Year: 2005

Headlines and Commentary for 11.03.05

BBC – Fresh violence hits Paris suburbs

Rioting youths opened fire on police and set dozens of vehicles ablaze in a seventh night of violence in Paris.

In escalating unrest, shots were fired at police and firefighters, while gangs besieged a police station, set fire to a car showroom and threw petrol bombs.

At least 15 people were arrested and nine injured across north-east Paris.

France’s government is facing mounting criticism of its handling of the riots, triggered by the deaths last week of two teenagers of African origin.

Paris is burning. If Chirac can’t take control of this situation in the next 24 hours, he can kiss his political career goodbye.

AP – Libby Pleads Not Guilty in CIA Leak Case

Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff pleaded not guilty Thursday in the CIA leak scandal, marking the start of what could be a long road to a trial in which Cheney and other top Bush administration officials could be summoned to testify.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby entered the plea in front of U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, a former prosecutor who has spent two decades as a judge in the nation’s capital.

“With respect, your honor, I plead not guilty,” Libby told the judge.

Libby – the fall guy, the patsy. Every beltway controversy has to have one. This whole thing is about the Left trying to get rid of Karl Rove. Teflon Karl. What a waste of time, and money.

And speaking of the circus…

AP – Second Judge Out for DeLay Trial

Two days after Rep. Tom DeLay won a fight to get a new judge in his case, prosecutors Thursday succeeded in ousting the Republican responsible for selecting the new judge.

Administrative Judge B.B. Schraub withdrew after District Attorney Ronnie Earle filed a request to have him removed.

Schraub said he will ask the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court — a Republican — to name a judge to preside over DeLay’s conspiracy and money laundering trial.

Like I said…what a waste of time, and money.

AP – South Carolina Prison Escapees Captured

Two violent felons who escaped from a maximum-security prison by hiding on a trash truck were captured early Thursday afternoon, a State Law Enforcement Division official said.

Jimmy Causey, 35, a convicted kidnapper, and Johnny Brewer, 39, a convicted murderer, had been on the loose since Tuesday, when they escaped from the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

They were apprehended at a motel along busy Interstate 95 in Ridgeland, about 110 miles south of Columbia, SLED Chief Robert Stewart said.

Pat Smith, a maid at the Palms Motel, said Causey told the clerk when he checked in that his identification was in his car, and that the car had been towed.

“He was real friendly,” she said. “When they got (Brewer) in the cuffs, (Causey) said, ‘Can I get my money back?’ He said, ‘Can I get a refund?'” Smith hadn’t seen Brewer before his arrest, she said.

Stewart would not immediately release details of the capture but said the men were being transported back to Columbia.

Can you begrudge these guys a little joyride? Seriously, I’m a 100% rule of law kind of guy, but when it comes to a story like this, especially one in which no major violence occurred, I can’t help but think of these guys as characters in a Hollywood movie. Have you ever seen ‘Raising Arizona’? Remember the two brothers who were escaped convicts (played by John Goodman and William Forsythe)?

‘Nuff said.

And speaking of 100% rule of law…

Las Vegas Sun – Mayor: Sever Thumbs of Graffiti Artists

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has suggested that those who deface freeways with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

Goodman, appearing Wednesday on the “Nevada Newsmakers” television show, said, “In the old days in France, they had beheading of people who commit heinous crimes.

“You know, we have a beautiful highway landscaping redevelopment in our downtown. We have desert tortoises and beautiful paintings of flora and fauna. These punks come along and deface it.

“I’m saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb,” the mayor added. “That may be the right thing to do.”

Goodman also suggested that whippings or canings should be brought back for children who get into trouble.

I think I just found my GOP candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election.

As great a communication tool as email is, it can also end up biting you. I’m forever amazed at how lackadaisical people can be with this technology. Without much of a thought, they’ll share their most intimate secrets, sensitive corporate data, personal information like credit card numbers or social security numbers. People forget that email lasts forever. It’s permanent, and can be forwarded on to and read by people who were never supposed to receive it. Given its ease of use and ubiquitousness, most people forget how dangerous email can be. Yet, day-after-day, we hear the stories about the email that got Jane fired, or the email that got Sam busted, or the email that led to the divorce of a husband from his wife.

And today, we have yet another story of email being used to communicate personal thoughts that weren’t intended to be public.

A Louisiana congressman says e-mails written by the government’s emergency response chief as Hurricane Katrina raged show a lack of concern for the unfolding tragedy and a failure in leadership.

Rep. Charlie Melancon, whose district south of New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane, posted a sampling of e-mails (PDF) written by Federal Emergency Management chief Michael Brown on his Web site on Wednesday.

The e-mails Melancon posted, a sampling of more than 1,000 provided to the House committee now assessing responses to Katrina by all levels of government, also show Brown making flippant remarks about his responsibilities.

“Can I quit now? Can I come home?” Brown wrote to Cindy Taylor, FEMA’s deputy director of public affairs, the morning of the hurricane.

A few days later, Brown wrote to an acquaintance, “I’m trapped now, please rescue me.”

In the midst of the overwhelming damage caused by the hurricane and enormous problems faced by FEMA, Mr. Brown found time to exchange e-mails about superfluous topics,” including “problems finding a dog-sitter,” Melancon said.

Melancon said that on August 26, just days before Katrina made landfall, Brown e-mailed his press secretary, Sharon Worthy, about his attire, asking: “Tie or not for tonight? Button-down blue shirt?”

A few days later, Worthy advised Brown: “Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working.”

It gets worse.

On August 29, the day of the storm, Brown exchanged e-mails about his attire with Taylor, Melancon said. She told him, “You look fabulous,” and Brown replied, “I got it at Nordstroms. Are you proud of me?”

An hour later, Brown added: “If you’ll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion god,” according to the congressman.

Is that priceless or what?

Email has a way of revealing the real person inside the suit, and in this case, it confirms everything everyone suspected about Michael Brown. The man was simply the wrong person for such an important job. His email messages prove that.

Have you read your own email lately?

Related: USATODAY – Boeing scandal highlights e-mail checks | TechWeb – 1 in 5 companies have sacked employees over email abuse | WIRED – Daemon Seed: Old email never dies |

David D. Perlmutter and Emily Metzgar pose this interesting question in an editorial from The Christian Science Monitor. It’s worth a read. Blogs had an effect on the 2004 campaign, and they’ll have an even larger effect on the 2006 mid-terms. 2008? I think Perlmutter and Metzgar are correct in their belief that the next group of presidential candidates will have to work the blogosphere the old-fashioned way – one blog at a time. The Harriet Miers controversy proved right sided blogs won’t always fall into into lock step with one another. A candidate won’t be able to interview with, say, Glenn Reynolds and like an instalanche, expect hundreds of other blogs to blindly endorse them. It just won’t work that way, and that’s a good thing.

Candidates will need to learn how to knock on doors again, blog by blog, in order to earn a bloggers trust and ultimately, an endorsement, proving once again that all politics is local, even in the blogosphere.

I was browsing the photos from today’s funeral in Detroit celebrating the life of Rosa Parks, who died October 24th at the age of 92. Immediately, I noted the ‘all-star’ lineup of attendees:

• Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
• President Bill Clinton
• Senator John Kerry
• U.S. Representative John Conyers
• Senator Barack Obama
• Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
• Rev. Al Sharpton
• Minister Louis Farrakhan
• Rev. Jesse Jackson

While this was supposedly a funeral, it looked more like a meeting of the Democratic National Committee.

I’ve got a few questions about this…

Where were the Republicans? Why didn’t a conservative member of Congress speak at the event? Who was invited? Where’s the invitation list? Was anyone excluded from speaking?

After viewing the photos and reading the stories about this event, it’s hard not to believe the stereotype that Black Americans belong to one political party. The fact that a Republican didn’t receive stage time only furthers this myth.

Hey, I guess I can be glad they didn’t ‘Wellstone’ this funeral.

RELATED: Black on Black racially tinged political attacks are ‘fair’ as far as black Democratic leaders are concerned.  

Courtesy of the WaPo: CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.

This wouldn’t have even been a story had it not been for Abu Ghraib. Now, the MSM and the Left’s bleeding hearts are on the lookout for any indication that another ‘Abu Ghraib’ like torture situation might exist. Rather than protecting America from these thugs, Liberals believe the important thing to do is to root out and prosecute members of our own military. You see, we’re the bad guys, not al Qaeda. They’re simply misunderstood.

The sad fact is, the Left has forgotten who attacked us on 9/11.

As far as I’m concerned, we have these al Qaeda members exactly where we want them – out of the United States, and in custody. 

Via Drudge:

FLASH: Lott Questions Whether Rove Should Stay At White House…Trent Lott became the first Republican Senator to question whether Karl Rove should stay at the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, interview on MSNBC ‘HARDBALL’… Developing…

Why do I have the feeling that guys like Lott, Frist, Reid, Leahy, McCain et al monitor the face time each of them receive on television during a media event like this and if one feels like he hasn’t received ‘equal time’, he proceeds to ‘outdo’ the other by saying something reckless like this? They know the MSM will jump on it like warm blood soaked red meat.

It drives me crazy.

According to Drudge, for the first time in 25 years, rule 21 has been invoked by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid; Dems Seek to Investigate Pre-War Intelligence, Libby Indictment; Frist: ‘The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership’

Standing Rules of The Senate

RULE XXI

SESSION WITH CLOSED DOORS

1. On a motion made and seconded to close the doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any business which may, in the opinion of a Senator, require secrecy, the Presiding Officer shall direct the galleries to be cleared; and during the discussion of such motion the doors shall remain closed.

2. When the Senate meets in closed session, any applicable provisions of rules XXIX and XXXI, including the confidentiality of information shall apply to any information and to the conduct of any debate transacted.

AP – Democrats force Senate into Iraq Meeting

Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that President Bush used in the run-up to the war in Iraq and accusing Republicans of ignoring the issue.

“They have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why,” Democratic leader Harry Reid said.

Taken by surprise, Republicans derided the move as a political stunt.

“The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership,” said Majority Leader Bill Frist. “They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas,” the Republican leader said.

I can’t wait for the rest of this story.

— Kevin Drum has a list of the Dems talking points.

— Frist calls the move a “lack of respect” and says “he can’t trust Senator Reid”. Duh.

Why Reid Did It (According to Byron York of National Review)

Perhaps the best explanation for the Democrats’ decision to virtually shut down the Senate today can be found in one passage from CIA leak prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s news conference last Friday:

“This indictment is not about the war. This indictment’s not about the propriety of the war. And people who believe fervently in the war effort, people who oppose it, people who have mixed feelings about it should not look to this indictment for any resolution of how they feel or any vindication of how they feel….The indictment will not seek to prove that the war was justified or unjustified. This is stripped of that debate, and this is focused on a narrow transaction. And I think anyone who’s concerned about the war and has feelings for or against shouldn’t look to this criminal process for any answers or resolution of that.”

Fitzgerald’s statement, and his decision to confine the indictment of Lewis Libby to charges of lying and obstruction, threatened to dash the Democrats’ hope of using the CIA leak case as an opportunity to re-debate the reasons for going to war in Iraq. So the party, or at least its leaders in the Senate, has decided to use another route, the shutdown of the Senate, as a way to achieve that goal.

Meanwhile, John Podhoretz thinks the Democratic move in the Senate is politically canny:

In the past five days, Democrats have seen the political momentum shifting the president’s way with shocking speed. They don’t know what to do about the inspired Alito nomination, which they almost certainly can’t filibuster. And with the president’s announcement of a war against bird flu this morning — which strikes me as ridiculous policy but inspired Clintonian politics — Democrats were on the verge of having the Fitzgerald probe consigned to the ash-heap of history. And what do they have going for them right now but Scooter-gate? So by pulling this unprecedented maneuver with Section 21, they’re staging a counterassault against the president’s effort to change the political story of the moment. This is the sort of thing to make the Huffington Puffington people shriek with happiness and the Kossians to chortle with joy — almost as much as Bush pulling Miers’s nomination did for us (I know, we’re not supposed to gloat, but come on). And unfortunately, what the GOP has to respond to the maneuver is Bill Frist, who’s a great and noble human being but a stinko political leader. It may not work, but there’s no sense pretending this is a dumb thing to do. It isn’t.

Maybe Podhoretz is right? This stunt is all they have to work with. They have nothing else. They know they’re going to lose the fight against Alito. Basically, they’re all Joe Wilson Democrats.

Headlines and Commentary for 11.01.05

Conservative? Alito’s Record Leaves Little Doubt

Samuel Alito Jr. has the most judicial experience of any U.S. Supreme Court candidate since Benjamin Cardozo in 1932, and the most conservative judicial record of any candidate since Robert Bork in 1987.

Alito’s 15 years on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia provide a storehouse of ammunition for both supporters and opponents of President Bush’s nominee to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

A sampling of his 300 published opinions shows a careful, workmanlike judge who quietly explains his conclusions without needless rhetoric, ideological pronouncements or attacks on opponents. Alito can vote to uphold a city’s display of a creche, a menorah and other holiday symbols without a discourse on religion in public life and to uphold a spousal-notification requirement for abortions without condemning either abortion or the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling.

And after the Miers debacle, this is what we want – a solid conservative judge who will interpret the constitution, not legislate from the bench.

NY Sun – Bush Is Back

Those who have been hoping that the Supreme Court battles would provide an opportunity for a concerted debate about constitutional principles have a lot to smile over after yesterday’s nomination of Samuel Alito. Not only have Judge Alito’s 15 years riding the 3rd Circuit left him with an extensive paper trail that will be grounds for such a debate, but this nomination seems to signal that the White House is finally ready to force senators to confront issues that were obscured in both the Roberts and Miers nominations. The bold President Bush whom Americans re-elected in 2004 may be making a comeback.

I find it funny that Liberals will allow a sports team to have a slump, they will allow a temporary slide in corporate quarterly earnings, and they will allow their favorite actor to make a bad movie, but the President of the United States has a tough week and they’re calling for impeachment. How silly. Actually, this comment left by a reader at Lucianne can speak for me:

“The U.S. economy is growing at about a 3.5 percent annual rate. (sans H. Katrina, it would be doing even better.) Iraq is well on its way to being a federal republic with a strong constitution. Libya’s nuclear program was stopped. Terrorists are being killed and arrested globally. Justice Roberts has taken his seat at the SC. Justice Alito will soon follow. An excellent replacement for Alan Greenspan was made at the Fed Reserve. So? What is not to like?”

Indeed.

CNSNews – ‘A Mother Who Risked Her Life to Protect Her Country…’

Democrats who work to elect other Democrats to Congress have compiled a two-minute video comparing the CIA leak case to the Watergate cover-up.

The video shows photos and headlines from the Nixon era, then transitions to photos, soundbytes and headlines involving the federal probe that led to the indictment of Lewis Libby last week.

“Last Friday we witnessed an explosion, an event that, like Watergate, will shape politics and the way we see government in America for years to come,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a press release introducing its video.

“This is a solemn time, and gives us a moment to remember what men can do when they abuse the power given to them by our nation,” the DCCC said.

The video makes the point that President Bush has not fired everyone “involved” in the leak, as he once said he would do. Democrats are particularly eager to get rid of Bush adviser Karl Rove.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the video is intended to “remind America of the facts” behind the CIA leak case — and what makes the Libby indictment “so monumentally important.”

There is no violin music in the video, but the press release does contain the following grand pronouncements:

“If there is a silver lining of these events, it may be that, in the future, all will know they cannot abuse their power with impunity while they sit in the White House. It is nothing short of tragic to learn that those sitting there now would sacrifice the safety of an American patriot and mother who risked her life to protect her country from the very threats over which this same administration led us to war.

One word – Desperation.

Joe Wilson: I’m No ‘Commie Liberal Sympathizer’

Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, conducting another round of media appearances related to the leaking of his wife’s CIA cover, used a National Press Club appearance Monday to assert that he is no “commie liberal sympathizer.”

OK, fine then. You’re just a commie liberal.

This is London – Comeback of ‘cocaine Kate’

She is just out of rehab after a drug scandal which has seen her stripped of some of her most lucrative fashion contracts – but Kate Moss is already gracing magazine covers again.

A mere 7 weeks after she was caught snorting coke on video, Kate Moss is suddenly ‘back’ and ready to make money for fashion biz fat-cats throughout the world. Heh.

Let’s hope she lives long enough to really make a comeback, first and foremost, as a mother to her daughter.

MediaDailyNews – The ‘Net is Killing the Paper

IT’S OFFICIAL: 2005 WILL BE the newspaper industry’s worst year since the last ad industry recession. And things aren’t looking much better for next year either, according to a top Wall Street firm’s report on newspaper publishing. “Sadly, 2005 is shaping up as the industry’s worst year from a revenue growth perspective since the recession impacted 2001-2002 period,” says the report from Goldman Sachs, adding a warning that meaningful growth in 2006 is “very unlikely.”

Unfortunately, all of the people who have the power to reinvent the daily newspaper deny its impending death. In their minds, the business is in need of a few strategically placed BandAids. They haven’t yet noticed the many others who are busy measuring the industry for its coffin.

Prince Charles, Camilla Do the Big Apple

AP – Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, paid tribute to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks Tuesday as they began a weeklong tour of the United States — a trip the British press predicted would cause little excitement among Americans.

But, in Greenwich Village and throughout Chelsea, thousands of men have gathered to welcome the royals, as the anthem, ‘It’s Raining Men’ is amplified through the streets. The Village People are on tap to heat the place up tonight.

Yeah, this place has been lame lately. I’ve had a lot of real life things happen over the past week and that stuff comes first, so…that’s the reason. Thanks for sticking around though, and for coming back often to see if I’ve posted anything. I know who you are, and I appreciate you all.

Here’s hoping that things get normal again…soon. 🙂

Have you regretted posing for a picture and then having that picture publicized in some way? Of course you have…everyone has. It can be an uncomfortable thing. Just ask Samuel Alito’s daughter. Her face says it all.