Don't Count Your Victories Before They're Won

The war in Iraq is not over or waning. In many ways the false idea that the war is won is far more dangerous than the defeatist ideas of the last year ever were.

Many political commentators have, for the most part, definitively announced that the war in Iraq is over; that the "Surge" has defeated the Islamo-Fascists (IF) in Iraq, and that the War in Iraq will not be an issue in the 2008 elections. This now-popular idea is as short-sighted and foolish as the idea that we were beaten in Iraq was, only a few short months ago...

[It's a long war. The only way to shorten it is to increase our resolve to winning it. If we lose in Iraq, it will only follow us home. ]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/dont_count_your_victories_befo.html

Seeking Psychological Victory in the War on Terror

In Iraq, as military and security conditions continue to improve, American war politics enters one of its stranger moments in our history. Certainly it is historically odd for war reporting to diminish almost to the point of public invisibility -- just as our troops are starting to gain the upper hand. But we are fighting this war with the journalists we have, not the ones we want.
[snip]
Bin Laden said it best. His people will follow the strong horse. If, after years of stumbling and bumbling, the enduring strength and eventual wisdom of the American people can enter into the belly of the Islamist world, overturn tyrants, empower the Muslim people with peaceable and prosperous ways and intimidate two Islamist nuclear aspirants to renounce their pretensions, we will show ourselves to be the strong horse. Thereby we will hasten the day when the terrorist pretensions will fall on deaf Muslim ears and the threat of Islamist terrorism will begin to recede.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/we_sacrificed_4000_to_vindicat.html

The Conservative Tide in Major Democracies

Recall four years ago, when "all" the leaders of our major democratic friends were hostile to America, to our liberation of Iraq, and in particular to President Bush? Remember how Senator Kerry said that leaders of Europe privately wanted him to win the presidency? That news has ceased to become newsworthy.
Why? Because, like the surge, the sentiment in major democracies has turned as well.
[snip]
In each of four major nations important to us, France, Germany, Canada, and Britain, there remain obstacles for conservatives and pro-Americans. But the condition within these democracies, these nations historically most important to America in both political and cultural connections, has improved - in some cases, dramatically improved - since the last elections in each nation...
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/12/the_conservative_tide_in_major.html

'Patients to lose weight before NHS treatment'

Patients could be required to lose weight before they can be treated on the National Health Service, Gordon Brown has suggested. In a New Year message to NHS staff, the Prime Minister indicates people may have to fulfil new "responsibilities" in order to establish their entitlement to care. The new conditions could be set out in a formal NHS "constitution", Mr Brown says. (Snip) Despite the NHS commitment to provide 'free' universal care, it is already common for doctors to set conditions on patients seeking treatment.
[the inevitable evolution of government run health'care']
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=EL3VVI3Y3LYOFQFIQMFSFFOAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2008/01/01/nhealth201.xml

Moments after Investor's Business Daily presaged that "2008 just might be the year the so-called scientific consensus that man is causing the Earth to warm begins to crack," the New York Times of all entities published a rather shocking piece pointing fingers at folks like Nobel Laureate Al Gore for being part of a group of "activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels."

This from the New York Times? Hold on tightly to your seats, folks, for the shocks in this piece came early and often:

Today's interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year's end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record - it was actually lower than any year since 2001 - the BBC confidently proclaimed, "2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend."

When the Arctic sea ice last year hit the lowest level ever recorded by satellites, it was big news and heralded as a sign that the whole planet was warming. When the Antarctic sea ice last year reached the highest level ever recorded by satellites, it was pretty much ignored. A large part of Antarctica has been cooling recently, but most coverage of that continent has focused on one small part that has warmed.

When Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005, it was supposed to be a harbinger of the stormier world predicted by some climate modelers. When the next two hurricane seasons were fairly calm - by some measures, last season in the Northern Hemisphere was the calmest in three decades - the availability entrepreneurs changed the subject. Droughts in California and Australia became the new harbingers of climate change (never mind that a warmer planet is projected to have more, not less, precipitation over all).

Checking that link to make sure it really goes to a Times piece? I understand - and there's {much} more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/science/01tier.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

[unfortunately, 2007 was initial heralded as the year scientists stood up - but the lengths to which the alarmists would ratchet up what was essentially a counter offensive was frankly underestimated. 'If you tell a lie big enough...'. Personally, I consider the jury still out as to if they'll get away with this; the truth can't 'float to the top' if it's literally withheld from TV, where too many Americans still get their news.]

Oil hits $100 a barrel for the first time

Oil prices rose above the symbolic level of $100 a barrel for the first time on Wednesday, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly escalating energy demand. Crude oil futures for February delivery crossed the $100 threshold on the New York Mercantile Exchange shortly after noon New York time...

[and still the US refuses to develop its own reserves...]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/business/02oil-nyt.php

Pa., N.J. join flood of bills on immigrants

The state Senate wants to make tougher illegal immigration laws a priority when the General Assembly returns to work next month. Their commitment to this legislation comes at a time when a record number of immigration-related bills are moving through state legislatures around the country. This heightened activity is triggered by the failure of the federal government to enforce immigration law.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/immigration_debate/20070830_Pa___N_J__join_flood_of_bills_on_immigrants.html

The candidates and illegal immigration

One of the most important issues in this year's presidential campaign is an issue that most leading contenders have been reluctant to discuss in a serious way: illegal immigration. Following are summaries of the candidates and the issues...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080102/EDITORIAL/57748580

Poll: Nation tired of Iowa-NH first

All eyes may be on Iowa and New Hampshire, but many of them are rolling. Despite efforts to evict the two states from the front of the presidential calendar, both managed to hang on for another election cycle that culminates with the Iowa caucuses on Thursday and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8. As a year of media attention reaches its crescendo, voters in other states are saying enough is enough...

[it's the 21st century: all candidates state their positions on the issues on the net, we answer a questionnaire with our preferences, and let computers do what they do best - point us toward those with closest answers to further vet. Then we have winnowing cycles whereby the field is cut in half based on votes garnered - repeatedly {maybe a month between} - until there's only two candidates left (regardless of party - and let's make it a six month process, start-to-finish process while we're at it). This assures that the eventually winner will have been elected by the majority of Americans. The NPATs could serve as the model (www.vote-smart.org) and the internet-based election process ready to role within a year (remember, billions of dollars of other people's money is transferred every day - technically an election system would be a cake walk.) OK, let's get it started...]

http://www.kansas.com/wireupdates/story/268961.html

A Recession Shouldn't Be in Your 2008 Forecast

Some analysts were predicting a recession would hit the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter as consumers, hurt by falling house prices and the high cost of gasoline, cut spending. It didn't happen, and there's no reason to think it's going to this year either. Economic growth will be slow in the first half of 2008, and the unemployment rate, which was still a low 4.7 percent in November, is likely to rise. (Snip) On the other hand, economic growth should accelerate in the second half of the year as financial-market conditions and the U.S. trade deficit improve...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_berry&sid=aeV7.rn.uMDM

Media Myth Exposed: 84 Percent of Americans Happy With Lives

If you listen to the negativity in the media , the overwhelming majority of Americans think they're falling behind financially, are despondent about their lives and their futures, and are desperately looking for a change.

Yet, a new poll out from the folks at Gallup confirms people are far happier with themselves and their lives than press members care to report. Here's the first result from Gallup (emphasis added throughout):

According to the Dec. 6-9, 2007, poll, 84% of Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their personal life at this time, while 14% are dissatisfied. These results have been fairly stable since Gallup first started tracking Americans' personal life satisfaction in 1979. The percentage of Americans who say they are satisfied with their personal life has averaged 82% over this period, with a low of 73% in July 1979 and a high of 88% in December 2004. (It is worth noting that in the same Dec. 6-9 survey only 27% of Americans said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time, providing a vivid contrast between Americans' view of things "out there" across the country and their view of their own personal lives.)

Key question: who provides folks' view of things "out there?"

http://www.gallup.com/poll/103483/Most-Americans-Very-Satisfied-Their-Personal-Lives.aspx

Sacked for sheep sex prank

Two British oil workers have been sacked after simulating sex with sheep due to be slaughtered for a Muslim festival. The animals were being killed for 30 foreign workers to celebrate Eid Al Adhha in the Algerian oil town Hassi Messaoud. The men, who have not been named, were reported by stunned restaurant workers and guards — then sacked by their employer, US industrial giant Schlumberger. They were accused of ''sheep violation''.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article639408.ece

British Paper Names General Petraeus Person of the Year

It took a British newspaper to name General David Petraeus "Person of the Year." I guess the Sunday Telegraph isn't constrained by Bush Derangement Syndrome like most American media as reported Monday;
[snip]

"But the reason for picking Petraeus is simple. Iraq, whatever the current crises in Afghanistan and Pakistan, remains the West's biggest foreign policy challenge of this decade, and if he can halt its slide into all-out anarchy, Gen Petraeus may save more than Iraqi lives."

Wouldn't it have been nice for an American newspaper or magazine to recognize this? Or is that asking too much? Regardless, readers are strongly encouraged to review the entire article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=AA4OSBQXNV5A3QFIQMFCFFWAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/12/30/nperson130.xml

Soldiers, Afghans Celebrate School Opening

KAPISA PROVINCE, Afghanistan, – U.S. soldiers helped local Afghans celebrate the opening of the Aftabachi Girls’ School in the Aftabachi Village here during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 26. The new school will serve 620 students and employ 15 teachers who will teach a wide variety of subjects including mathematics, science, English and Arabic, Mr. Turyaly, one of the school’s teachers, said.
[snip]
"This land was donated from private individuals,” Berry said. “That goes to show the emphasis the people in this area put on education. They give valuable farmland in a beautiful area.”
[snip]
The school will not be the last project. Berry noted plans are in the works for more projects in the spring.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48539

Don't be surprised if terrorists stage a Tet offensive

This spring marks the 40th anniversary of Hanoi's offensive. It will also mark the umpteenth time American enemies have attempted to win in the psychological and political clash of an American election what they cannot win on the battlefield.
[snip]
At the operational level, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) suffered a terrible defeat. However, Tet achieved the grand political ends North Vietnam sought. Tet was a strategic psychological attack launched in a presidential election year during a primary season featuring media-savvy "peace" candidates.
[snip]
The terrorists will attempt a series of terror spectaculars, and kill several hundred civilians in the process, because — in the quadrennial turmoil of an American presidential contest — sensational carnage that even momentarily seeds the perception of defeat is their only chance of victory.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5411653.html

Do we deserve our military?

"From Morocco to the Persian Gulf, we are seeing the rapid erosion of Christian populations, thought to now number no more than 15 million," Ms. Shea wrote in National Review. "The extinction of these ancient church communities will lead to ever more extremism within the region and polarization from the non-Muslim world."
There's one Middle Eastern country where the reverse is happening. Thousands of people attended Christmas services in Baghdad this year. Most of the worshippers were, of course, Christians. But in the pews with them were prominent Muslim clerics, both Sunni and Shia.
[snip]
David Petraeus is a better general than were William Henry Harrison, elected president in 1840, or Zachary Taylor, elected president in 1848. Yet David Petraeus is the Rodney Dangerfield of successful American commanders. He didn't even make the top ten in Gallup's poll of the most admired men for 2007, a list that includes former South African President Nelson Mandela, former President Jimmy Carter, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

http://jewishworldreview.com/1207/jkelly123107.php3

Year of the what?

2008 is officially the United Nation’s International Year of the Potato, and, at least in Greece, the Year of Feta. The UN has also declared 2008 to be the International Year of Sanitation, the International Year of Planet Earth (which lasts for 3 years) and the International Year of Languages.
[snip]
To get the UN to back a year of something takes a good deal of work and time. According to the UN’s procedure for the proclamation of international years, the subject for any such year must, among other things, be

"of priority concern to all or the majority of countries" and it should "involve action at the international and national levels"

In addition,

"each international year should have objectives that are likely to lead to identifiable and practicable results"...

[don't laugh, you're paying for this]

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071231/full/news.2007.397.html

North Korea misses deadline nuclear declaration

Washington - North Korea missed a year-end deadline to give a full account of its nuclear weapons under a disarmament-for-aid deal struck with regional powers and the United States. "It's unfortunate, but we are going to keep working on this," said U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey. North Korea, which tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006, gave no explanation for missing the deadline...

[broken promises (again)? no problem, we'll keep working with you (again). ]

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSEO21329520071231?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Nationalized Health'care'

[there:]
NHS losing battle against superbug’
Nurses should take back responsibility for cooking and cleaning in hospitals instead of letting private contractors do the work, a medical expert says. Many doctors are afraid of being treated in their own hospitals, while a lack of support from the Government has left elderly patients at risk from hospital-acquired infections and malnourishment, (Snip) Recent attempts by ministers to lower rates of MRSA and Clostridium difficile infections through a ''deep clean'' of hospitals will not have any significant impact...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3095545.ece

[here:]
ABC Does Three Consecutive Nights of Socialized Medicine
"Critical condition" in medical terminology means a patient has a high risk of death that could occur within the next 24 hours. So when you see "Critical Condition: Rx For America," sounds like something is in really bad shape, right?

No, it was just a promotional three-night series on ABC "World News with Charles Gibson" that ran from December 10-12 about health care. By the third night, Charles Gibson was even calling one example of socialized medicine a "system that works."

[what bias?]

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2007/12/13/abc-does-three-consecutive-nights-socialized-medicine

Not So Hot

If a scientific paper appeared in a major journal saying that the planet has warmed twice as much as previously thought, that would be front-page news in every major paper around the planet. But what would happen if a paper was published demonstrating that the planet may have warmed up only half as much as previously thought?

Nothing. Earlier this month, Ross McKitrick from Canada's University of Guelph and I published a manuscript in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres saying precisely that...

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12492

Opposition stirring against new reactors

Texas anti-nuclear activists are rallying their forces to challenge the nuclear renaissance that could see the state become home to the country's first new nuclear power plant project in nearly 30 years. On Friday a coalition of groups said it will intervene in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review of NRG Energy's application to build two new reactors in Matagorda County, next to the existing South Texas Project nuclear plant.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5409693.html

Border crossings cut by Texas crackdown

A strict policy to arrest, prosecute and jail illegal aliens who cross into the U.S. has shown significant success in reducing crossings and crime along the Texas border, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials said this month. The first 45 days of Operation Streamline — a collaborative effort of local, state and federal agencies in Texas — has resulted in decreased illegal border crossings and crime...

[who would have guessed? and note the inclusion of crime in the decreases]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071229/NATION/882891077/1001

House GOP to fight Democratic 'war' on jobs

Democratic proposals for higher taxes and policies that favor unions and lawyers over businesses threaten to kill jobs and reduce disposable income for middle-class families, according to a report by House Republicans. The report, titled ''Death by a Thousand Cuts: Democrats' War on American Jobs,'' cites policies that expand government and boost taxes, open doors for more lawsuits against employers and increase regulation on large and small businesses.

[catchy title, big politicos involved - expect a 60 Minutes special on this any day now...]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/NATION/376664386/-1/RSS_NATION_POLITICS

3 Dogs Live The Sweet Life On $800,000 Inheritance

Hagerstown, Md. -- They're not as loaded as Leona Helmsley's pooch, but three dogs in western Maryland still have more money than they know what to do with. The dogs -- a beagle named Buckshot and Labrador mixes named Katie and Obu-Jet -- inherited $400,000 and a house in Hagerstown when their owner, Ken Kemper, died last year. The trio is worth about $800,000 altogether. (Snip) On Friday nights, Grady treats them to a spaghetti dinner, complete with meatballs and garlic bread.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=5344789&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.7.1

browser and safe sender line

Pictures not downloading in Email? Allow images by adding us to your Safe Sender List, or view it in your Browser.

For those of you truly time 'challenged', try Red Reading for just-the-gist highlights.

.

Afghan, U.S. Troops Deliver Aid to Villagers

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Dec. 26, 2007 – Afghan national security forces, assisted by coalition forces, delivered tons of humanitarian assistance to hundreds of villagers in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
[snip]
“The villagers were very happy to receive the much-needed items. The goods will help villagers endure the onset of freezing winter temperatures. The people of Sra Kala and Shbal recognize that the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan truly cares for the general welfare of the population,”
[snip]
The provincial subgovernor responsible for the districts asked for help after hearing from area chiefs and village elders. The humanitarian aid also served as a way to reward villagers who have ensured the relative safety of the districts by making the area inhospitable to insurgents.

Petraeus Letter to the Troops

Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Civilians of Multi-National Force-Iraq: As 2007 draws to a close, you should look back with pride on what you, your fellow troopers, our Iraqi partners, and Iraqi Coalition civilians have achieved in 2007.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/535mehzn.asp

Democrats: Redeploy troops from Iraq

The United States should redeploy troops from Iraq, New York Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand said Saturday.

"Congress is challenging the administration's strategy in Iraq in favor of a better one that will effectively combat terrorism and create stability in the Middle East,"

she said during the weekly Democratic radio address.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_go_co/democrats_troops

US report: Israel nuclear war with Iran

All out nuclear war between Israel and Iran: a doomsday scenario that we all fear deeply. A new study compiled by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), headed by former Pentagon analyst Anthony H. Cordesman, explored just such a nightmare scenario, noting that it could lead to the death of between 16- 28 million Iranian civilians, and 200-800 thousand Israelis.
[snip]
One essential requirement for nuclear confrontation in our region, according to the study, is allowing Iran’s nuclear program to develop, unhindered by a pre-emptive strike by either Israel or the United States. If US or Israeli preemption does not occur, the study found, Iran could very well have 30 nuclear warheads available for warfare between 2010-2020.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3486011,00.html

Muslim call to prayer on loudspeaker in Oxford

Muslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque have been attacked by local residents who expressed their concerns over the plans for a two-minute long call to prayer to be issued three times a day, saying that it could drown out the traditional sound of church bells.
[snip]
Dr Mark Huckster, who lives in Stanton Road and works at East Oxford hospice Helen House, told the Oxford Mail: "The proposal to issue a prayer call is very un-neighborly, especially in a crowded urban space such as Oxford.

[ah, the joys of all-beliefs-are-equal 'multiculturalism']

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=504373&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

There v Here...

France to cut Syria ties over Lebanon presidential crisis
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Sunday he had instructed his staff to suspend diplomatic contacts with Syria until Paris has proof that Damascus is working for a consensus president in Lebanon. Speaking in Egypt after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Sarkozy said the time had come for deeds rather than words from Syria.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=939786&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1
[vs]
Specter, Patrick Kennedy visit Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria - There is "a real opportunity" for Syria and Israel to resume peace talks with help from the United States, Sen. Arlen Specter said Saturday after arriving for a two-day visit. Specter said he hoped Syria's participation in last month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., was a step toward "a new beginning for real efforts" to reach a Mideast peace, including between Syria and Israel.
[the useful idiots show hits the road once again...]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071230/ap_on_re_mi_ea/syria_israel_us

The more things change...

Chavez vows to put
''revolution'' back on track
Caracas - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez promised on Saturday to tackle poor garbage collection and high crime in a bid to win back support for his socialist ''revolution,'' which was hurt in a poll defeat a few weeks ago. Seemingly taking on board common criticism of his performance, Chavez said it was unacceptable that garbage was piling up uncollected in some parts of capital city Caracas, and acknowledged people were worried about crime.
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/news/international/Chavez_vows_to_put_revolution_back_on_track.html?siteSect=143&sid=8578578&cKey=1198981351000&ty=ti

Hollywood's new favorite dictator
Hugo Chavez, the oil-powered Castro wannabe of Venezuela, has picked up a few fans in Hollywood, despite the Venezuelan public's rejection of his plan to be dictator-for-life by a large enough margin that he couldn't steal the election, and despite (or in some cases because of) his cozying up to the regime of the mad mullahs. His willingness to finance movies with the Venezuelan treasury might just have something to do with it.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/12/hollywoods_new_favorite_dictat.html

The hot air cult

[you want to talk about special interest money?]

One of the traits of a cult is its refusal to consider any evidence that might disprove the faith. So it is doubtful the global warming cultists will be moved by 400 scientists, many of whom are current or former members of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Gore, for publicizing doubt on a "scientific consensus" that human-caused global warming endangers the planet.
[snip]
Like most cultists, the true believers struck back, not by debating science, but by charging that a small number of the scientists mentioned in the report have taken money from the oil industry. A spokeswoman for Al Gore said 25 or 30 of the [400] scientists may have received funding from Exxon Mobile Corp. Exxon Mobile spokesman Gantt H. Walton dismissed the claim, saying, "The company is concerned about climate-change issues and does not pay scientists to bash global-warming theories."
[snip]
The pro-global warming cultists enjoy a huge money advantage. Paleoclimate scientist Bob Carter, who has testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, noted in an EPW report how much money has been spent researching and promoting climate fears and so-called solutions: "In one of the more expensive ironies of history, the expenditure of more than $50 BILLION on research into global warming since 1990 has failed to demonstrate any human-caused climate trend, let alone a dangerous one," he wrote on June 18, 2007.

The $19 million spent on research that debunks the global warming faith pales in comparison.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/COMMENTARY09/245075897

Fence fiasco: Or Feliz ano nuevo

The decline of American sovereignty would typically be a big story in any year, but with all the news coming out of Hollywood this year, maybe it was a bit overshadowed by more significant events.
[snip]
Most recently, we learned that Congress — that hallmark of American integrity — had pulled a fast one on the voting public by undermining the border fence which it had so ostentatiously supported before the 2006 midterm elections.
[snip]
“Nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location.”
[snip]
In other words, it leaves total discretion for whether to build the fence or not to the administration that opposed the fence in the first place. Way to go, Congress, and feliz ano nuevo.

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/articles/2007/12/30/columns/columns01.txt

House GOP to fight Democratic 'war' on jobs

Democratic proposals for higher taxes and policies that favor unions and lawyers over businesses threaten to kill jobs and reduce disposable income for middle-class families, according to a report by House Republicans. The report, titled ''Death by a Thousand Cuts: Democrats' War on American Jobs,'' cites policies that expand government and boost taxes, open doors for more lawsuits against employers and increase regulation on large and small businesses.

[catchy title, big politicos involved - expect a 60 Minutes special on this any day now...]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/NATION/376664386/-1/RSS_NATION_POLITICS

NHS patients wait years for hearing aids

Patients across the country are waiting more than two years for a hearing aid, and up to five years to have old-fashioned equipment replaced by modern technology. Almost 50,000 people, many of them elderly, are stuck on NHS waiting lists and 10 primary care trusts have admitted to delays of more than a year for patients in need of their first hearing aid.
[government run health 'care']
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/30/nhear130.xml

Media Military Matters

THE story of 2007.

There should be no question what the top story of the year was: America’s counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq, a political party's hapless efforts to sabotage it, and the Western mainstream media’s stubborn refusal to own up to military progress.

We rang in 2007 with vehement liberal opposition to the “surge” of 21,000 added U.S. troops and tactical changes to secure Baghdad. In the ensuing 12 months, Democrats tried and failed repeatedly to undermine this military strategy and starve the war of funding. Their poisonously partisan allies at MoveOn.org attempted to smear surge architect and patriot Gen. David Petraeus as a traitor. The New York Times and Associated Press fought tooth and nail to obscure the successes of the surge with their relentless “grim milestone” drumbeat. But by year’s end, with Shiites and Sunnis marching and praying together for peace, even anti-war Democrats and adversarial media outlets alike were forced to acknowledge that undeniable military progress and security improvements had been made.

Is there still a long way to go? Hell, yes. Were there other ancillary factors that contributed to the decrease in violence and the “awakenings” in Anbar province and Baghdad? Yes again. But go back to January. Refresh your memories of the anti-surge rhetoric and the spectacularly misguided conventional wisdom...

[i.e., remember this, for utter failure has never dented their ideology one iota: they will try again...]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzQ1MDM4MDU1OWZlNGViNmFjNzRjZTkzNzQzYWQ2MzY=

U.S. Troops Deliver Backpacks to School Children

ADIL, Iraq, Dec. 26, 2007 – The troops who provide a security situation that allows Iraqi children to attend school are helping those same children here get the most of that experience.

"I have always been a believer that when you are in school the only thing you should worry about is learning, and all teachers should be worried about is teaching, and they should be at least afforded a good building and plenty of supplies so they can focus on learning and not worry that they will run out of notebooks and pencils and that their building is falling apart,”

With the army enjoying the trust of local citizens, the soldiers can continue to reach out and conduct their security mission joint operations.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48522

Triple Threat Pressures al Qaeda in Iraq, General Says

While al Qaeda scrambles to reorganize itself, the terrorist group is being pressured by a triple threat consisting of coalition and Iraqi security forces and local concerned citizens’ groups, Army Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, told reporters at a Baghdad news conference.

“We have to continue to pursue this enemy to prevent them from re-establishing themselves or creating new bases of operation,” Bergner said.

Meanwhile, the 70,000 members of Iraqi concerned citizens’ groups that have sworn to fight al Qaeda have proven to be powerful allies, Bergner said, as the capabilities and numbers of Iraqi soldiers and police continue to grow.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48528

Iran source of Afghan weapons: MacKay

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan – Defence Minister Peter MacKay says weapons are flowing from Iran into the hands of Afghan insurgents. He says improvised explosive devices from Iran have been a particular concern for Canadians. Most of Canada's 73 combat deaths have been the result of IEDs. He says it's been difficult for Canada to address the issue though he has made his concerns known to the Iranian government.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/288640

West Ignoring 'Systematic Persecution' of Palestinian Christians

If Western governments do not address the Muslim persecution and economic plight of Palestinian Arab Christians, there won't be many Christians left in the Holy Land within 15 years, an Israeli scholar said here. Loss of employment, land seizures, attacks on churches, intimidation, torture, beatings, kidnappings, forced marriage and sexual harassment of Christian women are clear human rights violations ....

[shouldn't that read 'Western Media Ignoring...'? Or is there to be a public outcry against something we're not told about? Besides, we wouldn't want to be accused of religious jingoism defending Christian women when we obviously don't care about Muslim women... 'world opinion' and all that]

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11560968/

New Peer-Reviewed Study Finds ‘Warming is naturally caused and shows no human influence’

Climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia report that observed patterns of temperature changes (‘fingerprints’) over the last thirty years are not in accord with what greenhouse models predict and can better be explained by natural factors, such as solar variability. Therefore, climate change is ‘unstoppable’ and cannot be affected or modified by controlling the emission of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, as is proposed in current legislation.

The report is published in the December 2007 issue of the International Journal of Climatology of the Royal Meteorological Society [DOI: 10.1002/joc.1651]. The authors are Prof. David H. Douglass (Univ. of Rochester), Prof. John R. Christy (Univ. of Alabama), Benjamin D. Pearson (graduate student), and Prof. S. Fred Singer (Univ. of Virginia).

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/908

Navy's new lethal subs

Australia will build the world's most lethal conventional submarine fleet, capable of carrying long-range cruise missiles and futuristic midget-subs, to combat an expected arms race in the region.* New Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has ordered planning to begin on the next generation of submarines to replace the Royal Australian Navy's Collins-class fleet (Snip) The 17-year project will be the largest, longest and most expensive defence acquisition since Federation, potentially costing up to $25 billion.

[*i.e., China]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22971955-601,00.html

NHS losing battle against superbug’

Nurses should take back responsibility for cooking and cleaning in hospitals instead of letting private contractors do the work, a medical expert says. Many doctors are afraid of being treated in their own hospitals, while a lack of support from the Government has left elderly patients at risk from hospital-acquired infections and malnourishment, (Snip) Recent attempts by ministers to lower rates of MRSA and Clostridium difficile infections through a ''deep clean'' of hospitals will not have any significant impact...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3095545.ece

Boy's kidnappers promise revenge if family cooperates with authorities

Human traffickers are threatening family members of a Houston boy who was kidnapped in an apparent Christmas Eve dispute over $4,000 owed for smuggling his sister from Mexico, the boy's mother said. Francisca Torres, 37, said Wednesday she has received three calls at her home from smugglers since her son Luis Antonio Gonzalez, 14, was freed by authorities in Austin and returned to Houston late Christmas Day.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5405697.html

Scientists fleeing border, smugglers

Biologist Karen Krebbs used to study bats in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Arizona-Mexico border. Then, she got tired of dodging drug smugglers all night. "I use night-vision goggles, and you could see them very clearly" - caravans of men with guns and huge backpacks full of drugs, trudging through the desert, Krebbs said. After her 10th or 11th time hiding in bushes and behind rocks, she abandoned her research.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1227narco-science.html

US Economy So Bad Illegal Aliens Heading Back to Mexico

Just how bad is the economy doing? Well, according to Reuters, it's so bad out there that illegal aliens are heading back to Mexico.

"The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States who are starting to pack their bags and move back to Mexico* as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip."

What turndown in the U.S. economy? According to the Department of Labor's enterprise survey, employers have added 400,000 jobs since July, and 1.1 million so far this year. Furthermore, the broader household survey identified an astounding 1 million gain in workers since August. But there was more:

"Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor, and the falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has eaten into the value of remittances sent to support families at home."

Despite the stupidity of this Reuters piece, the contract which trades pesos on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed last Friday at 9.18 cents. That's a better exchange rate than was 2006's 9.6 cents, so illegal immigrants sending money back to Mexico were benefiting from exchange rates NOT being penalized as this Reuters piece suggested.

Facts can be terrible things.

[* the critical point here is yet more objective evidence {i.e., their own words} that when we require illegal aliens to be documented to work, they self-deport - no 'rounding up of 20 million people' required.]

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/12/24/reuters-us-economy-so-bad-illegal-aliens-heading-back-mexico

Redefining 'Fiscal Responsibility' - At high cost

Congressional "Pay-As-You-Go" budgeting translates to perpetually bigger government

Want to ensure the growth of government? Forever?
[snip]
Pay-Go became law as a part of the 1990 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. (It went away in 2002, only to be reinstated in January of this year.) The problems with Pay-Go, however, became apparent immediately. It did nothing to reduce spending, and everything to prevent tax cuts.
[snip]
Before Pay-Go, "fiscal responsibility" meant limiting federal expenditure to what the government could reasonably afford. Under Pay-Go, spending hawks slowly went the way of the dodo, to be replaced by "deficit hawks". These creatures are first and foremost concerned with the Congressional bottom line, and are far more willing to raise taxes than reduce spending to maintain it.

Responsibility used to mean frugality; it now means tax hikes to pay for as much government as possible. Accordingly, you can be an Ear-Marxist and still be a "deficit hawk", so long as you raise taxes enough to foot the bills.

And despite replete examples throughout our history that reducing taxes actually increases the revenue Washington collects, under Pay-Go Congress can not decrease taxes a dollar here without raising taxes a dollar there or cutting spending a dollar somewhere.

And this is merely the tip of the Washington ice berg the media wishes to see.

Only in this press-induced haze can the federal government spend 1/5th of everything the nation creates and there be anyone calling it miserly.

Yet the media are doing exactly that. They are never ones to see any government program go without ever more, each and every year. Only they can call a program's increase of a lesser percentage than that it had grown the previous year a "cut."

And so Pay-Go goes. Were it rightly defined by the press, the mess in Washington would by now be a great deal less.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24059

Country-club Dems

Republicans are the party of the rich. Isn't that an immutable law of American politics? While certainly a popular truism for the past half-century, it's no longer supported by the numbers.
[snip]
A recent study by Mike Franc at the Heritage Foundation finds "the demographic reality is that, in America, the Democratic Party is the new 'party of the rich. "

[more accurately, it's the mega-rich {think 'tycoons' and 'stars'} that lean democratic... ]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071227/EDITORIAL08/509955919/1013&template=printart

Burping moose bad for the environment

Amidst all the talk about carbon dioxide emissions and global warming comes news that Norway's national mascot may be contributing to the destruction of the environment, through burping and other bodily functions. (Snip) But now some researchers linked to Norway's technical university (NTNU) in Trondheim contend that moose are responsible for tons of gas emissions a year through their frequent burping and, well, farting. ''Shoot a moose and save yourself a climate quota,'' joked moose researcher

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1949645.ece

Iraqis Increasingly Side With Coalition, Colonel Says

The Iraqi people increasingly are siding with the coalition against extremists in their country, a unit commander there said. [snip] “They’re starting to realize that we’re here to make their life better, and because of that they’re starting to take our side,” he said in a teleconference with online journalists and “bloggers” Dec. 20.

“So, they’ve really taken our side against al Qaeda over here. And I think it’s something we can be proud of as an Army, and we can be proud of as a nation.”

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48521

Northern Iraq Operations Expose Enemy’s Grim Nature

[snip] coalition forces found an execution site and a torture facility where al Qaeda had operated. “At that execution site, there were 26 remains found. Their arms were tied behind their back, and most of them were shot in the back of the head,” Bacon said.

Inside the three-room torture facility, tools for carrying out various forms of torment were found, including blood-caked knives, whips, metal beds wired to electrical outlets and chains hung from the ceiling, he said.

Bacon added that this is the fifth al Qaeda-operated torture house he’s become aware of since arriving in Iraq in May.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48498

Tortured Democrats

It didn't get much attention, but last May U.S. troops unearthed an even grislier site, an al Qaeda torture chamber in Baghdad itself. When they entered, the soldiers found [redacted: truly gruesome] and many more. It's useful to be reminded of what real torture looks like when the Democrats in Washington are working themselves into a froth about CIA interrogation tapes.
[snip]
So now we will have an inquiry into whether the CIA has violated the law by destroying tapes it was under no obligation to make in the first place; concerning an interrogation technique that at the very worst involved making three notorious terrorists think, for a few seconds, that they were drowning.
[snip]
I have severe doubts as to whether waterboarding constitutes torture. But I am certain the unceasing attention it receives and the eagerness of many Democrats to indict the Bush administration damaged America's image more than anything the CIA has done. [well, until the insane NIE report] I say this for two reasons:[...]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/COMMENTARY/485798050

Egyptians caught out in arms video

Jerusalem - Israel and Egypt traded accusations over the smuggling of weapons from the Egyptian Sinai into Gaza, a day before Israel's Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, was scheduled to meet the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, in the Sinai resort of Sharm el Sheikh. (Snip) individuals from the Israeli defence establishment had sent a videotape, or tapes, to colleagues in the Israeli embassy in Washington showing Egyptian border guards not only turning a blind eye to the cross-border smuggling but in at least one case helping it.

[another of Israel's 'peace partners']

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/egyptians-caught-out-in-arms-video-israel/2007/12/26/1198345081176.html

Muslim call to prayer on loudspeaker in Oxford

Muslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque have been attacked by local residents who expressed their concerns over the plans for a two-minute long call to prayer to be issued three times a day, saying that it could drown out the traditional sound of church bells.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=504373&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Afghanistan kicks out EU/UN officials

Kabul - Afghanistan has ordered a top European Union official and a United Nations staffer to leave the country for threatening national security, government and diplomatic officials said on Tuesday. The two were declared persona non grata, apparently after allegations they had met with Taliban insurgents, a European diplomat said.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2243332,00.html

Drilling a Hole in the Lifeboat

What would you do if your foreign policy agenda had these priorities:

1. Get Arab and European support for solving the Iraq crisis.
2. Mobilize Arab and European forces against a threat led by Iran and its allies, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah.
3. Get Iran to stop its campaign to get nuclear weapons.
4. Reestablish American credibility toward friends and deterrence toward enemies.
5. Reduce the level of Israel-Palestinian conflict.

That pretty much describes the U.S. framework for dealing with the Middle East nowadays. The Annapolis conference is did not contribute to any of these goals. The outcome is a failure or at least a non-event portrayed as a victory because it took place at all. And yet, nobody is saying: 'We are so grateful at the United States becoming more active on Arab-Israeli issues that we are going to back its policy on other issues.'

On the contrary,...

http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3829&cid=1&sid=27

$cience Mag Jumps on Global Moneywagon

Big Science is a Big Business, supporting nearly half the budgets of our major universities. [snip] So the professional scientist union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has ads headed AAA$. They aren't shy about it.

The trouble is that money means politics, and politics means shading the truth. As a result, we get politicized science, which corrupts real science. Any kind of Politically Incorrect science therefore becomes very hard to publish. So the cult of PC has invaded the pristine halls of science.
[snip]
In the last issue of Science Donald Kennedy has an editorial endorsing the Democrat candidate for president. Not exactly in so many words, but it's unmistakable:

"The United States could ... mitigate carbon dioxide emissions: The root cause of global warming and the reef problem. Experience suggests that for this, we might have to await an election."

This is like the union boss telling his members how to vote in a general election if they want to get more money. But global warming is a popular hypothesis, Dr. Kennedy. It's not established. You do remember the difference, don't you?

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/12/cience_mag_jumps_on_global_mon.html

Iran to Get Russian Anti-Missile Defense

Russia is preparing to equip Iran with a powerful new air defense system that would dramatically increase its ability to repel an attack, Iran's defense minister said Wednesday. The S-300 anti-aircraft missile defense system is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missile warheads at ranges of over 90 miles and at altitudes of about 90,000 feet. Russian military officials boast that its capabilities outstrip the U.S. Patriot missile system.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TPC0V00&show_article=1

NHS definition of 'customer'

Figures obtained by The Scotsman under Freedom of Information legislation show at least 1,390 hospital appointments are missed every day in Scotland. However, the figure is likely to be much higher, as many health boards were unable to supply numbers for missed inpatient appointments, while others do not collect data on clinics with staff such as physiotherapists and dieticians.
[snip]
She added: "Part of the problem is appointments are made so far in advance that pat-ients simply forget. We need some kind of system to remind people of their appointments nearer the time." [you know, like the private sector has had for a decade. The NHS response? ...

practices (68 per cent) said they would support charging people £10 for missed appointments. ... of course. It's government run.]

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/1390-Scots-don39t-turn-up.3619753.jp

Study on Illegal Immigration to Be Released Tomorrow

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, issued a press release announcing that their cost study on immigration will be released tomorrow the subtitle of which is:
“Previous state and private studies over-estimated tax receipts and under-estimated costs.”

The details of this study are sure to be controversial, and the Des Moines Register reported last week that “immigrant-rights groups” are already critical and calling for the upcoming radio event to be scuttled.

[scuttled. is that anything like censored?]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071226/aqw018.html?.v=39

Plan Would Let Seniors Work to Pay Taxes

GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn't want to leave Greenburgh. Greenburgh doesn't want her to leave, either. The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.

[is it just me or is it shameful that 'telling the government to f-off' evidently hasn't even be considered as a fix to this deplorable situation? we are rapidly losing control of our government, becoming sheeple]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071225/D8TOKT9G1.html

America Supports You: Virginia Guard Family Gets Extreme Dream Home

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 18, 2007 – Army National Guard Spc. Michael Lucas received an extra-special homecoming during his mid-tour leave from Iraq recently when he and his family discovered they had been selected for a total home renovation, courtesy of the ABC reality television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

A lifelong history buff, Lucas had begun construction on a house near Rice, Va., on the site of the Civil War’s Battle of High Ridge. But he was deployed before he could finish the home, and the family moved into a rental property in Cullen, Va. Jean home-schools both of her children, and the nomination for the home makeover came through members of the home school cooperative where she is a member.

National Guard soldiers were quick to lend a helping hand. About 50 soldiers volunteered their time to help build a home for a fellow soldier.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48445

NBC Refuses to Run Support the Troops Ads During Holidays

A conservative organization known as Freedom's Watch has had its advertisements rejected by NBC. As reported moments ago by the Associated Press (emphasis added):

NBC has rejected a TV ad by Freedom's Watch, a conservative group that supports administration policy in Iraq, that asks viewers to remember and thank U.S. troops during the holiday season.

NBC said it declined to air the ad because it refers to the group's Web site, which the network said was too political, not because of the ad's message.

[think about that - and this outfit based in New York]

http://www.freedomswatch.org/Edit/PressReleases/tabid/45/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/42/Default.aspx

Reform of Islam is Necessary for Civilization

The greatest [physical] danger mankind faces is the smuggling of a nuclear weapon by an Islamic Terrorist into a major western city killing millions in the name of God. If the hateful teachings of the Koran are not removed from Islam this is the disaster that will destroy civilization as we know it. It will dramatically change human history forever. The stakes are that high.
[snip]
Nobody cares if Islam is a religion in which people pray 5 times a day, wash their feet, fast for one month, do not use alcohol etc. That would be wonderful. But it is not.. Islam is a declaration of war against infidels. Islam is an ideology of war and the Koran is a book of war. This war is permanent until all the infidels have converted, or paid a submission tax or have been murdered. This is the Law of God as set down in the Koran.
[snip]
How is it possible that such an evil ideology (not religion) invented by an evil man (Muhammad) who, raped slaves, beheaded prisoners, sold women and children into slavery and raped a child – be posing such a grave threat worldwide to democracy and freedom. Any normal person reading the Koran immediately realizes that the hate, terror, violence pouring from the pages is not the word of God but that of a mad man which needs to be expunged from civil societies.
[snip]
The biggest problem we face in our struggle is that the political, media, intellectual and political elites are making criticism of Islam off limits by labeling such criticism Islamophobia. These elites are contributing this crazy and insane situation...

http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3910&cid=11&sid=109

Lakota Indians Announce Secession from United States

A group claiming to represent the Lakota (aka Teton, Tetonwan) people, part of the Sioux, announces via press release their independence from the United States. A Lakota delegation on Monday delivered a statement of "unilateral withdrawal" from the United States to the U.S. State Department in Washington.

"We are now a free country and independent of the United States of America," Means said in a telephone interview. "This is all completely legal." Means said anyone could live in the Lakota Nation, tax free, as long as they renounced their U.S. citizenship. The nation would issue drivers licenses and passports, but each community would be independent. "It will be the epitome of individual liberty, with community control," Means said.

To make his case, Means cited a recent nonbinding U.N. resolution on the rights of indigenous people. He thinks there will be international pressure. "If the U.S. violates the law, the whole world will know it," Means said.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see harmonic convergence looming in the fantasies of the international left. Their publicity campaign is coming. It deserves to be laughed away - but won't be. There is a vast industry of activist groups, NGOs, financial interests and governments which will love this "cause." Imagine the potential for "solidarity"! The nation state is the primary rival of the forces of supranational organizations like the EU, UN, and others of 'world governance'.

The news was picked up eagerly overseas (e.g., Radio Netherlands, U.K. Telegraph, AFP and Malaysia Sun ) faster than at home, although USA Today and local/regional media like the Rapid City Journal had coverage that went beyond PR transcription.

http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=31054&cat=0

Gore: Scientists Disagreeing with Climate Alarmism Tied to Big Oil

As NewsBusters reported Thursday, over 400 scientists in 2007 "voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called ‘consensus' on man-made global warming." Predictably, Nobel Laureate Al Gore dismissed this historic Senate report by stating through a representative that some of these esteemed scientists from around the world have connections to Big Oil, and, therefore, their opinions should be ignored.

Pretty amazing coming from a man that has made what some estimate is $100 million in the past seven years selling this canard 'consensus' to the public.

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.SenateReport

Fatal alliance

A recent article in The Washington Times by Sara A. Carter show the frightening importance of the alliance between Arabic terrorists and Mexican drug cartels. It documents how well known this dangerous situation has been for several years, for which no effective action had been taken by the Department of Homeland Security or local officials.

As an old drug-policy hand, I thought I had heard everything about it. But parts of the story were news to me and terribly disturbing. One example was the report that "approximately 20 Arab persons a week were utilizing the Travis County Court in Austin to change their names and driver's licenses from Arabic to Hispanic surnames." I do not claim that this horrendous problem is easy to deal with; it is not.

However, I do claim that some obvious first steps come to mind. . .

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070820/EDITORIAL/108200006/1013/editorial

From bad to worse for deficit

California

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's finance officials are estimating a California budget deficit next year of $14 billion, significantly larger than the $6.8 billion gap previously forecast by a state budget analyst, according to two sources who have spoken to the governor. The growing estimate increases pressure on Schwarzenegger and lawmakers to cut spending, increase taxes and possibly sell off public assets to close the budget hole.

[All the while continuing to pursue taxpayer funded 'free' health care.]

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/560995.html

Time's Selective Sense of Humor: Top Cartoons Target Only Conservatives

What do you know? Time magazine ran a list of the Top Ten Editorial Cartoons of 2007, and the only American political figures coming in for lampooning were . . . conservatives. Four of the cartoons were not explicitly political, but of those that satirized political figures, all were Republicans or conservatives:
[snip]
Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got better treatment at Time's hands than did conservatives. The only bad news that upsets the Iranian regarding his trip to NYC is his inability to get tickets to The Lion King. Aww. As for Democrats, not a cartoon in sight.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1690170_1690363,00.html

When Will They Ever Learn?

California

An agreement is rumored to be near for adoption of a $9 billion general obligation water bond. The bond will cost the general fund roughly $18 billion, including interest (or $600 million a year EVERY year for the next 30 years) and is being pushed at a time when the state is running an unprecedented deficit due to unsustainable increases in spending.

The measure is being touted as a response to increasingly tight water supplies, although only $3 billion – at most – will be used for surface water storage. This despite SIX other bond acts over the last 11 years that have totaled $17 billion, ALL promising to solve our water shortages.

Two other notes. First, nearly HALF of our water is now being used to meet various environmental mandates. Although additional facilities are certainly needed, our current "crisis" is largely the product of environmental extremism. And second, $7.1 billion from the two water bonds approved by voters last November still has not been appropriated.

http://www.carepublic.com/blog.html?blog_id=204&frompage=latestblog&domain=tom_mcclintock

UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws'
A little-known law which prohibits people dying while in the Houses of Parliament has been voted the UK's most ludicrous piece of legislation. The most absurd international law was judged to be in the US state of Ohio, where it is illegal to get fish drunk. (Snip) the list included legislation against naming a pig Napoleon in France, driving while wearing a blindfold in Alabama and unmarried women parachuting on a Sunday.
[methinks that last may have something to do with the wearing of skirts back in the day - note that it was evidently A-OK on Saturdays!]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7081038.stm