SOTU, 2006

From memory, so give us a break.

Lessee ... HUZZAH to the foreign policy stuff ... though the Iran part coulda been tougher. Hopefully the forces of freedom in Iran will get the message ... and we will follow through.

HUZZAH again to the tax and spend part ... though the reality of the "spend" needs to improve ... drastically.

While we understand that the prez can't always call a spade a spade, the part about the Jihadists distorting a great religion (as opposed to adhering to a malignant "religion") sticks in our craw.

We'd prefer the development of new energy sources was left to the private sector, where the profit motive will surely lead to the next big thing.

A lot of "initiatives" that would require the National Education Association to put students first ... good luck with that.

Overall, the tone was "optimistic" -- and we know we aren't the first to note this online, though we did note it in real time.

This optimism puts the president in stark contrast to his detractors, who live to whine and carp ... who moan that our best days are behind us.

They aren't, and they never will be.

Some great stuff about Man's God-given right to Liberty ... and the dangers of f--king with Nature via human cloning.

High point: The president avoiding the solipsism of his predecessor in giving credit where due for the economic expansion: to the workers, investors and innovators of America.

Low point: the other side cheering derisively in response to Bush's mention of his efforts to reform Social Security by giving YOU more control ... Guess that's how highly they think of your ability to organize your own affairs!



B+

Update: We're informed the Dems sat on their hands as the president stressed the importance of victory in Iraq.

Our suspicions about the motives of the disloyal opposition are once gain confirmed.

Hypocritllary

Clinton: Cover employees

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants Wal-Mart to contribute to health insurance for its employees - but can't recall if she pushed for worker benefits during six years as a paid board member for the nation's largest retailer.

"Cities and states are saying we can't keep holding the bag here," Clinton said yesterday, praising a new Maryland law requiring Wal-Mart to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on health benefits or contribute to insurance plans for the poor.
[The Ponderosa: Those of you who think the central government is overstepping its bounds when the executive branch authorizes listening in on al Qaeda's phone calls -- how do you feel about limousine liberals coercing privately owned corporations to pay for stuff for you and me? Never mind -- we know the answer.]


About 20 state legislatures have similar bills pending - and Suffolk County has a similar law - reflecting frustration with paying Medicaid and other state health care expenses incurred by company employees.

Clinton never explicitly endorsed Maryland's law during her speech before the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, but she later told reporters, "I certainly understand their need to try to take some action because the burden is getting shifted onto the taxpayer."
[The Ponderosa: Certainly wouldn't want the burden to be on ... THE FRICKING CONSUMER!!!!! ]

Asked if she had advocated better benefits while serving as a board member with Arkansas-based Wal-Mart from 1986 to 1991, Clinton replied, "Well, you know, I, that was a long time ago [The Ponderosa: Ahhh, the tried and true Whitewater defense! 1986 was a long time ago?!?! ] ... have to remember," adding that "obviously I believe every company should" contribute to benefit plans.

[The Ponderosa: This jibes with the Arkansas Hillary. Recall that the Clintons wrote off donated (used!) underwear on a tax return. Then there were the miraculous cattle futures! ]

...

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How can you tell when Hillary is lying? It's the verbal tic "you know"!

8% from thee but not from me!

State of the Disloyal Union

Since they're not really part of the American Union, let's examine the State of The Loony Left ...

-- Their most respected "thinkers" are Keith Olbermann, Al Franken, Paul Krugman and David Letterman.

-- Their frontrunner for 2008, Prissy Rodham, has compared life in a legislative minority to the chains and shackles of the plantation.

-- Osama bin Laden (or someone pretending to be her) sounds like she's reading from a DNC fax.

-- A supremely qualified, brilliant jurist receives 40+ "nay" votes from them, whereas a former counsel for the ACLU received only 3 from the GOP.

-- Poster girl Cindy Sheehan hobnobs with Venezuelan commie thug Hugo Chavez and trades anti-U.S. cliches.

-- Their agenda is driven by Internet Moonbats at The Daily Kos and Moveon.org.

-- Their titular leader, Howard Dean, is out of his mind.

-- Failed presidential candidate Al Gore is even FARTHER out of his mind -- and spraying saliva on anyone within 20 feet.

-- Their two living ex-presidents, Carter and Clinton, travel the globe bashing "their" country.

-- Their hatred for one man exceeds their disdain for those that would liquidate THEM first: Listen in on al Qaeda? You NAZI!!!!!

-- Their hopes and dreams rest upon the continued "right" of a woman to have her "fetus" eviscerated up until the moment of extrication.

-- Their leading news organizations regularly reveal national security secrets and provide aid and comfort to the enemy.

-- They think "Brokeback Mount Him" is award winning cinema.

The State of the Disloyal Union is ... disarray and mania!

Our latest vapid nickname ...

... goes to the Shrillest Woman in America ... For her historically inane analogy comparing the current Congress to chattel slavery, we dub her royal shrillness -- "Prissy" Rodham!

Special thanks to Hoss for the fine quality photo edit.

Does the Pentagon FINALLY understand the enemy?

The Pentagon Breaks the Islam Taboo

Washington's policy-makers have been careful in the war on terror to distinguish between Islam and the terrorists. The distinction has rankled conservatives who see scarce difference.

A little-noticed speech by President Bush in October gave them some hope. In a major rhetorical shift, he described the enemy as "Islamic radicals" and not just "terrorists," although he still denies that radicalism has anything to do with their religion.

Now for the first time, a key Pentagon intelligence agency involved in homeland security is delving into Islam's holy texts to answer whether Islam is being radicalized by the terrorists or is already radical. Military brass want a better understanding of what's motivating the insurgents in Iraq and the terrorists around the globe, including those inside America who may be preparing to strike domestic military bases. The enemy appears indefatigable, even more active now than before 9/11.

Are the terrorists really driven by self-serving politics and personal demons? Or are they driven by religion? And if it's religion, are they following a manual of war contained in their scripture?

Answers are hard to come by. Four years into the war on terror, U.S. intelligence officials tell me there are no baseline studies of the Muslim prophet Muhammad or his ideological or military doctrine found at either the CIA or Defense Intelligence Agency, or even the war colleges.

But that is slowly starting to change as the Pentagon develops a new strategy to deal with the threat from Islamic terrorists through its little-known intelligence agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity or CIFA, which staffs hundreds of investigators and analysts to help coordinate Pentagon security efforts at home and abroad. CIFA also supports Northern Command in Colorado, which was established after 9/11 to help military forces react to terrorist threats in the continental United States.

Dealing with the threat on a tactical and operational level through counterstrikes and capture has proven only marginally successful. Now military leaders want to combat it from a strategic standpoint, using informational warfare, among other things. A critical part of that strategy involves studying Islam, including the Quran and the hadiths, or traditions of Muhammad.

"Today we are confronted with a stateless threat that does not have at the strategic level targetable entities: no capitals, no economic base, no military formations or installations," states a new Pentagon briefing paper I've obtained. "Yet political Islam wages an ideological battle against the non-Islamic world at the tactical, operational and strategic level. The West's response is focused at the tactical and operation level, leaving the strategic level -- Islam -- unaddressed."

So far the conclusions of intelligence analysts assigned to the project, who include both private contractors and career military officials, contradict the commonly held notion that Islam is a peaceful religion hijacked or distorted by terrorists. They've found that the terrorists for the most part are following a war-fighting doctrine articulated through Muhammad in the Quran, elaborated on in the hadiths, codified in Islamic or sharia law, and reinforced by recent interpretations or fatwahs.

"Islam is an ideological engine of war (Jihad)," concludes the sensitive Pentagon briefing paper. And "no one is looking for its off switch."

Why? One major reason, the briefing states, is government-wide "indecision [over] whether Islam is radical or being radicalized."

So, which is it? "Strategic themes suggest Islam is radical by nature," according to the briefing, which goes on to cite the 26 chapters of the Quran dealing with violent jihad and the examples of the Muslim prophet, who it says sponsored "terror and slaughter" against unbelievers.

"Muhammad's behaviors today would be defined as radical," the defense document says, and Muslims today are commanded by their "militant" holy book to follow his example. It adds: Western leaders can no longer afford to overlook the "cult characteristics of Islam."

In analyzing the threat on the domestic front, the Pentagon briefing draws perhaps its most disturbing conclusions. It argues the U.S. has not suffered from scattered insurgent attacks -- as opposed to the concentrated and catastrophic attack by al-Qaida on 9-11 -- in large part because it has a relatively small Muslim population. But that could change as the Muslim minority grows and gains more influence.
...

It also notes that unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam advocates expansion by force. The final command of jihad, as revealed to Muhammad in the Quran, is to conquer the world in the name of Islam. The defense briefing adds that Islam is also unique in classifying unbelievers as "standing enemies against whom it is legitimate to wage war."

...

"I don't like to criticize our intelligence services, because we did win the Cold War," says a Northern Command intelligence official. "However, all of these organizations have made only limited progress adjusting to the current threat or the sharing of information."

Why? "All suffer heavily from political correctness," he explains.

PC still infects the Pentagon, four years after jihadists hit the nation's military headquarters.

"A lot of folks here have a very pedestrian understanding of Islam and the Islamic threat," a Pentagon intelligence analyst working on the project told me. "We're getting Islam 101, and we need Islam 404."

The hardest part of formulating a strategic response to the threat is defining Islam as a political and military enemy. Once that psychological barrier has been crossed, defense sources tell me, the development of countermeasures -- such as educating the public about the militant nature of Islam and exploiting "critical vulnerabilities" or rifts within the Muslim faith and community -- can begin.

"Most Americans don't realize we are in a war of survival -- a war that is going to continue for decades," the Northcom official warns.

It remains to be seen, however, whether our PC-addled political leaders would ever adopt such controversial measures.

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Better eventually than never.

Soon after 9/11, we endeavoured to learn all we could about Islam, and what we found wasn't reassuring.

We aren't convinced that a "religion of peace" could be founded by a warmonger, savage and pervert.

We long ago realized that the Jihadists were the true disciples of Muhammad ... that the "peaceful" Muslims were the "heretics".

It's our hope that the "heretics" find their way to a faith in a truly peaceful, life-giving religion -- it really doesn't matter to us which.

We invite all of youse to research the (wild) life of Muhammad ... and compare it to that of Jesus.

The former -- a scheming false prophet -- knew how to satisfy his every Earthly need.

The latter -- the Son of God who could have called down armies of angels to smite his tormentors -- allowed himself to be brutally killed in order to redeem our souls -- to redeem MY soul.

Choose wisely.

WMDs to Syria, redux ...

Iraq's WMD Secreted in Syria, Sada Says

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 Iraqi general, Georges Sada, makes the charges in a new book, "Saddam's Secrets," released this week. He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun.

"There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands," Mr. Sada said. "I am confident they were taken over."

Mr. Sada's comments come just more than a month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria."

...

Mr. Sada, 65, told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the weapons of mass destruction to Syria from Iraq approached him in the middle of 2004, after Saddam was captured by American troops.

"I know them very well. They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots," Mr. Sada said of the two pilots. He declined to disclose their names, saying they are concerned for their safety. But he said they are now employed by other airlines outside Iraq.

The pilots told Mr. Sada that two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, Mr. Sada said. Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.

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 June of 2002.

"Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming," Mr. Sada said. "They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians."

Mr. Sada said that the Iraqi official responsible for transferring the weapons was a cousin of Saddam Hussein named Ali Hussein al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali." The Syrian official responsible for receiving them was a cousin of Bashar Assad who is known variously as General Abu Ali, Abu Himma, or Zulhimawe.

...

Mr. Sada acknowledged that the disclosures about transfers of weapons of mass destruction are "a very delicate issue." He said he was afraid for his family. "I am sure the terrorists will not like it. The Saddamists will not like it," he said.

He thanked the American troops. "They liberated the country and the nation. It is a liberation force. They did a great job," he said. "We have been freed."

He said he had not shared his story until now with any American officials. "I kept everything secret in my heart," he said. But he is scheduled to meet next week in Washington with Senators Sessions and Inhofe, Republicans of, respectively, Alabama and Oklahoma. Both are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The book also says that on the eve of the first Gulf War, Saddam was planning to use his air force to launch a chemical weapons attack on Israel.

When, during an interview with the Sun in April 2004, Vice President Cheney was asked whether he thought that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been moved to Syria, Mr. Cheney replied only that he had seen such reports.

An article in the Fall 2005 Middle East Quarterly reports that in an appearance on Israel's Channel 2 on December 23, 2002, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, stated, "Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria." The allegation was denied by the Syrian government at the time as "completely untrue," and it attracted scant American press attention, coming as it did on the eve of the Christmas holiday.

The Syrian ruling party and Saddam Hussein had in common the ideology of Baathism, a mixture of Nazism and Marxism.

...

The CIA's Iraq Survey Group acknowledged in its September 30, 2004, "Comprehensive Report," "we cannot express a firm view on the possibility that WMD elements were relocated out of Iraq prior to the war. Reports of such actions exist, but we have not yet been able to investigate this possibility thoroughly."

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As conservatives, we pride ourselves on a certain amount of healthy cynicism. Perhaps this chap merely hopes to sell a ton of books stateside. If so, he's the Iraqi moral equivalent of Michael Moore.

We wish the MSM would exercise such restraint before trumpetting the theses of every disgruntled CIA spook, recently canned NSA "whistleblower"
and publicity-hungry husband of Valerie Plame.

Big difference between Sada and these folks, however: Sada now has a target on his back.

Clearly, Saddam had months to move his illicit weapons out of Iraq ... How did he know we were really coming this time? Well, a certain US Senator tipped our hand well before the invasion ...

Why was Sen. Jay Rockefeller talking to Bashar Assad about the president's "plans" for Iraq?

Related:
Ya’alon: Iraq Moved its Chemical Weapons to Syria Before War


CIA can't rule out WMD move to Syria


Saddam's Terror Training Camps

Clearly, the Enemy Within will never accept mounds of "circumstantial" evidence. Hell, even a huge warehouse labeled "WMD" and a bill of lading signed by Bashar Assad would not suffice for these cranks.

Such is their blinding hatred for one man: the president.

Such is their lack of seriousness when confronting the Jihadist threat.

Now is not the time to put the children in charge.

But, do we question your patriotism?

Yes.

bin Laden (or someone pretending to be her) parrots Moonbat talking points

Text of bin Laden tape

The following is the text of the excerpts aired by al-Jazeera television from a new audiotape purportedly from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The excerpts were translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press.

The speaker appears to be addressing the American people: My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.

But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. But he (Bush) has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents, that it is better to fight them (bin Laden's followers) on their land than their fighting us (Americans) on our land.

I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no let-up, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favour, thank God, and Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses.

....

And so to return to the issue, I say that results of polls please those who are sensible, and Bush's opposition to them is a mistake. The reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not been limited to Iraq as he (Bush) claims. Iraq has become a point of attraction and restorer of (our) energies. At the same time, the mujahedeen (holy warriors), with God's grace, have managed repeatedly to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust allied countries. The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in this aggressive coalition. The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission.

Based on what has been said, this shows the errors of Bush's statement — the one that slipped from him — which is at the heart of polls calling for withdrawing the troops. It is better that we (Americans) don't fight Muslims on their lands and that they don't fight us on ours.

We don't mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to. We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war. There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars.

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Whoa! Clearly the Jihadists are taking their cues from the Loony Left in America!

This tirade sounds like an admixture of rants from Cindy Sheehan, John Murtha and the lunatic Al Gore.

We had hoped that the same useful idiots who did North Vietnam's bidding 30+ years ago would have grown up by now.

Alas, those -- and their ideological children -- who played into General Vo Nguyen Giap's hands back then are serving the same purpose for the enemy today.

This is not lost on "bin Laden" -- or whomever -- who is a madman but no moron.

We wish we could say the same for the enemy within.

"Smartest woman in America" equates being in a legislative minority to chattel slavery!

GOP anger flares after Sen. Clinton slams party

...
Clinton said on Monday had said Bush’s administration was “one of the worst” in U.S. history and said the House “has been run like a plantation, and you know what I’m talking about.”
..


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"Mrs." Clinton

Did Shrillary swallow Howard Dean?!

Outrageous!

Not being able to automatically get one of your socialist measures put up for a vote is a far cry from living your life in leg irons, not owning the fruits of your own labor and having your children torn from your arms and sold to the highest bidder.

Besides, it's the "compassionate" Left that benefits from keeping minorities on the Liberal Plantation -- poor, uneducated (school choice anyone?) and dependent.

File this one away til 2008 ...

Madman Gore validates wisdom of NSA taps

UPDATE: Byron York dissects Gore's tirade and finds some hilarious contradictions.

Gore calls for special counsel on eavesdropping

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore called on Monday for an independent counsel to investigate whether President George W. Bush broke the law in authorizing domestic eavesdropping without court approval.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales plans to testify in Senate hearings, expected next month, to give the administration's legal justification for the secret domestic eavesdropping operation.

"A special counsel should be immediately appointed by the attorney general to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the president," Gore said in a speech to The American Constitution Society and The Liberty Coalition.

Gore, the Democrat defeated by Bush in the 2000 presidential election, said the eavesdropping operation threatened the foundation of U.S. democracy, and he recalled the FBI's secret surveillance of Martin Luther King, on the U.S. holiday commemorating the civil rights leader. [The Ponderosa: Apples and oranges. The King wiretaps, which were likely authorized by liberal icon Robert F. Kennedy, had nothing to do with defending America against terrorist attacks. ]

Gore's comments also come at the start of a congressional election year in which Democrats are seeking to seize majority control from Republicans.

He accused Bush of breaking the law for not getting court approval for the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation on communications such as phone calls and e-mail coming into and going out of the United States of people suspected of terrorism ties.

"We still have much to learn about the NSA's domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and insistently," Gore said.

"A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," he said.
[The Ponderosa: A president who allows rocket technology to be sold to the Chicoms in return for campaign cash and his Veep, who negotiates a secret and illegal treaty that enables the Russkies to sell rockets to Iran are certainly less of a threat than one who provides for the Common Defence. ]
...
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On the one hand, it's nice to see the opposition party, rapt with Bush Derangement Syndrome, taking the electoral gas pipe by siding with the 500 or so among us whose digits were found in al Qaeda Rolodexes.

On the other -- war is deadly serious business. When a major political party values its success over the survival of the Republic, something is askew.

Gone for a few days ...back next Monday ...!

Rocking into year 41 ...

SCOFLA to students: Screw you!

Florida high court strikes down school vouchers

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a school voucher program that allowed some students to attend private schools with taxpayers' money, a key component of Gov. Jeb Bush's education reforms.

A Bush campaign promise that became a model for other U.S. programs, the Florida system allowed parents of students in chronically failing public schools to use their public school allocation to offset private school tuition.

The program now serves about 700 students, but critics said it was an underhand method to fund religious schools.

In a 5-2 decision, the high court ruled the 6-year-old program undermines a constitutional mandate to provide an adequate and uniform system of public education by pulling taxpayer money away from public schools and giving it to private ones that are not held to the same standards.

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The Supreme Court of Florida (SCOFLA), the same bunch that ignored Florida's statutory election law and threw the 2000 election into a state of bedlam has decided that the best interests of Florida's poor students take a backseat to the those of the teachers' unions.

Remember this the next time you hear a "liberal" claiming that conservatives -- who favor the right of parents to choose the best schools for their kids -- are racists intent upon ensuring that poor (read minorty) children receive fourth rate educations.

The Democrats are a party so in thrall to the National Education Association that they are willing to sacrifice the futures of millions of kids to the interests of their grubstakers.

Way to keep 'em poor and stupid!

Stick to comedy Dave

Updated: With O’Reilly as Guest, Letterman Denounces Iraq War & Criticism of Sheehan

...

Letterman: “How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?”

O’Reilly: “Because I think she’s run by far-left elements in this country. I feel bad for the woman.”

Letterman: “Have you lost family members in armed conflict?”

O’Reilly: “No, I have not.”

Letterman: “Well, then you can hardly speak for her, can you?” [applause]
[The Ponderosa: Who, aside from Dave, is speaking for Ms. Sheehan? Out of respect, most of us refrained from speaking out against her until she became a raving Moonbat. ]

O’Reilly: “I’m not speaking for her. Let me ask you this question.”

Letterman, referring back to O’Reilly’s examples of a war on Christmas: “Let’s go back to your little red and green stories.”

O’Reilly: “This is important, this is important. Cindy Sheehan lost a son, a professional soldier in Iraq, correct? She has a right to grieve any way she wants, she has a right to say whatever she wants. When she says to the public that the insurgents and terrorists are 'freedom fighters,’ how do you think, David Letterman, that makes people who lost loved ones, by these people blowing the Hell out of them, how do you think they feel, waht about their feelings, sir?”

Letterman: “What about, why are we there in the first place? [applause] The President himself, less than a month ago said we are there because of a mistake made in intelligence. Well, whose intelligence? It was just somebody just get off a bus and handed it to him?”

[The Ponderosa: It was the CIA ...backed by any number of foreign intelligence agencies, particularly Israel's ... And we're not sure they were wrong (see elsewhere on this site).]

Bill O’Reilly: “No.”

Letterman: “No, it was the intelligence gathered by his administration.”
[The Ponderosa: Erm, Dave, intelligence agencies (not administrations) staffed by non-political functionaries, gather intelligence. Suffice it to say, the intelligence acted upon went back to the '90's.]

O’Reilly: “By the CIA.”

Letterman: “Yeah, so why are we there in the first place? I agree to you, with you that we have to support the troops. They are there, they are the best and the brightest of this country. [audience applause] There’s no doubt about that. And I also agree that now we’re in it it’s going to take a long, long time. People who expect it’s going to be solved and wrapped up in a couple of years, unrealistic, it’s not going to happen. However, however, that does not eliminate the legitimate speculation and concern and questioning of ‘Why the Hell are we there to begin with?’”
[The Ponderosa: Does Dave read much?]

O’Reilly: “If you want to question that, and then revamp an intelligence agency that’s obviously flawed, the CIA, okay. But remember, MI-6 in Britain said the same thing. Putin’s people in Russia said the same thing, and so did Mubarak’s intelligence agency in Egypt.”

Letterman: “Well then that makes it all right?”

O’Reilly: “No it doesn’t make it right.”

Letterman: “That intelligence agencies across the board makes it alright that we’re there?”

O’Reilly: “It doesn’t make it right.”
[The Ponderosa: Yeah, it kinda does. What the hell else are we supposed to rely on in these matters? Reading the bumps on Michael Moore's gut?]


Letterman: “See, I’m very concerned about people like yourself who don’t have nothing but endless sympathy for a woman like Cindy Sheehan. Honest to Chr-st.” [audience applause]
[The Ponderosa: Who, aside from the Moonbats, doesn't have sympathy for any Gold Star parent? ]
O’Reilly: “No, I’m sorry.”

Letterman: “Honest to Chr-st.”
[The Ponderosa: Honest to WHOM? Someone alert the ACLU! ]
“O’Reilly: “No way. [waits for applause to die down] No way you’re going to get me, no way that a terrorist who blows up women and children.”

Letterman: “Do you have children?”

O’Reilly: “Yes I do. I have a son the same age as yours. No way a terrorist who blows up women and children is going to be called a ‘freedom fighter’ on my program.” [mild audience applause]

Letterman: “I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap. [audience laughter] But I don’t know that for a fact. [more audience applause]

Paul Shafer: “60 percent.”

Letterman: “60 percent. I'm just spit-balling here.”
[The Ponderosa: This is what passes for critical analysis on the Left? "I can't debate you but you're peddling crap." Hardly the stuff of Lincoln-Douglas.]

O’Reilly: “Listen, I respect your opinion. You should respect mine.”

Letterman: “Well, ah, I, okay. But I think you’re-”

O’Reilly: “Our analysis is based on the best evidence we can get.”

Letterman: “Yeah, but I think there’s something, this fair and balanced. I'm not sure that it's, I don't think that you represent an objective viewpoint.”

[The Ponderosa: This from a guy who works for the network that kept Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather fat and giggly!]

O’Reilly: “Well, you’re going to have to give me an example if you're going to make those claims.”

Letterman: “Well I don’t watch your show so that would be impossible.”

[The Ponderosa: Game over. ]

O’Reilly: “Then why would you come to that conclusion if you don't watch the program?”

Letterman: “Because of things that I’ve read, things that I know.”

[The Ponderosa: Game VERY over!]

O’Reilly: “Oh come on, you're going to take things that you've read. You know what say about you? Come on. Watch it for a couple, look, watch it for a half hour. You'll get addicted. You'll be a Factor fan, we'll send you a hat.”

Letterman: “You’ll send me a hat. Well, send Cindy Sheehan a hat”

O’Reilly: “I’ll be happy to.”
[The Ponderosa: We'd advise against that. She'd likely forward it to al-Zarqawi. ]



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We were fans of Letterman as far back as the late '70's/early '80's when he frequently appeared on "The Tonight Show".

We loved his short-lived morning show and bought our first VCR in order to record "Late Night With David Letterman".

We are not fans of O'Reilly. We find him more a populist than a conservative -- witness his recent inane vilification of oil companies.

Leftist myths aside, most conservatives are not Fox News groupies. We do enjoy Brit Hume's "Special Report", John Gibson's show and a coupla others. For the most part, however, we find Fox News lame -- Shep Smith, tabloid shows (Regrettable Van Sustern) and the facile Sean Hannity.

In true "Late Night" fashion let's call this display "Dave's Cavalcade o' Logical Fallacies", highlighted by this byoot:

Letterman: “Have you lost family members in armed conflict?”

O’Reilly: “No, I have not.”

By this "logic" the thousands of mothers who have lost kids in Iraq who disagree with Ms. Sheehan -- whose son believed in the cause -- trump this one who has been co-opted by the Loony Left.

At the risk of repeating ourselves: this is the best they have to offer?

When a movement relies on Al Franken, Keith Olberman and David Letterman for its intellectual sustenace, it can properly be called moribund.

As for Dave -- to paraphrase Tony Soprano: he's dead to us.

Kudos to fellow Freeper dead!

Camp Saddam

Saddam's Terror Training Camps
What the documents captured from the former Iraqi regime reveal--and why they should all be made public.

THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials.

The secret training took place primarily at three camps--in Samarra, Ramadi, and Salman Pak--and was directed by elite Iraqi military units. Interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders corroborate the documentary evidence. Many of the fighters were drawn from terrorist groups in northern Africa with close ties to al Qaeda, chief among them Algeria's GSPC and the Sudanese Islamic Army. Some 2,000 terrorists were trained at these Iraqi camps each year from 1999 to 2002, putting the total number at or above 8,000. Intelligence officials believe that some of these terrorists returned to Iraq and are responsible for attacks against Americans and Iraqis. According to three officials with knowledge of the intelligence on Iraqi training camps, White House and National Security Council officials were briefed on these findings in May 2005; senior Defense Department officials subsequently received the same briefing.

The photographs and documents on Iraqi training camps come from a collection of some 2 million "exploitable items" captured in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan. They include handwritten notes, typed documents, audiotapes, videotapes, compact discs, floppy discs, and computer hard drives. Taken together, this collection could give U.S.
intelligence officials and policymakers an inside look at the activities of the former Iraqi regime in the months and years before the Iraq War.

The discovery of the information on jihadist training camps in Iraq would seem to have two major consequences: It exposes the flawed assumptions of the experts and U.S. intelligence officials who told us for years that a secularist like Saddam Hussein would never work with Islamic radicals, any more than such jihadists would work with an infidel like the Iraqi dictator. It also reminds us that valuable information remains buried in the mountain of documents recovered in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past four years.

Nearly three years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, only 50,000 of these 2 million "exploitable items" have been thoroughly examined. That's 2.5 percent. Despite the hard work of the individuals working on the "DOCEX" project, the process is not moving quickly enough, says Michael Tanji, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official who helped lead the document exploitation effort for 18 months. "At this rate," he says, "if we continue to approach DOCEX in a linear fashion, our great-grandchildren will still be sorting through this stuff."

...

Other officials familiar with the captured documents were less cautious. "As much as we overestimated WMD, it appears we underestimated [Saddam Hussein's] support for transregional terrorists," says one intelligence official.

Speaking of Ansar al Islam, the al Qaeda-linked terrorist group that operated in northern Iraq, the former high-ranking military intelligence officer says: "There is no question about the fact that AI had reach into Baghdad. There was an intelligence connection between that group and the regime, a financial connection between that group and the regime, and there was an equipment connection. It may have been the case that the IIS [Iraqi Intelligence Service] support for AI was meant to operate against the [anti-Saddam] Kurds. But there is no question IIS was supporting AI."

The official continued: "He used these groups because we was interested in extending his influence and extending the influence of Iraq. There are definite and absolute ties to terrorism. The evidence is there, especially at the network level. How high up in the government was it sanctioned? I can't tell you. I don't know whether it was run by Qusay or [Izzat Ibrahim] al Duri or someone else. I'm just not sure. But to say Iraq wasn't involved in terrorism is flat wrong."

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Obviously, none of this is news to us -- the aerial photos of Salman Pak have long been readily available to anyone paying attention. Most, if not all of this had appeared in the MSM and was conventional wisdom prior to 9/11, before undermining the president took priority over defending the nation.

Moonbats are already wondering why only the Neocon tools of the Zionist conspiracy at The Weekly Standard have unearthed the existence of the documents.

The easy answer: they've been the only ones looking for them. The "papers of record" in DC and NY have been far too busy revealing classified national security secrets to delve into the truth of Saddam's Iraq.

al-Zawahiri channels Murtha, Pelosi

Al Qaeda No. 2: Bush must admit defeat in Iraq

An Arabic language news network has aired a video of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, in which he called on U.S. President George W. Bush to admit defeat in Iraq.

Al-Jazeera said the video, which is about a minute long, was made in December.

According to CNN's translation of the video, Ayman al-Zawahiri offers his condolences to Pakistan for the October 8 earthquake before congratulating fellow Muslims for what he says is a victory in Iraq.

He refers to a November 30 speech in which Bush reiterated the U.S. position that its military would leave Iraq once Iraqi forces were fully trained, without laying out a timetable.

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Is the DNC faxing its talking points to al-Zawahiri? ... Or is it vice versa?

This is the best they've got?

"WHY ARE CONSERVATIVES SO AFRAID?"

...

My, how far we have fallen, with an administration that parlays the incessant fear of its supporters into increased authoritativeness to the point where he now resembles the very despot we fought in our war of independence.

[The Ponderosa: Moral equivalency taken to a new low! An elected administration that listens in on al Qaeda "now resembles" a murderous, unelected kleptocracy with its rape rooms, plastic shredders and mass graves! ]

And his supporters bellow, as they cower under their beds:

Here's our liberties, just spare us from death!

[The Ponderosa: Kinda like allowing the government to take a huge portion of your income and plan for your life? ]

These blowhards pretend they are macho even as they piddle on themselves in abject terror from every "boo!" that comes out of Osama Bin Laden's mouth. They like to speak about how tough they are, even though they send others to fight their battles and couldn't last a day in places like Iraq, or Sudan, or the El Salvador of my youth, or any other war-torn nation.


[The Ponderosa: I’m fairly certain I can take Osama in a fistfight. Not so sure I can swat a highjacked plane or ICBM out of the sky with one of my beefy arms. Kos is, probably intentionally, conflating "self-defense" and "common defense".

The same overgrown infants who want Daddy Government to take over every responsibilty of day-to-day life, stuff ADULTS, as ADULTS, used to be expected to attend to, mock those of us who rely upon the central government to do the one thing the individual cannot do: defend us against acts of war.

Oh -- sorry about El Salvador, Kos. You and your commie buddies can't win 'em all!]

...

The breathtaking cowardice of the 101st Fighting Keyboardists knows no bounds. They hide behind the American flag and our genuinely brave men and women in uniform. It's bad enough that they wouldn't deign to join the boots in the ground in Iraq. But now they make a mockery of our Constitution, for the very values that motivated our Founding Fathers to put their lives on the line to combat the unchecked powers of the British monarchy.

[The Ponderosa: Will this logical fallacy NEVER die (never mind that many of us are well past the maximum age of enlistment)? By this "logic", every pro-choicer should enroll in med school and become an abortionist. Everybody who whines about the high cost of pharmaceuticals or oil should quit his current gig and start a drug or oil company. ]




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This is the best the Left has to offer …?

More straw men here than an Iowa cornfield!

No one's hiding anywhere nor piddling on anything save for the latest Al Franken book nor has anyone brought forth evidence of any normal citizen having his civil liberties encroached upon.

As far as we know, the porn still flows through public library computers and buggery and abortions continue apace!

People, don't think for a minute that this crackpot is well outside the mainstream of the Democrat Party.

Indeed, pixilated Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will be speaking at Kos' event in Las Vegas.

We encourage Kos and all in the disloyal opposition to follow this tack through the November elections.

Murtha does it YET AGAIN!

US Rep. Murtha says he wouldn't join military now

WASHINGTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Rep. John Murtha, a key Democratic voice who favors pulling U.S. troops from Iraq, said in remarks airing on Monday that he would not join the U.S. military today.

A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' "Nightline" program that Iraq "absolutely" was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.

"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.

"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.

"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.

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Old Moonbats never die.

They just aid and comfort away.

Kick ass in '06

Let's keep the economy rollin', finish the job in Iraq and rock our arses off to the best that Metal has to offer.

Whatever held you back in '05, kick its ass.

Whatever it is you want in '06, go after it with a vengeance.

If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by
You're thinkin' like a fool cause it's a case of do or die
Out there is a fortune waitin' to be had
You think I'll let it go you're mad
You've got another thing comin'

TROP marks the new year in true spirit of Mohammed

Indonesian blast targets Christians

PALU, Indonesia -- Suspected Muslim terrorists set off a powerful bomb packed with nails yesterday at a busy market frequented by Christians, killing eight persons and wounding 45 as they bought pork for New Year's Eve celebrations.
The blast occurred in Palu on Sulawesi Island, which has been plagued in recent years by religious violence and terrorism by Islamic extremists.
The early-morning explosion sent ball bearings and nails tearing into vendors and shoppers, leaving the market scattered with dismembered bodies. Police and passers-by carried bloodied bodies to cars. One man, apparently unhurt, held his head in his hands as he screamed.

"There was a billow of smoke and then a massive bang, and my ears were deafened," said Kartini, a 32-year-old Christian woman who was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds to her chest and feet.

"I was in shock and had to tell myself to move away. I screamed for help," said Kartini, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.

Police said eight persons died in the attack. Hospital officials said at least 45 were wounded, with more than 20 suffering serious injuries.

The religious affiliations of the dead were not immediately released. However, the market sold only pig and dog meat, both of which are forbidden under Islam. Few, if any, Muslims would have been in the covered market.

The country's security minister, Widodo Adisucipto, told reporters the bombing was linked to terrorist groups. He refused to elaborate, but suspicion immediately fell on Jemaah Islamiyah, an al Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for a series of bloody bombings in Indonesia since 2000, including two attacks on Bali that together killed 222 persons, many of them foreigners.

Jemaah Islamiyah is also accused in Christmas Eve church bombings five years ago that left 19 dead.

Officials had warned repeatedly that militants in Jemaah Islamiyah might stage Christmas and New Year's attacks in Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation. The group wants to establish an Islamic state spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines.

The police chief for Central Sulawesi province, Brig. Gen. Oegroseno, said late yesterday that investigators believed a local resident detained two hours after the attack "may be declared as a suspect." He refused to release any other information about that person.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the blast, which occurred despite heightened security nationwide. More than 47,000 soldiers and policemen have been deployed at churches, shopping centers and hotels to try to ward off terrorist attacks during Christmas and New Year's.

Palu is about 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta, the national capital. Sulawesi Island's 12.5 million residents are split mainly between Christians and Muslims, but there are tiny Buddhist and Hindu communities.

Central Sulawesi was the scene of fierce battles between Muslims and Christians in 2001 and 2002 that killed about 1,000 people and attracted Islamic militants from all over Indonesia, who were responding to calls for a holy war.

Despite a peace deal, Islamic militants have continued a campaign of attacks on Christians, including market blasts in May that killed 20 persons and the beheadings of three Christian schoolgirls in October. No one has been charged in those attacks.

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One of our hopes for aught-six is that the disloyal domestic opposition will wake up and realize that the true threat to them comes not from Christians, who merely reserve the right to disapprove of their behaviour, but from the Jihadists who disapprove to the point of wanting them obliterated.

We might tut-tut at sin but we will defend to the death the sinner's (and that certainly includes us) right to exist.