March 10, 2007

Web Reconnaissance for 03/10/2007

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.


In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Report Details FBI Data-Collection Errors “Over a three-year period ending in 2005, the FBI collected intimate information about the lives of a population roughly the size of Bethesda's -- 52,000 -- and stored it in an intelligence database accessible to about 12,000 federal, state and local law enforcement authorities and to certain foreign governments....” (READ MORE)

Gonzales Tries to Mollify GOP Critics on Firings, FBI Missteps “Under fire from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales scrambled to shore up support late this week, reassuring key Senate Republicans that he would address concerns about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys and the FBI's admission that it violated procedures in the use of its anti-terrorism authority....” (READ MORE)

Bush Names 7 More to Troop-Care Panel “President Bush yesterday named seven more members to the commission reviewing the treatment of wounded veterans and the conditions at U.S. military and veterans hospitals:” (READ MORE)

Under Pressure, Palestinian Territories Pull Apart “GAZA CITY -- Ali Hussein is making money, quite a bit of it, which places the low-key sales manager in a small minority in this economically depleted city.” (READ MORE)

Clinton to Back Iraq Deadline “In Shift, Senator Supports Measure Setting Withdrawal Date.” (READ MORE)

Leader of group tied to al Qaeda reported caught “The shadowy leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaeda-inspired group that challenged the authority of Iraq's government, was captured yesterday in a raid on the western outskirts of Baghdad, an Iraqi military spokesman said.” (READ MORE)

Court strikes down D.C. ban on guns “A federal appeals court yesterday struck down Washington D.C.'s 30-year-old gun ban, ruling that the right to bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment applies to individuals and not only to militias.” (READ MORE)

Congressman's video blunder shows Democrats split on war “A video of Rep. David R. Obey criticizing anti-war Democrats as "idiot liberals" circulated on Capitol Hill yesterday, with Republicans using it as an example of Democrats' split over the Iraq war.” (READ MORE)

Marshals book trans-Atlantic flights “Homeland Security Department officials are beefing up protection of specific overseas flights after the arrest of a London man linked to last year's terrorist plot to blow up planes over the U.S. and the discovery of 31 liquid bombs...” (READ MORE)


From the Front:
Mohammed: The Baghdad Conference. “Will tomorrow's conference be a positive contribution to stability in Iraq and to building better relationships with the neighbors and the international community? Of course that's what we wish to see but it's more about the intentions of the participants than our wishes.” (READ MORE)

Broken Masterpieces: Duke in Iraq - 3/8/07 - TFTC Mar 8 “I was reading the Stars and Stripes the other day and saw an article that said a recent poll showed that only 28% of American’s thought we would win the war in Iraq. I found this very interesting considering I had watched ‘The Green Berets’ the other day and was amazed by some of the similarities of the issues facing the Green Berets and what we are facing today during the global war on terror (GWOT). It was also interesting to think of what movies Hollywood was producing during the Viet Nam war compared to now.” (READ MORE)

The Marching Camp: Stuff and Things “I'd like to open with a video I found on Mudville Gazette (link to the right) of the Glorious Martyrs who Die for Allah. Praise Allah! We'll follow it with some guys from 1st Brigade, 3rd ID being, well, Joes. They got an excuse to shoot the Mk-19, so they not only did so, but filmed it and stuck it up on the internet.” (READ MORE)


On the Web:
Diana West: Burnt offerings on the altar of multiculturalism “Only one faith on Earth may be more messianic than Islam: multiculturalism. Without it -- without its fanatics who believe all civilizations are the same -- the engine that projects Islam into the unprotected heart of Western civilization would stall and fail. It's as simple as that.” (READ MORE)

Janice Shaw Crouse: Three Predictable Problems at the Commission on the Status of Women “The United Nations (U.N.) continues to be predictable and manipulative, as revealed in the first draft of the ‘agreed conclusions’ released this week at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).” (READ MORE)

Mike Gallagher: Double standards on speech “Joy Behar, one of the hosts of ABC-TV’s ‘The View’, announces that she’s delighted that Vice-President Cheney is ‘in trouble’ and that his recent health scare, a potentially life-threatening blood clot in his leg, is due to his ‘lying.’” (READ MORE)

Kobayashi Maru: Population, Growth and the Myth of the Importance of Now “Speaking of total fertility rate, some fascinating numbers can be found in this piece, even though it soft-pedals the pan-European population implosion so carefully documented by Mark Steyn. ‘The human population has swelled so much that people alive today outnumber all those who have ever lived, says a factoid [i.e., myth] whose roots stretch back to the 1970s.’” (READ MORE)

Little Green Footballs: Rape Sheikh Told to Stifle “Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali, the Australian Islamic cleric who said ‘women are Satan’s weapons’ and compared unveiled women to ‘uncovered meat’ (and therefore deserving of rape), has been told to keep it on the down low by the Lebanese Muslim Association: Sheik Hilali banned from talking to the media.” (READ MORE)

Allahpundit: Dead Marine’s parents remove his name from anti-war memorial “Not in their name. ‘More than 200 supporters of the Iraq war and the troops fighting it descended Thursday on the crosses in Lafayette — long a stronghold for local anti-war protesters.’” (READ MORE)

John Hawkins: The Netroots Big ‘Victory’ Over Fox. “After receiving heavy pressure from the netroots, the Nevada Democratic Party has cancelled a debate for the presidential contenders on Fox. After the Democrats caved under pressure, MoveOn declared victory -- which in all fairness, they should, because they won. Apparently, they really do own the Democratic party.” (READ MORE)

Kim Priestap: Democrat: Bring Guantanamo Detainees to the US “What a stunningly bad idea. James D. Moran (D-VA) wants to bring the worst, most dangerous terrorists this world has ever known, whose goals are to kill as many Americans as possible, to America. Some of these detainees are still in Gitmo because they are so dangerous that their own countries don't want them back. Yet, Moran thinks all the Gitmo detainees could be held in Quantaco:” (READ MORE)

Bear Creek Ledger: Illegal Aliens - just doin’ the job Americans won’t “In Madison, Tennessee police busted a Mexican brothel and suspect there are at least 10 more of them in the Nashville area. Supposedly the prostitutes were being held against their will and were in their 30’s but at that age it seems a bit of a stretch to call it human trafficking.” (READ MORE)

William Teach: Today’s Cut and Run News: Two Plans, Bafflement, and Kook Fringe “I reckon Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are learning that being the Majority leaders and satisfying the Kook Fringe base (which is really almost running the party) is not so easy.
Senate and House Democrats yesterday announced competing legislation that for the first time would set deadlines to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq — by fall 2008 — provoking a veto threat from the White House.” (READ MORE)

Quid Nimis: Cherchez La Femme “James Taranto hit the nail on the head. Why can't we have a woman running for president who is just the best person for the job, not because she really understands women's issues because she's a wife, a mother, a vessel? And what's John Edwards' excuse? Note to Kate Michelman*: when Schwarzenegger called Kedwards "Girlie Men," he was mocking them, not complimenting them.” (READ MORE)

Eugene Volokh: What Counts as an "Aside" These Days “Earlier today, I blogged about some problems with the New York Times' coverage of the D.C. Circuit's Second Amendment decision; the coverage at times said and at times strongly suggested that this was the first federal court of appeals decision that accepted the individual rights theory, but of course the Fifth Circuit's Emerson decision did the same several years ago.” (READ MORE)

The Belmont Club: This Is London “18 Doughty Street interviews Robin Aitken, author of Can We Trust the BBC?. Excerpt: ‘I mean in our office there’s a picture of Bush as Hitler. I don't know where they got it, but yes, Bush as Hitler. It’s quite a serious thing comparing Bush to Hitler! So did anyone in the newsroom in question object? No. Nobody did.’” (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: The Abu Omar al-Bagdadi Saga “The Leader of al-Qaeda's Islamic State in Iraq has not been captured. Again. - For the third time this week, Abu Omar al-Bagdadi, the leader of al-Qaeda's political front organization the Islamic State of Iraq, was reported captured by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. And for the third time this week, Baghdadi's capture turned out to be untrue.” (READ MORE)

Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.

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