LFR 15 YEARS!

That's the title of Lt. Gen. William E. Odom's op-ed for ForeignPolicy.com. If we leave, there will be a civil war. In reality, a civil war in Iraq began just weeks after U.S. forces toppled Saddam. Any close observer could see that then; today, only the blind deny it. Even President Bush, who is normally impervious to uncomfortable facts, recently admitted that Iraq has peered into the abyss of civil war. He ought to look a little closer. Iraqis are fighting Iraqis. Insurgents have killed far more Iraqis than Americans. That's civil war. The part that "today, only the blind deny it" destroys his credibility. Lt. Col. Ralph Peters isn't a Bush apologist by any stretch of the imagination Far from it. Neither is Lt. Col. David Hunt. Neither is the Washington Post's David Ignatius. All three of these men say that there isn't a civil war happening in Iraq. Peters wrote a series of compelling reports from Iraq for the NY Post, with the ...

According to The Hill's Jonathan Allen, that's the title of a new NRCC article on Vernon Jackson's guilty plea on charges that he bribed Representative William Jefferson , (D-LA). This is what I wrote yesterday: Vernon Jackson, 53, chief executive of Louisville-based iGate Inc., pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official and conspiracy to bribe a public official. The congressman was not identified in court documents or during Wednesday's plea hearing, but documents make clear that the congressman whom Jackson admits bribing is Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat who represents New Orleans. Prosecutor Mark Lytle said Jackson paid roughly $360,000 over a four-year period to a company controlled by the congressman's wife in exchange for Jefferson's help promoting iGate technology in Africa. Jackson also gave the company a 24 percent stake in iGate and paid for $80,000 in travel expenses on the congressman's trips to Africa to promote iGate. He...

That's Ed Koch's opinion based on his column in Wednesday's Jewish World Review . Those who opposed the war against Iraq and who will oppose a preemptive strike in an effort to destroy Iran's nuclear bomb facilities are as concerned about our country and its future as those of us who want to make certain by taking military action that the country's future is assured. But in the opposition's ranks there are the usual crazies, pacifists, dreamers and self-haters of the U.S. who believe we are evil in aspirations and actions and our opponents are virtuous and worthy of support, whoever they may be. Senator John McCain put it succinctly, "There's only one thing worse than the United States exercising the military option, that is, a nuclear-armed Iran." Mayor Koch, I couldn't agree more. Many is the time that I've spoken about the difference between old-fashioned liberals and today's progressives. Simply put, old-fashioned libe...

Harry Reid issued a press release today on lobbying reform on the same day a businessman pleaded guilty to bribing Representative William Jefferson, (D-LA) . Here's the last paragraph of Reid's press release: If the trial of Tom Delay and prison terms for Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham don't convince the Republican Party to clean up its act, Americans should begin to wonder what will. Harry's timing is brutal at minimum. William Jefferson is every bit as guilty as Duke Cunningham. Additionally, Harry's a "first tier target" of the DOJ's investigation into Abramoff's influence-peddling. Tom DeLay isn't in that first tier. In light of this information, who's the corrupt party? In all fairness, neither party has a lock on being the 'Party of Virtue'. That's why I don't see this 'issue' being a winner for Democrats. It isn't like people think that Republicans are less virtuous than Democrats. They...

Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Barb Boxer and several other Democratic senators went to "Eastern Market, Washington, D.C., to discuss the ripple effect of high gas prices, and Democratic policies that will ease prices today and put America on a path toward energy independence." This is nothing more than the latest Democratic "I feel your pain" rally. It does nothing to solve the underlying problem. Gas prices are punishing Americans across the country, but the pain they cause is not limited to the gas station. The effects ripple across the nation, on a path from farms to small businesses to kitchen tables all across America. With so many struggling to make ends meet, it is long past time for Bush Republicans to put aside the energy policies that the Bush-Cheney White House let Big Oil write and stand up for the American people. "Illinois farmers have expressed real concern when every dollar they earn from their land is eaten up by the rising cost of fuel and f...

Ken Blackwell has won the GOP primary for Ohio governor. Though he trails Democrat Representative Ted Strickland right now in the polls, expect this race to tighten up by fall. The Ohio primary, amid Republican woes and the state's role as the deciding state in the last presidential election, was a closely watched barometer of voter dissatisfaction and whether it could lead to political upheaval in November. With 94 percent of precincts reporting, Blackwell had 435,478 votes, or 56 percent, compared with 338,606, or 44 percent, for state Attorney General Jim Petro. Blackwell's prominence as a leading black voice in the GOP could be pivotal to Republicans. He is the first black candidate to run for governor in Ohio. Ken Blackwell is the Democrats' worst nightmare- a true black conservative who's won statewide races before. The last I'd heard, Mr. Blackwell was pulling 40% of the black vote in Ohio. The polls show Strickland with a 10 point lead on Black...

The AP's Martin Crutsinger is reporting that the House-Senate conference committee has ironed out almost all the details for extending some of the President's tax cuts. Majority Republicans have reached agreement in principle on a $70 billion tax relief package that would extend tax cuts on capital gains and dividends for two years and keep 15 million middle income taxpayers from getting hit with a tax designed for the wealthy, GOP aides said late Tuesday. However, final passage of the measure is being linked by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley to achieving an agreement with House Republicans over the outlines of a second package of tax breaks, according to Republican staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been announced by their bosses. This will definitely put a smile on investors' faces and keep investments humming right along. Couple that with the 4.8 percent first quarter growth and I think there's pl...

Judge Greer , the Florida judge who essentially gave the death penalty to Terry Schiavo spoke out on the right-to-die issue recently in Philadelphia. Pinellas County Circuit Judge George W. Greer, in brief remarks at the University of Pennsylvania on Monday, said that 30 state and federal judges painstakingly reviewed the many volumes of testimony and evidence submitted in the divisive case. But state lawmakers who passed "Terri's Law" to have the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted did so with "little to no debate" and with "significant arm-twisting," he said. "Do you want that process...or do you want a deliberative, court evidence-driven process where it can be reviewed?" Greer asked. A spokesman for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the legislation went through two days of debate, more than any other bill during that legislative session. "The Florida Legislature is an independent body and Terri's Law went thro...

In their seemingly weekly diatribe, Iran threatened Israel again . This time, it came with a new twist. Iran will target Israel first if the United States does anything "evil", a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday. The United States says it wants Iran's nuclear standoff with the West solved diplomatically but has refused to rule out military action. "We have announced that wherever America does something evil, the first place that we target will be Israel," Revolutionary Guards Rear Admiral Mohammad-Ebrahim Dehqani was quoted as saying by Iran's student news agency ISNA. The Islamic Republic has never recognized Israel and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map." Dehqani said naval wargames held in the Gulf last month "carried the warning to those countries that threaten Iran, including America and the Zionist regime". While threats like t...

That's what I'm betting will happen now that Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani has weighed in on the issue. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, regarded as the moral voice of Iraq's Shiite majority, called for a government of technocrats rather than political loyalists or sectarian interests and said that only government forces should be permitted to carry weapons on the streets. "Weapons must be in the hands of government security forces that should not be tied to political parties but to the nation," said the Iranian-born Sistani in a statement released by his office in Najaf after he met with the newly designated prime minister. The militias that have done the most damage have been Shi'ite militias. Most of the attacks were payback for Saddam's killing Shi'ites that took to the streets after Operation Desert Storm. Sistani has been the voice of reason in Iraq almost from the time that Baghdad fell. His was the voice that brought credence to the Janu...

Fox News Sunday celebrated its 10th Anniversary yesterday with its Sunday morning show & a Sunday night special on its history, including the secret to why their roundtable is the best in the business. There's numerous reasons why it's the best Sunday morning political talk show. Here's my reasons for that opinion: Most importantly, Tony Snow and Chris Wallace, the only hosts the show's known, are the best interviewers in the business. They've never been afraid to ask pointed questions, and more importantly, pointed followups of any guest that they've had on. Talking points answers and monologues don't cut it with this show. The show didn't lose a thing when Tony or Chris were on vacation, either, with Brith Hume anchoring the show. Secondly, their roundtables are always lively, informative and insightful. Brit, Mara, Bill and Juan are all talented reporters. They aren't just pundits. As Juan said on last night's special, Brit holds peo...

Slow Joe Biden's NY Times op-ed is filled with one stupid idea and one even bigger mistake. It's all caused by a misreading of facts on the ground in Iraq and misreading of American public opinion. Iraq should be divided into three largely autonomous regions with less central control to stop the country from tearing apart, a leading U.S. Democrat proposed on Monday, but the White House rebuffed the idea. This is an odd proposal for this reasons: Biden's proposal suggests that the U.S. controls Iraqi national politics. That's the worst signal that the U.S. could send to the region. Approving this policy would mean that all the hard work that's been done, both by Ambassador Khalilzad and by the Iraqi Parliament, was for naught. Biden's timing couldn't be worse, either. Had he proposed this 3 months ago, he might've gained limited Senate support for this proposal. Republicans will reject this proposal now because the unity government is forming....

The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray updates us on the moonbats' war against Joe Lieberman. The moonbats' war against Lieberman is based almost entirely on Lieberman's support for the Iraq war. Now, Lamont has turned the Democratic primary into a horse race, giving Lieberman his first real test since he joined the Senate 18 years ago, according to Democratic operatives and analysts in Connecticut. Party leaders were so rattled by the challenge that Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) called Lamont asking him to back off. "Some of the party brass said, 'Ned, don't jeopardize a safe seat,'" Lamont recently told students at Southern Connecticut State University, who gathered for a meet-and-greet session. "But you're not going to lose a senator. You're going to gain a Democrat." I suspect that Old Harry doesn't want that type of moonbat Democrat in Washington. It's laughable to think that Lamont could beat...

March 2006 Posts Date Title 01-Apr-06  McDermott: Taping Dispute Not Personal 01-Apr-06  McKinney a Victim in Scuffle 01-Apr-06  Rising Waters Worry Mayors 02-Apr-06  Clark: U.S. Needs New Plan on Terror War 02-Apr-06  Support Eroding For Iraqi Leader 02-Apr-06  My Questions Will Be Answered 03-Apr-06  Improved Intelligence? 03-Apr-06  Raum Increasingly Critical of Bush 03-Apr-06  Blame It On Bush 03-Apr-06  Gore Gets 'Green' and Mean With W 03-Apr-06  Obama Strikes Out at Bush's Energy Policy 04-Apr-06  Democrats Seize National Security Issue 04-Apr-06  It's Finally Opening Day!!! 04-Apr-06  Commending Capitol Police 05-Apr-06  Feingold: Definition of Marriage Amendment Mean-spirited 05-Apr-06  Thank God They Don't Run the Country 05-Apr-06  Two Deadlines and an Exit 05-Apr-06  Let the Iraqis Bargain 05-Apr-06  Pelosi, Emanuel Blast DeLay, GOP 05-Apr-06  Looney Left: ...

Several weeks back, Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson said that he'd gotten assurances from the Minnesota Supreme Court wouldn't take up the gay marriage issue. He quickly retreated from that statement. I said on April 2 that my questions will be answered . Now that prediction is coming true. For what may be the first time in its 40-year history, the state Board on Judicial Standards has opened investigative files on all seven Minnesota Supreme Court justices, the result of a complaint that alleges that one or more of them may have had improper conversations with a legislator regarding Minnesota's marriage laws. The board could dismiss the complaint or take disciplinary action against any or all of the justices. It launched an investigation of Chief Justice Russell Anderson and Associate Justices Barry Anderson and Paul Anderson earlier this month on the basis of complaints filed by state Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, and lawyer Greg Wersal. In a follow-up...

This CBS Sportsline article tells you why the Houston Texans didn't take Reggie Bush with the first overall pick in the annual NFL Entry Draft. Based the article, it's safe to say that he's embroiled in a ton of legal troubles. The parents of Southern California football star Reggie Bush received $100,000 in cash from investors in a sports marketing company that hoped to sign the running back, an attorney for the investors said in a letter obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune. Attorney Brian Watkins told the newspaper on Friday that Bush's parents, LaMar and Denise Griffin, asked for the money partly to resolve financial problems. Watkins said the money included an initial payment of about $30,000 to help start up New Era Sports and Entertainment. If that sounds like a lot, you're right. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Watkins said earlier this week that Bush's parents didn't pay $54,000 in rent during the year they lived in a hou...

Charlie Bass, who infuriated conservatives by opposing drilling in ANWR, is scoring points for challenging Ted Kennedy on the Nantucket Sound wind farm project . Residents of the Bay State enjoy staying warm in the winter and cool during the summer. And they like playing with their computers and other electronic devices as much as the next person. Just don't ask them to make any sacrifices to produce the electricity that keeps them comfortable and happy. According to an Associated Press dispatch this week, "New England's failure to build electricity generating plants will put the region at a higher-than-usual risk of resorting to precautions this summer to keep its power grid from overloading." Citing a recent report from the Northeast Power Coordinating Council, the story noted that this region "faces a greater likelihood of measures to ease the load, including temporary voltage reductions and supply interruptions to certain industrial customers" ...

That's what Ayman al-Zawahri is claiming in his latest video. Chalk it up to more wishful thinking on Zawahiri's part because it isn't rooted in reality. Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian militant believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, also denounced the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as "traitors" and called on Muslims to rise up to "confront them." He said that U.S. and British forces in Iraq had bogged down in Iraq and "have achieved nothing but loss, disaster and misfortune." Calling on jihadists to confront an entire region of Muslim nations isn't too bright. In fact, it's rather stupid. Coupled with his comments about "U.S. and British forces in Iraq" being "bogged down in Iraq", it's pretty obvious that he's a desparate man who isn't having much recruiting success. "Every soldier and officer in the Pakistani military should know that Musharraf is thro...

Let's consider the ramifications of a Democratic House or Senate on tax policy. It's a guarantee that we'd see tax increases if Democrats controlled the House or Senate, crippling small businesses that file their taxes as individuals. Small businesses that make $200,000+ would have their marginal tax rates jump from 36% to 44%, a minimum increase of $16,000 annually. A friend of mine who is a small businessman would fit into that group. He recently said that he pays almost that much for his family's health care. The thing is that President Bush wouldn't even get a veto on this tax increase because this tax increase would happen as part of the tax cut legislation's sunset provisions. Democrats have railed against tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 or 2% seemingly forever. It's a guarantee that Democrats would simply let those cuts to expire, adding mightily to those families' expenses. That type of tax increase would almost guarantee an economic downtur...

The NY Times' Elisabeth Bumiller and David Johnston are reporting that "Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case, is expected to decide in the next two to three weeks whether to bring perjury charges against Karl Rove, the powerful adviser to President Bush, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday." This comes just a day after Rove's attorney Robert Luskin told reporters that he'd been assured that Rove isn't a target of the investigation. There's three possible explanations for this: (a) The NY Times is wrong; (b) Luskin is wrong or (c) Fitzgerald lied to Luskin. I'm not automatically inclined to believe Fitzgerald at this point but I'd doubt he'd lie to Rove's attorney. Considering all their corrections, I'm more inclined to believe that the NY Times might have gotten another story wrong. Cross-posted at California Conservative Posted Friday, April 28, 2006 5:07 PM No comments.

Several months back, Senate Democrats preened for the cameras after filibustering the drilling in ANWR, saying that they'd protected 'the environment' by doing so. What they didn't say is that they also caused us to get more addicted to foreign suppliers of natural gas. That's just part of the Democrats' energy policy. Democrats filibustering the drilling in ANWR didn't tell you that ANWR is home to one of the largest reserves of natural gas in the world. Everyone knows that natural gas is the most efficient, cleanest burning home heating fuel. What we don't know is why Democrats are blocking us from tapping into a natural gas field that would eliminate most of our foreign purchases of natural gas. People living in the Rust Belt states, from Montana to Maine, are adversely affected by that filibuster. What's worse is that the area in ANWR where the drilling would occur, isn't "pristine wilderness." It's 3.13 square miles of tu...

It sure sounds that way from the quotes in this Newsmax article . The article's titled "Tax Hikes Sinking Gov. Corzine in N.J.", which I believe. what I'm wondering, though, is what effect they're having on the Bob Menendez vs. Tom Kean Senate race. Ingrid Reed of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University said voters are so cynical in corruption-riddled New Jersey that they may not have had much confidence in Corzine or his opponent last fall to begin with. "There was an enormous skepticism among voters that either candidate could deliver," Reed said. The voters who had "enormous skepticism" that "either candidate could deliver" certainly didn't expect Corzine to break his campaign pledges this fast or this dramatically. This is something that Democrats still haven't learned. You can't keep breaking campaign promises, especially if these broken promises cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollar...

The Washington Post's David Ignatius has written another positive article about Iraq's improving climate, this time talking about the significance of Jawad al-Maliki's becoming their prime minister. So what should the world make of Iraq's new prime minister, Jawad al-Maliki? What chance will his new government have of containing the sectarian violence in Iraq and averting a full-blown civil war? The first reaction of many outsiders is likely to be, "Jawad who?" Maliki is not well known outside his country, and his election after a four-month impasse may seem anticlimactic. Indeed, since he is a member of the same Islamic faction, the Dawa party, as the incumbent, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, people might imagine that little has changed. But that would be a mistake. The most important fact about Maliki's election is that it's a modest declaration of independence from Iran. The Iranians waged a tough behind-the-scenes campaign to keep Jaafari in offic...

It's obvious that the Democrats are worried about Tony Snow's ability to connect with real people beyond the Beltway. If they weren't worried, they wouldn't have sent out the flurry of contradictory messages today, saying in one breath that Snow is a shill for the Administration and that he's disagreed with them too much another. Here's a sampling of their doublespeak: The Democratic National Committee said Snow's appointment shows "truth still snowed in" in the Bush administration. Karen Finney, the DNC's equivalent of Joe Goebbels, was on Fox earlier today and said "It isn't a question of whether Tony Snow is a likeable guy. It's a question of whether he'll be honest with the American people." Anyone who's known Tony Snow knows that he's as honest a person as there is in Washington. That isn't just my opinion. It's possibly the only opinion that Bob Beckel, Juan Williams and I wholeheartedly agree...

Except if it's coming from DNC Spokeswoman Karen Finney. Then it's worthless. Catch this quote from this morning's DNC press release : "The American people should get ready for another Snow job from the Bush White House. Tony Snow represents more of the same, not the fresh start the Administration needed," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "This is an interdepartmental move from one part of the conservative infrastructure to another that allows a darling of the right-wing to deliver the same misleading message, cherry-picked information and spin to the American people. Josh Bolten's plan for re-energizing the White House called for more happy talk and a better PR campaign for the same failed policies. Snow's track record of delivering misleading rhetoric is a perfect fit for this Administration that refuses to change and has a problem telling the truth." In Ms. Finney's world, Fox News Channel a...