Wages and benefits paid to American workers rose in the July-September period at the fastest pace in more than two years. The Labor Department reported that its Employment Cost Index...
Darn that Bush! He's ruining us!!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Army Master Sergeant Richard Burnette
Army Master Sergeant Richard Burnette
On May 1, 2005, Burnette and his group arrived at the densely-populated neighborhood of Zafaraniya in Iraq, and began inspecting the area. A vehicle came roaring down the street and exploded, severely injuring Burnette and killing four Iraqi children. Used to working 18-hour days watching out for his own soldiers, the long recuperation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was a tough experience for Brunette. But while at Walter Reed, he became an older brother figure to the other wounded soldiers, helping them adjust and guiding them during their stay there. Burnette has now recovered from most of his injuries, and hopes to stay on active duty. For his service and leadership in Iraq and at Walter Reed, Burnette was named the 2006 Army Times Soldier of the Year. Burnette also has earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Frank Warner
8th anniversary of Iraq Liberation Act
Eight years ago today, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, calling for regime change in Baghdad, but stopping short of direct military assistance.
hat tip: instapundit
Who'dathunkit! A liberal acknowledges Clinton's lack of action!
Eight years ago today, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act, calling for regime change in Baghdad, but stopping short of direct military assistance.
hat tip: instapundit
Who'dathunkit! A liberal acknowledges Clinton's lack of action!
U.S. Training Palestinian Forces
The Bush administration has undertaken efforts to arm and train the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in order to prepare it for a potential violent confrontation with Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz)
Someone’s Dying for Your Vote
Staying home on election day dishonors those who have fought for it. “Think long and hard, conservatives, about the value of your vote, those that have died to give you the privilege, and the folly of abstention.” (The American Thinker)
Captain Ed Has Thoughts on John Kerry
John Kerry has never hidden his contempt for the armed forces very well, not even when he served as an officer in the Navy. Yesterday the mask slipped a little bit, as John Ziegler at KFI notes on his website, and Allahpundit mirrors at Hot Air. At a political rally for California's Democratic challenger to Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor, Phil Angelides, Kerry told the Pasadena City College crowd to study hard and get an education -- or wind up like the losers in the military:
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Wow. Just wow. It's worth recalling that Kerry at one time aspired to command these same men and women from the White House, and claims to still want to lead them. How would these people react to taking orders from a Commander-in-Chief who believes them to be uneducated, lazy losers?
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Wow. Just wow. It's worth recalling that Kerry at one time aspired to command these same men and women from the White House, and claims to still want to lead them. How would these people react to taking orders from a Commander-in-Chief who believes them to be uneducated, lazy losers?
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor
A Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret.
"He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."
Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began.
Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. The four had been working with Iraqi soldiers providing sniper security while U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted missions in the area.
In an interview at the SEALs' West Coast headquarters in Coronado, four members of the special force remembered "Mikey" as a loyal friend and a quiet, dedicated professional.
"He was just a fun-loving guy," said a 26-year-old petty officer 2nd class who went through the grueling 29-week SEAL training with Monsoor. "Always got something funny to say, always got a little mischievous look on his face."
Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith. His father and brother are former Marines, said a 31-year-old petty officer 2nd class.
Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.
More here, here, and here
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure Sept. 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret.
"He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."
Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began.
Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. The four had been working with Iraqi soldiers providing sniper security while U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted missions in the area.
In an interview at the SEALs' West Coast headquarters in Coronado, four members of the special force remembered "Mikey" as a loyal friend and a quiet, dedicated professional.
"He was just a fun-loving guy," said a 26-year-old petty officer 2nd class who went through the grueling 29-week SEAL training with Monsoor. "Always got something funny to say, always got a little mischievous look on his face."
Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith. His father and brother are former Marines, said a 31-year-old petty officer 2nd class.
Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them.
More here, here, and here
The Dark Ages - Victor Davis Hanson
The most frightening aspect of the present war is how easily our pre-modern enemies from the Middle East have brought a stunned postmodern world back into the Dark Ages.Students of history are sickened when they read of the long-ago, gruesome practice of beheading. How brutal were those societies that chopped off the heads of Cicero, Sir Thomas More and Marie Antoinette. And how lucky we thought we were to have evolved from such elemental barbarity.Twenty-four hundred years ago, Socrates was executed for unpopular speech. The 18th-century European Enlightenment gave people freedom to express views formerly censored by clerics and the state. Just imagine what life was like once upon a time when no one could write music, compose fiction or paint without court or church approval?Over 400 years before the birth of Christ, ancient Greek literary characters, from Lysistrata to Antigone, reflected the struggle for sexual equality. The subsequent notion that women could vote, divorce, dress or marry as they pleased was a millennia-long struggle.
Read the whole thing
Read the whole thing
Diversity's Oppressions - Thomas Sowell
Iraq is not the first war with ugly surprises and bloody setbacks. Even World War II, idealized in retrospect as it never was at the time--the war of "the greatest generation"--had a long series of disasters for Americans before victory was finally achieved.
The war began for Americans with the disaster at Pearl Harbor, followed by the tragic horror of the Bataan death march, the debacle at the Kasserine Pass and, even on the eve of victory, being caught completely by surprise by a devastating German counterattack that almost succeeded at the Battle of the Bulge.
Other wars--our own and other nations'--have likewise been full of nasty surprises and mistakes that led to bloodbaths. Nevertheless, the Iraq war has some special lessons for our time, lessons that both the left and the right need to acknowledge, whether or not they will.
The war began for Americans with the disaster at Pearl Harbor, followed by the tragic horror of the Bataan death march, the debacle at the Kasserine Pass and, even on the eve of victory, being caught completely by surprise by a devastating German counterattack that almost succeeded at the Battle of the Bulge.
Other wars--our own and other nations'--have likewise been full of nasty surprises and mistakes that led to bloodbaths. Nevertheless, the Iraq war has some special lessons for our time, lessons that both the left and the right need to acknowledge, whether or not they will.
ONLY 277 CARS TORCHED FRANCE'S PERMANENT CRISIS
By FRED SIEGEL
October 31, 2006 -- FRANCE today is a lot like New York City was before Rudy Giuliani: Its government is so large it crushes the economy - yet also too weak to stem widespread criminality. As with pre-Rudy New York, the fear that France's best days are behind it prevails.
October 31, 2006 -- FRANCE today is a lot like New York City was before Rudy Giuliani: Its government is so large it crushes the economy - yet also too weak to stem widespread criminality. As with pre-Rudy New York, the fear that France's best days are behind it prevails.
Iraq: The Long-Term View - Ian Bremmer
As U.S. mid-term elections approach, politicians of all stripes are arguing about Iraq. They're debating the decisions of four years ago and offering starkly different views of what's happening there now. But the more important questions concern Iraq's longer-term future. Is the country doomed to forever swing between tyranny and instability? Or can it become a durable Arab democracy?
You can learn a lot about a country by looking at the relationship between its stability and its "openness." Stability is a measure of the extent to which a country's government can weather a political, economic or social crisis. Openness is a measure of the degree to which people, ideas, information, goods and services flow freely in both directions across a state's borders and within the country itself.
In an open state, citizens can make an international telephone call, use the Internet and travel abroad without restriction. They have access to reliable information about events elsewhere in the country and are free to discuss them publicly. By contrast, the government of a closed state does not recognize these freedoms as rights.
Some countries (the United States, Germany, Japan and many others) are stable because they are open. Other states (North Korea, Cuba, Iran and others) are stable because they are closed. In each of these closed states, a small governing elite has isolated the country's citizens from the outside world and from one another. Saddam Hussein's Iraq was stable because it was closed. President Bush hopes the new Iraq will be stable because it is open.
Imagine a graph on which the vertical axis measures a state's stability and the horizontal axis measures its openness. Each nation appears as a data point on the graph. Taken together, these data points produce a pattern very much like the letter J. Nations higher on the graph are more stable; those lower are less stable. Nations to the right of the dip in the J are more open. Those to the left are less open.
For a country on the closed left side of the curve to move to the open right side, it must pass through the dip in the J -- a period of dangerous instability. In the early 1990s, South Africa, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia each descended into this dip. South Africa re-emerged on the right side of the J curve as an open post-apartheid state. The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia came apart and ceased to exist.
Right-side states have a collective interest in helping to shepherd authoritarian left-side states through the unstable dip in the curve toward a stability that is sturdier because it is based on openness. The Bush administration hopes to achieve just this kind of transition in Iraq.
You can learn a lot about a country by looking at the relationship between its stability and its "openness." Stability is a measure of the extent to which a country's government can weather a political, economic or social crisis. Openness is a measure of the degree to which people, ideas, information, goods and services flow freely in both directions across a state's borders and within the country itself.
In an open state, citizens can make an international telephone call, use the Internet and travel abroad without restriction. They have access to reliable information about events elsewhere in the country and are free to discuss them publicly. By contrast, the government of a closed state does not recognize these freedoms as rights.
Some countries (the United States, Germany, Japan and many others) are stable because they are open. Other states (North Korea, Cuba, Iran and others) are stable because they are closed. In each of these closed states, a small governing elite has isolated the country's citizens from the outside world and from one another. Saddam Hussein's Iraq was stable because it was closed. President Bush hopes the new Iraq will be stable because it is open.
Imagine a graph on which the vertical axis measures a state's stability and the horizontal axis measures its openness. Each nation appears as a data point on the graph. Taken together, these data points produce a pattern very much like the letter J. Nations higher on the graph are more stable; those lower are less stable. Nations to the right of the dip in the J are more open. Those to the left are less open.
For a country on the closed left side of the curve to move to the open right side, it must pass through the dip in the J -- a period of dangerous instability. In the early 1990s, South Africa, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia each descended into this dip. South Africa re-emerged on the right side of the J curve as an open post-apartheid state. The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia came apart and ceased to exist.
Right-side states have a collective interest in helping to shepherd authoritarian left-side states through the unstable dip in the curve toward a stability that is sturdier because it is based on openness. The Bush administration hopes to achieve just this kind of transition in Iraq.
Only choice on war is to win or lose it
BY MARK STEYN Sun-Times Columnist
I was on C-SPAN the other morning, and a lady called in to complain that ''you are making my blood pressure rise.'' Usual reason. The host, Paul Orgel, had asked me what I thought of President Bush and I replied that, whatever my differences with him on this or that, I thought he was one of the most farsighted politicians in Washington. That's to say, he's looking down the line to a world in which a radicalized Islam has exported its pathologies to every corner on Earth, Iran and like-minded states have applied nuclear blackmail to any parties within range, and a dozen or more nutcake basket-case jurisdictions have joined Pyongyang and Tehran as a Nukes R Us one-stop shop for all your terrorist needs. In 2020, no one's going to be worrying about which Congressional page Mark Foley is coming on to. Except Mark Foley, who'll be getting a bit long in the tooth by then. But if it really is, as Democrats say, ''all about the future of our children,'' then our children will want to know why our generation saw what was happening and didn't do anything about it. They will despise us as we despise the political class of the 1930s. And the fact that we passed a great prescription drug plan will be poor consolation when the entire planet is one almighty headache.
I was on C-SPAN the other morning, and a lady called in to complain that ''you are making my blood pressure rise.'' Usual reason. The host, Paul Orgel, had asked me what I thought of President Bush and I replied that, whatever my differences with him on this or that, I thought he was one of the most farsighted politicians in Washington. That's to say, he's looking down the line to a world in which a radicalized Islam has exported its pathologies to every corner on Earth, Iran and like-minded states have applied nuclear blackmail to any parties within range, and a dozen or more nutcake basket-case jurisdictions have joined Pyongyang and Tehran as a Nukes R Us one-stop shop for all your terrorist needs. In 2020, no one's going to be worrying about which Congressional page Mark Foley is coming on to. Except Mark Foley, who'll be getting a bit long in the tooth by then. But if it really is, as Democrats say, ''all about the future of our children,'' then our children will want to know why our generation saw what was happening and didn't do anything about it. They will despise us as we despise the political class of the 1930s. And the fact that we passed a great prescription drug plan will be poor consolation when the entire planet is one almighty headache.
Trust, But No Way to Verify? By Glenn Harlan Reynolds
By Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Well, this report from The New York Times doesn't make me feel better about electronic voting:
"The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez. The inquiry is focusing on the Venezuelan owners of the software company, the Smartmatic Corporation, and is trying to determine whether the government in Caracas has any control or influence over the firm's operations, government officials and others familiar with the investigation said."
Is this a false alarm, or does it represent a real threat of foreign meddling in American elections? I suspect it's the former, but I can't be sure -- and, of course, that's the problem with electronic voting. Because you can't tell what's going on inside of the box, voters can't be sure that their votes are recorded, or counted, accurately. And if they can't be sure of that, their faith in the whole electoral system is in danger -- and with it, their faith in our system of government.
Well, this report from The New York Times doesn't make me feel better about electronic voting:
"The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez. The inquiry is focusing on the Venezuelan owners of the software company, the Smartmatic Corporation, and is trying to determine whether the government in Caracas has any control or influence over the firm's operations, government officials and others familiar with the investigation said."
Is this a false alarm, or does it represent a real threat of foreign meddling in American elections? I suspect it's the former, but I can't be sure -- and, of course, that's the problem with electronic voting. Because you can't tell what's going on inside of the box, voters can't be sure that their votes are recorded, or counted, accurately. And if they can't be sure of that, their faith in the whole electoral system is in danger -- and with it, their faith in our system of government.
To Every Man
So, then, to every man his chance -- to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining golden opportunity -- to every man his right to live, to work, to be himself, to become whatever his manhood and his vision can combine to make him -- this, seeker, is the promise of America.- -- Thomas Wolfe
Dead woman wins election
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A dead woman won re-election to a school board in rural Alaska after her opponent lost a coin flip meant to break an electoral tie.
Trick or Treat?!
Trick or Treat?!
Jeremiah 10:12-13
But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. Jeremiah 10:12-13 NIV
Monday, October 30, 2006
Marine's Conviction 'A Calling,' Family Says
When Lance Cpl. Eric W. Herzberg decided to join the Marines while a student at Severna Park High School, his first mission was to ease the concerns of his mother, Gina Barnhurst.
"Gina was anxious to talk him out of it," said Doug Barnhurst, Herzberg's uncle. "She was worried about it. She was worried that he didn't know what he was getting into. But he convinced her it was a calling."
"Gina was anxious to talk him out of it," said Doug Barnhurst, Herzberg's uncle. "She was worried about it. She was worried that he didn't know what he was getting into. But he convinced her it was a calling."
Florida: Glitches cited in early voting
After a week of early voting, a handful of glitches with electronic voting machines have drawn the ire of voters, reassurances from elections supervisors -- and a caution against the careless casting of ballots.
Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen -- the final voting step.
Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen -- the final voting step.
Israel preparing extensive Gaza operation:MP
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that the army was preparing an extensive operation in the Gaza Strip, with the government to make a decision on the offensive within days, an MP has said.
Poll: Majority believes government doing too much
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A quarter century after the Reagan revolution and a dozen years after Republicans vaulted into control of Congress, a new CNN poll finds most Americans still agree with the bedrock conservative premise that, as the Gipper put it, "government is not the answer to our problems -- government is the problem."
aint it the truth!
aint it the truth!
Real Estate: Is It Time To Buy?
September sales of existing homes were 6.16 million, down from 6.3 million in August -- and from 7.2 million in September 2005.
The inventory of unsold homes was 7.3 million units in September, up from 4.6 million homes listed for sale in the same month a year ago. (And there may be many more sellers waiting in the wings, planning to list their home when the market "recovers.")
Prices are falling, too. The National Association of Realtors reported the biggest drop in home prices since it began tracking the data in 1968. The median sales price was $220,000 in September, down 2.2%, following a 2.2% decline in August. These two drops are the first time median home prices have fallen since 1995.
The inventory of unsold homes was 7.3 million units in September, up from 4.6 million homes listed for sale in the same month a year ago. (And there may be many more sellers waiting in the wings, planning to list their home when the market "recovers.")
Prices are falling, too. The National Association of Realtors reported the biggest drop in home prices since it began tracking the data in 1968. The median sales price was $220,000 in September, down 2.2%, following a 2.2% decline in August. These two drops are the first time median home prices have fallen since 1995.
Brazil’s Lula wins re-election by a landslide
BRASILIA - Leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won re-election by a landslide on Sunday, and vowed to fight for more social justice while at the same time spurring economic growth.
U.S. Investigates Voting Machines’ Venezuela Ties
Tim Golden:
The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez.
The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a small software company that has been linked to the leftist Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez.
Nicaraguan Tragedy
Robert Novak:
The seemingly unavoidable outcome of next Sunday's election is a Nicaraguan tragedy, losing at the ballot box what was won two decades ago by the blood of Contra fighters and the risk of Ronald Reagan's presidency. Because the anti-Sandinista vote is split, Ortega figures to return his Marxist-Leninist party -- now backed by Hugo Chavez's Venezuelan petro-dollars -- to the presidential palace. Apart from the misery to be inflicted on the Nicaraguan people, this reflects the deterioration of U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere under the Bush administration.
Read the whole thing
The seemingly unavoidable outcome of next Sunday's election is a Nicaraguan tragedy, losing at the ballot box what was won two decades ago by the blood of Contra fighters and the risk of Ronald Reagan's presidency. Because the anti-Sandinista vote is split, Ortega figures to return his Marxist-Leninist party -- now backed by Hugo Chavez's Venezuelan petro-dollars -- to the presidential palace. Apart from the misery to be inflicted on the Nicaraguan people, this reflects the deterioration of U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere under the Bush administration.
Read the whole thing
Fareed Zakaria
Something like the close of the Korean War is, frankly, the best we can hope for in Iraq now. One could easily imagine worse outcomes—a bloodbath, political fragmentation, a tumultuous flood of refugees and a surge in global terrorist attacks. But with planning, intelligence, execution and luck, it is possible that the American intervention in Iraq could have a gray ending—one that is unsatisfying to all, but that prevents the worst scenarios from unfolding, secures some real achievements and allows the United States to regain its energies and strategic compass for its broader leadership role in the world.
Do you agree with Mr. Zakaria?
Do you agree with Mr. Zakaria?
Final Farewells To Our Fallen Hero's
I don't like the NY Times agenda, but I pray for these hero's and their loved ones.
The Story Behind the Polls
Michael Barone:
What's with the polls?
In 2004, the electorate that went to the polls or voted absentee was, according to the adjusted NEP exit poll, 37 percent Democratic and 37 percent Republican. In party identification, it was the most Republican electorate since George Gallup conducted his first random sample poll in October 1935.
Have you ever been polled? We are 50 years old and never been polled for anything, nor anyone we know been polled, who are these people polling?
What's with the polls?
In 2004, the electorate that went to the polls or voted absentee was, according to the adjusted NEP exit poll, 37 percent Democratic and 37 percent Republican. In party identification, it was the most Republican electorate since George Gallup conducted his first random sample poll in October 1935.
Have you ever been polled? We are 50 years old and never been polled for anything, nor anyone we know been polled, who are these people polling?
Ephesians 5:6-14
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 'Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Ephesians 5:6-14 NIV
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Top Democrat Sees Role For Global Financial Regulator
Barney Frank, one scary guy!
Jeremy Grant and Holly Yeager write:
The views of the man widely expected take over the chair of the House financial services committee if the Democrats retake the chamber stand in stark contrast to those of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial regulator that the committee oversees.
Jeremy Grant and Holly Yeager write:
The views of the man widely expected take over the chair of the House financial services committee if the Democrats retake the chamber stand in stark contrast to those of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the financial regulator that the committee oversees.
Al Qaeda: Plans for an October Surprise?
I need to find this anonymous guy, he sure seems to know what's up
Newsweek
Nov. 6, 2006 issue - Is Osama bin Laden going to weigh in on the midterm elections? A senior counterterrorism official, anonymous, like other officials NEWSWEEK spoke to, because the subject is sensitive, says that based on previous patterns—such as the release of a rare bin Laden tape just before the 2004 presidential vote—a message before Election Day wouldn't be surprising. Private expert Evan Kohlmann, who consults for the Feds on terror probes, says Al Qaeda has lately released tapes at a rate of two or three per month. This month, he says, they are "short by one or two," so he thinks a pre-election message is a "very good likelihood." Another U.S. official says intel experts believe Al Qaeda wants to be "relevant" to the U.S. political process. But a third counterterror official says "we don't have any indication" Osama & Co. are about to surface. Spokesmen for the FBI and Homeland Security Department said they were unaware of specific intel foreshadowing an attack on U.S. soil before the elections. Overseas, the threat is more ominous: reports of a possible attack on Saudi oil installations (which could raise U.S. gas prices). The perpetrators would probably be Saudi Qaeda affiliates; methods could include truck or boat bombs. U.S. agencies are not certain of the threat's credibility, an official said.—Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Nov. 6, 2006 issue - Is Osama bin Laden going to weigh in on the midterm elections? A senior counterterrorism official, anonymous, like other officials NEWSWEEK spoke to, because the subject is sensitive, says that based on previous patterns—such as the release of a rare bin Laden tape just before the 2004 presidential vote—a message before Election Day wouldn't be surprising. Private expert Evan Kohlmann, who consults for the Feds on terror probes, says Al Qaeda has lately released tapes at a rate of two or three per month. This month, he says, they are "short by one or two," so he thinks a pre-election message is a "very good likelihood." Another U.S. official says intel experts believe Al Qaeda wants to be "relevant" to the U.S. political process. But a third counterterror official says "we don't have any indication" Osama & Co. are about to surface. Spokesmen for the FBI and Homeland Security Department said they were unaware of specific intel foreshadowing an attack on U.S. soil before the elections. Overseas, the threat is more ominous: reports of a possible attack on Saudi oil installations (which could raise U.S. gas prices). The perpetrators would probably be Saudi Qaeda affiliates; methods could include truck or boat bombs. U.S. agencies are not certain of the threat's credibility, an official said.—Mark Hosenball
Democrats Agenda for the Common Good'
Doug Schoen: The only conclusion we will be able to draw from a big Democratic win is that Americans are not so much embracing Democrats as much as they are rejecting Republicans.
Pretty much how I see it.
Pretty much how I see it.
Ahh The First Post!
Well, here we are, and here we go!
The author is an American, conservative, Christian, proud father, lucky husband, Irish Scottish heritage and a Texan by choice.
I believe the U.S.A is greatest nation on earth, and the greatest in history. Never before has a nation freed so many, never before has a nation saved so many, and when was there ever any nation that went to war on another land just to give it back, then pour billions into it to help it get back on track?
Do we have problems? You betcha
Do we have poverty? Sadly, yes
Do we have opportunity? More then any other in history! Where else can someone start with nothing and achieve anything they are prepared to work for? How many thousands of dreams have come true in America?
Our posts, among other things, will tell those stories.
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