from Drudge Report:
EXCLUSIVE: GOP TO LAUNCH ‘WHITE FLAG’ DEM ATTACK
Thu Dec 08 2005 18:02:44 ET

The DRUDGE REPORT has learned from a top GOP operative that the Republican National Committee will provide state parties with a web video prior to release tomorrow afternoon that shows a white flag waving over images of Democrat leaders making anti-war remarks.

It’s apparently getting so rank that even the Donks themselves can’t abide the stench of some of their leaders:

A Democratic strategist who had the web ad described to her said, “This is way over the top but we have no one to blame but Dean, Kerry and others who continue to pander to the anti-war activists within our party.”

One Republican strategist familiar with the ad said, “The Democrats, especially Howard Dean have a way of trying to turn the tables and say ‘that’s not what I meant’ – its just those ‘evil Republicans’ This video will make them crazy – it reinforces what they really believe with what they actually said – and that is devastating for the Democratic Party.”

Just gotta love this one! There’s still life in the Grand Old Party!

Blue Angels to perform in Sioux Falls

This is just cool! The Chief has seen the Blue Angels perform before – it’s well worth noting this if you have any interest in aerospace stuff, or if you want to just see some really neat aerobatics performed with high-performance aircraft. This one is going on the calendar for sure!

Here’s some items both going in the direction of the dream of the Islamofascists – elimination of the state of Israel, and an unbridled anti-Jewish enmity.

Iran’s president questions Holocaust

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday expressed doubt that the Holocaust occurred and suggested Israel be moved to Europe.

There it is in plain, unmistakable language. This, along with the rest of what he had to say proves to anyone capable of historical thought that the Iranian President Ahmadinejad Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad has well and truly assumed the mantle that dropped from the shoulders of the late, unlamented Reichs-Fuhrer Adolph Hitler.

Islamofascism indeed! And there’s more:

UN Ceremony Includes Map of ´Palestine´ in Place of Israel

Here is an official UNOcratic event, with a prominent map of “Palestine” on display – minus Israel, in ANY form! How official is it? Only at the UN HQ itself, with Kofi-cup Annan himself in attendance:

The United Nations held a “Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” last week. A large map of “Palestine,” with Israel literally wiped off the map, featured prominently in the festivities.The ceremony was held at the UN headquarters in New York and was attended by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Presidents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.

And the moonbat Libs expect us to PAY these people to be able to continue to do this?

The US REALLY needs to ditch the UN, once and for all.

U.S. reporter denied entry to Syria because he’s a Jew

Technically you can’t really say anti-semitic, since the Arabs are ALSO Semites (remember the bit in Genesis about Abraham and Ishmael, the son of Hagar?), but they certainly ARE anti-Jewish, and this is about as clear-cut an example of that as one could possibly find.

Sunnis eager to vie for votes

The Sunnis of Iraq are one th the three major factional groups, along with the Shiites, and the northern Kurds. It was predicted by many Iraq war nay-sayers that they would not buy in to participation in the new Iraqi political processes, since they are a numerical minority.

Guess again! They apparently looked around the station, realized the train was starting to pull out with or without them. Their conclusion was that they had better jump on board to avoid being left standing on the platform.

Air marshals kill passenger

This one is refreshingly clear and simple – at least if one applies reason. A guy declares he has a bomb, and refuses orders of a Sky Marshal, and then reaches into his bag – it’s a no-brainer call!

In this world of suicide bombers around the world, it’s definitely time to apply some 9 mm behavioral control. As far as the wife trying to say that he was bipolar and off his meds – maybe so, but with a plane full of people the Marshall had no option to stop and run an investigation.

Claiming a bomb and reaching into a bag is tantamount to drawing a gun and pointing it at the officer. Bang! Problem resolved, everyone except the perp safe.

The Sky Marshal did his job. That’s what he was there for.

GOP supports Bolton threat

Interesting set of circumstances surrounding this issue. In short, the US is threatening to withdraw funding from the patently corrupt UNO if it doesn’t make some significant and transparent reforms.

The usual assortment of moonbat Donks are whining that there is no need for the US to be so “confrontational” with the UN, and that the usual sort of (previously failed) diplomatic efforts should be sufficient.

Fat chance of THAT!

Nothing focuses the attention of the parasitic UNOcrats quite like the prospect of going on a severe financial diet, which would constrict their usual free-wheeling style. Why, that would he even worse that having to implement some…shudder…reforms!

In this case, indubitably, Ambassador Bolton and the GOP is on the right track for a pleasant change. (Hmmmm. It sort of looks like the President swinging back at the libDonks over the last couple weeks is also performing a spinal implant to some of the Congressional GOPers. It’s about time!

Democrats hit speech on Iraq war as ‘vague’

Senate Democratic leaders labeled President Bush’s latest Iraq speech yesterday as filled with “vague generalities,” but distanced themselves from their party chairman’s declaration that thinking of victory is “just plain wrong.”

Sheesh! After Harry Ried (DOnk-NV) last week refused to propose an alternative policy to what the administration is doing in Iraq, now they go crying around that the President isn’t publishing detailed war plans, which of course would tell al-Qaida what to do to counter us.

As far as distancing themselves from their Deaniac chairman, they had bette do considerably more than that if they arn’t going to be tarred with the brush of the moonbat anti-American left-activist wing of their own party, which is well on the way to riding them down to glorious defeat in ’06, and possibly ’08, Hillary notwithstanding.

It couldn’t happen to a more deserving crew of fuzzy-brained libs!

House, Senate Agree to Extend Patriot Act

In spite of the usual crying and moaning from the Deaniac-D.U.mmie-MoveOn (dominant) wing of the Donks The Patriot Act has cleared both houses, and the differences have been resolved in conference. Even most of the Donks realize they had best NOT engage in unilateral legal disarmament in the face of the Islamofascist terror threat.

Sanity prevailed, as always, with a notably cheesy exception:

House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement Thursday to extend the USA Patriot Act, the government’s premier anti-terrorism law, before it expires at the end of the month. But a Democratic senator threatened a filibuster to block the compromise.

The exception? Sen. Sen. Russ Feingold, (Donk-WI), who wants to push for a filibuster. Good luck Russ. You’ll need it!

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., announced that the negotiating committee had reached an agreement that would extend for four years two of the Patriot Act’s most controversial provisions _ authorizing roving wiretaps and permitting secret warrants for books, records and other items from businesses, hospitals and organizations such as libraries. Those provisions would expire in four years unless Congress acted on them again. “All factors considered it’s reasonably good, not perfect, but it’s acceptable,” Specter said of the agreement.

Just like the old saw: “Politics is the art of the possible.”

Also to be extended for four years are standards for monitoring “lone wolf” terrorists who may be operating independent of a foreign agent or power. While not part of the Patriot Act, officials considered that along with the Patriot Act provisions. The Republican-controlled House had been pushing for those provisions to stay in effect as long as a decade, but negotiators decided to go with the GOP-controlled Senate’s suggestion. Most of the Patriot Act would become permanent under the reauthorization.

One MIGHT hope that this will squelch some of the more strident left typos, but based on past history, this will probably not be something to hold your breath waiting for, since anoxia is supposed to be a very unpleasant way to die.

Senate Democrats request more Alito information

Senate Democrats on Thursday called for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito to provide them with more information about his time as a federal judge and a government lawyer, citing “questions that seem to have incomplete answers.”

What’s to say hee, Donks will act like…Donks! Incomplete answers? They would still think it incomplete if they performed a deep colonoscopy, as long as there was a whiff of conservatism in him to set off their politically allergic reactions.

The White House said Democrats came up with a strategy in July to block any nominee that Bush sent to the Senate. “One of the tactics they outlined was to make repeated requests for documents and more information for the specific purpose of erecting a straw man that they could then knock down for the purpose of delaying the hearings,” spokesman Stephen Schmidt said. “It is somewhat worrying that they may be implementing that strategy to obstruct and delay, as opposed to keeping commitments to make sure that the hearings are fair and dignified.”

You just KNOW that a lot of the Donks want to push for a filibuster if they can get away with it. The Chief hopes that they’ll give it a shot – it would be worth it to ram the so-called “nuclear”, or more accurately labeled constitutional option down their throats.

The more they squak about this appointment, the more the Chief thinks that Alito needs to be on the court, which WILL happen!

Earth’s magnetic pole shifting; Alaska may lose northern lights

Earth’s north magnetic pole is drifting from North America at such a clip that it could end up in Siberia in the next 50 years, scientists said Thursday.

The Chief had been somewhat aware of ongoing drift of the geomagnetic pole, but not that it was moving quite so rapidly. Alaska losing the northern lights? Bummer.

We occasionally are blessed with the aurora here in the Dakotas – and thery are truly a phenomena of awesome natural beauty. If the pole continues it’s current path, I guess they would be much rarer here as well.

Despite accelerated movement over the past century, the possibility that Earth’s fading magnetic field will collapse or that the magnetic poles will flip is remote. But the shift could mean that Alaska may no longer be able to see the high-altitude shimmering displays of colorful lights called the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Scientists have long known that magnetic poles migrate and in rare cases, swap places. But exactly why this happens is a mystery.

Some interesting qualifiers present in this:

“This may be part of a normal oscillation and it will eventually migrate back toward Canada,” said Joseph Stoner, a paleomagnetist at Oregon State University.

Pole reversals are uncommon, happening at intervals of several hundred thousands years. The last time the poles flip-flopped was about 780,000 years ago.

Note that IT MAY BE part of a normal oscillation. Yes, pole reversals ARE uncommon, but we frankly don’t know why they occur, or for that matter have any basis to predict the next time it will occur.

The Chief finds this all interesting – a major set of phenomena that we don’t really have a handle on yet! One thing is for certain: the geomagnetic field is strongly influenced by solar activity – and in this way the sun also significantly affects a range of technologies including satellite and short-wave telecommunications, electric power grids, long-distance telephonic land-line communications.

As abstract as this area of science may seem at first glance, it has the immediate potential to significantly affect our technological infrastructure, and therefor is well worth being aware of.

States waking up to e-voting machines

When they started talking about and implementing computer voting systems the Chief had (and still has) a lot of question about the security of the system. I have read some on the clever and esoteric lengths that hackers are able to go through in order to crack into a data system that has something wanted.

THis ubiquitous ability would INEVITABLY be employed to tilt the results of elections if the only record of what happened in the voting booth in in the form of a bunch of 1’s and 0’s.

Apparently some of the states that were eager to adopt this are coming to a realization that additional protection needs to be used to protect the results, but the equipment providers don’t all seem to like that idea.

In North Carolina and California, officials are pressing Diebold to prove their machines are really tamper-proof. And Diebold doesn’t much like this game. In North Carolina, they’re threatening to withdraw from the state entirely if strict “escrow” provisions are enacted. Isn’t it amazing that the entire election system was ready and willing to trust but not verify (to paraphrase Ronald Reagan’s favorite Russian proverb) private vendors with our most treasured rights?

Diebold sought to be exempted, asking a judge to protect it from criminal prosecution if it didn’t disclose the code. The judge, Wake County’s Narley Cashwell, declined to issue such a blanket protection.

How about another Russian phrase for Diebold: “Toughski shitski!”

If blogging has been a bit sparse lately, it’s all a matter of priorities. Work, church, and the SD deer season have all had their claims, as has Mrs. Chief, also!

At least the deer season is completed, with my “double doe” tags filled successfully – earlier I spent the evening doing some butchering, and Bambi’s mom and aunt are now appropriately esconced in the freezer.

In the Chief’s household the only acceptable PETA is People Eating Tasty Animals – and the local deer are just like they came off of a finishing feedlot – fat and full of corn (pirated from the surrounding farmers).

“WHY THEN DOTH TREASON NEVER PROSPER?
wHEN IT DOES, NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON.”
– Sir John Harrington

Dean: US Won’t Win in Iraq

The Constitutional phrase “giving them Aid and Comfort.” definitely comes to mind here. During the Civil War there were some who similarly advocated the Union giving up on its effort to preserve itself.

They were called “Copperheads” after the common toxic snake, and many of them were forced to flee to Canada to avoid being confined by the Federal government as many others were – without charges, and without recourse to appeals. This was done by Abraham Lincoln, arguably considered one of the American Republic’s truly great Presidents.

As far the Deaniac, his own words testify against him:

Saying the “idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong,” Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean predicted today that the Democratic Party will come together on a proposal to withdraw National Guard and Reserve troops immediately, and all US forces within two years.

If the Donks truly do what he says here, I guess Joe Lieberman will have to become a Republican.

He apparently expects that he can freely engage in a type of Orwellian newspeak, and that no one would notice what he’s really saying.

“I think we need a strategic redeployment retreat over a period of two years,” Dean said.

Dean didn’t couldn’t specify which country the US forces would deploy to, but he said he would like to see the entire process completed within two years. He said the Democrat proposal is not a ‘withdrawal,’ but rather a ‘strategic redeployment’ of U.S. forces.

Oh, right – strategic redeployment in the face of the enemy, leaving them in command of the field of battle does not represent a retreat. Maybe not, in Dean’s language.

And we need a force in the Middle East, not in Iraq but in a friendly neighboring country to fight (terrorist leader Musab) Zarqawi, who came to Iraq after this invasion. We’ve got to get the target off the backs of American troops.

Does this blloming idiot actually claim that ANYONE in the middle east would be friendly to the US after we cut and run from Iraq, and threw the budding Iraqi democracy to the Islamofascist sharks? Not bloody likely.

Also, the only way to get the target off the backs of American troops is to have them take off their uniforms assume the turban, and line up to get their “personal tool” clipped thus demonstrating that they have indeed submitted to dar al Islam.

The Chief follows the rule “If it looks like a duck, walks line a duck, quacks like a duck, then it IS a duck.” In Deans case, his defeatism, sedition, and yes, “aid and comfort” to our enemy, is grounds for much more severe consequenced to him and his ilk than they will probably be subjected to in this decadant age of political correctness.

Tree. Rope. Donk Chairman. Some assembly required.

Going, going … staying: Zip proves reluctant crasher

The toppling of the Zip Feed tower failed Saturday, turning what was supposed to be a spectacle watched by thousands into a source of amusement for an entire city. The 202-foot tower, the tallest building in Sioux Falls and possibly the state, was scheduled to topple at 12:55 p.m. But after a loud blast it tilted east, slumped into the ground and stuck.

For non-South Dakota readers, the building in question is a concrete construction that was opened in the 1950’s as a mill for the Zip Feed Company, hence it’s commen appelation as the “Zip Feed Mill”. The 202′ building was scheduled for explosive demolition to make way for a new commercial development.

After weeks of preparatory work, Saturday was the big day, with thousands of spectators gathered to watch the festivities. When the appointed moment came, the charges blew, the building dropped – sort of, but mostly remained standing, as shown in the video clips located here, and here.

Hmmmmmm. Can this mean it isn’t too easy to blow up a building? Even after weeks of preparation and planning by demo experts? This must be the case – for sure the contractor isn’t happy about having to bring wrecking balls in to deal with the still standing remnant of the Zip Feed Mill.

In the context of the conspiracy wonks that claim a devious plot to blow the WTC buildings in NY on 9-11 to presumably pump up a war, their claims become even more specious. A physics prof. argues that in fact this is what happened, and gives his interpretation of the events.

Of course his area of real expertise is what’s known as high-energy physics, stuff like lasers, fusion reactions, and the like. Not much there on materials and architectural engineering. Popular Mechanics Online published an article that hammered his concepts really hard.

In addition, there is one very large and overwhelmingly significant item that the Chief thinks undermines the premise of demo used to bring the towers down.

Rick Rescorla, the head of security for Morgan-Stanley, who had a totally unimpeachable record in the UK Royal Army, and then the US Army in Viet-nam, followed by years of security work, was all over his building like fleas on a dog, constantly on alert for any possible security threat. Read about him here, if you’re not familiar with his life – it’s an edifying example of excellence, and well worth remembering.

To tie some things together here, if weeks of preparation by demo experts, working openly, failed to bring down an old 1950’s building with carefully planned and placed explosives, what could lead one to conclude that a secret covert op did precisely this to the World Trade Center?

The emphasis here is on a covert, secretly prepped demo of several major structures. This had to involve teams of demo experts working over an extended period of time, in settings literally crawling with people on a daily basis, including those like the formidable Mr. Rescorla and others specifically watching to prevent such things.

These teams didn’t just have to get into the buildings, they had to set their charges precisely to do the job, right up close and in contact with the supporting structure, and have some sort of electronic infrastructure to carry out the controlled demo to accomplish the job. All this without attracting ANY attention from anyone in the environment. The building and corporate security people, building maintenance people, etc., would have had to go about their business for some period of time without noticing anything out of the ordinary or suspicious going on. NWB! (No Way, Baby!)

Frankly, the Chief thinks it more likely that the 9-11 attack was collateral damage in a war between the Reptilians from Sirius, and the little grey guys with the big black eyes from Sirius. I mean, EVERYONE who has access to the Weekly World News KNOWS that the greys regularly meet with the President(s), and other world leaders. Right?

“You pays your money, and you makes your choices.” Either of those alternatives saves you the trouble of facing the real problem at hand: there are a lot of fanatical, religio-ideologically driven jihadis who have set themselves a mission to not just crash the World Trade Center, but to annihilate western civilization and supplant it with a universal global Islamofascist Caliphate. Now THERE’s something we really need to worry about – like it or not!

PEACE THROUGH SUPERIOR FIREPOWER!

Dean: GOP Will Use Immigration to Divide

Republicans plan to use the vast problems caused by illegal immigration to try and divide Americans voting in next year’s midterm election, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said Saturday.

Chairman Dean, your point is…what?

As far as this issue is concerned, the Chief would say yes indeed, the GOP is planning to use this issue to divide! This is what political parties do – they actively seek to divide the electorate every two years, hopefully to get enough of a divide to convince a majority of the voters to vote for their candidates.

This goes right along with the report last week that the Donks were upset that the GOP is casting plans to continue to win elections! Like, hello, again, that’s what political parties do – even yours, Chairman Dean. Your only problem is trying to pull that off – once people figure out what your REAL agenda is.

Methinks the real problem Chairman Dean has is that the issues that define, and therefore divide, haven’t been working in his favor very well, therefore it MUST be a bad thing by his definition.

Pilot Reports ‘Missile’ Fired at Jetliner Near LAX

Strange report, stranger response.

FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport. Sources tell ABC News the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed. The plane was over water when the pilot said he saw a smoke trail pass by the cockpit.

If I was on that plane, and had seen that – phew! What an adrenaline rush!

FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know if that’s what it actually was.

As far as the Chief is concerned, these FBI agents must have been having some sort of pharmaceuatical experience to expect that their explaination would have any credibility. I would REALLY like to get hold of some of those “bottle rockets” that could pass an airliner in flight. The only bottle rockets the Chief has seen can, at best go all of 100′ or so. Ditto on flares – bypassing an airliner? Yeah, right.

Now, there’s proof: Men, women different

Here’s a shocker! In spite of the above mentioned DUH! factor, there are some interesting points here, and some great grist for the conversational mill:

Attention, Dr. Frankenstein, and maybe Gloria Steinem: There are girl brains, then there are boy brains. But there’s not one generic human brain, no matter what hand-wringing feminists may insist in their quest for sexual equality. Some stark new clinical evidence shows that men and women are just not the same upstairs. “The comedians are right. The science proves it. A man’s brain and a woman’s brain really do work differently,” a research team from the University of Alberta in Canada announced yesterday.

As a biology major I remember getting feminazi fellow students torqued off by telling them that there absolutely HAD to be underlying differences, based on the differing biochemical environment caused by hormonal differences. They didn’t appreciate that bit of scientific knowledge one little bit, which of course only increased the Chief’s enjoyment of the experience. (It was ALMOST as good as telling them that they were self-selecting as being biologically unfit if they decided not to have children, since biological fitness is defined as being able to successfully pass genes on to succeeding generations…but I digress.)

“The larger implications of this work is that we may increasingly find out that there are differences in the ‘hard wiring’ of male and female brains,” said study author Dr. Peter Silverstone, a psychiatrist. Though Dr. Silverstone hopes that these revelations will lead to more innovative ways to treat depression and other mental illnesses, these findings might one day explain certain persistent behaviors that make for a more lively existence.

Here’s where the differences come up. Not a huge surprise at these:

Why do men, for example, refuse to ask for directions while women are busy peering at maps and landmarks during the same automobile journey? Why do women cry and men sleep through a sappy movie? Could it be that old hard-wiring? During the Canadian study, volunteers were given memory, language, spatial and coordination tests while their brains were monitored through the MRIs. The patterns revealed that men and women clearly met the challenges differently.

Similar research also reinforces differences in the brains of men and women. Psychiatrists at the Stanford University School of Medicine announced Nov. 7 that the sexes have different senses of humor as well. Using MRIs to monitor the brains of 10 men and 10 women as they scanned the newspaper cartoons, researchers found “sex-specific differences in the brain’s response to humor.”

So THAT’S why Mrs. Chief doesn’t always like the Chief’s forays into humor!

The sexes also differ in the intelligence department. “Human evolution has created two different types of brains designed for equally intelligent behavior,” said psychologist Richard Haier of the University of California at Irvine upon releasing his study of male and female brains in January. Again using MRIs, he found that men have more than six times the amount of gray matter — which controls information processing — in their brains as women do. But females have 10 times the amount of white matter, which controls networking abilities. The findings “may help explain why men excel in tasks requiring more local processing (like mathematics) while women tend to excel at integrating and assimilating information … such as required for language,” the study found.

Remember folks! Just because they’re different, doesn’t (necessarily) mean they’re wrong, which is particulary nice to lead in to one further set of conclusions (other than the one that not all behavior scientists have skulls full of marshmallow):

There’s some reassuring common ground, though. A study of almost 700 adults released yesterday by Cornell University found that men and women are happier with each other, rather than alone. And the stronger the relationship’s commitment, the greater the happiness and sense of well-being of the partners, the analysis found. “Being married is associated with higher self-esteem, greater life satisfaction, greater happiness and less distress, whereas people who are not in stable romantic relationships tend to report lower self-esteem, less life satisfaction, less happiness and more distress,” sociologist Claire Kamp Dushsaid yesterday.

Awwwwwwwwww! The tradional way, IS the best way. You heard it here, first!

FBI, IRS search Geoffrey Fieger’s Southfield office

When the Cheif stumbled across this, the name rang a bell. Feiger. Feiger? Oh yeah, one of the perennial deulling lawyers on Greta van Susteren’s show on Fox News, which features more concentrated pointless talk and useless speculation about legal cases than any other place on the planet. This has been a continuing slow-motion train wreck what with Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, Natalie Holloway, etc., etc., etc., and so on, for days and days of days and days of legalistic hair-splitting often based on skimpy or missing knowledge.

The Chief has had the misfortune to see this from time to time, as Mrs. Chief occasionally follows this – possibly as a form of televised muzak – just some background noise.

Feiger always seemed to have a smarmy smart-assed sort of attitude, and something about him always set my teeth on edge and give an urge to slap him upside the head, except for the fear that sh-t would splatter.

NOW, I know where that instinctive reactin came from – he was suicide peddler Jack Kevorkian’s legal mouthpiece. Now he’s under investigation for campaign finance violations.

A federal investigation surrounding prominent trial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger is being led by a section of the U.S. Justice Department that focuses on public corruption and campaign finance violations, officials confirmed Thursday. The FBI and Internal Revenue service raided Fieger’s Southfield offices Wednesday night, seizing boxes of documents while spending about four hours inside the building.

Another case of the recently ballyhooed “atmosphere of political corruption in the President’s party”?

Fieger, a Democratic candidate for state attorney general best known for defending assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, said Thursday morning that the probe is politically motivated by Republicans who control the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit and the attorneys general in Washington and Lansing.

Ooops. Guess not – he’s a DONK candidate!

Fieger is known for his flamboyant courtroom style and outspokenness, notably in his former role as attorney for Kevorkian. Kevorkian claimed to have attended more than 130 deaths before being convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 in the death of a Lou Gehrig’s disease patient. Fieger has said he was not asked to represent Kevorkian in that case.

So if he HAD reperesented him, he would have gotten him off on that one too?

Fieger unexpectedly won the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary largely based on his popularity in Detroit. But Gov. John Engler easily beat Fieger, 62 percent to 38 percent, on the Republican’s stroll to a third term.

Democracy is a bitch sometimes, right Geoff?

Defense contractor held in spy case

A defense contractor charged with failing to register as a Chinese agent admitted passing data on U.S. Navy arms technology to China for 22 years, including information on next-generation destroyers, an aircraft carrier catapult and the Aegis weapons system, according to new court papers in the case.

Charged with “failing to register…”???? W.T.F.? Can’t they pronounce T-R-E-A-S-O-N?

Two federal judges in Los Angeles on Monday reversed earlier rulings and ordered the contractor and his brother held without bond. The rulings followed testimony from FBI agents in the case.

At least they had THAT much sense. It wouldn’t have taken those guys long slip away on bail and end up living the good life in Shanghai, or somewhere else over there.

The court documents shed new light on what U.S. intelligence officials say will be one of the most damaging cases of Chinese technology spying on U.S. weapons, even though the information compromised was not secret.

The Chief had occasion, in his Naval career to routinely handle lots of classified material, including cryptographic material. The definition for stuff that was classified “SECRET” is that if it were disclosed, it could cause serious harm to the national security. For “TOP SECRET”, disclosure could cause extremely grave harm.

If the stuff in this case was “one of the most damaging cases of…spying…” then it sure looks as though somebody is being REALLY incompetant with the classification and control on the technology of concern.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who ordered Chi Mak to be held without bond, dismissed a defense lawyer’s claim that the charges were exaggerated. “You’re talking about billions of dollars of technology that puts our country at serious risk,” he said. Investigators found data on the DDX destroyer program on encrypted files carried by Tai Mak, a Phoenix television engineer, when he was arrested along with his wife Oct. 28 at Los Angeles International Airport as they prepared to travel to China.

Nothing like being caught red-handed (pun intended) funneling stuff to the ChiComs.

Rope. Tree. Spies. Some assembly required!

Several related items here:

Time needed to end alien ‘catch-and-release’ debated

Ending the “catch-and-release” policy for non-Mexican illegal aliens will take at least a year, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has estimated. But Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, said he has heard estimates from Mr. Chertoff’s department that it will take as long as three years to end the policy, stressing why better enforcement must come before Congress acts on President Bush’s call for a guest-worker program.

Hopefully this isn’t an exercise in bureaucratic double-talk. Surely we should be able to start doing something sooner than three years, ore even one year, if the leadership and will exists to cut through red tape toi maike things happen.

Immigration office ignores fake marriages

Documents show that the Houston office of the federal agency charged with interior immigration enforcement has stopped investigating individual cases of “sham” marriages, which terrorists have used in the past to stay legally in the U.S.

In spite of the good sounding remarks the Pres. delivered earlier on immigration policy, this is a de-facto case of negative progress. It’s even worse when you read the rest of the details in the story. W.T.F.? Let’s get it together guys!

France toughens controls on aliens

Sheesh. After the above entry, the Chief is flabbergasted that he has to say that we need to follow the example of the FRENCH(!?) in something, but it sure looks that way.

Authorities will better enforce requirements that immigrants seeking 10-year residency permits or French citizenship must master the French language and integrate into society, Mr. de Villepin said. France also will implement a stricter screening process for foreign students and plans to crack down on fraudulent marriages that some immigrants use to obtain residency, he said.

Apparently the Frogs “get it”.

Power back for many; S. Dakotans dig out

Still some problems from this week’s blizzard. (Understatement alert!)

Tens of thousands of South Dakotans remain without electricity today in the aftermath of a widespread winter storm that ripped down power lines and snapped at least 8,000 poles.

Gov. Mike Rounds said during a conference call Tuesday evening that 40,000 electric company customers lost power. Because many of those were families, the actual number of affected people was much higher.

Restoring electricity will be a long process. “Repair crews will be working 18-hour shifts,” Rounds said. “One hundred semi-loads of poles, minimum, need to be brought in.” The governor said the storm affected 10,000 miles of power lines and sapped electricity from about 100 communities.

CinC Speaks at Naval Academy

Live-blogged notes on the address. The Chief’s instant impression evaluation: a great start to explain the strategic goals and progress of the Iraq war: victroy trumps withdrawel. Well said, including a much-deserved jab in the eyes of the withdrawel timetable advocates.

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Terror war fought on many fronts.

Enemy must be defeated on every battlefield – Iraq has become central front of terror war.

Understand the enemy: in Iraq composed of several groups.

“(1) Rejectionists (Sunnis upset that no longer dominant power group in Iraq, but not all Sunnis.

2) Former Saddam loyalists/Baathists – lack popular support, will become marginalized.

(3) al Qaida affiliates / allies- smallest group – many non-Iraqis – resp. for suicide bombers, beheadings, kidnappings, etc. Seek to gain Iraq as base to push for Islamist empire. Ultimate failure will be based on failure of will to power overcoming desire for freedom.
These have same philosophy & ideology as 9-11 hijackers.

Response to them “Never back down. Never give in. Accept nothing less than complete victory.”
Continue reading →

Our Troops Must Stay

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) has sounded a strong warning that the US cannot cut and run out of Iraq. This one is worth reading, and is in the fine old Democrat tradition of responsability in foriegn affairs like that of Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, and others of his ilk, who are now extremely scarce on the ground in todays Party of the Donkey.

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, of course, but the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood–unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn.

Sen. L. has been there repeatedly, and thus has a direct experience of comparing the conditions on the ground as they have changed over time. The news is good!

Progress is visible and practical. In the Kurdish North, there is continuing security and growing prosperity. The primarily Shiite South remains largely free of terrorism, receives much more electric power and other public services than it did under Saddam, and is experiencing greater economic activity. The Sunni triangle, geographically defined by Baghdad to the east, Tikrit to the north and Ramadi to the west, is where most of the terrorist enemy attacks occur. And yet here, too, there is progress.

To cut to the chase:

It is a war between 27 million and 10,000; 27 million Iraqis who want to live lives of freedom, opportunity and prosperity and roughly 10,000 terrorists who are either Saddam revanchists, Iraqi Islamic extremists or al Qaeda foreign fighters who know their wretched causes will be set back if Iraq becomes free and modern. The terrorists are intent on stopping this by instigating a civil war to produce the chaos that will allow Iraq to replace Afghanistan as the base for their fanatical war-making. We are fighting on the side of the 27 million because the outcome of this war is critically important to the security and freedom of America. If the terrorists win, they will be emboldened to strike us directly again and to further undermine the growing stability and progress in the Middle East, which has long been a major American national and economic security priority.

Just as imprtantly, he also notes the damage being done by the politicalizaion of the war:

The leaders of Iraq’s duly elected government understand this, and they asked me for reassurance about America’s commitment. The question is whether the American people and enough of their representatives in Congress from both parties understand this. I am disappointed by Democrats who are more focused on how President Bush took America into the war in Iraq almost three years ago, and by Republicans who are more worried about whether the war will bring them down in next November’s elections, than they are concerned about how we continue the progress in Iraq in the months and years ahead.

Hear, Hear! Sen. Lieberman has shown himself to be a Democrat, not just a Donk Dhimmicrat.

There’s more too – check it out. It’s well worth the read.

Huge Snowstorm Rolls Across Great Plains

Crews on Tuesday gradually reopened major highways that had been closed by the Plains’ first blizzard of the season, stranding post-Thanksgiving travelers. Thousands of people remained without electricity.

It’s been a few years since there’s been a blizzard like this one here on our corner of the northerm plains. The Chief shut down last night when the electricity started flicking off and on for a while. We never did completely lose the power, although nearby areas were not so lucky.

Utility officials estimated that 50,000 customers were blacked out across eastern South Dakota on Tuesday, and many communities in North Dakota had no electricity. Nebraska also had scattered outages. The morning’s low at Grand Forks, N.D., was 14 degrees.

It was also 14º here at the Chief’s location this morning, and again tonight. (Just about enough to convince you that it’s winter!) Right now at 11PM CST there are still 40,000 in the state with no power yet. (Been there, done that – it ain’t fun – hence the Chief’s backup pair of Coleman generators ready to keep the spark going as needs be.)

For those of you not out on the edge of the grid, this led to going around unplugging various items of digital electronics like satellite equipment (C-band, DishNetwork, and 2-way direct internet), computers, etc, to avoid damage from voltage spikes occurring as the juice flipped on and off.

Another note: at times blogging may ne a bit lessened on the weekend, since we have entered what some consider to be the High Holy Days of deer season.

Yes PETA, THIS Daddy kills animals up close and personal, and likes to cook ’em up and dine on them. Around here the venison comes as though the deer were on a finishing lot – every one I’ve shot has had a gut full of corn from gleaning the harvested fields.

This makes it good for the OTHER PETA: People Eating tasty Animals. Oh, yeah!

Video of Four Hostages Airs on Al-Jazeera

Images of four peace activists taken hostage in Iraq — one of which is an American — was shown on the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera Tuesday.

The irony level here is rich. Peace activists, dedicated to the proposition that we’re all the same, and that all we really need to do is try to all get along with each other and sing Kumbaya have met up with hard-core Islamofascist terrorism up close and personal.

A previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. The group said the four victims were spies working undercover as Christian peace activists,

Meanwhile, other unidentified Islamofascists went after a German victim to kidnap to protest Deutschland’s troops in Afghanistan. They’s apparently taking the measure of recently inaugurated Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Separately, photos were released Tuesday of Susanne Osthoff, a German woman, being led away blindfolded by armed captors. The photos were taken from a video in which her captors demanded that Germany stop any dealings with Iraq’s government, according to Germany’s ARD television. Germany has ruled out sending troops to Iraq and opposed the U.S.-led war. Osthoff and her driver have been missing since Friday and “according to current information, we have to assume it is a kidnapping,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.

F.E.T.E.

Poll finds Chirac sinking

Jacques Chirac’s presidency hit a new low Sunday when a poll revealed that most voters think he now has little or no influence over events at home or abroad.

The Chief wonders what their first clue was to this – the complete lack of any real influence over the course of events in Iraq (in spite of repeated verbal fulminatins about the US policies and actions, or the feckless response to the importaion of the jihadistani “Arab street” to the Ile de France, and elsewhere.

Of those polled, 72 percent regarded the influence of their president — who turns 73 today — over what happens in France as “weak.” Two-thirds said his clout on the world stage was feeble, while only 36 percent thought he held any significant sway over European politics.

Hmmmm. Maybe it was his failure to carry the ball for the Eurocratic constitution in the Froggish referendum on the same.

Whatever.

The sun is setting on the reign of Chirac.

Martin’s authority dissolves after vote

This has been coming up, and is not really a surprise, especially after Martin lost a trial vote last week, and the “adscam” scandel which got a lot of attention last summer after American blogger Captain Ed leaked closed testimony and let the cat out of the bag pm the Canuckian Liberal Party involvement in it.

A corruption scandal forced a parliamentary vote of no-confidence yesterday that toppled Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority government, triggering an unusual winter election campaign.

Canada’s three opposition parties, which control a majority in Parliament, voted against Mr. Martin’s government, saying his Liberal Party no longer has the moral authority to lead the nation. The loss means an election for all 308 seats in the lower House of Commons, likely Jan. 23. Mr. Martin and his Cabinet would continue to govern until then.

Can you say “schadenfreude”?

Live Blogging today, starting at approx. 1540 CST.

Americ needs to be welcoming society, and lawful society. Enforcing law essential to nation and especially to border communities.

There is a clear responsibility to protect the border.

Comprehensive reform strategy. Catch illegal immigrants, harden border, enforce laws,

THREE PART PLAN
– all illegal entrants captures are to be deported immediately. – Use of “interior repatriation” for Mexicans – deporting back to original home, not just across the border. Interior repatriation to be expanded. Non-Mexican illegals currently given court dates which they ignore. Catch and release policy to be ended. Must increase detention capacity. Processing times to be increased: expedited removal – streamlined procedure cuts processing time by 2/3.
Catch and release to become catch and return.
– Correct weak immigration laws & rules that prevent prompt action. Needs to cut down on appeal rights & repeated litigation.
– Stop illegal crossings: increae manpower, technology (UAV’s, etc.), border infrastructure. (Misc. examples.) Physical barriers to be improved.

Improvement in internal enforcement of laws/regs: employers, illegals, smugglers, etc. Border security, interior enforcement hand-in-hand.

Measures to reduce document fraud. Businesses to be give access to Fed. data base to verify status of prospective enployees.

Temporary worker program
– legal status for fixed period of time, then return.
– no automatic path to citizenship
– no amnesty to illegals
– increase number of annual green cards that can lead to citizenship, but not through amnesty.

Summary of prospective Congressional action for early next year.

All new citizens have obligation to learn values, customs, respect for laws & rights, toleration of others and learn English language.

Conclude with praise for Border Patrol, INS, etc. for current efforts.
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The Chief’s initial reaction – generally not bad, but some areas of concern that will be thrashed out in Congress one way or another – the mechanics of the guest worker scheme for one.

It was very good to note that it is essential for immigrants to join into American culture, values, language, etc.

It’s a start at least. It’ll be interesting to hear the response of Cong. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) who has been very outspoken on these issues.

Viet-nam & Iraq Coalition Casualties

THis graph was compiled from historical stats from ‘Nam as well as Iraq. Graphs can be a GREAT way for making something clear.

The Iraq data came from this site, and the ‘Nam data originated here.

Kudos to the Bastard Sword for this graphically illustrative enlightenment, and an H/T to the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler for bringing it to the Chief’s attention.

Sympathetic Vibrations

Reported in the WaPo no less!

Democrats fumed last week at Vice President Cheney’s suggestion that criticism of the administration’s war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. But a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney’s point.

Ooops! Reality is a bitch!

Seventy percent of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale — with 44 percent saying morale is hurt “a lot,” according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale. The results surely will rankle many Democrats, who argue that it is patriotic and supportive of the troops to call attention to what they believe are deep flaws in President Bush’s Iraq strategy. But the survey itself cannot be dismissed as a partisan attack. The RTs in RT Strategies are Thomas Riehle, a Democrat, and Lance Tarrance, a veteran GOP pollster.

So much for claiming GOP biases. As far as assessing the Donks’ reasons for their caterwauling, there’s more:

Their poll also indicates many Americans are skeptical of Democratic complaints about the war. Just three of 10 adults accept that Democrats are leveling criticism because they believe this will help U.S. efforts in Iraq. A majority believes the motive is really to “gain a partisan political advantage.”

Again, as reported in the Washington Post. Donks have to be thinking along the lines of “Et tu, Brute“.

They even go on to note this:

This poll is one of the few pieces of supportive news the administration has had lately on Iraq. Most surveys have shown significant majorities believe it was a mistake to go to war, as well as rising sentiment that Bush misled Americans in making the case for it. Even so, there is still support for Bush’s policy going forward. A plurality, 49 percent, believe that troops should come home only when the Iraqi government can provide for its own security, while 16 percent support immediate withdrawal, regardless of the circumstances.

Elsewhere on the protest front:

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan waits for people to show up at her book signing near President Bush’s ranch on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005. Note reporters, but no customers. “Every picture tells a story, don’t it?”

With this non-event, one would think that the Donks would begin to get the hint…but then again, perhaps not – they ARE Donks after all.