Dyre Portents The Rantings and Ravings of a Radical Moderate Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 18 6064

Articles from Dyre Portents

Sen. Vitter Snared in Prostitution Investigation 2007-07-11 01:27:27 From the WaPo:Senator's Number on 'Madam' Phone ListSen. David Vitter (R-La.) apologized last night after his telephone number appeared in the phone records of the woman dubbed the "D.C. Madam," making him the first member of Congress to become ensnared in the high-profile case.The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was included on phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004.The service's proprietor, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 51, faces federal charges of racketeering for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of homes and hotel rooms in the Washington area. Authorities say the business netted more than $2 million over 13 years beginning in 1993. Palfrey contends that her escort service was a legitimate business."This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter, 46, said in a statement, which his spokesman, Joel DiGrado, confirmed to the Associated Press. ...

Of Note 2007-07-10 10:53:50 The Moderate Voice has an interview with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee today drop by and read it here.You can also read TMV's interview with Ron Paul hereThe difference between the two is interesting though. Paul's staffers pointed TMV to links on his site that answered their questions while Huckabee actually completed their interview himself. ...

Hello? Media? Hellooo...... 2007-07-10 00:57:12 Syria invaded Lebanon. Where's the 24/7 News coverage? Where's the blow by blow reporting?From Michael J Totten's blog:A few days ago Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal quietly reported a limited Syrian invasion of Lebanon. (Via Naharnet.)Syrian troops on Thursday reportedly have penetrated three kilometers into Lebanese territories, taking up positions in the mountains near Yanta in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The daily Al Mustaqbal, citing sources who confirmed the cross-border penetration, did not say when the procedure in the Fahs Hill overlooking Deir al-Ashaer in the Rashaya province took place. The sources said Syrian troops, backed by bulldozers, were fortifying positions "in more than one area" along the Lebanese border, erecting earth mounds and digging "hundreds" of trenches and individual bunkers. moreSyria has advised that all of its citizens leave Lebanon as there will be "an expected "eruption" in that country"So why didn't this offensive move get the same leve ...

U.S. Scrapped '05 Raid on Top Al Qaeda Leaders 2007-07-09 01:53:47 U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials. The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations. But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning. Mr. Rumsfeld de ...

Site News 2007-07-09 00:57:09 I've been tidying up the blog after going on a shameless self promotion binge. I ditched the vast majority of blog directory badges and kept the ones I was actually getting traffic from. Also I'm... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...

Bong Hits for Jesus - The Game 2007-07-09 00:47:04 It was bound to happen.All you have to do is decide whether or not to suspend the student for the message shown. I unfairly suspended one student and let one slide that I could have suspended.Hat tip to Tuscon Scene ...

Christian Terrorists Are Inept Too 2007-07-08 23:34:54 Three Burleson men who belong to a "radical Christian activist group" were in the Johnson County Jail on Friday night after a church deacon caught two of them attempting to ignite an explosive device on Independence Day at a church under construction in north Burleson, authorities said Friday.Dayton Lee Calaway, 19, and Michael Philip Plaisted Jr., 18, were arrested Wednesday night near the Victory Family Church after they got bogged down in mud as a fleet-footed deacon chased them from the church in the 400 block of Northwest John Jones Drive, police said.Two other people drove away, the deacon told officers.An explosive device in a glass container was found propped against the church door. The suspects apparently tried to detonate the device twice before being interrupted by the deacon, police and Burleson Fire Marshal Stacy Singleton said.(snip)On Thursday, Jered Michael Ragon, 18, voluntarily went to the police station for questioning after Calaway and Plaisted implicated him, poli ...

Ron Paul: Bringing Home the Bacon 2007-07-07 01:43:21 Indicators are that Mr.Paul's internet based fund raising machine is working pretty darn well.Ron Paul Tops McCain in Cash on HandABC News' George Stephanopoulos Reports:Though often regarded as a longshot candidate for president, Republican Ron Paul tells ABC News that he has an impressive $2.4 million in cash on hand after raising an equal amount during the second quarter, putting him ahead of one-time Republican frontrunner John McCain, who reported this week he has only $2 million in the bank. In an exclusive interview taped Friday and airing Sunday on "This Week," Paul said his campaign is on a better trajectory than McCain's. "I think some of the candidates are on the down-slope, and we're on the up-slope," said Paul. Paul's cash on hand puts him in third place in the Republican field in that important metric, although he is well behind leader Rudy Giuliani, who has $18 million in the bank, and Mitt Romney, with $12 million. Paul, who polls show with support in the lo ... Ron Paul

Ron Paul Nearly Excluded in S.C. 2007-07-06 11:05:49 Frome the Spartanburg Herald Journal:Beltram tells Paul to 'come on down' hereSo much for that whole closed door thing.Two days after saying Ron Paul could stay out of Spartanburg, county GOP Chairman Rick Beltram on Thursday reversed course and invited the Republican presidential candidate to come on down.And Thursday afternoon, Paul's campaign agreed. The only thing left to be settled is a date.Beltram on Tuesday called Paul a "lunatic" for defending a theory that American intervention in foreign affairs contributed to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Paul made the comments at the GOP debate in Columbia in May, and he drew an angry response from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.After the debate, Beltram decided he had heard enough from the Texas congressman and said Paul could "stay home." A flood of e-mails and voicemails from across the country apparently changed Beltram's mind."I was told by at least 125 e-mails and 25 voice mails that ... Ron Paul

Of Paganism and Pundits 2007-07-06 02:05:31 I'm checking Memorandum today to see if there is anything there of interest to blog about and I see a WaPo/Newsweek article titled "Paganism May Not Pass Religious Muster" and thinking it might be referring to Pagans in the military I drop by and instead discover it is an amazingly discriminatory blog post by Charles W. "Chuck" Colson minister and radio commentator (politely) attacking a minority group of religions that he admits to not be familiar with (in his third to the last line),"Not being as familiar with paganism in its various forms, I do not wish to condemn it unfairly."So without further adieu..."It is debatable whether paganism is a religion, per say. It is generally defined as a pre-Christian state, but it takes a wide variety of forms—all the way from relatively benign New Age-style nature worship, to pantheism, to witchcraft, and even human sacrifice. ...

Texas Submerged 2007-07-05 00:07:56 Dear Seattle,You can take your weather back any time now. Sincerely,Dyre42 ... Texas

Happy Birthday America! 2007-07-04 01:48:45 IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...Please take some time today to read the whole thing. ... America

Olbermann Unloads on Lewis Libby's Liberation 2007-07-04 01:38:37 I give Olbermann credit for having good writers. He's dead on for the first one minute and fifty nine seconds of the clip. Then he devolves into the partisan Dubya hater that he is.h/t to C&L ...

BBC's Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston released 2007-07-04 00:17:06 From the BBC:BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been released by kidnappers in Gaza after nearly four months in captivity. He said it was "fantastic" to be free after an "appalling experience". TV footage showed Mr Johnston, 45, leaving a building accompanied by armed men. He later appeared beside Hamas leader Ismail Haniya and thanked everyone who had worked for his release. Rallies worldwide had called for Mr Johnston's release. An online petition was signed by some 200,000 people. The BBC reporter was handed over to officials of the Hamas administration in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement overran Gaza last month, expelling their rivals from the Fatah faction. Mr Johnston was abducted on 12 March by the Army of Islam, a shadowy militant group dominated by Gaza's powerful Dugmush clan. moreNBC adds:There was no immediate comment from Johnston?s captors, the Army of Islam.Hamas had demanded Johnston?s freedom since it v ...

Leniency for Libby 2007-07-02 23:26:01 While I'm not surprised that Scooter Libby is serving no hard time I am surprised that his sentence was commuted rather than him being given a full pardon.From the WaPo:President Bush commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday, sparing Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff 2 1/2 years in prison after a federal appeals court had refused to let Libby remain free while he appeals his conviction for lying to federal investigators.Bush, who for months had sidestepped calls from conservatives to grant Libby a reprieve, broke his silence early yesterday evening, touching off an immediate uproar from Democrats who accused the White House of circumventing the rule of law to protect one of its own.The president announced his decision in a written statement that laid out the factors he had weighed. Bush said he decided to "respect" the jury's verdict that Libby was guilty of four felonies for lying about his role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity. But t ...