Bill Heard Chevrolet

Just a quick comment on their failure in Arizona:

We may be a bunch of dumb cowboys, but we outlasted your sorry posterior. You will NOT be missed.

At last, a reason to vote for McCain

Actress Susan Sarandon has told the New York Post that she will move out of the US if John McCain wins this fall.

I've struggled trying to find a reason to vote for John, now I finally have one.

SUSAN SARANDON, who appeared in three films last year and won kudos for her TV movie "Bernard and Doris," is still not a contented soul. She says if John McCain gets elected, she will move to Italy or Canada. She adds, "It's a critical time, but I have faith in the American people."

I wonder if she could get one of the Baldwin twits to accompany her?

Wisdom From my inbox...

EISENHOWER IN DACHAU
It is a matter of history that when Supreme Commander of the
Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the
death camps, he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for
the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the
camps and even made to bury the dead. He did this because he said in
words to this effect:

'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because
somewhere down the track of history some bastard will get up and say
that this never happened. All that is necessary for the triumph of
evil, is for good men to do nothing.'

This week, the University of Kentucky removed The Holocaust from
its school curriculum because it 'offended' the Muslim population
which claims it never occurred.

The Shariah Risk Due Diligence Campaign

Looking for an interesting, but scary read?

Check out the The Shariah Risk Due Diligence Campaign here and here.

The Shariah Risk Due Diligence Campaign - A Project of the Center for Security Policy - Established to defend the U.S. Constitution and to protect our political and religious liberties, which are all under assault by those seeking to legitimize Shariah law (i.e., Islamic law) and its economic tool, Shariah-compliant finance. Shariah law is neither religion nor personal faith, but a theo-political doctrine seeking to dominate and to subvert Western liberties and representative government.

NOTE: This newsletter is not targeting Muslims or the religion of Islam; but rather, the political Islamists who seek to establish Islamic Law as defined by Shariah "scholarly consensus". This newsletter is not referring to the pietistic individual Shariah practiced by patriotic American Muslims.

Here is the table of contents from the most recent newsletter:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARTICLES: EYE ON SHARIAH LAW
1. Blaming the victim: Abused Afghan women often end up in jail
2. Iranian Feminist Receives Suspended Sentence - 10 Lashes and 6 Months in Prison
3. Saudi Arabia executes three Pakistanis convicted of drug trafficking
4. JOEL BRINKLEY: Saudi king silent on journalists' death sentences
5. Saudi women had more rights at the time of the Romans than today
6. Iraq: Beheading up. Constitution accepts Sharia
7. Islamists Torch Girls' School in NW Pakistan
8. Pakistan: Muslim man shot to death for not praying
9. Muslim Prison chaplain still on duty pending assault inquiry
10. School accused of favoring Muslim students
11. Islamic Divorce Ruled Not Valid in Maryland
12. Second Girls' Schools Burned Down In Taliban-Controlled Swat District
13. A draft Iranian law would mandate the death penalty for apostasy
14. Calls Mount for Restricting Underage Marriages
15. Jordan: Man Shoots Pregnant Sister in the Head to "Cleanse Family's Honor"
16. Turkish wives battle culture of domestic abuse

ARTICLES: ISLAMIC FINANCE - SHARIAH IN THE WORLD OF MONEY
17. Gulf investor warns of EU over-regulation
18. UAE set to centralise Zakat management
19. Britain's first Islamic insurance company given stamp of approval by FSA
20. Dubai World to Pay Higher Rates, Seeks New MGM Loans (Update1)
21. Saudi Arabia may set up India investment fund
22. Misys Facilitates Masraf Al Rayan's Expansion of Islamic Banking Operations
23. ISLAM: MASTER IN SHARIA-COMPLIANT FINANCE TO OPEN IN ROME
24. Citi shifts top executive to Dubai base
25. Bank plans $500m Islamic property fund
26. Israeli Diamond Magnate's Business Unwelcome in Dubai
27. Islamic index launched - Dow Jones Islamic Market (DJIM)
28. Harvard Islamic Studies Program Opened
29. Follow the money - Rachel Ehrenfeld
30. Islamic banks 'are making mark'

LIBEL TOURISM
31. Press Release: Specter, Lieberman, King Introduce Free Speech Protection Act
32. Rachel and Goliath: Ehrenfeld vs. The Saudis

OPINION, ANALYSIS, REVIEW
1. MUST READ: A Secular Market Nightmare By Alyssa A. Lappen
2. The Grave Threat of Arab-Muslim Anti-Semitism By P. David Hornik
3. 'JIHAD' NEWSPEAK - Anyone heard Condoleezza Rice use the word "jihad" lately?
4. The silent jihad against the west by Vincent Gioia
5. Worshippers of Death by ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ
6. Saudi fundamentalist cleric's fatal ruling by Joel Brinkley
7. Muslim Brotherhood Cronies Getting Together in Denmark by Douglas Farah
8. Amerabia by Frank Gaffney
9. Turning towards Mecca - The Economist-Editorial
10. The MSU's Hate Week By Reut R. Cohen & Jonathan Constantine Movroydis
11. History textbooks promoting Islam by Bob Unruh
12. Islamist Chickens Roosting in America's Backyard by Youssef M. Ibrahim

Sleep well!

FBI to Investigate Violence Against Military Recruiting Centers

The Move America Forward Daily File Blog is reporting on the news that the Department of Justice has asked the FBI to review the incidents of violence against military recruiting centers and recruiters themselves that are being committed by anti-war activists.

The Department of Justice acknowledged Move America Forward’s request for such action in a letter dated April 29, 2008 and sent to the pro-troop organization’s legal counsel. Excerpt from the Department of Justice letter follows:

This is in response to your letter to the Criminal Division dated April 3, 2008, on behalf of your client, Move America Forward, Inc., recounting a number of incidences of vandalism and other activities at military recruiting stations.”

This action is seen as a serious step forward in the fight against groups like Code Pink, World Can’t Wait, New SDS and other socialist and anarchist groups that have been actively conspiring to attack recruiting stations all over the country.

On March 14, 2008, Move America Forward published The Sedition Report which catalogued many of these attacks, drawing from sources such as police reports, news stories, numerous blogs (most noticeably MichelleMalkin.com), forums such as Free Republic and action reports from groups such as Gathering of Eagles, Blue Star Mothers of America and many others. The Sedition Report, copies of which were given to the FBI and members of Congress, should provide a road map which investigators can use to examine the conspiracy of anti-war radicals to conduct campaigns of violence ("counter-recruitment") against military recruiting centers and our military men and women who serve here on the home front.

These attacks coincide with the activities of Code Pink, which provided $600,000 for terrorists families in Fallujah, as well as organized visits to Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations where American anti-war radicals met with and pledged support to dictators who conspire against America’s interests.

Just as many of the far-left groups from the 60s, such as the Weather Underground, Vietnam Vets Against War, and the Black Liberation Army had ties to communist sympathizers and organizers in other countries, Move America Forward suspects that once a full investigation of these groups is conducted they will find links to foreign dictators, terrorist organizations, or organizations that work to fund or funnel support to terrorist organizations.

- MAF Blogger Danny

County Attorney: Sheriff's Saturation Patrols Are Legal

This news definitely doesn't make Mayor Phil "I wannabe governor" Gordon very happy. the Associated Press reports (and the Arizona Republic probably won't mention):

Maricopa County's top prosecutor said Tuesday that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's recent high-profile crackdowns around the Valley are legal if his officers follow rules that prohibit racial profiling and unwarranted traffic stops.

That's right Phil, despite your political posturing, Sheriff Joe is in the right. Now, about the racial profiling you participated in a number of years ago....

The Empire Strikes Back With Massive Attorneys' Fee Request in CityNorth Case

by Clint Bolick,

While the Goldwater Institute's legal challenge to the CityNorth subsidy moves to the Court of Appeals, one issue remains before the trial court that upheld the subsidy.

Not content merely to demand $97.4 million of taxpayer money, the developers now are seeking hundreds of thousands more for their attorneys' fees-from the Goldwater Institute.

The City is, too. Rather than using the same huge in-house legal department that negotiated the deal, the City hired a high-priced private firm to defend it. The total demand for fees and costs: $688,000-more than an entire year's budget for Goldwater's litigation center.

Courts almost never have awarded attorney fees against firms seeking to vindicate public rights. The reasons were articulated by Arizona Supreme Court Justice Stanley Feldman in the very same case, Wistuber v. Paradise Valley Unified School District, that all the parties agree sets the legal parameters for the Gift Clause under which the CityNorth case is litigated.

Such fees "would be contrary to public policy," the Court held, "because it would have a chilling effect on other parties who may wish to question the legitimacy of the actions of public officials. Where aggrieved citizens, in good-faith, seek a determination of the legitimacy of governmental actions, attorney's fees should not usually be awarded. Courts exist to hear such cases; we should encourage resolution of constitutional actions in court rather than on the streets."

The trial court decision is merely the first step in the legal process; many initial decisions, such as in the Bailey's Brake Service eminent domain case, are overturned on appeal. We hope the Court of Appeals will see it for what it is: a subsidy of a private business on terms unavailable to other businesses, and paid for by ordinary taxpayers.

Goldwater's litigation center is a vexation that government officials who stray beyond constitutional boundaries and special interests who seek their favors surely would like to remove. Try as they might, our response is simple: not a chance.

Clint Bolick is the director of the Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute

Watch this video

This video was apparently put together by a 15-year-old girl.

You need to watch it.

It is OK to cry when you do.

Prostitution and Day Labor

If a woman is standing near a busy street corner, attempts to make eye contact with drivers that are going by, flags down those that she can, get in the car and negotiates a cash payment for personal services -- one is probably right in suspecting that they are witnessing suspected prostitution.

Now, change the gender of the person on the corner from female to male, but keep the rest of the circumstances the same. We have a case of day labor that some people think should be constitutionally protected.

I have recommended, during a recent District meeting, that the Chandler Police Department should begin to arrest everyone attempting to flag down motorists along Arizona Avenue with suspected prostitution.

Book 'em!

Gordon the tool

Watching Phoenix Mayor Gordon attempt to do verbal battle with Joe Arpaio makes me very thankful that Gordon is the Mayor of Phoenix and not of Chandler.

What a first class tool he has turned out to be.

Great Moments in Education

We've been here before.

A middle school student in Phoenix realized that he had brought a pocket knife to school in his backpack. Knives are specifically prohibited in school.

Said student tells a teacher about his mistake.

His reward?

A five day suspension.

The school's reasoning: they have a zero tolerance policy.

So what did they teach the student? Honesty invokes punishment, and if he had just kept his mouth shut and not mentioned his error, he would have escaped unscathed. Nice lesson.

When are we going to realize that zero tolerance policies are crutches that are used by milquetoast school administrators who lack the necessary IQ points required to evaluate a situation and make a reasoned decision.

Why do we entrust our children with these people?

The Big Mistake

My mailbox overflows with riches like this:


What a difference 60 years makes..!!!
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq. Bush's mistake was in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders so it was the people's duty to back those leaders. Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had : in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. (Remember that concept?)

Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war. Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old, pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort. Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough, in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our resident. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

Teachers in schools started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or because they did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve. He was wrong.

It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11 but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third - or over three hundred million - of all Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorist's cause. Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.

So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

America is not at war. The military is at war.
America is at the mall.

Assault Rifles on Campus

According to the Arizona Republic, plans are now in place to arm the campus police at ASU, U of A and NAU with assault rifles.

No, I'm not making this up. Assault rifles.

Police departments at Arizona's three universities plan to arm their officers with military-style assault rifles within the next year, officials said Tuesday.

The new rifles would give campus police officers long-range shooting capabilities, allowing them to hit targets at the end of long hallways or atop tall buildings, officials said.

Arizona State University will be the first of the three schools to use the weapons. Officers there will be trained to use the rifles in the next few months, said ASU police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina.

Officers will undergo 40 hours of training before using the weapons.

"We don't want to just throw rifles out there," Hardina said.

Well, I'm really glad they are not going tho just throw the assault rifles out there.

Is this stupid, or what? I'm all in favor of gun rights, but this idea is really off base, and I'm willing to be that within the first year of implementation we have at least one ugly incident that involves those weapons.

The National Heroes Tour

On March 14, on the deck of the USS Midway in San Diego, The Vets for Freedom National Heroes Tour kicks off. The coast-to-coast bus tour, which runs 3/14-4/9, is the first “thank you” tour to the troops and to rally the country to complete the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tour features American heroes, such as:

• Marcus Luttrell - Navy Cross recipient, sole survivor of a Navy SEAL's mission gone awry, and author of New York Times best-seller Lone Survivor about his miraculous escape and survival.

• David Bellavia - author of House to House(a memoir about house-to-house combat in Iraq), recipient of the Silver Star, and nominee for the Medal of Honor.

• Steve Russell - recipient of the Bronze Star medal with Valor Device for his actions in Iraq; Lieutenant Colonel Russell led the battalion responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein.

• Sgt. Jeremiah Workman - recipient of the Navy Cross for heroism in rescuing wounded comrades while fighting off enemy insurgents during the Battle of Fallujah.

The tour stops in Phoenix on Monday, March 17. The bus will be pulling in to the Goldwater Institute for a media event at 8am followed by a Town Hall discussion at 10:00 a.m. about the importance of progress, conviction, commitment & completing the job in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tour hits Tucson on Tuesday March 18, starting with a visit to the John Scott radio show on KVOI starting at 6:30 a.m., followed by an American Legion luncheon, and concluding with a Boy Scout Catalina Council Meeting at the Naval Operations Support Center on Wilmot Road at 7 p.m. A book signing will follow.

I encourage readers to turn out in support of this activity.

Don't hold your breath waiting or the local media to announce or cover this event.

Snappy Nappy Veto Happy

The carpetbagger who presently occupies the Governor's office vetoed SenateBill 1236 which would have prohibited local government agencies from accepting the widely used Mexican Consular Cards as formal means of identifications.

The cards, issued by the Mexican government, are widely forged, and are often used to abet illegal immigration, a concept the carpetbagger-in-charge chooses to ignore.

Today I vetoed Senate Bill 1236 which would have prohibited the state or any political subdivision from accepting as a valid form of identification a consular identification card that is issued by a foreign government.

I did so for the same reasons I vetoed Senate Bill 1511 on May , 2006. Without the ability to accept a consular ID card, Arizona's law enforcement officers may be unable to confirm the identities of foreign nationals who are stopped for any reason. If a foreign national is pulled over for a traffic violation and presents a consular ID our law enforcement officers have the ability to use that ID to determine whether the person is wanted for other crimes. It makes no sense to hamstring our law enforcement agencies' efforts to know the criminal histories of foreign nationals they encounter.

I guess that the carpetbagger never heard of a passport -- which is a book-like form of identification that one must use when crossing international borders. I carry mine with me whenever I travel internationally, and it is not unreasonable to expect others to do the same -- unless one is hellbent on pandering to the illegal immigrants for political reasons.

Freedom of Speech

The Arizona Republic is reporting that a Maricopa Community College professor is in danger of being fired because he sent an e-mail to district employees that contained (gasp!), a link to Pat Buchanan's web site along with the text of George Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation.

Five employees complained because the Buchanan website is not politically correct with regards to immigration policy.

A Maricopa Community Colleges professor could be fired after he sent an e-mail to district employees that contained a link to Pat Buchanan's Web site and a transcript of a George Washington Thanksgiving proclamation.

Math Professor Walter Kehowski, who has sent controversial e-mails in the past, was placed on paid leave from his job at Glendale Community College. A national free-speech group, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, has taken up his cause and is asking the Maricopa County Community College District to exonerate him.

Greg Lukianoff, president of the Philadelphia-based group, said Kehowski is being targeted because of the e-mail, sent Nov. 22, with the 1789 proclamation and the link to the site of Buchanan, a conservative commentator and former presidential candidate. Lukianoff said five employees filed complaints because the Buchanan site criticized immigration policies.
"This case would be almost funny if it wasn't having such serious implications for the professor's life and livelihood," Lukianoff said.

Kehowski declined comment Monday.

He has angered some employees and students in the past with his e-mails, leading to debate over academic freedom and how far professors can go in expressing opinions.

In 2003, he e-mailed employees several Internet links that contained statements about Hispanics. Titles on the Web sites included, "Mexicans Think U.S. Belongs to Them!" and "Mexican Double Standard."

School administrators said his postings were abrasive and divisive, but said they could do little to prevent professors from expressing their views outside class.

This year, district Chancellor Rufus Glasper notified the professor March 9 that he intended to recommend to the governing board that Kehowski be dismissed. He said Kehowski's Nov. 22 e-mail violated the district's electronic communications policy, which prohibits using district e-mail for private or personal matters.

Glasper's letter says the professor continued to disregard district policies despite previous sanctions and directives. Kehowski was suspended without pay for five days in September 2005 for a similar violation.

A hearing date has been set for June 5 before a three-member faculty committee, which will listen to evidence and make a recommendation to the chancellor. Glasper then will make a recommendation to the governing board, which has the final say.

While Kehowski clearly demonstrates an ongoing lack of judgement, I wonder how many of the five who complained have sent around e-mail's accusing our President of being either a criminal or a dumb criminal?

I also suspect they would take him out back and hang him from a tree if he linked to this site.

Attack Foiled

Six foreign-born men -- two of whom are in the United States illegally -- were charged with planning an attack on U.S. soldiers stationed at Ft. Dix in New Jersey.

Five individuals -- three of them brothers -- have been arrested and charged with plotting to kill soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey, Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, U.S. Attorney Christopher J.Christie and Philadelphia FBI Special Agent in Charge J.P. Weis announced today. A sixth defendant is charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of firearms by three of the members of the group.

The arrests occurred last night in Cherry Hill as two of the defendants
were meeting a confidential government witness to purchase three AK-47
automatic machine guns and four semi-automatic M-16s to be used in an attack
they had been planning from at least January 2006, according to criminal
complaints unsealed this morning.

Some members of the group allegedly conducted surveillance at Fort Dix and
also at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the
U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia. The co-conspirators obtained a detailed map
of Fort Dix, where they said they hoped to use assault rifles and rocket
propelled grenades to kill as many soldiers as possible. They also conducted
small-arms training at a shooting range in the Pocono Mountains in
Pennsylvania and distributed training videos amongst themselves that included
depictions of American soldiers being killed and known foreign Islamic
radicals urging jihad against the United States.

I can't wait for the apologists and whack-jobs at "move-on dot org" to explain how this is just a Karl Rove inspired trick to drive up the ratings for George Bush.
The defendants are as follows:

-- Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill. He was born in Jordan, is
a U.S. citizen and is employed as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia.

-- Eljvir Duka, 23, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. "Elvis Duka," a.k.a.
"Sulayman," was born in the former Yugoslavia. Duka is illegally
residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as Qadr. Inc.,
Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, all of which list business
addresses the same as his residence.

-- Dritan Duka, 28, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. "Distan Duka," a.k.a. "Anthony
Duka," a.k.a. "Tony Duka." He was born in the former Yugoslavia, is
illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as
Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, both which list business
addresses at the residence of defendants Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka.
(All of the Dukas charged are brothers).

-- Shain Duka, 26, of the same address as Eljvir Duka in Cherry Hill,
a.k.a. "Shaheen," was born in the former Yugoslavia. Shain Duka is
illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as
Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, both which list business
addresses the same as his residence.

-- Serdar Tatar, 23, of Philadelphia, was born in Turkey. Tatar is
legally residing in the U.S. His last know employment was at a
7-Eleven convenience store in Philadelphia.

-- Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County, was born
in the former Yugoslavia. Abdullahu is legally residing in the U.S.
and is employed at a Shop-Rite Supermarket.

The Duka brothers and Abdullahu were born in the former Yugoslavia.

Does anyone doubt for a minute that Islam has declared war on the rest of us, or will it take car bombs and blood running down the gutters of your tree-lined neighborhoods to wake you up?

I also wonder if the Politically Correct Socialists at the Arizona Repulsive will mention that two of the six were here illegally -- or will it simply refer to them as "undocumented immigrants"?

Dems want spy agencies to investigate global warming

The National Surrender Party has now determined that Global Warming poses a national security risk and is planning on requiring that our already limited national intelligence resources be used to study the national security implications of global warming.

So, if I have this right, instead of watching Iran, or Osama, or any of the world's crackpots and dictators, the political party that boasts Al Gore, Hillary Clinton and Cindy Sheehan wants our national intelligence resources to focus less on real threats and more on imagined threats.

Am I making this up? Nope.

Senior House Republicans are complaining about Democrats' plans to divert "scarce" intelligence funds to study global warming.

The House next week will consider the Democrat-crafted Intelligence Authorization bill, which includes a provision directing an assessment of the effects that climate change has on national security.
Democrats, who outnumber Republicans on the committee, blocked the minority from stripping the warming language from the bill.

Intelligence panel Chairman Silvestre Reyes, Texas Democrat, said the climate-change study is one of several shifts his party has made to intelligence policy.
"We're concerned that global warming might impact our ability to maintain national security," he told The Times, describing the idea as "cutting edge."
"We want to get feedback from the intelligence community to understand if there are possible global issues," Mr. Reyes said, noting the change was on the advice of "several former military commanders."
The panel voted 11-9 to keep the provision that directs a National Intelligence Estimate "on the anticipated geopolitical effects of global climate change and the implications of such effects on the national security of the United States," according to a Republican staffer familiar with the bill.
The study, which so far has an undetermined cost, would examine the science of climate change, among other things. Few details about its method were available, but the staffer said it would "divert already scarce resources to study the climate."
The staffer added that the U.S. already tried using intelligence resources for this purpose in the 1990s.
"There are other parts of the government better suited to doing this type of study," agreed Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican. "Our government should not commit expensive spy satellites and human intelligence sources to target something as undefined as the environment."

I can see it now, deep in the heart of Cheyenne Mountain.

"Sir, one of our keyhole satellites had determined that the three Iranian kilo-class subs are about to try and enter New York Harbor. What should we do?"

"Have the satellite perform a three-second Delta V, to get in position to focus in on that gardener using a gas-powered weed eater on Fred Thompson's back yard."

What does a traffic accident in California have to do with the WTC?

A section of overpass collapsed in California yesterday, the result of a gasoline tanker truck that caught on fire. The heat of the fire collapsed the section of freeway where the accident occurred.

The threat of a nightmarish morning commute led many Bay Area residents to use public transportation Monday, one day after a fiery tanker crash caused a heavily trafficked section of freeway to collapse.

Westbound traffic into the city largely flowed as usual Monday morning, except for drivers slowing on interchange lanes headed to the Bay Bridge to look at the damage.

But officials warned the afternoon drive would bring bigger headaches as traffic leaving the city is diverted away from the collapsed eastbound segment.

The elevated section of highway that carries motorists from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to a number of freeways was destroyed early Sunday when the heat of a burning gasoline tanker truck weakened part of one overpass, crumpling it onto another.

As I read this I could not help but flash back to the critics of the World Trade Center collapse who claim that the fire could not have weakened the steel structure enough to cause the building's failure.

Of course, it is easy to be a critic when you don't let the facts interfere with your prejudices.

The National Cowardice Party

The cowards who lead the Democratic party have done it again -- betrayed our country and our fighting forces in an effort to extract political revenge.

From the Associated Press:

A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war.

The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto. Nevertheless, the legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to send to Bush since they reclaimed control of both houses of Congress in January.

The $124.2 billion bill requires troop withdrawals to begin Oct. 1, or sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. The House passed the measure Wednesday by a 218-208 vote.

The Cowards in Congress were aided by two turncoat Republicans, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, while the Party of Surrender had no one of integrity, other than former Democrat and now independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut who sided with America.

Republicans said the vote amounted to little more than political theater because the bill would be dead on arrival after reaching the White House. Bush said he will veto the bill so long as it contains a timetable on Iraq, as well as $20 billion in spending added by Democrats.

So there we have it, the high-minded Democrats pushing a pork-laden bill to cut the feet out from under our military -- but I guess they can sleep well because they got a few million extra for their constituents.

Disgusting.