Month: April 2006

Finally, we have consequences.

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.”

If there’s one there’s two, three or more. Find ‘em and fire ‘em all.

Can you hear the tolling of the bell?

A U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday that public schools can remove clothing with slogans it deems hurtful. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a San Diego high school’s contention that it had the right to ban a T-shirt with the message “Homosexuality is shameful.”

Judge Stephen Reinhardt writes in the majority decision, students “who may be injured by verbal assaults on the basis of a core identifying characteristic such as race, religion, or sexual orientation, have a right to be free from such attacks while on school campuses.”

He adds, “The demeaning of young gay and lesbian students in a school environment is detrimental not only to their psychological health and well-being, but also to their educational development.”

Judge Alex Kozinski disagreed, writing, “The types of speech that could be banned by the school authorities under the Poway High School hate policy are practically without limit. Any speech code that has at its heart avoiding offense to others gives anyone with a thin skin a heckler’s veto – something the Supreme Court has not approved in the past.”

Unrestrained political correctness is America’s greatest weakness.

John Kerry says he is “thinking hard” about another run for the presidency.

“I will make that decision toward the end of the year, but I’m thinking about it hard,” Kerry told the Latin Economic Forum at the United Nations, joking that if he can pick up the 60,000 votes in Ohio that cost him the 2004 election, he’d have the race sewn up.

Kerry assumes that everyone who voted for him in the first round would vote for him once more in ‘08, as if nothing has changed since November 2nd, 2004. We all know what happens when you assume something. And then, there is the Hillary factor. Early pollsters claim that Mrs. Clinton has the support of 43 percent of Democrats, leaving Kerry with a miniscule 10 percent. That kind of gap doesn’t leave a lot of campaign money on the table. Still, Kerry is preparing to challenge Hillary, should she officially decide to enter the race.

Oh, and let’s not forget Al Gore. There’s plenty of buzz about another run for the White House for the former Vice President. One glance at his website and it’s obvious that he has a toe in the water.

Too bad none of it matters. The results are easily predictable. A Clinton, Kerry, or Gore campaign will mean another lost election and another “out of power” term for the Democrats.

— Clinton is hated by too many Americans, and that means she can’t win over a majority. Her record as a Senator is laughable. Her history is scandal ridden, and she won’t be able to avoid questions she’s so far refused to answer.

— Kerry believes he only has to win over 60,000 more voters. He’s wrong. Kerry’s reputation is his problem. All you have to say is “flip-flop” and the man is weakened. All you have to say is “cut and run” and the man is weakened. All you have to do is pull out the Swift Boat ads and the guy is weakened. Apparently, Kerry is naive enough to believe none of this would be resurrected in a 2008 campaign. Wrong again John. The bottom line for Kerry is this. He ran, he lost, that’s it. Most Americans won’t give him another shot.

— Al Gore…ah, where do I start? Half the time he’s “Mr. Global Warming”. The other half of the time he is “Mr. Bush Hater”. Most Americans don’t pay attention to environmental issues, so a yammering stump speech about melting polar ice will be an instant tranquilizer. Likewise, an incessant banging of the hate Bush (and all Republicans) drum may be raw meat for the mooniest of moonbats, but it just doesn’t resonate with a majority of voters. If you remove these two topics from Gore’s portfolio, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything else worth mentioning. His record as a Senator is barely a memory for most Americans, and Gore’s record as Vice President was lackluster.

Trotting out the same old tired faces and weary platforms means one thing for the Democrats. They’ll be dead on arrival in 2008. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari gives up the fight and clears the way toward the formation of a national unity government.

 

Michelle has no reason to be afraid.

 

84-year-old Josephine Crawford.

She put $40 worth of nickels into a slot machine and got $10 million back.

“Somehow, I’ll spend it. I’ll spend it at the casino, and I might go to Vegas,” said Crawford, who spent 27 years waiting on tables before retiring in 1992.

The jackpot was won on Megabucks, a progressive slot machine linked to hundreds of others in Atlantic City’s 12 casinos. With progressive slot machines, a portion of each bet goes toward the citywide jackpots, which start at $1 million.

So far, she has received three marriage proposals.

This good news is Bush’s fault.

The number of new people signing up for jobless benefits last week fell sharply, a fresh sign that employers are feeling better about the business climate. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by 10,000 to 303,000, the best showing since the beginning of April.

This is bad news for Democrats. After all, the list of the victims they depend on is shrinking.

NRO’s Kathryn Jean Lopez:

While news reports all day and tonight will focus on the heckler, what our president said with the Chinese president by his side was no small thing. Here, in part:

“As the relationship between our two nations grows and matures, we can be candid about our disagreements. I’ll continue to discuss with President Hu the importance of respecting human rights and freedoms of the Chinese people. China has become successful because the Chinese people are experience the freedom to buy, and to sell, and to produce — and China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship.”

“The United States will also be candid about our policy toward Taiwan. The United States maintains our one China policy based on the three communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act. We oppose unilateral changes in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by either side, and we urge all parties to avoid confrontational or provocative acts. And we believe the future of Taiwan should be resolved peacefully.”

KJLo provides links to a lot of “required reading” type stuff.

Given the warm reception Chinese President Hu Jintao has received since entering the United States, it’s easy to forget who the man is and what he represents. Let’s not forget – the man is a Communist, the concept of freedom is foreign to him, and the word itself is not a part of the Chinese government’s vocabulary.

Hu collided with freedom of speech today during remarks made at the White House.

Via Drudge: Chinese heckler disrupts Hu’s speech on south lawn at White House, ‘President Bush, stop him from killing’… one cameraman put a hand on her shoulder as she shouted… seemed to be trying to quiet her down… ‘Stop persecuting the Falun Gong,’ she yelled’… she is taken away by uniformed secret service officers… right after Bush urged Hu to allow Chinese to ‘speak freely’… (Video)

Meanwhile, viewers in China didn’t see or hear any of this.

As Hu was speaking when yells of protesters became audible, the screen went black. When the feed came back the screen once again went black when woman was again heard. During CNN International’s post-speech commentary, at mention of south lawn heckler, the screen also went black again. The CNN feed returned when the incident ended.

What gets me is the mixed message we send. Hu’s first stop in the U.S. was here in Washington State. The guy was treated like a King of Kings. In fact, he was treated better than we treat our own president. Hu was ogled by Governor Christine Gregoire, various state and local government officials, and even Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Although I’ve got to hand it to Bill. In remarks made during a dinner hosted at his house where Hu was the guest of honor, Gates touched upon the importance of user privacy and security online.

“This new era of an Internet-based economy also presents new challenges to us all,” Gates said in a speech that preceded Hu’s to a gathering of about 600 people at a luncheon hosted for the visiting Chinese president.

“It is my belief that industry and government around the world should work even more closely to protect the privacy and security of Internet users, and promote the exchange of ideas, while respecting legitimate government considerations.”

The statement appeared to be urging China to respect the rights of Internet users, but also seemed to suggest Gates thinks “legitimate” government worries need to be taken into consideration, without defining legitimate.

China kills 8,000 political prisoners every year. They provide military technologies to Iran and North Korea. They threaten to attack and destroy Taiwan. That’s the truth.

Yet, we welcome Hu to our country with a 21–gun salute in Washington D.C.