A recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Cease-fire calms Gaza (Wash Times) “A fragile Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire took effect yesterday, stoking faint hopes for a resumption of peace negotiations even though it was breached by five rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel.” (READ MORE)
Talks aim to counter Tehran (Wash Times) “A weeklong, high-stakes diplomatic offensive for control of the Middle East is gathering steam as the Bush administration rallies allies against Iran's growing influence in the region.” (READ MORE)
Writings reveal cautious Gates (Wash Times) “Defense Secretary-designate Robert M. Gates in the past decade opposed big changes at the CIA in the face of terror attacks and expressed doubt that Washington could assemble an alliance of nations against al Qaeda.” (READ MORE)
Iraqi Premier Blames Politicians for Violence (NY Times) “Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Sunday that Iraq’s politicians were largely responsible for the surge in violence that engulfed the country over the past week, a departure from his previous assertions blaming militants for inciting the mayhem.” (READ MORE)
50 Shots Fired, and the Experts Offer a Theory (NY Times) “Experts said ‘contagious shooting’ may have played a role in the police shooting of a bridegroom in Queens.” (READ MORE)
Olmert: Palestinians Stand at Crossroads (Wash Post) “Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered wide-ranging concessions if the Palestinians turn away from violence, saying Monday that they would be able to achieve an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through real peace talks with Israel.” (READ MORE)
News From the Front:
Britain may start pulling out of Iraq (Yahoo News) Britain said Monday it expects to withdraw thousands of its 7,000 military personnel from Iraq by the end of next year, while Poland and Italy announced the impending withdrawal of their remaining troops.” (READ MORE)
Iraqi clerics call for end to hostilities (LA Times) Shiite and Sunni clerics, among the last vestige of authority in a country rapidly losing faith in politicians, charged Saturday that Iraq's plight was the result of U.S. mistakes and pleaded with their faithful to stem the bloodshed that followed a devastating attack on a mainly Shiite Baghdad neighborhood.” (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Michael Barone writing at Townhall.com writes Where Do the Dems Go From Here? “What will the Democrats do with their majorities in Congress? The 2006 campaign was pretty much an idea-free zone and provides only a few clues.” (READ MORE)
Suzanne Fields writing at Townhall.com writes Keeping John Bolton “President Bush has resubmitted the nomination, but despite what everyone says is his good job, he's unlikely even to get an up-or-down vote in the new, kinder, gentler Democratic Senate.” (READ MORE)
Carol Platt Liebau writing at Townhall.com writes Kramer's Rant “Inevitably, along with the well-deserved condemnation of Richards? disgusting behavior came the predictable denunciations of American society as a hotbed of racism.” (READ MORE)
Jeff Emanuel writing at Townhall.com writes Iraq: An Open Letter to President Bush “Now that you have had nearly a month to recover from the midterm election, I would like to humbly suggest that you once again focus your attention on the situation in Iraq, and its resolution.” (READ MORE)
Star Parker writing at Townhall.com writes Richards Incident Says Something About Morality, Too “Let's take a closer look at so-called comedian Michael Richards' racist outburst that is capturing so much press and airtime.” (READ MORE)
Kobayashi Maru writes The Untied States of America “Given the extreme paucity of MSM coverage of the subject (just six articles, according to Google News), I suspect I am not the only one unaware until recently that newly elected Congressman Keith Ellison (D, MN) will likely take his oath of office not on the Bible but the Koran. ...My concern is this: How long can we continue to exist as a nation when the fundamental basis on which public officials agree to uphold the responsibilities of office is allowed to vary based on each person's point of view?” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit writes Video: Rangel says men join the army only if they can’t have ‘a decent career’ “Hence his support for the draft. If even our volunteers are there involuntarily, why shouldn’t everyone be?” (READ MORE)
Hugh Hewitt writes The Killer Myths of the Appeasement Media “It is useless to debate the left-wing bias in the MSM, which is like debating the temperature at any given place on any given day. Opinions may differ as to what it feels like, but there is a factual answer to the question of what the temp is. No matter what your opinions are about the MSM, the fact is that the Beltway-Manhattan MSM tilts way, way left. Newsbusters quotes Jim Pinkerton running through the basics for the folks who think it may be close to freezing when in fact it is 61 and cloudy.” (READ MORE)
Jay Tea writes The Voice of Rage “Now that the initial furor over Michael Richards' outburst has faded, I've had a bit of time to think about it a little -- and Mel Gibson's idiocy, and similar things. And I have a theory of my own that I'd like to toss out. Some people say that, especially in Gibson's case, "in vino veritas" -- that these outbursts reveal much about the inner workings of these two men's minds and show that they had such hateful thoughts and feelings within them, and the incidents merely brought them to the surface. I'm not sure.” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces writes Getting The News From The Enemy “Yesterday there were two incidents that I wrote about involving the use of enemy propagandists by our MSM. Now take a look at the latest “all hell is breaking loose” report on Iraq, from the AP of course:” (READ MORE)
William Teach writes Hillary 2008? Not. So. Fast. “Despite the Left leaning media proclaiming Hillary Clinton as the next President (I'm assuming they mean of the USA, not some socialist nation), if the Democratic ultra lefty base, especially the Nutroots folks, have their way, she will not even get the nomination. Why? They just do not care for her, and, make no bones about it:” (READ MORE)
American Soldier writes Rainy Days & Recruiters “I was driving to work last week and the clouds were brewing up something. I opened my window and took in a deep breath of the smell of rain. It really doesn’t smell any different no matter where you go. It has that unique scent to it. For me it brings back certain memories now. That will come later. I was coming up to an Army Recruiter office. So I pulled in the parking lot and sat there for a minute looking out my window at the clouds. I must have looked like an idiot but I really didn’t care. All that went through my mind was what to say. Why am I even there?” (READ MORE)
John Donovan *The Armorer* writes Jonathan Chait thinks the unthinkable... “From his LA Times piece (and you should read the whole thing, not just my selective quoting): ‘THE DEBATE about Iraq has moved past the question of whether it was a mistake (everybody knows it was) to the more depressing question of whether it is possible to avert total disaster. Every self-respecting foreign policy analyst has his own plan for Iraq. The trouble is that these tracts are inevitably unconvincing, except when they argue why all the other plans would fail. It's all terribly grim.’” (READ MORE)
Froggy writing at Blackfive writes Who exactly is lacking a connection to our armed forces? “Rep. Charles Rangel is no doubt sincere when he says that, ‘No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.’ But he could not be more wrong. His impetus for proposing the draft he says is to shift the burden of defending America from the poor, minority community who are economically pressed into service to the rich, white community which has been shirking its duty and using the black man as cannon fodder to line whitey’s pockets.” (READ MORE)
Captain Ed writes Guess Who Financed The Insurgencies? “The New York Times reports on the financial underpinnings of the insurgencies in Iraq, showing that they have developed well-oiled mechanisms for generating millions in funding for their operations. A significant portion of those funds come from their abduction industry, and the major donors to that program have been France and Italy:” (READ MORE)
Dan Riehl writes Why Moqtada al-Sadr Must Go “You'll recognize this below, but it's usually attributed to Iranian President Ahmed Ahmadinejad. I found it buried in a fact filled, ten page Newsweek profile, Sword of the Shia. Sadr himself was determined to lead a national movement—using a potent mixture of anti-occupation militancy and millennial preaching about the coming of the mysterious 12th imam, who Shiites believe will save mankind. ‘Moqtada is absolutely hooked on the concept of the reappearance of the Mahdi,’ says Amatzia Baram, the director of the Ezri Center at Haifa University.” (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express writes When Did Suicide By Self Immolation Become Courageous? “When you hear the words ‘heroic’ and ‘courageous sacrifice,’ what picture pops into your mind? My mental images include our soldiers fighting in the war on terror, police officers, firefighters and the like. The last thing I think of is a man dousing himself with gasoline and setting himself on fire as an act of protest against the war. But those are the words that the other members of the BDS crowd are using to describe Malachi Ritscher.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden writes Their Finest Hour “Five years ago, a Special Forces team with a small force of Afghan irregulars and F-18s stacked up overhead destroyed a column of up to 70 Taliban vehicles and 700 guerrillas bent on wreaking vengeance on Tarin Kot for kicking out its Taliban governor and inviting Capt. Jason Amerine, Hamid Karzai and their men into town. It was a close-run thing, as the outnumbered Americans had to convince their Afghan allies they had the power to take on that force and destroy it.” (READ MORE)
Red2Alpha writes Thanksgiving Day or: I don't need a miracle But I could use a push in the right direction “My Grandpa was an Army MP during the Korea War, at the same time my Uncle Walley served in the Navy, and my late Uncle Jonny, Grandma's brother, fought the Germans as an Infantrymen in WWII with General Patton's Army. The men would tell their stories and I would sit quitely nearby, soaking it all up, hoping someday that I would have my own war stories to share with them. That I could be part of the group, accepted as a man in their eyes. Now I have my war stories too. I am one of them.” (READ MORE)
Blonde Sagacity writes Novelist's Book Cancelled Because of Muslim Antagonist “Australlian author John Dale, winner of the "Ned Kelly Crime Writing Award for best first novel", found out that his publisher dumped his latest novel (commissioned by Scholastic Australia) because book stores and librarians have said they won't stock the book... Why you ask...? Is he a member of NAMBLA detailing his exploits? No, they'll stock that. A drug addict and criminal imparting his personal tale? No, they'll stock that too. The "villain" of his latest thriller is a Muslim terrorist. Full stop.” (READ MORE)
Bosun writing at Stop the ACLU writes Suspect Terror Tied Suspect Flees US for Somolia “According the Seattle Post Intelligencer, a Seattle area Rainier Beach man, who federal agents allege made his barber shop a kind of “anti-American training ground for Muslims” where children were taught “how to shoot and fight the Americans”, fled the United States for Somalia.” (READ MORE)
Wretchard of The Belmont Club writes To be scorned and shunned “Michael Totten trembles as the New York Times threatens to unload its ultimate weapon. Trembles in laughter, most probably. The NYT warned Syria that it would pay a price for its aggression. And what a price. ‘Damascus must also be told that it will pay a high price — in scorn, isolation and sanctions — if it is found to have ordered Mr. Gemayel’s death, or the deaths or maiming of a half-dozen other anti-Syrian politicians and journalists. Hezbollah must be told that it will be shunned if it tries to grab power through further violence or intimidation.’” (READ MORE)
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