GeMatt's Place

04 Elections Still Under Fire 2 Years Later

2006-02-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

An examination of Palm Beach County's electronic voting machine records from the 2004 election found possible tampering and tens of thousands of malfunctions and errors, a watchdog group said Thursday.

They just don't give up do they. How about Maryland? How bout Ohio? How about accepting the fact that the supreme court ruled its all over. There's a time limit on elections: jerks. Either move forward or get over it.

BlackBoxVoting.org describes itself as a nonpartisan but only challenges red states. How does that work?

"It was impossible to determine what information was altered or if votes were shifted among candidates." So why are you still bitching years later? Either replace the system or quit your bitching. Maybe if the vote tabulation machine wern't made by heavy democrat donors someone would care.

Maybe if democrats didn't describe any change in the voting machines as "catastrophic." "Democratic leadership continued to criticize Ehrlich yesterday,... calling the governor's demand for voting paper trails last-minute and inconsistent with his previous opinions."

So they'll bitch about the vote being innacurate but when the fat hits the fire:

"We've already spent a lot of money on the system," . "We would literally be throwing it away." OH NO....

"unjustifiably undermine public confidence in the integrity of the state election process."

"Ehrlich also called on lawmakers to postpone plans to offer early voting because he was concerned that having the polls open days before Election Day would leave the systems susceptible to fraud. Democrats said they didn't agree and planned to move forward."

When the illegal votes favor dems it all 'good enough' but when the votes favor republicans: "I actually think there's enough votes in play in Florida that it's anybody's guess who actually won the presidential race."

State Department Bitter They Have To Follow Policy Of The Elected Government

2006-02-24T01:58:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post runs a report that should shock no one. The effort by Condoleezza Rice at the State Department to consolidate the bureaucracy and bring it into line with the policy of the elected government has created hard feelings among some of the rank and file careerists, who apparently liked their ability to ignore the chain of command and undermine appointees. Some of them have run to the Post and Glenn Kessler to complain about their treatment in the Rice regime:

A State Department reorganization of analysts involved in preventing the spread of deadly weapons has spawned internal turmoil, with more than half a dozen career employees alleging in interviews that political appointees sought to punish long-term employees whose views they considered suspect.
Senior State Department officials deny that and say an investigation has found that the proper personnel practices were followed. But three officials involved in the reorganization, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, acknowledge that a merger of two bureaus reduced the influence of employees who were viewed by some political appointees as disloyal to the administration's policies.

"There are a number of disgruntled employees who feel they have been shoved aside for political purposes. That's true," said one of these officials. "But there was rank insubordination on the part of these officers."

How rank was that insubordination? Previous management encouraged the careerists to bypass key political appointees designated to ensuring that the elected government's policies were carried out, allowing State to thumb their nose at the White House. Since the Administration has the ultimate responsibility for the performance of State, this situation was untenable. Even Kessler reports that the insubordination was reality:

"The suspicion is we would undermine the policy," said one of the officials who have felt sidelined. "That is what all of us find most offensive. We are here to serve any administration." ...
The employees who say that they have been targeted once had a back channel to then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, who they said would on occasion ask them to bypass their superior, John R. Bolton, now the ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton, with backing from allies in the Pentagon and the vice president's office, frequently battled the rest of the State Department on policy issues.

State has always had its cadre of careerists whose outlook is that they run American foreign policy and not the elected President. It's been an example of the Washington bureaucracy for ages, and the Bush administration decided that it has gone on long enough. The President has a right to expect that his foreign-policy initiatives get implemented once so directed at State, and that the legitimate check on that authority resides with Congress and the American electorate, not a few self-important unaccountable apparatchiks at Foggy Bottom.

Al Gore Jockeying For '08 Presidential Run

2006-02-24T01:31:00.000-05:00

The former vice president’s slashing attacks on the administration and his stalwart, if misguided, opposition to the Iraq war leave him without the complications and complexes that will devil Clinton as she seeks to appeal to the unforgiving left of the Democratic Party.

And Gore may be a man whose time has come in his party. It was he who warned of climate change and predicted its consequences. Hurricane Katrina was just a fulfillment of the prophesies Gore wrote about in his late-1980s book Earth in the Balance. He has been an energy-conservation nut for years, and his obsessions with alternatives to oil will play better and better as we come to realize how our addiction to oil has led us to dependency on the dealers of this particular drug — Iran, the Saudi royal family and Hugo Chavez.

The Democratic base’s anger at Gore’s defeat in 2000 was assuaged by the worse Kerry defeat of 2004. The idea that he was an incompetent candidate has been replaced in Democratic iconography by the idea that he was cheated out of the presidency. The hiatus has healed his reputation with the base in much the same way that the negative rap on Nixon for losing in 1960 was ameliorated by the Goldwater wipeout of 1964.

It only shows how radical and out of touch the Democratic Party has become. If their base prefers a bitter old man that panders to radical Islamist propaganda while we are at war against Islamofascist terrorism, then the Democrats had better consider jettisoning their base and starting fresh. No one in their right mind would nominate Al Gore for President after that speech in Saudi Arabia, and if that's what gets the leftist base involved, the Democrats will be better off in the long run without them

Bin-Laden Not Stuck Prior To 9/11 For Fear Of Hitting UAE Prince

2006-02-24T01:14:00.000-05:00

During the winter of 1998-99, intelligence reported that Bin Ladin frequently visited a camp in the desert, adjacent to a larger hunting camp in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, used by visitors from a Gulf state. Public sources have stated that these visitors were from the United Arab Emirates. At the beginning of February, Bin Ladin was reportedly located there, and apparently remained for more than a week. This was not in an urban area, so the risk of collateral damage was minimal. Intelligence provided a detailed description of the camps. National technical intelligence confirmed the description of the larger camp, and showed the nearby presence of an official aircraft of the UAE. The CIA received reports that Bin Ladin regularly went from his adjacent camp to the larger camp where he visited with Emiratis. The location of this larger camp was confirmed by February 9, but the location of Bin Ladin's quarters could not be pinned down so precisely.

Preparations were made for a possible strike, against the larger camp, perhaps to target Bin Ladin during one of his visits. No strike was launched.

According to CIA officials, policymakers were concerned about the danger that a strike might kill an Emirati prince or other senior officials who might be with Bin Ladin or close by. The lead CIA official in the field felt the intelligence reporting in this case was very reliable. The UBL unit chief at the time agrees. The field official believes today that this was a lost opportunity to kill Bin Ladin before 9/11.

On February 10th, Clarke reported that a top UAE official had vehemently denied that high-level UAE officials were in Afghanistan. Evidence subsequently confirmed that high-level UAE officials had been there.

The indispensible Middle East Media Research Institute reported in a two-part series in 2003 on the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-up, a UAE think tank whose patron was the second son of the President of the UAE, and which was a source of vile anti-American, pro-Hitler, anti-Jewish propaganda. The introduction to the MEMRI report explains that UAE officials privately acknowledged that the government-funded Zayed Center was a problem, but reining it in was difficult. The think tank was later closed.

Although many of the leaders of the UAE dictatorship may indeed support the U.S. in the war on terror, it seems clear that, at the least, there is a notable portion of the UAE, including some powerful and/or influential people, who do not. As James Lileks points out (in an article which Eugene linked to earlier today), the risks of a bin Laden sympathizer from the UAE supplying critical US port information to terrorists seems unacceptably high.

UN Goals

2006-02-24T01:11:00.000-05:00

The United Nations Security Council today tabled discussion about how to react to Iran’s ongoing nuclear weapons development in order to take up debate on what to do about U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s recently disclosed weapons capabilities.

“We don’t really know whether Iran is making a bomb, or just making cheap abundant electricity,” said an unnamed Security Council spokesman. “But we have hard evidence that Dick Cheney is armed and dangerous.”

The council will consider a variety of responses, from economic sanctions against Mr. Cheney, to a stringent inspection protocol with all weapons placed under U.N. seal, and 24/7 video monitoring.

“Of course, we cannot rule out a military response,” the source said. “We must keep our options open in dealing with what has quickly become the biggest weapons issue of our time.”

via scrappleface

Racial Profiling Un-American Unless Your Talking About Arabs

2006-02-23T18:23:00.000-05:00

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on the introduction of the End Racial Profiling Act of 2004:

"I am proud to join Congressman John Conyers, the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, as a cosponsor of the bipartisan End Racial Profiling Act of 2004 to end the shameful practice of racial profiling and to ensure that each of our citizens is treated with dignity and fairness.

Fast forward to last night:

"The unilateral decision of the Bush administration to allow the sale of port operations to a foreign government raises serious national security concerns," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

Activists Defeated, The Return Of Nuclear Power

2006-02-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

Nuclear reactor builders are jostling for business as energy utilities take another look at nuclear power. After years of suffering under the environmental activists heel, businesses are once again looking to the promises of nuclear energy.

About 16% of the world's electricity supply comes from nuclear power, and energy demand is increasing. Worldwide, nearly 80% of the 441 commercial nuclear reactors currently in operation are more than 15 years old.

The new interest in peaceful nuclear energy "results from some heavy lobbying(no bias there) by groups involved in building reactors", said Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and from attempts to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs adds "there are also increasing concerns about energy security, particularly in light of the recent disruption of Russian gas supplies in Europe."

Nuclear-industry officials have long said that the majority of growth would come in Asia. Japan is building five new power plants by 2010, and China plans to build 30 nuclear reactors, based on domestic designs, by 2020. China also sees nuclear technology as a major export opportunity, say industry analysts, and is building its second of four power plants for Pakistan, which may lead to a larger order. India has nine power plants under construction, including a fast-breeder reactor that generates its own fuel.

Six countries—Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, the Czech Republic, and Turkey—may build two to five PWRs each, while Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland are now reevaluating plans to phase-out nuclear power.

The US nuclear power industry has been virtually frozen since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, but in the US Congress 2005 energy bill, tax credits worth $3.1 billion, along with liability protection and compensation for legislative delays, were added for the industry. On 30 December 2005, for the first time in years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) certified the design of a new reactor.

According to representatives of the electric utilities involved, the US government and the reactor technology suppliers are paying for most of the $150 million the certification process costs. "The utilities are waiting to see if they can get any more subsidies out of the government," says Lyman, "so it's still premature to say if any of them will go ahead." A satisfactory means for disposal of their radioactive waste products has not yet been announced.

But the nuclear power industry believes the first new US order is only two years away. Says NuStart Energy president Marilyn Kray, "Our country needs these advanced nuclear plants."

Abortion Outlawed In South Dakota

2006-02-23T05:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sure the left will be out in full force saying how millions of women will die because of this but I'm thinking the population of South Dakota will be rising soon.

South Dakota's state senate voted on Wednesday for an abortion ban aimed at giving the conservative-tilting Supreme Court an opening to overturn rulings granting women the right to the procedure.

Only an unlikely veto by Republican Gov. Michael Rounds could prevent the legislation from becoming law, people on both sides of the issue said.

"If he chooses to sign it, we will be filing a lawsuit in short order to block it,"said Kate Looby of Planned Parenthood.

Two years ago, Rounds vetoed a similar bill, saying it would wipe out existing restrictions on abortion while it was fought in the courts. A rewritten bill lost narrowly.

Some legislators opposed to abortion rights questioned whether it was premature to challenge Roe v. Wade, and said litigation would prove expensive for the sparsely populated state. An anonymous donor has offered $1 million to the state to defray the costs of litigation.

American's Left To Defend The Border, Without The Government

2006-02-22T20:59:00.000-05:00

Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”), announced plans for the group’s nationwide “Secure Our Borders” campaign in April 2006. Simcox also announced a new operational structure for the original Minuteman Border Project to meet the growing needs of the continued expansion of Minuteman border security operations.

Thousands of MCDC volunteers, augmented by the new national support team, will hold border watch patrols in northern and southern states along an estimated 800 miles of international borders during the month of April. The Minutemen will observe and report suspected illegal border crossings to the proper authorities. As always, they will maintain a “no contact” policy with the exception of providing emergency water to those illegal aliens found in distress in the wilderness.

Last year, MCDC revolutionized the national debate about border security and illegal immigration by focusing the nation’s attention on the dangers of America’s wide-open borders in a post 9/11 world. The Minutemen have demonstrated that the borders can be secured with sufficient political will and dedication.

Since the MCDC 23-mile border watch in April, 2005, interest in joining and supporting the Minutemen has exploded nationwide. MCDC chapters have been formed in southern and northern border states, as well as interior states. To date, 6,500 men and women have passed the required background check and interviews to qualify to become official Minuteman Border Project volunteers – with more waiting in the queue for approval. Over 120,000 people have become friends of the Minutemen through their support and volunteer work.

Given the success of the Minuteman Border Project efforts, and two successful month long 24/7 operations conducted in April and October of 2005, a new national volunteer operational structure has been launched to support the Minutemen. The new structure is necessary to respond to these thousands of volunteers and supporters asking what they can do to help.

MCDC has asked for and accepted the help of experienced border volunteers who have been on the front lines, some for as long as four years. With this expansion we will be ready for the thousands of volunteers who will participate in the “Secure Our Borders” operation in April 2006. This expansion further solidifies MCDC’s ability to continue the largest neighborhood watch effort in American history. The Minutemen will continue their civil defense operations assisting authorities in securing the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada until properly relieved.

Contact MCDC at (520)829-3112 or info@minutemanhq.com

Oscar Committe: Ethics 'Issues' More Important Than Movie Quality

2006-02-22T13:13:00.000-05:00

'Heavy' issues of ethics and morality dominate socially-conscious Oscars.

Oscar has developed a social conscience this year, with weighty real-life themes, ranging from ethics in big business and media to racial tensions, dominating the movies vying for the big prizes.

US inner city tensions, terror in the Middle East, freedom of expression and the thorny subject of tolerance of gays complete the quiver of unusually serious issues inspired by world events that faces Oscar voters this year.

"A few years ago the serious film would have been the odd man out, but there is more bias to them by awards givers and more acceptance for weighty films, both fiction and documentary, by audiences," Marty Grove, columnist for the Hollywood Reporter.

All five of the best picture and best director nominees this year deal with issues that Hollywood once thought too serious and too dark for mainstream movie-goers, as do nominees in several of the other major categories.

"Capote," about the writing of author Truman Capote's seminal novel "In Cold Blood," takes a hard look at journalistic ethics, while George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck" is the still-relevant story of a newsman's stand against US senator Joseph McCarthy's repressive 1950s communist witch-hunt.

Movie legend Steven Spielberg's "Munich" tells the story of Israel's tough response to the murder of its athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics, while "Brokeback Mountain," which leads the Oscar race with eight nods, is the aching story of two farm hands who fall in love in the conservative American West.

And the serious 'issue driven' movie pervade more than just the best picture and best director categories.

Fernando Meirelles's thriller "The Constant Gardner," nominated for four Oscars including best supporting actress for Rachael Weisz and best adapted screenplay, tells of the ruthless tactics of a multi-national pharmaceutical company in Africa.

The drama "Syriana" studies the shadowy machinations of US oil firms in the Middle East, and bagged two nominations, including one for Clooney as best supporting actor.

"In the post 9/11 world there are concerns with issues that we face, including morality of the media and of politicians or of global corporations. All of this is grist for the filmmakers' mill" Grove said.

The US-led war in Iraq, a string of high-profile corporate fraud cases including fallen energy giant Enron, US media failures to act as an effective watchdog of government and to check sources have exercised the minds of movie-goers, said popular culture expert Leo Braudy.

"I tend to see it as the dark side of James Bond, escapist movies in which the hero ... triumphs against the single megalomaniac, said the University of Southern California professor and author.

"Now you have a much more globalised world as we see in 'Syriania', when there is an interplay of multiple perspectives of global issues. The James Bond model is too easy now. Life isn't that simple any more," Braudy said. There is no good and evil anymore.

But while the Oscars have this year eschewed classic picturesque epics -- with the exception of "Memoirs of a Geisha," which won six nods, although none in the major categories -- they have forsaken entertainment value.

The nominated filmmakers may be tackling weighty issues, but to the common man, they are engaging in stodgy ideological diatribes that no-one cares about anymore. Films were supposed to be , at one time, about entertaining people. But todays Hollywood crop is more about lecturing the audience about the evils of their society while completely dismissing dissenting opinion.

The Hollywood agenda is clear. Making money is no longer the driving source behind Hollywood movies. Whomever can cast the most negative light on the society that created them is the seeming goal of Holloywood these days.

So long as the messages being sent out are of the appropriately, anti-american, anti-society, all ills in the world are, at the root, the US's fault, it no longer matters the entertainment value of the movie. So long as the propaganda message gets across, it doesn't matter if anyone actualy watches them.

Korean Youths Side With Communist Dictatorship Over US

2006-02-22T01:35:00.000-05:00

Nearly half of South Korean youths who will be old enough to vote in the country's next elections say Seoul should side with North Korea if the United States attacks the communist nation, according to a poll released Wednesday.

At the same time, 40.7 percent of the 1,000 young people surveyed said Seoul should remain neutral in the event of hostilities between Washington and Pyongyang, according to the poll by The Korea Times and Hankook Ilbo dailies. Only 11.6 percent said the South should back its longtime U.S. ally.

The poll, conducted Feb. 16-19, surveyed youths between 17 and 23 years old who will be old enough to vote in next year's presidential election. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The youths named China as South Korea's most important partner for maintaining friendly relations, at 39.5 percent, followed by the United States and North Korea at 18.4 and 18 percent, respectively.

A majority of those surveyed, 54.1 percent, said peaceful reunification was the preferred method for ending the division on the peninsula. But 35.5 percent said the status quo should be maintained if the North and South can peacefully coexist.

Where Does Sensitivity End And Facists Dictatorship Begin?

2006-02-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

Lorenzo Vidin of the Boston Herald asks a couple of pertinent questions, based upon the Danish Cartoon controversy.

The key question is: where do we place that limit? How far must we compromise to respect other peoples’ feelings? Last year, for example, two Scottish Muslim organizations tried to prevent a Glasgow restaurant from obtaining the authorization required to sell alcohol to patrons sitting outdoors, claiming it was offensive to any Muslim passers-by.

Are we going to reach a point where no alcohol will be served in public places, as that could offend Muslims? By the same token, some Muslims are offended by mini-skirts and other revealing clothes. Are we going to implement a culturally-sensitive dress code for Western women on our own turf? The question is not so preposterous, given the acts of kowtowing that abound in the West.

If not, then why not? After all, if we are going to limit rights long seen as inalienable -- rights with which we were endowed by our Creator, to crib a phrase from jefferson -- why shouldn't we accept these more limited restrictions based upon the need to be sensitive to those who utterly reject Western notions of freedom?

Tax Cuts Bring In More Money Than Tax Hikes

2006-02-21T22:49:00.000-05:00

Something than no democrat would ever admit, encouraging growth actually produces growth. Taxation to the hilt only produces bankruptcies.

Ever since the Senate approved the last major tax relief bill, in 2003, revenues have increased every year. In 2004, they went up 5.5%. Last year, they rose 14.5%, the largest increase in nearly 25 years.

Total government collections, in fact, increased more after President Bush's 2003 tax cuts than they did after President Clinton's 1994 tax hikes...

Republicans' decision to reduce taxes on capital gains and dividends provides a good case study in effective tax policy. When we enacted these measures in 2003, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that revenues would decline by $27 billion over the next two years. Instead, it turned out that the tax cut stimulated investment and increased revenues by $26 billion — a $53 billion difference.

American Taxpayers Funding Chinese Arbortions

2006-02-21T18:46:00.000-05:00

Congress is preparing to vote on an amendement that would restore U.S. funding for a United Nations agency accused of subsidizing communist China's coercive population control program.

The United Nations Population Fund's activities assist government efforts to force married couples to have only one or two children at most, according to an investigation by the Population Research Institute in 2001 and determinations by the U.S. State Department in 2002 and 2004. Penalties for breaking the law include heavy fines, loss of employment and other sanctions.

China maintains, at least in some areas of the country, a one-child policy sometimes enforced through a policy of forced abortions. It is believed China performs some 10 million involuntary abortions a year.

"If UNFPA wants U.S. funding, it must cease aiding human rights abuses in China," said Steve Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, or PRI.

Mosher said the UNFPA subsidizes a "despicable" program of forced contraception, abortion and sterilization that should reform or be abolished, not rewarded.

"So-called pro-choice leaders are revealed for the frauds that they are when they support money for this United Nations agency," he said.

Currently, a provision of U.S. law called the Kemp-Kasten Amendment directs the federal government to withhold funding from international organizations that assist coercion in population control programs.

As reported last July, the Bush administration withheld a $34 million payment from the UNFPA to China over the issue of forced abortions.

But Congress members who support abortion rights are about to offer an amendment to the State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bill to restore funding for UNFPA.

In a 2004 letter, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell said he "determined that UNFPA's support of, and involvement in, China's population-planning activities allowed the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion ... ."

As in 2002, Powell wrote, "UNFPA continues its support and involvement in China's coercive birth limitation program in counties where China's restrictive law and penalties are enforced by government officials."

Mosher noted that UNFPA officials praised China's coercive population control program as recently as 2001.

PRI sent an investigative team to China's Guangdong province in 2001 and discovered that in Sihui County, the UNFPA population control officer's desk was located in the Chinese government's population control office.

UNFPA claimed that Sihui County was free of coercive population control measures, but PRI said it spoke to victims and witnesses who confirmed the presence of coercion in Sihui County, included forced abortion and sterilization.

Even Death Won't Stop Wackjobs From Protesting You

2006-02-21T12:24:00.000-05:00

Wearing leather chaps and vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls from one soldier's funeral to another in hopes their respectful cheers and revving engines will drown out the insults of protesters.

The motorcycle club members calling themselves Patriot Guard Riders are trying to shield mourners from cruel jeers by adherents of a tiny fundamentalist church who picket military funerals to reflect their belief that U.S. combat deaths are a sign God is punishing the United States for harboring homosexuals. Some protesters' signs said, 'Thank God for IEDs,' the improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs, that kill many U.S. soldiers.

"The most important thing we can do is let families know that the nation cares," said Don Woodrick, the biker group's Kentucky captain. "When a total stranger gets on a motorcycle in the middle of winter and drives 300 miles to hold a flag, that makes a powerful statement."

Across the nation, Patriot Guard Riders number more than 5,000. They show up at soldiers' funerals to chant patriotic slogans and wave red, white and blue flags in hopes of overshadowing backers of a Kansas clergyman named the Rev. Fred Phelps.

Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church have caused such a fuss that at least 14 states are considering laws aimed at the funeral protests. During the 1990s, church members were known mostly for picketing funerals of AIDS victims, and they have long been tracked as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project in Montgomery, Alabama.

At a recent memorial service at Fort Campbell, church protesters and sang vulgar songs condemning homosexuals and soldiers. The Patriot Guard was also there, cheering to support mourning families across the street as community members came in a freezing rain to chant "U-S-A, U-S-A" alongside the bikers.

"This is just the right thing to do. This is something America didn't do in the '70s," said Kurt Mayer, the Patriot Guard's national spokesman, referring to the era when protests against the Vietnam war were common. "Whether we agree with why we�re over there, these soldiers are dying to protect our freedoms."

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of Fred Phelps and an attorney for the Topeka, Kansas-based church, said neither state laws nor the Patriot Guard can silence their message that God killed the soldiers because they fought for a country that embraces homosexuals.

The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' extended family. A small group of them appeared last month in West Virginia outside a memorial for the 12 men killed in the Sago Mine disaster. They held signs reading "Thank God for Dead Miners" and "Miners in Hell."

Kentucky, home to sprawling Fort Campbell, was among the first states to attempt to deal with Phelps legislatively. Its House and Senate have each passed bills that would limit people from protesting within 300 feet of a funeral or memorial service. The Senate version would also keep protesters from being within earshot of grieving friends and family members.

The Indiana Senate has passed a bill intended to prohibit protests within 500 feet (150 meters) of funerals. The House is considering the measure.

The bills were written to protect families of soldiers such as Pvt. Jonathan R. Pfender, 22, of Evansville, Indiana, a soldier from Fort Campbell�s 101st Airborne Division who was killed in January by a roadside bomb in Beiji, Iraq.

Westboro church members protested at Pfender's funeral, screaming profanities at mourners as they passed. Family members were shielded from the insults by the rumble of Patriot Guard motorcycles.

From Israel To Iran, HAMAS Goes Panhandling, Carter In Tow

2006-02-20T16:40:00.000-05:00

After loosing its western funding first, then Israeli blood money, HAMAS is now trying to get Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to fund it's terrorists regime.

Ayatollah Khamenei called on Muslims worldwide to provide cash to the Palestinians during his talks with the Islamic radical Hamas movement, state television reported.

“We must make a plan so all Muslims will be able to supply the Palestinians with a yearly 'financial aid package',” Khamenei told Hamas’ political leader Khaled Mashaal on Monday.

“This voluntary gesture will create a spiritual bond among Muslims and the Palestinian cause and have a great impact on the world,” Khamenei said.

He lauded Hamas for not moderating its fierce resistance to Israel after its upset victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections last month.

“The Hamas positions are fundamental and right,” he said, praising Palestinians for electing the Islamic party. “The Palestinian people voted knowing it meant choosing resistance and fighting the Zionist regime.”

Which seems odd considering Former president Jimmy Carter belives the same thing.

Un-American To Supporting American Foreign Policy?

2006-02-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

The Democratic Party has undertaken an organized campaign to drive Vetran, Col. Stephenson, two fellow servicemen and the families of servicemen who were killed in Iraq off the public airways.

Iraqi Combat Vetran, Stephenson and his group Wid-West Hero's Orginazation, ran ads on privately paid for local TV time to promote acceptance of the troops mission, that the media is promoting there own war. That the war fought in Iraq and the war reported in the US main stream media aren't the same war.

The ad features family's that have lost sons or daughters to the Iraq war speaking of the ties between Saddam and terrorists, terrorism in Iraq. That our sons and daughters are dying to spread freedom,

Main message of the ad being support of the the mission is inseperable from support of the troops. The mission to fight terrorists when they lay, not in the rubble-strewn streets of NY city.

The Democratic Party has officially pronounced that Col. Stephenson and his ads are "un-American." Demanding that the ads be pulled, that freedom of speech doesn't cover those who support the government. Denounced by the left as lies and trickery, its all factual, proven even in the liberal left wing, msm.

That such a thing could happen is almost beyond belief--a Marine officer with more than ten years of active duty labeled "un-American" for supporting America's foreign policy. To demand that his free speech be pulled in the most un-american of actions.

Terrorists Training Camp In Our Own Backyard

2006-02-19T15:18:00.000-05:00

Probe finds terrorists in U.S. 'training for war'. Neighbors of Muslim encampment fear retaliation if they report to police.

The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the United States as training facilities, confirms a joint investigative report by an intelligence think tank and an independent reporter.

The neighbors interviewed, who asked not to be identified, said they feared retaliation if they were to make a report to law enforcement officials.

"We see children – small children run around over there when they should be in school," one neighbor said. "We hear bursts of gunfire all of the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."

"We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," the resident said. "They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy property next to that?"

Jamaat ul-Fuqra, or "community of the impoverished," was formed by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani in New York in 1980. Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," has stated his objective is to "purify" Islam through violence.

Gilani also is the founder of a village in South Carolina called "Holy Islamville."

The encampment in Hancock, N.Y., is run by a front for Jamaat ul-Fuqra called Muslims of the Americas Inc., which operates a school known as the International Quranic Open University Inc.
Every one of the neighboring residents interviewed expressed disappointment and additional concern that federal law enforcement is not investigating the activities, the report said.

"These people need to be investigated," a resident said. "They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops. Who in the h--- is allowing this stuff to happen right here in our own backyard, and why?"

Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in the U.S.

The group seeks to counter "excessive Western influence on Islam" through any means necessary, publicly embracing the ideology that violence is a significant part of its quest to purify Islam. The enemies of Islam, the group says, are all non-Muslims and any Muslim who does not follow the tenets of fundamentalist Islam as detailed in the Quran.

The report says Jamaat ul-Fuqra members have "purchased isolated rural properties in North America to live as a community, practice their faith, and insulate themselves from Western culture. The group has established rural encampments that U.S. authorities allege are linked to murder, bombings and other felonies throughout North America."

The report noted the property is near the Cannonsville Reservoir and Watershed Area, one of several water supply sources servicing New York City and adjacent areas. The investigators noted men appeared to be designated to provide security for the compound, with some posted at guard shacks.

"Although no activity of extreme significance was observed (the presence of armed sentries guarding the perimeter of the compound excluded) during this period of surveillance, it was obvious that measures to insure that the activities taking place at this location were well insulated from public view," the report said.

NAACP Opposes Represental Democracy

2006-02-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

The Department of Justice should postpone upcoming elections in New Orleans until enough black displaced voters have been located, NAACP officials said Saturday.

"We're worried about the voting rights of 'our' people in New Orleans who are not in New Orleans," said Bruce S. Gordon, NAACP president. "People should still have a say in what happens in the communities that were ravaged by Katrina."even if they no longer live there.

Last week, Gordon asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to make sure election procedures are fair. The Voting Rights Act allows federal officials to scrutinize election changes that may hurt minorities.

"If it requires us to take legal action, we will fight this," Gordon said.

In other words, they are afraid that there aren't enough black voters in New Orleans to ensure that Democrats remain firmly in power. They aren't interested in voting rights, but in voting outcomes.

There once was a war fought with the slogan of 'No taxation without representation'. What the NAACP want is entitlement without representation, or actual voters.

Web Makes Uncredable Claim On Cheney Shooting

2006-02-18T13:18:00.000-05:00

Personally I expected the msm to run this like its gospel but,

Website claims they have 'scientific' proof that the Cheney shooting is a coverup.

One word for them: Choke: choke, choke. No-one shoots quail with a punt gun.

I took a view and the errors are glaring. If this guy is such an expert maybe he can explain just what a choke is and its effect on pattern distribution. He admits that the barrel length is approx. the same but make no mention of the choke used by Mr. Cheney, or the gun(side by side?) he used. Any woman should be able to tell you, its about more than the length of your barrel, its how you use it. His gun couldn't even hit a chiken at 30 yards but for 1 'bb'. We're expected to belive that this is the kind of setup for shooting a 4 inch quail?

I happen to own a floating choke shotgun that allows the choke to be removed and replaced at -will (with a wrench). Doing some off the cuff research, its proven that the on-pattern percentage of common chokes varied from 25% on a 'stock' Winchester to a fine 80% on a custom made full choke. You get your 2.4 liter gasoline powered Nissan 240sx and I'll get my 2.4 liter gasoline powered Nissan 240sx and we'll see which is faster? One stock, and one "the same length," the same displacement. It makes for a world of difference under that hood even with same engine displacement, epecially if you don't know the specific modifications made by the owner(turbo, intake, exhaust, etc).

Nothing he has done is the same as Cheneys. What was the moisture content of the shells he's using? Age? Powder type? Shell manafacturer? BB Size? Lead or Lead Free Shot? Nylon Coated? Is there anything the same other than length of the barrel and length/weight of the shotgun shell? I hope no-one belives the shells are the same because they have the same weight. And don't make me bring up the possibility that the shell was a poor quality reload.

Embedded. Yes, Embeded into an artery 1 mm deep where can get circulated into the heart through the circulatory system. I don't remember hearing the shot penetrated his heart straight through the ribcage. Your ribcage has these elongated holes that run their entire length, you might want to check up on that. I would find it hard to belive that the heart would be penetrated yet the lungs be fine with a 13-14 inch spread on his ribcage/face. The lungs are several mms closer to the surface than the heart. Not to mention penetration of the windpipe.

I have to belive old white geezer skin is probaly less durable than shiny new plastic, especially if you rub some vaseline on it. 3mm deep into watermelon rind seems enought to bust into the artery on the neck which I believe has a straight shot down to the heart, or to pop on in through a luck gap near the breastbone. An unlucky ricochet off a rock on the ground could have a trajectory coming from below and hit under the bottom of the ribcage above the diaphram straight into the heart.

And as to the initial claims. 1. The Secret Service ia legitimate law enforcement personal. They have to right to lead, take charge, do the investagation. You only need look to the FBI for fine examples of federal authorities taking charge of local 'incidents'.

2. Press and law enforcements authorities aren't usally allowed to 'interview' people on their death bed. When your on the operating table the last thing you want are reporters screaming, 'spraying it, not saying it', all over the operating room. Just how clean do you think Charlie copper is after running down that street punk through the mud in the foot chase he had a few hours ago? Not to mention he has the right to have his lawyer present at any questioning. Watch some Law and Order SVU and read up on Miranda. They DON'T have the right to interview at will.

Schwarzenegger's Global Warming Solution

2006-02-18T12:27:00.000-05:00

It seems Arnold Schwarzenegger does have a solution to global warming. Make gas so expensive that no-one can use it except those in un-regulated markets. That and more beuracratic paperwork.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is expected this month to release a plan to combat global warming that recommends raising petroleum prices and requiring industries to report, for the first time, their greenhouse gas emissions.

So in China and India where a catalytic converter is unknow, this will help how? California allready is famous for exporting its polution by buying out of state power, materials, and services. This will only prove that once all business's are out of business that yes you can reduce co2 output by killing off everything. Everything gives off either co2 or methane, you and me included. The only way to fix that in the gov eyes is to either remove us or just send us overseas.
When all the business in California is dryed up it'll be up to the out-of-state taxpayer to bail out this failure of a policy. California will be the most un-competive, anti-busness state in the union.

I can't help but point out that changing the way animal crap is handeled is hardly a path to global warming reversal. And that acid rain causing sulfer is fine but heaven forbid the co2 from the cement used to build the infrastructure get into the atmosphere. Everything comes from something. You can't have a chicken without first having an egg. And as far as Arnold is concerned, you can't have greenhouse gasses without first killing off everything socialy productive.

Journalist See Cheney Shooting As Attack On Them

2006-02-17T15:45:00.000-05:00

For days, the White House news corps has pounded the Bush administration, demanding to learn more about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting companion Saturday.

Cheney finally addressed the incident Wednesday, but the forum in which he chose to do so -- in an exclusive interview with Fox News host Brit Hume -- quickly became another source of contention.

Fox News executives cast the scoop as the result of persistence and the growing clout of the top-rated cable news network.

"We've been after the vice president since Sunday, as everyone has, and our efforts paid off," said John Moody, Fox's senior vice president for news editorial. "I think he wanted to make sure he got a fair interview and a good interview -- good in the sense of thorough -- and Brit is sort of the pre-eminent journalist in Washington right now."

But some Democrats and competing broadcasters charged that Cheney chose to speak only with Fox News because of a perception that the cable channel is sympathetic to the Republican administration. They called for the vice president to hold a news conference with the rest of the media.

Assuming Mr. Whittington doesn’t die and there are not contradictions in Cheney’s account of what happened, this story is over, and it will have no lasting impact on the Bush administration. Because once again the MSM and the left have massively overreacted to a story in an attempt to damage the Bush administration, and the backlash against their overreaction will counteract whatever political damage this story may have caused.

UN Issues Report, Complete With No Actual Knowledge

2006-02-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

In a report released today, the United Nations says the United States should shut down the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, and either release them or put them on trial.

But, get this...

The report, summarizing an investigation by five U.N. experts who did not visit Guantanamo, said photographic evidence and testimony of former prisoners showed that detainees were shackled, chained, hooded and beaten if they resisted.

As Scott McClellan noted, the detainees have been trained to disseminate false allegations. The amazing thing is that people...err, more specifically, the Hate-America Left fall for it, and take the side of the terrorists.

So, the United Nations is basing their entire report on the testimony of suspected terrorists, and not their own firsthand knowledge of what actually happens there.

Bottom line: the report is about as useful as toilet paper, and might as well be used as such.

Chicago Refuses Republicans, Have Better Things Too Do 10 Years From Now

2006-02-16T19:10:00.000-05:00

The Republican National Committee said yesterday that Chicago and 30 other cities were asked to submit bids to host their 2008 convention.

But a spokeswoman for Mayor Richard Daley says City Hall isn't interested in hosting Republicans.

Chicago hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1996 but when it comes to Republicans: thanks but no thanks. They have other better things to do than host the democraticaly elected representatives of their government.

The Olympics 10 years from now was listed as a more important to them than the largest political party in the US.

Governor Of Maryland : "I no longer have confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections"

2006-02-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said Wednesday that he has lost confidence in the state's ability to hold fair and secure elections this fall, and called for paper receipts for Maryland's electronic voting machines, and the delay of early-voting procedures approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature."

'In light of these recent national decertifications and the Maryland General Assembly's decision to override my vetoes ... I no longer have confidence in the State Board of Elections' ability to conduct fair and accurate elections in 2006,' said Ehrlich, a Republican, in his letter to Board of Elections Chairman Gilles W. Burger.

Democrats criticized Ehrlich's apparent shift on the paper-receipt issue, noting that he vetoed a bill last year that would have 'studied' the option. Advocates of reforming the state's voting system cheered Ehrlich's remarks, which he made a day before a Senate committee is to hold hearings on a bill that would require a paper trail.

Earlier in 2004, a team assembled by Columbia-based RABA, proved that the voting system was easily compromised, allowing results to be whatever a script kiddie wanted them to be.

RABA team members found that individual machines could be disabled by jamming a voter card into a terminal or lifting it up and pulling out wires. The team guessed passwords on the cards that were needed to access the machines, and found the passwords were contained in the source code of the computers.

The team also said the computer server that tabulates election results did not have security updates from Microsoft Corp. Team members were able to break into the server remotely via dial-up modem.

Wertheimer of RABA Technologies said he was surprised that each of Maryland's machines has two identical locks, which could be opened by any one of the 32,000 keys. The report also stated it was easy to pick the locks.

The president of the company that makes the machines in question, a large democrat donor, assured the public that major software changes were "not needed".

Linda Lamone, administrator of the State Board of Elections, said it would be 'too risky' to install different passwords and make sure election judges had the right passwords.

Too riskty to ensure proper voting tabulation! Democrats hard at work.