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)
Bombs Hit Convoy as Bhutto Returns - KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 19 -- Two powerful bombs detonated next to a truck carrying former prime minister Benazir Bhutto late Thursday, just hours after she returned from exile to a triumphal homecoming. More than 120 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of Pakistan's worst episode... (READ MORE)
Evangelicals Lukewarm Toward GOP Field - For months, Republican presidential candidates such as Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and John McCain have courted evangelical Christians, meeting with religious leaders throughout the Midwest and the South. (READ MORE)
Local Foes Commit to Peace in Baghdad - BAGHDAD, Oct. 18 -- Local Sunni and Shiite leaders from southwestern Baghdad signed an agreement Thursday intended to halt sectarian violence and attacks on American and Iraqi troops, with the condition that security forces limit their raids and offensive operations. (READ MORE)
On Day 2, Democrats See Change In Mukasey - President Bush's choice for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, embraced some of the administration's most controversial legal positions yesterday, suggesting that Bush can ignore surveillance statutes in wartime and avoiding a declaration that simulated drowning constitutes torture under U.S... (READ MORE)
French Transit Workers Strike Over Pension Threat - PARIS, Oct. 18 -- French public transportation workers staged a strike on Thursday, bringing most rail, bus and subway service across the country to a standstill and delivering a vivid warning to President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose plans to reduce generous but costly public pensions face stiff opposition from labor unions. (READ MORE)
Congress Orders Probe of TB Case - Capitol Hill lawmakers yesterday called for an investigation into why federal officials knowingly allowed a Mexican national infected with a highly contagious form of tuberculosis to repeatedly board planes and cross U.S. borders. (READ MORE)
SCHIP Veto in House Stands - The House yesterday failed to override President Bush's veto of a bill that more than doubles spending for a popular children's health care plan — as Democrats vowed to push their proposal until it becomes law. (READ MORE)
Critics Soften Hits on Cosby Message - Civil rights activists and scholars are softening their criticism of Bill Cosby's message to black Americans to stop blaming racism for their problems and engage in more personal responsibility. (READ MORE)
Scouts Must Pay $200,000 for Rent - The city of Philadelphia has decided that the Boy Scouts chapter here must pay fair-market rent of $200,000 a year for its city-owned headquarters because it refuses to permit homosexual scouts. (READ MORE)
From the Front:
Jason's Iraq Vacation: Ain't no party like an Iraqi Party - Well Ramadan is finally over, which means the end of hiding our drinking habits from the Iraqi's and also the end of their fast. Instead of having a Mardi Gras-type celebration before their fasting period, Muslim's have a big 4 day feast after the big fast. This year, we were fortunate to be invited (for some us it was actually rather unfortunate. As in, the next day was spent doing the 100 meter dash across our gravel lot to the bathroom type unfortunate. But I digress . . . .) (READ MORE)
Figthin' 6th Marines: Signs of Progress - RCT-6 on ABC's Good Morning America - We recently had Miguel Marquez and his camera crew from ABC News out with us for a tour of the city of Fallujah. They report the city like it is rarely done: truthfully. Watch the clip. To pre-empt some comments I know are coming -- "ABC is lying!" -- they are not. (We received such comments after posting Katie Couric's video following her visit here.) It is no big secret that any media outlet that comes out here to witness first-hand the progress in Al Anbar Province reports the same thing: progress. Great things are being done here. (READ MORE)
Badger 6: Another Task Force Pathfinder Soldier Dies - Sergeant First Class Anthony R. "Tony" Wasielewski, Sergeant Ski, late of Team Cobra, Company C, 397th Engineer, Task Force Pathfinder, died at his home in Wisconsin on October 7. "Ski" was injured in an IED attack in May and spent time at Walter Reed and a VA Hospital in Wisconsin before being released home to continue his recovery. It is unclear to me from the news reports and the emails that I have exchanged with his Commander if the cause of death was related to his injuries. I can't believe they had no affect on his health and certainly seems to me that lacking other evidence he should be considered a casualty of the Iraq War. (READ MORE)
Far From Perfect: Evacuated to the CSH - So I’ve been in the hospital for the last few days with what is called a Non-Battle Injury. In other words, I was not wounded in battle, I had an urgent healthcare matter that required surgery. I got a whirlwind tour of the medical evacuation system for Iraq and Kuwait in the process. I have to say it works pretty well, especially if you are litter bound. I was medevac’d from my FOB to the Combat Surgical Hospital, CSH, in Mosul. They did an evaluation and decided I needed surgery. An hour or so later I was in surgery. Can’t really say too much about how that went as they gave me some really good sedatives and a spinal block. I woke up shortly after the surgery in the recovery room numb from the belly button down. Strange experience trying to get up and walk when you can’t feel anything below your umbilicus. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
What Happened at Haditha - The incident at Haditha--or the massacre, as it is often called--is due for a wholesale rethinking. The allegations are that in 2005 U.S. Marines went on a killing spree and deliberately executed 24 Iraqi civilians. The casualties have drawn an extraordinary amount of political attention, becoming an emblem for everything critics say is wrong with the Iraq war--in the common telling, another My Lai. Thus Congressman Jack Murtha, a decorated combat veteran, made accusations of war crimes and said the Marines had killed "in cold blood." These are serious charges; and military justice continues to deal with them seriously, though thankfully at a slower pace than politics... (READ MORE)
Stephen Moore: Comfy With K Street - The late Milton Friedman used to rail against what he called corporate America's "suicidal impulse." By that he meant that the business community continually financed the very politicians who were intent on robbing their profits and slitting their throats. It's happening again. The latest quarterly Federal Election Commission Report on political giving, released this week, shows the majority of corporate money flowing to the Democrats. Firms like Comcast, General Electric, Federal Express and UPS have shifted campaign giving away from the GOP. (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: Sex and the Presidency - Where do things stand now with Hillary Clinton? What is her trajectory almost a year since it became clear she was running for the presidency? Some time back I said she doesn't have to prove she is a man, she has to prove she is a woman. Her problem is not her sex, as she and her campaign pretend. That she is a woman is a boon to her, a source of latent power. But to make it work, she has to seem like a woman. (READ MORE)
Mike Gallagher: Media Dishonesty in New Orleans - One of the biggest injustices ever done to the Bush Administration was the claim that the federal government abandoned the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You know the narrative by now: angry liberals who have a contemptuous view of President Bush like to spin a yarn of a White House completely indifferent to the pain and loss of all those people left in Katrina’s wake. (READ MORE)
Amanda Carpenter: Earmark War on the Senate Floor - Fiscal conservatives won one battle but lost another over wasteful spending on the Senate floor Thursday. Republican Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) spearheaded efforts to eliminate two egregious earmarks tucked into the fiscal year 2008 Labor Health and Human Services spending bill. Coburn zeroed in on a $1 million earmark that had been secured by New York Sens. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer for a Woodstock concert museum. (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: Promises, Promises - In 2006 Nancy Pelosi promised the American people that if they would vote to give Democrats control of Congress, making her Speaker of the House, they would come to Washington and “drain the swamp.” More than a year later, Democrats have converted the alleged Republican swamp into a vast pit of quicksand into which America’s national and financial security are slowly sinking. (READ MORE)
Diana West: Making the West Disappear - Earlier this week, I took a trip down memory lane to Yale, where I happily attended college almost 25 years ago in the second decade of its co-ed existence. Which meant that I was plenty old enough to be the mother of the undergraduates I was addressing in the traditionally genteel setting of a "master's tea." The tea, attended by about two dozen, was in beauteous Branford, one of Yale's 12 residential colleges, all carved stone and grassy courtyard. (READ MORE)
Oliver North: Putin the Puppet Master - SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Vladimir Putin is on a roll. Last month, he made it clear that he intends to become prime minister -- and keep the reigns of power in the Kremlin -- when his second presidential term ends in March 2008. Last week, in the midst of a bravura "mini-summit" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin wowed the fawning European media by shrugging off a carefully leaked rumor of an alleged assassination attempt and by speaking fluent German -- a language he mastered as a KGB officer in Dresden during the Cold War. All this apparently took U.S. diplomats and intelligence agencies by surprise. But wait, there's more. (READ MORE)
Charles Krauthammer: This House's Moral Cleanliness - WASHINGTON -- There are three relevant questions concerning the Armenian genocide. (a) Did it happen? (b) Should the U.S. House of Representatives be expressing itself on this now? (c) Was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's determination to bring this to a vote, knowing that it risked provoking Turkey into withdrawing crucial assistance to American soldiers in Iraq, a conscious (columnist Thomas Sowell) or unconscious (blogger Mickey Kaus) attempt to sabotage the U.S. war effort? The answers are: (READ MORE)
Linda Chavez: Why Not Reward Excellence? - An employee who works harder than his colleagues, produces more and generally excels at his job should be paid more than one who is mediocre, or worse, a downright failure, right? Most employers reward good workers with promotions, bonuses and higher pay in order to keep them. But in the one profession you'd think that excellence should be rewarded -- namely, teaching -- it's often difficult to do so. Teachers unions have been the main obstacle to paying teachers based on their performance, but change may be on the horizon. It's been a long time coming. (READ MORE)
Mona Charen: About that Muslim Letter to the Pope - With a good deal of fanfare, a group of 138 Muslim clerics from around the globe released a statement to Christian leaders earlier this month calling for peace and understanding between the two religions. American and other Western newspapers and media lapped it up. "Muslim Leaders Reach Out to Christians" announced the Los Angeles Times. "Muslim Leaders Send Peace Message" headlined Time magazine. (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Eight Problems with the Conservative Movement Right Now - The conservative movement and the vehicle that we use to implement our ideas, the Republican Party, have a number of problems right now that need to be addressed. For example: Taking Care Of The Base: The first rule of politics is to make sure that your base is reasonably happy and if they're not, find a way to change that. Unfortunately, too many Republican politicians have forgotten that most basic of rules and they've allowed their biggest supporters to become dispirited and angry with them. (READ MORE)
Richard H. Collins: The Definition of a Hypocrite - What is more surprising, the brazen hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton or the fact that she continues to get away with it? This week brought yet another shining example: the issue of government surveillance. Earlier this week, it was revealed that in 1992 Hillary personally “listened to a secretly recorded audiotape of a phone conversation of Clinton critics plotting their next attack.” The details are found in the recent Hillary biography, Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, by investigative journalists Don Van Natta Jr. and Jeff Gerth. (READ MORE)
Cliff May: Al-Qaeda in Iraq on the Run - Al-Qaeda is on the horns of a dilemma. Last month, some 30 of its senior leaders in Iraq were killed or captured. Now, Osama bin Laden faces a tough decision: Send reinforcements to Iraq in an attempt to regain the initiative? That risks losing those combatants, too – and that could seriously diminish his global organization. But the alternative is equally unappealing: accept defeat in Iraq, the battlefield bin Laden has called central to the struggle al-Qaeda is waging against America and its allies. (READ MORE)
Bill Roggio: Bombings in Karachi target former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's triumphant return to Pakistan was shattered by violence just hours after touching down in the country after an eight-year exile. Two bombs struck the convoy carrying Bhutto and senior officials of the Pakistan People's Party. Over 132 were killed and several hundred wounded during the twin blasts. Bhutto and her aides survived the attack unharmed. South Waziristan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud had promised to strike at Bhutto upon her return and has lived up to his word. Bhutto appears to have narrowly escaped the assassination. The Taliban used two bombs, a smaller charge followed by a large bomb. (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: Flag Honoring Slain Marine Torched - My heart breaks for this Marines' family while my head burns in anger at this wanton act of desecration... Flags flew the May day they buried Dale Peterson. They lined the streets of Burns, where hundreds watched, hands on hearts, as his coffin passed. One flag, in particular, made it to Dale's dad. Greg Peterson, former sheriff of Harney County, went home to Redmond and hung the flag beside his front door. And there it flew, day and night, for the toddler he carried on his back into the Blue Mountains, for the boy he taught to fish the Malheur River, for the only son he sent to Iraq. Sunday morning, as Greg Peterson left for church, he found the flag. Someone had torn it down, drenched it in lighter fluid and burned it. Ashes and the charred wooden flagpole lay scattered. "This was personal," he thought. (READ MORE)
Michael Tanji: Common Sense on Surveillance - It was recently reported that the Bush administration would be turning over documents related to its terrorist surveillance program to members of the Senate, who are currently attempting to craft a legislative solution to the electronic surveillance dilemma. As a quick reminder; current law throws a myriad of serious roadblocks in front of our intelligence agencies when they try to monitor the communications of terrorists. Civil libertarians decry almost any attempt to gain access to domestic communications systems. They wonder what is to stop the government from turning its intelligence capabilities away from terrorists and towards law-abiding citizens. Functionally speaking the answer is nothing, though the real defense against a true “domestic” surveillance program will be addressed later. (READ MORE)
Soccerdad: It wasn’t nuclear but we’ll clean it up anyway - So after showing a bunch of credulous reporters an agricultural site, Syria’s now cleaning up the real site of the Israeli attack. "Syria has begun dismantling the remains of a site Israel bombed Sept. 6 in what may be an attempt to prevent the location from coming under international scrutiny, said U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the aftermath of the attack.Based on overhead photography, the officials say the site in Syria’s eastern desert near the Euphrates River had a “signature” or characteristics of a small but substantial nuclear reactor, one similar in structure to North Korea’s facilities." Interesting, now there seems little doubt what the facility was for. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: I Think I know How Cassandra Felt - Lord, sometimes I hate being right. In David Gerrold's sci-fi classic "The War Against The Chtorr," his protagonist has developed an uncanny reputation for being able to predict the behavior of the alien invaders. It's the cause of much speculation about Mr. McCarthy, even some saying that he's somehow in league with them. Finally, someone enlightens him to this attitude, and he explains just how he's so good at it: (Roughly paraphrased) "I just imagine the worst possible thing that can happen next, then prepare for it. And most of the time, I'm right." (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap: House Fails to Override SCHIP Veto - Common sense prevailed in the House as Republicans stuck together and supported Bush's SCHIP expansion veto, but not before lunatic Democratic Representative Peter Stark made the shockingly vile statement that America's troops are in Iraq getting their heads blown off "for the President's amusement": “Democratic Rep. Pete Stark launched a shocking one-man assault on the Bush administration Thursday, interrupting floor debate before a failed attempt to override the president's veto of the so-called SCHIP bill to suggest that U.S. troops in Iraq are getting their heads ‘blown off for the president's amusement.’” (READ MORE)
McQ: Stop the draft, er, the war, er recruiting ... why are we here? - Ah Berkley protests, they're just not what they used to be. All my young former hippy, flowerchild, earth-womyn are now 'Grandmothers Against the War' (or Code Pink, or well, you get the drift). Apparently they and counter protesters have been shouting at each other across the street at a local recruiting station. The purpose, of Code Pink and GATW being there? "'Our message is very clear. We are peaceful people. We don't want to send our sons and daughters into this war. I think the sentiment of Berkeley is on this side of the street,' said CodePINK co-founder Medea Benjamin." (READ MORE)
Dale Franks: The Laffer Curve: Myths and Realities - Looking over the comments in Jon's post below, there seems to be some misinterpretation of the Laffer Curve on the part of some. Although I learned long ago that econ posts tend not to draw any great interest, and though I've written on this several times before (and am too lazy to look up the specific links at the moment), I'll give it another shot. The curve itself is pretty simple, and there's hardly an economist in the world that doesn't believe that the Laffer Curve, or something quite like it, doesn't exist. (READ MORE)
Scott Johnson: The HLF jury returns - The Dallas Morning News reports that the jury has reached a verdict in the Holy Land Foundation trial after 19 days of deliberation. The verdicts were sealed and will not be read in court until the presiding Judge Joe Fish returns to town on Monday. The story on the jury's return dwells on the length of time that the jury was out. At least one juror was replaced during deliberations (on Septebmer 26). On October 3, Judge Fish read the jury an Allen charge, urging the jurors to continue their deliberations when they asked for advice regarding the refusal of one juror to participate. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Busboys ‘give’ $380,000 to Hillary - Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown The LA Times is not letting this Hsu thing drop. Reporters Peter Nicholas and Tom Hamburger are digging through Hillary’s dumpster of campaign finance disclosures and finding she’s raking in a lot of money from a lot of poor people. Well, at least from the addresses of poor people. Reported the LA Times today: "Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton’s campaign treasury." (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: The Adam Gadahn Amendment - The Senate Intelligence Committee passed the latest version of FISA on a 13-2 vote after reaching a compromise with Republicans on amnesty for telecoms and other issues. However, a last-minute amendment adopted by the committee has the White House objecting: "The Senate intelligence committee yesterday produced a new bipartisan bill governing foreign intelligence surveillance conducted inside the United States, but objections by several Democratic lawmakers to some of its provisions raised questions about how quickly it might gain passage." (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Got Experience? - Joyner at Outside the Beltway on Hillary’s lack of it, or unusual variety of it … and why it probably doesn’t make any difference: “Hillary Clinton and her supporters tout her 35 years of public policy experience. The Hill’s Bob Cusack assesses that figure. ‘In a concerted effort to deflect attacks on her presidential credentials, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y) and her allies repeatedly say she has 35 years of relevant experience. She has been an elected official only seven years, but the drumbeat of sound bites and statements touting the 35-year figure appears to have paid off.’” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Blair in NYC: Islamism is to today what fascism was to the 1930s - And Iran’s the engine. I understand the temptation of this analogy; I’m sure I’ve used it myself. But coming from someone as influential as Blair, all it does in the public’s mind, I fear, is implicitly minimize a grave threat by measuring it against the yardstick of ultimate evil. If you want to note the similarities, and there are plenty, simply explain Islamism to them and let people draw the connection themselves. Saying “it’s 1939 all over again!” (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: End of the "Vietnam Syndrome!" Melanie Morgan, MAF Rout Code Pinkos in Berkeley! Knife Wielder Redefines 'Peacenik'! - Did I mention that a knife-wielding "Peace" protester had to be disarmed by the police? Uh-huh. It happened. Yes it Did! Proves the point we've been making for years now, that these people aren't for peace, they favor POWER but Power for them only. And they'll stab you if you don't agree with them. An outpouring of support Wednesday for US troops in general, and US Marines in Berkeley, California in particular, marks what we can only hope is the end of the false, but oh-so-often repeated refrain "Vietnam Syndrome." Members of the pro-terrorist, pro-communist, anarchist, anti-American organization Code Pink have been demonstrating outside the Marine recruiting office in downtown Berkeley for some time. But in recent weeks they have escalated their efforts to include vandalizing the office and interfering with the recruiters. (READ MORE)
Bryan Preston: Fox to air “Islam vs Islamists” tomorrow Updated - The film that was just too hot for PBS finally gets national airtime. “A controversial film that PBS axed from its documentary series about the post-Sept. 11 world will be broadcast for the first time nationwide this week by the FOX News Channel. The documentary, originally titled ‘Islam vs. Islamists,’ was produced by ABG Films with $675,000 in public funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It was originally slated to run earlier this year as part of PBS’ ‘America at a Crossroads’ series.” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl: S-CHIP: Anatomy Of A DSCC / Media Smear On Sen. McConnell - Quick Update: And they are unfairly going after Bush, as well. As for this below, Dem Op Matt Miller drove the Foley scandal, now he's using misleading and false statements to target Minority Leader McConnell R-KY. Despite, or perhaps because of the S-CHIP stalemate in Washington, liberal media outlets including the New York Times, Think Progress and now the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky continue to somewhat sinisterly flame one aspect of the S-CHIP story at the urging of Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staffer Matt Miller, even though the narrative they've woven isn't at all supported by the facts. (READ MORE)
Steeljaw Scribe: Air Force Pilot Missing From Vietnam War is Identified - In the mail today: “The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Maj. Robert G. Lapham, U.S. Air Force, of Marshall, Mich. He will be buried Friday in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On Feb. 8, 1968, Lapham was flying the lead A-1G Skyraider in a flight of two in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. The aircraft were alerted to join an airborne forward air controller to destroy enemy tanks that had overrun the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp. After completing one pass on the tanks, Lapham was nearing his target on the second pass when he crashed. The crew of the other aircraft involved in the mission reported seeing no parachute.” But wait, there’s more… (READ MORE)
Kim Zigfeld: Bhutto in Pakistan - The American nutroots received a few rather unpleasant jolts of reality over the past few days. First, a major campaign financing scandal erupted, tarnishing all the major Democratic candidates with the allegation of acceptance of seriously tainted money. Large amounts of the filthy stuff. Then, despite all the hew and cry from the leftist lunatics about how George Bush is evil and the whole damn country knows it, the House (despite its Democratic majority) failed to override President Bush's veto of the child healthcare reform proposals (despite Bush recently recording the lowest-ever public approval ratings for a president, the House's approval rating is half that of Bush). (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Funny Money Fundraising Hits Clinton Campaign Again - It's a most curious situation given that many of those donors have simply fallen off the map and can't be found. The Hsunami began when curious donations by the Paw family were found and digging by Flip and others found a huge number of bundled donations that were made under suspicious circumstances and by individuals whose source of income is highly suspect. Are we witnessing the tip of yet another Clinton campaign fundraising scandal? (READ MORE)
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