The Media’s War Against the War

This is the best summary and opinion piece that I've seen on the NYCrimes and their revealing National Security Secrets (solely for their own personal gain. Well mostly...their claims at outing the SWIFT program for the "public interest" are only true if you consider the Dems/Libs interest of publicly trying to humiliate the Administration.)
Some points:
-it's a perfectly legal program
-does not involve domestic tracking
-the correct members of congress have been breifed
-it has directly led to the capture of terrorists
-it is directly responsible for the strangulation of terrorists funding


Quotes:

Appealing to the patriotism of these newspapers proved about as promising as appealing to the humanity of the terrorists they so insouciantly edify — the same monsters who, as we saw again only a few days ago with the torture murder
of two American soldiers, continue to define depravity down.

...

The blunt reality here is that there is a war against the war. It is the jihad of privacy fetishists whose self-absorption knows no bounds. Pleas rooted in the well-being of our community hold no sway.

And here's video of a press conference with some flat-out idiot journalists.
It's disgusting. (No, she is pretty scary, but I was talking about the suicidal indifference to danger exhibited by journalists in the cities most likely to be targeted by terrorists)

Great Article

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/06/why_i_love_australia.html
Charles Krauthammer
Why I Love Australia

WASHINGTON -- In the Australian House of Representatives last month, opposition member Julia Gillard interrupted a speech by the minister of health thusly: "I move that that sniveling grub over there be not further heard.''
For that, the good woman was ordered removed from the House, if only for a day. She might have escaped that little time-out if she had responded to the speaker's demand for an apology with something other than "If I have offended grubs, I withdraw unconditionally.''
...
Australia is the only country that has fought with the United States in every one of its major conflicts since 1914, the good and the bad, the winning and the losing.

Well worth the read.

Tre Arrow

Here's a spotlight on a nutcase.

Hello to everyone. I wish you all a blessed father's, grandfather's, great grandfather's, etc, day!! What a powerful time to be alive on this planet, eh? I would like to acknowledge this time of year here in the Northern Hemisphere as we approach the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, and the time when we are closest to our grandfather sun. The summer solstice is occuring on Wed June 21 at 10:26 a.m. pacific (West Coast of Turtle Isl.) time. Without grandfather sun we would not have all the bounty that earth mother provides to nourish and heal our bodies and spirits. I give great thanks! I also pray for all the brothers and sisters who are sundancing at this time. I send a blessing to all the beings in the southern hemisphere celebrating the winter solstice.
...
I would like to share these words with you, which was the original lords prayer:“Cosmic Birther, Earth Mother Father Heaven present within the universe. Clear out the old and make the Holy of Holies within me. Come into this Holy of Holies, the bedroom of our hearts, and prepare us for the marriage of power and beauty. Heaven meets Earth in acts of compassion. We are now clear and ready to act. We take responsibility for wise, compassionate action. Give us this day, nourishment and understanding. Embrace us wholly as we embrace others. Allow us to remember what's important so that we may hone oportunities and continue to bear the fruits of our love. From you is born all creativity, the song of creation that renews from age to age.”
...
The reason that I was moved to this unit and reclassified to P.C. [protective custody] is because I've had many problems trying to fit in to the G.P. [general population] lifestyle. I have been a target by many people because of the life that I follow. I eat raw plant food and not dead animals (eating dead animals is seen as something matcho). My long hair and lifestyle has resulted in me being labelled as a 'hippie'.
[ed. You're kidding! Really?!]

More on Tre Arrow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tre_Arrow

Eco-terrorism Apologist

So I was reading in the Arizona Daily Wildcat (UofA's attempt at a newspaper) and saw a story about an "event" (read rally) against the governments classification of "environmental activism" as terrorism.

Some key quotes:
Members of the group are concerned that the government's use of words such as "eco-terrorism" to describe environmental actions to spread awareness are giving people the wrong idea about the group's intentions.
"Labeling people in action takes away the point they are making. You hear the word terrorist and you disregard what they stand for," said Wendy Van Leuveren, a women's studies junior.
...
Lee said environmentalists would prefer to use nonviolent actions to raise awareness, but many of these movements' activists think the matters are so pressing they require immediate action.
...
"As long as the FBI is arresting people in the community, and friends of ours, we will be reaching out to the community," said Jeff Davis, an organizer for "Resist the Green Scare."

So these terrorist and criminal apologists care about their friends who got caught in criminal acts "intended 'to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.'"
But say these folks are your friends, and you don't want to be their friends anymore. How do you get on their bad side? Keep reading...

So I googled "resist the red scare" and found a gem of a website, listing charged or convicted ecoterrorists. In the "recent news" section I found this.

ELP Information Bulletin (4th of June 2006)

Dear friends

Based on information sent to us by some of the Oregon 16 defendants, as well as statements by lawyers close to the cases, and looking at the proceedings at the 2nd of June 2006 bail hearing for Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher, ELP is removing Chelsea Gerlach from our prisoner list. We are also withdrawing our support for Suzanne Savoie (who is currently on bail).

Chelsea Gerlach and Suzanne Savoie have both been named by some of their co-defendants, as well as by some of the lawyers, as cooperating with the authorities which has included making statements against others.

We have no yet confirmed the full extent of their cooperation with the
authorities (and there may be others who they have named), but we have confirmed that both Gerlach and Savoie have made statements against Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher.

ELP will naturally release more information about this as our investigation continues. In the meantime should anyone have any information about the full extent of Gerlach and Savoie's cooperation with the authorities, please contact ELP as soon as possible.

They stop being friends if you tattle.

Read a little about these terrorists.
This page gives a little description of their story/crime. I keep seeing the phrase "direct action." Wanna guess what they mean?

HOLY FREAKIN CRAP! reading down, they list Ted Kaczynski. You know..the unabomber. You gotta be kidding me. I've joked about how lefty nutjobs might as well come out and join with the Islamist murderers since they are united in Anti-Americanism. These lefty nutjobs DID come out and support an anti-technology murderer, because he is an "Eco-Defence Prisoner."

Here's some of the real stories, without the euphemisms:
http://brianoconnor.typepad.com/animal_crackers/2005/03/shac_7_and_free.html
http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=6156
http://www.localnewsleader.com/olberlin/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=191091
http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006-06/local/local-man-as-eco-terrorist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unabomber
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/jeffrey_luers.htm
http://www.targetofopportunity.com/coronado.htm

Global Warming

A few items. First, an excellent article from the Canada Free Press on dissent in the academic community on global warming, something environmentalists never mention.
A great cartoon from Cox and Forkum:















Also, apparently ABC is asking for personal stories about how global warming has effected lives. Taranto rightly points out that these "reporters" are confusing climate change with weather change. But several people have submitted really funny spoof stories:

Tharg and me used to hunt mighty mammoth but he scared to cross ice bridge. It now too thin to take weight of even saber cat. Only mouse or rabbit can cross.
Many of my people have left the caves in search of food.
Sister's daughter's husband says it because of He-Who-Tamed-Fire. He say smoke from fire anger gods and they make it hot. Medicine Man say he full of mastodon droppings.
Medicine Man say Sun God told him Sun God get belly ache every 200 lifes of man. Belly ache make Sun God hotter, like when Og ate red berries birds don't touch.
Sun God say it good thing. He say now we can go south past ice to land he call "Iowa."
He mumble "junk science" and "media hype" and "poorly educated reporters." We no understand these powerful magic words. We afraid to say words now that Moon God warn us. She say magic words make research grants dry up. We no understand.
Must go, little Ky-Rock need help flaking obsidian.

World Cup Wusses

No, I'm not talking about the US national team and they're sad performances. I'm talking about those who are criticizing this Nike poster.

The critics cite three offences:

It's too war like (aggresive)
If we have learned anything about football in the last few years, it should be that it doesn't need big business trying to inject even more aggression into the mix.

It's too reminiscent of the crusades
The other aspect of it is the aggression contained in it, bound up with the flag of St George, which you might see as a throwback to the Crusades, which is hardly going to go down well with Muslim countries. It's offensive on several different levels.
What this critic fails to mention is that the flag of St George is the national flag of England, or that it is part of the TEAM UNIFORMS.

It's too Christlike

It therefore brings to mind the crucifixion to many people, and why Nike would want to do that, I haven't a clue, unless it is simply as a publicity stunt.

Again, nevermind the fact that this is how Rooney celebrates when he scores

No title needed

I don't usually make decisions about what films I watch or music I listen based solely on the political views of the performer. I think people are entitled to their opinions, and I may still want to watch a movie even if the actor is a liberal wingnut. Sometimes, however, the line must be drawn, and the Dixie Chicks have crossed it (again). From an interview in London's Telegraph:

The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism.

That was Natalie Maines (deleted ad hominem). Well Maines, you are dead to me now.

Defending the borders...works?

Apparently it does. According to a Tucson TV station, detentions along the U.S. border have increased by over 20% during the beginning of June as compared to the same period last year. It seems that much of the decline may be due to the presence of National Guard troops along the frontera.

Referring specifically to a region of the border south of Yuma, near the small border town of San Luis, a border patrol spokesman commented on the decline:

The desert region's blistering June temperatures typically drive down the number of migrants, but not so drastically, said Mario Martinez, a spokesman with the U.S. Border Patrol in Washington.

I spent some time in that exact area while a missionary. It is frequently hotter than 115 degrees during the day, sometimes sustaining temperatures above 100 degrees in the evening. It appears that the troop presence in Arizona may be sending more illegals to California. Regardless of why it is happening, the decline is welcome news, and a sign that this part of the plan may bear fruit. If it does indeed funnel more traffic to other parts of the border, it will allow greater enforcement of those regions.

Romney Watch '08 - Part VI

Saturday's Wall Street Journal featured a new article about Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (subscribers only). It was an interesting look, though it did follow a familiar pattern to other stories we've covered at Right Wing Pundit (find some previous posts here, here, and here). How so? See below:

• Romney is Mormon, and many other Christians don't understand how that would impact his politics.
• Romney has not always followed the model of a conservative politician, with some of his public expressions evolving over time.
• He was a successful businessman and is credited with saving the 2002 Winter Olympics.
• He has governed the state of Massachusetts, mostly as a fiscal conservative, and most would argue that he has done so very well. The new state health care plan is somewhat controversial.

I agree with this statement by Romney:

The great majority of Americans want a person of faith to be their leader.

Whether his personal faith becomes an issue remains to be seen.

Immigration Compromise

A few weeks ago J-Red wrote about immigration. I agreed with everything that he wrote, and now this plan by Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) would seem to be just the kind of legislation that we can support here at RWP.

It provides enforcement of immigration law (with penalties for violators) and a guest worker program (with no free passes for breaking the law). It seems to be a reasonable compromise. We need this kind of stricter enforcement to perpetuate the assimilation of immigrants.

Ah-nuld's Back?

Jill Stewart has a column in today's WSJ, also found on OpinionJournal, and I found it surprising, but in a good way.

I have long been a fan of the Governator, because I think that the governorship of California would be a very difficult position to take. I don't agree with everything he does and says, but I think he has a lot of political savvy in a state where it is hard to lead as a conservative. Some highlights from Stewart's piece:

Mr. Schwarzenegger's phoenix-like rise is now quantifiable. His approval rating tanked at 31% last November. Now it has steadily increased to 44%. Soon, he may pull off that rarest of all California political feats--signing a budget by the constitutional deadline.
The reason for the change is simple: It finally dawned on the likable but cocky governor--who used likeability and cockiness to become the world's top box-office draw--that voters don't want the same things that sell with moviegoers...
Sure, Mr. Schwarzenegger is taking hits for making an "unannounced switch" to the Democratic Party. But more accurately, it's a move back to the center after a disastrous foray into partisanship. His move puts him in competition with Mr. Angelides--the ultra-liberal who Democratic primary voters chose on Tuesday to face Mr. Schwarzenegger in November.
And Mr. Schwarzenegger still hews to his Republican roots. His budget allows only $2.5 billion in deficit spending, down from $16.56 billion when he took over from wildly overspending Gray Davis. He's been helped tremendously by the fact that California's treasury is groaning with a $5 billion tax windfall, thanks to Californians who made money off stock profits, dizzying home sales prices and a booming California economy. The media is abuzz over the windfall, and rating agencies including Standard & Poor's are pleased that the governor is spending it mostly on one-time improvements and a rainy day reserve, not on programs that grow long after the treasury goes bare.
This is not to say the governor's revived centrism isn't strained, as with his absurd dithering over sending National Guard troops to the Mexican border. Voters, including many long-settled Latinos, support the measure, even if it is condemned by California's ridiculously strident Latino elected leaders. Mr. Schwarzenegger should ignore California's ethnic nationalist politicians--buffoons who still hysterically condemn the state's staggeringly successful switch to English immersion in schools.

It's a good piece and worth the read. Like I said before, governing a state like California is a tough job, particularly considering all of its problems. For more on governors (and my fave, Jeb) check out this previous post from the SPOTD blog.

Insurgent Public Relations 101

James Taranto, author of OpinionJournal's Best of the Web, ran a letter yesterday from a U.S. military officer who requested anonymity. I think the letter is striking, and worth a read (emphasis added by me):

I am currently stationed here in Iraq and have been here for the past 11 months; I am an adviser to the Iraqis and meet them on a daily basis. I have been in many locations in the country and am involved on a daily basis together with the Iraqis fighting the insurgency.
The media manipulation by the insurgents is brilliant and extremely effective. The press has become a puppet for the insurgents; the insurgents know exactly what they are doing with these "massacres" (quoted here because the investigation has not been completed, nor have any charges been filed) and the political nightmare they will cause the current administration. Bodies are produced for film, and there is zero fact-checking by the media--the media eat up this "news" like there is no tomorrow. A couple of hundred bucks paid by the insurgents to a few guys/ladies in the town where this "massacre" occurred to make up some bad news and pine for the BBC's or CBS's or whoever's cameras is a nice month's salary for many and money well spent by the insurgency.
All the Arabs (Sunni and Shia), Kurds and Chaldeans I have come to know well here will tell you that Arabs are emotional people who tend to exaggerate. A lot. Experience has shown that "50 insurgents hiding out in XX location" is five, at most 10. "Three hundred dead" at the morgue is at most 40. "A huge cache with WMD" is 45-50 weapons. It is a cultural norm and is accepted over here as a norm. It is reported in the West as fact. With no fact-checking.
When we convoy, all in the town/village know when and where there is a bomb/IED/VBIED that is targeting coalition forces. This is not so true in Baghdad, but in the outlying towns all know. What is the culpability for those people in the village/town? Would the Marines be guilty in the U.S. under the same circumstances?
I do not know whether or not the Marines are guilty. A Marine's job is to "close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver," and I can guarantee its effectiveness. But the insurgents have the ear of the press. Hopefully the politics will be put aside for the investigation and the facts will be told, whatever they may be.

Taranto did a brilliant job yesterday of exposing the Left's desire to use our troops for political gain in November.

Welcome to the Apocalypse

As you know, today is 6.6.06. Yep, the long-awaited apocalypse. And if you believe Al Gore and his pals, it was caused by the Republicans!

Okay, maybe that is taking some of his statements out of context. Gore has never claimed that today would be the apocalypse, but he has claimed that Global Warming will be the end of us, and he blames it on people like George W. Bush.

The evidence for global warming is not conclusive. There is dissent in the scientific community, but it is being squelched for a variety of reasons according to this piece by Denver Post colunist David Harsanyi:

The only inconvenient truth about global warming, contends Colorado State University's Bill Gray, is that a genuine debate has never actually taken place. Hundreds of scientists, many of them prominent in the field, agree.
Gray is perhaps the world's foremost hurricane expert. His Tropical Storm Forecast sets the standard. Yet, his criticism of the global warming "hoax" makes him an outcast...
Another highly respected climatologist, Roger Pielke Sr. at the University of Colorado, is also skeptical.
Pielke contends there isn't enough intellectual diversity in the debate. He claims a few vocal individuals are quoted "over and over" again, when in fact there are a variety of opinions...
Both Gray and Pielke say there are many younger scientists who voice their concerns about global warming hysteria privately but would never jeopardize their careers by speaking up.
"Plenty of young people tell me they don't believe it," he says. "But they won't touch this at all. If they're smart, they'll say: 'I'm going to let this run its course.' It's a sort of mild McCarthyism. I just believe in telling the truth the best I can. I was brought up that way."

Global warming's proponents have also used exageration to make their case, as outlined by Patrick Michaels in the Washington Times:

So here's what Al [Gore] told Grist Magazine about global warming: "I believe it is appropriate to have an overrepresentation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience."
It would be nice to think he came up with this de novo. But exaggeration of global warming has long been considered virtuous.
Consider NASA's James Hansen. He has claimed the Bush White House muzzled him on global warming. How muzzled is certainly debatable. He has far more recent news citations than any other climate scientist.
He also started the whole global warming hysteria, with some remarkably inflammatory congressional testimony in 1988, and he is Al Gore's climate guru. Here's what he wrote in 2003 from his Broadway office, in the online journal Natural Science: "Emphasis on extreme scenarios may have been appropriate at one time, when the public and decisionmakers were relatively unaware of the global warming issue." In fact, in 1989, he told The Washington Post he felt it was his duty to bring global warming to the attention of the political process. Apparently it was also "appropriate" to exaggerate it for political effect.
Stanford's Stephen Schneider, interviewed by Jonathan Schell in Discover magazine later that year, spoke of the need to "capture the public's imagination." Scientists would have to "offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. ... Each of us has to decide what is the right balance between being effective and being honest."

That last statement is particularly troubling. If there is a case to be made, it should be made in completely honest fashion. Gore and his cronies appear to be advocating the kinds of things that the Bush administration has been accused of again and again- manipulating intelligence for the purpose of inciting public outcry. In Opinion Journal, Holman Jenkins provides some excellent insights as well:

In a million years, the time it takes the earth to sneeze, the planet will likely be shorn of any conspicuous sign we were ever here, let alone careless with our CO2, dioxins, etc. Talk about an inconvenient truth.

Much like the kooks that wear the posters proclaiming "The End if Near," global warming proponents rely on incomplete data, intellectual repression, and fearmongering to make their case.

The Kennedy Legacy continues

No matter what you think about Ted Kennedy, he has enjoyed a Senate career of impressive longevity. I think it would take me too long to find it, but I am sure that he has done something good in all those years. His brothers John and Robert also had impressive careers before their premature deaths. Although it is quite possible that they would have descended into a Jimmy Carter-like state later in life, I doubt they would have attained the tinfoil hat status of RFK Jr.

He has written an article in Rolling Stone that defies comprehension, claiming Republicans stole the 2004 election. It is outright dishonest, as a cursory glance at his 'sources' demonstrates, and apparently it has been debunked in several places, including here and here.

You might recall that he also blamed Hurricane Katrina on President Bush. This chump is not dealing with a full deck.

---------------------
6/5 Update
Salon.com, by no means a friendly place for the President, has a very thorough fisking of RFK's 'work.'

Foreign Policy Roundup

Two informative posts from Michael Barone:

• Iran: A little bi of information on the peril of direct negotiations with Iran. Barone thinks that the U.S. made their offer of talks suspecting that Iran would not comply.
• Iraq: Perspective is the word of the day, and Barone cites statistics that show how U.S. military fatalities during the Iraq conflict are comparable to those during peacetime periods. Emphasis on the negative is the hallmark of MainstreamMedia's war coverage.

More Fair Tax fun

General Electric filed their corporate tax return...and it was 24,000 pages long! For the first time they filed electronically, and it cost them between $500k and $1 million to create a system to do that. They report that the expenditure will yield millions in savings.

It seems like a good time to bring up the Fair Tax, a concept that is explained pretty clearly at the site of the Americans for Fair Taxation. I have bought into the concept fully, as it:

• Provides greater incentive for savings and investment
• Eliminates double taxation of consumer (during production and purchase)
• Could eliminate the underground economy, fueled by illegal immigration, involving many individuals that receive services without paying in. With the Fair Tax every consumer has to pay.

Check out the site for more information.