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Stupid Summer Cold Roundup 2007-08-24 11:02:02 Over at DWSUWF MW proposes that Clinton might not be the shoo in you'd think.Guest posting at Contentions Michael J. Totten discusses the worst Al Qaeda attack since 9/11 which happened just last week.And finally over at TMV their quote of the day makes an excellent point about why the GOP is in trouble in 2008 and possbly beyond.Regular posting will commence once I cease to feel like poo. ...

Bleh 2007-08-24 10:16:41 Stupid summer cold. ...

France Changes Iraq Stance 2007-08-23 11:01:55 Our old friend France is finally back: Sarkozy 'corrects' Chirac's errorsBy Amir Taheri, Special to Gulf NewsPublished: August 22, 2007, 00:13 One of the key promises that Nicolas Sarkozy had made during his presidential election campaign last spring was to "correct" foreign policy "mistakes" made by his predecessor Jacques Chirac.Chief among these was Chirac's desperate efforts to prevent the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussain's regime of terror.Chirac failed to save his friend's regime but managed to do serious damage to relations with the US, Great Britain and more than 40 other nations that joined the coalition of the willing to liberate Iraq in 2003. Sarkozy's moves to correct the mistake started even before his election when he met President George W. Bush at the White House in 2006 and described Chirac's policy as "arrogant". The surprise visit paid to Iraq by France's new Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner this week is another move by Sarkozy ...

Republicans vs. Birth Control or Why the GOP is Going to Lose in 2008 2007-08-23 01:10:37 From The Baltimore Sun:The quiet campaign against birth controlAt National Right to Life's conference this year, Mitt Romney set out to convince anti-abortion leaders he was their candidate. At the podium, he rattled off his qualifications. To a layman's ears, it sounded pretty standard for abortion politics. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. He supports teaching only abstinence to teens. But for those trained to hear the subtleties, Mr. Romney was acknowledging something more. He implied an opposition to the birth control pill and a willingness to join in their efforts to scale back access to contraception. There are code phrases to listen for - and for those keeping score, Mr. Romney nailed each one. One code phrase is: "I fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation." The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation, the first moment a pregnancy can be known. Anti-abortion advocates wa ...

Of Note 2007-08-21 23:18:35 Michael J. Totten has post up detailing an intelligence gathering session he was privy to in Iraq.It does a great job of pointing out the difference between cultures:"This is how soldiers spend most of their time when they gather intelligence on terrorists and insurgents in Iraq. Not until the very end of the meeting, which is almost strictly social and takes many hours, does anyone get down to business. Jumping right in with a list of intelligence questions is considered the height or rudeness except in extreme or unusual circumstances."Take some time today to read the whole story. ...

Bloomberg Won't Run 2007-08-21 19:21:55 From Reuters:Bloomberg says won't run for presidentBy Daniel Trotta NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he cannot win the U.S. presidency and won't run, the strongest statement to date about his intentions for the 2008 presidential race. Bloomberg previously had said he had no plans to run, which failed to quiet speculation that he was planning an independent bid for the White House. In an interview with Dan Rather of HDNet television to be aired on Tuesday, Bloomberg was asked if he was running and if he was going to run for president. He answered "no" to both questions. He refused to categorically rule out any future run, then added: "The answer is 'no.' ... If somebody asks me where I stand, I tell them. And that's not a way to get elected generally. Nobody's going to elect me president of the United States." moreI was hoping he'd run as I believe he would have really shaken up the establishment regardless of if he won or not. Ho ...

Ron Paul Wins Alabama Straw Poll 2007-08-20 23:30:39 OK, admittedly its was teeny tiny straw poll but he mopped the floor with every single member of the opposition at once. The results:Paul 216Romney 14Hunter 10Thompson 9Giuliani 7Huckabee 6McCain 2Brownback 2Tancredo 0Cox 0 ... Ron Paul

Beer Good 2007-08-20 23:07:40 Beer goggles bad...From CNN: BELGRADE, Serbia (Reuters) -- A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival. The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it. "There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters. Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans ...

Spy in the Sky? 2007-08-17 00:41:00 From the WaPo:Domestic Use of Spy Satellites To WidenThe Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic access to some of the most powerful tools of 21st-century spycraft, giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers.A program approved by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security will allow broader domestic use of secret overhead imagery beginning as early as this fall, with the expectation that state and local law enforcement officials will eventually be able to tap into technology once largely restricted to foreign surveillance.Administration officials say the program will give domestic security and emergency preparedness agencies new capabilities in dealing with a range of threats, from illegal immigration and terrorism to hurricanes and forest fires. But the program, d ...

Rumsfeld Resigned Before Elections 2007-08-16 01:34:07 From the WaPo:Rumsfeld Resigned as Defense Secretary on Day Before ElectionsCRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 15 -- Donald H. Rumsfeld, who came to symbolize the Bush administration's problems in the war in Iraq, resigned as secretary of defense one day before last fall's elections, although President Bush did not announce the move until the day after the elections.The White House confirmed on Wednesday that Rumsfeld's letter of resignation was dated Nov. 6, 2006, the day before voters -- many of them furious about the war in Iraq -- evicted Republicans from the leadership of the House and Senate.Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said that Bush received the letter and accepted Rumsfeld's resignation on Election Day. The president waited until the next day to announce that he was replacing Rumsfeld with former CIA chief Robert M. Gates.Bush said that the decision to oust Rumsfeld had come after a series of conversations with the then-defense secretary. That revelation angered many R ...

Iranian Revolutionary Guard to be Officially Labeled Terrorists 2007-08-16 00:53:06 From the WaPoIranian Unit to Be Labeled 'Terrorist'The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances.The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran, as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said.The designation of the Revolutionary Guard will be made under Executive Order 13224, which President Bush signed two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to obstruct ...

Now Presenting.. 2007-08-16 00:37:28 Many moons ago Dennis Miller said,"There's only one reason to beat a dead horse. Because its fun." and in the spirit of that I'd like to present...The Roundup of Rove Roundups (dedicated to Pete Abel)Over at Barbarian Blog MrGumby2U asks, "Might the Republicans finally have gone too far? Will the American people at long last recognize that the Republicans have no sense of decency?" prior to beginning his roundup. Psst... The answers are probably and no. (Unless your taking about the GOP leadership in which case you may have a point. But I'd say the same if you asked about the Dems too.)Pajamas Media has a roundup so large they actually had to get dressed in order to assemble it.The Moderate Voice has a round up that should be part of any well balanced blog diet.Buck Naked Politics wraps it up with its own roundup that includes many blogs I've never heard of before like new comer Moderate Monkey (Great name!) ...

Of Note 2007-08-15 00:31:57 Michael J. Totten has returned from Iraq and has his latest post regarding his experiences there ready for your perusal. ...

Olbermann's Farewell to Rove 2007-08-14 02:01:46 Video Courtesy of C&L: ...

Rove Roundup 2007-08-14 00:15:22 Since Karl Rove's Resignation generated the biggest buzz in blogland seen in a long while I thought I'd do a roundup from my blogroll.Captain Ed suggests that Mr. Rove is out of the political consulting biz and recalls the two times he met him.Over at Thought Theatre Daniel DiRito has a scathing yet alluringly alliterative epitaph for Mr. Rove.Buck Naked Politics compares Rove's departure to Voldemort's defeat in the final Harry Potter novel and gives a great MSM roundup.Finally MVDG analyzes Rove's merits, methods, mistakes, and the potential downside his absence may cause for W. ...