Israel Raises the Stakes

In poker terms, Israel has gone "all in" on the negotiations for the release of their captured soldier:

ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed.
The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit.

It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza.

Hamas's Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding.

But last night's direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.

This thing is looking more and more like the next Arab-Israeli war.

UPDATE: Israeli helicopters fire rocket attack at Palestinian Prime Minister's office.

1000 : 1

Somehow I don't think the Israelis are going to go for this:

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militant factions who captured an Israeli soldier demanded on Saturday that Israel free 1,000 prisoners from its jails and end an assault on Gaza launched to win the soldier's release.

A statement from the groups -- the second since Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured in a raid across Gaza's frontier on Sunday -- appeared to cast doubt on the hopes of mediators that diplomacy could soon get him free.

Israel has said repeatedly that it will not consider releasing prisoners in exchange for the 19-year-old tank gunner. Israeli officials were not available for comment.

"We are declaring to the public our just and humanitarian demands," said the statement faxed to news agencies by the armed wing of the governing Hamas Islamist group, the Popular Resistance Committees and Army of Islam.

While 1000 to 1 sounds about right in terms of relative worth, the Israelis don't bargain for their captives - they just go get them. And if it appears that negotiation is useless, they won't wait much longer.

He's Only Got So Many Hands

NBA Timberwolves player Eddie Griffin crashed his SUV back on March 30th due to *ahem* "distracted" driving:

(CBS) MINNEAPOLIS On March 30, Minnesota Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin was drunk and masturbating when he crashed his luxury SUV into a parked Suburban outside a store in Minneapolis, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the man whose Suburban was hit in the crash.

WCCO-TV obtained copies of 911 calls and store surveillance video of the incident, along with an accident report the police submitted to the state, reports WCCO-TV's Caroline Lowe.

Several of the 911 callers that night said Griffin was drunk. One witness said Griffin told him he was watching pornography in a DVD player mounted on the dashboard of his Cadillac Escalade SUV when he struck a Chevy Suburban parked on University Avenue Southeast.

I'm not sure drinking and porn are activities that you really want to combine with driving.

Favorites Tossed from Tour de France

I'm not a big biking fan, but I did kind of get into the Tour de France the past few years as Lance Armstrong was continuing his win streak. While watching the coverage day after day I began to learn who some of the other top world riders were, and the guys who were the biggest threat to Lance.

This year's event will be Lance-free since he retired, but it will also be missing two of the big names from previous years:

STRASBOURG, France - A doping scandal knocked Tour de France favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso out of the race Friday and threw the world’s most glamorous cycling event into chaos.

The decision to bar Ullrich, Basso and others implicated in a doping probe in Spain also sent a strong signal that cheating, or even suspicions of cheating, will not be tolerated.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme said organizers’ determination to fight doping was “total.”

“The enemy is not cycling, the enemy is doping,” he said the day before the start of the Tour.

Riders being excluded will not be replaced, meaning a smaller field than the 189 racers originally expected. And that’s not even counting the absence of Lance Armstrong, who retired after winning his seventh straight Tour last year.

The physical demands on the riders are immense, and I'm sure there has to be a lot of hanky-panky in that sport, but it's not going to be as entertaining without the top riders.

Did They Find Noah's Ark?

Hard to say, but this article is kind of interesting.

The New Willie Horton?

Chuckie Schumer is upset with the GOP because they may have another winning issue in immigration:

Democrats leading their party's midterm election effort argued on Thursday that any Republican attempt to use immigration as a central campaign issue would backfire.

They cited Republican plans to hold hearings on illegal immigration around the country this summer, rather than passing immigration legislation in Congress, as a sign of the GOP strategy to motivate conservative voters.

"Republicans want to use this like Willie Horton in 1988 and gay marriage in 2004," said Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "It's no secret they want to use immigration as a political cudgel."

Chuckie knows his side is not on the side of most Americans on immigration, and if that issue works as well as Willie Horton or gay marriage, it will be an excellent campaign tool for the GOP.

Palestinians Choosing Poorly

It's not often you get to see an entire people demonstrate to the world that they are not capable of running their own country, but that's what's happening in Gaza. Hamas and their supporters are just about to lose everything they gained when Israel pulled out of Gaza, all because of a 19 year old Israeli soldier. All they have to do is release the kid and the crisis is over, but instead of acting with any sense of logic, they persist in holding him and making demands that they cannot possibly enforce. Israel is ramping up the pressure:

Israeli warplanes struck the Palestinian Interior Ministry early Friday, setting it ablaze as Arab leaders tried to forge a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and free a 19-year-old soldier held by gunmen allied with the ruling Islamic Hamas.

The bombing was one of more than a dozen across the Gaza Strip after midnight, though Israel called off a planned ground invasion of northern Gaza on Thursday in order to give diplomacy another chance.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said militants agreed to a conditional release of the kidnapped soldier but that Israel had yet to accept their terms, which he did not specify. Israel said it was not familiar with any such offer.

No one was hurt in the strike on the Interior Ministry in downtown Gaza City. The Israeli military said the ministry office, controlled by Hamas, was "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity." The Interior Ministry is nominally in charge of Palestinian security forces, though moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas removed most of its authority.

Israeli warplanes also hit a Fatah office as well as roads and open fields. During the day, aircraft and artillery pounded sites across the coastal strip, including suspected weapons factories, an electrical transformer and militant training camps.

A strike at a Hamas facility near the Gaza beach ignited a fire and set off explosives, witnesses said. Another air attack, in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, set an intelligence office on fire, Palestinian security officials said.

Casualties began to mount. The local leader of Islamic Jihad was seriously wounded in an airstrike in Rafah, hospital officials said, and three Fatah-affiliated gunmen were wounded in a gun battle in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

I believe it was Jed Babin who wrote the other day that Israeli soldiers are aware of two facts: #1 Their military will exercise any force that they have to do to get them back should they be captured, and; #2 Israel will not bargain for them no matter what. The Palestinians have decided to learn this the hard way, and when it's all over, there will be far more Palestinian casualties than Israeli casualties, and Hamas and their gangs will have lost Gaza forever.

Bush Has Left the Building...

and is headed for a pilgrimage to Elvis Pressley's old home, Graceland, which he will tour with a Japanese Elvis fan:

It’ll be a presidential first on Friday when President Bush accompanies Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on a pilgrimage to Graceland, the estate in Memphis that was home to rock ’n’ roll legend Elvis Presley.

Koizumi is an unabashed Elvis fan. He shares a Jan. 8th birthday with the late singer and once put out a charity record album titled: “Junichiro Koizumi Presents My Favorite Elvis Songs.” No kidding!

Pres. Bush, who calls Koizumi “one of my best buddies in international politics” is so tickled by Koizumi’s affection for Elvis and his music that he mentioned it more than 20 times during the ’04 re-election.

“Laura and I are very fond of him,” said Mr. Bush at a campaign event in Paradise Valley, Arizona. “He's an interesting, interesting man. His favorite singer is Elvis ... pretty unusual.”

Koizumi ended the press conference at the White House yesterday by saying in English "Love Me Tender". I'd say he has it bad.

UPDATE: Here's the story on the visit. Koizumi made a statement to the press that his dreams had been fulfilled with his visit to Graceland. Very nice.

Rock-and-Roll Claims Another Victim

Sad story from Disney World where a 12 year old died after riding the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster:

A 12-year-old died today after riding the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney-MGM Studios theme park, going limp near the end of the ride as he sat next to his mother, officials said this afternoon.

His father, riding behind his son with the boy's 7-year-old brother, noticed the boy's condition and immediately began CPR when the coaster stopped, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. The family was on vacation to Florida from Fort Campbell, Ky., where the father is a member of the Green Berets.

A 911 call at 11:21 a.m. said the boy was unconscious and not breathing after the ride. Reedy Creek Fire Rescue, which responds to emergency calls at Walt Disney World, noted in its 911 call report that there was no defibrillator available before rescue workers arrived about 11:26 a.m.

The boy, identified this afternoon as Michael Russell, was taken to Celebration Hospital, where he was officially declared dead.

Disney World officials said they closed the roller coaster "pending an investigation," but added that an "initial review of the attraction shows the ride was operating normally." It is not known where the coaster will reopen.

[...]

According to state records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel, this would be the seventh person whose death is associated with Disney attractions since the Christmas season of 2004. The most recent was in April, when Hiltrud Blumel, a 49-year-old German woman, died after riding Epcot's Mission: Space simulator ride.

The coaster, known for its fast start and pulsating Aerosmith soundtrack, is the second-fastest ride at Disney, with a top speed of 57 mph. According to the Disney Web site, "This attraction pulls between 4 and 5 big, fat, monster Gs. Space shuttle astronauts, by comparison, experience 3 Gs at liftoff.''

The indoor ride, which opened in 1999, catapults people from zero-to-its-top-speed in 2.8 seconds, then takes them through a make-believe night in Southern California in a 24-passenger stretch limo.

You have to wonder if the high g-loads are causing important things to break in a small handful of people. I'll be interested to see what the medical report has to say.

UPDATE: The 12-year-old boy who died after riding a Walt Disney World roller coaster had a congenital heart defect, a medical examiner determined Friday.

I kind of thought that might be the case. Still, very sad situation.

Hamden a Mixed Blessing for Dems

The Hamden decision came down just as I was getting on the road today, so I've had about 250 miles to listen to the commentary and discussions. Although the mainstream media is painting it as a big defeat for Bush, I think that's temporary at best. Tonight the Dems may be dancing around their fires and offering sacrifices to their liberal gods (and Justice Kennedy), but this whole thing may turn around and bite them right on the butt. Why? Stay tuned.

Hamden did not do away with the idea of military tribunals for the terrorists who have been captured in the war on terror. What it did do was declare that military tribunals could not be used under the present law, but Congress could step in an grant the president the authority to use them if they wished. The Senate GOP is already on the case which is going to present the Dems with the delicious opportunity to either vote to grant the president the right to try this scum using military tribunals, or refuse that authority and basically create the al-Qaeda Bill of Rights which would require running all these lowlifes through the criminal justice system. Are the Dems so in opposition to Bush that they would jump on that bandwagon? Some undoubtedly are and their arguments in favor of criminal rights for terrorists will be highly entertaining.

But there's another group out there that's going to rue this decision as well. Who? The terrorists.

No, not the boys down at Club Gitmo, but the vermin that's still out in the caves and slums and who will be coming face-to-face with our Special Forces in the future. As long as the judicial situation involving terrorists is in limbo, what motivation will the Special Forces have in taking any of these animals alive? Absolutely none, if the prospect is a trial in a U.S. criminal court. Consequently, terrorists captured by our Special Forces in some dark nook or cranny of Iraq or Afghanistan can look forward to a brief and possibly painful interrogation to get what we can get out of them, and then will probably be "shot while attempting to escape", if you know what I mean.

This whole episode has the potential to be a shining gift to the GOP, despite all the talk of a Bush defeat today.

The House GOP is Still Afraid of The Times

It became clear during a radio interview by Hugh Hewitt that the Republican majority in the House is scared to death of the New York Times. They are proposing a resolution to condemn the leaks of classified information and publication thereof, and yet refuse to name the papers that did the publishing. Hugh's on the warpath.

If this had been only the first instance of the Times damaging national security by publishing secret anti-terrorism programs, I could see how the House might be reluctant to throw them under the bus. But this is not the first time, and probably won't be the last time. Although a "sense of the House" resolution carries no legal force, it would be an appropriate slap in the face to the Grey Lady. At this point the House GOP leadership looks pretty impotent.

Perhaps Rush can send up a supply of his little blue pills.

Peggy Noonan Tries to Stop the Spin

Peggy Noonan writes an entertaining piece in today's Wall Street Journal in which she takes a contrarian view to many of the issues of the day. First, Hillary Clinton:

Today I would like to depart from what I perceive as the common wisdom on several people and issues.

Hillary Clinton. Media people keep saying, as Hillary gears up for her presidential bid, that her big challenge in 2008 will be to prove that she is as tough as a man. That she could order troops to war. That she's not girly and soft.

This is the exact opposite of the truth. Hillary doesn't have to prove her guy chops. She doesn't have to prove she's a man, she has to prove she's a woman. No one in America thinks she's a woman. They think she's a tough little termagant in a pantsuit. They think she's something between an android and a female impersonator. She is not perceived as a big warm mommy trying to resist her constant impulse to sneak you candy. They think she has to resist her constant impulse to hit you with a bat. She lacks a deep (as opposed to quick) warmth, a genuine and almost phenomenological sense of rightness in her own skin. She seems like someone who might calculatedly go to war, or not, based on how she wanted to be perceived and look and do. She does not seem like someone who would anguish and weep over sending men into harm's way.

Good stuff. She also takes on the flag burning amendment (she didn't like it either), Barbara Walters and the kerfuffle at The View, and the New York Times. This is her opening on the Times:

Once the New York Times was extremely important, and often destructive. Now it is less important, and often destructive. This is not a change for the worse.

Read it all here.

Berkeley Residents to Vote on Impeachment

As trivial pursuits go, this is one of the most trivial:

The left-leaning city of Berkeley will let voters decide whether to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The City Council voted Tuesday night to put the advisory measure on the Nov. 7 ballot. The move is symbolic because only Congress has impeachment powers.

Some cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, have passed resolutions calling for impeachment, but supporters say Berkeley would be the first city asking voters to decide.

Gee, I wonder how that vote will turn out given the voter registration in Berkeley:

Only 5 percent of Berkeley voters are registered Republicans and Democrat John Kerry received more than 85 percent of the city's vote in 2004.

I'll be passing through that area next week. I think I'll save up my fast food drink cups and toss them out the window as I drive through.

Supremes Rule on Gitmo Today

The legal community is standing by on pins and needles as they await the ruling in the Hamdan case regarding the terrorist prisoners held at Gitmo. This case will decide whether the prisoners must be tried in U.S. criminal courts, or whether they can be tried by military tribunals. Moving them into criminal courts would be a real mess, and you can imagine all the lefty lawyers that would line up to defend them.

Unfortunately I'll be on the road all day, but I'll look into the reporting and commentary on the ruling later this afternoon.

When the Moon Is In the Seventh House....

It's the Age of Aquarius, baby! At least that's what Howard the Donkey was telling a religious conference in Washington:

America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again," Dean said, but he was not referring to the Vietnam War or racial tensions.

Dean said he is looking for "the age of enlightenment led by religious figures who want to greet Americans with a moral, uplifting vision."

"The problem is when we hit that '60s spot again, which I am optimistic we're about to hit, we have to make sure that we don't make the same mistakes," Dean added. See Video

Anger over the Vietnam War and the country's escalating racial tensions made the late 1960s one of the most painful eras in American history. Republican Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968, following the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Sen. Robert Kennedy, as well as the riot-marred Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Later in his speech Tuesday, Dean appeared to backtrack. "I'm not asking to go back to the '60s; we made some mistakes in the '60s," he said. "If you look at how we did public housing, we essentially created ghettoes for poor people" instead of using today's method of mixed-income housing.

I hear those acid flashbacks can be brutal, but you rarely get to see one in person, as the conference attendees did in Washington.

Camp Casey Weight Loss Plan

Cindy Sheehan, jealous about the success of Kirstie Alley and her Jenny Craig weight loss campaign, has announced her own weight loss campaign for this summer (h/t Michelle Malkin):

Dear Friends,

GSFP and Code Pink are sponsoring a hunger strike for peace which begins July 04, called Troops Home Fast Some of us like Dick Gregory and Diane Wilson will be fasting until the troops come home from Iraq, and some, like me, will be fasting for a specified time. My fast will begin on 7/04 and end on the last day of Camp Casey: 09/02.

We are announcing the fast from Washington, DC on 07/04 and having our last supper on 07/03 in Lafayette Park.

If you can join us in DC on the 3rd and 4th, or fast in solidarity with us on that day, or any other time, please let me know.

Also, Jodie Evans is throwing me a birthday party at Bus Boys and poets on the 3rd of July from 9pm to 11pm....our last food will be before midnight that day....please come to my party, if you can!!!

Love and peace soon,
Cindy

And not a moment too soon.
She's even going to have a last supper! I hope somebody paints a picture of that.

Today's Darwin Award Nominees

Darwin Awards are issued to those folks who remove themselves from the genepool by doing really dumb things. Today's nominees:

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Two Palestinians were killed and another seven, including a baby, wounded when a grenade accidentally exploded in the southern Gaza Strip.

Family members were playing with a grenade in the town of Khan Yunis when it exploded, killing 23-year-old Qassem Massud and his one-year-old niece, medical and security sources said Wednesday.

All the casualties were members of the same family.

"Look Ma, no arms!"

Supremes Uphold Most of Texas Redistricting

The Dems hoped to gain back some seats in Texas by challenging Tom DeLay's redistricting plan which changed several Dem districts to GOP districts, and tossed some long time Dem congressmen out. The Dem plan largely failed:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld most of a bitterly contested Texas congressional map engineered by then-Rep. Tom DeLay to help solidify Republican control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Although the justices refused to overturn the entire map, they ruled that one district in southwestern Texas violated the federal voting rights law.

The Supreme Court's decision upholding most of the redistricting plan could make it harder for Democrats to win control of the 435-seat House in the November elections.

In the lead opinion for the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "We reject the statewide challenge to Texas' redistricting as an unconstitutional political gerrymander and the challenge to the redistricting in the Dallas area as a violation of the Voting Rights Act."

The redistricting plan had been challenged by Democrats, minority groups and others who argued the 2003 plan had been motivated by unconstitutional political purposes.

The gerrymandering process is still a mess, but the court allowed gerrymandering for political purposes provided it doesn't violate the Voting Rights Act which supposedly guarantees minorities a certain amount of representation. However, of course, if you're a white guy living in a predominantely Hispanic district, you don't have the same rights to the representative of your choice.

Private Air Show for Assad

The Israeli government is not subtle when it wants to get someone's attention:

Israeli warplanes buzzed the summer residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad early Wednesday, military officials said, in a message aimed at pressuring the Syrian leader to win the release of a captured Israeli soldier.

The officials said on condition of anonymity that the fighter jets flew over Assad's palace in a low-altitude overnight raid near the Mediterranean port city of Latakia in northwestern Syria. Israeli television reports said four planes were involved, and Assad was home at the time.

The flight caused "noise" on the ground, the military officials said on condition of anonymity, according to military guidelines.

The officials said Assad was targeted because of the "direct link" between Syria and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group holding Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, in the Gaza Strip. Syria hosts Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' exiled supreme leader.

There was no immediate reaction from Syria.

However, an hour or so later newly washed underwear was seen hanging from the clothesline.

Hooters Are For Men

Now there's a loaded headline, but the story it refers to is another example of the silliness of government equal opportunity laws. John Stossel documents the efforts of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to punish the Hooters Restaurant chain for *gasp* hiring women as food servers:

You've probably heard of Hooters -- the restaurant chain known for attracting male customers by hiring waitresses who are well-endowed and dressed to show it.

The firm now employs more than 30,000 people. Some would consider this a success story, but our government didn't. Not because Hooters is using sex to sell -- but because its waitresses are -- get ready -- women!

"Discrimination!" cried the federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The business of Hooters is food, said the government, and "no physical trait unique to women is required to serve food." EEOC lawyers demanded Hooters produce all its hiring data, and then grilled Hooters for four years. Mike McNeil, Hooters' vice president of marketing, told "20/20" the EEOC bureaucrats demanded to look at reams of paperwork. "Employee manuals, training manuals, marketing manuals -- virtually everything that's involved in how we run our business . . . "

The EEOC then issued a set of demands. First, it defined a class of disappointed males who had not been hired by the company. The EEOC said, according to McNeil: "We want you to establish a $22-million fund for this mythical 'class' of dissuaded male applicants. We want you to conduct sensitivity training studies to teach all of your employees to be more sensitive to the needs of men."

I suspect Hooters' customers are mostly men who think the firm is quite sensitive to their needs, thank you -- and that there would indeed be a class of disappointed males if the government insisted men do the jobs of Hooters girls.

Typically, companies assaulted by EEOC lawyers just pay up to avoid ruinous legal fees, but Hooters fought back, cleverly, not just in court, but in the court of public opinion. Hooters waitresses marched on Washington, chanting, "Save our jobs." A burly Hooters manager dressed as a Hooters waitress posed for cameras, beard and all, demonstrating what a "Hooters Guy" might look like.

That was a hoot, and it may have worked. Lawyers representing male applicants accepted an out-of-court settlement of $3.75 million, a fraction of the $22 million that had been demanded. The EEOC dropped its demands for sensitivity training; Hooters agreed to create more jobs like busboys and managers, which didn't have to be performed by women.

Stossel cites other dumb examples of government interference in the workplace, and his work is always entertaining. Read the whole thing.

The Pimp Bill

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has decided to take a creative approach to stamping out the sex trafficking trade:

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa is hoping to stamp out the sex trade by taxing pimps and prostitutes, then jailing them when they don't pay.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote Wednesday morning on the pimp tax. The bill also calls for more jail time for sex workers.

If passed, the provision will authorize at least $2 million toward the establishment of an office in the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit to prosecute unlawful sex workers for violations of tax laws.

"Recent headlines have focused on sex trafficking in connection with the World Cup in Germany," Grassley said. "This vile crime is under our noses in the United States, and it's a no-brainer to have the IRS go after sex traffickers. Prosecuting these tax code violations can get these guys off the street and yank from their grasp the girls and women they exploit."

I would have my doubts that people involved in the sex trade keep a lot of records of their income, let alone claim it on their tax returns. However, it was the IRS that finally put Al Capone out of business, so I guess anything's possible.

Inconvenient Facts?

The Associated Press seems intent on flacking Al Gore's enviro-scare pic An Inconvenient Truth with a story announcing that "Scientists OK Gore Movie for Accuracy". One problem - the AP report doesnt' tell us who many of those scientists are or what their expertise really is. It also did not reveal other connections those scientists have which may give them a financial interest in the success of the movie.

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works was so outraged at the AP report that they issued a release of their own: AP INCORRECTLY CLAIMS SCIENTISTS PRAISE GORE’S MOVIE . The Senate did the research into the scientists that the AP was not willing to do.

This is an interesting case study on the media's effort to promote liberal causes at the expense of complete facts. Read both items and decide for yourself.

IDF On the Move in Gaza

Some Palestinian nutballs made the mistake of capturing an Israeli soldier, and one way or the other the Israel Defense Force is going to get him back:

The IDF continued its offensive in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday night when the Air Force struck a power plant in the southern part of the Strip, cutting the power supply from portions of the region.

The incursion began earlier in the night, when IAF aircraft blew up two key strategic bridges - one in the central Gaza Strip and the second near Deir el-Balah - shortly before midnight. The army said that the operation was intended to keep Hamas from taking kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit out of the Gaza Strip.

In addition, two IDF tank and infantry brigades were amassed around Gaza, and were awaiting orders to begin a ground incursion into the strip, while planes and helicopters flew over the northern Gaza Strip. However, an IDF spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post that, contrary to reports, the armored forces had not actually begun advancing into the strip.

In the Saja'iyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, not far from the border fence, armed Palestinian operatives took up positions across from the IDF vehicles. The operatives instructed Palestinian residents to leave the area.

Earlier Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held high level security consultations, some 60 hours after IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was captured, amid a growing feeling that military action is inevitable.

If the Palestinians want to keep control of Gaza, they better turn the soldier in, unharmed, really quick. Otherwise the freedom they've had in Gaza will be history.

First Muslim Congressman? Probably Not.

I had missed this story previously, but The Corner points out a situation in Minnesota in which a black Democrat was poised to become the first Muslim member of Congress. Sadly for him, his past is not standing up well to scrutiny (from The Hill):

A few weeks ago, Minnesota state Rep. Keith Ellison's (D) prospects of
becoming the first Muslim ever to serve in Congress looked strong.

As he moved toward the Sept. 12 Democratic primary, Ellison had garnered
high- profile endorsements from the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party as
well as from the Minnesota AFL-CIO and other key unions.

But that was before two conservative Web logs began to do a little digging
on Ellison/s background. What they found - Ellison's ties to Louis
Farrakhan's Nation of Islam and his public defense of radicals who were
later convicted of murder - has made many Democrats in the
Minneapolis-based 5th district a bit nervous....

.... In law school, Ellison wrote an opinion piece defending Louis Farrakhan
and also helped bring a speaker to the campus for a lecture titled:
"Zionism: White Supremacy, Imperialism or Both?"

Ellison also has been criticized for a speech he made at a fundraiser for
Sara Jane Olsen, a member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army in the
1970s who changed identities and hid out in Minnesota for many years,
living as a suburban mom, before pleading guilty to several violent acts.

"I think, just like the people who want to come together and lock up Sara,
we need to come together and free Sara," Ellison said in 2000.

Ellison also spoke in support of Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther who
was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state police officer and a fellow
activist.

I'm not sure America is ready for a pro-Farrakhan, pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-White, cop-killer loving, Muslim Congressman. The Dems may be ready for all that, but not the rest of us.

Flag Burning Amendment is a Waste of Time

The Senate is debating a Constitutional amendment to ban the burning of the American flag. While I don't like flag burning any more than the next guy, I don't think this is an appropriate use of the Constitutional amendment process. It smells a lot more like a political stunt designed to stir up emotions in an election year.

James Taranto pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter:

No doubt you are dying to know where this column stands on the flag-desecration amendment. The answer is, we are against it. Our view is that the Supreme Court got it right in 1989: Insofar as desecrating the flag is an act of political expression, it is protected by the First Amendment. (The objection that it isn't "speech" is overly literal. What we're doing now--causing pixels to form meaningful patterns on thousands of computer screens--isn't exactly speech either, but we like to think the First Amendment protects it from government interference.)

Burning the flag is a stupid and ugly act, but there is something lovely and enlightened about a regime that tolerates it in the name of freedom. And of course it has the added benefit of making it easier to spot the idiots.

I don't really think we want to join the list of countries that ban flag burning. They're not really the collection of folks with which we want to associate. I think we can do better than align our political speech rights with Cuba, China, Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

UPDATE: The amendment failed by one vote. Now, back to work on the important stuff.

Rick Warren Headed to North Korea

Over the last couple of days a bunch of people have stopped by HolyCoast while searching for information on Rick Warren and North Korea. Although I haven't posted specifically on that issue, the search engines are pointing people here. Since it's apparently something of interest to a number of folks, let me tell you what I know.

This past weekend I sang in all 6 weekend services at Saddleback Church (once in a great while they decide they need a bass singer and this was the week), and Rick announced at the end of the service that he was heading out this week on a 13 nation tour. During this trip he will be meeting with the heads of each of the countries on the trip and holding a number of stadium-sized meetings, and at some point in the trip will be visiting North Korea (at the invitation of the country) to discuss plans for a future speaking engagement there. According to Rick, the North Koreans have agreed to allow him the use of a 15,000 seat stadium (which could be upsized based on demand). Billy Graham was the only pastor previously allowed to speak in that country (about 10 years ago), and he was limited to 200 students at a university. This is a pretty big step by the North Koreans, and I'm curious as to why they are allowing it now.

I don't have any more details than that, but you can check the church website for more info as it becomes available.

UPDATE: The "We Hate Rick Warren" crowd jumps the shark over the Korean trip. Too funny.

UPDATE2: Here's an article with more information on Rick's trip.

Little Blue Embarrassment

Say it ain't so, Rush!

Rush Limbaugh was detained for about three-and-a-half hours at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.

The 55-year-old radio commentator's luggage was examined by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his private plane landed at the airport around 2 p.m. from the Dominican Republic, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

ICE officials found in Limbaugh's luggage a prescription bottle labeled as Viagra, a prescription drug that treats erectile disfunction, Miller said.

"The problem was that on the bottle itself was not his name, but the name of two Florida doctors," Miller said.

The left is going to have a field day with this story.

UPDATE: I caught the first hour of Rush's show this morning and I thought he handled the situation brilliantly. Here are a couple of quotes (from Drudge):

RUSH LIMBAUGH: 'HOW DID BOB DOLE'S LUGGAGE GET ON MY AIRPLANE? I TOLD MY DOCTOR I WAS WORRIED ABOUT THE NEXT ELECTION'... ...CUSTOMS DID NOT BELIEVE ME WHEN I TOLD THEM THAT I GOT THOSE PILLS AT THE BILL CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY'...

Equal Rights for Primate-Americans?

Usually animals rights wacko movements start in the U.S., but this one is coming from Spain (from Special Report):

A Spanish lawmaker has proposed a resolution that would make Spain the first country to grant human rights to apes. The Green Party's Francisco Garrido says primates are genetically "so close to humans" that they deserve to be treated as more than "mere objects or play things."

His proposal would bestow on gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans the "fundamental moral and legal protections of the right to life, the freedom from arbitrary deprivation of liberty, and protection from torture." London's Daily Telegraph reports that the resolution is set to be debated by the parliament's environment committee at the end of the month, where Garrido says he expects it to pass.

Let's see - they don't speak English, they don't have papers allowing them to legally enter the country, and they do jobs that most Americans don't want to do. Sounds like Howard Dean could have a whole new crop of Dem voters if he gets on this bandwagon.

NY Times Promoted Intelligence Program They Later Outed

Hugh Hewitt has an excerpt from a NY Times editorial that was published shortly after the 9/11 attacks:

The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity and is readying an executive order freezing the assets of known terrorists. Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also must be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies....If America is going to wage a new kind of war against terrorism, it must act on all fronts, including the financial one.

And yet, as time went by and the program they promoted was effectively helping fight the war on terror, the Times felt it necessary to reveal the program to the world and to the terrorists, more or less ending the effectiveness of this program and further endangering Americans.

Pull their credentials.

Knock-Knock

Who's there? Jehovah Witnesses, that's who, with more signs of the apocalypse:

It's a scene that's playing out across the county and across the country as Jehovah's Witnesses, in an unprecedented effort, seek to invite as many people as they can to their annual convention.

The yearly gathering of Witnesses, a Christian faith founded in Pittsburgh 136 years ago, is a huge worship celebration. This year, it has special significance because Witnesses are seeking to get out the word to millions of households that Armageddon, or the end of the world, is imminent. Or, as the invitation says: Deliverance at Hand.

The signs are everywhere, Mr. Hickok said.

World wars have ruled the current generations. Fear is dominant, especially with the rise of terrorism. There is a breakdown in family structure. The magnitude and frequency of earthquakes is growing. There is an increase in pestilence, such as AIDS.

They must have read this item.

Is Buffet Generous, or Just Avoiding the Death Tax

I reported the other day on Warren Buffet's decision to give much of his wealth to various charitable foundations. James Taranto wonders if Mr. Buffet's decision has more to do with charity, or possibly has more to do with dodging the death tax...which he supposedly supports:

You can see why Buffett would want to give his billions to charity. The federal death tax is currently being phased out, but it will reappear in 2011 unless Congress acts--which means that if Buffett lives that long, the government will confiscate 55% of his assets upon his death.

But wait. Buffett is, as a New York Sun editorial notes, "an avowed supporter of the estate tax." As we noted in 2001, so is Bill Gates Sr., the Microsoft founder's old man, who is an executive of the Bill and Melinda Foundation.

As the Sun notes:

Mr. Buffett could have let the government take its share of his estate after he dies. But just as Mr. Buffett has accumulated his vast wealth without paying much personal income tax, he has found a way to avoid the tax man in this maneuver as well, even writing in his letter to Bill and Melinda Gates that a condition of the gift is that the foundation "must continue to satisfy legal requirements qualifying my gifts as charitable and not subject to gift or other taxes."

On the estate tax, watch what Mr. Buffett does, not what he says. The Gates Foundation isn't the only recipient of his largesse--three foundations headed by Mr. Buffett's three children, Susan, Howard, and Peter, will get hundreds of millions of dollars. Tax documents show that in 2004, Peter Buffett and his wife Jennifer each took a $40,000 a year salary for what they reported was 30 hours a week each of work on the foundation.

Taranto adds this comment:

When billionaires back the death tax, keep in mind that they have no intention of actually paying it. They are being "generous" with other people's money. This is the way in which the superrich wage class warfare against the merely affluent.

Death tax for thee, but not for me.

Bush Addresses Global Warming in the Correct Way

If you've read this blog for very long, you know I have little patience for the religion of global warming. It's not that I doubt that some climate change may be taking place, I just doubt that human activity has much to do with it. There's plenty of evidence of past warming and cooling cycles which make me believe that whatever warming is going on is probably cyclical and not due to evil humans.

President Bush commented on global warming yesterday, and I think he's taking the appropriate approach:

US President George W. Bush said it was time to move past a debate over whether human activity is a significant factor behind global warming and into a discussion of possible remedies.

"I have said consistently that global warming is a serious problem. There's a debate over whether it's manmade or naturally caused," Bush told reporters.

"We ought to get beyond that debate and start implementing the technologies necessary to enable us to achieve a couple of big objectives: One, be good stewards of the environment; two, become less dependent on foreign sources of oil, for economic reasons as for national security reasons," he said.

[...]

"The truth of the matter is, if this country wants to get rid of its greenhouse gases, we've got to have the nuclear power industry be vibrant and viable," he said.

Exactly, but don't look for the global warming alarmists to run out and support Bush's call for a strong nuclear power industry, even though it's the cleanest form of energy we have available to us today. Instead of all the pie-in-the-sky proposals for hydrogen cars (which Bush mentioned) or wind/solar power, let's use the technology that's available to us right now and start making a difference.

Adios Amigo!

That's what the 600 pound lady was saying as she was thrown through the sunroof of her Izuzu:

A woman is in stable condition after being ejected through the sunroof of her SUV during an accident.

Thirty-seven-year-old Ruth Matthews told paramedics that another vehicle cut her off in traffic, and she took evasive action to avoid a crash. Her Isuzu Amigo rolled over and she was thrown through the sunroof and onto the roadway. Investigators say she was not wearing her seatbelt.

Paramedics initially tried to fly Matthews to Tampa General Hospital, but her weight, estimated at 600 pounds, made it impossible. Emergency crews were able to transport her to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where she is listed in stable condition.

Weighing 600 pounds does not make you immune to the laws of physics. Seatbelts are still required.

This was definitely a paramedics nightmare.

The Crips, the Bloods...and the Trannies?

New Orleans is operating just like the good old days with gang shootings and the National Guard assisting law enforcement. But there's a new gang in town, and they're FABULOUS:

Robyn Lewis, owner of Dark Charm fashion and accessories for women, represents the first line of defense for the Magazine Street shop owners. She is the first to see them come strutting in their pumps down St. Andrew Street, the bewigged pack of thieves who have plagued the Lower Garden District since May.

Like an SOS flare, Lewis grabs her emergency phone list and starts calling.

“They’re coming,” she warns Eric Ogle a salesman at Vegas, a block down Magazine Street. Ogle, who was terrorized by the brazen crew two months earlier, alerts neighboring Winky’s where manager Kendra Bonga braces for the onslaught.

Soon every shop owner in the 2000 block of Magazine Street has been alerted.

Sarah Celino at Trashy Diva eyes the door, ready to flip the lock at the first sight of the ringleader’s pink jumpsuit and fluorescent red wig.

[...]

The transvestites first appeared in March when they raided Magazine Street like a marauding army of kleptomaniacal showgirls, said Davis, using clockwork precision and brute force to satisfy high-end boutique needs.

They first hit Vegas March 31 while Ogle was working.

“They come in groups of three or four. One tries to distract you while the others get the stuff and run out the door. It’s very simple,” Ogle said.

Next door at Winky’s, Bonga heard people screaming inside Vegas, then saw a blur of cheap wigs and masculine legs in designer shoes streak past her door.

“All of a sudden our UPS guy dove out of the store and tried to tackle them and there’s little Eric from next door on the sidewalk with a bunch of stuff he managed to grab from one of the guys,” Bonga said. “The other two guys took off down the street and jumped into a car driven by a real girl.”

Ogle gave police a description of the perpetrators — African-American males ranging in height from 6 feet to 6-5. They all wore the same midriff shirts and wigs with twisted, dreadnaught hair.

“They’re all very skinny and very flamboyant,” Ogle said.

Sounds like New Orleans is back to "normal".

Bush Slaps Down the Times

President Bush is none too happy with the New York Times and expressed that sentiment today:

President Bush on Monday sharply condemned the disclosure of a secret anti-terrorism program that taps into an immense international database of confidential financial records. "The disclosure of this program is disgraceful," he said.

"For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America," Bush said. He said the disclosure of the program "makes it harder to win this war on terror." ... "Congress was briefed and what we did was fully authorized under the law," Bush said, talking with reporters in the Roosevelt Room after meeting with groups that support U.S. troops in
Iraq.

"We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America," the president said. "What we were doing was the right thing."

"The American people expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and at the same time make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do," Bush said. He said that to figure out what terrorists plan to do, "You try to follow their money. And that's exactly what we're doing and the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror."

Press Secretary Tony Snow adds this:

Tony Snow: 'The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know in some cases might override somebody's right to live.'

Do you really want to get their attention, Mr. President? Pull their credentials.

UPDATE: Here's part of Vice President Cheney's statement (h/t Hugh Hewitt):

"The New York Times has now twice – two separate occasions – disclosed programs; both times they had been asked not to publish those stories by senior administration officials. They went ahead anyway. The leaks to The New York Times and the publishing of those leaks is very damaging. The ability to intercept al Qaeda communications and to track their sources of financing are essential if we're going to successfully prosecute the global war on terror. Our capabilities in these areas help explain why we have been so successful in preventing further attacks like 9/11. The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future. Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts. These kinds of stories also adversely affect our relationships with people who work with us against the terrorists. In the future, they will be less likely to cooperate if they think the United States is incapable of keeping a secret.

"What is doubly disturbing for me is that not only have they gone forward with these stories, but they've been rewarded for it, for example, in the case of the terrorist surveillance program, by being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding journalism. I think that is a disgrace."

Oh, and don't miss the letter from Bill Keller, editor of the New York Times, which can be found at Iowahawk.

And even more outrage from Treasury Secretary John Snow.

Dems Pounded With Their Own Words in CA Governor's Race

I just saw a commercial run by the California Republican Party which is going to sting. The ad simply consists of a selection of quotes criticizing the tax raising plans of Dem Phil Angelides. At the end of the ad you find out the critic is Dem Steve Westly, Angelides opponent in the primary. The Dems will end up doing Arnold's work for him.

NY Times: Conservatives Shouldn't Read Our Stories

Bill Keller, publisher of the NY Times and the guy who greenlighted the latest two stories designed to give away our national security programs to the enemy, is trying to blame conservative media for spilling the beans on the Times stories:

Some of the incoming mail quotes the angry words of conservative bloggers and TV or radio pundits who say that drawing attention to the government's anti-terror measures is unpatriotic and dangerous. (I could ask, if that's the case, why they are drawing so much attention to the story themselves by yelling about it on the airwaves and the Internet.)

Law professor and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds offers this take on Keller's silly statement:

The founders gave freedom of the press to the people, they didn't give freedom to the press. Keller positions himself as some sort of Constitutional High Priest, when in fact the "freedom of the press" the Framers described was also called "freedom in the use of the press." It's the freedom to publish, a freedom that belongs to everyone in equal portions, not a special privilege for the media industry. (A bit more on this topic can be found here.)

Characterizing the freedom this way, of course, makes much of Keller's piece look like, well, just what it is -- arrogant and self-justificatory posturing. To quote Keller: "Forgive me, I know this is pretty elementary stuff - but it's the kind of elementary context that sometimes gets lost in the heat of strong disagreements."

Or institutional self-importance. As Hugh Hewitt observes, at the conclusion to a much lengthier critique: "He doesn't have any defense other than his position as editor of a once great newspaper."

And the Constitution does not permit titles of nobility.

Keller refuses to be interviewed by any of the conservative media regarding his decisions. That's a cowardly approach to take with his critics. If Keller is so sure of the righteousness of his position, then he should be willing to debate it with those who disagree.

UPDATE: Michael Barone adds this:

Why do they hate us? Why does the Times print stories that put America more at risk of attack? They say that these surveillance programs are subject to abuse, but give no reason to believe that this concern is anything but theoretical. We have a press that is at war with an administration, while our country is at war against merciless enemies. The Times is acting like an adolescent kicking the shins of its parents, hoping to make them hurt while confident of remaining safe under their roof. But how safe will we remain when our protection depends on the Times?

Supremes Will Have A Busy Week

The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin their summer recess on Saturday, but between now and then are expected to announce rulings on some big cases:

Some Supreme Court cases still to be decided and the issues involved:

GUANTANAMO TRIALS: Whether President Bush has overstepped his authority with military war-crimes trials for foreigners held at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

TEXAS REDISTRICTING: Whether to throw out all or part of a 2003 congressional map promoted by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

INSANITY: Whether to strike down Arizona's insanity defense law, in an appeal brought on behalf of a schizophrenic teenager who killed a police officer.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE: If Vermont and other states can limit how much money is contributed and spent in political campaigns. (UPDATE - Vermont's law struck down 6-3.)

FOREIGN SUSPECTS: If two foreigners convicted of violent crimes in the United States have to be given new trials because police did not tell them they could seek legal help from their countries' governments, as required by a 1969 treaty.

INMATE NEWSPAPERS: Whether states can keep troublesome inmates from reading most newspapers and magazines.

DEATH PENALTY: Whether Kansas' death penalty law is constitutional. (UPDATE: Supremes rule 5-4 that Kansas' death penalty is constitutional.)

LAWYERS: Whether criminal defendants who are denied the lawyer of their choice, even though they are paying for their own defense, are automatically entitled to a new trial if convicted.

It should be an interesting week for the new Chief Justice and fellow members of the court. And, will there be a retirement? Some of the justices are getting pretty old and aren't all in the best of health. This is the time of year that retirements are usually announced. What do you think a Supreme Court vacancy would do to the elections this Fall?

UPDATE: You can keep up with the fast and furious Supreme Court action at Bench Memos.

Billionaires Feeling Generous These Days

A few days ago Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced that he would be giving much of his fortune away through his charitable foundation. Now Warren Buffet is getting into the act, and will also donate much of his fortune through the same foundation:

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is donating a total of $37 billion -- most of his personal fortune -- to a foundation started by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and to several family foundations, making it the largest-ever individual charitable gift in the United States.

Buffett, 75, is the chief executive of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway. He is worth an estimated $44 billion, according to Forbes magazine, making him the second-richest man behind Gates, who is worth about $50 billion.

The $37 billion comprises about 85 percent of Buffett's fortune.

In a letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Buffett, 75, said he will set aside 10 million shares of Berkshire class B common stock for the foundation.

Based on the stock's per-share price of $3071.01 as of Friday, the total amount for the Gates foundation comes to about $30 billion.

The amount is the largest commitment to a philanthropic cause ever made by one person in the United States, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Good for them. With that kind of funding, the Gates Foundation will undoubtedly be able to do a great deal of good.

Murtha Jumps the Shark

I knew that sooner or later Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) would finally go completely over the edge and do what they call "jumping the shark" in the TV business. That's the point in which a program runs completely out of ideas and just starts putting out stupid stuff. The name came from an episode of "Happy Days" in which Fonzie waterskied over a shark.

Yesterday Murtha jumped the shark:

American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.

What can you say? Murtha's now successfully sewn up the stupid vote. I'm sure he'll make a fine Majority Leader.

Rising Son

I had to take the 15 year old out today to get him some clothes to prepare for his upcoming 9 days in Oklahoma, and that included getting some new shoes. He's out grown his size 11 sneaks, so we had to up the ante to size 12 (I only wear a 13). We stopped at the Vans store and were greeted with this new style:

This is apparently aimed at the youth crowd with designs on attacking Pearl Harbor. We didn't get them, but I just had to take a picture for HolyCoast.

LA Times Losing Prominent Readers Over Iraq Leaks

Patterico's Pontifications has finally had enough. A long time critic of the LA Times, but a long-term subscriber as well, he's finally canceled his subscription thanks to the Times policy of releasing information about classified government anti-terrorist programs. You can read his story here.

I was a Times subscriber for many years but canceled during the run-up to the 2000 election. At that point they had nothing but lefty columnists and one day I found no less than three anti-Bush columns on the op-ed page. I figured I'd had enough of one sided journalism. I haven't missed the Times at all.

Meanwhile over at the Corner, K-Lo saves a few bucks by not renewing her NY Times weekend edition:

I was about to re-up my New York Times weekend delivery when they chose to take national-security in their own hands this week. Not doing so now.

Two More Signs of D.C. Decay

There are two stories in the news today which indicate a continuing decay in the nation's capital. First we have this:

Metrorail officials are considering adding permanent Spanish-language signs, system maps, fare-card machines and announcements in stations after a push by immigration advocates.

They say the idea has been discussed for several years within the agency's Office of Project Communications, but no official plans have been made.

The estimated cost of the changes is at least $500,000 per station and as much as $900,000 for a large, multilevel station such as Metro Center or L'Enfant Plaza.
"It would really depend on what signs, where, what they're made of, the cost of fabricating and installing them," said Murray Bond, director of sales and marketing at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. "It's a strain on the budget, but in a business sense, by giving people better information to use the system, hopefully they'll use it more, [and] every time they use it, we get a fare."

I've been on the Metro and it's a wonderful system. But even with English signs, we still managed to get on the train going the wrong direction during our vacation last year. Instead of enabling people to keep speaking Spanish and not learn English, how about making the English signs clearer and telling the Spanish speakers that if they want to use the system, they better learn how to read the signs. Spanish language signs to little more than encourage people not to learn English.

Scrappleface also has some comments on this story.

The other story involves the AIDS problem in the city:

The D.C. government wants all residents between 14 and 84 to be tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

In a massive campaign starting next week, city officials will urge 400,000 men, women and teens to take an oral swab test that delivers results in 20 minutes.

They say the rapid test should become as common a part of any medical exam as blood-pressure monitoring or a cholesterol check.

Organizers of the campaign hope the results will influence sexual behavior and motivate people with positive results to seek treatment.

How bad must the AIDS problem be in D.C. if the government wants to test everybody? That's not exactly something you want to put on your tourist ads.

David Brooks Levels Kos

David Brooks, quite probably the only sane voice at the NY Times, takes on the biggest fish in the wacky left sea as he dissembles Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, otherwise known as Kos to his thousands of crazy friends at DailyKos (from Raw Story):

In Sunday’s paper, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks attacks the founder of Daily Kos for acting like a “Kingpin” who “commands his followers” to “unleash their venom on those who stand in the way,” RAW STORY has found.

“The Keyboard Kingpin, aka Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, sits at his computer, fires up his Web site, Daily Kos, and commands his followers, who come across like squadrons of rabid lambs, to unleash their venom on those who stand in the way,” writes Brooks. “And in this way the Kingpin has made himself a mighty force in his own mind, and every knee shall bow.” ...

Brooks suggests that Markos is a hypocrite for lashing out at The New Republic for leaking the private emails.

“The Kingpin waxed Cheneyesque on the evils of leaking, and this time the squeaking fury of the Kossacks could be heard (to those capable of discerning high frequencies) far and wide,” writes Brooks.

Brooks also compares Markos to the indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

“The Kingpin is not surprised by such betrayals,” opines Brooks. “Sounding like Tom DeLay — who is his moral doppelgaenger — Kos says that those who crash the gates and take on the establishment are bound to be attacked.”

I don't think Brooks is going to get a Christmas card from Kos this year.

It's Time to Pull The NY Times Federal Press Credentials

If there's one thing that has become certain in the past few weeks is that the New York Times clearly has an anti-Administration, if not anti-American, bias and will do whatever it takes to undermine President Bush and our nation's ability to prevent terrorist attacks. They seem to have no compunction about releasing highly secret details about the nation's critical intelligence operations, even if those actions put their fellow citizens in harm's way. This is simply irresponsible if not treasonous.

While I agree they will always have the right to print what they want under the First Amendment, there is no First Amendment right to White House press credentials, or credentials from any other federal government agency. If the White House really wants to get their attention and express their outrage at the action of the Times, they should pull all their federal government credentials, and instead of flying on Air Force One, they can fly commercial with the citizens they are endangering.

So what would happen next? Well, Tony Snow would probably have a full on mutiny on his hands as the Times' brother journalists immediately come to their aid, but that would also play into the hands of the White House. Remember how bad David Gregory looked following the Cheney hunting accident? That whole kerfuffle would look like a Sunday School picnic compared to what the White House press room would look like if the Times were suddenly standing out on the sidewalk with the rest of the tourists.

I think there's an important point which must be hammered home to the Times and other media. If you're going to operate against the best interests of your country, you're not going to be allowed access to the inner workings of that government. It's too dangerous to Americans to allow the Times to operate with federal credentials.

Pull 'em.

UPDATE: The National Review agrees.

The president should match this morning’s tough talk with concrete action. Publications such as the Times, which act irresponsibly when given access to secrets on which national security depends, should have their access to government reduced. Their press credentials should be withdrawn. Reporting is surely a right, but press credentials are a privilege. This kind of conduct ought not be rewarded with privileged access.

Now where have I heard that before?

Saddam Ends Hunger Strike...After Missing Lunch

Saddam is no martyr. His hunger strike lasted exactly one meal:

Saddam Hussein ended a brief hunger strike after missing just one meal in his U.S.-run prison, a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday.

The former Iraqi leader had refused lunch on Thursday in protest at the killing of one of his lawyers by gunmen, but the spokesman said he ate his evening meal.

I'll be he heard that Cindy Sheehan was going to start a hunger strike and he didn't want to risk being associated with that loon.

Aaron Spelling Dies

TV producer Aaron Spelling has died at 83. Heaven for Spelling must be full of big-haired blondes and bad background music.

Soldier's Burden

A very timely cartoon from Cox & Forkum.

Bush Moves to Protect Private Property

On this one year anniversary of the infamous Kelo decision, President Bush has issued an Executive Order protecting private property:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to strengthen the rights of the American people against the taking of their private property, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.

I don't know why this couldn't have been done a year ago, but it's welcome nonetheless. You can read the entire order here.

Hastening the Apocalypse

The LA Times has a curious article about how different religious groups are endeavoring to hasten the end times:

For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.

Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.

For some Christians this means laying the groundwork for Armageddon.

With that goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades.

In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a far different vision. As mayor of Tehran in 2004, he spent millions on improvements to make the city more welcoming for the return of a Muslim messiah known as the Mahdi, according to a recent report by the American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.

Ahmadinejad hopes to welcome the Mahdi to Tehran within two years.

Conversely, some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam's holiest shrines.

Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple — along with two 6½-ton marble cornerstones for the building's foundation.

Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher. He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.

So far, only one of his cows has been verified by rabbis as worthy, meaning they failed to turn up even three white or black hairs on the animal's body.

Linking these efforts is a belief that modern technologies and global communications have made it possible to induce completion of God's plan within this generation.

Given the events in the world today I not sure there's anything anybody really needs to do to hasten the end times other than just sitting back and watching. However, I can remember similar talk as far back as the late 60's, so I'm not sure there's much anybody can do to speed things up.

I See a Potential Conflict of Interest Here...

Seen at the 805 and Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in San Diego:


Mmmmm. There's nothing like a cheezy pizza right before your Weight Watchers meeting.

New York Times' Terrorist Protection Program

Once again the New York Times has done it's part in the War on Terror - by providing more information to the terrorists that will help them avoid detection and capture:

Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.

The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas and into and out of the United States. Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database. ...

The program is grounded in part on the president's emergency economic powers, Mr. Levey said, and multiple safeguards have been imposed to protect against any unwarranted searches of Americans' records.

The program, however, is a significant departure from typical practice in how the government acquires Americans' financial records. Treasury officials did not seek individual court-approved warrants or subpoenas to examine specific transactions, instead relying on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from the cooperative, known as Swift.

According to Captain Ed, the Administration sent a bipartisan team to the Times to request that they not publish the information and blow the program. Of course, they chose the path of treason.

The Bush administration has made no secret of its campaign to disrupt terrorist financing, and President Bush, Treasury officials and others have spoken publicly about those efforts. Administration officials, however, asked The New York Times not to publish this article, saying that disclosure of the Swift program could jeopardize its effectiveness. They also enlisted several current and former officials, both Democrat and Republican, to vouch for its value.

Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said: "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration. We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."

I guess we'll just have to hope that the next terror attack is against the Times so we can go back to protecting our national security programs.

UPDATE: NY Times "offends" Vice President Cheney.

Kerry Was Against Cut-and-Run Before He Was For It

John Kerry is desperate to retreat from Iraq...today...but that wasn't the case during the early days of the presidential campaign:

While Democrats bristle at Republican descriptions of their Iraq policy as "cut and run," Sen. John Kerry, the author of a bill defeated today in the Senate, used that very term to criticize President Bush's consideration during the 2004 election campaign of a timetable for withdrawal.

In a December 2003 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, the Massachusetts Democrat said he feared that "in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy," notes Townhall.com writer Tim Chapman.

"Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure," Kerry said in his 2003 speech. "The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election."

Kerry said it "would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists."

Of course you have to remember that in December of 2003 Howard the Donkey hadn't completed his collapse yet, and since Howie was calling for withdrawal, Kerry had to try and look sensible (which wasn't hard compared to Howie). Consequently, it was politically expedient at that time for Kerry to be in favor of "staying the course".

However, Kerry suffers from a familiar Dem disease. Democrats never think anyone will remember or track down their past statements. They think they can utter any absurdity and their words will simply vanish into the ether should they decide to change their mind later.

He should have stuck with his original position. If he had, he wouldn't have lost 93-6 and 86-13.

Another Terror Plot Thwarted

There was a big raid in Florida which has broken up a terror plot designed to bring down the Sears Tower in Chicago, or other landmarks:

Seven people are in custody after the FBI and state and local law enforcement agents carried out raids in Miami, Florida, connected with an alleged plot to attack landmark U.S. buildings, officials told CNN on Thursday.

Officials said no weapons or bomb-making materials had been found in the searches so far. The Miami area is under no imminent threat, according to the FBI.
Law enforcement sources told CNN that the arrests disrupted the early stages of a domestic terrorist plot to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, the FBI building in Miami, and possibly other targets.

Memo to Democrats: There are still bad guys out there that want to kill us.

Clinton Defense Secretary Pushing for Act of War

William Perry, former Defense Secretary and a prominent member of the Clinton Administration which was was completely snookered by North Korea back in the 90's, now has a solution to the coming missile crisis - blow them up:

Should the United States allow a country openly hostile to it and armed with nuclear weapons to perfect an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons to U.S. soil? We believe not. The Bush administration has unwisely ballyhooed the doctrine of "preemption," which all previous presidents have sustained as an option rather than a dogma. It has applied the doctrine to Iraq, where the intelligence pointed to a threat from weapons of mass destruction that was much smaller than the risk North Korea poses. (The actual threat from Saddam Hussein was, we now know, even smaller than believed at the time of the invasion.) But intervening before mortal threats to U.S. security can develop is surely a prudent policy.

Therefore, if North Korea persists in its launch preparations, the United States should immediately make clear its intention to strike and destroy the North Korean Taepodong missile before it can be launched. This could be accomplished, for example, by a cruise missile launched from a submarine carrying a high-explosive warhead. The blast would be similar to the one that killed terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. But the effect on the Taepodong would be devastating. The multi-story, thin-skinned missile filled with high-energy fuel is itself explosive -- the U.S. airstrike would puncture the missile and probably cause it to explode. The carefully engineered test bed for North Korea's nascent nuclear missile force would be destroyed, and its attempt to retrogress to Cold War threats thwarted. There would be no damage to North Korea outside the immediate vicinity of the missile gantry.

And then what's going to happen? You're not dealing with a lot of logic and reason in the leadership of North Korea, and if we following Perry's lead, what's to stop NoKo from surging their huge military south of the DMS and killing much of South Korea? Are we going to be able to stop them? Not with what assets we have available.

It's a foolish idea, but completely in character with the Clinton Administration which had absolutely no clue in how to deal with international terrorism or renegade governments.

UPDATE: Now Mondale's getting into the act. He wants to start war too!

Kerry Suffers Slightly Less Crushing Defeat

The other day I predicted that John Kerry's amendment to cut-and-run on July 1, 2007 would lose 85-15. His previous effort to cut-and-run by the end of the year lost 93-6.

I was close. He lost 86-13. I greatly overestimated Kerry's support.

Kerry did get one vote that should be important to Rhode Island Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (RINO-RI) voted for defeat - not of the bill, but of the United States military. I hope the GOP folks in our smallest state remember that come primary day.

Using my high school algebra skills, if Kerry introduces a new bill to get out of Iraq by July 1, 2008, he might get enough votes to pass it (assuming his support doubles every 6 months). I knew that algebra would come in handy some day.

Mr. Clean Marine

Bob Novak gives us some background information on Rep. Jack Murtha that I haven't read anywhere else. Mr. Clean Marine wasn't always so clean:

Jack Murtha proves there are second acts in American politics. I had forgotten that federal prosecutors designated him an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation 26 years ago. I was reminded of it after Murtha became a candidate for majority leader, not by a Republican hit man but a Democratic former colleague in the House. In a long political career, Murtha has made bitter enemies inside his party who are alarmed by his new stature.

Murtha got into politics in 1968 as a 36-year-old highly decorated Marine and in 1974 became the first Vietnam War veteran elected to Congress. By 1980, Murtha was a lieutenant of Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill and was moving to the top in the House when the FBI named him as one of eight members of Congress videotaped being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik.

The other seven congressional targets took cash and were convicted in federal court. The videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his political influence. Murtha testified against the popular Rep. Frank Thompson in the Abscam case, which created lifelong enemies in the Democratic cloakroom. The House Ethics Committee exonerated Murtha of misconduct charges by a largely party-line vote, after which the committee's special counsel resigned in protest.

That salvaged Murtha's political career but limited his public exposure. The current Almanac of American Politics says: "He speaks for attribution to few national or local reporters, hardly ever appears on television and rarely speaks in the House chamber." That reticence has disappeared the last seven months, as he became one of the party's most visible faces.

Murtha now wears his heroic combat record like a suit of armor.

The left tells us we must listen to and obey Mr. Murtha's every rant because he was a Marine. Well, we honor his service to the country, but sadly wearing the uniform does not make one an instant expert. After all, we can't forget that Lee Harvey Oswald was a Marine too. And I don't remember the same lefties heaping praise on Oliver North because of his service as a Marine.

The wheels are starting to come off Mr. Murtha's bandwagon. His performance on Meet the Press last Sunday (also detailed in the article) was an embarrassment, and his fade to irrelevance has begun.

Why the Dems Won't Win

Victor Davis Hanson writes today about why the Dems are going to have a hard time making their litany of charges against President Bush stick:

Will President Bush's current unpopularity translate into a Democratic recapture of either the House or Senate this fall - or a victory in the 2008 presidential election?

Probably not.

Despite widespread unhappiness with the Republicans, it is hard to envision a majority party run by Howard Dean, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Why?

All sorts of apparent and not-so-apparent reasons. First, recent events and trends have complicated Democrats' talking points about George W. Bush's purported failings.

The so-called "jobless" recovery has seen low unemployment rates comparable to the Clinton boom years.

Last September, many people blamed what they viewed as a stingy federal government for the chaos following Hurricane Katrina. But now we learn individuals' fraudulent claims and spending accounted for $1.4 billion in federal largess. Too much was apparently thrown around from big government too generously, rather than too little, too slowly.

Karl Rove was supposedly going to be "frog-marched" out of the White House in cuffs for a role in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame. Instead, the special prosecutor recently found no evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing.

And then there's Iraq. The recent killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the establishment of a complete Iraqi democratic Cabinet will not ensure a quick victory, as we see from the recent slaughter of American captive soldiers. But both events still weaken the liberal clamor that the American effort at birthing democracy is doomed in Iraq. Calling for a deadline to leave, as Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Ma., advocate, is not so compelling when the current policy is based on training the growing Iraqi security forces so that American troops can come home as soon as possible.

Thus, looking ahead to the elections, there is little that the Democrats will be able to capitalize on.

VDH is right. Read the rest of it here.

Noonan on How Each Party Views its Base

Peggy Noonan has a good piece on how each party looks at its base. The Republican leaders used to pay quite a bit of attention to their base and tried to govern as such. They're not doing that as much lately.

Meanwhile, the Dems think their base is barking mad (and they may be right). Read the whole thing.

Shhh! There Might Be a Scandal at Kos

I find this item very amusing. As you know, whenever there's even the hint of scandal, whether real or perceived, in the GOP or the Bush Administration, the wacky left blogs go nuts and every sort of conspiracy theory gets aired ad nauseum. Just look at the way they've been drooling over the thought of an indictment of Karl Rove, and there are still sites that insist that he was indicted but know one will admit it. Pure moonbat stuff.

Well, over at the mother ship of the wacky left, the DailyKos, some rumors have started floating around that a couple of the principals of that site are involved in a pay-for-play scam whereby politicians must demonstrate their financial support to Kos in order to get an endorsement from the head lefty. Some of this is based on past allegations of questionable stock touting by a Kos partner, and the scrutiny of that activity by the SEC (Powerline has the details).

Head Kos guy Markos Moulitsas apparently isn't enjoying the sudden scrutiny, and in a response totally out of character with the way the lefty blogs usually operate, is demanding silence. The New Republic got ahold of an email that Markos sent out to other prominent lefty bloggers in an effort to stop the story. The whole email is at Powerline, but I'll just excerpt the last two paragraphs:

This story will percolate in wingnut circles until then, but I haven't gotten a single serious media call about it yet. Not one. So far, this story isn't making the jump to the traditional media, and we shouldn't do anything to help make that happen.

My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I'll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let's starve it of oxygen. And without the "he said, she said" element to the story, you know political journalists are paralyzed into inaction.

Unfortunately for Markos, at least one of his lefty friends leaked the email, and that last paragraph is like waving a red flag at a bull as far as the mainstream press is concerned. The question is, will anyone follow-up and investigate the story? There may be nothing to it, but if a conservative site were involved in this sort of allegation, every major media outlet and moonbat lefty site would be devoting full-time to it.

It's worth a look.

UPDATE Kos responds to The New Republic:

There was one big rule for this list, an important cog in the growing Vast Left Wing Conspiracy -- everything discussed was off the record.

That was obviously violated today as the New Republic betrayed, once again, that it seeks to destroy the new people-powered movement for the sake of its Lieberman-worshipping neocon owners; that it stands with the National Review and wingnutoshpere in their opposition to grassroots Democrats.

As Hugh Hewitt says:

Now, does Kos' line about the magazine's "Lieberman-worshipping neocon owners" get close to whispering "the Jooos did it"?

You know how the left loves their conspiracies.