More on the BBC meltdown:

To cut a very long story short -- the Hutton Report runs to 337 pages, even without the appended evidence -- Dr. Kelly gave an illicit interview to a BBC journalist, Andrew Gilligan, last spring. Mr. Gilligan then claimed in a broadcast that Tony Blair had, through his then-press secretary, Alastair Campbell, knowingly inserted false evidence into a dossier on the existence of WMDs in Iraq. When asked by his BBC bosses for his source for such an astonishing claim, he named the scientist.

Not only did Lord Hutton find that the allegations were "unfounded," he concluded that there was no evidence that Dr. Kelly had even said such things in the first place to Mr. Gilligan. But in the end Mr. Gilligan's shoddy conduct is a side issue. The real problem is the institution of the BBC itself.

The report lacerates the BBC for broadcasting such a grave allegation and neither properly checking it before broadcast nor then, after the government had strenuously denied it, taking proper steps to inquire into its truth. When Alastair Campbell responded with a point by point denial, the BBC reacted with disdain, as though it were above criticism and could not soil itself by dealing with mere political functionaries. According to Lord Hutton, "the editorial system which the BBC permitted was defective in that Mr. Gilligan was allowed to broadcast his report at 6:07 a.m. without editors having seen a script of what he was going to say and having considered whether it should be approved."

Tony Blair came out of a potentially brutal week looking pretty good. The BBC on the other hand...

The administrations fellow Republicans are pissed about Bush's spending and they're starting spout off about it:

WASHINGTON - Republican lawmakers pressed the White House yesterday for deeper spending cuts than President Bush will propose in his fiscal 2005 budget Monday.

Separately, officials said the budget would seek a boost for fighting AIDS abroad and a modest increase for education.

White House budget chief Joshua Bolten briefed Republican senators and representatives gathered in Philadelphia on Bush's fiscal plan, telling them it would project a $521 billion deficit for this year, said administration and congressional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. That would far exceed last year's $375 billion shortfall, the highest ever in dollar terms.

Emphasis added. Although the Republican base will not vote against Bush in November, some may stay home as a protest. As someone who is fiscally conservative, it's time to slash the budget in any way possible, starting with payments to Cairo and Riyahd and working down from there.

Update: I think he's getting the word.

Dave Barry is a funny guy. His blog should be read once a week and just keep on clicking. He has this little gem on his site:

UPDATE ON SITES THAT TURN OUT TO BE NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED

www.cummingfirst.com/organ

Hilarious.

An eyewitness account of Thursdays cowardly homicide bombing in Israel:

Survivors lay on the pavement. One elderly man had flecks of human tissue on the back of his coat and scalp, but otherwise he seemed uninjured. Another man was bleeding from his ear, which had been sliced in half. A woman held her face in her hands, and everything was covered in blood.

It was still very quiet, or at least it seemed that way to me. I don’t remember any police there, although surely there must have been some. The ground was covered in glass; every window of the bus had been blasted. Inside the wreckage, I could see three very still corpses and one body that rocked back and forth convulsively. Outside the bus, another three corpses were strewn on the ground, one face-up, two face-down. There was a large piece of torso ripped from its body, which I guessed was the suicide bomber’s. Elsewhere on the ground, more chunks of human flesh: a leg, an arm, smaller bits, pools of blood.

Yeah, the Palestinians are morally equivalent with the Israeli's.

Today the Inquirer (scroll down)published the following letter from me concerning this column:

An allied effort in Iraq

Re: "Bush team sings a new tune," Commentary Page, Jan. 28:

Trudy Rubin is perpetuating a myth of unilateralism. Her solipsistic views are intentionally misleading readers. Maybe my dictionary is outdated, but unilateral generally is known to mean going it alone. I guess the 34 other countries allied in the war in Iraq are non-entities. I would guess that Britain, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the myriad other countries that fought and lost troops, would disagree with that judgment.

If the myth of unilateralism is taken from Rubin's column, that leaves it standing on nothing. My dictionary does not state that the definition of multilateralism is "including France."

Scott Welsh

Evesham

We have to get our views, no matter what they are, out in the manistream media. I haven't seen any stats, but I imagine the average person probably reads the front page and maybe the Op-Ed section on a given day. Differing opinions will hopefully make people see the big picture and not base their decisions on one line of thinking.

The 9/11 report is going to be damning for all involved, from Clinton to Bush, mistakes were made. Tom Kean sums it up:

"We were asleep. Opportunities were lost," said former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican who chairs the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. "The hijackers analyzed our system and developed a plan they felt sure would beat it in every case, and 19 out of 19 succeeded."

Congress established the commission to study the nation's preparedness before Sept. 11, 2001, its response to the attacks, and to recommend ways to prevent such disasters.

The errors documented by the commission date back to just after the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and continued until the fateful day in 2001. The panel found airline security stopped nine of the 19 hijackers on the day of the attacks but let them go.

All five of the hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 at Dulles International Airport outside Washington were flagged as security risks. All that was required then was that their checked bags be searched for explosives. None was found, so they were allowed to board.

Three of them also had carry-ons that set off alarms on X-ray belts. However, despite one or two additional checks, they successfully got on the plane with pocket knives and box cutters. That plane crashed into the Pentagon (news - web sites).

It's not a political issue, although most will attempt to make it so/ It's a safety issue and a procedural issue that shows how inadequately we were prepared, and how patience and knowledge of our system was used to unfortunate advantage.

The WaPo tackles the Gilligan rsignation and seems astounded by the down fall of the BBBC in a short time:

The donnybrook that ensued between the British government and the BBC eventually led Gilligan's purported source to commit suicide and triggered a judicial inquiry that has now condemned the BBC's journalism as sloppy and negligent. But while the BBC's defenders are questioning retired judge Brian Hutton's blanket vindication of the government, some are also asking how one of the world's most respected news organizations could have allowed a journalist whose work had already come under question to make such a sweeping accusation based on one unnamed source -- and then compounded the error by failing to take a closer look at his report after Blair's heated denials.

The NY Times Blair fiasco, and the BBC issues have been pounded for the last few years around the blogosphere. Day in and day out bloggers are finding mistakes made by these "highly respected" news organizations. The playing field is finally leveling.

Are you against the Iraq War? You will be ashamed of yourself after reading this. If you aren't, you hate Bush so much that you should be excluded from the debate.

We can only hope this is true.

The U.S. military is "sure" it will catch Osama bin Laden this year, a spokesman said Thursday, but he declined to comment on where the al-Qaida leader may be hiding.

Bin Laden, chief suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that sparked the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, is widely believed to be holed up somewhere along the mountainous Pakistani-Afghan border with former Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

Following last month's capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, American commanders in Afghanistan have expressed new optimism they will eventually find bin Laden. Spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said the military now believed it could seize him within months.

"We have a variety of intelligence and we're sure we're going to catch Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar this year," Hilferty said. "We've learned lessons from Iraq and we're getting improved intelligence from the Afghan people."

Hilferty declined to comment on where exactly bin Laden or Mullah Omar might be hiding, but his optimism coincides with comments from U.S. officials in Washington that the military is planning a spring offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts.

The eventual Democrat candidate is fearing this. What a pathetic feeling that must be, to route against the US military catching him.

More fallout from the Gilligan smear of Tony Blair:

BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan made a final plea for understanding in a late submission to Lord Hutton’s inquiry.

Reporters should be given “a margin for error” when dealing with matters of clear public interest, particularly on political issues, he argued.

How much of a "margin of error" have you given the people you've reported on? Enjoy retirement you idiot.

James Taranto sums it up best:

Everyone makes mistakes, of course, but when journalists start asserting a right to be inaccurate, they only harm the cause of a vigorous and independent press, which is crucial to democracy.

Amen. The public trusts (or used to) the press and the people writing in it. get it right the first time, there are no do-overs.

I would rather go to jail and have a cell-mate named Bubba, than admit to this:

A Davenport man on trial for three charges of indecent exposure tried to defend himself by having his wife testify that he is not well-endowed enough for a female postal worker to have seen his penis from about 35 feet away.
.
A Scott County jury deliberated for five hours, until about 9 p.m. Tuesday, before convicting Doug Neece, 41, of 2508 W. 60th Place. He also used defenses during the two-day trial in Scott County District Court that his clothes did not fit well because he had lost weight and that he was doing yard work with one of his children when one of the incidents was reported.

Dude, it's got to be microscopic to not be seen from that distance. Good luck in jail, I suspect you'll get a close-up view of ones that can be seen from a hundred feet.

When you think of the Berlin Wall being torn down, what do you think of? You may think of oppressed people with sledgehammers, or the joining together of fmilies separated for 45 years. I think of David Hasselhoff and his bravery in facing down Soviet power by himself:

The actor and producer, who says he is working on a film version of TV series Knight Rider, claims he is partly responsible for the fall of the concrete divide.

Speaking to German magazine TV Spielfilm, Hasselhoff said in 1989, the year the wall fell, he had helped reunite the country by singing his song 'Looking for Freedom' among millions of German fans at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

He said he felt he had moved people on both sides of the wall, although he admitted hardly any of the East Germans could speak English. He said: "I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Check-Point Charlie.

I used have the soundtrack to Pink Floyd's The Wall going through my head when I thought of the wall coming down. Now I've got Dave...please shoot me.

The Hutton Report clears Tony Blair of "sexing up" Iraq intelligence, and slams the taxpayer-funded BBC. David Kay Clears Bush and he offers tax-payer money to the NEA. He's got to get spending under control and reduce the deficit.

Who benefitted from the Oil for Food program in Iraq during the sanctions? Well, George Galloway, George Galloway, and George Galloway. The Russians and French dipped in pretty deep, and this is interesting:

Palestine

1 Abou Abbas (11,5 mb) 2 Abdallah Hourani (8 mb) 3 Wafa Toufik Sayegh (3,5 mb) 4 PLO (4 mb) 5 FPLP (5 mb) 6 political Department of the PLO (5 mb)

Arafat made some ducats. What of Galloway however:

Contract the 29/12/1999 on behalf of Finnish company OY-Fortum Oil and Gas with mention: for the account of George Galloway: 3 million barrels (intermediary: Burhan Jalabi).
Contract the 10/7/2001 for the account of "Aredio Petrolium of Jordanian Fawwaz Zreikate with mention: George Galloway: 4 million barrels.
Contract the 6/8/2001 for the account of Middle East Semi-conductor Inc Of Jordanian Fawwaz Zreikate with mention: Galloway recipient, 3 million barrels.
Contract for the same Jordanian company, of the 3/5/2001: final recipient: George Galloway, 2 million barrels.
Contract of the 12/12/2002, for the same preceding recipients, 3 million barrels.
Similar contract the 3/6/2002, 3 million barrels. Thus, George Galloway profited from six contracts, under different names. All these documents are signed and dated by the minister from Oil from Saddam Hussein. But why personal mention of Galloway in these contracts? To undoubtedly recall to the minister the final recipient of the contract, and to obtain its downstream without discussing it. And it is probably the case of all the other recipients, whom it acts politicians, ONG, parties political or companies.

Who is Galloway? An exiled British Member of Parliament.

Crashing and burning:

Democrat Howard Dean shook up his faltering bid for the White House on Wednesday, replacing his campaign manager with a longtime associate of former Vice President Al Gore.

In a further sign of distress, the one-time front-runner implemented cost-cutting measures as he looked ahead to a series of costly primaries and caucuses, asking staff to defer their paychecks for two weeks.

"Governor Dean asked Roy Neel to join the campaign as CEO and Joe Trippi resigned as campaign manager," said Tricia Enright, a campaign spokeswoman.

One source said the former Vermont governor offered Trippi a spot on the payroll as a senior adviser -- similar to the position Neel has held since Jan. 1 -- but he decided to quit rather than accept the demotion.

Kerry at least did it before any votes were cast.

Deans blog doesn't even know it's over for them.

More from the American Thinker. A look at Edwards and campaign finance. This is a nice new site, in the vein of the American Spectator. Check out the blurb at the end about the author, wounded in Baghdad and awarded a Bronze Star.

The second part of the American Thinker article about the Left and Israel is up:

This tendency of rhetorical flourishes to outlive their original meaning is nowhere more obvious than in the Western Left. Notice, in the lines above, the ritual denunciation of competing sects (" ...the Revisionsim and Trotskyism which produced these armchair revolutionary defeatists..."), as peevish today as it was in the good old days when it referred to something. Today, a dozen years after the Soviet collapse, these outbursts have the character of skeletons doing a dance macabre in the graveyard. But they do tell us something about the emotional state of the dancers.

What they tell us is the powerful mood of resentment underlying the whole exercise, sometimes expressed as vituperation of other sects of the Left. Imagine, then, the powerful unconscious resentment against Israel which must be at work as well. In Israel, Labour Zionism created the institutions I alluded to above, which helped to build an entire country, which survive (not without difficulties) to this day, and which real people actually live by.

One more little gem from Mugger from a New Yorker piece. The piece is not available online as yet, but here's Ken Auletta discussing it.

Auletta led with the months-old scoop that the president doesn’t spend much time reading daily newspapers. He writes: "‘How do you then know what the public thinks?’ a reporter asked, according to Bush aides and reporters who heard the exchange. And Bush replied, ‘You’re making a huge assumption–that you represent what the public thinks.’"

That must have looked as fat as beachball coming over the plate to Bush.

Mugger slaps around Clark:

Clark—and his staff—doesn’t even have the acumen to vet those who endorse his White House run. George McGovern is certainly no disgrace, but the general mentions the ’72 Democratic nominee with the same reverence as fellow supporter Michael Moore, the millionaire working stiff who’s currently selling scads of copies of his silly screed Dude, Where’re My Toes? Sorry, Dude, Where’s My Country?.

Even Peter Jennings, the ABC cocktail-circuit anchorman who’s barely less hostile to Bush than Sidney Blumenthal, couldn’t resist nailing Clark at last Thursday’s NH debate by asking him what substantiation he had about limo-enthusiast Moore’s claim that the president was a "deserter" during the Vietnam War. (Even though Jennings put forth the most damaging question, Clark blamed Fox News anchor Brit Hume, a conservative, for his bad showing. He said the next day, "I looked at who was asking the questions, and I think that was part of the Republican agenda in the debate.") Clark said he hadn’t verified the charge—five days after Moore made the remark in introducing the candidate at a rally—but said the filmmaker was a man brimming with courage and a "great American."

Jennings: "Let me ask you something you mentioned, then, because since this question- and-answer in which you and Mr. Moore [were] involved in, you’ve had a chance to look at the facts. Do you still feel comfortable with the fact that someone should be standing up in your presence and calling the president of the United States a deserter?"

Clark: "To be honest with you, I did not look at the facts, Peter. You know, that’s Michael Moore’s opinion. He’s entitled to say that. I’ve seen—he’s not the only person who’s said that. I’ve not followed up on those facts."

It’s possible that even Lehane cringed at that snippet of paranoia. I’m no conspiracy buff—even less so since my 11-year-son can’t stop yakking about Kurt Cobain’s "murder"—but isn’t it apparent to even someone who’s not a Rhodes scholar that the Clintons are chuckling at Clark’s public humiliation, and praying that John Kerry (or Edwards or Howard Dean, for all I know) flames out against Bush in November?

Frankly, I don’t really think the 2008 nomination is Sen. Hillary’s for the asking, especially if Rudy Giuliani challenges her in 2006, but if Bill (and Terry McAuliffe, if he wants to keep his DNC job) doesn’t proceed on that assumption he’ll probably go on an eating binge and wind up looking like Michael Moore. (Pardon the slur against the heavyset, not my usual m.o., but it’s the least Moore deserves after expressing remorse that the 9/11 victims were in states that voted for Gore.)

And another whack at Moore:

How humiliating was it for Art Garfunkel, at his advancing age, to be arrested last week for possession of a small amount of marijuana? I guess Artie’s faded so deep into the woodwork of has-beens that he can’t afford an entourage of handlers to keep such routine matters out of the newspapers. But there it was in the Daily Freeman on Jan. 22, a brief story about the Hurley, NY bust in which reporter Ariel Zangla wrote: "State police Capt. Louis Barbaria Jr. said the trooper didn’t realize who he arrested until later, even though Garfunkel identified himself as a celebrity."

I suppose Garfunkel’s doing okay in the pocketbook department, but what an ignominious fall from his heyday as Paul Simon’s not-so-equal partner in the 1960s. I remember as an eighth-grader going to Yankee Stadium for Opening Day and although the game was a bore, the highlight was spotting the duo in box seats as my buddies and I roamed around from our nosebleed seats. Not that I was a huge fan—S&G always seemed like hippie-dippy Dylan imitators—but still, when you’re a teenager from Huntington, Long Island, it’s not every day that bona fide celebrities are as close to you as Michael Moore’s mouth is to a bag of Doritos.

Al Franken quells someones right to free speech with, GASP!, violence:

January 27, 2004 -- EXETER, N.H. - Wise-cracking funnyman Al Franken yesterday body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down Gov. Howard Dean.
The tussle left Franken's trademark thick-rim glasses broken, but he said he was not injured.

Franken - who seemed in a state of shock and out of breath after the incident - was helped back to his feet by several people who watched the tussle. Police arrived soon after.

"I got down low and took his legs out," said Franken afterwards.

Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.

"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down."

Seems pretty damn unilateral to me. How could Franken attack without UN, French, and German approval? I have to say, if I got my ass body slammed by Al Franken, I'd be so ashamed of my unmanliness that I'd become a liberal Democrat.

Another Bush=Hitler nut job.

Soon after Hitler took power, the concentration camp at Dachau was created and "the Nazis began arresting Communists, Socialists and labor leaders ... . Parliamentary democracy ended with the Reichstag passage of the Enabling Act, which allowed the government to issue laws without the Reichstag."

With Bush leading all branches of government around by the nose, there's a question whether parliamentary democracy still exists here. Certainly, concentration camps exist, if we're willing to call the lockup at Guanténamo Bay what it really is. And the USA Patriot Act allows the president to effectively take citizenship rights from any American-born criminal suspect.

"Nazi anti-Semitic legislation and propaganda against 'Non-Aryans' was a thinly disguised attack against anyone who had Jewish parents or grandparents. Jews felt increasingly isolated from the rest of German society."

How comfortable do American-born Arabs feel in the United States today?

While the German concentration camps were being built and Jews were being persecuted, in 1936 Nazi Germany hosted the Olympic Games and put its best face forward to the world. We have the Super Bowl.

How comfortable do American-born Arabs feel? Why not answer that question by asking someone in the Arab community. Has the Bush administration started putting away crazy-assed Leftists? As to the Reichstag, that was started by Nazis, is Harley implying that 9-11 was planned by Bush? Indymedia thinking goes mainstream.

Whenever I find a NY Times blowing down the street (I can't bring myself to buy it), I always look at the corrections first. Check out these two doozies:

Because of an editing error, a front-page article yesterday about David A. Kay, the C.I.A.'s former weapons inspector, misstated his view of whether the agency's analysts had been pressured by the Bush administration to tailor their prewar intelligence reports about Iraq's weapons programs to conform to a White House political agenda. Mr. Kay said he believed that there was no such pressure, not that there was. (His view was correctly reflected in a quotation that followed the error.)

An article on Saturday about Gen. Wesley K. Clark's difficulties in his first run for office quoted him as saying that a question about his Democratic credentials by the Fox News anchor Brit Hume at a debate on Thursday was "part of a Republican Party agenda." The article also quoted a spokesman for General Clark as criticizing the network.

Because of an editing error, the article omitted a response by Fox News. Paul Schur, a spokesman for the network, dismissed the suggestion that Mr. Hume's question was prompted by anyone. "General Clark should be used to facing tough questions about his record," Mr. Schur said. "This isn't the first time questions have been raised about his affiliation. His handlers should spend their time on more constructive things such as trying to come up with reasons for the general's slippage in the polls."

Howard Dean supporters are deadbeats:

But one presidential candidate may have left a big bill for a small West Des Moines deli. The campaigns ate, drank and slept at dozens of places across town. For the most part they paid their bills.

This is how it's supposed to work inside the Brown Bag Deli. Owner Scott Hoffman makes you a turkey sandwich and then you pay for it.

Scott will tell you deliveries are a little different, especially one back on the 16th of this month. That was a big order for this small business of four employees. 200 brown bag specials...with turkey, roast beef, ham and veggie sandwiches. The total...$963.01.

As he headed out that day, Scott remembered this customer has paid its bills late a couple times before. So he promised delivery this time with one condition, "c.o.d."

He showed up at the customer's downtown office just in time for lunch. The Dean headquarters was utter chaos. But he couldn't find anyone who'd pay him. They said try the other building next door. Same answer next door, try the other building. Scott went back and forth for 20 minutes. Nobody would pay.

I guess they support Dean because they know he'll expand unemployment to 486 weeks.

Glenn Reynolds is profiled in Wired Magazine.

Reason #564 that I hope there's a hell:

A man and woman driving to work through the cold and snow today in West Philadelphia spotted a sight they will probably never forget. In the schoolyard of Commodore John Barry Elementary School was a partially clad toddler - a little girl they later found had been stabbed.

The weapon, a steak knife, was left stuck in her back."They were astute enough to observe this baby unattended sitting in the schoolyard . . . in the snow, partially clothed," police Capt. John Darby said. "Upon further observation, the civilians did find the child with a knife still embedded in the back."

The discovery of 19-month-old Shytaisia Shirley set in motion efforts to save her life and a police probe that ended a short while later with the arrest of the child's mother, Tamika Fowler.

By midafternoon, the 19-year-old woman was charged with a series of offenses, including attempted murder, aggravated and simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. Her daughter was listed in critical but stable condition last night at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia following surgery. Authorities said the child has a perforated intestine, a punctured bowel and other injuries.

Emphasis mine. I can't even respond to this except to say WTF is going on?

Did you know John Kerry was in Vietnam? Me neither. Did you know he became an anti-war activist? Me neither:

Get your New Hampshire bets down for - John Kerry: He came home from Vietnam and threw his medals over the White House fence. If he had the medals now, he would be wearing them.

Also, Doonesbury smacked down Kerry in 1971.

Afghanistan 1998:

Dramatic public executions and amputations are increasingly being reported in Afghanistan this year, the latest phase in the Taleban's abuse of human rights in the country, Amnesty International said today.

In a new report, the organization states that people have been executed by being hanged, having their throats slit, or by having walls toppled on top of them. As well, people accused of theft have had one hand amputated.

"The death penalty is at all times the most extreme violation of the right to life, and when carried out as a form of public theatre can only serve to fuel a climate of violence and vengeance," Amnesty International said.

Worryingly, the executions have included five men convicted of sodomy -- a further sign that people who don't adhere to Taleban edicts will be singled out for harsh punishment.

The verdicts for both the executions and amputations have been passed by the Taleban's Shari'a courts where defendants do not receive a fair trial. Judges in these courts, many of whom are virtually untrained in law, reportedly base their judgements on a mixture of their personal understanding of Islamic law and a tribal code of honour prevalent in the Pastun areas.

Afghanistan 2004:

Karzai called out a triumphant "Congratulations!" to Afghan leaders who helped draw up the 162-article constitution and signed a decree making it the nation's supreme law in a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry.

Dignitaries, including former King Mohammed Zaher Shah, Cabinet ministers, foreign diplomats and military officers applauded.

In his decree, Karzai prayed the document would bring "prosperity for all and will ensure peace, equality and brotherhood" among the country's feuding ethnic groups.

Ratified Jan. 4 after a sometimes bruising debate at a 500-member loya jirga, or grand council, the text also declares men and women equal before the law.

The constitution is a strict departure from the harsh version of Islamic law enforced by the Taliban, who were ousted from power by U.S.-led forces more than two years ago.

The constitution outlines a tolerant, democratic Islamic republic under a strong presidency - as sought by Karzai, with strong backing from Washington - a two-chamber parliament and an independent judiciary.

Shame on anyone who was against the actions taken in the "War on Terror" to free the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Never fear. Wherever genocide is occurring in the world, all the beleaguered souls have to do is send out the UN signal. The UN will get right on the case and...create a new committee:

Warning massacres like those carried out in Rwanda and Bosnia could happen again, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday proposed an international committee to help prevent genocide.
Annan made the proposal at the opening of a three-day conference in Stockholm on preventing genocide.

More than a half a million people were slaughtered during the 1994 war in Rwanda. A year later in Bosnia, some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred in Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, during the Balkan wars.

"I long for the day when we can say with confidence that, confronted with a new Rwanda or new Srebrenica, the world would respond effectively, and in good time," Annan said. "But let us not delude ourselves. That day has yet to come."

How about the recently ended genocide in Iraq Mr. Annan? A hell of a lot more than 8,000 were murdered. I feel so good about this new committee and I truly believe that genocide will be stopped by a few bureaucrats getting together and scolding the oppressor. Praise Howard Dean's and John F----- Kerry's very important UN.

Another country who sees the difference between a democracy being terrorized, yet fighting back, and a dictatorship run by thugs and zealots:

Australia opposes a hearing on the security fence in the International Court of Justice at the Hague and plans to send a written argument to that effect to judges, the country's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told The Jerusalem Post at the Australia Day reception in Jerusalem Monday.

Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom lauded Australia as one of only eight countries that voted against the UN resolution to take the issue to the Hague.

"We are concerned that this case has the potential for the politicization of the International Court of Justice and could damage its credibility as a court," said Downer while on a 3-day visit to the country. "This is a political exercise, not a judicial exercise."

Though critical of the route of the security fence, which he said should follow the green line more closely, Downer indicated he understood the need for a fence in light of terrorist infiltrations.

"You can't ask the Israeli people to turn their back and do nothing," he said.
Earlier at a press briefing, however, he said the fence – even if only a temporary barrier – follows a provocative path and asked Israel to reconsider the route.

John Howard will be skewered for this, but that's what real leaders do, stick with their convictions.

This is pretty funny. I'm glad our primary is well after they've settled on a sacrifice...Er, candidate.

Finally PETA goes after a hypocrite:

SEN. Hillary Clinton's trouble with PETA isn't going away. The kerfuffle over her new sheared mink coat that her staff is trying to pass off as velvet has spurred PETA President Ingrid Newkirk to tell the horrific tale of "Mr. Velvet," a red fox who lost a leg to a steel trap. "His eyes were wide as saucers as his tongue pounded the air with each labored breath," Newkirk wrote of her furry friend before he was released from the trap, which "took all my strength to open and release the crushed white bones of his paw." She also claims that Clinton's cover-up of her cover-up is disappointing and wants the truth. "I live in the hope that Americans will continue to demand honesty from their politicians, as well as empathy and kindness." A rep for Clinton reiterated the party line: "The only thing we've said about this is what we say again: The senator has owned a mink coat for over 25 years. Because it was worn, she traded it in."

Serves her right. I have three dogs, two cats, two birds, and numerous fish. I'm horrified that Hillary would wear a dead animal on her back for no other reason than vanity.

It's the economy stupid?:

The Dow is now slightly more than 1,000 points away from its all-time high close of 11,722.98, reached on Jan. 14, 2000.
The broader gauges were also higher. Negative for much of the day, the Nasdaq composite index closed up 29.96, or 1.4 percent, at 2,153.83, after last week's 0.8 percent decline ended a six-week winning streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq last closed higher on June 29, 2001, at 2,160.54.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed up 13.82, or 1.2 percent, at 1,155.37, following a weekly rise of 0.1 percent - its ninth consecutive week of advances. It was the S&P 500's highest close since March 19, 2002, when it finished at 1,170.29.

Emphasis mine. I think the Dow will reach 12,000 this year, probably right around election time.

And this little gem:

Separately Monday, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of previously owned homes reached a new record high last year, largely fueled by attractive mortgage rages.

More people owning homes that are bigger and nicer for the price because of interest rates. Hmm, this'll surely help Bush.

I conduct training on all different topics. From hazardous waste operations to spill response. Due to some new legislation, I now must train personnel who work at hazardous waste sites on security and anti-terrorism procedures. Here's why:

FREEPORT, Texas - A security guard at a BASF Corp. chemical plant was shot in the shoulder after he approached a suspicious truck and talked to a man who said he had been taking pictures, authorities said.

The guard's name was not released, but Freeport police said he was doing well at a Brazosport hospital following the Friday night shooting.

The guard told police the gunman was a man of Middle Eastern descent with bushy hair and a mustache. The man was driving a white pickup with tinted windows and a black stripe.

BASF spokeswoman Sharon Rogers said there was no indication the shooting was linked to terrorism.

As Glenn Beck says, "Just another isolated incident".

Via Instapundit.

If you need any reasons to not like Kerry for the nomination, just read Mickey Kaus, he has tons of them.

President Bush tells the press to pry open their wallets, blow the dust off their money, and spend

THE PRESIDENT: I need some ribs.

Q Mr. President, how are you?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm hungry and I'm going to order some ribs.

Q What would you like?

THE PRESIDENT: Whatever you think I'd like.

Q Sir, on homeland security, critics would say you simply haven't spent enough to keep the country secure.

THE PRESIDENT: My job is to secure the homeland and that's exactly what we're going to do. But I'm here to take somebody's order. That would be you, Stretch -- what would you like? Put some of your high-priced money right here to try to help the local economy. You get paid a lot of money, you ought to be buying some food here. It's part of how the economy grows. You've got plenty of money in your pocket, and when you spend it, it drives the economy forward. So what would you like to eat?

Q Right behind you, whatever you order.

THE PRESIDENT: I'm ordering ribs. David, do you need a rib?

Q But Mr. President --

THE PRESIDENT: Stretch, thank you, this is not a press conference. This is my chance to help this lady put some money in her pocket. Let me explain how the economy works. When you spend money to buy food it helps this lady's business. It makes it more likely somebody is going to find work. So instead of asking questions, answer mine: are you going to buy some food?

Q Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. What would you like?

Q Ribs.

THE PRESIDENT: Ribs? Good. Let's order up some ribs.

Q What do you think of the democratic field, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: See, his job is to ask questions, he thinks my job is to answer every question he asks. I'm here to help this restaurant by buying some food. Terry, would you like something?

Q An answer.

Q Can we buy some questions?

THE PRESIDENT: Obviously these people -- they make a lot of money and they're not going to spend much. I'm not saying they're overpaid, they're just not spending any money.

Q Do you think it's all going to come down to national security, sir, this election?

THE PRESIDENT: One of the things David does, he asks a lot of questions, and they're good, generally

Who posts to Howie Deans site? People with their own sites like this. The site links to articles titled:

Star Wars
Stepping stones to weather control shielding and cover up.

And:

Lows and cold dense air are where a lot of the control lies
There is an electrical fence (high up) along the Rockies too

Get out the tin foil hats conspiracy theorists, this guy is onto everything that has ever happened.

A sort of fisking of the SOTU address.

Read this paragraph from Slate:

America-watchers the world over experienced twin frissons of excitement this week after John Kerry's surprise Iowa victory and President Bush's State of the Union address put U.S. domestic politics onto the international news agenda. Bush's unapologetic speech garnered rebukes from Toronto to Beirut, even as the Democratic contest raised some pundits' hopes for a U.S. regime change.

It brings to mind three basic thoughts, why should Bush be apologetic? For protecting the US and building a coalition of 34 nations to assist us? The Dems and the Libs take it as gospel that we have done something we should be ashamed of. Until they get past that, they will be out of the mainstream where most Americans dwell.

Second, why should we give a damn if we're "rebuked" by Lebanon. Of course they're against anything Bush says because theya re a terrorist haven and know that they could be next. I didn't hear any rebukes from the governments of those countries, just from some lazy reporters who should be out investigating stories instead of drnking their per diem in the local saloons.

The first paragraph should say "Liberal America-watchers", not just America-watchers. Quoting a few articles from editorial writers in countries who either detest us, or detest Bush is not quality reporting, it's a guy sitting in front of his computer cutting and pasting news articles for pay. Sure, that's what I do. I, however, do not get paid to do this.

Would the US go into Lebanon to take out Hizballah?

Over at Deans site, the Dean kool-aid drinkers are in full breakdown mode:

If you cannot fathom WHY 911 was ALLOWed to happen, you deserve the America that is being instituted. Bush was at a 54% approval rating when 911 went down. Because he was selected he had no mandate. He had just lost the Senate from Jeffords switching, which incidentally brought down Bush's number one contributor...Enron. That same week was the week the independant recount was suppose to come out which stated that Gore won in 8 out of 10 scenarios. That finding was put off from coming out for 6 months!

Bush got his mandate for war. All his military contractors got their due payment for pimping for him as well. We all know he wanted Saddam from day one. Truth is he spent his whole life plugging holes in the ground trying to find oil and now he found an oil mother load.

Most of you do not grasp how close we are to being out of Oil. Just listen to the facts of how many billions of barrells americans use in a day or week. It should appeal to your common sense.

JFK was killed because he was going to put a stop to the vietnam war. The war pigs had too much money to be made from the war.

The fact that Silverstein is admitting to imploding WTC 7 only hours after the last building feel is a monumental admission..

You people in here that are republicans who are trying to play like your on the fence or to disrupt, better sharpen your wit because I will take you on.

And when I say taking you on I mean on FACTS. Not your little ability to label people and act like little play school kids. So bring it on!

Dean got most of his support from people who understand the level of corruption going on and are angry about it. That is a reality!

Read some of the other posts. They sound like the scumbags at Indymedia.

I guess the money going into the Dem coffers will be a little less this year:

The Quantum Fund, the flagship of George Soros' hedge fund operations, closed out 2003 up 15%, a rate of return that falls short of both the S&P 500 and the average return of his global macro fund competitors.

According to data on Bloomberg, November and December were particularly good to the $8.3 billion fund, accounting for almost half its annual gain.

During that time, Soros made negative comments on the dollar, which dropped from $1.158 against the euro on Nov. 1 to $1.257 on Jan. 1. The Quantum Fund's most famous -- and among its largest -- gains came from its bet against the British pound in 1992. After shorting it, Soros made about $1 billion on the bet, in the process nearly breaking the Bank of England.

Soros bears watching.

My thoughts on the debate;

Kucinich is not an idiot, but he is insane. Pulling out the charts again was a stupid thing however.

The United States should renounce any interest in privatization of the Iraq economy. And we should ask the U.N. to help construct a cause of governance in Iraq with a new constitution and elections.

That approach, plus to fund a U.N. peacekeeping mission; in addition to that, to provide repairs for what we destroyed in Iraq, plus reparations for the families of innocent civilian noncombatants -- all that constitutes a plan which would enable the United States to go to the U.N. and say, "Look, agree with this plan, send in U.N. peacekeepers," and 90 days later, we'll have our troops home.

I do stand here saying that I believe sincerely that we should bring in U.N. peacekeepers and bring our troops home. And I have the plan to do that.

Grade C+

Clark had the opportunity to distance himself from the Angry Left element and declined. He didn't answer the questions, but fell back on his stump speech. I think this is what killed McCain's campaign in '00. These two responses are telling of what Clark is about.

CLARK: I never used the word "guarantee." I never said that, John.

DISTASO: What did you say?

CLARK: What I said was that the president had been saying that the attack at 9/11 could not have been prevented, and that further attacks were inevitable.

I consider the statement that the attack at 9/11 could not have been prevented as an excuse to cover the fact that this administration didn't do everything they could have done.

CLARK: And I consider their statement that further attacks on the United States are inevitable as an excuse to cover for the fact that they are today not doing everything they could do to keep America safe. And that's wrong, that's why I'm running and that's what I'll fix.

You may not have said "guarantee" General, but you meant it. And this about Michael Moore:

CLARK: Well, I think Michael Moore has the right to say whatever he feels about this.

I don't know whether this is supported by the facts or not. I've never looked at it. I've seen this charge bandied about a lot.

But to me it wasn't material. This election is going to be about the future, Peter. And what we have to do is pull this country together. And I am delighted to have the support of a man like Michael Moore, of a great American leader like Senator George McGovern, and of people from Texas like Charlie Stenholm and former Secretary of the Navy John Dalton.

We've got support from across the breadth of the Democratic Party, because I believe this party is united in wanting to change the leadership in Washington. We're going to run an election campaign that's about the future. We're going to hold the president accountable for what he did in office and failed to do, and we're going to compare who's got the best vision for America.

JENNINGS: Let me ask you something you mentioned, then, because since this question and answer in which you and Mr. Moore was involved in, you've had a chance to look at the facts.

Do you still feel comfortable with the fact that someone should be standing up in your presence and calling the president of the United States a deserter?

CLARK: To be honest with you, I did not look at the facts, Peter. You know, that's Michael Moore's opinion. He's entitled to say that. I've seen -- he's not the only person who's said that. I've not followed up on those facts. And frankly, it's not relevant to me and why I'm in this campaign.

Grade F+

Dean was calm and collected, as he had to be. He showed a little self-deprecating humor and laughed easily, but what is up with that goofy smile the dude does? His stand that we must get permission from the UN is going to haunt him. I don't think he cleared it up with this statement.

I would not have used the word "permission," nor is that what I meant. You know, my words are not always precise, but my meaning is very, very clear.

Iraq was not an imminent threat to the United States. I disagreed with Senator Lieberman, Senator Edwards and Senator Kerry.

We had successfully contained Iraq for 12 years with no-fly zones. They had virtually no air force to speak of. It turned out they did not have the weapons of mass destruction that people thought they did, myself included. It turned out that much of what the president told us was not so.

I believe that Saddam Hussein's removal from power is good. But I also believe that the way to have done it was to do it through the United Nations, which is why I opposed the president's war in Iraq from the beginning.

Grade B

Sharpton has no chance but at least makes the debate watchable, his line about hootin' and hollerin' was a classic. But when you cut through the entertainment factor, the Rev. knows nothing about policy. Asked by Peter Jennings about the Fed, Al talked about the IMF and added numerous "uhs" and "ers". That may have been the best part of the debate, Al Sharpton damn near speechless.

Well, first of all, let me say this. I wanted to say to Governor Dean, don't be hard on yourself about hooting and hollering. If I had spent the money you did and got 18 percent, I'd still be in Iowa hooting and hollering.

And:

I think, first of all, we must have a person at the Monetary Fund that is concerned about growth of all, not setting standards that would, in my judgment, protect some and not elevate those that cannot, in my view, expand and come to the levels of development and the levels of where we need to be.

I think part of my problem with how we're operating at this point is that the IMF and the policies that are emanating there do not lead to the expansion that is necessary for our country and our global village to rise to levels that underdeveloped countries and those businesses in this country can have the development policies necessary.

Grade D

Kerry did a decent job, although he was never really challenged. He looked old though. I don't know if it was the lighting or something, he didn't look "presidential".

KERRY: I look forward to that fight, and I particularly want to have that debate with this president.

I am a veteran. I fought in a war. I've been a prosecutor. I've sent people to jail for the rest of their life. I have, as a lieutenant governor, helped to fight to create a national plan on acid rain to protect our rivers and lakes and streams for the future.

As a senator, I've stood up for years and fought for fairness. I've also voted for welfare reform. I am a gun owner and a hunter since I was a young man. I think that my education reform -- the other significant efforts to try to make the workplace fair in America are as vital to people in the South and the Southwest and the West and the Midwest of this country as anywhere else.

I look forward to standing up and holding George Bush accountable for pushing seniors off of Medicare into HMOs, for prohibiting Medicare from even negotiating a bulk purchase price, from turning an energy bill into a bonanza for his friends in the oil industry to the tune of $50 billion.

Grade B

Edwards is a good speaker but fumbled the Islam question tremendously. It's a loaded question that you just give a simple answer and be done with it.

I would never claim to be an expert on Islam. I am not. But I do believe that Islam, as in a lot of other faiths that we as a nation embrace and lift up, that I have shown respect for faiths that are different than mine my entire life. I think I do understand the tragedy of the day-to-day lives of people who live in Arab countries, who live lives of hopelessness and despair.

I think that contributes to the animosity that they feel toward the United States.

And part of our ongoing vision -- my ongoing vision for America includes getting at the root causes of that animosity toward the United States, which means being able to communicate, not just with the leadership, for example, in Saudi Arabia, but being able to communicate directly with the people...

Grade B-

Lieberman is, for all intents and purposes, a Republican. Joe is a good man, who is smart and rational, however, he doesn't invigorate people. I think Joe would be an excellent Sec State or some other type position. It's sad, but a black woman will be president before a Jewish man.

I will say for myself what I have said from the beginning: that for most Americans, including myself and I would guess all of us here on the stage, life is about trying to do the right thing. And often, for most Americans, our faith, our religions, the values that we get, the sense of right and wrong that we get from our faith are what helps us decide what to do in public life and in private life.

So long as Democrats are hesitant to talk the language of values and show respect for people of faith, we close ourselves off from a great majority of the American people.

Grade B+

None of the candidates electrifies the Dem party, although Dean could've if he took a more centrist path. We have alot of time left and many more debates in the future. Prediction at this point are ridiculous, but I don't believe that there's one standout. Kerry should win NH and Edwards should win S. Carolina. At this point we just have regional candidates. The public should start paying attention post Dean meltdown. This should be fun.

Jeff Jacoby:

THERE CAN'T be much doubt about who turned in the best performance in last night's New Hampshire debate. Only one man on that stage was consistently calm and thoughtful, well-spoken and well-prepared.

He didn't wilt under pressure, he was forceful without being discourteous -- if anyone appeared ready for the responsibilities of the White House, it was he. Too bad Brit Hume isn't running for president.

And too bad Wesley Clark is.

Hume is a bright guy who asks the right questions, hell, even Peter Jennings b-slapped Kucinich. Granted, Jennings wouldn't have done that to any of the viable candidates, but it was entertaining. More:

It was worth the price of admission just to see that blowhard Al Sharpton try to answer a question about the Federal Reserve. It was funny to discover that John Edwards doesn't appear to have the slightest idea what the Defense of Marriage Act is all about. And it was hilarious to watch Clark try to wriggle out of Brit Hume's devastating query about his political loyalties: After reciting a litany of examples of Clark's pro-Republican record, Hume asked, "Can you tell us when you first noticed you were a Democrat?"

Hume really was terrific last night. Maybe it's not too late to get him on the ballot.

Japan cannot support the UN sucking it dry:

Contributions to the United Nations are loosely based on each country's economic power.

Japan's gross domestic product -- a broad measure of economic output -- accounts for more than 14 percent of the world economy, but its payments amount to 19 percent of the U.N. budget. The U.S. has been paying about 22 percent; its GDP is 30 percent of the global economy.

Those ratios, which are set at regular intervals, are scheduled to be revised in 2006.

"Japan's economic growth remains slow, and we believe that a ratio below 15 percent is appropriate," the Finance Ministry official was quoted as saying.

We pay friggin 22%? I suggest we reduce that to 15% and help the low income Americans by instituting a tax cut.

An interesting essay on the Left and their views of Israel:

These views are also mainstream for most Americans, which is why support for Israel routinely runs three to five times the support level for the Palestinians in every public opinion survey that is taken. In the House, the tendency to use the redistricting process after every census for incumbent protection, has led to the creation of a very large number of safe seats, and very few competitive ones (perhaps 10-15% of the total). This has given incumbents the ability to be less mainstream in their views on this issue and others. The growth in the Arab and Muslim population in America, and the creation of more districts with high percentages of African American voters, are both elements that could create more House members sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, since both African Americans, as a group, and Arabs and Muslims, to a much larger extent, are less sympathetic to Israel than the general population. In any case, it would be hard to point to any individual member of Congress today and say that he or she hates Israel.

The left in this country includes large numbers of academics, journalists, human rights activists, environmental and animal rights activists, entertainers, and some church groups, women?s groups, racial advocacy groups and unions. There are also liberals who are members of these same groups. I distinguish between leftists and liberals by one key test: how they feel about the country in which they live. If you tend to regard America as a primarily flawed, evil, unjust, racist country (or at least when Republicans are running it), and most importantly, believe that the US is the primary threat to world peace internationally, then you are a leftist, and not a liberal. Of course, many leftists are perfectly happy to be living here, amidst all their complaints about the country, and regrettably all too few Hollywood artists carried through with their threat to leave the country after the 2000 election.

WHY DOES THE LEFT HATE ISRAEL?
I believe there are several reasons:
1. It is an easy way to express one?s hatred for America.
2. Israel is viewed as an outpost of colonialism , and an active practitioner of it.
3. Israel is a western nation, and hence can be judged by the left. Israel is not protected by cultural relativism, as the Arabs are.
4. Leftist Christian churches can escape any lingering guilt about the Holocaust, by turning Israel into a villain. Some leftist churches hate Israel because they think this will help protect their members in the holy land- in other words they feel threatened.
5. Ferocious Muslim hatred of Israel and the Jews reinforces the natural cowardice of many on the left who go along with the Muslims to stay out of their line of fire.
6. Jewish leftists are prominent in the anti-Israel movement. This opens the floodgates for everybody else.
7. Israel is attacked because the secular left is appalled by the influence of religious settlers and their biblical connections to the land of Israel, and by the support for Israel by evangelical Christians, and Christian Zionists.
I believe there are several reasons:
1. It is an easy way to express one?s hatred for America.
2. Israel is viewed as an outpost of colonialism , and an active practitioner of it.
3. Israel is a western nation, and hence can be judged by the left. Israel is not protected by cultural relativism, as the Arabs are.
4. Leftist Christian churches can escape any lingering guilt about the Holocaust, by turning Israel into a villain. Some leftist churches hate Israel because they think this will help protect their members in the holy land- in other words they feel threatened.
5. Ferocious Muslim hatred of Israel and the Jews reinforces the natural cowardice of many on the left who go along with the Muslims to stay out of their line of fire.
6. Jewish leftists are prominent in the anti-Israel movement. This opens the floodgates for everybody else.
7. Israel is attacked because the secular left is appalled by the influence of religious settlers and their biblical connections to the land of Israel, and by the support for Israel by evangelical Christians, and Christian Zionists.

Read it all. It's long but very well thought out.

I wonder if this has any merit:

On what had been the eve of his widely expected acquittal, the trial of the second person charged by German authorities as an accomplice of the Sept. 11 hijackers was thrown into turmoil Wednesday after prosecutors disclosed the existence of a surprise witness purporting to link Iran to the hijackings.

The mysterious witness, who goes by the name Hamid Reza Zakeri and claims to have been a longtime member of the Iranian intelligence service, is said to have told German investigators that the Sept. 11 plot represented what one termed a "joint venture" between the terrorist group Al Qaeda and the Iranian government.

Sources familiar with Zakeri's story, greeted with skepticism by some German intelligence officials, say he also implicates the defendant, a 31-year-old Moroccan and former student named Abdelghani Mzoudi, as a knowledgeable participant in the hijacking plot.

"If the story was true, the consequences would be remarkable," said one senior intelligence official, who observed that Zakeri's account comes nearly 2 1/2 years after Sept. 11, 2001, and "looks a little bit constructed."

We shall see.

We're having trouble with the Mars lander, Spirit:

NASA (news - web sites)'s Spirit rover stopped transmitting data from Mars for more than 24 hours, mission managers said Thursday, calling it an "extremely serious anomaly."

NASA last heard from Spirit early Wednesday, its 18th day on Mars. Since then, it has only sporadically returned random, meaningless radio noise, scientists said. Initially, the scientists believed weather problems on Earth caused the glitch. They said they now believe the rover is experiencing hardware or software problems.

"This is a serious problem. This is an extremely serious anomaly," project manager Pete Theisinger said.

Maybe that crazy-ass moonbat Walter Cronkite was onto something.

Who could say this and make it funny?

This is Ben the filthy junkie. This is the heroin that Ben bought with money earned selling stolen household goods. This is the dealer that sold the heroin that Ben bought with money earned selling stolen household goods. These are the criminal gangs from whom the dealer bought the heroin, that was cut with battery acid to make the junk that Ben bought with money earned selling stolen household goods. And these are the terrorists who get money from those criminal gangs every time Ben fills up his collapsed, scab-coated veins.


Fight terrorism. Kill Ben!

Only someone with a cold, cold, Conservative heart. And only an uncaring, soul like myself would find it funny.

Since my friend is about to go to Korea and give the finger to Kim Jung Il across the 38th parallel, I figured I'd dig up some Korea news. Instapundit has this:

The food and fuel situation up north is pretty grim, and it's making the security forces up there nervous. Lots more North Koreans are openly expressing a "I don't give a damn" attitude. Just like Eastern Europe in 1989. The current food crises is a result of foreign donors refusing to contribute food for North Korea because the government has not allowed foreigners to observe where the donated food goes. Other witnesses have consistently reported that the donated food goes to the armed forces and is not sent to areas where there has been unrest, or where the government suspects there might be unrest (because a number of locals have fled to China or Russia.) Currently, some twelve percent of North Korea's population, that was getting food aid, has been cut off. New supplies will not arrive for several months.

And there's also this:

North Korea could be producing nuclear weapons at the rate of eight to 13 a year in the next year or two, the International Institute of Strategic Studies predicted yesterday.
The US claims that North Korea is engaged in a covert programme to build nuclear weapons, and has entered into elaborate diplomacy with the Pyongyang government. North Korea boasts that it has nuclear weapons, but no one outside knows whether it is telling the truth.

The IISS said the window for US diplomacy may be shorter than the US believes, and that if North Korea establishes a sizeable arsenal, it may be less willing to negotiate.

John Chipman, director of the London-based IISS, said that lots of caveats had to be attached to assessments of North Korea's activities as it was an even more secretive state than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. An IISS assessment of Iraq's weapons programme in 1992 proved wrong in several key areas.

Have fun Vin, don't buy any "Fido on a stick" on the streets of Seoul. Being that Vinny is an Army guy, I've decided to type this as slow as possible so he can keep up.

Grouchymedia, creator of the epic Taliban Bodies, has more videos up.

Palestinian Authority corruption? I'm shocked. But don't worry, Arafat is on the case and justice shall be done:

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has ordered an investigation into financial wrongdoing and the embezzlement of millions of dollars in two PA ministries – the Ministry of Sports and Youth and the Ministry of Transportation.

The case concerning the Ministry of Sports and Youth was revealed following two reports submitted to the Palestinian Legislative Council earlier this week on corruption, mismanagement, abuse of power, and other illegal practices in the ministry. One of the reports, prepared by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), concludes that senior officials ran the ministry as a private business.

How could anyone misuse EU funds. They are meant to aid the terrorist cause, not to be use for monetary gain. I guess some poor bastard didn't get the memo.

I love American ingenuity:

Parodying Google, the world's largest search engine, a US entrepreneur today launched Booble, a new search engine for adult material.

An unnamed New York-based former internet executive has pumped his own money into the new website, which its founder said was intended to be "fun, but useful too".

It allows users to filter through more than 6,000 hand-selected listings of internet adult content.

"I have a web development operation where there is a bit of a frat boy atmosphere, so we stumbled on Booble," said the founder, who requested anonymity to avoid being barred from his daughter's school softball games.

"What was a bit fun and a joke became a business. People like it. It makes people smile. It's funny and I think it'll grow," the man in his mid-40s told AFP.

I bet he'll make money too.

Tim Blair on the suicide of a mass-murdering doctor:

British mass-murderer HaroldShipman had the decency last week to hang himself. This good news was greeted as exactly that by Home Secretary David Blunkett, who said: "You wake up and you receive a phone call: Shipman's topped himself. You have just got to think for a minute: is it too early to open a bottle?" I'm with Blunkett; let's celebrate the deadly doctor's demise. Yet, incredibly, Blunkett's comments provoked a furious reaction. Prison reformer Frances Crook said he should resign. Prison union secretary Harry Fletcher said Blunkett's comments "will cause a grave offence to many relatives of the victims". As opposed to putting people into graves, which is what Shipman did to 215 of his patients.

And:

"I'm very proud and honoured to endorse Howard Dean to be the next president of the United States of America," said former V-P Al Gore last month. This was "a momentous event", according to New York Times columnist and reliable reverse indicator Paul Krugman. It sure was: Dean has been sliding in the polls ever since, and now faces renewed challenges from Wesley Clark and John Kerry. Gore's effect on any campaign to which he lends his name is literally chilling. Last Thursday, he turned up in New York to address an audience of environmentalists on the issue of global warming; the city promptly turned on its coldest overnight weather since records began in 1893.

You know that your candidacy is kaput when even a liberal paper like the Inquirer writes an editorial like this:

Boosters of Dean's candidacy as an irresistible force of fresh thinking can draw no comfort from his distant third-place finish. But what happened in the caucus rooms did the campaign less damage than what its candidate did on live television afterward.

It is hard to explain the good doctor's performance Monday night without turning to the phrase "demonic possession."

Bellowing in Spanish and seemingly unable to stop screaming the names of states with upcoming primaries, Dean looked and sounded out of control. Who let the dogs out, doc?

Dean will be very fortunate indeed if those few, irretrievable minutes on stage do not turn out to be his "Canuck letter" moment, referring to the momentary, teary breakdown that finished Edmund Muskie in 1972.

Emphasis mine.

James Taranto:

Hugs Are for Arming

Did you know that today is "World Hug Day"? "This global 'virtual' Hug for Peace is your opportunity to show the world that 'peace begins with me,' " according to the Web site worldpeace.org.au. "So pledge now to hug your mum, hug your dad, hug your teacher, your boss, even your dog!!"

"Let's make January 21 an anniversary of peace," the site further urges. In fact, it already is an anniversary of peace. As Newswise.com notes, 50 years ago today the U.S. Navy launched the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus. Hugging your mum or even your dog is all very well and good, but nothing beats peace through strength.

How about we build some new ones. Read The Best of the Web Today daily. It's the first site I read.

More SOTU coverage "And request a higher standard from our friend". Perhaps Saudi Arabia?

Teddy Kennedy and Hillary Clinton looked absolutely constipated when Bush talked about WMD's and the unearthing of mass graves in Iraq. The SOTU continues.

Peter Jennings just said "the Vice President, Dick Cheney is in the charge, uh, chair". Freudian slip?

Aaron McGruder is a passionate lefty, but this is funny.

European anti-semitism watch:

STRASBOURG, France, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A van used as a schoolbus by a Jewish school in this eastern French city has been firebombed in what a community leader has called an apparent anti-Semitic attack, local police said on Tuesday.

The van was attacked on Monday before dawn, 24 hours after unidentified assailants pelted a nearby synagogue with stones during the night, they said. There was no sign who was behind the two incidents.

A local Jewish leader linked the two attacks to marches on Saturday protesting against a planned ban on Islamic veils in school led by an anti-Zionist Muslim leader from Strasbourg.

"What I notice in both cases is the context and the timing in connection with last Saturday's protest where violently anti-Semitic speeches were given," said Pierre Levy, regional representative of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations.

Jewish groups say attacks on Jewish property have been rare in Strasbourg but anti-Semitic insults are common.

And this:

VANDALS desecrated a Holocaust memorial near Vienna with an electric saw and spray-painted the German word for "lie" over an informational plaque describing Nazi-era crimes, a news agency reported today.

The attack was discovered yesterday at the site of a Hitler-era concentration camp in Hinterbruehl, a village 10 kilometres south of Vienna, the Austria Press Agency reported. Police were notified but had not yet found the vandals.

Via Instapundit.

Richard Gephardt backs out gracefully:

Gephardt, who turns 63 at the end of the month, said he looked forward to spending more time with his family. "The silver lining in all of this is that I'll finally get to see them at every opportunity, rather than when opportunities could be found.

"Jane, Matt, Chrissy and Kate," he said, pausing as his voice cracked, "are my life and to them I'll always be grateful."

I hope the other candidates do the same when the time comes.

Dean seems to have been losing it all yesterday:

At an event meant to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a stern if not angry Howard Dean, told the news media to “get a new life.”

With the start of the Iowa Caucus only hours away, the former Vermont governor arrived at the Iowa Historical Museum for the State of Iowa King remembrance.

Dean, who was not scheduled as one of the speakers, arrived with the national and local media waiting. The event had been posted on the media roster by his campaign.

After Dean’s bus pulled in at about 10:30 a.m., he circled the large building, just blocks from the golden-domed capital, as hordes of press and orange-capped Dean “storm troopers” followed in tow in the subfreezing weather.

When Dean finally made his way into the building, chaos ensued - although nothing out of the ordinary for the kick off of a closely contested caucus race.

“Dean came here and he was hoping that his henchmen would get the job done," said 26-year-old Seville Lee, who heads a mentoring program for at-risk youth in Des Moines. "He thought he was going to speak."

“I’m offended that Dean would even try and do this,” said Lee, who organized a children’s play that day in honor of King. “He wasn’t scheduled to speak.

But of course Howie blamed the media for his impeding on an event to honor Rev. Dr. King:

"You know why I wasn’t able to attend this event,” Dean said, “because you guys are behaving so badly you’ve got to get a new life.”

Upbraiding the media, Dean told the press: “I’m feeling great, we’re going to win but you guys got to behave yourselves out of respect for Dr. King.”

Dr. Dean trampled all over the memory of MLK and blames the media. This guy is a friggin' whack-job.

Tim Blair has this moving exchange between a correspondent and a grieving family:

It was clear from the diagrams that troops were near Saddam's airport, and close to the centre of Baghdad. I turned to my seat mate and said: "I don't think this is going to be a long battle, after all."

It was only then that I noticed, with horror, that he had started to cry. And then I noticed something else: a photograph, wrapped in plastic, pinned to his lapel. It was a picture of his 20-year-old son, a young marine who died in the first days of the war. The man's wife was sitting across the aisle from us. She had a round bowl on her lap, filled with water and some drooping tulips. The movement of the aircraft was making the water slop around. She was trying to wipe her hands, and her tears.

The couple told me they had just been to a private meeting with Bush to discuss the loss of their son. At the time, it was already clear that Saddam didn't have any weapons of mass destruction.

"But I never thought it was about the weapons," my seat mate said. And, although I can't remember his exact words, he also said something like: "We have always stood up for freedom, in our own country, and for other people."

Read the whole thing. My prayers go out to all the families of service people who have died or been wounded.

A huge Kerry win. What does it mean? Not much. He's expected to do well in NH, a New England state. A week from today he looks bad if he loses a neighboring state. Edwards should compete with Clark in South Carolina and Super Tuesday may mean something this year. Dean could gain back momentum if He wins next week, we shall see. Check out what's being said on his blog:

Hello Family of mine,

Given that I have enthusiastically supported the candidacy of Howard Dean for over a year now I wanted to share with you some thoughts on this morning after.

Prior to yesterday's caucuses I was beginning to have some doubts about how his campaign was going. One of the most disturbing things recently was the apparent use of Jimmy Carter as a campaign prop. He said he was invited to Georgia but even Carter stated that it was Dean who invited himself. Another thing is the grass roots nature of the campaign, which was suppose to be its strength. Word on the ground in Iowa is that many supporters of Dean were bombarded by contacts from Dean people for days leading up to the vote. Some even went as far as to describe it as "harassment". I am sure this was just youthful exuberance. However, the results demonstrated that this was an amateur operation that seems to have been driven by hype rather than depth.

All these things could be excused, given the new freshness of the campaign and its search for its legs but there was one last straw which I feel will be the most profound thing to happen to his campaign. I don't know if you got to see it but after learning the results in Iowa Dean spoke to his supporters. There was no dignity, no maturity, no inspiration, what transpired appeared nothing short of loony. It occurred to me that this guy does not wear well and will get creamed in the general campaign (if he gets that far).

I do not discount the very incredible things Dr. Dean has done for this race. He has a wonderful grassroots organization (albeit a little immature), he gave the democrats real spine (they all talk like him now) and he made being anti-Iraq war acceptable rather than a marginal position. I hope as this campaign goes on he gets credit for all these things because he deserves it.

What do I do now? I WANT TO BEAT BUSH! Well I will sit on the bench for awhile, perhaps Dean with make this a transforming event and come out a new man (I doubt it). One of the people I felt I could not support (Gephart) has dropped out, that is good. The other one, Clark, I will work to also finish him off. Bush will have a hard time running against Kerry as he has a very compelling story and has a very dignified presence.. Edwards I am not sure about yet, but I feel I could support him enthusiastically.

Sorry if I disappointed you with this information, but this morning I feel strangely liberated...back to work.

Posted by virtuald at January 20, 2004 09:50 AM

And:

Gov. Dean: I'm a 62 year old retired blue collar, viet-nam, desert storm vet. I'm not very articulate. so will do the best I can to give you and our campaign a thought to ponder. I think your concession speech last night hurt us much more than our loss in Iowa. The message was good but the delivery was awful. The shucking of the coat and rolling up the shirtsleeves, screaming at us and America was dreadful, What you need to shuck is that image we saw last night. Not very Presidential.

And:

Howard Dean's got to stop running like this is a statewide campaign in Vermont! I tried to be as objective as possible watching the speeches at the conclusion of the evening. Kerry, Edwards and Gephardt were most gracious, cool, calm and in control. For Gephardt, with whom I've had a number of disagreements, it was the "last hurrah" and he handled it well.

Dean came over to me as a "whirling dervish". Stop with the taking off the coat and rolling up the sleeves. You looked like a jerk in comparison. The hoarse shouting was too much as well. Sorry to say, what really struck me was how supportive Kerry's, Edwards' and Gephardt's spouses were. This plays well in most of the country. Dean's "list" of states he's going to win sounded shrill. This approach is not only grating on me, but obviously a lot of Iowans are sick of it as well.

Losing sucks, huh Deaniacs?

Looks like I got that prediction wrong.

Dean Melts Down! Here's the video(scroll down to Dean reacts...), here's the audio. Oh my goodness. I didn't freak like that after the Eagles lost on Sunday.

Westernfront says it all:

OK, I'll say it: God hates the Philadelphia Eagles.

I'm #87 in a Google search for Bush, Dean, & Dykes. Let's get that to #15. I say aim high.

The post is here.

I predict this finish in the Iowa Caucuses this evening:

Dean by 1%, Kerry, and Edwards. I think Clark may have hurt his campaign by not being involved in IA, however, the time spent in NH may help him.

Over at the Dean blog, the big man himself blogs:

Hi Bloggers. Here we are on the day of the Iowa caucuses, and I want to thank you for all the hard work you have done. If we get out all our targeted votes tonight we will win.

Whatever the outcome we have already begun to change American politics, but the goal of course is to get the real change which is to drive the right wing out of politics so ordinary Americans can have some control over our country again. We have seen this before, under President Mckinley, and under Presidents Coolidge and Hoover. Each time we have restored power to the American people first with the ascension of Theodore Roosevelt and then Franklin Roosevelt. Now we have to do it again.

See you in New Hampshire !

Howard Dean

Invoking Roosevelt? Do you possibly think Howie would do this:

As President, Roosevelt held the ideal that the Government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the Nation, especially between capital and labor, guaranteeing justice to each and dispensing favors to none.

Roosevelt emerged spectacularly as a "trust buster" by forcing the dissolution of a great railroad combination in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act followed.

Yeah right, He has to get in bed with the corporations if nominated. Will he think like this:

Many other Rooseveltian acts loom larger in historical retrospect than they did at the time, when they passed unnoticed or unappreciated. For example, T.R. was the first President to perceive, through his own pince-nez, that this nation's future trade posture must be toward Asia and away from the Old World entanglements of its past. Crossing the Sierra Nevada on May 7, 1903, he boggled at the beauty and otherworldliness of California. New York — his birthplace — seemed impossibly far away, Europe antipodean. "I felt as if I was seeing Provence in the making." There was no doubt at all in T.R.'s leaping mind which would be the world's next superpower. Less than five years before, he had stormed San Juan Heights in Cuba and felt what he described as the "wolf rising in the heart" — that primal lust for victory and power that drives all conquerors. "Our place ... is and must be with the nations that have left indelibly their impress on the centuries!" he shouted in San Francisco.

We can't be a suoerpower if we have to get UN approval for everything. Do you think DR. Dean would say this:

There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.

Speech before the Knights of Columbus

That would be the last nail. Picture it, Dean in front of the NAACP saying Teddy's words. I think not.

Video of Israeli Ambassador Mazel acting, in my view, as anyone should, taking matters into his own hands. The "artist" should be ashamed of himself.

The State of the Union drinking game is back. If you make it half-way through, you're a better man (or woman) than me.

Howard Dean continues to get whacked at every turn:

The summons from Plains? Carter doesn’t remember it quite that way. “I didn’t invite him, but I’m glad he came,” the former President told reporters shortly before he conducted one of his frequent Sunday School classes at Maranatha Baptist Church. “He called me on the phone and said he’d like to come worship with me. … He called and asked me if it would be all right.” As for the timing, Carter’s son Chip later told reporters that the former President had also offered Dean dates in February and March. It was Dean — not Carter — who picked the day before the caucuses. Dean may not even be the only Democratic candidate who gets to boast a church date with the former President. Carter said retired General Wesley Clark has also asked for an opportunity to visit him in Plains and worship with him, and that he expects to be able to arrange one.

I don't think I'd travel a mile for a Carter endorsement, Howie is continually getting himself in situations where the media can embarass him. Live by the media, die by the media.

Here's a graphic video of US pilots doing what they were trained to do. You have to feel for the targets, but they were loading missiles in a time of war. Note how the pilots go about the the mission with a calm professionalism. War is brutal, and I'm sure the peace activists will be using this as fodder, but this is a war and people who take on the US will die.

In the same light, these men and women have died in the Iraq War. They gave everything for their country and deserve to be remembered as heroes.

Black or white doesn't matter in combat. You're an American first.

Charles Johnson has a link to some incredible WWII pictures the RAF is set to release.

Tim Blair:

Behold, the Howard Dean NASCAR racer -- the only race vehicle in the world actually designed to spin. Currently stalled in turn four, Iowa.

Ha.

This is a great story that has received no press:

When he was forced to fashion statues of Saddam Hussein on horseback, the Iraqi sculptor, Kalat, had no idea that someday he would melt them down to create a memorial for American Soldiers.

The two original statues -- which adorned a gate at the palace complex where 4th Infantry Division’s headquarters group is located -- were removed with explosives in early July, said 1st Sgt. Mark Anderson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company.

Snip.

The sculpture is based on a scene many in Iraq have witnessed in one form or another.

A Soldier kneels before a memorial of boots, rifle and helmet - his forehead resting in the hollow of his hand. Behind and to his right stands a small Iraqi girl with her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder.

The statue evokes emotion. The girl was added to the statue to remind people of why the sacrifice was made, Fuss said.

“It’s about freedom for this country, but it’s also about the children who will grow up in a free society,” he said.

Sitting in a former palace of Saddam now, the statue will soon be shuttled to Fort Hood, where it will become part of a larger memorial project at the 4th Inf. Div. museum.

Why would the press ignore something like this?

Here is a stupid hit piece on Laura Bush as a mother and the Bush twins:

She's so gracious and likable, unobtrusive and modest, it seems almost blasphemous to judge her at all. Yet one of the disturbing revelations in Gerhart's otherwise flattering account of Laura Bush goes to the very heart of her own self-description. She is one indulgent mother.

The twin college-age girls have been busted for underage drinking, run their Secret Service detail ragged, and have partied hard in the presence of illegal substances. They never campaign, nor express any interest in or empathy for the nation's problems, even though the Bush family has a noble history of public service.

In this age of compassionate conservatism, Jenna and Barbara appear to be neither compassionate nor conservative, displaying no civic consciousness and little social reserve, especially when photographed falling down drunk.

Jane Eisner hates Bush so much that his wife and daughters are targets now. The Clinton's kept Chelsea out of the spotlight until late in their second term, and the media complied. Jenna and Barbara Bush were not elected and should be left alone. How would Ms. Eisner like the media to follow her childrens daily exploits and assess her motherhood skills? Perhaps even writing something as cold as this:

To be fair, we must always moderate how much we blame a parent for the sins of her child. But it is legitimate to consider Laura Bush in light of her daughters' behavior and character. Beneath the image being projected here - of a strong, upstanding American family - is the reality of a mother trying to raise her daughters and not always doing it well. Many people see a sense of entitlement in the Bushes, which, in light of these facts, rankles especially hard.

It is one part of her complex, demanding role in the White House, a role that she otherwise seems to perform with aplomb. Her husband says she is the "perfect wife," and by all accounts, she is. Alas, being the perfect mother is not as easy.

What gives this idiot the right to decide whether Laura Bush is a good mother or not? I don't recall hearing anything about the Bush twins in a year or so and the things they did were normal teenage/college-age things.