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)
Yeah I know...soon. I promise.
On the Web:
Daniel Henninger: Is Sour News Good News for the Dems? - It is written everywhere that the public is in a sour mood. Further, that a sour nation is swell news for the election chances of Barack Obama and the Democrats. Hard to disagree. Gas and food prices are high, the president's approval is impossibly low, housing is a national nightmare and consumer confidence is at levels not seen since 1967. With Hillary defeated, Republicans are too despondent to vote. Worse, many of their own representatives, forced to choose between killing earmarks or blowing up their control of Congress, chose spending money over holding power – the definition of a loser. This column is not about to argue that the sour-mood hypothesis is wrong and that John McCain and the GOP will shock the world. This glum summer, the conventional wisdom is looking good. (READ MORE)
Karl Rove: It's All About Obama - Many candidates have measured the Oval Office drapes prematurely. But Barack Obama is the first to redesign the presidential seal before the election. His seal featured an eagle emblazoned with his logo, and included a Latin version of his campaign slogan. This was an attempt by Sen. Obama to make himself appear more presidential. But most people saw in the seal something else – chutzpah – and he's stopped using it. Such arrogance – even self-centeredness – have featured often in the Obama campaign. Consider his treatment of Jeremiah Wright. After Rev. Wright repeated his anti-American slurs at the National Press Club, Mr. Obama said their relationship was forever changed – but not because of what he'd said about America. Instead, Mr. Obama complained, "I don't think he showed much concern for me." Translation: Rev. Wright is an impediment to my ambitions. So, as it turns out, are some of Mr. Obama's previous pledges. (READ MORE)
Olivier Sarkozy & Randal Quarles: Private Equity Can Save the Banks - In recent months a major U.S. investment bank has failed and the global financial-services industry has announced over $350 billion in losses. In response, banks and other financial-services firms have had to raise close to $330 billion in new capital. It may be tempting to think the worst is over, but this is only the beginning. The International Monetary Fund recently estimated that the global financial sector can expect to realize nearly another $600 billion in losses, while some economists have projected the figure will be closer to $1 trillion. In any case, it is clear that the financial-services industry will continue to need unprecedented amounts of new capital over the rest of this year. Over the past 20 years, private equity firms have demonstrated the ability to shoulder risk and to improve the efficiency and profitability of the companies they invest in. (READ MORE)
Amir Taheri: Iran's Troubling Opposition - On Monday the British parliament removed the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) from the U.K.'s list of banned terrorist organizations. The decision upholds a Court of Appeals' ruling in May that there is no evidence linking the Iranian opposition group to terrorism, and that it should be free to recruit, organize and raise money in Britain. Western and Arab intelligence services have long appreciated the MEK for its sources deep inside Iran. The group was the first to provide evidence of Tehran's secret nuclear project. But the U.S. and Continental Europe shouldn't rush to follow London's move. Although the People's Mujahedeen has won the support of many Western politicians, it is not the force for democratic change it claims to be. The MEK was founded in 1965 after a split in a Marxist-Leninist movement that had waged a guerrilla war in northern Iran. (READ MORE)
Condolezza Rice: Diplomacy Is Working on North Korea - North Korea will soon make a declaration of its nuclear programs, facilities and materials. This is an important, if initial, step and we will demand that it be verifiable as complete and accurate. Amidst all the focus on our diplomatic tactics, it is important to keep two broader points in mind. One, we are learning more about Pyongyang's nuclear efforts through the six-party framework than we otherwise would be. And two, this policy is our best option to achieve the strategic goal of verifiably eliminating North Korea's nuclear weapons and programs. North Korea now faces a clear choice about its future. If it chooses confrontation – violating international law, pursuing nuclear weapons, and threatening the region – it will face serious consequences not only from the United States, but also from Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, as it did in 2006 after testing a nuclear device. (READ MORE)
Robert A. Nintz: Business Failures Are Not a Crime - Anyone surprised by last week's arrest of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers must have slept through the Enron era. If Enron, WorldCom, Tyco – and the list goes on – taught us anything, it is that whenever the investing public suffers staggering losses on Wall Street, we can expect to see someone hauled off in handcuffs. The real question is not why it happened, but where it will end. Despite the complex nature of the subprime meltdown, the government has presented an indictment that reads very much like a garden-variety fraud. In essence, the case turns on the simple proposition that Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin lied to their investors about their funds' true status and prospects. That is, the government has alleged that they were telling the outside investing public one thing, while secretly harboring a far gloomier scenario. There is no question that at some point permissible spin crosses the line and becomes willful misrepresentation. (READ MORE)
David Pryce-Jones: Malevolence and the Mufti - Time and again the Arab world throws up absolute rulers who do nothing but harm, working their way into power by exploiting and imprisoning and killing as they see fit. There seems no way to stop these ruthless careerists except by deploying superior violence against them. A perfect example of the type is Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem between the world wars. Haj Amin, the subject of David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann's "Icon of Evil," was born in about 1895 into the most prominent family of Ottoman Palestine. Authoritarian by nature, he possessed the skills necessary for operating in the culture of absolutism in which he had grown up. When he was still in his early 20s, the British acquired their Mandate in Palestine as a result of World War I and in 1921 made the crucial mistake of contriving Haj Amin's election to be Mufti. (READ MORE)
George Will: Educated Policy in a Globalized World - PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Fifty years ago, Jack Kilby, who grew up in Great Bend, Kan., took the electrical engineering knowledge he acquired as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois and a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin to Dallas, to Texas Instruments, where he helped invent the modern world as we routinely experience and manipulate it. Working with improvised equipment, he created the first electronic circuit in which all the components fit on a single piece of semiconductor material half the size of a paper clip. On Sept. 12, 1958, he demonstrated this microchip, which was enormous, not micro, by today's standards. Whereas one transistor was put in a silicon chip 50 years ago, today a billion transistors can occupy the same "silicon real estate." In 1982, Kilby was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, where he is properly honored with the likes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. (READ MORE)
Larry Elder: How Can a "Fellow Black Republican" Oppose Obama? - Mr. Elder, I am shocked that you oppose Barack Obama and belong to the Republican Party. We must get over ourselves and realize there is room at the top for everyone and we must get there by helping each other -- instead of agreeing with policies and old politics that are proven not to work. To endorse John McCain, a person who will not make it easier for the underprivileged, is just too much. How can a fellow black American feel this way? Your Former Supporter Dear Former Supporter, Do you have any Republican friends, let alone black ones? If so, how many of them want to make it harder "for the underprivileged"? You also might want to familiarize yourself with the history of the Democratic and Republican parties, and see which party has stood up longer for the rights of people of color. Do you know that Democrats opposed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution... (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: The Imitators: Part III - Some of the people who are most adamant against outsourcing economic activity from the United States to other countries often seem to think we should outsource our foreign policy to "world opinion" or act only in conjunction "with our NATO allies." Like so many things that are said when it comes to public policy, there is very little attention paid to the actual track record of "world opinion" or of "our NATO allies." Often there is a blanket assumption that European countries are just so much more sophisticated than American "cowboys." But there is incredibly little interest in the track record of those European sophisticates whom we are supposed to consult about our own national interests-- including, in an age when terrorists may acquire nuclear weapons, our national survival. In the course of the twentieth century, supposedly sophisticated Europeans managed to create some of the most monstrous forms of government on earth... (READ MORE)
Mary Katharine Ham: The Revival of Good Ol' American Competition - When the champions of the comeback season of “American Gladiators” won their titles, there were no touchdown dances, trash talkers, or T.O. temper tantrums in the Gladiator Arena—the strobe-lit home of the muscled, tanned forbears of today’s reality TV. Instead, 32-year-old Monica Carlson hugged her twin daughters while her husband beamed, “I couldn’t be more proud,” said Chad. “It’s a great, special moment for her and for our family.” Evan Dollard, the 25-year-old male champion, dedicated the win to his mom. “I wanted this to be a special moment for my family, my friends, everybody watching at home—Especially for my mom,” who died of cancer before he started the competition. “I love her. I was doing that for her,” he said. The runners-up—one a teacher and coach, the other a fitness trainer, both of whom work with teenagers—congratulated the winners and thanked their families for support. (READ MORE)
Andrew Buttaro: Ignorance is a Tough Sell: Review of Willful Blindness - Just over a week ago, the Supreme Court struck down a bipartisan agreement governing the treatment of terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay. Defying the will of the executive branch and Congress, the court ruled that those detained in custody can challenge their status in American courts. Writing for the 5 to 4 majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy opined, “the laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.” Justice Antonin Scalia fiercely dissented, arguing that the United States was “at war with radical Islamists,” and that the ruling “will almost certainly cause more Americans to get killed.” “The nation will live to regret what the court has done today,” he warned. So Andrew McCarthy is nothing if not timely with the publication of his new book, Willful Blindness: A Memoir of a Jihad. Within its pages he wrestles with the legal issues surrounding the war on terror. (READ MORE)
Ken Blackwell: The Energy Quagmire - America is in a worsening energy crisis, and the increasing consumer costs associated with it are wreaking economic havoc on American families. Tackling this crisis has fallen prey to presidential politics and looms large as a top-shelf issue in this fall's election. Gas prices have topped $4 a gallon, and prices are soaring across all sectors of the economy because of the impact of fuel prices on businesses. Families are hurting. It's worse than just having to cut back on family vacations and travel, or not being able to visit each other. It's sapping money out of the paychecks of families, money that would otherwise go to funding non-public schools, college, retirement, buying or paying off a home loan, or getting out of credit card debt. Energy prices are undermining family independence. Voters are demanding action and the presidential candidates are scurrying around in response. (READ MORE)
Dick Morris & Eileen McGann: Obama's New Strategy - Have you noticed a change in Barack Obama’s campaign? Instead of avoiding controversies over values, religion and race, he seems to welcome them and wade into the debates with an increasing enthusiasm. Characterizing how the Republicans will attack him, he predicted that they would criticize his “funny name” and add “and by the way, did you notice that he’s black?” Obama used to go out of his way to avoid this kind of reference, but now he brings it on. Deliberately. Why? Obama and the conservative right are mutually trying to keep the debate about his candidacy on the existential level — is he the hope for America’s future or a Manchurian Candidate, a kind of sleeper agent sent to destroy our democracy? That debate, which pits Obama’s rhetoric against the Rev. Wright’s rantings, is a contest that could go on all day, and Obama would win it. It is simply a bridge too far to believe that Obama is that evil and that invidious. (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders: The GOP Made Obama Do It - It was no surprise when Barack Obama flipped on public financing last week. When it suited his goals last year, he pledged, "If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election." When it didn't suit his goals, he ditched the pledge. And get this: Apparently he did it because the Republicans made him do it. Obama has raised an impressive $296 million to date -- dwarfing John McCain's $122 million. He stands to raise a lot of money -- certainly more than the $84 million he would have received from the federal presidential public financing system -- for the nine weeks following the Democratic convention. So forget "change we can believe in." I cannot get as indignant as some critics seem to be. After all, public financing never was about reforming politics. It always was about helping Democrats get into the White House... (READ MORE)
Donald Lambro: Offshore Drilling a Potent Issue for McCain - WASHINGTON -- America's paralysis over the oil crisis is a textbook example of the ideological divide that has polarized our politics and hurt our economy in the process. Reducing the price of $135-a-barrel oil and $4-a-gallon gasoline is not that hard to do. This is not brain surgery or nuclear physics. We have it within our power to bring down the price of both by tapping into our vast resources and technology -- now. That's what Sen. John McCain is proposing to do. Last week, he called for ending the ban against drilling on the outer continental shelf to extract the billions of barrels of oil that lie beneath the ocean and licensing new refineries to turn it into gasoline. Both would not only boost U.S. oil and gas supplies, they would bring down the price of both -- and faster than his critics say. (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas: If You Build It, They Won't Come - On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to take up the appeal lodged by environmental groups that focused on a two-mile stretch of border fence in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Naco, Ariz. The fence, which has been built since the petition was filed, is a vital part of the Bush administration's drive to secure the border between the United States and Mexico. The Supreme Court's decision is a welcome and needed victory in the war against illegal immigration and efforts to preserve the unique character that is America. The environmentalists based part of their challenge on claims the fence would harm the mating habits of two types of wildcats. To them, it is more important to allow wildcats to procreate than to control our borders and demand that everyone who comes here obey our laws. We must obey their laws. Google "Driving in Mexico" and see all of the paperwork that is required to enter that country. (READ MORE)
Amanda Carpenter: SCOTUS: No Execution for Child Rape - The U.S. Supreme Court made it illegal to execute persons convicted of child-rape in a 5-4 decision Wednesday. "The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, who authored the majority opinion. The ruling broke on party lines, the liberal Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer siding with Kenney. In their decision, the liberal justices ruled that a Louisiana law that sent 43 year-old man named Patrick Kennedy to death row in 2003 for raping his 8-year old stepdaughter was “cruel and unusual punishment.” “It is the judgment of the Louisiana lawmakers and those in an increasing number of other states that these harms justify the death penalty,'' conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his dissent. “The court provides no cogent explanation why this legislative judgment should be overridden.'' (READ MORE)
Richard Fernandez: The death of penalties - The Scotus Blog covers the Supreme Court’s decision that it is unconstitutional to impose the death penalty for the crime of raping a child. “The broad declaration that death sentences should be reserved “for crimes that take the life of the victim” will apply, the Court said, to crimes against individuals — thus leaving intact, for example, a possible death sentence for treason.” Justice Kennedy argued that one reason “for nullifying a death sentence for raping a child was that the child victim gets enlisted, perhaps repeatedly, to recount the crime, forcing on the child ‘a moral choice’ that the youngster is not mature enough to make.” (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Support Of Amnesty Costs Chris Cannon His Job - Congressman Chris Cannon is extremely conservative, was mentioned in some corners as a potential veep choice for John McCain, and he has even made an effort to reach out to bloggers -- which is something 95% of his fellow Republicans in DC don't bother to do. Still, I'm absolutely thrilled that he lost a primary election yesterday to Jason Chaffetz for a simple reason; Cannon is pro-amnesty and in my book, there is no such thing as a good Republican legislator who's pro-amnesty. Put another way, if Ronald Reagan rose from the grave and ran for Congress, I would back his primary opponent if Zombie Reagan were pro-amnesty. Obviously, as you'll see from reading this excerpt from the Washington Times, a lot of other conservatives feel the same way: (READ MORE)
The Tygrrrr Express: Why Senator Reid is Wrong - I had the pleasure recently of interviewing Nevada Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid. I use the word pleasure because his staff was very easy to work with, and the Senator himself was nice to me when I met him. While I have said more than once that I would break bread with him, that does not change the fact that on the fundamental issue of the day, Senator Reid is wrong. He does represent the democratic party very well. He is an effective Majority Leader. However, his entire party is defective, and he himself is running the risk of being on the wrong side of history. When I asked Senator Reid about Senator John McCain, I received the following response. “I respect his service to our country. However, he is just wrong on the war and wrong on the economy.” Harry Reid will go down in history as being fundamentally wrong on one of the major historical world events. (READ MORE)
Information Dissemination: The Long View Towards the North Pole - Not everyone looking at the energy situation in the world is sitting on their hands waiting for the world to change. The Northern hemisphere needs to sit up and pay attention, because things like this don't get as much analysis as they should in the dynamic political discussions that look to the future. “Russia must be ready to fight for its national interests in the Arctic region, home to vast untouched natural resources, a military official said Tuesday. ‘After several countries contested Russia's rights for the resource-rich continental shelf in the Arctic, we have immediately started the revision of our combat training programs for military units that may be deployed in the Arctic in case of a potential conflict,’ Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, head the Defense Ministry's combat training board, told the Krasnaya Zvezda, or Red Star, newspaper.” The most common argument is also the most ridiculous one: that the legal frameworks in the UN will protect interests. The UN has dozens of legal frameworks set up to protect African's from warlords, and yet at the end of the day, the guy with the gun has the final say. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: What ceasefire? - Rockets hit Israel again today. And from the PA’s very own Fatah terrorists. “A Qassam rocket was fired Thursday afternoon from the Gaza Strip into Israel, exploding in an open area in Sderot’s industrial zone. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, took responsibility for firing the rocket. Sources in the Gaza Strip believe that the firing was meant to embarrass Hamas and to harm the ceasefire efforts.” Meantime, the PA’s own prime minister tells Israel to pay no attention to the rockets raining down on southern Israel, just open the crossings anyway. (What, you expected him to tell terrorists to stop firing the rockets? Please. You must be new here.) (READ MORE)
Soccerdad: Once more unto the breach - The NYT and Washington Post both reported on the recent breach of the ceasefire by Hamas. Though both papers included the reporting in articles about PM Olmert’s political maneuverings the Times did a superior job. The Washington Post left out a significant detail in its reporter’s attempt to draw and equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians. In an article focused on Ehud Olmert’s last minute political save the NYT reports on the recent attacks on southern Israel by Gaza based terrorists. “Also on Wednesday, Israel closed the Gaza border crossings for supplies in response to Palestinian rocket fire on Tuesday that was the first serious breach of a nearly week-old truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza. Islamic Jihad, a small extremist group, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets, describing the move as retaliation for an Israeli raid that killed one of its senior commanders in the West Bank, which is not covered by the cease-fire accord. But the closing was expected to be brief.” Maybe the rockets were the first “serious” breach of the ceasefire, but earlier there had been a mortar fired into Israel. (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: Are Congressional and Media Negativity Fueling PTSD 'Epidemic'? - From the dawn of humanity men have fought other men, either to protect themselves, their families and their homes, or on the other side because they were trying to take someone else's lands and homes. Some fighters have gloried in war's unrestrained excesses while others are overwhelmed. In the latter group there are subsets: people who temporarily are disabled by the sights, sounds, smells and mind-numbing violence; and those whose mental processes are permanently impaired. For those who overcome the impact of the fighting, their lives initially may be dominated by their battle experiences, but ultimately they regain control and are able to function in society with little to mark them as war veterans. For the more seriously affected, the impact of battle may never depart. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Sacre bleu! - Whilst idly munching the remains of a leftover croissant this morning, the Editorial Staff happened to glance into the bottom of our nearly empty coffee cup. Much to our surprise, there amongst the French pressed grounds swirling snarkily back up at us, we espied a new penumbral right! But is this not the wonderful thing about a Living, Breathing Constitution? Contrary to the staid, stale prescriptions of heartless conservatives, a Living Text is free to change; free to respond to the real, human beings it is meant to serve. It protects the powerless, breathes life and compassion into the law: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges." It protects the downtrodden. This may be the defining difference between liberal and conservative views of law. A just process is not so important as ensuring equality of outcome. And of course, law should protect those who have no voice. Above all, the law must have empathy. Let's not forget that. Except when it doesn't seem to achieve any of these ends: (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Americanism: Part II - Yesterday I discussed A. B. Yehoshua's thesis, set out in An Attempt to Identify the Root Cause of Antisemitism, delineating the psychological underpinnings of anti-Semitism as related to Jewish identity emerging from a "common mental construction." Certain implications flow from such an understanding, including the fact that being Jewish, for many Jews, is a choice. As such, intermarriage rates approaching 50% are understandable, considering the difficulties historical and present, that are exacted on the Jew. A second implication is that along with all the other, well know reasons for anti-Semitism, especially the Jews ideal position as universal scapegoat, the fluidity of Jewish identity threatens those with poorly defined identities (or defects in their "ego boundaries") and feeds into pre-exiting paranoid and quasi-paranoid mental states and structures. A major potential flaw in Yehoshua's thesis relates to the state of Israel. (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House: FISA CLOTURE PASSES: WORLD ENDING, SAY NETROOTS - The hysterically exaggerated, intellectually dishonest portrayal of the workings of the NSA surveillance program by many on the left is something I have catalogued on this site since its existence was revealed by the New York Times way back in December of 2005. To be honest, the netroots have made themselves ridiculously easy targets for ridicule. My own reservations about the program remain. Reasonable, honest people can debate how this program skirts the law and may – depending exactly how it works which is something that to this day remains hidden – cross the line of legality. The fact that debate raged in the Justice Department over the legality of the program with many career prosecutors opposed while others supported it should demonstrate to any reasonable person that at worst, the Terrorist Surveillance Program was an extremely close call. (READ MORE)
Rhymes with Right: Impeach Anthony Kennedy - For the second time this month, US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has written an opinion which says it doesn't matter what the political branches of government or the US Constitution have to day on a matter -- the Supreme Court knows better and will impose its will on the people of the United States. The first time was in granting habeas corpus rights to terrorist detainees, despite Congress having acted under its authority in Article III of the Constitution to strip the Supreme Court of any jurisdiction is such cases. This time it is in a decision that decrees that the sense of the Supreme Court will be the basis for determining when the death penalty may be imposed, not the laws of the states or the US Constitution -- and that the "evolving standard" on the death penalty can only move towards greater restrictions on capital punishment, not the other direction -- and that the rape of an eight-year old is not a sufficiently serious crime to merit the ultimate sanction. (READ MORE)
Scott Johnson: Our robed masters strike again - The Supreme Court's death penalty decision yesterday constitutes a raw usurpation of authority from the people of Louisiana specifically and Americans generally. The Court's outrageous decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana continues a tradition that goes back to the watershed case of Furman v. Georgia in 1972. The Kennedy case involves the extraordinarily cruel rape of an eight-year-old girl perpetrated by her stepfather. ‘‘In most cases justice is not better served by terminating the life of the perpetrator rather than confining him and preserving the possibility that he and the system will find ways to allow him to understand the enormity of his offense,’’ Justice Kennedy wrote for the five-member majority. What punishment is, to use the Court's test, "proportionate" to the offense. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Next in Bus & Driver: Obama’s position on guns - Barack Obama has been spinning like a top, and watching his positions on, well, just about everything is like watching table-tennis matches on TiVo triple fast forward. FISA, public financing, and NAFTA have all been reversed in the last couple of weeks, and Obama’s not through yet. With the Heller decision on deck at the Supreme Court, his earlier comments on gun control have gone under the bus, too: “With the Supreme Court poised to rule on Washington, D.C.’s, gun ban, the Obama campaign is disavowing what it calls an ‘inartful’ statement to the Chicago Tribune last year in which an unnamed aide characterized Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as believing that the DC ban was constitutional. ‘That statement was obviously an inartful attempt to explain the Senator’s consistent position,’ Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells ABC News.” (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Cease. Fire! - Despite the ongoing assault of rockets on Israel, the Israelis are continuing to live with the fiction that a ceasefire is in place. Misguided faith in a piece of paper doesn't simply describe it. A lack of imagination does. The Israelis appear to have run out of options for leadership, and those that remain do not present any alternatives to the ongoing Palestinian rocket war. They refuse to deal with the terrorists as anything other than a group that must be eliminated. They think that they can be bargained with and negotiate a deal that gives Israel peace. Israel may see peace for a bit, but it only means that the next round of fighting will be much worse. How many rockets have to slam into Israeli towns and cities before one realizes that the ceasefire is over? How many Israelis have to die before Israel's leaders take military action against Gaza and the terrorists there and in the West Bank who are busy plotting the next round of attacks? (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Make Heller the litmus test - Specifically, demand that Democratic Sen. Barack Obama pledge not to appoint a justice who will turn the clock back 32 years on the right to protect yourself with a handgun. Oh wait. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Public financing. NAFTA. FISA. Tony Rezko. His grandmother. His church of 20 years. Obama has so many things thrown under his bus that he can barely drive. Obama’s word is as worthless as Confederate money. Still, with the Supreme Court upholding the 2nd Amendment by 1 vote, now is not the time to trust a Democratic president to appoint a judge who upholds the Constitution as it is written. And having a Republican Senate avoids appointments such as David Souter. (READ MORE)
Dafydd: An Immodest Proposition, or the Last Prejudice - Today, Spain's parliament took a historic first step in righting a wrong that has persisted for decades. Nay, centuries. Nay, millennia. Nay, decamillennia. Nay, ever since the ancestors of homo sapiens (sapiens) first branched away from our hairy brothers and sisters, cruelly pushing them back into the primordial soup with all the generosity and altruism of Bill Clinton rifling the tin cup of a blind beggar. But yesterday, at long last, the Socialist government of Spain broke the fur ceiling, granting full legal rights of life and liberty to apes: “Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans. Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.” Presumably, this would include habeas corpus. (READ MORE)
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