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)
Times Square explosion shakes city - A small bomb damaged the military's most historical recruiting station in the heart of New York City's Times Square early this morning, leaving residents scared and debris strewn across the street. (READ MORE)
Celebrity 9/11 conspiracy club still growing - The Celebrity September 11 Conspiracy Club. It's an exclusive group that's free to join, but membership comes with some baggage. Or maybe not, judging from the entertainment world's passive response to celebrities who claim the September 11 attacks were an inside job. (READ MORE)
Dean wants do-overs in Fla., Mich. - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged Florida and Michigan party officials to come up with plans to repeat their presidential nominating contests so that their delegates can be counted. (READ MORE)
Dutch bar anti-Muslim film from TV - Dutch television stations have refused to air the anti-Muslim film “Fitna,” the Dutch government raised its terror threat level and the Taliban threatened revenge killings against Dutch troops in Afghanistan. (READ MORE)
Greece against Macedonia joining NATO - Greece today threatened to veto NATO membership for Macedonia ahead of a summit next month that is expected to issue invitations to several Balkan nations. (READ MORE)
McCain helped Bush see the light - Democrats argue that Sen. John McCain is just a continuation of President Bush's time in office, but if so, that's mostly because Mr. Bush has moved toward Mr. McCain on issues, not the other way around. (READ MORE)
National Dragnet Is a Click Away - Several thousand law enforcement agencies are creating the foundation of a domestic intelligence system through computer networks that analyze vast amounts of police information to fight crime and root out terror plots. (READ MORE)
Results Refocus Democratic Campaign - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island reinvigorated her once-shaky presidential candidacy and reshaped her debate with Sen. Barack Obama, but those successes yielded only a modest gain in the battle for delegates, underscoring the daunting odds she faces in... (READ MORE)
DHS Strains As Goals, Mandates Go Unmet - Stumping for President Bush's ill-fated immigration overhaul in 2006, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff vowed that his department would wrest "operational control" of the nation's borders away from human and drug traffickers within five years. (READ MORE)
Russia Pumps Tens of Millions Into Burnishing Image Abroad - MOSCOW -- In early 2004, when Svetlana Mironyuk became director general of the Russian news and information agency RIA Novosti, she discovered that the descendant of the Soviet Union's global propaganda machine was dying on its feet. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Soccerdad: Israel in american eyes - Good news from Gallup about how Israeli is perceived in America. Contentions.Noah Pollak observes: “There are a couple of interesting things about these numbers. For one, it appears that the recent Walt-Mearsheimer fracas did absolutely nothing to disabuse ordinary Americans of their affection for Israel. Another is the continuing trend of Republicans being significantly more favorably disposed to Israel than Democrats — in the latest survey, Israel is viewed favorably among Republicans by a remarkable 84 percent, compared to 64 percent among Democrats.” More significant than Walt-Mearsheimer, is that despite generally biased coverage, most Americans still favor Israel. (READ MORE)
Winds of Change: Should Hillary Be Ahead? - I'm sure that if Obama maintains his "pledged" delegate lead into the convention the argument his supporters will make is that the role of the super-delegates must be to ratify the decision of "the people." It is already being suggested that “party leadership,” including super-delegates, may need to step in to keep the party from self-inflicted injury. But what this perspective omits is that the reason Obama is still ahead in the committed delegate count even after losses in Ohio and Texas is largely a function of the Democrats' misguided adoption of the principle of proportional representation in their nomination system. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: What The Lamestream Media Taught Me About Deployment - Well sports fans, this is it. The Princesses' year long Sojourn in Heck is officially finito. Kaput. So over. As rosy finger'd dawn (the slut!) traipsed across the western Maryland sky this morning, yours truly sprang from betwixt the marital sheets and shuffled down the hall to rustle up a steaming mug of liquid stamina. But this time a quietly amused smile could be observed upon her lips. The year ended much as it began; more a droll procession of minor inconveniences than the tidal wave of tragedy so often depicted in countless lurid news stories as we Desperate Military Wives heroically Take Yet Another One for the DeciderTM**. Now that it's all over, I have to say I'm not sure I could have survived this year without the comic relief invaluable guidance provided by the mainstream media. It was sort of like being given your own personal copy of What to Expect When You're Neglected by a Reckless and Uncaring Bush Administration. (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: From the Iron Man to the Dragon Lady - Today is blasphemy Wednesday. Before getting to the disaster that was Taco Tuesday, it is inspiring to think about perfection. Like many, I constantly strive and fail to reach perfection. As a kid, even though I hated school, I was always afraid that the one day I missed, good things would happen. I never got the perfect attendance award. Several years I missed one day. My parents knew I was not one to play hooky, and they insisted on keeping me home when I was ill. I just couldn’t get through without missing that one day. I have been with my current firm for over three years. For three years I did not miss a day of work. I took my vacations, but did not call in sick. I remember James Caan in “The Program” asking one of his football players, “Are you injured or are you hurt?” When the player wanted to know the difference, the coach replied, “If you’re injured, you can’t play. If you’re hurt, you can play.” (READ MORE)
Jay Fraser: Immigration Becomes a Political Football (Again) - The question of border security and the threat to U.S. security is back on the table even as the Presidential campaign progresses to the next phases. Senate Republicans plan to introduce a package of as many as 11 bills (could actually grow to 14) that establishes a hard line on illegal immigration. Even though experts consider it unlikely that these bills will reach the floor for debate, they reflect a move toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul in 2007. While some of the language in these possible pieces of legislation echo House bills, they go further. (READ MORE)
Steve Schippert: A Moment of Silence - When It Says a Lot - It’s a fair question: Has the United Nations Human Rights Council ever held a moment of silence for Israeli civilians killed by rocket attacks or suicide bombers? I don’t pretend to know the answer to that question beyond a wild educated guess, but the UNHRC did observe a minute of silence for ‘martyrs in Gaza’ yesterday. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki asked for the observation. Haaretz reports that Mottaki got thirty seconds and that no one stood. Mottaiki had “called for the gesture on behalf of the women and children who are ‘nowadays under attack by the Zionist regime.’” There have been women and children killed. But such has been on both sides. (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: WaPo Editor: ‘I Want More Muslim Journalists’ - Philip Bennett, the Washington Post’s managing editor, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine for a little chat earlier this week. During his comments on the subject of religion and politics, Bennett claimed that the MSM should hire more Muslims because the media has too many misconceptions about Islam. Bennett told the UCI audience, “At the Post I want more Muslim readers and I want more Muslim journalists. ”One wonders how far this new understanding of Islam in the media will go for Bennett, though? Will his desire to be inclusive and to create a new politically correct understanding go as far as excusing Islamofascism as we try to better understand Islam? (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips Blog: Genocide with jam on it - The BBC news gave pride of place this morning to a report by ‘aid’ and ‘human rights’ agencies —Oxfam, Amnesty, Care International — which accused Israel of causing the worst humanitarian crisis in Gaza for the past forty years. This is of course such a twisted conclusion as to be positively pathological. The only reason there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is because the people who control it are waging a war of extermination against Israel. Israel is accused of blocking the border so that Gazans are unemployed. For goodness sake, what do these ‘human rights’ agencies want — genocide with jam on it? The people who are responsible for Gaza’s misery are the gunmen and rocket firers of Hamas, who in addition to using Gaza for war against Israel are deliberately sabotaging attempts to get supplies to the population in order to stoke up a ‘humanitarian’ crisis to gain world sympathy and turn it against Israel. (READ MORE)
Paul Mirengoff: The arrogance of impotence, Obama style - Barack Obama likes to complain about American "arrogance" during the Bush years. In fact, our alleged arrogance is his pretext for wanting to negotiate directly and without pre-condition with some of the world's worst and most virulently anti-American dictators, a move that even Hillary Clinton opposes. Yet it would be difficult to find a more arrogant foreign policy proposal than the one his key foreign policy adviser Samantha Power spoke favorably of in 2002, namely inserting a large military force into Israel and its territories for the purpose of imposing a Palestinian state. The arrogance (and stupidity) of this concept is so self-evident that Power now not only disavows it, but purports to find it incomprehensible. (READ MORE)
Political Vindication: Jimmy Carter Invites Himself to Israel to Negotiate Peace - This from the Jerusalem Post: “Former US president Jimmy Carter and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan wish to arrive in Israel in the coming months in order to help negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Army Radio reported. The two contacted the Prime Minister’s Office and requested to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. They also asked to be allowed in the Gaza Strip to meet with Hamas officials. According to the report, Israel is opposed to the initiative, but officials said that Jerusalem would be well advised to try and channel the visit into a positive track so as not to damage the country’s image in the media.” May be the former president ought to bring copies of his book ” Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” with him, it will go a long way in assuaging any concerns of Hamas that he supports a Jewish state. (READ MORE)
neo-neocon: Brattleboro, Vermont: where it can ALL happen! - Yesiree, that’s their motto in Brattleboro: “Where it can ALL happen.” I’m not exactly sure what the ALL is about, although the slogan is vaguely reminiscent of Barack Obama’s. But one thing that has indeed happened is that Vermont is now one of the most liberal states in the nation. It wasn’t always thus. Tiny and largely rural Vermont (take a look at the Wiki article and see the population figures for those Vermont towns) was once one of those rock-ribbed Republican New England states you used to hear so much about. But the Vermont demographics and political outlook changed in the 80s and 90s with the influx of (gasp!) New Yorkers, and other immigrants fleeing the urban areas of Massachusetts, to find their Green Mountain Dream. (READ MORE)
MountainRunner: Not Afraid to Talk: our adversaries aren't, we are we? - GWU professor Marc Lynch, perhaps more commonly known as Abu Aardvark, revealed the positions on public diplomacy of the current presidential candidates: “I came across something interesting while doing some research on public diplomacy for an unrelated project. Since at least the 9/11 Commission Report, almost every foreign policy blueprint or platform has for better or for worse mentioned the need to fix American public diplomacy and to engage with the ‘war of ideas’ in the Islamic world. I expected all three remaining Presidential candidates to offer at least some boilerplate rhetoric on the theme. What I found was different.” Marc highlighted the differences between the presidential candidates on what is arguably the most important and yet least understood element of our national security. (READ MORE)
Daniel Byman: U.S. success in Iraq and the global jihad - While it is far too early to say that the United States and its allies have permanently “crippled” Al Qaeda in Iraq (as claimed by some U.S. officials), clearly the terrorist organization has suffered grievous blows in the last year. Indeed, U.S. officials are so pleased they hope to use the “Anbar model” in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as elsewhere in Iraq. Beyond its benefits for Iraqi stability, what does this success mean? For many years, politicians and pundits (including me) have devoted painful attention to the ramifications of failure in Iraq for the future of Al Qaeda and the broader salafi-jihadist movement. (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: California court threatens homeschoolers - The war on homeschooling is a longstanding one. Parents who take their children’s education into their own hands threaten the creaking, bloated public school monopoly here at home and abroad. The HS community is buzzing about the latest salvo in the war–a troubling ruling in California that imposes credentialing requirements on parents: “Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California’s home schooling families.” (READ MORE)
Cool, Calm and Collected: It's Amazing What A Simple "Thank You" Can Do... - For this past week or so I've had a terrible cough, body aches, stuffy head, the works. I haven't taken any sick days, because while I feel under the weather, it isn't enough to not work... Anyway, today I was feeling extra worn out, and thought about leaving work early. But on my way to an appointment, I stopped for gas, and noticed someone pulling up right next to me. He was reading the lettering on the back of my car-- which says: My Soldier, My Love, My Hero Sgt James J. Holtom Killed in Action 08 February 2007 Land of the Free, Because of My Brave (READ MORE)
Don Surber: I tried to warn them - Anyone who couldn’t see this Democratic train-wreck coming, wasn’t watching. Or listening. Or smelling. Our moral and intellectual superiors at the DNC decided in a fit of hubris to strip Michigan and Florida of their rights to hold a presidential primary whenever their legislatures felt like it. To protect Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – as well as to throw a bone to Harry Reid’s state of Nevada, the Democratic Party decided to strip of its delegates any of the other states that dared to have a primary in January. Michigan and Florida flipped the DNC off. The DNC made good its threat. Now the DNC is crawling back to have the voters of Michigan and Florida bail the DNC out of this mess it made of its own nominating process. (READ MORE)
Blonde Sagacity: Obama's Proposals: Much More Foreboding Than His Middle Name - How did it come to be that in a country that has always used the middle names of presidents, serial killers and assassins...we now have a presidential candidate that we can't use the middle name of or we're racist, fear mongers? Do you think if McCain's middle name was unlucky enough to be Adolph -the left and the media would refrain from using it? No way...they'd drop the John altogether I'm sure. Listen, the fact of the matter is Obama IS a Muslim by their own definition. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you meet someone's old Bubby and tell her your mom is Jewish but your dad a Catholic and you'd never been to synagogue --She's still consider you a Jew...from the womb of the mother. The Muslim tradition is similar, but it's more like from the loins of your father. Barack's (from "barakah", also a Arab name BTW) father and grandfather were Muslim...and in Muslim tradition he is "automatically a Muslim." But that's just semantics, right..? (READ MORE)
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