Marine Survivor of Haditha IED Attack ** Welcome to MichelleMalkin readers -- please take a critical look at the following information **

Lance Cpl. James Crossan permitted an interview with KING-TV in Seattle last night. He was riding in the Humvee that was struck by an IED in Haditha on Nov. 19th, and suffered a broken back, shattered bones, and perforated eardrums.

Watch the video here. And, please watch the video, registration's free -- and the accompanying article does not reflect his memories of the incident.

Briefly, according to what Lance Cpl. James Crossan said in the raw footage of the interview, the Marines had information on the day of the incident there was information that about 20 insurgents were planning a major attack on the command outpost (COP), which he describes as something like a vehicular checkpost. He was driving Iraqi soldiers back from the outpost, when his unit got hit by an IED. The COP sent out a squad of Marines which was attacked by "insurgents right off the bat."

He remembers taking a left, then getting hit ... waking up on the ground, going unconscious, waking up in a helicopter ... and finally regaining consciousness in the hospital.

He did not witness the alleged rampage, the last thing he remembers is the humvee blowing up, and hearing a bunch of Marines say "you're okay -- where's the morphine ..."

Unfortunately, the article written by KING reporter Deborah Feldman ignores most of the facts in the interview made with Corp. Crossan, but she does manage to write:

"...Several are now under investigation for the murder of 24 civilians immediately after the blast, several of them women and children, some of them in their beds.

Crossan said he doesn’t' think much about those who were killed.

"Probably half of them were bad guys and we just never knew, so it really doesn't cross my mind."

Crossan said the guys in his unit were young and that he was often the calming influence.

While he doesn't condone the apparent rampage, he says he understands why it happened.

"If you see your friend get killed… you're going to do something irrational and all that stuff and they probably just weren't thinking and they killed a bunch of people," he said.

"I feel bad for the guys because they are going to get in trouble and… but other than that I really don't have any emotions for it," he said.

In short, she's talking about all those mythical young, heartless, stressed Marines -- the journalistic meme that the NYT's and John Murtha are hammering in, and that's not news.

Again, here's a summary of the salient facts that Crossan related:

1) The Marines knew there was going to be an attack on the command outpost, which would explain the high degree of suspicion about the Iraqi's in a taxi that first refused to stop, then ran away from them.
2) There was an IED attack on his humvee, and a squad was sent in
3) Insurgents began firing on the Marines almost immediately.
4) He's not claiming to have witnessed anything.

Let's take a look at that report -- and the video and radio-transmission files.

UPDATE 8:15 pm: During the second half of the tape on, the reporter proceeds to lead Crossan into commenting on speculation about the incident. As a matter of fact, he told her that he didn't know about the (alleged) massacre part of the incident until he saw it on the news, and he denies discussing it with any of the other Marines in the unit. I've presented the things he relates he witnessed in the above article. If you want to hear speculation, by all means, listen to the rest of the tape. Or, read the NYT's.  ¶ 10:30 AM |

  Iraqi "Play Date" -- IslamoFascist Style ... Der Spiegel is reporting how a German mom was prevented from traveling to Iraq, where she apparently planned to blow up her child along with herself.

Get your mind around this one:

SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that German intelligence agencies have prevented three German women from travelling to Iraq in recent weeks. The women, who have close contacts to the Islamist scene in Germany and at least one whom has converted to Islam, came to the attention of intelligence agencies after one of them had announced on an Internet site that she intended to blow herself and her child up in Iraq...

I do not understand this.

Now, this is a German Islamist mother, but she's got some things in common with her Arab sisters in the fascist faith.

I don't understand Mama Hamas, who "sacrificed" three sons in suicide bombings in order to blow up Israeli moms and kids, ran and won elections on the promise of sending her other three sons to martyrdom. I've never understood Muslim parents who allow their kids to run out and throw rocks at armed men in Israel, Iraq and Afganistan (isn't there some kind of predictable outcome here?)

More things I don't understand: While Islamo fascist women essentially agree to murder their kids -- the Arab (and US) media wails about every child killed in a bombing raid, or cross fire -- while ignoring the thousands ruthlessly murdered by al Quada, sectarian violence, and religious purgings. The media ignores the children Saddam imprisoned and killed, the Kurdish kids gassed, and the Iranian teenaged girl that was hung by the mullahs for defending herself against rape.

I'm not even going to mention the Jewish kids blown up and maimed in Israeli school buses and pizza parlors -- while Palestinians dance in the streets, proclaiming victory. Forget that, since we've become used to Jews being blown up, haven't we?

Michelle Malkin points out that toddlers were killed in Haditha -- and there were. There are also toddlers being killed all over the world by Islamo-fascists. With the agreement of some of their parents, and without any US troop involvement -- but we don't hear much about that, do we, since reporters can't try to get Rumsfield implicated, and prove Bushlied over those stories.

And, yes, we do need to know about toddlers killed in US troop engagements. We also need, very badly, to know how Islamists murder children. And, we need to know about it loudly, clearly, and on the front page of every newspaper in the USA -- because if we don't, we aren't allowed to understand our enemy, and we need to.

According to Ryan Briones mom, he's still emotionally shattered about the girl killed in Haditha:

Briones was still grieving when he was sent in to clean up the bodies of the Iraqi civilians.

He had to carry that little girl's body,'' she said, ``and her head was blown off and her brain splattered on his boots."

Contrast Briones' attitude with that of your average suicide bomber, members of the insurgency our troops face every day.

Contrast Briones' attitude with the fact with Al Quada's promise to kill 4 million American civilians, two million of them children.

Are we better than that? You bet -- why don't we already understand that our troops are better than that? Which is why we need to give the Marines the benefit of the doubt until the investigations are complete.

Every single child killed in war is an arrow the heart of civilization. But -- it's the difference between a child killed in a traffic accident, and a child methodically beaten to death by his parents. Neither is okay, and both are horrific -- but the difference needs to be remembered.

Islamists do not honestly care about the murder of kids, and neither do their intellectual buds in the Arab media, or the saps that report in the Western world. What Islamists care about is lies and murder, in order to set themselves up as warlords -- and what reporters care about is being able to claim that their story, under their byline, changed American policy.

If that's not evil, then the word has no meaning.

StetsonTip Chad In The BullPen, via JawaReport.

UPDATE: The NYT's is reporting news that's already reported, from anonymous sources that remain unnamed, but I'll have to say it's quite a breathless story!What the story's basically saying is that the initial reports about the IED were wrong, which has already been reported, and that the civilians were shot in the head and chest. Doesn't say whose bullets, from which guns, shot them in the head and chest (okay, my tinfoil's rattling) ... and it would seem to me that a Marine on rampage would hit alot more a small area on a target, but ohwell.

Al Jazeera's gotten around to presenting a pretty good time-line, sourced from Reuters. There's also an article from yesterday about how the Iraqi prime minister is tired of US excuses. And, still no original reporting from survivor sources, on the type of story that Al Jazeera loves to run.



  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  The Party The Marines Spoiled In Haditha ... Here's a little background on the city the Marines walked into last November:

From the UK Guardian, August 22nd 2005:

The executions are carried out at dawn on Haqlania bridge, the entrance to Haditha. A small crowd usually turns up to watch even though the killings are filmed and made available on DVD in the market the same afternoon.

One of last week's victims was a young man in a black tracksuit. Like the others he was left on his belly by the blue iron railings at the bridge's southern end. His severed head rested on his back, facing Baghdad. Children cheered when they heard that the next day's spectacle would be a double bill: two decapitations. A man named Watban and his brother had been found guilty of spying...

A three-day visit by a reporter working for the Guardian last week established what neither the Iraqi government nor the US military has admitted: Haditha, a farming town of 90,000 people by the Euphrates river, is an insurgent citadel.

That Islamist guerrillas were active in the area was no secret but only now has the extent of their control been revealed...A three-hour drive north from Baghdad, under the nose of an American base, it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to.

The Guardian reporter did not say he worked for a British newspaper. For their own protection interviewees cannot be named.

There is no fighting here because there is no one to challenge the Islamists. The police station and municipal offices were destroyed last year and US marines make only fleeting visits every few months

The court caters solely for divorces and marriages. Alleged criminals are punished in the market. The Guardian witnessed a headmaster accused of adultery whipped 190 times with cables. Children laughed as he sobbed and his robe turned crimson.

Two men who robbed a foreign exchange shop were splayed on the ground. Masked men stood on their hands while others broke their arms with rocks. The shopkeeper offered the insurgents a reward but they declined.

DVDs of beheadings on the bridge are distributed free in the souk. Children prefer them to cartoons. "They should not watch such things," said one grandfather, but parents appeared not to object.

One DVD features a young, blond muscular man who had been disembowelled. He was said to have been a member of a six-strong US sniper team ambushed and killed on August 1. Residents said he had been paraded in town before being executed. (the US army denied that)

There was a rumour that Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted militant after Osama bin Laden, visited early last week. True or not, residents wanted to believe they had hosted such a celebrity...

I think the above is worth noting. There are other things that bug me, too, as I described earlier today.

StetsonTip RedStater ExSalvo, responding to AcademicElephant's excellent article on the basic differences between Haditha and MaiLai -- except, of course, the press coverage is the same. Here's a link to the article on her own blog.

UPDATE: A reporter at CNN shares her own shock. She apparently traveled with some of the Marines in the unit, and is experience cognitive dissonance. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/30/damon.iraq.btsc/

SECOND UPDATE -- 4 pm: This WashingtonPost story mentions that the marines were indeed under small arms gunfire from the houses. There's also some radio transmissions, and perhaps a videotape of at least parts of the incident. Will continue to follow.  ¶ 10:00 AM |

  Making Sense Of Haditha ... I've been mulling over the Haditha story, in frustration. It just doesn't hang together for me at a gut level.

There are several things that bug me about it, mostly speculative at this point, so I'm going to indulge in a flight of fancy, fueled by a train of logic.

First, our soldiers are trained to avoid targeting civilians. These guys are professionals; they are not hapless draftees -- and at this point in the war, nobody's into it for things like college tuition.

Not only are Marines trained to avoid targeting civilians, they get swift, public consequences if they step out of line. I'm having a really, really hard time believing that a bunch of Marines killed civilians in Haditha for jollies, which is how it's being presented. Murtha's trying to make the claim that they're so stressed they somehow snapped -- and I frankly don't believe that, either. I do believe there is stress, but again, our military is trained to deal with it. Also, I think the perception is that the stress involved in combat is less than the stress that higher command can bring to bear if troops screw up.

Second, there's the evidence of the video tape, which again stinks. What I'm really, really highly suspicious of is that it was submitted to Time Magazine, instead of an Arab outlet, like Al Jazeera. As a matter of fact, I'm not finding much reporting on the incident there, and what little there is, is copied from Western Sources.

Why does that bug me? Well, Al Jazeera will report anything from any source, their viewership is huge, and they hate the US. So, why aren't they on the story? I can think of two reasons, maybe. First, maybe the editors know something. Or second, maybe the "student journalist" wanted to make sure it was run in the Western media.

Third -- there have been instances of failed propaganda attempts. Remember the great dinner party massacre in Pakistan. Twenty civilians were supposed to have been killed ... then it turned out that four of them were high level Al Quada operatives ... then it turned out that a dozen of them were Al Quada ... so, just how many civilians were killed again? Incidentally, Debka reported that the bodies of those killed, along with weapons were removed within hours by local tribesmen. Then, the story was reported by outraged tribesmen.

Fourth, our own press has told some straight faced whoppers in the past couple of years. Reference the phoney flush the Koran story, which killed people around the world. The reporters that fabricated that one are still working.

Then, there's this, another completely fabricated story out of Lebanon that sounds suspiciously like the Haditha incident. It came out in March, and failed because it was phoney. Click to RightWingNutHouse for links to the sources and commentary.

There are various off the wall emotional things, too ... like the 10 year old girl who supposedly saw her entire family slaughtered by "gringo's" a short 6 months ago, but was happy to chatter away, in English?, to the UK Herald. (and incidentally, this is the sort of story that al Jazeera just loves, so where's the headlines in the biggest Arab media outlet?)

Finally -- guess who does target civilians in Haditha, and elsewhere in Iraq.

It's easier for me to believe that the Marines were fired upon from the houses. Only one weapon was found -- but, you know, weapons can be taken away by insurgents fleeing the scene, leaving a bunch of dead human shields for Marines to deal with. And, again, this is speculation on my part, based only on what little I know of our forces, and what little I know of Islamofascists.

Now, could it have happened? Sure, anything's possible, and again -- if it did, let's hang those Marines quickly and publically. Let's crucify them.

But, let's find out how it happened first, and if there are any extenuating factors.

Here's a quote from Marine Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, whose was also falsely accused of atrocities, and later exonerated (less publically):

Members of the U.S. military serving in Iraq need more than Mr. Murtha's pseudo-sympathy. They need leaders to stand with them even in the hardest of times. Let the courts decide if these Marines are guilty. They haven't even been charged with a crime yet, so it is premature to presume their guilt -- unless that presumption is tied to a political motive...

Yup.

Incidentally, the above cartoon is taken from 3rd Marines In Vietnam website.

UPDATE 10 am: Here's the latest in emotional binge over the incident. CNN Netscape headline screaming: Parents: Iraqi Deaths Traumatized Marines!!

Apparently the two Marines who cleaned up the bodies after the gun battle are upset about the women and kids, which is very understandable. The implication in the first paragraph is that their very own unit was suspected of performing the murders.

And, there's not a shred of evidence in this article about the how the civilians were killed, or what the circumstances were, although one of the Marine's dads referred to him as the Forrest Gump of his unit.

UPDATE: 9 pm. Cartoon removed -- couldn't go thru library filters, or so I hear. But, I think y'all get the general idea.  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  Same Song, Same Verse ...
So, since there was no real agreement last week on what new "carrots" to offer the mullahs, China has called for a six power meeting to be held in Vienna, day after tomorrow.

From Reuters:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Representatives of six major powers are to meet on Thursday in Vienna in a bid to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said...

The senior officials from U.N. Security Council permanent members China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain, plus Germany have already met to narrow divisions over how to induce Tehran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment work....

China, which has traditionally opposed sanctions, stuck to its position that the dispute should be resolved through diplomatic means....

Meanwhile, the Iranians plan to seek bids from foreign nations to build a couple more nuclear reactors. But, what the heck, right? The Iranian foreign minister has said the mullahs will consider direct talks with the US if America changes it's behavior.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it might resume direct talks with the United States over its nuclear programme provided Washington changed its behaviour.

"For the time being, we have suspended direct talks (with the United States). After a change of their behaviour we may consider again," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said

And, the two-steppin' continues.

Maybe I should call it the Iranian "BellyLaugh Lambada".  ¶ 8:03 AM |

  Mexican Politico's Seek Hispanic Vote ... Both US -- and Mexican! -- politicians are scrambling for the fabled Hispanic vote by catering to illegal aliens in the USA.

Get your mind around this one:

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. immigration debate could determine more than the future of illegal immigrants. It may help pick Mexico's next president July 2.
A reform that legalizes illegal Mexicans in the United States could boost conservative candidate Felipe Calderon and keep the ruling National Action Party in power.

More walls and troops at the border could tip the balance in favor of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, sweeping Mexico into Latin America's shift to the left...

"It's the hot topic right now," said Mexican pollster Manuel Barberena. "The candidates all want to show they won't bend to the United States, while promising migrants they will get them a better deal north of the border."...

U.S. immigration reform has been a cornerstone of the presidency of Vicente Fox. For nearly six years he has lobbied the U.S. government to allow more legal migration, meeting regularly with President Bush.

Lopez Obrador, a fiery leftist, has accused Fox of being weak when dealing with Washington. When Bush announced plans to send 6,000 National Guard soldiers to the border, Lopez Obrador called Fox a U.S. "puppet" and "lackey" for not vigorously opposing the measure.

While Fox can't seek re-election, his approval ratings could affect support for Calderon, his party's candidate, who has a slight lead in the polls over the once front-running Lopez Obrador

So, Fox has been enhancing the campaign, by doing things like the following:

From UPI:

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- Mexican President Vicente Fox's government reportedly is making a concerted effort for a favorable outcome of the U.S. debate on illegal aliens.

Noting Fox's recent tour of U.S. Western states while the U.S. Congress debates further tightening of the border with Mexico, The Washington Times said Fox's administration is conducting a well-financed campaign to shape public opinion in favor of more Mexicans coming into the United States.

The Times said the campaign is working through a coalition of U.S.-based immigration rights groups, Mexican-American organizations and grass-roots Hispanic groups to lobby U.S. lawmakers and civic leaders for amnesty for the estimated 12 million illegals in the United States...

There's something very, very screwey about Mexican politicians building a campaign around US Immigration policy.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform, and don't forget to assess your Representative for his or her views on the Senate bill. A LadyRumination's has a couple of great posts about how the MinuteMen are doing the job our government won't, and how Congress isn't listening. Click down below her Memorial Day article for those.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Comprehensive Legislation (!) Heh. I'd just like to share this one, written by Joe SixPacks, posted at UnCooperativeBlogger:

National Problem Solving - Real Comprehensive Legislation
by Well_Seasoned on 05-29-06 @ 9:44 am MT.

You all fail the “comprehensive” test … you look inward on a single issue, not outward to solve multiple issues. So … let me illustrate what “comprehensive” at the national level looks like with an example …

You’ve got a border security problem to solve …

DIG A MOAT ALONG THE LENGTH OF OUR SOUTHERN BORDER

You’ve got a levee problem in New Orleans …

USE THE DIRT FROM THE MOAT YOU DUG ALONG THE BORDER TO REINFORCE THE LEVEES

You’ve got a problem with alligators attacking people in Florida …

CAPTURE THE ALLIGATORS AND PUT THEM IN THE MOAT.

That, Congress, is “comprehensive” … not to mention being a three-fer … think BIG! Any other challenging problems you’d like me to help you solve?

Regards –

Joe

PS: Make sure you budget in the out years to feed the alligators once the flow of illegals dies down  ¶ 3:40 AM |

  Memorial Day ...
Like every other holiday, Memorial Day has a history.

From the title link:

Memorial Day was originally conceived as a day to memorialize the solidiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. It was first called "Decoration Day", in reference the decorations that were laid on tombstones, and hung from buildings.

The first time Decoration Day was first started is not exactly known. Officially, the date is known as May 30, 1868. However, the practice of memorializing Civil War dead, and decorating their graves goes back earlier.

The earliest known evidence of such observance goes back to various women's auxillary groups in the North and South, when ladies organized events to honor their war dead by decorating graves. The earliest recorded event took place on April 25, 1866 in Columbus, Mississippi when a group of women formed an association to decorate the graves of civil war soldiers, starting with those who died in the Battle of Shiloh (And, yes, in some states in the South, there's also a day to honor Confederate dead, but that's not the point -- FB)

As Americans, we're not too good at remembering things -- and the past decade or so, we've been discouraged from remembering the foundations of this nation, and the sacrifices that made it possible.

So, today, let's forget John Murtha, and Cindy Sheehan, and John Kerry, and all of those who are dying to spit on our troops (again).

Let's simply, and stubbornly, honor our hero's.

Image from Holiday-ClipArt.

Crossposted at RightWingThinking  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Valuable Ally Killed In Anbar The death of a valuable ally in Anbar:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A tribal chief who challenged Iraq's most feared terrorist and sent fighters to help U.S. troops battle al-Qaida in western Iraq died in a hail of bullets Sunday - the latest victim of an apparent insurgent campaign against Sunni Arabs who work with Americans...

Al-Jadaan was a leader of the Karabila tribe, which has thousands of members in Anbar province, an insurgent hotbed stretching from west of Baghdad to the Syrian border. He had announced an agreement with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government to help security forces track down al-Qaida members and foreign fighters...

Al-Jadaan claimed in March that his people had captured hundreds of foreign fighters and handed them over to authorities. He also issued a warning to al-Qaida in Iraq's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is blamed for many of the country's worst terror bombings.

``Under my leadership and that of our brothers in other tribes, we are getting close to the shelter of this terrorist,'' al-Jadaan said. ``We will capture him soon.''

The drive, dubbed Operation Tribal Chivalry, was designed to secure Iraq's borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to prevent foreign fighters from sneaking in.

Anti-American sentiments have been strong in Anbar since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, which was dominated by the Sunni Arab minority. But relations between Anbar locals and foreign fighters soured when the outsiders started killing Iraqis suspected of having links to the Americans or even those holding government jobs

This man will be missed. And, if you're of the persuasion that we should pull out now, take a good look at the above, since he, and his family, are exactly the Iraqi's that will be slaughtered if we pull out.  ¶ 7:55 AM |

  The Shame of Time Magazine ... So, Time Magazine has another blockbuster article about the (alleged) Haditha massacre.

Here's how it leads:

The outfit known as Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, wasn't new to Iraq last year when it moved into Haditha, a Euphrates River farming town about 150 miles northwest of Baghdad. Several members of the unit were on their second tour of Iraq; one was on his third. The men in Kilo Company were veterans of ferocious house-to-house fighting in Fallujah. Their combat experience seemed to prepare them for the ordeal of serving in an insurgent stronghold like Haditha, the kind of place where the enemy attacks U.S. troops from the cover of mosques, schools and homes and uses civilians as shields, complicating Marine engagement rules to shoot only when threatened. In Haditha, says a Marine who has been there twice, "you can't tell a bad guy until he shoots you."

The article goes on to give a timeline on the second page:

It began, as so many things in Iraq do, with an explosion. At about 7:15 in the morning on Nov. 19, a string of four humvees were on routine patrol in a residential area when a white taxicab approached from the opposite end of the street. The Marines made hand and arm signals for the taxi to stop. But as the taxi halted near the first humvee, a bomb under the fourth humvee exploded, killing its driver—Lance Corporal Miguel (T.J.) Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas—wounding two of his comrades and shattering windows 150 yards away. Marines said the convoy almost immediately began to take fire from several houses on either side of the road. Locals dispute that, claiming the only firing after the explosion was done by the Marines. Suspecting that the four students in the taxi either triggered the bomb or were acting as spotters, the Marines ordered the men and the driver, who by then had exited the taxi, to lie on the ground. Instead, they ran, and the Marines shot and killed them
Residents dispute that there was gunfire. It's important to believe people who support insurgents over our own trained military, I suppose.

However:

But as Time reported in March on the basis of interviews with 28 individuals, including military officials, the families of the victims, human-rights investigators and local doctors, much of that account is dubious. Members of Congress, as well as military sources, have confirmed the critical details of Time's initial report—that after gunning down the five fleeing the taxi, a few members of Kilo Company moved through four homes along nearby streets, killing 19 men, women and children.

The article gets around to naming sources, and we finally get a name for the "student" journalist: Taher Thabet. I'm wondering where the student journalist was when insurgents blew up a bunch of kids at a Baghdad Hospital, or when these incidents happened, but I guess that's just me.

Anyway, the article concludes:

So why did some men in Kilo Company apparently snap? Perhaps because of the stress of fighting a violent and unpopular war—(Murtha's meme)
or because their commanders failed them, (in which case every reporter under the sun can run around for the next few months trying to prove that George W called up Rummy in the middle of the night, so he could in turn phone the Marine sargent to instruct that atrocities be performed -- FB)

Incidentally, looks to me like the incident's been investigated through the wazoo since January, and the initial finding was that the Marines returned fire. Which actually fits more into everything I've heard about their training and experience, but guess that's just me.

Here's the last sentences of the article:

Says a retired Army Green Beret colonel who fought in Vietnam: "Somebody has failed to say, 'No, that's not right.'" No one, apparently, was delivering that message last November in Haditha.

Looks to me that somebody has failed to tell our US news outlets "No, that's not right" as well. While our justice system is supposed to be "innocent until proven guilty," looks like the press has convicted, drawn, quartered and hanged the US Marines. And, remember, according to the press, the insurgents in Iraq are always innocent, even when proven guilty.

And meanwhile, who's crying for Corporal Tarrazas ... ?

UPDATE: According to a written statement from Brigidier General David M. Brahams: "Recent reporting on the events in Haditha, Iraq have included significant factual errors and/or misleading statements. This includes a quote attributed to me in the Washington Post this morning that was taken completely out of context and its meaning distorted. Many facts that are favorable to the Marines involved have not yet been disclosed." StetsonTip MichelleMalkin.

  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Timing for Talks With Mullahs: Never Better!!!
Well, according to the latest NYT's article, there's never been a better time to talk to the Iranians!

From the NYT's, title link:

TEHRAN, May 27 — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to consolidate power in the office of the presidency in a way never before seen in the 27-year history of the Islamic Republic, apparently with the tacit approval of Iran's supreme leader, according to government officials and political analysts here.

That rare unity of elected and religious leadership at the highest levels offers the United States an opportunity to talk to a government, however combative, that has often spoken with multiple voices. But if Washington, which severed relations with Iran after the 1979 revolution, opened such a dialogue, it could lift the prestige of the Iranian president, who has pushed toward confrontation with the West.

Sure. Let's talk ... but before getting Condi Rice her plane tickets ... let's insist that President AllMyJihad make an abject apology about the hostage crisis. Then, let's get Iran to prove their sincerity by paying recompense to the hostages and their families. And, after that, let's get some kind of committment from Iran that they're actually serious about negotiations.

Ooops! I forget. As soon as we get Democrats into office, it'll all be magically solved. My bad.

Anyway, buried in the second page, a childhood friend of the Iranian President says: "The real issue here is we now have a government with no experience running a country and dealing with foreign policy," said Nasser Hadian, a political science professor at Tehran University and childhood friend of the president

Another issue is the guy's a lunatic.

If you have time, read the article. The anti-American part's at the beginning, but the second page starts trying to explain how President AllMyJihad's really a man of the people, working to improve Iran ... how this government in Iran is the most secular it's ever had ... how the president defends the rights of women ... although he did arrest a bunch of people who made fun of his personal hygeine.

Really, the NYT's article's a hoot. But, before you laugh too hard, take a look at what Oliver Guitta wrote in the CounterTerrorismBlog. It's about how Iran, and its neighbors are preparing for war.  ¶ 7:55 AM |

  Haditha and the Hammurabi Human Rights Association The story might be true, but the original sources are still stinky.

Now the video of the atrocities at Haditha was supposed to have come from the "Hammurabi Human Rights Association," not a student journalist from Haditha University, or someplace... ?

Okay, I've googled Hammurabi Human Rights Association, and come up with nothing. Zip. Nada.

Al Jazeera ran an article from Reuters yesterday, but no original reporting about the incident. There never has been, which again makes me wonder why the source went straight to Time Magazine.

Meanwhile, there have been plenty of unidentified anonymous leaks. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. Michelle Malkin's pointing out that Marines have been unjustly accused before, although this is not looking good.

Look -- if they're guilty, hang them high.

But, while our media is publicizing this (still alleged) episode, let's see some publicity about the videoclip of Daniel Berg getting his head sawed off slowly ... photo's of Margaret Hassan's mutilated body, found in pieces with her arms and legs chopped off ... images of Iraqi children blown up by insurgents at the hospital before Christmas. And, with every article that implies that the Iraqi's were better off with Saddam, let's get a glimpse of a bloody chipper shredder, the children's prisons and the mass graves.

True or not, it's still VietNam style reporting. We're getting hyper-ventillated, hyper-bolic, and hyper-hyped coverage of whatever real or perceived injustices our own troops perpetuate -- and barely a whisper of the nature of the enemy.

So, do we need to know about Haditha, if it's true. Yes. We also need to know what our troops are up against.

Publish it all. Ohwait -- if the media did that, along with the Mohammed cartoons, they might inflame the American people to support the war. And, as long as there's a Republican President in charge, I guess we can't have that, now can we?

UPDATE: Here's a link to a description of photo's taken from a Marine Intelligence Team ... after the fact. And ... who sent that 10 year old survivor from Haditha to the BBC ..... ?  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  Minute Chicks Will Assist In Breaking Ground ... The Minute Men will start the Fence today. Cowgirl's out there as well, with the Minute Chicks, a group of MinuteWomen, and she'll be doing some live blogging when she has some time.

She writes in the Minute Chicks Road Trip:

The Minute Chicks made it safely to Arizona yesterday afternoon. After checking into the hotel, we enjoyed the swimming pool, and the very dry Arizona climate and gorgeous scenery. The town we are staying at, Sierra Vista, is at the foot of some rugged hills, so the view is desert and high hills. Add a clear blue sky, and a pina collada, and the result was some very happy Minute Chicks...

We are light-hearted on this trip, but we are still doing serious work. The border here is a rickety little one or two strand barbed wire nothing fence. That's not any kind of a border as far as I'm concerned. We did see some of the Border Patrol aerial surveillance equipment, which was interesting, but that is woefully insufficient for the sheer numbers of invaders crossing the border (rickety fence) here.

Today we will spend with other volunteers, to start the Minuteman Border Fence Project. Tonight, we plan to post out on the now infamous Naco Line. It will very interesting for us, since we understand that the operations are very different here than Texas. I would imagine that operations must be tailored for each location if they are to be effective

God Bless and God Speed, Cowgirl. Y'all make me proud.

There's even a little MSM coverage of the event.

From the WashingtonTimes, title link:

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) will begin construction of new fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border in Palominas, Ariz., today in the wake of the Senate's passage of an immigration reform bill the Minutemen have criticized as amnesty.

"The vote to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens by the U.S. Senate, should it pass into law, would ensure that the status quo is maintained. The borders would remain wide open and the attractive nuisance of endless welfare and social programs at the expense of the American taxpayer would remain," said MCDC President Chris Simcox.

"Those climbing over the backs of those waiting patiently to abide by our laws and instead breaking the law, illegally entering this country, and committing document fraud, those not paying taxes and those hiring illegally would be granted full amnesty," Mr. Simcox said. "This sends the message that if you play by the rules, you suffer; if you enter the United States illegally, you are not subject to the rule of law."

It's largely a symbolic gesture, at least so far, but might give a little relief to the private property owners who've agreed to have the fence built on their land

FoxNews is also running a good article on the MinuteMen ... and Fred picked up a very interesting article about Chris Simcox, run in USAToday.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform, because you're sure not going to find it in the Senate. Inmuscatine has a pithy comment about the pop on capitol hill yesterday, but maybe it's because they're all drunk on amnesty juice!

And here's a link via Fix4, to just how our fearless Congressional Gerbils voted. Review it ... embrace it ... and remember those names.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Don't Ask ... Just Don't Ask ...
Well, I'll be danged!

Amongst the howls of Congressional baying at the moon last week, Nancy Pelosi has decided to co-sponsor the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

From the SanFrancisco Times, title link, which serves her base:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, signed on this week to co-sponsor a bill that would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay service members. Five Republicans are among the 116 members of Congress co-sponsoring the bill, which was introduced last year by Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., but has yet to be heard in the House Armed Services Committee, which is controlled by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon (San Diego County)....

I do not know what's in the water on Capitol Hill -- looks like Repubs and Dems seem to think they're going to get re-elected by Ouija Board ...

Meanwhile, according to the Chicago Tribune, there's been an 11 percent rise in the dismissal of homosexuals in the military.

But, I just heard from a reliable source that they no longer allow teddy bears in basic ...

(photo from the geniuses at Moonbattery)  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  House Approves ANWR Drilling -- For the Eleventh Time
Well, although the House voted to uphold the ban on drilling offshore, a bill was passed (again) to permit drilling in ANWR.

From the HoustonChronicle, title link:

WASHINGTON - In what has become almost an annual ritual, the House approved legislation Thursday that would allow energy firms to search for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But as with 11 previous attempts since 1995 to allow drilling in the refuge, it is unlikely that the politically charged legislation will reach the president's desk

I'm awfully suspicious of Congress these days, but it looks to me like the House voted down something that might pass -- i.e., drilling offshore -- in favor of something that won't pass, but is politically attractive to Conservatives.

Way to go, guys. Y'all just keep focusing on the perceived abuse of power by the Executive Branch.

(photo from here)  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  Gosh, Is It Nam, Yet? Well, the NYT's is reporting the following regarding the Haditha massacre as fact -- and does anyone else think that the photo to the right, run on the front page of the NYT's is a tad "artsy" side?

From the NYT's. Front Page: WASHINGTON, May 25 —

A military investigation into the deaths of two dozen Iraqis last November is expected to find that a small number of marines in western Iraq carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians, Congressional, military and Pentagon officials said Thursday.

Two lawyers involved in discussions about individual marines' defenses said they thought the investigation could result in charges of murder, a capital offense. That possibility and the emerging details of the killings have raised fears that the incident could be the gravest case involving misconduct by American ground forces in Iraq.

Officials briefed on preliminary results of the inquiry said the civilians killed at Haditha, a lawless, insurgent-plagued city deep in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, did not die from a makeshift bomb, as the military first reported, or in cross-fire between marines and attackers, as was later announced. A separate inquiry has begun to find whether the events were deliberately covered up

Okay. So they're quoting two un-named lawyers, and unnamed officials.

Congressional and military officials say the Naval Criminal Investigative Service inquiry is focusing on the actions of a Marine Corps staff sergeant serving as squad leader at the time, but that Marine officials have told members of Congress that up to a dozen other marines in the unit are also under investigation. Officials briefed on the inquiry said that most of the bullets that killed the civilians were now thought to have been "fired by a couple of rifles," as one of them put it

Wow. More nameless "Congressional" and military officials. And further down in the article, more nameless Iraqi "humanitarian" groups. Murtha. Time Magazine, which based its story on a student journalist from Haditha. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Odd, since the MarineTimes listed officials by name who said it was too early to comment.

Is the story true. I dunno, let's see. Is it wrong? Yup, if it's true -- and looks like the guys that might have done it will be facing capital charges.

From NPR, a fair article:

The Pentagon has narrowed its investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed 24 civilians, including 11 women and children, in the Iraqi city of Haditha last November. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior military leaders received an update on the probe this week...

Gary Solis, a retired Marine officer and law professor, says Iraq poses a difficult problem for U.S. forces. Insurgents operate among civilians, who sometimes can be used as shields. But American troops are trained not to overreact and to be precise when they shoot.

"You have to distinguish between the shooter and the non-shooter, the combatant and the non-combatant," says Solis. And you may not lawfully target a non-combatant; for example, a woman or a child without a weapon.

Do we have the right to know? Oh, you bet. Sure, run the artsy photo of the dead bodies.

But, here's other things we also have the right to see, at least as frequently as photo's from Haditha, and endless clips of Abu Gharib: the videoclip of Daniel Berg getting his head sawed off slowly ... photo's of Margaret Hassan's mutilated body, found in pieces with her arms and legs chopped off ... images of Iraqi children blown up by insurgents at the hospital before Christmas. And, with every article that implies that the Iraqi's were better off with Saddam, let's get a glimpse of a bloody chipper shredder, the children's prisons and the mass graves.

Show all of that, and I'll care a little more.

This war reporting is unbelievably lopsided. American casualties are reported in loving detail, and enemy casualties are ignored. This makes it sound like our military are a bunch of fish being shot in a barrel. Which isn't true.

Second, our gutless, partisan press presents photo's like the above, but has decided that the American Public can't handle images that show exactly who our troops are dealing with. Thus making American soldiers seem like the big bad guys -- and they're not. They took down the best armed dictator in the Middle East in three weeks. Since then, they've been involved in re-construction, building up the Iraqi army, and protecting Iraqi citizens from "insurgents" that would like to set themselves up as the new warlords of Iraq.

But, what you're seeing is VietNam style reporting; and it's the same type of propaganda that allowed the Viet Cong to hold on despite military defeat ... and got the US Congress to pull the rug out from our allies. It also set the template on how to beat the Americans.

Here's the difference with this particular war. During the Nam years, the Viet Cong were content to take over the country and kill millions of their own countrymen.

This time, our enemies, which includes specifically the Al Quada -- and possibly SCIRI -- component of the Iraqi insurgency, are likely to follow us home. Or meet us here.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Bush Seals Records From Jefferson's Office ... So, President Bush has ordered the records seized from William Jefferson's office sealed.

From CNN-Netscape: WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

President George W. Bush on Thursday ordered records seized from Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson's office to be sealed for 45 days to allow time to work out a dispute over the materials between the Justice Department and the House of Representatives.

"Our government has not faced such a dilemma in more than two centuries," Bush said.

"Yet after days of discussions, it is clear these differences will require more time to be worked out."

Bipartisan leaders of the House are outraged that the FBI seized a computer hard drive and two boxes of papers from Jefferson's office.

They contend the search violated the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The Justice Department, at the same time, considers the FBI search an important part of an investigation into alleged public corruption.

Why?

The FBI had a warrant. There was probable, actually more than probable cause.

Now, from what I heard yesterday, the big whiney complaint was that constituents' letters should be secret. Sure. Like, when a private citizen gets raided for failure to pay taxes -- what private correspondence should be protected. If a private citizen gets raided by the FBI, can any one of us expect our private correspondence to be respected.

Why do these jokers think they should be able to get away with things that, say, Prof.Budgie and I can't? Because we vote for them?

Excuse me -- but the voting situation can change.

By the way, the backstory that the Democrats, and their buds in the media are pushing -- hard -- is abuse of power by the Executive branch. Which will cease, along with global warming, war, poverty, and everybody gets chocolate cake for dessert when the Dems waltz back into power in November.

Facts don't matter, but the story's true.

Click to CommonVoice for Jim Kouri's excellent article on "situational" journalism.

Kouri leads with:

In a previous article, I wrote about how the news media practice situational journalism -- slanting coverage of a news story depending on whom the subject is. I used Rep. Patrick Kennedy's admitted drug addiction story and Rush Limbaugh's bout with addiction as an example. In Limbaugh's case the story was about crime and prosecution. In Kennedy's case it was about the dangers of Ambien and painkillers, and the difficulties of drug rehabilitation...

And he concludes:

In "situational journalism" coverage of Republican corruption feeds into the Democrat Party talking point of a "culture of corruption." In the coverage of Democrat corruption, the news media help the Democrats by putting the cops on trial instead of the crooked politician who stuffs his freezer with his ill-gotten gains alongside the Bird's Eye frozen peas. In "situational journalism," the media take on the role of defense attorney if a Democrat is accused of criminal acts, while they take on the role of prosecutor if a Republican is accused

I think that about covers it.  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  "Why the H3ll Not!"
Both Carol Keaton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman managed to gather enough signatures on a petition to allow them to run for governor in the fall.

From the WashingtonTimes:

AUSTIN -- ...On May 16, Mrs. Strayhorn turned in 223,000 signatures of those who want her on the ballot. Two days later, Mr. Friedman turned in almost 170,000. "Of course she got more signatures than me," he said. "She got all her ex-husbands to sign." That probably describes the tone of what's coming."

Heh. This one's going to be fun ... and remember, here in Texas, we don't let our governors do too much, unless they're planning to run for President.   ¶ 8:05 AM |

  Gore's Carbon Footprint 15x Greater Than Average When it comes to "carbon footprints," Al Gore might as well be Sasquatch.

From Drudge:

As former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary on global warming fears debuts today, a new video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute tracks Gore’s own “carbon footprint.” CEI’s 70-second video points out that Gore himself is a big user of the hydrocarbon fuels that produce carbon dioxide when combusted.

Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” asks, "Are you willing to change the way you live?" The Gore documentary and new book of the same name go on to suggest ways that people can reduce their carbon footprint, yet Mr. Gore has clearly not taken his own message to heart. He even says in the documentary that he has given his global warming Power Point slide show more than 1,000 times all around the world.

The CEI video, which may be viewed at: http://streams.cei.org/, includes footage of Gore and his constant air travel with two CO2 meters running at the bottom of the page that compare Gore’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with those of an average person"

All the evidence suggests that Mr. Gore is an elitist who passionately believes that the people of the world must drastically reduce their energy use but that it doesn't apply to him,” said Myron Ebell, CEI's director of energy and global warming policy and the creator of the video

Right.

I think Global warming may be happening. However, I also think the Kyoto treaty is relatively worthless, and that Bush was right not to sign it.

Unfortunately, like other problems, we're not going to deal with global warming in a sane way until it gets out of the political area. Here in the US, the issue has been used mostly to bash Bush, and to get Democrats back in office. We cannot even agree on the science.

Back in the seventies, I remember that it was a huge, alarming problem back under Nixon, who was a Republican President. Then, it got better under Carter, a Democrat. Then, it got much, much worse again under Reagan and HW Bush ... but, thank God, it got alot better when Clinton took office! Now, of course, we have another Republican president ... and I don't know how the wuuurld can hang on until Hillary's able to step into office and straighten it out again.

If you're interested in climate change, pick up a copy of "The Coming Global Superstorm," by Art Bell. It's the book that "Day After Tomorrow" was based on, and gives some compelling historical examples. Of course, you have to get around the influences of the Zodiac, first.

I'd like to point this out about Ralph Nader, green activist extraordinaire. I really abhor him politically -- but he rides his bicycle, and travels coach.

  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  WHO Investigates Bird Flu Transmission In Indonesia
So, a family in Indonesia caught the bird flu, and there's some concern that they may have transmitted it to each other -- which would be a human to human contact.

From NYT's:

A team of World Health Organization experts has been deployed to help investigate what is being termed a worrisome family cluster of human cases of avian influenza in northern Indonesia, organization officials said yesterday.

"The leading hypothesis" right now is that the disease spread among family members after extremely close contact with ill relatives, said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

But International health officials emphasized that laboratory tests from the family did not suggest that the A(H5N1) bird flu virus had mutated in any way that would allow it to spread among humans more readily, which scientists have said could set off a devastating worldwide pandemic.

Again, here's what has to happen to catch bird flu, barring a mutation, which has so far not been proved:

Recent research has demonstrated that one of the reasons avian influenza does not spread easily among humans is that it infects cells deep in the human lungs.

So for transmission to occur, there must be intense and prolonged exposure to someone with a deep cough, doctors suggest. Normal human influenza virus lives in the throat and nose, and so spreads readily from sneezes. No evidence suggests that the A(H5N1) avian influenza virus was poised to acquire that ability

Or, you can kiss a chicken.  ¶ 7:55 AM |

  If the Story's True, Where Are The Facts ... ? I expected Nancy Pelosi to denounce the FBI raid on William Jefferson, but I was stunned when I saw Denny Hastert, Top Republican House Gerbil, rail against abuse of power by the executive branch, denouncing FBI raids of William Jefferson's office. (William Jefferson's the guy that was caught taking bribes on video tape. He also kept a cool $90,000 dollars iced in his freezer at home).

However, ABC news is reporting that Hastert himself is under investigation: WASHINGTON (CNN) --

House Speaker Dennis Hastert is demanding a "full retraction" of an ABC News report that he is being investigated in connection with the Jack Abramoff corruption probe.

The report Wednesday night prompted the Justice Department to take the highly unusual step of denying on the record that the Illinois Republican is the subject of a probe.

"Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department," spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said.

Usually, when queried by reporters, the Justice Department neither confirms nor denies the existence of an investigation

Well, let's see if it's another case of "the facts are wrong, but the story's true." I'm not sure what the Abramoff scandal has to do with William Jefferson, because the Abramoff scandal looks like a true bipartisan pay off.

In the meantime, just who's trying to put themselves above the law? There was enough evidence for a search warrant of Jefferson's office. This was a legal raid, done properly.

The problem that the House Gerbils are having is that it deals with Congress -- the fabled class. They get benefits that the rest of us can only dream of. They vote themselves raises every year ... and while they enjoy the benefits of some privatization of social security, they've voted down any hope that the average citizen can enjoy the priviledges they have.

And, now, they're trying to claim immunity from the law. For the simple reason they're Congressmen ... and know what? The rest of us poor voting slobs keep electing them into office.  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  Further Investigation Into Haditha ...
Here are some excerpts from article from the Marine Times about the Haditha incident.

A key member of Congress said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if a dozen Marines faced courts-martial for allegedly killing Iraqi civilians Nov. 19. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., told Marine Corps Times that the number of dead Iraqis, first reported to be 15, was actually 24. He based that number on a briefing from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee on Wednesday.

Hagee visited Capitol Hill in anticipation of the release of two investigation reports, which are expected to show that among the 24 dead civilians, five of the alleged victims, all unarmed, were shot in a car with no warning, Murtha said. The killings took place in Hadithah, 125 miles northwest of Baghdad.

“If the allegations are substantiated, the Marine Corps will pursue appropriate legal and administrative actions against those responsible,” said Col. David Lapan, a spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters.

“The investigations are ongoing, therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process,” he said. “As soon as the facts are known and decisions on future actions are made, we will make that information available to the public to the fullest extent allowable.”

Murtha, an outspoken war critic and retired Marine colonel, has maintained for several weeks that the reality of the Hadithah incident was far more violent than the original reports suggested

Two investigations into the incident are ongoing, according to the Pentagon — one by Multi-National Forces Iraq, expected before the end of the week, and a second by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, that is due in June.

The Marine Corps originally said a convoy from the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, hit a roadside bomb Nov. 19 that killed Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, 20, of El Paso, Texas.

Marine officials initially said 15 Iraqi civilians also were killed in the blast, but later reported that the civilians were killed in a firefight that took place after the explosion.

But a 10-week investigation by Time magazine (based on a video tape from a "student journalist" from Haditha -- FB) resulted in a March 27 report that included claims by an Iraqi civil rights group that the Marines barged into houses near the bomb strike in retaliation, throwing grenades and shooting civilians who were cowering in fear.

Three officers from the 3/1, including battalion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, were relieved April 7 for “lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq

The two other Marines who were relieved, Capts. Luke McConnell and James Kimber, were company commanders in the battalion

And, again, it's still not a story that the main Arab media outlet, Al Jazeera's too interested in following up on. But, there's plenty of political hay to be made from it, isn't there, at the expense of our armed forces, in the middle of a war.

The above cartoon's from the DiscerningTexan, who's also posted a really perceptive article from a milblogger about US war media coverage. From SteveShippert, posted in Mudville Gazette: ...

While it can be traced back to before the 60's (though blossoming then), what really happened was the galvanization of self-loathing using Vietnam as a social catalyst. But the face of this nation changed most significantly when the election of the greatest true conservative leader on a chilly 1980 November evening forced a barely contained media into open rooting for a specific political party. The degeneration of policy discussion and political leadership since has been palpable, fueled by the successes of anti-military media coverage developed during the Vietnam era and skillfully maintained and nearly perfected since then ...

Makes some sense to me. When you have a minute, read the whole thing, it's instructive and enlightening.  ¶ 7:35 AM |

  Clinton Tougher On Border Than Bush .... ? Here's another article I don't especially want to post, but I think it might be important:

From the WashingtonTimes, which can usually be counted on to be fairly reliable:

The U.S. Border Patrol increased at a faster rate and apprehended more illegal aliens per year under President Clinton than under President Bush, according to statistics from a new, unpublished congressional research briefing report.

Mr. Bush trails his predecessor on a series of measures of border security, says the briefing from the Congressional Research Service to the House Judiciary Committee, which was based on Department of Homeland Security data.

Mr. Clinton increased the number of Border Patrol agents and pilots by 126 percent over his eight-year term, or an average of 642 per year, while Mr. Bush has averaged 411 new agents per year through 2005, for a total increase of 22.3 percent over his tenure.

Although Mr. Bush last week said his administration has caught and returned 6 million illegal aliens, that's actually a drop from any five-year period during Mr. Clinton's administration, the briefing says.

Meanwhile, the number of alien absconders has grown by more than 200,000 during Mr. Bush's term, reaching 536,644 in fiscal 2005; the number of completed fraud cases has dropped; and, until recently, detention beds hovered at or below the level Mr. Bush inherited from Mr. Clinton in 2001 (more)

The report remains unpublished; I'd like to get a look at the original if it's possible.

I'd also like to point out that Vincente Fox was not in office during the Clinton era. Fox has been encouragind, and aiding, Mexicans to cross the border.

Meanwhile, the Senate Gerbil Pork Sausage Pattie will hit the House in the next couple of weeks.
Here are the main points of the final bill, according to the NYT's:

Under the Senate agreement, illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for five years or more, about seven million people, would eventually be granted citizenship if they remained employed, passed background checks, paid fines and back taxes, and enrolled in English classes.

Illegal immigrants who have lived here two to five years, about three million people, would have to leave the country briefly and receive a temporary work visa before returning, as a guest worker. Over time, they would be allowed to apply for permanent residency and ultimately citizenship.

Illegal immigrants who have been here less than two years, about one million people, would be required to leave the country altogether. They could apply for the guest worker program, but they would not be guaranteed acceptance in it.

The legislation would also require employers to use a new employment verification system that would distinguish between legal and illegal workers. In addition, it would impose stiff fines for violations by employers, create legal-immigrant documents resistant to counterfeiting, increase the number of Border Patrol agents and mandate other enforcement measures.

The employer verification might do some good, but the basic objection by the House is expected to revolve around the path to citizenship.

There are also no teeth in the bill, i.e., why would anyone want to go to the trouble of jumping through the hoops and expense of being a citizen when they can have what they want without doing it? Why would anyone volunteer to do the guest worker program, when there's no enforcement to stop the status quo.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**

  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  World Diplomats Scrape Up More Carrots For Mullahs To Reject ...
:: sigh:: Everybody seems interested in "diplomacy," except Iran -- although as long as the mullahs keep everybody two-steppin', they'll have plenty of time to do whatever else they want to do. Like develop nuclear weapons and so forth.

From the Mail&Guardian OnLine:

World powers gathered in London on Wednesday to try to break a deadlock over how to stop Iran enriching uranium, as Tehran again warned against military intervention.Senior officials from the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and China will discuss a European proposal at the closed-door talks to offer Tehran incentives to suspend uranium-enrichment work

Yah. How many times does Iran have to reject "carrots," in order for the Western World to "get it." President AllMyJihad flat out rejected the last package offered by the EU less than a month ago with the comment "we're not children."

The meeting has been called amid an escalating international stand-off over an Iranian civilian nuclear power programme, which the US claims hides the development of atomic weapons.The European Union's "big three" -- Britain, France and Germany -- are hoping to coax Iran into suspending uranium-enrichment work in exchange for a package of trade and technology incentives.However, they want Russia and China to join in sanctions, including an arms embargo, if Iran does not agree, according to a draft proposal seen by Agence France-Presse

The Iranian President has also threatened a "historic slap" to anyone who threatens them militarily.

Meanwhile, world diplomats seem to be involved in this big circle jerk ... while the mullahs laugh at their efforts.   ¶ 8:15 AM |

  Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison Weighs in On Gas and Immigration Senator Hutchison, or someone on her staff, took the time to write a page and a half letter regarding her stance on immigration.

Click here to see the scanned copy, which is a little hard to read, so I'll summarize some of the high points:

First, Hutchison writes a couple of paragraphs about what the Senate has already done, like levy penalities on human smugglers back in 1996 and establishing deportation procedures. I'm not sure why this has not worked very well; I suspect that it has something to do with extending "due process" to illegal aliens. And she mentions the Patriot Act and the Real ID act.

Then she describes what she herself has done, and here's the important part:

Kay Bailey's always been tough on border enforcement, with mixed results. In October of 2005, she introduced S1823 which would grant states and local authorities the authority to arrest, detain and prosecute individuals. Among other things, it would create a Volunteer Border Marshall Program (!) It's a pretty good bill -- but I guess it was dropped by the rest of the Senate, kind of like her bill two years ago which would have ensured that every cargo container coming into the states would be checked. If you've never heard of those two bills, it's because the Senate never considered them seriously.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations committee, she has worked to get $322 million in additional funds for border security, which added 1500 more Border Patrol guards. 50 ICE investigators, 168 detention officers, and 2,000 detention beds. She says more needs to be done (and I agree, but I think the problem is that the Border Patrol is not allowed to enforce the law. We need to be able to send people back home, across strong borders)

Then, she discussed a temporary work visa program, which would allow workers to come in ... and then go home, but she is against granting legal status to illegals -- i.e., those who have already broken the law. She also support making the jobs available to American workers before offering them to "foreign nationals."

She ends by mentioning how she's working to help fund AP math and science. Another good thing.

Oddly, she sent another half page letter regarding her stance on gas -- she thinks that we really, really need to develop our own national resources, which is another thing I can also support.

Incidentally, click here to see how Sen. Hutchison supports the NRA.

Texas is blessed in more ways than one. It will not be hard to vote for her in the fall.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the freshest news on illegal immigration reform. Mensa Barbie writes an interesting and troubling article about the "North American Union," Brian also wrote about the "North American Union" last week. There are some things you don't want to think about. There's an article in Valgard's hearth about illegal aliens who are criminals. There's a great article in RightTruth about how leftists are propagandizing Hispanics to believe that Americans are all xenophobit ... yah, I know, propaganda's what they do best. And, Fred's done a pretty good wrap-up of the way the Texas Senators have voted earlier this week, assessing correctly that his legislators are doing the right thing.

By the way, Cowgirl's joined the Texas Minute Chicks, who will be live-blogging at MinuteChicks. Thanks, and God Speed, Cowgirl! And, drop by to wish a Happy BloggyVersary to bRight&Early!

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**

UPDATE: Huge Stetson Tip to Fred, who contacted me via e-mail. There was some information included in the scanned letter which is inappropriate to publish so, I took it down, and will re-scan later, when I figure out the technology.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Jack Idema BlogBurst ... Cao's usually pretty accurate about reporting things, but she made a statement in her Jack Idema article that hit me between the eyes:

...There was a time that the American government would do something about Americans who would find themselves in an uncomfortable position in another country with no help. Tragically, it seems as though that time has passed, and the people the courts are favoring are the terrorists who want to destroy us and our way of life. Where is the outrage the American people should be displaying on behalf of these Americans?? Is it because this story doesn’t touch their comfortable lives? It would seem so...

Great point, Cao. And, since the US won't stick up for Americans overseas, what on earth makes anyone think they'd stick up for the rest of us. Minimum -- he should be brought back to the USA for a real trial ... with real evidence. Read the rest of the article here.

Incidentally, StuporPatriots is gloating about how Jack Idema's claim against Columbia has been thrown out of court. I think they're lucky that Coa hasn't decided to go after them as a private citizen in her own right, since they're continuing to perpetuate slander and libel, and since blogger has not seen fit to remove the site.

Click to any of the following excellent blogs for all things Idema: :
Acts of Aggression, Big Dog's Weblog, Cao's blog, Causes of Interest, concatenation of events, Devil's Kitchen, Freedom Folks, Irate Nate, Kender's Musings, Making Headlines, NIF, Red Hot Cuppa Politics, Right For Scotland, Rottweiler Puppy, Sacramento Boxing, Stuck on Stupid, The City Troll, The Lone Voice, The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill, Theodore's World  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Letter From Senator Hutchison UPDATE:

Nuts!!!

I've had to remove the scanned copy of the letter, since it contains personal information ... will delete and repost it when I figure out the technology. In the meantime, check the highlights here.   ¶ 8:04 PM |

  MinuteMen Forge Ahead With Plans for Fence
Despite President Bush's promise to (sort of) station the National Guard along the border, the MinuteMen will be breaking ground this weekend for their own fence.

From the MinuteMen headquarters website:

Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) will be conducting a weekend border operation in Palominas, AZ that includes a border watch, Minuteman Border Fence Ground Breaking and repair of existing fence on the US Mexico border

MCDC is moving forward with plans to build the Minuteman Border Fence. President Bush’s response will not secure the border and the ground breaking will be done on 5/27/2006 Memorial Day weekend in conjunction with the AZ Chapter Memorial weekend border watch operation. We have been working hard to put plans in place for this historic undertaking. Please read the following we have tried to include everything possible for questions about who, what, where and when below.

Many have talked of building a secure fence between Mexico and the United States. Now Chris Simcox and MCDC is taking action again and doing the job the Federal Government will not do.

Incidentally, the wall's to be built on private property. Some landowners on the Arizona border have permitted the MinuteMen to go ahead with plans to build it; I'm not sure the feds can do anything about it. The only question in my mind was whether the plans would go ahead, since Chris Simcox had said they'd start the wall on Memorial Day weekend unless President Bush put troops on the border.

Well, I guess Simcox assessed pretty correctly that the National Guard is an empty gesture.

Here's a schedule of events, and directions:

WHAT :

Ground Breaking:
Minuteman Volunteers will conduct a Minuteman Border Fence Ground Breaking Ceremony as well as build the initial 1/8 mile section of a 26 mile long range fence to local ranch requirements

WHEN:

Minuteman Border Fence Schedule:

Friday Evening 5/26 – Movie under the Stars in Tombstone, AZ
Cries from the Border. A powerful film documenting the destruction of one community in Arizona by the assault of the illegal alien invasion of the USA.
Director Mercedes Maharris will attend.
Open to the general public

Directions to Tombstone, AZ
From Tucson I-10 E via the ramp on the LEFT toward EL PASO. 38.3 miles , I-10-BL / AZ-80 exit- EXIT 303- toward BENSON / DOUGLAS. 0.5 miles, Stay STRAIGHT to go onto I-10 BL E / AZ-80 E / W 4TH ST. Continue to follow AZ-80 E. 25.4 miles, Turn RIGHT onto 3RD ST. 0.1 miles Turn LEFT onto TOUGHNUT ST. <0.1>

5/27 – Registered Minuteman Volunteers Only.

7 AM – 9 AM – All registered participants check in at the Palominas Trading Post and will be escorted to the ranch after check in.

10 AM – Noon - Groundbreaking Ceremony – includes MCDC volunteers and guests installing new fence and base poles for a 150’ security fence model Master of Ceremony - Stacey O’Connell (MCDC) MCDC Speakers – Chris Simcox President Carmen Mercer, Vice President Al Garza, Executive Director Additional Guest Speakers - Colin Hanna – President, WeNeedaFence.com Don Goldwater - A Minuteman and Candidate for AZ Governor Steve King – US Congressman, Iowa 5 th District Ambassador Alan Keyes – Chairman Declaration Alliance

12 Noon - Lunch provided at the border

1-3 PM – Continue to install new fence

Some numbers: Over 1021 people have signed up to volunteer to build the Minuteman Border Fence. More than $225,000 has been donated to a dedicated Minuteman Border Fence fund. National talk radio shows and local talk radio shows are promoting the fence. We are planning to raise $10M for the next phase of the fence. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps welcomes all those who want to secure America as it leads the way with a bold initiative. One operation alone cannot secure the Border

Click here to donate, and click here to volunteer to build the fence. Note that for security reasons, only MM volunteers will be allowed to work on the fence.

Check the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform. Pet's Garden is running a rant about the law, or lack of it. DoubleBarrelled Opinions is posting the requirements for an American who wants to move to Mexico (to do work Mexicans won't do, no doubt) and at the bottom, there's a link where you can contact your elected officials. Valgerd's highlighting a reader who's had some bureaucratic problems with the INS. And, notice that the list of members in our little group's getting longer ...

UPDATE: Brian posted a list of Senate Gerbils to contact regarding the illegal immigration reform pork sausage patty they're cooking up in the Senate:

shelby al
mcconnell ky
bond mo
stabenow mi
sununu nh
demenici nm
conrad nd
dorgan nd
alexander tn
frist tn
murkowski ak
stevens ak
lincoln ar
pryor ar
nelson fl
dayton mn
bacus mt
vionovich oh
johnson sd
warner wv
rockefeller wv

If you're from any of those states, please contact your elected officials, and let them know precisely what you think. Be sure to give your name and address so that you will be taken seriously when contacting your elected officials.Click Here to Contact Your Elected Officials.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**

(above photo from MinuteMen website)  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Abu Gharib Policy Maker Expected To Testify ...
Remember the famous photo of an army dog tormenting a prisoner at Abu Gharib?

I've looked at that one. From a canine perspective, looks like the dog was having fun. Here's what didn't happen in the photo: The dog was allowed to bark, but he was not allowed to get close to the prisoner.

Now, if that dog had been ordered to do harm, he could have torn out the man's throat. But, he wasn't, was he? Instead, the dog was allowed to have some fun, by watching a human cringe while he barked.

Why is this even considered torture?

Here's the story from Al Jazeera. sourced from Reuters:

A US army sergeant is being tried on charges of abusing Iraqi inmates with his dog at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The court martial of sergeant Santos Cardona, 32, could prove more significant than 10 earlier abuse convictions of American soldiers because testimony is expected from Major-General Geoffrey Miller, who helped shape policies at Abu Ghraib.

Miller would be the highest ranking officer to testify in the cases. He was a commander at Guantanamo Bay prison, where captives from Afghanistan and Iraq are held...

Colonel Thomas Pappas, the chief military intelligence officer at Abu Ghraib, has previously testified that Miller suggested using the technique on the theory that Arabs have a fear of dogs.

Pappas, who also is on the list to testify at Cardona's trial, wrote a memo in 2004 calling for an end to the use of dogs and recommended that dog handlers not be disciplined for abusing detainees

Frankly, I think it's a sane and humane theory. The dog didn't abuse the detainee ... the dog barked at the detainee. The detainee remained unharmed physically. Big, big difference, but the important thing here is to try to get to Rumsfeld. And, of course, make sure that the USA has no means of interrogating prisoners.  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  Four EU Banks Curb Activities With Iran ...
A way's been found to put some financial pressure on Iran.

From NYT's:

WASHINGTON, May 21 — Prodded by the United States with threats of fines and lost business, four of the biggest European banks have started curbing their activities in Iran, even in the absence of a Security Council resolution imposing economic sanctions on Iran for its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Top Treasury and State Department officials have intensified their efforts to limit Iran-related activities of major banks in Europe, the United States and the Middle East in the past six months, invoking antiterrorism and banking laws.

Well, maybe. Condi Rice is still saying that no option has been taken off the table, President AllMyJihad's once again rejected Russia's offer to enrich Uranium for them, there's some speculation that Iran won't be able to develop nuclear weapons for ten years. And there's some speculation that they're already developing weapons, if they don't already have them.

There's some reports that Chavez has offered to sell US F-16 fighters to the mullahs, and there's been intense speculation over the weekend in the blogosphere as to whether or not Iranian Jews will be required to wear yellow armbands. I honestly can't tell the truth of that one, but it is true that Hitler didn't come up with the idea of marking Jews with yellow cloth. That one was started in the Middle East, during the Caliphate.

From Answers.com, StetsonTip AcademicElephant:

The oldest reference to using mandatory articles of clothing to identify and distinguish Jews from the rest of society was in 807 CE. In this year, Abbassid caliph Haroun al-Raschid ordered all Jews to wear a yellow belt and a tall, cone-like hat.

According to Wikipedia, al-Rischid was one of the most famous rulers of the Caliphate; which the mullahs are trying like crazy to re-create, with themselves at the helm.

We also know for a fact that the mullahs treat their people like schiess, in the name of Allah, whether the Iranian Parliament's going to impose the Juden armband or not. Here's a link to a video of a guy's that been tortured, for leading a bus driver's union, StetsonTip Dr. Zinn.

So, the diplomatic two-step continues ...  ¶ 8:01 AM |

  Case Of Ebola Suspected In London ...
Here's a little tidbit from one of the London tabloids (which was also one of the outlets that broke the story about "Katrina looses CIA trained killer dolphins in the Gulf):

A WOMAN who arrived in London on a flight from Africa yesterday is reported to have died from the deadly and contagious ebola virus.

Panic has spread among cabin crew and hospital staff after the death of the 38-year-old Briton.

The unnamed woman is understood to work at an embassy in the African kingdom of Lesotho.

Tests are being run to make sure that's what she had. Regarding Ebola -- it's one that I have respect for. It's fast and lethal; something like a 90 percent mortality rate.

From the CDC website:

After the first case-patient in an outbreak setting is infected, the virus can be transmitted in several ways. People can be exposed to Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood and/or secretions of an infected person. Thus, the virus is often spread through families and friends because they come in close contact with such secretions when caring for infected persons. People can also be exposed to Ebola virus through contact with objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with infected secretions.

Again, it's spread through secretions -- bodily fluids -- and it seems to be easily transmitted in a foreign hospital setting. Here's the link to the CDC information about signs, symptoms and transmission.

Apparently, though, in Reston Virginia, there was some evidence that the virus got airborn between monkeys.

Will keep an eye on this one.

(above image is an electron micrograph of the virus, from the CDC site linked above)  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Sen. Hutchison Angles For Funds Supporting Hard Sciences ...
So, along with doing her part in the maintenance of some sanity regarding the Senate mess over illegal immigration, Senator Hutchison is also proposing that funds to "soft" sciences be re-allocated to things like math and science.

From the SciGuy blogger over at the Houston Chronicle, title link:

It appears that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison -- who appears to "get" nanomedicine and its importance for Houston's future -- has been busy this week as the Senate considers the American Competitiveness Initiative, which would substantially increase funding for the National Science Foundation.

The NSF provides a plurality of the basic science research funding in this country.
Kevin Vranes of No Se Nada has the complete story here. Long story short: apparently the senator is seeking to curb the amount of funding NSF provides for social science research in favor of physics, mathematics and engineering

This works for me.

(above image from USAToday)  ¶ 7:50 AM |

  Nagin Re-Elected Just In Time For Hurricane Season ... Brilliant, folks. Just. Frickin'. Brilliant.

Scratchin' Noggin Nagin's been re-elected to be Mayor of New Orleans -- and just in time for hurricane season, too. Yes, indeedy -- after letting more than a thousand of his constituents die in the flooding, the rest of them have put him back into office. If you want to read the cloying New York Times article, click here.

However, the Chicago Sun-Times, title link, almost gets it right:

NEW ORLEANS -- The mayoral election Saturday that returned Ray Nagin to office was split largely along racial lines, but both candidates got one-fifth crossover votes.

Analysts said that boded well for the future of New Orleans, where deep racial divides were exposed after Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding plans raised questions about the future of some black neighborhoods ...

Well, I did say almost. Demographically, blacks make up more than 67 percent of New Orleans, although to be fair, I don't know what percentage made it back into the city to vote.

Of course, in Chicago, they vote out politicians who can't keep the snow ploughed ... with the result that, whatever else goes on in the city -- the snow will get ploughed until two years after Armageddon.

I remember Nagin's unbelieveable slap in the fact racist comment about how God intended New Orleans being a chocolate community. After alot of us "non-chocolate" folk donated time, money and housing to help the community after Katrina. So, after proclaiming New Orleans to be a "chocolate city," I suppose it's okay with him and his constituents if we vanilla, butterscotch and even cinnamon folks keep spending money on them, huh?

His being re-elected to Mayor indicates to me that most of the city agrees with him. Kind of like the election of Hamas into office in the Palestinian territories indicates to me that most Palestinians prefer murder.

I'm just grateful that the charity Red Hot Cuppa Politics picked to help involved livestock rescue. There are times when humans seem beyond help.

Ohwell. As a commentator said last night -- Nagin couldn't seem to get the buses rolling to get his people out of New Orleans for the hurricane, but boy could he bus them back in to vote!

(graphic from the geniuses at Danegerus; picked up from PlusUltra)  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  Senate Sound And Fury, Signifying Not A Cotton-Pickin' Thing ... I've always been mystified why Chuckie Hagel's referred to as a "Republican." Of course, lately, I think the Republican party's lost it's collective mind, so I guess Hagel's a fair representation of ... something.

From the WashingtonPost, reviewing Hagel's comments on CNN yesterday:

"It is my assessment that we can work out a middle-ground compromise," Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Hagel said he expects the Senate to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this week, setting the stage for difficult negotiations with the House on a final package ahead of November congressional elections.

"These are complicated issues. ... They have been allowed to develop over years of neglect. We've deferred them. That's why we have the mess that we have today," Hagel said

The Senate is debating a bill that combines tighter border controls with a guest worker program and measures giving a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

A version passed by the House would make illegal immigrants felons while offering no prospects for gaining temporary work permits or citizenship ...

The Senate's going to finish making pork pattie sausage this week, but I am not hopeful about the finished product, since it doesn't seem to really do anything, or address any problems. Actually, it doesn't do a danged thing, except supply more bureaucratic opportunities for employment in future bureaucracies to be established around "border" control.

We now have some National Guardsmen on the border, but they won't be allowed to deport anyone; most of them won't be even be armed.

We have English as a "national language" ... sort of ... but the Senate in its wisdom was careful not to change anything.

There's to be a path to citizenship, which I'm actually not against -- as long as somebody voluntarily steps up to pay a few thousand dollars, and no consequences if they don't.

Oh, and here's my personal favorite: Illegal aliens will continue to get social security benefits, as long as they can furnish phoney id's. That one's a hoot, until you consider it just might become law, then it gets a little less funny.

In short, the US Senate is merrily protecting the rights of employers to create a permanent -- and growing -- underclass of people who have no loyalty to this country. But, what the hey! Let's just kick the can down the years a little ways, and let our kids deal with it when it becomes a real problem, you know, when they're already paying huge chunks of their paycheck to support a bunch of old people :: wink, wink, noodge, noodge::

On a more serious note, folks, we need to continue to pressure our respective Senators ... and it's time to start contacting the folks from the House of Representatives, since the bill will go back to the House in a week or two. If your representative's been doing the right thing, toss him or her a cookie. If they haven't -- tell them exactly what you think.

Now, in the case of my own Rep -- I have to figure out what his stance really has been, since it looks like he'll vote for anything, and dive for any photo op!

And, again, I will give a StetsonTip to Texas Senators Cornyn and Hutchison, who have at least tried to introduce some sanity, in their respective ways.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest and freshest news on illegal immigration reform. Meanwhile, TexasFred has posted an instructive article about how Central Americans are boning up on their Mexican history, to pass into America posing as Mexican illegals. Cowgirl's wondering if no legislation is better than what the Senate's been doing. Sam Brownback needs to take a look at the article on SecondShift. Stan over at FreeConstitution posts a fun article, and true story, about how the US Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza described building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border as un-American in a speech to the University of Texas at Austin ...oh, well. Keep Austin weird ...

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Yes, Karim, There IS A Propaganda War ...
One of the pleasures of the blogosphere is that it is self correcting. If you screw up, somebody will point it out, and quickly. Therefore, I'd like to thank Karim for correcting my referral to Al Jazeera as a "paper" yesterday. He (she?) is correct -- al Jazeera is a television news outlet, with an English website, among others, and my apologies for propagating any misunderstanding.

Al Jazeera will often, like everybody else, just reprint an article from AP, Time, etc. What they'll choose to reprint is often not featured in the Western media, which is interesting to me. I checked the article yesterday, found "agencies" but nothing listed there; usually, the specific sources will be listed.

All of which begs the question. The Arab news outlet reported on Murtha, and on Time Magazine's findings -- there was not an original source, which was my point.

My second point was that there was never an original source in Al Jazeera for the supposed massacre -- like everybody else, they quoted Time Magazine; there's no original Al Jazeera reporting of the perceived massacre. I think it's important because at the time, there was no original reporting from the Arab news outlet of the perceived offense. The story originated with a student journalist, who turned a video-tape over to a Times reporter; to me, this smacks less of justice, and more of "ego," and the desire to build a career, at the expense of American soldiers, as used to happen with VietNam.

Anyway, the US military is investigating, and the story isn't exactly news, but the facts of what happened will be out fairly soon, and we'll know what happened, and I'll blog more on it.

Karim, if you're reading this, I'd like to take a minute to respond more thoughtfully to some of the rest of your comment. It seems to me like you're from overseas, and there are a few subtlties about America that you may not know, and will not learn from US liberals who will use you to score their own political points. If you're American, well, enjoy the respect until you give me a reason not to respect you. Either way, I don't expect you to agree with me, but would like you to think about some things.

Here's Karim's comment, not including the part about Al Jazeera which are dealt with above:

Readers be aware that what you reading is simply mediocre and a form of propaganda ...

Make no mistake that US troops are committing war crimes in Iraq, killing innocent people, abusing prisoners, and terrorizing women, children and eldery through bombings, etc.

and for what? the never found WMDs?

The war was illegal, a violation of international treaties and a violation of basic rights of millions of Iraqis who have suffered greatly since the invasion.

The new elected Italian Prime Minister called the war "A GRAVE MISTAKE". He said he will pull out the Italian troops. That is good news.

Wake up.

Use your own judgement, stop bowing to the GOVERNMENT, stop SACRIFICING your OWN LIFE for government officials sitting in Washington in their big safe offices.

Is your life worth few medals and few speeches here and there by cowards who sent you to die in the middle of the desert, alone, among people you never met, people you can't even speak their language.

THINK AGAIN before OFFERING YOUR LIFE TO THE WAR MONGERS.

End the WAR, end the OCCUPATION, end the SUFFERING, end the KILLING

First, Karim, I think most Americans would just love to end the occupation, and as soon as the country settles down we'll be able to. Here's the catch-22: the more insurgents kill other Iraqi's in order to end the American occupation, the longer the US military will have to stay. It's alot more constructive to support the end of the insurgency, than to support immediate troop withdrawals. Please notice that the past year or so -- the insurgency has deliberately targeted and killed more Iraqi's than the US military has by collateral damage.

If the US withdraws now, the country will be essentially turned over to folks who've proved their devotion to Iraq by blowing up civilians. Karim -- are you sure this is what you want, and that these are the folks you want to ally with?

Second -- regarding the US military. Before I believe that the Marines in Haditha (or anywhere else) shot entire families in cold blood, I'll need more proof than a "student" video. Our troops go through months of training, and excercises in self control. I'm finding it difficult to believe that even in the stress of combat, a soldier would go against training, orders and temperament to perform a crime. Every soldier also knows that if he/she performs an atrocity, they will be reported and prosecuted. I can't square that with deliberately killing a baby.

Plus, note that this is a volunteer army; not a bunch of draftees who spent a month in boot camp, then got shoveled off to a war zone against their will.

Here's what we do know: The insurgent killers have demonstrated their ability to kill civilians without repercussions, and without a second thought. They also use civilians for shields, and they use civilian deaths for propaganda. I would believe that Iraqi families got killed because insurgents chose to shoot at Marines from civilian houses, but the incident is being investigated, and we'll find out what happened.

The basic reason to end the occupation now is so that murderers can take over the country without opposition, and establish themselves as warlords, and the suffering and killing will get worse -- but everybody will celebrate because the US pulled out. How very compassionate.

I agreed with the decision to go into Iraq, and I still agree with it -- first, Saddam had ties with Al Quada. Second, there is evidence of WMD's. No -- nobody found big stockpiles, with billboards in English saying "This Way to The WMD's ..." There were, however, warheads with traces of harmful chemicals found in them early in the war. These were labeled "pesticides," and the point of dual use weapons was never made. This has become characteristic of reporting from Iraq, and nobody thinks about things like to just why Saddam would want "pesticides" in warheads -- long distance locusts, perhaps?

The discussion of the reasons for war in Iraq have gone on interminably, I don't think there's any war that's had the reasons discussed more, and or more stupidly.

Third, there was more legality about going into Iraq than there was illegality.

As to the Italians leaving -- well, like politicians in other countries in the world, the new Italian prime minister, instead of running on actual issues, decided to run on Anti-American feeling. This works well, until somebody needs the USA. Reference Roh, in South Korea, or the newly elected Angela Merkel in Germany. The US has many allies in Iraq, but we're doing the heavy lifting and I expect that will continue.

The Middle East has a history of occupation, since the Roman times, and probably before. It's natural that the US would be seen as just another "occupier," but it's not the case. The American people don't have the attention span to be an Imperialist power; and remember, we vote our politicians into and out of office. When things calm down in Iraq, and an elected government is established along with an army that can enforce the law -- if we are asked to leave, we will leave. It would be nice if we would be allowed a couple of bases -- but make no mistake -- if an elected government asks the US to pull out, we will.

Karim, here's how you're being manipulated. The cries of Bushlied! are mostly designed to get the US Democratic party back into power, and useful idiots everywhere pick them up. There's actually not a shred of evidence that Bush actually lied, but as long as liberals, like Murtha, can keep the shocking but false accusations in the news, the more they think Americans will believe them, and vote Democrat in the fall.

US politicians of the opposition party think that they can re-do what happened in VietNam, although the situation is different. That's why we're having the accusations of atrocities and so forth. The stake that reporters have in trying like crazy to prove that Bush lied about anything is so that they can play like they're "Woodward and Bernstein," the guys that exposed Nixon, and won journalistic glory for themselves. There were documentation and facts about Nixon, and frankly, about Clinton committing perjury. Nothing about Bush reaches the level of real documentation. Bush also can't run for office again.

For the past 50 years, the US has aligned itself with crappy dictators for realpolitik reasons. The result has been crappy Middle Eastern leaders have allowed groups to flourish in their countries which scapegoat the US for all the problems in the world, and the people don't notice how rotten their own leaders are. Reference Saudi Arabia. This resulted in 9/11; the usual counterpoint to that is why didn't we attack Saudi -- and my reply is that would have been idiotic, since Bush has been after the governments that sponsored terrorism, and Saddam and the Taliban sponsored terrorism.

You could point out that members of the Saudi family sponsor terrorism, and that would be correct. However, other members of the Saudi royal family don't support terrorism. Saudi, from an American perspective, is a mixed bag. Saddam was not.

What mystifies me is that liberals have been screaming at the US for years for supporting dictators; Bush just took out one of the worst ones, and the howls have gotten worse.

There are also alot of hugely wealthy donors to the US Democratic party, one of whom has pledged his fortune into defeating George Bush. I'm referring to George Soros. Elected Democrat leaders in the US will do what they're being paid to do by wealthy donors. Republicans do this as well.

What Murtha's doing is supporting the murderers that want US troops out of Iraq so they can take over for themselves. He's doing this to stroke his own ego, and for the sake of the US Democratic party which he has served for 30 years or more.

But, here's the good news for liars like Murtha. It's real possible that the Democrats will indeed win in November, not because of Iraq, but because of the domestic issues of gas and immigration. If that happens, there will likely be a troop withdrawal -- then Karim, you'll get your wish, and then you can watch the ensuing bloodbath. Like I did back in the seventies.

As to me being a mediocre blogger -- well, beauty's in the eye of the beholder, and some mornings are better than others.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Ultimate Border Control!
Above image stolen from Cowgirl -- the horse is probably manufactured by HaliburtonHaliburton! Haliburton!!

Here's are some excerpts from a letter she got from Mr. Bill Frist, Distinguished Senate Gerbil Majority leader. I agree with her about the spin:

Before Easter, the Senate began debate on a comprehensive immigration reform bill, and Republicans were prepared to strengthen the legislation with amendments making the American people safer and more secure.

Shortly before recess, however, Democrats refused to allow any amendments. For an issue this complex, important and controversial, that was simply unacceptable.

My Republican colleagues and I refused to allow tactics of partisan obstruction to stand in the way of achieving meaningful immigration reform. And when the Senate resumed consideration this week, we began offering amendments that have vastly improved the bill.

I invite you to take the opportunity to read through a few of the Republican amendments that passed with my support this week -- and consider how comprehensive immigration reform legislation might have looked without them.

...


The Senate adopted an amendment by Senator Sessions that would direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to construct at least 370 miles of triple-layered fence and 500 miles of vehicle barrier at strategic locations along the southwest border.

The Senate approved an amendment by Senators Kyl, Graham, Cornyn and Allen to close a loophole in the bill that would allow criminal aliens to obtain legal status. The amendment clarifies that any illegal alien who is ineligible for a visa, or who has been convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors, is ineligible for a green card.

The Senate voted in favor of an amendment by Senator Inhofe to require that English be declared the national language of the United States. It also provides that the English language is the default language for government communication and that no person has a right to have the government communicate in any language other than English unless otherwise authorized or provided by law. The amendment also establishes goals for the redesign of the ongoing naturalization exam requiring that those taking the test demonstrate an understanding of English and of American history. Lastly, the amendment would change provisions in the bill that allow an unauthorized alien to meet the current English language exam by enrolling in an English language class.

The Senate adopted an amendment by Senator Cornyn to strike the ability of future temporary workers to obtain a green card by self-petitioning for one. Green cards could only be obtained if an employer sponsored the application

I get a little dizzy when I read the above, but Cowgirl's letter to Senator Frist makes alot of sense, so I'll pass that on as well:

Sen. Frist,

Thank you for your email update on this week's abominations relating to border security/immigration.

I believe our southern border is approx 2000 miles long. Congratulations on authorizing fencing for 350 miles. I'm sure that will help a lot.

Also congratulations on passing Sen. Cornyn's amendment excluding criminals from obtaining legal status. I also note that in another amendment, illegals who have committed identity theft and numerous instances of fraud related thereto, are to be rewarded with full credit in our Social Security system for wages reported on said stolen identity. So, do I understand that fraudulent use of a social security number is no longer a crime? Or does this apply to non-citizen felons onlyl?

On its face, the amendment adopted restricting green card validation to employer sponsored applications sounds reasonable. Why do I think there must be another amendment to negate this amendment?

I am completely disgusted with the Senate. Sadly, my Sen. Cornyn appears to be Don Quixote trying to do what is necessary to actually solve this problem and the rest of you being the windmills flapping in the wind and stirring up a lot of hot air.

It would be far better for all of you, politically, to rescind the posse comitatus law to allow for troops to defend our border, and go for sealing the border and enforcing the laws we already have, rather than passing a bill that appears to be the biggest piece of BS I have ever seen.

You might remind your fellow Senators that your conservative constituents are not stupid. We are livid at what has occurred in the Senate this past week, and consider that you are not only selling out your constituents, but also selling out your country.

Please, just secure the border and enforce the laws we have. Everything else can wait until a non-election year, so that maybe the legislation wouldn't spell the end of our country as we know it

Well, according to Valgerd, we don't need to rescind passe comitatus ... and if local law enforcement was allowed to really enforce the law, we wouldn't need troops on the border, which we now will have, except they can't really do anything ... oops, here I am, getting dizzy again.

What I am wondering is if the presence of the National Guard on the border will make the MinuteMen stop plans to build their own wall. They're supposed to break ground May 27th -- which would be next weekend.

For the latest on illegal immigration reform news, or on how the US Senate should not be trusted with anything as sharp as a pen to sign legislation, click to the CoalitionBlog.
  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  Mexican Polls Show Approval For Conservative Candidate
Mexico will vote for a new President July 2nd, and Fox is not running.

However, his conservative party's pulled ahead in their polls.

From Reuters: MEXICO CITY, May 19 (Reuters) - Conservative ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon has a 5 point lead in Mexico's presidential race, Zogby International polling firm said on Friday.

The poll, carried out with the University of Miami School of Communication, showed Calderon with 38 percent support before the July 2 election, and his leftist rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador trailed with 33 percent.

It was Zogby's first poll on the election race and was in line with others, although Calderon's lead has ranged from 1 to 10 percentage points. The conservative former energy minister trailed Lopez Obrador for months but has surged in recent polls after launching an effective campaign of negative television ads.

Calderon's pledged to continue Fox's policies -- however, the alternative is Obrador, who's a leftist aligned with Hugo Chavez.

From the US viewpoint, it's yet another choice between stinky and reeking. However, if you're Mexican, I guess you can just skip across the border if you don't like it.

(photo is of Filipe Calerone, from a hispanic site PreUrbano)  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  You Don't Speak For Me (And They're Also Not Listening) Just in case you missed it, please check out "You Don't Speak For Me."

It's an Hispanic-American Site:

"The new group You Don't Speak for Me! formed when Col. Al Rodriguez became fed up watching media coverage of the mass protests of April. "Their leaders were saying it was a march for immigrant rights and a Latino/Hispanic movement," says Rodriguez. "I thought to myself, 'Hey, those are illegal aliens, not immigrants!'" Col. Rodriguez began speaking out to others saying, "I'm of Hispanic ancestry and those people are acting like they speak for me. Well, you don't speak for me!"

Col. Rodriguez began asking others to help him reach more people who felt the same way and You Don't Speak for Me! formed from this loose coalition of individuals. It is a group of concerned Americans of Hispanic/Latino heritage, some first or second generation, others recent legal immigrants, who believe illegal immigration harms America and a guest worker amnesty will do the same..."

I've put it on my sidebar. StetsonTip to Amboy. , who also notes:

The following are key findings of recent polls of Hispanics on immigration to the U.S.:
Oppose increasing overall levels of immigration:

A clear majority of Hispanics in the U.S. oppose increasing current levels of immigration. Forty-three percent believe that levels should remain the same, while 13 percent want to see levels reduced. Only 31 percent favor immigration increases. (Attitude toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy, Pew Hispanic Center survey, Aug. 2005.)

Oppose benefits for illegal aliens:
By a 60 percent to 29 percent margin, native-born Hispanic Americans oppose granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens. (Attitude toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy, Pew Hispanic Center survey, Aug. 2005.)


Sizeable minority opposes a guest worker program:
Fifty-four percent of registered Hispanic voters support a guest worker program, but a significant minority - 40 percent - oppose such a plan. (National Survey of Latinos, July 2004, Pew Hispanic Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation.)

Immigration is a low priority among Hispanic voters:
Among issues of concern to Hispanic voters, immigration ranks eleventh. Education (54%), jobs (51%), health care (51%) were cited as the most pressing issues among Hispanic voters. Immigration was only cited as the most important issue by 27 percent of respondents.

Oppose a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal aliens:
A majority of Hispanic voters (52.4% to 38.2%) support ". . . legislation stating that any person living in this country illegally cannot become a United States citizen unless they reapply for citizenship legally from their country of origin." (The Latino Coalition Poll, January 2006.)

Support enforcement of employer sanctions law:
A plurality of Hispanic voters (49.9% to 41.2%) support new laws to make sure that employers can only hire workers who are in the U.S. legally. (The Latino Coalition Poll, January 2006.)

The problem is, while we're mostly blessed here in Texas with Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, I'm beginning to feel that Congress isn't really listening to any of us, whether our ancestors were Hispanic, Germanic, or Martian.

I frankly don't have the heart to write about the mess our Senate Gerbils cranked out yesterday -- it's like watching a train wreck.

ChristiKing points out that some of our senators seem determined to dwell in the gray zone. Amboy discusses all those jobs Americans won't do -- and the lobbyist who's given the MSM propagana about it.

Jay, over at Cryptic Subterranean used to think British leadership was a little screwey, but has to admit that here across the pond, our very own Senate Gerbils take the cake! Seems that once an immigrant is made legal, he/she can get social security benefits, as long as the person registered under a phoney social security card ... or something like that...

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Al Jaeera Weighs In, Mostly On Murtha ...
Okay, Al Jazeera's weighing in on the Haditha incident today. Here's their article, which is less about the incident, and more about Murtha:

US marines deliberately killed civilians after a bombing in the western Iraqi town of Haditha last year, a former senior US marine says.

John Murtha, who served in Vietnam and is a Democrat congressman from Pennsylvania, made his remarks before the release of a military report into the November 19 incident, when US troops searched for fighters after a marine was killed by a roadside blast

Notice, they're quoting Murtha, and the article contains no original sources to the outraged humanitarian groups, or direct interviews with Iraqi survivors -- which is puzzling to me. I.E., why would perceived humanitarian groups go to Time Magazine, instead of Al Jazeera (al Jazeera will quote anybody, they love sensationalism, they hate US troops, and they've got a bigger circulation in the Arab world, and frankly, elsewhere, than Time Magazine)

The Arab paper ends the article with:

Lieutenant-Colonel Sean Gibson, a spokesman for US Central Command, said: "There is an ongoing investigation; therefore any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process."

At least three marine officers and their soldiers who were involved in the incident are being investigated over the incident, reports said on Thursday.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, told US news channels that the allegations were being investigated thoroughly and would be handled "in the normal order of things".

Incidentally, here's link to a Peter Marshall interview with Times reporter Bobby Ghosh who broke the story late last year, after receiving the video-tape from a "student journalist." Now, the interview covers more than one perceived incident of military misconduct, but the part about Haditha's towards the middle of the page.

The reporter, Bobby Ghosh, doesn't say where the "student journalist" was studying, (Medill University? Al Quada State Madrassa?) although in the interview, Ghosh says "...The first response from the Marines was quite hostile. They refused to acknowledge that this had happened. They accused us, instead, of buying into enemy propaganda...."

Gosh, Bobby. I wonder why on earth anyone would suspect enemy propaganda efforts?

However, he took the video up to higher command, who paid attention, since instigating military investigations is indeed the major part of a journalist's job description.

So, the Army's investigating.

Ollie North was interviewed on O'Reilly last night about the incident. North made clear one difference between the incident in Haditha, and Mai Lai: we're investigating this one, and soldiers have already been relieved from duty. Mai Lai was a cover-up.

But Mai Lai sure set the standard of how an enterprising journalist can make a real name for himself, and how Democrat politicians can grab headlines.

Incidentally, I've read that Murtha's not running for office again -- so he must be doing this to stroke his ego, in the mirror of an adoring press -- which is making hay out of an incident that's not breaking and not news.

(photo from Al Jazeera, title link)

RightWingThinking also updated

UPDATE: A reader pointed out that Al Jazeera is broadcast, not a paper. That's correct, and I apologize. Still, their viewers outnumber most of our own media, and they are global.  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  From God's Lips To Pat Robertson's Ears ...
Well, I guess there'll be a run on air-matresses and flotation toys on the West Coast, since God personally informed Pat Robertson there'll be a tsunami there later this year:

From CNN-NetscapeNews: "...``If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms,'' Robertson said May 8. On Wednesday, he added, ``There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest.'' "

Apparently, the Lord dropped in on the TV preacher during his personal prayer retreat in January.

The Bible lists two conditions for prophecy. First, it has to come from God, and second, it has to be true. Period. Otherwise, it's coming from somewhere else (like an oversized ego).

Maybe the 12th Imam will also drop in on Rev. Robertson next time.

(photo from the geniuses at Voccoquan ... and if you want to know the real story of Robertson's background, click here. Heh!)  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  "Spark's Notes" Collection of Media Lies
Here's a little round-up of outright lies that have been touted as truth by those unpaid shills for the US Democratic Party. I've put some of them together for quick reference, more or less in chronological order:

1) Bush was AWOL!! --- Nope. The documents were faked

2) US Troops Flushed the Koran at Gitmo -- the Koran was never flushed at Gitmo, or anywhere else. But Michael Isikoff still has a job.

3) Rove Outted An Undercover Agent for political revenge -- Nope. Valerie Plame ceased to be undercover in the '90's. The Russians originally "outted" her. But her husband took it upon himself to enlighten anyone who didn't already know she was a spy.

4) Bush LIED about Saddam getting uranium from Niger -- Nope. Bush never said that Saddam was trying to get yellowcake from Niger. Bush said that British intel indicated that Saddam was trying to get yellowcake from Africa. The Brits still stand by their intel.

5) NSA Illegal Domestic Wiretapping -- Nope. Wasn't wiretapping, and wasn't domestic.

6) Secret CIA Prisons In Europe -- Hmm. Nobody seems to be able to locate those prisons thus far, although Dana Priest won the Pulitzer prize for that one.

7) NSA Collects Zillions of Private Phone Records -- Nope. Verizon and the other phone company greats have denied that they ever released lists of phone numbers to the NSA.

You might have noticed that lately, I've chosen to link more to frickin' Al Jazeera than to NYT's -- and they hate us -- but they tend to get the facts straighter on US politics.

(Cartoon reprinted from UnderTheSameSun)

UPDATE 6/12: 8) US Forces Beat Zarqawi to death. Nope, it was blast, as proved by autopsy. Not Beating.

UPDATE: 6/15: Incriminating photo of Haditha execution doesn't exist -- the Times printed the information from a guy who says he saw it, or thinks he heard about it.

UPDATE 7/1: The SWIFT program is not illegal, and there was not hew and cry of oversight of it when Clinton instituted it back in the nineties. ARgggghhhh!!!!  ¶ 7:56 AM |

  House Of Representatives Ignores US Energy Needs ...
Frickin' brilliant. Just. Frickin'. Brilliant.

From the WashingtonPost: WASHINGTON -- Despite talk of an energy crisis and the need for independence from foreign oil, Congress seems to be in no mood to open more of the country's coastal waters to energy development.

The House late Thursday rejected an attempt to end the quarter-century ban on oil and natural gas drilling that has been in effect for 85 percent of the country's coastal waters from Alaska to New England despite arguments that new supplies are needed to lower energy costs

Lawmakers from Florida and California, who led the fight to continue the drilling moratorium, said they feared energy projects as close as three miles from shore could jeopardize multibillion-dollar tourism industries in their states.

"People don't go to visit the coasts of Florida or the coast of California to watch oil wells," Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., said

With all due respect, Mr. Farr -- with the prices of gasoline, people will be spending more money filling their tanks than on your fabled resorts. Drilling off-shore, and in ANWR, is a short term solution, but it would buy us time to get the alternative energy capacity that we need.

Gosh, we wouldn't want to compete with the Chinese for that oil, would we? But, I suppose it's ever so much better to depend on tin horn third world dictators, who hate the USA.

Notice, the above has nothing to do with President Bush's perceived oil buddies. It's just another case of how our elected representives shoot themselves, and us, in the foot.

Incidentally, Representative Kenny Marchant, in his wisdom, voted to pass the bill (HR5386) which continues the ban against offshore drilling, although it also looks like he supported the Poe Amendment to the bill to lift the ban on offshore drilling. It's his first term as Congressman, he's an old Texas politico rooted in our fearless Texas lege, and the basic thing that recommended him in the past is a huge photo of his opponent hugging John Kerry.

The Texas RNC called yesterday, asking for money, and mentioning that part of it would go to re-elect Merchant. I refused, saying I'd planned to watch his voting before giving one red cent. The voting record yesterday looks to me like two-steppin', although he's done most of the right things regarding illegal immigration.

He'll be hearing from me later today.

Incidentally, Representative Poe of Texas sponsored an amendment that tried to get the ban lifted. Somebody should toss him a cookie for that.

(image above from DC MetBlogs)  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  In Which Senate Gerbils Kill Kyl Amendment, but Find Yet Another Way To Continue Something Already Being Done!
I will be dipped! The US Senate has declared English, of all things, to be the "national" Language of the United States. (Gosh, they noticed ... ?)

Ooops, but I guess I was over eager, since the two steppin' continues. Our fearless Senate gerbils voted for English to be the national language -- not the official language.

From the NYT's:

:"... A 63-to-34 vote to designate English as the national — not official — language of the United States and to require applicants to pass an English proficiency test seemed to be largely symbolic, since the immigration agency's standard handbook for naturalization already mandates that most applicants be able to read, write and speak basic English, with some exceptions for age and disability..."

Ah. So, another measure to pass something that's already being done. Way to go, guys.

In other news, Michelle Malkin's reporting that the Senate killed the Cornyn-Kyl amendment:

From Reuters: The Senate killed an amendment that would have denied a chance for permanent status and eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants who have been in the country less than five years and to any future immigrants who enter the country under the guest-worker program.

It's not clear if they also struck the part that denies citizenship to convicted felons, and those with more than three misdemeanor convictions, although there was a loophole that if the misdemeanor-ists didn't know they were breaking the law, it could be waived.

The BlogBat points out:

The Senate not only killed the Kyl-Cornyn amendment that kept those temporary workers Bush went on and on about temporary, it went on to kill the Ensign amendment, which was intended to punish illegals committing identity theft (remember, that crime the Justice Department has been telling us is so serious) with your Social Security number. But no matter, that’s your problem, not Senator Lügner’s.

But, keep chuckling, Senator Cornyn -- and hang in there.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest. There are a variety of early morning posts at Musings of a Real Texas Cowgirl, bRight & Early, American and Proud of it and Double Barreled Opinions

** **This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  So, Where's Al Jazeera On This One? I heard Murtha on Chris Matthews last night, as he tried like crazy to create his Iraqi "Mai Lai" massacre.

Most of his information came from Time Magazine, which was supplied information by a journalist named Bobby Gnosh, who got his tape from a "student journalist." Gnosh was the guy that filed charges. Murtha also alluded to an Iraqi humanitarian group -- for which I don't seem to be able to locate a home address on the web.

So, naturally, I clicked to Al Jazeera for the latest. It's their neck of the woods, they talk all the time to terrorists and Arab humanitarian organizations, their readership, unlike Time Magazine, reaches into millions -- and you know what? There's nothing -- nada -- zip! about the presumed massacre in Haditha since last month.

Now, like everybody else, Al Jazeera duly reported the Time Magazine article last month. It's here, and notice that they stick very closely to the Time Magazine story.

However ... I'm not seeing anything reported by Al Jazeera since then.

Here's what I found out about the Haditha incident back in March. From RedHotCuppaPolitics, towards the end of the article (the interview's in blue, my comments from the entry are in black).

...Most recently, there's been a story out about how Marines massacred Iraqi civilians. Charges were filed by a Times Correspondent, Bobby Ghosh, interviewed by Peter Marshall:

Peter Marshall: Last August, six American soldiers were killed in an ambush and then a roadside bomb killed 14 US Marines. It was another roadside bomb which led to these latest claims of a US atrocity. At 7:15am in the morning of November 19th, a remote-controlled device struck an American Humvee truck, killing the marine driver and injuring two other marines. The next day, the Americans reported that 15 Iraqi civilians had also been killed in the explosion. But Time magazine reports eyewitnesses saying it was the Americans who killed the civilians, out of revenge for the bombing

BOBBY GHOSH, TIME CORRESPONDENT: This was a rare example where we were able to nail down some of the facts by speaking to the witnesses, the survivors, by speaking to the local authorities. And the incredible stroke of luck was having the video. The first response from the Marines was quite hostile. They refused to acknowledge that this had happened. They accused us, instead, of buying into enemy propaganda. We took the tape higher up, to the most senior public affairs officer for the US military in Baghdad. He took a look at it and passed it on to his superiors with a recommendation that they investigate it thoroughly.

The video came from a student journalist, and the whole episode's a little fishy to me.

The interview continues:

PETER MARSHALL: The Army began an investigation in January and last month, after a week on the ground in Haditha, Time says they concluded the civilians were killed by the Marines, but in self-defence - the deaths were 'collateral damage'. This automatically prompted a criminal inquiry, which started last week, to find if this was a case of negligent homicide.

BOBBY GHOSH: In an environment where terrorists or insurgent groups are quite happy to kill innocent Iraqis and then boast about it, it is very important for the American military to show that when some of their own are responsible for killing Iraqis, they apply a whole different standard - they take it very seriously, they investigate it and if people are found guilty, they are punished for it. That is what distinguishes, to put it in simplistic terms, the good guys from the bad boys in this conflict

.
Gosh, Bobby. You don't suppose that while insurgent terrorists are boasting about killing innocent Iraqi's, they don't spread around a little propaganda of their own. To young reporters looking to make a name for themselves at the expense of US troops, perhaps

My comments still stand. So, where's Al Jazeera on this one ... or did the supposed humanitarians feel that they had the most sympathetic audience with Time Magazine ...

For that matter -- where's the "student journalist" studying? Medill? Baghdad University? Al Quada State?

Also, isn't anyone going to think about what happens when terrorists hide behind civilians, or the fact that Iraqi insurgents don't especially care about killing their own countrymen ... ?

And, doesn't anyone really care that Murtha was among those that clamored for Clinton to pull our troops out of Mogadishu ... or that he's in bed with Code Pink ... or that his statements are going to get American soldiers killed ... ?

The military is investigating, and there's some clarification that the initial reports might not tell the whole story. So, let's see what the final verdict is, but I'll tell you what. Without hard, cold evidence, I'm not going to believe that any of our volunteer forces will go against training, orders and conditioning to become gleeful murderers.

Meanwhile, our Marines have been working for months like Trojans, to rebuild the infrastructure of Haditha. Despite attacks, they're still doing it, and there is definite progress being made. But, no major media outlet will touch that story, although it's true.

Beth's got a pretty good round-up of MSM stories on Murtha, and I agree with her: Let's Stop Murtha From Killing Our Troops ...  ¶ 11:00 AM |

  Themistocles LIED!!!
One should be aware of Greeks bearing object lessons.

About 2500 years ago, before either Jesus or Mohammed was born, Athens, the first and only democracy in the world at the time, was threatened by Persia.

The Greco-Persian wars are fun to read about, and complicated to explain, but here's a ersatz sketch of ancient events which remain instructive and enlightening today:

During the 6th century BC, the Persian empire, ruled by Darius the Great stretched from India to Eastern Europe. Darius also sent his superb military to invade Greece; they succeeded in taking Macedonia, Thrace, Ionia and others. The Greek city states did finally managed to co-ordinate with each other, and and the Persian jaggernaut was stopped at Marathon. Darius went home with his imperial army, although there was some continued occupation in parts of Greece, and he proceeded to quietly plan a second invasion.

Now, back in Greece, the Greeks thought the wars were over, so the coalition fell apart, and for the next ten years, the city-states proceeded to do what they did best, which was methodically stab each other in the back and vye for economic, political, and miltary one-upsmanship over each other. Among other things, some of the Greek city-states declared "solidarity" with Persia; Argos pledged to defect in the event of a second Persian invasion, Thessaly saw a potential invasion as an opportunity to extend its political power over the others, and Thebes pledged to join the Persians, should an invasion occur.

Is the above beginning to sound familiar?

Allright, then, get this:

Now, while everybody else in Athens celebrated the "peace dividend," there was one guy, named Themistocles who wasn't so sure that the Persian threat was over. While alot of Athenian politico's pointed to his wastrel youth, Themistocles somehow managed to convince Athenians that the Persian threat was real, and wangled funds from the various sources including the silver mines to build up the Athenian navy.

Sure enough, after Darius died, his son Xerxes 1, the new King of Persia, launched the second invasion. Argos, Thessaly and Thebes did exactly what they promised to do. The beleagured Spartans called a council, where the leaders of the remaining city-states proceeded to argue interminably about tactics. (The Spartans wanted to fight on land, although the Persian fleet was already sailing towards the Greek mainland).

Well, through a series of manuevers, Themistocles prevailed, and the Athenian "Wall of Ships" in fact saved Athens at the Battle of Salamis -- and incidentally, preserved the rest of Western history as we know it. It was a critical naval battle, although the war was far from over.

So, let's look at what happened to Themistocles. Hero status? Gratitude for saving the city? Praise and yearly festivals in his name? Honor for the rest of his life? Well -- maybe at first. See, after the battle, he was indeed praised and feted by Athenians.

Then, his political enemies -- you know, the guys who proved he lied about the Persian threat? -- began to hammer away at his Themistocles' reputation, with charges of corruption and ill-gained riches, maybe lining his pockets with kick backs from his silver mining buddies. And, the partisan attacks worked; the people turned against him, and he was literally driven out of the city he saved a few years later ...

There's an object lesson in the sad, strange tale of Themistocles, and I'm thinking of George W. Bush in particular.

Look -- love Bush or hate him, it needs to be recognized that there have been more off-the-wall crises fall into the Bush 43 presidency than any since Lincoln's. (What was shocking about bull Run? Folks had time to pack picnic lunches for the spectacle. Where's the account of one Yankee asking "Why do they hate us?")

George W. got our the nation through 9/11 without instituting martial law -- and he got us back on our feet pretty quick. He's also managed to keep this nation safe from a subsequent terrorist attack -- and I think, given our pourous borders and the stated intentions of our enemies, the basic reason we haven't been attacked so far is that two terrorist loving countries have gone down since 9/11; Al Quada's best and brightest are quagmired in the Middle East.

Incidentally -- don't expect to hear about Saddam's well documented ties with terrorism, because, like Themistocles, Bush's political enemies have control of domestic propaganda. And like the ancient Greek City States, our allies abroad don't care about things that don't promote their own national interests, even if it means stabbing the US (and each other) in the back.

9/11 was just one international egg that's fallen into the President's lap.

There have been a few domestic problems, too. Remember, the 2000 stock market bubble started to crash even before 9/11, and under leadership -- we've managed to build back up. Three category 5 hurricanes slammed into the Gulf Coast (not just into New Orleans where idiotic local leaders let people drown), like it or not, two out of the three storms were managed. Even the space shuttle fell out of the sky.

Then, there's the nattering problems; CIA leaks to the press which compromise national security; the gay marriage amendment (which Bush offered to allow folks to actually vote on the issue), and the Terry Shiavo controversy, which was alot of sturm und drang signifying the fact that leftists and righties like to posture, but nobody wants to actually consider proposing a euthanasia law to be soberly discussed.

Now, we've got the gas and immigration crises. Predictably, Bush is being held responsible for catering to his perceived buddies at Exxon -- and everybody's forgetting that he's been asking for a sane energy bill, including drilling in Anwar, since his first few months in office.

Regarding immigration -- look, Bush has made his feelings known, as is his right as an American citizen -- but basically he's turfed the problem back to the Congress. Which is where the issue belongs -- i.e., with elected representatives of the people. It's our job as citizens to tell our CongressCritters what we want, although scapegoating Bush is an easy and fun perceived solution.

Now, I guess we can't send the President Bush, as much as Democrats and many conservatives would love to see that happen. Nor do we get to burn or behead our current male leader to some perceived fertility god, like paleolithic Celtic societies did when life looked a little down. But, as happens with democracies in general, and the US public in particular, our memories are short, while the long lessons of history persist.

The Greeks ultimately won the wars with Persia, but the conflict lasted for generations. 2500 years later, democracies still permit political enemies to demonize those who have a track record of accomplisments for the common good. Political scapegoating is just as popular, and just as posionous, as it was 2500 years ago.

And, Persia's getting restless again. Today we call it Iran.

(above photo is of a bust of Themistocles, from a website translating Plutarch)

(crossposted at RightWingThinking, offered for trackback at basil'sblog)  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  Senate Creates Half A Sausage ... Our distinguished Senate gerbils grappled with illegal immigration reform, with mixed results. It's kind of like the proverbial sausage, tastes good, but you don't want to know what goes into it. Maybe we really don't want to know what's really going into the immigration reform bill, but for sure, they're skirting around basic human nature.

Yesterday, the Senate did pass the Kyl-Cornyn amendment, which would deny citizenship to illegal aliens who commit felonies, by a whopping 99-0. Before spring break, they refused to discuss it. Now, I'm still mystified why we can't just deport illegal felons, but okay. For the Senate, that's a pretty stern measure.

Jeff Sessions brought up proposal to start a fence, which passed. From the NYT's, title link:

By a vote of 83 to 16, the Senate approved a proposal by Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, to construct about 370 miles of "triple layer" fencing on the Southwest border along with 500 miles of vehicle barriers.

Mr. Sessions said that type of fencing would cost about $3.2 million a mile, but he said the cost would be offset by reductions in the expense of detaining and processing people illegally crossing the border. The House has approved 700 miles of fencing..

Anyway, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman will be submitting proposals in the next two weeks, to provide high tech gadgets for a virtual fence.

ProfessorBudgie oinked when he heard the Sessions amendment discussed, but I think it may give relief to some border ranchers that have had their property methodically destroyed. Hope so, anyway.

So, the National Guard's (sort of) going down there, and we'll (sort of) have a fence. Now, I'm still not sure that either of the measures will actually do any more than the MinuteMen are already doing, but okay.

Folks, the Senate's agreed to part of what we've been asking for, so let's toss them a couple of cookies.

Here's what got voted down:

The Senate, on a 66-to-33 vote, defeated an effort by Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, to kill a provision that would allow illegal immigrants who meet certain qualifications and pay a fine and back taxes to seek citizenship.

Mr. Vitter said the provision would result in illegal immigrants' "being treated better than the folks who have lived by the rules from the word go." He said that amounted to amnesty.

Well, the current proposed "path to citizenship" actually doesn't consider human nature, because it seems to run on the honor system. While some will step forward, I don't know how many people would step up voluntarily to pay a couple of thousand dollars, and back taxes, in order to wait 11 years to be a US citizen -- when they can already work, live, educate their kids (in Spanish), and get social services without any effort.

Look -- I personally think that we need to raise the quota's for citizenship, and revamp the INS. If people are going to live here, give them a stake in our country. But, there is no immigration reform that's going to work if it doesn't have teeth in it, and we're going to have to deal with the "D" word.

Look at it this way: Suppose your kids brings home a passle of new friends; you offer them hospitality and snacks, and you let them spend the night. Then, you notice that a couple of them have sneaked in through a back window. They're partying, breaking every house rule you've got, running up your phone bill, and trashing your house. They're making snide comments about you, and loudly proclaiming how much better it is at their own home.

So, what are you going to do? Pull them aside, kindly explain house rules, and ask them to never, never do it again, although you'd never dream of asking them to leave? Tell them that your door's always open to them, but you really, really wish they'd behave better, and in the meantime, what would they like you to buy for them during your next grocery run?

Tell you what -- why not tell the kids that if they give you 20 dollars, and live in your house for 11 years, you'd be happy to adopt them?

We're going to need to take a hard cold look at the "deportation" word, because without a credible threat of deportation, nobody's going to take it seriously -- and anyone who compares the US of A to Nazi Germany is just too stupid to be allowed near a keyboard.

Deporting illegal immigrants in cattle cars is a dumb (and liberal inspired) image. However, we can sure start by deporting illegal immigrants who break the law, beyond the fact of being here. And, I'm talking "catch and catapult" here -- we don't need to jail them on our soil, and there's no earthly reason why an illegal immigrant needs to have the benefits of American due process.

Remember what Sun Tsu would do ... apart from laughing his kimona off at US immigration policy.


Check out the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform. Free Constitution posts an article about the "Good, the Bad and the Ugly" Senate bill. There's a pat on the back for Vittner over at Persuing Holiness. Debbie, over at Right Truth also points out the problems with legal immigration -- heh! She's right, and it relates to our laws. ChristiKing at CommonSenseAmerica is writing about a mindset, and DeMediacratic Nation talks about perceived hate crimes. And don't miss Brian's post about the Senate -- the guy's a champ for putting the coalition together -- I don't know how he finds the time to write, given the workload, but his articles are always worth the read.

** **This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Republican Senate Gerbils Vote Against Isakson Measure ... Here's a list of Republican Senate Gerbils who voted down the Isakson measure, which would have implemented border enforcement before dealing with citizenship, etc.

From RedState, StetsonTip skymuse:.

May 17th, 2006: 08:53:27


NAY
Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS) -- wants to run for president?
Chafee (R-RI)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Craig (R-ID)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

NOT VOTING
Cochran (R-MS)
Gregg (R-NH)
Lott (R-MS)
McCain (R-AZ) -- also wants to be president?

This vote was a travesty -- a completely sensible requirement to enforce our border measures before any amnesty or guest worker provisions happen SHOULD HAVE BEEN A SLAM-DUNK for Republicans.

Here are some Dems who for once looked at the United States' interest first and voted for the amendment:

Byrd (D-WV)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Nelson (D-NE)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Here's the summary of the roll call votes, from the Senate website.

I want to join skymuse in urging everyone who cares about this issue to see if your CongressCritter is on the above list -- and do the right thing, by removing them from the primaries at the first opportunity. And, you might give them a call to let them know precisely why. If your CongressCritter voted aye, throw them a cookie if you have a minute.

Texans -- note that Kay Bailey and John Cornyn are not on that list.


(heh -- the above photo's from a student's report online regarding the Mongolian Gerbil. I guess it'll go through the school library internet filters)

  ¶ 8:10 AM |

  "Texas Lightening" Strikes In Germany! Don't know if you know much about the band Texas Lightening, but they're a hit in Germany ... and well, so, they're not from Texas ... but the (country) music's pretty great, the lyrics are fun, and the thoughts count for alot!

StetsonTip to Jorg W, who writes in the excellent AtlanticReview:

Germans voted for the country band Texas Lightning to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday. 39 European countries (including Israel) participate. The contest will take place in Athens. Some 300 million people watch it (incl. online) and millions cast their votes nationally by phone.

Announcing the votes takes ages and is a comical must-see. Texas Lightning's song "No No Never" about never leaving a partner has been in top of the German charts and is better than most of Germany's previous Eurovision Song Contest contributions

This should give some food for thought to those who think that Germans dislike cowboys, country music and Texas. The band is based in Hamburg in the North of Germany.

Heh. Here in Texas, though -- we love Germans, particularly those of us who have a nodding familiarity with the Hill Country!

Click here for the video.

Remember, various German publications showed alot more guts in publishing the Danish cartoons than most of the US ... except for the Philly Inquirer ... and the Austin Statesman.  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  US Senate "Titanic" Steams Determinedly DownStream ... So, the US Senate sold us down the river once again -- but at least both Texas Senators are trying to paddle us somewhere else.

From Channel4News out of Harlingen, TX:

The 40-55 roll call today by which the U-S Senate rejected a measure by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to make allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the United States contingent on first securing borders against new undocumented immigrants.

On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to add Isakson's proposal to an immigration bill and a "no" vote was a vote to reject it.

Voting "yes" were seven Democrats and 33 Republicans.

Voting "no" were 36 Democrats, 18 Republicans and one independent

John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison both voted to close the border first; they did the right thing, although the measure didn't pass. All you Texans out there need to remember that when Senator Hutchison comes up for re-election in November.

Cornyn, who's not even up for re-election this year, hasn't given up.

From the OC Register: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who has co-authored a bill that would not give illegal immigrants a path to legalization and would require guest workers to go home, wasn't giving up just yet.

"We have just begun to fight," Cornyn said in the hall outside the chamber, laughing. (I'm glad somebody's laughing about this, maybe he's remembering the Alamo -- FB)

Incidentally, here's a statement from the Texas RNC regarding a guest worker program:

Republican Party of Texas spokeswoman Gretchen Essell of Austin said temporary worker plans "are a reward to those who have entered our country illegally and their implementation would only encourage the continuation of such behavior.

"Guest worker programs have not worked in the past," Essell said. "For example, the Bracero Program of the 1960s was terminated because of the exploitation of Mexican workers. There is no reason to believe a new program would be any more successful.

"As far as the use of the National Guard is concerned, the Republican Party of Texas supports any action to secure our borders from those who wish to enter our country illegally."

And, here's the Texas DNC position -- given by Ms. Amber Moon (yup, you read her name right):

Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Amber Moon said Democrats in Congress and the Texas Legislature have been more responsible than Republicans. "Deploying an over-stretched National Guard to act as Border Patrol agents is little more than a Band-Aid approach that deals with the issue symbolically and not realistically," Moon said.

"The president's poll numbers are down and his party is split, causing him to resort to an election year gimmick rather than a responsible solution. If the Republicans were serious, they would reach across the aisle and across racial lines. Instead, they're drawing a line in the sand and creating a division between neighboring countries."

I'm still trying to get my mind around the work "responsibility" coupled with Texas Lege, God luv 'em.

But, if you're a Texan who's considering punishing Republicans by voting for a Democrat, think carefully about the Texas DNC statement I've highlighted in red. Looks to me like they would be "reaching" across lines to pull illegal immigrants over the border, assuming that our fearless Texas Dems could stay in one spot that long.

My own strategy is to vote Republican in 2006, and in Texas, that will not be difficult. But -- I'm already nosing around to see if there's a sane third party I can support for 2008, and if anyone has any ideas, please let me know, via comment or e-mail. Mental telepathy's a little uncertain, although I hear it's popular among the Kinky Friedman party faithfuls.

Meanwhile, that tapping you hear in the background is the sound of Senate Republican Gerbils hammering the nails in their collective coffin. The dull thudding is the sound of conservatives beating their heads against the wall of stupidity.

Please click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest news. Debbie, over at RightTruth is laughing to keep from crying about the President's speech, and there's a good round-up at CommonSenseAmerica. Fred offers his usual restrained, subtle commentary on the news that Mexico plans to sue if the National Guard detains "migrants."

And speaking of economics, check this out from the excellent Politics of Prudence:

A Columbia University study recently estimated that illegal immigrants cost American tax payers $68 Billion a year (e.g. welfare, heath care, incarceration, etc.)

The left-wing Center for American Progress estimated (liberally) that it would cost $41 Billion a year for 5 years (total of $206 Billion) to deport.

So, over a 5-year period the breakdown would be:
1) Allowing illegals to remain: $340 Billion
2) Deportation: $206 Billion ... more

Well, I guess libs can't be expected to be too good with arithmetic. StetsonTip to Matthew.

** **This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Idema Lawsuit vs Columbia Thrown Out ... Well, apparently, Jack Idema's lawsuit against Columbia University was thrown out; he and others were suing because the IP address of a slanderous website was located in Columbia.

KathrynCramer writes:

Further to the subject of Jack Idema and what I called the "Great Columbia Conspiracy," in which Idema and his minions fantasized a Vast Leftwing Conspiracy against Idema, centered at Columbia:

Yesterday the court in Los Angeles threw out his lawsuit against Columbia et al. Go to: www.lasuperiorcourt.org/civilCaseSummary/index.asp (more)

I think Cao have a better case against Blogger, and definately against the individuals putting up the site, particularly if she sued on her own. But, ohwell. Guess that's just me.

For the latest on all things Idema, check out any of the following excellent blogs:
Acts of Aggression
Big Dog's Weblog
Cao's blog
Causes of Interest
concatenation of events
Devil's Kitchen
Freedom Folks
Irate Nate
Kender's Musings
Making Headlines
NIF
Red Hot Cuppa Politics
Right For Scotland
Rottweiler Puppy
Sacramento Boxing
The City Troll
The Lone Voice
The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
Theodore's World  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  The Ball's In The Senate's Court (and it's still up to us) There are a couple of things I appreciate about President Bush. First, he always starts his speeches when he's supposed to. Second, he doesn't get windy.

Last night, he used two phrases in the first thirty seconds of the speech which I appreciated. First, he mentioned the massive protests: On the streets of major cities, crowds have rallied in support of those in our country illegally. Second, he finally (sort of) admitted there's a problem at the border: For decades, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders ... okay -- so the ocean's a little wet, but it's a start.

Anyway, here's what Mr. Bush is willing to do about illegal immigration, outlined in a five point plan:

1) Secure the borders.

Bush plans to send 6000 National Guard troops to the borders. It's not much, it'll consist of a two week rotation for Guard units, and I'm not sure that the Guardsmen will be doing that the MinuteMen aren't already doing, since the Guard's not supposed to be allowed to engage in law enforcement activities -- which also skirts Posse Comitatus.

I'm wondering why bother, except it might help acculturate our troops to the heat in Iraq. I hope the two week deployments don't interfere with training our Guardsmen need to cope with deployment to the Middle East.

The committment of troops would last one year, and Bush pointedly said we do not plan to militarize the border. I'm also wondering if this is a response to the MinuteMen's demand that Bush send troops by Memorial Day, or the MinuteMen start building their wall.

He also talked about alot of high tech surveillance gadgets, which you know are going to malfunction in the desert heat, but ohwell, maybe that's just me. Again, geezers with lawnchairs and binoculars are doing the job of multi-million dollar surveillane drones, and they're doing it without taxpayer support.

To the positive, Bush wants to increase funding and provide training to local law enforcement authorities, and hire more Border Patrol agents. That's a good thing -- let's also curb State Department interference with deportation, and eliminate the "never-never" land that INS bureaucrats inhabit.

And, Bush said he really wants to end "catch and release." Good. How about instituting "catch and deport." We don't need more detention facilities -- just boomerang illegals back across the border.

2) Temporary worker program.

This program would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing. Every worker who applies for the program would be required to pass criminal background checks. And temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay.

This can work if the border's sealed, and if there's a type of identification that can't be forged, i.e., biometric ID's. But, they need to go home when the work permit expires, and refrain from inviting their entire extended families over for the duration.

3) Hold American employers accountable:

Two steppin' here. While Bush talked about how hard it is currently to decide who's an illegal employee and who's not -- he doesn't mention consequences for American bosses. And, here's where he talks about those biometric ID's, which can't be forged.

4) Path to citizenship for those already here

::wince::

Bush wants a middle ground between amnesty and mass deportation, and outlines the requirements of paying a penalty for breaking the law, back taxes, and learning English for those who have been here for a number of years who want to stay.

He didn't mention deporting illegals who are newly arrived, or felons. Nor did he mention why any illegal immigrant in their right mind would volunteer to pay thousands of dollars -- or how he's going to convince the ACLU, and our school systems that English is a beautiful thing, having just as much validity as minority languages.

5) Honor the great tradition of the American "melting" pot.

Well, that's true. Every single American citizen is descended from immigrants -- even the Native Americans crossed the Bering Straits a few thousand years ago. But, the past 20-30 years, we have not acted like we expect anyone to actually act like they're American. We have Hispanic Americans ... African Americans ... Native Americans ... Asian Americans ... Arab Americans ... and so forth. The fingers have become more important than the hand.

At the end of the speech, he mentioned a wounded Marine who'd served in Iraq, and still wasn't a citizen. C'mon -- if anyone's willing to bleed and die with our military, their citizenship should be automatic on the day he or she signs up.

Mostly, it seems like the President is turfing the issue back to the Senate, and would be happy to support the whatever Senate pander-ance bill is sent to him.

So, it's still up to us. If we want illegal immigration reform, we need to continue to pressure our Republican Senate Gerbils -- oops, I mean Distinguished Senate Majority -- and maybe remind them that this is the issue that can, and will, break the Republican party, and send their own sorry selves packing back to whatever state they came from.

In service of our efforts, check out the Immigration Report Card, which grades every US Senator and Representative on their efforts regarding illegal immigration reform. Kay Bailey Hutchison gets a B-, as does John Cornyn. I'd have marked her a little higher, particularly after watching her response to how the Kyl-Cornyn amendment was stifled.

If we want that reform, let's dig in and "git 'er done."

Click to the CoalitionBlog later today for commentary on the President's speech, and for the latest in illegal immigration reform. Some of the group have already posted articles; there's a round-up going on at the AmboyTimes. Laura, over at PursuingHoliness, did some live blogging, and prefaces her post with some astute comments about election day. Valgerd has a passionate, point by point response. ProudAmerican posts the text, and a fiery response. Brian also very cooperatively posts the transcript, and will write about it when he's had a chance to think about it (wise man, I'll be dropping by later).

Republican gerbils need to take close note of ChristiKing's assessment of what she calls 20 minutes of the the biggest bunch of BS she's ever seen: Make no mistake, this is a man that I have viciously defended for the past 5 years. This is a man that had my total loyalty. This is a man that I trusted and believed in and what do I get? What do all Conservative Republicans get in return? ...Betrayal ..To all of the liberals I have ever debated, I sincerely apologize. I was wrong. This man is freaking dangerous. This man is willing to sell out our nation.

Also, take a look at the (ever)DiscerningTexan's sober article about the speech. He's encouraging Mr. Bush to walk the walk -- or else, we face the real prospect of Speaker Nancy Pelosi spending the next two years on endless partisan "inquiries," and Iran sending Israel (or someplace) into a nuclear halocaust ...

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**

UPDATED to include round-up at Amboy, and Christi's response.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  I "Heart" Vicente ...
Well, the scuttlebut from "reliable sources" is that Bush plans to announce the deployment of National Guard troopers along the border. But, according to the NewYorkTimes, it's supposed to be a "temporary plan" which he discussed with Vincente Fox last night.

From NYT's:

WASHINGTON, May 14 — President Bush's plan to send National Guard troops to patrol the southern border of the United States has raised the concern of his longtime ally President Vicente Fox of Mexico, who called Mr. Bush on Sunday to express his worries.

White House officials said Mr. Bush assured Mr. Fox that a permanent National Guard presence on the border was not being considered.

"The president made clear that the United States considers Mexico a friend," said Maria Tamburri, a White House spokeswoman.

Ms. Tamburri said the president told Mr. Fox, "What is being considered is not a militarization of the border, but support of border patrol capabilities, on a temporary basis, by National Guard personnel."

Let me get this straight. Bush is going to take the extrordinary measure of sending US troops to the border -- so they can support the Border Patrol's lack of defense of our borders. And, Bush has told Mr. Fox not to worry about it.

I frankly have mixed feelings about deploying American troops on our soil. But I sure as h3ll don't think our National Guard needs to be deployed in order to hang out and wait for a call from the MinuteMen to apprehend an illegal trying to sneak over.

Of course, in the words of Kathryn Cramer, who's not known for conservative thinking: "...If the existing laws were enforced and enforced even-handedly, we wouldn't need to have this conversation."

Understand, Fox has his own presidential elections, to be held in July. According to the Peninsular -- out of frickin' Qatar -- while his leftist opponent has slipped in the polls, there's still a sizeable chunk of about 15 percent of the population that embraces Castro/Chavez inspired leftist philosophy. Part of Fox's party platform is to facilitate relations (read illegal immigration here) to the US. And, no. We do not want a Chavez style government just across our southern border; Bush might be trying to throw his buddy a bone.

However, why can't politicians of two great nations figure out that Mexican voters just might vote for the candidate that actually improves their own economy -- and American candidates who will enforce our laws .... ?

While Bush samba's with Fox, the Democrats will waltz into power to a Mariachi tune. (And, we still don't get our borders defended, except by guys with binoculars in lawnchairs)

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest and freshest news regarding Illegal Immigration. RightTruth points out bluntly about how this issue is "driving us to drink, and change parties." LadyJane writes how Mexico is not our friend. Valgerd emphasizes that patriotism is not racism, and while you're there, click to her interesting analysis on Posse Comitatus. Heh -- James Foley invites you to chant "Om, mani, padme, om!..." with clueless Republicans. And, for a really warm, fuzzy feeling, read ChristiKing's article at the CoalitionBlog about how illegal aliens need your children -- for their social security numbers.

Oh, and BTW -- Fred was on the phone all day Friday with actual National Guard members, whose response to the possibility of being posted along the border was unanimously: "OH H3LL YEAH!!! Git er done!!!"

** **This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**

(photo from Esmas, in Spanish)

UPDATE: Please check out Jay's pithy article regarding illegal immigration here in the US, who's wondering along with the rest of us if US Republicans still want to win elections. It's a perspective from across the pond.

  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  EU Presents Huge Carrots To Iran ...
Predictably, the EU's just dying to rollover to Iran, if only the mullahs will let them:

From the InternationalHeraldTribune:

BRUSSELS The European Union will propose a "bold package" of incentives to Iran, including possible security guarantees, if Tehran can ensure that its nuclear program is not used to produce weapons, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday.

"We have said over and over again that we think a diplomatic solution is a good way, and we are going to continue on that line and ... we are going to prepare a very serious package that will make it difficult for them to say no," Solana said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

But in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday any economic and political incentive package would be rejected if it required Tehran to stop enriching uranium, which many experts see as a first step toward producing nuclear weapons...

So many appeasement opportunities, so little time.

  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Handwriting On the Wall, Written in Petroleum Perception
The red areas in the map above are where we can't drill for oil. The green, offshore Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and N. Alaska are where we can. I'm not sure what the yellow means, maybe proceed if Teddy Kennedy approves.

The map was presented by Senator Craig, R-Idaho to his fellow Senate gerbils -- oops, I mean "esteemed colleagues" -- last Thursday, with these comments:

We are experiencing higher gasoline, oil, and natural gas prices today because of decades of restricted development of new sources of petroleum. From ANWR to off-shore development such as Lease Area 181 in the Gulf of Mexico, we have identified oil and natural gas reserves that can be developed and used responsibly.

Yet time and time again efforts to increase supply, and reduce prices, are blocked. For instance, ten years ago President Clinton vetoed development in ANWR.For decades, the minority party has blocked one effort after another to responsibly develop the energy resources our country possesses, transforming vast areas of opportunity into "The No Zone." Because of current U.S. policy, U.S. companies are prohibited from developing oil fields that lie in Cuban waters and come within 50 miles of Florida

However, Cuba is exploring and potentially developing these oil fields, estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to possess more oil than the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, and Cuba is partnering with China and other countries, such as Spain, France, and Canada.

Now, as we sit idly by, worried about development 100 miles from Florida, China is actively exploring oil fields 50 miles from Key West, Florida

Hm. We can't drill in Cuban waters because we have no diplomatic relations with Cuba; there's been an embargo since the Cuban Missile crisis. Also, in order to drill in their waters, we need Fidel's permission.

But, you know, we can drill in our own waters with wild abandon, if we can get past "environmental" concerns, and if we can permit new refineries built to process it.

I'll hasten to add that drilling offshore and in Anwar is not a long term solution. Unlike some others, I don't honestly think oil's a renewable resource.

However, it would buy us time to bite the bullet and do what we've needed to do for forty years: develop alternative fuel sources which are cheap, affordable, and which work.

In the meantime, predictably, Bush and his perceived "big oil buddies" are getting blamed for the current pain at the pump. I hear comments in the check-out line at Wal-Mart's and at work.

For example, last Saturday morning, the town wood working artist dropped by to chat about politics. This guys a legal immigrant from Canada, he's supported Bush bigtime in the past -- but Saturday, he snidly mentioned Bush's ties with "big oil" and how Exxon won't even update the refineries we have.

I pointed out that there's been blockage of drilling for years, and environmental regulations that prohibit new refineries being built, even in towns that will accept them for the jobs and boost to the economy.

Didn't make much difference, though. My friend allowed that it might be a "small part" of the reason, but was pretty unshaken in his faith that Bush and his big oil buddies were the root of all evil.

As to big oil and profits -- I think Exxon can make scads more money if it's allowed to drill closer to our homeland; big initial investment which will be made up in savings on shipping costs. And, more refineries can process more oil from here and abroad. There's alot of money to be made in volume.

I work across from this guy, he's a decent sort, and there's no way that I'm going to get into a screaming argument over politics with him, so I let it go for the moment.

But, the handwriting's on the wall for Republicans, in big block letters. Propaganda works, and I'm quite concerned that in the fall we're headed for a Democrat controlled Senate by default. Republicans will get their richly deserved punishment, and we still will have no sane energy or immigration policy. Although, if Dems manage to take the House, and get Bush impeached and our troops pulled out of Iraq, the basic deterrent to the next Al Quada "event" on our soil gets removed.

I do think this country's ripe for a third party, unless our leading Republican jellyfish grow a backbone, and quickly. However, this fall is not the time for a protest vote; there's too much at stake. 2008, however, allows some time for a leader, and a third party to gain serious momentum.

Click to GatewayPundit for more on Senator Craig's speech.  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  Causes For Guarded Optimism in Iraq ...
To the left is a photo from CentCom: MOSUL, Iraq - Members of the U.S. Army's 47th Combat Support Hospital at Forward Operating Base Diamondback treat an Iraqi boy for injuries he suffered during a terrorist car bombing in Tal Afar Tuesday May 9, 2006. The car bomb left 16 civilians dead and more than 130 injured. Sixty-one victims were sent to U.S. bases for treatment. Twenty-four of the most critically injured Iraqi civilians were flown to U.S. surgical hospitals in the area (and I think that while the US media bewails the violence in Iraq, the Iraqi's themselves just might be aware of who is actually helping them, and who is killing them -- FB)



To the right, you'll see an Iraqi trooper handing an Iraqi flag to an Iraqi child.

There's an article, in PDF format, in the Iraqi newsletter posted over at Centcom. It's titled "Sons of al Anbar" The article's about a new graduating class of soldiers, and how they consider themselves Iraqi's first. Things like this are part of what's making me guardedly optimistic -- and we civilians need to stay on Congress to make sure our troops can finish the job without US partisan political interference.

By the way, the next time you hear we're "going it alone" in Iraq, please click here to see the overwhelming list of flags of nations who are over there with us. Then, consider how libs are willing to casually disrespect folks who are willing to shed blood with us.

And when you see articles like the above printed in the major media, please drop me an e-mail, so I can link to them, and watch pigs fly around outside my window.  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Softly Rumbling Thunder On Mother's Day It's Mother's Day -- and when I woke up, I found a card sitting on my computer from my son; it's one of the small satisfactions in my life is that he's the one that always remember things.

I also found my son and a few of his friends sitting around the kitchen table, still chatting; it's the culmination of the social events of the year at our local high school so I wasn't surprised to see the kids still up.

What was surprising was that they included me in the conversation for a little while; I had my first cup of morning coffee with them.

This particular group of kids are some of the finest our nation has to offer. Two are college bound, one's enlisted in the Army. Another's probably going to do ROTC in college.

Bright kids, with good hearts -- literate, funny, and sharp. They wrestle with puppies, they're nice to little kids, kind to old ladies they can't avoid, they're h3ll on wheels at standardized tests, and I know for a fact that at least one of them protected a Christian from a bully. Kids you can mostly count on to not do something stupid, for the most part, although inexperience does takes its toll.

They're kids you'd be proud to present to the future.

And, my mother's heart, on mother's day, has a dull, nagging feeling of dread for them. Not because I think they're not equipped for life -- but because they're hurtling into a future that looks more uncertain than any in the history of this country.

Look around the world; we have some serious enemies that do not mind killing American civilians on our own soil, and they're two-stepping, or maybe goose-stepping, with leftist leaders in South America. That right in our backyard.

Look at how we've f***d around with energy for the past thirty years, keeping the life-blood of our economy dependent on tin horn third world dictators who jack the US around.

Look at the recent pro-(illegal) immigration marches in our cities -- hundreds of thousands of folks hitting the streets that live here but have no sense of loyalty to our country.

Look at how our fifth estate -- the press, you know, the folks that we ought to be able to count on to tell us facts so we can make an intelligent decision at the ballot box -- look at how reporters seem completely unable to tell a simple, straight story.

Look at how we have one political party which seems to be shooting itself in the foot, while the other one will say anything to get their own sorry selves back into power (so they can playlike it's Watergate and go back to the old law enforcement model for dealing with terrorists, which worked so well for us in the nineties.)

Look at how our country doesn't seem to be able to hang together even in the middle of a major war.

My kids tell me frankly that the younger generation flat doesn't care, and for now, I think that's true. And why should they? We've failed them across the board, methodically, for decades, on both foreign policy and domestic interventions. We have been short sighted, selfish, and prone to believe in idealistic, but idiotic rationalizations, as long as it doesn't require Boomers and X'ers to excercise any kind of self control or sacrifice for the common good.

As a result of our actions, our politicians pandering for votes, and our romantic involvement with self-righteous liberalism, common sense has been sacrificed in service of self indulgence.

My prayers are with those kids. While I do agree that they may not care now, when push comes to shove, they'll step up to the plate, like young Americans have since the Revolutionary war. At least, I think they will. Not that we deserve it, we continue to predictably blow it -- but because they will figure out, correctly, that America is worth their time and effort, since it's the one of very few places in the world where there's a still a chance of freedom and representative government.

They're good kids, and my deep fear is that they're going to be called upon to shoulder a world of hurt in the decades to come, unless we of the older generations bite the bullet and do our jobs correctly, now.

Most graduating seniors don't have a clue as to where they'll be, or what they'll be doing in five years. That's normal. But, the situation this year is that there are about a dozen, really, really hair-raising possibilities, along with the regular ones. The nagging dread stems from the fact that nobody knows which way events will turn.

There's still a little time left, although the storm warnings are there. We all need to do what we can, in the ways that we can, before the lightening strikes.

So, happy Mother's Day. Now think long and hard about what your kids will be facing in the next 20 years. Or maybe the next 12 months.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Newsweek Poll Awards the Media an "A" for Effort!
Well, Newsweek's just completed a new poll, which is basically a sort of "report card" for the media, measuring how well they've done their job in propagandizing an NSA intervention that's not new, not illegal, and not intrusive into private lives.

Now, the first poll, done by the WashingtonPost, proved that most Americans didn't care -- but that was before the major media had a few days to really, really hammer in their own spin.

And, behold!:

Newsweek: May 13, 2006 - Has the Bush administration gone too far in expanding the powers of the President to fight terrorism? Yes, say a majority of Americans ... According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent of Americans think the NSA’s surveillance program “goes too far in invading people’s privacy,” while 41 percent see it as a necessary tool to combat terrorism.

Great job, guys! Y'all should all clink your glasses of champagne together at the next elite Beltway cocktail party for a job well done.

And you know, they're still not getting the NSA surveillance story right. The new NSA issue is still being referred to as "domestic phone monitoring," which is not accurate, although it does bring up all kinds of horrifying fun images of the government listening into your calls to the local PTA. It's not domestic phone monitoring; NSA collects phone numbers of people who call the phone numbers of known terrorists. Verizon collects phone numbers as well -- but since Bush doesn't run Verizon, nobody cares.

Oh, and by the way -- it also marks the sudden end of yet another intervention against terrorism. Al Quada's brutal, but not stupid.

The new Newsweek poll just reflects how there's a long, long list of things that reporters, who should know better, just refuse to report accurately.

Here's a good starting point: Bush wasn't AWOL; Dan Rather tried to pass off forged documents to millions of Americans. The SOTU statement about yellowcake from Niger wasn't inaccurate, the Brits still stand by their intel. Valerie Plame was not an undercover agent outted by Karl Rove for political reasons -- the Russians outted her in the nineties. The DPW scandal involved "steveadorage" -- not "taking over American ports." The previous NSA "domestic wiretapping" was neither domestic, nor wiretapping. The "immigration issue" isn't "immigration" -- it's "illegal immigration." Remember the phoney "flush the Koran" story, which involved neither flushing nor the Koran, but was written by Michael Isikoff who still inexplicably has a job?

And, by the way, since every mainstream news outlet is so hot to speak "truth to power" -- just how many US media outlets published those Danish Cartoons, again?

The Newsweek article also takes the opportunity to state: Iraq continues to be the biggest drain on the president’s popularity: 86 percent of Americans say the Iraq situation, coupled with new information about the decision to go to war, have negatively influenced their view of the president.

Well, excuse me, but the latest information is the ongoing translation of Saddam's pre-war documents, being translated by a Lebanese American. You can find his translations here, and the information is chilling. Saddam had ties with Al Quada, and there's concrete evidence of WMD's. But, I guess the real latest evidence isn't of much interest to Newsweek editors, in their rush to speak "truth to power," and dress-up like Woodward and Bernstein.

But, propaganda works, doesn't it. You hammer the American people long enough, and hard enough with trumped up scandals, and through repetition, you can get most of us to believe anything.

So, pat yourselves on the back, guys -- and make sure to save one of those bottles of champagne. Because when there's another attack on our soil, you'll get to blame Bush for it as well.

Won't that be a hoot?

StetsonTip BlueCrabBoulevard, where there's an interesting breakdown how how the Newsweek Poll is flawed to the tune of Biblical proportions.

(cartoon from the geniuses at Cox&Forkum, reprinted in the Detroit Free Press)  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Chavez Prays To Allah!
Well, that erudite and eloquent Hugo Chavez has assured his new best buds that he's "praying to Allah! that no war will be launched against Iran!"

From the IRNA (you know, the mullah supported state newspaper where the editors & reporters don't have to worry about going to jail ... ?):

Venezuela's visiting President Hugo Chavez said here Friday Caracas supports the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking to IRNA on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America Summit, Chavez said, "We pray to `Allah' that no war would be launched against Iran!"

The Venezuelan President added, "We believe the Iranian nation's campaign is our own nation's, and we ask the world countries to respect Iran's independence."

He concluded stressing, "We are on the side of the Iranian nation and pray for President Ahmadinejad."

The EU-Latin America-Caribbean region Countries Summit began its activities on Thursday at ministerial level in Vienna.

Interesting choice of words for the Diety, since communists aren't supposed to believe in God, and most of Hugo's people are Roman Catholic. Ohwell.

And, of course, at the Vatican, he reassured Iran that Venezuela will cut off oil to the world if Iran is attacked.

On the other hand, it's possible that Hugo's looking to feather his bed overseas, since he seems to be wearing out his welcome with some of his South American Buddies:

A M Mora y Leon writes:

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is nothing more than a brutal leftist thug with aspirations of being the next Simon Bolivar, the next Fidel Castro. He seeks to unite all the nations of Latin America under his wing, so that together, they may challenge the United States. He would lure them into his axis with the promise of U.S.-financed cheap oil, yet punish and intimidate any who don’t go along with his direction by cutting off that same oil. He’s telling all nations that it’s either him or the U.S., and the U.S. has nothing to offer them.

Every last nation in the hemisphere knows it.

Ever since the May Day nationalization of Bolivia’s energy resources by Venezuelan state employees, followed by Chavez strutting through the capital of his new colony of South Venezuela — errr, I mean, Bolivia — like Hitler in Paris, there has been a growing realization that Chavez is a predator who would seek to take their resources for the sake of his own absolute power.

But things are not exactly going according to plan: Like a moving hurricane, a vast unified hemispheric move against the dictator of Caracas has now begun to form among many different nations. (click here for a country by country breakdown)

Good.

(Photo is from AdninBlogdario, which is in Spanish, dated Sept.21)  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  April Recruitment Goals High, Re-Enlistment Goals Higher
The purple medals are purple hearts on soldiers returning to duty.

From CIRDeputy, over at ConservativeIntelligenceReport:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- That all the liberal media cares about is getting their grubby little fingers on those “banned” flag draped coffin photos? I don’t recall them trying to find images like the one above. Photos that show there are wounds but not every one is fatal. That the seaman is willing to continue to serve after being injured. And most when sent home for rehabilitation desire to be back with their “brothers”, even though it isn’t possible. The left media is left on the sidelines with their paper sales slumping due to their actions. They gave it their all, they really did. But then it just gets worse. The April recruitment numbers come in exceeding goals, how could it be...(more)

Click here to see some April Recruitment figures, laid out in a neat table.

Here's a brief summary: the Army's at 105 percent of its goal, while the Air Force is at 101 percent. The Navy and the Marines came in at 100 percent -- but then, I've heard that the Marines are incredibly selective. Active duty recruiting between October 1st and April 30th are also above 100 percent.

The Guard and the Reserve recruiting for April shows a mixed bag -- but remember, they've been called on to serve in extraordinary, non-traditional ways. The Marine Corps Reserve is at 101 percent. The Air Force is at 100 percent. Then, it falls. The Air National Guard is at 92 percent, the Army National Guard's at 90 percent, followed by Army Reserve at 83, and Navy Reserve at 73.

Between October and April, here are the figures for the Reserves and the Guard: Air Force Reserve - 105 percent. Army National Guard -- 103 percent. Marine Corps -- 100 percent. Army Reserve -- 95 percent. Air National Guard -- 86 percent. Finally, Navy reserve 84 percent.

I think when you look at the above percentages, you need to think about two things. First, the retention rate with the Army Reserve is a whopping 110 percent. Second, you know, our reserves have been called on to perform like regular Army units, although in a slightly different capacity. Folks that have considered the Reserve may figure that since the likelihood of deployment is high, they might as well just join the Army -- if you're going to be in Iraq, anyway, there's better pay and benefits in the regular Army. And, I don't think anyone is foolish enough to join any branch of the service for college money.

So, who's enlisting? Poor, unintelligent, duped slugs of the lower class with no other options?

Nope. Take a look at who's volunteering: Over 90 percent of military recruits have a high school diploma, compared with 75 percent of the general population. Nearly two thirds of military recruits are in the top half of verbal and math aptitude as demonstrated on standardized tests.

Mostly poor kids, though, right? Nope -- mostly middle class families.

Well, how about all those poor urban black kids? Nope -- whites account for 67 percent of the forces in Iraq, and 74 percent of the deaths. Blacks account for 17 percent, and 11 percent of the deaths. Hispanics made up 9 percent of the forces, and 11 percent of the deaths.

Yah, but alot of kids go into the military to avoid jail: Nope -- current enlistment standards bar many youthful offenders from enlisting. (I know this to be a fact).

Read the whole thing if you have a chance. It's enlightening and instructive -- and makes you proud.

And, yup -- I've linked you with the DoD. Tell me where the WashingtonPost, the NYT's and so forth have the figures, and I'll be happy to present the site as well. But, I'm not holding my breath.

  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  More "Non--Evidence" Of Saddam's WMD's ... So, where'd all those WMD's go again?

Doug Hagman has posted a video interview with General Ali Ibrahim Al-Tikriti, who has just volumes to say about Saddam's WMD's.

Here's some excerpts from the transcript:

Salaam Americans. I was formerly known as Iraqi Fedayeen Major General, Ali Ibrahim Al-Tikriti. I was one of Saddam's chief Generals dealing with his secret nuclear, chemical, and biological programs. Our weapons programs were fully operational in the mid-late 1980's where we used such weapons on numerous occasions against Iranian positions as well as the infamous attack on Halabjah.

After the Gulf War our weapons programs were driven deep underground to avoid international inspections. We composed an idea of using salvaged parts from Tamuz in the early 90's as well as research we still had filed to begin construction of a simulation reactor. One of the most critical components was the gas centrifuges. After numerous attempts to acquire specially designed high strength aluminum tubes for these centrifuges we were finally successfully in acquiring these materials in 1999 and early 2000 from Germany.

As far as the weapons inspections were concerned we devised very lucrative measures to hide our ongoing nuclear projects. For instance we were under strict orders to destroy all materials, memos, and reports pertaining to such projects. Immediately after completion of the orders, we were also given orders at random to abandon nuclear facilities and sites where nuclear, chemical, or biological research was being conducted and to move them to future facilities that were not known about until the materials were ready for transport. Many of the workers used for such transport were immediately purged as to leave few witnesses.

As for foreign involvement in our programs, much of this can be attributed to the Russian Federation. Moscow directed many programs around the world, Iraq being one of them where chemical weapons and scientists were sent to further develop unconventional munitions. Contingency plans were developed though, in the event that the host nation was compromised, as in the case of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Remember that convoy of Russian "diplomats" that was sooo regrettable wiped out by accident -- while they were running for the Syrian border ... ?

Fascinating and troubling -- because I think the biggest liars in history are those who willfully overlook the evidence we have, and have had, in order to score political points against a Republican President. Also, remember, WMD's include things like dual use chemical weapons and biologicals, not just neatly lined up nuclear warheads with a big sign (in English) that says "This way to the nukes!"

Click here for ongoing translations of Saddam's pre-war documents. They are chilling, and of course, ignored.

  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  MinuteMen Caravan Arrives In Washington ... The MinuteMen have completed their cross-country caravan to Washington last night, and will be holding a rally today.

From WND, StetsonTip Freeper Man50D:

Members of the Minuteman Project will stage a rally at the U.S. Capitol today to celebrate the end of a cross-country caravan meant to protest the flow of illegal aliens across the border.

"This is a Trojan horse – a covert invasion," Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, said of illegal immigration.

The caravan began in Los Angeles May 3, and participants have been holding rallies in several states along the way. The caravan's "official pace car" is a 1970 Mercury Cougar dubbed "The Spirit Of Allegiance."

The final rally is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the park on the Senate side of the Capitol.

Prominent national speakers at the kick-off rally in L.A. included WND columnist Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, the founder and president of BOND – the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, and social activist Ted Hayes

Of course, the WashingtonPost reports in loving detail how small the MinuteMan rally last night was compared to the "Pro-Immigrant" rally. The two groups had to be kept separate by Washington policemen.

From the WashingtonPost, about halfway down the article:

"...The counter-protesters mocked the size of the Minuteman rally, noting that it was dwarfed by the pro-immigrant marches. "They claim to have a million members, but this is their big national rally," said David Benzaquen, 22, an American University student.

Gilchrist said the turnout was modest because most critics of illegal immigration are "average Janes and Joes" too busy working to attend rallies. He said their voices would be heard in the 2006 and 2008 elections, predicting that anyone with an anti-amnesty platform could win 40 percent of the vote..."

Good points, but I'd like to add that alot of the active MinuteMan membership is down by the border. Also ... Messer David Benzaquen can't be counted on to vote. But, we can.

Take a minute to make your voice heard by the CongressCritters:

Christi links with Alipac, here's some contact info, and a recommended message:

Make your first call to Frist’s offices and deliver the message “You can forget about ever being President for your support of amnesty bigboy!”

Then we have a simple message for the rest of the Senate. “Freeze! Put down the pen and step away from the legislation slowly. We do not need new laws. Enforce our existing laws. Each member of the Senate that supports any law change allowing illegal aliens to stay will face the voter wrath at the polls and will be brought home.”

Senator William H. Frist (R- TN) 202-224-3344 fax: 202-228-1264 Contact Form

Here are lobbying tips and contact info links

Here's an Easy to use contact tool

The Senate's supposed to take it up again next week, so strike while the iron is hot ... and before they do something incredibly stupid.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest on Illegal Immigration Reform. Valgerd's Hearth has an amazingly articulate article on Posse Comitatus, which is really pertinenent since as IllegalImmigration points out, it's possible that Bush will talk about putting troops on the border ... we'll see.

** **This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**  ¶ 7:00 AM |

  Deep Symbolism in Military Funerals ...
I ran across this in e-mail ... and was able to cross reference:

Martha Zoller writes in AccessNorthGeorgia:

Do you know that at military funerals, the 21-gun salute stands for the sum of the numbers in the year 1776?

Have you ever noticed the honor guard pays meticulous attention to correctly folding the United States of America Flag 13 times? You probably thought it was to symbolize the original 13 colonies, but we learn something new every day!

The 1st fold of the flag is a symbol of life.

The 2nd fold is a symbol of the belief in eternal life.

The 3rd fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veterans departing the ranks who gave a portion of their lives for the defense of the country to attain peace throughout the world.

The 4th fold represents the weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in time of war for His divine guidance.

The 5th fold is a tribute to the country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, "Our Country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong."

The 6th fold is for where people's hearts lie. It is with their heart that they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United! States Of America, and the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

The 7th fold is a tribute to its Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that they protect their country and their flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of their republic.

The 8th fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day.

The 9th fold is a tribute to womanhood, and Mothers. For it has been through their faith, their love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great has been molded.

The 10th fold is a tribute to the father, for he, too, has given his sons and daughters for the defense of their country since they were first born.

The 11th fold represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon and glorifies in the Hebrews eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The 12th fold represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in the Christians eyes, God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

The 13th fold, or when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost reminding them of their nations motto, "In God We Trust."

After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington, and the Sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones, who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for them the rights, privileges and freedoms they enjoy today.

There are some traditions and ways of doing things that have deep meaning. In the future, you'll see flags folded and now you will know why.

Share this with the children you love and all others who love what is referred to, the symbol of "Liberty and Freedom."

Read it, share it, forward it if it's in your heart.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Two Words: Gas & Immigration ... Pundits and politicians in their haste to toute (or denounce) the booming economy, the tax cuts renewed yesterday are forgetting two words:

Gas and immigration.

Simple words. If you're a Republican who'd like to win in November, forget the economy, forget tax cuts, forget even about the Iraq war.

Remember "Gas" and "Immigration."

People will never believe that the economy is booming as long as they're paying a gazillion dollars a week at the gas pump. And until President Bush announces a concrete plan to the American people about how our dependency is going to be solved -- including how we're going to drill on our own soil, and how we're going to (really, this time) develop alternate energy sources -- "everybody's" going to believe he's getting rich from his perceived friends at Exxon.

Then there's immigration. The Senate's expected to take up that immigration piece of C*ap -- ooops, I mean "considered" legislation -- next week. It's pretty much what they tried to pass a few weeks ago -- a meaningless travesty of the House bill that will pander to the perceived holy grail of garnering Hispanic votes in the future.

And Republicans will be the ones to pay the price. Look, everybody knows that Democrats are hypocritical idiots. That's a done deal.

From CNN, title link:

In political terms, Rep. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona and others said Republicans would pay a price in the midterm elections if they vote for anything like the Senate legislation. ``Many of those who have stood for the Republican Party for the last decade are not only angry. They will be absent in November,'' Hayworth said.

The fury in the heartland is unbelieveable -- peruse any blog on my sidebar.

The very sensible and eloquent Christi King expresses it best:

Even if I may not agree with the reasons why Democrats want to impeach Bush, I’m getting to the point where I think the goal is laudable because Bush’s efforts to facilitate illegal immigration are frankly treasonous. He has done everything in his power to stop our laws from being enforced, and I’m sick of it. If Republicans take their lumps in 2006 and 2008, at this point I’m okay with it, because following Vicente Fox’s stated goal to create an EU-style construct out of North America is a more imminent danger to the nation than losing thousands or even hundreds of thousands of citizens to radical Islamist terror attacks ... I’m more than willing for the current GOP to take their lumps for the next few years and hopefully come back older and wiser for having been out of power, than I am to concede our sovereignty and hand the country over to the Democrats for the rest of my lifetime

Christi's attitude is not uncommon here in the hintery heartland, and emotionally, you can't help but agree with it.

I listened to Hugh Hewitt last night, during a round of housework. He states the Democrats want you dead. I'd have said, Democrats don't care if you're dead as long as they get to belly-up to what's left of the public feeding trough.

Democrat control is unthinkable -- but, there's a huge and growing frustration with Congressional Republicans, and folks will use the ballot box to punish them. Forget that Democrats won't improve the border situation, because they also dream of the Holy Ballot Box lurking in the Hispanic population. Forget that they'll shred any national security we have left, as they did during the Clinton years. And forget that the billionaires against Bush, who send huge sums to various Democrat candidates, will not allow their elected minions to consider drilling on our shores, or off them.

Nope -- folks are going to want to punish Republicans in November, either by staying home, or forgetting the nature of the Democratic Party.

Democrats are popping the corks on the champagne bottles because they think the falling approval polls indicate folks want to raise taxes, nationalize healthcare, protect the environment and want to bring our troops home immediately. Dems aren't not getting it, either -- it's "gas" and "immigration."

Now, myself, I'm about at the point that I'm thinking a third party would be a great thing. I think this country's ready for it, since our elected leaders can't seem to remember the two words that could bury both parties.

But, there's no way that a third party's going to be viable by November 2006 -- so, I'm going to vote Republican, because the Dems are unthinkable at this point in history.That leaves two years for a third party to build for 2008 -- and I think the Minute Men would be a good place to start.

Meanwhile Republicans have One More Chance next week to respond to their constituents. Secure the danged border. How much plainer can that be? Avoid anything that sounds remotely like amnesty. Seal the border, and then figure out the complex problem of what to do with the illegals already here ... what the heck, maybe start by deporting the entire labyrinthine bureaucracy of the INS.

As Stephen King quipped in "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon,": "The Lord comes in at the bottom of the ninth ..."

I hope so. In the meantime, I wouldn't wait for God to inspire our CongressCritters to do their job, so here's some contact info:

Christi links with Alipac, here's some contact info, and a recommended message:

Make your first call to Frist’s offices and deliver the message “You can forget about ever being President for your support of amnesty bigboy!”

Then we have a simple message for the rest of the Senate. “Freeze! Put down the pen and step away from the legislation slowly. We do not need new laws. Enforce our existing laws. Each member of the Senate that supports any law change allowing illegal aliens to stay will face the voter wrath at the polls and will be brought home.”

Senator William H. Frist (R- TN) 202-224-3344 fax: 202-228-1264 Contact Form

Here are lobbying tips and contact info links

Here's an Easy to use contact tool

Christi urges: Contact them in every way you can, not just one way. Call, write, fax, and email. Contact them in every way you can, not just one way. Call, write, fax, and email. Secure the Borders NOW! NO PATH TO CITIZENSHIP for those here illegally

And I'd add -- please forget about anything that sounds like amnesty until we get the border sealed -- and throw a bone to the MinuteMen.

Mental telepathy isn't going to do it, folks.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest and the freshest on illegal immigration. New posts available at: The Uncooperative Blogger, bRight & Early, DeMediacratic Nation, Pursuing Holiness, CommonSenseAmerica, Mensa Barbie Welcomes You, Committees of Correspondence

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate.**

Crossposted at RightWingThinking, and adapted for RedState.com.  ¶ 7:59 AM |

  Speaking Truth To Gerbils ...
Guys, get a grip. You're probably not interesting enough for the government to spy on.

The latest NSA scandal is about how the NSA uses records of the phone company to see if there's a pattern in calls made by people to known terror suspects. Content of the calls is not available, and nobody cares about your local contacts with the PTA.

In short, it's not a scandal, and it's not even news. But, it sure does mark the sudden end of another fairly productive security program.

Ever hear of Echelon?

From Wikipedia:

ECHELON is a highly secretive world-wide signals intelligence and analysis network run by the UKUSA Community. [1] ECHELON can capture radio and satellite communications, telephone calls, faxes and e-mails nearly anywhere in the world and includes computer automated analysis and sorting of intercepts. [2] ECHELON is estimated to intercept up to 3 billion communications every day
From the NYT's, 1999, title link:

According to the report, Echelon is just one of the many code names for the monitoring system, which consists of satellite interception stations in participating countries. The stations collectively monitor millions of voice and data messages each day. These messages are then scanned and checked against certain key criteria held in a computer system called the "Dictionary." In the case of voice communications, the criteria could include a suspected criminal's telephone number; with respect to data communications, the messages might be scanned for certain keywords, like "bomb" or "drugs." The report also alleges that Echelon is capable of monitoring terrestrial Internet traffic through interception nodes placed on deep-sea communications cables

Well, Congress investigated it, (at taxpayer expense)and nothing happened. But then, that was during the Clinton administration, and the major media had no interest in generating any more scandals than Clinton did for himself.

The latest NSA surveillance scandal consists of the fact that the feds have been doing the same thing that Verizon, major marketing corporations, and Microsoft does: collecting phone numbers, and processing them to see if there's a pattern.

In short, nobody really cares about your calls to the local PTA.

God forbid that the information should be used in the service of national security. But, let's just hang up another effort at national security, shall we?

This nation's forgotten we're at war, until the next brutal thing happens on our soil.

StetsonTip DiscerningTexan.

(photo is of "GerbilStomper," from PhotoPost)  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Senator Cornyn Responds ... Here's a letter I received from Sen. John Cornyn by e-mail:

Thank you for contacting me about immigration reform. The need to fix our broken system is clear, and the Senate is currently debating several proposals regarding one of the most important issues in recent memory.

Last July, as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security, Immigration, and Citizenship, I worked closely with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl to formulate the Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005 (S. 1438). This legislation does not provide amnesty and includes provisions to strengthen border security, ensure jobsite enforcement, and sensibly handle the undocumented population currently living within our borders. It is based on both the rule of law and the fundamental American principle of fairness.

The truth is that we have not devoted the funds, resources, or manpower required to fully enforce our immigration laws or protect our borders. S. 1438 would authorize additional Customs and Border Protection officers as well as funding for technological advances including cameras, sensors, and unmanned aerial vehicles. This legislation also calls for the expansion of Expedited Removal program, which allows the Department of Homeland Security to more quickly remove aliens who are ineligible to enter the country.

We must also strengthen interior enforcement and ensure that criminal aliens are identified and deported. This legislation authorizes additional detention beds and expands a program that identifies criminal aliens while they are still serving time in state and local jails. It also authorizes funds to reimburse states for the costs they incur because of criminal illegal aliens.

The most important step toward reducing illegal immigration is the development of a more effective system for verifying work authorization. If a merchant can swipe a card to determine whether a credit card number is valid, certainly the federal government can develop a system that allows employers to verify whether a new hire is authorized to work.

Enforcement alone will not work; we must also create better avenues for legal immigration. Our legislation creates a new temporary visa category that allows foreign workers to enter the country for a short period of time and then requires them to return home. It creates financial incentives for circular migration—including a temporary worker investment fund that vests only when the worker returns to his or her home country.

Finally, this legislation creates a fair and reasonable process to transition the current undocumented worker population back into the legal flow of immigrants. It requires those who entered illegally to depart the United States and re-enter through normal, legal channels. Only then may they return as temporary workers. All we ask is that they enter legally.

Critics allege that our proposal will strand workers outside the United States and disrupt the economy and workforce. I disagree, and I'm committed to ensuring that our proposal allows for a smooth transition.

Immigration reform ultimately must be about improving legal immigration, not about creating a new process that benefits only illegal aliens. Although we are a nation of immigrants, we are also a nation of laws. If all immigrants must abide by the rule of law and are treated equally, then we can reach a consensus on ways to improve the legal process so that it meets the needs of society, the economy, and our national security.

Unfortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an immigration proposal that I did not vote for and cannot support on the Senate floor. This proposal will be offered as a substitute to Majority Leader Bill Frist’s Securing America’s Borders Act (S. 2454). But I will have numerous opportunities to both offer and vote for amendments ensuring that those in our country illegally are not rewarded for their transgressions, provide for future enforcement of border security, and responsibly handle the large population illegally living within our borders.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security, Immigration, and Citizenship, I will continue working to curtail illegal immigration and its effects on the State of Texas while ensuring that immigrants following the rule of law have an equal opportunity to realize their potential as they become productive members of our society. To better acquaint you with the reforms I support, I have compiled detailed summaries of S. 1438 and other relevant information at http://cornyn.senate.gov/immigration.

I appreciate the opportunity to represent the interests of Texans in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator

Back in February, Senator Hutchison, R-Tex, also asked Bill Frist to take up her Shipping Container Security Act, S. 376, which would ensure that every container shipped into this country would be checked and tracked. She's been working on S-376 for more than a year. Ever hear of it? Thought not, although the House approved a bill last week which provided: $7.4 billion to enhance port security and authorize and codify the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO). Also, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will deploy nuclear and radiological detection systems at all domestic seaports.

Senator Hutchison is up for re-election in November, she's also hoping to amend the current piece of immigration legislation with this:

From the Ft. Worth Star Telegram:

Hutchison said her plan, called SAFE Visa, would enable U.S. employers to bring in foreign workers to fill jobs in agriculture and the service industry. But in a departure from the Martinez-Hagel plan, the guest workers would be required to return home and would not be eligible for permanent residency or citizenship.

Hutchison also stressed that any immigration legislation emerging from Congress this year must include aggressive enforcement measures to secure the country's porous borders with Mexico and Canada. The most volatile elements of the immigration debate center on proposed guest worker programs and proposals to legalize up to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S

It's supposed to be patterned after Canadian immigration policy.

She's also up for re-election in the fall. Here's a link her web page listing speeches and press releases regarding immigration. While she's a tad diplomatic, I think she can be counted on to do the right thing.

Senator Cornyn was just voted into office a couple of years ago, he's made himself pretty visible, and while I've got some problems with his stance on the asbestos legislation, he's also been doing alot of the right things regarding immigration.

I spend alot of time railing against Congress in general, however, here in Texas we're fortunate.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition to indicate which level you'd would like to participate**  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Forget Illegals! Let's Keep An Eye On Minutemen!
Well, our Border Patrol might as well keep an eye on the MinuteMen -- because sure as heck the feds aren't doing much of anything else.

Oops, wait a minute -- the Border Patrol's denying that it ever does any such thing. Here's their statement, StetsonTip HaroldHutchison over at RedState:

Today's report by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, "U.S. tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols," is inaccurate. Border Patrol does not report activity by civilian, non-law enforcement groups to the Government of Mexico. During a detention of a legal or illegal immigrant that produces an allegation of improper treatment, Border Patrol reports the allegation and allows the appropriate consulate to interview the individual in custody ...(hmmm. I didn't think the MinuteMen took anyone into custody -- FB)

Well, let's see. We know the media lies, and we know that various federal agencies will say anything to save their own sorry selves.

Here's a couple of Chris Simcox' comments:

"Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.

"They just basically endangered the lives of American people."

Let's take a look at what's true: There is more popular support in this country for border control than there is for either the Democrat or the Republican party. My hunch is also that there's probably more support for any generic MinuteMan, than for any "generic" Congressman.

I heard on KLIF this morning that Bush's approval rating's 31 percent. The low numbers have been attributed it to Iraq, and the perception of a bust economy. The analysis is wrong. The issues are border control and gas prices, and most of the egg-headed pundits and politico's continue to miss it.

Let's put it this way. I'm just a basic average middled aged mom from Texas. I go to church, and to high school band concerts. My idea of a good time is to turn in at 9 pm.

Life is peaceful and I like it that way.

But, our MinuteMen are doing the right thing. I swear, If any federal agency or politician starts to interfere with them, I'm headed to Washington with my grandmother's cast iron frying pan to crack some heads.

UPDATE: Wow! I just heard Rep. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee blast the administration for permitting tip-offs to the Mexican government! If any of y'all are in her district, or from Tennessee -- you're blessed!

(photo from CBS)

Brian's also writing an eloquent, straight from the hip response to the above BorderPatrol shenanigans. Urbane's posted an intriguing idea about how to use the "writ of Mandameus" from DemediaCratic Nation. A Writ of Mandameus involves getting a court to order an agency to do its job. (I think) And there's alot more at the CoalitionBlog.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate**  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Wal-Mart Organic Lettuce Coming Soon! You know, I'd actually buy organic food -- organic coffee in particular -- because I prefer the taste and texture of organic foods. However, I've got neither the resources or desire to pay $5 for a head of lettuce, or $20 for a pound of coffee.

Imagine my delight when I saw this:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is pushing into organics with a vengeance.

Who stands to benefit? Organically-inclined consumers because of Wal-Mart's price-busting mentality

Who's should be very afraid? Competitors like Whole Foods (Research), Wild Oats (Research) and other supermarket chains who've either built their business on selling "natural foods" or are aggressively expanding into that area.

Wal-Mart (Research)'s already the No. 1 seller of groceries, a category it entered when it opened its first supercenter store in 1988. Today, the company sells fruits and vegetables, milk, bread and other packaged foods in nearly 2,000 supercenter stores and about 100 smaller neighborhood market locations

There's been this huge liberal movement against Wal-Mart; the biggest complaint is how they treat their worker. You know what -- I worked in the healthcare profession for twenty years, and when it comes to abusing the hired help, Wal Mart's a piker compared to your local hospital. My private assessment is that Wal Mart's is just too common for SUV driving liberals.

Cost-Co, on the other hand is to be supported because it's some kind of worker's paradise.

Well, guess what? I shop at both, and it looks like we're going to be able to get organic leafy's at Wal-mart pretty soon.

Plus, where where else can you go when you want to buy a red, white and blue thong that has a button which plays "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and is made in China?  ¶ 7:45 AM |

  Beauty and the Blog ...
Well, KathrynCramer says that Cao's invited her for a little mudwrestling.

Now for those who don't know (and probably don't care, as a matter of fact, if you're from overseas, it'd probably be okay if you just skipped this post, really, here in America we're not always so peculiar! Honest!) ...

Hm. Ahem. The photo to the left is of KathrynCramer, looking a little like Arnold Schwartzenegger towards the end of Predator. But, she's ready to mud wrestle with Cao.

Now, Kathryn's a blogger with a liberal bent, (although for the life of me, I can't figure out why, given alot of her excellent content) Cao's definately conservative. She also has a terrific blog, good content, worth reading, and she is h3ll on wheels when it comes to running with a story.

Both of them have their disagreements, mostly around Jack Idema, and seem to have been able to engage in repartee without drifting into the moronic niche of the blogosphere, unlike the bandwidth wasters over at StuporPatriot. (google it, I'm still not going to give them a link)

Now, Cramer makes the fairly serious point that women who talk about politics in public get insulted for their looks. Which is true, fair or not -- of course, then she gets into analysis of "wingnuts" and yadayada. Cao posted the fun image I've reprinted at the bottom of my page.

I'd just like to point out -- y'all want gorgeous, sheer incredible drop dead gorgeous, needing neither make up nor mud enhancement? When I was younger, men stared at me with lust and longing. Now that I've aged, it's stark raving terror, which seems to work just about as well.

There was a point to my article somewhere, I think I was researching for my weekly post about Jack Idema -- but I'll just direct you to click to any of the following excellent blogs about all things Idema. Also, read Kathryn's Blog, and read Cao's. There's a terrific photo of Kathryn's cute kid doing the spoon on the nose thingie; and catch Cao's fun video blogging.

Uhhh ... back to Jack Idema. Ahem. Click to any of the following for the latest news:

Acts of Aggression
Big Dog's Weblog
Cao's blog
Causes of Interest
concatenation of events
Devil's Kitchen
Freedom Folks
Irate Nate
Kender's Musings
Making Headlines
NIF
Red Hot Cuppa Politics
Right For Scotland
Rottweiler Puppy
Sacramento Boxing
The City Troll
The Lone Voice
The Pink Flamingo Bar & Grill
Theodore's World



If you study the poster to the right, you might also notice that the Democrat women are mostly fossils! That's indicative of something, I think.

And now ... I think I'll just politely end this post, and attempt to get on with my real life. Which is calling, whining, screaming, demanding, chortling, joking, and whistling for me to get off the internet!  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Pssst, Guys! Let's Pass A Law We Already Have It's gotta be a tough choice for US Congressmen: Who can we pander to next ...?

Debbie, over at RightTruth, lays out the endless possibilities:

Will they favor their constituents, or the millions of potential future hispanic voters, or the businesses that hire these illegals? Will a fence get built? Will a new politital party be created, giving the conservatives a choice in upcoming elections? So many questions and so few answers coming out of Washington.

But, not to worry! Our fearless leaders have come up with the perfect solution: Pass a law we already have!

From the DenverPost: Denver -

Capping weeks of wrangling over illegal immigration amid a furious national debate, lawmakers on Monday gave final backing to a bill aimed at "coyotes" who smuggle illegal workers for money.

The legislature earlier approved stiff fines for counterfeiting immigration documents and penalties for cities that discourage police from working with federal immigration authorities.

House Democrats killed most Republican proposals early in the session, which angered some in the GOP. But both parties were eventually able to support seven proposals, including the human smuggling bill, which now heads to Gov. Bill Owens.

Human smuggling is already a crime under federal law, but state law-enforcement agencies and immigration critics say federal authorities haven't been tough enough ...

Of course, it only people who are paid to take illegal immigrants across the border.

One does have to admire the brilliant simplicity of the plan: First, everybody hates coyotes -- so throw a cookie to conservative voters while gladhanding liberals. Second, it doesn't affect illegal immigrants, so toss a tortilla to Hispanics. Third, congress critters can keep slobbering up to big business and humanitarian lobbyists.

But, fourth -- and here's the best part -- our fearless leaders will get to pass another piece of unnecessary legislation. Yessiree bob -- why have only one law you won't enforce, when you could have two you won't enforce!

So, everybody wins with this one, right?

Wrong.

Check out these poll numbers from IBD/TIPP, published in IBS yesterday:

**74 percent of Americans said the U.S. should take action against employers who hire illegals
**68% said the U.S. should control its borders before passing amnesty/guest workers laws
**64% want existing laws enforced, instead of making a new guest worker program.
**44% favor protection of groups that enable illegals. That's down 5 percent in a month

Now, let's compare what Americans say they want with what Congress is actually doing.

Are they passing laws to punish employers? Nope!
Are they controlling the border? Nope!
Are they talking about consequences for enablers? Nope!
Are the existing laws enforced? Nope, and snicker!

Also, remember the Zogby poll that found 81 percent of Americans favored the original House bill -- that includes a whopping 81 percent of Republicans, and a majority of 57 percent who call themselves Democrats.

While Congressmen are either deploring, or gloating over, the President's thirty something approval ratings, they might consider that the approval ratings for their own sorry selves is somewhere in the low twenties. And, they're the ones up for re-election.

There's still a little time left for our fearless leaders. But, if voters start tossing their cookies in November, Republicans just might find themselves out with the crumbs.

The above photo is from the LA GermanShepherdRescue site. Maybe some humanitarian group will start a home for abandoned Senators as well.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration news. ChristiKing has another example of backlash and Tom's written another eloquent essay, this one about how the myth of lazy Americans is particularly offensive to vets. And there's plenty more.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at which level you would like to participate**  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  "We Go To The Streets ...For Noisy Operations ..." Coalition forces captured some pretty interesting documents in Baghdad last month. The papers were released yesterday:

From CentCom website:

The discovery of theses documents is extremely relevant. This information confirms what the Government of Iraq, Coalition Forces and ultimately the people of Iraq already know - that AQIZ’s role only attempts to impede Iraqis in following the road to prosperity, security and national unity,” said MNF-I spokesman, Brig. Gen. Rudy Wright.

According to the translated al-Qaida in Iraq’s documents, the Mujahideen’s only power lies in surprise ‘hit and run’ attacks, or setting up explosive charges and booby traps that predominantly target civilian men, women and children

Here's the translation:

A glance at the reality of Baghdad in light of the latest events (sectarian turmoil)

1)It has been proven that the Shiites have a power and influence in Baghdad that cannot be taken lightly, particularly when the power of the Ministries of Interior and Defense is given to them, compared with the power of the mujahidin in Baghdad. During a military confrontation, they will be in a better position because they represent the power of the state along with the power of the popular militias. Most of the mujahidin power lies in surprise attacks (hit and run) or setting up explosive charges and booby traps. This is a different matter than a battle with organized forces that possess machinery and suitable communications networks. Thus, what is fixed in the minds of the Shiite and Sunni population is that the Shiites are stronger in Baghdad and closer to controlling it while the mujahidin (who represent the backbone of the Sunni people) are not considered more than a daily annoyance to the Shiite government. The only power the mujahidin have is what they have already demonstrated in hunting down drifted patrols and taking sniper shots at those patrol members who stray far from their patrols, or planting booby traps among the citizens and hiding among them in the hope that the explosions will injure an American or members of the government. In other words, these activities could be understood as hitting the scared and the hiding ones, which is an image that requires a concerted effort to change, as well as Allah’s wisdom.

2) The strength of the brothers in Baghdad is built mainly on booby trapped cars, and most of the mujahidin groups in Baghdad are generally groups of assassin without any organized military capabilities.

3) There is a clear absence of organization among the groups of the brothers in Baghdad, whether at the leadership level in Baghdad, the brigade leaders, or their groups therein. Coordination among them is very difficult, which appears clearly when the group undertake a join operations

4) The policy followed by the brothers in Baghdad is a media oriented policy without a clear comprehensive plan to capture an area or an enemy center. Other word, the significance of the strategy of their work is to show in the media that the American and the government do not control the situation and there is resistance against them. This policy dragged us to the type of operations that are attracted to the media, and we go to the streets from time to time for more possible noisy operations which follow the same direction.

This direction has large positive effects; however, being preoccupied with it alone delays more important operations such as taking control of some areas, preserving it and assuming power in Baghdad (for example, taking control of a university, a hospital, or a Sunni religious site).

At the same time, the Americans and the Government were able to absorb our painful blows, sustain them, compensate their losses with new replacements, and follow strategic plans which allowed them in the past few years to take control of Baghdad as well as other areas one after the other. That is why every year is worse than the previous year as far as the Mujahidin’s control and influence over Baghdad.

5) The role that the Islamic party and the Islamic Scholars Committee play in numbing the Sunni people through the media is a dangerous role. It has been proven from the course of the events that the American investment in the Party and the Committee were not in vain. In spite of the gravity of the events, they were able to calm down the Sunni people, justify the enemy deeds, and give the enemy the opportunity to do more work without any recourse and supervision. This situation stemmed from two matters:

**First, their media power is presented by their special radio and TV stations as the sole Sunni information source, coupled with our weak media which is confined mainly to the Internet, without a flyer or newspaper to present these events.

** Second, in the course of their control of the majority of the speakers at mosques who convert right into wrong and wrong into right, and present Islam in a sinful manner and sins in a Muslim manner. At the same time we did not have any positive impact or benefits from our operations. (the bigger problem is that the "brothers" have managed to blow up more innocent Iraqi civilians the past couple of years than anyone else; that in itself is a huge PR problem, isn't it? -- FB)

6) The mujahidin do not have any stored weapons and ammunition in their possession in Baghdad, particularly rockets, such as C5K Katyosha or bomber or mortars which we realized their importance and shortage in Baghdad. That was due to lack of check and balance, and proper follow-ups.

7) The National Guard status is frequently raised and whether they belong to the Sunnis or Shiites. Too much talk is around whether we belong to them or not, or should we strike and kill their men or not?

It is believed that this matter serves the Americans very well. I believe that the Committee and the Party are pushing this issue because they want to have an influence, similar to the Mujahidin’s. When and if a Sunni units from the National Guard are formed, and begin to compete with the mujahidin and squeeze them, we will have a problem; we either let them go beyond the limits or fight them and risk inciting the Sunnis against us through the Party’s and the Committee’s channels.



Page 3 of 4

I believe that we should not allow this situation to exist at all, and we should bury it before it surfaces and reject any suggestion to that effect.

8) (Salah), the military commander of Baghdad (he used to be the commander of the Rassafah County and still is) is a courageous young man with a good determination but he has little and simple experience in the military field and does not have a clear vision about the current stage and how to deal with it Most of his work at al-Rassafah County is to take cars to the Jubur Arab Tribes, convert them into booby traps and take them back inside Baghdad for explosion. And the more booby trap cars he makes, the more success he has. This alone is not a work plan and we do not benefit from it in the medium range let alone the long range.


9) (Salah): The current commander of Northern al-Karkh (Abu-Huda) is very concerned because of his deteriorating security situation caused by being pursued by the Americans, since they have his picture and voice print. Therefore, his movement is very restricted and he is unable to do anything here. We should remove him from Baghdad to a location where he can work easier; otherwise he is closer to become totally ineffective. I know nothing about his past military experience or organizational skills.

10) (Salah): Northern al-Karkh groups are estimated at 40 mujahid, so is the Southern Karkh. They could double that number if necessary. Al-Rassafah groups in general is estimated at 30 mujahidin as I was informed by the commander of al-Rassafah. These are very small numbers compared to the tens of thousands of the enemy troops. How can we increase these numbers?

Instructive and enlightening. But here's a clue for the anonymous Al Quada author: I don't know how you'd increase the numbers, either -- since you keep blowing up the clueless teenagers you manage to recruit.  ¶ 7:30 AM |

  Blogging Perspective ... **UPDATE 05/10** It's MaDDOX, not MadCox. My bad.***

My 18 year old son, in his vast wisdom, directed me to this page, and I'd like to share some excerpts with y'all ... particularly after the first breaking story, then the breaking non--story story on the breaking story, then the breaking story about the non-story breaking today.

I think you get the idea. So, take a deep breath, and peruse below, from theBestPageInTheUniverse, by MadCox.

Blog: The word "blog" is literally shorthand for "boring;" a vulgar, overused word that strikes your ear with the dull thud of a cudgel to the soft spot of a child. It's an abbreviation used by journalism drop outs to give legitimacy to their shallow opinions and amateur photography that seems to be permanently stuck in first draft hell. Looking in the archives of the blogs, one would expect someone who has been at it for years to slowly hone their craft and improve their writing and photographs, since it's usually safe to assume that if someone does something long enough, he or she will eventually not suck at it. Even with lowered expectations, you'll get a shotgun blast of disappointment in your face.

It's an unspoken rule that every blog must use the same layout as every other blog: long, slender columns of annoyingly condensed text, thousands of links to other blogs, plugs for shitty political books, and more links to yet more blogs

The problem with this layout is that there's too much shit to click on. Seriously, who's ever going to click on all those links? The worst blogs are the ones that make every other word a hyperlink to another website so by the time you finish reading this sentence, you've forgotten what you were reading, or why you were reading it in the first place. Hey, this article is great but you know what would make it better? If I could read another article in the middle of it. Great design, morons

If the thousands of mid-sentence links don't annoy you, the long slender columns of text will. Most of the screen on a blog is blank for an imaginary populace of readers still using 640x480 resolution. I didn't buy a 19" monitor to have 50% of its screen realestate pissed away on firing white pixels, you assholes. They don't print books on receipt paper for a reason. Every time I see this layout, I want to choke the creator with my dry, crackled, and bleeding hands for making my fingers so calloused from having to keep scrolling the mouse wheel to read your dumb "blog."

Blogger: Term used to describe anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives. Possibly the most annoying thing about bloggers is the sense of self-importance they get after even the most modest of publicity. Sometimes it takes as little as a referral on a more popular blogger's website to set the lesser blogger's ego into orbit.

Then God forbid a blogger gets mentioned on CNN. If you thought it was impossible for a certain blogger to get more pious than he was, wait until you see the shit storm of self-righteous save-the-world bullshit after a network plug. Suddenly the boring, mild-mannered blogger you once knew will turn into Mother Theresa, and will single handedly take it upon himself to end world hunger with his stupid links to band websites and other smug blogger dipshits.

Blogging: If minds had anuses, blogging would be what your mind would do when it had to take a dump.

Blogged: What you call a trivial or largely inconsequential topic once bloggers have processed through every tired detail. For more on this, look into: every minor news story.

Blogosphere: The "blogosphere" is the new buzz word that has replaced "information super highway." It's what idiots like to call a collection of "blogs," otherwise known as a tragedy.

Blogomania: Like all other manias, except relating to the infatuation of blogs. It's one step above the more caustic phrase "blog-o-rama." Thankfully the latter hasn't caught on to the extent of its brethren, but that doesn't stop me from punching anyone who says it in the dick.

Blogroll: A long list of links that nobody will ever click on. Bloggers not only link to their friends and fellow bloggers, but their eventual goal is to link to every linkable document on the Internet. Most "blog rolls" are so full of links that it can bring even the mightiest of search engines to a crawl as they sort through all the frivolous bullshit bloggers link to.

Thankfully, since most blogs are shallow in content, it won't take you long to load, and in turn, to close the browser quickly if you're duped into clicking one of these links. If you shut down quickly enough, you may be able to avoid downloading the mandatory 2 gigs of political banners on every blogger's website.

Blogshare: An imaginary share of a blog's worth, which is ironic, since most blogs have an imaginary share of readers.

Blogstorm: A zany phrase news anchors like to use any time they think there's an abnormal amount of posts on blogs regarding any particular topic. Of course, they fail to consider any amount of posting to a blog is abnormal since people who are well adjusted usually have better things to do, i.e., work, or failing that, anything else.

Blog Swarm: Stupid.

Blogging community: Losers, goths, bedwetters, and journalism dropouts.

Blawg: Some prick thought it would be clever to spell "blog" phonetically using the word "law" in the title. It's a phrase used to describe blogs primarily dealing with the law and legal issues. Wow, real clever, dipshit. How did you come up with that one?

Blogumentary: There was recently a bit of a feud regarding this word among two bloggers. Apparently some guy decided that they had exclusive right to use the word, not realizing that similar words (docudrama, dramedy, rockumentary, etc) have been free to use for all people since you can't just copyright an entire genre, and more importantly, that it's stupid. Who cares? Blogumentary? Really? Eat shit you morons.

Blogebrity: Wow, guess what this one stands for? Too easy. Hey, anyone can do it: take a blogger who's a chef, and you get: BLEF. A blogger who's a dentist? BENTIST. A female blogger with an itch? You guessed it: a BITCH.

Photoblog: Photoblogs make me yearn for the day when cameras weren't digital, film cost money, and it took time to develop pictures. I remember back when it wasn't easy for any random asshole with a camera to go out take countless pictures of nothing. Nothing is exactly what these pictures are of. No focus, no theme, no message, no posturing. Just countless pictures of Denny's at 2 AM. We don't care that you went to Denny's. You're not an artist. You're not deep. Get a new hobby.

Podcast: Someone had the revolutionary idea of taking a compressed audio file and putting it online. Yeah, doesn't sound so sexy when I describe it for what it is, does it you morons? It would have been a great idea if streaming audio wasn't already around for over a decade before the word "podcast" entered the lexicon. Man, I can't stand the word "lexicon." Talking about all these shitty words has made me start using shitty words. I'm so pissed, I just slammed the door shut on some kid's nuts.

Podcasting: It's snob for "streaming audio."

Podcatcher: Any idiot with an iPod, web browser, or ears...

Heh.

Click here for the whole thing, and a fun graphic ... and I'll see y'all tomorrow!

###  ¶ 7:33 PM |

  A Savage Object Lesson Scripted In Human Blood ... ***UPDATE 7PM*********

Per the JawaReport, the story's not true. The video was of a Nepalese man, tortured and beheaded in 2004. Although we didn't exactly hear about that one, either, and although Bahjat was brutally shot -- the UK Times On-line was not accurate.

Here's what I blogged this morning:

Dammit! I blogged on Atwar Bahjat's funeral back in February, citing AP, and CNN -- who didn't even bother to report the fact that she'd been beheaded (although CNN helpfully adds that three Al Arabiya journalists had been killed in the past as a result of US military friendly fire.) And, for that matter, where was frickin' Al Jazeera ... ?

How does a reporter miss the fact that her dead body was found with the head perched on top of her stomach? Controlled news perhaps? How the Hades do you do a passionate story about an assault on the funeral of a fellow journalist -- without even talking to relatives -- who just might have mentioned the teeny fact that they had to stick her head back on top of her neck for the funeral.

It gets worse. Her friend, Hala Jabar watched a recently recovered video of her death -- and wrote about it yesterday for the UK Times Online:

The following's rough to read, and hard to forget -- but we need to know precisely what the face of the enemy looks like (and how Islamofascist of every radical Muslim faction respect women).

Habar writes numbly:

EVEN by the stupefying standards of Iraq’s unspeakable violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the country’s top television journalists, was an act of exceptional cruelty...

She was captured after making three live broadcasts from Samarra, the day the Golden Mosque was blown up... It was reported at the time that she had been shot dead with her cameraman and sound man.

We now know that it was not that swift for Bahjat. First she was stripped to the waist, a humiliation for any woman but particularly so for a pious Muslim who concealed her hair, arms and legs from men other than her father and brother.

Then her arms were bound behind her back. A golden locket in the shape of Iraq that became her glittering trademark in front of the television cameras must have been removed at some point — it is nowhere to be seen in the grainy film, which was made by someone who pointed a mobile phone at her as she lay on a patch of earth in mortal terror

It is stained with blood that trickles from a wound on the left side of her head. She is moaning, although whether from the pain of what has already been done to her or from the fear of what is about to be inflicted is unclear. ..

A large man dressed in military fatigues, boots and cap approaches from behind and covers her mouth with his left hand. In his right hand, he clutches a large knife with a black handle and an 8in blade. He proceeds to cut her throat from the middle, slicing from side to side.

Her cries — “Ah, ah, ah” — can be heard above the “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) intoned by the holder of the mobile phone.

Even then, there is no quick release for Bahjat. Her executioner suddenly stands up, his job only half done. A second man in a dark T-shirt and camouflage trousers places his right khaki boot on her abdomen and pushes down hard eight times, forcing a rush of blood from her wounds as she moves her head from right to left.

Only now does the executioner return to finish the task. He hacks off her head and drops it to the ground, then picks it up again and perches it on her bare chest so that it faces the film-maker in a grotesque parody of one of her pieces to camera.

As a friend of Bahjat who had worked with her on a variety of tough assignments, I found it hard enough to bear the news of her murder. When I saw it replayed, it was as if part of me had died with her. How much more gruelling it must have been for a close family friend who watched the film this weekend and cried when he heard her voice.

The friend, who cannot be identified, knew nothing of her beheading but had been guarding other horrifying details of Bahjat’s ordeal. She had nine drill holes in her right arm and 10 in her left, he said. The drill had also been applied to her legs, her navel and her right eye. One can only hope that these mutilations were made after her death

And, of course, gunmen fired on the funeral procession, killing three mourners.

Here's Habar's analysis:

"...there is no evidence the Iranian-backed Badr militia was responsible. Indeed, there are conflicting indications. The drill is said to be a popular tool of torture with the Badr Brigade. But beheading is a hallmark of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by the Sunni Abu Musab al-Zarqawi...

According to a report that was circulating after Bahjat’s murder, she had enraged the Shi’ite militias during her coverage of the bombing of the Samarra shrine by filming the interior minister, Bayan Jabr, ordering police to release two Iranians they had arrested

Oh, and by the way:

A source linked to the Sunni insurgency who supplied the film to The Sunday Times in London claimed it had come from a mobile phone found on the body of a Shi’ite Badr Brigade member killed during fighting in Baghdad

Whenever you hear demands from US politicians to withdraw our troops immediately, remember the above story -- because that's exactly the kind of people we'd be handing Iraq over to. Also if we withdraw troops now, Atwar Bahjat's murderers are some of the ones that will declare victory over the Americans, which will prove to terrorists of every stripe, in every corner of the world how splendidly effective that their tactics are.

The one dimly bright spot in the story is that the guy who took the footage is dead, and I hope he's reaping his reward in whatever hell he came from.

But, what the heck! Let's just focus on Gitmo, where the real atrocities are (and maybe relive Watergate, and those madcap glory days of Nam)

Allah Akbar, eh?

Offered for trackback at Beth's ...

UPDATE from MudvilleGazette:

An update to the story of the murder of Atwar Bahjat. Questions have been raised concerning the identity of the victim in the video. According to this wikipedia entry photos of Atwar Bahjat's body prove she was not decapitated. The photos linked from the entry, while gruesome, are not conclusive.

What's known at this time: Atwar Bahjat was kidnapped and murdered while covering the Samarra bombing. The author of the London Times' story has been with the paper for some time, and is self-identified as "a friend of Bahjat who had worked with her on a variety of tough assignments". According to that Times story, the paper received a video of an execution that concludes with a close-up of the victim's face. The author has seen the video. The video is "cell phone" quality. The author says the victim is Atwar Bahjat

I don't see that the wikipedia photo's prove anything, except it looks like she took some real punishment to the side of her face. But, what the heck ... let's just ignore this, and go on back to "proving" that Bush is the real terrorist, shall we?

SECOND UPDATE: Per the JawaReport, the story's not true. The video was of a Nepalese man, tortured and beheaded in 2004. Although we didn't exactly hear about that one, either, and although Bahjat was brutally shot -- the UK Times On-line was not accurate.  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  "Dear President Bush: Please forward this letter to 5 people ... ?
So, President AllMyJihad's written a letter to President Bush, to recommend new ideas, at least according to the WashingtonPost.

Now, I guess it's newsworthy because it's the first time in decades there's been any communication directly from Iran to America -- we broke off diplomatic relations with them back in the seventies. But, I guess in the light of current events, AllMyJihad might have some things to get off their chest.

The letter's somewhere in Switzerland right now ... but I wonder what's in the content.

Here's a considered list of what I think the Iranian prez might suggest:

1) Bush should convert to Islam, after all, it's supposed to be the answer to everything.

2) Make Laura and the twins wear burka's. Unseemly, the way American women refuse to cover themselves.

3) Hey, let's talk some more. Lots more.

4) Check around the US southern border, to see if the 12th imam's been trying to sneak across like everybody else.

Ooops. Well, maybe not, since according to Bloomberg yesterday, Iran's foreign minister said:

``The U.S. isn't prepared to have talks on a one-to-one equal basis ... They are following the politics of threat. So under these conditions we see no necessity to start talks with them.''

Ohwell.

Who knows, maybe the letter starts out "Please forward this letter to five people you know ..."

(photo from theAge, out of Australia)  ¶ 7:50 AM |

  Pity The Beleagered Spooks...
So, Dana Priest (who captured the Pulitzer Prize by with a report on secret prisons nobody can locate) has written a heart-wrending article about those poor hardworking CIA bureaucrats who've been alienated by Porter Goss ...

You know, those politically correct guys 'n gals that were left after Clinton's purge of the CIA in the 90's ... those abused, hardworking spies in the CIA who spend all their time laboring over latte and computer games on the Beltway ... those beleagured government workers that managed to overlook 9/11 ... but proved by deduction that Saddam couldn't have had any contact with Al Quada, oh noooo ... those agents who can barely get their foot in the door to the major news outlets to whine about Bush ...

Puhleeze! If there was ever a government agency that's earned demoralization, it's this one.

Before you get lead to any conclusions, read Robert Baer's "See No Evil ..." (he was the last Arab speaking spy left in the Middle East during the Clinton administration.They fixed that, though.)

If you want to read her cloying article, click to the title link. I'm not going to waste any more blogspace reprinting it here.

(photo from Endorphins.net. A Spanish site)  ¶ 8:35 AM |

  Roll To The Right for Domestic Policy, Rollll To The Left For International ...
We have a German Shephard, too. Big fluffy, goofy dog, who's rarely met a stranger he didn't adore right away.

Our dog's named after my husband's favorite longarm. But, Tom's right. Maybe we should have called him "Senator":

From Tom's Flashbask, over at MySpaces, title link:

What I Learned From My 4-Year Old ...

My idea of a perfect dog is one that will protect my family. That will be vigilant over my kids while they play in the yard. That will die protecting us as members of its pack. A little over a week ago we saw a sign for German Shepard puppies at Wal-Mart. Perfect. We called the people went to the house to see the dogs. My son is 4 and never really spent a lot of time around animals so he was a little nervous seeing all the puppies.

The people that owned the dogs had the adults put always but went to get the female to give us an idea of what the puppies would be like grown up. The dame came out and immediately alerted with the strangers near her pups, she barked and half charged and was doing a double take because of the owners yelling at her. My son was screaming which just added to the melee. I scooped him up and extended my arm towards the dog in a “Halt” gesture.

Tommy had his arms and legs wrapped around me tighter than ever before in fear. By now the owners had the dog headed back inside, but to my boy all he could say was she had big teeth. In his little view of it all he knew was that a large set of teeth were coming at him.

All the puppies were inside a large shelter with straw on the floor. Tommy and I walked in there and puppies being what they are swarmed all over him, he asked me “are they going to eat me?” I said of course not, they want to play. I thought it was funny hearing him ask that. Cracked me up.

But now over a week later I’ve had some time to think about that. There was my son that I love more than anything walking into a den of strange big toothed animals that scared him and he thought that he was going to be eaten and die in so much as he could comprehend such acts, and yet he trusted me enough to brave it anyway and stand his ground. He trusted that I would protect him and preserve his life. He believed his father would keep him from any harm.

We got one of the puppies, a fine mellow animal, and we are molding her into a member of our pack. We have to teach her the rules of the house, how to behave, reward and punish her behaviors.

Now I put into the context of what is going on with illegal immigration. We are trusting our government to protect us from the big teethy problems that are coming at our Nation from all sides. It is impossible to comprehend that the government would not protect the lives of its citizens any more than my son thinking I would not protect him. I will never abuse that trust, as the people in DC should never abuse ours. Our leaders should be stepping over themselves to protect this Nation. To secure our lives and insure that we are not having our throats ripped out.

Unfortunately they have been on auto pilot in DC. To busy doing polls and making Power Point slide shows to get out on the ground and actually solve any problems. They have the mentality of if we make a law it will be ok. But without enforcement of the law it is meaningless.

Too much attention is put on the fuzzy helpful worker that came here to make some money and have a better life. But let’s not forget about all those that have the teeth and are here to cause harm, to destroy lives and take what they can with no regard of being a part of the pack.

Yup.

Check out the petition to Congress over at ImmigrationProtest, and make sure and read Christi King's article on how Americans are tired of begging. And, click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest on illegal immigration reform -- or at least, the desire for it.

****This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let Brian know at what level you would like to participate**

(Above photo is of a German Shephard puppy, perhaps dreaming of running for the US Senate one day ...)

  ¶ 8:30 AM |

  Diplomatic Docey Doe & Doo Doo
So, there was a flurry yesterday of determined diplomatic activity in the ongoing effort to bring Iran to the UN Security Council. Which I don't think will be worth spit, although I think we're going to try anyway.

Here's why I'm a tad dubious:

Detroit Free Press, about two thirds of the way down the page:

China and Russia, which have the power to veto Security Council resolutions, both oppose a next step of economic sanctions against Iran.

And they have interests in Iran:

*Russia is selling air defense systems to Iran for $700 million and continues work on Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr as part of an $800-million deal.

*China has signed a $100-billion deal to buy natural gas and oil from Iran.

Bush has refused talks with the Iran leadership, but a growing chorus of lawmakers, experts and former high-ranking diplomats has been calling for Washington to engage Iran directly.

"Talking with people you don't like is not appeasement," Madeleine Albright, secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, said at recent meeting with reporters. "It's how you deliver a tough message." (sure worked with N.Korea, didn't it, Madeleine .. ? -- FB)

Yah.

A couple of inaccuracies in the article -- it leads by saying that Iran's at least years from developing a nuclear weapons (so relax, right?). Truth is, nobody really knows where they are in the process, or what they've managed to buy. The current estimtes are based on existing technology -- but the mullahs are trying like crazy to build new, improved cascading machine thingies.

Second, the Madeline Albright quote's a little silly, but typical of the way Democrats try to trivialize Republican motivations. There's a gazillion reasons for Bush not to negotiate with the mullahs, personal like or dislike has nothing to do with it.

And President AllMyJihad just gets nuttier, while our diplomats do the doo ....

Incidentally, there's a NewsOfTheWeird crossover alert: Jerome Corsi spent the first hour on Coast to Coast talking about Iran. His concern is the news that Iran's fishing to have the oil market based on the euro.

(cartoon from the genius at SauerThompson)  ¶ 8:15 AM |

  House Dems Confident Of November Victory ... As Rush pointed out last week, Democrats are not only confident of victory in November, they're measuring the office windows for curtains.

From WashingtonPost, title link:

Democratic leaders, increasingly confident they will seize control of the House in November, are laying plans for a legislative blitz during their first week in power that would raise the minimum wage, roll back parts of the Republican prescription drug law, implement homeland security measures and reinstate lapsed budget deficit controls.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said in an interview last week that a Democratic House would launch a series of investigations of the Bush administration, beginning with the White House's first-term energy task force and probably including the use of intelligence in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Pelosi denied Republican allegations that a Democratic House would move quickly to impeach President Bush. But, she said of the planned investigations, "You never know where it leads to."

In recent days, Democratic confidence has been buoyed by a series of polls indicating that not only is Bush growing increasingly unpopular, so are Republicans in Congress. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Friday found that 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest rating of his presidency. And only 25 percent approves of the job Congress is doing, a figure comparable to congressional approval ratings before the 1994 elections that swept Republicans to power

The AP-Ipsos poll found that 51 percent of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress. Only 34 percent favor Republican control

Actually, I think the House might be okay, although I'd worry about the Senate. Remember, the House version of immigration reform had some teeth in it, before the Senate got their collective, greasy hands on it. Also, the House put Murtha on the line about pulling troops out now.

But, here's what House Dems say they'll do their first week in power: 1) Raise the minimum wage 2) Allow DHS to negotiate prices for drugs offered in the new prescription program 3) Reinstitute a pay-go rule.

However, Pelosi also adds that they'll be really, really quick to investigate Dick Cheney's secret energy task force ... investigate the WMD claims as justification for war ... investigate "domestic" wiretapping and, in the words of Howard Dean ... "YEOOOWWWWW!!!"

Now, which of the above things outlined do you actually trust Democrats to do ...?

But, let me present l'il nancy pelosi, who's counting the minutes until she's House Majority Leader:


When you click to the "play with me" button, you can stuff hay in l'il nanci's mouth, if you'd like her to shut up!

UPDATE: Bob Novak reported yesterday that Senator Grassley ignored a meeting with President Bush:

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, turned down a request to meet in the Oval Office with President Bush and other Senate and House tax legislators last Tuesday because he was scheduled with Iowa constituents.

That marked Grassley's second recent boycott of a high-level meeting about tax legislation. A week earlier, he declined to attend an 8:30 p.m. session in Speaker Dennis Hastert's office because it was so late in the day.

The message from Grassley is that as Finance Committee chairman he is running his own show and does not want to be bossed around by either the president or the speaker

Unbelievable. Arrogance.  ¶ 8:05 AM |

  "We Are All Soldiers of al-Sayed ..."
A favorite Al Quada tactic is to launch an attack in two waves. First, you inflict the damage, then you attack the rescuers. However, the attack on the British helicopter yesterday was more likely related to everyone's favorite back stabbing, mullah loving, power grubbing meglomaniacal Shi ite militia leader.

From CNNnetscape News:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A British military helicopter crashed in Basra on Saturday, and Iraqis hurled stones at British troops and set fire to three armored vehicles that rushed to the scene. Clashes broke out between British troops and Shiite militias, police and witnesses said.

Police Capt. Mushtaq Khazim said the helicopter was apparently shot down in a residential district. He said the four-member crew was killed, but British officials would say only that there were ``casualties.'' (al-Jazeera's reporting that four charred bodies were pulled out of the wreckage -- FB)

British forces backed by armored vehicles rushed to the area but were met by a hail of stones from the crowd of at least 250 people, who jumped for joy and raised their fists as a plume of thick smoke rose into the air from the crash site.

The crowd set three British armored vehicles on fire, apparently with gasoline bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, but the soldiers inside escaped unhurt, witnesses said ...

The crowd chanted ``we are all soldiers of al-Sayed,'' a reference to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ...

But, not to worry. The BBC's reassuring everybody that:

Iraqi civilians killed during unrest in Basra could not have been hit by the shots fired by UK soldiers, British Army sources have told BBC News.

Calm has been restored in the southern Iraqi city following unrest after a British Lynx helicopter crashed there...

The British Army has said the reported civilian casualties are likely to have been inflicted by shots fired at UK troops by militants.Al Jazeera says:

Soon after the crash, hundreds of angry youths surrounded the area and started attacking the British troops, cordoning off the crash site, with rocks and missiles (two guesses as to where those missiles came from -- FB)

Soon, a gun fire broke out between armed civilians and British troops. Two military tanks and a Land Rover were set on fire by the mob; one soldier was wounded by shrapnel and an AFP photographer at the site was hit in the leg by a rubber-coated bullet.

And the crowd was chanting "Victory to the Mehdi Army!"

Again, I have to wonder -- what would have saved lives back when US forces surrounded Najaf a year or so ago ...? (i.e., why isn't Al Sadr already dead ...?)

Five civilians have been reported killed in the gunfire, including two kids.

With much respect to Middle Eastern readers, I have to wonder -- what on earth are those Basran moms thinking? "Ooooh, somebody just shot down a British helicopter, and there's a couple of hundred men with guns just down the block -- so let's go throw some rocks, honey, and then it's nap time ...?!?!?"

Or, more likely, it's those "children" with 5 o-clock shadow, who carry Molotov cocktails, and maybe SCIRI ID's.

(photo from ABCNews, captioned: One British trooper falls after apparently being hit by a rock, as British troops move towards helicopter crash site in Basra ...)

  ¶ 8:00 AM |

  Porter Goss "Folds 'Em" At CIA I was wondering when this would get picked up; Wonkette's wrote a blog entry months ago:

From NYDailyNews, title link:

CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman.

Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said.

A CIA spokeswoman said Foggo went to the lavish weekly hospitality-suite parties at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels but "just for poker."

Oh, well, if he was only into it for the poker ...

Gen. Michael V. Hayden of the Air Force is expected to replace him. Click to the NYT's for more.  ¶ 7:45 AM