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- Dec 1–2 3–9 10–16 17–23 24–30
Saturday, March 4, 2006
Presenting the New, Politically Correct Wal-Mart
Posted by on 3.4.06 @ 4:38PM
Wal-Mart has buckled under the union and left-wing pressure that they sampled in Massachusetts and decided to stock the morning after pill at all pharmacies nationwide. I wrote about the Massachusetts nonsense a couple weeks ago.
This is now the Wal-Mart that is calling on the federal government to provide health insurance. Corporations should learn that giving in to the socialist tide only emboldens critics and is bad for business. Now that Wal-Mart is running scared, the lefties will push harder. Look for other states to take action similar to Maryland's discriminatory bill that forces the retailer to provide more comprehensive health insurance.
I would also guess that free market conservatives and other defenders of Wal-Mart may be less likely to defend the behemoth from the left-wing onslaught. If it won't defend itself, why bother?
Iran on the Global Attack
Posted by on 3.4.06 @ 10:45AM
Best signals source reports that on Friday morning 3/3 prayers and sermons in Baghdad and throughout the critical Sunni and Shia mosques of Iraq (and including the critical Wahhabist mosques in Arabia) the message was the same in each case: the Americans are to blame for the Samarra shrine bombing, for the spasmodic mass murder since the shrine bombing, and for the continued threat to peace in Iraq.
In blunt sum, the American occupation of
More threatening, the mosque sermons are a backdrop to what signals source says is a general sense of an imminent major blow to the American occupiers. This may be another shrine attack, perhaps at Najaf or
Again, there is no mystery to this widespread dark turn to American interests in
The approaching confrontation between
What did
The American war effort will get back on course when and only when the national security apparatus identifies
Friday, March 3, 2006
Specter Defends Santorum
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 8:51PM
Dave Holman's cover story today on the efforts of an anti-prolife group calling itself Republican Majority for Choice (RMC) to undermine Sen. Rick Santorum's re-election chances in Pennsylvania caused a nice little brouhaha, with coverage in such outlets as the Huntington Post, Human Events, and RealClearPolitics. It also put on Sen. Arlen Specter on the spot, given that he is a member of the RMC's advisory board. Was this the payback Santorum deserved for his support of Specter's re-election two years ago, which saw Santorum having to choose Specter over true conservative Pat Toomey?
Evidently embarrassed by this turn of events, Senator Specter issued this letter today. A copy was e-mailed to us by one of his staffers earlier this evening, after everyone had gone home:
March 3, 2006Republican Majority for Choice
1660 L St, NW Suite 609
Washington, DC 20036
To Ms. Stockman and Ms. Merrill:
I have just learned that the Republican Majority for Choice (RMC) is placing ads in many Pennsylvania newspapers calling for "help wanted" on recruiting "real Republican candidates for Senate." While not mentioning Senator Santorum, these ads are being interpreted as an attack on his candidacy.
I strongly oppose these advertisements. The Big Tent is big enough to include both Rick Santorum and Arlen Specter. The RMC ought not to be in the business of electing Democrats to the United States Senate.
Without Senator Santorum's support, I would not have won the 2004 Republican primary. As I believe the RMC knows, I've repeatedly said that Senator Santorum's reelection is my top priority in 2006.
I call on the RMC to repudiate and renounce any effort to defeat Senator Santorum.
I will withhold my decision on whether to resign from the RMC's advisory board until I see what further action RMC takes on this matter.
Sincerely,
Arlen Specter
AS/ab
Re: Chertoff
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 8:26PM
Quin: If Chertoff gets the boot, which he should, there should be a housecleaning. Removing him isn't enough. And his replacement shouldn't be a spec ops guy. The whole idea is to get someone who can plan things on a large scale or small, is used to thinking in C3I terms -- command, communications and intelligence -- and has real operational experience in senior command levels. Time to separate the staff weenies and academics from the TACAMO crew. Take charge and move out, people.
Eye On Pence
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 7:16PM
Word has been building about Mike Pence for some time now, and for good reason. While keeping himself in the background during the post-DeLay power jockeying, Pence has quietly been raising his national profile. On Wednesday he delivered an address to the Leadership Institute just outside Washington, and after several days of reflection it seems safe to say that the politicking conservative will find Pence's prescription for changing the tide in Congress at once bracingly potent and refreshingly delicious.
At the center of his speech was a quote from Dick Armey -- "We do what we ought not to do, in order to get elected to do what we ought to do but never get around to doing." Pence wants a reckoning, and isn't afraid to lay out his reasoning. I consider more of his zingers here.
Who's Number One?
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 6:59PM
Quin, Dr. Prowler: The Prowler knows less than he/she/they/it lets on. As I see it, Vince Young has to stay in Texas. So New Orleans has two choices. It can hope Houston takes him first, or it drafts him but moves permanently to San Antonio. Meanwhile, I don't know how Leinart can possibly go to Tennessee. San Francisco is bound to file a grievance and hope to reclaim him based on its intentions last year. Why have neither of you mentioned Reggie Bush? Is the Bush name suddenly dirt?
I wouldn't draft him, simply because he's too good. No way in the most brutal of sports can he escape the fate of a Gale Sayers. The saddest moment in Brian's Song comes when we see a clip of lowly 49er Kermit Alexander destroying Sayers' knee. There's never again been so gorgeous a runner as Sayers. Bush comes close. Soon enough, football always snuffs out brilliance.
OOH... Mean, But Appropriate!
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 6:05PM
It is true, however, that they need somebody LIKE Kerik was advertised to be: somebody with actual manpower-organization experience, somebody who actually has dealt with big mobilizations in times of crisis. That means a successful big-city police or fire chief, or a ex-military, rapid-response guy. A former Ranger or SEAL chief, perhaps, or a retired general. Oops, just as I write this, a fire alarm is going off in our building. Yes, seriously. Gotta run!
Re: Chertoff
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 5:58PM
If Chertoff's taking the fall, maybe the White House can return to its top choice, the erstwhile paramour Bernie Kerik.
Chertoff as Latest Fall Guy
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 5:24PM
Human Events is reporting that Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff's days are numbered in the job.
Granted, Chertoff's role in the Katrina disaster -- particularly in light of the videoconference tape that was leaked by Democrats on Capitol Hill -- continues to put him in a bad light. But how is it that the President's own Homeland Security Adviser continues to skate off scott free in this controversy? Don't let the Chanel outfits fool you -- Frances Townsend is one tough cookie and clearly an experienced street fighter. She deserves at least as much blame for the DHS debacles as Michael Brown and Chertoff, particularly given that it is her input that the President receives far more often and directly than that of others in these kinds of situations.
One More Clinton Question
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 5:17PM
There is a federal statute that requires that anyone -- even a former U.S. President -- doing political or public affairs work on behalf of a foreign principal (country, official, etc.), must register as an "Agent of a Foreign Principal" with the Department of Justice.
Has former President Clinton done so? If not, why? His spokesman today confirmed "one phone call" that Mr. Clinton received, and by way of doing that confirmed that the former President was doing work for the United Arab Emirates on the Dubai Port Deal.
With Young, Not Restless
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 5:08PM
I could accept Young. He wouldn't make me restless at all. Thanks for the info, Prowler.... can I hold you to it?
With the No. 2 in the 2006 NFL Draft ...
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 5:02PM
The New Orleans Saints select ...
Vince Young, Quarterback, University of Texas.
That's assuming Houston doesn't trade with NYJ for their 4th and 29th pick (assuming Denver deal goes through).
That allows Tennessee to pick Leinert.
The Prowler Knows
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 4:55PM
My gosh, this Prowler guy knows EVERYTHING. If he's right about the Jets trade, that's big news. But now here's a REAL test: Since I'm from New Orleans, I want to know who the Saints will pick with the second pick in the whole draft? Or will they trade it to the Jets? If the Prowler can accurately tell me the answer to that one, I'll really be in his debt!
Gridiron
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 4:50PM
First of all, most of the players cut in the past seven days would have been cut regardless of the current uncertainty. Even Pro Bowl players like Miami's Sam Madison are 31, due to make millions, and not worth a new contract that almost certainly would have required 3 years, with perhaps a third of it upfront as a signing bonus. No team in the NFL is going to sign a 31-year-old corner for three years, 27 million with 9 million in signing bonuses. Except maybe Danny Snyder.
Second, increasingly, NFL agents are locking their clients into five and six year deals, with slightly lower signing bonuses, but more "guaranteed" money built into the contract. The twist on the bonuses is that while they are guaranteed, and pro-rated throughout the life of the contract, they accelerate and penalize a team if you cut them before the contract expires. That's why it's going to be difficult for a player like Terrell Owens to find multiple takers for his ridiculous Eagles contract.
Oh, and by the way, we hear rumors that Denver made those cuts the other day in anticipation of a trade with the New York Jets for their franchise defensive end. In return, the Jets get the No. 29 pick in the draft, giving them enough ammo to try to move up to possibly the first or second pick in April.
Yes and No
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 4:11PM
Wlady -- You make a good point, except that one reason people like Mike Anderson are being released now is specifically because the salary cap will NOT rise this year if the labor agreement isn't reached -- so for this year only, the failure hurts the players most directly. But in return, the players know that if there is no agreement, then the cap will disappear entirely next year, and they think they can rake in the dough then. As for the guaranteed contracts: Most contracts in the NFL are not guaranteed (because injuries take such a toll, etc.), but the signing bonuses ARE guaranteed. The players and their agents are smart enough to see that a guarantee in the form of a signing bonus is a pretty darn good deal in a game where wear and tear is so extensive.
Tierney, Hayes, Saddam Tapes, WSJ
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 4:07PM
The lead editorial "Open the Iraq Files" in today's WSJ identifies Bill Tierney and his Saddam Tapes work as well as Steve Hayes of Weekly Standard and his work on DOCEX and HARMONY as two parts of the effort to learn the facts about Iraq's WMD and prewar connection to Al Qaeda and other terror cults.
Underline especially that the WSJ confirms that the DNI and his kindred of non-cooperation are no longer offering substantial reasons to withhold the documents and analysis. The DOD knows all this stuff but does not concern itself with unclassified material about past events. The DNI has all this stuff and now wants to replace the antique idea that "unclassified" means available with the newspeak idea that unclassified means "unavailable."
The intelligencesummit.org Saddam tapes (available for download in Arabic on the site) are evidence that points to the scale of the prewar denial and deception as practiced by Russia and France and others. They are also evidence that points to the scale of post-liberation denial and deception as practiced by DNI and other enities of the political apparatus.
More translations of the tapes are coming from several sources at least. The ABC Nightline work was inadequate and unconvincing with regard the WMD around the White House colloquy between Saddam and Tariq Aziz.
Bill Tierney reports to me on Monday the new information about the unlocated, unaccounted for warheads mentioned on the tapes.
Re: NFL
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 3:34PM
Quin: So the legacy of Pete Rozelle is no more? On Any Sunday no longer applies?
I would, however, defend the players and their supposed appetites for gazillions. From what I can tell those big contracts they sign aren't worth their weight in fool's gold. How else to explain the many stars and starters teams are currently in the process of placing on waivers in order to create salary cap room? So, for instance, we have Denver's leading running back getting dumped, along with the many millions he was scheduled to earn in coming seasons had he remained on the team. Are these players too dumb -- or too exploited -- to insist above all on guaranteed contracts?
Re: Michael Brown and the Katrina Mess
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 2:49PM
Lady G is right in saying D'OHS should be dismantled. But neither FEMA nor D'OHS can be fixed by bureaucratic reorganizations. The problem reaches down to their roots, and there it has to be solved.
Chertoff, Brown and the rest -- with very few exceptions -- don't have any experience or training in the myriad issues they have to deal with. We need to assure that real experts -- and there's a host of grumpy old colonels and generals who have the experience, the training and the ability to command in crises -- run these agencies. As I've written before, amateur hour should be over. We need to remove the top two or three layers at D'OHS and most of its component agencies and replace the people with others who can find their heads if permitted to use both hands.
No matter which cabinet department or independent agency controls, nothing will get better until people who know what they're about are put in charge.
DHS and WH communications
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 2:36PM
By the way, Lady Godiva is right on target with her comments, below, about the White House Communications shop (despite having SOME excellent people) and about the Department of Homeland Security. The new department was always a bad idea; rather than helping ward off disaster or deal with disaster, the department itself IS a disaster.
The Big Story
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 2:06PM
I ran into John Gibson at the Radio and Records conference this morning. Which must have triggered a thought. I'll be on with John about 5:30 pm on Fox. Hope you can catch it.
NFL
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 11:39AM
Now it's time to talk about something REALLY important: The nation's ONLY well-run professional team sports league is on the verge of imploding due to the greed of a new breed of owners symobolized by the Redskins' Daniel Snyder, and of course due to the continuing greed of players who aren't satisfied with getting paid millions and want to be paid gazillions instead. What people need to understand is that sports leagues are NOT intended to be pure free enterprise; they are artificial constructs that in order to provide for fair competitition are SUPPOSED to assure to the greatest extent possible that every team starts with no competitive advantage or disadvantage in comparison with all the other teams. That's what the NFL has understood so well for so long, and what Major League Baseball fails to understand. Now the NFL's nouveau riche owners are out to destroy that competitive balance (at the START of things, mind you, not at the end: the whole point is to give the more skilled teams the just rewards of their ON-field excellence) in order to turn their own gazillions into mega-multi-gazillions. Right now, everybody is getting filthy rich, so why should the new guys destroy the league that works so well for them just for the sake of trying to get even filthier rich? The obvious solution is for the Snyders of the world to agree with the smaller market teams like the Packers and Saints to a greater system of revenue-sharing -- and for the owners and players to split the difference between the players' demand for 60 percent of gross revenues and the owners refusal to go above 56.2 percent. Just call it 58.1 percent, shake hands, and get on with the game!!!!
Disturbing Atmospherics
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 11:32AM
That's the sage analysis by the Washington Post of growing momentum among the states to make their own laws regulating abortion. South Dakota's legislature passes a near-total ban, and Mississippi's is considering it. It's downright shocking to the Post that some states would outlaw abortion if Roe were overturned.
What's so disturbing about these atmospherics? The Post doesn't say -- rather, it assumes that the so-called right to abortion is a foregone conclusion. Again, abortion rights proponents are revealed as not pro-choice, but pro-abortion.
The Post fails to acknowledge that in January 1973, 31 states prohibited abortion with exceptions to save the life of the mother. That's what overturning Roe means: throwing out the specious right to an abortion and letting the states decide. But the pro-abortion folks can't countenance that choice -- this minority wants to impose its regime on the entire country. Fortunately, such a position is simply unsustainable over the long term, as our friends at the Post are slowly learning.
Re: Michael Brown and the Katrina Mess
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 11:02AM
Dave: The Human Events story includes two very important items. The first reflects the ongoing discussions here on AmSpecBlog of the Bush White House's communications shop:
"I told the President 90% of New Orleans has been displaced -- this is a catastrophic event. And then on Friday, after this Tuesday conference call, I'm screaming, 'Where's the Army?' So I think this whole notion of the White House's being disengaged -- there's truth to it. It's the end of summer; it's Labor Day weekend; Nicole Devenish, the communications person, is getting married in Europe, so half the staff has gone to that wedding,; Andy Card's in Maine fishing and relaxing; Hagin's at the ranch in Crawford; the President's on the ranch; and Chertoff goes to Atlanta to an avian flu conference."
Now, I realize moving a wedding, especially one in Europe would be almost impossible. One would think, however, working for the White House while facing a major disaster, an obvious news event and national catastrophe, some of the other "communications" guests might have reconsidered their travel plans that weekend, thereby at the very least making sure the right messages come out of the White House that fateful weekend. Working for the White House entails putting aside your personal obligations. If you are not able to do so, don't work there.
The second item is one of the best suggestions I have heard in a long, long time;
Looking ahead to the future, Brown said he's not sure what will happen to FEMA, but he believes the only true way to make it an effective government agency is to remove it from under the Department of Homeland Security and give it Cabinet-level status.
Why stop there? Why not dismantle DHS instead? Everybody knows it was founded for political reasons entirely. It's a sham. Not even its employees can stand working there, complaining of overwhelming bureaucracy, the contempt with which other agencies view them, the impossibility of getting anything done ... DHS's demise would be a blessing to all concerned.
More on Santorum
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 9:31AM
The middle road won't rally the conservatives he needs, writes Jason High.
Dubai Deal
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 9:10AM
More on President Clinton's role in consulting on the Dubai Ports deal. First, reporters should be looking into whatever "consulting" arrangements both the Cohen Group and the Albright Group (note that both name partners served in the Clinton Cabinet) might have or had with the former President.
Natural questions to ask both former Clintonistas: Have you ever passed through fees paid to you by UAE clients to the fomer President in, say, the past eight months? Is the work you are or had been pursuing on behalf of UAE clients a result of previous UAE dealings with the former President? When was the last time you or an associate or outside contracted consultant met with the staff of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss UAE business interests?
Further to all of this, given the seemingly ever expanding role Mr. Clinton apparently had with the UAE, Senator Clinton should be expected to file more detailed ethics documents on exactly what nations and private companies her husband has these "casual" financial agreements with. And it shouldnt' be just her. A number of U.S. Senators have spouses who do corporate or government lobbying in Washington and elsewhere. They, too, should be held to as high an ethics standard as the junior Senator from New York.
JPII and the Sovs
Posted by on 3.3.06 @ 6:55AM
Wlady,
Most persuasive: It was SOP for the KGB in its later days to contract out its dirty (and wet) work to the Bulgarians.
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Michael Brown and the Katrina Mess
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 11:03PM
Human Events has former FEMA Director Michael Brown's impressions of the newly released tapes of President Bush on the pre-Katrina conference call. He claims that the tapes further show how he's been hung out to dry by the administration
Re: Yaliban?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 4:58PM
Rep. Mike Pence is speaking about the Taliban at Yale on John Gibson's Fox News show at 5:10 p.m. (in a half hour)
Defining "Ruins" Down
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 4:35PM
Mickey Kaus zings the New York Times for hilariously alarmist reporting -- though he does extend them a bit of charity:
I'm not saying Bill Keller's** headline and lede writers were amping up the Iraq hysteria in order to manufacture another Tet. Maybe they just have no judgment or perspective.Maybe!
Yaliban?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 4:29PM
So the Taliban's former deputy foreign secretary, one Rahmatulla Hashemi, is now enrolled at Yale. Which, of course, doesn't allow ROTC on campus. Nice to know how Yale lines up in the war.
A few questions occur: First, just how was Hashemi allowed into the country? How does an apparently unrepentant Taliban get a visa? Second, are there any others like him running loose? Third, does anybody at the Department of Homeland Security have anything to say about the answers to the first two questions?
Mr. Hashemi is quoted as saying, "I could have ended up in
Re: Newsflash
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 4:13PM
Wlady: You suspect correctly. I was more than a twinkle in my mother's eye, however: The pro-abortion crowd would have called me a "fetus," while expecting mothers, children, and lovers of life would have called me an unborn baby.
Your point is well taken, though. I can't seem to find a good citation for this, but I have long understood that Agca got the pistol from the Bulgarian embassy. Is that a figment of my imagination or did I read that somewhere?
Re: Newsflash: Soviets Tried to Kill JPII
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 3:57PM
Dave: You probably weren't even alive when Mehmet Ali Agca shot John Paul on May 13, 1981. Ever since that date the mainstream press has done all it can to play down if not ignore entirely any Kremlin-KGB links to the near-assassination. For you it may now be a no-brainer that the Soviets were behind the effort, but I wouldn't be so quick to scoff at news of the Italian commission's latest findings. There's probably greater acceptance of Alger Hiss's communist ties among the mainstream media than serious agreement that the Soviets tried to murder the Polish pope.
Consider what was included -- i.e. not included -- in MSM obituaries of JPII last April. First, the New York Times on April 3, 2005:
Investigators searching Mr. Agca's past learned that he was a murderer who had escaped from a Turkish prison in 1979 and had ties to a neo-Nazi group, the Gray Wolves. But no evidence of a conspiracy to kill the pope was found. Mr. Agca was tried by the Italian authorities and sentenced to life in prison.The assailant later said the shooting was a Soviet-inspired plot involving Bulgarian and Turkish agents, and investigators uncovered tantalizing details that seemed to support some of his assertions. But an Italian court in 1986 found the evidence ambiguous and acquitted three Bulgarians and three Turks of conspiracy in the case. A link between the attack and the Bulgarian government was often asserted, but never proved.
That's it: "asserted, but never proved."
The Washington Post of April 3, 2005, was similarly vague and not even willing to raise the possibility of Soviet involvement:
In July 1981, Agca was sentenced to life in prison. Later, he sought to implicate others in the attack, and in 1984 three Bulgarians and five Turks went on trial in Rome. Although a second trial in 1986 yielded no conspiracy convictions, questions persisted about whether Agca acted alone. On Dec. 27, 1983, John Paul visited Agca in his prison cell to forgive him in person, and the two sat face-to-face for 20 minutes. After 19 years in jail in Italy, Agca was pardoned in 2000 and returned to Turkey, where he is serving a sentence for the murder of a journalist.
Meanwhile, Newsweek in its April 11, 2005 issue didn't even bother to discuss the shooting, let alone any conspiracy. It simply referred to a famous photo of the "magnanimous pope, forgiving the deranged Turk who shot him, Mehmet Ali Agca." Of course, its use of "deranged" is a giveaway, implying that JPII was shot by a nut acting alone in his insanity.
Interestingly, only Time magazine, in its April 11, 2005 issue, raised the larger conspiracy question -- merely to knock it down with characteristic wishy-washiness:
Agca's motives remain shrouded. Italian police believed he was working at the behest of a Bulgarian government trying to satisfy a Soviet wish to be rid of Solidarity's patron. Italian journalists recently claimed to have seen East German files on Soviet involvement in a plot to kill the Pope.In any case, there can be no doubt as to the attempt's spectacular failure.
Trust me, Dave. It's going to take many, many more Italian-like commission reports before the matter of Soviet involvement in the near murder of a great pope is widely understood and accepted.
Re:Iranian Naval Threat
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 3:55PM
John: Disagree on one point. New name would be "Imam Mahdi."
Iranian Navy threat
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 3:48PM
British naval source tells me that Iran now posesses at least three German-built, most-silent, electric-powered submarines that are a threat to a carrier battle group in the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea.
It also is said that the Iranians may have altered the German boats. I do not not know how the boats have been altered, nor do I know if aleration could include a missile launcher.
My guess of Iranian Navy deploying a submarined based missile threat is derivative of the Indian Navy threat that is reported to me.
Also, separately, I am told from a signals source that the Iranians are planning on achieveing a market-risk-scenario (therein lies the tale) that produces an $80-$100 barrel of oil to achieve their strategic power projection goals in the next years.
A 25% to 60% increase in oil from now will buy whatever boats are being shopped, not to rule out the Iranian Navy acquiring Black Sea Fleet hardware.
Also, really naive, trouble-making, dystopian inquiry: wd an American administration, or an EU administration, entertain selling Iran a decommissioned oil-based super-carrier? How about selling the nuke-fueled Enterprise when it is decommissioned in 2013 or so?
Renamed the Imam Ali.
Re: JetBlue: The Real Deal?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 3:30PM
A reader is alarmed that my bag made it onto the flight without me:
if it were me I would contact DOHS (doh !) and FAA at once with the details. Heads should roll.
That was a very, very bad thing that happened. That's so elementary it predates 9/11 by more than a decade. I can remember flights I took in Europeback in the 1980's where all baggage was removed from the plane, lined up on the tarmac and all passengers made to deplane and identify their bags. Unclaimed bag = no flight.
I had suspected this was a problem. I've now called TSA's press office for an answer. I'll let y'all know what I find out.
Re: Iran Shahab-3 and Ghadar Missiles
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 3:13PM
John: Why sea-based? Iran can disperse, harden and create a tremendous nuclear arsenal without the necessity of basing them at sea. They won't have the sub-launched missile capability for decades (unless China sells it to them, which would be too crazy for China, at this moment) and to base it at sea on surface ships would enable us to track them minute-to-minute. I think they can do all they want to with a land-based force. Once the missiles are mated to warheads, their ambitions are reached.
Iran Shahab-3 and Ghadar missiles
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 2:33PM
Best Iran source reports that Iran now deploys many more Shahab-3 missiles than previously determined. Iran likely has up to 300 Shahab-3, which are forward deployed. There is no confirmation of what kind of warheads are now mounted.
At the same time, source reports that North Korean missile technicians are in residence at the Hemmat Missile Industries in Tehran, where they are working with Iranian Defense Ministry teams to develop the Ghadar missile. This is the multistage weapon with a range of 3000 kilometers and a baby bottle nipple like warhead that is capable of mounting a miniaturized nuclear weapon.
Tehran knows that its acquisition of breeder reactors and centrifuge cascades will not provide protection and a diplomatic dagger until and if Iran can mount a credible, well-defended, well-dispersed (sea-based) nuclear tipped strategic missile arsenal.
For those who argue (as more and more do) that blocking Iran's nuke ambitions is a futile mission, consider that Iran will use its enriched uranium product to construct a strategic missile threat to the Saudi Arabian oilfields, to India, Russia, and Berlin, as well as to the easy to reach Israel.
Once Iran tests and deploys the Ghadar missile, Mutual Assured Destruction policy will obtain in South Asia, fueled by the colossal, thousand year old feud between Shia and Sunni, between Shia and infidel.
(And note that the inability or unwillingness of the the UN and the six-party talks to contain and punish North Korea for its flagrant nuclear weapon and missile proliferation now reaps the whirlwind.)
JetBlue: The Real Deal?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 2:30PM
So JetBlue had the lowest on-time arrivals for January. This is making headlines because JetBlue's supposed to be that different, hip, customer service oriented airline. In light of my travels with them last month, color me unsurprised.
This was my second flight on JetBlue. This one was to San Diego, but both were cross-country flights from Dulles to California. Last time was pleasant enough -- cheap fares, satellite TV, and generous snacks. This time, the satellite was busted, but the movies were still available. And to top it off, JetBlue sent a $15 voucher to compensate for the broken satellite a couple weeks later.
The return flight was the snafu. Admittedly, I cut it a little close. Between filling up the rental car and waiting for the rental car company shuttle to the terminal, I arrived at the San Diego airport at 6 a.m. for a 6:30 flight. I was marked for extra special security (Peggy Noonan recently detailed the misfortune of such a designation). It took precisely a half hour to go through that line (while my cousin's new father-in-law, who entered security as the same time I did, made it through the normal line in 15 minutes or so) and run to the gate. As I approached, the agent already knew my last name -- he knew I was supposed to be on the flight -- but said it was too late. The clock at the gate said 6:30. The door was closed. The plane sat there for ten more minutes before leaving. I couldn't join my luggage on the plane, the agents there said, because the jetway had already pulled away and the cabin was already pressurized. (Was this a line? do they really pressurize the cabin on the ground? Let me know at amspecblog - at - spectator dot org).
What was disappointing wasn't that they shut the door on time. (Although it stings that airlines can be hours late and very non-chalant about it, but when they want to be precisely on-time, tough luck!) I was late. My fault. I'm a fan of punctuality.
But the customer service afterward was atrocious. The manager's eyes glossed over, and she didn't do much to engage the problem or see if anything could be done. She turned into a bureaucrat, like those of any other major airline, authorized only to seem understanding and no more. What little she was willing to do -- have luggage delivered from Dulles, because I had to book on another airline to make it home -- was dropped by the airline. And so another trip to Dulles.
Long story short: JetBlue's not all that special. They've done a fine job of marketing their gimmicks, but when the chips are down, when you really need something different, in my experience they were painfully similar. And in the end, the sticklers for punctuality were the worst for on-time arrivals in January.
Re: Nuke India Risen
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 2:19PM
John, 1,000 times yes on India, but -- Russia is the necessary piece to build along with India more than a tight tense balance of power, at least over the next 20 years. Real source of concern: Pakistan, which cannot go on precariously like this forever; every month is borrowed time on the im- or explosion of Pakistan, and India looks infinitely stronger with a self-contradictory and U.S.-compliant Pakistan beside it instead of an ex-Musharraf fellow-nuclear fire-breathing monster. All points and counterpoints -- Japanese/Chinese, European/Muslim, and Indian/Pakistani -- lead toward the Russian hinterland...
Nuke India Risen
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 2:04PM
Why is the U.S. negotiation with India over nuclear weapons critical to the long term (century long) defense of the United States?
Examine the facts on the ground. Call this neo-realism. Best India source confirms that India now possesses 30-40 nuclear weapons in position to use. The arsenal includes sea-based missiles (submarine launched) and mobile-based missiles. The warheads are based entirely on plutonium derived from breeder reactors built over the last forty years with Canadian and Indian involvement.
What India wants is the ability to manufacture at least 30 weapons per year entirely from plutonum from breeder reactors. This is why India does not want the new breeder reactors to be available to inspectors as commercial/civilian sites.
India does not want to rely upon the nuclear weapons umbrella of the United States.
There is a nuclear arms race on the South Asian continent. India has a no first use policy. Pakistan does not have a no first use policy. China is pell-mell to outgun India and the U.S. and Australia and Japan.
A century from now, India will be a superpower to offset the aggression of China. The U.S. will depend upon Indian protection. Cooperation now with the Indian military regime will determine the strategic opportunities for the U.S. Also, the U.S. needs the Indian Navy to supplemnt our projection into East Asia and the Indian Ocean.
India, India, India is the strategic check to Iran and Russia and China. Will the U.S. use it now, or later, or not?
How Low Can It Go?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 1:02PM
According to this Bloomberg report, a new Quinnipiac poll puts the Prez/s support down to 36%. The earlier CBS poll, derided as it should have been for weighting Dems' opinions more heavily, may have been close to the mark. But the Quinnipiac poll is much more worrisome: it reports 52% disliking the president's handing of terrorism and 60% opposing his Iraq approach. What's to be done?
President Bush needs to be out there, visibly leading on the miost important issues. There's much damage to be repaired. And much action to be taken. Speeches are important, and the president needs to be making them to the people, not to the press. And he needs to do it all around the country.
Newsflash: Soviets Tried to Kill JPII
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 12:10PM
Talk about behind the ball -- an Italian investigation reports that the Soviets were behind Ali Agca's assassination attempt on Pope John Paull II in 1981. I know the Italian life is leisurely, but this is ridiculous. (hat tip: Icarus Fallen)
UPDATE: I should mention that Marek Jan Chodakiewicz has an excellent article detailing the Soviets' secret file on JPII in our March issue. But you'll only know if you subscribe -- a digital subscription is a measly $19.95 a year. And knowing's half the battle.
Fukuyama, Iraqarama
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 11:04AM
If you want to see someone pick apart Hitchens' strong argument, consult The Washington Realist; after reading both sides, see Robert Kaplan at the Post writing with a seriously level head about the uniqueness of Iraq and the need for a fresh stabilization of order. It's an editorial everyone should be able to agree with, yet it also speaks forthrightly and accurately. I editorialize on it some more here.
Katrina: Over the Top or Under the Radar?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 10:03AM
We're hearing from some sources on Capitol Hill that the AP's big story this morning on President Bush's pre-Katrina briefing (with both a video of the conference call, as well as documents that were leaked to the AP), was pulled together and leaked by Democratic staff on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which has been holding hearings on the matter.
In speaking with White House sources, they say the video of the conference call between the President (who was at his ranch in Texas) and FEMA and Homeland Security officials was made available to Government Accountability Office investigators for their report, which was made public earlier this year. The White House believes GAO officials shared the video with Democratic staff.
As seems to be an almost weekly occurrence, the fellows over at Powerline take apart the so-called "explosive" report about the videotape and the leaked materials. Basically, the AP reporters have taken apples and oranges and attempted to make lemonade.
That's what happens when reporters who know little about a subject beforehand, and have no real interest in getting down to the nitty gritty, sit down with sources with axes to grind, who spin them for all they're worth. The result? A highly inaccurate story. The only upside is that perhaps this takes the Dubai port story down a couple notches.
Re: Dubai-Bye-Bye Baby
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 9:38AM
Bob Novak also explores the Clintonista-Dubai connections in full today.
Dubai-Bye-Bye Baby
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 9:13AM
As we reported last week, the Financial Times is reporting this morning that former President Clinton was involved in steering the Dubai port operations firm on wrapping up its deal.
Where our reports differs with the Financial Times is the timing. Our sources tell us that Clinton's assistance -- and payment of his fees -- came much earlier than two weeks ago. Likewise, so did the fees paid to the Albright Group.
Now, more Clintonista names are being floated: former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart was apparently being floated by his former colleagues for PR assistance. And we're also hearing that former Clinton best bud Vernon Jordan was nosing around looking for a bite of the apple.
Sen. Hillary Clinton's office should be pressed hard on a timeline of just when she was aware of the port deal, and what her husband was paid by the UAE government and other entities involved in the deal. We're hearing there is more to come on this story. And it won't be particularly helpful to anyone on any side of the issue.
Be Catholic, Just Not Too Catholic
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 7:41AM
Catholic Charities in Massachusetts is under pressure to allow gay adoptions, especially because of the state's antidiscrimination laws. Seven board members, apparently previously confused about what kind of Catholicism they were working for, resigned yesterday in protest. But the state's bishops and Catholic Charities are taking a stand. It appears that Gov. Mitt Romney is assisting Catholic Charities through these shoals: he thinks they should be able to continue their mission and stay faithful to Church teachings, but cannot create an exception through executive order.
With potential implications for his potential presidential run, Romney's spokesman declined to say whether the governor also opposed gay adoption -- but a home with a mother and a father is the "ideal setting." Pressed for more, he said, "I'm going to let the 'ideal' statement speak for itself." Look for reporters to pose that one more directly to the governor.
Fashioning the World?
Posted by on 3.2.06 @ 3:41AM
In an interesting and disturbing post, InstaPunk looks at the designers who seem to be contemplating the surrender of the West on the runways of Paris.
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Attention NYC Freedom-Lovers
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 6:26PM
There's a solidarity rally at the Danish Consulate in Manhattan at noon on Friday, along the lines of the DC event last week. Details here.
Hitchens on Fukuyama
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 2:58PM
Worth a read. We discussed Fukuyama here last week.
"Democrats Vow Not To Give Up Hopelessness"
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 2:31PM
WASHINGTON, DC-In a press conference on the steps of the Capitol Monday, Congressional Democrats announced that, despite the scandals plaguing the Republican Party and widespread calls for change in Washington, their party will remain true to its hopeless direction.Heh."We are entirely capable of bungling this opportunity to regain control of the House and Senate and the trust of the American people," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said to scattered applause. "It will take some doing, but we're in this for the long and pointless haul."
West Bank gang killer still at large
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 2:15PM
Jerusalem source confirms that Abu Nasser, deputy commander of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade on the West Bank, directed two shooting attacks against Israelis in the last news cycle: one fatality at point blank range in a service station near Jenin, a second WIA near Qalqiliya.
Abu Nasser spoke by mobile phone to my Jerusalem source and my audience (and this writer) forty hours agao from his hideout in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus on the West Bank. Abu Nasser has been in hiding for more than ten days from an IDF special operations team in place around the camp. The roads are sealed, the camp is under scrutiny, the IDF team is patient, well-fixed, keen.
A week ago, the capture of Abu Nasser and Nablus Al Aqsa commander Ala Senakreh was imminent; however they escaped the moment but not the net.
In our conversation on Abu Nasser's moble phone (Israeli cellphone), after 1 am West Bank time, Abu Nasser whispered often, sounded anxious and winded, as if he was moving around as he spoke. The conversation lasted approximately nineteen minutes. I am confident it was monitored by the IDF special operations team. That Abu Nasser remains at large underlines how most difficult capturing a terrorist/killer can be, as the IDF is the best on the planet in hot pursuit into an enemy camp.
Abu Nasser is directing a sharp increase in attacks with firebombs, rocks, knives, small arms on the West Bank. This is not the promised Third Intifadeh: it is prep. The full offensive will combine waves of bomb belts, car bombs and rocket attacks from the West Bank. Abu Nasser is a principal in the planning and marshalling for the coming offensive. He is also a known killer, to be shot on sight. But not yet, not yet.
Re: Get the Post to Sex-Ed
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 1:47PM
Dave: While it may not sound as kinky as the hede that caught your eye this morning, Larry Thornberry of Tampa recently sent me a clipping of a headline from his local gazette that marks me for ethnic profiling: "Utilities Draft Plans To Inspect Poles More Frequently." How do I get in touch with the ACLU?
Anti-Satanic Prose?
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 1:19PM
According to this BBC report, a dozen writers including Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born British writer who still lives under a fatwa ordering his execution for writing The Satanic Verses, have issued a statement warning against radical Islam's assault on free speech and freedom of the press. It says, in part, that the writers refuse to accept that Muslim men and women "should be deprived of their rights to equality, liberty or secularity in the name of respect for culture or tradition."
Most importantly, they discern a critical issue that few have before: Radical Islam is an ideology, not a religion: "Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present."
In addition to Rusdie, the group includes: Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Somali-born Dutch MP; Taslima Nasreen - exiled Bangladeshi writer, with fatwa issued ordering her execution; Bernard-Henri Levy - French philosopher; Chahla Chafiq - Iranian writer exiled in France; Caroline Fourest - French writer; Irshad Manji - Ugandan refugee and writer living in Canada; Mehdi Mozaffari - Iranian academic exiled in Denmark; Maryam Namazie - Iranian writer living in Britain; Antoine Sfeir - director of French review examining Middle East; Ibn Warraq - US academic of Indian/Pakistani origin; Philippe Val - director of Charlie Hebdo (French magazine that republished the cartoons.) Courageous people, one and all.
At Least David Cameron's Not Our Leader
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 12:39PM
Disheartened by the lack of conservative leadership? Take heart, Americans, in that we don't have it as bad as the British Conservatives. The Conservative Party under David Cameron released yesterday its new "draft statement" of "Conservative aims and values." It's rather defensive ("Conservatives are not ideologues") and shockingly Labour-oriented. It bill the party as a "modern, compassionate Conservative Party." It celebrates Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's aims of economic efficiency and social justice. Their chief failure? Not realizing these goals. It pays lip service to generally conservative notions, but contains all the political code-phrases: debt relief, fair trade, sustainable development and climate change. Their quarrel with Labour? You got me.
Preservationist Ben
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 11:59AM
Ben Stein was in town yesterday, as reported by local all news radio WTOP-AM 1500 reports, on behalf of the Civil War Preservation Trust and its new report on the ten most endangered Civil War battlefields. Long "energized" by their plight, WTOP notes, Ben drew particular attention to the Circle Forts of Washington, three of which are in Maryland, not too far from the stomping grounds of his youth in Silver Spring. As for plans to build a casino near the Gettysburg battlefield, Ben called them "bizarre."
Yo! Smithsonian Raps
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 10:48AM
"I would love to see more jewelry, more bling-bling, more clothes, more graffiti," said Marvette Perez, the Smithsonian curator leading the project. "I'd love to get Queen Latifah's hat from the 'Ladies First' video, some of Missy Elliott's sneakers. We're just getting warmed up.""I'm so happy right now," [Ice-T] said as he finished his speech," because when somebody comes and asks me about my music and about hip-hop, I can say, 'Take your [flipping hindquarters] to the museum, all right?"
So Much for Ethics ...
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 9:12AM
So Rep. John Conyers abused his position as a Congressman, badgered his employees, bullied them into working on issues and for other campaigns they probably didn't want to work on, and generally just took everyone for granted.
The Hill is reporting on one of the least surprising stories to break on Capitol Hill in some time. Two former employees are charging Conyers with breaches of House ethics, which at this point has become nothing more than an oxymoron.
Conyers has been one of the most divisive, mean-spirited and intellectually and politically dishonest Democrats on Capitol Hill for years. He has used his seat on the House Judiciary Committee to indulge and further every crackpot scandal he could dig up in the past five years. Going so far as to hold unofficial "hearings" on impeachment proceedings against President Bush over the Iraq War and the notion that the President was aware of the September 11th attacks before they occurred.
This could not have happened to a more deserving person. The only thing better is that in light of the new focus on ethics, the Ethics Committee should now move swiftly to censure this buffoon.
Get the Post to Sex-Ed
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 8:21AM
"Unintended Pregnancy Linked to State Funding Cuts."
Whoever this young man, State Funding Cuts, is, he needs to take responsibility for his actions and think long and hard about marrying his child's mother.
France the Lynchmob
Posted by on 3.1.06 @ 1:33AM
Three alarming alarming reports have arrived with regard the lynching of the young Jewish Frenchman Halimi, who was found mutilated and dying on February 13 in Paris.
All of the perpetrators are not yet apprehended, though some 20 of the accused so far hail from one suburb that is notorious for drugs and crime. Not all are Moslems, not all are poor, not all are ill-educated, not all our from North Africa. The ringleader has parents from Francophone Ivory Coast, and is said to have travelled to Ivory Coast to use email and telephones in some fashion to avoid detection by the French authorities. The motive for ransom is now discounted. The crime looks to have been sadism, racism, a blunt inhumanity, and is related in unexplained ways to the rioting that burned tens of thousand of cars last fall. The unbelievable report that Halimi's parents were called in the course of the ordeal, read passages from the Koran, and allowed to hear the screams of their child in the background is now confirmed.
Sarkozy, law and order candidate for the French presidency, now names the crime as anti-Semtism. The elite French media is horrified and tardily vigorous. There is also a report that Palestinian literature was found in one of the suspects' location.
The French ambassador to the United States is speaking in full defensive mode that there will be an official investogation in addition to the criminal investigation.
Dreyfus, Vichy, Arafat appeasement, Saddam Hussein, HizbAllah collusion, the French government record is soaked with anti-Semitism and dishonor.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Re: Between Schumer and a Camera
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 4:00PM
I've heard that adage applied to at least three or four politicians. I don't know where it started, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that it went back to the newsreel era.
Tempus Fugit
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 3:11PM
So the cable guy shows up at my house this morning (two hours late, natch) to help me join the revolution that is digital cable.
I am happy to have digital cable, but am dismayed that it now requires three remote controls to operate my television. I can deal with that, I suppose, but I am not sure I can deal with the enormous digital clock on the front of my new cable box which shall blare at me at all hours and as far as I can tell cannot be disabled.
I hadn't ever been offended by a digital clock until this morning. I think the thing that set me off was the stark realization, as I looked around my place, that I am besieged by digital clocks on things that I neither need nor want to have digital clocks on. In my small apartment, there are no fewer than a dozen digital clocks on things that are not clocks.
The madness must stop.
I hereby unveil my new personal Global initiative to urge manufacturers to stop putting digital clocks on anything other than, well, digital clocks.
Who's with me?
Serbian War Criminals - Gauntlet Thrown
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 2:46PM
The Southeast European Times covers in succinct tones the Euro-frustration that has put Serbia, once again, behind the crosshairs of a foreign ultimatum:
"Full co-operation with the tribunal must be achieved to ensure that the negotiations are not disrupted," the European Council said in a statement. It called on both Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina "to take decisive action to ensure that all remaining fugitive indictees, notably Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are finally brought to justice without delay."
"Without delay" means by the end of March, and "disruption" means "suspension of Serbia-Montenegro's talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA)" with the EU. Note the tricky timing that prevents Montenegro from voting their way out of their fair share in the onus.
This action follows, as I observed in December, on the bust of Croatian thug Ante Gotovina: that involuntary "rendition" sets the standard for this arm-twistedly "voluntary" one. Here as in the case of Iran, effective stonewalling by a supposedly weaker power has prompted a progressive stiffening of resolve that comes off rather much more like a sniffening. But, like everything else, the proof is in the pudding, and results are results: we need the awkward and dangerous disorderly pocket of Euro-disenfranchised Serbia reintegrated with all deliberate speed.
Between Schumer and a Camera
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 1:46PM
It's an old adage that that's the most dangerous place to be in Washington, D.C. Now even a TV industry mag agrees, ranking him the "easiest to get" for program bookers. Congrats, Chuck. (hat tip: fishbowlDC).
'Gay Cowboys' Watch
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 12:41PM
Brokeback Mountain's been out long enough for the media to get this one right. Heck, I haven't seen the movie and I know that Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's characters are not cowboys, but shepherds. Reporters and writers don't screw this up occasionally, but as many as 1150 times in the last 30 days. And that's only among the news web sites that Google includes in its news search.
I'm sure this case has been made elsewhere, but I doubt this slip is unintentional. As James Bowman writes in our March issue, the movie makes a point of showing the viewer "unforgettable images of toxic masculinity." (subscribe here!) See also Yale Kramer's thorough analysis of the film -- he argues that "It's a story that hates men." If so, then those propping it up in the media are well served by exaggerating the characters' manhood.
Gay shepherds? Well that's just quirky. Gay cowboys? Now that's downright sexy and subversive! Get along, little ewe!
Re: We Are All Taiwanese Now
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 12:14PM
Clever headline, Wlady!
Patrick Goodenough at CNS News has a fine report on Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian's controversial decision to scrap the National Unification Council referenced in my post here yesterday.
I find it interesting that so far the Chinese response has much less hysterical than one would imagine. Of course, it is early yet...
Back to J School!
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 11:55AM
Well, journalism school may be part of the problem, not the solution, but journalists need to learn even a semblance of objectivity somewhere.
Abortion stories are usually the worst, and the Associated Press meets and surpasses the expectations today in reporting on the Scheidler v. NOW and Operation Rescue v. NOW cases. The Supreme Court already decided in 2003 that NOW's ridiculous racketeering suit against pro-life protesters outside clinics was, well, ridiculous. These cases were clean-up matters, because the 7th Circuit kept the matter alive even after the Court's 2003 decision.
In an 8-0 decision, the Court ended the racketeering nonsense against the abortion protesters. So how does the AP report it?
The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over anti-abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations.
A setback to abortion clinics? How 'bout a blow for free speech? The First Amendment? You know, free assembly and all? Even PETA, the AFL-CIO, and Martin Sheen sided with Scheidler to protect their right to protest. Instead the AP calls NOW's legal strategy "novel." Try "batty" or "totalitarian."
The Pence Plan
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 11:24AM
The shining star from Indiana, House Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Pence, isn't letting up. The RSC released its legislative agenda. It's bold, principled, and ambitiously conservative, in ways we hope other pols in this town would be:
1. Make the Tax Cuts Permanent, including the repeal of the marriage-tax penalty and the death tax and pass fundamental tax reform.
2. Pass Budget Process Reform, which includes budgeting for emergencies with a rainy day fund, instituting a sunset commission for federal programs, instituting a constitutional line-item veto, and making the budget resolution carry the force of law.
3. Pass another Deficit Reduction Bill in the form of budget reconciliation, to reign in autopilot spending, which has risen from 25% of all federal spending in 1963 to 54% today, and is expected to reach nearly 60% in 2014.
4. Pass Ethics Reform that requires transparency and earmark reform that permits Members of Congress to strike earmarks on the House floor.
5. Pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, to ensure that marriage, the union of a woman and a man as husband and wife, is not redefined by activist judges.
6. Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to put our fiscal house in order.
7. Offset all emergency supplemental spending with spending reductions and offset all new programs with simultaneous, equivalent reductions in, or eliminations of, existing programs.
8. Defend the Sanctity of Human Life, which includes banning all human cloning, passing the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, promoting ethical adult stem cell research, and preventing federal funding for destructive embryonic stem cell research.
9. Pass Protections for Religious Freedom, such as the Pledge of Allegiance, the Ten Commandments, and religious expression in the public square.
10. Pass legislation that stops the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund and allows Americans to own a Personal Social Security Account.
There's no question. Pence and Co. should be the folks calling the shots here. They know what their priorities are, and they're still in the trenches with the spirit of '94.
McCainiacs
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 10:48AM
Further on our item on Sen. John McCain's growing support among Bush donors: it isn't just the notion that McCain is a frontrunner that is driving this support.
Recall that while McCain has his moments of howling at the moon all by his lonesome, he is also at heart a loyal soldier. And while his conservative credentials have taken a bit of a beating, and he has been critical of the Bush Administration at inconvenient moments, he has supported the Bush Administration when it really counted: namely the falls of 2000 and 2004.
According to folks we've talked to who are supporting McCain and have financially supported George W. Bush, there is a sense that McCain's time has come. That he was loyal to the President, did everything that was asked of him to get this President elected and re-elected, has worked hard to build a Republican majority, and more often than not has worked behind the scenes in the Senate for this Administration, not against it.
This is by no means an attempt by Bush to bigfoot the nomination for McCain. McCain will have to earn that with the base. But what McCain has earned is the opportunity to make the case that he is the best candidate to run and win in 2008 with those who felt the same things about George W. Bush seven years ago.
A Tough Hill to Climb
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 10:33AM
Regular New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani doesn't like folks who believe what they believe, especially if they aren't liberal. That's the clearest message in her review today of "The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost," an examination by former student Molly Worthen, of the career of Yale professor Charles Hill and his geopolitical theories that have influenced two generations of what are now commonly lumped together as "neocons."
As Powerline has pointed out, Kakutani's biggest problem with Hill appears to be that Hill knows what he believes, teaches it, and stands by it, and the ideas endure.
In her review, Kakutani writes: "The problem with such certainty is that it can lead to the cherry-picking of evidence to support an idée fixe - as in the case of the decision to go to war against Iraq - and the dismissal of more inconvenient facts."
Hmm. With Hill and others eschewing moral and real-world relativism is a flaw. But cherry-picking facts to attempt to, say, ram through a national health care plan, mislead multiple federal grand jury investigations, avoid making tough decisions on national security issues, misleading the American public on issues on everything from the environment to port security, is admirable?
Only a man of Charles Hill's intellect could unspool this kind of thinking.
The Kelo Brushback
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 9:12AM
Is underway, the Wall Street Journal ed board writes (sub. req'd). South Dakota's set a particularly aggressive example, banning all takings.
Nigeria Rwanda
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 1:50AM
Report from Nigeria that the rioting is politically directed sectarian mass murder. The Muslims resent that the Christian Obasanjo won't go. The killing is with machete and stones and petrol, just like the Rwanda tales. The killing is widespread north and east. Obasanjio's authorities cannot control the killing or the fear, and as many as ten thousand are in hiding from marauders.
Meanwhile MEND has cut production from the Niger Delta by 20%. And there is no answer. Without Nigeria light sweet crude, the world demand is on a dire diet.
Don Knotts, RIP
Posted by on 2.28.06 @ 1:14AM
Of all the tributes I've read to Don Knotts maybe the nicest was by the New York Times' television critic Virginia Heffernan, who displayed nothing but human appreciation for a beloved American performer, who died last Friday at 81:
"He was absolutely flappable. No one had a better tremor or double-take, and with his unmistakable homeliness...he didn't bother to play the wise fool; he wisely stuck to just the fool....
"He was a generous performer who likes to share the stage, and he thrived in duets, teams, variety shows, ensembles.,,,
"As Barney, he satirized swagger and self-importance....Mr. Knotts, over and over, was willing to play the desperate, pathetic low-man-on-every-pole. He did it so well...that his talent for abasement became a source, paradoxically, of great authority."
She ends by noting that once he even got to play the hero, "saving the day" in one Andy Griffith show when, "playing an achingly melancholy song on his harmonica, he leads a dangerous goat, which has swallowed dynamite, out of town."
It's rare an American performer who dies so universally liked. It wasn't quite that way that one time I saw him, alas. But the year was 1969, and early fall evening I was waiting in line with a few friends to get into a movie house in Westwood, near UCLA, which was showing the inarticulate hippie road flic, Easy Rider. On the other side of the sidewalk on which we stood was a Chevron gas station. As we stood there someone in line said something like, "Hey, there's Barney Fife." It was Knotts, standing in a cardigan sweater near his car as an attendant filled it with gas. He was shooting the breeze with a few people, hands in his pockets, pleasant as could be. Nonetheless some of the punks in our line started shouting mean jibes at him, trying to bully him from afar. He paid them no attention. He'd probably known their kind all his life.
Monday, February 27, 2006
We Are All Taiwanese Now
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 5:47PM
Some will call it gutsy, many will call it reckless (I lean heavily toward the former, btw). In a move which will surely drive the Communist Chinese absolutely BatGuano, Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian has mothballed Taiwan's National Unification Council which was set up in 1990 "as an attempt to convince the Chinese authorities that Taiwan was committed to reunification."
Keep an eye on this...could get dicey and wind up being a real test of our commitment to our friends on Taiwan.
Re: Mookie Going Underground
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 3:33PM
How can the Shi'a south survive on its own except as a satrapy of Tehran? If Moqtada al Sadr is really interested in poodle duty, wouldn't he have dropped the charade by now? It strikes me that anyone hoping to shear off the south and make of it a private fiefdom would have to first provoke and then endure and finally win a civil war of secession. This is not only a difficult process to complete from start to finish but also a costly and weakening one. This is something the Confederacy had a tough time managing -- and that without a comparatively vast and gogglingly covetous next door neighbor looming over the battlefields.
"I'll catch you," Iran says to any breakaway south -- "fall into my arms!" Everyone knows this is the embrace of death. Unless Moqtada is really intrigued and lascivious about the prospect of making a slave of himself I can't understand how else he could achieve a Shi'a rump state. On top of this he would have to be willing to kill large numbers of fellow Iraqis, including his own could-be countrymen. Yet he's calling for intersect unity, and his buttoned-down enforcers are patrolling the streets, not laying them waste. How does it jive? At what point do actions speak louder than alleged lies?
Re: Mookie Going Underground
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 12:42PM
Actually, I think he's looking to rule a partitioned piece of Iraq. The more senior Shia - Sistani among them - realize the difficulties of keeping Iraq together are potentially worth it for them. Sadr and his ilk are willing to sell out the north and center to keep the South for themselves. High risk, high potential payoff strategy.
Re: Mookie Going Underground
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 10:58AM
Jed, it's entirely possible that Sadr has something vicious and unconscionable up his sleeve. And it's difficult to take calls for peace at face value from a guy who ran around killing Americans until it became more trouble than it was worth to him. But query whether al Sadr would rather have a chance at running the government of an Iraq whole and at peace or a guaranteed place at the top of a Shi'a army tasked with surviving a civil war. Query whether al Sadr aspires for purely religious reasons to be a permanent stepstool for Iranian overlordship.
I daresay al Sadr prefers to lead an intact Iraq -- one in which Arab kills not Arab and the Kurds are not permitted to slip free of Baghdad. I suspect he is not kidding or faking it when he calls on joint Sunni/Shi'a prayer sessions. Moqtada has been keeping up the national-unity drumbeat since August, when everyone last expected Iraq to smash itself to smithereens. Back then I made the unruly prediction that al Sadr could become Iraq's Ataturk, and though Talabani is doing heroic things he is not an Arab and what Iraq needs is an Arab Iraqi nationalist. Sadr may be a wooly scoundrel but as far as the missing piece in Iraqi leadership he may also be the leading, or the only, candidate. He has had several chances already to destroy the nation of Iraq and so far has passed all of them up -- in favor of holding it together.
Novak on the Ports
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 10:16AM
He spreads the blame all around: to the apparently xenophobic overreaction among Democratic and Republican quarters, and to the White House for perhaps "unleashing the dogs of anti-Arab prejudice," and then botching the PR last week.
He also reports that Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is suffering heartburn from the news. As much as I like Thune (he's genuine and affable in person), he continues to disappoint. Remember the fit he threw over BRAC last year and then withdrew support for the Bolton nomination? I know the Great Plains states lean populist, but once in a while their representatives should exercise some sensible leadership.
Mookie Going Underground
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 9:47AM
Calls for calm in Iraq emanating from Moqtada al-Sadr last week are being viewed by some as good news. What they ignore is the fact that Sadr, while calling for peace, ordered his militia to stop wearing their trademark black getups. He sending his people underground, which may well mean the terror campaign we haven't seen from him before is about to start in earnest. Could mean other things as well, but this guy calling for peace is the rough equivalent of Bonnie and Clyde decrying lousy bank security.
Sammon Now at the Examiner
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 8:58AM
Who knew that Bill Sammon moved over to the Washington Examiner two weeks ago? Rob Bluey.
"Winning Is More Fun Than Losing"
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 7:26AM
That's how a delegate from San Diego defended his decision to still support Gov. Schwarzenegger. Not exactly enthusiastic? The California GOP chose cohesion over principle this weekend.
Ports Compromise
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 7:21AM
I'm not surprised that the only group to act like an adult in this matter isn't the politicians. Let's be thankful Dubai Ports World has patience to let the demagogues cool off. In the meantime perhaps President Bush can assemble a competent communications shop.
Olympic Broadcast Agony
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 5:16AM
Jed, I'm with you on style points. Wlady, see my column to come on the World Match Play. I think the TV-Oprahfication of the games began in earnest with the summer games in Australia, where the time zone shift made anything live impossible. NBC reduced that entire Olympics to a series of personality features. I miss the early days of ESPN, when you could watch unpolished rugby and Australian rules football. Nowadays, the major Olympic event seems to be the TV interview.
Re: Olympic Agonies
Posted by on 2.27.06 @ 1:04AM
Jed, I sympathize with you totally, to such an extent that I watched next to nothing of the Turin Olympiad. Sports competition is that last thing TV is interested in. The problem goes back decades, to whenever the "Up Close and Personal" segments began. (I'm afraid Roone Arledge might share the blame.) Moreover, once the winter games were switched to off years, for purely commercial reasons, who in heckfire could have possibly cared about any of the proceedings? Which is why we now have snowboarding and Sports Illustrated covers honoring our leading snowboarders, even the goofy gal who threw her gold medal away by trying to hotdog at the finish. It's a weird new world out there for anyone over 30.
By the way, you could see TV's priorities in full exposure when Tiger Woods was eliminated Friday from the La Costa match play tournament. ABC filed for disaster relief from anticipated lost ratings. Real sportsmen love upsets, like to see new faces, admire unknowns who hang in there to take on the superstars. Not TV. It wants Tiger Woods to finish no worse than the top two every time. Otherwise it worries no one will watch. It simply has no faith in the market, the source of ever new reserves of fresh talent and future stars, chasing after the same moolah TV wants to horde for itself.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Re: Olympic Agonies
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 7:35PM
John: That's the whole point. If they want ratings, give us sports not some frozen romance novel. The reason women's figure skating gave them their best night is that guys tuned out days before, and stayed out. The NBCing eye dogs should take a look at the ratings Monday Night Football gets, and take a lesson. Full contact Olympics would mean all the diff.
Re: Olympic Agonies
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 5:56PM
Jed: Your views on what makes a sport a sport have very little to do with ratings, and ratings are the only reason anyone is fretting over a disappointing Olympics in the first place. Women's figure skating is, by far, the most popular event at the Winter Olympics; it gave NBC its best night. Move it to daytime? Dream on.
Re: Olympic Agonies
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 5:13PM
John: No matter how you slice it (or edit it) objective results are what make sports different from soap operas. Subjective scoring is inherently inconsistent with sports. If you add enough style points, you could make NFL football into a sport the ladies would play.
Re: Olympic Agonies
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 4:03PM
I wouldn't be so hard on sports that include style points, especially now that judging is moving toward more objective measure. But the real problem with NBC's Olympic coverage has been the editing. Instead of showing one event start to finish, they cut back and forth between two different events. I guess this is supposed to keep the audience for both events glued to the TV, but it seems more likely to leave fans of one or the other sport too bored to stay tuned in -- particularly since they mix sports that appeal to different demographics. I'd imagine that a mix of figure skating and freestyle skiing aerials or ice dancing and snowboard cross pleases very few viewers.
Olympic Agonies
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 3:24PM
The Winter Olympics -- thanks, mostly, to NBC -- have been a crashing bore. For all the bad ratings they've been getting, even worse have been earned. Now they're talking about how to fix it by breaking what little is left in one piece.
You may have seen some of the idiocy being touted on AOL, such as "athlete confessional rooms" for failures to wail away the hours and a new version of the Olympic Village. Great. Guarantee more touchy-feely junk and make Oprah the ever-present anchor. All this needs is Dr. Joyce Brothers debating Alan Dershowitz about the significance of failure.
Let's set one thing straight: athletic events are about competition. Winning and losing is what we need to see. I frankly couldn't care less how many ice skaters fall on their tushes. Nor do I choose to watch any "athletic" events that are scored subjectively. Anything that includes "style points" in determining the winner isn't an athletic event. You win athletic events by beating everybody else's time, or outscoring them objectively. Like in hockey. If you want anyone to watch the next winter games (given the fact that we can't resurrect Roone Arledge to do the coverage right) there's only one simple rule to follow: show sports. And three corollaries.
First, move all the ice skating and every other subjectively-scored "sports" to daytime TV. If the people who thrive on this stuff want to watch it, fine. But don't make me reach for my "A-Team" DVDs by putting ice skating in prime time. And don't waste my time telling me how some snowboarding acrobat is more stylish than another, why we shouldn't worry about a French judge or whatever other nonsense goes along with it. If I wanted a soap opera, I'd tune one in. I want ski jumping -- the ninety meter hill, please -- in prime time. And more speed skating. And ski racing. Lots of it. And please don't forget the luge and bobsled runs. I want them all, all I tell you.
Second, when some one wins or loses a key event, show the event. When one of our skiers won a gold, the NBC idiots showed the award ceremony that night, and not the ski runs. That was the Olympic equivalent of the Heidi Bowl. Third, if you insist on showing ice skating in prime time, I have the solution. How about combining the hockey games with figure skating? I'd really like to see someone pull off a triple-axel while someone else is trying to cross-check them into the boards.
On the Waterfront: The Facts, the Jingoists
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 3:05PM
Observe that the WSJ editorial on the weekend -- “Ports of Gall” -- summarizes in cogent prose the facts of the matter of the port imbroglio. I mention that in the course of last week’s report, I learned that the jingoism, demagoguery, and base poor research by members of Congress are a sizable threat to rational political discourse.
The facts are that there are four major terminal operators on the planet. Number one is a private owned but
All four of these enterprises share terminals and or facilities at ports around the planet. P&O operates one terminal at New York/New Jersey. The Danish company operates another terminal.
Not one of the four firms, two Chinese dominated/owned, one Euro owned, one now proposed to be UAE owned, is responsible for or in the business of providing security, inspection, policing, management or intelligence gathering for any of the ports in the U.S. or elsewhere. These are vendors who must make money or wither. And making a profit in the
Questions to be asked about the port imbroglio is who among the pols who are misbehaving with bad facts or conscious distortions are also taking phone calls or meetings or cash from longshore or stevedore unions or patronage posts that do business with port authorities.
Quick version is to follow the money.
Iraq WMD: Mystery/Threat Continues
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 3:02PM
Spoke with UNSCOM veteran and Arab translator Bill Tierney re his work on the Saddam tapes that he released in Arabic at the intelligencecsummit.org.
We concentrated on the pericope where two named briefers, Maldoud and Abbas, report to Saddam Hussein with regard a “plasma” component of the Iraqi WMD program that is concealed from UN inspectors.
The date on the briefing is post 2000.
“Plasma” refers to the plasma separation process (PSP) that was developed by U.S. and French teams and then abandoned for other pursuits in the 1970s and 1980s.
Significant is that the Iraq Survey Group final report stated that
Also significant is that neither of the briefers was known to UNSCOM nor is mentioned in the Iraq Survey Group report: their whereabouts then and now is unknown.
Most significant is that Duelfer of the Iraq Survey Group was asked in general by the media (ABC News) about the Saddam tapes, and his general remark was that there is nothing new on the tapes. Duelfer was not asked specifically about any of the details, most especially he was not asked about the “plasma” briefing in 2000.
The PSP is a program that was part of the wide range of programs funded by Saddam to enhance
Tierney confirms as of this date that Duelfer’s silence on the “plasma” detail suggests an inability to comment cogently. Does Duelfer know what was left undone and unexplained by the Iraq Survey Group? Yes. Can he change the open source intelligence landscape? Yes. When? Unknown.
I add that this is not partisan politics. This is real time pursuit of the Iraq WMD teams, plans, material, technology and those who were responsible for pre- and post-war concealment of all of the above. The Bush White House is no more reliable on this inquiry than is the media. This is why it is profound that informed people fix on what can be demonstrated in open sources to be representative of the unexplained. The “plasma” briefing is a distilled essence of the Rosetta Stone of the Saddam tapes.
“Plasma.” Until the national political apparatus faces up to this mystery and speaks candidly of the scale of the threat once represented by Saddam Hussein and now represented by those who were in league with him and continue to sell their skills to rogue state masters, until such time, the risk to the United States and its allies remains.
Mitt for President?
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 9:48AM
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appeared on Fox News Sunday this morning. Here are the highlights:
-Speaking about the new prescription drug benefit: "We need to find a way to reduce the entitlement burden."
When the Massachusetts governor is more fiscally conservative than our Republican president, things are seriously wrong at the top.
-Romney's explanation of his evolving abortion positions was fairly weak. Though unwilling to be pinned down, he suggested that he concluded that human life begins at conception while researching the embryonic stem cell issue. Props to him that he now recognizes that fact. But his statement that he believes abortion belongs in the hands of the states and thus he wouldn't mess with Massachusetts's laws doesn't wash. As governor, he's the right person to help change state laws. To get elected, he took that off the table. He'll have to answer for that.
-Chris Wallace pursued the Mormonism questions thoroughly, based on concerns of evangelical Christians, asking about particular tenets of the Mormon faith: "I'm never going to get into a discussion about the beliefs of my church." Folks, that just isn't going to fly. Mormons won't be impressed, and other Christians won't be satisfied.
He appears to be more conservative than Bush. For that, I want to like him. But his inability to answer questions directly and openly is making that difficult.
Ummah at War: America Intimidated
Posted by on 2.26.06 @ 12:39AM
Signals source warns that the Friday prayers in the ummah were united in the charge that the
This accusation was the same in the Sunni and Shia mosques. The charge is that the American crusaders have concocted to favor the non-Islamic elements in the elected officials -- by this is meant al-Jaafari of Dawa, Allawi of the INA, Talibani and Barzani of the Kurds, likely also al-Hakim of SCIRI. In sum, all the elite of the
The Friday prayers' identification of a common enemy did not stop the Shia imams and Sunni imams from directing the faithful to kill the opposition and attack the opposition’s holy sites. In
All this sectarian homicide and sabotage favors
Meanwhile, in
Meanwhile, in
Best signals source says the deterioration is rapid, and that every day of chaos in
Paradoxically, another signals source indicates that
When the British captured Baghdad in 1917, they interrupted a thousand years of Sunni killing Shia. Now in the twenty-first century, it is back to the future.
Recall that Al Qaeda is a Wahhabist-based cult that is supported by Sunni Saudi princes. The Shia of Tehran mean to survive the Al Qaeda offensive against the
Threatening thought: how long until the
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