There’s an old saying that goes something like this: sometimes, you’ve got to take the bad with the worst. Today, Democrats got bad news and the worst news from Iraq:

The fight reflects a trend that U.S. and Iraqi officials have been trumpeting recently to the west in Anbar province, once considered the heartland of the Sunni insurgency. Many Sunni tribes in the province have banded together to fight al-Qaida, claiming the terrorist group is more dangerous than American forces.

This is the worst possible news for Democrats because two things are happening that threaten their consolidating power: things are improving in Iraq and the news media is reporting about it. The media reporting that the surge is working is the worst possible thing for Democrats. Now that that’s happening, they can’t pretend that things aren’t improving.

The U.S. military congratulated Amariyah residents for standing up to al-Qaida. “The events of the past two days are promising developments. Sunni citizens of Amariyah that have been previously terrorized by al-Qaida are now resisting and want them gone. They’re tired of the intimidation that included the murder of women,” Kuehl said.

Let’s hope that there’s new reasons for congratulating Amariyah residents Friday, too.

Technorati Tags: Iraq War, al-Qaeda, Baghdad, Military, Anbar Province, Democrats

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Based on this article, I’d say that the impossible just happened in Baghdad. Here’s what I’m talking about:

U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen in western Baghdad’s primarily Sunni Muslim Amariyah neighbourhood in an engagement that lasted several hours, said a district councilman, who would not allow use of his name for fear of al-Qaida retribution.

Casualty figures were not available and there was no immediate word from the U.S. military on the engagement. But the councilman said the al-Qaida leader in the Amariyah district, known as Haji Hameed, had been killed and 45 other fighters detained.

Members of al-Qaida, who consider the district part of their Islamic State of Iraq, were preventing students from attending final exams, shooting randomly and forcing residents to stay in their homes, the councilman said.

Rep. Murtha has repeatedly told us that huge majorities of Iraqis want us out of Iraq ASAP. Obviously, that claim isn’t accurate. In fact, Murtha’s claim is wildly inaccurate. (continue reading post »)

You’ve gotta love the media savvy that Fred Thompson has shown thus far. He upstaged the second debate by doing taking on Michael Moore in the Breitbart video. Now he’s got new plans to be the center of attention without debating:

Thompson advisers point out that the new testing-the-waters entity is not quite a campaign committee, though it will officially begin accepting contributions on June 4. On that day, the First Day, as it were, the campaign will take in donations that it can then tout as an impressive one-day haul. A corollary benefit will be that news reports about Thompson’s non-entry entry will run on June 5, when the declared candidates will meet in New Hampshire for their third debate. (Thompson won’t be required to disclose his donors and the amounts they give to the Federal Election Commission until September.)

In other words, Sen. Thompson will send a ‘fundraising shot’ across the frontrunners’ bow the day of the New Hampshire debate. The next day, the debaters will have their headline, Fred Thompson will have his. And he won’t have to deal with Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo. (continue reading post »)

According to this USA Today article, Sen. Fred Thompson has taken a big step in running for the GOP presidential nomination.

Former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson hasn’t formally announced he’ll run for the Republican presidential nomination, but today he did begin raising money for a prospective bid, USA TODAY Washington bureau chief Susan Page writes. She continues:

In a conference call with about 100 people, many of whom have urged him to jump in the race, Thompson asked for their help in raising funds for a testing-the-waters committee, which is likely to be formed next week. That money could be used for a campaign when and if he’s ready to run.

“I’m not saying anything against any of the candidates, but I think he can fill the vacuum that has not been filled yet on the Republican side,” Mack Mattingly, a former U.S. senator from Georgia who was on the call, says of Thompson. He predicts the actor and former senator “will be just like a magnet” who can attract conservative Democrats and Republicans.

During a conversation I had with a friend last weekend, my friend said that Thompson pulled 40 percent of the vote in a Georgia GOP state convention straw poll. My friend said that McCain drew 2.8 percent in that same straw poll. I think that Sen. Mattingly is exactly right in saying that Sen. Thompson “‘will be just like a magnet’ who can attract conservative Democrats and Republicans.” (continue reading post »)

This guy is so smooth that he slices and dices people while not raising his voice. That’s the mark of a great communicator. Check out this Fred Thompson slice and dice of Nancy Pelosi while she’s on her climate change vacation:

Some people think that our planet is suffering from a fever. Now scientists are telling us that Mars is experiencing its own planetary warming: Martian warming. It seems scientists have noticed recently that quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit, including Pluto.

NASA says the Martian South Pole’s ice cap has been shrinking for three summers in a row. Maybe Mars got its fever from earth. If so, I guess Jupiter’s caught the same cold, because it’s warming up too, like Pluto.

This has led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, non-signatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle.

Talk about sliced and diced. I’ve gotta come clean on something though. This Thompson shot at Nancy Pelosi wasn’t written today. In fact, I can’t promise that it was originally intended for Ms. Pelosi. Sen. Thompson wrote this back on April 13, 2007. It’s most likely to have been directed at Al Gore.

For those still wondering about what’s causing the climate change on Mars, Jupiter and Pluto, I’m still waiting for confirmation on whether their climate change is being caused by gas-guzzling SUV driving aliens or if it’s simply America’s fault. You can never be too sure.

Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson, Great Communicator, Global Warming, Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Mars, Pluto, Jupiter, Hate America First Crowd

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

I didn’t think I’d ever see the day when a major party presidential candidate proposed a socialist economic policy. That day has now come with this Hillary article. Howard Wolfson is certain to spin this as not being socialism but he’s lying through his teeth. Here’s what I’m talking about:

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it’s time to replace an “on your own” society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity. The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an “ownership society” really is an “on your own” society that has widened the gap between rich and poor.

“I prefer a ‘we’re all in it together’ society,” she said. “I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none.”

The minute that a Democrat starts talking about fairness, it’s time to hide your wallet. It’s that simple. Implicit in Hillary’s statements is her opinion on your ability to make wise decisions. I’m perfectly comfortable making my own decisions. I suspect that most people think that they can prosper if governmental interference is kept to a minimum. (continue reading post »)

Shortly after 9/11 I read a book by Benjamin Netanyahu titled “Fighting Terrorism“. Despite being copyrighted 6 years prior to the attacks of 9/11, Netanyahu made several stunningly accurate predictions about terrorism coming to the shores of America. Ever sine reading this book I have come to value his opinion very highly.

Netanyahu was recently interviewed in the Wall Street Journal regarding the growing threat of Iran. Personally, I do not envision Iran ever attacking the US. However, it is clear that they have worked against US interests and against our allies by supplying groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and by funding the insurgency in Iraq. Furthermore, Ahmedinejad’s incendiary rhetoric about wiping Israel off the map is very concerning, and I imagine that Mr. Netanyahu takes this threat very seriously.

What Netanyahu has proposed, and is currently lobbying for, is economic sanctions against Iran. Admittedly, in the past I thought that this would be a futile effort. However, Mr. Netanyahu makes a strong case for this proposal, that further economic strife could lead to decreased support for Ahmedinejad.

Mr. Netanyahu proposes a third way. The Iranian regime, he argues, is economically vulnerable. He is in America to urge state and local pension funds to divest from foreign companies that do business in Iran (U.S. law already keeps American firms out).

“This could be very effective… because Iran is in desperate need of new investments for its sagging oil industry. It’s curtailed its oil production by 7%, I think, in each of the last three years. It’s running unemployment to a rate of close to 20%, and Ahmadinejad is continuously being criticized from rivals within the regime and outside the regime for failing to deliver on economic problems.”

Divestment “could stop Iran dead in its tracks,” Mr. Netanyahu argues.

This is a very intriguing possibility, as it has the potential to avoid any military confrontation with Iran–either by the US or Israel. Several states have already passed legislation to divest, and California may join the ranks. “The big prize, of course, is California, whose $247 billion pension fund is the nation’s biggest.”

California State Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R - San Diego) has proposed legislation (AB 221) which would divest from Iran. So far it has been received with bipartisan support, and I hope this continues as it leaves committee and reaches the Assembly floor.

Cross Posted at The Gentle Cricket

Ron Cass has an interesting take on what I’m calling the ‘Do Almost Nothing’ Congress. He doesn’t paint a flattering picture of Democrats.

Democrats, after controlling Congress almost continuously from 1933 to 1995, were the minority party in the House of Representatives for a dozen years and for 10 of 12 years were the minority in the Senate, too. So, perhaps, it’s not surprising that they’ve gotten very good at complaining about how the nation is governed and not so good at actually doing it.

But few people have connected that to the performance of the 110th Congress. With Congress out for its Memorial Day break, commentators across the nation are taking stock of its first quarter performance and concluding that the Democrats have come up dramatically short. From left and right alike, observers are drawing the same picture of a Do-Nothing Congress. And, happy or sad, most are proclaiming surprise.

After all, things looked very different last fall, when Nancy Pelosi was promising a Democratic Congress that within its first 100 hours would pass laws that would raise the minimum wage, bring the troops home from Iraq, expand health benefits, reform immigration laws, make college affordable for all, secure energy independence, and address broad taxing and spending issues. She also promised to “drain the swamp” - changing a Congress that failed to address ethical problems of individual members and that used “earmark” provisions to give pork to constituents and favors to lobbyists. Harry Reid and colleagues on the Senate side had similar, though more muted, messages.

After 140 days, however, congressional Democrats left town with no significant accomplishments, one long-delayed bill finally enacted into law, and lots to make fun of. There was no increase in morality, no magically bipartisan era, no sweeping enactment of a coherent agenda for change, akin to what Republicans promised in their Contract With America in 1994. Instead, the 110th Congress has been a combination of “now I’ll get mine” and “now you’ll get yours!”

If Pelosi, Reid & Company don’t start passing and enacting sensible laws between now and the next election, independents will abandon them in droves. This isn’t the way to expand their base. The suburbs went heavily for Democrats this last election. If they don’t start chalking up significant achievements soon, those suburbs will return to GOP hands in 2008. (continue reading post »)

Nancy Pelosi is a visionary, at least as far as global warming is concerned. Here’s what that opinion is based on:

Pelosi said she hoped Bush would be open to considering a “different way” in the future. The California Democrat pointed to her delegation’s weekend stop in Greenland, “where we saw firsthand evidence that climate change is a reality; there is just no denying it. It wasn’t caused by the people of Greenland; it was caused by the behavior of the rest of the world,” she said.

Ms. Pelosi is spinning President Bush’s position, which is what I’d expect from someone who’ll say anything to maintain and increase her political base. What she’s saying is that humans are the biggest contributor to climate change, an opinion that scientists are question more and more each day.

One of the things that’s been mentioned the past couple months is that the temperatures have increased on other planets a similar amount to Earth’s. Are we to conclude that human activity is causing the global warming on those planets, too? (continue reading post »)

That’s the only way that I can describe what’s behind a story that I first found on Gateway Pundit. I followed Jim’s link to Atlas Shrugs, which led me to Bill Warner’s website. Let’s first establish what’s happening. Here’s what Pam at Atlas Shrugs writes:

If the Muslims get away with this “test case”, it will shut us all down. The intrepid blogger and PI (and valued Atlas source) has been sued for publishing stories about Muslims with ties to Islamic terror. News stories already published in the mainstream media. Warner obviously hit a nerve. This is the next nefarious step in the litigation jihad. Warner must prevail. This wreaks of CAIR. Their tactics are written all over it. How is this different than the CAIR lawsuit against the Jane/John Does on the US Airways flight that reported the belligerent, aggressive behavior of the six imams?) Perhaps we need legislation to protect us (what happened to free speech?)
Bill Warner writes me the following;

Blogger sued and facing an injunction to cease and desist publishing stories about Muslims linked to terrorism

This is a serious threat to First Amendment rights of Freedom of Speech for bloggers and news reporters everywhere, and if I lose the law suit and the injunction is enforced, it will set a precedent for future law suits and injunctions to be imposed on any blogger or news reporter who writes about Muslims linked to terrorism.

The motivation behind the lawsuit against Bill Warner becomes obvious here:

What if Al Qaeda has found a new method to launder money around the world? In his July5, 2005 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, terrorism expert Steven Emerson made a chilling prophecy. He said that he would not be surprised someday to find an international network of stolen car rings raising money for terrorism, and shipping cars to the Middle East to be made into car bombs.

Emerson did not know that Bill Warner, a Florida Private Investigator had been secretly working on this issue since 2002. Warner has uncovered documentary evidence that stolen cars from Florida were being shipped to Al Qaeda front companies in Dubai, U.A.E., Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Aqqaba, Jordan. Furthermore, Warner claims that he has provided Federal agencies with a “smoking gun” document; a copy of the bill of lading from a Tampa used car lot shipping a vehicle directly to what appears to be an Al Qaeda front company in Saudi Arabia. (continue reading post »)