A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Senate GOP blocks Iraq resolution “Senate Republicans yesterday blocked a resolution that would have condemned President Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.” (READ MORE)
House bill eases union sign-ups “Labor groups are hoping that the new Democratic majority in Congress will push through a measure that would make it easier for workers to join unions.” (READ MORE)
National driver's license hits a bump “A revolt against a national driver's license, begun in Maine last month, is quickly spreading to other states.” (READ MORE)
Iraq allies dawdle on aid for rebuilding “Foreign countries are billions of dollars delinquent on their pledges to help Iraq rebuild, and four years after the war began, the international reconstruction effort is still mostly funded by the United States.” (READ MORE)
GOP Stalls Debate On Troop Increase “A long-awaited Senate showdown on the war in Iraq was shut down before it even started yesterday, when nearly all Republicans voted to stop the Senate from considering a resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send 21,500 additional combat troops into battle.” (READ MORE)
Giuliani Announces He's In '08 Presidential Race “Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani jumped into the 2008 presidential race yesterday, filing a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and declaring on national television last night, ‘I'm in this to win.’” (READ MORE)
Bush Plan Reins In Domestic Spending “President Bush took aim yesterday at domestic spending as part of a plan to balance the budget in five years without raising taxes while increasing funding for the Iraq war and permanently expanding the military.” (READ MORE)
U.S. Unit Walks 'A Fine Line' In Iraqi Capital “The camouflaged American soldiers, weary from hours of struggling to talk with Iraqis during a patrol in eastern Baghdad, laughed with relief after an Iraqi army major's wife met them at her door. The soldiers had no interpreter. She had a master's degree in English translation.” (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Bill Roggio writes Pakistani Army to conduct offensive in Waziristan? “Pakistan's Daily Times reports Pakistani security services plan on offensive in North and South Waziristan. Baitullah Mehsud is a target: Since the secret signing of the South Waziristan agreement that ceded control of the agency to the Taliban in the spring of 2006, and the subsequent signing of the 'Waziristan Accord' which also turned over control of North Wazirstan to the terrorists in the summer of 2006, the security situation in the Northwest Frontier province and beyond has dramatically deteriorated.” (READ MORE)
Charlie Munn writes The Next Terror Attack: Big or Small? “I believe that the largest (and softest) target available to terrorists is the US economy. The economy was the target of influence for the WTC attacks in 1993 and 2001, and the stretch and influence of the US economy in the middle east, related to the export of petroleum, was a likely target of influence for the US Embassy bombings in Africa and the Khobar Towers attacks in the 1990s.” (READ MORE)
Badger 6 writes Distant Death Hits Home “This post treads on sacred ground. I am well aware of that. It has been a week in the making and has been subject to editing and review by several people, including Soldiers that were there that night. It should be obvious, but I will make it explicit. The family of this Soldier has been notified. I beleive, from their comments to the news media, they would be OK with this story. The Task Force should be proud, in a dark hour, the leadership and the Soliders stood up. A final note, I find writing and reading in the first person compelling, but this is not my story, I am simply the camera. ‘All personnel with O positive blood report to Charlie Med.’” (READ MORE)
Andrew Olmsted writes Preemptive Action I Can Support “It would appear that the Senate is not going to pass even a nonbinding resolution on Iraq, because the Republicans refuse to do anything to reduce President Bush's authority (Democratic version)/because the Democrats won't permit an alternate resolution to come to the Senate floor for a vote (Republican version).” (READ MORE)
Marine Historian writes Rebirth of a City... “My time in Barwanah this week was another clear indicator how effective strength and mercy are in a counterinsurgeny war. Like many of the the other growing success stories in Al Anbar Province (Al Qaim, Fallujah, Ramadi), the first and most important step in Barwanah was the presence of overwhelming combat power.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Dennis Prager writes Liberals Don't Ask "What Happens Next?" “Not thinking through the long-range consequences of their positions is liberalism's tragic flaw.” (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh writes The Politically Uninspiring Era “Democrats regained congressional control in November largely by being the only alternative to the unpopular party.” (READ MORE)
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. writes With Us, Or Else “The outcome of the present, global conflict may ultimately turn on the implementation of a policy it took President Bush just seven words to declare on November 6, 2001: ‘You’re either with us or against us.’” (READ MORE)
Kathryn Jean Lopez writes Nazanin Afshin-Jam's fight for Muslim women's rights “An essential part of this life-saving exercise is to support real women's rights. Nancy Pelosi may think she liberated hundreds of American girls to dream of one day becoming Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, but there are girls out there who are really actually oppressed.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Not Moving On “Barcepundit reports that a Spanish judge wants to suspend Spain’s treaty of judicial assistance with the United States over the lack of US cooperation with three warrants issued for US soldiers over the Hotel Palestine incident, in which a Spanish and a Ukrainian journalist were killed in Baghdad on April 8, 2003.” (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico writes Sir, Your Cell is This Way “Lt. Erhen Watada is being tried by the US Army for refusing to deploy to Iraq, saying the order to go is illegal since, in his opinion, the war is illegal. Unfortunately for the Lieutenant, the judge in charge of his trial has decided (rightfully) that the legality of the war isn't an issue for military courts to decide.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Mar writes A Superbowl Story You Won't Read About in the MSM “Not surprisingly, Google News lists nearly 1,000 stories today about Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy being ‘the first African American coach’ to win the Superbowl. (He and rival Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith were in fact the first two African American coaches to get to the Superbowl.) It's yet another milestone that must have MLK, Jr. smiling.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit writes Video: Michelle tells O’Reilly, ‘Let a thousand Arkins bloom’ “Sunshine is, after all, the best disinfectant. Congrats to the boss on managing to get a few words in edgewise tonight — a very, very few words — while the big O lectured her about the evils of NBC News.” (READ MORE)
Dean Barnett writes Hiring a Campaign Blogger “When word zipped out through the internets that John Edwards had hired one of those bitter shrews from Pandagon as his campaign blogger, I laughed almost as hard as I did when I read about his modest 28,000 square foot salute to America’s poor. Could it be, I wondered, that Edwards feels that he’s the ‘anointed one’ of this election cycle and thus doesn’t have to bother running a competent or diligent campaign?” (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap writes Republicans successfully prevent vote on the anti-surge resolution “The media is right on cue spinning this negatively toward Republicans claiming that they are preventing debate on Levin's anti-surge resolution, but they are doing no such thing. The senators can debate this resolution until the cows come home; they were simply prevented from voting on the resolution. Senator Joe Lieberman, of the Conn. for Lieberman party, spoke on the floor of the Senate earlier this evening and explained why this resolution should not go forward:” (READ MORE)
Don Surber writes Environmentalists ruin the environment “Elisabeth Rosenthal of the New York Times reported on the downside of sustainable energy — biodiversity — alternate energy sources — all that glib mumbo-jumbo from the fools on the left.” (READ MORE)
Sgt B writes Corporal Darrell Morris, USMC… “The day dawned with a bitter cold that cut into the body and chilled the bones. Leaving Firebase Rockford, the grey sky matched the grim determination in my soul, as I drove into town to add my small contribution to the Patriot Guard Riders.” (READ MORE)
McQ writes Edward’s War Vote: ‘The Clintons made me do it’ “Ok maybe it's not quite that drastic but its close. While being interviewed on Meet the Press, John Edwards was asked why he voted for the war and why he was so wrong: ‘Sen. Edwards: For the same reason a lot of people were wrong. You know, we-the intelligence information that we got was wrong. I mean, tragically wrong. On top of that I'd-beyond that, I went back to former Clinton administration officials who gave me sort of independent information about what they believed about what was happening with Saddam's weapon-weapons programs. They were also wrong.’” (READ MORE)
Robert Connolly writes Congressman, Why Won't You Support Us? “I am contemplating writing my Congressman. My Congressman is David Price, a Democrat, and the new chair of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. Dr. Price (he used to make his living as a professor at Duke University) is not given to the rhetorical nonsense that comes from the likes of Charlie Rangel, or the two U.S. Senators from the State of New York.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins writes The Myth of the Spitting Myth Part 3 “Since at least way back in 2003, Slate has been gamely insisting that no soldiers were spit on back in the states after the Vietnam War. So, in other words, there's a ‘spitting myth’ out there.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes Reid's Dilemma “Harry Reid has a dilemma on his hands. His control over the Senate rests on a single vote; even if Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota recovers enough to return to the Senate, the loss of one member of Reid's caucus will allow Dick Cheney to cast the deciding vote on control of the upper chamber. While this isn't news, an article posted yesterday by the New Yorker reveals that the debate on Iraq may push the Senate's only independent to rethink his loyalty:” (READ MORE)
Dafydd writes The Grand Petraeus Brain Trust and Marching Society “File this under 'odd but true.' First, I wasn't even aware that Gen. David Petraeus has a PhD in International Relations from Princeton University. Were you? (If only he had studied harder, he might not be stuck in Iraq!) Now he has put together a ‘brain trust’ of colonels and other mid-level officer advisors who have doctorates from major universities, and who also have extensive combat experience in Iraq and other God-forsaken hellholes:” (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.
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