IDIOTS IN IRAQ

By Jack Kelly

"The 14 Marine reservists killed last week when the amtrac in which they were riding was struck by a powerful roadside bomb would have been safer if they had been riding in up-armored humvees, opined CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.

"I'm very disappointed that we don't have the good vehicles in the al Anbar province," Blitzer said. "It's a very sensitive issue for me, because I was there in March."

An amtrac with 15 combat loaded Marines aboard weighs more than 23 tons. The IED -- reportedly made from a 500 lb. bomb -- flipped it over like a toy. An up-armored humvee weighs less than four tons. Only an idiot would deem it more survivable, especially since an amtrac has more armor than an up-armored humvee.

Blitzer, alas, is typical of the near perfect ignorance of most in the news media about matters military."

Paid subscription required to read the whole article.

CAFTA - GOOD, OR BAD?

The U.S House of Representatives passed, just barely, (by a 217-215 margin) the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in a hotly debated vote that went almost completely along party lines (Only 27 Republicans voted against it, while only 15 Democrats supported the agreement).

Since the Senate had already passed the measure by a vote of 54-45 back in June, President Bush was able to sign the agreement into law, and quickly did so, perhaps providing U.S. exporters and workers a great reason to rejoice. Or did it?

Nancy Pelosi and the leftists in Congress hysterically opposed CAFTA (the left is drawn to hysteria like mice to cheese - but I digress) which put them in agreement with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and other Marxists in Latin America; this is par for the course.

Interestingly, Pat Buchanan and other “Paleocon” conservatives were on Castro’s and Chavez’s side on this issue and should make you look upon the matter with jaundiced eye.

On the other hand: "That CAFTA almost lost and passed with a tiny two-vote majority is due to the oddest combination of demagoguery witnessed in Washington for some time," according to Neal Asbury. ("Neal Asbury, President of Greenfield World Trade, is an experienced international business man who has spent the greater part of his life in Asia and other locales.")

So why did the lefties oppose CAFTA?

One of the biggest reasons given for their opposition to it was the purported loss of jobs in the United States that would take place with the passage of CAFTA. Mr. Asbury feels, "The only ones that should be worried about losing jobs are the Chinese."

Why?

Well, he notes:

The jobs that will be created have long left the United States and are not coming back. However bringing back these jobs to our neighborhood, to countries with many more shared interests with us, such as democracy and peace in our hemisphere, is an incredibly positive thing.

CAFTA will create a favorable environment by providing legal protections and due process that is not part of the China investment landscape that could move production of textiles and other consumer goods closer to home.

Logistic costs and transit time are also much more advantageous. A shirt that says “Made in Guatemala” is likely to contain more than 65% U.S. content whereas a shirt that says “Made in China” has none.

We shall see. But if I were a betting man, I would take the opinion of someone (like Asbury) who has spent most of his life overseas in the capacity of an international businessman and sales consultant before I would rely on the opinion from the "Queen of Botox".

HISTORY LESSON

A history lesson from Dr. Jack Wheeler:

It’s amazing how much the Arabs complain about the Crusades when they had so little to do with them. The Crusades were their great trauma, they constantly moan, the bottomless source of their resentment of the West and Christianity. Mysteriously, they never condemn the Real Crusaders who wiped out their entire civilization.

[SNIP]

The Real Crusaders were the Mongols. To this day, much of Central Asia and the Middle East – the Heartland of Islam – has never recovered from their depredations. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongol invasion of Islam began in 1219. The great Central Asian Silk Road cities were razed to the ground, Bukhara, Khiva, Nishapur, Rayy, and Merv, slaughtering every man, woman, child, cat, and dog – in Merv over 700,000 people, over 1,000,000 (yes, one million human beings) in Nishapur.

Genghis returned to Mongolia and died in 1227. Thirty years later, his grandson Hulagu, decided to finish the Moslems off. On February 10, 1258, his giant Mongol army broke through the gates of Baghdad beginning forty days of pillage and massacre.

800,000 people were put to the Mongol sword, libraries with hundreds of thousands of volumes burned down, the entire city turned to rubble, Caliph Al-Mustassim (the last of the Abbasids) wrapped in a carpet and trampled to death by Mongol horses, the capital of Arab civilization and culture smoldering in Mongol ashes, and with it Arab civilization itself annihilated for centuries.

But you never hear a word of this from the Jihadis, from Osama and other Arab terrorists fanatics crazed with hate for…. us? We, the Christians, the Crusaders, the West, we had nothing to do with the destruction of Arab civilization. All this Al Qaeda fulminating about “the Crusaders” is just a phony rationale for their pathological hatreds.

Hopefully, this history will enable those liberals not inextricably buried in self-mortification to resist their perennial call for America and the West and the Vatican, et el, to “apologize” for the Crusades. Apologize… to whom? Certainly not the Arabs. Certainly not the Turks.

[SNIP]

..........the Arab Moslems, were the real Real Crusaders. What right did they have to swarm out of the sands of Arabia and spread their religion by the sword over lands that had been Christian for centuries, over places that had been Holy to Christians for centuries?

Ultimately, the Arabs are the Real Crusaders, and until they stop whining about “the Crusades,” we should never let them forget it.

Government bans radical cleric from return to UK

THE radical Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has been banned from Britain, six days after he left the country for Lebanon.

Seoul nuke stance blindsides U.S.
The Bush administration yesterday scrambled to repair a rift with South Korea that opened when Seoul proclaimed that North Korea has a right to develop nuclear energy.

WHERE IS OSAMA?

Dr. Jack Wheeler says Osama is in Iran.

He says OBL’s whereabouts can’t be publicly acknowledged. It would mean that the pressure for a military strike to kill or capture him would be irresistible and we would be forced into military action against Iran; because the Mullahs have got him, and of course they won’t admit it, and they certainly won’t give him up voluntarily.

The White House does not want to follow this course of action. The Iranian people are really quite pro-American right now and the Whitehouse does not think it would be wise to attack Iran. The country is a hotbox right now, ready to ignite into an anti-Mullah revolution. They feel that a military attack might change that.

And for that very same reason, President Bush can't/won’t order an attack on Iran’s nuke facilities.

So there you have it. According to Dr. Wheeler, OBL "is safe and sound in eastern Iran, perhaps in the vicinity of the town of Mashad, but they move him around. And we’re not doing anything about it."

IS TAIWAN A POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES?

Behind The Lines
By Dr. Jack Wheeler

(Available by paid subscription only.)

Communist China, the People’s Republic of China or PRC, never tires of denouncing Taiwan as a “renegade province” that belongs to it, and bitterly complaining that any attempt by any country anywhere in the world to treat Taiwan as a sovereign independent nation is a gross interference in China’s “internal affairs.”

This claim is about to be publicly exposed as baseless – for it turns out that as a matter of international law, Taiwan is legally an overseas possession of the United States of America."

THE FACTS:
1. In 1894, the Ching government of China got into a war with Japan over control of Korea, and lost.

2. In the formal Treaty of Shimonoseki signed in April, 1895, the Chinese government formally recognized the independence of Korea, and legally ceded Taiwan to Japan.

3. For the next 50 years, Taiwan under international law was the possession of Japan’s.

4. The Japanese Government’s control over Taiwan ceased on August 15, 1945 when it announced its surrender in World War II."

5. But the Instrument of Surrender was an armistice, not a formal peace treaty. Japan had not ceded Taiwan to the ROC.

6. The legal authority in Taiwan remained the United States Military Government, which had delegated – delegated, not relinquished – the military occupation of Taiwan to the ROC.

7. The Mao Tse-tung’s Communists waged full scale war against Chiang Kai-shek’s ROC government and succeeded in taking over China from April to November, 1949.

8. Chiang Kai-shek proclaimed that the city of Taipei was now the temporary capital of the Republic of China, the sole legitimate government of mainland China.

9. It may have been the legitimate capital of China, but not of Taiwan, because the ROC was not the legitimate government of Taiwan – the USMG was.

10. Japan did not sign a formal peace treaty until September 8, 1951. Known as the Treaty of San Francisco, Article 2(b) states:“Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores” (islands in the Formosa Straits).

11. No receiving country is specified in the treaty.

12. Japan renounced its sovereignty over Taiwan, but did not turn over that sovereignty to either the PRC in Beijing or the ROC in Taiwan.

13. Neither the PRC nor the ROC were invited to the San Francisco treaty conference, and neither was a signatory to the treaty.

14. This means that the USMG remained the sovereign legal authority in Taiwan. Article 4(b) of the treaty states this in recognizing the authority of “the United States Military Government in any of the areas referred to in Articles 2 and 3,” as does Article 23(a) recognizing “the United States of America as the principal occupying Power.”

15. This treaty is still in effect.

In the opinion of a number of scholars of international law, Taiwan is neither a province of China over which the PRC has legitimate sovereignty, nor is Taiwan a sovereign state of itself. It is, rather, an overseas territory of the U.S.

The practical bottom line to this is that the Communist PRC government of China has no claim to Taiwan under international law. Further, as Taiwan is a U.S. territorial possession, the United States government is legally obliged to defend it.

This can only be changed by the United States Congress. There’s going to be a hot debate in Congress as it realizes it’s been handed a sizzling hot potato. America owns Taiwan. What is it going to do with it?"

On the Homeland Security front...

"Rep. Curt Weldon, Republican vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, is hot on the trail of some 9/11 Commissioners who knew that a military-intelligence unit had identified terrorists Mohammed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi as leaders of a U.S.-based al-Qa'ida sleeper cell. The classified MI unit named "Able Danger," tasked with data analysis, uncovered the terrorist cell almost two years before the 9/11 attack, and recommended their immediate deportation, but that information was never shared with the FBI. Why? Because Clinton administration lawyers under the authority of Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick (who later was appointed to the 9/11 Commission in order to conceal Clinton's culpability) questioned the legality of collecting such intelligence.

As you recall, the Clinton administration classified Osama bin Laden and his al-Qa'ida operatives as "criminals" rather than "international terrorists." In 1995, Gorelick elaborated on this classification in regard to investigations: "We believe it is prudent to establish a set of instructions that will more clearly separate the counterintelligence investigation from the more limited, but continued, criminal investigations." In other words, Gorelick insisted on a clear "wall of separation" between counter-intelligence and criminal investigations, thus information of the type collected by Able Danger could not be considered in criminal investigations of U.S. citizens or "U.S. persons" -- meaning any foreign national legally in the U.S.

The Able Danger finding was not mentioned in the 9/11 Commission's final report because certain details in the Able Danger analysis did not comport with Commission staffer's information. In other words, some Beltway pinhead figured his information was better than that of Special Operations Command military-intelligence analysts.

The Commission's chief spokesman, Al Felzenberg, had, until now, denied that the Commission knew anything of this vital pre-9/11 intelligence on Atta and his al-Qa'ida sleeper cell. Faced with the facts, Felzenberg could only say, "Even if it were valid, it would've joined the lists of dozens of other instances where information was not shared. There was a major problem with intelligence sharing." But wait -- isn't that precisely what the 9/11 commission was created to investigate? (This issue of not sharing critical intelligence on U.S. persons has since been rectified by the Patriot Act.)

Rep. Weldon concludes: "The commission's refusal to investigate Able Danger after being notified of its existence, and its recent efforts to feign ignorance of the project while blaming others for supposedly withholding information on it, brings shame on the commissioners and is evocative of the worst tendencies in the federal government that the commission worked to expose."

Indeed, The Patriot warned, when the 9/11 Commission was formed, that reverting to a Washington bureaucracy composed of political insiders to look into the failures of Washington bureaucracies was, at best, flawed. On that note, congratulations are in order for Commissioner Jamie Gorelick for the job she did protecting the Clinton administration from looking completely incompetent in its handling of al-Qa'ida in the run-up to 9/11.

Perhaps now we know the subject of classified documents from the National Archives that Sandy Berger, Clinton's national security advisor, stuffed down his shorts in order to keep them from the 9/11 Commission. As you recall, after the FBI showed up at his house with warrants last July, Berger coughed up some of the documents, but somehow all his handwritten notes regarding how the Clinton administration handled al-Qa'ida threat information in December of 1999 had disappeared. Coincidentally, Able Danger's intelligence on Atta's al-Qa'ida sleeper cell was posted in December of 1999."

"We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief...."
--Ronald Reagan

"Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
--George Washington

Special operations forces eye terrorists
U.S. Special Operations Command has drafted a war plan that sets up procedures for how its commandos will work with other regional commands across the globe to hunt for senior Islamic terrorists.

Euro zone growth falters again

"ECONOMIC growth in the euro zone slowed further in the second quarter, official economic reports will confirm this week.

The overall economic growth rate for the 12 countries that use the single currency is forecast by leading economists to have been 0.2%, significantly slower than the 0.5% seen during the first quarter."

-- TheBusinessOnLine

Worthy of Praise?

"During the watch of King Fahd and his half-brother and successor, Crown Prince Abdullah, Saudi Arabia has become the world's largest promoter and funder of extremist perversions of Islam; the least any self-respecting democracy can do is not to shower them with unearned praise."
--The BusinessOnLine

Ten to be deported as crackdown starts

TEN foreign nationals were detained by police yesterday as the Home Office prepared to deport them as part of Prime Minister Tony Blair's crackdown on extremists following the London bombings.

The Plan

I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.

1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good ole boys. We will never "interfere" again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are.. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!!!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go some place else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island some place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10.) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer.

The Language we speak is ENGLISH.....learn it...or LEAVE.....

"The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'You want a piece of me?' "

The Indian tiger

Earlier I posted An emerging alliance with India. Now Lawrence Kudlow has written a commentary for the Washington Times about "The Indian Tiger".

"In what could become the world's most significant 21st-century strategic alliance, a strengthened partnership is forming between the two largest English-speaking democracies: the United States and India. President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cemented bilateral ties in recent White House talks, paving the way for greater trade, investment and technological collaboration. In time and with the cooperation of other friendly powers in the region -- notably, Japan and Australia -- this new alliance could emerge as an essential counterweight to China. Essentially, it will be an Anglospheric alliance in Asia and the Pacific Rim.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, commenting on the multipoint joint statement issued after the White House meeting, declared the two countries had forged "a broad global partnership of the likes that we've not seen with India since India's founding in 1947."

But the economic front has the greatest potential. The world's largest democracy, with an industrious and increasingly educated population, is among the fastest-growing economies, with real GDP expanding at an average 5.9 percent annually, seasonally adjusted, over the last eight years, including a 7 percent gain in first-quarter 2005."

Full article. (Hat tip: Chrenkoff)

This, indeed, could become a very important alliance for the United States.

From WSJ's "Opinion Journal"
Why They Hate Us
The Scotsman has an explanation for the murder in Iraq of journalist Steven Vincent. See if you can finish this sentence:

An American journalist who was shot dead in Basra last week was executed by Shiite extremists who . . .

. . . had been worn down by grinding poverty?

. . . were angry over Israel's treatment of Palestinian Arabs?

. . . resented the presence in their country of foreign troops?

. . . sought to avenge the abuses at Abu Ghraib?

If you said any of the above, you're wrong. Here's the full sentence:

An American journalist who was shot dead in Basra last week was executed by Shiite extremists who knew he was intending to marry his Muslim interpreter, it has emerged.

That's right, Steven Vincent was killed to prevent him from intermarrying. Those Westerners who side with the "Iraqi resistance" against America and its allies are defending the equivalent of the murder of Emmett Till.

READINGS .......................

Today's Puritans attack Indian mascots.
The NCAA is on the warpath --oops-- a moral mission.

The ACLU thinks cops are a bigger threat than terrorists.

The head of the NYCLU, in turn, charged not only that the random bag searches didn't work but that they were also likely to lead to racial profiling. She explained how this would happen in a statement that would require, of those who read it, the deciphering talents of the Enigma codebreakers: "Although the NYPD claims that they are conducting searches that are purely random, the large number of people entering the transit system and the lack of control over that traffic result in people being selected for search in a discretionary and arbitrary manner, which creates the potential for impermissible racial profiling."

HeavyHanded says "Huh?"

Michigan's Gov. Granholm joins forces with a Trotskyite group to suppress democracy.

As at the national level, there is an intellectual void, a lack of vision, among mainstream Democratic leaders in the state [Michigan] --a vacuum that extremist fringe groups are filling.

Why the base--and some outside it--are standing by President Bush.
By Peggy Noonan

The Real World: The Volcker committee details $1.1 million in fraud--out of billions.
By Claudia Rosett

Saudi official sees drop in terror threat
A leading Saudi security official said yesterday that the pool of terrorists plaguing the desert kingdom, and often targeting foreigners, has been seriously depleted. (Registration required.)

Virginia's Pledge law sustained
A federal appeals court yesterday upheld a Virginia law requiring public schools to lead a daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Oh, Goodie...More Junk Science to Fuel Mass Hysteria

Mamma told you not to smoke it:

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From The Scotsman

Childhood cancers linked to pollution, claims study
By: LOUISE GRAY

CHILDHOOD cancers are strongly linked to engine exhausts from cars and factories, it was claimed yesterday.

Scientists made the link by linking pollution "hotspots" on a map of Britain to a higher risk of childhood cancer.

George Knox, emeritus professor at Birmingham University, looked at maps published by the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) of pollution levels across the country in 2001.

He also looked at the position of particular emission sources such as hospitals, bus and train stations, heavy transport hubs and oil installations.

Chemical emission included carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, 1,3-butadiene, benzene and volatile organic compounds.

Prof Knox then looked at the postal addresses of 22,500 children who died of cancer in Britain between 1955 and 1980. To calculate the risk of cancer near particular hotspots, he looked at where the children who later died of cancer were born.

The study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found there was excess risk for children living within 0.3km of a chemical emission hotspot.

In a breakdown of emissions, 1,3-butadiene and carbon monoxide - both of which are produced by vehicle exhausts, and particularly diesel engines - were among the primary culprits, the study suggested.

Prof Knox said: "Within a short range of installations that emit these chemicals, that is within 300 metres, the risk is at least doubled and in some cases more than doubled. Not enough to worry the individual, but enough from a public health point of view."

Proximity of up to a kilometre of an emissions hotspot, such as a transport hub, also increased risk.

The combination of proximity to an emissions source in a pollution hotspot increased the child's risk by up to 12 times, the study said.

Prof Knox said his study showed a need for a realisation of the risk of pollutants in public health.

He said he accepted that atmospheric safety levels for 1,3-butadiene should be lowered so as not to harm the health of children in the womb and soon after birth - when they are most at risk.

He also said all vehicles should be fitted with catalytic converters, including lorries and public transport like buses and trains should have stricter guidelines to avoid leaving the engine running unnecessarily.

Prof Knox said parents should not be worried as the risk of childhood cancer is so low - one in 800 - that the relative increase would not necessarily mean a very high risk.

But he defended his study.

"People ask: Do you think you are worrying people? But I think there is less worrying in knowing where the disease comes from."

However, Freda Alexander, emeritus professor of cancer epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said the study was not convincing.

She said the study did not have a control group of healthy children to compare the birth and death rates to and said no account was taken of factors other than pollutants, such as social status.

Prof Alexander said the study was "interesting" but more research was needed.

Recent research includes a theory that children who develop cancer have a fairly common chromosome defect that occurs in the womb. Then at some point later in life, something else happens to trigger the cancer.

Prof Alexander continued: "The sad thing is we do not know what causes childhood cancer. The study is right that cancer takes hold very early in life but we do not know what causes this."

Ken Campbell of the Leukaemia Research Fund was also unconvinced.

He pointed out that the map used by Prof Knox shows the emissions from 2001. But the cancer deaths compared to the map are over a period from 1955 to 1980.

He also said the map used by Prof Knox did not give an accurate picture of which addresses are close to pollutants because they are broken down into such large areas.

Mr Campbell said the recent UK Childhood Cancer Study had ruled out pollutants as a cause. It also ruled out links with power lines, breast feeding, parental smoking and background radiation as possible causes of the disease.

He said: "A recent high-quality study has found no evidence to support this hypothesis. And we would be concerned there is a very large mismatch between the time of the data and the time of deaths of the children. Also, it is our understanding from NAEI that the scale of the maps would not permit extraction of data at this level."

Public pays for luxury life of cleric who preaches hatred

THE extremist Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed will undergo heart surgery costing thousands of pounds in an NHS hospital when he returns to Britain, it has emerged. DETAILS.

"A few days ago, the Democrat National Committee put out a press release attacking Bush for being physically fit. It seems his physical fitness comes at the expense of the nation's lardbutt youth. Or as the DNC put it: 'While President Bush has made physical fitness a personal priority, his cuts to education funding have forced schools to roll back physical education classes and his administration's efforts to undermine Title IX sports programs have threatened thousands of women's college sports programs.' Wow. I noticed my gal had put on a few pounds but I had no idea it was Bush's fault."
--Mark Steyn

Moral Self-Confidence

"The Senate has even zeroed out of the President's budget funding for a high-powered laser that would help gauge the reliability of the U.S. arsenal without testing. We also frequently hear calls for the U.S. to lead by example by further reducing its arsenal, and for the Bush Administration to 'strengthen' the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by agreeing to the useless Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Yet the notion that the nuclear genie can be willed out of existence through the efforts of right-thinking people is as absurd as it is wrongheaded. Just as guns and knives will be with us forever, so too will the bomb. We need bunker busters because North Korea and Iran are using underground facilities to build weapons that threaten us, and we must be able credibly to threaten in return. We need to have nuclear tests because the reliability of our principal warhead, the W-76, has been seriously called into question, and China must not be enticed to compete with us as a nuclear power. In neither case does the U.S. set a 'bad example.' Rather, it demonstrates the same capacity for moral self-confidence that carried America through World War II and must now carry us through the war on terror. Looking back after 60 years, who cannot be grateful that it was Truman who had the bomb, and not Hitler or Tojo or Stalin? And looking forward, who can seriously doubt the need for might always to remain in the hands of right? That is the enduring lesson of Hiroshima, and it is one we ignore at our peril."
--The Wall Street Journal

"The corruption at the UN didn't begin with the Oil for Food scandal and it certainly doesn't end there. The United Nations is nothing more than bureaucracy piled atop waste, wrapped in fraud, covered with abuse -- all of it funded by American taxpayers who foot 22 percent of UN dues -- more than any other nation. We also pour billions of dollars more into the coffers of its related agencies."
--Oliver North

"Media stories about the London bombing suspects suggest they became radicalized because of the 'oppression of Muslims around the world.' While it's true that hundreds of millions of Muslims live in miserable circumstances, who's actually responsible for that oppression? Fifty nations boast Muslim majorities and not one of them boasts economic prosperity and a functioning democracy. ... The true oppressor of Muslims is Islam itself, with teachings that destroy any chance of progress, peace or freedom."
--Michael Medved

'We welcome people here who share our values and our way of life.' The problem in Britain and the rest of Europe -- and increasingly in the United States -- is that we have forgotten what those values are. We have subordinated them to the nonspecific to avoid offending a particular group or culture not endemic to the host country."
-- Tony Blair

"What was new about [the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki] was the technology, not the morality. More people were killed with ordinary bombs in German cities or in Tokyo. Vastly more people were killed with ordinary bullets and cannon on the Russian front. Morality is about what you do to people, not the technology you use."
--Thomas Sowell

"Always retain the old, unchanging truth that happiness is not created by wealth and luxury, but by simplicity, moderation, a pure heart and a peaceful disposition."
--Frederick J. Miller

FACT OF THE DAY

American guitar manufacturer Leo Fender is born today in 1909. Best known for his range of electric guitars such as the Telecaster and Stratocaster, Fender saw his instruments being used as their preferred 'axe' by some of the greatest stars of the rock era such as Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Ironically, Fender did not know how to play the guitar.

Scots regiments keep up Iraq troop strength

Two more Scottish regiments are to be sent to Iraq as Britain's defence chiefs make clear they are committed to maintaining troop numbers in the country despite demands from al-Qaeda and anti-war campaigners for a complete withdrawal.

Terror hit seen likely soon in Saudi Arabia
Terrorists are "in the final stages" of planning new attacks in this oil-rich desert kingdom, with foreigners as the most likely targets, Britain and Australia warned yesterday.

Judge John Roberts

Roberts deferential to other branches
"Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. consistently deferred to the legislative and executive branches in his two years on the nation's second-most powerful federal court."

This may be what actually scares the libs about Judge Roberts becoming a Supreme Court Justice; he prefers states' rights over a too intrusive federal government.

A New Bill of Rights

I have read this item before, and recently received this email again; it's one of those that circulates around the internet. But for those who may not have seen it (I think it's quite good actually), I thought I would post it. It is inaccurately attributed to State Representative Mitchell Aye from GA but the famed "Bill of No Rights" was actually written in 1993 by Lewis Napper, a self-described amateur philosopher and from Mississippi who ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 2000 as a Libertarian.

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters.

We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from! (lastly....) NOW..

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!!

Smirking and swaggering as bomb suspects face the court

THREE of the four suspects accused of trying to kill commuters in the failed suicide bomb attacks on London on 21 July appeared in court yesterday amid an unprecedented police operation at the high-security Belmarsh complex.

UK al-Qaeda accused 'set up terrorist camps in US'

A BRITISH-BORN al-Qaeda suspect appeared in court yesterday accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in the United States.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which least to political
prosperity, Religion and morality are indespensable supports.
In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should
labor to subvert these great Pilliars of human happiness."

-- George Washington

High Court Asked to Take Guantanamo Case

WASHINGTON - Lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee asked the Supreme Court on Monday to consider blocking military tribunals for terror suspects, and overturn what they called an extreme ruling by high-court nominee John Roberts.

Roberts was on a three-judge federal appeals court panel that last month ruled against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who once was al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's driver.

Hamdan's attorneys told justices that the appeals court gave the White House authority "to circumvent the federal courts and time-tested limits on the executive."

Ex-U.N. Officer Pleads Guilty to Bribes

NEW YORK - A former United Nations procurement officer was indicted and pleaded guilty Monday to soliciting a bribe under the oil-for-food program, making him the first U.N. official to face criminal charges in connection with the scandal-tainted operation.

Alexander Yakovlev, a Russian, also pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of wire fraud and money laundering for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from U.N. contractors in his work outside oil-for-food. He could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the three counts in the indictment.

"In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent 5-4 ruling in Kelo v. New London, statements have been made about property rights that are demonstrative of the paucity of understanding among some within the legal profession. Carolyn Lochhead's July 1st San Francisco Chronicle article, 'Foes Unite in Defense of Property,' reports on...a statement made by a representative of People for the American Way, lead opponents to constitutionalists being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.... According to Ms. Lochhead's article, 'Elliot Mincberg, the group's legal director, said the case [Kelo v. New London] had been brought by the Institute for Justice as part of an effort by conservatives to elevate property rights to the same level of civil rights such as freedom of speech and religion, in effect taking the nation back to the pre-New Deal days when the courts ruled child labor laws unconstitutional.' To posit a distinction between civil or human rights on the one hand and property rights on the other reflects little understanding. ... Property rights are human rights to use economic goods and services. Private property rights contain your right to use, transfer, trade and exclude others from use of property deemed yours. The supposition that there's a conflict or difference between human rights to use property and civil rights is bogus and misguided. ... In a free society, each person is his own private property; I own myself and you own yourself. That's why it's immoral to rape or murder. It violates a person's property rights. ... Creating false distinctions between human rights and property rights plays into the hands of Democrat and Republican party socialists who seek to control our lives. If we buy into the notion that somehow property rights are less important, or are in conflict with, human or civil rights, we give the socialists a freer hand to attack our property." --Walter Williams

"The always inventive Los Angeles Times recently discovered a new reason to despise President Bush: his personal commitment to physical fitness. Suggesting the chief executive's daily exercise routine represents an 'obsession...that borders on the creepy,' columnist Jonathan Chait describes the notion of any connection between physical and mental fitness as 'silly,' comparing Bush to the 'perfectly toned airheads in Hollywood.' Actually, the president's demanding exercise schedule reflects the key element of his mature personality, which is self-discipline. He runs or bicycles with the same reliability with which he prays and studies the Bible every morning, arrives early for every appointment and gets to bed by 10 p.m. Most Americans consider such discipline a virtue, but liberal hatred for Bush is so intense that even his most admirable characteristics -- consistency, determination, cheerfulness, deep religious faith, self-deprecating humor and, yes, remarkable physical fitness -- become, for them the basis for contempt and derision."
--Michael Medved

"The new ambassador arrived at Turtle Bay only five hours after the president dispatched him, and he was greeted with carefully calibrated warmth. No American ambassador arrives at any appointment anywhere with a cloud hanging over his head; the representative of the president of the United States makes his own weather. The notion -- peddled by the Democrats, who knew they could delay the appointment only for a little while -- that Mr. Bolton arrives in New York with 'built-in handicaps' and 'starts out as a lame duck' without 'the stature that comes with Senate approval,' is merely media huffing and partisan puffing. In an editorial, the Associated Press called the appointment 'brazen' and an 'in-your-face gesture to Congress and the global community,' but the only puzzlement at the UN is over why the president allowed a tiny minority of senators, resigned to a self-assigned and probably semi-permanent role as knockers and grumblers, to frustrate policy aims with procedural delaying tactics. The president, presenting his new ambassador, said Mr. Bolton would 'speak for me on critical issues facing the international community,' which is of course what all ambassadors do." --Wesley Pruden

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
---Dwight D. Eisenhower

The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.
---Winston Churchill

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
--- Winston Churchill

"The deficit doctors have their scalpels out all right, but they're not poised over the budget. That's as fat as ever and getting fatter. What they're ready to operate on is your wallet."
---Ronald Reagan

AFTER THE WAR

God, Man and the Common Weal
A great democratic experiment is taking place in Iraq.

Although it appears the Iraqis are going to meet the Aug. 15 deadline for writing a new constitution, we shouldn't worry if they just can't do it "on time." It will certainly be dispiriting to many Iraqis and Americans--particularly in the Pentagon, where the counterinsurgency troop requirements for Iraq and Afghanistan haven't dovetailed well with Donald Rumsfeld's plans for a smaller "transformed" military. All of Washington wants the Iraqis to be more expeditious than our own Founding Fathers, who took years of trial and error to hammer out the mother of all modern constitutions.

Yet the Iraqis are where we want them to be: divided on critical matters of politics and faith, but still determined to resolve their differences through a binding written compromise. Their discussions are hot and sometimes intractable because all the parties know these debates matter. Federalism and the political role of Islam--perhaps the two most troublesome subjects--are critical issues throughout the Middle East. No one in Washington should want these debates toned down or curtailed."

FULL ARTICLE

"Today most of us are starched up stiff in the high, white collar of political correctness. What is deemed politically correct is as likely to enslave us as our prejudices. ... We are not all alike, but we are no longer permitted to celebrate our differences.

"Political correctness functions to silence us. It eliminates our right to ponder the issues important to our lives and to think for ourselves. In an allegedly free society it has become society's censor. ...

"Political correctness is the hollow voice of power exhorting the slaves to let the master think for them. It is often no more than the dictates of a group of self-appointed censors foisting their doctrine on us."

--- Gerry Spence, from his book "Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom".

And therein lies the problem we have today; honest opinions are not tolerated, nor respected. Political correctness is not the same as criticism; one should be able to criticize without political correctness getting in the way.

Robert Ringer writes, "Being a member of the all-volunteer political-correctness police should be beneath you. Individualism and political correctness are mutually exclusive objectives."

"Because a true individualist keeps an open mind when it comes to knowledge."

The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed.
--- William Henry Harrison, 1841

"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation."
--- James Madison

Netanyahu Resigns Over Israel Gaza Pullout

Benjamin Netanyahu
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Israel's Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures during a press conference.

Today in Jerusalem Benjamin Netanyahu stepped down as Israel's finance minister. In what is a last-minute protest against next week's Gaza pullout, his Cabinet colleagues were shocked by his announcement, but then forged ahead anyway, and gave the go-ahead to the first stage of the withdrawal plan moments after this development.

Netanyahu, the former prime minister, is considered to be a hard-liner and had aspirations to again become the prime minister of Israel by ousting Sharon. Netanyahu conceded that his stepping down will not stop the pullout. Regardless of this fact, he decided to resign anyway, saying that he is afraid the Gaza pullout will turn Gaza into a base of Islamic terror and further endanger Israel.

The TimesOnLine has a story about it here.

Tehran rebuffs EU on nukes
Iran yesterday rejected the European Union's offer of incentives in return for a suspension of its nuclear-fuel work, paving the way for a confrontation that could lead to U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Full-time armed guards for nuclear power stations

SCOTLAND'S two nuclear power stations are to have their own dedicated teams of armed police to protect them from attack by terrorists.

Suspect bombers' accounts are frozen by bank

THE suspected 21 July bombers used multiple aliases and addresses to open dozens of bank accounts, according to details disclosed by the Bank of England yesterday.

'Time to get tough,' says determined PM

TONY BLAIR yesterday vowed to deport foreign-born Muslim extremists and close down radical mosques in an overhaul of the law that sparked fears among civil liberties campaigners.

RELATED STORY:

Blair proposes ouster of radicals

Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed strict anti-terror measures yesterday that would allow Britain to expel foreigners who preach hatred, to close extremist mosques and to bar entry to Muslim radicals.

Tancredo's Bill

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colo., a possible '08 presidential contender, is making headlines by introducing an immigration bill denying illegal jobs to aliens, while at the same time creating a guest-worker program for employers needing temporarily legal workers.

But before the guest-worker program can begin, the government must meet several benchmarks in enforcing immigration laws, and increasing deportations; thereby reducing the number of illegals currently in the U.S.

Tancredo's bill is politically courageous because it doesn't call for amnesty of any kind. The downside, to be realistic, is that it will likely be defeated by his faint-hearted colleagues. Then again, who's to say that it will make it far enough to even be brought up for a vote.

STOPP

"New and notable legislation: In the House, Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Henry Bonilla introduced the Strengthening the Ownership of Private Property (STOPP) Act (HR 3405), which would prevent Supreme Court justices like David Souter from taking property from one private party and giving it to another." -- FEDERALIST PATRIOT

Sunset Commission

"In other efforts to restore sanity, President Bush wants to create a Sunset Commission for federal agencies, a review board that would assess the viability of federal agencies on a regular basis to find overlaps, redundancy or outright waste in programs being kept alive. Remember the Federal Helium Reserve? How about the Federal Board of Tea Examiners? Well, if this program has its way, federal agencies that have outlived their usefulness will go the way of these bureaucratic gems. Big-government fans oppose the idea, but it is really just one small step toward a more efficient federal branch." -- Federalist Patriot

The Next Justice
Do journalists understand that the Constitution prohibits religious tests for officeholders?

Why do 'Greens' Hate Machines?

"When George W. Bush last week stunned the world with his plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions, no one was more surprised than the green lobby. Human psychology being what it is, no one was more furious. It is not so much the scale of the planned reductions that have offended the eco-warriors: how could they possibly quibble with a proposal — supported by China, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia — to reduce greenhouse emissions by 50 per cent? No: what gets the greens’ goat is the methods that Mr Bush proposes to employ.

What drives the greens nuts is the boundless technological optimism of Washington, and they have dismissed the plan in withering terms. In the words of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Mr Bush’s efforts are like ‘a peace plan that allows guns to be fired’. It should go without saying that it is Mr Bush who is right to place his faith in mankind’s ability to think our way out of problems; and it is the poor benighted greens who are wrong.

To the greens, and to many scientists, there is only one True Path to environmental righteousness. That is, of course, to change our lifestyles. To prevent global warming, we must stop generating carbon dioxide. That means driving more economical cars, cutting down dramatically on emissions from power stations, and swathing our houses in polystyrene foam and our fells and dales in windmills.

That is what they say; what they mean, of course, is that we shouldn’t just cut down on these things but stop doing them altogether. Sell the car, take the bus. Better still, walk. Stop going on holiday to easyJetland, stay in a tent. In Wales. In the rain. Forget our civilisation and all the benefits it has brought us, forget any idea of progress and go back to keeping goats."

Full article here at Spectator.co.uk
(registration required)

Muslim edict slammed for not condemning al Qaeda
The fatwa condemning religious extremism recently issued by American Muslim groups was so broad it was meaningless, and should have denounced specific terrorist groups including al Qaeda, critics within the U.S. Muslim community say.

Iraqi women urge U.S. to protect their rights
Iraqi women took their fight for equal rights to American lawmakers yesterday, urging them to use their influence to see that women's rights are protected in the new constitution.

Galloway praises Iraqi insurgents

ANOTHER extraordinary attack by George Galloway on the UK's continuing presence in Iraq prompted calls yesterday for the incitement of attacks on British troops to be made a criminal offence.

Aw, Can't They Wait a While Longer?
"It is time for Democrats to stop moaning about John Roberts and John Bolton and start doing something productive--such as figuring out how to win elections."--Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe

What Would We Do Without Democratic Pollsters?
"Democratic Pollster: We Don't Stand for Anything"