SECURITY CONFERENCE

A worthwhile conference at the US Army War College, but haven't watched it all yet. (I need to get a video IPod to keep up with all of the information coming online)

SAUDI TERRORST ARRESTS

The Saudis have arrested over 170 terrorist suspects who have been trained as pilots to fly into Saudi oil facilities.

The militants plotted to carry out suicide attacks against "public figures, oil facilities, refineries ... and military zones." The statement said some of the military targets were outside the kingdom, but it did not elaborate.

CRITICISM OF SENATOR HARRY REID

I view columnist David Broder's criticism of the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, as significant. Broder is not a right-wing Republican--while I don't agree with all his columns, I think he carefully analyzes each issue he discusses. On a separate issue, I don't understand why the press didn't hold Reid's Nevada land deals up to higher scrutiny--the Democrat refrain in the last election was to end the "culture of corruption."

I just saw an even more critical post about Reid and McCain's criticism of him at Gateway Pundit.

"What I think Senator Reid has lost sight of...Presidents don't lose wars. Political parties don't lose wars. Nations lose wars. And, when nations lose wars, nations suffer."

AL QAEDA & AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE

An excellent interview (audio) with Lawrence Wright, the author of the Looming Tower, on Hugh Hewitt. Looming Tower is a must read for every intelligent American. The interview reinforces my feeling that the American intelligence community is close to being inept. One can expect politicians to have a certain ignorance of the Islamic world, but if the US intelligence community has no better understanding of the Islamic world, another 9/11 is going to happen.

IMMIGRATION

Lou Dobbs on how the American media is hiding the real facts behind current illegal immigration into the US.

REMEMBER GLOBAL COOLING?

All the evidence appears to point to a warming trend on our planet, but I have to admit the cynic in me still is somewhat suspicious of all this hype because I have been through the global cooling crisis. I have watched Gore's environmental epic and two counter arguments--this is beginning to look more and more political. Are both politicians and scientists engaged in some kind of group think? I guess I still haven't forgiven the scientific community for voting (!) to disestablish Pluto as a planet.

IRANIAN STUDENT PROTESTS

Even female students are protesting.

WMD

Did the Bush administration bungle the evidence for WMD in Iraq?????

IRAQ WAR SUPPORT

Younger people (18-29) are more likely to support the war in Iraq than people over 65.

BBC

BBC bias against America. An advertisement criticizing the BBC.

MUSLIMS WILL RULE AMERICA AND BRITAIN

A Palestinian imam speaks.

GORE'S ENVIRONMENTAL FILM CHALLENGED

A documentary film to counter Gore's recent environmental epic.

IRAQ/AL QAEDA CONTACTS

Very interesting.

WORLD BANK

The conduct of the World Bank, in general, has troubled me--I see a group of bureaucrats with high salaries who are not doing enough to help the poorer nations of the world. The Wall Street Journal seems to indicate the problems are broader than the recent Wolfowitz Affair.

DEMOCRAT JUNKETING

A new "culture of corruption."

US SATELLLITES VULNERABLE

By 2010 China will be able to take out lower orbiting US satellites. Obviously this is a threat to all satellite communications whether civilian or military.

SHARIA LAW IN MINNESOTA

From Powerline.

Minneapolis Community and Technical College is poised to become the state's first public school to install a foot-washing basin to help the school's 500 Muslim students perform pre-prayer rituals. "We want to be welcoming," MCTC President Phil Davis said, noting a student was hurt trying to wash in a regular sink.

THE NOSENKO CASE

Off and on I have been following the Nosenko case and now a new book once again raises the distinct likelihood that the CIA was once again outfoxed by the KGB. I with Angleton on this one. Maybe this is why I liked the recent movie, The Good Shepherd, so much.

Roll back the tape to January 1964: America is still reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and investigators don't know what to make of the fact that the apparent assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, lived for three years in the Soviet Union. Did the Russians have any role in JFK's death?

At that very moment, a KGB defector named Yuri Nosenko surfaces in Geneva and tells his CIA handlers that he knows the Soviets had nothing to do with Oswald. How is Nosenko so sure? Because he personally handled Oswald's KGB file, and he knows the spy service had never considered dealing with him.

For many spy buffs, the Nosenko story has always seemed too good to be true. How convenient that he defected at the very moment that the KGB's chiefs were eager to reassure the Warren Commission about Oswald's sojourn in Russia. What's more, Nosenko brought other goodies that on close examination were also suspicious -- information that seemed intended to divert the CIA's attention from the possibility that its codes had been broken and its inner sanctum had been penetrated.

WHITE HOUSE EGG ROLL

See You Tube.

THE NEW BRITAIN

From Freedom Dogs.

COMPARING JUDEO-CHRISTIAN AND MUSLIM VIOLENCE

Raymond Ibrahim has an interesting post, "Is Judeo-Christian violence the same thing as Islamic violence?

Old Testament violence is an interesting case in point. Yahweh clearly ordered the Hebrews to annihilate the Canaanites and surrounding peoples. Such violence is therefore an expression of God’s will, for good or ill. Regardless, all the historic violence committed by the Hebrews and recorded in the Old Testament is just that — history. It happened; God commanded it. But it revolved around a specific time and place and was directed against a specific people. At no time did such violence go on to become standardized or codified into Jewish law (i.e. the Halakha).

This is where Islamic violence is unique. Though similar to the violence of the Old Testament — commanded by God and manifested in history — certain aspects of Islamic violence have become standardized in Islamic law (i.e. the Sharia) and apply at all times.

NEOCONS ATTACKED

Someone sent me a You Tube site with a video attacking or exposing Neocons -- it sounds like a BBC production, but I haven't checked it out. There are 14 parts!

RAPPING ROVE

This can't be good for Bush.

GLOBAL CHANGE

Is America ready? . . .But future projections always bother me. Before the global warming crisis of today, global cooling was the concern of the seventies .

PELOSI'S MIDEAST TRIP

If the Washington Post is critical of Pelosi's trip to the Middle East, it indicates she is over her head. . .a Speaker of the House engaged in diplomacy--very, very unusual!

ETHANOL

Castro and Chavez are worried about US-Brazilian efforts to promote ethanol use.

One proof is the hysterical article Castro wrote for Granma, Cuba's official newspaper, lashing at those who want "to convert food into combustibles'' and accusing them of wanting to condemn to "premature death and thirst more than 3 billion people of the world.'' Although the article was purportedly aimed at President George W. Bush, its real target was Lula, who was about to embark on his trip to Washington just a few weeks after Bush had visited him in Brasilia.

So ethanol use will lead to premature death as people go hungry. . .

NORWEGIAN MUSLIM CABBIES

"Norwegian Muslim Cabbies Refusing to Carry Guide Dogs."

BRITISH SUICIDE PILOTS

Iranian news is reporting that the British are considering using kamikazi pilots to attack Iran!

MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN

A Methodist church which lost its congregation 40 years ago now becomes a mosque. It may be a race to see whether France or Britain becomes predominantly Muslim first.

APPEASEMENT IN GREAT BRITAIN?

A critical evaluation of Tony Blair and British military effectiveness on the anniversary of the British invasion of the Falklands under Margaret Thatcher.

Michael Barone's take on the situation.

OBAMA AS CHRIST

A display at the Art Institute of Chicago.