Media, Politics, Uncategorized, War On Terror

In Iraq Patience Pays , Quitting Costs.

Good news trickles in from Anbar Province.  Tribes in Iraq are joining the U.S. forces to fight against al Qaeda.  CSM was the only media I could find that has this story, complete with pictures.Sheikh Abdel-Sattar Abu Risha: Head of the Al Anbar Salvation Council of tribes that oppose Al Qaeda, he claimed Tuesday that tribesmen killed Al Qaeda in Iraq's leader. 

Like dominoes, tribes reeling from a campaign of killing and intimidation by Al Qaeda have been joining, one by one, the US-led fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq in this Sunni Arab province. Last month, US Gen. David Petraeus told Congress that violence was down significantly here and that the tribes were key to the transformation.

 And this . . .

Message: US military poster shows Sheikh Abu-Risha staring down figures representing Al Qaeda in Ramadi.

But winning over the Bu-Fahed tribe was a coup. It had been one of Al Qaeda’s staunchest supporters, and traces its lineage to the birthplace of the puritan form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism in the Saudi Arabian province of Najd. It formally threw its lot behind Sheikh Abdel-Sattar Abu Risha.

and to the democrats in Washington who just want to leave Iraq . . .

Anbar’s provincial seat, Ramadi, which Al Qaeda declared in October to be the capital of its so-called Islamic state in Iraq, is now firmly in the grips of US and Iraqi forces.

US Capt. Jay McGee, intelligence officer with the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment from Fort Worth, Texas, says that the motivation for the tribes to join the council is largely self-serving.

“Everyone is convinced Coalition forces are going to leave and they are saying, ‘We do not want Al Qaeda to take control of the area when that happens.’ For them, Al Qaeda is a greater threat long term.”

Judiciary, Politics, Uncategorized

The Slow Wheels Of Justice

The wheels of justice move at all speeds.  That is to say, it moves faster for some than others.  Take the 10 year old case of (Baghdad) Jim McDermott.  Just yesterday, he lost his appeal, owes $700,000 in restitution.

For more on Nancy Pelosi’s housecleaning efforts that you won’t see anywhere else, check Michelle Malkin’s post.

Russia, Uncategorized

NASA To Roskosmos, Thanks But No Thanks

When trouble knocks on your door, don’t let it in.  So NASA says no thanks to Russia’s offer to pool resources to do a joint moon exploration project.  NASA is reportedly taking this project on without international partners.  Russia’s space agency head Anatoly Perminov said . . .

We were ready to cooperate but for unknown reasons, the United States have said they will undertake this programme themselves.

Here’s an ‘unknown reason’ for ya.  Putin’s latest clamp on freedom where he says that “the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy.”  His words.  That’s the message radio broadcasters got after being taken over by the State, among other things.  I in no way know that Putin’s ‘enemy’ statement had anything to do with NASA’s response.    IMHO, I couldn’t throw him far enough, even on the moon’s surface, to trust him.  Putin’s enemy fixation sort of blows the whole trust thing out the window for me.

Politics, Uncategorized

Charges Dropped For Sen. Webb’s (D-Va) Aide

There are standards.  And in politics there are double standards.  Some might conclude there are even moving standards.  Such is the case with Phillip Thompson, aide to Virginia Senator Jim Webb (D-Va).  Thompson was arrested in Washington for gun violations.  He carried an unregistered firearm onto government property without a permit.  Two violations that really need no explanation, unless you’re a democrat I guess.  Charges against him were dropped.

After reviewing and analyzing all of the evidence in the case, we do not believe the essential elements of the crime of carrying a pistol without a license can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” U.S. Attorney Jeff Taylor, top prosecutor in the District of Columbia, said in a short statement.

You either have a permit to carry, or you don’t.  Where is there any doubt?  The ‘gee, I didn’t know I had it’ defense, apparently, is enough for prosecutor Jeff Taylor.  Which still does not answer the ‘unregistered’ aspect of the case?  What happened to that?  Here’s another U.S. Attorney that needs replacing. 

Politics, Uncategorized

Geniuses Abound In Our Time

We are lucky to be alive during a time when the earth can now be managed by man. Who would have thought?  Did you know we can do it by changing our work / living habits? Also, toilet paper usage is a big factor.  And, it is now possible to increase oil supply without drilling more wells.

We are among geniuses. We have a lot to be thankful for. Like where would we be without them?

Politics, Uncategorized, War On Terror

Time For Harry Reid To Go

Which statement causes more harm to Americans; ‘nappy headed hos’ or ‘the war is lost?’ To answer this all one needs to do is look at who is affected and who is saying it. A basketball team of women who have accepted a radio DJ’s apology for an airing that reached (originally) only about 300,000 people, and, over 150,000 soldiers and over a million family members supporting and praying for their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, who are fighting to protect us against Islamofascists (murderers who pervert Islam), by the political leader of the Senate of the United States of over 300 million.

We’ve seen Don Imus lose his job and possibly career over a racial comment, meant to be irreverent humor, that came from the vernacular of today’s hip hop culture. We’ve seen another Senate majority leader like Harry Reid, Trent Lott, lose his leadership position due to popular demand of the ‘opposition party’ for making what was meant to be a joke at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party.

In Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid’s case, his ‘the war is lost’ comment doesn’t even come close to the negative impact fomented from what was said by Don Imus or Trent Lott.

The total impact of Harry Reid’s statement is hurtful to the morale of our troops during a time of war, while they are in harms way. It hurt the sensibilities of the families behind the troops. It gives aid and comfort to the enemy, alQaeda and other like-minded Islamofascists.

Let’s be at least a little consistent shall we? Harry Reid must go. He must at least give up his position as leader of the Senate. Today wouldn’t be soon enough for me.

Media, Uncategorized, War On Terror

Surge Working In Baghdad

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You have to listen real fast when the network news comes on the radio. At the top-of-the-hour news broadcast, this ABC story was about an al-Qaida double truck bomb attack on a U.S. patrol base in Diyala, a city northeast of Baghdad. They didn’t report the big news in this story. The big news in this story is the fact that the surge in Baghdad is working, in as much as it is being credited with “the efforts to halt violence there.”

This quote below, seems to be the blurb that I heard on the radio. You have to imagine listening to this in the 10 second blurbs you get on the network radio news. So you have to listen fast.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militants that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, said it was behind Monday’s double attack on a U.S. patrol base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad — an area that has seen violence spike since American troops surged into the capital to halt violence there.

The rest of the article recounts various truck bombs and suicide bombers. The usual. No further mention of the surge.

Wonder how long it will take the MSM to report any progress from the surge? As long as it is working, they won’t.

related: when good news is bad

2008 Election, Media, Politics

What Obey Tried To Pull Off

We know all about Nancy Pelosi’s admonition and promise to be an open government.  Well today, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) decided this morning to pull television cameras out of today’s Iraq Supplemental Appropriations conference meeting.

Ultimately Obey relented and C-Span was back in.  The fact that he would attempt such a move is one of those red flags.  We should pay attention to red flags and take them for what they are. Gross incompetence or power-drunk. Is Obey the best they could do to chair this committee?

>UPDATE 2:15PM: From a source, “it is official…they’re letting c-span provide pool coverage of the whole meeting….”

>UPDATE 2:12 PM: FishbowlDC has learned that Obey has relented and will allow cameras…developing…

One red flag.

ref: FishbowlDC, Radio-TV Correspondents’ Association Warns Of “Troubling Situation”

Media, Politics, Russia, Uncategorized

Putin's Russia, AINO, Ally In Name Only

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Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to squash freedom, yearning for those good old communist days.  This time it is the press and he gives them his template.  Portray the United States as an enemy.

MOSCOW, April 21 At their first meeting with journalists since taking over Russia’s largest independent radio news network, the managers had startling news of their own: from now on, they said, at least 50 percent of the reports about Russia must be positive.

In addition, opposition leaders could not be mentioned on the air and the United States was to be portrayed as an enemy, journalists employed by the network, Russian News Service, say they were told by the new managers, who are allies of the Kremlin.

Belly up to the counter. Politics are on the menu and Ross is on the grill.