The timing couldn’t have been better. Just days after the hapless Democrats accused President Bush of fear mongering a man was arrested at the Tampa airport trying to sneak a box cutter on board a flight to Vegas.

About 7:30 a.m. Sunday, airport security ran Benjamin Baines Jr.’s backpack through an X-ray machine and saw the image of a box cutter, according to a report from the Transportation Security Administration.

When searching the backpack, a security officer found a book titled “Fear Itself.” The book was hollowed out, and the box cutter was inside.

After Baines was read his rights, he said his cousin had cut away the pages to make the hollow section in the book. Later, reports state, he said he had hollowed it out himself to hide money and marijuana from his roommates.

Baines told officers he was moving to Las Vegas and forgot the cutter was in the book.

Officers found books in the backpack titled “Muhammad in the Bible,” “The Prophet’s Prayer” and “The Noble Qur’an.” He also had a copy of the Quran and the Bible.

Several sheets of paper in the backpack included rap lyrics that referred to police, narcotics, weapons and killing. Baines told officers he is a rapper who writes his own lyrics and that rap music writers need to “play the part,” the report states.

Meanwhile “smart guys” in the media are giving a platform to radical jihadists so they can state that Americans are bigoted and racist. Get this, Hussein Ibish, founder of the Foundation for Arab-American Leadership in Washington, D.C. was paraphrased in the USA Today as saying that “American culture’s view of American Muslims and Islam is steadily deteriorating under an onslaught of “bigotry” on cable news shows, newspaper op-ed pages and in the blogosphere“.

On March 25, 2002 Daniel Pipes wrote the following about Ibish: (h/t Michelle Malkin)

Unlike most of today’s prominent Muslim spokesmen, the 38-year-old Ibish does not advocate militant Islam. Instead, he pushes a set of far left-wing views. These start, not surprisingly, with a deep antagonism to the U.S. government. An immigrant from Lebanon, he believes Washington has imperial ambitions in the Middle East. To achieve these, he says, Washington relies extensively on terrorism.

First, it has stitched together a system of puppet rulers who “terrorize the region.” Second, it “has the ability to murder and rampage at will” and sometimes does just that - as during its “terrorist” 1986 air strike against Libya.

It gets worse. Ibish has described former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as “vermin.” He has compared comments by Colin Powell about Iraqi civilian deaths during the 1991 war to those by Timothy McVeigh about the children he murdered in Oklahoma City. He may be tough on American diplomats, but for the second-worst mass murderer of the 20th-century, China’s Mao Zedong, Ibish shows a touching affection (”The achievements of Mao can hardly be overstated.”)

Ibish apologizes for many groups the U.S. government deems terrorist, starting with Osama bin Laden. “I’m skeptical,” was his reaction after a federal grand jury indicted bin Laden for bombing two U.S. embassies in East Africa. Ibish dismisses bin Laden as a blowhard who gives “blood-curdling interviews,” a guy who “lives in a cave in Afghanistan” and someone seen by Arabs as “a crank and a dangerous fanatic.”

The list of apologetics goes on. President Bush calls Hamas “one of the deadliest terrorist organizations in the world today” but our lobbyist friend touts its accomplishments “running hospitals and schools and orphanages.”

Pipes ended his article with “Anti-American, anti-Semitic, inaccurate and immoral; Hussein Ibish makes for a peculiar choice to serve as the public face of Arab-Americans.”

Thanks to the idiots in the MSM some things never change; and they never will as long as people keep looking to the MSM for accurate, unbiased information.

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Democrats led by the wisdom of leaders such as Nancy Pelosi are trying to force employers to hire non-English speaking candidates in another move to placate the illegal immigration lobby. Simply speaking this is another attack on American voters and small business owners who dare to challenge Congress on their attempts to shoe horn illegals into your schools, onto your roads and into your tax paying pockets. To add insult to injury Democrats are holding a tax reform measure hostage to force the issue.

It’s been less than a week since New York’s Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Eliot Spitzer had to climb down from their support of driver’s licenses for illegal aliens. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has moved to kill an amendment that would protect employers from federal lawsuits for requiring their workers to speak English. Among the employers targeted by such lawsuits: the Salvation Army.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a moderate Republican from Tennessee, is dumbstruck that legislation he views as simple common sense would be blocked. He noted that the full Senate passed his amendment to shield the Salvation Army by 75-19 last month, and the House followed suit with a 218-186 vote just this month. “I cannot imagine that the framers of the 1964 Civil Rights Act intended to say that it’s discrimination for a shoe shop owner to say to his or her employee, ‘I want you to be able to speak America’s common language on the job,’ ” he told the Senate last Thursday.

But that’s exactly what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is trying to do. In March the EEOC sued the Salvation Army because its thrift store in Framingham, Mass., required its employees to speak English on the job. The requirement was clearly posted and employees were given a year to learn the language. The EEOC claimed the store had fired two Hispanic employees for continuing to speak Spanish on the job. It said that the firings violated the law because the English-only policy was not “relevant” to job performance or safety.

“If it is not relevant, it is discriminatory, it is gratuitous, it is a subterfuge to discriminate against people based on national origin,” says Rep. Charles Gonzalez of Texas, one of several Hispanic Democrats in the House who threatened to block Ms. Pelosi’s attempts to curtail the Alternative Minimum Tax unless she killed the Alexander amendment.

The confrontation on the night of Nov. 8 was ugly. Members of the Hispanic Caucus initially voted against the rule allowing debate on a tax bill that included the AMT “patch,” which for a year would protect some 23 million Americans from being kicked into a higher income tax bracket.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a moderate from Maryland, was beside himself. Congressional Quarterly reports that he jabbed his finger on the House floor at Joe Baca, the California Democrat who chairs the Hispanic Caucus, and yelled, “How dare you destroy this party? This will be the worst loss in 10 years.”

Mr. Baca was having none of it. “You see this on the [voting] board?,” he yelled back. “This is against me. This is against me personally.” Luckily for Democrats, C-Span’s microphones did not pick up the exchange. But it was audible to reporters in the press gallery. They also heard Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois say that English-only efforts were symbolic of “bigotry and prejudice” against those who speak other languages.

After testy negotiations, the Hispanic Caucus finally agreed to let the tax bill proceed after extracting a promise from Ms. Pelosi that the House will not vote on the bill funding the Justice and Commerce Departments unless the English-only protection language is dropped. “There ain’t going to be a bill” with the Alexander language, Mr. Baca has told reporters.

Sen. Alexander says that if that’s the case, “thousands of small businesses across America will have to show there is some special reason to justify requiring their employees to speak our country’s common language on the job.” He notes that the number of EEOC actions against English-only policies grew to some 200 last year from 32 a decade ago. In an attempt at compromise, he has offered watered-down language that would still allow the EEOC to file many actions, but he says House Democrats rejected it. - Mi Casa, Sue Casa - Nancy Pelosi tries to force the Salvation Army to hire people who can’t speak English, JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL

This is just another assault on Americans courtesy of Democrats in Congress. The tactic is no different of that of extortionists, with the victim being the American people. Democrats are going to hold your tax breaks until the few representatives in Congress that do actually want to move on both tax relief and immigration reform capitulate to their demands.

See Also: The Language of Insanity, California Conservative, The Hot Joints, Betsy’s Page, Captain’s Quarters, Right Voices, Michelle Malkin

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Update via Michelle Malkin - Nomination approved, 53-40.

Look who was too busy to vote…

McCain, Clinton, Obama, Biden, Dodd, Cornyn (r), Alexander (r)

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Democrats in Congress that are too gutless to actually pass a law that specifically outlaws waterboarding are hoping that they can use the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General to stir up images of U.S. government led torture chambers. The only problem is that the spokesmen for the Democrats are in no position to talk about ethics and “rule of law”.

Take for instance the alcohol bloated swimmer and bloviator extraordinaire Senator Ted Kennedy.

The next attorney general must restore confidence in the rule of law,” Kennedy said. “We cannot afford to take the judgment of an attorney general who either does not know torture when he sees it or is willing to look the other way.”

Let’s rephrase that comment and see if we can make any comparisons between the imaginary machinations of a bloated Senate demagogue and the real actions of an alleged drunk driver that left Mary Jo Kopechne to endure a torturous death in a sinking car.

The next drunk driver must restore confidence in the rule of law,” Kennedy said. “We cannot afford to take the judgment of another person like myself who either does not know a drowning young girl when he sees one or is willing to look the other way.”

Why anyone listens to one word Senator Kennedy says is beyond me. Aren’t Democrats even remotely embarrassed to have Ted Kennedy on their side? (or is it the other way around?) Strike that. The lefty lackeys in the mainstream media love to perpetuate the message of American military and government bashing Democrats in Congress.

Despite the words of Kennedy and his ilk the Senate moved ahead on the confirmation. But that didn’t stop the Associated Press from maligning Mukasey’s character, because as we all know, the fools in the AP are little Kennedys.

WASHINGTON - The Senate moved to confirm Michael Mukasey as the nation’s newest attorney general Thursday despite differences over his position on the legality of harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects.

Uh, no. Mukasey doesn’t have a position on harsh interrogation that differs from the rule of law. He stated that the rule would be his guide. If anybody has differences it is Democrats who suddenly found it convenient to be vague when defining existing law that otherwise could have specifically forbid waterboarding. (see Libs Wetting Their Pants Over New AG Nomination, Cry “Waterboarding” in This Season’s Abu Ghraib)

And now for the big DUH moment by the AP writers.

To win confirmation, Mukasey has promised to enforce any anti-waterboarding law passed by Congress, where, his Republican supporters say, responsibility for such policies lie.

Mukasey’s Democratic opponents say he is being disingenuous because any such law would likely be vetoed by President Bush.

Democrats love to complain but we can see what a farce it really is when considering the latest override they got on a Presidential veto. This confirms that once again Democrats are simply playing games; lip service for morons. If Democrats really wanted to pass something they could.

Mukasey, the former chief U.S. district judge in the Manhattan courthouse just blocks from ground zero, was first appointed to the bench in 1987 by President Reagan. He also worked for four years as a trial prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York’s Southern District — one of the Justice Department’s busiest and highest-profile offices in the country.

Mukasey oversaw some of the nation’s most significant terror trials in the years before and after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

He sentenced Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the “blind sheik,” to life in prison for a plot to blow up New York City landmarks, and he signed in 2002 the material witness warrant that let the FBI arrest U.S. citizen Jose Padilla. That warrant marked the start of a case that wound its way through several federal courts as the government declared Padilla an enemy combatant and held him for 3 1/2 years before he was convicted last month on terrorism-related charges.

In an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal, Mukasey criticized U.S. national security law as too weak in some areas by noting that prosecutors are sometimes forced to reveal details of cases at the risk of tipping off terrorists. He is also a supporter of the government’s anti-terror USA Patriot Act, wryly writing in 2004 that the “awkward name may very well be the worst thing about the statute.”

Mukasey, a partner at New York-based law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, is also a close friend to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican. He stepped down as an adviser to Giuliani’s presidential campaign, on which he served as part of an advisory committee on judicial nominations.

See also: Michelle Malkin, Wizbang, Wake up America, Blue Crab Boulevard

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The vermin trash on the American Left can claim another victory in the assault on all things religious by shutting down the historic ritual of flag-folding recitations at Veteran’s burials by employees of the Veterans administration. This is what you get when you elect Godless Democrats to office:

RIVERSIDE,California - Complaints about religious content have led to a ban on flag-folding recitations by Veterans Administration employees and volunteers at all 125 national cemeteries. It all started because of one complaint about the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery in California.

During thousands of military burials, the volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors. For example, the 12th fold glorifies “God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.”

The complaint revolved around the narration in the 11th fold, which celebrates Jewish war veterans and “glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

The National Cemetery Administration decided to ban the entire recital at all national cemeteries. Details of the complaint weren’t disclosed.

Administration spokesman Mike Nacincik said the new policy outlined in a Sept. 27 memorandum is aimed at creating uniform services throughout the military graveyard system. He said the 13-fold recital is not part of the U.S. Flag Code and is not government-approved.

I personally don’t know how I missed this 3 day old story but it is important. Michelle Malkin lists the meaning of each fold:

These meanings, not part of the U.S. Flag Code, have been ascribed to the 13 folds of American flags at veterans burial services:

1. Symbol of life.

2. Symbol of our belief in the eternal life.

3. In honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world.

4. Represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance.

5. A tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, “Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong.”

6. Represents where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

7. A tribute to our armed forces.

8. A tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on Mother’s Day.

9. A tribute to womanhood.

10. A tribute to father.

11. In the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12. In the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost.

13. When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, “In God We Trust.”

Anyone that doesn’t realize what is at stake in 2008 is simply clueless. Liberalism has been the worst thing to happen to this country, ever. Rather than create tolerance it has grown more intolerant, bigoted and closed minded. Today’s crop of leftists is even more entrenched within the Democratic party thanks to the Clinton’s, Hollywood and a mainstream media brought up in the fog of bongs, acid and cocaine. Some people just never grow up, others are just plain stupid. These people have ushered in a Congress whose job approval ratings are matching historic lows on the following October polls, CNN 75% disapproval, FOX 54% disapproval, LA Times 69% disapproval, CBS 59% disapproval, Reuters 87% fair/poor, Harris 77% fair/poor, NPR 69% disapproval, Gallup 71% disapproval, AP-IPSOS 74% disapproval. Most approval ratins are even more dismal in the range of 11-22%. At best only 2 out of every 10 people approve of the job that the Democrat led congress is doing. The attack on religion, especially Judaism and Christianity is a major reason. Moral values, family values and faith mean something to a majority of Americans.

Stop Democrats NOW and save America’s future for our children.

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Update: The Ebay auction is officially over. Betty Casey, a wealthy widower, won the bid. The “letter” brought in 2,100,100.00. In addition, Rush is going to match the bid. The foundation is the recipient of an extremely generous donation.

Also, if you are interested in finding out exactly who Betty Casey is, check out Bookworm. She has got the scoop.

For those who are unaware of the ongoing saga with some Democrat leaders and Rush Limbaugh, here is a quick synopsis:

Awhile back on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, Rush referred to a story involving a man named Jesse MacBeth. Jesse MacBeth claimed he was a United States soldier who received a purple heart, but that he had become disgruntled by the atrocities that other United States soldiers were committing in Iraq.

The reason Rush was referring to this story is because Jesse MacBeth was only in the military for 44 days before getting kicked out, he was never in Iraq, he certainly never saw a purple heart, and he definitely did not witness any atrocities. Rush then referred to MacBeth as a “phony soldier”.

The left salivated at the thought of linking a scandal with Rush Limbaugh. Media Matters, a proud member of the left media, posted a story stating that Rush said that any soldier which called for the withdrawal of United States troops out of Iraq were “phony soldiers”. This led to leading democrats denouncing Rush on the House floor citing what Media Matters accused Rush of.

First, anyone that listens to Rush knew of the story and what it was about; second everyone who is familiar with Rush knows that he has a deep love and appreciation for all members of the United States Military.

In any event, this fiasco then spurred a letter from leading democrats to Rush to recant what he said. He obviously was not going to recant what he said since the person he was referring to is a “phony soldier”. Instead he decided to put the letter on Ebay and sell it to the highest bidder, take all the proceeds and donate them to The Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation. This is a charity that helps children of parents who are currently deployed.

I am happy to report that the current bid has reached over 2M dollars. Way to go Rush, what a beautiful move. Not only will the foundation receive a substantial donation but at the same time you have made the democrats and Media Matters look like the fools they are.

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I was impressed by the temperate tone in this Stars and Stripes article, because I was just incensed when I read that our troops, who are putting their lives on the line for us, as a result of bureaucratic inefficiency, are being denied that most fundamental of all American rights, the right to the vote:

Overseas military voters had less than half of their votes counted in last year’s congressional elections, according to data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on Monday.

“One thing is clear: At every level of government, we need to do a better job,” said Donetta Davidson, chair of the commission. “We must make sure all eligible voters are getting their opportunities.”

The figures, released at the commission’s annual conference on ways to improve and troubleshoot the absentee voting process, showed that only about 992,000 of the nearly 6 million eligible overseas citizens requested ballots for the 2006 general election.

That included about 119,000 military personnel stationed outside the United States. Of those, only about 57,000 — less than 48 percent — had their votes successfully cast or counted.

EAC officials said that’s roughly the same percentage that were counted for expatriates and domestic military filing absentee ballots. The major failures were on the ballot delivery side, with about 72 percent of those who failed to vote never receiving any of their requested election materials.

Still, the commission also saw positive news for overseas military.

In a survey of absentee voters from four states — South Carolina, Florida, Illinois and Montana — researchers found that overseas military were nearly three times as likely to attempt to vote as their overseas civilian counterparts. And nearly 90 percent of those who made it through the system were pleased how the voting process worked.

I love the Orwellian last paragraph, with the commission congratulating itself for the fact that 51,300 of the 119,000 who tried to vote actually reported that they had a good experience. Gee! I’m glad they could find something good to crow about considering that 54% of American troops have been denied their right to vote.

My question is, considering that we have a Democratic Congress, what can be done to correct this situation by the 2008 elections?

[Discuss this article with Bookworm over at Bookworm Room...]

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Read ahead and see how John Kerry proves once again that he is a perpetual idiot that ought to be drummed out of Congress

When it rains it pours. Let’s see now. The Democrats had hoped to guarantee that American lives would be lost in vain by undercutting the Iraq war almost simultaneously with their vote in support of it almost 5 years ago. When it was apparent that they were succeeding at sinking the mission they ramped up the anti-war machine machine in an effort to dredge up the ghosts of Vietnam. The strategy worked and helped terrorists and foreign influences plot a strategic insurgency designed to create civil war and bolster the message of American detractors both here and abroad.

The Democrats all but spelled out how the terrorists must fight our brave men and women, even to the point of taking up the mighty megaphone of propaganda in an effort to smear the U.S. military from the halls of Congress to the front of the New York Times. World wide anti-American haters jumped on board with Democrats and their MSM supporters until they had successfully turned sentiment against the efforts in Iraq and on the home front. Suddenly the war on terror was a cause celeb for those whose warped view of America was steeped in leftist anti-authoritarian rhetoric, 9-11 conspiracy theories, flushed Korans, false charges of massacres, fake war stories (some from soldiers spewing lies and others from fake soldiers), photoshopped atrocities and manufactured AP reports that were mired in lies, deceit and shoddy use of facts.

Despite the obviousness of the attempt to undermine the security of the United States the Democrats continued the catcalls of defeat. They rode the wave of manufactured outrage into power promising a change of course. After the November elections had come and gone Democrats did little different than before they held the reins of power. They continued calling for a change of course even though they helped approve of General Petraeus in part because of his success on the ground and his vision that would result in the change of course they were calling for. The Democrats, perhaps realizing their mistake, immediately began calling the new change of course a failure even though the crucial element of that change hadn’t yet been implemented.

But then something happened. People started pushing back. YouTube videos leaked out with a Democrat Senator lashing out at anti-war morons explaining to them that defunding the war was the only way to bring the troops back home. But that effort failed. American’s didn’t want to run back home with their tail between their legs. The left turned on the left and the right despised the left. Suddenly the Democrats came up with religion to help woo conservatives over. But that meant riding the line between support for and support against.

Meanwhile the build up to the surge continued and eventually most of the troops were in. News of success started eeeking in. Whisper campaigns touting the various successes on the ground started making their way across newsrooms and liberal newspapers. Those who dared report success were immediately attacked by the very people that were their fans a few short articles earlier. But al-Qaeda overplayed their hand and was forced to run from both American forces and local Iraqi’s who had been brutalized by their fellow Muslims. Bad news for Democrats.

In an effort to get ahead of the game the new leftist narrative was that the Iraqi government was failing from a political perspective. We were sustaining military progress but political progress was at a standstill. Harry Reid, John Kerry, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the usual suspects crawled out of their caves to undercut any signs of success. A GAO report leaked out ahead of the anticipated Petraeus report; a GAO report that was based on unrealistic goals designed to show the very shortcomings it trumpeted in calls for American’s to see how we have failed.

The Democrats were once again attacking the integrity of Petraeus and sliming the military by saying that violence went down despite the surge. The Petraeus report is now being called the “Bush Report” by Democrats and media alike in an effort to malign the author and call into doubt its objectivity.

Chuck Schumer once again lead the parade of anti-military blather:

The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from Al-Qaeda said to these tribes, “We have to fight Al-Qaeda ourselves.” It wasn’t that the surge brought peace here. It was that the warlords took peace here, created a temporary peace here.

John Kerry, a repetitive basher of the military, took to the Huffington Post to tout the failures as outlined in the leaked GAO report from his position as a chair of the GAO. Hmmm, I wonder who had their hands on leaking this one out? John Kerry, a perpetual idiot, sticks his foot in his mouth again by acting like the expert that he isn’t. In doing so he tries once again to undercut any progress.

Look, I know from experience that there’s no such thing as a military solution to a situation like this, and no amount of “metrics” can create one. Our own generals have always confirmed this about Iraq. And by the way — go read all of the statements at the time about the “reason” for the escalation - it was to buy political breathing room for Iraqis to compromise. Period. It hasn’t happened. So it all boils down to the same thing: these are more “steps” that don’t get you any closer to your real goals, “successes” that don’t lead to any resolution.

Translation of what John Kerry is saying, we can’t win, the benchmarks were never achievable in the first place, the reason for the surge wasn’t because he and others called for a change but because Iraqi’s needed political room for a compromise that didn’t happen. Period.

Which makes the following announcement by the last holdout of opposition against the democratically elected government of Iraq all the more precious and John Kerry look more and more like the ass that he is.

A Sunni Arab-led bloc has ended its boycott of Iraq’s parliament - the last of several Sunni groups to return after walking out three months ago.

The Iraqi National Dialogue Front said the government had agreed to address security fears and delay oil-law talks.

[snip]
The leader of the National Dialogue Front, Saleh al-Mutlaq, said all of its 11 members that hold seats in the 275-seat parliament would return to work.

We need a liberal government, we need a secular government. Without such a government the violence will continue

Other conditions of return set by the bloc, which describes itself as a non-sectarian coalition, included allocating funds to help resettle millions of people displaced by violence.

The main Sunni Arab bloc, the Accordance Front, and a faction loyal to Moqtada Sadr also recently ended their boycotts.

“We need a liberal government, we need a secular government. Without such a government the violence will continue,” Mr Mutlaq said on Al-Jazeera television.

He added: “The violence will grow again, as people will lose hope if nothing changes on the political side.”

Parliament will soon review two laws that the US sees as key steps towards political reconciliation and a withdrawal of its forces in Iraq. (src. BBC News)

So once again Democrats are on the short end of the stick, sitting with their white flag and gutless smirks. A pretty good picture in the wake of a wide reaching Democrat fundraising scandal and a speech from Osama bin Laden that reads as if any one of the Dems could have penned it themselves.

Trackposted to The Pink Flamingo, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Conservative Cat, Jo’s Cafe, Big Dog’s Weblog, Adeline and Hazel, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Gathering of Eagles Will Respond to the Defeatist Terrorist Propagandists on September 15th in DC

It was obvious from the moment that word started spreading that the troop surge was working that Democrats needed a way to defeat and lessen any good news that might come from Iraq. They have spent a lot of energy in helping the enemy and in trying to paint all things Iraq as bad. They put a lot of stake in the idea that the surge would not work and that they could then get what they wanted with regard to de-funding our troops and bringing them home. They lack the testicular fortitude to just come out and do it without a reason because then they would look weaker on national security than they already do.

Democrats agreed to the surge and agreed to let General Petraeus give a report on the effort before they took up the issue again. When the news from Iraq began to get better and it looked like the surge was working Democrats began to insist that it was not working and that they needed to do something right now, rather than wait to the agreed upon time. Since they got nowhere with that (and since they did not want to interrupt their month long vacation) they shelved it. During the time they have been out of session they, and their minions in the media, have been finding other ways to discredit the effort. They have all begun dissing the report before it has even been given. Idiots like Stolz have declared it a failure and John Kerry (he served in Vietnam) chimed in with his assertion that the surge had failed. The Democrats are in full attack mode and they need desperately to make this look like a failure no matter what because a success would be a bad thing for them. They have already publicly admitted that if the surge is a success it will be a bad thing for their party. As Rush says, if it is good for America, it is bad for the Democrats.

The Democrats have now resorted to calling the report the “Bush Report” in an effort to get their drones, like the boot lickers at the Daily Kos, chiming in unison in hopes that if it is repeated enough people will believe it. The Democrats are basically calling into question the integrity of a four star general officer in the Army, a man who knows better than any of the cut and run Democrats, how to fight an insurgency. The Democrats know no honor and when it comes to their quest for power and their desire for America to lose they will tarnish the good name of anyone, including highly decorated officers, in order to achieve their goals.

They agreed to a time line for the surge and the report and they tried to break it. They declared the surge a failure very early on in order to diminish the positive outcomes we have experienced and now they are questioning the integrity of the military officer who will deliver the report. They have no shame and they need to know our displeasure.

I will be in DC next week with the Gathering of Eagles for Operation Eagle Justice where tens of thousands of us will make our feelings known about the war and the cut and run Democrats who are determined to give our enemies a victory. We will be heard and there will be no doubt in the minds of the people in Congress that we are there and what we expect. There will also be no doubt in the minds of the anti war crowd that they no longer speak without opposition. We told them we were coming in March and then we showed them and they cowered. We showed them time and again and watched as Sheehan ran for cover and we will show them next week that we are here to stay and that they are no longer the voice of America.

I always like these events. It is fun to watch the anti war zealots walk around with their tails between their legs when they realize that they no longer have the market on demonstrations. They seem to lose their toughness when the people they deride are there face to face.

[Discuss This Topic With Big Dog at Big Dog's Weblog]

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The new Democrat led congress can boast about another new achievement, they have managed to drop public approval ratings to the lowest point since Gallup began tracking public sentiment.

PRINCETON, NJ — A new Gallup Poll finds Congress’ approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Just 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove, according to the August 13-16, 2007, Gallup Poll.

That 18% job approval rating matches the low recorded in March 1992, when a check-bouncing scandal was one of several scandals besetting Congress, leading many states to pass term limits measures for U.S. representatives (which the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional). Congress had a similarly low 19% approval rating during the energy crisis in the summer of 1979.

The highest point? 84% one month after 9/11.

Currently President Bush’s approval rating is at 32%. Although quite low it is important for one large reason, the MSM has had a field day reporting on President Bush’s low ratings. Yet they have not done the same for Congress. In fact a Google search looking or articles on the new Democrat Congress tend to return stories about President Bush with the exception of blogs that come up in the result.

The Gallup poll falls in line with an August 16th Quinnipiac poll that also reported historic lows. To make matters worse for the current Congress, 67% of Democrats disapproved with the performance of the new Democrat lead Congress.

American voters disapprove 70 - 20 percent of the job Congress is doing, the lowest score ever in a Quinnipiac University poll. While Democrats control Congress, Democratic voters disapprove 67 - 23 percent.

The Swamp plays both sides of the issue:

Since the Democrats only have control of Congress by a slim 15-seat majority, with some of the seats providing its majority in traditionally Republican districts, House Democrats can’t afford to not be concerned that voter disenchantment with them, could wind up swinging control back to the Republicans, that and a Democratic presidential candidate next year with little to no electoral coat tails.

But what gives the Democrats controlling Congress some reason for optimism is that the war as an issue doesn’t necessarily favor congressional Republicans either. Indeed, many of them have been pushing for changes in Iraq strategy in part because of concerns about what it was doing to their re-election chances.

See Also: The Doc is In, Wake Up America, Politix, Isn’t It Rich, The Tension

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The Democrats are on a roll to destroy the Republicans and take down President Bush. Of late I can truly understand why the president’s ratings are so low, but they are not as low as the Congress’s.

As a matter of fact, in the six months since the Democrats have taken over in the Congress no work has been done and only one bill has been signed by the President. That is unheard of. Yet, this present Congress has the lowest ranking in history, even lower than the presidents. But they still find the time to point fingers at President Bush and Alberto Gonzales.

The Democrats would do well to remember when you are pointing your finger at others, you still have four fingers pointing back on yourselves.

Yet this is how our tax payer dollars and trust in our judicial system is spent, used, and abused:

Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales said today that support from congressional leaders had played a role in his decision to approach a hospitalized John Ashcroft in 2004 about gaining support for continuing a classified intelligence program that had been a source of concern among top Ashcroft aides.

In an often-confrontational appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales sought to explain one of the more provocative episodes of his tenure as White House counsel to President Bush before he replaced Ashcroft as attorney general in 2005.

Gonzales was accused in May by a former Ashcroft deputy, James Comey, of attempting to strong-arm the former attorney general into reversing a decision Comey had made to hold up the approval of an anti-terrorism program because of legal concerns. Ashcroft had transferred power to Comey while he was in the hospital.

Gonzales revealed today that he and Andrew H. Card Jr., then White House chief of staff, had decided to approach the bedridden Ashcroft on March 10, 2004, after an “emergency meeting” hours before with senior congressional leaders in the situation room in the White House.

“The consensus in the room from the congressional leadership is that we should continue the activities, at least for now, despite the objections of Mr. Comey,” Gonzales testified. “There was also a consensus that it would be very, very difficult to obtain legislation without compromising this program, but that we should look for a way ahead.”

Gonzales added: “It is for this reason that, within a matter of hours, Andy Card and I went to the hospital. We felt it important that the attorney general knew about the views and the recommendations of the congressional leadership, that as a former member of Congress and as someone who had authorized these activities for over two years that it might be important for him to hear this information.”

Gonzales said he knew that Ashcroft was seriously ill; he had had his gallbladder removed the previous day and was in intensive care.

“We never had any intent to ask anything of him if we did not feel that he was competent,” Gonzales testified.

The testimony was part of an effort by Gonzales to repair his credibility with members of Congress, who complain, among other concerns, about his firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

But he did not appear to do himself any good with members of the panel, and in some ways he lost ground.

He was repeatedly on the defensive, even with top Republicans, while a dozen or so protesters periodically interrupted the hearing with chants of “Resign!” and “Liar!”

“From the infamous torture memo to Mr. Gonzales’ attempt to prevail on a hospitalized Atty. Gen. Ashcroft to certify an illegal eavesdropping program to the recent opinion seeking to justify Harriet Miers’ contemptuous refusal to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department has been reduced to the role of an enabler for this administration,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

“I am not willing to accept a simple statement of ‘Trust us,’ ” Leahy told Gonzales. “I don’t trust you.”

Democrats on several occasions accused Gonzales of lying to the committee in previous appearances.

Old news becomes new news and new news becomes redundant. It is all about hate Bush and bash every appointee and official in the Bush Administration.

We can see why there is no time for real work when this Democratic Congress is hell bent on playing petty school yard games.

There is just no time for running a country. I mean common, when you believe you can call the shots and screw the American people all for the party line of hate, who cares about the real work that is left to pile high by the wayside?

[Discuss this article with Layla Gonzalez over at The HILL Chronicles...]

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