U.S. intel report on Iran was political: Bolton
Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence services were seeking to influence political policy-making with their assessment Iran had halted its nuclear arms program in 2003, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said.

U.S., Russia to talk about missile defense
Reuters

WASHINGTON - The United States and Russia will hold senior-level talks about missile defense in Budapest next Thursday, the U.S. State Department said on Saturday.

“The best way to look at the U.S. tax code is like it’s a three legged mule. It’s ugly, deformed, and doesn’t do much good for anybody.”

-- Dick Armey --

“The holiday season is here, so it’s time to engage in the time-honored Christmas tradition of objecting to every time-honored Christmas tradition.”

-- Mark Steyn --

“Dishonesty defines Clinton’s campaign... Layered upon the wholesale dishonesty that defines Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign is a projected arrogance that it doesn’t matter. That somehow this nomination and this election belong to her, regardless of what she says or does. Voters, of course, will have the final say on this.”

-- Star Parker --

“For individual freedom to be viable, it must be a part of the shared values of a society and there must be an institutional framework to preserve it against encroachments by majoritarian or government will.”

-- Walter Williams --

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

I am a proud supporter of the Thomas More Law Center. I received this email from them today and I want to share it with you:

Attention American Patriots: A Soldier’s Song You Should Hear, A Marine’s Cause You Should Support

Join the Thomas More Law Center in Supporting Our Military This Christmas!


Please visit the Thomas More Law Center website and listen to The Soldier Song. A few years ago, a patriotic American, Sally Mudd, wrote a song to honor our soldiers. Her song is particularly meaningful and moving during the Christmas season. Listen to The Soldier Song now, and visit Sally's website for the lyrics, or to download the song to share. Also, take a moment to read and share A Soldier's Christmas, a poem.

TMLC asks you to especially remember the Chessani family during this Christmas season. Please consider the many Christmases Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani was away from his family defending our nation so that we could safely be with ours. Express your gratitude to him by becoming a part of his defense fund now, and above all, please keep the Chessanis in your prayers.

As your family prepares for Christmas, with all of the joy and busyness that it entails, please take time to remember and honor our military men and women who are far from home this Christmas. Because of their sacrifice, we are able to spend this blessed holiday safely at home.
Please pray for them, and for their families.

May God bless you and your family abundantly during this Christmas season!

The Stunning Reality of Voter Fraud
By Wright Talley

In what may be the most important voting case since Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court in January will hear a challenge to Indiana's 2006 law requiring a voter ID to vote. If the court rules against the law, 22 state voter ID laws that were designed to prevent voter fraud could be eliminated.

Democrats: Party of the ‘rich’

For years, Democrats have labeled Republicans the “party of the rich.” But as it turns out—and as is often the case with the Left—their rhetoric doesn’t match the reality. A study done by the Heritage Foundation using IRS data found that (a) more than half of the nation’s richest households are in states where Democrats hold both Senate seats, and (b) Democrats control most of the nation’s richest congressional districts.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California district, for example, boasts 43,700 “rich” households, while House Republican Leader John Boehner’s Ohio district has only 7,000 households with equivalent wealth. What’s more, even in Republican states, Democrats tend to control the wealthier areas.

This may explain the conundrum that’s hit the Democrat presidential candidates in defining who is “rich” and, by Democrat default, “taxable.” Senators Clinton and Obama squabbled over this during the recent Democrat debate in Las Vegas. Obama suggested he might support raising the $97,500 “upper-class” income limit on the Social Security payroll tax, but Clinton argued she is unwilling to “fix the problems of Social Security on the backs of middle-class families.” Of course, in Clinton’s New York, some typically middle-class jobs pay more than $100,000—to families that would not consider themselves “rich.” The “rich Democrat” demographics could also explain Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s sudden tabling of a recent proposal to tax multi-millionaire hedge-fund managers.

With the Demos’ talk of taxing the rich, the prospect apparently is less appealing when the “rich” are in their own backyard. Which raises the question: Are Democrats truly after the “equality” that they claim? Or are they simply after votes?

From The Patriot Post

Tidbits

1. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced the Securing Medicare and Retirement for Tomorrow Act (SMART Act, H.R. 4181). The bill targets Social Security and Medicare insolvency by shifting over the next 42 years to a system of personal retirement and healthcare accounts.
2. In the Senate: The Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill to the floor to combat global warming by imposing greenhouse-gas caps, which The Washington Times estimates will cost Americans $4 trillion to $6 trillion over 40 years.
3. The Senate passed 88-5 an AMT patch for next year, waiving PAYGO rules that require the $50-million “cost” of the relief to be offset by another tax hike, or (laugh, laugh) spending cuts. The five “No” votes for tax relief were Democrats.
4. Another crooked Clinton donor: Bill Clinton had to cancel a fundraiser for his wife’s presidential campaign at the Mississippi home of Super Heavyweight litigator Dickie Scruggs after Scruggs was indicted for conspiring to bribe a judge for $50,000. Scruggs, a longtime supporter of all causes Clinton (a red flag in itself), has been linked to some of the largest class action settlements in American history, including the shakedown of Big Tobacco and the asbestos litigation wave, some of which was based on utterly dubious evidence. Scruggs’s target as of late has been insurance companies involved in Hurricane Katrina payouts. Looking back at Scruggs’s methodology—which includes rewarding people for stealing documents from their employers to aid him in his cases—it’s no surprise that he’s a Friend of Bill and Hillary. If Scruggs manages to slip away from this bribery charge, it’s likely he will slide back into the Clinton fold.
   

From The Patriot Post

Judicial Benchmarks: Boehner v. McDermott

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal this week to review the case between House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) brought an end to the 11-year legal battle between the two congressmen. This farce began in 1996 when McDermott, one of Congress’s most liberal members, leaked to the press contents of a tape-recorded meeting among House Republicans over then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s alleged “ethics violations.” McDermott desperately clung to his First Amendment rights in violating the meeting’s confidentiality, but the DC Circuit Court of Appeals saw things differently. McDermott refused to admit wrongdoing and took the case to the nation’s highest court, which was apparently confident enough in the DC court’s opinion to decline a review. Now McDermott must pay Boehner $60,000 in damages and his $800,000 legal tab. McDermott still contends that he made the right decision, albeit an expensive one.

From: The Patriot Post

Quote of the week

“I was in an elevator in a Washington hotel, packed with ‘peace activists.’ They looked with disdain at my dress uniform. I queried the most boisterous among them, ‘If you were locked away in some God-forsaken hell hole of a prison in one of the ‘Stans,’ who would you rather have coming to rescue you, buses loaded with peacenik protestors or helicopters loaded with gung-ho Marines?’ The silence was deafening.”

-- Colonel (USMC), San Diego, California --

“War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.”

—John Stuart Mill

DESPITE THE NIE REPORT ON IRAN........

.........Iran a threat, say Europe allies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said Iran continues to pose a threat.

The comments came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began talks with European and Russian officials in Brussels on Iran's nuclear programme.

BBC NEWS

Fox News/AP:
Oregon Education Panel Proposes In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens

NIE authors accused of partisan politics
The Washington Times

Several current and former high-level government officials familiar with the authors of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran described the report as a politically motivated document written by anti-Bush former State Department officials, who opposed sanctioning foreign governments and businesses.

COMMENTARY

What’s The Big Deal About Religion in ’08?
By Frank Salvato

The Secular Progressive Left – and especially the secular mainstream media – is trying to scare the American people into believing that if a man of faith is elected to office he will defer to the tenets of his religion over his constitutionally mandated duty to administer and follow the laws of the land. Frankly, it gives me great comfort knowing that the person entrusted with the ability to bring about nuclear Armageddon believes there is a higher power to answer to at the end of times…

Kosovo Conflict Fears Rise
Some experts are warning of the strong possibility of violence breaking out in Kosovo in the months ahead, following a widely expected declaration of independence by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders. The U.S., which has about 1,500 troops in the province, could be drawn further in...

Energy Bill Full of Bull and Pork, Republicans Say
The Democrats’ energy bill, which passed the House on Thursday, is the “shot heard ‘round the world” for energy independence, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But House Republican leaders call it a “no-energy” plan that will increase taxes, raise gasoline prices, and kill American jobs...

Democrats Relenting on War Funding Bill?
House Republicans say there may be a crack in the Democrats’ refusal to send President Bush the war-funding bill he wants -- one without a troop withdrawal deadline..

China Says West Should Deal With Warming

BALI, Indonesia (AP) - China insisted Friday the U.S. and other wealthy nations should bear the burden of curbing global warming, saying the problem was created by their lavish way of life. It rejected mandatory emission cuts for its own developing industries.

Russia Ignores Call for Iran Sanctions

Belgium (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday the United States would continue along a two-track strategy to deal with Iran, pressing for new sanctions and demanding Tehran come clean about its nuclear program while offering talks to sweeten the deal. But Russia ignored her calls to punish Iran.

Gunmen Kill 3 Bhutto Supporters

Gunmen attacked a party office of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing three of her supporters ahead of parliamentary elections, police said. ...

Text of Romney's Speech

By The Associated Press

The text of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's speech Thursday on faith at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas can be read here.


Boston Globe Analysis:
Romney's appeal to 'moral heritage' is a presidential moment

TODAY'S JOKE

HILLARY’S INDIAN NAME

Senator Hillary Clinton was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nation two weeks ago in upper New York State.

She spoke for almost an hour on her future plans for increasing every Native American's present standard of living, should she one day become the first female President.

She referred to her career as a New York Senator, and how she had voted "YES" for every Indian issue that came before Congress.

Although the Senator was vague on the details of her plans, she seemed most enthusiastic about her future ideals for helping her "red sisters and brothers."

At the conclusion of her speech, the Tribes presented the Senator with a plaque inscribed with her new Indian name, Walking Eagle.

The proud Senator then departed in her motorcade, waving to the crowds.

A news reporter later inquired of the group of chiefs as to how they came to select the name given to the Senator.

They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of crap that it can no longer fly.

But seriously folks....

While you are chuckling over Senator Walking Eagle, here are two pictures that epitomize her:

How she looks upon a crook ---- And how she looks upon an American soldier

Courtesy of: To The Point News

This is pretty neat.

This is a pretty cool idea. Car prototypes using a disappearing car door concept.

FAILED "CARJACKING" ATTEMPT

BATTLE LAKE, Minn. (AP) - "Ottertail County authorities say a man tried to carjack a MnDOT snowplow truck.

It happened Tuesday night (12/4/07) on state Highway 210 near Battle Lake.

Authorities say the plow operator saw the 23-year-old Battle Lake man along the highway and stopped to see if he needed help. The man climbed onto the truck, then allegedly told the driver to get out.

A short time later, the man got off the truck and the plow operator drove away.

A pickup driver later saw the man standing in the middle of the highway and also stopped to see if he needed help. Authorities say the man opened the door of the pickup, grabbed the driver by the jacket and tried to pull him from the truck.

The driver took off with the man still hanging on to his jacket -- dragging him about 20 yards.

The man remains in jail."

Crazy fool.

Iraqi officers go missing in U.S.
The Washington Times

Numerous Iraqi military and law-enforcement officials brought to the U.S. as part of special intelligence and training programs have run away and are seeking asylum in this country or disappeared altogether, The Washington Times has learned.

Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say nearly a dozen Iraqis fled military training facilities in the U.S., including a brigadier general who went to Canada with his family earlier this year.

Sue-happy Police Officer

CASSELBERRY, Fla. — Casselberry authorities say a police sergeant has been fired for suing a family after she slipped and fell while trying to rescue a 1-year-old boy from drowning.

Casselberry Police Chief John Pavlis fired Sergeant Andrea Eichhorn on Tuesday.

Eichhorn has dropped her negligence lawsuit. It claimed there was water on the floor at Joey Cosmillo's home when police arrived. Eichhorn claimed she broke her knee and missed two months of work after she slid on the wet floor.

The boy suffered brain damage and can no longer walk, talk or swallow. He lives in a nursing home and eats and breathes through tubes.

Eichhorn can appeal her firing. Pavlis said the lawsuit brought public ridicule to the agency and damaged its reputation.

FOX NEWS

Report on Iran fuels Arab fears

Los Angeles Times

Some analysts say Tehran may feel free to interfere in the Mideast, but a few are relieved that chances of a U.S. attack have dimmed.

CAIRO -- The dwindling possibility of a U.S. attack on Iran is changing the dynamics of Middle East politics and raising Arab concern that Tehran may now feel emboldened to strengthen its military, increase its support for Islamic radicals and exert more influence in the region's troubled countries.

Reuters:
Energy Bill Clears House

Warning: Congress May Be Hazardous to Your Health
By Chuck Muth

If only we could live on the hot air and posturing of our elected officials. That would eliminate our reliance on food and, with luck, our need for prescription drugs as well. Since 1906 we’ve entrusted Food & Drug Administration to ensure the safety of our vital food and drugs. Foolishly, we’ve also entrusted Congress and successive administrations to provide appropriate oversight and management of the agency. Now, after a century of Washington-style bureaucracy-building, America is stuck with an FDA that’s unequivocally incapable of safeguarding either our food or our drugs… FULL COMMENTARY.

So let's see. Our government has made a mess of:
(1.) The FDA
(2.) Social Security
(3.) Medicare
(4.) The VA Hospitals

And we want them to run our health-care system for everyone? I think not. (HH)

Pelosi Urged to Condemn Open-Air SF Sex Fair

Leaders from three pro-family groups Wednesday called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to denounce the Folsom Street Fair – which is called “the world’s largest leather event” and is held each September in San Francisco – as a “grotesque affair” that violates laws prohibiting public nudity and child abuse...

Risk Remains As Long As Iran Enriches Uranium, Experts Say

As Democrats continue to attack the administration over a new intelligence assessment that Iran suspended its quest for nuclear weapons four years ago, proliferation experts say that as long as Tehran continues to enrich uranium, the potential threat remains...

Waiting for the Next Reagan - By: Michael Reagan

"A party that has no promises for a bright and attainable future is a party that has no promise." -- Michael Reagan

Republicans keep longing for a reincarnation of Ronald Reagan to pop up and win the GOP presidential nomination, but thus far not one of the current candidates has shown that he has the vaguest notion of what made my father the great president he was — his vision of the America it is capable of becoming based on his unbounded optimism and faith in the ability of fellow Americans to do the right thing when told the truth.

They keep going off on tangents, arguing about the religious faith of one of their number, or about the legality of using lawn service companies that hire illegal aliens, or how much a former mayor spent on security for himself and his mistress, but not a single word about what matters most – a vision of what kind of America will result if they win the presidency.

The American people crave to see the vision of the shining city on the hill my dad promised and went a long way towards creating, yet not a single one of the GOP candidates has said a word about how they plan to get us there, or even mentioned it’s where they want to take us, or what it would be like once we got there.

The voters are being left with a slate of candidates whose vision of the kind of nation they imagine remains a mystery. Instead they concentrate on attacking one another, thus violating my dad’s 11th commandment that Republicans must refrain from going after their party rivals.

This is a serious defect. If the men who seek the opportunity to win the presidency either have no idea of what kind of America they want to help create as president, or worse, are afraid to explain their vision to the electorate, the Republican party will deserve to go down in defeat next year. Full commentary.

Hillary, Rudy Will Prevail After Losing Early

It’s possible, maybe probable, that both front-runners for their party nominations will be wiped out in the early caucuses and primaries. It may well be that neither Hillary Clinton nor Rudy Giuliani win anything before Florida. Read full story.

Republicans' Secret Weapon: Taxes

By David Davenport

Hillary Clinton leads the presidential polls, but there's one issue that could change things by next November. No, it's not the war or abortion but that pocketbook issue that has long defined the difference between the parties: taxes.

Democratic Congressional leader Charles Rangel has proposed a $1 trillion tax revision which, by some estimates, would increase taxes more than $3 trillion over 10 years. And finally, someone has begun to tally up the cost of Hillary Clinton's campaign promises, which total somewhere between $100 and $200 billion.

Often as an election draws closer, the economy and pocketbook issues loom larger. And one real difference between the parties is the Republican plan of continuing the tax cuts of the Bush years, or moving to the revisions and increased taxes of the Democrats.

To paraphrase the late Senator Everett Dirksen--a trillion here and a trillion there may start to sound like real money.

BY DANIEL HENNINGER
Democrats imply the U.S. can talk its way out of global threats.

The judiciary has no business managing how we fight wars abroad.

BY DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. AND LEE A. CASEY
Editorial here.

CBS Seeking ‘Irreverent,’ ‘Hip’ Journalist for Eco-Beat (No Knowledge Required)

Economy Grew More than We Knew, but Networks Barely Notice

SCHIP Bill Increases Illegal Immigrants' Access to Medicaid and Undermines Welfare Reform
- From The Heritage Foundation

Fixing Overheated Housing Market with Half-Baked Bailout Plan
It’s the “housing crisis”; it’s the “subprime crisis.” But it’s also a reporting crisis. Average home prices are actually up 80 percent over the last seven years. But listening to journalists, it sounds like every house in America is worthless. The media have been quick to promote a government-backed “rescue” for mortgage holders who can no longer make payments.

Tragedy of the Commons II
By John Stossel

I practice charity regularly. I believe in sharing. But when government takes our money by force and gives it to others, that's not sharing.

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."

-- James Madison

Democracy's Future Depends on the Family

By Albert Mohler

Democracy's Future Depends on the Family —Albert Mohler Maybe you have heard this myth--that the so-called nuclear family is a recent cultural development. That's nonsense of course, because the most basic form of the family has always been a married couple with their offspring.

Nevertheless, liberal academics have argued for decades that the nuclear family is a recent invention, implying that the structure of the family is up for endless negotiation.

Along comes Stein Ringen, a professor at Britain's Oxford University. Ringen argues that the nuclear family is the very basis of civilization--and is essential for democracy.

He explains, "Where there are children there are families." In his new book, "What Democracy is For," Ringen argues that families are necessary for the nurture and development of children as future citizens.

His point is simple and clear--democracy worldwide is weaker than first appears and cannot survive if the family is undermined. This is a warning we had better heed.

Nothin' to see here.

You would think this would be headline news. Any theories as to why it is not?

NEWS HEADLINES

Reuters:
Hsu Indicted for Fraud, Illegal Campaign Contributions

New York Times:
Clinton 'A Long Way' From Winning Nomination

Boston Globe:
Clinton scandals' effects still unfolding

Washington Post:
Court: Iowa Can't Fund Prison Ministry
Judges Find Rehabilitation Program Unconstitutional Without Secular Option

New York Times:
Phoenix Mayor Shifts on Officers' Asking for Immigration Status

Iran Is Still a Danger, Bush Says

Iran Is Still a Danger, Bush Says By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor December 04, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - "Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous -- if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," President Bush said on Tuesday.

Jury begins deliberations in Chicago terror case

MIAMI (AP) — Jurors began deliberations Monday on charges against seven men accused of conspiring to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and blow up FBI offices in an attempt to start an anti-government insurrection.

The members of the so-called "Liberty City Seven" face sentences of up to 70 years in prison if convicted of four terrorism-related conspiracy charges, including plotting to wage war on the U.S. and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda.

The jury got the case following a two-month trial. FULL STORY.

Despite defeat, Chávez's vision 'still alive'

Hugo Chávez showed no sign Monday of giving up his quest to become president for life, vowing that his plans to make Venezuela a socialist economy are "still alive" despite unexpected defeat at the ballot box.

Opposition leaders said they expected Chávez to seek another way to remain in power beyond the end of his term in 2013, even though a slim majority of Venezuelans voted Sunday not to remove presidential term limits. READ MORE.

Will Musharraf Rig Next Month’s Elections?
By Robert D. Novak

Diplomats at the U.S. embassy in Islamabad could hardly believe what President George W. Bush said to anchor Charles Gibson on ABC “World News” Nov. 20. He described Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf as “somebody who believes in democracy” and declared: “I understand how important he is in fighting extremists and radicals.” Was the president of the United States issuing Musharraf a free pass to rig next month’s Pakistan elections? That was not Bush’s intention…

RELATED STORY:
Nawaz Sharif barred from Pakistan election. Story here.

UPDATE ON EGYPTIAN BLOGGER

YouTube restores account of Egypt anti-torture blogger

Europe urges Russia election probe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe joined the United States on Monday in demanding Russia investigate alleged abuses in an election won overwhelmingly by President Vladimir Putin's party, and Germany denounced the poll as undemocratic. Full Article

Customs to collect full set of fingerprints from visitors to US

USA Today:
Seeking better anti-terrorism checks

But .... but .... doesn't this violate their constitutional rights? (**T-I-C**)

Despite breakthrough, Rep. DeGette will keep pushing abortion embryonic stem-cell research

Judge: Prosecutors 'overreacted' in border shooting

A federal appeals judge this morning said prosecutors "overreacted" by charging two former U.S. Border Patrol agents with a gun charge that carried a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison.

A three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments today by attorneys for Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving sentences of 11 and 12 years in prison respectively for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler in the buttocks and covering it up.

"It does seem to me like the government overreacted here," said Judge E. Grady Jolly, questioning prosecutor Mark Stelmach before a crowded courtroom. "There were plenty of statutes you could have charged."

Jolly asked whether Ramos or Compean would have been prosecuted if they had reported the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was wounded on Feb. 17, 2005, near Fabens, southeast of El Paso.

Compean picked up the shell casings at the scene of the shooting and neither agent volunteered to supervisors that they fired their weapon.

"They are being prosecuted for hiding the crime," Jolly said, suggesting the prosecution "got out of hand."

See full article at the Houston Chronicle.

Murtha Says Surge Working in Iraq, but Reid ......

Says Surge Not Working, Vows Another Vote on Withdrawal
From:The Hill

UK Leftists Praise Chavez, Castro

London – Countries like Venezuela and Cuba are giving hope to socialists all over the world and should be supported by Britain, a conference of liberal activists was told over the weekend. More than 600 participants attended the 3rd annual Latin America Solidarity for State Supported Misery Conference in London, where legislators and other speakers praised the leftward drift in the region...

Blow for Chavez as Voters Reject Constitutional Changes

Venezuela’s voters have narrowly rejected President Hugo Chavez’s attempts to amend the constitution and do away with presidential term limits. The results of Sunday’s vote deal a severe blow to his plans to transform the oil-rich country into a model of Cuba-inspired “21st century misery socialism.”

UN Urges Price Controls to Fight Climate Change

A report released last week by the United Nations Development Programme urges government price controls on gases such as carbon dioxide to fight climate change, but a group discussing the document warned that “being anti-growth is not the solution” to global warming...

Battle Lines Drawn As UN Climate Meeting Begins

Heads of state, ministers, officials, activists and others from more than 180 countries kicked off a major two-week environmental gathering in hot, air-conditioned Bali on Monday. The series of Dec. 3-14 meetings is intended to launch negotiations over a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol...

Questions about character cost Clinton

By Star Parker:

The honesty and transparency themes are driving much of voter sentiment in this election. It helps explain the surprising success of Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. Read on.

Facts are stubborn things .......

“Of course Bill Clinton was against the war in Iraq from the beginning. It’s proven unpopular. It would be different if the war had gone better, as it has in Afghanistan. Bill Clinton’s still for that one. There’s a phrase for someone who’ll stick with you through thick and then and in-between: A man to tie to. Bill Clinton’s the opposite. Not only does he disappear when the going gets tough, he was never with you from the first—at least to hear him tell it. With him, history is one of the plastic arts. There is no surer guide to William Jefferson Clinton’s view of the past than what is popular in the present. All of his statements supporting the war in Iraq now have become, in a Nixonian word, inoperative. Down the memory hole they go, as if they’d never been uttered... Bill Clinton tends to bet for and against any political proposition that involves taking a risk, then recall only the position that proved popular. That way, he can’t lose. Principle has nothing to do with it... But never fear, should the long light of history reveal that in the end this long, long struggle in Iraq has bolstered freedom and stability in that always-volatile part of the world, rest assured, Bill Clinton will have been for it all along.” —Paul Greenberg

Trouble on the Romney Trail

By Dick Morris:

This is not a good time to be Mitt Romney. After almost a year of having the Iowa and New Hampshire airwaves to himself, he is now facing a challenge on the right from Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson and on the left from Rudy Giuliani.

Pressed from both sides, he is leaking votes. Where once a sweep of the table of the early states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina) appeared in the cards, he is now looking at a possible defeat in Iowa, derailing his plans.

Read more.

AN ARGUMENT FOR TERM LIMITS

"Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens."

-- George Mason, 1788

Stalin Redux

By David Aikman

"If you thought the fantasy language of Communism vanished with the collapse of communism 16 years ago, think again. The latest megalomaniac to proclaim an entirely new age for humanity is Venezuela's leftist dictator, Hugo Chavez. This coarse strongman, who is so anti-American that one of his best friends is Iran's equally bombastic leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, wants to dredge up a phrase cooked up in the torture cellars of Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao: the so-called "new man."

The idea is that, if the state controls everything, all human wickedness itself will be suppressed and a "new man," with a completely changed human nature, will emerge to turn our world into a sort of left-wing hippy commune.

Chavez may yet lose in a forthcoming referendum to determine if he should rule Venezuela virtually indefinitely. That would be nice. We could do without a new version of Joseph Stalin."

Update: Of course as we know now, it appears Chavez's referendum went down in failure. The referendum would have changed their constitution and allowed him to keep running as dictator "president" every 6 years for as long as he wanted.

One must fully recognize the distinct possibliity that in 4 years when this term his up, he will not relinquish his dicta ....er, presidency.

CNN/YouTube Debate Was a Sham

By: David Limbaugh

The CNN/YouTube Republican presidential debate serves as a perfect example of why conservatives refer to CNN as "Clinton News Network."

Republicans should have declined CNN's invitation, just like Democrats declined Fox News, though it's doubtful Fox would have orchestrated or permitted a similar ambush of Democratic candidates.

The "debate" involved many questions designed not so much to highlight the candidates' differences (other than Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney on immigration) but to place the entire conservative agenda in a negative light.

Many were "When did you stop beating your wife?" questions because they included premises calculated to make Republicans look bad irrespective of the candidates' responses. Even if CNN didn't conspire with the questioners, the effect was the same.

You'd never catch Democrats in such a situation.

Let me give you a few examples and, with some, offer alternative responses.

One questioner asked what criminal penalties should be imposed against an .......

Report: Abbas reiterates refusal to recognize Israel as 'Jewish state'

By The Associated Press

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his refusal on Saturday to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Israel Radio reported."

So much for the "peace" process. As I stated in an earlier post shortly before the Annapolis meeting, if you cannot agree to something so basic as this, there's nothing else to discuss.

French teen's rape case exposes Dubai's dark side

Alleged victim tells his story of violent sex crime in modern Arab metropolis
--ABC News

Smoking ban poses new climate threat

Pubs are likely to pump hundreds of thousands of tons of additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result of the smoking ban.

Policy advisers predict that emissions from patio heaters in pubs and restaurants will increase from 22,200 tons of greenhouse gases a year to up to 282,000 tons - the equivalent of flying a jumbo jet 171 times around the Earth. Read more.

Bagpipes a threat to the environment (and we're not talking noise pollution)

THEY were once outlawed for being used as seditious weapons of war. Now, bagpipes have been blasted as an environmental menace. More details.

Chinese missiles 'smuggled into Saudi Arabia'

Paper says suspected al-Qaida terrorists allegedly able to bring in 8 Chinese-made missiles.
Fox News/Associated Press

No, Mr. Huckabee, It's Not.....

Huckabee: 'a different kind of Jesus juice':

The Republican's idiosyncratic agenda in Arkansas -- a health plan, taxes for parks -- was always driven by faith, he says.

LITTLE ROCK, ARK. -- In 2005, a Republican state senator named Jim Holt introduced a bill to deny public benefits to Arkansas' soaring population of illegal immigrants. Holt, a Southern Baptist minister, figured it was a rock-solid conservative idea -- a matter, he said, "of right and wrong."

Huckabee called the bill "race-baiting" and "demagoguery," and argued that the denial of health services could harm innocent children. The bill, Huckabee said, did not conform with his take on Christian values.

It is not YOUR money, Mr. Huckabee. As a Christian, you are free to donate YOUR OWN TIME AND MONEY, or start your own philanthropic organization. Fine, go ahead and do that; and you will have my utmost respect.

But to reach into SOMEONE ELSE'S pocket and steal THEIR MONEY money to satisfy YOUR ideals is simply wrong.

L.A. Times calls CNN: Corrupt News Network

Says self-serving agenda was set for Republican presidential debates

Illegal immigrants arrested at furniture store protest

MESA, Ariz. (AP) -- Eight illegal immigrants were arrested during a protest outside of a Phoenix furniture store that had hired sheriff's deputies to keep day laborers away. Read more.

France stunned by rioters’ savagery

Times Online

IN retrospect, it was not a good idea to have left his pistol at home. Called to the scene of a traffic accident in the Paris suburbs last Sunday, Jean-François Illy, a regional police chief, came face to face with a mob of immigrant youths armed with baseball bats, iron bars and shotguns.

What happened next has sickened the nation. As Illy tried to reassure the gang that there would be an investigation into the deaths of two teenagers whose motorbike had just collided with a police car, he heard a voice shouting: “Somebody must pay for this. Some pigs must die tonight!”

The 43-year-old commissaire realised it was time to leave, but that was not possible: they set his car ablaze. He stood as the mob closed in on him, parrying the first few baseball bat blows with his arms. An iron bar in the face knocked him down.

“I tried to roll myself into a ball on the ground,” said Illy from his hospital bed. He was breathing with difficulty because several of his ribs had been broken and one had punctured his lung.

Chavez Headed For Victory: Gov't Sources -

New York Times

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared headed for victory on Sunday in a referendum on allowing the leftist to rule for as long as he keeps winning elections, government-linked sources said, citing exit polls.

Three exit polls showed Chavez won by between six and eight percentage points in a vote where turnout was low, the two sources said.

If confirmed, it would be by far the slimmest victory margin in the career of a man who wants to rule for life and turn the major oil exporter into a socialist state.

Iranian Pushes Nuclear Talks Back to Square 1

New York Times

PARIS, Dec. 1 — In a sign that Iran has hardened its position on its nuclear program, its new nuclear negotiator said in talks in London on Friday that all proposals made in past negotiations were irrelevant and that further discussion of a curb on Iran’s uranium enrichment was unnecessary, senior officials briefed on the meeting said.

Navy would struggle to fight a war

Telegraph.co.uk

The Royal Navy can no longer fight a major war because of years of under­funding and cutbacks, a leaked Whitehall report has revealed.

School nativity plays under threat

Only one in five [British primary] schools are planning to perform a traditional nativity play this year. They are now outnumbered by schools that say they will be either putting on a non-religious play, such as Scrooge or Snow White, or giving no performance at all. [...]

Several of the schools surveyed said the nativity tableau was no longer a feature because the intake was ethnically mixed and staff had to be aware of “not offending anyone”.

A spokesman for a school in Barking, east London, where half of the intake is white British, said: “We are not putting on a play; instead we are having a talk about a Czech winter play. We don’t feel the need to have the nativity. We are an ethnically diverse school and want to learn about other cultures.”

Read more at Telegraph.co.uk

British warn of China cyber-spying

The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

British warn of China cyber-spying LONDON (AP) — The head of Britain's domestic spy agency has warned that China is spying on the computer systems of British corporations, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Foes dread Chavez reforms

The Washington Times

CARACAS, Venezuela — Opponents of President Hugo Chavez fear he will use his massive government apparatus to "manipulate" the vote in today's referendum on a package of constitutional reforms aimed at turning Venezuela into a communist state.

Lebanon leaders back army chief for presidency

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's anti-Syrian governing coalition nominated the army chief for president on Sunday, opening the way for him to fill the vacant post in a step that would ease a deep political crisis.

The governing coalition had previously opposed the candidacy of General Michel Suleiman -- the preferred consensus choice of the opposition led by Hezbollah and backed by Syria.

President Emile Lahoud's term ended on November 23.

Polls show Putin dominating Russia vote
USATODAY.com

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin's party won more than 60% of the vote in Russia's parliamentary election Sunday, exit polls showed, following a Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory for United Russia.

The projected result is expected to allow Putin to claim he has a mandate to retain ultimate political power even after he steps down as president next year, as required by the constitution.

United Russia led the field with 61% of the vote, with the Communists — the only opposition party slated to win seats — trailing far behind with 11.5%, according to a poll conducted by the state-owned All-Russia Opinion Research Center.

Chavez Wins Referendum: Gov't Sources

New York Times

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared headed for victory on Sunday in a referendum on allowing the leftist to rule for as long as he keeps winning elections, government-linked sources said, citing exit polls.

Three exit polls showed Chavez won by between six and eight percentage points in a vote where turnout was low, the two sources said.

If confirmed, it would be by far the slimmest victory margin in the career of a man who wants to rule for life and turn the major oil exporter into a socialist state.