A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Obama's Appeal to Blacks Remains an Open Question “Looking around at the overwhelmingly white audience that was applauding Sen. Barack Obama's luncheon speech on Iraq at a downtown hotel recently, the Rev. B. Herbert Martin expressed both satisfaction and concern.” (READ MORE)
Bush Plans New Focus On Afghan Recovery “After the bloodiest year in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion, the Bush administration is preparing a series of new military, economic and political initiatives aimed partly at preempting an expected offensive this spring by Taliban insurgents, according to senior U.S. officials.” (READ MORE)
Blackmailing By Journalists In China Seen As 'Frequent' “At 9 p.m. in a dark Shenzhen parking lot, Bai Xiuyu handed over a plain brown envelope containing 15,000 Chinese yuan, the equivalent of nearly $2,000, in what was supposed to be a discreet blackmail payment to a local reporter.” (READ MORE)
Bush rebuke advances “Senate Democrats rebuked President Bush yesterday over his handling of the war in Iraq with a rare wartime vote condemning the commander in chief's plan to add troops to the battlefield.” (READ MORE)
GOP renews 'amnesty' defiance “House Republicans opposed to amnesty vowed yesterday to fight President Bush's proposal to legalize millions of illegal aliens as outlined in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.” (READ MORE)
Obama on tightrope in bid for black vote “Sen. Barack Obama will have a tough time generating support for his presidential bid among key black Democratic leaders.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Michael Yon writes Desolate Roads Part 1 of 2 “The mission was to begin after dark. My gear was ready to go, but during the pre-combat lull, I wanted to make a final adjustment to the “dummy cord” on my night-vision monocular. Soldiers tie important gear and weapons to their bodies: anything not tied eventually falls off, flies off, splashes into a river, or is forgotten somewhere after a few days of sleep deprivation.” (READ MORE)
Mohammed writes Baghdad Plan Update. “Apache attack helicopters are constantly hovering over Baghdad now. Tracking them from my home in this city I can often estimate where the action is taking place. In many cases these are combat missions, not routine surveillance patrols, and the sounds of the helicopters heavy machineguns can often be heard in the distance; sometimes far away, sometimes coming closer.” (READ MORE)
Badger 6 writes What Reservists Worry About and Sacrifice “The current meme of the anti-war crowd seems to be that if this really represented a colossal struggle of ideologies the President would have called for some sacrifice on the part of the nation and if he had done that then they would be on board. I admit that I do not understand the psychology of ‘we will sacrificed if asked, but not before then’ but I suppose it makes sense to somebody.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Hugh Hewitt writes Take The Pledge: How Victory Trumps Party “Less than a month into the new Congress, the Senate Republicans face another crucial moment, one that will reverberate long into 2008.” (READ MORE)
Alan Reynolds writes Dismal, Dreary Democrats “Since President Bush's State of the Union Address quickly garnered a generous share of criticism, it seems more useful to take a look at the economic comments offered in rebuttal by Virginia's new Democratic senator, Jim Webb.” (READ MORE)
Donald Lambro writes Anti-War Democrats Target Hillary “President Bush and the Republicans aren't the only political casualties of America's deepening disapproval of the Iraq war. Sen. Hillary Clinton also risks being caught in the crossfire of her party's divisions over the battle for Baghdad.” (READ MORE)
Marvin Olasky writes Name That President “Democrats used to oppose dictators, but now many of their leaders lean toward appeasing inhumane, unrestrained seekers of world conquest?” (READ MORE)
Janice Shaw Crouse writes Bush shows steady conviction in chilly chamber “President Bush faced a chamber far more chilly and partisan than he faced in previous State of the Union addresses when his party was in power.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru writes Global Warming Causes Terrorism “I actually laughed out loud (alone in my home office) when someone sent me this one. Then I almost started to cry. People actually believe this stuff. It is perhaps the perfect storm of left-wing phobias and wishful psychoses all rolled into one giant and utterly misguided self-serving theory.” (READ MORE)
Fjordman writes Marxism or Decadence? The Cause of Western Weakness “I sometimes am criticized for being too focused on the left-wing of the political spectrum and ignoring the problems caused by right-wing parties. First of all, the line of separation between what constitutes ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ in politics now tends to become blurred. And second of all, only a fool believes that everybody on one side is always right, and everybody on the other side is always wrong.” (READ MORE)
Blue Crab Boulevard writes Toxic Corrosion “Daniel Henninger, in his weekly column for the Opinion Journal, points out the toxic effect that the media coverage and the political atmosphere are having on America's will. He also points out how badly damaged the United States will be by a defeat in Iraq. Our allies are rightfully getting worried.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes The surge begins “I think it will work. I remember Fallujah. Our Marines and soldiers swept the SOBs out and pacified the town. Cleaning out Baghdad and giving the people security will go a long way toward establishing a true democracy in Arabia.” (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House writes Election Workers in Ohio Guilty of Rigging Recount “Two election workers in Ohio’s most populous county were convicted of tampering with votes prior to a recount of the ballots after the 2004 election: ‘Two election workers in the state’s most populous county were convicted Wednesday of illegally rigging the 2004 presidential election recount so they could avoid a more thorough review of the votes.’” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Getting UnStuck In Iraq “I know it is a mistake to make any assumptions about John Kerry’s reasons for exiting the 2008 race based on what he actually said on the Senate floor yesterday. But he did very strongly imply that it was George Bush’s fault. Because of Bush, Kerry is now stuck in Iraq. It is vital that he devote the next two years to trying to get U.S. troops out of Iraq in a year.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express writes Moonbats Express Their Sentiments on the Deaths of 5 Contractors “Just when you think the moonbats could not sink any lower... Taking up the mantle from Emperor KOS, the inmates at Huffington Post express their true feelings over the deaths of 5 contractors in Iraq. Hat Tip to LGF. Get your barf bucket ready...” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins writes The NRSC Pledge Is A Bad Idea “Yesterday, I was invited to a blogger teleconference that had been called about a proposal that was designed to pressure the GOP Senators into standing up against a non-binding resolution that would condemn the surge. Later in the day, that pledge that was discussed went live online -- and you may have heard about it. It's getting positive attention all across the blogosphere.” (READ MORE)
Greyhawk writes Does the Military Support the Mission? “During the Democratic response to the President's State of the Union Message, Virginia freshman Senator (and Marine vet) James Webb made this statement: ‘The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought. Nor does the majority of our military.’” (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee writes I've Heard This Song Before “Salon.com, which I rarely read any more (and perhaps this is why), has published a historical account of how Democratic doves won their war in southeast Asia. On the third page of this even-handed academic work (so even-handed it labeled President Bush as ‘war-mongering president’ in the first paragraph of the post, but I digress) the author, Rick Perlstein, states:” (READ MORE)
John Donovan writes Contractors in Iraq, part deux. “Remember this discussion with Cliff from OneUtah? The contractor discussion? There's an OpEd in today's LA Times that decries the situation, and pretty much, I'm guessing, from a perspective that would match Cliff's. [As always, you should read the whole thing, and not just the quotes I've chosen. You view might differ from mine if you have the whole context.]” (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU has When Propaganda Postures As Honest Journalism “Sarah Olson calls herself an independent journalist. Ehren Watada is a U.S. Army Officer who refuses to deploy to Iraq, for which the Army has proffered charges against him. In August of last year, Sarah Olson conducted an interview with 1LT Watada. She was then subpoenaed by LT Watada’s military prosecutors to testify as one of their witnesses. Sarah Olson, however, is acting like a kid who doesn’t want to go to the doctor’s because she’s afraid of needles.” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club writes The lock and key “Robert Mayer at Publius Pundit responds to the message in President Bush's State of the Union Address with his heart, but can he respond, with equal enthusiasm with his intellect? Bush struck a chord near and dear to Mayer and to anyone who has been as involved with the Third World. Bush reaffirmed, rhetorically at least, his commitment to freedom. And freedom, which Americans notice no more than they do the air, is not taken for granted in most parts of the world.” (READ MORE)
Blonde Sagacity writes Muslims Call For Media Censorship “’Rather than portray the Arab culture and Islamic religion in a positive or neutral light, the [Disney] producers associate it with harsh punishments and oppressive practices.’ Do I even need to write anything after that? "Harsh punishments and oppressive practices" in Islam? You're kidding...If I hadn't seen Aladdin I never would have guessed!” (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
No comments:
Post a Comment