Thursday - September 14, 2006

Quote Of The Day

“He was one of the originators of public statements that misled the American people into believing that the Iraqi war was justified. He’s joined in with the Republican spokespersons by saying that Democrats who disagree are really supporting terrorism. So for all these reasons, I’ve lost my confidence in Joe Lieberman and don’t wish to see him re-elected.”

-- Jimmy “Peanuts” Carter on Larry King Live, September 12, 2006

Carter —»  

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/14/2006 at 09:03 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People •  
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Three Weeks Later

(1) Israel warned inhabitants of southern Lebanon to go North and get out of the way, even broadcasting where they were going to attack Hezbollah to allow civilians to get out of the line of fire. Hezbollah warned no Israeli settlers and fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel. (2) The IDF specifically targeted Hezbollah fighters and made every attempt possible to avoid hitting civilians. Hezbollah hid among the civilian population and even fired their rockets from within villages and towns. (3) Israel even went so far as to leave an evacuation road open out of south Lebanon and help civilians evacuate. Hezbollah gave no warning of their rocket barrages and targeted everyone in northern Israel, specifically the civilian population.

Any questions so far? Good. Then why did Amnesia International condemn Israel for “war crimes” THREE WEEKS AGO and are just now getting around to waggling their finger at Hezbollah? The jerks at AI have really given themselves away this time. It’s too bad they aren’t willing to put their cowardly, anti-semitic carcasses on the line and go perform as human shields in some of these trouble areas around the globe. Maybe then they might be useful ... as clay pigeons.

Amnesty International: Hezbollah Committed War Crimes
_{LONDON (AP) - September 14, 2006, 4:43 AM EDT}

Hezbollah militants broke international law by firing thousands of rockets into Israel and killing dozens of civilians during the recent conflict with Israel, Amnesty International charged Thursday.

The human rights group called for a United Nations inquiry into what it called war crimes by Israel and Hezbollah, but its report focused on the actions of the Lebanese militants during the 34-day conflict.

Hezbollah launched nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel in July and August, killing at least 39 civilians. The firing of rockets into urban areas in northern Israel disregarded international laws that call for distinguishing between civilian and military targets, Amnesty said.

“Targeting civilians is a war crime. There’s no gray area,” said Larry Cox, Amnesty’s executive director in the United States. Although Hezbollah denies targeting Israeli civilians, it fired inaccurate rockets packed with thousands of metal ball bearings to maximize harm to noncombatants, Amnesty said.

Hezbollah had no immediate comment Thursday on the Amnesty report. The report is Amnesty’s most extensive condemnation of Hezbollah since the conflict began in July. It comes after Amnesty accused Israel of violating international law with indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian targets in Lebanon. The human rights group also previously called on Hezbollah to release two kidnapped Israeli soldiers and abstain from targeting civilians.

Violence erupted between Israel and Lebanon after Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. The ensuing fighting left more than 1,000 people dead, mostly Lebanese civilians, UNICEF said. A U.N.-brokered cease-fire in August quelled the violence and Israel and Hezbollah have mostly complied with the order, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said this week.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said he had no doubt that the Islamic militia fired rockets in a premeditated way to kill a maximum number of civilians. “It is also important to remember that the leaders of Hezbollah have spoken on many occasions about their desire to destroy the state of Israel,” Regev said.

Amnesty plans to publish additional reports studying whether Hezbollah contributed to civilian deaths in Lebanon by purposely hiding among civilians, said Nicole Choueiry, a spokesman for Amnesty in Britain. Israel and Lebanon reject the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands making any prosecution there unlikely.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/14/2006 at 08:20 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Middle-East • Terrorists •  
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2008: Clinton/Gore

Dick Morris takes a look ahead past the upcoming midterm elections and examines the Donks’ Dilemna for 2008. Dick thinks it will come down to a battle between The Hildabeast and Al Bore. My God! Karl Rove will be rolling on the floor laughing his pudgy little behind off if this pans out like Morris thinks. Even better would be if the two decided to run together. The only question is ... who would be on top.  Now there’s a visual image you probably could have done without ...

Dems Head Toward Clinton vs. Gore
By Dick Morris

In the past six months, much has happened in the contest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, but its central dynamic has gone largely unnoticed: Hillary has been dropping and Gore has been moving up. According to the latest Fox News poll, Hillary lost almost half of her lead over Gore between March and August.

In March, Hillary was getting 42 percent of the Democratic Primary field but by Fox’s August 30th survey, she had fallen to only 33 percent of the vote. Gore weighed in at 12 percent in March and rose to 15 percent by the end of last month. Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) each rose by two points, to 13 and 11 percent, respectively.

Most ominously for Hillary, the undecided percentage rose from 10 percent to 18 percent. Even those who had nobody else to vote for had accumulated such doubts about the New York senator that they described themselves as undecided. In this period well before active campaigning, it is unusual for a frontrunner to drop so precipitously without a major scandal or the entry of a new candidate. So why has Hillary dropped?

Democrats are desperate for victory. They seem determined to conduct their nominating process as if it were an audition for the leading role in November. Their newfound pragmatism, born of frustration in trying to defeat George W. Bush, has made electability the sine qua non of the Democratic primaries. And Hillary is flunking the test.

Republican criticisms of her seem to be winning new converts among Democratic primary voters. It is not that liberals are embracing the GOP contention that she is ethically challenged, ultraliberal and Nixonian in her tactics. But a kind of second generation of these criticisms is finding its mark in convincing Democrats that Hillary is too polarizing to be elected.

But a deeper, more fundamental division also seems to be undermining Hillary’s cause: a widening division between the isolationist and internationalist wings of the Democratic Party. With the polarization of public opinion over the war in Iraq, the gap between the anti-Vietnam new left and the Democratic Leadership Council New Democrats is yawning wide. The new left is largely well-educated, eastern and baby-boomer while the new Democrats are more conservative, values-oriented and socially populist.

Hillary and Bill are irretrievably on the New Democratic side of the divide. Her vote for the war, her consciousness of the tough-guy role a woman must play to win and the legacy of her husband’s military interventions abroad put her there to stay. But Al Gore has no such inhibitions. He can play the left on the Iraq war with impunity, having been opposed from day one.

We would be wrong to underestimate the impact of Ned Lamont’s primary victory over Joe Lieberman on Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy. As Eugene McCarthy did in 1968 when he challenged President Johnson over the war, Lamont has created a sense that the Democratic primary is the venue to oppose the war and punish those who supported it. Hillary, as a result, suddenly looks very vulnerable.

The former first lady also faces high negatives over a sense that she flip-flops on key issues. Reminiscent of the negatives that surrounded her husband, her flirtation with pro-lifers on abortion, anti-flag burners in Congress and pro-defense spending hawks on the Armed Services Committee has left a legacy that the woman who went down with the ship on healthcare reform never used to have: that of an opportunist.

In the Fox News poll, the Gore, Kerry, Edwards, Warner and Bayh vote totals 43 percent. So the un-Hillary candidates defeat Hillary 43–33. But even more significant is the switch to undecided among Democratic primary voters. Hillary, in a sense, is an incumbent, and undecideds do not augur well for her candidacy. It is hard to imagine Kerry recovering from his 2004 negatives, and Edwards will have difficulty staying in the limelight. But it is not too difficult to imagine Gore giving Clinton the fight of her life.

The 1992 and 1996 bumper sticker may split up in 2008! 

---

_{Eileen McGann coauthored this column. Dick Morris was an adviser to Bill Clinton for 20 years. Look for Dick’s new book “Condi vs. Hillary” available now. Copyright 2006 Dick Morris, All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. http://www.caglecartoons.com. To reprint, call Cari Dawson Bartley at (800) 696 7561 or e-mail: cari@cagle.com. Email for Dick Morris is dmredding@aol.com. Eileen McGann, an attorney and consultant, is a CEO of VOTE.com and Legislativevote.com. She works with Dick Morris on campaigns and around the world, specializing in using the internet to win elections.}

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/14/2006 at 08:02 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Editorials •  
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   Wednesday - September 13, 2006

Through The Looking Glass

“Reaching Out”

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 03:39 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Military •  
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Catfish News

Let’s let bygones be bygones. What’s a little holocaust between friends?

• Germany Ordaining 1st Rabbis Since 1942

Maybe he needs his eyes checked? Or maybe the vision he refers to is drug induced?

• Khatami Offers Moderate Vision of Iran

This would sure explain a lot. I’ve always wondered about the Iranians and South Koreans.

• Neanderthals Around Longer, Study Says

There can be only one, McCloud!

• Scotsman Prevails in Long Clan Fight

You just have to know they’re in deep kimchee if they have to encourage rabbits to breed!

• North Korea Pushes Rabbit Breeding for Food

And finally, just when you thought it couldn’t get any weirder ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 02:54 PM   
Filed Under: • Odd-Strange •  
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Help Wanted

Wanna earn some quick, easy money? It’s simple. Just talk to your Congress-critter and convince him or her to post their work schedule on the internet so everyone can see just how hard they are working in DC. Or not. You can earn $1,000 for each one you “sign up”.

I encourage all of you to take the Sunlight Foundation up on this offer and tell us who accepted and who balked and refused to comply. I must mention however, that sending your consigliare with an “offer they can’t refuse” or leaving dead horse’s heads in their beds may result in disqualification. Maybe. We’re still considering bending that rule ...

_{(Note: This is not a joke. This is a serious offer.)}

Dear Allan,

Who are our lawmakers meeting with? Lobbyists? Constituents? What do they do with their time? Members of Congress work for us, and we should know what they do every day. That’s a pretty straightforward proposition, and we bet you agree. So Sunlight is launching a campaign, at http://www.punchclockcampaign.com, to get Members of Congress to agree to post their daily calendars on the Internet.

But we need your help and creativity to make that happen. We’ll give you $1,000 for each Member of Congress, and $250 for each candidate, who you get to agree to do this, beginning with the next Congress. We’re not kidding. Consider this a fee for your work. We’re calling this the Punch Clock Campaign because almost all of us have to turn in timesheets or punch a clock to get our paychecks.

The details on how you can get your $1,000, along with suggestions of how to talk to your politicians and other materials are here:

http://www.sunlightnetwork.com/punchclock

This Congress has put in less work days than any other Congress since 1948. What are they doing when they are not in legislative session? If we are going to change the nature of the relationship between lawmakers and citizens, it has to include a greater understanding of what Members of Congress do with their time. Check out our site, ask questions, share it with your friends, and enjoy the hunt for the elusive time of our Congress!

http://www.sunlightnetwork.com/punchclock

Sincerely,

Ellen Miller
Executive Director
Sunlight Foundation and Sunlight Network
http://www.sunlightfoundation.com

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 02:16 PM   
Filed Under: • Porkbusters •  
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None So Blind

“Tunnel Vision” -by- Cox & Forkum

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 10:13 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists •  
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TinFoil Hat Alert

In case you missed it, the TinFoil Hat folks were out in full force on Monday. They are convinced that 9/11 was an inside job by the Bush administration to justify their evil goals of waging war in the Middle East to get all the oil and ... never mind, you get the point. There are even more pictures of the loons in action at Flickr. You can also find all their fancy theories about the conspiracy at 911truth.org - if you care to look. It is quite entertaining.

The editors of Popular Mechanics went through a meticulous research process and published in the March issue this year a complete debunking of the myths. They have also just compiled that and more evidence into a book that has just hit the shelves. It probably won’t affect the TinFoil Hat people though. Their version of reality bears no resemblance whatsoever to the one you and I inhabit. I suppose it was inevitable after the whole Roswell UFO scare and the Elvis sightings didn’t pan out ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 09:50 AM   
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People •  
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Pedophile Follow-Up

It looks like Mr. Karr is now looking at five of the worst years of his life ... and maybe more. The inmates in California prisons are probably already drawing straws to see who gets to be his “roommate”. He is going to need a large supply of Soap-On-A-Rope™ too. Unless, that is, his public defender can get the evidence thrown out. I’m afraid his “fifteen minutes of fame” is about to present a bill he’ll be hard-pressed to pay. Stay tuned ...

John Mark Karr Faces Porn Charges
_{SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - September 13, 2006, 8:59 AM EDT}

John Mark Karr returned to California with considerably less fanfare than when he last arrived in the state as a one-time suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey slaying. Karr, 41, who faces child pornography charges here, spent the night in a Santa Rosa jail after landing at Oakland International Airport late Tuesday.

Karr, who had been held in Colorado for several weeks, was released by Boulder County authorities earlier Tuesday. Despite his confessions, authorities found no connection to the JonBenet slaying.

Karr, a schoolteacher, was arrested in Thailand on Aug. 16 after he made phone calls and wrote e-mails in which he claimed to have killed the 6-year-old beauty queen in her Boulder home in December 1996. But DNA tests failed to connect Karr to the crime, and investigators had no evidence he was even in Boulder at the time of the slaying.

Five misdemeanor counts of child pornography possession have been pending against Karr in Sonoma County since April 2001, when authorities arrested him and seized his computer, alleging that the hard drive contained five sexually oriented images of children.

Karr pleaded not guilty to all counts and was jailed for six months, but he left the country before he could be tried. Prosecutors decided to pursue the charges after Karr surfaced last month as a suspect in the JonBenet killing.

During preliminary hearings in 2001, Karr’s public defenders waived his right to a speedy trial as they tried to get a judge to invalidate the search warrant that allowed Sonoma sheriff’s deputies to enter Karr’s home and seize his computer. If convicted of the Sonoma child pornography charges, Karr could get a year in prison on each count. Authorities have also said they want to re-examine Karr’s computer for more illicit images.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 09:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime •  
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Joke Du Jour

Did you hear the one about ....

French Tanks Give Teeth To Peacekeepers
_{9/12/2006, 2:19 p.m. ET}

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Thirteen French tanks, the most powerful armor ever deployed by a U.N. peacekeeping force, rolled ashore Tuesday, beefing up a mission aimed at helping cement an uneasy cease-fire in Lebanon.

But some European officials are concerned international peacekeepers will be at best ineffective and at worst humiliated if hostilities flare between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops.

Scores of blue-helmeted French troops transferred the Leclerc tanks, AUF-1 artillery cannons, two high-tech Cobra radar trucks, and dozens of armored vehicles and transport trucks from a cargo ship in Beirut’s port. The port reopened Friday after a nearly two-month Israeli blockade.

- More Fwench humor here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/13/2006 at 12:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor • United-Nations •  
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   Tuesday - September 12, 2006

Through The Looking Glass

“Operation Rubicon”
_{(Click image for larger 1024x784 in popup window)}

Marines from B Company’s 3rd Platoon stand next to one of the many weapons’ caches they dug from the ground during Operation Rubicon in Mushin, Iraq, west of Habbaniyah. The Recon Marines unearthed hundreds of mortars, artillery shells, rifles, machines guns, ammunition and improvised explosive device-making materials. Marines found so many caches, they said they could barely make it 100 meters before discovering another buried weapons’ site.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/12/2006 at 04:41 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • Military •  
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Be Prepared!

Are you a road warrior, logging millions of miles each year? Travelling all over the world chasing contracts or sales? Constantly flying from one stop to another but constantly worried about how to stay alive in the dangerous world we live in? Have no fear, boopsie! A company called Stephenson Strategies is looking out for you. If you own a SmartPhone, Palm PC, Pocket PC (and who doesn’t have a cell phone or PDA nowadays - besides Osama Bin Laden, that is?), then we’re here to help soothe your troubled mind.

Order your copy of “2004 Terrorism Travel Guide” ($9.95) today if you’re afraid you might get crammed into coach classs next to a sweaty Arab, muttering under his breath while trying to set fire to his shoe. Or if you’re concerned about that wizened old Indonesian man across the aisle with the miserable cough and the odd purple-green skin color, order “The Pandemic Flu Survival Guide” ($9.95). Why? ‘cause we’re looking out fer you ....

        

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/12/2006 at 04:14 PM   
Filed Under: • Odd-Strange •  
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Point / Counterpoint

Pointless Pessimism From The Media

Marine Calls Situation In Anbar Province Dire
U.S. military can do little to secure region in western Iraq
_{(MSNBC) - Sept 11, 2006 2:59 a.m. CT}

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country’s western al Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.

The officials described Col. Pete Devlin’s classified assessment of the dire state of Anbar as the first time that a senior U.S. military officer has filed so negative a report from Iraq. One Army officer summarized it as arguing that in Anbar province, “We haven’t been defeated militarily but we have been defeated politically—and that’s where wars are won and lost.”

The “very pessimistic” statement, as one Marine officer called it, was dated Aug. 16 and sent to Washington shortly after that, and has been discussed across the Pentagon and elsewhere in national security circles. “I don’t know if it is a shock wave, but it’s made people uncomfortable,” said a Defense Department official who has read the report. Like others interviewed about the report, he spoke on the condition that he not be identified by name because of the document’s sensitivity.

- More pessism from MSNBC here ...

Positive Counterpoint From The Man In Charge On The Ground

STATEMENT ON THE STATUS OF AL ANBAR PROVINCE
BY MAJ. GEN. RICHARD ZILMER

Release Date: 9/12/2006

Release Number: 06-09-01P

Description: FALLUJAH, Iraq – Recent media reports fail to accurately capture the entirety and complexity of the current situation in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.  The classified assessment, which has been referred to in these reports, was intended to focus on the causes of the insurgency.  It was not intended to address the positive effects Coalition and Iraqi forces have achieved on the security environment over the past years.

That said, there is an active insurgency in Anbar.  The enemy we face has no concern for the welfare of the Iraqi people, nor any peaceful vision for their future.  We believe the Iraqi people want something more and are willing to fight and die for it.

We are making steady progress in the accomplishment of our primary mission to train and develop the Iraqi Security Forces to defeat the insurgency.  This is due in large measure to the successful recruiting and training of thousands of Iraqi Police and improvements in the overall capabilities of the Iraqi Army.
This has resulted in the transfer of increasing responsibilities to the ISF for fighting the insurgency.  Finally, the progress we have made has been due to the dedicated and heroic actions of both US and Iraqi forces.

Despite these consistent advances in the security environment, we have found making the same progress politically and economically, throughout all of Anbar, to be much more challenging.  In areas where the presence of Iraqi Security Forces is combined with an effective local civil government, we have seen progress made.  Not just in the area of security, but in economic development and the establishment of social order and public services.  These are the conditions which must be set that will result in the support of the local people, and ultimately cause the defeat of this terrorist backed insurgency.

For lasting progress to take place, comparably effective advances must be made in the development of governmental and economic institutions at the local, provincial and national levels.  Only then, will the people of Al Anbar be able to realize their goal of long-term security, prosperity and confidence in their government.

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/12/2006 at 10:06 AM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias • Military •  
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Conspiracy!

Pssssst! Want to have some fun with Liberals and Democrats today? Show them these two maps, give them a nudge and a wink and quietly whisper “Karl Rove”. Then stand back and watch the fun as their tiny little brains explode and conspiracy theories start spewing out of their mouths at light speed. Now that’s entertainment ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/12/2006 at 08:54 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Fun-Stuff •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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