UAE: Al Qaeda Inside?

7:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | News | 19 Comments

More news about the Republicans favorite nation to open up our ports to comes in

Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it “infiltrated” key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military.

The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of “mujahedeen detainees,” who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

This information comes from the notoriously left wing NY Post and its far-left benefactor, Rupert Murdoch.

>> Republicans Opposing Dubai Deal Have Long Opposed Efforts To Secure America’s Ports

Topic: George W. Bush

Well, Damn

7:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | News | 13 Comments

This man is a bonafide comedy legend

Don Knotts, the skinny, lovable nerd who kept generations of television audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, has died. He was 81.

Whether he was playing Barney Fife or Mr. Furley, Don Knotts has always been one of the funniest actors I’ve ever seen.

Simply Crazy

2:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | Republicans | 39 Comments

Sometimes in the world of politics, you describe things in terms that are way too complex because you want to place them in a proper historical context. Right now I would like to use one simple word to describe something I just read: crazy.

Ladies and gentleman, Guy Randall Adams, writing on Alan Keyes’ Renewamerica about the “Secularization of America”.

Logic and common sense has all but disappeared in America in some circles. For example, homosexuality is not “gay.” There’s nothing ‘gay’ about it. It is a lifestyle of misery, loneliness and extraordinarily high medical risk. All of nature tells us it is wrong. God is not schizophrenic. If you believe in God, you’d agree that it’s impossible to believe that God made a mistake. Otherwise He’s imperfect, and at the worst, a liar. How can God call homosexuality an abomination and order us not to engage in it and then turn around and create a small group of people who can do nothing but engage in it? If you’re an evolutionist, the continuation of the species doctrine proves that Bruce cannot, and should not, mate with Steve. Consider that over thirty years ago America was able to get two spacecraft, each going approximately 17,000 miles per hour, to dock perfectly in space using technologically male and female engineering, yet we can’t seem to see that God did not intend male-to-male docking, so to speak. If it doesn’t fit, you must quit.

It gets more deranged from there. But the question I want to ask is – how can we get more Republicans to admit their true feelings like “Guy” does here?

The Port War

2:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | Politics | 21 Comments

When people have been in a cult for a significant portion of their lives, breaking away is not the easiest thing to do. If they stray off the reservation for a while, there are often lingering feelings of doubt as they miss the structure that life in the cult gave them. In other words, the Republicans are coming home to Bush on the Dubai Ports issue. Glenn Reynolds is issuing rallying cries in the WSJ, the Blogs for Bushies are making batches of Kool-Aid, and the Wizbang crew is now saying this was a diabolical plot by the Democrats.

The cultists are home!

But here’s the problem, the right-wing media – at least in the blogs and political journals (National Review, Weekly Standard), we’ll see if the cult homing signal reaches Newsmax, WorldNetDaily, talk radio (Rush is already with Bush) and Fox News – is out of touch with their own base. For maybe the first time in 6 years the Republican base position on a national security issue is on the same side as Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer.

This is a fight we need to have. For a long time the administration has talked tough on homeland security as their budgets have undercut it. And now, the most vulnerable element of our homeland security, our ports, is being handed over by the Republican party to a government-owned entity with disturbing ties to Al Qaeda terrorism.

Senator Clinton and Menendez say they plan to offer a bill to stop this sort of power grab of our ports by foreign entities. That bill must come to a vote, and if it doesn’t Democrats must demand an “up or down vote on securing America’s ports” and remind the voters which party – the Republicans – is obstructing the passage of such legislation.

It’s also a local fight that Democrats are and must engage in. In New Jersey Gov. Corzine is ordering lawsuits and a review of the issue, while here in Maryland GOP governor Ehrlich has flip-flopped on the ports issue (he was sort of against it, now he’s neutral, who knows what his stance will be tomorrow) while his opponent Martin O’Malley is rallying signatures (currently 1,600 Marylanders) to stop the deal.

My philosophy has always been that Democrats should do what’s right, but when you’ve got so many people who agree with you it should be extra incentive to gun the engines.

This Thing Is A Mess

1:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | Politics | 32 Comments

No Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support

The only Iraqi battalion capable of fighting without U.S. support has been downgraded to a level requiring them to fight with American troops backing them up, the Pentagon said Friday.

The battalion, made up of 700 to 800 Iraqi Army soldiers, has repeatedly been offered by the U.S. as an example of the growing independence of the Iraqi military.

The competence of the Iraqi military has been cited as a key factor in when U.S. troops will be able to return home.

So far in the month of February, 46 Americans have been killed in Iraq. What the hell are we doing there?

Red Flags On Bush’s Port Sell Out

12:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | Politics | 1 Comment

As usual, the administration’s story is being defeated by the facts.

The
Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company’s taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.

The department’s early objections were settled later in the government’s review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned DP World agreed to a series of security restrictions.

So clearly, at some level, there were security concerns about making this deal in the first place. I don’t care if we got Dubai to pinky swear not to allow terrorists to use their service as a conduit to our ports, the downside of going through with this deal is not worth any amount of money. Why are the Republicans so hell-bent on handing over such a vulnerable resource to Dubai?

>> Democrats say port deal improper, unacceptable

Now That’s Security

12:02 pm EST February 25th, 2006 | Politics | 3 Comments

Bush works hand in hand with the cartoon community…

Man Down!

7:02 pm EST February 24th, 2006 | Uncategorized | 17 Comments

The cons panic as the Democrats (in spite of themselves) pull ahead of him on national security.

Even worse, as Sen. Clinton, Sen. Schumer and others introduce legislation focused on securing the ports – the White House isn’t budging.

Tough choice for the right: pile on your president, while undermining one of the key narratives of the GOP – or side with the president on an amazingly unpopular issue in an election year?

As Keanu would say: what do you do?

Topic: Homeland Security

Head Banging

5:02 pm EST February 24th, 2006 | Republicans | 8 Comments

Please check out the attempt at dialogue in the comments here by me with some folks who don’t seem to see any value in sex ed, of any sort, even if it could lead to less abortions.