Al Qaeda terrorists have been "almost defeated" in Iraq's Anbar province, once considered the heart of the resistance to the U.S. led coalition, a top Anbar Sunni leader said yesterday. More good news coming out of Iraq.
The confirmation of Judge Michael B. Mukasey to be the next Attorney General of the United States seems certain with the announcement by Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein that they will support Judge Mukasey.
I'm not sure that this is a nonpartisan focus group, but it is an interesting article. The crux of the article seems to be that Republicans are still searching for their ideal Presidential candidate. I think most of us who belong to the GOP would agree with that. But most of us also agree that there is still a lot of time for our party to settle on the ideal choice.
Fred Barnes argues, in the Weekly Standard, that Republicans are growing convinced they can win the White House again in 2008. He points to the fact that we are winning the war in Iraq, the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress, the success of the economy and several other issues that are emerging in favor of the Republicans.
President Musharraf of Pakistan has declared a state of emergency and suspended the country's constitution temporarily. The United States has already voiced it's displeasure.
I keep asking people why is the success that our military is now enjoying in Iraq not being reported by the Media? This story at least does report it. The article leads with a headline "Serious success in Iraq is not being recognized as it should be." General Petraeus has done a terrific job and it is time for the media in the states to start telling the truth.
This op-ed gives even more reasons why the Law of the Sea Treaty should not be approved by the United States Senate.
The Politico is reporting that a poll from the Pew Research Center is showing that the Republican party is in worse shape than it has been in in a long time. According to the poll only 36 percent of Republicans and Republican leaning independents say the GOP does an excellent or good job of standing up for traditional GOP positions. I think that this poll, like so many others will turn out to be wrong when it comes to Presidential politics.
the New York Times is reporting that the chairman and chief executive of Citigroup, Charles O. Prince, III has told directors that he will resign because of the sharp drop in profit and the 5.9 billion write-down that Citigroup has experienced.
The New York Times reports that Senate Democrats are facing an agonizing choice - they have to find a way to raise at least $50 billion in new taxes, or undermine their "paygo" rule. The dilemma comes about because of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Democrats and Republicans are anxious to prevent the AMT from adversely affecting about 23 million households. It will be fascinating to watch the Dems try to deal with this.
Captain's Quarters has a great post about the liberal bias in the media. Ed Morrissey talks about a report by Harvard University. According to the report not only are the Democrats favored by the tone of the coverage, they also get more coverage. Read the whole post. It is well worth the time.
Peggy Noonan is one of my favorite pundits. She gets right to the point with this op-ed. Real simply, Ms. Noonan says "It's startling. It's still 1993 in there, the year before her fall." I hope Peggy Noonan is right.
John Fund has an op-ed about Hillary Clinton's answer during the last Democratic debate when she was asked about Governor Spitzer's idea to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. If you recall, during the debate, at first Hillary appeared to support the idea, then she backtracked, saying she didn't say it should be done, but she did recognize why the Governor was trying to do it. Mr. Fund argues that everyone needs to look very closely at what the Governor wants to do, because it stops just short of being an engraved invitation for voter fraud. As Mr. Fund points out the National Voter Registration Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993 requires all states to offer voter registration to anyone getting a driver's license. All a person has to do is fill out a form and check a box stating they are a citizen. No one checks to see if the person checking the box is actually a citizen. Nice way to let anyone vote.
A New Jersey man was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Friday for helping send "spam" e-mails to more than 1.2 million America Online subscribers.
President Bush kept his word and vetoed a bill that would have authorized hundreds of water projects, saying it was too expensive because it had unneeded projects supported by individual lawmakers. It appears both the House and Senate have enough votes to override the President's veto.
Michael Mukasey got the support of two key Senate Democrats. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein both indicated they will vote for Mukasey.
A discarded cigarette or other smoking materials may have caused a beach house fire that killed seven South Carolina college students. The fire was accidental.
Check out the Telegraph's list of top 100 Conservatives and Liberals. I sure don't agree with most of their picks. Bush should rank much higher, Tom DeLay doesn't belong on the list, Bill Frist does. Lots of other ones that I would have added. See what you think.
Late Thursday night Barack Obama introduced a resolution that claims President Bush does not have the authority to use military force against Iran. I'm sure the terrorists love to read this kind of garbage.
The Labor Department reported that employers boosted payrolls by 166,000 people in October, the most in five months.
President Bush, in a strong speech on Thursday, warned the Democrats that denial of the war is dangerous for our country and our people. He is right, and the Democrats should listen.
The Stock Market closed down 360 points on Thursday. It's interesting that one of the reasons given was that the economy is slowing. What about the 166,000 jobs that have been added to the economy?
Gneral Mills has recalled about 5 million frozen pizzas nationwide under the Totino's and Jeno's labels because of possible e. coli contamination.
A small town in Tennessee has run out of water. This is incredible in our country. Surely there is something that the State or Federal government can do to help the people of Orme.
Wow!!! Every time I read a story about Pirates, I just shake my head in amazement. Earlier this week, Pirates took over a North Korean tanker off the coast of Africa. The United States Navy went to the aid of the North Korean tanker, and ultimately ended up boarding the tanker to treat the wounded on the ship. Now the Navy is keeping its eye on a Japanese tanker that has been taken over by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Our Navy is incredible, but I bet the men and women in the Navy never thought they would end up battling pirates. Great story.
According to Congress, the Food and Drug Administration isn't paying enough attention to inspecting the growing amount of drugs produced by foreign manufacturers. I don't trust Congress enough to believe anything they say, so I view this story with a lot of skepticism.
China has raised gasoline and diesel prices by about 10 percent to curb demand amid shortages that have caused long line at filling stations and disrupted trucking in key export areas. In a perverse way, it's comforting to know that we aren't the only country struggling with high gasoline prices.
This story is looking worse and worse for the nine French nationals and seven Spaniards under arrest in Chad for attempting to illegally remove 21 girls and 82 boys aged 1 to 10 from their native land. According to the UN 91 of the children mentioned a family environment. I'm not sure what that means, but if it turns out these kids had family willing to take care of them, it seems pretty clear that the French and Spaniards could face some pretty serious charges, and deservedly so.
More than 700 toy factories in southern China have been banned from exporting what they produce as part of a crackdown on shoddy products, the government said Thursday. It's about time.
This is what we don't need in Congress, more fighting by the politicians. I guess they haven't gotten the message that the voters want the partisanship to end, and legislation to get accomplished.
Pete Du Pont has an op ed in the Wall Street Journal pointing out how much tax cuts help the economy and the follies of the Democratic proposals led by Charlie Rangel.
The Politico has a post about how angry voters are with everyone in Washington D.C. As they say, the anti-Washington mood has reached breathtaking levels. This quote pretty much sums it up "One has to reach back almost 30 years, to the low points of Jimmy Carter's presidency, to find a time when there was such simultaneous disdain for both the executive and the legislative branches, as measured by Gallup approval ratings."
This is a good article analyzing what is causing the latest price spike in oil prices. According to the BBC the latest price spike has been caused by tensions between Turkey and Kurdish separatists. The article also points out that demand for oil world wide continues to soar.
Oil prices continue to climb, after figures showed a surprise fall in US crude reserves. That can't be good news for American consumers.
Typical European Justice. One of the accused masterminds of the 2004 Madrid terror bombings was acquitted of all charges Wednesday by a Spanish court in the culmination to a politically divisive trial over Europe's worst Islamic militant terror attack.
Grady Little is out as manager of the Dodgers, clearing the way for Joe Torre to take over. Does anyone beside me have a problem with the way this is being done?
Iran warned the United States it would find itself in a "quagmire deeper than Iraq" if it attacked the Islamic state. I think everyone in our country knows that the last thing we need is another war, but I seriously doubt that our military would be very frightened of Iran.
Iraqi soldiers are now taking charge of protecting the country's greatest assets against insurgents under a plan to hand over control to Iraqis. It's about time.
Good News!!! A jury today ordered a Kansas church to pay $2.9 million in compensatory damages to relatives of a gay US Marine after church members cheered his death at his funeral. The church, Westboro Baptist Church based in Topeka, Kansas, has behaved vicously for years, demonstrating at soldiers funerals and cheering their deaths. I hope this is enough to stop them.
Fox News just announced the following News Bulletin:
FEDERAL RESERVE CUTS KEY INTEREST RATE BY A QUARTER-POINT TO 4.5 PERCENT
Michael Gerson has a very good op-ed expressing his views on the ideological identity crisis that the Republican Party is in the midst of. For all of us who love the Republican Party it is well worth reading.
Ruth Marcus has an excellent op-ed in the Washington Post. She writes about fliers that turned up in mailboxes in Massachusett's 5th Congressional District the weekend before the special congressional election there, attacking the Republican challenger Jim Ogonowski. They were sent by a group named "Democracy Still Works." She makes some great points in the article, and all of us who have concerns about 527's and other attack organizations should read what she says.
The Christian Science Monitor has a good article about the efforts of BeadForLife, a small Colorado-based nonprofit group and their efforts to help African women. This is an inspiring story of how the people of Africa can be helped, and how they are helping themselves.
Another good post by Powerline. They refer their readers to the NEFA Foundation and their pamphlet - The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. It is well worth reading.
Powerline has a good post about the Democratic candidates for President. It is, by now, pretty clear that there isn't much difference between any of the Democrats. We are in for a long election season.
Power Line has a follow up to Tony Blankley's story about the big tent of our party continuing to shrink. The attacks on Governor Huckabee are unwarranted, and distasteful.
Another good post by Ed Morrissey about last evenings Democratic debate. Hillary gets credit for the fastest flip-flop in political history. First she backed Eliott Spitzer's plan to give illegal immigrants drivers licenses, then, when Edwards and Obama called her on it, she said she didn't support it. That happened within two minutes. Wow!!
Captain's Quarters has an especially appropriate post about too many debates. That is exactly what I thought when I heard Tim Russert's question to Dennis Kucinich last night about UFO's. Guess Russert couldn't think of a better question to ask one of the candidates.
Tony Blankley has a way of putting things in perspective. If the Republican activists keep beating up on our candidates, we may very well end up with Hillary in the White House. Now that is a Halloween trick, for sure.
Senator James Inhofe is opposed to the Law of the Sea Treaty. The Bush Administration favors it, but most Republicans are opposed to it. Read Senator Inhofe's reasoning and see what you think.
Senator Bill Frist blogs on www.Volpac.org about the Democrat's latest crazy idea - a tax increase of $3.5 Trillion over 10 years.
The Washington Examiner reports that the monthly toll of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq is on tract to being the lowest in nearly two years, with 34 troop deaths recorded as of Tuesday. Again and again, we never hear this kind of news from the MSM
The Chief Palestinian peace negotiator said there would be no talks with Israel without a deadline for establishing a Palestinian state. Sounds like the Mideast conference sponsored by the United States could be over before it begins.
Chad has charged six French nationals with kidnapping after they attempted to fly from Chad with 103 children, who were allegedly orphans from Sudan's Darfur region. I have a feeling that we are going to hear a lot more about this story.
Brett Favre is one of the very best quarterbacks of all time and a sure Hall of Famer. He continues to amaze all of us who love professional football, and last night was no exception.
India's trade minister insists that activists are hyping accusations of child labor in the country. I'm not sure the GAP agrees with that. I was glad to see the GAP take such proactive and quick action on this matter.
I'm a big Ann Rice fan, so when I saw this headline, and given the fact that Halloween is tomorrow, I assumed it was an article about those kinds of Vampires. Much to my surprise, it's an article about how Americans really waste energy. In particular, it talks about the fact that 5% of electricity used in the United States goes to standby power. They are talking about those of us who leave on computer on in "standby" mode, rather than shutting it off, or leaving you cell phone charger in the outlet. It's a good article, despite not having anything about real Vampires.
Senator Jim DeMint guest blogs on Captain's Quarters. He talks about earmark reform. I'm not sure that I agree with Senator DeMint's comments about the Culture of Corruption. He sounds like a talking point for the DNC. but I do agree that we need to do much more to control earmarks. I have never favored eliminating earmarks, because I believe that an appropriate earmark can be very beneficial to a State or Congressional District. I also believe that they are necessary to a certain degree because they are a measure of a Senator or Congressman's effectiveness. Having said that, I firmly believe that they can't be inserted into a bill at the last minute, without everyone having an opportunity to voice objections to them, and if necessary an opportunity to vote against them. Transparency is important in earmark reform, but so is an opportunity to review them. We need to know who is proposing the earmark, how much they are going to cost, and whether they are germane to the bill they are attached to.
An Iranian naval commander said his forces are willing to carry out suicide missions when facing enemy forces in the Persian Gulf. That doesn't really surprise me.
The Jackson Sun has a good article about Dr. Bill Frist. Since leaving the Senate, Dr. Frist has dedicated himself to humanitarian efforts, and he has excelled in the monumental tasks he has taken on. But I still believe that he has a future in politics. Think Governor.
The Steeler Report Card for Game 7 gives the Steelers overall high grades.
This is a really interesting concept, and one I haven't heard used before. Colorado College is trying something new. Students take one course at a time, giving it their full attention for 3-1/2 weeks. That seems like a terrific way to really learn and master a particular subject.
Gunmen in Baghdad kidnapped 10 Sunni and Shiite tribal sheiks from their cars Sunday as they were heading home to Diyala province after talks with the government on fighting al-Qaida, and at least one was later found shot to death.
U.S. and Puerto Rican archaeologists say they have found the best-preserved pre-Columbian site in the Caribbean, which could shed light on virtually every aspect of Indian life in the region, from sacred rituals to eating habits. Wow!! What a find!!
The Steelers ran their record to 5 and 2 with an impressive victory over the Bengals. Ben Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes and Willie Parker ran for a score.
The Vatican on Sunday staged its largest mass beatification ceremony ever, putting 498 victims of religious persecution before and during Spain's civil war on the path to possible sainthood. The 498 people beatified on Sunday were killed in 1934, 1936 and 1937. They are comprised of two bishops, 24 priests and 462 members of religious orders, as well as a deacon, a subdeacon, a seminary student and seven lay Catholics.
Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarter has a post about Ron Paul. I make no bones about the fact that I am not a Ron Paul supporter. I find him to be a distraction during the debates, and a person who has added little to the political process. His strident, unreasonable speech just reaffirms my suspicions. Now Captain Ed calls attention to a payment from Team Paul to someone named Alex Jones. Alex Jones is the 9/11 Truther leader - the ultimate conspiracy theorist. As Captain Ed notes, "while anyone can contribute to a political campaign, the choice of where the money goes is directly and completely relevant to an analysis of the candidate. If Paul chooses to help fund a 9/11 Truther, voters can reasonable conclude that Paul has sympathy for the paranoid conspiracy theorists." Mr. Paul should explain this immediately.
I have always felt that we needed to find a way to take politics out of the judicial election process. Now, according to the Washington Post, politics is more a part of judicial races than ever. The Post zeroes in on a Pennsylvania candidate, Seamus McCaffery, who is running for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. I am very familiar with the process for electing Judges in Pennsylvania. Even though I have been gone from Pennsylvania since 1999, it is apparent that the system has only gotten worse.
Michael Chertoff is furious at the FEMA employees who staged a phony press conference. And with good reason. Chertoff has worked hard to point FEMA in the right direction. Then some idiot comes up with a goofy idea of holding a phony press conference. Whoever came up with this idea should be fired.
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