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)
The Pentagon vs. Petraeus - Yesterday's resignation of Admiral William Fallon as Centcom Commander is being portrayed as a dispute over Iran. Our own sense is that the admiral has made more than enough dissenting statements about Iraq, Iran and other things to warrant his dismissal as much as early retirement. But his departure will be especially good news if it means that President Bush is beginning to pay attention to the internal Pentagon dispute over Iraq. (READ MORE)
The Fed Rally - Forget Eliot Spitzer. The big news on Wall Street yesterday was investor elation in the wake of the Federal Reserve's creative decision to add more targeted liquidity to financial markets. A gang of five central banks made the announcement in the morning, and equities soared. (READ MORE)
Of Martin and Mann - When New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was implicated Monday as a customer of a multistate prostitution ring, journalists rushed to brush up their knowledge of a 1910 federal law known as the Mann Act. The law, once known as the "white slavery" law, forbids the transportation of women across state lines for "immoral purposes," including prostitution. (READ MORE)
China's War on Terror - In democratic states, officials fighting terrorism are held accountable by a watching public for the choices they make between national security and transparency. In China, however, where a terrorist plot against the Beijing Olympics and an attempted airplane bombing made international news this weekend, everything is more murky. (READ MORE)
Paris Book Burning - Then, in Paris, they came for the novelists. One by one, from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to Iran, Muslim governments have signed up for the boycott of the international book fair opening Friday in the French capital. The reason: It showcases Israeli literature this year -- which, by mere coincidence organizers say, happens to be the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. (READ MORE)
Obama easily wins Mississippi vote - Sen. Barack Obama scored another double-digit victory over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in a Southern state last night, winning Mississippi's primary as the candidates traded political shots and signaled that the bitterness between them will continue for weeks. (READ MORE)
Ethnic dispute tears al Qaeda, Hayden says - Internal divisions between Saudi and Egyptian leaders of al Qaeda are producing "fissures" within the terrorist group and a possible battle over who will succeed Osama bin Laden, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said yesterday. (READ MORE)
Fed move sparks market - The Federal Reserve moved dramatically yesterday to prevent surging interest rates on prime mortgages from short-circuiting the economy during the critical spring home selling season, sparking the best day on Wall Street in five years. (READ MORE)
Top military leader Fallon resigns - The sudden resignation of the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East yesterday presents a precarious situation for Central Command, some Pentagon officials say, and will "leave a hole" difficult to fill, said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. (READ MORE)
China left off list of human-rights violators - The State Department yesterday dropped China from its list of the world's top human rights violators, prompting criticism that the move marks an unwarranted concession to Beijing ahead of the Olympic Games this summer. (READ MORE)
U.S. examines laptops seized in Ecuador raid - The Bush administration is examining the contents of a laptop computer captured in Ecuador, which reportedly documents pledges by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to guerrillas fighting the Colombian government. (READ MORE)
Parents May Be Jailed Over Vaccinations - LONDON (AP) -- As doctors struggle to eradicate polio worldwide, one of their biggest problems is persuading parents to vaccinate their children. In Belgium, authorities are resorting to an extreme measure: prison sentences. (READ MORE)
The Democrats, Wrestling To Negotiate An Endgame - Now what? Barack Obama, as expected, won the Mississippi Democratic primary yesterday, his second straight victory in four days, his 29th overall, another tiny notch in his delegate lead over rival Hillary Clinton. But Mississippi clarified nothing. (READ MORE)
Top U.S. Officer in Mideast Resigns - The top U.S. commander in the Middle East, whose views on strategy in the region have put him at odds with the Bush administration, abruptly announced his resignation yesterday, calling reports of such disagreements an untenable "distraction." (READ MORE)
India's Survivors of Partition Begin to Break Long Silence - NEW DELHI -- Every year in March, Bir Bahadur Singh goes to the local Sikh shrine and narrates the grim events of the long night six decades ago when 26 women in his family offered their necks to the sword for the sake of honor. (READ MORE)
Roadside Bomb In Southern Iraq Kills at Least 16 Shiite Pilgrims - BAGHDAD, March 11 -- A roadside bomb exploded in southern Iraq on Tuesday as a busload of Shiite pilgrims passed by, killing at least 16 people in the latest in a spate of bombings in the country. (READ MORE)
Bush Moves to Bolster Support for U.S. War Effort - NASHVILLE, March 11 -- President Bush on Tuesday opened his latest drive to shore up support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, emphasizing the stakes in battles that, he said, pit the United States and its allies against a remorseless enemy with little regard for human life. (READ MORE)
Drug Firms Woo Democrats, Helping Defeat Their Bills - The pharmaceutical industry, long an ally of Republicans, has increasingly worked itself into the good graces of the Democratic Party and by doing so has helped block the Democrats' top prescription-drug initiatives. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Andrew G. Biggs: The Obama Tax Hike - Until recently, Sen. Barack Obama took a responsible position on Social Security, noting the urgency of reform and saying all options should be on the table. But having cornered himself among Democratic activists whose attitudes toward Social Security reform range from demagoguery to denial, Mr. Obama has recently veered sharply left. He now proposes to solve the looming Social Security shortfall exclusively with higher taxes. (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: Spitzer's Media Enablers - The fall of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer holds many lessons, and the press will surely be examining them in coming months. But don't expect the press corps to delve into the biggest lesson of all -- its own role as his enabler. Journalists have spent the past two days asking how a man of Mr. Spitzer's stature would allow himself to get involved in a prostitution ring. The answer, in my mind, is clear. The former New York attorney general never believed normal rules applied to him, and his view was validated time and again by an adoring press. "You play hard, you play rough, and hopefully you don't get caught," said Mr. Spitzer two years ago. He never did get caught, because most reporters were his accomplices. (READ MORE)
Walter E. Williams: Big Corn and Ethanol Hoax - One of the many mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 calls for oil companies to increase the amount of ethanol mixed with gasoline. President Bush said, during his 2006 State of the Union address, "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." Let's look at some of the "wonders" of ethanol as a replacement for gasoline. Ethanol contains water that distillation cannot remove. As such, it can cause major damage to automobile engines not specifically designed to burn ethanol. The water content of ethanol also risks pipeline corrosion and thus must be shipped by truck, rail car or barge. These shipping methods are far more expensive than pipelines. (READ MORE)
Nina May: Barack is Sanjaya, Hillary is Omarosa, McCain is... - This title will mean nothing to those who don’t understand the world of reality TV. But, how could anyone in this election cycle not be totally familiar with the voyeur genre that has caused us to reduce every issue and every person to their basest level. Following the 2008 presidential race is a combination of watching a blow by blow of the NFL playoffs, and the final weeks of American Idol when the viewers vote on the winner. Last season an attractive young man, Sanjaya Malakar, with little experience singing in public, somehow made it to the finals and as cute as it was when he was selected, his talent just was not cutting it, and as a result, the more gifted singers were being eliminated. (READ MORE)
Austin Bay: Al-Qaida's Fading Victory: The Madrid Precedent - Al-Qaida's terror attacks on March 11, 2004 (just prior to Spain's national elections), sought to establish the "Madrid Precedent," a strategic extension of what al-Qaida's planners in their "Letters to the Africa Corps" had called the examples of Mogadishu, Somalia, and Beirut, Lebanon. Stated crudely, Beirut (U.S. Marine barracks, 1983) and Mogadishu ("Blackhawk Down," 1993) told al-Qaida that if "we kill enough, they will withdraw." Islamists murdered 191 Spaniards and wounded 1,800 on 3-11. Unlike Beirut, the "Madrid Precedent" targeted civilians in Spanish territory -- but on al-Qaida's map of the global caliphate, Spain is "al Andalus," a Muslim domain stolen by the Reconquista. (READ MORE)
Paul Greenberg: Flying Into the Past - I stooped to get aboard the little Chautauqua jetliner, full of trepidation. Not because of any fear of flying but because I was headed to Richmond to give a talk about Robert E. Lee. What next, fly to Rome to talk about the pope? The cause of my uneasiness: a bad case of laryngitis. An awkward ailment for a guest speaker. But the show must go on, maybe with a little help from a cough suppressant, cough drops, sheer faith and that universal elixir for emergency use, a sip of Irish whiskey. The last also helps a speaker's anecdotes flow. The blarney must be aged in. (READ MORE)
Jacob Sullum: Safety in Defenselessness - In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the District of Columbia's gun restrictions, the subject of a case the court will hear next Tuesday. Conceding that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to possess firearms, Tribe said that right does not rule out a decision to ban handguns while allowing "rifles, shotguns and other weapons less likely to augment urban violence." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit disagreed, concluding that the district cannot constitutionally ban the type of gun most commonly used for self-defense. But even if Tribe is right that the Second Amendment allows the District of Columbia to ban handguns, he is wrong to assume District of Columbia residents are free to use long guns instead. (READ MORE)
John Stossel: Beware Candidates' Promises - Watching presidential candidates promise to "fix" America fills me with dread. A reason I have this reaction is that I've been doing reports for "20/20" on previous politicians' campaigns to "fix" child sex abuse. Sexual abuse was always a problem, but in the early 1990s, something changed. Several pretty white girls were victimized at a time when the 24-hour cable-news cycle was hungry for new drama. Heinous child molestation became the big story. So publicity-seeking politicians clamored for new laws. One result of their campaign was Megan's Law, which requires police to notify neighbors when a sex offender lives nearby. (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: "Non-Judgmental" Nonsense - What was he thinking of? That was the first question that came to mind when the story of New York governor Eliot Spitzer's involvement with a prostitution ring was reported in the media. It was also the first question that came to mind when star quarterback Michael Vick ruined his career and lost his freedom over his involvement in illegal dog fighting. It is a question that arises when other very fortunate people risk everything for some trivial satisfaction. Many in the media refer to Eliot Spitzer as some moral hero who fell from grace. Spitzer was never a moral hero. He was an unscrupulous prosecutor who threw his power around to ruin people, even when he didn't have any case with which to convict them of anything. (READ MORE)
Terence Jeffrey: A Worse-Than-Meaningless Intelligence Bill - A casual onlooker might have understandably concluded that the intelligence bill recently vetoed by President Bush was crafted with the intention of prohibiting U.S. intelligence agencies from ever water-boarding terrorists or using other aggressive interrogation techniques not expressly approved by the United States Army Field Manual. That conclusion would be wrong. The real intention of the bill's architects was not to conclusively prohibit water-boarding or aggressive interrogation of terrorists, but to create new opportunities for Democrats to politically water-board their partisan adversaries. (READ MORE)
Tony Blankley: Monsters, Muslims and Financial Crises - The presidential campaign currently underway has missed the historically rare opportunity to engage the candidates for president in a serious discussion about how they would respond to a very likely impending recession brought on by twin banking and currency crises. Usually financial crises -- and the recessions that often follow -- appear without much warning. But today, while of course the future never can be predicted with certainty, the evidence is accumulating to suggest that the United States soon may be facing something similar to Japan's experience in the late 1980s and 1990s. (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: Minors Study Gay Literature in High School - Author's Note: Warning: this article contains references to sexual behavior that will be offensive to sensitive individuals. Log on to www.cwfa.org for more information about this case. Dear Bill O’Reilly: Deerfield High School in Deerfield, Illinois, recently assigned the pornographic book “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” to students as young as 14 as a required reading. Somehow they didn’t expect parents to be offended by its graphic sexuality and overt racism. But, of course, they were. And that is why I am proud to report that the school has decided to make the reading “optional” over-riding the gay teacher’s original intentions. But I hope The Factor will take a look at a few excerpts from the book and consider a segment asking what educational value the book could possibly have. (READ MORE)
John McCaslin: Mr. Smiley - Who on the job isn't talking about the escalating slugfest between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama? Discussion around the water cooler this week centers on Mrs. Clinton's trying to weasel her way into the White House by demanding that the Democratic Party drop its own rules and allow primary votes in Florida and Michigan to count. Other cubicle conversations concur how wimpy Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean is to kowtow to the New York senator's show of power. So what's wrong with displays of political affiliation in the workplace? "While many employees actively campaign for their favorite candidates, they may not be aware that some political activities are inappropriate — if not prohibited — in the workplace," warns the Washington-based Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). (READ MORE)
Donald Douglas: Hamsher Rejects Spitzer Resignation, Endorses Legal Prostitution - Well, the partisans are lining up around the Spitzer Client 9 scandal, but frankly at least one of the hard-lefty positions is implacably over the top. Jane Hamsher not only thinks Spitzer's transgressions don't rate resignation from office, she advocates full-blown legal prostitution, arguing that sexual solicitation laws seek to "make the lives of prostitutes worse": “And for the record, as someone who thinks prostitution should be legal - and that most laws restricting it are written to make the lives of prostitutes worse, not better - I don't plan to be calling for Spitzer's resignation any time soon.” Hamsher's touting the left's culture of death precisely as ABC News reports that a 22 year-old call girl has identified Spitzer as one of her best customers: (READ MORE)
Ace of Spades: Geraldino Ferarro: Obama's Rise Is Affirmative Action Voting - Eh, I sweetened that. She said that if he weren't black, he wouldn't be in the position he's in. I realize liberals aren't exactly bears for consistency, but how in the hell are the Democrats going to play the same "racial code words!" game on us in the general election when they themselves are using those "code words" now? The Obama campaign accuses the Hillary campaign of an "insidious pattern" of racial appeals. Maybe, maybe not. (More maybe than maybe not.) I'm just really wondering how the Democrats are going to cry shame, shame on us when the wife of the first black president herself stands accused. (READ MORE)
A Newt One: Anti-Americanist Activities In PA Planned - All in the name of "free speech" and/or "freedom of expression", moonbat brigades of the emotionally unhinged and the lawless suppressors of freedom are planning to kidnap - read that as hold against their will - members of the military operating in a Recruiting Station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and "hold them in a mock jail cell". The communist and useless collection of human refuse is called POG - Pittsburgh Organizing Group - and have a long record of lawlessness (all in the name of freedom...can you say Anarchists?) Interesting...POG - "sounds like" p20g - I am sure there is no connection. “Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) is a radical group based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania working to affect systemic progressive change in society. We seek to understand and oppose the inter-connected forms of oppression while utilizing non-hierarchical, consensus-based organizing.” (READ MORE)
Atlas Shrugs: Only in Israel - This was sent to me from a reader. Please read it. "Every morning I take the 35 bus line to work. It's a quickride and usually takes no more than 12 minutes. The thirdstop after I get on by the shuk is directly in front of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav. This morning I found myself a bit anxious, unsure of what I was going to see as we passed by. As I looked around, I saw death notices pasted all over the street and flowers that had been brought lined the entrance to the Yeshiva. When the bus pulled up to the stop, the driver shut off the engine and stood. With tears in his eyes he told everyone sitting on the bus that one of the boys killed on Thursday night was his nephew. He asked if everyone on the bus would mind if he spoke for a few minutes in memory of his nephew and the other boys that were killed." (READ MORE)
Dafydd: Another Great Issue for McCain to Seize From the Left - If there is any issue that epitomizes John McCain's dispute with the conservative wing of the Republican Party, it would be immigration policy. While they differ over several other issues -- notably the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, a.k.a. McCain-Feingold, and the putative "Gang of 14," which prevented the GOP from enacting the Byrd option in the Senate to rule it against Senate rules to filibuster judicial nominees -- it is immigation over which the Republican Party split the most widely and violently. And certainly it is immigration that many consider to be the "third rail" of the party... thus the one McCain should most steer clear of, right? Wrong. In fact, I believe that John McCain should grab the elephant by the tail and look the facts in the face: (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo @ Blackfive: Exit Strategy- Time to talk timetables - Gen. Petraeus will be back to testify in front of Congress in April and he has a lot of interesting information for those whose disbelief is not willfully suspended. He was right and the Democrats were all dreadfully wrong. Wrong in ways that are the difference between defeat and victory. That is why it is vital that President Bush take decisive actions this year and claim victory in Iraq before he leaves office.It is conceivable to leave the end game of the iraq war in President McCain's hands, but terrifying to consider it under President Obama's leadership with President Clinton II only marginally less worrisome. Our global security is dependent on the rest of the world believing we can handle our business, that means we must have a win in Iraq. Our viability as a deterrent against violence depends on it. (READ MORE)
Grim @ Blackfive: Resolve to Win - "Resolve to Win" is the name of a group that is in the twelfth day of a sixteen day cross-country march from South Carolina to DC. They intend to wind up at the Lincoln memorial, to show their support for our troops. I want to take a moment to thank them for what they are doing, and to encourage everyone who is in the DC area to get out and visit with them on their successful arrival. Details are at their blog, above. An aside: According to their email, this is not the first time they've written to ask for coverage, and they resent being ignored. This is the second time in two days I've gotten an email of that sort, so I fear I may have offended more widely yet than that. I would like to apologize to anyone I may recently have offended by appearance of disinterest. (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Hillary Clinton, state secrets and the Middle East - Andy McCarthy wonders what security clearance Hillary had when she was co-President. Fallon's resignation: what went on? The NYT found that Hillary Clinton did not hold a security clearance during the period during which she was supposedly co-President. But Andy McCarthy at the NRO thinks a President can clear anyone he wants, so Bill was not violating any law when he discussed matters of state with Hillary; but McCarthy does wonder why the principle didn't protect Scooter Libby. “A related issue came up two years ago when Democrats and the media were erroneously alleging that Scooter Libby had leaked classified information from a National Intelligence Estimate to the press. As I explained at the time, the information was not classified because President Bush himself had decided to declassify it so Libby could speak to the press about it.” (READ MORE)
The Captains' Journal: Terror Tactics - Al Qaeda finds it difficult to emplace IEDs because of the population (which points them out to U.S. forces) and UAVs operating discretely above. Further, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, direct kinetic engagements are being avoided. The kill ratio which has been maintained throughout both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom is approximately 10:1. This has caused huge losses for al Qaeda (and the Taliban in Afghanistan), and they have largely transitioned to a tactic which is much more surreptitious and difficult to stop: the suicide bomb. Eight U.S. soldiers died Monday due to this tactic. (READ MORE)
Chickenhawk Express: An Apology, A Fatwah, a Vanishing Act - And Winter Soldier II Hasn't Even Started Yet! - The run-up to Winter Soldier II has been bizarre, enlightening and just downright insane... The actual event can't possibly be as crazy as the prelims have been... Here's some tidbits and links about the latest... First up - the latest on Jon DeWald. After his mega-meltdown, his blog is no longer available. Which is sad because I kinda enjoyed watching an online implosion. Next - Cao points out that the Wobbly Nomad has issued a fatwah on Michelle Malkin - Knappenberger calls for Malkin’s assassination. Speaking of Evan "the Wobbly Nomad" Knappenberger - Ever wonder how he feels about the American Flag? (READ MORE)
Douglas Farah: Chiquita Sued By U.S. Families for Support of the FARC - The relatives of five American missionaries who were abducted and murdered by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have filed suit against Chiquita Brands International Inc., accusing the banana company of secretly financing and arming the rebel (and terrorist) group. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges the banana company knowingly and willfully provided the FARC with protection money and weapons in the late 1990s. The case sheds much-needed light on the role that U.S.-based companies (and certainly others) play in fomenting conflicts that cost thousands of lives. Chiquita has admitted to being one of them. (READ MORE)
Crazy Politico: Harold Has The Right Question - Over the last few days we've been inundated with the news that New York's Democratic Governor, Eliot Spitzer was hooking up with high end call girls that charge $5,500 per HOUR. For a long time I railed against Spitzer when he was New York's Attorney General, and looked for ways to destroy Wall St. companies. Most of the time it was in the name of protecting the "little guy", but usally came of as him being a self righteous prick, who felt guilty about his own silver spoon upbringing. It was kind of proven out by the fact that the few companies who challenged him in court all won. (READ MORE)
Discerning Texan: The Evidence continues to Pile Up like a Giant Snowdrift: Global Warming is the Hoax of the Century - Never have so many otherwise balanced and rational people been so cowed and so completely sold a bill of goods than have those who have bought into to the Great Global Warmism Hoax. As the scientific evidence piles up that whatever warming has occurred over the last half century has nothing whatsoever to do with human CO2 emissions, the same snake oil salesmen (who are profiting obscenely from the hysteria; just as men like Jimmy Swaggert or Jim Baker took advantage of the fearful and gullible for millions). The evidence continues to pile up; previous "true believers" have now turned into skeptics--esteemed scientists who now are treated as pariahs by their colleagues who fear that if the truth comes out, all of their grants and funding will dry up. (READ MORE)
Dymphna: An Immoral Calculus: “It Costed Too Much” - It appears that the logjam Hamas created in its capture of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit back in August 2006, may be breaking up. Corporal Shalit was wounded in the encounter initiated by Hamas in Israeli territory. Two other IDF soldiers were killed when Shalit was taken hostage, as were two Palestinians. Since then there have been attempted interventions by just about everyone: the American Secretary of State, the French (Shalit holds French and Israeli citizenship), the Papal Nuncio to Israel, and Egypt. [There has been no word from the UN, but it is public knowledge that Turtle Bay holds the state of Israel in special contempt.] (READ MORE)
The Foxhole: IVAW Wackjobs Threaten Gathering of Eagles, Counter-Protestors - The “Winter Soldier II” circus will be conducted next week in D.C. by a bunch of nihilistic idiots who have shamed themselves and disgraced their (former) military service. I blogged about these losers here: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/ivaw-losers-to-host-winter-soldier-ii/ A few of their members have threatened and denigrated counter-protesting veterans with violence and epithets. In a recent screed by a member of the IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), some bilgecrapping asswipe by the name of “Evan M. Knappenberger” demonstrated that he and his ilk are a waste of skin. Here’s just a little of what the candyass has to say for himself: (READ MORE)
Don Surber: No coal - Or wind. Or solar. Or hydro. Or nuke. Anyone got a hamster wheel? In Friday’s Gazette on its editorial page was this comment from the secretary of Friends of Beautiful Pendleton County, Barbara Dean: “Like a snake, the wind industry delivers its venom before the unsuspecting public and politicians know what hit them.” Fine. I get it. Dean opposes putting turbines along the ridges. That’s a legitimate position to take. I expect her to put reduce her electric use by six-tenths of 1 percent this year to prove her point. That’s the percentage of electricity in the United States that is produced by wind, according to the Energy Information Administration. (READ MORE)
GayPatriotWest: Eliot Spitzer, Larry Craig, Sex and Circumstance - During the last sex scandal involving a prominent politician, I contended that the real issue was not so much the scandal’s lurid details or the politician’s hypocrisy, but Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s “absence of judgment.” Here again, the issue seems to be judgment, but there is much more to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s woes than that. If the only issue were the Democratic governor’s use of prostitutes, I might agree with his statement yesterday that this is “a private matter” where he, in his words, merely violated “obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong.” To be sure, there would be the added issue of whether a man who took his marriage vow so lightly might also show a similar disregard for other vows he had taken, namely his oath of office of governor of New York. (READ MORE)
Knee Deep in the Hooah!: Rules Of Engagement - Oh no. Not Mr. Hooah again! What’s he doing writing here? OK, OK. The lady of the house had a few other things to do. It’s not easy keeping this household of military madness together. So, you’re stuck with me. Poor souls. So what’s on my mind? Just a few things. For example, did you know the new Army field manual 3.0 was recently issued? Hailed as a major TRADOC overhaul I have to say that I was sorely disappointed at the onset of my reading. Why? Let’s start at the beginning. General William Wallace (I love that name) begins his forward to the manual with this … “America is at war, and we live in a world where global terrorism and extremist ideologies are realities. The Army has analytically looked at the future, and we believe our Nation will continue to be engaged in an era of ‘persistent conflict’ - a period of protracted confrontation among states, nonstate, and individual actors increasingly willing to use violence to achieve their political and ideological ends.” (READ MORE)
The Jawa Report: Exposing the Lies of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Dahr Jamail - Dahr Jamail, the man who pimped the false accusations of Jesse MacBeth about atrocities in Iraq, is also helping the Iraq Veterans Against the War in their reenactment of the Winter Soldier Investigation. He routinely pimps the lie that American soldiers are war criminals. Great expose here. Hmmm, who does Dahn Jamail remind me of..........? (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Patient Shows Signs of Life - “Brain-dead liberal” Mamet stirs. Master of dialog talks himself out of lifelong malaise. Village Voice: “I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind. As a child of the ’60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart. These cherished precepts had, over the years, become ingrained as increasingly impracticable prejudices. Why do I say impracticable? Because although I still held these beliefs, I no longer applied them in my life.” (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Is time on Clinton’s side? - Even after a big loss in Mississippi yesterday, the Clinton team feels more sanguine about their chances for the nomination. They have the next few weeks to continue pressuring Barack Obama and pushing him into the kind of negative campaigning that will diminish his New Politics standing. And as the primaries move out of the South and into the industrial North, the demographics will start turning in Hillary’s favor: “Mississippi marks the last primary or caucus for a six-week stretch — by far the longest pause in this year’s nomination fight. That gives Clinton a chance to battle Obama without time pressures that magnify every moment on the trail, allowing her to make a deliberate and methodical case in favor of her candidacy — and against Obama’s. …” (READ MORE)
Neal Boortz: The Truth About Polar Bears - So-called "environmentalists" insist on making polar bears the centerpiece for their fight against capitalism. They insist that polar bears are nearing extinction because of man-made global warming. It's not theory to them .. it's etched-in-stone fact. Right now the Bush administration is being sued by environmental groups claiming the Fish and Wildlife Service is in breach of its own mandate – its failure to protect the polar bear as an endangered species. Well, yes ... there actually has been a delay to determine whether or not polar bears are actually endangered species. The fact of the matter is that they are not ... there are more polar bears today than there were in the 1970s. A lot more. But environmentalists can't seem to understand that simple concept, or they just don't want to admit it. (READ MORE)
Scott Johnson: What is to be done? - One might say that the K-8 Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) in a suburb of the Twin Cities is an Islamic school in all but name, except that the name is of course Islamic. Tarek ibn Ziyad was the Muslim conqueror of Spain. As for the rest of the school, all or almost all of its students are Muslim, its principal is an imam, its sponsor is Islamic Relief-USA, and it sits in a building owned by, and shared with, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota as well as its Al-Aman Mosque. TIZA's calendar and days are set up to accommodate Muslim students. School breaks for prayers at 1:00 in the carpeted prayer area in the middle of the school. TIZA's cafeteria is halal. Arabic as a second language is mandatory. (READ MORE)
McQ: St. Geraldine and the PC Dragon - I think one of the most useful aspects of the Democratic primary, because a black man and a white woman are running, is the debate it is forcing over charging sexism and racism at the drop of a hat. Complaints made by the right for decades about how everything is twisted into a charge of sexism or racism when convenient are now seeing the light of day among Democrats and the left. It is as if a huge veil is being lifted from their eyes as the accusers of the past are suddenly the accused. Take Geraldine Ferraro. Accused of making racist comments by claiming Obama wouldn’t be where he is if he wasn’t black, she responds: (READ MORE)
John Rohan: "Israel must be wiped off the map" and other disturbing images - Little Green Footballs brought this to my attention, but it is something I've brought up before, and wanted to expand on it. The photo's description: “A woman walks past a poster featuring portraits of (L-R) Israeli military intelligence chief General Amos Yedlin, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Defence Minister Ehud Barak during an anti-Israeli ceremony in Tehran. Iranian hardline students have offered rewards totalling a million dollars for the ‘execution’ of the three Israeli military leaders. Besides the overt threats of assassination against these three men by such a "peaceful" nation as Iran, look at the quote inside by the late Ayatollah Khomeini: "Israel must be wiped off the map". (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: Male Rights Vs. Female Rights On Abortion - Over at the Democratic Underground, they had a poll up about abortion. The question was, "Is there such a thing as men's rights when it comes to abortion," and here's how the answers broke out: As you can see, the overwhelming answer here is that men should have no rights when it comes to an abortion. However, I have never agreed with that philosophy and think it is morally and perhaps even constitutionally inconsistent. After all, we hear over and over that a man bears responsibility as a woman for a pregnancy. That's true. We also hear, over and over again, that a man should be obligated to support his children, whether he wants them or not. Again, that's true. A man should be just as fiscally responsible as a woman for a child that they had together. (READ MORE)
Socrates' Academy: Politics of Greed - Following the intellectual, spiritual, and literal bankruptcy of the Soviet bloc of Marxist states in the 1980's, it seems that mankind would have learned his lesson. The reality of the results of those arrogant experiments in economic and social engineering should have quashed for all eternity the fantasy of a government solution to every problem. But it did not. Especially in this election year, the socialist panderers are stumbling over one another to offer magnanimous bribes to the electorate in order to secure its favor. The socialist panderers in the Clinton and Obama campaigns tell the people that government can and should supply them with all of their needs, and can pay for it by taxing the wealthy "their fair share". But what is a person's "fair share"? (READ MORE)
The Torch: Continuing to make a difference - We've written before about the Soldier On program, which helps disabled CF members and veterans participate in sports. They now have a website up and running, and that's where I discovered that you can actually donate to the program if you wish. Apparently it's not a registered charity, but donations to the Crown are treated similarly for tax purposes, and you'll get a donation receipt. For those who wonder how effective such a donation might be, consider these testimonials. Consider the experience of MCpl (ret'd) Jody Mitic, who lost both legs below the knee to a mine in Afghanistan in January of 2007: (READ MORE)
TigerHawk: Which "national intelligence assessment" do you believe? - Given their track records, with regard to Iran's nuclear weapons program do you believe the consolidated and official position of the American intelligence community (NIE executive summary (pdf)), or the Israeli? “Following the style, if not the conclusions, of the infamous US National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, Israel's intelligence community gave its assessment on Sunday for the coming year. Like the NIE, the Israeli version was couched in probabilities, which allows intelligence agencies to cover nearly every eventuality and claim they had it right no matter what happens. Unlike the NIE, the Israeli version, at least, does not attempt to obscure the obvious: that Iran is desperately seeking nuclear weapons.” (READ MORE)
Eugene Volokh: Breaking the Law -- DeMorgan's Law - Lots of court opinions are derided as illogical, but there's one that's illogical in a pretty technical way. I was just teaching it today, and thought I'd blog briefly about it. The opinion is Justice Brennan's opinion, joined by Justices Marshall and Stevens, in Texas Monthly v. Bullock (1989). In that case, the Court struck down a Texas sales tax exemption for religious books and magazines; Justice Brennan's opinion concluded the law violated the Establishment Clause, because it impermissibly discriminated in favor of religion. But the Court had before then upheld some religion-specific exemptions, so Justice Brennan had to explain when such exemptions were permissible and when they weren't. Here is what he said: (READ MORE)
TF Boggs: Been A Few Days - Other than a few bombings here and there Iraq hasn’t been in the media’s spotlight lately. History tells me this is a good thing for several reasons. The first is that no news tends to be good news. I tried to tell my parents that all the time during my deployments, albeit with varying degrees of success. The second reason is that due to past personal experience concerning news out of Iraq I know that it is usually blown out of proportion, if not way. I was trying to explain to my roommate the other night how he could figure out which media outlets to trust. One way that is easier said than done is to grasp an understanding of the subjects outside of what the media tells you. If listening to stories about the economy it helps to have a basic understanding of how the economy works so you can tell whether or not the journalist has their facts right. (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.
No comments:
Post a Comment