Rudy Giuliani - "How quickly we forget."

I am hoping that the Senators who voted to block the Patriot Act revision are doing it just to score political points and that after further debate it will be reinstated. Given the additional tweaking the bill went under to address privacy concerns, I really don't know what they were thinking.

Honestly, I feel sick to my stomach that the NY Times put's it's own interest against the safety of all Americans. Aside from the fact that the "domestic spying" that was done may not have been illegal at all, the questionable timing of the article seems times to have affected the vote on the Patriot Act.

In yesterday's debate, several senators said the New York Times article showed that congressional and judicial curbs are needed on executive branch powers. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he had been unsure Thursday night how he would vote but decided to back the filibuster after reading the Times article. Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said seven other Democrats had not been entirely sure how they would vote until
they saw the news account.

So, a report based on unnamed sources from the publisher of Jayson Blair, Judith Miller, et al. is enough for Democrats to determine our national security policy. Great. I wonder if the Times gives them free subscriptions to Times Select?

I'll make a deal with the Times and others of its ilk. If you think the Bush administration is doing something illegal or immoral and it relates to National Security - tell the Senate - right away of you want to, but don't tell everyone in the frickin' world. That to me is immorality of the highest order. Anytihng for a buck.

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I've been looking the last couple of days for a photo from 9/11 that gives a good idea of where I was. My office was on the right side of the building with the red umbrella, at the height of the cap of the umbrella, on the side facing the Twin Towers. Of course a picture can't convey the feeling of shock and the boom of the explosion. It was at about this moment that we all dropped everything and evacuated the building. I'm still looking for a good icon to use for my 9/11 posts.

Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.
---------------------------------
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that Democrats should not seek a unified position on an exit strategy in Iraq, calling the war a matter of individual conscience and saying differing positions within the caucus are a source of strength for the party.

"There is no one Democratic voice . . . and there is no one Democratic position," Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

The U.S. is at war and this is the party that wants to provide us with our next Commander-In-Chief? You know, Leader of the Free World and all that? Why would anyone take them seriously?

The Brother-In-Law points out a very useful document describing, in detail, the access of the President and Congress to intelligence data. As he notes, the President has claimed several times that Congress has "access to" or "saw" the same intelligence on Iraqi WMDs before the war.

These are of course different words with very different meanings, so I'm curious to know which is the actual truth.

First of all, after reading the above-mentioned document, it appears that Congress has access to all "finished" intelligence. Regarding access to "raw" intelligence, source information and other data usually reserved for the Executive Branch, "it is noteworthy that Congress occasionally has sought and obtained such intelligence information from the executive branch."

What the real question is here is whether Congresspersons used the same or equivalent intelligence as the President did, not whether they had access to it or not. As the Robb-Silberman commission found, the summary information such as Presidential Daily Briefings (PDBs) and Senior Executive Intelligence Brief (SEIB) that Congress did not have access to were actually more alarmist and less nuanced than what Congress received. In other words, what Congress saw should have caused them to ask more questions about the intelligence, not less. Finally, as the Washington Post reported last year, "The lawmakers are partly to blame for their ignorance. Congress was entitled to view the 92-page National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq before the October 2002 vote. But . . . no more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond
the five-page executive summary."

Factcheck.org, as usual, does a better job than Knight-Ridder (linked to above) and debunks the myth that the Congress did not have sufficient information to question Bush's decision to go to war. Major sections quoted below:

The intelligence to which Bush refers is contained in a top-secret document that was made available to all members of Congress in October 2002, days before the House and Senate
voted to authorize Bush to use force in Iraq. This so-called National Intelligence Estimate was supposed to be the combined US intelligence community's "most authoritative written judgment concerning a specific national security issue," according to the Senate Intelligence
Committee. The report was titled "Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction....."

On the matter of the tubes, however, the report noted that there was some dissent within the intelligence community. Members of Congress could have read on page 6 of the report that the Department of Energy "assesses that the tubes are probably not" part of a nuclear program.

Some news reports have said this caveat was "buried" deeply in the 92-page report, but this is not so. The "Key Judgments" section begins on page 5, and disagreements by the Department of Energy and also the State Department are noted on pages 5,6,8 and 9, in addition to a reference on page 84.

Though much has been made recently of doubts about the tubes, it should be noted that even the Department of Energy's experts believed Iraq did have an active nuclear program, despite their conclusion that the tubes were not part of it. Even the DOE doubters thought Saddam was working on a nuclear bomb.....

On one important point the National Intelligence Estimate offered little support for Bush's case for war, however. That was the likelihood that Saddam would give chemical or biological weapons to terrorists for use against the US....The report assigned "low confidence" to this finding, however.

After years of fighting, millions of dollars spent and vicious campaigning from the Left and the Right, the sounds of freedom can finally be heard from the streets of.....New York?!?



See more of today's events from FanGirl.

Howard Stern farewell rally draws thousands in NY

I bought my Sirius Staellite Radio a year ago waitng for this very moment. F*** the FCC!

We now return you to our Conservative Programming......

The most vile lie regarding President Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina (and there's been a lot of them) has possibly fallen apart. I say possibly becuase I don't totally trust the new source and I could only find documents that would lead to this assumption but could not find the exact figures they used.

Statistics Suggest Race Not a Factor in Katrina Deaths

Statistics released by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals suggest that fewer than half of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were black, and that whites died at the highest rate of all races in New Orleans....According to the 2000 census, whites make up 28 percent of the city's population...but constitute 36.6 percent of the storm's fatalities in the city.

Boy, talk about it being hard to please some people.

From an MSNBC/WSJ poll this morning - "Approval of Mr. Bush's handling of the economy ticked up to 38% from 34% last month....." (This may be members only, there's a similar article is here.)

Meanwhile.....Prices Drop by Largest Amount in 56 Years

The Labor Department reported Thursday that its closely watched Consumer Price Index dropped by 0.6 percent last month, the biggest monthly decline since a 0.9 percent fall in July 1949....Outside of the volatile food and energy categories, prices were up 0.2 percent, a modest gain that should help relieve fears that this year's surge in energy costs could evolve into more widespread inflation problems.

(Gee, I wonder who stokes those fears?) Could it be, oh I don't know maybe..SaTaN?!? Or is it just the media? :-)

Also, GDP for the most recent quarter was 4.3% and has averaged 4.1% for the last 2 1/2 years (Excel file). During the Clinton "boom" years of the late '90s GDP was avergaing about a 4.3% increase per year. And we all know that was built on WorldCom, Enron, an internet bubble and a bunch of other corporate lies. GDP has increased every year since President Bush has taken office in 2001.

Unemployment ? Despite devastating hurricanes that brought an entire city to a halt and devastated a region the size of England, it's humming along at a historcially healthy 5.0% with steady job growth. Since May 2003, the economy has added nearly 4.5 million new jobs. Again, this takes into account an estimate of 400,000 jobs lost from Katrina alone.

The Truth on the Ground

Depending on which poll you believe, about 60 percent of Americans think it's time to pull out of Iraq.

How is it, then, that 64 percent of U.S. military officers think we will succeed if we are allowed to continue our work? Why is there such a dramatic divergence between American public opinion and the upbeat assessment of the men and women doing the fighting?.....

It is difficult for most Americans to rationalize this optimism in the face of the horrific images and depressing stories that have come to symbolize the war in Iraq. Most of the violent news is true; the death and destruction are very real. But experienced military officers know
that the horror stories, however dramatic, do not represent the broader conditions there or the chances for future success. For every vividly portrayed suicide bombing, there are hundreds of thousands of people living quiet, if often uncertain, lives. For every depressing story of unrest and instability there is an untold story of potential and hope. The impression of Iraq as an unfathomable quagmire is false and dangerously misleading.

Swedish parliament to cut Iran ties

The Swedish parliament ceased all bilateral contacts with the Iranian parliament Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The move follows a letter Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin sent asking parliaments worldwide to express their support for Israel. The letter, which was sent to more than 80 parliaments, called for an international response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call in October to "wipe Israel off the map."

A poll recently conducted -- this is a British poll reported in the Washington Times -- over 80 percent of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of coalition forces and about 45 percent of Iraqi population believe attacks against American troops are justified. - Rep. John Murtha (D - Pa.), November 17, 2005

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There's other evidence of the United States' increasing unpopularity: Two-thirds now oppose the presence of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, 14 points higher than in February 2004. Nearly six in 10 disapprove of how the United States has operated in Iraq since the war, and most ofthem disapprove strongly. And nearly half of Iraqis would like to see U.S. forces leave soon. Specifically, 26 percent of Iraqis say U.S. and other coalition forces should "leave now" and another 19 percent say they should go after the
government chosen in this week's election takes office; that adds to 45 percent. Roughly the other half says coalition forces should remain until security is restored (31 percent), until Iraqi security forces can operate independently (16 percent), or longer (5 percent). - ABC News Poll, December 13, 2005

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There's a big difference between over 80 percent strongly oppose and 67 percent oppose at any level. Even if you assume that two-thirds of those in the ABC poll that oppose us do so strongly, that's about half the number reported in the Murtha poll. That's not to mention that a majority of Iraqis are opposed to his plan to immediately redeploy (his own words).

The real point here is not to show that John Murtha was overstating the need for us to leave immediately, but simply to show that we shouldn't be making policy based on polls which can be biased either way based on any number of factors. Being in Iraq is either the right thing to
do or the wrong thing to do.

That being said, I have more confidence in the ABC Poll than in the poll Murtha referred to which was a "secret poll" by a an "Iraqi university research team".

Oy To The World - One Jew's take on the "Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays" debate. I think the author is being a little misleading when he suggests that it's Christians who are trying to eliminate "Merry Christmas" from the public sphere so as not to offend, but this opinion/humor piece still makes some good points.

I get that I live in a Christian nation. And I'm fine with it. I like
you guys. I think it's adorable that you ring giant, white pipe
cleaners around streetlights and make everything taste like peppermint
and thought the world was going to end when the calendar went to three
zeros in a row. It's like living with children.

By the way, I did get a Holiday card from the White House - I didn't even realize it didn't say Merry Christmas until a big brou-ha-ha erupted. Honestly, I did appreciate that the feelings of non-Christians were taken into account, but the holiday that started all of this is Christmas (which is a national holiday) and I don't think I would have taken it as proselytizing if it had said "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" or something to that effect.

Tookie Williams will be put to death shortly after midnight tonight. This is the official denial of clemency from Governor Schwarzenegger's office.

I haven't been following the case very closely, but if we're going to have a death penalty, we need to apply it in the case of people who commit multiple homicides, brag about it, and on top of it all, inspire other people to sensless violence which is what his life had been all about at the time. In any case, there is no one on this Earth who can prove a sincere repentance after they have been sentenced to death. Putting Tookie Williams to death will send a much stronger message to teens thinking of joining murderous gangs than encouraging them to read his books while he gets three hots and a cot for the rest of his life with the occasional visit from celebrities.

All that being said, it's depressing that we need to discuss these things at all. To paraphrase Golda Meir (badly), I don't hate Tookie Williams and others like him, but I do hate what they make us have to do to them.

I know that all of you are sitting around with nothing better to do than read through 60-year-old Presidential speeches, but after reading a few brief comparisons between Bush's political handling of the Iraq war and FDR's handling of WWII, I decided to read through a few of FDRs "fireside chats". That, and I have a cold which means I personally don't have anything better to do.

Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt

The truth is you can't really say the Bush is either exactly like, or not like, FDR. It would probably be very easy to cherry pick quotes and say, "That's exactly what President Bush said and he was laughed at"*, or "You see how open FDR was with the American people, he never deceived the American people!"**.

The best thing to do to get a complete picture is to read through entire speeches.

*"On the road ahead there lies hard work" - December 9, 1941

* "This war is a new kind of war. It is different from all other wars of the past, not only in its methods and weapons but also in its geography. It is warfare in terms of every continent, every island, every sea, every air-lane in the world." - February 23, 1942

** "We have most certainly suffered losses -- from Hitler's U-Boats in the Atlantic as well as from the Japanese in the Pacific -- and we shall suffer more of them before the turn of the tide. But, speaking for the United States of America, let me say once and for all to the people of the world: We Americans have been compelled to yield ground, but we will regain it." - February 23, 1942

**"Several thousand Americans have met death in battle. Other thousands will lose their lives." - September 7, 1942

There's plenty of other interesting details - FDR's constant optimism on the outcome of the war, his calls for sacrifice, praise of the Russians and criticism of the "Japs". Fascinating stuff, especially when you know the outcome in advance.

In preparation for the release of Steven Spielberg's "Munich" I wanted to provide some links regarding the events on which the movie is based. After each link, I've put the word used to describe the Palestinians who took the Israeli athletes hostage.

International Olympic Committee - Games of the XX Olympiad - Munich 1972 (terorrists)

Infoplease - Munich Massacre - The worst tragedy in modern Olympic history (terrorists)

Palestine Facts - Who murdered the athletes of the Israeli 1972 Olympic Team in Munich? (terrorists)

TIME magazine archive - Murder at Munich (guerillas)

Sports Illustrtaed - When The Terror Began (commnados/ terrorists)

CBS News - Munich Massacre Remembered (terrorists)

BBC - The Munich Massacre (terrorists)

Compare these articles with those written about recent attacks on Israeli citizens which are committed by "militants", "gunmen", etc.

I'd have put more links, but I have a cold and the Sudafed is making..... me
....drow
.....sy..

Israel readies forces for strike on nuclear Iran

ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.

The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.

Assuming that:

1) The enrichment of uranium could lead to the development of a weapon that could effectively destroy Israel or render it uninhabitable; and
2) The Iranian government has stated plainly that it will be enriching uranium; and
3) It is the stated policy of the Iranian government to destroy the State of Israel and/or remove all it's Jewish inhabitants

then Israel has every right to take all appropriate measures to destroy Iran's capacity to enrich uranium.

At first I thought that Israel should only do this if no civilians would be harmed (as was the case when the bombed the Iraqi facility in Osirak), but if Iran purposefully puts their facilities in civilians neighborhoods - too bad. (Needless to say they should do their best to avoid civilian casualties though).

Israel is denying the reports in the media.

When the Israelis were in full control of Gaza, the Palestinians built tunnels underneath the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle people and weapons. Now after Disengagement, the Palestinans have started building tunnels from Gaza into Israel proper.

IDF uncovers Gaza terror tunnel

Soldiers uncovered a Palestinian tunnel Saturday morning while working on a concrete, anti-sniper barrier near the Erez Checkpoint, north of the Gaza Strip...This was the first time since the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005 that Palestinian terrorists have tried to burrow underneath the border fence surrounding the Strip.

The one thing I know is that the Israelis will be watching...and waiting.

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but after living in South America for a little while in the late 90's I've picked up an interest in the game and especially love to follow the World Cup. The groupings were announced today for the 2006 World Cup in the host country, Germany, and the US got a pretty rough draw. Unfortunately, so did the Argentines, my wife's team. Well, there's always 2010....

U.S. draws tough group in World Cup

Come Joe, come to the Dark Side.

Lieberman Wins Republican Friends, Democratic Enemies With Support for War

Lieberman's Iraq Stance Brings Widening Split With His Party

Well, at least the Afghans seem to be happy with Bush's War on Terror.

Poll: Four years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghans optimistic about the future.

77 percent of Afghans say their country is headed in the right
direction — compared with 30 percent in the vastly better-off United
States. Ninety-one percent prefer the current Afghan government to the
Taliban regime, and 87 percent call the U.S.-led overthrow of the
Taliban good for their country. Osama bin Laden, for his part, is as
unpopular as the Taliban; nine in 10 view him unfavorably.

Progress fuels these views: Despite the country's continued
problems, 85 percent of Afghans say living conditions there are better
now than they were under the Taliban. Eighty percent cite improved
freedom to express political views. And 75 percent say their security
from crime and violence has improved as well. After decades of
oppression and war, many Afghans see a better life.

Of course, ABC's report is filled with the usual "buts" and "althoughs" and the only picture it seems they could find to post with the article relates to a bombing back on Novemeber 18. Afghans may be satisfied, but the mainstream media never will be.

Who says the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq can't agree on anything?

A group of Shiite and Sunni parties signed a declaration Thursday condemning terrorism, urging a timetable for the end of the US military presence, and vowing never to normalize relations with Israel.

Well, at least they're not pushing for Israel's disappearance from the face of the earth, like the Iranian president's doing.  Must be the positive American influence.

Whether you're Left or Right, it's always a good idea to Thank a Soldier. Even before they were ordered overseas by the President, they volunteered to serve and defend America. Chances are if you're reading this, you probably didn't (although I know some of you have and for that I thank YOU for your service).

I generally consider myself a good person, but the one moral issue I worry about when I go to meet my maker is how I let my fellow human beings literally fight my battles for me. I don't know how to reconcile the guilt.