6/30/2007
Two car bombs in London yesterday (thankfully they both failed), and now a car bomb at Glasgow International. This one erupted into flames burning at least one person. The one person that we know was burned was in the car, and is described as Middle Eastern. He has been taken to a local hospital, and now there are reports that that hospital has been evacuated.
So, the question is; are we next? My guess is yes. It’s obvious that AQ has decided to export the tactics that they are using in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specifically car bombs and IED’s. It’s time to ramp up our vigilance here at home.
6/28/2007
Good on ‘em. They finally decided to listen to the electorate. Cloture failed and they killed the Shamnesty bill today. The final vote was nays: 53 yeas: 46. Our phone calls, emails, and faxes made a difference. Reports are that there were so many phone calls today against the bill that it actually crashed the Senate phone system for a period of time. Of course, the usual suspects are ticked off that things didn’t work out… George Bush, Trent Lott, John McCain, Teddy “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy, and Harry Reid. Hot Air has the video of Kennedy accusing enforcement first advocates of wanting a Gestapo like environment. Reid uses the opportunity to attack talk radio:
“Talk radio has had a field day. These generators of simplicity.” — Senator Harry Reid
George Bush has said he’s disappointed with the Sentae vote. Message to George: when 80% of the electorate doesn’t want the bill maybe you’re the one who’s wrong.
THE PRESIDENT: I thank the members of the Senate and members of my administration who worked so hard on the border security and immigration reform bill. I’m sorry the Senate was unable to reach agreement on the bill this morning.
Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people and Congress’s failure to act on it is a disappointment. The American people understand the status quo is unacceptable when it comes to our immigration laws. A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn’t find a common ground — it didn’t work.
My hat’s off to those Senators that worked so hard to have the will of the people heard on this issue. A big thank you to Senators DeMint, Sessions, Inhofe, Vitter, and Cornyn.
Here’s DeMint on Reid’s nasty tactic of limiting opponents of shamnesty to ten minutes:
“This immigration bill has become a war between the American people and their government. It’s a crisis of confidence…This vote today is really not about immigration. It’s about whether we are going to listen to the American people…the allocation of time as we approach this vote is very symbolic. the supporters of this bill out of an hour’s time have allocated 10 minutes to the views of the American people.â€
See, there are so many problems with this whole process. The bill was written in secret, then they did everything they could to limit amendments to the bill, and then they tried to stifle debate on the bill. Not only did they do all of this, but they did everything they could to ignore the will of the American people.
I really haven’t paid much attention to the Edwards/Coulter dust up on Hardball. But, I found this today on Protein Wisdom, and I think it describes Edwards and the rest of the “Fairness Doctrine” left perfectly.
…For (neo) “progressives†like Edwards, this move to silence or demonize criticism is a fundamental plank in a social platform that relies completely on being able to control and direct the cultural narrative — an ideological imperative that uses, as its rhetorical touchstone, an idea of “tolerance†that is inherently intolerant of all but that speech that has been culturally sanctioned by progressive elites and their handmaidens in the identity politics movement. In short, it caters to those who presume to set the parameters for what is “acceptable†to say about any given identity group, and in return, relies upon the political support of those groups in a kind of illiberal quid pro quo.
Edwards — far from being simply an insincere and opportunistic faux populist — also represents all that is worst about today’s progressive politicians: he is a slave to his base; a man whose sole political strategy is to suss out the latest bandwagon and hop aboard in his photo-op conductor’s hat — all while working to make sure that any criticism leveled against him is marginalized as the “personal attacks†of “crazies†and “right wing wingnuts,†and using a sympathetic media (whose natural inclination should be to abhor such attempts to stifle speech) to help him “shame†his political opponents into watering-down their discourse…
Go read the whole thing. It’s well worth the time.
6/23/2007
Most 16 and 17 year olds want to be popular. I was no different when I was that age. I wanted to fit in in school, to have friends. Fortunately for me though, that wasn’t the case. I was so unpopular at that age that I had to hang a porkchop around my neck to get the dog to hang out with me.
In the end though, it worked out for the best. I didn’t have a lot of the pressures that kids that age have. I didn’t feel the peer pressure to use drugs, or to drink underage. I was also able to devote more time to things that are more important later in life; like a good work ethic (I spent all of my extra time working while in high school). What do you all remember about that time in your life? Do you have any regrets about the way things turned out?
6/17/2007
Reid To Use “Unprecedented” Prcedural Move To Pass Shamnesty
This was posted yesterday at The Corner. It comes from an inside source in the Senate.
Here is what we expect to happen next week, though it is far from clear yet. In short, we expect it to come up this week, and if Senators (as we expect) object to unanimous consent agreements, it will take the better part of 6-8 days to get this done. They will not get it done this week (but Reid threatens to stay in next weekend).
1. We expect Reid, in conjunction with support from McConnell, Lott and Grand Bargainers Kyl, Martinez, Graham and McCain, to introduce a brand new piece of legislation - and use Rule 14 to put the bill immediately on the Senate calendar without going thru committee - which of course, the first bill did not do as well.
* It is possible that Reid will choose a different procedural path - but we expect the effect to be the same.
2. We expect that the new bill’s drafters (White House, Kennedy, Kyl, Graham, et. al.) will use close to the same language as the original substitute amendment (the first immigration bill) as amended by the 14 Democrat and 13 Republican amendments adopted the the first go round.
3. A new Rule 14 bill takes 1-2 days to ripen, and then we expect Reid to file cloture on the motion to proceed (a step he will need to take because numerous Senators are objecting to any unanimous consent agreements). The cloture motion takes time to ripen, so that adds a full day and change before the vote (60). Then, there is 30 hours of “post cloture debate” that a number of Senators will refuse to allow to be shortened.
4. When the 30 hours expire, Reid will have the vote on the motion to proceed to the bill (majority).
4. Once on the bill, Reid will again file cloture (to shut off debate - again, a number of Senators will continue to object to unanimous consent agreements) - this time on the bill itself.Â
5. The guessing begins at this point - but we expect Reid - with the help and support of certain Republican leadership and the Grand Bargainers - to do something that we believe has never been done in the history of the Senate… he will use an arcane Senate procedure that allows a single amendment to be divisible into many - in this case, into the 20-odd amendments the Grand Bargainers are trying to cobble together to keep 60 votes in support of the bill. Traditionally, that amendment has been used to protect minority rights - but in this case, it will be used to PREVENT the minority from getting additional amendments called up and from being able to fully debate the amendments in question. It is, to our knowledge, unprecedented.
6. Once the cloture motion ripens (again, another day and change), the cloture vote can occur (60 votes) and then, again, there is 30 hours of “post cloture debate” during which Reid will run, in order, through the panoply of amendments offered by way of the division.Â
7. Finally, there will be a vote on final passage.
If Reid does this, with the help of certain Republican leadership and the Grand Bargainers, they will shut off the ability of Senators with concerns of the bill to offer additional amendments and to debate the amendments in question.
In the end, this means that if they have 60 lined up to support it - there is little that can be done procedurally - so it has become far more important than ever for Senators to hear from their constituents.
It’s not too late to stop this joke of a bill. Call your Senators and tell them Security First. Here’s the number for the Captiol switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
6/16/2007
In an effort to push shamnesty, the New York Times trots out the typical open borders crowd to make support for the bill look broader than what it is — keep in mind that this is supposed to be a straight news story. However, they don’t bother to mention the latest Rasmussen poll showing that the majority of Americans (not special interest groups) are against the bill. From the NYT article titled “Broad Effort to Resurrect Immigration Bill”:
WASHINGTON, June 15 — At 4:30 p.m. on June 7, the Roman Catholic Church defied the sponsors of a comprehensive immigration bill and urged the Senate not to move toward final passage of the measure without significant changes.
A few hours later, after the Senate rejected his motion to end debate on the bill, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, pulled it from the Senate floor.
His action prompted advocates to rally behind the bill. Within 24 hours, the Catholic Church and many business, labor and Hispanic groups were urging the Senate to resurrect it.
Who are these labor, business, and hispanic groups? Let’s take a look. They mention the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, La Raza, National Resturant Association, the New England Apple Council which is an apple pickers council in New England (farm labor), “farmers and ranchers from coast to coast” [ed. — they’re not any more specific than that, but most likely it’s farmers wanting cheap field labor], and Unite Here which is a union representing apparel, hotel, and laundry workers in the state of Nevada.
So, we basically have a list of the typical open borders, and cheap — immigrant — labor groups. But, what about the opinions of regular Americans? As I mentioned before, there’s no mention of the opinions of regular Americans… just special interest groups. Note to the NYT; there’s not broad support for resurrecting the bill. Regular Americans don’t want it.
UPDATE:Â Today’s NYT editorial blames immigration bill woes on the “hard right”, Republicans, and the anti-amnesty crowd. Once again, there’s a broad rejection of this bill. According to Rasmussen, only 23% of Americans supported the bill as written, 50% opposed it altogether. Think about that for a minute; only 23% of Americans supported the bill. That’s a pretty broad swath of the public… not just the ‘hard right” or Republicans — as the NYT would have you believe.
6/15/2007
Well, I decided that being in a cast for six weeks was so much fun that I’d do it again. The same wrist… the same bone… in the same spot. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
 But, never fear, I hope to have a show up for you all either this weekend, or the first part of next week. Sorry about the cancellation. Oh yeah… back to typing one handed.
I’m sorry to say this, but I’ve had to cancel the show today. I’ve taken another bad fall and may have broken my wrist again. More later.
Well, I thought that with the failure of the cloture vote on S. 1348, that the amnesty bill had died an appropriate death. Now we find out that this isn’t so. President Bush, Teddy “Chappaquiddick”Kennedy, John McCain, and the Republican leadership in the Senate are trying to resurrect the bill. If you want — like I do — for this bill to be killed for good, you’ve got to call your Senators and let them know what you think. Here is a list of Senators that Bush and McCain are trying to flip.
- * Alexander (R-TN)
- Bennett (R-UT)
- * Cochran (R-MS)
- * Coleman (R-MN)
- * Collins (R-ME)
- * Cornyn (R-TX)
- * Craig (R-ID)
- * Domenici (R-NM)
- Gregg (R-NH)
- Hatch (R-UT)
- Hutchison (R-TX)
- Kyl (R-AZ)
- Lott (R-MS)
- * McConnell (R-KY)
- Murkowski (R-AK)
- * Smith (R-OR)
- Snowe (R-ME)
- Stevens (R-AK)
- * Warner (R-VA)
The Senators with asterisks next to their names are up for re-election in 2008.
Understand that I am not against an immigration bill. I am against this one though. It’s a bad bill. Their are loopholes in there big enough to drive a truck through, it’s bad for the security of this country, and it offers amnesty now for promises of enforcement later. I — like many other conservatives — want enforcement and security first. After the government has proven over the course of several years that they are capable and willing to enforce our border then we’ll talk about what to do with those that have been here illegally for years.Â
6/14/2007
Tomorrow starts a new era here at Thinking Right. Tomorrow, Thinking Right Radio will go on the air (1 pm MT). These will probably be a short segments untill I get the hang of things. I’ll be introducing myself and the show, and we’ll cover the topics of the day, including my thoughts on Harry Reid’s ridiculous attack on Generals Pace and Patraeus, the Senate’s amnesty bill, and the President’s tin ear.
Please tune in and check out the show. The call in number — if you want to call in and join the fun – is (646) 478-5818.
They Support The Troops… Yeah Right…
Senator Harry Reid decided to pander to the left wing of his party the other day. In a conference call with liberal bloggers he called both Gen. Peter Pace and Gen. David Petraeus incompetent. Never mind that it is in fact Senator Harry Reid that is the incompetent leader. As Captain Ed reminds us:
So Harry Reid, the man who couldn’t get a supplemental spending bill completed in less than 108 days, is calling Pace and Petraeus incompetent.
That’s the same Harry Reid who couldn’t get the Democrats’ “100 Hours” pledges to fruition in over 120 days and counting. In fact, this is the same Majority Leader that has led the least-accomplished session of Congress in a generation.
And just for the record, it’s the same Harry Reid who insisted that he would never bring back the immigration bill if it failed its cloture test — and then tried for a second cloture, declaring that also a “final” action — and lost again.
That’s the man calling Pace and Petraeus incompetent.
Got it.
UPDATE: I almost forgot — the same Harry Reid who voted to confirm Petraeus in January! (h/t: CQ commenter brainy435)
Here’s the other problem; this is not supporting the troops. How on earth can you sit there and say that you support the troops when you:
- Run down their leaders as incometent
- Do everything in your power to sabatoge their mission
- Refuse to offer up any alternative plan for winning in Iraq
Ahh, but he knew this wouldn’t go over well with the American public. That’s why this comment was originally not reported. It’s too bad for Reid that Politico got a hold of the story.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “incompetent” during an interview Tuesday with a group of liberal bloggers, a comment that was never reported.
Reid made similar disparaging remarks about Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said several sources familiar with the interview.
This is but the latest example of how Reid, under pressure from liberal activists to do more to stop the war, is going on the attack against President Bush and his military leaders in anticipation of a September showdown to end U.S. involvement in Iraq, according to Democratic senators and aides.
Reid, who was bashed by Republicans for suggesting earlier this year that the Iraq war was “lost,” is lashing out at top commanders while putting the finishing touches on a plan to force a series of votes on Iraq designed exclusively to make Republicans up for reelection in 2008 go on record in favor of continuing an unpopular war.
Reid, the senators and aides said, does not expect any of the Iraq measures to pass but hopes the effort will drive a deep enough wedge between wavering Republicans and Bush that, by September, Republican senators will break with the president and help end the war.
You see, it’s all about politics. It’s all about the Democrats pandering to their anti-war base when it should be about winning this war and getting our guys home… in that order.
Hat Tip: Captains Quarters
6/8/2007
Captain Ed’s success with his Blog Talk Radio show, as well as the success of others like Jenn have encouraged me to take the leap and join the BTR team. I’ll be hosting a simi-regular show titled Thinking Right Radio. I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but I’m excited to get started. I’ll keep you informed on when to tune in as I finish working out the details. In the mean time, check out the Captain or Jenn to get an idea of exactly what’s possible with this new media.
6/7/2007
In The New York Times No Less…
I read this over at Neptunus Lex today, and thought that surely he must have gotten the link wrong. A pro-Iraq war op-ed in the New York Times? Absolutely unthinkable. But, sure enough, there it was. Shawcross and Rodman make the case for why America’s defeat would be a very very bad thing.
Some opponents of the Iraq war are toying with the idea of American defeat. A number of them are simply predicting it, while others advocate measures that would make it more likely. Lending intellectual respectability to all this is an argument that takes a strange comfort from the outcome of the Vietnam War. The defeat of the American enterprise in Indochina, it is said, turned out not to be as bad as expected. The United States recovered, and no lasting price was paid.
We beg to differ. Many years ago, the two of us clashed sharply over the wisdom and morality of American policy in Indochina, especially in Cambodia. One of us (Mr. Shawcross) published a book, “Sideshow,†that bitterly criticized Nixon administration policy. The other (Mr. Rodman), a longtime associate of Henry Kissinger, issued a rebuttal in The American Spectator, defending American policy. Decades later, we have not changed our views. But we agreed even then that the outcome in Indochina was indeed disastrous, both in human and geopolitical terms, for the United States and the region. Today we agree equally strongly that the consequences of defeat in Iraq would be even more serious and lasting.
Go read the whole thing. I promise, it’s well worth the read.
6/6/2007
What if D-Day had taken place on June 6th 2007 instead of June 6th 1944. How would today’s media have reported it? Blackfive points us to a video that gives us a pretty good idea.
Note to the media and fellow nay sayers on the GWOT: let history be the judge of our success. After all, sometimes we are too blinded by the fog of war to really know how things will turn out.
6/5/2007
A big welcome back to to fellow RMA’er Clay over at Claycalhoun.com. His return post includes this quote from Ronald Reagan.
I don ‘t know about you, but I am impatient with those Republicans who after the last election rushed into print saying, “We must broaden the base of our partyâ€â€”when what they meant was to fuzz up and blur even more the differences between ourselves and our opponents.
It was a feeling that there was not a sufficient difference now between the parties that kept a majority of the voters away from the polls. When have we ever advocated a closed-door policy? Who has ever been barred from participating?
Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?
Let us show that we stand for fiscal integrity and sound money and above all for an end to deficit spending, with ultimate retirement of the national debt.
Let us also include a permanent limit on the percentage of the people’s earnings government can take without their consent.
Let our banner proclaim a genuine tax reform that will begin by simplifying the income tax so that workers can compute their obligation without having to employ legal help.
And let it provide indexing—adjusting the brackets to the cost of living—so that an increase in salary merely to keep pace with inflation does not move the taxpayer into a surtax bracket. Failure to provide this means an increase in government’s share and would make the worker worse off than he was before he got the raise.
Let our banner proclaim our belief in a free market as the greatest provider for the people.
Let us also call for an end to the nit-picking, the harassment and over-regulation of business and industry which restricts expansion and our ability to compete in world markets.
Let us explore ways to ward off socialism, not by increasing government’s coercive power, but by increasing participation by the people in the ownership of our industrial machine.
Our banner must recognize the responsibility of government to protect the law-abiding, holding those who commit misdeeds personally accountable.
And we must make it plain to international adventurers that our love of peace stops short of “peace at any price.â€
We will maintain whatever level of strength is necessary to preserve our free way of life.
A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.
I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.
Welcome back Clay!
6/4/2007
I’ve got to agree with Dean on this one. This was possibly the most surreal part of the debate last night. Do we really want these people in charge of national security?
6/3/2007
Hey Vladimir, this missile defense shield is not about you. It’s about protecting Europe from nutty third world actors like Ahmadinejad getting the bomb and trying to lob it over the fence — so to speak — at Berlin or Paris.
ROME — Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would force Moscow to target its weapons against Europe.
The threat, in an interview published Sunday in Italy’s Corriere della Sera and other foreign media, marked one of Putin’s most strident statements to date against the U.S. plans and came just days before he is to join President Bush and other leaders at a Group of Eight summit in Germany.
In the interview, Putin was asked whether the proposed missile defense shield would compel Moscow to direct its own missiles at locations and U.S. military sites in Europe, as during the Cold War.
“If the American nuclear potential grows in European territory, we have to give ourselves new targets in Europe,” Putin said, according to Corriere. “It is up to our military to define these targets, in addition to defining the choice between ballistic and cruise missiles.”
Unless, of course old Vlad has gotten into the habit of shilling for Ahmadinejad.
6/2/2007
They’re still dangerous. It looks like the federal government has stopped another plot to terrorize the nation. Four Muslim men had planned on bombing a petroleum pipleline that carries avaiation fuel from Linden, NJ to JFK international airport. The plan was to destroy the pipeline and take parts of Queens with it — as the pipeline runs under sections of the New York neighborhood.
NEW YORK — Four Muslim men were foiled from carrying out a plot to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods, authorities said Saturday.
Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the plot would “cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Authorities said the four were motivated by a pattern of hatred toward the U.S., Israel and the West.
This is another in a long string of examples that proves that the long war is far from over. It will be interesting to see what further ties to Iran shake out from this.