A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Frequent Errors In FBI's Secret Records Requests “A Justice Department investigation has found pervasive errors in the FBI's use of its power to secretly demand telephone, e-mail and financial records in national security cases, officials with access to the report said yesterday.” (READ MORE)
Democrats Forge Single Voice on Iraq “The new Senate Iraq resolution, unveiled yesterday afternoon, is the latest handiwork yet of Congress's newest "it club": the Senate Democratic war council. The inaugural meeting was called last June by Harry M. Reid (Nev.), then the minority leader.” (READ MORE)
Democrats offer 2 plans for pullout “Senate and House Democrats yesterday announced competing legislation that for the first time would set deadlines to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq -- by fall 2008 -- provoking a veto threat from the White House.” (READ MORE)
Party baffled by its own war plan? “For all the fanfare surrounding the announcement of the House Democrats' Iraq war plan, few members seem to understand the specifics in the bill or when it would actually bring troops home.” (READ MORE)
Hagel expected to declare '08 bid “Nebraska's Chuck Hagel, the Senate Republican most outspoken in opposition to President Bush's March 2003 decision to invade Iraq, is expected to announce Monday that he will make a bid for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.” (READ MORE)
Veterans Face Vast Inequities Over Disability “Compensation depends on such factors as where soldiers live and whether they were on active duty or were in the National Guard or the Reserve.” (READ MORE)
Iraqis Seek Role in Rebuilding Their Nation “When Rahim al-Daraji looks at the dusty lots just east of Sadr City where scores of bodies have been dumped in the past year, he sees a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, coffee shops and restaurants.” (READ MORE)
From the Front:
The Online Chaplin: Consider This “So, consider this… Perhaps, you are not in the dilemma you are in by accident. The bog you feel trapped in may NOT be an accident. Perhaps you are NOT just being played with by fate’s cruel device. Perhaps your life is actually an orchestration of a divine plan. Perhaps, you have been placed in a deployment, a difficult unit, a family waiting patiently for their loved one to return home from war, or some other trial for a purpose.” (READ MORE)
IraqPundit: The Burning of Mutanabbi Street “On Monday, a car bomb exploded on Baghdad's Mutanabbi Street, killing 26 people and injuring scores more. Wanton murders like this remain frequent in the capital, with ‘insurgent’ ghouls intentionally blowing up young schoolgirls and women in outdoor markets. Still, there was an extra ache in the terrible news from Mutanabbi Street…” (READ MORE)
Micheal Fumento: The Fighting Killions “It's only fitting that I met Spc. Robert Killion during one of the fiercest gun battles of his 12-month tour in the wild-west Iraqi city of Ramadi in Al Anbar province. I was originally on the other side of the top of a house behind a machine-gunner, hoping to photograph him with shell casings ejecting from his weapon as he fired. But all the firing was coming from the other side. "Way to go Killion!" shouted the soldier in front of me.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Jules Crittenden: Good News Bad News “Great news slightly at odds with the above: another 2,200 military police now approved to help deal with influx of detainees. Sounds like they’re expecting a lot of detainees, on top of several hundred terrorism suspects already scooped in the last month. Bad News for Surrender Camp: Military commander in Iraq says they’ll need surge troops there through February 2008. That might conflict with plans some people have to get lot of them out of there minutes after Feb ‘08, if not sooner.” (READ MORE)
Lorie Byrd: Liberal La-La Land “Watching media coverage of the Scooter Libby guilty verdict this week often left me feeling like I was living in an alternate universe. In the fairy tale world of liberal news, the old sing-song campaign line Al Gore once used about everything that should be up is down and everything that should be down is up, comes to life.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Shattering 3 Myths About Liberals “So, as you see, it is liberals, not conservatives, who are disregarding science in order to further their political concerns.” (READ MORE)
Ed Feulner: Speak softly, America, and start carrying a bigger stick “There's rarely a downside to being strong. But threats quickly emerge when a country is seen as too weak.” (READ MORE)
Rich Tucker: Who’s Misleading Whom? “But the war was about much more than WMD. We know because, back in 2002, our lawmakers told us so.” (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: Meatgrinder politics “If you wanted a textbook example of what is wrong about appointing a special prosecutor, the prosecution of White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a classic.” (READ MORE)
Mona Charen: It Wasn't About Libby At All “Patrick Fitzgerald, transformed into Ahab by the post of independent counsel, seized upon inconsistent statements by Libby and other witnesses to bring a perjury action. Now that the verdict is in, many on the left are admitting that Libby wasn't the issue at all.” (READ MORE)
John Noonan: They know so much that isn't so “Sometimes I read liberal blogs. Not for education, of course. I suppose I read them as some sort of perverse method of reinforcing my convictions on the war.” (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: Between Iraq and a Hard Place - Antiwar liberals endanger the Pelosi Dmeocrats. “The meltdown among House Democrats over Iraq is rightly being described as the first big test of Nancy Pelosi's leadership. It's also an early example of just how much political damage the antiwar left is capable of inflicting on their new speaker.” (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: 'That's Not Nice'- Our political discourse needs less censorship and more self-discipline. “Here is what has been said the past week or so that sparked argument: Bill Maher, on HBO, said a lot of lives would be saved if Vice President Cheney had died, and Ann Coulter, at a conservative political meeting, suggested John Edwards is a ‘faggot.’ She was trying to be funny and get a laugh. He was trying to startle and get applause.” (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico: Conflicting Plans for Failure “House and Senate Democrats have conflicting plans for US failure in Iraq. Even in the chambers though, there are divisions. Maxine Waters and her group of 75 want us out now, and want funding cut. Blue Dogs, especially those elected in November want a different approach, and Pelosi is basically backing Murtha's plan for defeat with a few modifications. The basics are strict guidelines for the Iraq government, any of which isn't met means a quick pull out, with a complete withdraw by September 2008.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Nutroots whining over Fox News’s Democratic debate reaches fever pitch “It’s come to this. ‘As you know, the Nevada State Democratic Party has agreed to host a debate with FOX News that has caused some concern among some of our activist allies. Because FOX has such an editorial bias against Democrats, some of our allies believe that we should have chosen another media partner.’” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you. “Recently, I've come to an insight on one of the reasons I dislike the Left. It's one of those things that, in hindsight, is flagrantly obvious, but I don't recall anyone ever pointing it out. When something bad happens, or something goes wrong, it is human instinct to try to affix blame. To find out just what happened, and do what they can to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's not always the most productive reaction, but it is natural.” (READ MORE)
Robert Mayer: Half-Assing the Right Message “People seem to be getting really excited about President Bush’s forthcoming trip to Latam. I don’t know why — as far as I can tell it’s not going to be any different than previous safaris to the continent’s urban jungles. If history is of any use, there are going to be lots of statements made about how ‘good democracies are and how the efforts of the United States are playing a big role is helping the region out.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: More on the polar bear overload “When the Bush administration hinted at naming the polar bear as a threatened species, the Wall Street Journal did some checking. The newspaper found in January that there are 20,000-25,000 polar bears out there — 4 to 5 times as many as the 5,000 polar bears in the 1960s.” (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: A cross border raid into Waziristan; Achilles update “Deputy Taliban commander in Waziristan captured by Task Force 145; Taliban commander arrested in Kandahar; Tora Bora Front cell broken up; Achilles update - As NATO and Afghan forces are on the offensive in northern Helmand province, U.S. special forces have conducted a cross border raid in Pakistan and nabbed the deputy Taliban commander in Waziristan, according to a report by Al Jazeera Television.” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Can We Question Their Patriotism Yet? “So now the Democrats actually believe they can push through legislation that would force Bush to start withdrawing troops by next year. ‘House Democrats put themselves on a collision course with President Bush today by unveiling legislation that would set a deadline to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in March 2008.’” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: Be Safe - Buy Offensive Language Offsets Now! “Tired of the language police raking you over the coals when you utter something they consider offensive? Wish you could just pay some money and make everything all better? Well Chickenhawk Express is proud to announce a special way that you can say whatever you want without fear of national ridicule... Offensive Language Offsets!” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl: ACLU's Charles Rust-Tierney: Case Simply Bizarre “In what amounts to the first two half-real news story on the Charles Rust-Tierney case by the Washington Post and and WDBJ, the story may be even more unsettling to some. Two dozen people, including a neighbor and his former wife, Diann Rust-Tierney spoke on his behalf, both saying they'd trust him with their kids tomorrow, yet Charles Rust-Tierney was apparently downloading images and video of the sexual torture of infants and toddlers in his ten year old son's bedroom during the night.” (READ MORE)
Greyhawk: Dead for nothing in Ohio “Or simply: ‘Teach your children’. Looking back at the anti war movement of the 1960s, one can see that Iraq isn't really like Vietnam on the homefront, either. But some would have it otherwise. Recently an odd character showed up in the comments on a MilBlogs post about protests in Seattle:” (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee: Left Behind “As House Democrats trumpet the release of their ‘son of Slow Bleed’ legislation to evict American forces from the Iraq War, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis was credited with an interesting set of pull quotes in one too-telling Associated Press paragraph: ‘Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the proposal would bring an ‘orderly and responsible close’ to American participation in what he called an Iraqi ‘civil war.’” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed: US Enters Pakistan On Bin Laden Hunt “The US has sent CIA special operations units into Pakistan to hunt down fresh leads on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders, the London Telegraph reports. The action comes just a few weeks after American officials presented Pervez Musharraf with evidence of AQ's growing presence in Waziristan and demanded action to destroy them:” (READ MORE)
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