stop the ACLU: Giving tyranny the Purple Finger
Political Pit Bull: "But it is also a victory for peace and democracy . . ." and he doesn't think it will be the last.
Air America: six sentences. Thanks!
No End But Victory: with an average Iraqi's opinions on the candidates.

American Future: with a summary from news sources
Decision '08: Victory in Iraq is a more secure world . . .
The Real Ugly American: Has a rundown on comment from around the world. Gets real ugly with Jean in Paris; "Thank you To Jean for reminding me why I wouldn’t piss on france if it was on fire. You pathetic little pig."
Blogs for Bush: Freedom and Democracy are on the march.
Euphoric Reality: with a roundup of first-hand accounts of the voting.

California Conservative is maintaining an open post.
Peace Like A River: Reminds us of the price paid for this mission.
Strata-Sphere: Has a message for Murtha and Pelosi and Dean and all the liberals.
Michelle Malkin:. . . but don't let it pass without thanking the men and women of the U.S. military and coalition forces who helped make it possible.
Conservative Thinking: Today we are all Iraqis.

Pajamas Media: Hired 8 reporters from around Iraq. Says turnout at Mosul at 80%.

TAGS: Iraq, election, voters

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A good five-cent cigar, among other things

What this country needs is a
really good five-cent cigar
Thomas Riley Marshall, Vice President of The United States, in the Senate in 1917

Marshall was right but he left out something that was and still is lacking in these United States that is far more important than a five-cent cigar. A decent spy agency. The one we've got ain't worth a nickel.

The Israelis say that Saddam Hussein sent his WMD arsenal to Syria six weeks before we attacked. In spite of what the movies would have you believe, we have no way of confirming that (short of an invasion of Syria - in which case the WMD's of Hussein and Syria would no doubt get shuffled off to Iran - whack-a-mole, anyone?).

We've got satellite images of some 150-300 heavy trucks crossing the border from Iraq into Syria during that time, but what was in them? We've not the foggiest. Could've been WMD's, could've been cotton bales, could've been dancing girls. We have no idea. And we may never know. Because our spy agency, the CIA, doesn't know and can't find out.

We can't find Osama bin Laden. We can't find Ayman al-Zawahiri. We can't find Mullah Omar. When the USSR collapsed, the CIA's reaction was, "Huh? Oh yeah, we predicted that - in 1945." Our CIA can't fly an airplane across Europe without some previously unknown Norwegian reporter discovering that flight and a lot more like it, tracing it to the CIA and then telling us what, or rather whom was on board. The CIA launched a super duper double really secret invasion of Cuba and found the Cuban army awaiting them on the beach. In that same fiasco, the CIA assured president Kennedy that the Cuban people would rise up against Castro and instead they rose up saying, "There's two hiding over there and four more hiding under there," etc..

To be fair to the CIA, the agency has been emasculated by a series of presidents and the Congress for the last 40 years. We (our elected representatives, that is) have transformed it into a lumbering disloyal bureaucracy that long ago forgot the key ingredient of "secret", which is, "Don't tell anybody." Hey! That's just like the Congress and the White House.

Here's the deal on a spy agency:

It has to operate in secrecy. And then don't tell anybody.

It has to operate constantly at the edge of legality. And then don't tell anybody.

It will cross that line upon occasion. And then not tell anybody.

When the agency blows one, heads should roll and everyone associated with the business should be fully aware of this possibility, in advance, at all times. It's part of the game.

The agency must conduct internal analyses to determine what went wrong and change things so the error is not repeated. And then don't tell anybody.

The agency must be prepared to play just as dirty if not dirtier than the opposition, regardless of domestic or international law. And then don't tell anybody.

If the agency gets caught, heads should roll and prison sentences served and everyone should be fully aware of this possibility, in advance, at all times. It's part of the game.

The failure should be analyzed internally and action taken to forestall its recurrence. And then don't tell anybody.

The agency's purpose is to inform us, IN ADVANCE, of threats to the people of The United States and then preempt those threats by whatever means seem most expedient. And then don't tell anybody.

If the agency cannot perform the above, every time and all the time, it has no reason to continue to exist.

TAGS: CIA, Iraq, Syria, WMD, Mossad

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A bellicose menu

A British health expert says that the menu served at Christmas dinners all across Britain causes the Christmas Day fights. I didn't realize that Britain was notorious for Christmas day family fights, but apparently it is so. Then this expert goes on to suggest some dietary change which, to me, would provoke riots and maybe armed insurrection. She suggests eating unsweetened cranberries. She further recommends:

. . . lean bacon wrapped around prunes, and roasted carrots.

Have you ever tasted unsweetened cranberries? Gaaaaack! Your entire face puckers up like a . . . well . . . you could whistle the theme from The Bridge on the River Kwai for 14 hours before getting your pucker unpuckered. And "bacon wrapped around prunes"? What person in their right mind would wrap bacon around a prune, let alone eat such a thing? If I had to eat unsweetened cranberries and bacon-wrapped prunes for Christmas dinner or at any other time other than just before going into battle, I'd be ready to strangle babies, slash nuns and torch old folk's homes.

TAGS: Britain, Christmas dinner, menu, diet

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GULP!

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Don King is known worldwide as a big-time boxing promoter. But has also taken some new fights on recently...

You love George Bush?

DON KING; I love George Walker Bush because I think he's a revolutionary. He's a president that comes in with conclusiveness. What they're doing in tomorrow in Iraq is a demonstration of that for the vote for democracy. The fundamental process of democracy is freedom of speech, law and order, being able to have freedom, working with people and working and governing yourselves. George Bush is that. He included in...

BLITZER: Do you have any regrets supporting him? Take a look at that picture when you and I were there at the diner last year. Do you have any regrets supporting him as enthusiastically as you did?

KING: No, I don't. In fact, I want to support him more now because it seems like everybody is punching him. You know what I mean? But he's fighting back, and he's throwing great combinations. And I think he's the guy that is really a revolutionary president.

I think he's a president that cares about the people he represents, but doesn't compromise himself to the extent that he acquiesce and accommodate. He goes out there and says like it is, and tries to make things better. Inclusiveness, education, is fighting for that.

These are the things that many guys that don't fight for -- George Walker Bush is a tremendous advocate to America, a great president for the great American people, and he's decisive. He's doesn't equivocate.

GULP! . . . unequivocally.
TAGS: Don King, George Bush

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Europe: No, no, no, no and no.

It's Europe's blackest year -- no to the constitution, no to economic reform, no to reform of the budget, almost a no to Turkey, a possible no to the world trade talks.

Europe is in a mess. People are dispirited.

So said Denis MacShane, Britain's former Europe Minister. The biggest dispute, and there are many, is between Britain and France. Britain enjoys a rebate, that is, Britain receives money back each year from the European Union to the tune of 3 billion euros annually. This deal was struck between Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Mitterrand and was granted to Britain because many of the European subsidies are skewed towards other EU members.

Jack Straw has floated the latest proposal from Britain that says, basically, if France gives up its farm subsidies Britain will give up its rebates. Chirac, knowing that enraged French farmers, 131,000 of whom receive some 20,000 euros annually in subsidies, would have his head on a pike if he were to agree, disagrees. In fact, Chirac says France will not consider any reduction whatsoever in its farm subsidies in spite of the fact that Britain has offered to forego 1.1 billion euros, or more than a third of its rebate. The EU, in keeping with its forward looking while marching backwards strategy, spends 40% of its total budget on farm subsidies which benefit 5% of its population. Imagine that; 40% of the budget to 5% of the population.

The debate is being carried on in civil terms, however, with the British calling Chirac's tactics "dumb" and "diversionary" as opposed to "moronic and a smoke screen", which might have really pissed him off.

Other countries involved have not been much more accommodating to the latest British proposal. Poland: "This proposal, if it stays as it is, will be met by a veto from Poland." Lithuania: "I am authorized to vote against the new proposal by Great Britain." Just a couple, for example.

The poorer Eastern European countries want the EU's budget increased to one trillion euros annually. The richer countries, like Britain, Germany and The Netherlands, don't. The British propose a budget growth of about 2.5 billion euros per year until 2007 when it would top out at 895 billion. The poorer countries want it jacked to a trillion euros, like, right now.

The real problem here for any agreement is that the agreement must be by consensus, which means that every voting member of the EU holds a veto. If anyone says "no," or "non," or "nein," it's over. An impossible situation. The British have the guts to put their rebate on the table but the French don't have the guts to reciprocate with their farm subsidies. The French lacking fortitude is kind of an old story, is it not?

TAGS: European Union, EU budget, France, rebate, farm subsidies

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Gay western gets 7 Golden Globe nominations

The Ang Lee western about gay cowboys, Hard on the Trail, received 7 nominations for various Golden Globe awards.

UPDATE: I'm informed by well informed sources that I mis-typed the name of the blockbuster. It's Homo on the Range. Er, Blowback Mountain, er, whatever. I won't be seeing it, in any case.

TAGS: Brokeback Mountain, Golden Globe

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