According to Reuters, European Union states have started sharing monitoring of militant Web sites, including sites linked to al-Qaeda. Details ->
What’s next? Monitoring phone calls?
May 30, 2007
The Finish Line
One of the things presidents do is sign legislation into law.
Almost unnoticed in the news was the actual presidential signing of that military authorization bill.
President Bush’s refusal to sign the first version was big news.
AP/Washington Post covered the signing, as did CNN:
“Congress voted yesterday to provide our troops with the funding and flexibility they need to protect our country, and I was pleased to sign the bill today,” said the president in a written statement after the signing. More->
For the record, the date of the signing was Friday, May 25, 2007.
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May 29, 2007
The Looooong Campaign
There are 524 more days until Election Day. And how is it all going?
Not so good, according to Roger Simon:
For months and months — it only seems like years and years — we have been bringing you information about the people running for president of the United States.
We have written story after story, done interview after interview. We have brought you debates with stages as crowded as basketball courts.
And the candidates have appeared on real news shows, fake news shows and late night comedy shows.
Some candidates are already running commercials to boost their name recognition, and if you live in Iowa or New Hampshire there is a good chance one or more candidates have knocked on your door and asked to use your bathroom.
So how are they doing? Are they getting recognized more today than they were before they started their intensive campaigning and we started giving them constant attention?
Nah.
According to a Gallup Poll conducted this month: “Despite the remarkably early start on this year’s presidential campaign and the high-visibility presence of the major candidates on television news shows and in televised debates, the name identification of the leading candidates or potential candidates has not changed much so far this year.”
More ->
Whose bright idea was it to start all this the day after the last election?
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May 28, 2007
Sheehan’s Democrat Party Exit Ignored
Cindy Sheehan’s exit from the Democrat Party has been ignored by the Media.
When you hear the name Cindy Sheehan, what pops into your mind?
There she is, the very icon of the anti-war protest, camped outside the President’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, rain or shine.
Forty-eight hours ago, she publicly announced that she was leaving the Democrat Party due to Thursday’s bipartisan agreement on an Iraq war funding bill.
Since then, not one major media outlet has covered her departure from the party.
Noel Sheppard has all the details.
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Gathering of Eagles
Their Mission Statement begins:
1. Gathering of Eagles is non-partisan. While each member has his or her own political beliefs, our common love and respect for America and her heroes is what brings us together.
2. We are a non-violent, non-confrontational group. We look to defend, not attack. Our focus is guarding our memorials and their grounds.
3. We believe that the war memorials are sacred ground; as such, we will not allow them to be desecrated, used as props for political statements, or treated with anything less than the solemn and heartfelt respect they-and the heroes they honor-deserve.
(ht to James S. Robbins)
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May 27, 2007
Cheaper Gas in Mexico
TIJUANA — U.S. motorists are flocking to gas pumps south of the border to save 25% or more on the cost of a fill-up — courtesy of the Mexican government.
Worried about inflation, Mexican officials are keeping a lid on retail prices at the state-owned petroleum company Pemex. Regular-grade gasoline in this border town is selling for about $2.60 a gallon.
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May 26, 2007
He’s Back
Al-Sadr has emerged from his retreat to offer more advice about our plans for Iraq.
His timing is interesting.
He went underground — reportedly in Iran — at the start of the U.S.-led security crackdown on Baghdad 14 weeks ago. He also had ordered his militia off the streets to prevent conflict with U.S. forces.
Recent headlines:
May 25: Iraqi Shiite Cleric Reportedly Ends a Sojourn in Iran
There once was a boss with a “magic” finger. He pointed to a box and said “this goes over there” and his subordinates moved the box from here to there. He just pointed that “magic” finger, and everything got moved where it was supposed to be.
Whose “magic” finger moves al-Sadr?
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May 24, 2007
Chinese Toothpaste
The government is stopping all imports of Chinese toothpaste to test for a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold elsewhere in the world.
The Food and Drug Administration is testing the Chinese toothpaste for diethylene glycol, a chemical commonly used in antifreeze and brake fluid, spokesman Doug Arbesfeld said Thursday. The imports will be released only if they test negative for the chemical.
The FDA began the tests following reports that tainted Chinese toothpaste was sold in Australia, the Dominican Republic and Panama, Arbesfeld said.
“There is absolutely no evidence of this toothpaste in the U.S. but it is what we believe a prudent and cautionary measure to protect the health of the American public,” Arbesfeld said.
China is the No. 6 exporter of toothpaste to the U.S. by dollar value, according to Commerce Department statistics. It accounted for just $3.3 million, or 3.5 percent, of the overall $96 million in toothpaste imported by the U.S. last year.
Continue ->
Clothing seems to come from all over, but never really thought about toothpaste before.
Where’s that magnifying glass? Have to see where this toothpaste came from.
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May 23, 2007
Fired For Gossiping
New Hampshire Town Fires 4 Women for Gossiping About Boss
Can you be fired for gossiping about your boss? Four town employees here say they were, raising questions about fairness, free speech and a staple of life in the American workplace.
The employees were fired in April after speaking to a lawyer the town hired as a fact-finder to rout out chatterboxes. More->
Is that a world we want?
Think of the impact of actions like this upon the whole range of 24/7 news and pundit programs across the country. It could bring back “news readers” as the “commentator” chairs fall empty.
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No Pullout Dates in Military Bill
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Fixing Our Southern Border
While the Immigration Bill runs the gauntlet of a thousand cuts (as one observer so poetically put it), one can only wonder if there will still be a viable bill, capable of fixing our Southern Border, at the end of the process.
Of course, there is always that other solution to fixing our Southern Border, the one nobody ever wants to think about, let alone discuss out loud: Annexation of Mexico.
No. Didn’t really think you would like that one, either.
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May 22, 2007
Those Wandering Whales
WEST SACRAMENTO: Thousands of spectators watched Saturday as two lost whales swam looping half-mile laps around the Port of Sacramento after declining earlier efforts to lure them into the Pacific Ocean.
More ->
Anybody see a parallel here between these whales who strayed off their path and can’t seem to find their way back, and our fearless leaders on the Hill?
No. It’s clearly too much of a stretch to call that a parallel. Perhaps just an inadvertent similarity.
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May 20, 2007
Iraqi Communists and Marxists?
An unknown left-wing group calling itself the Iraqi Armed Revolutionary Resistance distributed leaflets in the Mid-Euphrates area around Najaf, Hilla and Karbala calling for “resistance against American, British and Zionist occupiers in order to liberate Iraq and form a free socialist, democratic alternative,” according to the Al-Badeel Al-Iraqi website.
The group, which described itself as a “movement of Iraqi Communists and Marxists experienced in armed struggle, leftist Iraqi nationalists, and their supporters,” claimed responsibility for an attack against U.S. troops at the Khan Al-Nus area between Najaf and Karbla on Sunday.
The leaflets, which carried a photo of Cuban Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, announced the launch of the resistance in the Mid-Euphrates and condemned the “puppet government, the so-called Council of Representatives, terrorist Salafis, militias, the Interior Ministry, Iraqi traitors who came on American tanks, the American and British mercenaries, contractors, and their servants from the South Lebanese Army.”
Printed in both Arabic and English, the statement said car bombs and roadside bombs killing Iraqis are planted by the above groups to damage the reputation of Iraqi resistance groups.
More->
Just where is Hugo Chavez, these days?
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How Will We Know When The War Is Over?
Throughout history there have been wars. How did we know when they were over?
You know the war is over when the refugees, the people who live there, begin to come back.
So where are the refugees from Iraq these days? Most refugees keep a low profile, and are not often mentioned. But they exist in all wars, and the Iraq war is no exception.
Read their story: The Flight From Iraq.
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