« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
Energy Secretary doing OK on MTP
I've never seen our Energy Secretary before. He is coming across like a smart man. His best line was after Durbin went into this long diatribe about Big Oil gouging consumers. The Secretary said Durbin was too smart of a man to believe what he just said.
He did just bumble through a question he should have hit out of the park. When shown a clip of Governor Bush in 2000 deriding Al Gore's call for President Clinton to open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices in an election year, Tim Russert tried to play "gotcha" by saying that President Bush is now doing the same thing.
Bush is not.
There is a BIG difference between suspending the filling of the reserve (which Bush has done) and opening the reserve to bring down the price. The Secretary should have hit that out of the park. He did make a good point that the Dems whined and moaned to open the reserve last year and now oil is 75 dollars a barrel. How much would that cost the tax payer to buy back the gas we sold at 60 dollars a barrel at 75 dollars?
Posted by Aaron at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Top 100 High Schools
Well, the Newsweek list is out and Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona, was not on the list.
Having me as an alumnus will be a stain on that institution for more decades to come.
Posted by Aaron at 09:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Hell, I thought it was just technical difficulties!
I guess our site was under attack last night by "internet jihad" as we also use hosting matters:
A post by Annette of HM on one of their support forums indicated:
We are seeing another round of attacks after changing the IPs on the target server. This is an indication that the target from earlier either was not the primary target or was a byproduct of the original attack and identified as the primary target.
Read more at Malkin.
Posted by Aaron at 06:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Rush Limbaugh Arrested!!!
Well, he was addicted to prescription drugs and either had a complicent doctor or he doctor shopped. That's my opinion. And let me say that Rush got off lucky. We see what DeLay is going through and I am glad he was able to work this out.
He will plead not guilty and the charges will be dropped in 18 months and it will not go on his record. Here is the statement from his atty, Roy Black:
Settlement Agreement Ends State Investigation of Rush Limbaugh
April 28, 2006
Palm Beach, FL – April 28, 2006 – In response to media and other inquiries, Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh's attorney, released the following statement today concerning a settlement agreement with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office to end the investigation of Mr. Limbaugh:
"I am pleased to announce that the State Attorney's Office and Mr. Limbaugh have reached an agreement whereby a single count charge of doctor shopping filed today by the State Attorney will be dismissed in 18 months. As a primary condition of the dismissal, Mr. Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years. This is the same doctor under whose care Mr. Limbaugh has remained free of his addiction without relapse.
"Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position. Accordingly, we filed today with the Court a plea of 'Not Guilty' to the charge filed by the State.
"As part of this agreement, Mr. Limbaugh also has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation. The agreement also provides that he must refrain from violating the law during this 18 months, must pay $30 per month for the cost of "supervision" and comply with other similar provisions of the agreement.
"Mr. Limbaugh had intended to remain in treatment. Thus, we believe the outcome for him personally will be much as if he had fought the charge and won."
The actions taken today are as follows:
• The State Attorney has filed a single charge of doctor shopping with the Court. The charge is being held in abeyance under the terms of an agreement between the State and Mr. Limbaugh.
• Mr. Limbaugh has filed a plea of "Not Guilty" with the Court.
The formal agreement between Mr. Limbaugh and the State Attorney will be filed with the Court on Monday. The terms of the agreement are substantively as follows:
• Mr. Limbaugh will continue in treatment with the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years.
• After Mr. Limbaugh completes an additional 18 months of treatment, the State Attorney has agreed to drop the charge.
• Mr. Limbaugh has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation.
OF COURSE, liberals will breathlessly report this story like it's a big deal. People have problems for which they are ultimately responsible. Our president had substance abuse problems in his youth and turned himself over to Christ. Rush claims to have kicked the habit and he apologized to his listeners. I accepted his apology and am glad he didn't have to go to jail, because about me and about 20 million other people would have showed up in Florida to listen to him do his show through the window of his prison cell!
Here's a list of the drugs he took over the course of six months:
What I am looking for is which news stations will still insist on using his fatty fatty too much Rush picture from the early 90's...
or
or the more svelt, huggable, loveable little fuzzball he is now (he is quite sexy).
Posted by Aaron at 06:56 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
the anthem
You don't sing Puccini in English.
You don't sing the American National Anthem in Spanish.
Period.
Posted by Aaron at 09:26 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Democratic Carnival of Corruption
When was the last time you heard a Democrat use the "Culture of Corruption" line? By now it's obvious that it was cooked up and focus grouped and...backfired:
Sen. Debbie Stabenow's campaign has corrected her campaign finance reports to show that some donations from 2002 and 2003 came from an Indian tribe then represented by now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, not an individual as she reported at the time.
Stabenow's campaign originally reported that $4,000 in donations came from Christopher Petras, who was the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe's legislative director at the time. The donations came during a period in which Stabenow and other Michigan lawmakers sought funding for the tribe and wrote letters to federal regulators on the tribe's behalf.
The campaign wrote the Federal Election Commission on April 14 to correct the report to show the donations came from the tribe. Records originally listed Petras as giving Stabenow's campaign $2,000 on March 6, 2002, and an equal amount on June 30, 2003. Copies of the checks showed the first was dated Feb. 20, 2002, and the second June 2, 2003.
Stabenow campaign manager Tom Russell said Wednesday the tribe made the contributions and the error was "a glitch in filing the report which was corrected" as soon as it learned of the problem. He said the computer system attached Petras' name to the donations because he was listed as a contact for the tribe.
Ah yes, those "glitches" are the problem. When a Republican files incorrectly, it's part of the Culture of Corruption; when a Democrat does it, it's just a simple "glitch" in the system.
Remember when they were trying to get DeLay over a golf trip that was filed incorrectly--then about half of the Democrats in congress rushed to "update" all their travel records (including Nancy Pelosi)? Didn't Cynthia McKinney use congressional funds to have Chef (Isaac Hayes) come and sing at an event?
But back to the Democrats' political scheming...its interesting how they overplayed their Abramhoff hand, isn't it? In fact, Thomas Lifscom touches on this today:
There are two distinct aspects of President George W. Bush's persona. Measured against his immediate predecessor, who obsessively managed his daily standing in popularity polls, President Bush appears indifferent, isolated, surrounded by cronies, and even hapless, mired now in the low thirties in the polls. But when elections loom, when voters pay closer attention, and when popularity really matters, he becomes a shrewd poker player, who has lured his enemies into betting on weak hands.
I hope so.
Posted by Aaron at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More Democratic Lies (grab a kleenex)
Everytime I hear Chris Matthews say what we were told would happen by the administration, I yell at the television. He says that the American people we were told that Saddam had ties to 9/11, we were promised WMD, a cakewalk, that our soldiers were greeted as liberators and that Iraqi oil would pay for the operation--none of which were true (he says).
What a liar. No, we did not find the WMD in Iraq and I was certainly disappointed. I remember watching the news for a month straight waiting for our soldiers to find them. Every bunker they found where the field tests tested positive, I was happy that we got to them before Saddam used them. But they were not WMD and I was frustrated.
I was frustrated for all the wrongs reasons. The only reason I wanted the WMDs to be there was to rub it in the face of all the Hollywood actors and self-important Democrats that voted for the war then cried foul before the first shot was fired.
I get upset with Chris Matthews because the rest are blatant lies. No one said that Saddam was involved with 9/11 other than that random Iraqi agent in Germany and the fact that Iraq was complicit in the first WTC attack. War is never a cakewalk and most people involved believed that Saddam would use WMD against the troops as they approached Baghdad. And this pay for the war with Iraqi oil is the exact OPPOSITE position the administration took before the war. It would BE a war for oil if that was how we were going to pay for it.
But what burns me up the most is the new Democratic lie that we were not greeted as liberators. I saw it with my own eyes on television (all news outlets) and in newspaper pictures. As Ann Coulter reminds us, it is easy to be a Democrat because, for a Democrat, history begins every morning. They fiddle with history and try to pretend things didn't happen (like forgetting everything the Clinton administration said about the dangers of Saddam Hussein in 1998 1999).
Larry Elder reminds us of what the Democrats want us to forget--what the Democrats want to steal from our soldiers honor for the brilliant battle they fought to take Baghdad.
Our soldiers and heros were greeted as liberators:
From a soldier
"In April 2004 I was in the first push through Fallujah after the four American contractors were murdered, desecrated and hung from a bridge. I was critically wounded after I was shot through the hip in a firefight and nearly bled out on the battlefield. It was six months before I was able to walk semi-normally on my own more than 20 feet unaided by crutches or a wheel chair. In December of 2004 I was medically retired, and even now over two years later I still cannot run and I honestly don't think I will be regaining that ability in this lifetime.... Well I have had multiple people ask me about what I think about everything going on over there and I always respond the same way.... I reach into my wallet and pull out a card and let them read it. It speaks for itself; I don't need to say a word. I received this shortly after the invasion in 2003, a young boy walked up to me with his father who was standing behind him with his hands on his shoulders and just reached out his hand and gave this to me.... Sure there are those who want us dead and gone and will do anything to get rid of us, but they are a minority."
The soldier enclosed a copy of the card. It has a big heart on the front, and inside it reads: "Thank you George Bush. Thank you American soldiers. Thank you Marines [sic] soldiers. To save us. We are so grateful. Your friend, Ali Ahmed. An Iraqi boy, 9 years old. 2003.4.15 Wedensday [sic]."
From the NYTimesOn April 10, 2003, John F. Burns filed this story from Baghdad:
"Saddam Hussein's rule collapsed in a matter of hours today across much of this capital city as ordinary Iraqis took to the streets in their thousands to topple Mr. Hussein's statues, loot government ministries and interrogation centers and to give a cheering, often tearful welcome to advancing American troops.
" ...Army and Marine Corps units moving into the districts of eastern Baghdad where many of the city's 5 million people live finally met the kind of adulation from ordinary Iraqis that American advocates of a war to topple Mr. Hussein had predicted....
"Much of Baghdad became, in a moment, a showcase of unbridled enthusiasm for America...
"American troops, but almost as much any Westerner caught up in the tide of people rushing into the streets, were met with scenes that summoned comparisons to the freeing of Eastern Europe 14 years ago....
"Shouts to the American soldiers of 'Thank you, mister, thank you,' in English, of 'Welcome, my friend, welcome,' of 'Good, good, good,' and 'Yes, yes, mister,' mingled with cries of 'Good, George Bush!' and 'Down Saddam!'...
"A middle-aged man pushed through a crowd attempting to topple a statue of Mr. Hussein outside the oil ministry with a bouquet of paper flowers, and passed among American troops distributing them one at a time, each with a kiss on the cheek.
"A woman with two small children perched in the open roof of a car maneuvering to get close to a Marine Corps unit assisting in toppling a Hussein statue outside the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, the quarters for foreign journalists, wept as she shouted, 'Thank you, mister, thank you very much.'...
From our generals
Gen. Georges Sada, the No. 2 ranking general in the Iraqi Air Force, said the same thing when I interviewed him Feb. 9, 2006.
I said, "You said the president did the right thing in invading Iraq -- "
"Excuse me," said Sada, "you say invading, I always say liberating.... In most provinces of Iraq and Kurdistan, the forces were received with cheers and flowers, in the South, it was the same thing in my province." The people living in the Sunni triangle did not consider Americans liberators, he explained, because Sunnis ran things. "When they found that this is all gone, of course they didn't like it."
And of course, our MSM hasn't reported on much outside the Sunni triangle as they seldom stray from their hotel balconies.
Posted by Aaron at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Democratic Political Dirty Tricks in Georgia
What on earth is wrong with these people???
Secretary of State Cathy Cox's opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, said Cox campaign manager Morton Brilliant altered an online encyclopedia entry to include a reference to Taylor's son being arrested for DUI after an accident that killed his passenger.
Wikipedia may be edited by anyone.
"We have reviewed the situation carefully and everything I have seen in this short period of time indicates that the posting originated from my campaign office," Cox said. "I am genuinely sorry for any anguish this incident has caused the Taylor family."
This is just disgusting lame--and it always backfires! I wish people on both sides would learn this. Lying to achieve an outcome never works: witness Fahrenheit 9-11.
Posted by Aaron at 09:41 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Cry Me a River
I still often forget that we went to the same college:
"I'm not sure journalists fully appreciate the threat confronting us -- The Times in the eavesdropping case, the Post for its CIA prison stories, and everyone else who has tried to look behind the war on terror. Maybe we're suffering a bit of subpoena fatigue. Maybe some people are a little intimidated by the way the White House plays the soft-on-terror card.
"Whatever the reason, I worry that we're not as worried as we should be. No president likes reporters sniffing after his secrets, but most come to realize that accountability is the price of power in our democracy. Some officials in this administration, and their more vociferous cheerleaders, seem to have a special animus towards reporters doing their jobs. There's sometimes a vindictive tone in way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries and in the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public's business risk being branded traitors. I don't know how far action will follow rhetoric, but some days it sounds like the administration is declaring war at home on the values they profess to be promoting abroad." - Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the New York Times.
I love how they want subpoenas all around for the Bush administration, but the second LAWS ALREADY IN THE BOOKS are applied to them, they whine and cry of the coming dictatorship.
BUSH LEAVES OFFICE IN 2009 AND CHENEY AIN'T RUNNING!
Posted by Aaron at 09:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ABC's Primetime Live Demonstrates Media Hypocrisy
Read this remembering the media's crusade against humiliating terrorists for information:
A furious upstate prosecutor wants to question ABC News officials about why they did not report a father beating his 15-year-old daughter that aired last week on "Primetime."
"Clearly a crime was committed right there on TV," said Derek Champagne, DA of Franklin County, near Lake Placid.
"I'm obviously outraged that the first time I see what would appear to clearly be child abuse . . . in our own backyard is on a national news program," he told The Post yesterday.
The Franklin County DA and the New York State Bureau of Criminal Investigation are conducting a joint investigation into the shocking beating of a young teenager captured on video and broadcast last Friday on "Primetime" in a Diane Sawyer feature about the the difficulties stepfamilies endure.
The family - identified as Lynn and Joe Nelson, his 15-year-old daughter, Kyle, and Lynn's three younger children - are at the center of a storm of outrage from viewers who are upset that the beating was apparently not reported to authorities.
The beating was recorded by fixed cameras the family allowed ABC News to install in their home in rural Vermontville, N.Y.
Count me in with the outrage. If ABC Primetime Live had a tape of a soldier in Iraq punching someone that just shot and killed people in his unit, it would be all over the place. Democrats would run for the nearest camera to condemn the Bush administration and the world would be horrified.
ABC sits on a tape where a CHILD was beaten by her father for THREE YEARS and now the statute of limitations has run out.
SHAME!
Posted by Aaron at 07:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Another 24K Gold Classic from Chairman Ann!
I am salivating for her new book:
I would be more interested in what the Democrats had to say about high gas prices if these were not the same people who refused to let us drill for oil in Alaska, imposed massive restrictions on building new refineries, and who shut down the development of nuclear power in this country decades ago.
...For decades Democrats have been trying to raise the price of gasoline so that the working class will stop their infernal car-driving and start riding on buses where they belong, while liberals ride in Gulfstream jets.
...The last time the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the presidency was in 1993. Immediately after trying to put gays in the military and socialize all health care, Clinton's next order of business was to propose an energy tax on all fuels, including a 26-cent tax on gas. I think the bill was called "putting people first in line at the bus station." This is the Democratic Party. That's their program.
...Al Gore defended the gas tax, vowing that it was "absolutely not coming out" of the energy bill regardless of "how much trouble it causes the entire package."
And mind you, this was before we knew Gore was clinically insane. Back then we thought he was just a double-talking stuffed shirt who seemed kind of gay. The important thing was to force Americans to stop their infernal car-driving, no matter how much it cost.
Democrats in Congress promptly introduced an "energy bill" that would put an additional 25-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline to stop "global warming," an atmospheric phenomenon supposedly aggravated by frivolous human activities such as commerce, travel and food production.
...Then there's John Kerry, who favored a 50-cent increase in the gas tax in 1994. If he were a rap artist, Kerry's stage name would be "Fifty Cent a Gallon."
...The Democrats' only objection to current gas prices is that the federal government's cut is a mere 18.4 cents a gallon. States like New York get another 44 cents per gallon in taxes. The Democratic brain processes the fact that "big oil companies" get nearly 9 cents a gallon and thinks: WE SHOULD HAVE ALL THAT MONEY!
When the free market does the exact thing liberals have been itching to do through taxation, they pretend to be appalled by high gas prices, hoping the public will forget that high gas prices are part of their agenda.
Now if I could just get between those Marines too!Posted by Aaron at 07:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Democrats Suppressing the Vote
Judge understands the importance of elections and throws the bumbs in jail:
A judge today ignored a plea deal calling for probation and sentenced four Democratic campaign workers to jail terms for their roles in the infamous Election Day 2004 tire slashing caper.
The four - including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt - pleaded no contest to misdemeanors while an apparently deadlocked jury stalled over felony counts at the end of a January trial that received national coverage.
A fifth Kerry-Edwards staffer accused of crippling Republican vans, Justin Howell, turned down the last-minute deal and was acquitted by the jury.
Now suppose some white Republicans slashed the tires of some GOVT vans that were intended to transport blacks to vote in the South. OH MY! I just became tense thinking about the 18 months of hysteria the media would drum up. There would be news bureaus set up outside the courthouse like a Michael Jackson trial. They'd probably even interrupt soaps to air the trial on the network news. It would be called the "Worst Election Fraud in History" and there would be marches in Selma and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have relevance again.
Posted by Aaron at 02:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Hubba Hubba!
Hottie!
And for all of you who want to whine and complain that he works for FOX News, please tell me how that is any different than the following:
Bill Moyers: During the Kennedy Administration, Moyers was appointed as Deputy Director of the Peace Corps (1961–63). When Lyndon Baines Johnson took office after the Kennedy assassination, Moyers became special Assistant to President Johnson, serving 1963–1967. From July 1965 to February 1967, he also served as White House Press Secretary.
George Stephanopoulos: ABC News's Chief Washington Correspondent and the host of ABC's Sunday morning news show This Week; he was previously a senior political adviser to the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign of Bill Clinton and later became Clinton's press secretary and communications director.
Tim Russert: Before joining NBC News, Russert served as counselor in New York Governor Mario Cuomo's office in Albany in 1983 to 1984 and was chief of staff to Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1977 to 1982.
Posted by Aaron at 10:02 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Earth Day Poll Results
Did you know that Earth Day is on Vladamir Lenin's birthday? I did not know that!
Out of 35 total votes on Global Warming:
Ratify Kyoto now - 2%
Global warming is a myth by anti-capitalists - 27%
The Earth is warming, but causes are not scientifically known - 27%
Dick Cheney and Halliburton created Global Warming by invading Iraq - 5%
Individuals should minimize environmental footprint - 19%
Surf's up! - 16%
Be sure to vote in our new poll on gasoline prices!
Posted by Aaron at 06:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
SBA Administrator Hector Baretto Resigns
But he will remain until a new Administrator has been selected.
Posted by Aaron at 12:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I Blame Republicans for Inaction
NRO points to this great press release Energy and Common Sense: Both in High Demand, But in Short Supply; Resources Committee to start hearings on supply from federal lands...again
"If America was facing shortages of milk or water, Congress would certainly take steps to increase supplies," Pombo continued. "But as soon as we start talking about oil and natural gas - the lifeblood of our economic and national security - liberals in Congress turn the simple principle of supply and demand on its head in ways that defy logic and common sense. Opposing everything accomplishes nothing, except high prices and economic vulnerability for Americans."
As developing nations like India and China increase the use of energy to improve the quality of life for their people, global demand for energy continues to rise with prices in tow. Fortunately, American taxpayers own roughly 2 billion acres of federal lands and the massive energy resources that lie beneath them. Putting Americans to work producing this energy is the key to lower prices and a strong economy.
"While some in Congress chain themselves to the door of supply - keeping the resources of the ANWR, the deep ocean, and other federal lands under lock and key - many Americans today are struggling to get to work because of high gas prices. This country has made incredible strides in conservation and efficiency, and we must continue to improve, but Americans cannot conserve their way out of an empty tank of gas. Democrats must join Republicans to increase supply. There is no silver bullet in solving this side of the equation, but a billion barrels here, and a billion barrels there, and pretty soon we are talking about real energy."
Posted by Aaron at 12:00 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Help Needed to Save A Life
John Hawkins has the story of a woman who's about to be taken off a respirator and life support. This is not a Teri Schiavo case:
Andrea, until a few days ago, when the physicians decided to increase her pain medication and anesthetize her into unconsciousness, was fully able to make her own medical decisions and had decided that she wanted life saving treatment until she dies naturally.
Posted by pat at 07:26 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
What If They Gave a Protest Movement and Nobody Came?
Right Wing Nuthouse has a terrific post up comparing a recent "Welcome Home" parade for troops finishing their tour of duty in Iraq, and Cindy Sheehan's ragtag bunch of followers.
It's gotten so bad that the Leftists have increasingly turned in desperation to the notion that America should reinstate the draft, not so much because they really want "shared sacrifice" but because they sense that this will be the only way to attract younger crowds to their protests.
Indeed, almost all discussions of the protests these days note the gray ponytails of those involved. I joked awhile ago about the lack of "protest babes", but given the age of most of the folks in the antiwar movement, they probably see Cindy Sheehan as a hottie.
Posted by pat at 12:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Democratic Culture of Treason (Term by Flopping Aces)
please credit LLP with a link if you use the above picture
[This post is going to stay at the top of the blog through the weekend with updates as they come about]
Well, everything is starting to make a lot more sense: Democrats use the CIA, the media and national secrets to bash Bush and undermine the war effort.
Mary McCarthy, Clinton/Burger appointee, belongs to the same club as Generals Clark and Zinni, worked in the same department of Valerie Plame.
How far will this go? Senator Rockefeller?
Read:
Kitty: She was desperately seeking Mary McCarthy and found gold.
Brainster: Leaker was Kerry and Ohio Democratic Party Supporter.
Ankle Biting Pundits: Washington Post does not deny complicitness in publishing national secrets.
Flopping Aces: Finds connections between Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame and Mary McCarthy. Did McCarthy send Joseph Wilson to Niger? [site is down due to overload of hits]
Mark Levin: the MSM will ignore this issue or hail McCarthy as a "whistleblower." Bush is a classified information leaker (even though that is impossible), but McCarthy is a whislteblower!
Ace of Spades: Durbin, Rockefeller took polygraph?
Protein Wisdom: The anti-war powerplayers connected to this are starting to pile up.
Strata-Sphere: Best Roundup of the information.
*****UPDATE I: McCarthy is suspected of breaking the following law:
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 37 > § 798
§ 798. Disclosure of classified information
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information—
(1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
*****UPDATE II: Who is Tyler Drumheller?
Did he work with McCarthy and Plame?
Remember: Drumheller is a PATRIOT WHISTLEBLOWER; Bush is the LEAKER IN CHIEF! It's becoming bad comedy.
*****UPDATE III: New Jersey might be a Republican pick-up:
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey on the CIA firing Mary McCarthy, He compared it to Valerie Plame (Huh?)
"Apparently, President Bush doesn't believe what's good for the CIA is good for the White House"
Would somebody please call his office and provide the facts. I think he is reading from an outdated Democrat talking point of six months ago (New Jersey must be so proud).
*****UPDATE IV: Powerline and Tom Joscelyn remind us of Mary McCarthy's involvement in the bombing of al-Shifa, one of the targets in Sudan that the Clinton adminstration attacked in 1998.
As Joscelyn relates, McCarthy initially opposed the bombing of al-Shiva because she wasn't convinced that the intelligence linking Iraq, al Qaeda and the production of nerve gas at that location was solid. She later changed her mind, as the Sept. 11 Commission related, and joined in the assessment by Richard Clarke and others that nerve gas was being produced at al-Shifa under an agreement between Saddam's Iraq, which supplied the technical expertise, and al Qaeda.
Remember, this was the incident where Clinton--acting totally within the authority of the President--declassified and released to the press the intelligence he used to justify bombing the Sudan:
After the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed in 1998, the Clinton Administration retaliated, in part, by bombing the al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan. Almost immediately, President Clinton was attacked politically: we had taken out a mere aspirin factory, Sudan was not a threat to us, it was a gratuitous act of American aggression, etc.
So what did the Clinton Administration do? Exactly what it should have done. It had intelligence officials leak to the media previously undisclosed, previously classified information which put President Clinton’s decision in sensible context. Besides anonymous leakers, the Administration later sent its top counterterrorism official, Richard Clarke, to provide — selectively — some of the available intelligence, so the public would understand why President Clinton’s actions had been justified. Here’s how the Washington Post reported it on January 23, 1999:
While U.S. intelligence officials disclosed shortly after the missile attack that they had obtained a soil sample from the El Shifa site that contained a precursor of VX nerve gas, Clarke said that the U.S. government is “sure” that Iraqi nerve gas experts actually produced a powdered VX-like substance at the plant that, when mixed with bleach and water, would have become fully active VX nerve gas.
Clarke said U.S. intelligence does not know how much of the substance was produced at El Shifa or what happened to it. But he said that intelligence exists linking bin Laden to El Shifa's current and past operators, the Iraqi nerve gas experts and the National Islamic Front in Sudan.
Given the evidence presented to the White House before the airstrike, Clarke said, the president “would have been derelict in his duties if he didn't blow up the facility.”
The press was not very supportive of the Sudan bombing — it was, after all, a use of American military power. But they liked Clinton, so the selective disclosure of previously classified information by Clinton officials was treated matter-of-factly — as it should have been. The story was about the information, not the leak.
*****UPDATE V: Here is my Culture of Treason Logo [see above]
*****UPDATE VI: Could the whole secret prisons story been a sting operation? Did the CIA make up the story to find out who the leakers were??? Great conjecture by Rick Moran and Rightwing Nuthouse. Oh the look on all those peoples' faces if they were told there were no people in "former Soviet Gulags."
*****UPDATE VII: The media is beginning to make its big pushback and Ace is on the case:
Here, an AP story on McCarthy's illegal leaking runs with a picture of.... SCOOTER LIBBY.
Posted by Aaron at 07:00 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
New Liberal Montra
Senator Kennedy is on Meet the Press testing new talking points for the Democrats. Specifically, he said that right now we have been in Iraq as long as we were in North Korea and that by the end of the year, we would have been in Iraq longer than WWII.
Missing from his characterization is that we STILL HAVE 75,000 active duty personnel in Germany and 15,000 in Brittain and 10,000 in Italy and 45,000 in Japan and 35,000 in South Korea.
Mathematics:
75,000 + 15,000 + 10,000 + 45,000 = 145,000 troops still stationed in WWII areas
That is 10,000 more than are currently in Iraq (not including the significant draw down of troops in Europe and Japan in the 90's).
Then there's the 35,000 troops still in South Korea acting as a human shield against an attack from the North--which would have happened if we had "brought our troops home" in three years.
Posted by Aaron at 10:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Hu's That Sleeping?
Saving the world from Democrats can sure take the wind out of your sails:
Posted by Aaron at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Who should replace Scott McClellan? Poll Results
Poll Results:
Jessica Simpson: 3%
Jay Leno: 0%
Rush Limbaugh: 22%
Harriet Miers: 0% [poor Harriet]
Simon Cowell: 11%
Ann Coulter: 62%
[total of 27 votes]
Be sure to vote in our Earth Day poll on Global Warming!
Posted by Aaron at 09:32 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
America's Environment is Getting Cleaner
Shhh, don't tell Algore:
Since 1970, carbon monoxide emissions in the U.S. are down 55%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Particulate emissions are down nearly 80%, and sulfur dioxide emissions have been reduced by half. Lead emissions have declined more than 98%. All of this has been accomplished despite a doubling of the number of cars on the road and a near-tripling of the number of miles driven, according to Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research Institute.
...If arguments were won through the use of italics, Mr. Gore would prevail in a knockout. But as Mr. Hayward notes in his "Index," the environmental movement as a whole has developed a credibility problem since the first Earth Day 36 years ago. In the 1970s, prominent greens were issuing dire predictions about mass starvation, overpopulation and--of all things--global cooling. Since then, population-growth estimates have come way down, biotechnology advances have found ways to feed more people than the doomsayers believed possible, and the global-cooling crisis has become the global-warming crisis without missing a beat.
...Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the environmental movement pounced. The image of an American city filled with water proved irresistible to those who have been warning for years about rising sea levels--never mind that the cause was one unusually powerful storm and that New Orleans was built below sea level in the first place. As Mr. Gore puts it, Katrina "may have been the first sip of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us over and over again until we act on the truth we have wished would go away." If that language sounds familiar, that's because Mr. Gore borrowed the image from Winston Churchill, who used it to describe the Nazi menace in Europe in the 1930s.
Of course, this is the same thing that Algore did to bloggers calling us "Digital Brownshirts" a la Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Posted by Aaron at 09:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Best News I've Read about Iraq this Week
Shi'ite bloc picks new Prime Minister (buried Deep in the Bowels of the NYTimes site).
Posted by Aaron at 09:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Huffington Post Slight of Hand
I personally agree with the 9th Court decision banning a shirt that condemned homosexuality at school--but not because it offended anyone; children do not have free speech rights or "right to artistic expression" at school.
However, I like the slight of hand that HuffPuff does with a post on her site.
The child in the case wore a shirt that said: Be Ashamed, Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned.
No one should be wearing shirts like this to school, just like they shouldn't be wearing pro-abortion t-shirts, drug legalization t-shirts, etc. I think school uniforms are a good thing.
But what does HuffPuff put as the accompanying photo above the article? T-shirts from that lunatic Westboro Cult that say: God Hates Fags.com. So if you're a typical reader who likes to simply skim headlines, you would think that some kid showed up to school in that t-shirt which is far more inflamatory.
Posted by Aaron at 08:58 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
More Fabulous Carnival of Corruption!
Democratic candidates in one House race in Ohio - the state Democrats have declared the epicenter of Republican corruption - have turned to criticizing each others' integrity.
One candidate's special-interest travel is under fire, and another is getting flak for her testimony in a bribery trial.
Adding to the party's concern, Lorain Mayor Craig Foltin, the likely GOP nominee, has had strong Democratic support each time he was elected.
Three Democratic candidates have raised doubts about rival and shopping mall heiress Capri Cafaro, whose father was sentenced to probation in 2002 for bribing former Rep. James Traficant, who was convicted of taking gifts and kicked out of Congress.
Cafaro invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself during a grand jury appearance, but her lawyer, David Betras, said that was just part of the normal process for receiving immunity.
Cafaro acknowledged in her testimony making political donations using her father's money and receiving reimbursement from him after making donations. Campaign finance law prohibits skirting individual contribution limits by making donations through others, but Betras said the money from Cafaro's father was simply her college allowance.
One candidate, Gary Kucinich, the brother of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, put out a pamphlet questioning why Cafaro received immunity if she was innocent.
Remember: This is a Republican ONLY culture of corruption! Ha!
Posted by Aaron at 07:43 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Got the Boot Butt Good
My wish is that this is the person who leaked Valerie Plame's name:
A CIA officer has been relieved of his duty after being caught leaking classified information to the media.
CIA officials will not reveal the officer's name, assignment, or the information that was leaked. The firing is a highly unusual move, although there has been an ongoing investigation into leaks in the CIA.
One official called this a "damaging leak" that deals with operational information and said the fired officer "knowingly and willfully" leaked the information to the media and "was caught."
The CIA officer was not in the public affairs office, nor was he someone authorized to talk to the media. The investigation was launched in January by the CIA's security center. It was directed to look at employees who had been exposed to certain intelligence programs. In the course of the investigation, the fired officer admitted discussing classified information including information about classified operations.
The investigation is ongoing.
A Justice Department spokesman said "no comment" on the firing. The spokesman also would not say whether the agency was looking into any criminal action against the officer.
Lock 'em up.
Posted by Aaron at 03:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Environmentalism as Religion
[I am waiting for permission to post part of his lecture]
Posted by Aaron at 01:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
For Dr. Sid, Solar Expert ;-)
Dr. Sid is an avid reader so I am just teasing. But he claimed the sun hasn't changed much in the last 100 years (or its output). I said it has and he asked for evidence. Here it is:
In what could be the simplest explanation for one component of global warming, a new study shows the sun's radiation has increased by .05 percent per decade since the late 1970s.
The increase would only be significant to Earth's climate if it has been going on for a century or more, said study leader Richard Willson, a Columbia University researcher also affiliated with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The sung increasing output has only been monitored with precision since satellite technology allowed necessary observations. walking is not sure if the trend extends further back in time, but other studies suggest it does.
"This trend is important because, if sustained over many decades, it could cause significant climate change," walking said.
This is from Space.com. on March 20, 2003. There is another article today that also discusses the global warming hysteria (the secularists version of the apocalypse):
Global warming may not be as dramatic as some scientists have predicted.
Using temperature readings from the past 100 years, 1,000 computer simulations and the evidence left in ancient tree rings, Duke University scientists announced yesterday that "the magnitude of future global warming will likely fall well short of current highest predictions."
Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, the Duke researchers noted that some observational studies predicted that the Earth's temperature could rise as much as 16 degrees in this century because of an increase in carbon dioxide or other so-called greenhouse gases.
The Duke estimates show the chances that the planet's temperature will rise even by 11 degrees is only 5 percent, which falls in line with previous, less-alarming predictions that meteorologists made almost three decades ago.
In recent years, much academic research has indicated otherwise, often in colorful terms and citing the United States as the biggest contributor to global warming. This month, a University of Toronto scientist predicted that a quarter of the planet's plants and animals would be extinct by 2050 because of rising temperatures. On Wednesday, two geophysics professors at the University of Chicago warned those who eat red meat that their increased flatulence contributes to greenhouse gases.
Last year, Oregon State University research linked future "societal disruptions" with global warming, while the Carnegie Institution reported that the insulating influence of northern forests alone would raise the Earth's temperature by 6 degrees. In 2004, Harvard University scientists informed Congress that warming had doomed the planet to climatic "shocks and surprises."
The Duke research, however, found substantial ups and downs in the Earth's temperature before modern times, countering other studies that confine noticeable temperature increases to the industrialized era. Marked climate change in other centuries resulted from "external forcing," said the Duke findings, citing volcanic eruptions and other influences.
Posted by Aaron at 08:58 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Unreliable Leaks Can Hurt Also
I still think that if a paper goes forward with a a false story that could harm national security and is based on an illegal leak of classified information, it is treasonous.
We all assumed (including conservatives) that the CIA prison story in the WaPo was true. The European Union finished its commission and found that it probably wasn't:
The European Union's antiterrorism chief told a hearing on Thursday that he had not been able to prove that secret C.I.A. prisons existed in Europe.
"We've heard all kinds of allegations," the official, Gijs de Vries, said before a committee of the European Parliament. "It does not appear to be proven beyond reasonable doubt."
Of course, the Greens are still upset:
But Mr. de Vries came under criticism from some legislators who called the hearing a whitewash. Kathalijne Buitenweg, a Dutch member of Parliament from the Green Party, said that even without definitive proof, "the circumstantial evidence is stunning."
This again shows how leftists view things like facts and evidence; it MUST be true because I feel it! America tortures everyone! I just know it! I read it in the Washington Post so it must be true!
Mr. de Vries said the European Parliament investigation had not uncovered rights abuses despite more than 50 hours of testimony by rights advocates and people who say they were abducted by C.I.A. agents. A similar investigation by the Council of Europe, the European human rights agency, came to the same conclusion in January — though the leader of that inquiry, Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, said then that there were enough "indications" to justify continuing the investigation.
...The committee also heard Thursday from a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who said: "I can attest to the willingness of the U.S. and the U.K. to obtain intelligence that was got under torture in Uzbekistan. If they were not willing, then rendition prisons could not have existed." But Mr. Murray, who was recalled from his job in 2004 after condemning the Uzbek authorities and criticizing the British and American governments, told the committee that he had no proof that detention centers existed within Europe.
And people throw around this torture term too loosly. What is torture? Some people simply having to look at Bush consider that torture, but is it? Do we torture our soldiers during boot camp?
Is Britney Spears played full blast torture? Is being forced to watch a naked woman torture? Is frat hazing torture? We have no definitive concept of torture--it is in the eye of the beholder.
Posted by Aaron at 08:48 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Like I Said
Novak also claimed that investigators know who leaked the information, although he did not say how they know.
"The question is, does Mr. Fitzgerald know who the source was?" Novak asked. "Of course. He's known for years who the first source is. If he knows the source, why didn't he indict him? Because no crime was committed."
Again, time will tell.
Posted by Aaron at 08:18 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Two Sucker Punches By Bush
I love it! I know that both of these things were planned:
click for video
'President Bush, stop him from killing'... 'Stop persecuting the Falun Gong,' she yelled... She also shouted in Chinese, 'President Hu, your days are numbered, No more time for China's ruling party.'
Then this:
Earlier, in a protocol gaffe, when China's national anthem was announced, it was referred to as the anthem of the Republic of China - the formal name of Taiwan. China's formal name is the People's Republic of China.
Protocol gaffe my ass! Every one knows that Bush is a STICKLER for protocol (like having to wear a jacket and tie in the oval office instead of lounging around in jeans, jizzing all over the carpet). People seem to think Bush just pays lip service to human freedom, but really doesn't believe it.
Bush doesn't forget that this man is a Communist Dictator and heads a brutal, murderous regime.
Posted by Aaron at 03:14 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Is it the Iraq War?
Is the Iraq war, Karl Rove, Culture of Corruption (nonsense), Katrina and popularity of Democrats' socialist policies that is driving Bush's numbers down?
Rush pointed out this chart that shows the relationship between Bush's poll numbers and gas prices on his show yesterday; what do you think?
Posted by Aaron at 12:05 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Court throws out DeLay conspiracy charge
One down, two charges to go:
A lower court judge dismissed a conspiracy charge against DeLay in December, agreeing with defense arguments that the conspiracy law did not cover election code violations in 2002; the Legislature amended the law in 2003.
This is a good example of how liberals view the justice system in the US. It is not what the law is, but it's how you feel about the person you wish to indict. The prosecutor is trying to politically indict DeLay on something that occurred in 2002 on a 2003 law. And when this absurd indictment was thrown out, he ACTUALLY TOOK IT TO THE SUPERIOR COURT!
What a joke.
Posted by Aaron at 10:08 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Howard Dean: Liar and Panderer
Dean now calls border security the TOP Dems priority (even though 200 Dems voted against the border security bill):
"The first thing we want is tough border control," he said. "We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done."
Well, Dean is right on this--Bush has done a lousy job on border security with completely baffles most Republicans. But here is where the truth lies with the Democrats:
Mr. Dean said he wants "immigrants who obey the law and pay taxes to be able to apply for citizenship. We support earned legalization vigorously. And, much to my surprise, so do the American people."
To his surprise? The American people tend to keep surprising Democrats which should tell them something about their policy issues.
Dean wants immigrants who obey the law, except when they broke it to get into the country.
Posted by Aaron at 09:32 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
KLJ and I Have the Same Radio Schedule
I just realized that Katheryn Jean Lopez and I must have the same radio schedule at work:
7-9am: Bill Bennett
9-12pm: Laura Ingraham
12-3pm: Rush Limbaugh
Anyway, I must have missed this quote on BB this morning, but KLJ caught it and posted it:
"I hope that damage has not already been done. If, however, damage has been done, and if, with the Court's action today, these newspapers proceed to publish the critical documents and there results therefrom 'the death of soldiers, the destruction of alliances, the greatly increased difficulty of negotiation with our enemies, the inability of our diplomats to negotiate,' to which list I might add the factors of prolongation of the war and of further delay in the freeing of United States prisoners, then the Nation's people will know where the responsibility for these sad consequences rests." Justice Harry Blackmun's decision from the Pentagon Papers case
This was in reference to the Pulitzers for Treason handed out yesterday.
And for all that liberal claptrap about "don't you want to know what your government is doing???" I could also make the same argument regarding the CIA leak--but I don't. Someone could easily say, "wouldn't you want to know if a CIA employee was setting up a junket for her husband to politically undermine the elected president?'
But you cannot have it both ways. All leakers (the president cannot leak) should go to jail for violating the law.
Posted by Aaron at 08:47 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
America's Guide to Non-Offensive Traveling Abroad
Ah, the ugly American abroad. I saw this article the other day on the Daily Telegraph, and it made my blood boil:
Loud and brash, in gawdy garb and baseball caps, more than three million of them flock to our shores every year. Shuffling between tourist sites or preparing to negotiate a business deal, they bemoan the failings of the world outside the United States.
The reputation of the "Ugly American" abroad is not, however, just some cruel stereotype, but - according to the American government itself - worryingly accurate. Now, the State Department in Washington has joined forces with American industry to plan an image make-over by issuing guides for Americans travelling overseas on how to behave.
'Ugly American' abroad: Worryingly accurate
Under a programme starting next month, several leading US companies will give employees heading abroad a "World Citizens Guide" featuring 16 etiquette tips on how they can help improve America's battered international image.
Here are some of the suggestions on how to keep from offending the EuroElites while spending your hard-earned dollars in their countries:
• Think as big as you like but talk and act smaller. (In many countries, any form of boasting is considered very rude. Talking about wealth, power or status - corporate or personal - can create resentment.)
• Listen at least as much as you talk. (By all means, talk about America and your life in our country. But also ask people you're visiting about themselves and their way of life.)
• Save the lectures for your kids. (Whatever your subject of discussion, let it be a discussion not a lecture. Justified or not, the US is seen as imposing its will on the world.)
• Think a little locally. (Try to find a few topics that are important in the local popular culture. Remember, most people in the world have little or no interest in the World Series or the Super Bowl. What we call "soccer" is football everywhere else. And it's the most popular sport on the planet.)
• Slow down. (We talk fast, eat fast, move fast, live fast. Many cultures do not.)
• Speak lower and slower. (A loud voice is often perceived as bragging. A fast talker can be seen as aggressive and threatening.)
• Your religion is your religion and not necessarily theirs. (Religion is usually considered deeply personal, not a subject for public discussions.)
• If you talk politics, talk - don't argue. (Steer clear of arguments about American politics, even if someone is attacking US politicians or policies. Agree to disagree.)
Many Europeans are going to feel superior to us no matter how much we may kowtow to them and do our best to avoid controversy. So even if you follow each and every suggestion above to the letter, it probably won't make much of a difference in how those Euros feel about us.
Am I suggesting that American tourists abroad go out of their way to offend the locals? Of course not. But for us to feel we need to go about with our heads bowed and our mouths closed because our very personalities offend Europeans (even as they accept our money in stores, restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, etc.) is really a bit much.
When you think about it, the loud, noisy, obnoxious American tourists are usually loud, noisy and obnoxious at home. I think you'll agree that they aren't looked upon too favorably on these shores either. Besides, you can't tell me that America has a monopoly on boors.
Cultural differences are going to pop up no matter who you are or where you go. If the French had such a tourism guide it might say: be sure to bathe, don't say you enjoy mimes or Cirque du Soleil, pretend to be interested in hard work. But of course, as they are vastly superior to us, they have no need of such a guide...
Unless Europeans can dig themselves out of the self-imposed socialistic holes they've dug for themselves, they will always resent Americans -- even the polite ones. When you go abroad, be yourself. Better yet, take Tammy Bruce's suggestion and travel right here in the United States. There's plenty to see and do here at home.
And as for the idea that Americans must change to appease the Europeans, it really shouldn't be surprising that they feel this way. After all, aren't they changing to appease the Islamists who have made it known they won't tolerate certain behaviors of their adopted countries? I guess they think it's our turn.
Posted by Pam at 02:18 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Scott McLellan Steps Down
I think this is good. He looks like the nicest guy (and is rather good looking), but Bush should have known that you need someone who can beat back the sharks in the media and WH press corps.
This is one of the better staff changes I've heard of so far in the White House.
Tony Snow might replace him??? That would be very interesting.
Posted by Aaron at 10:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
SURI WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP
I just couldn't resist that heading when I read that TomKat had named her Suri. Here's a roundup of the news:
J For just-the-facts-ma'am from the NY Post, TOMKAT'S NEW KITTEN A GIRL: It's a girl - and presumably, she's out of this world.
J Delicious snark from Dlisted: Is the mothership coming next?! ... UPDATE II: The bubonic plague has hit Los Angeles. Hmm.... It's starting!
J Popsugar points out that Brooke Shields had her baby -- also a girl -- on the very same day: Did you really think Tomm would allow Brooke's baby to trump his.
J Defamer