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)
Gas prices put a pinch on weekend travel - With Memorial Day weekend plans crimped by sky-high gas prices and new airline fees, travelers could take some consolation yesterday from watching oil industry executives squirm as senators pummeled them with complaints about high gas prices, multibillion-dollar profits and their multimillion-dollar salaries. (READ MORE)
Counterterror staff falls to 62% - More than one out of every three positions in an elite FBI division that tracks al Qaeda terrorists is vacant, according to an internal bureau document. Efforts are under way at the FBI to canvass for "volunteers" to fill what the agency said is a "critical" need in its counterterrorism efforts. (READ MORE)
House forced to revote farm bill - Hours after voting to approve just the second veto override of President Bush's tenure on the massive farm bill, a colossal blunder means the House will have to have a do-over and repass the entire bill anew. (READ MORE)
Obama starts to woo voters across Florida - Even though John McCain enjoys strong support in Florida, Barack Obama has pulled ahead in national tracking polls. His advance further deflates his Democratic rival's argument that she is better positioned to beat the Republicans in the fall. (READ MORE)
'08 candidates see different roles for U.N. - None of the candidates would radically alter when or how the United States engages the United Nations, according to their own senior foreign-policy advisers, but each would tweak the relationship in his or her own way. (READ MORE)
Skyrocketing Oil Prices Stump Experts - Executives from the giant oil companies say it's partly the fault of "speculators" or financial players. Key financial players say it's really a question of limited supply and expanding global demand. Some members of Congress accuse the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for bottling up some of its production capacity. And OPEC blames speculators, wasteful U.S. consumers and feckless U.S. policy. (READ MORE)
McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized - Longtime uber-lobbyist Charles R. Black Jr. is John McCain's man in Washington, a political maestro who is hoping to guide his friend, the senator from Arizona, to the presidency this November. But for half a decade in the 1980s, Black was also Jonas Savimbi's man in the capital city. (READ MORE)
House Overrides Veto of Farm Bill - The House easily overrode President Bush's veto of a $307 billion farm bill last night in what appeared to be the most significant legislative rebuff of Bush's presidency. But a legislative glitch is likely to force embarrassed Democratic leaders to pass the bill all over again today -- and prompt a second showdown with Bush next month. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Troops Welcomed In Sadr City - BAGHDAD, May 21 -- Iraqi soldiers moved unhindered through Baghdad's vast Sadr City district on Wednesday as Shiite militiamen who have long controlled the area faded from view and schools and businesses began to reopen after weeks of strife. (READ MORE)
Palestinian suicide bomber attacks Gaza crossing - GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- A Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a truck loaded with explosives as he tried to ram a crucial crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel early Thursday, militants said. There were no casualties besides the bomber. (READ MORE)
The Exxon Fight, Round 2 - Who wins in a shareholder war between green-collar activists and blue-collar union pensioners? Hard to say. But round two in the battle over the fiduciary responsibilities of corporate giant Exxon Mobil ought to be illuminating for investors. (READ MORE)
President Boxer - When Senate Democrats tie one of President Bush's nominees to the whipping post, they usually bother to invent some substantive objection. Apparently the new standard for rejection is merely that a White House nominee dares to support White House policy. (READ MORE)
Change You Can't Believe In - President Bush vetoed the $300 billion farm bill yesterday, and a bipartisan throng in the House promptly voted to override. The Senate is expected to follow shortly. Every one of these Congressional worthies purports to be an advocate of "change." (READ MORE)
On the Web:
William M. Issacs: The Fed and the Mortgage 'Crisis' - The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market has caused a great deal of turmoil in the financial markets and hardship for individual homeowners and financial institutions. It prompted the Federal Reserve to take unprecedented actions to support the markets, one of which raises very difficult public policy issues. I will return to the Federal Reserve, but first I will make some general comments. I believe that too much is being made of the current problems in the financial and real estate markets. This is probably due to three things: 1) a 24/7 news cycle; 2) a hotly contested presidential election in which roughly half of the population wants us to feel angst; and 3) we are spoiled by 25 years of unprecedented prosperity. (READ MORE)
Bjorn Lomborg: How to Think About the World's Problems - The pain caused by the global food crisis has led many people to belatedly realize that we have prioritized growing crops to feed cars instead of people. That is only a small part of the real problem. This crisis demonstrates what happens when we focus doggedly on one specific – and inefficient – solution to one particular global challenge. A reduction in carbon emissions has become an end in itself. The fortune spent on this exercise could achieve an astounding amount of good in areas that we hear a lot less about. (READ MORE)
Karl Rove: Obama's Troubling Instincts - Barack Obama is ambling rather than sprinting across the primary-season finish line. It's not just his failure to connect with blue-collar Democrats. He has added to his problems with ill-informed replies on critical foreign policy questions. On Sunday at a stop in Oregon, Sen. Obama was dismissive of the threats posed by Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and Syria. That's the same Iran whose Quds Force is arming and training insurgents and illegal militias in Iraq to kill American soldiers; that is supporting Hezbollah and Hamas in violent attacks on Lebanon and Israel; and that is racing to develop a nuclear weapon while threatening the "annihilation" of Israel. (READ MORE)
Bruce Bartlett: Does the Libertarian Party Matter? - Ron Paul's unexpected success raising money and gaining votes in the Republican primaries – running on an explicitly libertarian platform – has made the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination something worth vying for this year. Although Rep. Paul could probably have had the nomination for the asking, he's running instead for re-election in his Texas district. Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia and former Democratic Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska are among those actively seeking the nomination at the LP convention, which begins today in Denver. (READ MORE)
Tom Bevan: Mrs. Clinton's Biggest Mistake - Coming off her landslide win in West Virginia on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton plods on to the end of the primary season on June 3. But her campaign has already been declared dead by many pundits, and the postmortems on why her campaign failed have already begun. Most prominent among them, at least thus far, is Karen Tumulty of Time magazine, who in last week's issue recounted Mrs. Clinton's "five big mistakes, each of which compounded the others." According to Ms. Tumulty, those mistakes, in order, were: 1. She misjudged the mood, 2. She didn't master the rules, 3. She underestimated the caucus states, 4. She relied on old money, and 5. She never counted on a long haul. (READ MORE)
Heather MacDonald: The Wright Side of the Brain - The list of Afrocentric "educators" whom the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has invoked in his media escapades since Sunday is a disturbing reminder that academia's follies can enter the public world in harmful ways. Now the pressing question is whether they have entered Barack Obama's worldview as well. Some in Mr. Wright's crew of charlatans have already had their moments in the spotlight; others are less well known. They form part of the tragic academic project of justifying self-defeating underclass behavior as "authentically black." That their ideas have ended up in the pulpit of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ and in Detroit's Cobo Hall, where Mr. Wright spoke at the NAACP's Freedom Fund dinner on Sunday, reminds us that bad ideas must be fought at their origins — and at every moment thereafter. (READ MORE)
Dafydd: A Modest Campaign Proposal... - ...for the man who really is a conservative, after all! John Hinderaker (I cannot stop thinking of him as "Hindrocket," no matter how the lads try to bury the past) has a wonderful post up at Power Line: Oil Executives Try to Educate Senate Democrats, But Democrats Appear Hopeless. It's an eye-opening primer on the oil biz and the relationship between prices at the pump and the price that American oil companies must pay to buy foreign oil, since congressional Democrats refuse to allow them to drill in the United States. Not only that, but it's even longer than its title! Here is how John ends his post, quoting from the transcript of the Senate hearing on gasoline prices, to which many top executives of Big Oil were invited -- including John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil: (READ MORE)
Gabriel Malor @ Ace of Spades: Ninth Circuit Sends McCain a Memorial Day Gift; Rules that DADT Must be Reviewed - The Ninth Circuit ruled this morning that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" should be subject to heightened judicial scrutiny (PDF). The ruling was 2-1 (but the 1 concurred in part and dissented only because the majority did not go far enough). This is kind of a big deal. Usually, the courts easily dismiss challenges to DADT on the theory that the policy doesn't implicate any fundamental rights and so is subject only to rational basis review. That is, so long as the government can provide a rational reason (even if it is the most spurious cover for its true aim), the law will be upheld. (READ MORE)
The Captain's Journal: More ROE Problems - Any review of the standing rules of engagement CJCSI 3121.01A (along with supporting or source documentation, LOAC, LAW, white papers, opinions, etc.) or rules for the use of force CJCSI 3121.02 or the theater-specific rules of engagement for Iraq (Wikileak) brings immediate attention to the position - whether right or wrong, implemented correctly or not - that the combatant may defend himself. What isn’t apparent is that he can take any offensive action. This is why General Kearney gave two U.S. snipers such underserved grief about eight months ago for positively identifying and targeting a Taliban commander (threatening charges of murder against them). The Taliban commander had not picked up a weapon and targeted the snipers. After this, we had predicted that the billet of sniper would disappear from the scene in the Army (and maybe Marines). (READ MORE)
Jeffrey Imm: Another Pakistan Deal with the Taliban Jihadists - Once again, the Pakistan government signs another deal with the Taliban, while counting on an impotent American government and an uninformed American public to continue to provide them billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars as our "ally". This is becoming an near-annual event in Taliban appeasement by the Pakistan government: the September 2006 North Waziristan Accord, the August 2007 calls by President Musharraf to "mainstream" the Taliban, and now a peace agreement with the Taliban in Swat. The next steps will be a further surrender to Taliban-guided Sharia throughout seven districts of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in the months to come. (READ MORE)
Dadmanly: News Blackouts - Ralph Peters, writing in the NY Post, slams the mainstream media (MSM) for conspiring to impose an almost total blackout on success in Iraq: “DO we still have troops in Iraq? Is there still a conflict over there? If you rely on the so-called mainstream media, you may have difficulty answering those questions these days. As Iraqi and Coalition forces pile up one success after another, Iraq has magically vanished from the headlines. Want a real ‘inconvenient truth?’ Progress in Iraq is powerful and accelerating. But that fact isn't helpful to elite media commissars and cadres determined to decide the presidential race over our heads. How dare our troops win? Even worse, Iraqi troops are winning. Daily.” (READ MORE)
Michael Yon: Distributor Refuses to Carry "Moment of Truth in Iraq" on Military Bases - Folks are asking why "Moment of Truth in Iraq" is not being carried on most military bases within the United States. Here's why: My publisher and literary agent have been working with the private companies who handle book distribution on military bases in order to get "Moment of Truth in Iraq" on their shelves. The process is arduous, to put it mildly. They have succeeded in getting the book into overseas bases. But as the publisher and my agent are slowly working their way through US distributors who cover different geographic regions, they have been told "no" by the largest distributor, the Anderson News Company. A letter from Anderson News: (READ MORE)
Kit Lange: Major Setback for Prosecutors in Chessani Trial; Judge Finds Evidence of Unlawful Command Influence - This entry is part 15 of 15 in the series Pendleton 8 This is a HUGE, HUGE victory in the Haditha case…and possibly a huge victory for SGT Larry Hutchins as well, as the door is finally open to show undue command influence in the Pendleton 8 case. Today is a great day for Chessani, his attorneys, and for all of us whose mission is to end these charades of “justice.” The case is far from over, but it’s one giant leap toward righting this incredible wrong. My prayers are with the attorneys, Lt Col Chessani, and SGT Hutchins as we keep fighting for the end of this madness. “ANN ARBOR, MI – Prosecutors yesterday hit a major speed bump in their rush to convict Marine LtCol Jeffrey Chessani when the Military Judge ruled that he found evidence of unlawful command influence. Courts consider unlawful command influence the ‘mortal enemy of military justice.’” (READ MORE)
Democracy Project: A Confession - Last night I had an epiphany, seemingly obvious but telling: I live in a genteel cocoon. At my son’s Cub Scout Pack meeting, one of the Den leaders, a dentist in his 40’s, came up to me, out of the blue, and said – expecting agreement, perhaps, because we’re two of the only 3 Jews in the 60+ member Pack and almost all Jews are liberals – “I wish Bush were terminal instead of Kennedy,” and then launched into an expletive-loaded diatribe about Bush being a murderer for taking the US into Iraq. I just made a “T” with my hands, time out sign, and walked away. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Surrender, Barack - Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton 17,416,090. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama 17,242,495. The people have spoken. A plurality of Democrats want Mrs. Clinton as their nominee, according to Real Clear Politics. Her numbers are on the rise. On Tuesday, even after everyone (myself included) pronounced Mrs. Clinton’s campaign dead, she received 56% of the ballots cast in Kentucky and Oregon. The score was Clinton 704,335. Obama 557,630. He drew 75,000 in Oregon? So what? He followed a free rock concert. Most of those 75,000 won’t vote. I know. I remember being one of the few under-21 people to vote in 1972. Hillary is attracting the people who do vote: older, white women. They will pick the next president. The menfolk on the Left don’t want the girls playing. (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Question: Who is to Blame for High Gas Prices? - There is enough oil in the United States that could be safely recovered, with no threat to the environment, to supply our nation’s energy needs for years to come as we transition to alternate energy sources. And we could supply those needs with NO imports from any other nation than Canada. The proceeds from royalties and taxes paid by oil companies to the U.S. Treasury could fund nearly the entire cost of developing and implementing a non-fossil fuel energy economy for the United States. Instead, that money, TRILLIONS of dollars, goes to Arabs and the Venezuelans. (READ MORE)
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay: If this is true .... - In all the fuss over Barack Obama going on ABC and telling his opponents to "lay off my wife," some might have assumed that Obama was implying that Michelle Obama wasn't a major player in the Obama campaign. Read the transcript again, and you'll notice he never says that. (Michelle, however, felt compelled in that interview to deny Robert Novak's buzz that she axed Hillary from the ticket.) All this reminded me of an April 24 CBS Evening News story where Katie Couric spent some gummy-grinned giggle time inside the Obama campaign HQ. As she surveyed the press shop, a camera found this sheet of paper with a Barack declaration of policy: "Whatever Michelle Says Is The Message." Here's what Couric was saying as the shot hit the screen: “Then there's the press operation, answering questions from reporters, trying to tamp down any controversy, in constant contact with the road while trying to make sure the message of the day survives.” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Terrorism on the decline and the surge is working: UN - Global terrorism has declined over the last several years despite gloomier analyses by think tanks, the UN stated yesterday, because of the inclusion of data from Iraq. Calling the consensus “misleading”, the elimination of data from Iraq shows a steady decline in attacks and deaths. And when Iraq does get included, the data show that the surge is, well … working: “A study released on Wednesday reports a decline in fatal attacks of terrorism worldwide and says U.S. think-tank data showing sharp increases were distorted due to the inclusion of killings in Iraq. ‘Even if the Iraq “terrorism” data are included, there has still been a substantial decline in the global terrorism toll,’ said the 2007 Human Security Brief, an annual report funded by the governments of Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and Britain.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Webb: White Appalachians voting against Obama because of affirmative action - Affirmative action for blacks, you mean? No, he seems to think Appalachians are okay with that. It’s affirmative action for all the other groups that have got them on the defensive. I honestly have no idea what to make of this. On the one hand, it feels like he’s offering a bitter/clingy read on poor rural white Democrats; on the other, it sounds like he thinks affirmative action’s gone too far himself. Or maybe not far enough. Follow the link and you’ll see why this smells like him reading a pet theory into exit poll data that doesn’t necessarily support it, all in the service of avoiding having to take sides between two groups he’s part of: The Obama camp, which is failing to win white rural voters, and the Scots-Irish, who are failing to climb aboard the Hopenchange Express. (READ MORE)
Congressman John Campbell: The Quiet Provision - Today the Washington Post reported on a massive new program in the recently passed farm bill that managed to slip by most House members and staff, during consideration of the 637 page farm package last week. The new program will install a program to increase taxpayer-financed subsidies by billions of dollars if high commodity prices decline down to the historic typical levels. Therefore if commodity prices drop from their current exorbitantly high levels, the government would institute subsidies to match current inflated commodity prices. The program in question, dubbed the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE), if enacted will be a bloated and wasteful program since the subsidy amounts are tied to recent record commodity prices. (READ MORE)
Amy Proctor: The Soldier Who Changed My Perspective - Most people in their lives have “defining moments”; a jolt of reality masked in some situation or person which changes, molds or awakens the spirit, mind and heart. Merlin German is one of my defining moments. Merlin German was a sergeant in the Marine Corps who was hit by an IED in Iraq in 2005. The explosion left him with burns over 97% of his body and nearly dead. Merlin battled back to life through unimaginable physical obstacles, depression, hope and finally resolution that his example could help other people to be inspired in their own lives. His life has certainly been that to me. Oh, what I take for granted every day. Merlin German died unexpectedly on April 11, 2008 after minor surgery that was not life threatening. Before his death, he created Merlin’s Miracles, a charity to help burned children and their families. His legacy and tough spirit live on through this charity. (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: You go, girl: Alaska GOP Gov. will sue Bush administration over polar bear listing (bumped) - Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin is taking on the Bush administration’s eco-pandering decision to put polar bears on the threatened species list. Via Reuters comes news that Alaska will file suit to block the move. With staunch, sane, principled conservatives like Gov. Palin and Sen. James Inhofe taking a stand, there’s hope–however dwindling–for the GOP yet. Keep hope alive: “The state of Alaska will sue the U.S. government to stop the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, arguing the designation will slow development in the state, Gov. Sarah Palin said on Wednesday. Palin said the state will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington challenging U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s decision to grant Endangered Species Act protections to the polar bear.” (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: Assaulting a fortified position - I should probably like John McCain more than I do. After all, we went to the same school, and both served as naval aviators and attack pilots. I honor his courage in the face of horrible adversity while a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton - especially the fact that he kept faith with his fellow prisoners and refused an early release offered to him based on his status as an admiral’s son. His politics seem unobjectionable to me. He’s right on the war - a single issue lever throw in my voting booth - and in my view righter than most of his own party on the environment and the status of illegal immigrants, both from a pragmatic perspective and from the point of view the party’s future viability. He’s admitted to not knowing much about the economy, but that’s no great crime in my book: (READ MORE)
Patterico: Ninth Circuit Issues Deceptively Important Opinion on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” - A panel of the Ninth Circuit today issued a decision regarding the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The decision addressed an issue that sounds arcane to non-lawyers, but which is, in reality, critical: what is the level of “scrutiny” the courts will apply in examining the policy? The reason this is important is because the level of “scrutiny” almost always determines the outcome. When courts look at governmental action under a “rational basis” type of scrutiny, it means they’re not making the government work hard to justify its actions. Any conceivable “rational basis” for the government’s action will be enough to justify it. By contrast, when courts apply “strict scrutiny” to governmental action, they’re essentially walking up and holding a magnifying glass to the government’s decisionmaking process. (READ MORE)
Pirate's Cove: Democrats: Clueless At The Border - Nice to know that many in the “reality based community,” people charged with an oath that begins, for both the House and the Senate, with I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;…. are clueless as to what is going on down at the border. “Three Democratic lawmakers who spoke Wednesday about alleged anti-immigrant coverage by conservative media outlets were not aware of a recent State Department travel alert warning Americans about military-like ‘combat’ along the southern U.S. border in Mexico, where Americans are being kidnapped and murdered. ‘The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted,’ said the State Department alert.” (READ MORE)
John Hinderaker: Oil Executives Try to Educate Senate Democrats, But Democrats Appear Hopeless - Earlier today, the Senate Judiciary Committee summoned top executives from the petroleum industry for what Chairman Pat Leahy thought would be a politically profitable inquisition. Leahy and his comrades showed up ready to blame American oil companies for the high price of gasoline, but the event wasn't as satisfactory as the Democrats had hoped. The industry lineup was formidable: Robert Malone, Chairman and President of BP America, Inc.; John Hofmeister, President, Shell Oil Company; Peter Robertson, Vice Chairman of the Board, Chevron Corporation; John Lowe, Executive Vice President, Conoco Philips Company; and Stephen Simon, Senior Vice President, Exxon Mobil Corporation. Not surprisingly, the petroleum executives stole the show, as they were far smarter, infinitely better informed, and much more public-spirited than the Senate Democrats. One theme that emerged from the hearing was the surprisingly small role played by American oil companies in the global petroleum market. John Lowe pointed out: (READ MORE)
McQ: Canada withdraws the welcome mat for US military deserters - For my second "no sympathy here" post of the week: “Canada is set to deport in June the first of possibly hundreds of American soldiers who sought asylum to avoid military duty in Iraq, a group backing the US deserters said Wednesday. Corey Glass, 25, came to Canada in August 2006 after serving in Iraq as a military intelligence sergeant. Authorities told him on Wednesday that his application to stay in Canada was rejected and he would be deported in early June, a spokeswoman for the War Resisters Support Campaign told AFP. ‘This goes against Canada’s tradition of welcoming Americans who disagree with policies like slavery and the Vietnam War,’ said Lee Zaslofsky, a War Resisters Support Campaign coordinator.” Except for one huge difference - these people weren’t conscripted. They joined of their own free will. So, it isn’t exactly - in fact it isn’t even close - the same thing. People who choose to voluntarily join a military, knowing full well what the military does, cannot be taken very seriously when they suddenly become "war resisters". (READ MORE)
The Redhunter: GOP Failures - I've hit Obama pretty hard recently, so it's time for some fair play. Besides, I still haven't finished my review of Michael Ledeen's book on Iran, so that has been pushed off until tomorrow (again). Two articles today struck me as emblematic of why the GOP is facing such problems at the polls. Both will make my liberal readers chortle, but I'm going to post them anyway. First up is this from The New York Times, in which the chairman of the RNC responds to the Democrat victory in a special Congressional contest in Mississippi in which they took a seat from the GOP
“‘This was a real wake-up call for us,’ Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview. ‘We can't let the Democrats take our issues. We can't let them pretend to be conservatives and co-opt the middle and win these elections. We have to get the attention of our incumbents and candidates and make sure they understand this.’” (READ MORE)
Melanie Phillips: A milestone victory - Great news from Paris, where the appeal court has today thrown out the libel action against Philippe Karsenty brought by the France 2 TV station for claiming that the ‘killing’ by the Israelis of the Palestinian child Mohammed al Dura, the iconic images of which France 2 transmitted and which incited the second intifada and countless jihadi murders around the world, was a staged and fabricated event and that the child was not killed at all. I have written about this civilisational scandal here and on several other occasions. The Jerusalem Post is running a bare bones story; the court’s written judgment has not yet been released. But the implications of this victory are enormous. At the very least it means that it is no longer libellous in France to say what is plain to all who have studied this case and, most particularly, seen the footage that France 2 did not transmit and which it fought hard to prevent from ever seeing the light of day. (READ MORE)
Smooth Stone: The evolving Palestinian narrative: Arabs caused the refugee problem - There is truth trickling out of the Palestinian Arab narrative. Via Palestinian Media Watch: PA daily: Arabs left homes on their own to facilitate destruction of Israel -- and thus became refugees - The Arabs who became refugees in 1948 were not expelled by Israel but left on their own to facilitate the destruction of Israel, according to a senior Palestinian journalist writing in a Palestinian daily. This plan to leave Israel was initiated by the Arab states fighting Israel, who promised the people they would be able to return to their homes in a few days once Israel was defeated. The article in Al-Ayyam concludes that these Arab states are responsible for the Arab refugee problem. A backbone of Palestinian English-language propaganda is the myth that Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Arabs from Israel and created Arab refugees. (READ MORE)
Mark Steyn: KEEPIN' IT UNREAL - If you read a Barack Obama speech, you notice that, aside from the we-are-the-ones-we've-been-waiting-for narcissistic uplift and the Washington-needs-to-lift-people-up-not-tear-them-down bromides, almost everything he says is, well, nuts. I don't mean the moments when he gets carried away and announces that his Administration would "stop the import of all toys from China". As it happens, that's a policy I'm not unsympathetic to. Over 80% of American toys are made in the People's Republic and, while that may well be appropriate given the whiff of totalitarian coerciveness that hangs around Barney the Dinosaur, I can't say I'm entirely comfortable with contracting out US innocence to the butchers of Tiananmen. For one thing, come the Sino-American War, Beijing will have the ultimate fifth column inside the west: the nation's moppets, resentful at having their Elmos and Spongebobs cut off the duration, will be shinning down the drainpipe after dark in ski masks and blowing up power stations to hasten the day of liberation. (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: McCain on Obama - U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement: “After Senator Obama’s own advisors and supporters backtracked from his stated desire to hold summit meetings with the leaders of the world’s worst regimes, Senator Obama himself has begun to reinterpret his stand. He now claims that some ‘fear’ to ‘negotiate’ with the likes of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who has called Israel a ’stinking corpse’ or Ayatollah Khamenei, who called Israel a ‘cancerous tumor.’ I have news for Senator Obama: I have met some very bad people before in my life. It is not fear that drives my opposition to unconditional meetings with Ahmadinejad, Khamenei, Kim Jong Il, and Raul Castro; rather it is my clear understanding that such a course will fail to eliminate the threat posed by these rogue regimes. I don’t fear to negotiate. Instead I have the knowledge and experience to understand the dangerous consequences of a naive approach to Presidential summits based entirely on emotion.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: "Foggy Bottom?" That's Putting It Mildly - In P. J. O'Rourke's classic treatise on the American government, "Parliament Of Whores," he briefly considers abolishing the State Department, but relents -- he says, as I recall (my copy's on loan right now), "it gives us a place to stick our overeducated Ivy League twits." I think I'm starting to reconsider the utility of that particular agency. In Lebanon, Hezbollah -- a duly certified terrorist group that has killed literally hundreds of Americans, among many, many other victims -- recently staged a brief insurrection against the Lebanese government. They didn't overthrow it, but they weren't trying to -- just to send a message that they could if they weren't left alone. And in response, the Lebanese government made all sorts of concessions in exchange for being allowed to continue to rule in name (and, for that matter, live). (READ MORE)
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