Year: 2006

John Derbyshire thinks he might. Sure, we all know Bush is pro-immigration, and he’s certainly willing to grant amnesty to illegals who are in the country right now. Yet I can’t imagine he has the political will to brazenly veto a fence when a large majority of Americans want one.

They did it.

North Korea said Sunday night that it had set off its first nuclear test, becoming the eighth country in history, and arguably the most unstable and most dangerous, to proclaim that it has joined the club of nuclear weapons states.

The test came just two days after the country was warned by the United Nations Security Council that the action could lead to severe consequences.

Nations across the world condemned the test today, and an emergency meeting of the Security Council was set to take up the issue this morning.

China, Pyongyang’s closet supporter, called it a “flagrant and brazen” violation of international opinion and said it “firmly opposes” North Korea’s conduct.

In Russia, which shares a short border with North Korea, officials reacted with dismay and condemnation. “Russia absolutely condemns North Korea’s nuclear test,” President Vladimir V. Putin said in televised remarks during a meeting with his senior government ministers.

Senior Bush administration officials said that they had little reason to doubt the announcement, and warned that the test would usher in a new era of confrontation with the isolated and unpredictable country run by President Kim Jong-il.

What form that confrontation would take was not yet clear. Last week, the administration’s special envoy for North Korea issued a stern warning to Pyongyang not to go ahead with its threatened test, saying “’We are not going to live with a nuclear North Korea.”

The world response over the next 48-hours could change life as we know it. This is no time to play a war of words. Severe action must be taken against the DPRK government. If not, Iran will consider this event their green light to proceed with nuclear weapon development.

MORE: Hot Air

UPDATE: Bush statement

Just wondering…is this the first time a Secretary of State has been photographed wearing a flak jacket over clothing? I don’t begrudge the extra protection, but in this image conscience political season, you’d think someone in charge would have framed this one a little differently.

“After the 1936 election, in which President Franklin Roosevelt shellacked the Republican nominee in all but two states, a humorist wrote: “If the outcome of this election hasn’t taught you Republicans not to meddle in politics, I don’t know what will.” If, after the Foley episode — a maraschino cherry atop the Democrats’ delectable sundae of Republican miseries — the Democrats cannot gain 13 seats, they should go into another line of work.”

George Will.

Drudge has the siren out, screaming the following headline:

CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE MESSAGES WERE PAGE PRANK GONE AWRY

Does that peak your interest? I though so…

According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.

According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. This source, an ally of Edmund, also adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund.

The news come on the heels that former FBI Chief Louis Freeh has been named to investigate the mess.

OK, one of two scenarios can be suggested here. #1: the ‘outed’ page could just be concocting this story so he can stay ‘in the closet’ as it were or #2: the story is true, the page in question is an angry jilted ex-lover of Foley’s who enacted a strange sort of revenge tactic (blackmail?). Foley wouldn’t take the bait and so the page passed the fake instant message conversation to Democratic operatives. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Oh, and one more thing. Neither scenario diminishes the fact that Mark Foley is still a raging pedophile who needs help and should never be a public servant ever again.

There’s always more to the story, and it’s clear we haven’t heard all of this one, yet.

Speaker Denny Hastert is trying to keep his job while he weathers a storm of controversy swirling around Representative Mark Foley’s come-ons to house pages.

Backed by measured words of support from President Bush, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert opened an intense drive on Tuesday to hold on to his post, but behind the scenes senior Republicans weighed whether he could survive the scandal surrounding former Representative Mark Foley.

Among the options being considered by senior Republicans is for Mr. Hastert to announce that he will stay on as speaker through this year but not seek re-election to the post assuming Republicans retain control of the House, said people on and off Capitol Hill who were involved in the discussions. They said the advantage of such a step would be to postpone a disruptive leadership fight until after Election Day.

In a round of interviews with right-leaning radio shows after the conservative editorial page of The Washington Times called Tuesday for his resignation, Mr. Hastert vowed he would not quit. He accused political opponents of stoking the furor over Mr. Foley, Republican of Florida, in an effort to influence the coming elections and strip Republicans of Congressional control.

“If they get to me, it looks like they could affect our election as well,” Mr. Hastert said in an interview on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show.

And that’s the real problem. Too many people are worried about how this will effect the results in November. What about the people who were thrown under the bus by Foley? What about the minors he’s harmed mentally if not physically? If members of the Republican party intentionally kept the Foley matter from becoming public, I don’t want them reelected. I don’t want them serving our country. They need to be rooted out and their careers cut short.

And yeah, Hastert should step down. I haven’t been that impressed with the guy as it is, and now there is this whole can o’ worms. He should have done something about it before now.

I say, clear the halls of all the bums, Democrat and Republican alike. If their only goal is to keep getting elected, then I don’t want them running the country.

I’m in Frankfurt, 24 hours later than I thought I would be. Man, do I hate traveling. I don’t mind the business. Once I get where I’m going I feel great. What I do mind is the process of traveling. It’s the waiting. It’s the hardest part (h/t Tom Petty).

Monday, I showed up at SeaTac airport in Seattle on time, riding something called the ‘Airporter’, a charter bus. It’s relatively cheap, and you can space out all you like on the ride down since you don’t have to drive. It’s no time saver though. I left my town at 8:20 AM and got to the airport at 11:30 AM. So, I make through check-in, survive the security line (nightmare), and get to the gate. No problem so far. At about the 30 minute mark before I’m set to take off, the nice lady at the counter gets on her microphone and says…

Ladies and Gentlemen, regarding United Flt. 938 to Chicago, we’re going to be delayed. In fact, it will be a severe delay.

When is a delay not severe? Anyway, it turned out that Chicago had all sorts of thunder storms and they weren’t letting any plane land or take-off until further notice. Our gate agent was predicting a departure time no earlier than 5 pm. Well, I had my Frankfurt flight at 9:40 PM CST, and I wasn’t gonna make it. I walked up to the counter and worked with the attendant for almost an hour only to hear the same bad news. After multiple tries at getting me to another airport somewhere in the world which could then load me off to Frankfurt, we discovered that there wasn’t anyway United was going to get me there. The only other option? Cancel the tickets. I did.

So, there I am, in SeaTac airport no longer holding a ticket to get to Frankfurt, Germany. I call my assistant to rework my appointments. She cancels my hotel so I don’t get docked a nights stay. I start wondering how I’m going to get back home (remember I took the airporter). Lucky for me I was able to get on the next bus home, and at 6:30 PM, I was back in my house, still ticket-less.

After feeding the kids, I get on the internet and start looking at flight options, knowing full well that I’m going to be looking at five figure costs. I find Air Canada with a few flights (I live only a few miles from the U.S. / Canadian border, so I opt for Vancouver International. I book a Tuesday departure. I’ve also got to find a new hotel, since the first one was cancelled. If you’ve ever gone to the Frankfurt Book Fair before, you know what the hotel industry does during the 4 days of the event. They jack their prices up 500%, since they can, and since a couple of hundred thousand people come here looking for rooms. Much to my surprise, I find a room – a non-smoking room to boot! Pure luck, that’s what that is. Yet, my luck doesn’t extend to the price. I’m being gouged to death. Oh well, what am I supposed to do? Sleep in the street?

I set out again on Tuesday, and now almost 18 hours later, I’m sitting here, jet-lagged, in my hotel room along the river Main in downtown Frankfurt.

Did I say I hated traveling?

Yeah, I did.

I’m heading to Frankfurt Germany tomorrow. My day job requires a pilgrimage to the International Book Fair each year. The first couple of times it was cool. Now, it’s work, plain and simple. Still, there are worse places in the world to visit, so I’m not complaining. Much. At least I’ll be reunited with a love of mine. Oooh, anticipation.

Maybe being in GMT +1 will inspire me to write? I’ve been less than enthused with this blog lately. I’m sure most of you agree. Oh well, whaddaya gonna do? Sue me?

For now, there are a few interesting things to observe. First, Michelle Malkin has been photoshopped and she ain’t happy. I don’t blame her. Drudge highlights a story about a video tape of the September 11th hijackers shot in 2000. For some reason, this is news. I don’t understand why. The fallout from the Foley escapade continues. Apparently, Republicans in Congress have known about his tendencies since 2005. If that’s true, then Hastert has some splainin’ to do. OK, so that Borat guy can be funny, but does he really deserve all this attention? Think Rumsfeld should resign? Ain’t gonna happen, unless Bush wants it, and he doesn’t. Neil Armstrong has been vindicated, but I don’t care. I liked the phrase the way it was. The President of the Mormons is 96 years-young, and he ain’t going anywhere. The same can’t necessarily be said for Louis Farrakhan. And the biggest story of the day? One of the Hanson brothers is off the market. Sorry girls.

I’ll check in from Germany. Auf wiedersehen.

Good news for the troops. The Senate approved an additional $70 billion more for the war on terror today.

Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, resigned suddenly after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit email messages he sent to young boys.

Saying he was “deeply sorry,” Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress today, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former congressional pages under the age of 18.

A spokesman for Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, said the congressman submitted his resignation in a letter late this afternoon to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

In a statement, Foley said, “I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent.”

And to think I was worried about when the next terrorist attack would occur. Now I’m worried about what kind of background checks we perform on our elected leaders.

And isn’t it ironic that he just happens to be the chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Pffffttt.

Foley is slime – period. He did the right thing by resigning, but now law enforcement needs to do their job.

MORE: Details, details.