Out until Next Wednesday

Here is some interesting 'blogging' for you while I'm gone. It's a link to the interview President Bush gave to Michael Barone (the recording was made by him),
Tony Blankley of the Washington Times, Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal, Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post, Lawrence Kudlow of CNBC, Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel, Mark Steyn of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Byron York of National Review were the reporters included. It's about an hour long and very interesting.
Have a good one!

The Australian Shiek

Get's cheered in spite of his horrible, horrible thoughts on women. Why? Because he hates Bush. The syndrome spreads. What are these poor people going to do in 2008 when their focus is gone? There will probably be a worldwide depression. Not an economic one, but a mental one.

The Pentagon Fights Back

OPFOR notes the Pentagon straightening out the NYTimes and Newsweek on their "facts".

Embedded Reporters

I saw this headline yesterday but didn't read the story because it sounded too un-freakingbelievable. Varifrank read it though and had a different take.

Incredible. In-freaking-credible.

Read his post.

"Anchoring"

The blogosphere never caught on to this story from the Washington Post the other day, so I will post it here. Maybe it was just TOOO outrageous for words. Essentially Shankar Vedantam writes an article about the psychological experience of "anchoring" where a person, once given a figure, holds onto that number in spite of other experiences.

Cute little experiment in psychology, right? Wrong! It's an agenda piece, hiding as psychobabble.

A Johns Hopkins study published in a respected peer-reviewed journal finds the number of Iraqis killed as a consequence of the 2003 invasion to be about 650,000. Critics immediately get up in arms; President Bush -- not known to be a keen evaluator of scientific studies -- declares the result "not credible."

Then, guess who put the anchored number up?
That's right.

"It could be malicious and deliberate or innocent and just wrong, but the fact that the administration had set an anchor is what makes the new number seem implausible," said Max Bazerman, who studies human decision-making at Harvard Business School.

And that's it. No mention of other sources saying how ridiculous that number is. This article is out there to tell people that the reason no one believes the 600,000 is because we've been "anchored" in a smaller number and NOT because it's bull.

Muslim Cleric backs down

Score one for the rational. After an Australian Muslim cleric basically said that women can blame themselves for getting raped, he has now

apologised for any offence caused by his comments, The Australian newspaper reports.

Yes, I know, it's a nonapology apology. "Sorry, you're so uninformed that you were offended by me", but still, it's a start.

Here's the original:

"If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside... and the cats come and eat it... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat?" he asked.

The uncovered meat is the problem, he went on to say.

"If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred," he added.

Sheikh Hilali also condemned women who swayed suggestively and wore make-up, implying they attracted sexual assault.

"Then you get a judge without mercy... and gives you 65 years," he added.

Outrageous!!

And isn't it odd that he doesn't suggest that if these raping men would just stay in their rooms, in their homes, wrapped tightly in a blanket, no problem would have occurred. Oh yeah, that would be what the judge does "without (cough) mercy" in the west. Doh.

Muslim Taxi drivers in MN

Haven't you wondered why the "we won't transport anyone with alcohol" idea hasn't spread?
Surprisingly, there's an agenda. Karen Kersten figured it out.

Mitt Romney

This was hilarious.

During a press conference this week about removing some Massachusetts Turnpike tolls, a Boston Globe reporter rambled through an elaborate, jargon-laced soliloquy that was interupted by Romney when it became clear there was no question in sight.
“Do you have a point of view on this?” Romney joked.
“I represent the people, governor,” the stunned reporter replied.
Romney’s punchline: “No, I represent the people. You represent the media.”

Score!
(via Uncorrelated)

Iraq

Frederick W. Kagan has an opinion column in the Washington Post today that tries to be right, but is way off base.
Essentially he's saying that we created the Iraq we have today and we have to fix it and anyone who says differently is immoral etc. He has a point, but it's the way he says it. Up until just very recently Iraq has been assured by the Bush administration that we are behind them 100%. The President however is living in reality. In 2008 he's going to be gone and there are a ton of people who do not want us to support Iraq, including Iraqis.
Yes we are an "occupying force" and so we are in charge of security, but at the same time we know that in 10 years we should not be in charge of internal security. The best way to accomplish that task is to train, train, train and test the Iraqi forces while we're still there.
Rumsfield et al are hinting at leaving because the Iraqis need to realize that 2008 is coming up quick.

It's been coming for a long time: the idea that fixing Iraq is the Iraqis' problem, not ours -- that we've done all we can and now it's up to them.

Such arguments have been latent in the Bush administration's Iraq strategy and explicit in Democratic critiques of that strategy for some time. Now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has declared: "It's their country. . . . They're going to have to govern it, they're going to have to provide security for it, and they're going to have to do it sooner rather than later."

The implication of these arguments is clear: The United States should prepare to leave Iraq, after which the Iraqis will work out their own troubles -- or they won't. In any event, we can no longer help them. This notion is wrong and morally contemptible, and it endangers American security around the world.

The notion he has is over the top and is putting words in the administrations mouth. The Iraqis WANT to govern/take care of themselves. It would be great to get a base in Iraq out of this and it may well happen, but that's not the goal.
Democratic governments exists by the people. Many of the 'we the people' in the US are done with Iraq. Iraq needs to realize what that can mean, morally contemptible or not. Many of the 'we the people' in Iraq are done with having us there. Civil war or not life in Iraq is not going to continue exactly as it is now for 10 years or even 5 years. The administration is putting that thought out there because it's based in reality.
And look who's working to assert their authority. Yes, it's the Iraqi government. As with any fledgling project as one point the teacher has to back off and let the teachee take charge. These are steps in the right direction and we should applaud them.

Flying

Ish, I've never really like it. Now Glenn found this story where Jet Blue tests pilot capacity. With passengers on board.

Without seeking approval from Federal Aviation Administration headquarters, consultants for JetBlue outfitted a small number of pilots with devices to measure alertness. Operating on a green light from lower-level FAA officials, management assigned the crews to work longer shifts in the cockpit -- as many as 10 to 11 hours a day -- than the eight hours the government allows. Their hope: Showing that pilots could safely fly far longer without exhibiting ill effects from fatigue.

Impressions

I said it just the other day. "Stay the course" is shorthand for "we're not leaving you", not "continue doing the exact same thing until it works".
The Washington Post today "analyzes" how the President is going to change the wording of this program since the Democrats HAVE COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTOOD SUCH A SIMPLE LITTLE MESSAGE!

Bush used "stay the course" until recent weeks when it became clear that it was becoming a political problem. "The characterization of, you know, 'it's stay the course' is about a quarter right," Bush complained at an Oct. 11 news conference. " 'Stay the course' means keep doing what you're doing. My attitude is: Don't do what you're doing if it's not working -- change. 'Stay the course' also means don't leave before the job is done."

Doh!

Immigration and Livestock

I know, I know, these two items don't go together. But today there is a story in the NYTimes about meat labels on meat raised "compassionately". (yes, the compassionate part is relative and the labels can be iffy but that's not the point) Essentially the story is that people are willing to pay more for meat that has been raised "not caged" or "free range" or

raised in a humane manner until they were slaughtered.

And they're willing to pay almost twice as much! I know this for a fact, because I'm one of those people. Luckily for me I get most of my beef/pork direct from a small hobby farm I know of but when I go grocery shopping I look for eggs from cage free chickens etc. ( You definitely find less bruising in your chicken meat that way.)
Anyhoo, the big argument for immigration is "lettuce would go up twice as much!". Yeah, so what? Lettuce is so cheap that distributors started to package it in ready made packs that
a) don't have to be washed but
b) can give you e coli, but
c) are easy and
d) cost a bundle. I buy them.
Why not a new label....

"Harvested by legal farm workers making $15/hour"

I'd pay extra. Those that don't care or can't afford the difference can continue to buy the iffy produce. Illegal immigration is continuing. Let's label it and buy our way out.

American Snipers

After their propaganda snuff film the other day, I have removed CNN from the tabbed list of news sources I look at every day and taken off my email alert of their breaking news. That one made me spitting mad. Today Michelle Malkin follows up on the story, putting her anger to work. She shares addresses for supporting OUR snipers. Click through to her to get the links to work.

Now I want to turn my anger into something productive. I am asking you to combat CNN's glorification of Iraqi jihadist snipers by supporting American snipers. Seems like the only time American snipers earn CNN and other international media organization's attention is when they make mistakes and can be tarred as reckless killers.

Americansnipers.org (formerly Adopt a Sniper) collects items to support our troops. You can read letters from the front here. Donate here.

Reasons to vote GOP

From Varifrank.

I just don't see how rewarding the very worst form of left wing Democrats in this election brings us one day closer to winning the war. These Democrats have done everything in their power to impede the war and this country at every step of the way so far, does it really make sense to allow them to run the government? Come on now...

Because in the end, that's the only metric that counts. You can tell me all sorts of great stories about what a dork Bush is, and you can tell me how you dont like so and so in congress, and you can tell me how you dont like this or that legislation, but you cant tell me how the Democrats are going to make it anything but worse.

Sad but true.

Thos 300,000,000

from Mark Steyn
and Michael Barone.

Blogging at it's best

The Jawa Report takes a look at the race-baiting article from "The Guardian" posted at The Drudge Report.
Give em hell Bluto!!

Star Trek vs Firefly

I loved them both. (though I'm an original series diehard and never got into the Next Generation etc.) Firefly wins hands down!

Little Tet

NPR has the story on the Sadr Militia taking over Amarah. Reading, reading, reading. The militia comes to town, terrorizes everyone, there's a gunfight, they force people inside, they take over for 8 hours.

The meaty parts include the British Army on standby if help is requested. Militia dead = 15. Iraqi police dead = 10. Militia guys go home after 8 hours.

Bottom line for NPR

Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. military has said reining in sectarian militias was crucial to restoring security and calm to Iraq. Ten months later, the militias only seem to have become even more powerful.

Bottom line for Terri:

Good for the Iraqis! Problem arisen. Problem resolved. No US/UK interference.

In this story from the Chicago Tribune you wouldn't have even known that the militia ended up out of town.

I had to get to this story from China to get any positive news out of this incident.

The British military spokesman in Basra, headquarters for Britain's 7,200 soldiers in Iraq, sought to play down the seriousness of Friday's fighting, noting that 600 Iraqi soldiers were able to force Mahdi Army fighters off the streets, arrange a truce and return quiet to the city by Friday afternoon. Estimates of the number of Mahdi Army fighters ranged between 200 and 800.

"It's like when you take the training wheels off a bike. There are some wobbles. This was a pretty big wobble, but it's still moving in the right direction," said spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge.

"They (Iraqi security forces) have applied a solution and at the moment it's holding," he said. "At the moment, it's tense but calm."

Exactly! It's a GOOD thing. The Iraqi police were tested and lost. Well, yeah. I sincerely think that if 800 militia guys from the mtns west of here came to Longmont, the Longmont police would call in the army! The police are there to maintain the peace amongst a population. The army exists to protect civilians from attacks. Here is a perfect example of things working well in Iraq but our media just can't see it.

The Washington Post has their view too. The takeover ended when Sadr told his guys to leave. It's not until the end of the article to you even find out the Iraqi army was there. And of course to them this conflict left 25 people dead, 10 of whom were Iraqi police. Not 15 of whom were militiamen.

Sheesh.

Choosing Sides

There ARE consequences. Or rather there should be. Hopefully the Pentagon will listen to the chair of the House Armed Services Committee and oust those embedded CNN "reporters". They chose sides alright. Not only throughout this fight but yesterday with their snuff film. And get this quote:

C-N-N executives defended their decision to air the footage, saying its news value outweighed other concerns.

Bullshit. This wasn't news. If it was, they'd have videos of our snuff films. Either they don't show them on purpose or our forces have the good grace not to be sharing them with CNN anyway.

Happy Friday!

Hugo Chavez and his airforce

And finally today, my favorite loony is not going to get his Spanish Airforce.
Captain Ed notes that the expense was getting to be too high once the US said that those planes couldn't have American technogology with them.

The Economy

George Will has so many quotables, I recommend you read the whole piece. Here however are some gooduns:

Clinton is always a leading indicator of "progressive" fashions in rhetoric.

Economic hypochondria, a derangement associated with affluence, is a byproduct of the welfare state:

An entitlement mentality gives Americans a low pain threshold -- witness their recurring hysteria about nominal rather than real gasoline prices -- and a sense of being entitled to economic dynamism without the frictions and "creative destruction" that must accompany dynamism.

Economic hypochondria is also bred by news media that consider the phrase "good news" an oxymoron,

Granted, income statistics show the increasing disadvantages of persons with education deficits. But that is the market saying -- shouting, really -- "Stay in school!" Over time the voice of the market is rational, credible and therefore a potent instrument for changing behavior.

Kyoto

Tim Blair notes that Japan hasn't met it's numbers either. Along with Germany and New Zealand they'll get a fine.

The Tet Offensive

TigerHawk reminds people that with Tet, the military won! It was the media that killed that changed that war.

Once again

It's ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION that people have a problem with, not the legal stuff. From Herald Today regarding the billions of dollars sent to Mexico every year:

Bendixen warned that if the United States shut its door to Hispanic immigrants, as Congress is attempting to do, the U.S. economy would be "close to collapse."

NO ONE is suggesting that the US shut its door to Hispanic immigrant you doof. Consider your "warning" ignored.

Election Perspectives

Michael J. Totten has been on a roll for me the last few days. Today he notes his perspective on our elections. As a guy who spends most of his time in the Middle East, he doesn’t see much difference between red and blue around here and isn’t quite getting what the fuss is all about.

And that my friends is what blogging is all about. Getting other people’s perspectives.

Pre-Iranian Revolution

This morning my internet connection is really, really slow. Who knows why, it could be the snow we got last night is screwing something up, somewhere. It doesn’t matter. I still am ready to throw this computer through a window. And it’s an innocent bystander.
Captain Ed notes today what is bound to be the beginning of the end of the Iranian Mullocracy. They’ve judicously noted that high speed internet connections allow for quick access to the evil west and have ruled that nothing is to go faster than 128kb.
Can you imagine going back to dial up, even fast dial up anymore? Pages aren’t even created for dial up these days. There’s going to be a revolution. Mark my words.
(ps, I usually double check these stories with a 2nd news source to confirm accuracy. But I am unwilling to wait around today and am already cranky over the speed. Lol. Captain Ed is dependable though!)

Afghani Kidnapping

Do you remember the Christian convert in Afghanistan who left for Italy after getting out of jail because he was considered "mentally unfit" to stand trial? I was wondering how he was doing the other day. It seems the Taliban/or other Afghan militants haven't forgotten him either. The BBC is reporting that the Italian journalist, Gabriele Torsello, kidnapped last week is being offered in exchange for Abdul Rahman. Gabriele is a Muslim convert. Kidnapping gets complicated when you get religion involved eh?

Guantanamo

From the UK:

The existence of the prison is "unacceptable" and fuels Islamic radicalism around the world, she said, echoing a recent chorus of complaints from Europe about U.S. counterterrorism policy.

Behind the scenes, however, the British government has repeatedly blocked efforts to let some prisoners leave Guantanamo and return home.

ROFL.
Apparently its too expensive for the Brits to watch over these guys. They've even managed to keep from being sued by the prisoners families from failing to have these folks transported from Gitmo. Read the whole thing. It lists many other countries who are refusing to take any responsitility for their previous residents and yet who insist Guantanamo be closed down.

Michael J. Totten

Goes through Colorado. During the changing of the leaves.

Michael Monsoor

A hero was buried last week.

Michael Mansoor, a Navy SEAL who gave his life to save his comrades. When an Iraqi insurgent tossed a grenade into a position occupied by Mansoor and four others, Mansoor instinctively dove -- on top of it:

May you rest in peace and may your family know our thoughts are with them.

Journalist Kidnapped

And this guy's a Muslim. Somebody gets something from these kidnappings.

The War in Iraq

Today in the Washington Post John Murtha takes the GOP to task for the "Defeatocrats" label that's been placed on the Democrats.

It's all baseless name-calling, and it's all wrong. Unless, of course, being a Defeatocrat means taking a good hard look at the administration's Iraq policy and determining that it's a failure.

Here's the deal Mr. Murtha, you may well have voted in 2002 for military action in Iraq, however, since around May of 2003 you and your ilk have not been supporting this war. You guys were ready to leave BEFORE the elections that were held there. You were certain they were going to be bloodbath and you wanted nothing to do with it.

If all of America were on the side of "we will win this war in the end and Iraq will become a stable democracy" this war would be over in half the time. There is of course nothing wrong with disagreeing with the administration on how the war is fought. But each time someone in a respectable position speaks out about leaving the Iraqis to their fate, or wishing for the good old days of Sadaam it encourages those perpetuating the violence. We've seen it in their communiques. We've heard it from their kidnap victims.

Blame Bush? Yeah maybe. The buck stops there and he's no uniter. But frankly I see him trying and he gets no credit for it. From Murtha:

The administration's "stay-the-course" strategy is not a plan for victory. It's not even a plan. All we have is a new military blueprint to keep 140,000 troops in Iraq through 2010.

Sounds like a new plan to me. And I've seen other new directions and new paths all over the country. From divide and conquer to get on the people's good side. Even Secretary Rice let it be known in Iraq just the other day that we don't have infinite patience. "Stay the course" is shorthand for "we're not leaving you", not "we will continue this exact playbook from now until 2010".

From Murtha:

Our military has done all it can do in Iraq, and the Iraqis want their occupation to end.

Um, the democratically elected govt of Iraq has specifically requested that we stay in country. Are we to change all of our foreign policies to reflect what the polls want throughout the world?

For this column Murtha lists the respected folks who want to see a "new direction" in Iraq and asks if they too are "Defeatocrats". Well no sir, they aren't. These folks are seeing that the current course is not a strong winning course. But are they saying we should leave Iraq to the wolves? No. And that would be the difference between them and you and other "Defeatocrats". You want to leave. Chuck Rangel wants to quit paying the bills and hence force us to leave.

Final quote:

Democrats are fighting a war on two fronts: One is combating the spin and intimidation that defines this administration. The other is fighting to change course, to do things better, to substitute smart, disciplined strategy for dogma and denial in Iraq.

Nicely ended Mr. Murtha. And the crux of the problem. You are right. The democrats are fighting these two wars and neither one of them are the actual wars that the US of A are fighting. We all lose for it.


UPDATE: Tim Blair notes that Ned Lamont doesn't realize that Australia is in on this war. lol

White and Nerdy

Mick has found a great music video. And yes, I relate to a number of the examples!
Let's see, I can whip your butt at pingpong, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is memorized, while I don't know Klingonese I can write in dwarfen rune. While my dog doesn't have a website, he is online. I don't have a collection of scifi figures, but I do have a collection of presidential press secretary autographs! etc, etc. LOL

Travelblog

Michael J. Totten drives across the midwest. With pictures.
I love the Midwest, and it's Friday. No serious blogging today. Enjoy! And move to Kansas. They need people!

Korea

Victor Davis Hanson shares his thoughts.

Free Speech and Big Numbers

Tim Blair takes a close look at the 654,965 reported deaths in Iraq.

* It is larger than the total number of Americans killed during combat in every major conflict, from the Revolutionary War to the first Gulf War.

* It is more than double the combined number of civilians killed in the bombings of Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

* It is a larger number than were killed in Germany during five years (and 955,044 tons) of WWII bombing.

Here's an added on sad part to that story that I haven't heard mentioned yet. The NYTimes story mentions that the study used the same methodology used when giving numbers of deaths in Darfur and Congo. So is there genocide happening in Darfur and Congo? It seems clear to me that it is, but now a person has to wonder. Back to Iraq:
Omar from Iraq the Model is not happy.

To me their motives are clear, all they want is to prove that our struggle for freedom was the wrong thing to do. And they shamelessly use lies to do this…when they did not find the death they wanted to see on the ground, they faked it on paper! They disgust me…

This fake research is an insult to every man, woman and child who lost their lives.
Behind every drop of blood is a noble story of sacrifice for a just cause that is struggling for living safe in freedom and prosperity.

Let those fools know that nothing will stop us from walking this road and nothing will stop our friends and allies from helping us reach safe shores. There’s simply no going back even if it cost us more and their fake statistics will not frighten us…our sacrifices, like I said, make us proud because our bloods are not digits in those ugly papers. Our sacrifices are paving the way for future generations to live the better life we couldn’t live.

Speaking of numbers lost in genocidal situations the French just passed a bill making it a crime to deny the Ottoman genocide of Armenians. These thought crimes seem over the top to me. (the Holocaust can't be denied either) Now watch this example of the slippery slope. Now the Global Warmers want to make it a crime to deny global warming exists.

Grist Magazine’s staff writer David Roberts called for the Nuremberg-style trials for the “bastards” who were members of what he termed the global warming “denial industry.”

UPDATE: The Mongolians want in on the act too. Bidinotto notes:

In my never-ending quest to chronicle the lunacy of this planet, this story ranks right up there near the top of the list.

Apparently taking their cues from radical Muslims, who would use coercion to protect the reputation of Muhammad, the Mongolians are now about to pass a law demanding respect and honor...for their bloodthirsty conquering hero, Genghis Khan:

What a day.

UPDATE: David Roberts has retracted his Nuremberg Trial reference. (ht Scott)

Great Scholarship on N Korea

These are the "scholars":

By Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman, ANATOL LIEVEN is a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington. JOHN HULSMAN is a scholar in residence at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. Their new book is "E

Read the piece, it's pretty short and I really don't think it's been written tongue in cheek, but listen to this:

In the long run, North Korea's nuclear weapons are an overwhelming problem only for its neighbors, and it should be their responsibility to sort this problem out. Of course, they may fail — but then, the U.S. record in the region over the last decade has not exactly been one of success.

The U.S. is already reducing its troop levels on the Korean peninsula; it should accelerate the process and move rapidly toward ending its military presence. Moreover, it should negotiate a peace treaty with North Korea. This will remove Pyongyang's motive to attack U.S. interests, ensure that China could never again attack U.S. forces in a ground war and allow the U.S. to concentrate instead on maintaining its overwhelming lead over China in naval and air power.

Yes a Peace Treaty! And we don't have any worries as long as they are not motivated to attack our interests. Do these "scholars" think we have no interest in China, or S. Korea, or Japan? Do they have a clue how the economy works? Or even radiation? Have they read the latest threat to send a missile if we don't agree to direct talks?

"If the United States continues to take a hostile attitude and apply pressure on us in various forms, we will have no choice but to take physical steps to deal with that."

Pulease.
In other news, I LOVED this headline in the BBC:

Press split on N Korea response

So now the "news" is what the press thinks! lol

And also from the UK the TimesOnline notes the reason for the test. Sadly the reasoning doesn't follow through. If N Korea is looking for more aid, they've neglected to think through the future with import bans etc that getting placed there now. We call those consequences.

A movie for Ted Turner

While he tries to decide which side he's on.

"Are we the baddies?" LOL

Election Predictions from CoastWatcher

My inside the beltway guest blogger has a few things to say about the coming elections.
****************************************************
There’s something happening here….what it is ain’t exactly clear….

During the election returns of 2000 and 2004, I watched and both times, told those people around me that George W. Bush would win. I didn’t say that because I wanted him to (I did) I said it because that’s what my analysis showed….In 2000, I watched and when the networks “called” Florida for Gore, I looked at my watch and said “wait, there’s another time zone out in western Florida that’s filled with the military and conservative folks”, I left for dinner with a friend and when we came back, the election was “moved” back to tie…as if what these super-geniuses at the networks said actually mattered….in 2004, watching the returns in a bar, those around me were becoming despondent that Kerry would win using Ohio as the guidepost and once again, both being from Ohio but more importantly, having watched the almost daily averages in RealClearPolicitcs.com, I just didn’t believe what the network talking heads NOR the so called exit polls were saying and kept saying Bush would win. This brings me to today, while I could be completely wrong….as I look at the races, and read the breathless “reporting” from the media that one (for sure) and probably both Houses will go Democratic, I just don’t see it. I think, rather, I know that’s what the mainstream media want, it’s just that wishing doesn’t make it so….

For all the vitriol surrounding our electorate, we are (still) a center to center right nation. Since Ronald Reagan, the nation has elected Republicans and one Democrat, Bill Clinton who ran (quite brilliantly) a centrist and populist election and reelection. Congress kept moving towards the Republicans and eventually, both Houses were captured. Now, you’ve got this left/liberal/progressive phenomenon carrying on since the self destructive scream of Howard Dean which has created this far left, destructive Democratic Underground and more importantly, the Daily Kos crowd. Look at the rants they make attacking Joe Lieberman, especially for the unforgivable “kiss.” These folks are not about leadership, they are not about governing, they aren’t even about running successful elections, they are about hate, attacking dissenters and anyone who opposes them, and they are about hating anything that’s not their style of Amerika. Their site’s founder exposed their agenda quite brilliantly when after the 4 American contractors were killed in Falluja Iraq and their bodies savagely displayed, he gave the now famous response “screw them.” He has since tried to explain his response but Jane Fonda has better explained why she played guitar for those poor beleaguered Communist anti-aircraft batteries, and she has never succeeded.

Which brings me to the media. Put simply, the majority of the liberal East Coast/West Coast educated and spawned “media elite” still cannot get past this fellow George W. Bush. They don’t know whether he’s just plain stupid or a son of wealth and privilege. They can use either for their loathing of the man, and loath they do. I guarantee, during this NKorea crisis, every time the President says the word “Nukular” a synapse fires in Chris Matthews head and he asks himself, how could this idiot or as he likes to say, “this crowd” (of neocons, non-military, etc, etc) ever get elected AND then reelected????? The media’s reliance on the polls is another really dangerous thing to do. Despite me citing polls earlier, I think polling is becoming increasingly unreliable because frankly, people just ignore polling calls. For those with lives, jobs, families, a polling call is every bit as annoying as an uninvited political call when you are sitting down to dinner. So, when I read today, article after article of how this electorate is tracking left, that there is a throw the Republican’s out mood, I just wonder. Is there disgust with many things going on in Washington, of course. Are people concerned about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (especially because of the incessant negative reporting) yes. Are conservatives angry at the increased spending, yes. Does this whole Page scandal make you want to go take a shower and throw Foley out of office (and probably in jail) for predatory behavior, absolutely. But, is there this mass of teeming people ready to expel the Republicans and welcome Democrats, I don’t see it. As they say, all politics is local.

I do see one thing though, there is still a mass of people in the center, who love their country and sure wish there were some more Democrats in the middle that were strong on defense and foreign policy. Where are the Sam Nunn’s and John Glenn’s? I think the Daily Kos crowd has jumped the Shark and when Joe Lieberman gets reelected, there will be a whole new assessment of their tactics and message. And as much as people try and compare the far right’s treatment of Clinton to today’s far left treatment of Bush, there are two major differences. The hate on the left is spewed with filthy mouths, dropping the F-bomb about every line. But the critical piece is as much as the right disliked President Clinton and his policies and his conduct, they never hated America. They never wanted troops killed or failure overseas to tarnish Clinton’s reputation. And in the end, that will be the far left’s undoing and relegation to the Hippy crowd they were during Vietnam.

Coastwatcher

Mexico and the Fence

Mexico is planning on complaining to the UN that we are building a fence on our property. I didn't realize we we part of an international HOA! Captain Ed: on the fence.

We could start by having Mexico police its own border and cease encouraging their citizens to migrate north for work. Evem better: Mexico could clean house and rid itself of the rampant corruption that creates the conditions for the substantial poverty that plagues its country, thereby making the massive migrations unnecessary. Better yet, Mexico could mind its own business about the kind of border security we see fit to install on our side of the border.

N Korea

OPFOR is keeping track of what's going on.

My source on the peninsula says that South Korea is -understandably- having a cow, same with Japan. And think of all the nations that are within the fallout range of a green-glowing, radioactive Korea. Russia, China, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Taiwan, the list goes on.

Chavez

He's going to have a harder time becoming President for Life if supporters for his opposition keep rallying like this!

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in support of the main opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales.
Mr Rosales will face President Hugo Chavez in December's presidential poll.

The election is in December. Keep an eye on Venezuela. I have a feeling Mr. Chavez won't want to see this kind of opposition again!

Darfur

George Clooney has gotten sanctions against Sudan for their actions in Darfur. Funny but he didn't seem to think sanctions worked when they were against Iraq. Brendan O'Neill already wrote about this back in May but it's definitely still current news. And I still don't get it.

Star Trek

Ok I love Star Trek but this cracked me up.

Star Trek, which is celebrating 40 years, has had a lasting impact on the life of 25-year-old fan David Holley.
It has helped him overcome a fear of flying, inspired his job, and made him friends around the world.

He explains how the science fiction show has changed his life.

Star Trek/Religion? What would Jesus do? vs

Every single night I would cast my mind back and think to myself: 'What would Patrick Stewart do in this situation?'

It's at least better than What would Seinfeld do in this situation eh?

Steyn

A foreigner's perspective on the Foley scandal. (I haven't read it yet. Let me know if you like it.)

The Economy

The Anchoress has the lowdown.

t’s always driven me crazy that in the 1990’s we were told that 5.6% unemployment was “virtually full employment,” (of course it was, a Democrat was in the WH!) but the current 4.6% unemployment rate never gets reported, and even if it does, there is always a “but.”

Connect over there for the rest.

Agreement

Powerline agrees with me about Eugene Robinson. (of course I'm sure everyone does)
The beginning:

The Washington Post has several bad op-ed columnists, but Eugene Robinson is in a league by himself.

Go read the middle.
The end:

If so, Robinson didn't just make up a story -- he made up the wrong story.

Making up crap Friday

First let me say that Friday cat blogging was more fun.
Story one. First off it comes with this inflammatory headline:

Grand Old Party of Child Endangerment
Think Foley is bad? Republican policies have harmed millions of American kids.

Now on to the "brand new facts".

This combination of irresponsible tax cuts and out-of-control spending guaranteed that there would be little left over for the crucial social programs American children need, such as meaningful spending on healthcare, job-creation and anti-poverty programs.

The result was predictable. From 2000 to 2005, the number of American children living in poverty went up by 1.3 million, and the likelihood that any given child is poor increased by 9%.

I hadn't heard that. So lets move over to the US census. And sure enough, the numbers of children living in poverty increased. By 1.3 million. But as a percentage of children the numbers went from 34.8% DOWN to 33.5%. Either she's an idiot or is deliberately trying to mislead. I report, you decide.
...........................

Story 2: From Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post. First the title.

GOP Bigotry That Backfired

Then without backing up one lousy thing he accused the GOP of only being freaked out about the Foley scandal because of its homosexuality piece. That if this were heterosexual no one would be worried. He accuses Republicans of being so scared of homosexuality that their biggest fear is the "recruitment" of new homosexuals by preditors on our kids. He easily equates "anti-homosexual doctrine" with the GOP.

In any event, the recruitment myth helps explain why social conservatives, who make up perhaps the most loyal and energetic segment of the Republican Party's base, are so up in arms. And that outrage, in turn, helps explain why the party has been so frantic all week, so uncharacteristically slow to come up with a game plan for responding to the scandal. Social conservatives were already grumbling that the Republicans talk a good game but never get around to addressing their core issues. Now comes this.

In pre-feminist times, people thought of young girls as particularly delicate and vulnerable. We worried about their being compromised or corrupted by older men. It's fascinating that much of today's America seems to be more viscerally worried about young boys.

So because the GOP has a big tent and keeps its focus on things like security and money vs social concerns he's assuming that the "GOP" is anti-homosexual and is only upset with Foley because of the boys aspect. What a load bullshit. blech.

Pre-emptive war

Iraq the Model is all for it.

America too had her share of mistakes that made things go in the wrong direction instead of helping out. Perhaps America's biggest mistake was the hesitation in keeping up the strategy of preemptive war.

Yes, America used that strategy in Iraq but failed to go on, and instead of chasing terrorists, America stopped at Iraq and sat waiting for terrorists to come in.

Point or no point, I have to say it ticks me off. We're sitting there waiting for you people to get your shit together. You have sovereignty, try using it. Close borders, close bank accounts, get people involved, arrest Sadr.

Thank you Secretary Rice:

Rice said the U.S. role is "to support all the parties and indeed to press all the parties to work toward that resolution quickly because obviously the security situation is not one that can be tolerated and it is not one that is being helped by political inaction."

In a series of meetings with leaders representing most ethnic and religious factions, Rice delivered a blunt message about how Americans do not see the history behind ethnic and sectarian splits, said a senior State Department official present at the sessions.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings were confidential, said Rice also said Americans need to see Iraqis working together rather than killing one another.

UPDATE: From an anonymous comment at Instapundit:

We're not losing momentum in Iraq. The Pentagon strategy is a very deliberate form of tough love that is forcing the Iraqis to defend their own country.

Arabs are culturally the most passive, fence-sitting people on the planet. By their own admission they follow the strongest leader out there. If we had sent 500,000 troops to Iraq and fought a Soviet-style counterinsurgency, the end result would have been an Iraq with no incentive to do the very hard work of creating viable fighting forces from scratch. We would've been their new masters in perpetuity.

We also can't attack Iran and Syria right now because the Iranians would then activate their Iraqi militias and send a million Basij into Iraq. Syria would do a Saddam and start firing WMD-tipped missiles at Israel. The entire region could go up in flames.

Don't let the media convince you that things are going badly in Iraq. The Anbar tribes are now fighting al Qaeda on their own initiative, and the Shi'ite-dominated government is slowly dismantling al Sadr's Mahdi Army. "Experts" predicted that neither of these things would ever happen because of secular loyalties, but they are happening, and only because we're forcing the Iraqis to stand up and fight for their country.

Finally, take a look at what happened when the French, Soviets, and Russians fought Muslim insurgencies with the kind of aggressive, "proactive" approach so many Americans claim to want.

The French lost 18,000 in Algeria, a KIA rate three and a half times ours. The Soviets lost 14,000 in Afghanistan, a KIA rate twice ours. The Russians officially lost 5500 in the First Chechen War of 1994-96, but Soldiers' Mothers of Russia puts the actual number at 14,000, a KIA rate ten times ours. Nobody knows how many Russian troops have died in the Second Chechen War, but Soldiers' Mothers of Russia had the number at 11,000 by 2003.

Our strategy in Iraq is sound. It's keeping our own casualties down, and it's forcing the Iraqis to defend themselves.

Don't despair. We're winning.

For fun

Screw with the Jihadis. Make the propaganda war your very own. I've never used YouTube except to view other people's stuff. I'll be learning this weekend if only because this looks like fun!

UPDATE: I always assume everyone reads what I read, but let me re-cap in case that's not true. From what I gather and my headline reading skills YouTube has blocked some users and some videos because of complaints of their content. That's a good thing if we're talking child porn or something but no, we're talking anti-jihadi stuff. So YouTube has pro-jihadi stuff but the jihadists are complaining about the anti loudly enough that YouTube is taking it off the air.
Join the fun and add anti-jihadi stuff in large amounts. That'll keep em busy.

Marsh Arabs

OPFOR today has an exchange of letters and a couple of pictures to remind us of the amazing transformation of Iraq. Get a hanky.

Requisite Foley Blog

From the "heartland", I realize there is tons of evidence of and non evidence of who knew what when. But at the same time, we are all reasonable people. Without reading much of any of this because I don't want to, I'd have to say that:

a) Foley is a creep
b) no one (male OR female) should have to be icked out on any job including when they are working for congress
c) Democrats probably had some scheme cooked up to out this whole scandal,
d) Republican probably knew about this but it's been hidden so long they figured it could continue that way,
e) at least Republicans won't re-elect the creep
e) power corrupts
f) if Hastert is being honest then he needn't resign
g) the people who pages work for, (some board?), need to be investigated. It's their job to protect these kids. Apparently these rumors have been going on for years, surely someone had some idea and needed to complain and loudly about Foley. Not one lousy memo. But the kind where you raise hackles until the problem is fixed or you've been fired. And if you get fired then you go to the media.


In the end, because of my admiration for this administration and also because of the way Democrats have threatened impeachment, threatened un-financing the war, threatened years long investigations into noWMD that dull my senses, I am with Scott. I will suck it up and vote Republican this election and remember that there is tons to be proud of:

We've put a 500-pounder right up Zarqawi's ass;

The economy is in great shape with the Dow reaching and all-time high;

We've thwarted another attack (but the next one is being planned;) and

In spite of all of the non-issues pounded by the media we're still fighting.

There is more to include but on the immediate side I would include the fact that Foley resigned and the leadership went for an investigation into his actions.

Sunday

I keep doing the "quick links" because I keep being in a hurry. Somehow October has already gotten away from me and it's only the first! Anyway - I'll be out until Thursday of this week. See you then! In the meantime,

Michelle Malkin responds to her slammers. I don't know why she gets so insulted in so many politically incorrect ways. It boggles.

There is a time to be tolerant and there is a time to draw lines. If you don't draw those lines, bullies will be emboldened. The smug Gawker smear machine is all about pushing those boundaries with the expectation that no one will push back. They project their own cynicism, recklessness with facts, intellectual laziness, and bad faith on everyone else.

But outside of Manhattan and Los Angeles, not all of us think blogging is a for-profit enterprise founded solely to tear people down with gossip, rumor-mongering, and damaging lies disguised as "satire." Funny how some of the loudest voices decrying the lack of civility in the blogosphere are the biggest promoters of the bottom-feeders and debasers at Gawker Media.

Glenn found a London Times report on Annan that sounds good.

And Jawa notes who's guarding a Sunni politician in Iraq.