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)
High school in wartime sets soldiers' kids apart - FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - When Evelyn Burwell put on a cap and gown to accept her high school diploma, she knew someone wasn't in the audience — her dad. The 18-year-old's father is serving in Iraq, like so many other parents of her classmates at Fort Campbell High School, the largest high school on an American military base. His service has meant missing two of his children's high school graduations, countless anniversaries and birthdays, and this year, his daughter being crowned prom queen. (READ MORE)
McCain Rejects Pastor's Backing Over Remarks - STOCKTON, Calif., May 22 -- Sen. John McCain on Thursday repudiated the presidential endorsement of the Rev. John Hagee after learning about a sermon in which the megachurch pastor from San Antonio declared that God allowed the rise of Adolf Hitler because it resulted in returning Israel to the... (READ MORE)
House Panel Subpoenas Rove Over Role in Justice Dept. Actions - The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former presidential adviser Karl Rove yesterday to testify about his alleged meddling in Justice Department operations, escalating a long fight over lawmakers' authority to question Bush administration aides. (READ MORE)
Burmese Aid Request Stirs Concerns - Burma's military junta is seeking up to $11.7 billion in reconstruction aid at a donor conference scheduled this weekend in Rangoon, the former Burmese capital, raising fears among human rights activists and Western governments that Tropical Cyclone Nargis could become a diplomatic and financial ... (READ MORE)
In Iraq, a Surge in U.S. Airstrikes - CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- From an Apache helicopter, Capt. Ben Katzenberger's battlefield resembles a vast mosaic of tiny brown boxes. "The city looks like a bucket of Legos dumped out on the ground," the 26-year-old pilot said. "It's brown Legos, no color. It's really dense and hard to pick things out because everything looks the same." (READ MORE)
Senate Passes $165 Billion Measure to Pay for Wars - The Senate yesterday approved $165 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan well into the next presidency, but in a break with President Bush and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, it also approved billions of dollars in domestic spending that includes a generous expansion of veterans' education benefits. (READ MORE)
Farm-Bill Veto Overridden Despite Glitch - With an overwhelming 82 to 13 vote, the Senate yesterday completed the override of President Bush's veto of a comprehensive farm bill, shrugging off Republican concerns about an embarrassing legislative glitch to make the $307 billion bill the law of the land. (READ MORE)
'5 years up' Costs FBI Top Managers - An order by FBI executives requiring senior supervisors to move to the bureau's Washington headquarters after five years in the field or step down has led to a critical shortage of qualified managers in key investigative posts, including those who supervise an FBI division that tracks down al Qaeda terrorists. (READ MORE)
McCain Restricts Access to Medical Records - As Americans kick off Memorial Day weekend, Sen. John McCain today will release 400 pages of his medical records to a handpicked group of reporters who can neither walk out with the documents nor photocopy them, illustrating the campaign's sensitivity about the 71-year-old candidate's age and health. (READ MORE)
Tribe Helps al-Maliki Win Control of South - Of all the tactical moves Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made in March to wrest control of southern Iraq from Shi'ite extremists, none was more important than his government's meetings with tribal sheiks. (READ MORE)
Marijuana Project Parties with Barr - The Libertarian National Convention kicked off yesterday with a tea-and-cookies reception hosted by the Marijuana Policy Project featuring none other than Bob Barr, the party's leading candidate for its presidential nomination. (READ MORE)
Quake Shakes Beijing's Grip on Media - Public demand for news after the earthquake in Sichuan has forced the Chinese government to relax its controls over the flow of information online and in traditional media — a concession that has weighed in its favor but which analysts say is unlikely to last. (READ MORE)
Oil and the Fed - So the Federal Reserve is signaling that its rate-cutting binge may finally be over, and we can be grateful for that small favor. The consequences of its easy-money bender will roll through the economy for years to come, however, so it's important to draw the right lessons. (READ MORE)
Them 2 – U.S. 1 - On the evidence of the past week, struggling U.S. allies can make progress in direct relationship to the distance they put between themselves and the State Department. Exhibit A is Lebanon's power-sharing deal with Hezbollah. Exhibit B is Israel's negotiations with Syria. And the final exhibit, the one at the furthest remove from State's tender mercies, is Iraq, where General David Petraeus just announced that the past week saw the lowest number of security incidents in more than four years. (READ MORE)
EBRD Forever? - At its annual meeting in Kiev this week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development -- founded in 1991 to assist the former Soviet bloc states -- confirmed that, among other things, it wants to explore projects in Turkey. (READ MORE)
Brussels vs. GdF - Cows don't come much more sacred than Gaz de France. But Brussels announced yesterday that it was investigating the world's third-largest utility for possible antitrust violations. Sacré moo! The European Commission is examining whether GdF restricted imports of natural gas to France. Among other actions, the company may have "deliberately" invested too little in import infrastructure so that it could control prices and keep competitors out. (READ MORE)
Being Ron Paul - The Libertarian Convention starts today in Denver, but the party's real inspiration this year will be there only in spirit. Ron Paul is still out campaigning in the Republican primaries, despite a nomination that has been secured by John McCain. According to campaign finance reports filed this week, the candidate had $4.7 million in the bank at the end of April. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Joseph R. Biden Jr.: Republicans and Our Enemies - On Wednesday, Joe Lieberman wrote on this page that the Democratic Party he and I grew up in has drifted far from the foreign policy espoused by Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy. In fact, it is the policies that President George W. Bush has pursued, and that John McCain would continue, that are divorced from that great tradition – and from the legacy of Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. (READ MORE)
Thomas Donnelly & Frederick W. Kagan: We Still Need a Larger Army - "That is the war we are in. That is the war we must win." Defense Secretary Robert Gates is a plainspoken man, as befits his Texas roots. His words, quoted above, were about the war in Iraq. But as a remarkable series of recent speeches indicates, he intends to do what he can during the final months of his tenure to reorient the American military for the tasks of the "Long War." This is long overdue. (READ MORE)
Fred Thompson: The Death of Conservatism Is Greatly Exaggerated - Recent congressional losses, President George W. Bush's unpopularity, and bleak generic ballot poll numbers have conservatives fearing the "liberalization" of America – a move toward secularization, the growth of government, stagnation, mediocrity and loss of freedom. Yet there is still a way to revive the conservative cause. Doing so will require avoiding the traps of pessimism or election-year quick fixes. Conservatives need to stand back for a moment and think about our philosophical first principles. (READ MORE)
David T. King: Oil Is Up Because the Dollar Is Down - Back in December 2002, one dollar equaled one euro. But that exchange rate didn't last. The dollar was on its way down, a trend that had started more than a year earlier, and has lasted, with occasional oscillations, to this day. On the day in 2002 that the value of a dollar was exactly the same as the value of a euro, the price of a barrel of oil was, therefore, the same in dollars and euros: about 25. Since that day, it's like the two currencies have traded on two different planets. (READ MORE)
Peggy Noonan: Sex and the Sissy - She was born in Russia, fled the pogroms with her family, was raised in Milwaukee, and worked the counter at her father's general store when she was 8. In early adulthood she made aliyah to Palestine, where she worked on a kibbutz, picking almonds and chasing chickens. She rose in politics, was the first woman in the first Israeli cabinet, soldiered on through war and rumors of war, became the first and so far only woman to be prime minister of Israel. And she knew what it is to be a woman in the world. (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: The Obama Learning Curve - Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden took to the airwaves this week to "help" the rookie Barack Obama out of a foreign-policy jam. Oh sure, admitted Mr. Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee had given the "wrong" answer when he said he'd meet unconditionally with leaders of rogue states. But on the upside, the guy "has learned a hell of a lot." Somewhere Mr. Obama was muttering an expletive. But give Mr. Biden marks for honesty. As Mr. Obama finishes a week of brutal questioning over his foreign-policy judgments, it's become clear he has learned a lot – and is learning still. (READ MORE)
A Newt One: Cultural Jihad: Condoleeza Rice Is Unworthy To Breath American Air - This takes the cake, folks. I haven't written on this because, knowing what I know, having been there and done that, the developments in Lebanon is tantamount to surrender and this pisses me off. I should also point out the obvious to the oblivious that the United States State Department runs the United States Government and all other political figures are mere cogs in the machinations of pure stupidity. I used to think well of Condi and have grown to think, "Oh well." Condi is now classified as a Clear and Present Danger and should be run out of town on a rail, complete with tar and feathers. That would include every Wimplomat now currently receiving tax dollars as payment to screw this nation and every ally we have. The State Department needs to be dismantled and all those that support the State Department need to be strung up. (READ MORE)
Blackfive: President Bush at Ft. Bragg - The President was at Fort Bragg today for All American Week and to present some medals to deserving paratroopers and their families. He presented two Distinguished Service Crosses, three Silver Stars to paratroopers, and two Silver Stars posthumously to family members. The President presented two DSCs today - one to Sergeant Corriveau: “Specialist Christopher Hamel Corriveau of Lewiston , Maine , for extraordinary heroism in action. Specialist Christopher H. Corriveau, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, on 26 August 2007, distinguished himself as part of a four-man sniper team in combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Specialist Corriveau’s exceptional courage and tactical prowess under intense enemy fire and close combat contributed to the defeat of a concerted enemy effort to overrun his sniper position.” (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: In the footsteps of John Kennedy - Those who have grown up believing that John Kennedy's finest moment was the Cuban Missile crisis will be disappointed to learn that he may have contributed to the face off: widely considered the moment the world came closest to Central Nuclear War, by telegraphing weakness by his eagerness to "talk" to his adversaries. A NYT op-ed co-authored by Nathan Thrall and James Wilkins recounts: “Kennedy’s one presidential meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier, suggests that there are legitimate reasons to fear negotiating with one’s adversaries. Although Kennedy was keenly aware of some of the risks of such meetings — his Harvard thesis was titled ‘Appeasement at Munich’ - he embarked on a summit meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961, a move that would be recorded as one of the more self-destructive American actions of the cold war, and one that contributed to the most dangerous crisis of the nuclear age.” (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Obam-huh? - CNN’s Campbell Brown: “Senator Obama can’t seem to get his story straight on whether or not he would meet with the president of Iran.” That would be a problem for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. When the straight-news guys start going, “Huh?” you have a problem. Just ask Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton about that whole driver’s licenses for illegal aliens thing in New York. I think she’s still searching for an answer. The campaign of Republican Sen. John McCain is chortling over the clip from the CNN Election Center show. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Zogby: Americans dissatisfied with war coverage - Poynter commissioned a poll by Zogby to determine how Americans view the coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the news isn’t good for the American media. While 75% of the public feels well-informed, only 18% of them feel the American media have done a good job in providing that information. What’s missing? All the news that doesn’t bleed: “A new study commissioned by The Poynter Institute to learn more about Americans’ views on Iraq war coverage reveals that of the 8,683 adults surveyed earlier this month, 75 percent feel well-informed. But the majority of readers, viewers and listeners say they are still far from satisfied with the coverage.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: It Isn’t The Ruthless Cyncism - It’s the utter gutlessness! Arianna Huffington makes a good point: “Stop Yelling at Hillary to Stand Down and Start Yelling at the Superdelegates to Stand Up!” Only one problem: “There are currently 212 uncommitted superdelegates (not counting Michigan and Florida). What are they waiting for? I understand there are still three more primaries to go. But there is nothing that is going to happen in Puerto Rico or South Dakota or Montana that is going to convince Hillary Clinton to leave the race. Her argument isn’t about pledged delegates, which is what is at stake in these remaining primaries.” OK, maybe a couple of problems. Expecting any kind of decisive, effective leadership out of Pelosi, Reid and Dean is a bit much... (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: (Video) Maxine Waters threatens to nationalize America’s oil industry - Befitting the catastrophic stupidity of this idea, she doesn’t even know what the proper term for it is. I’m sitting here telling myself that Shep and the Foxies must have taken this out of context somehow since it would seem rather newsworthy and yet there’s not a single article about it on the wires that I can find. Go figure. But here you go, one of the most alarming collectivist ad libs by a mainstream American politician since the last creepy thing Hillary said, whatever that may be. Viva Chavez! (READ MORE)
Dale Franks: That was then. This is now. - You gotta hand it to Hillary Clinton: She's got stones the size of Gibraltar. Obviously, she wants—needs—the florida and Michigan delegates to help out her delegate count. Speaking yesterday in Boca Raton, she compared the DNC rule forbidding the Florida's delegates from being seated at the Democratic Convention, to Slavery and the Civil Rights movement. “She said ‘there's a reason why so many have fought so hard and sacrificed so much. It's because they knew that to be a citizen of this country is to have the right and responsibility to help shape its future. Not just to have your voice heard but to have it count. People have fought hard because they knew their vote was at stake and so was their children's futures.’” Hmm. Well. That sounds pretty bad. Of course, it conveniently forgets that last fall, Ms. Clinton herself was strongly in favor of this horrific form of Jim Crow. (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Why I Will No Longer Support John McCain For President - I've never been a fan of John McCain. Not only is he not a conservative, he may have done more damage to the conservative movement than any other Republican over the last few years. Look back at the Gang-of-14, global warming, McCain-Feingold, coddling terrorists at Gitmo, illegal immigration -- on and on and on, and you'll remember John McCain working feverishly with liberals to defeat conservatives. For that reason, John McCain was not someone I backed for the Presidency. My order of preference for President was Duncan Hunter (whom I consulted for), Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and then, John McCain. That's why, right before his big win in Florida, I wrote an extra column for Townhall called A Conservative Nightmare: Republican Nominee, John McCain. (READ MORE)
Stop the ACLU: Has the GOP lost its mojo? - This is supposed to be liberalism’s year. We hear it from all sources on all points of the political spectrum. A miserable and disillusioned electorate, an energized base, an opposition both confused and demoralized - the 2008 election, we’re assured, is the left’s to lose…. This contention has become so widespread that it’s achieved the status of a received truth, with the danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there’s one problem with it: if the American left is in such great shape, why are all their programs collapsing? … Iraq has set the tone. The American left intended to ride the Iraq “disaster” to victory on all fronts, giving them a lock on political power unseen since the beginning of the Reagan era. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: The Best Government (Liberal) Money Can Buy - Back in 2006, at the same time the Democrats won both Houses in Congress, they also swept to power here in New Hampshire. Not only did they keep the governorship they had won two years prior, they also gained majorities in our House, Senate, and Executive Council. For the first time in a very, very long time (I don't recall precisely how long, but at least decades), the Democrats had control of New Hampshire and could push their agenda. So, what were the first notable things they did? Astonishingly enough, the two biggest ones were ones that didn't get a lot of airplay during their campaign: they immediately passed a civil unions bill and jacked up the state budget over 16% in a single year. (READ MORE)
Kim Priestap: Senate and House Judiciary Committees Drill Oil Execs - The price of oil sky rocketed today and hit another all time high of $135 a barrel. And what are our wise and fearless leaders doing to reverse this trend? For one, the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee bravely hauled the executives of America's oil companies in front of them to explain their record profits. As they did this, the leaders of the OPEC nations laughed their way to the bank because of the US government's utter stupidity. The Democrats and some Republicans have refused to allow us to drill for our own oil in our own country, whether in ANWR, off the gulf coast or anywhere else for that matter, forcing us to rely on oil from other nations. (READ MORE)
Soccerdad: Negotiating in the dark - When reading about the Israeli-Syrian negotiations it’s easy to dismiss them on account of Olmert’s legal trouble or because it isn’t even clear that Israel stands to gain anything from ceding the Golan to Syria. It’s also reasonably clear that Syria’s positions cannot be reconciled with Israel’s. Even the past has shown that every once in a while (even with Assad Sr.) news would leak out about a “Syrian track” and then fade to nothing. “Asad’s goal, then, is not peace but a peace process. He participates in negotiations without intending that they reach fruition. Engaging in apparently serious talks wins him improved relations with the West without having to open up his country. He can wink at us while maintaining his ties to Iran and hosting a wide range of terrorist groups. He offers the occasional flourish (such as his call last week to Mr. Clinton as the latter was eating lunch with Shimon Peres) but does not change the substance.” (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: Palestinian terror at the crossings - Once again, Palestinians are the cause of the crossings into Gaza closing. Once again, the UN is telling Israel that even though Palestinians are trying to kill soldiers and civilians via terror attacks from the crossings, Israel should not close them. Unbelievable. “A potentially disastrous terror attack at the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip was averted on Thursday when a Palestinian suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with four tons of explosives tried ramming his way into Israel, killing himself but causing no other casualties. The explosion created a huge ditch in the ground and caused serious damage to the surrounding buildings, forcing the IDF to shut down the crossing. As a result, 31 Palestinians who had permits to enter Israel for medical treatment had to return home.” So, let’s recap: Palestinians seeking medical treatment could not get it because of the terror attack. Power was cut because of the terror attack. And the crossing was closed because four tons of explosives damaged it heavily enough that it will take days to fix. And what does the UN representative have to say? (READ MORE)
This Ain't Hell: Biden ignores history - This morning’s Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal carries an answer from Joe Biden to Joe Lieberman’s opinion piece the other day entitled “Democrats and our Enemies“. Biden’s piece “Republicans and Our Enemies“. While Lieberman took a realistic look at actual events and the reaction of Democrats in the modern world, Biden’s “opinion” grasps at straws - to believe Joe Biden’s version, one would have to suspend rational thought... What Biden fails to discuss is the fact that the US is unable to pursue a rational foreign policy because the Democrats are conducting their own foreign policy independent of the Administration and independent of their constitutional authority. When three Congressmen stand on the roof of Saddam Hussein’s palace on the eve of his defeat and declare that Saddam Hussein is more trustworthy than our own government’s leaders, what message does that send? (READ MORE)
Rhymes with Right: Dem Congressman Admits -- We Lied To You! - In other word, there is a word for all those folks who voted for Democrats in 2006 -- SUCKERS! “Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) has been a fairly undistinguished member of the House of Representatives for nearly a quarter of a century. He is a career member of the Financial Services Committee who has made little or no name for himself since his first electoral victory, and has maintained incumbency through the funneling of pork back to his district. Even his Wikipedia entry says that Kanjorski ‘usually plays behind-the-scenes roles in the advocacy or defeat of legislation and steers appropriations money toward improving the infrastructure and economic needs of his district.’ Never one to stand out in a crowd outside of his own district if he could help it up until now, Rep. Kanjorski's public life may be about to change in a major way very, very quickly, and for a very big reason. You see, Paul Kanjorski has an honesty problem.” (READ MORE)
Chuck Z: We, the little people - An open message for all Americans to send to their respective party leadership, regardless of their political stance. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. We, the little people want you, our elected leadership to do just that, and only that. - form a more perfect union. - establish Justice. - insure domestic tranquility. - provide for the common defense. - promote the general welfare. - secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity - Those are the things that are charged in the preamble to the constitution, from which you derive your authority to legislate. (READ MORE)
The Discerning Texan: Post of the Day: Dems as One Trick Pony - I just read Don Surber's post (before I even saw it here), and it is sensational. He really nails Obama and the Dems on their every-four-year "Reporting for duty" hypocrisy. Reporting for duty to betray their country, maybe... And don't give me the crap about "new kind of politics", "hope" blah, blah, blah. Barack can claim it as often as he likes--but this isn't "new politics". It it Old School Democrat politics. Sleazy. Corrupt. Links to the Mob. Links to Marxist front groups. Overflowing with people who see all law as abstract for which they can apply their "mature" interpretation--no matter what the law actually says. Here is their mature interpretation of the US Constitution: "it means whatever we say it means, because we are the enlightened elite and you are little more than scum...". Whose campaigns are run by Unionists, Former Communist rabble-rousers. ACORN members committing voter fraud in the tens of thousadns. (READ MORE)
Adam Rawnsley: Why Pakistan is Qaeda's Best Base - On Capitol Hill, General David Petraeus testified yesterday that al-Qaeda is more likely to launch attacks against America from Pakistan’s tribal areas than from Iraq. Iraq is geographically closer to the United States and Europe, looms larger in al-Qaeda’s rhetoric and has already provided hundreds of foreign recruits with on-the-job training in state of the art urban terrorism. How so how could Pakistan be Osama's new launching pad? West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center may have already provided the answer. In a May 2007 report, “Al-Qaeda’s (mis)Adventures in the Horn of Africa,” CTC analysts looked into the terrorist group’s early experiences in East Africa and found that, somewhat counter to conventional wisdom, poorly governed regions of sovereign countries can be better terrorist safe havens than the usual suspects of failed states. (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico: Battling Over A GI Bill - Barack Obama and John McCain are taking shots at each other over McCain's opposition to an increase in GI Bill benefits, and Obama's lack of military service. The gist of the new GI Bill, as envisioned by James Webb (D-Va) is that instead of $1,100 a month for school, as the current Montgomery GI Bill pays, you'd get the average cost of tuition at a State University ($1,450/mo) plus a $1,000 living stipend to help with other expenses. Instead of the service member paying $1,200 at the beginning of their enlistment as an enrollment fee, that would go away, and those who've paid it would get a refund. Obama can't understand why McCain would be against such a bill, and McCain say's Obama's support without question shows his lack of understanding of the military. (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Like Clinton, Schumer Has a Math Problem - Congress has had the oil executives at the Capitol where they have been getting grilled because of the price of gasoline. The same politicians who have historically called for higher gasoline taxes to make the cost higher so we would drive less and save polar bears is beating up companies who make 8 to 10 cents on each gallon of gas. They do the work and state and federal government get more money out of the deal. Interestingly, Democrats who wanted more taxes on gas (thus raising the price) are now upset because constituents are raising hell. The members of Congress took their turns so let us see how it went. A Congresswoman from Florida (I didn’t catch her name) was asking really stupid questions and asking the executives to prove they have not been manipulating prices. Two things, how do you prove a negative and are they not innocent until proven guilty which leads me to the next point. (READ MORE)
Dore Gold: The Golan Heights and the Syrian-Israeli Negotiations - Despite advances in military technology, the Golan Heights remains a vital strategic asset for the defense of the State of Israel. True, this week Israel and Syria have re-opened their diplomatic dialogue after a hiatus of eight years. But negotiators will soon find that there are three clusters of issues that they will not resolve easily: delineation of an agreed boundary, security arrangements, and the Syrian-Iranian alliance. And to a large extent, these issues have become even more difficult since negotiations were held back in the 1990s. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, after years in which the Syrian armed forces positioned there pounded Israel's farms and towns below with artillery attacks. In the western Golan, there are a series of steep cliffs reaching a height of 500 meters that dominate the Sea of Galilee, which Syria exploited to attack Israel from 1949 to 1967. (READ MORE)
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