CONGRESSIONAL SPENDING

A million dollar earmark and Congress doesn't even know if the organization exists!

FINALLY, PROOF!

I knew that some day "research" would support my view that British chocolate is far superior to American chocolate. About the only thing affordable that is better than British chocolate is good German Ritter dark chocolate with almonds.

Cadbury Dairy Milk is the iconic British candy bar, the one most likely to be tucked into the suitcase of a Yankee tourist looking for an inexpensive souvenir. Versions are filled with caramel, whipped fondant, whole nuts or pellets of shortbread cookie.

It’s a different bar from the Cadbury bar available in the United States. According to the label, a British Cadbury Dairy Milk bar contains milk, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat and emulsifiers. The version made by the Hershey Company, which holds the license from Cadbury-Schweppes to produce the candy in the United States under the British company’s direction, starts its ingredient list with sugar. It lists lactose and the emulsifier soy lecithin, which keeps the cocoa butter from separating from the cocoa. The American product also lists “natural and artificial flavorings."

“Hershey’s tastes like ear wax,” said Kevin Ellis, an Alaskan-born designer with Adobe Systems in San Francisco.

THE NEW MORAL MAJORITY

According to Time, the Democrats are the new Moral Majority! The Democrats are so fired up, you could call them the new Moral Majority.

Jerry Falwell didn't know what he had started thirty years ago in creating such a powerful rhetorical phrase. Obviously the Democrats have a slightly different vision of morality if you read the article.

POOR CINDY SHEEHAN

I can't believe it! The ultra-liberal Daily Kos has banned Cindy Sheehan from posting. Now that she is challenging Nancy Pelosi's seat in Congress she has suddenly become anathema to some on the left. Surely the ultra-left is big enough to allow her the freedom to express her voice.

ARAFAT DIED OF AIDS

I have been following this issue for many years aftering reading a book by the director of Romanian intelligence under Ceausescu. The proof seems to be building that Arafat was a homosexual. Also see the WorldNetDaily article on this. The issue that still lingers is how foreign intelligence agencies used this information.

REID RESPONDS TO IRAQ QUESTION

Reid seems to have troubling responding to the question posed by an ABC news reporter: "Will Iraqis be safer if the US leaves?"

WOMEN AS LEADERS

A discussion of women as leaders.

BUSH DESERTED BY HIS SUPPORTERS

The Washington Post has an article on a disillusioned Bush supporter, Vic Gold.

"For all the Rove-built facade of his being a 'strong' chief executive, George W. Bush has been, by comparison to even hapless Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times," Gold writes. "Think Dan Quayle in cowboy boots."

Gold is even more withering in his observations of Cheney. "A vice president in control is bad enough. Worse yet is a vice president out of control."

For Gold, Cheney brings to mind the adage of Swiss writer Madame de Stael, who wrote, "Men do not change, they unmask themselves." Cheney has a deep streak of paranoia and megalomania, Gold suggests -- but he says he did not see it at first.

"He was hiding who he really was," Gold says. "He was waiting for an opportunity."
In many ways, Gold's tale of disillusionment is a familiar one.

There are plenty of veterans of Reagan and Bush 41 around town who believe Bush and Cheney trashed the institutions and party they helped build from the wreckage of the Goldwater campaign.

However, I really liked the Madame de Stael quote--I had not heard it before: "Men do not change, they unmask themselves."

HILLARY

I have been thinking of doing an analysis of all of the presidential candidates for 2008, but summer reading keeps getting in the way. However, I did come across a very interesting web site about Hillary Clinton. I haven't looked at in depth, but it has so much information if you need a daily Hillary fix.

WEDDINGS

June is over. It has been that time of year again. Weddings. I hesitate to comment—everyone has their own tastes, but I have seen some firsts (at least for me). I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw the mother of one bride carrying a box of facial tissues down the aisle with her—surely a flower would have been better. If you need facial tissue, why do you need a whole box? Or why can’t you tuck some away in a more inconspicuous place? Is it a sign of happiness? Or a sign of despair? I was inclined toward the latter as I watched the ceremony. But maybe a ceremony doesn’t really make a marriage.

Maybe it is just East Texas, but the wedding dress code for men has disappeared. I saw polo shirts, jeans, athletic shoes, sandals, etc. It was just like going to a picnic. Dress cowboy clothes are fine—I can accept other cultures, but “gym wear?” The number of ties and sport coats was negligible. But the odd thing was that the women and girls were all dressed very fashionably. For me it was strange to see a young lady attired in a beautiful dress with high heels and coiffed hair standing next to a “slob” in athletic shoes. Shouldn’t you dress up for a wedding?

Also what makes a Christian wedding ceremony? I sense a loss of the sacred in supposedly “Christian” ceremonies. There is a superficial veneer of spirituality with some “God” words thrown in by ministers who seem to use the same story of the “ring as a circle and how this represents marriage. . .” And this is sandwiched between “popular” secular love songs. Do some ministers really know the couple they are marrying? Does the couple really care?

FATWAS

There is a problem in Islam with fatwas. First came the breast-feeding fatwa. It declared that the Islamic restriction on unmarried men and women being together could be lifted at work if the woman breast-fed her male colleagues five times, to establish family ties. Then came the urine fatwa. It said that drinking the urine of the Prophet Muhammad was deemed a blessing.

Technically, the fatwa is nonbinding and recipients are free to look elsewhere for a better ruling. In a faith with no central doctrinal authority, there has been an explosion of places offering fatwas, from Web sites that respond to written queries, to satellite television shows that take phone calls, to radical and terrorist organizations that set up their own fatwa committees.

Evidently some Muslims (as well as Muslim governments) are upset at some of the fatwas that have been issued and since there is no Pope to control what is issued, there is no centralized control.

However, while I thought that some of these things seem extremely unusual, what would someone in another culture think as they watched or listened to some of the preachers on American religious media?

CHINA'S GROWTH HARMS HISTORICAL HERITAGE

The New York Times reports that urbanization is destroying China's architectural heritage. Everything is being replaced by look-alike monstrosities of western architecture. One Chinese official says this is as devasting to China's past as Mao's Cultural Revolution!

“It is like 1,000 cities having the same appearance.”

CHAVEZ DESTROYS FREEDOM IN VENEZUELA

Chavez appears to be doing to Venezuela what Castro did to Cuba. Here is the latest report I received on conditions in Venezuela.

Many of you have been following the events taking place in Venezuela these past weeks in regard to the shutting down of Radio Caracas and the threats against the last remaining anti-Chavez TV station Globovisión. The people are very angry about the loss of free speech which is taking place here.

Tension between the Opposition and the Chavistas is rising rapidly. The people have become more hateful and aggressive. They feel sickened and hopeless about the state of their country and abandoned by the international community. The Chavistas have become more aggressive and Chavez is telling them not to let anyone stop his socialist agenda. They have taken to the streets to fight the protesters; they get braver and stronger every day.

Many people are trying to sell their investment property, such as vacation homes or apartments, because Chavez announced that if you have more than one house “we will take one and give it to a poor family without a home.” Rental property for the foreign workers is very hard to find since everyone is selling to avoid loosing property to the government. The people are buying cars to invest in instead since they appreciate in value here and no mention of confiscating cars has been made. One Chevrolet dealer in Maracaibo says he is selling 3,000 vehicles a month and still has waiting lists. There are so many cars on the road now the streets are congested with angry, aggressive drivers and traffic is very chaotic and dangerous.

There are price controls on about 35% of the food supply so those items have almost totally disappeared from the shelves and are now being sold on the black market for 2 or 3 times the price, usually by government officials who have confiscated the goods on the grounds that they are damaged. Beef, Chicken, eggs, sugar, milk, cooking oil, etc are very hard to find and go fast when they do appear. Chavez has created a crisis with the food supply and has warned that he will take over the grocery stores because of the crisis. He is also threatening to take over the banks. He has control of the phone system now since he took over CANTV and in Caracas he took the electric company. He has taken over several private hospitals and clinics and run the doctors out. He is advocating that any workers, who think the company they work for is not being run correctly, demand to see the financial records of the company; and, if they see fit, to physically take over the company and throw out the owners/managers. He has created a class of people who think the rest of the country has been stealing from them, and thugs who just want to steal instead of work for a living, that are terrorizing the country. Those are his followers. Hundreds of them are buying property in Miami with the money Chavez gives them. Look out Miami!

Democracy is dying a painful death here and it is sad to witness. Someone predicted that within 18 months the whole country will either be in riots and street violence or the people will have given up and Communism will rule.

Some South Americans, Brazilians and Argentineans that work for Petroleum Service companies are expatriates here. They have children born in Venezuela and are having problems getting passports to get out of the country because all children born in Venezuela now belong to the state. All parents must get permission from the state to take their children out of the country.

Chevron and Shell have relocated the majority of their employees out of the Country and are keeping the least amount of people they can to oversee operations here. This is a good time to be getting out.

SANDY BERGER

I have been suspicious, and will continue to be suspicious, of what Sandy Berger's intentions were when he "stole" secret documents regarding the Clinton administration's handling of al Qaeda as he was preparing to testify before the 9/11 Commission. I saw where some conspiracists are confronting Giuliani and accusing him of knowing about the 9/11 plot--I wish people had the same passion to find out what exactly is missing from the archival record. Berger (and maybe Clinton) know far more about pre-9/11 than Giuliani ever did.

PRO-ISRAEL PALESTINIAN

This is a very unusual interview. I don't know anything about this ex-PLO terrorist, but apparently is a Muslim who is critical of Islamism in American universities, in particular. According to him Muslims are trying to recruit youth just like the Nazis did in Germany before World War II. They don't allow criticism of Islam, but it is okay to criticize or attack Christianity or other religions in academia.

LACK OF WOMEN

Der Spiegel has an interesting article on the lack of women in East Germany and how it is contributing to neo-nazism. Men seem to need women around to remain civilized. I remember in the old Kenneth Clark "Civilization" series a quote something to the effect that "civilization does not occur without women ore the femine present." Ladies, thank you for civilizing us.

It makes me wonder about LU????

THE BEST TOURISTS

I saaw a rating of the best and worst tourists--Americans are the second best! But oh, oh. . .those French have a problem.

TERRORIST DRY RUN?

This does not give me a lot of confidence in Homeland Security and air marshals.

MISSISSIPPI SQUIRREL REVIVAL

Turn up the volume, especially if you are from Mississippi.

OBAMA ON SOCIAL SECURITY

I love this Obama-Stephanopoulos exchange!

AMERICAN SECULAR FEMINISTS

It has always bothered me that the American secular feminist movement seems to ignore the plight of women living in some Islamic countries. Honor killings and stonings are reprehensible. Christian Hoff Sommers discusses this issue.

THE REAL BUSH STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH

Found this -- it makes fun of Bush (you might want to turn the volume up).

OBAMA TIRED ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Ann Althouse has an interesting post on Obama saying he made a misstatement (10,000 people dead in the Kansas tornado) because he was tired. Obviously the comparison goes back to the Bush campaign and his schedule. The comments that follow her post reflect the divisions between left and right -- is Obama being criticized for a non-issue on the part of the right or is he being given slack that Bush is not being given?????

HOOKED ON TRIVIA

In trying to catch up with what blogs are saying I was going through Victor David Hanson's blog -- he had a post I can thoroughly identify with. The fixation of the media on Anna Nicole, Alec Baldwin, etc. There are so many more important issues to deal with. I am not sure I can blame the media or even the politicians for this--Americans do seem to be hooked on the trivial and ignoring the significant. We are reaching the 11th hour in Iraq, and so few seem to be dealing with the reality of what may lie ahead. Also note his comments on Russia and oil.

ISLAMIC APOLOGISTS

Victor David Hanson challenges the idea that terrorism is non-Islamic and that any violence is just the result of a minority of fanatics.

While Ramadan and other apologists can pontificate all they want about “true” Islam, the fact remains: There are countless and nameless others who are so convinced that Islam extols not just terrorism (see Koran 8:12 or 8:57 for an idea of where they get this notion), but suicide-attacks — that is, “martyrdom-operations,” which radicals believe lead directly to paradise — that without a second thought they happily sacrifice their own lives. Surely if they believed that their actions were, as Ramadan vociferously maintains, “anti-Islamic” sins that lead directly to hell, they would not be committing them in the first place — and all while screaming “Allah is great.”

Moreover, if terrorism and suicide bombings have no connection to Islam per se and are instead byproducts of frustration and political oppression, or, as Ramadan asserts, “European colonialism,” why are we not seeing suicide bombers in other dictatorial, oppressive, and impoverished regions of the world, many of which were also colonized by Europe? Despite the fact that the Islamic world has the lion’s share of dramatic news headlines here in the West, it is not the only region in the world suffering, both from internal and external causes.

For instance, even though practically all of sub-Saharan Africa had been colonized by Europe and is currently riddled with political corruption and oppression, when it comes to political violence and terrorism, no other sub-Saharan nation can come anywhere near to Somalia — which also happens to be the only sub-Saharan country that a) is entirely Muslim and b) has experienced a suicide attack, which, admittedly, is a new style of terror for Somalia that was ushered in only with the rise of the Islamist Sharia regime.

MORE ON WOLFOWITZ

The World Bank's role and policies are questioned here. I still have a hard time not seeing the World Bank as a place where six figure salaries are given out while the poor of the underdeveloped world need so much. It is a place for failed western bureaucrats to make big money.

PBS CENSORSHIP

I guess I just don't like PBS telling me I can't see a controversial documentary film on Islam.

LACK OF FREE SPEECH

I am seeing more infringements on free speech by the left in higher education. I wonder what would have happened if the math professor had sent one of Buchanan's anti-war essays?

TENET AS DIRECTOR OF THE CIA

Susan Katz Keating has a brief, but solid critique of Tenet's managment of the CIA during the Clinton administration. Human intelligence (Humint) was ignored (or at the very least not developed) and as a result America moved into the 21st century heavily dependent on satellites and other technical means for US intelligence information.

We had insufficient intelligence. True, we had electronic surveillance; but we lacked the all-important human intelligence-gathering — the Humint — networks. How did Tenet know this? Because the former spy chief-turned-author — who held powerful intelligence posts for 21 years — helped oversee the gutting of programs that would have put spies on the ground in Iraq.

I think the verdict on the CIA, Tenet, and the Clinton White House has yet to be written on this issue. But I believe additional facts will begin to trickle out in the next few years.

WOLFOWITZ

I don't like Wolfowitz as leader of the World Bank, but the alternatives are almost as bad.

MILITARY LEADERSHIP PROFILE

Take this test to see which military leader you are most like. This is terrible--I wanted to be a Patton or Caesar and instead I am most like Wesley Clark--is he still running for President?

"DEMOGRAPHY IS DESTINY"

Michael Barone has written a very interesting article on "The Realignment of America." Native-born Americans are moving out of major cities on the coasts or Detroit. Interior cities like Dallas are growth cities.

It has become a commonplace to say that population has been flowing from the Snow Belt to the Sun Belt, from an industrially ailing East and Midwest to an economically vibrant West and South. But the actual picture of recent growth, as measured by the 2000 Census and the census estimates for 2006, is more complicated. Recently I looked at the census estimates for 50 metropolitan areas with more than one million people in 2006, where 54% of Americans live. (I cheated a bit on definitions, adding Durham to Raleigh and combining San Francisco and San Jose.) What I found is that you can separate them into four different categories, with different degrees and different sources of population growth or decline. And I found some interesting surprises.

Start with the Coastal Megalopolises: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago (on the coast of Lake Michigan), Miami, Washington and Boston. Here is a pattern you don't find in other big cities: Americans moving out and immigrants moving in, in very large numbers, with low overall population growth. Los Angeles, defined by the Census Bureau as Los Angeles and Orange Counties, had a domestic outflow of 6% of 2000 population in six years--balanced by an immigrant inflow of 6%. The numbers are the same for these eight metro areas as a whole.

The economic divide in New York and Los Angeles is starting to look like the economic divide in Mexico City and São Paulo.

PIG EPIDEMIC IN CHINA

Something is killing pigs in China. Since pigs can transport human viruses, this is potentially serious. The problem in the past is that Chinese government officials are not forthcoming on what is happening. With the recent dog food contamination in mind, it appears that China is sacrificing human or animal safety for profit.

But officials in Hong Kong as well as at the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, both agencies of the United Nations, said today that they been told almost nothing about the latest pig deaths, and been given limited details about wheat gluten contamination.

UNPOPULARITY OF BUSH

I know it is fashionable to be critical of Bush, but I think a lot of his opponents are increasingly irrational in their criticism of him. 35% of Democrats believe Bush knew in advance that 9/11 would take place according to a Rasmussen poll. Another 26% are not sure!

SARKOZY'S WIN

The victory of theRight in France has been an interesting development, especially the size of Sarkozy's win with 53% of the vote. The response of the left has been rioting. Gateway Pundit links the rioting to Sarkozy's statements on France supporting the rights of women, especially in Muslim countries.

CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS

A soccer game bringing Muslim imams and Christian priests "shoulder to shoulder" on a field in Norway was cancelled Saturday because the teams could not agree on whether women priests should take part. Powerline

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.

2008: WHERE ARE WE?

RCP has an interesting polling summary of leading Democrat 2008 presidential candidates. Obviously it is too early to tell, but both Hillary and Obama have suffered recent popularity dips--Obama's dip seems more significant. Both Gore and Edwards have moved up slightly. I might be a bit concerned if I were Hillary because she just has not moved over a period of time--she hasn't lost significant support, but she hasn't gained Democrat support either.

On the Republican side it looks like everyone is losing ground. Giuliani, McCain, Thompson, Romney, and Gingrich have a long way to go.

BRITISH TROOPS HELD BY IRAN

Samizdata has an interesting discussion/debate on what captured troops have to admit to their captors according to international law--it appears to no longer be "name, rank, and serial number."

HOW MODERN LIBERALS THINK

An ex-liberal discusses the issue.

DAYCARE

Kids in daycare all day are troublemakers through the 6th grade.

OBAMA'S CONTRADICTIONS

A Chicago Sun-Times columnist on Obama's inconsistencies or gaffes.

GLOBAL WARMING

A British television production on global warming -- haven't yet watched it all.

PARIS HILTON OR JESUS?

Alexandra Pelosi has an interesting quote. She is the daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and has been making an HBO documentary on Christians. I do not know her specific religious beliefs.

I believe in the culture war. And you know what? If I have to take a side in the culture war, I'll take [the conservative Christian] side. Because if you give me the choice of Paris Hilton or Jesus, I'll take Jesus. (Christianity Today, March 2007)

GENERAL PATTON ON IRAQ

I don't watch Imus, but he recently interviewed General Patton on the war in Iraq.

HISTORIC MAPS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf

HILLARY'S SOUTHERN ACCENT, II

An interesting update on the Hillary/Obama oratorical presentations this past weekend.

HILLARY'S SOUTHERN ACCENT

Hillary Clinton has taken some flack for her suddenly new southern accent as she addressed an audience in Selma, Alabama this weekend. But I happened to listen to most of Senator Obama's address to a southern African-American audience this same weekend on C-Span and I thought he was trying to get "southern" several times as well. I thought he gave a good speech for his audience. He will be an impressive candidate. Hillary is in trouble.

I am not the only one who sees it this way -- "A Tale of Two Speeches".

WHY ARE PUTIN'S OPPONENTS DYING?

New Yorker, letter from Moscow.

PRO-AMERICA AD

I trust this link will work!

ANOTHER POLITICAL TEST

Some of the honors students wanted me to take a "political" test as we have been discussing a variety of hot political issues this semester. I haven't taken time to really see if this is a better test than some of the others, but it does take your responses and connects you to a famous person most like you. Anyway the historic/political figure I was identified with was Pope John Paul. I am not sure if this is good or bad news.

DEMOCRAT FAR LEFT, DEMOCRAT SENATORS, AND IRAQ

Part of an article by Victor David Hanson caught my attention. Why did a majority of Democratic senators — such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Harry Reid, Jay Rockefeller, and Chuck Schumer — vote to authorize a war with Iraq on Oct. 11, 2002? And why is this war now supposedly George Bush’s misfortune and not theirs?

My brief answer is "political expediency." They voted the way they thought the political winds were blowing. I agree with the Democrat Far Left, which has raised some angry questions about where were these politicians were 5 years ago. If they had all these problems with the war, they should have been speaking out.

WHO WOULD PEOPLE VOTE FOR

An interesting Gallup Poll on who Americans would or would not vote for.

BERGER COVER-UP

As someone who has done research in US presidential libraries the Sandy Berger case has always bothered me. I don't see how someone can "unintentionally" take documents home. Most archival staff I have met seem fairly alert to what is going on in the Reading Room and also sometimes you are limited in what you can bring into a room. Also in "losing"(and now we learn he cut several documents up) the historical record is impacted. Future historians will not have the benefit of these documents. The whole case seems filled with blunders, lack of oversight, or intentional misrepresentation of what happened.

GORE & TERRORISM

This was an interesting post. Gore almost sounds like Bush. I have not read Richard Clarke's book, but maybe I should. There might be more of Clarke's insights that I have not seen covered in the press. Gore's position seems to have changed, but this is true for all Democrats who are backing [sprinting] away from their initial support for the Iraq war.

MITT & BILL

"Mitt Romney is Bill Clinton with his pants up." (from a libertarian Democrat)

IMAM'S PRAYER

The DNC had a Detroit imam pray at its recent meeting. You can read his prayer here.

WOW!

Imus, Giuliani, and dropping the bomb on Mecca.

THE Ph.D.'S ARRIVE!

I received an email from an old military man: "I think Patraeus is my kind of General. Not only does he have current battle field experience in comparison to Rumsfeld's desk jockeys but he has some of General Patton's characteristics. It seems like most of the outside experts are saying Bush waited too long to get rid of Rumsfeld and the situation is too far gone to save it. Patraeus doesn't have either the troops or time to save Iraq. Needless to say if Patraeus can pull this out he will be looked at as one of the greatest US Generals. Now if he can just keep the politicians off his back."

What is the new Iraq policy? Send in the Ph.D.s!!!! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16979340/

1960s ALL OVER AGAIN!

I couldn't help but reminisce when I discovered this account of recent peace protests in our nation's capital. Where are the youth? --just a bunch of geezers from the sixties!

"A man could make a fortune selling Geritol to these people."

Well at least the capital police don't have to worry about marijuana.

"FACING THE ISLAMIST MENACE"

Christopher Hitchens on "Facing the Islamist Menace" -- he reviews Mark Steyn's book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It.

AL-QAEDA IN THE 1990s

I finally finished The Looming Tower. Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. Wright is a journalist, not a historian, and as a result there were a number of things I did not like about the book as he built his case. However, I would highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to get a feel for the events leading up to 9/11. During the Clinton administration there were a number of missteps and misjudgments. The FBI and the CIA (and even the State Department) do not come off well. So much pettiness prevailed. . .but this is government at work. It is not a book for idealists. Since Wright writes for the New Yorker and even has Dan Rather recommending the book, it cannot be labelled as a "right wing hatchet job." Wright even refers to the "sexual decadence of the Clinton administration" -- I haven't seen many liberal Democrats use this kind of description of Clinton's presidency.

SELECTIVE AMNESIA

I received an interesting email with a url sending me to the The American Conservative, "Selective Amnesia." This is Pat Buchanan's organization; a group I have noted in the past. Pat Buchanan is a conservative very much opposed to the war in Iraq. The author of "Selective Amnesia" attacks other conservatives who supported the war for now ignoring some of the pro-war statements they made in the past. The author focuses his attack on Michael Ledeen, a noted conservative. Ledeen in 2002 made a number of statements pushing to take Sadaam out. Krauthammer is also quoted and noted as reversing or maybe moderating his views as the war has gone badly.

I haven't seen how these men have defended themselves, but it did get me thinking about how pundits and politicians change their views over time. No one seems to have the historical memory to hold these individuals accountable for past statements and reversals in opinion. . .or at the very least make them justify why a position they advocated so fiercely several years ago is no longer advocated.

For me this was most apparent in the eulogies of the late President Gerald Ford. It seemed like liberal Democrats, including Senator Ted Kennedy, were eulogizing him as one of the great post-World War II presidents. I couldn't believe it! When Ford was in office, Kennedy, and many of his ilk, despised Ford--particularly for the Nixon pardon. Ford was attacked with the same vigor they now attack Bush. I wonder if 20 years from now we will be hearing how great a president Bush was. . . . . .from the mouths of some aged liberal Democrats?

MEDIA FAILURE

I have been bothered for some time by the news media, and probably it is more CNN and Foxnews, for not really covering the news. They tend to overwhelm us with the current car chase or some current news crisis in D.C. and ignore other major issues that might come crashing into our living rooms at a later date. But at the moment, I guess they feel no viewer would be interested in some event or trend that just does not seem to capture the theatrical vision for news they want. They seem to hop from crisis to crisis spending days talking about one issue.

Therefore it was with some surprise that I opened up the "Points" section of the January 7, 2007 Dallas Morning News. It contained an article on the "Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2006." However, I don't like the headline, because it is not the reader who missed the stories, it was the news media which failed to keep us informed because they just focus on only a few issues to somehow enlighten the public on. The interesting thing to me was that if a person were following a number of bloggers, the stories would not have been missed.

In case you interested the top ten were:

10. Hackable passports
9. The possible effects of Tamiflu (to counteract the bird flu)
8. Oil producers are investing in Euros, not just dollars
7. The gender gap is getting smaller
6. Iran and Israel held secret talks
5. The US is funding the Taliban
4. Russia is fueling an arms race in Latin America
3. Bush's post-Katrina power grab
2. China's African debt is increasing
1. India is helping Iran develop its nuclear program

As I look at the list, a number of these have far more significance for the future of America than what I see being discussed or reported.

UNDERSTANDING THE FRENCH

The French have been stereotyped in many ways by the right in America and especially since the Iraq invasion cutting jokes about the French have circulated, especially on the internet. For example: AP and UPI reported that the French Government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "run" to "hide." The only two higher levels in France are "surrender" and "collaborate."

But the problem is that this kind of humor does not really help us understand the French. Rod Kedward's book France and the French: La Vie en Bleu since 1900 attempts to focus on finding or defining "Frenchness." There is a good review of it at H-France. I am not sure the study will resolve "what makes France tick," but it does get into the complex historical, social, and cultural issues of the last century or two.

QUOTE

"The far left doesn't feel a need to celebrate the birth of Jesus since it believes that there's no problem that can't be fixed by the welfare state."

Children's author Katharine DeBrecht

RAVI ZACHARIAS ON AMERICA, IRAQ, ETC.

Ravi Zacharias speaks on a variety of topics, including the situation in Iraq.

HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE?

Well, we have had a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee who didn't know the difference between a Shiite and Sunni muslim, but the Democrats have gone one better. Now the incoming Democrat Chair of the House Intelligence Committee doesn't know if al Qaeda is a Sunni or Shiite organization. He also showed a lack of knowledge regarding Hezbollah. (This was a result of an interview by Congressional Quarterly).

This is discouraging--more than that even--it is depressing.

PRESIDENT CARTER'S NEW BOOK

I haven't read it (and am not sure I will if other scholars have similar problems with it), but it looks like President Carter's recent book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, has sparked the resignation of a respected scholar from the Carter Center. He has a number of problems with the book from plagiarism to general historical incompetence.

IMMIGRATION DEBATE

One side of the immigration debate -- America needs highly skilled workers.

As I've argued in these pages, it is a disaster for the United States that we have so few H-1B visas available for high-skill foreign workers who want to become part of the American economy. We spend years educating foreigners, especially in technical fields, and then refuse their requests to work here. Instead we say "No, go back to Bangalore or Taipei and compete against us with what you've learned here."

It is truly insane from an economic point of view. America was made great by immigrants. The current nativist trends within both political parties, but especially the GOP, represents the worst of American narrow-mindedness and a complete lack of an understanding of history.