The Fly Over Zone

Mon Dieu! New IQ Study Says French are Dumb, Germans Smart

2006-03-29T15:01:00.000-06:00

The French are dumber than their European counterparts, and the Germans and Dutch have the highest IQ's in Europe. Can this be true? In comparative terms, yes, according to a newly released study of national IQ's, by Professor Lynn, at the University of Ulster. The professor has issued controversial intelligence studies in the past, including his work correlating IQ's to race and sex.

The London Times reported France came in 18th with an average IQ of 97, fully 10 points behind those clever Germans and Dutch at 107. And shelve all those dumb Polish jokes – they scored third at 106. Some critics of Professor Lynn charge him with bias, and flawed methodology. He also correlates brain size with intelligence, pointing out that in the average brains in Northern and Central Europe are 1,320cc in volume and in southeast Europe it is 1,312cc.

Is all this nonsense? Probably not. Anthropologists and paleontologists have long correlated brain size with intelligence in human evolution. But as we learn more about brain morphology and development, size alone may be insufficient to explain all differences in intelligence.

A 15 year long study just released by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to gain a detailed picture of how the brains of children change over time. It found that in kids who did better on standard IQ tests, the cortex grew thicker and faster and its growth peaked later than among their average peers. "The study shows that there are clear features in brain images that are different for smart children versus average children," says Paul Thompson, a brain-imaging expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the MIT sponsored Technology Review.

Numerous studies have born out that genetics plays a strong role in intelligence among other factors. It gets uncomfortable for many when racial differences are explored, and given recent history, that is understandable. Professor Lynn, for example, postulates that in military conflicts, the side with a greater IQ will win, unless overwhelmed by greater numbers, as he states happened in World War II.

It is hard to deny that Germany would likely have prevailed were it not for the sheer weight of numbers and productive capacity that the New World provided, both in World War I and World War II. German engineering and German scientists are part of the lexicon to this day for superior abilities. Albert Einstein was a German Jew, and our acquisition of Wernher von Braun and his colleagues were the basis of our space program. There were many jokes about how the American space effort resembled a reunion for Peenemünde rocket scientists.

Professor Lynn's theories that people in northern latitudes developed greater intelligence in order to survive more severe climatic challenges stirs controversy by feeding into racist beliefs about the inferiority of blacks. He has been a critic of British immigration policy, saying that the lower scores of African and African-Caribbean immigrants cause higher unemployment,crime, and illegitimacy – compared to immigrants from India and Asia. In another study, he concluded in his meta-analysis that Asians have about a 5 point IQ advantage over Whites.

He does not explain why the comparatively mild Italian climate would produce a higher average IQ than Norway, Denmark and Finland. Perhaps there is a link between garlic and intelligence, it seems to be good for just about everything else. American undergraduates must be doing something right, as his studies say that they have the highest IQ's compared to other countries, at 110. Who would have guessed that. He must have studied students remaining on campus during spring break.

One hopeful conclusion on intelligence has been described as the Flynn effect. This indicates that globally, IQ scores are increasing slightly every year. Some attribute this to better nutrition, particularly in childhood. Whatever the cause, maybe we'll become intelligent enough to avoid the penchant humanity has for finding excuses to hate each other based on religion, race, ethnic traditions, and politics. That seems a long way off. Intelligence is, after all, not the same as wisdom.

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Should Supreme Court Justices Shut Up?

2006-03-27T15:50:00.000-06:00

Newsweek reported on Justice Scalia's remarks in Switzerland at the University of Freiburg, in which he essentially ridiculed the proposition that terrorist detainees had rights for civil legal protections.

"War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts," he is quoted as saying. "Give me a break." Asked whether Guantanamo detainees have any rights under international conventions, Justice Scalia reportedly answered:

"If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son (Matthew Scalia) on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy." Mr Scalia is also quoted as saying he was "astounded" at the "hypocritical" reaction in Europe to Guantanamo.

Critics are saying that his remarks compromise his ability to hear the upcoming Salim Ahmed Hamdan case which appeals against the right of President Bush to order that detainees be handled in military tribunals. Justice Scalia is not a man that suffers fools gladly, and often speaks in refreshingly plain, common sense terms. Does that mean he is somehow violating judicial ethics when he does so?

If he were to comment on specific cases coming before the court, he would be compromising his position. But to suggest that expressing himself on basic issues in general is ludicrous. That is tantamount to advocating that a judge who states that murder is wrong and that those who commit them should be punished, renders that judge unfit to sit on murder cases.

Casual observers of the Supreme Court are often disappointed when Justices issue decisions contrary to their personal beliefs. They don't understand that most Justices do an amazingly good job of rendering opinions based on points of law, rather than their own biases. At least those that oppose judicial activism practice such restraint.

The belief that Justices have sacrificed their 1st Amendment rights probably reflects the deterioration of Senate confirmation proceedings. Nominees now routinely invoke not wishing to comment on cases that might come before the court as a way to avoid entrapment of partisan got you games. For the most part, confirmations are dog and pony shows in which Senators demagogue and posture, rather than a substantive exploration of judicial views and constitutional issues. It's an unfortunate casualty of the overall political state of affairs.

Personally, I give Justice Scalia high marks for not pandering to a European audience, and both speaking truthfully and calling them on their hypocrisy. We have had quite enough examples of Americans who go overseas and undermine American interests in their speeches.

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Back With New Ubuntu Linux

2006-03-26T14:08:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates to the blog. I lost a hard drive and had to recover files. As someone who left the world of paying Bill Gates for Windows some time ago, this meant installing Linux. If you are not already a Linux buff, that means installing an alternate operating system to Microsoft Windows – all free and open source.

My favorite flavor of Linux is Ubuntu, which releases an updated official version about every six months. It's very easy to install, and basically fool-proof. Being foolish, I decided to go with the latest “experimental” version called “Flight 5”, which means it has the latest “bleeding edge” code being developed. It was really easier than I imagined, and the problems I encountered were actually few. If you don't know at least a little about Linux and have some command line familiarity, some fixes could stump you. The reward for going this route is having the newest features available.

Once everything was up and functioning, I then went further to install something called XGL and Compiz. This takes advantage of code released into open source by Novell in the last month, who has been doing great things in Linux development and contribution of their results. Installing this was not easy, but if you have the patience to do so, you'll be blown away at the results.

You'll get a user interface or desktop that is stunning. Some of the effects are cool eye candy, while others are useful features that are unbelievable. You wind up with a 3-D computer system that is aesthetically superb, customizable, and improves ease of use and productivity.

The next Microsoft release, codenamed “Longhorn”, has been delayed once again until next January. Given the sophistication and features you can obtain right now with Linux, you can have a system that is generations ahead of WindowsXP. It's not even a close contest. Moreover, when the new Windows does come out, you'll not only pay for the software, but find you'll need to upgrade your computer's memory, CPU, and video card to run it properly. I built my computer several years ago, and the state of the art Linux I am describing hums along just fine on it.

The truly amazing part for me was the close cooperation between users and developers in the Ubuntu support community. When I would get stuck, and request help in the Ubuntu forum, another user would provide a solution, often within minutes. Sometimes you see a glitch being fixed in the coding itself by a contributing programmer within hours of it being identified and the solution being uploaded. The talent these folks have and donate to making this happen are so impressive.

Here's a few links if you want to know more, and even preview Compiz by watching videos of it in action.

Ubuntu
Ubuntu Support Forum
Novell Compiz Announcement

I'm back in the saddle now with my uber-cool new operating system, so expect posts to resume as usual.

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Bullseye! Veto on Concealed Carry Overriden by Kansas House

2006-03-23T11:22:00.000-06:00

That was quick! Hot on the heels of last night's Senate vote, the Kansas House just overrode the concealed carry veto. It has been 12 years since the Kansas legislature overrode a governor's veto, and Gov. Sebelius just earned that distinction. The House vote was 91-33, giving supporters of the measure seven votes more than the two-thirds majority necessary. The Senate voted Wednesday night to override the veto, 30-10, with three votes more than needed.

The law will take effect July 1st, with requirements to pass a gun safety course, a background check, and prohibitions against carrying firearms in schools, churches, libraries and courthouses. Kudos to Senator Phil Journey, a Haysville Republican, for his long and determined fight for the statute. His past efforts were thwarted by two previous vetoes, one in 1997 by Gov. Graves, and another in 2004 by Gov. Sebelious.

The third time was a charm for Senator Journey, an outspoken advocate for gun owner's rights. Gov. Sebelious, a Democrat, has a 60% approval rating in this largely Republican state, despite taking positions not in step with most Kansans. So far, no strong Republican has emerged to challenge her in this fall's election.

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Kansas Senate Overides Veto of Concealed Carry Bill

2006-03-23T10:44:00.000-06:00

The Kansas Senate voted to override the Gov. Sebelious veto of a concealed weapons bill. The House is expected to take a vote on the matter soon. The bill originally passed in the House by a sufficient margin to overide, so it will be a matter of whether those representatives will stick to their guns.

Senator Phil Journey(R) has worked on passage of this measure for a decade. He must be getting the champagne ready after such a long battle to allow Kansans the right to obtain concealed carry permits. It's close, but not over the goal line yet.

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Kansas Legislative Update - Sex, Guns, Illegal Immigrant Tuition, and School Finance

2006-03-22T16:35:00.000-06:00

Kansas legislators never seem to tire of their efforts to regulate sex, yet are running as fast as they can from an up or down vote on illegal immigrant tuition and solving school finance.

Three measures are in the hopper related to punishing sexually related businesses and making it easier to outlaw what material adults in the state can read or view.

First we have Sub SB 253, which seeks to define the size and content of signs for adult businesses located within a mile of any highway or interstate. It would mandate that there could only be two signs, one no more than 40 square feet with the name, address, phone number and operating hours, and another noting the premises are off-limits to minors. It passed a first vote in the House, and if passed will go to the Senate. Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler said, "It's good for children and families and sends a message that Kansas is a family friendly state." Apparently such signs are only a public menace when near a highway.

Then there is the Porn tax bill, HB 2680, which puts a 10% tax on adult oriented businesses. We had a creative suggestion for this bill, but the House Tax Committee is going to keep it in committee till next year, largely because Utah is being sued over similar legislation.

The third bill, HB 2912 wants to cleanup the language on dirty subjects, by amending the the state's anti-obscenity law to improve the chances of prosecutors charging people for sexually explicit materials. It to needs a final House vote to make it to the Senate.

While legislators are eager on those issues, no similar enthusiasm is being shown to allow an up or down vote on repealing illegal immigrant tuition, being championed by Rep. Becky Hutchins. She has been pushing for getting a floor vote, after attempts to first kill the bill in committee, and then a vote that sent her bill back to committee, by attaching her measure to other bills. So far it has not worked, but the plucky Holton gal has not given up. "She wants a clean vote and until she gets a clean vote, she'll keep bringing amendments," said Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka. "Once it comes up as a clean vote, it'll pass."

This tuition break amounts to $3,926 per semester for a student carrying just 15 credit hours at the University of Kansas, or $7,852 per year. Assuming they graduate in four years, that is $31,408 per student. So far 221 students have qualified, for a total cost of $6,941,168. Of course that will constantly be increasing as new students are approved. Here's a thought - why not take that seven million dollars and the additional millions that it would cost in the future, and establish a tuition fund for the children of legal immigrants. Sure it would mean changing the incentive toward people following the law rather than breaking it, so no doubt our legislature and governor would hate the idea.

Meanwhile, the must solve issue for this legislative session apparently won't be, as there are a number of legislators saying the school finance problem will be headed for a special session. We will be commenting more on school finance and the Kansas Supreme Court in the near future.

Finally, Gov. Sebelious once again vetoed the concealed carry bill that would allow Kansans with a permit to carry firearms, as all but three other states do. Expect a battle to override that veto shortly, which should be a close vote.

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Supreme Court May Decide Who Owns Your Genetic Code

2006-03-21T15:57:00.000-06:00

A case being argued in the Supreme Court may decide basic questions about what can be patented, particularly intellectual property rights and biotechnology. The case itself deals with a patent granted in 1990 to scientists at the University of Colorado and Columbia in New York. They discovered that high levels of an amino acid, homocysteine, in the blood or urine tended to be associated with a deficiency of B vitamins.

The patent not only granted ownership of a test invented for vitamin B deficiency to Metabolite Laboratories, which owns the patent, but for the thought about the relationship between two chemicals in the human body. Another company, LabCorp, invented a different testing method, which was also based on thinking about the correlation between the two chemicals. Metabolite sued LabCorp when the latter did not pay royalties.

You may be wondering why you should care. Potentially the court's decision could impact thousands of other patents, including the 20% of the human genome that is patented, as well as many other areas of patent law that revolve around discoveries of what are not man made inventions, but instead reveal what already exists in nature. Imagine if Watson and Crick had patented the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. All subsequent genetic research would have infringed on that patent.

But even more specific genetic patenting is a huge problem. For example, a patent has already been granted for the genetic sequence governing Alzheimer's disease. Anyone now wanting to research that disease must have the money to first pay the royalties. In affect, these patents allow huge areas of potential life saving research to be cordoned off by "biopiracy".

A biotech company, Myriad Genetics, has secured exclusive licenses based on patents for the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes, mutations in which are linked to breast and ovarian cancer. It sent letters ordering laboratories to stop screening women for the mutations.

Here's a quote that capsulizes the issue of these extraordinary attempts to chill research for monetary gain:

"Any company that wants to be in the business of using genes, proteins, or antibodies as drugs has a very high probability of running afoul of our patents. From a commercial point of view, they are severely constrained - and far more than they realize." Dr William A. Haseltine, Chairman and CEO, Human Genome Sciences.

It is as if Joseph Priestley had patented his discovery of oxygen, and threatened patent suits against those who breath. How broadly the court chooses to address the issue of patenting naturally occurring processes and structures is an important one. Not just for scientists, but for everyone in the future who might benefit from medical research efforts to find new cures and treatments for disease.

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Political Correctness is Killing African-Americans

2006-03-20T19:45:00.001-06:00

AIDS is a racial issue. In the United States as of July, 2004, according to the Census Bureau, Whites account for 67% of the population, Hispanics 14%, and Blacks 13%. In 2004 the CDC reported new AIDS cases by race were Whites 28.4%, Hispanics 20.5%, and Blacks 49.5%. That is around 13% of the population of this country having 50% of all the new AIDS cases.

We don't have enough research to say why these rates vary so drastically between races, we only can say with certainty that they do. The question is why leaders – both in general and in particular African-American, are not making this a high visibility issue. The numbers are so dramatic that it is clear targeted awareness and prevention campaigns are needed.

The reason for the lack of public attention seems to be related to political correctness, a phenomena that has turned discussion of many subjects in a meaningful and honest manner into taboo in American culture. The implications of allowing political correctness to govern over the health of blacks are serious – deadly serious. In his last State of the Union Address, President Bush tried to point out the problem.

“Half of all AIDS cases occur among African Americans...We will also lead a nationwide effort, working closely with African American churches and faith-based groups, to deliver rapid HIV tests to millions” – George W. Bush, State of the Union 1/31/2006.

Air America’s Randi Rhodes attacked his remarks for what she described as his incredible racism for making the overt connection of the Black community with AIDS. That is the standard tactic of those who view themselves as the enforcers of the political correctness ethos – call anyone who speaks to race related problems bigots and racists. That they are trying to save the lives of those they are accused of discriminating against does not matter to these nitwits and race demagogues.

The impact of political correctness is going far beyond left wing pundits. It is effecting the public health field, which is responsible for getting factual information out to us. Not many physicians seem to have the courage to speak out frankly on the problem, but a few voices are trying to be heard.

Elizabeth Whelan, ScD, MPH, president of the American Council on Science and Health, says ideology and science are becoming more intertwined in public health and, in fact, "the ideology is starting to take over the science." The news that many more gay black men than white men are infected with HIV should set off alarms in the public health community that messages on safe sex are not getting through, says Dr. Whelan. Instead, she is concerned that the more sweeping issue of discrimination will be raised, and that attention as well as resources will be diverted from the problem at hand.

“Many in the public health elite are putting more passion into the promotion of political doctrine than into direct efforts to improve health," Dr. Satel writes in her book, PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine. She documents the negative effects of allowing the tenets of political correctness to enter medicine.

Concern about appearances, image, and sensitivity in the superficial and insincere form of political correctness has become a dangerous enemy of truth.

African-Americans should not be an accepted casualty of those who care more about promoting their political agendas than people. Treatment for AIDS has made some progress, but there is still no effective vaccine or cure. Until that day, the only viable approach to saving lives is changing behavior.

Infectious disease does not care about which political party you claim, or the color of your skin. It just seeks the opportunity to spread by vectors of transmission, which for AIDS is primarily unprotected sex and injection drug use. Tell the PC's to go to hell, spread the truth, not disease.

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Breakfast at Denny's?

2006-03-19T13:13:00.000-06:00

In a string of unconnected events, three shootings have occurred at Denny's Restaurants in the past few days, with five deaths and three wounded. All were in California, the results of fights and a mentally ill man. A analyst said the shootings are unlikely to effect the company. However, Denny's has for years sought to overcome an image problem related to charges of racist incidents.

This certainly won't help that image, or it's business, even though it has nothing to do with the restaurant chain's actions. We won't be eating at Denny's anytime soon, but that is neither because of the race issue or the shootings. It's the food that we don't care for.

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The Constitutionality of Sex Toys and a Solution for Kansas

2006-03-18T18:39:00.000-06:00

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handling of sex toys (as a constitutional issue) has been on the rise. In a series of cases, the rights of Americans to such toys have come into play. The involvement of the federal courts have resulted from a Alabama law prohibiting the sale of sex toys and in Georgia, where an obscenity statute prohibits the sale, or advertisement for sale, of "[a]ny device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs." There was also an appeals case of a civil suit against Delta Air Lines for compensatory and punitive damages for a woman's embarrassment at airline's workers holding her up for ridicule after finding an adult novelty in her luggage.

The court rejected the challenge to the Alabama law prohibiting the sale of sex toys which claimed it violated a constitutional right to sexual privacy. The court found in Williams v. Attorney General of Alabama : "we hold that the district court committed reversible error in concluding that the Due Process Clause 'encompass[es] a right to use sexual devices like ... vibrators, dildos, anal beads, and artificial vaginas.'"

Georgia's statute was found to have violated the First Amendment in banning commercial speech, while exempting teachers and students studying sex toys (Never saw that course listed) and those having a doctor's prescription (please follow the written instructions carefully, and discontinue use if side effects are experienced).

In the Delta case, a woman and her husband had just bought a sex toy on their trip to Las Vegas (What happened in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas). A security agent noticed something buzzing in their luggage. She sued when the employees who made her remove the vibrator "began laughing hysterically" and offered "obnoxious and sexually harassing comments." She lost the case.

We here in Kansas may employ a different strategy to limit the scourge of sex toys. A bill currently under careful study in the House Tax Committee, HB 2680, would apply apply a 10 percent excise tax on adult entertainment businesses and products. The so called “porn tax” is clearly misguided. Rather than a one time excise tax on purchases, we are losing the opportunity to really boost the state's coffers by making it a usage tax. A “pay as you play” plan would help to simultaneously stamp out sinful sexual gratification and provide badly needed funds.

Some might point to enforcement difficulties, but surely with today's technology such hurdles could be overcome with simple monitoring devices. Collection could even be expedited by requiring the purchase of prepaid debit cards that could be swiped in bedside readers. Kansas should lead the way for the nation with this new and progressive legislation. It's an idea whose time has come.

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St. Patrick's Day Politics

2006-03-17T14:18:00.000-06:00

IRA at the White House

President Bush swapped shamrocks at the White House with Ireland's politicians, including Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, representatives of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, the Democratic Unionists, Ulster Unionists, and Britain's secretary for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain.was on hand.

Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party, was the big change from last year, when he was banned from attending. His presence this year reflects the IRA announcing an end to its armed campaign and promising to complete the process of decommissioning. Still, Adams is miffed that the Administration has not lifterd a ban on Sinn Fein fund raising when Adams is there.

The Administration wants to get the party to end its boycott of the Northern Ireland police force. Rep. Peter King, a Republican, also criticized the White House handling of Sinn Fein, saying that the President did not realize what a big step decommissioning was. Overall, even with the stalled process, the situation in Ireland is a far cry from the bitter days of the struggle for peace.

Paddy's Day Parade Gay Controversy Marches On

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New York City Council's first openly gay leader, boycotted the annual 150,000 marchers on Fifth Avenue after organizers rejected her compromise attempts and barred an Irish gay and lesbian group for a 16th straight year. Referring to the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, parade chairman John Dunleavy said, "People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next? If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade? If African Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"

Mr. Dunleavy might have chosen better examples to illustrate his point. But we do agree that the annual parade is for the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, and therefore should not become a pawn in promoting other agendas.

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On Australian Strippers, Canadian Sex, and Habeneros

2006-03-17T11:39:00.000-06:00

Some frivolous items of the day, just because it's Friday. Happy St. Patrick's Day! - or Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh (pronounced "La ale-lah pwad-rig son-ah jeev")

Australian Labor Board Exposes Need for Stripper's Holiday Pay

"We've got rights to have public holiday pay now, which we've never had in our career before," said a union spokeswoman called Mystical Melody. "We've got rosters and set hours. We can't work more than 10 hours a shift." The award also entitles unionized strippers to overtime, rest periods, meal breaks and maternity leave, she added. Apparently Australians take their stripper's seriously.

Canadian Baby Boomers Choose Internet and TV Over Sex

A study reveals Canadians between the ages of 40 and 64 spend an average of 15 minutes a day on sex and romance, but can spend as much as five hours a day watching TV or surfing the Internet.

Of 2,500 people surveyed, more than half said they were often too tired to have sex, while 42 percent said they were too stressed out and 40 percent said they did not have time. Another yet-to-be released study found that 37 percent of Canadians over 55 prefer a good night of sex to a good night of sleep, indicating that sex is still important to that age group.

Who wanted to know about about the sex lives of Canuck baby boomers? - Pfizer Inc., the maker of Viagra sponsored the study. The Canadian health care system does not pay for the drug, which may explain their interest, as well as the 15 minutes. Perhaps the Canadian government is concerned that sleepless nights would hurt worker productivity.

Holy Habaneros - Hot Peppers Kills Prostate Cancer

Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, said Dr. Soren Lehmann of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine.

Lehmann estimated that the mice ate the human equivalent of 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week. That is about the amount found in three to eight fresh habanero peppers, depending on how hot the peppers are.

Ever eaten a fresh Habanero? I've only seen one person take a big bite of habenero, which was fresh from the garden. An acquaintance, who ironically was an oncologist not familiar with them wanted to eat it, despite being warned - it wasn't pretty. He might just have have well taken a can of pepper spray and sprayed it down his throat.. No wonder the cells committed suicide.

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Big Bang Evidence Stuns Scientists

2006-03-17T02:26:00.000-06:00

“Amazing”,”Stunning”, and “Spectacular” are descriptions you expect to see on every movie ad. This time these are the words leading physicists are using for a discovery giving the first evidence supporting the “Big Bang” theory of how our universe began. The normally more sedate scientists have reason to be excited.

They now have the smoking gun that shows the universe went through extremely rapid expansion in the moments after the big bang, growing from the size of a marble to a volume larger than all of observable space in less than a trillion-trillionth of a second.

The new finding was made with NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and is based on three years of continuous observations of the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow light from the first moments of the universe. "It blows my mind that we can now distinguish between different versions of what happened within the first trillionth of a second of the universe," said Dr. Charles Bennett of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, WMAP principal investigator. Go to the link, it is amazing.

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Leftist Groups Continue Brutality and Slaughter

2006-03-17T01:10:00.000-06:00

No, not our domestic moonbats. Sure our far left wing has by our standards become increasingly fanatical in their socialist rants and hatred of President Bush. They regard most Americans as incomprehensibly stupid puppets of the capitalist corporate establishment (AKA Neocon Fascists). But there are truly dangerous strains of leftist rebels about, busily spreading death and mayhem in their zeal to improve things.

Just when it seemed that communist revolutionaries had experienced their well deserved demise, new Maoist rebel groups are gaining strength. Maoism is that branch of communist ideology that shifted from classical Marxist philosophy to envision a rural peasant vanguard leading the way to a classless paradise. The architect was of course Chairman Mao, whose Great Leap Forward and his successor's Cultural Revolution were responsible for the death of millions from famine and constant violent purges.

This is the same humanist movement that spawned the infamous "ultra-Maoist" Khmer Rouge, whose anti-urban purges in the 1970s left at least 1.7 million Cambodians dead. Now they are being emulated in India by a group known as Naxalites, with as many as 20,000 armed followers, named after the town of Naxalbari in West Bengal where the movement began.

They have close links with the Nepali Maoists, who over the last few years have been known for torturing and executing bureaucrats, teachers and doctors, assassinating public figures, and bombing schools, bridges, government offices and power stations. They skinned one Nepali Congress Party worker alive and decapitated their own fallen comrades rather than leave them identifiable. They abducted tens of thousands of school children for “political education” sessions, held in remote locations. Worse, children have been tortured, raped, and recruited for military fodder. In Nepal the death toll is around 12,000 lives.

In India, the situation is just as violent and ruthless. Villagers are massacred, civilians have their limbs hacked off, Hindu temples are bombed, officials and judges are kidnapped and killed, trucks and buses loaded with people are blown up, and trains are attacked. The rebels operate in 15 of India's 29 states and 1,000 people died in the conflict last year. In November, the leftists briefly took over a town in Bihar.

In Nepal, their rise has been aided by the take over of autocratic King Gyanendra, who the West has been pressuring to move the country toward democracy. In India, the 'Red corridor' that stretches all the way from Nepal down to Andhra, is one of India’s most backward areas that is rich in forest and mineral resources. For many years the government overlooked the region's problems of malnutrition, poor health care, and deficient education.

Some analysts say the Naxal problem, long neglected by the union government, is by far the most serious issue facing the country, outstripping Kashmir and Islamic militancy. One would think that a political movement that has brought nothing but subjugation, torture, and death to millions would be a lesson that is not forgotten. It may be a lesson that was never taught in these rural, less developed, and inaccessible areas of India and Nepal.

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Jessica Simpson Won't, Porn Star Will

2006-03-16T15:57:00.000-06:00

Jessica Simpson, known for her riveting performance as Daisy Duke in the Hollywood epic “The Dukes of Hazzard” and her erudite political analysis, turned down an invitation to meet with President George W. Bush at a major Republican fund-raiser. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Carl Forti told Reuters he was surprised at Simpson's position. Forti said the Republican group had even arranged for Simpson to dine at one of the head tables with U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

Never fear, blond feminine pulchritude will be well represented at the dinner. Mary Carey, the XXX porn diva who caused an uproar last year for dining with President Bush is looking forward to the event. "I'm really excited to be going back to Washington, D.C., to see the president again," said Carey. "Everyone thinks that politicians are stuffy, but we all had a great time last year, and I had fun signing a lot of autographs. Wait till they see that I have lost 20 pounds since the last time they saw me. Watch out Mr. President!"

They say politics makes for strange bedfellows. Remember Marilyn Monroe, who took the expression quite literally. Of course Republican politicians are above salivating over starlets and porn stars. It's purely a matter of business. The NRCC hopes the $2,500-per-plate dinner event will raise $7.5 million for Republican candidates in the congressional midterm elections in November.

Some might point to a certain irony in having porn stars attend, but those critics are missing how important this will be as a way for the Republican party to really demonstrate that it does indeed have a big tent. The sacrifices our leaders are willing to make for us can be truly inspiring. We'll try to keep you abreast of further developments.

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US and Iraqi Forces Go on Offense

2006-03-16T13:57:00.000-06:00

“Operation Swarmer” started in the Salahuddin province of Iraq, where Samarra is a key city. It is described as the largest air assault since the 2003 U.S. invasion. It included 50 aircraft, supported by a force of 1,500 Iraqi and Coalition troops and 200 tactical vehicles.

A US military spokesman is quoted as saying the assault is designed to “clear a suspected insurgent operating area north east of Samarra”. It is expected to last several days, and has already resulted in a number of enemy weapons caches being captured, containing artillery shells, explosives, IED-making materials, and military uniforms.

From outward appearances, our forces had been largely taking a back seat after the mosque bombing incident. It's important that we are resuming a more offensive campaign against insurgents. We will turn the situation in Iraq around only by going after these insurgents with all possible force. They need to be put on the defensive, not us. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that the terrorists must be “rooted out” and “they have no conscience so they need to be eliminated”.

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Sirhan Sirhan Denied Parole

2006-03-16T12:22:00.000-06:00

The world will not be subjected to the treat of a Sirhan Sirhan on the loose, who said he “hates Americans and, if released, wants to be involved in Middle East politics". There was no real possibility of his release, as even if the California parole board had made a ridiculous call on this one, Gov. Schwarzenegger would have overridden their decision. Leave it to the good professor over at The Volokh Conspiracy to point this out:

One of my favorite examples of Chutzpah was Sirhan's statement to the parole board in 1982:

"If Robert Kennedy were alive today, he would not countenance singling me out for this kind of treatment."

I suppose that it is just Sirhan's bad luck that somebody killed Robert Kennedy. This is a real-world example of the classic plea for mercy: "A boy is on trial for murdering his parents, and he begs of the judge leniency because he is an orphan."

The case of Sirhan has never disappointed fans of the bizarre. In 2003, Lawrence Teeter, an attorney for Sirhan was arguing for a new trial. "Have you seen The Manchurian Candidate? It's the same thing with my client. He was the victim of hypnotic programming." In Sirhan's case, Mr. Teeter and others claim he was the unwilling tool of some faceless fiends in the Central Intelligence Agency or an amorphous entity they call "the military industrial complex."

Mr. Teeter claims his client attended a hypnosis demonstration in Pasadena a month before the Kennedy assassination and may have been recruited by unnamed CIA members who he claims were experimenting with hypnosis at the time. That's one for the conspiracy theory Book of Classics.

What we do know more factually about the murder is that Sirhan was a 24-year-old Palestinian born militant at the time he pulled the trigger. In a diary police found at his home, he reportedly wrote: "My determination to eliminate RFK is becoming more the more [sic] of an unshakable obsession. RFK must die. RFK must be killed. Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated..... Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated before 5 June, 1968."

The date is significant because it is the first anniversary of the start of the Six Day War, in which Israel trounced its Arab neighbors, capturing East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the Sinai. Sirhan and his family had been uprooted from their home in Jordan by the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, and prosecutors at his trial claimed Sirhan, who was a Christian Arab, was vehemently anti-Israel. Sirhan testified he was angry at Kennedy after finding out from a radio broadcast in May the senator had promised to send 50 U.S. bombers to Israel.

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Ahmed Saadat Not Ready for Martyrdom

2006-03-15T11:54:00.000-06:00

The primary object of Israel's move on the Palestinian jail in Jericho was the capture of Ahmed Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and four other jailed terrorists wanted for the murder of Israeli Cabinet minister Rechavam Zeevi. The Palestinian Authority had said it might release the five and a sixth jailed terrorist, Fuad Shobaki, the alleged mastermind of an illegal weapons shipment to the PA in 2002.

The American and British monitoring team had warned several times the past few weeks it would depart the prison in protest of what it called lax prison rules, including the issuance of cell phones to prisoners and allowing some prisoners to come and go. Shortly after the team's withdrawal, the Israeli's moved in.

Ahmed Saadat spoke to Arabic TV network Al Jazeera on the phone during the siege to say he and his colleagues would not be taken alive, “Our morale is high. We are Palestinian militants and we don't fear death. We will not surrender.” Later he and the others appeared to have a change of heart and did surrender.

Abu Mujaheed, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group in the West Bank town of Nablus, was disappointed.

"We don’t know what brought Saadat to react the way he did. I think that there was a deal, an international deal, which had dictated this end. It is true we hoped this affair will go to a different end and that if the Israelis will reach Saadat it would have been in a different and much more heroic way [with Saadat dying a martyr]," said Mujaheed to a WorldNetDaily correspondent.

In the Jihadist's eyes, his failure to die in the cause is an embarrassment. The guarantee of going immediately to heaven greeted by 30 virgins for their pleasure is a basic part of how suicide bombers are convinced to blow themselves up. Saadat's lack of martyrdom zeal is bad for business, setting a poor example. Apparently the leadership is not as anxious to make the trip as their young recruits. There was no word on whether Sadaat's membership in the Martyrs Brigade will be revoked.

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More Details on Al-Qaeda Plot for Embassy Attack

2006-03-15T00:04:00.000-06:00

The story of the Al-Qaeda plot is beginning to come out. Sounds like Secretary Rumsfeld tried to deflect inquiry when he was asked. He told reporters that he had not received anything definitive on the report, but cautioned that earlier accounts are often adjusted later on.

"We've always known that there are people who have tried to infiltrate the various security forces and tried to get close access to places that they ought not to be," he said. "There's nothing new about that that I know of."

Nothing new? Here's the key points uncovered so far:

1. The plot centered on 423 Al-Qaeda members who infiltrated the security force guarding key checkpoints in the green zone, needing only one more bureaucrat's signature to induct the recruits.

2. They would be in charge of security in the Green Zone, controlling the entrances to the Green Zone and internal squares.

3. Most of them are wanted terrorists using false identification, and most are from the same tribe and from the same area. (Specifics not disclosed yet)

4. The Al-Qaeda recruits planned to take U.S. and British diplomats hostage and then demand withdrawal of U.S. and British troops.

5. A number of Defense Ministry officials had been jailed after the plot was discovered. Some of them had forged the signature of the Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi on behalf of the terrorists.

6. The plot was uncovered by the military intelligence and the government’s General Intelligence Service.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr disclosed the information to an AP reporter. He is a Shiite, with past accusations of allowing actions to occur against Sunnis. However, his remarks were confirmed by the top Defense Ministry official, a Sunni, who described it in even more dramatic terms.

That Al-Qaeda had not only infiltrated their members in the most sensitive high security area in all of Iraq, and that they had ranking officials inside who were working for Al-Qaeda to make the plot work is amazing and extremely worrisome. Imagine having the top Diplomats of the United States and Britain kidnapped out of their own Embassies in the green zone, probably with significant loss of life. Follow that up with the television screens of the world filled by their hostages repeating their captor's demands, and Al-Qaeda harangues on their superiority over the American Infidels.

This would have been the most successful single Al-Qaeda operation since 9-11. Thank god it failed, but that it almost succeeded raises some very serious questions that are going to need some serious answers. This plot was uncovered three weeks ago. Think about the timing. There seems little doubt that it was intended to be coordinated in concert with the mosque bombing.

The bombing alone was a close call, requiring the best efforts of everyone to keep it from sending Iraq down the drain. Had both plots worked, Iraq would be a nightmare that we would be hoping to wake up from. As it is, if most of those involved are rounded up, and those in custody are effectively interrogated, it may turn out to be a major blow against Al-Qaeda. We were lucky, but being lucky is not a confidence inspiring strategy.

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Al-Qaeda Plot to Attack US and UK Embassies in Bagdad Foiled

2006-03-14T16:47:00.000-06:00

The Associated Press reports that:

Iraq's Interior Minister Bayan Jabr says security officials had foiled a plot that would have put hundreds of al-Qaida men at critical guard posts around Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. and other foreign embassies, as well as the Iraqi government.

A senior Defense Ministry official said the 421 al-Qaida fighters were recruited to storm the U.S. and British embassies and take hostages. Several ranking Defense Ministry officials have been jailed in the plot, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

This should be a fascinating story if details come out. The big questions would be how such an ambitious plot came about, how it was discovered, and the extent to which "ranking Defense Ministry officials" were involved. This sounds like an important big win for the good guys. Had a plot of that scale and magnitude suceeded, it's effect would have been devasting.

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Is there a Candidate that would be a Good President?

2006-03-14T13:23:00.000-06:00

John McCain made a cute play to enhance his chances for the Presidency by encouraging Republicans to cast their straw poll votes for Bush at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. He knew he was going to lose, so he tried to invalidate the results.

Now we have Russ Feingold trying a similar disingenuous move in his bid to become the candidate of choice for the left wing of the Democratic party, by introducing a censure of President Bush. Feingold knows full well it has no chance of being supported, not just among Republicans, but by the main stream candidates of his own party. The object is to gain support among those disenchanted with Hillary Clinton's effort to position herself as a moderate.

A pox on both of these candidates. Tricks and cynical political moves are not the stuff of which good Presidential candidates should be made. We have much too much in the way of political figures playing for sound bites, prevaricating, and manipulating rather than illuminating. Maybe it is naive to expect straight shooters who lay out sincere, honest, and serious positions on the important issues.

The media does not help. After a political speech or debate the press critiques “the performance” and not the substance of what was said. Rather than a credible analysis of the issues, they talk about how many times the politician blinked, tapped a pencil, or smiled.

For our sake, I hope both parties have candidates emerge from the pack to give the American people a reasonable choice between two principled grownups. The Presidency is more than a chance to gain partisan advantage. Regardless of your political leaning, the President of the United States should be someone who can be trusted to put the interests of the country above games and political ploys.

Does character matter? When the nation faces critical and often unpredicted events, character - and mature, reasoned judgment - are the most important characteristics we need in a President. Which candidates in your view fit that bill?

Vote for your choice in comments.

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U.S. will be Blamed for Israeli Break into Palestinian Jail

2006-03-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

Israel sent 50 jeeps, three tanks, and an armored bulldozer into the West bank town of Jericho in the Jordan valley, as two helicopters hovered overhead. Grabbing Ahmed Saadat was apparently the main objective. Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is blamed by Israel for killing a cabinet minister in 2001. An Israeli army spokesman said 182 people had been taken from the prison and were being questioned, including 26 wounded. Saadat, however, and between 30 and 80 other people were still hold up in the compound, at last report from the BBC. Aljazeera is reporting that Saadat has already surrendered.

This story will cause diplomatic problems, as the U.S. and the U.K. had been monitoring the jail under a 2002 agreement with the Palestinians. Recently concerns for the security of the monitors had grown, and they were pulled out shortly before the Israeli raid. Anticipate much more on the timing of these events to come out.

Demonstrations, kidnappings, and killings have already occurred in response in Palestinian territory. This looks like more than the average Israeli – Palestinian violence, in a time that was already tense and uncertain.

Charges of U.S. complicity with the Israeli's are going to come fast and furious, which can do nothing but inflame the overall middle east situation. It will no doubt cause anti-western propaganda and demonstrations beyond the west bank.

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Norway Woman Gets Beer from Kitchen Faucet

2006-03-13T21:07:00.000-06:00

A woman in Norway reports she thought she and her husband were in heaven when her kitchen faucet began dispensing beer instead of water. Unfortunately this blessing did not last as long as they hoped. It turned out that a bar below their apartment had somehow accidently hooked a new keg to her waterline rather than their beer tap.

Haldis Gundersen told a BBC reporter that if it happened again, she would order Bailey's. A woman after my own heart. Unfortunately for the Gunderson's, Norway's state controlled beer prices are some of the highest in the world.

No wonder they thought they were in heaven.

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Is Iraq in Civil War?

2006-03-13T12:57:00.000-06:00

There are those in Iraq who desperately want civil war and will do anything they can to bring it about. Most notably, of course, Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda. That the bombing of an important Shiite mosque, an extreme act of desecration, did not cause the break down into civil war is the remarkable thing. It was a provocation designed to do just that, and failed to achieve it's end.

For Al-Sistani and even Moqtada Sadr to push for unity after that event, and thousands to march in the streets against civil war, speaks to the deep desire of Shiites for Iraq to emerge intact. The Kurds could have used the situation to try to break away from Iraq, but they did not. An increasing number of Sunnis are committed not only to participating in the government, but are actively fighting against Al-Qaeda, a story that receives virtually no media coverage, but may be one of the most important developments happening in Iraq.

Groups in one of Iraq's most violent provinces claim that they have purged the region of three quarters of al-Qaeda's supporters after forming an alliance to force out the foreign fighters.“There is a hatred for Zarqawi in Ramadi now,” a resident said. “People are exhausted by what he has done. Six months ago he was still accepted, though not 100 per cent. Now we see him continue to target locals and their sons and kill our leaders, and we reject him totally.” "We have killed a number of the Arabs, including Saudis, Egyptians, Syrians, Kuwaitis and Jordanians," said an insurgent representative in the western province of Anbar.

All three of the major groups in Iraq have centuries of dislike, distrust, and blood between them. Overcoming that is an extraordinary challenge for them, and is not going to come easily. It may be in the end that they will fail. The insurgents who are willing to kill indiscriminately and destroy even sacred mosques to prevent a democratic Iraq may prevail. But those that say this has already occurred are wrong.

The violence we see now is not millions of people at war with each other. It is the same IED's and suicide bombers as before. The same murder of civilians by those that don't care who they blow up, as long as someone dies.

There are many agendas and a labyrinth of political maneuvering going on in Iraq, as groups jockey for influence. Sadr hates America, and yet he has pushed for restraint in sectarian violence. He knows that in the long run it is not in his best interest. "Sunnis and Shias are not responsible for such acts, national unity is required," he said after Sundays car bombs in Sadr City, adding he would order his Mehdi army militia not to respond.

Each time a bomb goes off in Iraq, the media portrays it as sectarian violence. It is not. It is murder by terrorists who want to incite sectarian violence. If that is civil war, fine, call it that. But no major leader of any of the factions in Iraq is calling for his followers to go out and kill the others. None of them.

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Iran Steams Russians

2006-03-12T13:45:00.000-06:00

Iran announced that it was throwing nuclear negotiations with Russia on the scrap heap, a slap in the face to Russians who had worked hard on finding a compromise. "The Russian proposal is not on our agenda anymore," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said. "Circumstances have changed. We have to wait and see how things go with the five veto-holding countries (on the council)." Russia had been talking of the Security Council making the mildest possible statement concerning Iran. Now Iran may have changed that.

In Moscow, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of international affairs committee of the lower house of parliament, said Iran's decision meant the end of chances for a compromise on the issue, according to Russian news reports. Kosachev also warned Tehran that its refusal to continue talks on the Russian offer could "radicalize" the Security Council's debate, the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies said.

The Iranians seem bent on alienating everyone on the Security Council. What's next, calling the Chinese meddling Infidels? This latest move should help produce a first action by the Council with more direct language.

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Sunni Outrage Against Al-Qaeda Grows

2006-03-12T09:53:00.000-06:00

The good folk at Captain's Quarters picked up on two more news articles concerning the growing actions of Sunnis against Al-Qaeda that we discussed in “Iraq Pessimists may be in for a Surprise”. Here is a link for a March, 2nd article, and another for a March, 11th piece. It looks like the trend is continuing, which although bad news for Zarqawi, will also likely mean continued escalation of desperate acts in the short term.

The further Zarqawi goes in outraging Sunnis, however, the greater his opposition will grow. Reports from various sources of bodies being found that included foreigners have been depicted by most media outlets as signs of civil war. We're betting that a number of these are actually the work of cleaning out foreign insurgents by these Sunni groups.

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The Legacy of Slobodan Milosevic

2006-03-12T04:32:00.000-06:00

The death of Slobodan Milosevic may turn out to be nearly as controversial as his life. The former Serb leader died in the Hague while still under trial at a war crimes tribunal. The first question that arose is whether he died of natural causes. He had a heart condition, and illness often forced delays in his trial. His body will be autopsied at the Hague, after refusing a request from his attorney that it be conducted in Moscow.

No matter what the results prove, many in Serbia will claim foul play. His death comes just six days after a fellow Serb prisoner at The Hague, Milan Babic, committed suicide. Babic testified against Mr Milosevic in 2002.

The term Balkanization originated with the factional splitting and map redrawing of the Balkan wars in 1912-1913, which were a precursor to World War I. That area lives up to the word again, with the former Yugoslavia now divided into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia. Here's a link to a map. Kosovo and Montenegro may soon get independence from Serbia, further splintering things.

The successive wars that Milosevic started in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo – and the campaign of ethnic cleansing – leave him a legacy in which some Serbs still regard him as a hero and now a martyr. Many others feel cheated that he died before he could be convicted and sentenced.

In another twist, his death may help two people who remain at the top of The Hague's most wanted list, former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Pressure had been mounting on the Serbian and Bosnian governments to arrest and turn them over. Now some think the governments may be even more resistant, out of fear of arousing internal unrest among their supporters.

Both of Milosevic's parents and an uncle died by suicide when he was young. His wife's mother was executed during World War II. The story has several versions. She was a Nazi collaborator shot by other partisans, a partisan who was tortured by the Gestapo and gave up her fellow resistance members and was shot anyway, or a brave partisan shot by the Gestapo. All records of her death disappeared after Milosevic's rise to power. Either way, it is a family with a tragic history that went on to inflict tragedy on thousands of others. Lets hope the violence ends with him.

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The Billionaire Club

2006-03-11T15:14:00.000-06:00

The Forbes report on the world's richest people came out. You can check out individuals, where they are from, and where they got their money. You would expect the United States, as the most successful entrepreneurial nation on earth to lead the list for the most billionaires, and we do. Some of the other rankings by country are revealing.

1. United States – 371
2. Germany – 55
3. Russia – 33
4. Japan – 27
5. United Kingdom – 24
6. India – 23
7. Canada – 22
8. Turkey – 21
9. Hong Kong – 17
10. Brazil – 16
11. France – 14
12. Italy – 14
13. Saudi Arabia – 11
14. Mexico – 10
15. Spain – 10

The margin by which the U.S. ranks first is striking. It gives you some idea of our economic engine. That Germany takes second is remarkable when you consider the devastation of WWII and the subsequent split into two countries until the recent unification. Russia is certainly a comer, with some smart guys grabbing opportunity after the demise of the Soviet regime. Would you have guessed that Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Spain would be in a dead heat? That France cannot muster more than tiny Hong Kong says something as well.

Twelve out of the 25 very richest individuals in the world are Americans. Of these, 5 made their fortunes in computer related fields – Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, and Steve Ballmer. Three of these are from Microsoft alone. Five are inherited retailing fortunes, all with a last name of Walton. Just behind Bill Gates as second richest is Warren Buffet of investing. Rounding out the Americans at 14th is Sheldon Anderson, a cab driver's son who made big in trade shows, casinos and hotels. Other than the Walmart kids – whose Sam Walton started from scratch, all are self-made money.

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French Workers Fried - Labor Law Gauls Them

2006-03-11T00:04:00.000-06:00

You may be following demonstrations and protests in France about legislation changing labor contracts. In the wacky world of French socialism, employment of individuals has become a tightly regulated system involving the government. Here is a brief description of how it works.

Approximately 90% of French workers are employed under a CDI, or contract of indeterminate duration, which really means a permanent labor contract. A company wanting to hire someone must declare that person with local authorities and execute a contract with them. Once you have one of these, you cannot be fired without extraordinary cause, and even then the cost of going through the process can cost the business years of legal fighting and sums of money equal to the annual profit of a small business.

Unions may impose additional restrictions and by law, any employer with more than ten employees must have an elected labor representative, and any business with at least 50 employees must also have an elected labor council, both of which call in a government labor inspector in any dispute.

France has attempted to solve it's chronic unemployment problem with the CDI, a mandated 35 hour work week, and government spending on subsidized jobs. Not surprisingly, the 2,631 page French labor code has caused some unintended consequences. Businesses are afraid to hire new employees and expand. Productivity is low because employees know that they can't be fired.

French unemployment has other causes, including high payroll taxes and minimum wage, and a troubled education system. But the labor laws are considered to be at the heart of the problem.

Well, back to the protests. At least 100,000 people protested in cities across France on Tuesday against a new law, disrupting airports and public services. This law allows a two-year contract for under-26-year-olds which employers can break off at any time without explanation. The idea is to encourage hiring younger workers, who have a 23% unemployment rate.

Younger people are upset, and so are older workers who see it as an erosion of their “sacred” right to job security. Sacre Bleu, what a mess these French have created!

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Gratuitous Hillary Jokes

2006-03-10T18:29:00.000-06:00

Looking over recent posts, things have been pretty serious here in the Zone. Thank goodness for Hillary jokes to break it up a bit. Yea, they are on the personal side, something we avoid here, but I needed to lighten up.. Okay, so I'm rationalizing. Here's some from late night television.

"Did you hear what the Republicans have said about Hillary Clinton? They say she's too angry to be president. Hillary Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton, too angry to be president. When she heard this, Hillary said, 'Oh yeah? I'll rip your throats out, you bastards.'" --David Letterman

"In a speech this week, Hillary Clinton blasted the Bush White House as one of the worst in history. I tell you, this is the hardest Hillary's been on any president she wasn't married to." --Jay Leno

"Top Democrats have mixed feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton running for president. Apparently, some Democrats don't like the idea, while others hate it." --Conan O'Brien

“Sen. Hillary Clinton called for President Bush to begin pulling troops out of Iraq next year. And let me tell you something, when it comes to telling a president when to pull out, no one has more experience than Hillary Clinton." --Jay Leno

"There's already speculation that Hillary Clinton will be the nominee for the Democrats in 2008. Well, you have to admire the dedication of the Democratic party. They just lost an election, and they're already hard at work planning to lose the next one." —Bill Maher

One more -

Hillary was finishing up a day as Senator for New York when the Devil suddenly appeared in her office and made her an offer...

"I am here to offer you a deal," the Devil said. "I will give you unlimited wealth, even more power, and a media that will pander to your every whim. In return, all I ask for is your soul, the souls of every member of your family, and the souls of all your constituents."

Hillary pondered for a moment and then asked, "Unlimited wealth and power?" "Absolutely unlimited," the Devil asserted. "A pandering media?" she asked. "They'll fall over themselves to support you, no matter what you say or do," the Devil assured.

"And you want my soul, my family's souls, and the souls of my constituents?" she asked. "Yes. All of them," the Devil answered. Hillary was deep in thought for a moment, then finally spoke:

"So...what's the catch?"

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Closing Our Eyes on Africa

2006-03-10T17:39:00.000-06:00

How many Americans could explain what the killing and violence in Darfur is about. How many could even point to it on a map? I'm as guilty as any of ignorance on many of the areas in Africa that reel by on the news with reports of fighting going on. The many tribal, ethnic, religious, political, national, and economic conflicts within that continent are difficult for many of us to follow.

There are many reasons that we don't tend to invest as much time and attention to following events in Africa. The locations are often remote and obscure to us. The players involved are also largely ones we are not familiar with. Our attention tends to be on domestic issues and foreign affairs that we perceive as affecting the United States directly and immediately.

The rest of the world is not be doing much better regarding Africa. Famines, civil wars, rebellions, and even genocidal campaigns in Africa don't elicit the response that they would if they occurred in other parts of the globe. Each instance of violence in the Israel, Iraq, and certainly Europe gets immediate and extensive coverage in the press. Even the United Nations is slow to respond to crisis in Africa.

Perhaps the problems in Africa are so many, so complex, and difficult to address that we tend to want to shove them aside. Between April, 2003 and the end of last year, the best estimate may be that 250,000 deaths have occurred in Darfur, with an additional 6,000 to 10,000 more fatalities every month. The war in Rwanda culminated with the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Just these conflicts alone, Darfur and Rwanda, have a death toll exceeding one million people, with the total in Darfur still climbing each day. Imagine if over a million people died in Afghanistan or the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The international community would be beside itself.

Unfortunately, even those numbers are likely to be dwarfed in the suffering that Africa will experience in the future. Beyond the violence, famine, and many other diseases, look at the statistics for AID's in Africa. The U.N. estimates that 80 million will die in Africa from AID's by the year 2025, with a “best case scenario” of reducing that to 67 million people with advances in treatment of AIDS and generous funding.

The plight of Africa is staggering, and it is tempting to throw up our hands in despair. That temptation should not be surrendered to. We can't solve all the problems, but surely we can do better. The United States has not stood idle, nor has the United Nations. But efforts need to be re-doubled, better organized and take a pan-African view of priorities and strategies.

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Demand Real Solutions on Illegal Immigration

2006-03-09T16:13:00.000-06:00

Congress and the Bush Administration are way behind the curve on illegal immigration relative to the desires of the American people. It is time for some serious solutions.

The Scale of the Problem

America's illegal immigrant population grew by more than 500,000 last year and is now approaching 12 million. The flow from Mexico, which arrives predominantly by sneaking across the southwest border, has far outgrown that of any country, numbering about 6.2 million. About 2.5 million more are from the rest of Latin America, predominantly the Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The remaining quarter is from nearly every other corner of the world, dominated by South and East Asia.

How Americans See It

A Quinnipiac University poll finds 88 percent of all poll respondents believe illegal immigration is a serious problem. "Red state, blue state and purple state voters agree: Illegal immigration is a serious problem.",said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

By 62 percent to 32 percent, voters oppose making it easier for undocumented immigrants to become citizens. And it said that by 72 percent to 25 percent, U.S. voters oppose giving undocumented immigrants driver's licenses. Nearly 40% of voters want the current levels of legal immigration reduced. By 84 percent to 14 percent, they favor requiring proof of legal residency to obtain government benefits.

What Needs to be Done

First, we need to get control of the borders. The goal should be zero illegal entries into this country. All other considerations for changes in immigration policy such as guest worker programs should be contingent on halting inflow first. Without border control, they are meaningless band aids that will make the situation worse.

Second, we need to deal with the 12 million illegals already in the country. Strong penalties should be imposed on employers for having illegals on the payroll. So called “safe haven” policies of municipalities must be abolished. INS funding should be dramatically increased to enforce laws already in place which are being ignored.

Third, after these measures are in place and functioning, a guest worker program should be instituted that is not a path to citizenship or permanent residency. Legal immigration processes should be improved for that purpose.

Demand Effective Legislation

We need to hold politicians feet to the fire on the issue, with particular attention to the Senate which is currently in the process of drafting legislation. This is not the time for "feel good" legislation that actually does nothing. The Kennedy-McCain bill is softball fluff that will not solve the problem, as is Sen. Arlen Specter's bill that includes a guest-worker program. Liberals will be doing everything possible to gut any provisions of a bill that that might actually work. Hillary Clinton has already been using terms like "police state" for enforcement proposals.

We should have learned that enforcement needs to be the highest priority from the past “amnesty” programs, which contributed to getting us into this mess. Until we have an enforcement program that has proved to be working, we should not tolerate measures that just increase the numbers of illegals.

There will be a significant cost associated with accomplishing these goals, but they will be more than offset by the savings over what we are now paying. The estimated net cost of illegal immigration ranges between 130 billion to 400 billion annually. An effective approach to illegal immigration is critical to our economy and our security.

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Where are Democrats on Iran?

2006-03-09T13:17:00.000-06:00

There are compelling reasons for us to be committed against Iran developing nuclear capability. Iran has made it's intentions rather evident. The President of Iran, has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Ruling Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani declared that the Muslim world could survive a nuclear exchange with Israel - while accomplishing the goal of obliterating the Jewish state. "The application of an atomic bomb would not leave anything in Israel - but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world," Hashemi-Rafsanjani said, in quotes picked up by the Iran Press Service.

So what position are leading Democrats taking on Iran?

Howard Dean

“We promise that we will kill or capture bin Laden; with the help of China and Russia, we will shut down the North Korean nuclear program; we will prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power; and we will protect our ports."

Senator Evan Bayh

“And the radical leader of Iran who is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons – has pledged to destroy Israel and asked his people to imagine a world without the United States. How do we deal with Iran in a tough and smart way?

First, Iran must be made to understand that a nuclear Iran is not negotiable. We will not let a government that calls for the end of the United States or Israel acquire a nuclear weapon. It is that simple.

With that as our non-negotiable position, the administration must immediately go to the United Nations Security Council and call for strong economic, political, and diplomatic sanctions. If its nuclear activities persist, there will be consequences beyond that, including the use of force. We cannot afford to wait. The Iranian government must understand that if its nuclear activity continues, it will be treated as a pariah state.

Second, supplies of refined gasoline to Iran should be cut off. Iran may be one of the world’s largest exporters of oil, but currently imports 40 percent of their refined gasoline. By cutting that supply off, the Iranian economy will be hurt badly.

Third, Iran must be isolated diplomatically, financially, and culturally. Their delegations should no longer be welcomed in countries around the world. Iranian assets should be frozen and financial and banking ties severed. Travel to and from Iran should be cut off and international flights should not be allowed to land or originate from the country. Most importantly, Iran should be denied the foreign investment for its energy sector that it so clearly craves.

And last, Iran should be assured that if they do the right thing, they will be welcomed back to the family of nations, with clear benefits including a carefully monitored civilian nuclear power program, membership in the WTO, and investment for a stable, more prosperous Iran. This will not be easy. Time is not our friend. Bipartisan support for tough, thoughtful action is needed now.”

Barack Obama

"The big question is going to be, if Iran is resistant to these pressures [to stop its nuclear program], including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do not cooperate, at what point ... if any, are we going to take military action? Launching some missile strikes into Iran is not the optimal position for us to be in" given the ongoing war in Iraq. "On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is worse." Obama went on to argue that military strikes on Pakistan should not be ruled out if "violent Islamic extremists" were to "take over."

Senator Hillary Clinton

"I held a series of meetings with Israeli officials [last summer], including the prime minister and the foreign minister and the head of the [Israeli Defense Force] to discuss such challenges we confront. In each of these meetings, we talked at length about the dire threat posed by the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran, not only to Israel, but also to Europe and Russia. Just this week, the new president of Iran made further outrageous comments that attacked Israel's right to exist that are simply beyond the pale of international discourse and acceptability. During my meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, I was reminded vividly of the threats that Israel faces every hour of every day ... It became even more clear how important it is for the United States to stand with Israel ..."

“I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations. I don't believe you face threats like Iran or North Korea by outsourcing it to others and standing on the sidelines. But let's be clear about the threat we face now: A nuclear Iran is a danger to Israel, to its neighbors and beyond. The regime's pro-terrorist, anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric only underscores the urgency of the threat it poses. U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal. We cannot and should not — must not — permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons. In order to prevent that from occurring, we must have more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations. And we cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran — that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons.”

Senator Joseph Biden

“Well, I don't think there is anything, to use the colloquial phrase, that the administration has "taken off the table," in terms of potential options to move against Iran if they viewed it as necessary. But the fact of the matter is there are not many options. Unlike the program that existed in Iraq, as opposed to Iran years ago when the Israelis very famously took out the Iraqi nuclear reactor, all the experts will tell you there is no single military action from the air and/or through sabotage that could, quote, "end their nascent nuclear program." And so the options are more limited.

I would make two other points. The administration has, I think of late, meaning the last year, adopted the correct policy with regard to Iran, and that is to attempt to further isolate Iran by cooperating with and getting the consensus of the European community, Russia, China and others to say to Iran that, `If you continue to act in this sort of, in a generic sense, this anti-social behavior internationally, there will be consequences for you.' Notwithstanding the fact that the present president of Iran has been somewhat bellicose, the very day they said they're going to renew their effort to produce material and come out from underneath the IAE safeguards, he also said that the possibility of Russia being a vehicle for the--dealing with the enriched uranium that occurs as a consequence of this civilian nuclear power plant, of all of it being shipped back out to Russia, it was still on the table. So I don't think we know nor do they know exactly where their end position is.

I think the administration is going at it the right way right now. And I think that we won't know until the international community finally decides, if it does, to sanction them, what the result is likely to be.”

Responsible Democrats seem to be taking essentially the same position on Iran as the Administration. It is good to see that partisanship does not always trump national interest and common sense. The above cited Democrats deserve credit on this one.

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Fred Phelps Lets the Good Times Role

2006-03-09T00:54:00.000-06:00

It's time to address a topic, that admittedly, has been put off for awhile. First of all, it's an unpleasant subject. Second, that it pertains to an individual who makes Kansas his home base is embarrassing. Kansas makes the news for tornadoes (usually with an interview of an illiterate with missing teeth), our Board of Education (creationism), “In Cold Blood” (well, Capote did win for best actor), BTK (another shining example of psychopathology), and an annual pancake race (who needs NASCAR).

Now we have also become known as the home of Fred Phelps. Yes, Fred the funeral heckler. It has to be said of Fred that he does have a certain genius for publicity. The rantings of this hate monger were not making the headlines like in the good old early days of his little cult. That can be awfully discouraging to a hard working homophobic nut case who has labored so long in his pseudo-religious rage.

But did Fred give up, did he despair? Why, of course not. He put on his pointed thinking cap and came up with a sure fire solution. He would stage his “God Hates Fags” gatherings at the funerals of AID's victims and gay people who died by anti-gay violence. It worked like a charm for awhile, with the media swarming on it like cockroaches on.. well... whatever it is cockroaches really like. But, those fickle press folk have a short attention span, so old Fred had to ratchet things up a notch to keep the attention coming.

Here's where Fred really hit his stride. Instead of gay's funerals, he would shift the show over to the funerals of our military men and women who died serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had to make a few new signs up, like “Thank God for IED's” to go along with the ever popular “Thank God for AID's” placards, but the effort was well worth it. He has been making the national news on a regular basis, and has risen to deserving special legislation banning funeral protests. Can you say Supreme Court case? He has even managed to create a loyal counter-demonstration cadre that doubles the circus.

Yes, it's high times for Fred and his Fredlets. The media can be counted on to keep the Phelps show going. After all, it's “news”. Ah well, they can't take “The Wizard of Oz” away from us. You have to take solace where you can find it.

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Alabama Church Arsonists Arrested

2006-03-08T18:15:00.000-06:00

Good news in the case of 10 Alabama church fires that have caused such grief in their rural congregations. Reports from several sources are saying that police have arrested three college students in connection with 9 of the arsons, who claim it was a joke that got out of hand. It was no joke to the people of Alabama, who have had the specter of old and bad memories raised. Some congregations had been reported to be standing guard over their churches at night.

Many feared it was the work of hate groups and racists, even though four of the churches had predominately white congregations. Apparently tracing tire track marks to a rarely purchased set of all-terrain tires resulted in breaking the case. All three of the Birmingham students have admitted involvement.

It was not clear if they will face state or federal charges. It's nice to see good investigative work catching some idiots for their crime, and putting people in Alabama more at ease tonight.

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Iran Battening Down the Hatches

2006-03-08T14:22:00.000-06:00

Two developments pointing to Iranian intentions of letting the situation worsen arose today. After the decision to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, a statement delivered by Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh to the 35-member board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said:

"The United States has the power to cause harm and pain. But the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll." The statement also slammed the IAEA, saying the "opportunity for diplomacy and collaboration ... was thus kicked out of the window."

Meanwhile, Iran's parliament has ratified a budget allowing the government to ration petrol. Iran is OPEC's number two producer of crude oil. Ironically, they import 40% of the gasoline they consume, due to a lack of refining capacity. The Iranian government pays heavily to subsidize the cost of this gasoline to consumers.

Authorizing rationing will be quite unpopular with the average Iranian. For the government to make this move indicates that they see tough times ahead. They may be anticipating Iran cutting exports to punish being referred to the Security Council, or preparing for sanctions by the council limiting Iranian exports. Either way, Iran would have fewer dollars to buy refined oil.

China and Russia issued statements that indicate getting much in the way of tough language, let alone action out of the Council will be an uphill battle. Iran knows this, and some of the bravado may be counting on U.N. ineffectiveness. Overall, the signs for a resolution coming soon are not favorable.

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Iran Playing a Deadly Game

2006-03-08T02:05:00.000-06:00

The consensus appears to be that the Russian-Iranian talks were indeed just a stall tactic by Iran. The offer of Russia to perform enrichment processes for them was rejected. An “informal” compromise put forth by Russia to allow small scale enrichment in exchange for a nine year moratorium reportedly was rejected by the U.S., France, Britain, and Germany - as well as an intransigent Iran. When the idea was floated by Russia, the response was so negative that they later denied toying with the idea.

After their negotiations failed, Russia seems back on board with a referral to the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. will continue to push the issues in the U.N., but don't look for anything with teeth to emerge from all the talk for some time to come. There is another Iranian bit of trouble making that might push the American position on Iran even further down a hard line path. Donald Rumsfeld called the Iranians out on Tuesday, accusing them of sending Iranian Revolutionary Guard elements into Iraq to stir up trouble.

Besides wanting to generally do what they can to foil a stable government in Iraq, many observers believe their goal is to gain influence over the Shiite dominated areas in southern Iraq. This is, of course, where most of the Iraqi oil fields happen to be.

Rumsfeld stated that the Iranian infiltration would be something “that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment." The scale of Iranian forces sent to Iraq is not being released, nor are any specifics as to what measures the U.S. might employ to cause them to regret their actions.

Any person that thinks President Bush will allow Iran to acquire nuclear capability is whistling in the dark. If Iran does not in the end succumb to diplomatic pressures or economic sanctions, it will come to military force. That scenario, as we wrote about earlier, would not be easy or attractive. The mullahs in Iran and President Ahmadinejad, are playing a very dangerous game.

The U.S. military strategy would not be similar to the actions in Afghanistan or Iraq. Rather than having a goal of democracy building, it would more likely focus on destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities, reduction of Iran's military forces to an ash heap to eliminate retaliation, and major damage to Iran's infrastructure. Then we would probably leave the remnants to sort itself out, betting on an internal overthrow of the regime, giving aid only if a new government requests it.

The costs in all aspects of the term would be enormous to the U.S., but we will pay it before letting Iran proceed with it's nuclear program. Given the volatility of Iranian leaders, after U.N. actions against Iran are initiated, it would not be unexpected for Iran to start the fireworks. Stepping up their meddling in Iraq, sponsoring or participating in hitting Iraqi oil assets, and even attacks against Israel could not be ruled out. Iran would be looking at options that both lash back at the U.S. and E.U., and simultaneously elicit sympathy and support from Islamic countries and Jihadist groups. That is all it would take to begin the fighting in earnest.

Many diplomats warn against stringent talk that makes a military option explicit. They may be correct, but it would seem that making the bottom line as clear as possible may in fact be helpful in avoiding that eventuality. Iran should be measuring the eventual consequences of it's present course. We should be giving Iran a graceful exit strategy from nuclear development, and put forth some incentives for them to take that exit. Knowing the alternative, there might be a better chance that they will do so.

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Iraq Pessimists may be in for a Surprise

2006-03-07T16:47:00.000-06:00

There are paradoxes and ironies aplenty in the complex web of Iraqi factions and violence. One relatively new trend in the violence may be a positive one, and if it grows, could be key to Iraq claiming a future for itself and ending the insurgency. This development is Sunni tribal groups beginning to form a front to attack Al-Qaeda, and foreign insurgents.

The reason for this turn of events is simple. Al-Qaeda has gone too far in it's indiscriminate killing of civilians and officials while trying to foment the situation in Iraq. It began in Ramadi, a Sunni city that has long hosted local Sunni insurgents and initially supported Al-Qaeda and Zarqawi. The popular local leader, Sheikh Naser Abdul Karim al-Miklif, had become a central figure in the efforts to lead Anbar into the political process. He also encouraged tribal leaders to commit Sunni recruits to the Ramadi police force. In early January, Al-Qaeda blew up 80 Sunni police recruits in Ramadi. Days later the Sheikh was murdered. In addition, they killed the chief of the Naim tribe and his son. Then they killed a top tribal sheik who headed the Fallujah city council.

The result has been the formation, in some cases through secret meetings, of a resistance in Kirkuk, Hawijah, Fallujah, Ramadi, and other areas that has declared war against Al-Qaeda. The resistance coalitions include tribal chiefs, politicians, clerics, security officials and other community leaders. The groups claim to have killed many Al-qaeda members, and have vowed the "the shedding of blood" of anyone involved in "sabotage, killings, kidnappings, targeting police and army, attacking the oil and gas pipelines and their transporters, assassinating the religious and tribal figures, technicians, and doctors."

"We have killed a number of the Arabs, including Saudis, Egyptians, Syrians, Kuwaitis, Syrians and Jordanians," said one member, "We were also able to foil an attack by Zarqawi's men who were trying to attack an oil pipeline outside Ramadi. We killed four Iraqis trying to plant the bomb under the pipeline." Several leaders have specifically said that Zarqawi is their enemy.

“There is a hatred for Zarqawi in Ramadi now,” a resident said. “People are exhausted by what he has done. Six months ago he was still accepted, though not 100 per cent. Now we see him continue to target locals and their sons and kill our leaders, and we reject him totally.”

The situation puts the U.S. military in a bit of an awkward position. Spokesman make statements about actions needing to take place through “legitimate structures”, and deny any support being given to these groups. At least one leader states that the military has given them "all kinds of financial support."

Whether this is true or not, the new opposition to Al-Qaeda, Zarqawi, and foreign insurgents is heartening news. Ultimately, it will take Iraqi's being fed up with the attacks to defeat insurgents. They are beginning to realize that insurgent violence does nothing but hurt their own country and prolong the stay of American troops, which they do not want.

It seems likely that the escalation of attacking mosques is a symptom of Al-Zarqawi's realizing his support within Iraq has not only been shrinking, but former supporters are actually fighting against him. It's still too early to say that recent acts of desperation will fail to incite civil war, but so far Iraqi's are resisting taking the bait. It could be that the events being pointed to here in America as proof for failure in Iraq, will in fact turn out to have been a part of Iraqi's achieving victory for themselves.

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Howard Dean Lays Out Democrat's Legislative Agenda

2006-03-07T14:11:00.000-06:00

Howard Dean, Chairman of the DNC, has laid out the Democratic Party's political agenda for what they would do if they manage to take back control of Congress in 2006. He commits them to six issues. In an attempt to emulate Newt Gingrich's “Contract for America” 12 years ago, Dean proposed:

1.Honesty and Openness in government.
2.A strong national defense which depends on telling the truth to our citizens, our soldiers, and our allies before we send troops abroad.
3.Focus on American jobs that will stay in America, using energy independence as a new industry to create both manufacturing and construction jobs.
4.A health-care system like that of 36 other countries that includes everyone.
5.A real strong public education system that will restore opportunity and optimism back to America.
6.Retirement security so we can count on Social Security and stop the corporations of this country from raiding pension funds.

This bold new vision deserves some analysis. Let's review each initiative.

1. Dean told a group of party loyalists: "You will never see a videotape of a Democratic president getting information that he denied point blank to the American people knowing anything about." It seems that Dean has never the seen the tape of President Clinton wagging his finger at the American people saying, “I did not have sex with..”.

Dean was specifically referring to the “Katrina tape” which he asserted showed that President Bush “misled the American people.” He did not acknowledge that the AP story has since been shown to have done the misrepresenting.

That's two Dean lies used to justify his call for “openness and honesty”. An interesting approach.

There is also the issue of Abramoff and the lobbying scandal. Here the Democrats have something, but unfortunately, all but five of the Senate’s 44 Democrats have taken Abramoff-related money. In addition, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have taken more than $1.2 million, according to records provided to The Washington Times. Both parties have mud on them from this one, and real lobbying reform is needed.

2. The defense issue is another “Bush lied” accusation, referring to the WMD issue leading up to the invasion of Iraq. That there was an intelligence failure regarding WMD's is true. The trouble with this one is that most Democrats, as well as other nations, all thought what Bush thought at the time, and are on record as saying so. To call this a lie is again using distortion and falsehoods.

3. The plan to base the creation of new jobs for the country on alternative energy is intriguing, given that the 18.9 million new jobs projected in the next 10 years are going to be led in educational services, health care and social assistance, and professional and business services. For alternative energy related jobs to become the largest source of growth, it would take a plan for a national transportation system based on millions of rickshaws. Alternative energy development is too important to play this kind of nonsense game.

4. A government plan for a National Health Care System was last the pet project of Hillary Clinton in 1993, which crashed so badly that it helped to bring about the Republican majorities in 1994. What has changed since then is the growth of evidence on the failure of socialized medicine around the world, including Canada. This one is old and soured wine in a new bottle.

5. Democrats will never undertake fundamental education reform, because they will never alienate one of their largest sources for money and votes - the teacher's unions. Demanding better accountability, more rigorous curriculum and outcomes, and competitiveness in educational options are taboo to the unions and Democrats.

6. If you want a succinct and realistic appraisal of what has to happen on Social Security, try the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the professional number crunchers.

“There are four general methods of improving the financial condition of the Social Security Trust Fund: (1) reducing benefits; (2) increasing revenues; (3) improving the rate of return on Trust Fund assets; and (4) other revenue sources, such as appropriating Treasury general funds.
Benefit reductions can be accomplished through across-the-board cuts, means-testing, raising the retirement age, or changing the inflation-adjustments used to determine benefits. Revenues can be increased by raising the payroll tax rate, raising the cap on taxable income, extending the payroll tax to all government workers, raising income taxes on Social Security benefits, and diverting general tax revenues to the Trust Fund.”

These are politically nasty choices, and nothing in the Democratic position says that they are willing to face the music on this one. President Bush took a run at reform, and neither party jumped up in support. Private pension plans need to address more than the cases of Enron scamming schemes. Real solutions will have to address basic fiduciary reform such as higher deductible contribution limits, higher minimum contributions, and improved funding ratios.

So what conclusions can we draw on the Democratic agenda? It is an odd mix of misdirection based on disingenuousness, economic “Gore-isms”, old and failed liberal programs, and general pandering without tangible solutions. The most striking characteristic is what is not on the agenda. There is no plan on Iraq, no plan on terrorism, no plan on illegal immigration, no plan on Iranian nuclear development, no plan on Israel and the Palestinian problem, no plan on tax reform, no plan on Medicare, and no plan on Katrina recovery.

The Democratic party will need to put out specific proposals the American people will embrace on the issues the country cares about before they can expect to get results. This is not it. Howard Dean and the DNC better head back to the drawing board.

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Will Fertility Defeat Liberals?

2006-03-06T15:53:00.000-06:00

Some are theorizing that the culture wars will be won not by issues or politics, per se, but rather by fecundity and demographics. They believe that liberal secularists will ultimately be defeated by their dwindling numbers. The theory is that several factors will contribute to disparities between populations that tend to be conservative and those that tend to be liberals, with conservatives having the edge. Here are factors that they point to:

Demographics point to higher birth rates among traditionally oriented families with a religious orientation. In the United States, fully 47 percent of people who attend church weekly say that the ideal family size is three or more children, as compared to only 27 percent of those who seldom attend church.

The centers of liberal strength are losing population while conservative areas of the country are gaining population. In 2004, President Bush carried 97 of the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties. The fertility rate in the states that went for Kerry is 12% lower than in the Bush states. Vermont produces an annual average of 49 children for every 1,000 women of child-bearing age; in Utah, where 71% of the population voted for Mr Bush, the figure is 91.

The most overwhelmingly Democratic cities, like Seattle, Boston or San Francisco, are also the cities with the lowest percentages of children. In contrast, the Sunbelt reaching from Florida to Arizona is gaining in both business and population, and tilting increasingly to the Republican party. Even in California, the highest population growth is in the inland area which runs conservative.

The “Roe Effect”, which postulates that abortion rates are higher among women who tend to vote Democratic than those who vote Republican. It would seem intuitive that those who support abortion are more likely to have one. In addition, there is a racial aspect to abortion rates. Black women, for example, have a higher abortion ratio (percentage of pregnancies aborted) than Hispanic women, whose abortion ratio in turn is higher than that of non-Hispanic whites.

The shift toward an aging population due to the “baby boomers” will favor conservatives, as there is a general tendency for greater conservatism with age.

Is this nonsense or sound analysis? Let us know what you think.

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Hollywood Liberals Used for Target Practice at Oscar's

2006-03-06T02:10:00.000-06:00

Did you notice the barely polite applause and less than enthusiastic laughs that the emcee, John Stewart, got at the Academy Awards? Perhaps they were expecting him to do the standard inside jokes and aim barbs at the usual targets of the Hollywood elite. What they often got were arrows aimed at them. He pointed out that the audience was largely out of touch with the rest of America, and far too absorbed with an inflated sense of their own importance. He started by remarking that the Oscar telecast was a rare "place where you can watch all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic Party." He followed up with this:

"I'm from New York and I've been here a week and a half. A lot of people say this town is too liberal. Out of touch with mainstream America. A modern day beachfront Sodom and Gomorrah. A black hole where innocence is obliterated. An endless orgy of sexual gratification and greed.”

"I don't really have a joke here...and I just thought you should know a lot of people are saying that."
He joked that the Oscar's were the first time many of them had “voted for a winner.”

They did not like it. George Clooney, the darling of the Hollywood left, tried to rebut Stewart's comments with a defense that rested on his being “proud of being out of touch”. He was proud because they were so advanced and knew better than the rest of America, who might eventually catch up to Hollywood's progressive thinking. He sighted several examples of how Hollywood had bravely pioneered social issues in the past.

As if in response, after a montage of pictures that centered on political and social issues, Stewart dryly quipped, “And none of those issues were ever a problem again.” Stewart had other jokes about the Cheney hunting accident, and the press. But the audience in the Kodak theater got more than they bargained for.

Later in the night Stewart asked the cameras to point to a huge statue of the Oscar image above the stage. In obvious reference to the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein, he said, "Do you think if we all got together and pulled this down, democracy would flourish in Hollywood?" Want to take odds on his being asked to come back next year?

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Making Technorati and del.icio.us Tags Easy and Automatic

2006-03-06T00:17:00.000-06:00

If you are new to the art of doing your own blog as I am, I thought I'd share something that might be of interest. You have probably become familiar with two blog related sites – Technorati and del.icio.us. Both are essentially services for blog readers to find articles and information they are interested in, and for blog writers to get exposure for their content. Both are based on the use of “tags”, which are like keywords to identify the topics that a post relates to.

The blogger assigns tags to posts when they are published on the blog, and Technorati and del.icio.us then track these articles by those tags for readers to search. The rub for me was the time involved in “tagging” each article for both sites, and then doing the tasks needed to get both services to pick up the new tags and articles.

I thought that there must be an easier way to do this, and started searching. As a new Blogger, I am starting out by hosting my Blog on Blogger.com, as it is free and easy to use, so I was looking for solutions that would work with this host. First I found something called Greasemonkey. Here's the description from it's website:

Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension which lets you to add bits of DHTML ("user scripts") to any web page to change its behavior. In much the same way that user CSS lets you take control of a web page's style, user scripts let you easily control any aspect of a web page's design or interaction.

If that sounds too technical for you, it means it is an “add-in” for the Firefox web browser, that allows you to customize and automate tasks through the use of programming or “scripts”. That sounded promising, but not being one to re-invent the wheel, I wondered if there were scripts already out there related to Technorati and del.icio.us. After some more cyber sleuthing, I found quite a few, but all seemed short of the mark, either doing things for one site, but not the other, or not doing them well.

After some frustration from trial and error, I finally found one that seems to do a pretty good job. To make it work, you need to sign up with Technorati and del.icio.us, install Greasemonkey, go to a ping service called Pingoat and set up your blog to send update pings when commanded, and install a user script from a blog called ecmanaut.

The result is an almost complete automation of tagging processes. Before posting your article, you fill in the tags you want to associate with it. Then you post as you normally would. Then you use the new option you will see for del.icio.us to save those tags to your account (you must already be logged in to del.icio.us at the time for this to work). That's it. The tags are usable by Technorati as well.

Hope this is helpful to my fellow Blogger neophytes.

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Sex and Politics

2006-03-05T14:50:00.000-06:00

Ever wonder about James Carville and Mary Matalin? Two politically opposite people, strange bedfellows, making a marriage work. Perhaps the secret is the make-up sex. Or perhaps they leave politics at the door of their home. Or maybe they realize that partisan differences are not as important as the more fundamental things that they have in common.

If that is true, it would be nice if they could teach that to others. It seems a lot of folks have lost that ability. You know - human beings first, then being an American, and political affiliation last. Putting our priorities in that order might make a lot of our problems disappear.

Are you in a inter-political “mixed marriage”? Share your secrets with us.

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Ubuntu Linux - Free At Last From Microsoft

2006-03-05T13:49:00.000-06:00

Most computer users have been paying the exorbitant toll to Microsoft since the days of DOS. Even if you have never upgraded the operating system since you bought your computer with Windows on it, you paid Mr. Gates in the purchase price. For that that toll, you get bugs that never seem to end, vulnerability to hacking, viruses, worms, trojans, and spyware. You have to buy additional software to protect yourself from all of Windows flaws. And then to make your computer usable comes the cost of all the applications, including the ubiquitous Microsoft Office, at a price of hundreds of dollars.

There is an alternative that is both better and costs nothing, thats right - nada, nothing. That alternative is Linux and "open source" software. If you have not explored this option, it is certainly worth a try. There are lots of versions of Linux available, but my favorite is called Ubuntu. It is a completely free Linux that is stable, has an excellent support community, and is strongly committed to the open source concept. Here's a description from their website:

"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who we all are". The Ubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. It is developed by a large community and we invite you to participate too!

The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.

These freedoms make Ubuntu fundamentally different from traditional proprietary software: not only are the tools you need available free of charge, you have the right to modify your software until it works the way you want it to.

If you want to try it, just download it from the website and burn it to a cd, or you can even request that they mail you a cd - free of charge.

Most people who install it for the first time will take the option of making it a "dual boot". That is, it retains your ability to go to your existing Windows that you use now, or to Ubuntu, when you turn on the computer. This allows you to keep everything you have now just as it is, while you make the transition to Ubuntu as you are comfortable in doing so. For me, that means I rarely use Windows at all - it has been months.

At first it took a while for me to find all the open source applications to use to replace some of the specialized software and tasks I needed, but that process is behind me. Here is what I like best beyond it's being free.

Security, the Achilles heal of Windows, is great with Linux. Vulnerabilities are searched for by thousands of programmers all over the world, and once spotted, corrected. This has been going on for many years, and has made Linux much more secure than the Windows.

It updates the operating system, drivers, and all my applications automatically. Think about that one. No more having to check if you have the latest and greatest versions of everything, Ubuntu tells you about updates to everything and asks if you want to install it.

Technical strength, in many areas is superior to Windows. For instance, file systems don't need de-fragmenting - they are more efficient in the first place.

Stability is excellent. I just never have the operating system crash.

Applications available seem to be endless and are growing everyday.

OK, enough. You get the idea. It's free, better, and easy to use. For the newbie first timers, there are some things that are different, but the support is there to help you through it. Make sure to use the support community when you run in to a problem, especially the forum.

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Some Practical Advice

2006-03-03T12:45:00.000-06:00

The fellow over at Right Wing News has some suggestions for the Bush team on recovering poll numbers. Good practical advice if they are listening..

Blood in the Water

2006-03-03T02:00:00.000-06:00

Katrina, Libby, Abramhoff, a hunting accident, Dubai, and a golden dome. Some of them are serious events, some normally second page stories. Nevertheless, the liberals are dancing and the media is in a feeding frenzy. Years of pent up frustration and anger are finding a target, as the President's poll numbers bleed. They finally found a vein, and they will go for it with predatory delight.

None of these problems would, in isolation, have had a major impact on Bush's popularity. It has taken relentless biased coverage, combined with inexplicable poor handling by the President and his staff. It has reached the point that the story is the story, and the facts of each really won't matter.

The President is repeating the old lines about a leader having to do some things that won't play well in the polls, but that is just his job. Unfortunately, he is going to find that low poll numbers are going to make doing those things much more difficult if the trend is not reversed soon. A President can do a lot with the weight of popular opinion behind him.

An unpopular President finds the sledding tough, and even those in his own party begin to feel free to cross him. We are seeing the beginning of that now, particularly on the ports issue, with many Republicans jumping ship, afraid of having the national security high ground yanked out from under them.

It's going to be tough for a damaged, early onset lame duck, second term conservative to catch a break from here on out. If nothing else, he is going to have to spend alot more time on directly getting his message out, and building support where he might have taken it for granted in the past. The sharks are circling, and damn few seem to be throwing any lifelines.

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The Cure for Democrats - A Good Family Therapist

2006-03-02T17:38:00.000-06:00

The Democratic Party is increasingly controlled by what used to be considered the radical left wingers. The money, passion, and energy from the left is now the Democratic “base”. The mainstream Democrats are now considered to be the enemy by the base. They are declaring in effect, civil war within their own party, with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) as the symbol of evil.

The DLC is the group currently chaired by Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsak, with Bruce Reed, the former Clinton administration official and Al Gore speech writer as President. Hillary Clinton and Senator Tom Carper of Delaware are on it's leadership team. It has been the base for Bill Clinton, a past Chairman, John Kerry, and Al Gore. Tune in to leftist rhetoric in regard to the DLC and you will see statements such as this compendium:

“There is a cancer in the party, and it is the DLC.. We must do all we can to get rid of this neo-fascist tumor... they are the Black Death, rats covered with fleas covered with germs... worse than some conservative Republicans in terms of intelligence and morality... The DLC is the enemy, and I agree, should be expelled.”

Their answer is to “purge the targets” as “eradicating such timidity and disloyalty would be good for the party” as is requiring “unwavering allegiance to the party”. These guys are talking about Democrats in verbiage that sounds like something from the days of Stalin, Chairman Mao, or Nazi party enforcers.

The white hats according to their view are MoveOn, Howard Dean, George Soros, Al Franken, Cindy Sheehan, Ramsey Clark, and the like. This degree of intra-party polarization and internecine warfare is clearly the major problem of Democrats, outweighing any external conservative and Republican challenges. It has been a battle brewing for a long time, beginning with the trauma of losing both houses of Congress and then the wrenching defeat of Al Gore in a "stolen" election.

The left wing worked for the election of John Kerry with a bad taste in their mouth. "We're going to celebrate with John Kerry the night of Nov. 2. But the morning of Nov. 3, we're going to start organizing to take the party away from him, because we have serious disagreements about what the party should stand for and where this country needs to go," said one activist at the time. After losing that election too, the left became galvanized against “selling out” to Democratic moderates, and dedicated themselves to a revolution that takes no prisoners.

Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist who advised Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign acknowledges that they "represent an important resource for the party, but they are not representative of the majority you need to win elections. The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left."

Right now it is a Hobson's choice for centrists - leaving the energy and money of the left wing on the table, or allowing them to ascend to leadership and insure defeat at the polls.

The only path that can win is to heal the rift and unite, but no one – not even Hillary Clinton – has found the way to do that. This family feud has become a bad case of domestic violence. It's time for Democrats to enter long term family therapy before they kill each other. The hardest part will be finding a therapist that is up to the job.

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A New Format!

2006-03-01T18:13:00.000-06:00

We had been busily concentrating on content since beginning this blog on February 9th, which is after all, it's purpose. Each time we saw the layout, we grimaced a bit. In our opinion it was not very attractive or laid out well functionally.

To celebrate moving into our 2nd month, you might notice we have given the "The Fly Over Zone" a new look. We hope you like the appearance and find it more user friendly. We'd appreciate your comments and opinions on the change. Happy Blogging..

Diagnosing the Republican Party

2006-03-01T02:31:00.000-06:00

We've focused recently on articles devoted to the woes of the American Left and the Democratic Party. Not that we have totally neglected issues troubling conservatives, as in “When Conservatives Aren't”. Still, the GOP deserves some additional attention. Republicans are facing some tough problems, beyond the current stumbling on issues such as the Dubai ports deal. Blaming the press for it's bias and slanted coverage does not get it.

Of course the media is biased. Five times more national outlet journalists identify themselves as liberal, 34 percent, than conservative, a mere 7 percent according to a Pew Research Center survey. We should expect to be fired upon by liberal media guns at every opportunity, but the Administration in recent months seems to be primarily in the business of passing them ammunition. The string of bad news cycles is not, however, the major concern we should be focusing on.

Conservatives should be minding the store and doing some critical self-examination. There are two fundamental areas we should be looking at. The first is recognizing the divisions within the Republican Party and how they can best be resolved. The second is a critique of the current conservative agenda and how we need to be more effective in pursuing it, in both the Executive and Legislative arena. The balance of this article will address the first concern, and we will follow up with a second on the agenda issues.

The party has a number of identifiable constituencies:

Traditional Republicans - Mainly attracted by the philosophy of pro-business, low regulation, small government, and low taxes. These are a combination of the “Main Street” small business and corporate business communities.

Social Conservatives – The “religious right”, motivated by values issues and opposition to incursions of liberal secularism and left wing social agendas.

Blue Collar Conservatives - Middle class and lower middle class individuals concerned with bread and butter issues. They are strongly patriotic, are concerned about national security, and are more likely to include blacks and Hispanics than the other groups. Unlike their economically similar counterparts in the Democratic camp, they believe that self-sufficiency, not government programs are the key for them to succeed. They just want government to look out for them on issues like the environment, international trade, tax fairness, health care, retirement benefits, illegal immigration, and education.

Ideological Conservatives – Intellectually driven on the role of government, constitutional issues, governmental intrusiveness, opposition to socialist thinking and programs, and faithfulness to founding principles.

There are crossovers and commonalities between these groups, and you could re-draw the categories and descriptions. But it comes close enough to the mark to serve it's purpose. The point is that there are distinct differences within the party. If Republicans are to be successful in the future, it is important to do a good job of representing the largest concerns of each of them.

Just as important is the issue of pulling in more independents and moderates who do not identify as Republican, but do swing elections. In recent elections, these voters have swung more toward Republican candidates, on the basis of support of anti-terrorism, national security, and a general sympathy with traditional values. The two largest types within this group are the affluent suburban moderates and the economically disadvantaged who in general don't believe government or either party has done a decent job of representing them.

In broad strokes, here are areas where the Republican party can make up ground in appealing to existing commonalities and adjusting to solidify weak points:

National Security – This is an easy winner for Republicans in every one of these groups, despite temporary gaffs such as the ports issue and trouble in Iraq. The problems with the Homeland Security Administration in dealing with Katrina, however, hurt public confidence in it's ability to deal with crisis. That agency needs to be cleaned up quickly.

Traditional Values – For the most part this is more a unifier than divisive, with broad appeal. The key may be to represent a party that fights against liberal legislative and judicial attempts to enforce left wing values on all Americans, than to support imposing conservative values on everyone. Stridency and excess disaffects moderates.

Economics – The Republicans are too often vulnerable to charges of favoring big business at the expense of middle and lower class citizens. We need to pursue a more populist appeal on job creation, wages, middle and lower middle income tax reduction, retirement issues, and reasonable regulation of business for consumer protection.

Fiscal Policy – This should be a strength, but it has become a liability. Relatively short term issues such as Katrina and Iraq have helped to push spending out of control, but those are not the primary problem. The tough issues are of course the long term issues of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Try convincing voters that Social Security tax money they have paid their entire life should not have been enough to take care of them in retirement.

Illegal Immigration – The failure of meaningful border security and controlling illegal immigration is a problem that needs to become a top priority. That means pushing traditional Republicans on the issue, who have allowed the situation to become intolerable, believing the cheap and available labor outweighed other costs and concerns. Talk of guest worker programs and the like is seen as more pablum until real change happens on the border.

Integrity and Public Trust – The image of the party has been damaged by the Abramhoff scandal and a perception of influence peddling in general, and pork barrel spending on steroids.

Environment – Republicans can become known for more than wilderness drilling fights. We could show the way to realistic proactive environmental policy. We are losing on this issue, and a lot of Americans besides the eco-extremists care about the environment.

Health Care – Better solutions for millions of working people without health insurance coverage needs to be addressed.

Establishing smart, bold, and forward thinking proposals on these key issues can result in Republicans energizing the base, strengthening commitments of all conservative constituencies, and bringing in millions of new moderate and independent voters. If Republicans fail to take the lead, grow complacent, and allow Democrats to portray the party as the plaything of the economic elite, 2006 and 2008 could mean major erosions in support at the polls.

The Trouble with Katrina Recovery

2006-02-28T13:44:00.000-06:00

The Hurricane was a natural disaster, not a partisan event. The administration did a very poor job of responding, as did the Mayor of New Orleans, and the Governor of Louisiana. A look at the approval ratings for Nagins show him placing last of four candidates for a March election. Blanco stands at a 32% approval rating. This shows that blame is an equal opportunity punisher.

This is not a defense of the administration. Chertoff's original handling was and continues to be unacceptable.

The recovery effort has the potential to both waste huge sums of money and fail to do the job well. The recovery needs a strong leader dedicated to that job, with authority commensurate to the responsibility. We don't have that. Remembering the impact that General Honroe quickly had when he appeared on the scene, perhaps we should look to a sharp no-nonsense retired general to take on the job.

Bush appointed Donald E. Powell, as federal coordinator of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in November. A former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, he is probably a fine fellow with great financial expertise. But he says, “This job is not a chief executive," he said. "This job is more of listening . . . getting opposites together and motivating folks to do the right thing.”

That sounds more like a man who would be a wonderful asset to a “chief executive”. We need a person with direct management skills and an on the ground, get it done orientation. Someone who says, “I want 1,000 trailers moved to that location in 10 days”, and holds people's feet to the fire to make sure it got done.

Particularly in Louisiana, which makes Chicago look like a model of clean government, listening is not enough. A recovery Czar is going to have to knock some heads together. Appointed in November, Powell does not seem to be fitting that bill. In talking with people who have recently been in New Orleans, they were shocked that even basic clean-up efforts are not underway in enormous areas of the city, and essential services such as electricity have not been restored.

Making grand plans and developing visions for the future of New Orleans are wonderful things, but at the moment, we need someone who will get the debris hauled away.

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Diagnosing the Democratic Party

2006-02-27T17:11:00.000-06:00

We recently commented on the state of left wing politics, the liberal wing of the Democratic party, and the party in general in the articles “Liberals and Lemmings” and “Far Left Morphing and the Impact on the Democratic Party”. An assessment by a BBC correspondent comes to similar conclusions.

“The Democrats need a message and a new way of communicating that message to a mass audience. They have neither. And do not be fooled by those who say this malaise is structural, at this stage of the electoral cycle there isn't a presidential candidate etc. No, it is more than that. The American left has faded away.

Only their bumper stickers remain, like cockroaches after a nuclear holocaust. "Re-defeat George Bush," they whine. Not knowing, not caring that the world has changed.”

This is a bit surprising considering the liberal leanings of the BBC. The overall tone of the article was a lament for failing to effectively seize the opportunity being handed to the Democrats by “Republican's misfortunes”. We agree that the Democrats have so far failed to marshal a plan. Even if they should do so, however, voters are unlikely to flock back to the banner.

The Democrats have not only their internal problems to contend with, but the reality that George Bush is not the key to Republican success. The biggest issue is that there is a long term trend of conservatism in the country, and a gradual exodus of moderates and conservatives from the Democrats. There is a greater resonance of many Republican positions with independent voters. Both short and long term polling results indicate that a shift is occurring.

"A new Zogby poll strongly suggests that Democrat Congressional leaders are no longer listening to the majority of their base. Instead, the poll confirms that Democrat leaders appear to be led by the left-wing “fringe” faction of their Party."

"Zogby poll results say that 58% of self-described Democrats said they think their leaders should “accept their lower position in Congress and work together with Republicans to craft the best legislation possible.” Only 6% said the top goal for Democrats should be to defeat Republican legislation, while nearly one-quarter of Democrats – 23% – said they think Republicans do a better job running Congress."

"The Harris Poll also found that conservatives continue to outnumber liberals by 36 to 18 percent but that the largest number of people think of themselves as moderates (41%). However, the long term trend for party identification has changed over the last 40 years, with the Democratic lead declining from 21 percentage points in the 1970s, to 11 points in the 1980s, seven points in the 1990s, and (so far) five points in this decade."

The longer term trending is the real story. As the number of people self-identifying as Democrat dwindles, it leaves a party with fewer moderates. The further left this skews the remaining party, the less hospitable more moderates find it. It is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Death by extremism.

Unless the Democrats reverse this trend of 40 years, they are in for further bad news. Pulling the left wing “core constituency” to the center will only get more difficult as time passes. Meanwhile, Republicans are looking hard at John McCain and Rudy Giuliani as their next Presidential nominee. Putting up either of these would only broaden the appeal of the party to that big slice of 41% moderates.

Is there any hope recovering for Democrats? Certainly, and we'll discuss that in Part II of this topic.

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Kansas Illegal Immigrant Tuition Bill Gets Second Vote

2006-02-27T16:03:00.000-06:00

It sounds like we were not the only one that thought Rep. John Edmonds, R-Great Bend, was attempting a dubious move with a specious excuse. The issue is the bill sponsored by Rep. Becky Hutchins, R-Holton, to reverse illegal immigrant in-state tuition at state universities and colleges. Edmunds, who is Chairman of the Federal and State Affairs Committee, killed the bill, breaking his assurances to Hutchins. His excuse was that he “didn't want to force colleagues in the House to face the politically difficult choice of voting to keep the law in place.”

Now we learn that caused so much controversy that House leaders have taken the unusual step of pushing the Chairman into allowing a re-vote on the bill. The AP quotes Edmonds - "Any vote on this bill is a bad vote in some of our members' districts, and I think there's no point in putting those votes on record if it's not even going to clear the House," said Edmonds, R-Great Bend. "But I'm going to reconsider this bill again because my speaker asked me to."

We have the same reaction to this latest quote as we had to the first. It is the responsibility of our legislators to both vote on “difficult choices” and put their votes “on record”. To suggest otherwise – let alone subvert that process from happening - is nonsense. Such political gaming and running from accountability for decisions is exactly what we should not tolerate from any Kansas legislator.

In this case at least, they did not get away with it. How HB 2615 proceeds from this point should be under close scrutiny. Regardless of whether you support the bill or not, it should be decided in the open with our legislators having the opportunity to vote on it and and their constituents having the opportunity to know what their vote was. That is called representative democracy.

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Saddam Ends Hunger Strike

2006-02-27T14:29:00.000-06:00

The BBC reports that Saddam Hussein has ended an 11-day hunger strike for "health reasons". Hussein had lost 4-5kg (9-11 lbs), and his morale was said to be high. Sounds more like he went on a diet than a hunger strike.

With the new judge presiding over his trial, less theatrics and nonsense have been tolerated. That is certainly a positive development. The trial needs to proceed in an orderly and expeditious manner. As long as Hussein is given a stage, it can only aggravate tensions and hold out hopes to his Baathist Sunni supporters for his return to power.

There was no word on what his first meal consisted of. His favorite dinner is said to be fresh gazelle, though in captivity reports of guards are that he is fond of Cheetos and eats a family size bag of Doritos in 10 minutes. No wonder he went on a diet.

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Iran and Russia Deal for Real?

2006-02-27T14:05:00.000-06:00

Iran and Russia are said to have agreed in principle to a deal on nuclear enrichment. The devil is often in the details, so we'll have to wait to see what this will really mean. The Russians were said to be holding firm on a requirement that Iran cease it's own enrichment program for a deal to go through. If it all works out, this will be a major breakthrough, and a retreat by Iran from its firmly stated position.

A key to any deal will have to include unfettered access for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which as of today is stating that Iran is not cooperating. Unless that changes, we will be right back where we started. Hopefully Iran is responding to international pressures and will back down. If it is just another stall tactic, the international response needs to be swift and firm.

Normally the chances of that occurring on any issue is between slim and none. The Iranian nuclear issue might be one of the rare instances in which that is not true.

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Take a break

2006-02-27T00:52:00.000-06:00

I often despair of the increasing vitriol and hatred one sees in the polarized political climate in our country. When one looks at a snapshot of the world by looking at stories being posted at Reuters, it changes the perspective. Here is a quick list of where political, racial, and religious violence and killing are being reported:

Afghanistan
Iraq
Philippines
Nepal
Uganda
Iran
Nigeria
Sri Lanka
Somalia
India
Pakistan
Israel
Palestinian Territories
Western Sahara
Congo
Zambia
Saudi-Arabia

This is just a sample, on another day many other countries would be on the list. That the United States was missing from this list is significant. We have our problems, but other than in rare instances, we do not take to the streets in violent riots or bomb each other to resolve our differences.

We should not take that for granted. Much of the world, unfortunately, cannot say the same. That is all the more remarkable given the great diversity in our country. It might be a good thing to just once in awhile look up from the fray to consider this, and the many other blessings that we in America enjoy.

It's not in our national character to do too much positive reflecting. We want to get back to our debates, the many things we need to improve, and our competing visions for the future. Thats as it should be. But once in awhile its helpful to take stock of what is right about our nation, and appreciate it. It improves my mood and outlook every time I do.

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Far Left Morphing and the Impact on the Democratic Party

2006-02-25T18:34:00.000-06:00

The far left has made an interesting set of deductions. It goes something like this:

Premise: We Hate Bush and conservatives. Bush the fascist is evil. Bush always lies.
Conclusion: Anything Bush supports is evil. Because he always lies, whatever he says is a conspiracy to do just the opposite.

Issue: Bush says he wants an independent democratic Iraq.
Conclusion: The war in Iraq is evil. Bush invaded Iraq because of an imperialist oil grabbing conspiracy and really wants the government to fail.

Issue: Bush says he wants a unified Iraq.
Conclusion: Bush wants civil war so that he can grab the oil and make his imperialist invasion permanent.

Issue: Bush condemned the bombing of the mosque in Sammara and called for an end to sectarian violence.
Conclusion: Bush bombed the mosque and is conducting psy-ops to incite civil war.

Issue: Bush says we must fight terrorism and Jihadist extremists.
Conclusion: Bush really created the war on terror as an excuse to create an imperial presidency, take over the Supreme Court, and achieve imperialist global domination. Those who fight against the Jihad are fascists.

This thinking came from far left wing bloggers. The logic or lack thereof is difficult to follow, so we attempted to organize them here to make them clearer. Anti-Bush hatred has reached a fevered pitch in which any failure of a Bush policy or initiative is cause for celebration. That is true even when it means harm or defeat for American interests.

The views of the fringe would have little practical importance, except that similar influences seem to be affecting the attitudes and behavior of the larger liberal wing of the Democratic party. We are not hearing liberal activists speaking out on the virulent anti-gay aspects of Islam and plight of women in Islam. Nor is the left leading condemnation of Islamic anti-semitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric.

Howard Dean as Chairman meant "a lot of mainstream, middle-of-the-road, centrist Jewish Democrats would be very turned off and concerned and would be left wondering whether they have a home in the Democratic Party" -- Jay Footlik

Many more must be disenchanted now, with the retreat on the left for the support of Israel and the current failure to respond to Islamic anti-semitism.

The attempts to censor western press by Islamic threats, rioting, and fatwas are mainly met by the left with meek excuses about politically correct sensitivity. Hillary Clinton is regarded with distrust in this quarter because of her support of the war and anti-terrorism. Joe Lieberman, the Vice-Presidential candidate in 2000, is now being treated like a traitor to the party with liberal hate sites devoted to him.

Al Gore is scoring points and making a comeback with his consistent opposition to the Iraq war, and his speech in Saudi Arabia where he denounced the U.S. government for committing "terrible abuses" against Arabs after 9/11, and that Arabs had been "indiscriminately rounded up" and held in "unforgivable" conditions. Pollsters say he is now in second place behind Hillary among Democrats, and analysts project he would take away half of her support in primaries.

It's tough to see how any of this bodes well for the chances of Democrats in the 2008 Presidential election. Right now the Democrats are so focused on their anti-Bush mantra that they act like they will be running against him again in 2008.

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Some Signs of Hope in Iraq

2006-02-25T03:00:00.000-06:00

It is still too early to draw a conclusion on whether sectarian violence will spread to send Iraq in to civil war. There are continuing provocative incidents of violence. There are also heartening indications that the Iraqis may be too smart to fall for insurgent efforts to inflame Sunni and Shiite populations into mutual destruction.

On the negative side, here is a brief run down of the violence from Reuters:

A security man was killed after gunmen opened fire on Saturday at the funeral procession in Baghdad of an Al Arabiya correspondent killed in Iraq.

Gunmen stormed a house near the Iraqi city of Baquba on Saturday and killed 12 members of the same Shi'ite family, Interior Ministry sources said.
Gunmen opened fire on Saturday at the house of the head of Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim religious organization, in an attack he blamed on government forces.

On the positive side from Reuters:

Iraq's most influential Shia political leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, said the bombers who attacked the shrine in Samarra "do not represent Sunnis in Iraq". In a televised statement, Mr Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, blamed the militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and loyalists of former leader Saddam Hussein. "We all have to unite in order to eliminate them," he said.

Followers of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr attended his sermon in the Sadr City district, hearing him urge restraint. "We are not enemies but brothers," he told them. "Anyone who attacks a Muslim is not a Muslim."

Several large joint Sunni-Shia protests were held on Friday in Basra, Kut and Mosul to appeal for calm and national unity.

Envoys of Sadr, whose militiamen were accused by some Sunnis of attacking Sunni mosques in reprisal for the attack in the city of Samarra, met members of the Sunni Muslim Clerics Association and the Iraqi Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni political bloc. Sadr's representatives reiterated denials that his Mehdi Army militia attacked Sunnis and their mosques. "There is no way we will be divided no matter what the conspiracies," said Fadil al-Sharaa, a cleric who represented Sadr in talks at a Sunni mosque in Baghdad.

Iraq's top political leaders held talks on Saturday to discuss the formation of a new government as they tried to ease sectarian tensions that have raised fears of civil war. The talks, which included Shi'ite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Kurdish President Jalal Talabani, and leading Sunni and secular politicians, followed a meeting of influential religious leaders who vowed to end sectarian violence. Arab Sunni politicians who had suspended their participation in negotiations on the formation of a new government attended the meeting, as did U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad.

That both the Sunni and Shiite leadership, including the inflammatory Sadr, are out front calling for peace is important. Just as important is that all parties are attributing the acts of provocation to al-Zarqawi, recognizing the Al-Qaeda ploys for what they are. The sudden attack on the revered mosque may turn out to have been too transparently over the line.

Domestic sectarian feelings just would not account for such a desecration. Despite all their other bombings and killings, things were continuing to move toward an government in Iraq succeeding. It may be that al-Zarqawi miscalculated in his gamble of blowing up a holy shrine. This was an act of desperation by the insurgents.

Peace may not prevail, but at least there is the possibility that in the end Sunni and Shiite factions may pull together against a foreign insurgency attempting to harm their country.

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Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat

2006-02-25T02:50:00.000-06:00

From the life is stranger than fiction department, a story from the BBC:

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi. "We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat. "When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case. "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

I have always wondered where the expression "that really got his goat" came from.

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Sex
humor

Leaders, Writers, and Quarterbacks

2006-02-24T14:53:00.000-06:00

George Will once told a story in a column about President Ronald Reagan, who after listening to detailed scientific and budgetary presentations on an ambitious $4.4 billion atom smasher project, recited Jack London's personal credo:

I would rather be ashes than dust,
I would rather my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze,
Than it should be stifled in dry rot,
I would rather be a superb meteor,
With every atom of me in a magnificent glow,
Than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Then Reagan said that London's credo was read to Ken Stabler, the NFL quarterback, who was asked what it meant. Stabler said: “Throw Deep.” Reagan supported the project.

Today we seem to be woefully lacking leaders with a “throw deep” mentality and vision. Some spout speech writer rhetoric that tries to sound like it, but genuine article can't be faked. I heard it in person once. In my college days, as the student responsible for bringing in guest lectures and speakers, Former Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, then a Minnesota Senator, agreed to make a speech.

Senator Humphrey was a populist Democrat born of the old Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, who earned his political stripes as a reformer cleaning up corruption in Minneapolis. He was also one of the last barn burner speakers, in the Chautauqua tradition. The man was a believer with a vision that could make even his opponents smile and cheer before he was through. He had the deserved nickname of the “Happy Warrior”.

The “Great Communicator” and the “Happy Warrior” were political opposites, but strikingly similar as men. Both had an innate optimism, fighting their battles without malice or mean spiritedness. Both placed being an American before partisanship. Both had the ability to cut through detail and short term thinking to see the goal posts, and the courage to go for it. They had the ability to inspire and uplift.

We need such men in both parties today, as real leaders are needed in difficult times. If we are fortunate, perhaps one or two will surface before the next presidential election. We could use some inspiring and uplifting from a positive voice. We need someone with the vision to throw deep.

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"Blogger Scale" Needed

2006-02-24T12:23:00.000-06:00

After reading many blogs and the comments that accompany them, there seems to be a need to better describe political bloggers. The convention of party affiliation or words like right or left doesn't always capture the character of their writing. Perhaps something on the order of a logarithmic scale – such as the Richter Scale is in order. Here's what is proposed:

1-3 on the Scale might be described as “Independents”. This includes people who are not politically inclined, and have no particular ideological bent. They are often the pragmatic folk who post on the meat and potatoes issues they think might affect their daily lives. Though they are a large group, say about 30% of the American population, they are under-represented on blogs. Posting requires more energy than these low scorers on the Blogger Scale usually care to expend.

4-6 on the Scale encompasses many Republican and Democrats. They have a political philosophy, and can articulate their position on issues based on fact and analysis. The tone of the writing usually stays within the bounds of reasoned discourse. They may defend a point with passion, but not so much so that they cannot see all sides of an issue and other points of view. An exchange of ideas occurs within this range.

7-8 on the Scale begins to depart from logic, and here is where posting starts to reflect zealotry more than reason. The thinking process begins to assume a one dimensionality, often expressed in anger, personal attacks, name calling, and profanity. Right now, the far left seems to be over-represented in this range. It may be that frustration at the current Republican dominance of most Governorships, both houses of Congress, the Presidency, and the new Supreme Court Appointees have pushed more on the left to this extreme. Bloggers in this range trade salvos from their entrenched positions.

9 is where the blogging gets nuts. Here reside the true Bush hating conspiracy theorists, the White Supremacists and other fringe denizens of the blogging world. The posts are readily identifiable by the high degree of hatred they contain. Single issue obsessives on both sides of “hot button” issues find a home here. Tirades and rants are all that remain. The skewed reality of these unfortunates precludes any attempt at discussion. They are grossly over-represented in blogs as they seem to never tire of their “serial blogging” posts.

10 is reserved for the just plain insane. Reverend Phelps and Harry Belafonte live together in their own little universe. The posts of a 10 are so extreme that they reach toxic levels. Reader beware, exposure may be hazardous to your health.

This new system has practical value for the blogger. Blogs themselves can be assigned a numerical rating on the Blogger Scale, giving potential readers a useful insight into the contents. Some may prefer the interplay and thoughts of a “5-er” blog, while others may like the heat of a good “7.5-er”. “10” blogs might be accompanied by a warning before entering the site.

It can be helpful in dealing with individual bloggers as well. Comments of bloggers might be rated and averaged on their profiles. “Oh, I made the mistake of responding to an “8's” post, boy did I flamed.”
It might even help to moderate the discourse on blogs a little. No E-bay member wants a bad rating. Maybe bloggers would try to avoid being a “8”. Of course “9” and “10” raters are beyond redemption, but perhaps many “7” or “8's” could be saved.

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Bennett and Dershowitz Team Up on Failure of the Press

2006-02-23T15:15:00.000-06:00

Strange bedfellows politically, William J. Bennett and Alan M. Dershowitz wrote a column together in the Washington Post. This pairing is like a journalistic version of the Odd Couple. Though from the conservative and liberal wings of American politics, they united for what they agree is a critical failure of the media in dealing with Islamic intimidation.

“When we were attacked on Sept. 11, we knew the main reason for the attack was that Islamists hated our way of life, our virtues, our freedoms. What we never imagined was that the free press -- an institution at the heart of those virtues and freedoms -- would be among the first to surrender.”

This is worth reading in it's entirety. You may have already read our take on the issue. It is heartening to see that Americans of some influence are coming out on this one, particularly when it is in the form of that rarity of rarities in this day; true bi-partisanship.

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Save the Children!

2006-02-23T14:20:00.000-06:00

Tag is bad for children. At least that is what a number of schools have decided in Washington, California and Wisconsin, that have banned the game from the playground. Thank goodness, it is about time educators began to recognize the dangerous practice too long tolerated as innocent play. Principals and educators correctly point out that tag is physically dangerous, forces children to participate by their being tagged, and engenders negative feelings because the game has winners and losers.

One of the schools is only partially on board, allowing a modified version under supervision in gym class. They justify this by saying children are not allowed to run, and can't touch each other, tagging only with a nerf ball. This half measure should not be tolerated. Tender self-images and psyches are still at risk. "There's potential for some victimization," said Mary Beth Klotz, a psychologist with the National Association of School Psychologists. It's comforting to know we have such clear minds advocating for our children.

Now that tag is is finally on it's way out of childhood experiences, we should take this important crusade further. School officials have long neglected the evils of “Ring Around the Rosie”. It is well known that the verse is based on the Black Plague. The "ring around a rosie" refers to the round, red rash that is the first symptom of the disease. The phrase "a pocket full of posies" alludes to carrying flowers to mask stench, "Ashes" of course means the ashes of burning bodies, and "we all fall down" describes the many dead resulting from the disease. It's time we banned this awful dance of death on playgrounds. The damage it has reeked on children is staggering.

Next, there is the horrible game of “Blind Man's Bluff”. That we should allow such an insult to the visually challenged is scandalous. The psychological consequences of sensory deprivation causes severe mental and emotional stress on a child. The other children in the game learn cruelty and insensitivity to those less physically able than themselves. The danger entailed in having children move about with their eyes shut is even worse. Any activity that puts our children at such a high risk of injury should be eliminated. There is also of course the issue of school liability to consider.

Clearly, we are in need of a national commission to study the issue of playground behavior, which could formulate guidelines for acceptable play and model policies on games to be prohibited. Our children deserve nothing less. The report of the commission findings can provide the basis for national legislation to protect the psycho-social development and physical safety of children across the country.

Get involved now by demanding action from local school boards, state education boards, the federal Department of Education, and your Congressman and Senators. You can make a difference, so join the cause now. After all, child's play is no laughing matter.

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Dutch Schools Ban Flag Fearing Muslim Reaction

2006-02-23T13:50:00.000-06:00

Most Dutch schools have banned displays of their own Netherlands flag by students, including on clothing or book bags. The ban is in response to Muslim immigrants who feel the flag is racist and fascist. Some school officials deny the ban is out of fear, saying they have merely acted with the security of the students in mind. Other school officials said it was to prevent problems between students, and to work on a good atmosphere and safe environment. One school says they need to do this because of the new social climate.

Apparently many Dutch citizens, and members of the Netherlands parliament are a bit upset after the biggest Dutch newspaper the Telegraaf made the story public. How unreasonable of them not to understand “the new social climate” requires banning their national flag.

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Jihad Goes Cyber

2006-02-23T11:40:00.000-06:00

The New York Post is reporting that Islamic hack-attacks on websites have escalated, opening another front in their war on free expression.

"Muslim computer-hacker gangs have launched a massive attack on Danish and Western Web sites as part of the mass protests across the Arab world over the publication of cartoons making fun of the Prophet Mohammed.

The cyber-crime monitoring group Zone-H.org said in a statement that more than 1,000 Danish, Israeli and European sites were defaced or shut down by Islamic hackers in the last week.

And experts fear that's just the beginning of what could be a massive cyber-jihad stretching from the Middle East and Europe to the United States and dominating cyberspace for weeks, costing millions of dollars. "We have definitely seen a spike in the number of attacks. This definitely appears to be the result of the controversy over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons," said Jim Melnick of the cyber-security firm iDefense. "A full-blown e-jihad is a real possibility."

In Denmark, where the cartoon crisis first erupted, more than 578 Web sites have been struck by hackers, Zone-H.org reported. Web targets included Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that published the 12 cartoons, a Danish country-music site, a gambling site and a motorcycle-fan site, experts said.

Most of the attacks are "defacements," in which sites are hacked and sprayed with messages.

The e-graffiti mixes profanity with calls for an Islamic boycott of Danish goods and warnings of suicide bombings..."

Numerous other reports are surfacing of blogs being attacked. This is a serious issue. The Internet has been used by Jihadists for some some time to spread propaganda, communicate with each other, and many believe coordinate terrorist activities. There has also been talk of disruption to information systems infrastructure such as financial markets, banking, and defense department systems as intended targets. Now repression has been added.

Still, at least the specter of an e-Jihad leaves a little room for levity. Imagine the headlines we may be facing in the near future:

"Senseless Slaughter of HTML in Terrorist Attack"
"E-Jihad Brings Down Porn Sites - Millions Mourn"
"Muslims Hackers Hold Microsoft Code Hostage, Demand Open Sourcing - Millions Applaud"

Feel free to add your own headline predictions in comments.

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Shiites Waste No Time In Reprisal Attacks

2006-02-22T14:33:00.000-06:00

Looks like the bombing of that Sammara Shiite mosque succeeded. Already the AP is reporting more than 90 attacks on Sunni mosques with automatics weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. "We are facing a major conspiracy that is targeting Iraq's unity," said President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. "We should all stand hand in hand to prevent the danger of a civil war."

The U.S. Ambassador is being blamed by at least one Shiite leader. How you may wonder, did he arrive at that conclusion? The Ambassador has been blunt this week in telling the government that the U.S. will not support them if they continued to allow sectarian militia's to run amuck.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the former commander of its militia said, “These statements ... gave green lights to terrorist groups. And, therefore, he shares in part of the responsibility." So apparently calling for stopping sectarian violence is an invitation to such violence. Shooting the messenger is still a time honored tradition, even when you have to turn the message on it's head to justify it.

What would happen if full-scale civil war breaks out? Sunnis and the Shiites would start killing each other en masse while Jihadist insurgents egg them on and cheer. Americans would likely find themselves ducking bullets from all three. Kurds in the north would likely see it as the time to make their bid to declare independence. That might trigger Turkey to get involved, who has feared that would happen all along. Iran would do their best to incite all the trouble they can get away with, and Syria would likely throw some rocks as well.

In other words chaos, killing, and disintegration of American efforts for a stable, unified, democratic Iraq. Who benefits from that is obvious. Keeping a lid on things to prevent this just got a lot harder. Whether it turns out to be a big bump in the road, or the end of the road, should become clear in a week or two.

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Iraqi Mosque Attack – A Bid for Civil War?

2006-02-22T11:27:00.000-06:00

The golden dome of a revered Shiite mosque was blown up in Sammara, Iraq. A Sunni cleric was subsequently shot and killed entering a mosque, and Sunni – Shiite militia groups clashed with gunfire. It is the latest escalation of sectarian violence in Iraq, or what appears to be sectarian violence.

It's possible that it is indeed a result of the hatred between Sunnis and Shiites. It is also possible that it is the work of those who want it to appear to be so, wanting to start civil war in Iraq. We need not recap the long conflict and enmity between the the two groups. The important issue is whether that rancor can be exploited to destroy the chances of the new Iraqi government to succeed.

Reuters reported that the trouble making Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had a spokesman issue a threatening statement: "We will not only condemn and protest but we will act against those militants. If the Iraqi government does not do its job to defend the Iraqi people we are ready to do so." Al-Sadr is the kind of opportunist who will certainly use the violence to further his own agenda.

In the strange world of Muslim factional rivalry, blowing up the holiest mosques can apparently be justified in the cause. More bloodshed will surely follow, no matter if the bombing is the work of Iraqis or foreign insurgents. The incidents are bad for us by destabilizing our efforts in Iraq. It also means that at least some Islamic radicals are busy bombing and shooting themselves up instead of attacking western targets. Every cloud has a silver lining.

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Abortion is the Supreme Court's Gordian Knot

2006-02-21T14:41:00.000-06:00

The conundrum of abortion decisions in the courts is an insoluble one. That is because the federal courts are an inappropriate place to fight this one out in the first place. The Constitution of the United States simply does not address the issue. It took an activist court to create the legal grounds for Roe vs. Wade, and that creation reflected the personal views of the Justices, not well founded constitutional principle. That is always trouble.

Both sides on abortion would like the Supreme Court to decide that all Americans must adhere to their respective views, imposing it's will as it has since Roe vs. Wade on us all. Neither outcome would reflect the views of most Americans.

A little over half of Americans support the availability of abortion in general. A little over half also oppose abortion when it is solely for the purpose of terminating an unwanted pregnancy. Both sides of the abortion zealots are unhappy with this. They want either completely unfettered abortion as a “constitutional right” or they want all abortions to be illegal.

The courts and congress need to get out of this thicket of thorns and turn the issue back to where it belongs – to state legislatures or ballot initiatives. That would make the lobbies on both sides unhappy, and the American people the winners. A novel proposition.

As a practical matter, it will take a long time, if ever, before common sense prevails. You may recall the endless questions in confirmation hearings regarding stari decisis. Why all this attention to a Latin term most people have never heard of? Because it boils down to the principle that previous court decisions should be respected and rarely overturned. It was a code word for “Will you leave Roe Vs. Wade alone?” It makes reversing even bad decisions of unduly activist courts difficult.

The larger the issue in a case, the less likely a conservative court is to throw it out. Even when the decision is horribly pernicious, the court often feels compelled to follow stari decisis. The classic example was the famous Dred Scott decision on slavery, that in the words of Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes, was a “self-inflicted wound” from which it took the court at least a generation to recover.

Dred Scott v. Sandford was never overturned by the Supreme Court, it was overturned by the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to former slaves. The lesson is that even the worst decisions die hard.

The late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in his book “The Supreme Court”, discussed “when the court is working within the bounds of the Constitution and when it is going beyond these bounds to impose on the country its own views in the guise of constitutional doctrine..” Roe Vs. Wade is just such an excess, but we will likely have to live with it for some time to come.

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Partial-Birth Abortion Goes to Supreme Court

2006-02-21T11:14:00.000-06:00

Hold on to your hats, the abortion issue and the Supreme Court will be taken up again. The predominate liberal/conservative litmus test in nominee hearings for decades will be tested for the the first time by the court since it's two newest members were confirmed. This case will be limited to partial birth abortions, but it will be an important case. The 2003 legislation has been hung up in the lower courts since it's passage.

The abortion war is a polarizing one, in which neither side has left any room for compromise. Partial birth abortion is the low hanging fruit for abortion opponents, and with good reason. More than any other abortion procedure, it takes the question of whether a human life is at stake out of the equation. Kansas is one of 15 states that supported the appeal.

The legal point of the case hinges on the lack of an exception for the health of the mother, though an exception for saving the life of the mother is included in the legislation. As in many Supreme Court decisions, it is likely to revolve around a narrow point of law, rather than on more sweeping grounds.

Even so, it will be the first test of the hopes for the newly formed court by abortion opponents, and the fears of advocates.

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Rewarding Illegal Immigration in Kansas

2006-02-21T10:32:00.000-06:00

A bill sponsored by Rep. Becky Hutchins, R-Holton, to reverse illegal immigrant in-state tuition at state universities and colleges looked like it would pass the Federal and State Affairs Committee by a vote of 12-10. According to Hutchins, it was defeated by the Chairman John Edmonds, R-Great Bend, when he reneged on an agreement and tied the vote at 11-11.

"I'm surprised. I had the chairman's word that if there was a tie vote he would vote to support it," Hutchins was quoted by the AP. "How good is anyone's word?" The AP piece further reported, “Edmonds later said he didn't want to force colleagues in the House to face the politically difficult choice of voting to keep the law in place.”

Obviously there are two issues here. The bill sought to rectify an important issue. Mr. Edmunds has some real explaining to do on this one. Did he break a promise to Hutchins, pulling a Barack Obama act? Since when is it his job to spare his colleagues from being able to vote on an issue they and their constituents care about? There is a whiff here of something that needs to be investigated further. Public policy is too important to be decided by shenanigans and transparent nonsense.

As for the issue itself there are three reasons the repeal still needs to be pursued.

First, there is the small matter of enforcing immigration laws and not rewarding law breakers. Just because someone has succeeded in breaking the law does not entitle them to subsidies.

Second, it violates a 1996 federal law providing that, if a state allows in-state tuition rates at its public colleges and universities to its resident illegal aliens, it must also permit in-state tuition for citizens and legal residents of other states.

Third, it encourages more illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants for the most part come here due to economic incentives. Adding to those incentives just makes an already out of control problem worse.

We need as a nation to get serious about halting illegal immigration. The costs are enormous. It is at least 36 billion in federal services alone. Every state pays the lion's share of the cost, such as California where the cost is put at 10.5 billion. No one even knows the total when one adds health care, prisons, education, drug trafficking, other crime, unpaid taxes, and a myriad of other costs. Estimates range from 130 billion to 400 billion. The number is certainly staggering.

Beyond the fiscal issues, the crime, and the overburdening of service providers, a total lack of control of our own borders makes the term “homeland security” a joke.

The Kansas tuition law is a part of one of the most serious problems we have, and our legislature continuing to make it worse should not be tolerated. Kerry Healey, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts put it well concerning that state's debate on the same issue.

“America continues to be a beacon of freedom and opportunity, welcoming people from around the world. We are all the sons and daughters of immigrants who came here to realize the American dream, but we must insist that immigrants follow the law and immigrate legally. Similarly, elected officials must be reminded, too, that we all took an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution and the law of the land. To do less would be a violation of that oath.”

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Supporting a Nazi Lover

2006-02-20T12:38:00.000-06:00

David Irving, a British “historian”, was called “an active Holocaust denier ... anti-Semitic and racist” by a British Judge in a civil case. And that may be putting it mildly. But I'm supporting him. To be more accurate, I am not defending him, but condemning the criminal trial in which he is a defendant in Austria. His “crime” was to “publicly diminish, deny or justify the Holocaust”. Under an Austrian law that could put him in prison for 10 years.

Austrians are understandably rather sensitive about Nazis and the holocaust. They want to make sure that the world sees that they are repentant about the crimes of the third Reich, and to prevent a resurgence of neo-Nazism. Nothing wrong with that.

There is something wrong with criminalizing ideas, thought, and opinion. It is ironic that in their effort to condemn fascism, they are employing one of the fascist's favorite tools – banning free expression and imprisoning those who dissent. It is wrong no matter how laudable the intent, nor the noxiousness of the thought they wish to suppress.

Some Americans might feel a bit superior to the Austrians and point to our fidelity to free speech. They shouldn't - we tread down the same path in our own way. We allow universities to have policies that ban and punish “hate speech”. So much for their commitment to free expression. We create special criminal penalties for “hate crimes”. A hate crime statute adds punishment for the motivation – the thoughts and feelings – of the defendant.

If we tolerate the criminalization of thoughts and feelings, we abandon our basic belief in intellectual freedom. The intent may be good, but the proverbial road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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McCain Bombs Obama

2006-02-19T16:55:00.000-06:00

The Volokh Conspiracy brought an interesting item from the Weekly Standard to our attention. Seems Harry Reid and more directly, Barack Obama, tried use John McCain as a patsy to play partisan games on lobbying reform. Now partisan games are the daily manna in Washington, but this time Obama went over the line by lying to McCain in private, and then crossing him in the press.

Not cricket, even in the capital. The amusing part is the deft way McCain skewered Obama over the affair. From the Standard:

"Democratic senators Harry Reid and Barack Obama tried to pull a fast one on John McCain and got hit with the literary equivalent of a B-52 strike. McCain's been working on a bipartisan lobbying reform bill. Obama, Reid's designee on reform, told McCain he wasn't a partisan hit man and wanted to help out. So, at McCain's invitation, Obama attended a meeting on the bill and let McCain know the next day that he appreciated working together. But that night Obama's office, evidently at Reid's request, emailed, and released to the press, a letter to McCain, then en route to Germany, mourning Wash-ington's "culture of corruption," and lamenting that a bipartisan reform wouldn't be "effective"; only the Democratic leadership's bill, which has no Republican cosponsors, "represents a significant step in addressing many of the worst aspects of corruption."

McCain arrived back in his office on February 6 and responded with his own letter, also released to the press:

I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. . . . Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter. . . . I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. . . . But I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness."

Looks like a direct hit.

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Tiny Election has Global Impact

2006-02-19T14:32:00.000-06:00

A little less than one million Palestinians votes were cast in their election. By comparison, one New York Senator, Charles Schumer, received over a million and three quarters votes in 2004. Not to say that Mr. Schumer's votes were not important, but the impact of the Palestinian election is having is incredible by comparison.

Israel and the United States have taken steps to cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority after the election victory of Hamas. The EU is threatening to do the same if Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and abide by previous peace accords.

Some have characterized cutting off funds as a “hard line” response. Who in their right mind would even consider funding a group dedicated to killing you. It is the only option to take. Unfortunately, as is usually the case in the Middle East, it is a matter of choosing between bad options.

The only prospect for a reasonable outcome is for Hamas to make a fundamental shift from a terrorist organization with an avowed goal of destroying Israel, to a political entity that works peacefully to promote the future of the Palestinian people. That is an enormous leap, as the Hamas position is founded on the Muslim “duty” to reclaim the land that in 1948 created the state of Israel. Their terrorist attacks on Israel were intended to derail the Oslo Peace Accord, and it succeeded.

No other issue is more likely to fan the flames of the Muslim world than the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This will be even more true under Hamas. The PLO under Arafat was primarily a secular movement. Hamas is a militant Jihadist movement. This will result in Islamic hatred burning brighter with every violent incident.

Since the escalation of a worldwide Jihad against the west, and our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, the stakes in the Israeli conflict have been raised ten fold. There are many Muslim extremists who would like nothing better than to see the powder keg ignited. Avoiding this will take walking a tight rope of applying economic pressure while developing a longer term solution that is at this point difficult to see. The saving element may be the moderating effect of internal Palestinian rivalry, which will likely ratchet up as their finances worsen.

In the past America could act as a moderator and broker for peace. The new role of Hamas makes that a very unlikely possibility. It shifts our position to an outright big stick defending Israel. That too is unfortunate in the sense of playing into Jihadist rhetoric. It seems as if this is a chess game which is drawing toward an end with fewer options and more dangerous consequences with each move.

If nothing else, the Palestinian election proved one thing. For good or ill, voting in elections does matter.

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One Newspaper Shows Courage

2006-02-18T15:21:00.000-06:00

The good folks at Instapundit note that our neighbor to West, the Rocky Mountain News, had the testicles to publish the notorious Muslim offending cartoons. Maybe a new Pulitzer prize category is needed - a courage in editing award.

It seems that their readership has applauded their action. Journalistic ethics have not been sufficient motivation to get most newspapers to do the right thing in standing up to intimidation. Perhaps a realization that having courage on this issue is good business will be a more effective impetus.

John Temple of the Rocky Mountain News had this to sum up: "This whole experience of publishing these cartoons has been enough for me to want to wear a Danish flag pin in solidarity with that country and to regret - at least during this test of journalism's commitment to free speech - my membership in the American Society of Newspaper Editors."

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Islamic Genocide of Gays

2006-02-18T13:06:00.000-06:00

Many gay people in the United States are left to far left in the American political spectrum. They tend to view conservatives and particularly conservatives of the Christian stripe in stark terms of disdain and even fear. Some of the extremist Christians admittedly give a basis for this in their anti-gay views and rhetoric.

The “orthodox” gay view is one that sees the Republican party as their greatest threat, going to extremes of typifying them as fascist, a view without accuracy from any rational political comparative analysis. While it is true that social conservatives are generally opposed to gay agenda issues such as gay marriage, the demonization of conservatives has an unfortunate and ultimately dangerous effect. That danger is in being blinded to the most lethal threat to gay people, which is Jihadist Islam.

While many Christians believe homosexuality is a sin, the Christian theological foundation stone of hating sin but not the sinner, has meant that all but the “lunatic fringe” such as Fred Phelps, believes that homosexuals need to be redeemed and saved. There are numerous examples of Christian groups that try to convert gay people to heterosexuality. Most gay people view this as misguided, unrealistic, and insulting. Compared to Islamic belief and practice, however, it is benevolent and caring. For example:

Secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association in Britain, George Broadhead, commented that all Muslim countries outlawed homosexuality, and the penalties for those convicted ranged from prison, flogging, and execution by a variety of perverted methods – such as throwing the victim off a cliff or pushing a stone wall on to them to bury them alive. "The record of these countries on human rights in general is bad enough, but when it comes to gay human rights, they are disgusting".

NSS Newsline 2003 Apr 25

The one attempt to form an Islamic group by gay men, Al-Fatiha, resulted in a "fatwa," or religious edict.. "The very existence of Al-Fatiha is illegitimate and the members of this organization are apostates," the decree said. "Never will such an organization be tolerated in Islam and never will the disease which it calls for be affiliated with a true Islamic society or individual. The Islamic ruling for such acts is death."

This attitude is not limited to fundamentalist Islamic countries. Even in democratic societies, Islam remains overwhelmingly anti-gay. Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of North America, says "homosexuality is a moral disease, a sin, a corruption… No person is born homosexual, just as nobody is born a thief, a liar or a murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."

Sheikh Sharkhawy, a cleric at the prestigious London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, compares homosexuality to a "cancer tumour." He argues "we must burn all gays to prevent paedophilia and the spread of AIDS," and says gay people "have no hope of a spiritual life." The Muslim Educational Trust hands out educational material to Muslim teachers – intended for children! – advocating the death penalty for gay people, and advising Muslim pupils to stay away from gay classmates and teachers.

Gay people would do well to pay more attention to the real danger confronting them. The goal of Islamic Jihad is no secret. Jihadist leaders throughout the world are vocal in stating that they will seek to rule every country on earth, and will not cease their holy war until this is achieved.

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Media Surrendering to Terror

2006-02-18T12:20:00.000-06:00

By a strategy of rioting, killing, and cash bounties for murder, Jihadists are waging a war of intimidation and fear to censor western media. Journalists, authors, and politicians everywhere are increasingly afraid to say anything that might offend Muslims. Those that do find a million dollar price on their heads, as a Danish cartoonist just did, or they are silenced by their own organization or government out of fear of reprisals.

An Italian reform minister angered Muslims by wearing a T-shirt decorated with Western media cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. The Muslims responded by attacking and burning the Italian consulate in Libya, with ten deaths. The reform Minister resigned. Libya suspended its interior minister and other officials, not for failing to protect the consulate, but for using force in trying to prevent it. It declared Sunday a day of mourning for "our martyr sons".

On Friday, Denmark temporarily shut its embassy in Islamabad after days of violent protests in Pakistan. This is the fifth embassy that Denmark has closed since the cartoon row sparked off.
The strategy is working.

Journalists and media who would normally be screaming censorship are instead issuing nonsense that their deep respect for Islam is dictating their decision not to publish content that might offend. We know it's nonsense because they certainly don't hesitate to publish words and images deeply offensive to other religions, such as Christians. They are just plain afraid, either that they will be blamed for riots and killing or that they will be targets themselves.

Silence and censorship is not “being responsible”. When the non-Muslim world's press submits to terror tactics, they hand the Jihad an enormous victory. The responsible thing to do is obvious. Tell the truth about the Jihadists, their beliefs, and their tactics. Encourage free expression of opinions regardless of threats and intimidation.

The Islamic campaign for the repression of ideas and truth cannot be allowed to succeed. Freedom has always had a high cost. It remains to be seen if we still have the courage to pay that price.

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Another Muslim Murder for Hire Offer

2006-02-17T13:03:00.000-06:00

“A Pakistani Muslim cleric and his followers offered rewards amounting to over $1 million for anyone who killed Danish cartoonists who drew caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, Reuters reported.
Maulana Yousef Qureshi said he personally had offered to pay a bounty of 500,000 rupees ($8,400) during Friday prayers, and two of his congregation put up additional rewards of $1 million and one million rupees plus a car.”

If Islamic countries had any serious legal systems, this behavior would result in an arrest and conviction – soliciting murder for hire is a crime in any rationale society.

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When Conservatives Aren't

2006-02-16T17:45:00.000-06:00

The principle of protecting individual liberty by limiting governmental intrusion into personal freedom has been a bedrock of conservative principles. We have long believed that it is important to keep such intrusions to a minimum, and when it is necessary, to do so at the lowest practical level of government. This helps keep decision making as local as possible, maximizing the extent to which our laws reflect the desires of the people living under them.

Many conservatives have gone astray from this principle, seeking to federalize social and moral issues, just as liberals do. The only difference is which pet issues and positions on issues they endorse. The substitution of limiting governmental intrusion for a “conservative social agenda” has contributed to the “culture wars” and increasing polarization we see today.

The victory of either the Democrats or the Republicans has come to mean that one large part of the population will have another large segment attempt to force their personal mores upon them. This change in philosophy is reactionary and in part understandable. The liberals had so dominated the Supreme Court and Congress for so long that they had succeeded in imposing a federal government with an extreme liberal agenda upon the entire country.

So many issues that are rooted in a person's core personal values and religious beliefs have been incorporated into a liberal “win” in the federal courts or national legislation that those on the other side of these issues felt besieged and attacked. As a shift toward more conservative beliefs in this country has occurred, more and more people have found themselves in a nation where government policy and the law no longer represents them, and seems in fact to be hostile toward them.

The current environment of “litmus test” elections on social issues is not, however, the right answer. It can only lead to further divisiveness. Conservatives need to eschew the liberal approach, and return to fighting for the more fundamental belief that the government that governs least governs best.

New York should not have to live with the views of Alabama ruling their lives, and vice versa. If people in Chicago believe school vouchers give inner city children a better shot at a quality education, and parents in San Fransisco do not, let them go their own way. That is called democracy and freedom. If parents in Phoenix think that saying the Pledge of Allegiance is the best thing since sliced bread, and those in Minneapolis don't, so be it.

The principled course of conservatism is to continue to reign in courts that unnecessarily impose their own beliefs and take away the right of our people to decide through elections. At the same time, we must avoid pushing strategies that impose socially conservative values on everyone. A constitutional ban on gay marriage, for example, is a bad idea. Let Vermont do what Vermont chooses.

A pragmatic cost of small tent thinking is that we stand to lose some of our own best candidates. A case in point is the viability of Rudy Giuliani as a Republican candidate for President. He is just about universally acknowledged as a terrific leader and possessing the qualities of which strong President's are made. Many believe he could never get the nomination, and they may be right. The reason is that he fails a few “litmus test” issues. Specifically, he is not anti-abortion and supports gay rights.

John McCain has the same “problems” as a candidate. Either one would whip Hillary or any other Democrat in the election with room to spare. Enforcement of a conservative social orthodoxy is not only a loss of principle, it is a loser at the ballot box.

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Sheriff's Have Sex in the Line of Duty

2006-02-15T15:13:00.000-06:00

In their dedicated effort to bust massage parlors in Virginia, local cops are first having sex with the women. Apparently pretty good sex, as in one instance an officer left a $350 tip! Sheriff Howard Smith of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office said the detectives are only doing what has to be done in order to put a case together and nail down a conviction.

He stressed that only unwed officers get to have sex. That certainly makes it alright. We can only hope that our area law enforcement does not get wind of this novel "tool" in fighting sin. We could not afford the overtime and tips.

The "undercover probe" points out how ludicrous things get when we allow supposed morality efforts to get out of hand. Before we laugh too hard at Virginia's errant effort being stripped bare to public scrutiny, Carlos Mayans bookstore busting efforts in this regard shows that we are hardly immune.

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Michael Chertoff Needs to Go

2006-02-15T13:35:00.000-06:00

Michael Chertoff was grilled before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, over his handling of Hurricane Katrina. This as a sharply critical committee report from House Republicans is to be released.

Chertoff, you may recall at the time of Katrina, told us that everything was being done as it should be, in disdainful bureaucratic double talk. We could all see for ourselves from live reports that was patently untrue.

Blame extends beyond Chertoff. The Mayor of New Orleans was woefully incompetent, only outdone in ineptitude by the Louisiana Governor. Hopefully the voters will take care of Negin and Blanco.

President Bush, who ultimately should have been on top of the Federal effort, deserves blame as well. He should have stepped in early when it became clear to anyone with eyes that it was a fiasco. Now he should fire Chertoff, and not just as an exercise in post facto blame fixing.

The Homeland Security Secretary is a critical position for our country. We will sustain another terrorist attack. It's just a matter of time, no matter how well our intelligence and law enforcement agencies perform. It's impossible to have perfect results all the time, and it only takes one miss.

His performance in Katrina has shown him to be incompetent to handle an actual major crisis in real time. Our country can't afford that, it's a matter saving people's lives. Chertoff is probably a great infighting bureaucrat. But we need more. We need a true leader in his role.

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Liberals and Lemmings

2006-02-14T17:14:00.000-06:00

Help me understand what is going on with the political left. They seem to be caught in a rigid path of self-destruction. It's like watching Lemmings marching off a cliff. It's painful to see.

Liberals frame themselves as intellectuals, culturally sophisticated, and sensitive souls who "feel your pain". But listen to them talk or read their words. The arguments they put forth often lack any semblance of logical foundation or well framed discourse. The tone of delivery seems to swing between childish petulance and someone needing an anger management course. Actually hatred management might be more accurate. The level of sheer meanness is difficult to fathom.

When you look past these issues to the content, there seems to be very little left. Subtract the rage, minus the pouting, delete the wacky conspiracy stuff, ignore the insults, and what remains? Far too often, nothing.

I don't think it has always been this way. There used to be some articulate, bright, and reasoned people who spoke for the Democratic party. Now we have the last Presidential candidate, Al Gore, who seems to be ascending into a higher orbit from earth each day. We have the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, doing his best to alienate the mainstream with his red-faced tirades. And of course, there is the constant but predictable fuming hyperbole of Ted Kennedy. Teddy Kennedy, for goodness sake.

When a Democrat is heard that sounds like something other than a caricature, like Joe Lieberman, his fellow Democrats descend on him like a pack of cannibalistic wolves. Until something rather basic changes in the liberal camp, the Democratic party seems headed for further marginalization.

Democrats desperately need a positive, proactive, intellectually sound agenda brought forth by a reasonable, credible voice. That image does not even appear on the distant horizon of national Democratic leadership. If it does, they will probably shoot it on sight.

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Halting a Nuclear Iran: If Diplomacy Fails

2006-02-14T14:26:00.000-06:00

This is the most difficult as well as dangerous issue to be confronted since 9/11. That the true goal of the Iranian nuclear effort is weaponry rather than peaceful energy seems apparent to the world. The Iranian refusal of Russian offers to perform enrichment processing for them if they agree to halt internal enrichment makes it crystal clear, if all the other evidence were not enough. Even France seems to get this one.

The American hope had for some time been that Iran would basically “solve itself” by the emergence of a more pro-western younger generation that would bring about change internally. That hope has all but disappeared since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The road of diplomatic measures, sanctions, and other measures short of military intervention will of course be pursued. It does not, unfortunately, appear likely to succeed with an Iran under the Jihadist leadership currently in power. At that point, the options will be few and grim.

From a purely military and logistical point of view, air strikes alone are unlikely to get the job done according to most analysts. Adding the element of a ground invasion is a scenario that would be extraordinarily costly both in the loss of life and the difficulties for American forces, given our commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. If it comes to military action, substantive international assistance would evaporate if recent history serves as any predictor.

Stalwart allies are hard to come by. Beyond Britain, Israel, and few other countries with limited military capability, who would you count on? Israel is in a terrible situation at the moment. The illness of Ariel Sharon came at a critical point, just as he was attempting to change the political landscape within that country in March elections. The Palestinian election victory of Hamas just turned the heat up further. These events will not change the Israeli position on Iran, but it certainly is a distraction.

Even if the military hurdles could be overcome, that leaves us with the political and economic aftermath. Direct military action would further galvanize Islamic hatred throughout the world. The governments of Islamic countries that have so far managed to at least partially resist internal fundamentalist pressures would likely come to a boiling point. Jihadist propagandists everywhere would fan the flames. The riots we have seen over a few Danish cartoons would be nothing in comparison to the violence that would follow.

The world oil markets would go into apoplexy. Prices would soar far beyond the worst current projections. Just the news that Iran admitted to renewing it's uranium enrichment program has sent prices upward this week.

Despite the dangers of military intervention, the alternative of allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons is an even worse option. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday reflected the tough choices we face. It showed that “69 percent said they were concerned that the Bush administration would be too quick to use military force, yet 67 percent were also concerned the United States wouldn't do enough to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons”. Over three quarters expressed a belief that Iran would use nuclear weapons against Israel or the United States either directly or by supplying the arms to terrorists.

Let us hope for a peaceful solution. The prospect of a nuclear armed Islamic Jihad leaves no choice should it fail.

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Media Fires Both Barrels Over Cheney

2006-02-14T10:29:00.000-06:00

It's a press dream come true. A chance to jump on two subjects that top their hate list - Dick Cheney and guns. The topic - Vice-President Dick Cheney has hunting accident in which he injures one of his party. The coverage - you would think it was Watergate. The White House press conference was a real feeding frenzy. They smelled blood (pardon the pun), and were ripping into the Press Secretary with zeal.

The questions on why the White House did not immediately release a story on the incident rather waiting overnight hit a fevered pitch. One reporter actually asked, "Will the the Vice-President resign?". The news networks, particularly MSNBC and CNN had the usual suspects bashing Cheney, the administration, hunting, and of course, firearms. That the story is much ado about nothing is obvious.

What the media revealed in the process was their own extreme bias and the lengths they will go to take cheap shots at their favorite targets.

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Concealed Carry Law's Concealed Agenda

2006-02-13T17:29:00.000-06:00

The Kansas Senate passed a firearms concealed carry bill, and the House is expected to easily pass a version as well. The real question is whether the legislators will be able to override a promised veto by Gov. Sebelius, as she vetoed a previous bill two years ago. Either way the Republicans win politically on this one, pushing to the forefront that the Governor is not in step on a number of key issues with a generally conservative state.

Governor Sebelius, a Johnson County Democrat, is only Governor because the Republican party in Kansas circled the wagons and shot their own candidate, Tim Shallenburger. The "moderate" Republicans did not like the primary winner, and basically chose to hang the candidate out to dry. After this exercise in cutting off their nose to spite their face, the party has been engineering their return to the Governor's mansion for the past four years.

The timing of this renewed passage of the concealed carry bill is part the effort to set the stage for this year's Gubernatorial election. Maybe the Republicans can manage to avoid staging another “Et tu, Brute?” this time around. Beyond the peevishness and backstabbing of Shallenburger, they betrayed the voters in Kansas who chose that candidate. Such political sins may come back to haunt them. Eating your own is rather bad form after all.

Now a cynical person - i.e., one who observes the political process for any amount of time - might wonder how hard Republicans will try to override the veto on this bill. Having it defeated again supplies even better fodder for this fall's election.

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Iranian Contest for Jewish Holocaust Cartoons

2006-02-12T14:42:00.000-06:00

"Iran's largest selling newspaper has announced it is holding a contest on cartoons of the Holocaust in response to the publishing in European papers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad."It will be an international cartoon contest about the Holocaust," Farid Mortazavi, the graphics editor for Hamshahri newspaper, which is published by Tehran's conservative-run municipality, said on Monday. Gold coins will go to the best 12 artists.

Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionist historians, who maintain the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as well as other groups during World War II has been either invented or exaggerated.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's hardline president, prompted international anger when he dismissed the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as a "myth" used to justify the creation of Israel." - From Aljazeera, Monday 06 February 2006

No need for commentary on this one, it speaks for itself.

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Discovery May Take Us to the Stars

2006-02-12T11:36:00.000-06:00

This appears to be the first revolutionary methodology for enabling space exploration.

Noted physicist Dr. Franklin Felber will present his new exact solution of Einstein's 90-year-old gravitational field equation to the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) in Albuquerque. The solution is the first that accounts for masses moving near the speed of light.

Felber's antigravity discovery solves the two greatest engineering challenges to space travel near the speed of light: identifying an energy source capable of producing the acceleration; and limiting stresses on humans and equipment during rapid acceleration.

In the 'antigravity beam' of a speeding star, a payload would draw its energy from the antigravity force of the much more massive star. In effect, the payload would be hitching a ride on a star.

"Based on this research, I expect a mission to accelerate a massive payload to a 'good fraction of light speed' will be launched before the end of this century," said Dr. Felber. "These antigravity solutions of Einstein's theory can change our view of our ability to travel to the far reaches of our universe.

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Carlos Mayan's Porn Crusade – Wichita's “Don Quixote” Quest Against Smut

2006-02-10T14:43:00.000-06:00

We've seen this sort of political demagoguery before. You may recall when there was raid after raid in an attempt to save the citizenry from the dangerous exposure of female breasts in stripper bars. This crusade reached a fevered pitch when the raids were conducted by vice cops dressed up like SWAT teams.

They would launch their assaults hoping to catch a glimpse of female skin, in concert with the city council and the city attorney, who were busily obsessing how to define the criminalization of female nipple exposure that would withstand constitutional challenge in the courts. The amount of tax dollars devoted to this effort was incredible. It reached it's ludicrous height when the boob brigade raided a bar and arrested the employees for indecent material being shown on a large screen television. The offending content was an MTV broadcast.

It was one of those “The Emperor Has No Clothes” moments in Wichita, when all but the most blinded zealot in the city could not help but see how far things had gone awry. It exposed not skin, but the ridiculousness of the entire affair.

Not one for learning from history, now we have another crusade to save consenting adults from themselves by closing down the adult bookstores. This new war on sex was started by a group calling itself Operation SouthWind, supported by our Mayor, which collected about 7,500 signatures from people who say the stores sell obscene magazines, videos and gadgets. The signatures were gathered on a petition demanding a grand jury investigation of sexually oriented shops for allegedly violating obscenity laws.

Now does that mean these dedicated citizens, horror of horrors, went to these stores, and purchased adult DVD's and forced themselves to watch these terrible tapes. Or in an even greater sacrifice for the rest of us, purchased said “gadgets” and proved to themselves what a threat sex toys are? Apparently not our Mayor, as he was quoted in the Wichita Eagle as saying he's never been inside an adult store. In fact, whenever he passes one, he says he wonders to himself, "What kind of individual frequents one of those places?" Adults who enjoy a healthy sex life, the owner of Priscilla's said in the same article.

In any event, the result was that a grand jury returned an indictment against Priscilla's and its owner, Robert Floyd, with one misdemeanor count of promoting obscenity. This alleged promotion was in the form of a single DVD. No indictments were handed down against six other adult-oriented businesses it also investigated.

"This obviously was brought about by a group of people in the community who don't trust adults to make good decisions about what to view or not to view, so they want to tell us what to view or not to view," defense attorney Steve Joseph said. "It is the same group of so-called Christians that want to dictate moral standards to everyone in the community that are forcing this issue." An additional bit of irony is that the same Mr. Joseph was the former assistant district attorney who 28 years ago organized citizens in this same community against pornography, and prosecuted cases in 1977 and 1978 in a concerted drive to put adult stores out of business. What comes around goes around it appears.

Carlos Mayans and City Council member Jim Skelton are bravely sallying forth in another front in their battle to regulate the morals of big bad Wichita. They are trying once again to use zoning laws to put these businesses out of business. Mr. Mayans admits that he knows the city will be sued as a result. He does not offer an estimate of how many more tax dollars he will use in the process, or much he has already spent.

It looks as if Mr. Mayans has taken the low road of politics of a failed Mayor who has no vision or ability to impact the many real and pressing problems of Wichita. It is only a matter of time, though, until he is exposed, no pun intended, in his own “The Emperor Has No Clothes” moment. The citizens of Wichita deserve a Mayor who gets real results on real issues. We need a Mayor who will:

Get rid of gangs and the violence and murder they commit. The city has neighborhoods where people lives are so terrorized by these gangs that they sleep in a bathtub in fear of stray bullets.

Get serious about reducing other violent crime and increasing apprehension and conviction rates.

Push for Kansas to become a leader in sentencing reform for child sexual abuse, and support Phil Kline's efforts to bring a Jessica's law for Kansas to fruition.

Provide proactive leadership rather than the bungling we have seen on the gambling casino issue. Mr. Mayans has us on a course that will insure an enormous amount of tax revenue and entertainment dollars goes to surrounding counties whose communities are aggressively pursuing development. The Kansas City area's four casinos posted combined revenue of $60.8 million in January, up 9 percent from $55.7 million a year earlier, the Missouri Gaming Commission reported. That is one month of revenue. Our schools sorely need revenue to improve our children's education, and casino taxes could be providing that.

Bring new business to the community. Mayans tries to sell his adult business crusade as his answer to attracting corporations. Right, that will get them flocking to our community. The Wichita Business Journal reported on some of the real issues:

A perceived lack of community leadership.
No downtown arena.
A belief that the river area is not being developed rapidly enough.
Concerns about the cost of air travel from Wichita.
Problems with the city's self-image.
High taxes on business.
The rising cost of utilities.
Underground water pollution in downtown.

Kansas ranks 43rd in total personal income, and the trend is negative. Little wonder when we have our leaders focused on the content of what DVD's our citizens rent. Mayan's efforts on adult bookstores has gotten Wichita in the national news. BTK and porn police as a national image are sure to be a winner for attracting jobs.

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The Path of Jihad

2006-02-09T14:40:00.000-06:00

"Allah is the only one that must be worshipped on Earth, and the only way to guarantee this is to control all the land masses, air and sea and give Islam the proper channel to be heard by the people."
--Sheikh Abu Hamza Al-Masri, Allah's Governance on Earth

"Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Israeli Likud party said, trying to disparage his enemies: 'The celebrated goal of Islamic Fundamentalism is to secure the worldwide victory of Islam by defeating the non-Muslim and infidels through Jihaad...'. Thank you very much, Mr. Netanyahu, for a very accurate description.”
--Muhammad Abdus Salam Faraj, Jihad: The Absent Obligation

The biggest fault of George Bush is not that he is focused on Islamic terrorism. It is that he understates the nature of the problem to the point of misrepresentation. In his effort to not alienate “moderate” Islamic countries, he speaks of a tiny violent muslim minority within an otherwise innocuous and peace loving Islam. The short term utility of this political correctness is understandable. However, it is an impediment to most people gaining an understanding of the nature of the conflict, and therefore what will be involved in reacting to it successfully.

The recent violence in France by the Muslim population there, and the current riots and killing throughout the world over an obscure Danish newspaper cartoon – among enumerable other examples – bear witness to that.

From a historical perspective, it is not the first time that Islam has pursued the course of Jihadic imperialism. Early on, Islamic military forces experienced it's first great surge, conquering the Middle East, Persia (Iran), Central Asia, North Africa, Sicily, and Spain. Both Christians and Jews throughout Europe were terrified until the Islamic troops were halted by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, France, in 732. The Muslim conquest for Italy and Rome lasted nearly 100 years until 916. The struggle played out in various countries well into the 14th century. The Christian Crusades, albiet tardy and often flawed, were a response to Islamic expansionism.

We are in the beginnings of the second great Jihadist era. The strategies being employed are now apparent in this stage of Jihad:

First, inculcate Muslim populations throughout the world in militant Jihadist philosophy and goals, and the obligation for all Muslims to participate. This process has been under way for many years in Mosques and Islamic schools. The effort is bearing fruit in hitting a “critical mass” of millions upon millions of Muslims with Jihadist ideals. Moderating voices in the Islamic community are rare, and certainly not the predominate message being promoted every day in Islamic media, mosques, schools and madrassas. Americans are often shocked and bewildered by the intensity of the hatred toward us in Islamic demonstrations. We largely fail to understand how these populations have since birth heard this drum beat every day of their lives.

Second, establish Islamic theocracies wherever the population of countries is predominately Muslim. Iran was the first overthrow. Afghanistan became a model as well. Syria is essentially now in this camp. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and any other Middle East country not directly under fundamentalist control are targets. Every country with an Islamic dominated population and a secular government is finding itself in a precarious position. Their people are becoming more radicalized every day and sympathetic to regime change. Iraq, though certainly a brutal dictatorship under Saddem Hussein, was not a theocracy. Now the struggle is for which way it will fall.

The underlying rationale of the Bush administration for invading Iraq – beyond weapons of mass destruction and the Bush family legacy – was to create a second “beach head” for western style secular democracy to thwart Jihadist domination in the Middle East after Afghanistan. This is the reason the outcome in Iraq and Afghanistan is so critical.

Third, intimidate, strike fear, and ultimately cripple the west through terrorism. The secondary gain is to embolden, hearten, and recruit Muslims around the globe to the Jihadist cause by demonstrating the viability of the movement and prove that Islam has emerged from a period of self-perceived impotence to make holy war against the “infidels”. The greater the destruction and death tolls, the more effective terrorist strikes will be from their view. Those that doubt these terrorists are seeking and will use nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are naïve and fail to understand the role of terrorism as a tool within the overall Jihadist strategy and vision.

We often hear western journalists and leaders describe terrorism as “senseless violence”. It is just the opposite. It is a carefully conceived approach to weaken non-Islamic nations by both the tangible damage and the morale / resolve of it's victims. Similarly, the many deaths of Iraqi's by terrorist bombs are designed to send a clear message about the cost of cooperation with non-fundamentalists.

Fourth, utilize ever increasing Muslim populations in every country, a trend that has been underway for some time, as an “invasion force” from within. Immigrants do not relocate to Europe with becoming a soldier of the Jihad as their motivation. It is a push-pull effect of economics. Most Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa have poorly developed economies and high poverty rates. Europe on the other hand has looked to immigration as a way to re-invigorate it's own economies to counteract declining and aging indigenous population trends.

Virtually every European country has experienced dramatic rises in Muslim immigration. Over the last 30 years, Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled, and its growth rate continues to accelerate. Current projections hold that the number of Muslims living in Europe might double again by 2015. Major Muslim immigration, high Muslim birth rates, and a shrinking traditional population—point to a steady rise in Muslims as a proportion of Europe’s people.

In an influential article in the Washington Quarterly in 2004, Timothy M. Savage of the State Department’s Office of European Analysis estimated that Europe would be 20 percent Muslim by 2050. “Some even predict that one-fourth of France’s population could be Muslim by 2025 and that, if trends continue, Muslims could outnumber non-Muslims in France and perhaps in all of western Europe by midcentury,” he pointed out. It has created a situation ripe for exploitation.

Importantly, this new population growth, far from becoming assimilated into European culture, is forming a second front for Jihad. This development is a paradox to many sociologists, who figured that such behavior was confined to newcomers who brought it with them. Not comprehending the virulence and organized nature of the Jihadist movement, they theorized that with time, immigrants would moderate their views. Instead, it is Europe's second and third generation Muslims who are the most radical.

In 1990, the U.S. Census counted 5.27 million Muslims; today, there are as many as 9 million Muslims in America. Most of that growth, again, occurred between 1990 and 2002. By 2000, the number of Muslims worldwide had exceeded the number of Catholics; by 2010, the State Department estimates that there will be more Muslims in America than there are Jews, making Islam the second-largest religion in America.

Fifth, after establishing strong Islamic nations that have become the majority alliance in the world, we will see direct nation-based military aggression in a final stage of Jihad to complete global domination. The result would of course be catastrophic for everyone. Yet it is a path that seems unlikely to be abandoned at that point if Jihadism succeeds in nearing so close to it's ultimate goal.

The current "crisis" concerning Iranian nuclear capability should be viewed in this context. Their dedication to developing nuclear weapons is part and parcel of preparing for the day of direct warfare. Syria likely obtained some weapons of mass destruction technology if not weapons themselves during the invasion of Iraq. These two countries are now working closely together. The first target for aggression is apparent. Iran's new leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has publicly called for the total irradication of Israel.

This is a man who has visions - literally. He believes that when he addressed the United Nations last September, he was bathed in a holy green light, and "for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn't move an eyelid, I'm not exaggerating. They were looking as if a hand was holding them there..". He is pre-occupied with the mystical coming of a Shiite Islamic messiah figure – the Mahdi. The belief is that when he returns, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

He states,"We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world".

The Palestinian election victory of Hamas - dedicated in it's charter to the destruction of Israel - is an additional element in the gathering storm clouds. Without intervention, there is no question of what will occur, it is only a question of when.

If this seems to be a polemic against the religion of Islam, let me assure the reader that it is not. That Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – all branches of a common theological tree – should be the source of hatred and violence is a tragedy and travesty that exceeds my ability to express it. That does not obviate our responsibility to describe what is happening and is likely to happen in the future, even if it is politically incorrect to state the truth in unvarnished terms. Though the West does not wish to be at war, we are. To refuse to see or acknowledge the fact is folly.

If we fail to come to grips with the cultural, religious, economic, and military aspects of this conflict and pursue a comprehensive long term response, we may see the copy of the “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire” joined on the shelf by “The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization”.

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