A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Cleansing the ACLU - The latest battle of religion in the public square is unfolding in Dearborn, Michigan, a city with one of the highest Muslim populations in the country. At the University of Michigan's local campus, administrators have recently refitted several school bathrooms to include small footbaths in the corner -- an accommodation for Muslim students who must perform ritual washing as part of their daily observance. The issue has more than a few of the usual suspects trying to explain their way out of their usual positions on the separation of church and state. (READ MORE)
'Architect' Envisioned GOP Supremacy - President Bush once nicknamed him "The Architect," heaping gratitude on his chief strategist for helping engineer two presidential victories and two cycles of congressional triumphs. (READ MORE)
Democrats Continue to Seek Testimony From Rove - Congressional Democrats said yesterday that they will continue to demand the testimony of senior White House adviser Karl Rove about a range of sensitive policy matters even after he leaves the West Wing at the end of the month. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Summit Set to Begin - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will convene a political summit on Tuesday in hopes of ending Iraq's deepening governmental crisis, he announced Monday. (READ MORE)
Lawsuits May Illuminate Methods of Spy Program - In 2003, Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency, according to a former AT&T technician. It was fed by fiber-optic cables that siphoned copies of e-mails and other... (READ MORE)
Bush Adviser Rove Resigns - Karl Rove, credited with masterminding the rise of George W. Bush to the Texas governorship and then to the White House, announced yesterday that he will resign effective at the end of this month. (READ MORE)
Drug Cartel-Terrorist Ties Known in 2001 - A former director of the Drug Enforcement Administration warned federal officials shortly after the September 11 attacks that violent drug cartels from Mexico were teaming with Muslim gangs to fund terrorist organizations overseas. (READ MORE)
Border Patrol to Build Fencing - The U.S. Border Patrol is asking for volunteers among its agents to help build fences on the U.S.-Mexico border, even as President Bush is withdrawing half the National Guard troops he sent there last year to build fences. (READ MORE)
World Bank Proposes New Loan Rules - A World Bank proposal would allow Third World countries to use their own rules instead of the bank's to award contracts for bank-funded projects. (READ MORE)
Mailing a rock: $1,200. Honoring veterans: priceless - YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — It’s not easy mailing a 13-pound rock from Seoul to Tampa, Fla. Harry Lee, a civilian employee with U.S. Forces Korea, learned that lesson when he became involved in a project to donate a rock for a Korean War memorial under construction in the United States. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Matt Sanchez: 4 Million Muslims Marching for an Imam - I was with the 3rd Squad Leader, 3rd Platoon, 118th MP Co. (Airborne) in a convoy to the Sadr City JSS (Joint Service Station), when we saw this flock of the faithful heading toward the Imam Moussa al-Kadhim mosque. At the JSS, the Sadr City police chief told me they expected up to 4 million of the faithful This early morning shot was taken from an overpass, on Route Vernon, looking away from Beirut Square. (READ MORE)
Badger 6: From the Idaho State Journal - A profile of one of my Soldiers from our recent embed. Finding ieds Pocatello soldier’s job – “CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq—Visualize Mr. Clean with a pinch of chewing tobacco. If you can picture that then you’ve got a good sighting for the image of Sgt. Mike Devlin of Pocatello.” (READ MORE)
W. Thomas Smith Jr.: Soldierly Trust - American soldiers and Marines are different — particularly in their approaches to tactical operations — but similar in more ways than not. One common thread I've found among them here in Iraq is that they all want to go home, but they don't want to leave . . . if that makes sense. They've all pretty much stopped paying attention to the stateside news about Iraq, because to them it is so deliberately misleading and too often wrong. (READ MORE)
Those Wacky Iraqis: Heroes Part II - More proof that we don't see who in our midst are the real heroes. Here is a story that I bet bottom dollar never made the MSM or your local news. I have no doubt that the father of that child does not see him as the enemy and I'll bet that when he comes of age the little boy will not either. CPT Powell's actions are the type that will win this war. (READ MORE) [Ed Note: Don’t miss Part One here.]
Hard Soldier: Sleep is for suckers! - Wow! I'm back and let me tell you folks I have had a couple days off and, I just don't know what the hell to do with myself. My body is so used to staying up funky hours that everything is closed because I am so used to being up in the night and sleeping all day. So anyway I got a really nice typed letter from a couple in Ohio and I would like to give a shout out to them for supporting the troops I appreciate the mail if I get a chance I will stop by the general store and ask old man Winters if he has some stamps so I can write back. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Bill Murchison: A Farewell To Rove - What? Karl Rove leaving the George Bush White House? I read the words; I can't digest them. Going home to Texas to write a book and, not only that, leaving politics altogether? So he announces. We'll see. (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: Tragic Implications - Two recent tragedies -- in Minnesota and in Utah -- have held the nation's attention. The implications of these tragedies also deserve attention. Those politicians who are always itching to raise tax rates have seized upon the neglected infrastructure of the country as another reason to do what they are always trying to do. (READ MORE)
Phyllis Schlafly: Americans need China-free food - The scandal of imported products from China has accelerated to a level that the public should demand "China-free" labels on anything that goes into a mouth. This includes not only food, vitamins and medicines but toothpaste and toys which, as all parents know, go into children's mouths. (READ MORE)
Dennis Prager: If It's Bad for America, It's Good for Democrats - One of the two major political parties of the United States has linked all its electoral hopes on domestic pathologies, economic downturns and foreign failure. (READ MORE)
Robert D. Novak: Karl Rove's Legacy - The most useless speculation today in Washington is whom Chief of Staff Josh Bolten might choose to replace Karl Rove at the White House. He is genuinely irreplaceable. Nobody will attempt to combine the political and policy functions as Rove has done. Indeed, fellow Republicans question whether he should have attempted the feat himself. (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: Overhyped 'Meet the Press' Debate - The much ballyhooed debate on "Meet the Press" between former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. and Markos Moulitsas, publisher of the liberal Daily Kos website, was instructive for what it revealed about both the divisions in the Democratic Party and the underlying disingenuousness of both factions. (READ MORE)
Jack Kemp: The 25-year bull market - Make no mistake dear readers, listening and watching the presidential candidates in the Democratic Party debate over the economy, I believe they are all headed in the direction of higher tax rates, and protectionist trade policies. (READ MORE)
Patrick J. Buchanan: GOP Race to Toughen and Tighten - Mitt Romney won his anticipated victory in the Iowa Straw Poll, with 32 percent and 4,500 votes, but fell short of expectations. Ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, with 18 percent, exceeded them, and is the man of the hour to the political press. (READ MORE)
Naomi Schaeffer Riley: Carter Country - During the summer of 1976, Stephen Carter worked as an intern at what was then the Atlanta Journal. Now a law professor at Yale, Mr. Carter speaks fondly of his time testing the waters of journalism. Over lunch in the backyard of his suburban Connecticut home, he tells me that he always "enjoyed the writing" but "wasn't a very skillful interviewer." People would ask him during those months in Atlanta if he was "kin to Jimmy," referring to the Democratic presidential candidate. And Mr. Carter, with a Southern accent that his editors at the Journal helped him develop (in the hopes that his interviewees might open up to him more) would say the two were "not very close." (READ MORE)
Mary Kissel: Rumble Down Under - Radio listeners in Sydney last week were treated to some good ole Aussie plain talk on the war on terror. "It's not all negative and nobody pretends that it's easy," Prime Minister John Howard told talk show host Ray Hadley. "Pulling out will guarantee a descent into civil war and chaos and a victory for terrorism and we're totally opposed to that." And what of the much-maligned President Bush? While he's "under pressure at home," Mr. Howard retorted, "he's not a person who succumbs easily to pressure, and he's right." (READ MORE)
WSJ Review & Outlook: Rove's Brain - One of our biggest arguments with Karl Rove was over the Bush Administration's first-term steel tariffs. We opposed them, and in one editorial calling for their repeal we scored "Secretary of State Rove" for letting politics trump U.S. interests. Mr. Rove never gave any quarter, and when trade promotion authority passed Congress in 2002 by 215-212, he tracked us down to read a list of Members who had voted aye: They all belonged to the Steel Caucus. (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Operation Lightning Hammer in Diyala - Clearing operation launched against al Qaeda in Iraq in the Diyala River Valley - On the same day Multinational Forces Iraq announced Phantom Strike, a major operation against the networks of al Qaeda in Iraq and Iranian-backed Shia terror groups, Coalition forces announced the onset of a major clearing operation in Diyala province. Dubbed Operation Lightning Hammer, elements of two Iraqi Army divisions, Diyala police, five US combat brigades and a combat air brigade are striking al Qaeda positions in the Diyala River Valley north of Baqubah. (READ MORE)
J. Peter Pham: Giuliani: "Early Battles of the Long War" and the Right Lesson from Vietnam - In his contribution to the "America's Next Foreign Policy" series of essays by presidential candidates, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani writes that "first and foremost" among the key foreign policy challenges the next president will face "will be to set a course for victory in the terrorists' war on global order." In his piece, entitled "Toward a Realistic Peace," which will appear in the September-October issue of Foreign Affairs, he cautions that "unless we pursue our idealistic goals through realistic means, peace will not be achieved," specifically: (READ MORE)
Lorie Byrd: Does Your Candidate Have Enough Elvis To Win? - By "Elvis" I am referring to charisma and the ability to relate to every man. If a candidate doesn't have that in this day of television and YouTube politics I don't think they have much of a chance. “Elvis Presley may have left the building many years ago, but his impact on the culture can be seen to this day, even in presidential campaign politics.” (READ MORE)
Paul @ Wizbang: Elizabeth Edwards Really is Tiresome - I'm really getting tired of this story: “Elizabeth Edwards Unplugged - ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: In an interview in August's edition of The Progressive magazine, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., takes candid shots at the other candidates battling for the Democratic nomination against her husband.” (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap: Democrats Should Worry About Where Rove Lands Next - Hugh Hewitt has a piece today in which he warns the Democrats not to get too comfortable with Rove being out of the political picture because he'll end up helping one of the Republican nominees: “Democrats have to be worried that when Karl Rive exits the White House in August, he'll take a month off and end up at the virtual elbow of Mayor Giuliani, Governor Romney, or Senator Thompson. They should be worried.” (READ MORE)
TigerHawk: Nomenclature, again: What is the relationship between Al Qaeda in Iraq and Al Qaeda Central? - A little more than a month ago I wrote about the complaints of lefty readers of the New York Times that it was conflating "al Qaeda in Mesopotamia" and bin Laden's organization, often referred to as "Al Qaeda Central." As these complaining readers well understood, the relationship of these two organizations is important politically and practically because it has an enormous bearing on whether we ought to persist in Iraq even if the government of that country does not mature in accordance with the American electoral calendar. (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Rove Dementia Syndrome At The Huffington Post - One of the little quirks of politics is that liberals always like to portray conservatives as angry white men, but when it comes to rage and hatred, conservatives are rank amateurs to the seething liberal fury that the Left aims at its political opponents. Now granted, that doesn't mean that conservatives are all a bunch of little-miss-sunshines or that there aren't angry conservatives out there, too -- because there are -- but try to imagine conservative bloggers and columnists going as over-the-top about James Carville… (READ MORE)
Rhymes with Right: Reporters Ordered To Testify In Civil Case - And the argument here could clearly be used to enable the prosecution of those who leak national security secrets to papers like the New York Times and Washington Post. “Five reporters must testify about their law enforcement sources in a former Army scientist’s lawsuit against the Justice Department, a federal judge in Washington ruled yesterday.” (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: The Issue of Political Progress in Iraq - Two things are obvious about Iraq. One, the "surge" (properly Operation Phantom Thunder) is making good progress, perhaps even better than expected. General Petraeus will likely give a very positive report on military operations in September. Second, at the national level at least the Iraqis are not making the progress some in the United States they ought to make. Those who are determined to get US troops out of Iraq ASAP regardless of consequences will use this to make their case. Democrat Senators Durban and Casey said as much last week. (READ MORE)
McQ: Why Kos is better off staying with activism - Because as an analyist, eh, not so hot. From PBS's "Charlie Rose" show: “ROSE: You're here on the same day that Karl Rove resigns. Tell me what your impression of Karl Rove is as a political tactician, as a policymaker, as a political philosopher. MOULITSAS: As a policymaker, there really isn't very much good I can possibly say about Karl Rove I think his legacy going to be Iraq, it's going to be Katrina, it's going to be crumbling infrastructure, bridges collapsing in Minneapolis. So from a policy standpoint, from a direction he's pushed George Bush and this Republican administration really has been an abject disaster for this country. As a tactician, it's mixed reviews. He did win the White House for bush in 2002 and 2004.” (READ MORE)
William Teach: Major Attacks Down Almost 50% Since Surge Started - Wow, this has got to hurt the USA Today to print, especially on Page A1 “The number of truck bombs and other large al-Qaeda-style attacks in Iraq have declined nearly 50% since the United States started increasing troop levels in Iraq about six months ago, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq.” (READ MORE)
Kat in MO: Women in Combat: Where I Part Company with Conservatives - Reading this piece, Rubber-Stamp RAND Report Excuses Women in Land Combat, (h/t Mudville) I knew immediately I was going to disagree with it. There are issues in here about appropriate congressional oversight of mandated laws which requires at least 30 days notice that women will be assigned to front line units or roles in theater. I understand those concerns based on our still rather conservative society. Yet, I believe that it is likely most of the MOSs these women are serving in are designated as roles women can serve in without congressional oversight. (READ MORE)
La Shawn Barber: Democrats in Blackface - Even when I was still voting for Democrats, I noticed how condescending they and other white liberals tended to be. Trying to appear comfortable around black people, they usually ended up saying something dumb. Being yourself must be difficult when you’re trying to pretend you care about or even know any black people. White liberals do have this going for them: as long as they’re self-deprecating around blacks, they can get away with saying just about anything, no matter how offensive. (READ MORE)
Wonder Woman: Voluntary apartheid claims its next victim - In this country of so-called "universal access" health care, a little boy should not be forced to languish far from home, not receiving the care he needs, because bureaucrats choose instead to bicker over who covers the bill. I do however, take exception to the implication that it is discrimination, simply because the boy was Native... "Many of the services Jordan needed would be paid for without question for a white Manitoban, or off-reserve aboriginal resident," they say. "It was Jordan's living on-reserve that caused the bureaucracy to choke. That is discrimination pure and simple." (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Edwards Endorses Edwards - More cattiness from candidates’ spouses, please. I like this part: “The problem for me with the other candidates is I don’t know what it is that drives them,” she explained, “I should think the president has to be somebody who has that kind of vision outside themselves.” She means like this, right? Why can’t more people be like her husband? (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Spiegel: “The U.S. military is more successful in Iraq than the world wants to believe” - This is making the rounds on the strength of the irresistible quote in the headline but the big picture is, of course, considerably more complicated. Most of the success is in Anbar, which we knew; Baghdad and the surrounding areas are a different story:” (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: Ryan Sager: Misreporting from Iowa - The NY Sun sent libertarian Ryan Sager out to Iowa to report on the GOP Straw Poll. Within an overall slam of all things Iowan and Republican, Sager delivers this flourish. “The face of the Republican Party in Iowa is the face of a losing party, full of hatred toward immigrants, lust for government subsidies, and the demand that any Republican seeking the office of the presidency acknowledge that he’s little more than Jesus Christ’s running mate.” (READ MORE)
ColoradoPatriot: Killing Civilians - Further showing his unfitness to be Commander in Chief (by the way, Democrats, that’s a big part of being President), Barack Obama today further disparaged us. In what seems to be a toss-away line buried in a story about his spats with fellow surrenderists his Democratic rivals for that party’s nomination, he has this to say about troop levels in Iraq: “…that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there.” (READ MORE)
Baron Bodissey: Goal #1: Never, Ever Offend a Muslim - Islam means “submission”. Imagine you’re a Muslim, a soldier of the Prophet, a member of the Legions of Mohammed. What do you expect from a defeated enemy to let you know that he has fully submitted? Ritual self-abasement, servile behavior, slavish deference, a display of humiliation, and so on, right? And what would you think of an enemy who does all of the above without even first putting up a fight? (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: CAIR's Terrorist Ties - More and more evidence is coming out that CAIR is not an organization which should be allowed within our borders, let alone allowed to sue people for pointing out those who act like terrorists. The Counteterrorism Blog outlines the new evidence being presented during the Holy Land Foundation trial. The evidence proves the existence of a large Muslim Brotherhood network inside our borders that dates back to the 60's. One part of this network was called the Palestine Committee which was devoted to supporting HAMAS both financially and politically. (READ MORE)
Jeffrey Imm: Pakistan President Seeks Mainstream Taliban - Nearly a year after agreeing to a peace truce with the Pakistan Taliban in Waziristan, Pakistan's President Musharraf is now calling for the political mainstreaming of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Musharraf's views were reported in the August 13, 2007 Pakistan Daily Times article "Musharraf says not all Taliban terrorists", and by the Associated Press "Pakistan, Afghanistan mired in extremism, Pakistan president says". In the concluding August 12, 2007 session of the Afghan-Pakistan peace jirga meeting, Pakistan President Musharraf argued that there is a place for a mainstream Taliban in Afghanistan, as the "Taliban are a part of Afghan society". (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Culture of corruption - Sunday’s Name That Party dealt with how the Times-Picayune in New Orleans failed to identify as a Democrat the corrupt city councilman Oliver Thomas who pleaded guilty, guilty, guilty today. Well, it turns out Oliver Thomas going down may affect Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s re-election campaign. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Are The Wheels Coming Off For Obama? - The primary campaign has turned into a very long dance for Barack Obama, who seems determined to prove at every opportunity that he has two left feet. In New Hampshire, Obama told a crowd that the US military effort consists mainly of "air raiding villages and killing civilians" -- which his tone-deaf campaign confirmed moments later to reporters (via The Corner): “Obama defended his push to prosecute a tougher military effort to root out al-Qaida on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which drew criticism from primary rivals for sounding too bellicose.” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: The price of everything and the value of nothing - This story decrying the plight of interpreters abandoned by the withdrawing British Army in Southern Iraq is aimed at pointing a moral gun at Western politician's hearts with its heart-rending stories. But how effective are moral arguments -- really -- when it comes to politicians, so let's pose the question another way. How much will it cost the British defense establishment to throw these interpreters away? (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Senator Cardin and His Path to Socialism - It was only a matter of time before someone at the federal level tried to impose upon us the health care that Mitt Romney gave to Massachusetts. The plan requires everyone to have health insurance and it is going to cost a lot more money than any estimate indicated. Of course, that money will come from taxpayers who already pay for their own health insurance. (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: The Spark - The New York Times reports with some wonderment over the reaction of Newark residents to the heinous and brutal execution murders of three college students. Two of those involved are illegal aliens who have lengthy criminal records, and yet were not only free to commit more crimes in the US, but should have been deported long ago. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: Supporting terrorism, one billboard at a time - Some of Windsor, Canada’s Lebanese community has decided that they speak for all Canadian Lebanese immigrants and have put up a billboard of Hizbollah featuring Hassan Nasrallah, and claiming that Hezbollah wants peace. “Members of the Jewish and Lebanese Christian communities in Windsor are outraged by the appearance of a billboard that appears to promote Hezbollah — an organization the Canadian government considers terrorist.” (READ MORE)
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