LFR 15 YEARS!

Within minutes of the end of President Bush's speech to the VFW, Minority Leaders Reid and Pelosi issued two of the most inane statements I've ever seen. In other words, it was typical Reid-Pelosi drivel. Here's Pelosi's statement: "Today, once again, President Bush demonstrated that he is in denial about his historic blunder in Iraq. We must win the war on terror, but the war in Iraq is the wrong war. Today, just as it has since the war began, Iraq is weakening our ability to fight the war on terrorism. The strain that the Iraq war has put on our military has crippled our ability to prosecute the war on terrorism and has dangerously limited our ability to respond to real challenges to our national security around the world. "Mr. Bush's failed war in Iraq come at a huge cost, first and foremost in human lives, and at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars. It has also had a tremendous cost to reputation, damaging our ability to engage other c

July 2006 Posts June 2006 Posts May 2006 Posts April 2006 Posts March 2006 Posts Date Title 01-Aug-06  Senate Clears Way for Offshore Bill < 01-Aug-06  Americans Stand With Israel; Dingell Won't < 01-Aug-06  Declaring Defeat? < 01-Aug-06  CAIR, Pelosi, Conyers Wanted Law Enforcement's Hands Tied < 02-Aug-06  Russian Manuals Found In Lebanon < 02-Aug-06  Campaign Chicanery? < 02-Aug-06  Rep. Rangel to Retire < 02-Aug-06  MNGOP Asks For Investigation Into Hatch Ethical Violations < 02-Aug-06  What a Tangled Web < 03-Aug-06  Democrats In Trouble? < 03-Aug-06  Rome: Jewish Shops Defaced With Swastikas < 03-Aug-06  Fireworks in Seattle < 03-Aug-06  In Sharia Law We Trust < 03-Aug-06  Murtha: I've Been Vindicated < 03-Aug-06  Time Running Out for Republicans < 03-Aug-06  The Truth Behind Terrorism < 03-Aug-06  Murtha: I'll Surrender For Israel, Too < 03-Aug-06  Growing a Spine < 04-Aug-06  S

That's what this USA Today article is suggesting. Here's the main section of the article: "The only place they have to go is down," says Fred Rozell, gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving." Travel organization AAA foresees prices 10 cents a gallon lower by the end of next week. It reported a nationwide average of $2.84 Tuesday, the lowest since April 20. It's good news for consumers and the economy. Continued lower prices "may act like a tax cut" and stimulate spending, says Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City in Cleveland. He calculates that higher energy prices the first six months cut growth of consumer spending 1 percentage point. When AAA makes gas price predictions, it's usually a reliable forecast. The other forecasts seem to be bolstered by anecdotal evidence of dropping prices at the pump. It might also signal a drop in demand caused

Jack Kelly wrote a great article about Plamegate that's well worth reading. A new book by Michael Isikoff, an investigative reporter for Newsweek, and David Corn, who writes for the far left wing magazine The Nation, casts many powerful people in Washington in an unflattering light, but not the people who Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn wish to besmirch. A brief review for those of you who have lives, and who consequently haven't been following closely the details of the Plame Name Game: In his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush said: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." First in leaks to reporters, and then in his own op-ed in the New York Times, a retired diplomat, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, said the president was lying. His claim to speak with authority was that in the spring of 2002, the CIA had sent him to Niger to see if Saddam had tried to buy uranium there.

Democrats expressed their outrage over Donald Rumsfeld's comparison of today's anti-war crowd with the Hitler appeasers of the 1930's : "It is a dangerous business to accuse those who disagree with you of moral and intellectual confusion," said Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "Debate in our democracy is based upon respect, not vilification." Said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA): "If Mr. Rumsfeld is so concerned with comparisons to World War II, he should explain why our troops have now been fighting in Iraq longer than it took our forces to defeat the Nazis in Europe." Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said Rumsfeld has been "substituting sloganing for strategy" and delivered a "calculated political argument" to make people believe that to support a war against terror requires support of the administration's policies. "I

In this instance, the "they" I'm talking about are journalists. Here's the article I'm refering to : You may have missed the march in downtown L.A. on Aug. 12, but I was there. I expected the Palestinian flags, the jaunty kaffiyehs, the drum-beating and brow-beating. But I nearly dropped my pen in the gutter when I heard cries of "Long live Hezbollah!" from the marchers. It's one thing to protest the Israel-U.S. alliance, to think Israel's a big bully, etc. I don't agree, but a free country is open to varied political discourse. Call everyone with whom you disagree a Nazi if it makes you feel better. But it's quite another to cheer on a terrorist organization. And if you think it isn't happening in the United States, you may have missed some recent far-left rallies where that anti-Israel stance crossed the line to anti-Semitism, where the traditional anti-Bush chants were supplemented with support for guerrilla militias armed

The good news is that the Klobuchar campaign has posted the Klobuchar campaign's 'cure' for the federal budget deficit. The bad news is that it looks alot like past Democratic budget deficit 'cures'. DFL Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar rolled out a plan Tuesday which she says could save the federal government more than $400 billion a year. Klobuchar says the savings would come from closing tax loopholes, cutting wasteful spending, instituting "pay-as-you-go" spending and negotiating medicare (sp.?) drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. She would also rollback tax cuts on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. Klobuchar says with the savings and increased tax money the deficit could be reduced. She says cutting the deficit would bring down interest rates and make life more affordable for middle class Americans. "It is time that we put an end to this runaway spending and to stop pretending that we can keep going the way we're going whe

Last week, Amy Klobuchar put out her plan to protect America . It's safe to say that I think there's a few flaws in her plan. Let me cite some of those flaws, starting with the biggest flaw: INTELLIGENCE Five years after September 11th, we still don't have unified information sharing between intelligence agencies. We should insist that our security agencies have complete, accurate, and reliable data, in order to ensure that all of our security agencies are using up-to-date information. Just how do you propose to get that done, Ms. Klobuchar , when you're associating yourself with CAIR, which lobbied Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers and John Dingell, David Bonior, Gregory Meeks, Nick Joe Rahall to drasmatically change the Patriot Act? How will we have "unified information sharing between intelligence agencies" when Harry Reid bragged about "killing the Patriot Act" and Russ Feingold thinks that the filibustering of the Patriot act was "a grea

Here's the opening paragraph of Michael Barone's latest column : When asked what would affect the future, the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously said: "Events, dear boy. Events." The event this month that I think has done most to shape opinion was the arrest in London on Aug. 9 of 23 Muslims suspected of plotting to blow up American airliners over the Atlantic. Michael isn't yet saying that Republicans are out of the woods yet but he's noted a change in the atmosphere surrounding this November's elections. With good reason. The nation's attention has been riveted since the foiling of the terrorist plot in London and Anna Diggs-Taylor's ridiculous ruling. In the aftermath of London, we found out that the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program played a major role in foiling that plot. The contrast couldn't have been more damning for Democrats. Whether it was Russ Feingold crowing that the filibustering of the Patriot A

A huge hat tip goes out to Jack Kelly for his brilliant Sunday column on why Democrats can't be trusted with national security matters . I've read alot of Jack's stuff over the years and I've always been impressed but this might be Jack's best work yet. Judge Anna Diggs Taylor illustrates why Democrats cannot be trusted with political power in time of war. Judge Taylor, who is the chief judge of the federal district court in Detroit, ruled Aug. 17 that it is unconstitutional for the National Security Agency to listen in, without warrants, on telephone conversations between terror suspects abroad and people in the United States. Her ruling was praised by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and other prominent Democrats. I wrote about Taylor's ruling last week. I thought it was flimsy then and I've seen nothing to change my opinion since. In fact, I'm more convinced now than ever. the fact that Pelosi and Reid

Max Cleland has announced that he'll lead a vets rally for John Murtha the day before the Boot Murtha rally. Here's part of his statement: The Murtha for Congress Committee said that former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) announced last night he's leading a large-scale effort among his veteran brothers to support U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA), who is coming under attack from "radical right-wing forces in the veterans' community" aimed at "swift-boating Murtha, like they did former Democratic nominee for president Sen. John Kerry." Sen. Cleland, Is it a "radical right wing" thing to demand that John Murtha not betray his oath of office by ignoring the Constitution's due process and fair trial guarantees? If it is, then I'm guilty as charged. And proudly so. Murtha, on the other hand, is too interested in playing cheap political politics with the military to be concerned with Constitutional guarantees these days. Sen. Cleland,

That's the question that people are asking about John Murtha in this OSC newsletter . Let's take a look: Regardless of opinions on Murtha's past words and deeds, it is what Murtha is saying and doing now that have folks no longer supporting him. His playing politics now with our soldiers' lives was a common reason cited for no longer supporting him. His insensitivity to troops in the field and soldiers' now, who need to know that the family member's life and sacrifice had good purpose, was another reason for no longer supporting him. The backlash is coming this November as the truth sinks in. Message to John Murtha: the past is the past. We don't like what you are saying and doing NOW! The legacy part of Murtha's record is fine, albeit a bit dull. Frankly, I heard of Murtha long before I actually heard Murtha speak. He was always a 'shadows' representative, meaning he didn't get much airtime until his immediate redeployment politica

That's the best way I can describe the Twins win last night. It started off predictably enough but someone threw a veritable sack full of wrenches into the plot somewhere around the eighth inning. Juan Rincon, who'd only given up 1 homer all year, gave up a homer to bring the Mighty Whities to within 2 at 6-4. TheMighty Whities got another run on a sacrifice fly to close to within 1 at 6-5. A day after getting a contract extension, lefty Dennys Reyes couldn't find the strike zone, walking the bases full before getting yanked by Gardy with a 2-0 count. Pat Neshek, just 2 months into his major league career, struck out former Twin A.J. Pierzinski swinging to end the uprising just a night after Pierzinski took him deep to tie Friday night's game. After Nick Punto, one of the 'Piranhas' that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is always raving about, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, most Twins fans breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Joe Nathan was ready

FNC reporter Steve Centanni was released this morning !!! Here's some of the details on his release: Steve Centanni, 60, and Olaf Wiig, 36, left Gaza and have since crossed into Israel after their release. The men left Gaza through the Erez border crossing. --------------- A tearful Centanni embraced a Palestinian journalist briefly as he entered, then rushed upstairs as Wiig followed. Centanni, in a phone interview shortly after his release, said "I'm fine. I'm just so happy to be free." He said he was so emotional because he was out and alive. "There were times when I thought 'I'm dead,' and I'm not," Centanni said. "I'm fine. I'm so very happy." It's great to hear that Centanni & Wiig have been freed. I've been hoping for this moment but I haven't been terribly confident that they'd be released or even found alive. Both of the men were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, Centanni sai

I got a kick out of reading this article , titled "Once-parallel paths of Hagel and McCain diverge". The article is a perfect illustration of what the liberal political press has come to. Here's an example: Not long ago, Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and John McCain of Arizona were the Stardust Twins of the GOP, both decorated Vietnam War veterans and fearless conservative mavericks who occupied much the same political ground. The characterization of Hagel or McCain as conservatives is laughable at best. But to a left wing nut, they're probably as left as they want in government. Here's another indication of just how liberals view Hagel and McCain: Berens begins her book noting that Hagel, a loyal Republican and internationalist in outlook, "time and again has taken shots at his party's and his president's engagement, or lack of it, with the rest of the world" and has scolded his conservative colleagues for their unilateralist tendencie

I just took another look at Ned Lamont's website to see what his foreign policy beliefs are, especially about the Middle East . It's safe to say that I found them just as unsettling this time as I did last time. Here's part of what I found unsettling: Let's be clear that Bush emphasized Iraq at the expense of an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, and we are reaping the consequences. Just think what the situation could have been if the United States had invested its power, prestige, and resources in a peace settlement. Instead we chose a failed war and stand virtually alone, paying a heavy price for a profoundly failed set of decisions. Lamont can think whatever he wants but anyone that thinks that peace in the Middle East is possible is dangerously delusional. Hamas is now running the Palestinian Authority. They're committed to wiping Israel off the map. They're funded by Iran, whose biggest goal is wiping Israel off the map. Why does Lamont think t

According to this article , Hillary Clinton is stabbing Joe Lieberman in the front while trying to ingratiate herself to the Nutroots gang. Lieberman is running as an independent in November, and Republicans have attempted to cast his primary loss as a sign that the Democratic Party has been taken over by its extreme left wing. At Clinton's Westchester County home, she and Lamont "talked about what Mr. Lamont can expect from the George Bush-Karl Rove attack machine," Wolfson said. "She told him Republicans were invested in defeating him." Clinton has contributed $5,000 from her political action committee to Lamont's campaign and will do "whatever works for the campaign," Wolfson said. Wolfson, one of Clinton's senior political strategists, also said he will join the Lamont campaign as an adviser. Hillary knows that Lamont is a political idiot but she thinks he's a good vehicle to 'get herself right' with the Nutroots crowd

That's the point blank question that Diana Irey is asking via this statement . "Once again, Jack Murtha is putting out 'facts' that just aren't facts. Earlier this week, Mr. Murtha used the announcement of a recall of Marines as an excuse to once again criticize the war effort. 'Bringing these Marines back to active duty after their tour of service was complete shows we are unable recruit [sic] the necessary volunteers to maintain troop levels in our armed forces,' he said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. The sad fact is, even Mr. Murtha, a decorated veteran with 37 years in the military, as we are constantly reminded, would have known that, had he bothered to check his vaunted connections at the Department of Defense. "According to Defense Department statistics released 13 days before he made his statement (available online at: DoD Announces Recruiting and Retention Numbers for July) , the Marines have met and in fact surpass

That's the only way I can describe the Twins come-from-behind win against the Mighty Whities last night. Consider Brad Radke, who's been an absolute warrior the last two months, leaving after giving up three runs in just two innings. Most people would probably think that they're screwed, right? That's a big mistake when you're dealing with the deepest bullpen in baseball. Enter Matt Guerrier. Guerrier held Chicago scoreless in his three masterful innings of work, giving Minnesota a chance to get back into the game. Which they did in the 6th. Nick Punto, part of the flesh-eating foursome that Ozzie Guillen nicknamed 'The Piranhas', picked a perfect time to hit his first homer of the season, bringing the Twins within 2 at 3-1. After Chicago starter Vazquez got Joe Mauer to line out to first to record the second out of the inning, Michael Cuddyer lined a single to left, prompting Guillen to bring in Neal Cotts to face Justin Morneau. The move didn'

John Murtha's categorical declaration that Marines had killed people in Haditha in cold blood took another hit today in this Washington Post article . Let's look at what they're reporting: In a 34-minute interview with two colonels, Laughner described taking pictures of each of the bodies while moving from room to room in three houses, as the Marines described what happened in each circumstance. The Marines told Laughner they had taken fire from the houses and believed they heard people "racking AK-47s", preparing to fire the automatic weapons. The Marines then "cleared" the rooms using fragmentation grenades and rifle shots. Two other accounts given by lawyers for Marines in the unit are consistent with the version Laughner heard from the Marines involved in the incident on Nov. 19. It hardly sounds like these Marines went off the deep end. Rather, it sounds like they were defending themselves from imminent danger. It's a big stretch to say

Nancy Pelosi announced today that House Democrats were forming a Waste, Fraud and Abuse Truth Squad . Here's part of her statement: "The Democratic Truth Squad will keep the Bush Administration honest by documenting and exposing waste, fraud and abuse. Democrats are committed to a new direction in the way our government does business so taxpayer's money is handled responsibly." Today, the Truth Squad is releasing a new report on wasteful procurement spending in response to Hurricane Katrina. In the year following Hurricane Katrina, citizens of the Gulf Coast needed government to be at it best. Instead, according to the report, they got the cronyism, corruption and incompetence that have been far too commonplace under the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress. It's interesting that Pelosi would suggest that the nation needs a change of direction and only Democrats can deliver it, especially when it comes to New Orleans. The reality is that New