WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered "they are probably both," then ventured "Predominantly -- probably Shiite."

That is wrong. Al Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization and views Shiites as heretics.

Reyes could also not answer questions put by Stein about Hezbollah, a Shiite group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations that is based in Southern Lebanon.

Stein's column about Reyes' answers was published on CQ's Web site Friday evening.

In an interview with CNN, Stein said he was "amazed" by Reyes' lack of what he considers basic information about two of the major terrorists organizations.

"If you're the baseball commissioner and you don't know the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox, you don't know baseball," Stein said. "You're not going to have the respect of the people you work with."

While Stein said Reyes is "not a stupid guy," his lack of knowledge said it could hamper Reyes' ability to provide effective oversight of the intelligence community, Stein believes.

"If you don't have the basics, how do you effectively question the administration?" he asked. "You don't know who is on first."

Titled:   End of an Affair

The Washington Post has published a report that their coverage of the Plame affair was incorrect.

Samizdata reports that the overlooked result of this is the admitted fact that Saddam was actually shopping for Uranium for an illicit weapons program.

Thus, it turns out that the White House stands vindicated on one of its key arguments for going to war against Saddam: that this thug and his regime were actively pursuing a WMD program. So...where are all the headlines about this? Except for this editorial admission by the Post (which implies that the newspaper had been taken in, rather than played a key roll in disseminating the lies), where are the media mea culpas, retractions, and apologies for many months of false, anti-Bush "conspiracy" stories? Don't hold your breath.

The silence is damning deafening.

Titled:   Annan tours devastated south Lebanon

And to think some people blamed the Jews...

Hat-tip Opinion Journal

Titled:   The Fertility Gap

Simply put, liberals have a big baby problem: They're not having enough of them, they haven't for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections.

I'm not sure it's fertility either - I would think that Dems and Repubs are about equal in ability to get pregnant and have children - abortion and choice to remain childless seem to be a liberal trait.

Of course the Dems have an opinion on that:

As one liberal columnist in a major paper graphically put it, "Maybe the scales are tipping to the neoconservative, homogenous right in our culture simply because they tend not to give much of a damn for the ramifications of wanton breeding and environmental destruction and pious sanctimony, whereas those on the left actually seem to give a whit for the health of the planet and the dire effects of overpopulation."

Maybe the conservatives just put a greater value in the sanctity of life, the value of families and realise that bringing up intelligent, happy kids is the only hope for the future of mankind?

Reasons aside, this will have a huge effect on future voting patterns:

A state that was split 50-50 between left and right in 2004 will tilt right by 2012, 54% to 46%. By 2020, it will be certifiably right-wing, 59% to 41%. A state that is currently 55-45 in favor of liberals (like California) will be 54-46 in favor of conservatives by 2020--and all for no other reason than babies.

Kising babies may be a little easier for one party in the future...

James Taranto of Opinion Journal even has a name for this - The Roe Effect - a good read from 2004 that looks at this effect in depth.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation Thursday that supporters say is aimed at strengthening and clarifying self-defense rights in Michigan. People now will be allowed to use deadly force, with no duty to retreat, if they reasonably think they face imminent death, great bodily harm or sexual assault.

They can use deadly force on their property or anywhere they have a legal right to be. The legislation also protects people from civil lawsuits if they have used force in self-defense.

"Law-abiding citizens will have the right to defend themselves against brutal violence without having to worry about being treated like a criminal," state Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, said in a statement.

The law also creates a "rebuttable presumption" -- a legal advantage that assumes, unless there's strong proof to the contrary, that people honestly and reasonably believe they face death, rape or great bodily harm when someone breaks into their home.

The presumption won't apply in domestic violence situations, disputes involving the police and if people using the force are breaking the law.

WLNS:

Mich. Governor Granholm has signed legislation that supporters say will strengthen and clarify self-defense rights in Michigan.

People now will be allowed to use deadly force -- with no duty to retreat -- if they reasonably think they face imminent death, great bodily harm or sexual assault.The law also protects people from civil lawsuits if they have used force in self-defense.

Critics says the law is NOT only dangerous but also unnecessary because prosecutors already don't charge people who have justifiably used deadly force to protect themselves.

Supporters say the law is needed to protect people from getting sued and partly because Michigan law previously required people to first retreat before using deadly force, putting them at a disadvantage.

Titled:   Gingrich says it's World War III

He said the reluctance to put those pieces together and see one global conflict is hurting America's interests. He said people, including some in the Bush Administration, who urge a restrained response from Israel are wrong "because they haven't crossed the bridge of realizing this is a war."

"This is World War III," Gingrich said. And once that's accepted, he said calls for restraint would fall away:

"Israel wouldn't leave southern Lebanon as long as there was a single missile there. I would go in and clean them all out and I would announce that any Iranian airplane trying to bring missiles to re-supply them would be shot down. This idea that we have this one-sided war where the other team gets to plan how to kill us and we get to talk, is nuts."

Meanwhile in Russia at the G8 Summit:

Bush was talking privately to British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a lunch at the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg about an upsurge of violence in the Middle East, not realizing a microphone was transmitting what he said.

"I think Condi (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) is going to go pretty soon," Bush said.

Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together." Rice said on Sunday she was thinking of going to the Middle East if it would help.

Blair said Rice has "got to succeed" if she goes to the region. Bush replied: "What they need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this sh—."

The U.S. president blames Syria and Iran for supporting Hezbollah guerrillas operating in southern Lebanon.

Bush also seemed to complain about U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wanting an immediate ceasefire to stop the violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

"I don't like the sequence of it," Bush said. "His attitude is basically ceasefire and everything else happens."

Re-setting the pieces does not change the rules of the game and refusing to understand that a game is underway does no-one any favors.

Titled:   Senate votes to bar emergency gun confiscation

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to prohibit the confiscation of legally owned guns during an emergency like last year's Hurricane Katrina, marking another victory for the gun lobby.

By a vote of 84-16, the Senate embraced an amendment by Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. He attached his measure to a domestic security spending bill for the fiscal year starting October 1 that the Senate is expected to pass soon.

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed its version of the spending bill and negotiators will have to decide whether to keep the gun provision. The House is usually sympathetic to gun owners.

Citing the constitutional right to bear arms, Vitter said that during an emergency people should be allowed to hold onto "legally possessed firearms to defend your life, your property" at a time when telephone lines and cell phones probably are not operating and victims "can't reach out to law enforcement authorities."

Progress - But it is a pity that we have to put into law what is already there.

"Shall not be infringed"

Of course there is always a hopeful idiot at hand:

Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, added, "You send the National Guardsmen in ... and then snipers start shooting at them and the police make it known this is going to be a gun-free zone. We don't want any National Guardsmen killed because of this national emergency, this disaster. Is that an unreasonable thing?"

Yup - law abiding people waiting to ambush the National Guard. Happens all the time... such is the mindset of the crazy left. As if the criminals in an emergency are just going to hand them over peacefully...

Titled: "What's Hebrew for "mess with the bull, you'll get the horns?"

Envy is a curious thing. Some people simply can't stand to see others get attention, even horribly fatal attention, while they are being snubbed.

That is the only possible explanation I can conceive for Hezbollah's deciding to emulate Hamas recently. Hamas invaded Israel, killed several soldiers, and kidnapped one. In response, Israel is incrementally destroying every shred of Hamas, ignoring offers of trading that single Israeli soldier for a thousand or so Palestinian prisoners (indicating that Hamas agrees with me -- one Israeli is worth about a thousand Palestinians) and instead hitting them harder and harder -- blowing up buildings, capturing or killing leaders, and in general raining chaos on the region that has inflicted so much carnage and death on Israel over the years.

Quite frankly, I don't see just what Hamas is gaining out of this, but somehow Hezbollah must see some sort of upside, because now they've emulated Hamas. They have done their own invasion of Israel and in a "anything dumb you can do, I can do dumber" move, have kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. And, predictably, Israel's is much the same -- no negotiations, just more and more military action.

Read the whole thing at Wizbang

Titled:   You Really Need to Stop Using Google

We Swear brings us an interesting angle on Google.

Not content to censor the Chinese population, they also seem to have a bias against right-of-center sites in their main search engine, either in News, Search or both:

As it turns out, the mega search engine Google has been taken over by the left and any key words that someone there deems “hate speech” results in that piece disappearing.
...
Google has become the single largest private corporate underwriter of MoveOn. According to sources in the Democrat National Committee, MoveOn has received more than $1 million from Google and its lobbyists in Washington...

Even the Washington Times has written about the story:

As Newsbusters reports, in March 2005, Rusty Shackleford, who runs the conservative blog the Jawa Report, received an e-mail message from Google informing him that: "Upon recent review, we've found that your site contains hate speech, and we will no longer be including it in Google News." A year later, Jim Sesi, who runs the conservative MichNews.com, received a similar e-mail from Google: "We have received numerous reports about hate content on your site, and after reviewing these reports, decided to remove your site from Google news." Two weeks ago, Frank Salvato, who runs the conservative New Media Journal, also heard from Google that his site was being removed, again because of "hate content."
    Aside from each of these three sites being largely conservative in outlook, the offending material cited by Google were articles criticizing radical Islam and Islamists. Upon review, the articles contain language no more -- in some cases far less -- inflammatory than the numerous Muslim Web sites a user can find when searching Google News. So, at least on the surface, it's reasonable to assume that it is Muslims who are complaining to Google, which then chooses to avoid further criticism by simply expelling the sites.

Michelle Malkin weighs in with an example of clear bias:

Actual headline featured in Google News' top U.S. stories section:

Gonzales confirmed: war criminal to head US Justice Department

Google is happy to allow Uruknet.info, an Iraqi resistance propaganda outlet, to appear at the top of the News section, but won't add respectable sites from the right?

Newsbusters points out the make-up of the staff at Google:

In the case of Google, there is some evidence that its employees lean strongly to the left. According to a February 2005 USA Today article on the subject: “As it claws for greater power, the Democratic Party has found a newly rich ally in one of the fastest-growing U.S. companies: Google.” The article stated that of the over $200,000 Google employees gave to federal candidates in 2004, “98% went to Democrats, the biggest share among top tech donors.” And, with a largely successful public stock offering making “scores of millionaires among [Google’s] 3,000 workers,” “Democrats now have a potentially potent source of cash as they fight to retake the White House and Congress.”

With over 49% of the searches in the US made though Google, maybe it's time to move to another engine.

Fair and balanced indeed!

Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. The cost of these plots suggests that putting Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists out of business will require more than diplomatic coalitions and military action. Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists. The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity and is readying an executive order freezing the assets of known terrorists. Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities.

There must also must be closer coordination among America´s law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies. Osama bin Laden originally rose to prominence because his inherited fortune allowed him to bankroll Arab volunteers fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Since then, he has acquired funds from a panoply of Islamic charities and illegal and legal businesses, including export-import and commodity trading firms, and is estimated to have as much as $300 million at his disposal.Some of these businesses move funds through major commercial banks that lack the procedures to monitor such transactions properly. Locally, terrorists can utilize tiny unregulated storefront financial centers, including what are known as hawala banks, which people in South Asian immigrant communities in the United States and other Western countries use to transfer money abroad. Though some smaller financial transactions are likely to slip through undetected even after new rules are in place, much of the financing needed for major attacks could dry up.

Washington should revive international efforts begun during the Clinton administration to pressure countries with dangerously loose banking regulations to adopt and enforce stricter rules. These need to be accompanied by strong sanctions against doing business with financial institutions based in these nations. The Bush administration initially opposed such measures. But after the events of Sept. 11, it appears ready to embrace them. The Treasury Department also needs new domestic legal weapons to crack down on money laundering by terrorists. The new laws should mandate the identification of all account owners, prohibit transactions with "shell banks" that have no physical premises and require closer monitoring of accounts coming from countries with lax banking laws. Prosecutors, meanwhile, should be able to freeze more easily the assets of suspected terrorists.

The Senate Banking Committee plans to hold hearings this week on a bill providing for such measures. It should be approved and signed into law by President Bush. New regulations requiring money service businesses like the hawala banks to register and imposing criminal penalties on those that do not are scheduled to come into force late next year. The effective date should be moved up to this fall, and rules should be strictly enforced the moment they take effect. If America is going to wage a new kind of war against terrorism, it must act on all fronts, including the financial one.

The New York Times, September 24, 2001

Hat-tip to Free Republic

No, not from Iraq. John "I have the hat" Kerry's resolution to cut-and-run from Iraq was soundly defeated 86-13. He did however characterize it as a great victory:

Feingold and Kerry declared the vote a victory, since their bid last week to mandate a pullout by December 31 got six votes.

"It was terrific," Kerry said. "Several votes more than we anticipated."

Which is like Germany claiming it won the Second World War because it involved more people that their first attempt.

The withdrawal mentioned in the title is instead from Germany itself, the US having lost a pitched battle against superpower Ghana in the World Cup.

Yes - Ghana! Noted mainly for colorful cloth:

Perhaps the most visible (and most marketable) cultural contribution from modern Ghana is Kente cloth, which is widely recognized and valued for its colors and symbolism.

And now known for keeping #5 ranked USA out of the World Cup finals.

Titled:   Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq

The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.

"We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons," Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said in a quickly called press conference late Wednesday afternoon.

Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."

So two possibilities exist: That there are none at all, and this is just a big whopper from the evil empire, or that they do actually exist and the basis for all the arguements from the left is reduced to a smoking wreck.

In the case of the latter, I find it particularly interesting that the left have been allowed to continue for so long, building their case on an erroneous assumption, only to have it collapsed just prior to the November elections.

Maybe the morons in power are indeed a clever bunch after all?

More at Day By Day

Titled:     The ABA Goes Wild

From the Powerline:

It's official: the American Bar Association is off the reservation. After several years of relatively good behavior, it has now drawn its knives and enlisted in the Democrats' 2006 campaign. Today, the ABA's judicial qualifications panel opined unanimously that Michael Wallace, nominated to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, is "unqualified" for the post.

This is ridiculous. Wallace's bio is here. He graduated from Harvard and (at the top of his class) the University of Virginia Law School. He clerked for the Mississippi Supreme Court, and for Justice Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court. President Reagan appointed Wallace to head the Legal Services Corporation. For some years, Wallace has had what appears to be a top-notch litigation practice, with an appellate focus, in Jackson, Mississippi.

Based on Wallace's resume, there are two reasons why the Democrats at the ABA consider him "unqualified." The first is that he is a Republican. He is General Counsel of the Mississippi Republican Party, and--no doubt a key fact--he served as Special Impeachment Counsel to then-Majority Leader Trent Lott for the impeachment trial of President Clinton. The second reason is that Wallace is from Mississippi. I doubt whether the ABA would dare to pull the same stunt with a Northerner.

With this nakedly political move, the American Bar Association has once again forfeited any claim to credibility.

Titled:   Policy on Iran nukes seems to be off-target

Mark Steyn compares Iran's behaviour to a domestic airline passenger:

You know what's great fun to do if you're on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you're getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, "I've got a bomb!" Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, "It's OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn't got a bomb." And then the second marshal would say, "And even if he did have a bomb it's highly unlikely he'd ever use it." And then you threaten to kill the two Jews in row 12 and the stewardess says, "Relax, everyone. That's just a harmless rhetorical flourish." And then a group of passengers in rows 4 to 7 point out, "Yes, but it's entirely reasonable of him to have a bomb given the threatening behavior of the marshals and the cabin crew."

...

All the doom-mongers want to know why we went into Iraq "without a plan." Well, one reason is surely that, for a year before the invasion, the energy of the U.S. government was primarily devoted to the pointless tap-dance through the United Nations, culminating in the absurd situation of Western foreign ministers chasing each other through Africa to bend the ear of the president of Guinea, who happened to be on the Security Council that week but whose witch doctor had advised against supporting Washington. Allowing the Guinean tail to wag the French rectum of the British hindquarters of the American dog was a huge waste of resources. To go through it all again in order to prevent whichever global colossus chances to be on the Security Council this time (Haiti? The South Sandwich Islands?) from siding with the Russo-Chinese obstructionists would show that the United States had learned nothing.

Read the rest here

Titled:   Kwame Wallace

The ever-topical Opinion Journal brings us an interesting article on Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick echoing the words of southern segregationists:

In November voters in the Wolverine State will decide whether to approve the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, a ballot measure banning racial preferences by government agencies, including public educational institutions. Similar measures have won approval in California and Washington, both more liberal-leaning states than Michigan, so one would expect the MCRI would have a pretty good chance of passing.

Not surprisingly, the civil rights establishment opposes the Civil Rights Initiative, as the Associated Press reports:

In blunt and passionate tones, officials at a major NAACP fundraiser that drew 10,000 people blasted a ballot initiative that aims to restrict affirmative action programs in Michigan.

"On behalf of the city of Detroit, I say, 'Bring it on,' " Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said at the 51st annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner on Sunday. "If you want a fight, there is one waiting for you right here." . . .

"There will be affirmative action here today," Kilpatrick said. "There will be affirmative action here tomorrow and there will be affirmative action in our state forever."

This puts Kilpatrick at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court, which, although it approved some of the University of Michigan's affirmative action policies in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), also stated that "25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary." That deadline is now only 22 years, one month and three weeks away.

More curious is Kilpatrick's choice of slogans. "Bring it on"? That's how losers talk. The mayor may as well inquire as to the location of the outrage or opine about the riskiness of the scheme.

Even worse is that "affirmative action forever" line, an echo of--of all people--George Wallace. In his 1963 Inaugural Address Alabama's then-governor declared:

In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

It didn't quite work out that way. Eighteen months later, the Civil Rights Act was the law of the land. The Wallace-Kilpatrick parallel illustrates a point we made in January:

During the decades between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Act, white Southerners were extreme political outliers. Much of their political energy was invested in defending a system of racial discrimination that privileged them. They voted Democratic in overwhelming proportions, sometimes approaching 90%, even during periods when Republicans were the dominant party nationwide. . . . The political behavior of white Southerners then is remarkably similar to that of black Americans today.

Still, it seems odd for Kilpatrick to adopt the rhetoric of an avowed segregationist. Why not instead modify Martin Luther King: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged by the color of their skin, but not by the content of their character"?

Titled:     Greenpeace takes Kennedy to task

But Ted Kennedy? Sure enough, the activist group known for its flair for drama hammers the liberal Bay State senator - and Cape Wind opponent - in new ads being shown in states nationwide in the days leading up to a congressional vote that could doom the Nantucket Sound wind farm.

In the 30-second spot, a cartoon Kennedy looms over the water like a Japanese movie monster, pounding wind turbines as they sprout from the water, and barks, ''I might see them from my mansion on the Cape.''

Titled:   44 percent of Americans think that they pay the right amount of income taxes

John Lott brings us news of a surprising new survey that coincides nicely with the end of the tax season.

Apparently 44 percent of people think that they pay the right amount of tax. 48% think it is too high.

At first blush, this seems to say that taxes are about right, if a little high.

When you remember that nearly half of Americans pay no tax at all, you can see who the 44% comprise of.

In his Apr. 1 radio address, U.S. president George W. Bush discussed his fiscal policies, saying, "The debate in Congress over taxes ultimately comes down to this: Who knows best how to use your money—the politicians in Washington or you? I believe the money we spend in Washington is your money, not the government’s money. I trust you to make the best decisions about what to do with your hard-earned dollars, because when you do, your family is better off, our economy grows, and prosperity and opportunity spread throughout our great land."

Titled:   Do You Have to Be Crazy to be Mayor of New Orleans

As New Orleans attempts to drag itself back to normality, some old patterns re-emerge. Ms. Butler is running for Mayor of New Orleans and she is asking her constituents to trust her integrity. At the same time as using a photo-shopped Disney photo for her campaign website:

Yes, the Disney-branded garbage can had to go. So, assuming that this picture has been chopped heavily, including her presence itself, why not just use an old photo of New Orleans in its heyday, pre-Katrina? That would be the honest thing to do.

As her website so clearly says:

"The Right Plan is only as good as the Right Leader…
Kimberly has always done “Right” what she says she will do!”

...uncompromising integrity...

Mind, it also contains a large number of misspelled and badly put together sentences.

Much as we should applaud anyone willing to throw their hat into the ring of local politics, she really should think about the image she portrays. It makes it too easy to guess which party she aligns herself with.

Hat-tip to Say Anything

Titled:    Luck strikes, a world apart

Every now and then there seems to be a sting of good luck stories in the press. Here are tales of two of them, both concerning men that have survived against the odds.

The first is the story of Jim Loney. He, along with three colleagues were in Iraq to protest the American presence when, as seems to the pattern these days, they were kidnapped. It seems that the terrorists insurgents that captured him in November weren't that impressed with their sad plight and threatened to execute them if Iraqi prisoners weren't released.

Tragically, the one US citizen of the group, Tom Fox, met an untimely end at the hands of his captors. He was found dead in Baghdad on March 10th.

The remaining three were rescued by the very multi-national teams they were there to protest. In a well-planned rescue today, US and Iraqi forces moved in and secured their freedom.

There is still no word on whether they are graceful enough to thank their rescuers rather than condemn them. So far the only quote has been from a Toronto-based colleague:

In Toronto, the co-director of Christian Peacemaker Teams expressed delight the three had been released without violence.

Isn't it funny how they forget the violence that is kidnapping, threats and the killing of Tom Fox, and focus only on the potential wrongdoings of the US forces?

In the second case of good luck I noticed today, Matt Suter had a record-breaking escape for almost certain death. This Missouri teen was sucked out of his family's trailer by a tornado and awoke in a field a quarter-mile away.

Suter said he remembered nothing about his flight over the pasture. He landed about 25 feet from a gravel road and a barbed-wire fence. A piece of paper from the trailer lay next to him.

Suter has no idea how he survived.

“The way it tore the walls and roof out of the trailer, I’m sure it sucked me up into the wind,” Suter said. “I’m really glad I was unconscious.”

Tom Grazulis, a Vermont meteorologist who studies tornado behavior, said he knew of no person who traveled as far as Suter and survived.

“It’s a pretty awkward record to have,” the 19-year-old senior at Fordland High School said.

Apart from a minor cut on his head, he was able to run back to his damaged home to help his injured but recovering relatives.

Titled:   Portland jail empty, despite rise in crime

The Seattle Times tells us of one part of this story:

The Wapato Facility, in the city's northern outskirts, took $59 million and two years to construct. But in the nearly two years since its completion — as Portland has struggled with a crime surge — not a single inmate has set foot in the building.

And the New York Times brings us the second part:

Especially in the country's inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined.

There seems to be a pattern here. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that if you lock up enough criminals, there is a decrease in crime. And if you leave them loose on the street, more crime happens.

Yet both media outlets seem to transfixed with the idea that if the crime rate is dropping, you should start releasing existing offenders and refrain from locking up new ones.

The Progressive Community may believe that "prisons are no cure for crime", but I can guarantee you that a prisoner, while locked in prison, is not committing crimes on the streets.

Hat-tip to Opinion Journal

Titled:   Recently Released Pre-Iraq War Documents Tell of bin Laden/Iraq Link

Wizbang blog is following the release of thousands of captured documents from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many are being translated and published, giving new problems for the makers of "No Iraq / Bin Laden Link" protest signs.

Excerpt:

In the Name of God the Merciful

Presidency of the Republic

Intelligence Apparatus

To the respectful Mr. M.A.M.

Subject: Information

Our source in Afghanistan No 11002 (for information about him see attachment 1) provided us with information that that Afghani Consul Ahmad Dahestani (for information about him see attachment 2) told him the following:

1. That Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan are in contact with Iraq and it that previously a group from Taliban and Osama Bin Laden group visited Iraq.

2. That America has proof that the government of Iraq and Osama Bin Laden group have shown cooperation to hit target within America.

3. That in case it is proven the involvement of Osama Bin Laden group and the Taliban in these destructive operations it is possible that American will conduct strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

4. That the Afghani Consul heard about the subject of Iraq relation with Osama Bin Laden group during his stay in Iran.

5. In light of this we suggest to write to the Commission of the above information.

Please view... Yours... With regards

Signature:......, Initials : A.M.M, 15/9/2001

Foot note: Immediately send to the Chairman of Commission

Signature:.............

And so far, none look like they were produced in Word.

Titled:   Democratic Underground Quote Of The Day: Christians Shouldn't Be Allowed To Have So Many Children

From RightWingNews:

Odin2005: It's things like this that make me support population control. Theocons have no respect to the enviroment, Gawd told them to multiply like rabbits and that protecting the enviroment isn't needed because they think Jebus is gonna come down a rapture them. These people are dangerous and should not be allowed to have more kids then secular people do.

Probably not representative, but an insight into how some people would welcome a Chinese-type population control policy.

Titled:   It's about the Stratergy... Stupid

An excellent round up of information about the Ports kerfuffle, which seeming points towards the democrats shooting themselves in the foot once again.

...the UAE sits astride the Straights of Hormuz, through which flows the world's oil supplies, 50 miles from Iran, hosting the largest American military base outside of the United States...

While the 'ports' they own are right here in America, employing Americans, secured by Americans, and if we want to simply sieze them to punish the UAE it would take about an hour. In fact, for the Marines to take the UAE would take, about an hour.

The unsaid reason we are in Afghanistan and Iraq is because they are alongside Iran and Syria.

The UAE is part of that 'solution'.

Worth the time to read.

Hey - a movie about Libertarianism? Maybe not in the way you think:

As SayUncle says:

V for Vendetta’s movie tagline is:

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Based on that, I’ll go see it.

A more in depth review can be found at Libertas, which puts forward a conservative view of movies:

Make no mistake about it (and question all the authorities who tell you otherwise): this film set in the jolly ol’ England of the not-so-distant future is very much about America here and now. Or more accurately: it is a paranoid, left-wing fever dream of what America is here and now. On that level, it can be amusing at times (unintentionally, because this film is oh-so-very self-important…as I’m sure will be the reviews that call it “brave” and “thought-provoking”). It is also educational in that it serves as a psychological study of left-wing projection and paranoia. Needless to say, this is one misguided, naive film that is everything it accuses the government within the film of being: fear mongering, deceitful, hateful, and propagandistic. This irony, unfortunately, seems to be lost on director James McTeigue and writers Andy and Larry Wachowski (who adapted Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s graphic novel).

It seems that Holywood has again taken a noble aim, and twisted it 180 degrees. The right-wing oppressive government is shown using the tools and methods of the left, leaving it a mish-mash of ideologies and wasting an opportunity to tap into the growing awareness of "small-l" libertarianism.

Probably worth a look for the action and neat comic-style imagery.

Titled:    Cheney, in First Intervew, Gets it Exactly Right

WizBang nails the Cheney story right first time too:

If there are 2 stories the media are guaranteed to screw up, it is a story involving a gun or an airplane. (and they're not too good at hurricanes either) There is basically zero institutional knowledge about either guns or planes in the big media. Add the complication that it was a structured hunting trip and the big media had no chance of getting it right in a timely fashion.

And Cheney gets to the bottom of why the media is having such a cow over not being told sooner.

"I had a bit of the feeling that the press corps was upset because, to some extent, it was about them - they didn't like the idea that we called the Corpus Christi Caller-Times instead of The New York Times," he said. "But it strikes me that the Corpus Christi Caller-Times is just as valid a news outlet as The New York Times is, especially for covering a major story in south Texas."

Well worth the time to read.

Titled:    I am not being censored by the Chinese government

TriggerFinger notices he is not being censored by the Chinese and publishes a picture to help the cause:

We note that Liberty1st is not censored either 

Titled:    Anders Fogh Rasmussen reveals his dhimmi side

Dhimmi Watch notes the irony of the current situation in Denmark. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister recently had an interview in Der Spiegel, where he describes how his country has spent the past few years sending money to the Palestinians to appease the arabs:

SPIEGEL: Your government launched an ambitious program two years ago to strengthen the dialogue and ties with Arab countries that has now failed. How are you going to revive this program?

Fogh Rasmussen: It is a paradox: we were one of the first countries to start such a partnership program and we are among the largest net contributors to, for example, the Palestinians. And now we have to watch as the Danish flag is burned and violent demonstrations against us are organized. The Arab initiative was supposed to accelerate economic and social reforms in the region so it's now a shock to be so severely criticized. At the time, we felt we were at the forefront of modernization.

SPIEGEL: Now some are calling for a drastic reduction in economic support to, for example, the Palestinian Authority.

Fogh Rasmussen: We won't change our policies. It's now time to calm the waters, not cut funds. In the long-term, it would be in our own best interest to rebuild our good relationship with the Arab world.

They paid the Danegeld, then got attacked anyway. And with all that understood, they have decided to continue to pay.

Fools.

Posted by Dave the hyphenated American

Titled:      The War on the Free Press

Michelle Malkin has been making a principled stand against the Cartoon Jihadists. The news though isn't good.

Malaysia:  Gov't shuts down newspaper the published cartoons.

Yemen: Gov't shuts down newspaper the published cartoons. Arrest warrant issued for Editor.

South Africa:  Johannesburg High Court which prevents the publishing of cartoons found offensive by the Muslim community.

Ukraine:  Editor-in-chief of popular Ukrainian newspaper "Today" apologizes before Muslims for publishing cartoons.

Poland:  Editor of Polish newspaper apologizes for reprinting cartoons.

Canada: Student newspaper that reprinted cartoons has issue destroyed.

Sweden:  "Sweden is reportedly shutting down websites that show the dread Mohammed cartoons."

U.N.:  Kofi Annan criticizes reprinting of controversial cartoons.

Europe:  The European Union may try to draw up a media code of conduct to avoid a repeat of the furore.

Denmark:  At the Jyllands-Posten, Flemming Rose, the culture editor who commissioned the Muhammad cartoons, has been put on indefinite leave

France:  Well, maybe the less said, the better.

Yes folks, they're winning. Just the Great Satan left now to defend free speech and liberty.

Apparently, a crazy woman in the crowd was dragged away by security just before President Bush began his speech.

More photos at Wizbang. I think that about covers it.

Titled:     Shift on the Bench Has Already Begun

The failure of Democrats to appease their base and fillibuster Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court has resulted in a shift to the bench, but not in the way you may expect.

Alito is now on the extreme far right - of the bench, that is:

As the junior associate justice, Alito will occupy the end of the bench farthest to the courtroom audience's right during oral arguments. Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who has sat there since October 1994, will move across to the audience's extreme left.

Alito also now gets to answer the door during the court's closed conferences, and report the justices' votes to the clerk of the court.

Breyer was the court's junior member for 11 years, 181 days, about a month shy of the record set by Joseph Story, who served during the 19th century.

That's a long time to be a noob.

Titled:   GOP Libertarians: Rebels with a Cause

Hammer of Truth shows the latest in the trend of articles about GOP-leaning Libertarians or Libertarian-leaning GOP'ers. This one is from Salon, and seems to be an anti-Bush piece, but nonetheless has good things to say about Libertarianism.

Whether Republican Sen. John Sununu, Idaho’s Larry Craig and their small band will actually be able to make a difference in the fight for Liberty remains to be seen.

Titled:     Tiananmen

Titled:  Saddam's Missing WMD

The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed.

The flights - 56 in total, Mr. Sada said - attracted little notice because they were thought to be civilian flights providing relief from Iraq to Syria, which had suffered a flood after a dam collapse in Jun