L.A. Times Prints Quote From Fake Release

Another negative example of the type of editorial and reportorial sloppiness that the the MSM delights in warning about as a danger of the blogosphere.

A quote in a fake news release that was intended as an April Fool’s joke ended up in a front-page story in the Los Angeles Times. The story in Tuesday’s editions of the Times noted how successful the reintroduction of wolves had been 10 years ago, but said the predators remained controversial. “In Wyoming, for example, Gov. Dave Freudenthal last April decreed that the Endangered Species Act is no longer in force and that the state ‘now considers the wolf as a federal dog,’ unworthy of protection,” the story read.

The Times printed a correction Wednesday, acknowledging that the news release was a hoax.

Ooops!

The Chief has had a healthy (but not slavish) appreciation of Ayn Rand and her Objectivist view since my first exposure from reading The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged while in hisgh school in the early 60’s. I have occassionally checked in at the Ayn Rand Institute site from time to time, but not lately, until now.

Checking a section of the site dedicated to examination of foriegn policy issues, I was highly impressed by this:

Whether we acknowledge it or not, Islamic totalitarianism is at war with America.

This is a refreshing change from a lot of comments from the Losertarian Libertarian Party, and others calling themselves libertarians, who have a fatally flawed idea that it’s somehow immoral for us to do what needs to be done to properly and effectively conduct the terror war. IMHO, they haven’t figured it out that a delimited Constitutional system is (a) no guarantee of survival in the face of a determined (if asymmetrical) attack, and (b) that said Constitutional government is NOT a suicide pact (i.e. as Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt (both of ’em) and Reagan all knew, at times is is required to do what is necessary to prevail in war, and then sort out the legalistic curlicues after the fighting is over.)

The site also to this piece which caught my eye also:
(Gotta love the direct approach!)

“Muslim Opinion” Be Damned

The proper response to Islamists and their supporters is to identify them as our ideological and political enemies–and dispense justice accordingly. In the case of our militant enemies, we must kill or demoralize them–especially those regimes that support terrorism and fuel the Islamist movement; as for the rest, we must politically ignore them and intellectually discredit them, while proudly arguing for the superiority of Americanism. Such a policy would make us safe, expose Islamic anti-Americanism as irrational and immoral, and embolden the better Muslims to support our ideals and emulate our ways.

Every attempt to appease “Muslim opinion” preserves, promotes, and emboldens our enemies. Every concession to angry Muslim mobs gives hope to the Islamist cause. Every day we allow terrorist regimes to exist gives their minions time to execute the next Sept. 11. America needs honest leadership with the courage to identify and defeat our enemies–“Muslim opinion” be damned.

Hoo-rah!

There’s a lot of good stuff on this site in similar vein. A great source of rhetorical and ideological ammo to use on the moonbat anti-war appeasers and their ilk. Check it out.

Poland postpones Iraq withdrawal

Poland is hanging tough in Iraq, in spite of some opposition.

Poland’s government says it has taken the “very difficult decision” to extend its military deployment in Iraq until the end of 2006. The new conservative government’s decision reverses the previous leftist administration’s plan to pull troops out in early 2006.

Patriot Act Legal Specifics

The Powerline blog, which is largely written by lawyers, has a very detailed citation and explanation of the specific provisions of the law that the libDonks and their MSM lackeys are kvetching and caterwauling about most vociferously.

This may be more law than anyone but a lawyer wants to wade through, but it’s GREAT ammo against the moonbat libDonk position.

Go ahead, take a look and be factually informed!

India builds a 2,500-mile barrier to rival the Great Wall of China

Next month India plans to fence off this area of West Bengal as part of a little-known £600 million project to erect a steel barrier right along its 2,500-mile border with its much smaller Muslim neighbour.

Unfortunately, it’s not on the Mexican border, but hey, if India can do it, then WE certainly could!

Ex-hostage’s Iraq return angers her rescue team

The Chief (appropriately) acidly commented here about the situation where it strongly appeared as though the Kraut German government swapped the release of a convicted terr and/or a good sized cash payment for the release of one of their citizens who had been kidnapped by Islamofascist terrs in Iraq.

Now it turns out that the alleged victim, plans on turning right around and going back to Iraq without returning to Deutschland uber alles, much to the consternation of those who bent over backwards to assume the position for the Islamofascists in order to get her sprung from captivity.

Details coming out add to the absurdity:

Frau Osthoff converted to Islam, speaks Arabic and was married to a nomadic tribesman from the region near the Iraqi-Syrian border; she plainly considers Iraq to be her home.

Part of this soap opera reminds one of the classic short story “The Ransom of Red Chief”. If you’re not familiar with it, check it out.

Frau Osthoff was unharmed and, according to security sources quoted in Der Spiegel, the sharp-tongued archaeologist made full use of her Arabic fluency to reprimand the kidnappers. It appears they were relieved to see her go.

The whole outcome here has more than a little justice – the Kraut German government deserves whatever heartburn it has acquired from this, for negotiating with terrorists in the first place.

Can you say schadenfreude?

Blame PM, not us: imam

Another commonly used nickname for the land down under is the “Land of Oz”. This radical Islamofascist Imam is trying to turn the Hey reality into something as unreal as J. Frank Baum’s Oz which was the home of the Wizard, Emerald City, flying monkeys, etc.

He’s putting out his spin on the recent anti-mideast riots – and gives evidence that the attempted imposition of dhimmitude continues apace. Hopefully the Aussies continue to protest as forcefully as necessary to squelch any further dhimmitudinal development.

At this rate it shouldn’t be hard – the rhetoric is so far gone from reality as to take one’s breath away:

Firebrand Muslim cleric Mohammad Omran has blamed the Howard Government for radicalising young Muslims, claiming that demonising Islam was driving its followers towards a terrorist mentality. “The Government is pushing the people to believe they can do all these major disaster things,” Sheik Omran told The Australian in his first major interview since 18 men, including a number of his followers, were arrested last month in Sydney and Melbourne, accused of plotting acts of terrorism.

Sheik Omran said the Howard Government’s focus on terrorism was making the “naive” Australian public paranoid about Muslims and the likelihood of a terrorist attack in Australia. “The problem here is our people. When I say our people, I say Australians in general, my beautiful people, they are so naive about the threat of terrorism because they have never had to deal with any great disasters on home soil,” he said.

Hey Sheik – naive? How about realistic. Like, Bali isn’t that far away from Oz. maybe they don’t want to wait until your fellow practitioneres of the Religion of Piss Peace succeed with a version of 9-11 of Oz!

In his Michael Street prayer centre in Melbourne’s inner north, Sheik Omran said he was no more radical than the 13 other Melbourne imams, but unlike them, he was not afraid to openly express his opposition to the war on Iraq and his support for jihadists who were fighting the coalition forces in the country.

Straight from the camel’s as-… er, mouth: He’s just a typical Imam with the volume turned up loud.

Sheik Omran, who has repeatedly come under fire from other clerics and John Howard for espousing extreme views, including denying that Muslims were to blame for the September 11 attacks on the US or the London bombings earlier this year, defended his approach.

Right! It was the evil Jews and the black helicopter guys!

The head of the Melbourne-based Ahl Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association said terror attacks around the world, including September 11 and the London bombings, were predominantly Western conspiracies concocted to sully the image of Islam.

Or maybe it’s the secret Order of Knights Templars renewing the Crusades from their headquarters is hidden below the NY Stock Exchange. (Didn’t you see the movie National Treasure?

He said he wanted to “wake people up to the fact” that Osama bin Laden’s involvement in September 11 “is not true” and in so doing attempt to turn them away from terrorism.

Huh? There must be an attempt at some form of logical thought here, but somehow it eludes me.

Maybe we really DO need those Templars back again! DEUS VULT!

Putin’s show of strength triggers fear of fresh nuclear arms race

What is Vladi worried about to field this? Is it a complement to China’s conventional build-up? Is the old Soviet agenda still in play below the horizon? (Putin WAS head of the KGB when that still meant something.)

VLADIMIR Putin has sparked fears of a new arms race between Russia and the United States by deploying a nuclear ballistic strike force system that officials made clear could penetrate US anti- missile defences. On Christmas Eve, the Russian army activated a new fleet of Topol-M missiles that can fit a nuclear warhead and travel 6,000 miles, changing trajectory to foil any enemy interception device.

The accompanying hawkish rhetoric of the Russian military commanders and the frenetic response of the US navy have stoked concern that the former Cold War adversaries have quietly resumed the arms race.

There’s more in here, but not a whole lot that makes one feel more comfortable. There is at least one bright spot however:

Last month, the US navy carried out its most ambitious and successful test of an anti-missile interceptor, which can be launched from an Aegis class cruiser in the Pacific Ocean. A warhead from an incoming rocket was destroyed 100 miles above sea level – the first time an anti- missile defence has succeeded, in tests, when launched from a ship.

Keep the powder dry!

Presidential Mishap in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Pres. Robert Mugabe has got to be one of the most thuggish national leaders currently on the scene, which makes this report a clear case of car-karma running over his dogma.

A billy goat did some rough, instant justice to the President when his motorcade stopped to refuel en-route to the eastern resorts of Nyanga. The president, popularly known as Bob got out to stretch his legs, and speak to a couple locals. He was holding a bottle of water, when a Billy goat developed a profound interest and chose to pursue it. Whilst Bob swung the bottle at the goat, it quickly and sharply pierced Bob’s scrotum, and large bowel. Mugabe’s notorious bodyguards seemed unable to prevent the attack as the goat lunged towards the president, perhaps the goat should be handling his security in future. By the time they reached Christmas pass outside mutare, the President was in horrible pain and had to be rushed to a secret location in Mutare for medical treatment.

Score one for the goats!

Captain Ed: At The Break, It’s All Tied Up

If one has some interest in politics in the Great White North it’s always possible to read Canuckian news sites (taking many of them with as large a grain of salt as is needed for our own MSM)or keep checking up with Captain’s Quarters, which does a yeoman’s job of keeping the ducks…er…Canada Geese all lined up in a row.

This latest shows some evidence that momentum seems to be swinging to the Conservative side, and that Lib PM Martin and his party may be in for some bad times. We can only hope – it couldn’t happen to a more deserving crew, eh?

Reasonable People vs. The Mass Movement

Kim DuToit’s Other Side showed up with a thoughtful and optimistic post on the relative merits and strength of the current crop of lefty moonbats of various persuasions vs the foundational strengths of the VRWC.

Just a taste:

…the way for survival lies with our traditional values and institutions, (small r) republicanism, knowledge of the failures and successes of the past, and above all, literacy. If we simply adopt all of those, we cannot lose, and we will be unstoppable.

Here’s a little statement for the Left: All you can offer is a record of failure, blue-sky utopianism or fetid anarchy. You’ve lost, badly, and you’re going to lose still worse as time goes on.

For evil to flourish, all it takes is for good men to do nothing. Well, everywhere I look, I see good men who are not going to do nothing, anymore.

Tremble, you followers of the Left, because you are yesterday’s news, and all the screaming, denials and feces-flinging won’t work anymore.

Check it out!

H/T to the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

Think Tank Details ChiCom Danger

There has been a fair amount out there on the continuing military and political threats from the ChiComs. Bill Gertz in the Washington Times has been one of the leading sources in media for this. This report on the ChiCom situation is worth a look, and more.

It is the sort of long-term perspective that is sorely missing in virtually all of the US MSM and in the political chattering classes which often won’t see beyond the next poll, to say nothing of beyond the next election.

It’s the Chief’s humble opinion that while the Terror war must be vigorously prosecuted on all fronts, the ChiCom situation can only be neglected at our peril. We may well be faced with the prospect of running up the white flag in the WestPac area, or facing a full-blown war when the ChiComs finally move forcefully to solve the Taiwan issue to their satisfaction.

This report is comprehensive and detailed, and makes FAR too much sense for comfortable complasence. Go ahead, give in to the secret policy wonk in you and take a look at it – forewarned is forearmed!

Poll: Majority in U.S. believes in God

Islamofascists and Copperheads take note:

Traditional religion is still the bedrock of America, with “very large majorities” of the public steadfast in their belief in God and the birth and Resurrection of Jesus Christ — with belief in astrology, ghosts and other New Age hallmarks lagging behind. Overall, 82 percent of Americans believe in God, according to a recent Harris poll, which also revealed that 73 percent also believe in miracles, 70 percent in life after death, 70 percent in the existence of heaven, and 70 percent that Jesus is the Son of God. In addition, 68 percent believe in angels and 66 percent in the Resurrection of Christ.

Some of the detailed breakdowns should be of no surprise, given the current political landscape:

The poll revealed a distinct partisan divide. It found that 93 percent of the respondents who were Republican believe in God; the figure was 81 percent among Democrats, who only edged out the GOP when it came to belief in miracles. The poll found 78 percent of the Democrats believe in miracles, compared with 76 percent of Republicans.

In addition, 82 percent of the Republicans believe in the survival of the soul after death, that Jesus is the Son of God and in the existence of heaven. Among Democrats, 68 percent believe in life after death and that Jesus is the Son of God, while 73 percent believe in heaven.

More than three quarters — 76 percent — of Republicans believe in both angels and the Resurrection of Christ; those figures were 70 percent and 68 percent among Democrats, respectively. Members of both parties do not discount the existence of evil. The poll found that 67 percent of Republicans believe in both the devil and hell; the figure stood at 61 percent among Democrats in both categories as well.

pic from softwar.net

Copperheads: then and now

The Cheif has referred to certain Donk factions as “Copperheads” in the same vien as the Civil War Copperheads who opposed Lincoln’s determination to win the war between the states. Taken from a couple of on-line sites we find some interesting parallels.
http://www.civilwarhome.com/copperheads.htm
http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/HomeFront/copperheads.html

Although the Democratic party had broken apart in 1860, during the secession crisis Democrats in the North were generally more conciliatory toward the South than were Republicans. They called themselves Peace Democrats; their opponents called them Copperheads because some wore copper pennies as identifying badges.

In 1861, Republicans started calling antiwar Democrats “copperheads”, likening them to the poisonous snake. By 1863, the Peace Democrats had accepted the label, but for them the copper “head” was the likeness of Liberty on the copper penny, and they proudly wore pennies as badges.

The Peace Democrats were opposed to the war and would have accepted a negotiated peace resulting in an independent Confederacy….many of them bitterly opposed the Union’s war against what one of them called “the injured, incensed, downtrodden people of the South.”

The most prominent Copperhead leader was Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, who headed the secret antiwar organization known as the Sons of Liberty. At the Democratic convention of 1864, where the influence of Peace Democrats reached its high point, Vallandigham persuaded the party to adopt a platform branding the war a failure, and some extreme Copperheads plotted armed uprisings. The Copperheads mounted a forceful and sustained protest against the Lincoln administration’s policies and conduct. The most popular of the Copperheads was Democratic Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham, who in 1862 introduced a bill in Congress to imprison the President. Instead, Vallandigham and a host of other Democrats, including judges, newspaper editors, politicians, and antiwar activists, were arrested and imprisoned without trial on the orders of Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton, who had decided to take off their gloves in dealing with persons “guilty of any disloyal practice”.

The Democratic presidential candidate, George B. McClellan, repudiated the Vallandigham platform, and victories by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Phillip H. Sheridan assured Lincoln’s reelection, and the plots came to nothing.

With the conclusion of the war in 1865 the Peace Democrats were thoroughly discredited. Most Northerners believed, not without reason, that Peace Democrats had prolonged war by encouraging the South to continue fighting in the hope that the North would abandon the struggle.

It’s striking that the language of the Copperhead Donks of Lincoln’s time is the same as that of the latter-day Copperheads of our day.

“Those who fail to learn the lessons of history, are condemned to relive them. – Santayana

Let he who has eyes, see; and he who has ears, hear.

Daschle: Power We Didn’t Grant

THe Chief has stated in an earlier post, words to the effect that he wouldn’t politically trust the former Senator Dachshund Daschle any farther than he could be thrown. His OpEd in the Washington post is worthy of some comment as TD finds himself in a state of high dudgeon about the NSA wiretap controversy. Where to start?

As Senate majority leader at the time, I helped negotiate that law with the White House counsel’s office over two harried days.

Yeah, they were negotiating, and TD provided the harrying.

I can state categorically that the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up.

Why should they have? Both Clinton and Carter signed executive orders authorizing thes already, so the precedent was already on the books, since these had not been rescinded.

I did not and never would have supported giving authority to the president for such wiretaps.

I believe him! He would only think this would be OK for a Donk president to do, not for a Republican.

I am also confident that the 98 senators who voted in favor of authorization of force against al Qaeda did not believe that they were also voting for warrantless domestic surveillance.

WOW! The Chief never knew that Daschle was the spokesman for those 98 Senators! I always thought he represented the Donk senators in his leadership role, and that the GOP had its own Senate leadership. Silly me!

He goes on with more, but I’m going to stop here, before I need even more Bayer than I did after the previous post. The Chief would refer the reader to the Abraham Lincold quotation listed just below the Day-by-Day cartoon strip in this blog.

Sen. Tom, Abe would have had you and your ilk in his mind as latter-day copperheads along with the original ones of his day.

This is really nothing at all new, but the Chief was struck once again how the play and priorities of the Washington Post of what is allegedly their “straight” news coverage delivers a consistant drumbeat anti-administration message that is clearly discernable to the libDonk PLM (Politico-legal-media) establishment, as well as to perceptive opponents.

So, just a reminder that the liberal MSM can be trusted to be in the end, well…the liberal MSM, the Chief notes the following from one day’s coverage (with appropriate commentary and analysis):

Alito Urged Wiretap Immunity

Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. once argued that the nation’s top law enforcement official deserves blanket protection from lawsuits when acting in the name of national security, even when those actions involve the illegal wiretapping of American citizens, documents released yesterday show.

WaPo message: AH-HA! Yet ANOTHER wiretapping issue. Another dastardly part of the Bushitlerite plot to demolish the constitution and implement the American Empire.
Cheif’s note: Looks like Alito knows his head from a hole in the ground, and realizes that the Constitution is not a civil-libertarian suiciode pact.

U.S. Monitored Muslim Sites Across Nation for Radiation

Clandestine FBI and Energy Department teams have monitored private property in the United States for signs of radiation without warrants, U.S. officials said yesterday. Officials said the monitoring, which intensified after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, did not require warrants or court orders because it took place from publicly accessible areas or from parking lots or driveways leading to private facilities, which the FBI believes do not carry privacy protections.

…government teams were sent to more than 100 Muslim sites in the Washington area, including mosques, homes, businesses and warehouses, plus similar sites in Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York and Seattle.

WaPo message: ANOTHER warrentless invasion of the privacy of poor innocent followers of the religion of piss peace. Not only is this an unjustified abridgement of a “right-thinking” view of civil liberties, but it is OBVIOUSLY racist, since it ONLY targeted Muslim properties, and failed to also include monitoring of Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Presbyterian, Mormon, Buddhist, Hindu, Ba’hai, Christian Science, Episcopalian, Baptist, (just to name a few examples) sites.
Chief’s note: So dumb, that no comment is needed!

Two closely related reports (just in case you missed one, the other is backup just to make sure you get the point!
U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians

U.S. Marine airstrikes targeting insurgents sheltering in Iraqi residential neighborhoods are killing civilians as well as guerrillas along the Euphrates River in far western Iraq, according to Iraqi townspeople and officials and the U.S. military.

Military Confirms Surge in Airstrikes

U.S. airstrikes in Iraq have surged this fall, jumping to nearly five times the average monthly rate earlier in the year, according to U.S. military figures.

WaPo messages: Oh the horrror of it all! Actually dropping bombs on enemy targets and also killing his closest neighbors. Better to stop it all, bring back the troops NOW, stop the bombing, and leave the poor Islamofascists alone, than to have any “civilian” bystanders endangered, injured, or (shudder) killed.
Chief’s note: Remember General Sherman’s observation that “War is hell”. Another thought – if I was living someplace, and a grouped of armed terrorists who are known to be actively engaged in open war with a military superpower moved in next door, it would NOT take a cluebat for me to figure out that the neighborhood had suddenly became a much more dangerous place to live. Bombs taking out the house next door, and splattering over the fence would be one likely result of the changed neighborhood demographics, eh?

AS far as an increase in the tempo of air attacks, it’s about time! If we can take out some terrs with a fly-by bombing, that means there is just less house-to-house fighting to put our troops at risk. Besides, house-to-house combat is NOT noted for being kind to neighboring property and occupants either! (Refer to Stalingrad (1943), Berlin (1945), and Budapest (1956) for examples, although the last was not as intensely severe as the first two cases.)
– – – – – – – – –
Last but not least are two items concerning Tom Dachshund Daschle, South Dakota’s prime example that the undead DO walk among us (since Daschle hasn’t been back long enough to allow anyone to get to him with the garlic and wooden stake. Where is Buffy now that we REALLY need her?)

First is this Op-Ed by the inimitable TD himself, which deserves and gets it’s own dissection from the Chief.

Then, in case someone doesn’t get the point, the WaPo covers it’s own OpEd piece as being news in and of itself.

Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S.

The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority “in the United States” in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article by former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in today’s Washington Post.

Nope, no journalistic self-promotion here! Only honest, professional, disinterested news coverage. Nothing else to see folks, move along.

The Chief has personally met the inimitable Sen. Tom and verbally locked horns with him in a “meet the voters” meeting here, and frankly, if he declared the sun to be rising, it would be worth looking out the window to make sure of it, since of \ver the years he has been shameless in twisting reality in original and politiically expedient ways.

Such is the world view of the WaPo and most of the rest of the MSM. Why does it give me a headache? Time to close this post and find the little bottle of Bayer.

F.E.T.E.

In Memoriam:
COOKIE – 25 Dec 1996 – 22 Dec 2005

One of the Chief’s shipboard crew of three Pembroke Welsh Corgis has a rather nasty tumor removed about a year ago. Last month we learned that it had alread escaped, and moved aggressively into her thoracic cavity, and that there was nothing else to do about it.

As such things do, the progression finally reached the point where the final veteranary solution was necessary and she had to be put down.

It may seem to some to be tritely personal and insignificant in the overall scheme of things, but it’s more than that to our household, and IMHO worth taking note of, since it has been a serious disruption to what passes for normal around here, including the state of blogging activity.

FOUR-FEET – Rudyard Kipling

I have done mostly what most men do, And pushed it out of my mind;
But I can’t forget, if I wanted to, Four-Feet trottlng behind.

Day after day, the whole day through –
Wherever my road inclined –
Four Feet said “I am coming with you!”
And trotted along behind.

Now I must go by some other round, –
Which I shall never find –
Somewhere that does not carry the sound
Of Four-Feet trotting behind.

Diver’s killer set free in Lebanon

The Cheif was afraid of this in yesterday’s post.

U.S. officials yesterday said the killer of a U.S. Navy diver had been released from “temporary custody” in Lebanon but refused to rule out bringing him to the United States by force.

Time to send in the C.T.U. and Jack Bauer! Heh heh heh!

“What I can assure anybody who’s listening, including Mr. Hamadi, is that we will track him down, we will find him, and we will bring him to justice in the United States for what he’s done,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Condi’s State Department has discovered that it has a spine!

Mr. McCormack and other U.S. officials would not rule out using force to achieve their goal if diplomacy fails. They cited past cases of foreigners who were forcefully brought to the United States to stand trial.
“We saw that with the person responsible for the murder of an American citizen, Mr. Klinghoffer,” Mr. McCormack said on Tuesday in reference to Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled New Yorker who was shot in his wheelchair on a cruise ship in 1985 and thrown overboard while still alive.
“We tracked that person down and we brought them to justice in the United States,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes, but we will track them down and they will face justice in the United States.”

One can only hope so!

Mexico Promises to Block Border Wall Plan

Vicente Fox must be pretty nervous down in Mexico. If the US goes ahead with plans to effectively regain control of its own border by building a border wall, then he and his ilk will finally have to do something to improve the situation south of the border to take care of his own people instead of shipping them north, and from the point of view of Mexico’s dominant political and economic rulers, that would NEVER do!

The Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it. Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the Mexican government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration.

Hey Foxy – here’s a clue bat for you – it’s more than just a P.R. problem you have up here!

Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the U.S. measures, passed by the House of Representatives on Friday, as “shameful” and his foreign secretary, Luis Ernesto Derbez, echoed his complaints on Tuesday.

Guys, last time I looked there was no US Constitutional requirement that we had to clear our legislation through the Distrito Federal de Mexico. The only thing “shameful in the whole situation is that it’s taking so long for the US to reassert it’s own severiegnty. (Well, that and what may happen when the Donk/RINO coalition in the Senate gets hold of this!)

“Mexico is not going to bear, it is not going to permit, and it will not allow a stupid thing like this wall,” Derbez said.

Will not “permit, and it will not allow”? Hello? Let me spell it out for you so you can understand:
United States Constitution, Article 1, section 8:
The Congress shall have Power to…Provide for the common Defence…Regulate Commerce with foreign Nations…to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization…” Get it? It says NOTHING about the government of Mexico having a role in this so go -(insert your own fave suggestion here)- yourself!

It’s hard to underestimate the ill-feeling the proposal has generated in Mexico, where editorial pages are dominated by cartoons of Uncle Sam putting up walls bearing anti-Mexican messages.

It’s hard for the media, including the writer of this piece, to comprehend the ill-feeling being generated here by the continuing flood across the border that has to be paid for. Actually the Chief wouldn’t have a problem with a lot of Mexican workers coming in – IF AND ONLY IF – the governmental welfare financial safety net were not applicable to them. When the Chief had occasion to visit the UK a few years back, the Brits stamped right in the passport with the entry visa a note that included “…recourse to public funds prohibited.” It works for me!

He said many Mexicans felt betrayed by the anti-immigrant sentiment. “We learned to believe in the United States. We have a binational life,” he said of Zacatecas, a state that has been sending migrants north for more than a century. “It isn’t just a feeling of rejection. It’s against what we see as part of our life, our culture, our territory.”

HUH? Does anyone else hear a problem in this? Try believing in Mexico, and then maybe fixing your own problems, starting with retireing the government down there. And what in the hell is the bit about …”what we see as…OUR TERRITORY.”????? WTF?

The mistaken belief that the proposals are a done deal _ they must still be submitted to the Senate _ have caused “just complete fear and shock” among some activists and immigrants, Allen said.

As noted above, the Chief is nervous himself about the Seante…time will tell on that one. As far as “complete fear and shock”…like they say in Russia, “Toughski shitski!”

Times faulted by 9/11 panel

The September 11 commission falsely singled out The Washington Times for damaging an intelligence operation by disclosing in 1998 that Osama bin Laden used a satellite phone, even though his means of communication had been widely reported beforehand, including by CNN, CBS and Time.

This commission has been virtually fatally flawed from its inception. From the very beginning, the presence of Jamie Gore-lick on the commission raises severe questions of conflict of interest, since she was involved in formulating policies that hampered and insulated the essential flow of intelligence information, among other things. She should have been testifying before the commission, not sitting on it.

The slant of the commission was also demonstrated by their continuing neglect of the Able Danger findings, and their attempt to quash any detailed exposure of that situation.

Finally there is this effort to blame a critical media outlet for a disclosure that was made first in liberal MSM outlets.

No shame there at all – and this is supposed to be a credible body?

Navy diver’s killer held in Beirut

The Krauts Germans had been holding the Islamofascist terrorist Mohammad Ali Hamadi, who was the killer of US Navy Petty Officer Robert Stedman, with a life sentence.

In Deutschland, “life” apparently means something diffferent, in this case 18 years. Ignoring a known US request for extradition, the Hezbollah perp was released and flown to Beirut by the Krauts.

The Lebanese killer of a U.S. Navy diver was in custody in Beirut yesterday, according to U.S. officials who decried his release from a German prison last week and pledged to bring him to the United States for trial.

Apparently the recently formed government of ReichsKanzler Merkel is not much more supportive of the terror war than was the former Schrõder regime. Apparently the old connections between the 3rd Reich and the Islamofascists is alive and well to some extent at least.

Since the terr murderer is in some form of custody, there is at least some chance the US will get their hands on him – but given the scrambled state of affairs in Lebanon, anything is possible.

F.E.T.E.

Iranians unfazed by president’s ban on Western music

Iranian President Ah’m-mad-in-a-jihad Ahmadinejad may have bit off more than he can chew in the information age with his recent order against western pop music. Admittedly, the order officially was directed at the state broadcasting system, but the overall attitude of the Iranians seems to be “Whatever!” as they go on with getting their fix of western media with little apparent enforcement to worry about.

Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s ban on Western music fell on deaf ears Tuesday, as shop owners and music enthusiasts in the Iranian capital continued selling, buying and listening to everything from Hip Hop to country rock. “This president speaks as if he is living in the stone age. This man has to understand that he can’t tell the people what to listen and what not to listen,” said Mohammed Reza Hosseinpour as he browsed through a Tehran music shop.

The shop’s owner said he didn’t expect the president’s ban to be implemented. “Clerics and officials speak about imposing restrictions every other day. I don’t think it’s going to be enforced,” said Reza Sadeghi as he counted some bills he received from the sale of an Eric Clapton tape.

A wise leader doesn’t give orders that he knows won’t be followed, without seriously damaging his credibility and authority.

Hmmmm. “A WISE leader doesn’t…” ’nuff said!

Republicans pushing Thune to head GOP campaign efforts

The Chief has long felt that SD GOP Senator John Thune has unlimited political potential. This would be a logical way for some of that potential to be developed.

SD Sen. John thune

Freshman Sen. John Thune could be a member of his party’s leadership as soon as next year. Thune said Monday that several senators have approached him about becoming the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s campaign arm, for the 2008 campaign cycle.

At the same time this could further cement the Senator’s South Dakota party base:

That would make him the top Republican working to defeat Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, who is up for re-election that year.

Chinese inmates’ organs for sale to Britons

Out of the realms of anti-utopian science fiction, direct to your hospital – brought to you by those enterprising ChiComs!
A Chinese company has begun marketing kidneys, livers and other organs from executed prisoners to sick Britons in need of transplants. Hospital Doctor, a British magazine, earlier this month reported that a firm called Transplants International was trying to recruit British patients. Operations were to be carried out at Guangzhou Air Force Military Hospital by doctors from a hospital affiliated with the nearby Sun Yat-sen Southern University.

One interesting aspect is the direct involvement of the PLAF – the so-called “People’s Liberation” Army Air Force. Looks like they are turning their abundance of prisoners into an asset to help finance the build up of their military.

Like this should be a surprise? After they killed or allowed to die approx. 30-60 million of their own people since they gained power back in ’47, this new exercise in international trade seems almost mild.

The original reports were in the London Telegraph:

The doctor who offered me organs from executed prisoners

Na Ning is a young, fashionably dressed doctor from one of China’s leading university hospitals. In his excellent English, he this week recruited me to help him sell the organs of executed Chinese prisoners to British patients. “We can sign an agreement,” he said over a business lunch in a smart western restaurant. “We should be cautious – this is sensitive. There is no need to bring in lawyers or consultants. We should do the agreement on trust.”

UPDATE NOTE FROM THE TELEGRAPH:

After being approached by The Daily Telegraph, Transplants International shut down its website. It was set up by Jonathan Hakim, a Beijing-based businessman from the United States, using the name John Harris. Mr Hakim denied having supplied patients to Dr Na in the past and added that he had decided no longer to be involved with the project. “I see this is clearly something that I do not want to be part of,” he said.

Maybe they can set something up with WalMart. Most of the rest of their stuff is from China anymore.

Iran’s President Bans Western Music

What’s to say about this? While the Chief might have sympathy if he was only bnnning hip-hop, this goes far beyond that.

Iranian President Ah’m-mad-in-a-jihad Ahmadinejad has stated the need for the elimination of the state of Israel, repeatedly fulminated against the US and Western Civilization in general, all without generating much response from the left. This latest bit of statesmanship hits them where they live – any bets on a public response from the Hollywood/media moonbat left? Don’t hold your breath waiting – they say anoxia is a very unpleasant way to go.

Ahmadinejad could be considered nothing but a buffoon, but he and his policies are too dangerous to allow that. He’s replicating another former world leader who many failed to take seriously – the late, unlamented Reichsfuhrer himself.

Another similarity is that both of these creatures predicted in advance what their intentions were. Can anyone sane afford NOT to take this stuff seriously?

Bush Says NSA Surveillance Necessary, Legal

The President continued to make a strong response to the libDonk/RINO appeasement wing of Congress and the MSM in his press conference today. With a lot of emphasis on the NSA terrorist monitoring program, the President also addressed other aspects of the Islamofascist War and national security.

IMHO, the press corps never laid a glove on hid during the questioning – rather it provided an opportunity for him to address and expound HIS agenda of resolute pursuit of the objectives of establishing a stable, constitutional government in Iraq, and continuing to pursue and counter terrorist groups.

Without mentioning names, he also not especially subtly jabbed a finger in the eyes of Schumer, Clinton, Boxhead Boxer, Ried, et al.

Raising his voice, Bush challenged Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton – without naming them – to allow a final vote on legislation renewing the anti-terror Patriot Act. “I want senators from New York or Los Angeles or Las Vegas to explain why these cities are safer” without the extension, he said. Reid represents Nevada; Clinton is a New York senator, and both helped block passage of the legislation in the Senate last week.

The overall final score on this one: President Bush made one of his best appearances ever!

Beware of the Fogh

Here’s one that the Rottweiler Emperor Misha has previously posted on, with justifiable pride as an emigrated Dane. It seems a Danish paper had the nerve to publish cartoon versions of how Mohammed may have looked. It touched off the expected protest and attempt to impose Dhimmitude, without any notable results. So reported by Misha and others.

This report carries it further, with the Islamofascists carried their complaints to the UN and found a suitably Dhimmified voice in the UN High Commisar Commissioner for Political Correctness Human Rights.

Alas for them, and to the benefit of Western Civilization, and the considerable show of Viking stubbornness, they have yet to make any impression on the Danish paper, government, or people (except for extra security guards at the paper).

Definitely not a reaction that would come out of Fwance these (or any) days!

Sen. Accuses Times of Endangering U.S.

Senator John Comyn (R-TX) has taken the bit in his teeth and is calling an ugly spade an ugly spade – in this case the palpable aid and comfort to the enemy rendered by the NYT and the betrayer(s) who gave them the information to blow the cover of the NSA surveillance efforts in the war on Islamofascist terror – in at least the partial interest of selling some books (as previously noted in an earlier post).

A Republican senator on Saturday accused The New York Times of endangering American security to sell a book by waiting until the day of the terror-fighting Patriot Act reauthorization to report that the government has eavesdropped on people without court-approved warrants.

“At least two senators that I heard with my own ears cited this as a reason why they decided to vote to not allow a bipartisan majority to reauthorize the Patriot Act,” said Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. “Well, as it turns out the author of this article turned in a book three months ago and the paper, The New York Times, failed to reveal that the urgent story was tied to a book release and its sale by its author.”

Tell it like it is!

Times reporter James Risen, who wrote the story, has a book “State of WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration,” coming out in the next few weeks, Cornyn said. “I think it’s a crying shame … that we find that America’s safety is endangered by the potential expiration of the Patriot Act in part because a newspaper has seen fit to release on the night before the vote on the floor on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act as part of a marketing campaign for selling a book,” Cornyn said.

So much for “news fit to print”.

Bush Asserts U.S. Is Winning Iraq War

The President delivered a masterful SITREP (situation report) on the state of the Iraq war, and issues a clear call for perseverance and determination to achieve the victory that will be signalled by a the establisment of a stable, democratic Iraq.

Captain’s Quarters did a live-blog of the speech, his play-by-play account is here. Michelle Malkin’s version is over on her site also. Each have some additional links of interest; speaking of which…

Here’s the complete text of the President’s remarks from the White House.