US - Pelosi source of NSA leak?

Maybe.

It now appears -- based on this morning's NYT report -- that House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and her staff have been part of the leaking crew on the NSA story. In having her letter to the then-head of the NSA declassified, Pelosi has been able to keep the NSA story alive, and even furthered it a bit. Parts of her letter were redacted due to national security concerns, yet the Times was able to find "sources" familiar with the full letter able to confirm what the redacted areas dealt with. Gee, a classified letter between Nancy Pelosi and the head of the NSA, who might know what the redacted sections involve, and who could the source be who talked to the NYT?

According to a Pelosi aide based in California, the House Democrat is cooperating with the NYT on several fronts on the NSA story: "She hopes there will be a series of two or three more articles she can help them generate," says the source. "She believes the American people have the right to know what their government is doing."

And obviously the enemy as well.

What Pelosi and the NYTs wants you to forget is that the courts ruled the wiretaps were legal and constitutional - 3 years ago!

The court's ruling said that expanded powers to wiretap those suspected in foreign terrorist operations – including U.S. citizens – outlined in the U.S.A. Patriot Act do not violate the Constitution.

But leaking classified information is a crime and we look forward to the Democrats backing of the investigation into who the leaker was. Eh, Ms. Pelosi?
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Iran to restart nuclear program

The IHT reports.

And they're looking for nuclear weapons parts.

It's not looking good.
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US - EXPANDED U.S. WIRETAPPING POWERS UPHELD

Three years ago!!

While the New York Times and the BBC fall all over themselves trying to play up the NSA non scandal, it turns out the courts have already decided the wire taps were legal and constitutional.

The court's ruling said that expanded powers to wiretap those suspected in foreign terrorist operations – including U.S. citizens – outlined in the U.S.A. Patriot Act do not violate the Constitution.

Now, how's that investigation into the leaker going?
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US Mine Disaster a Media Disaster

It's pretty clear from reports here and here that the media are largely to blame for the tragic misinformation that led to the families erroneous belief that their loved ones had survived.

No surprise there seeing as the media routinely fake stories as well.
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AP - Palestinian martyrs

The AP have dropped all pretense of being against Palestinian terrorists by calling them "Palestinian martyrs".

Um Nidal, mother of three Palestinian martyrs delivering a speech at a celebration at the18th foundation anniversary of Palestinian militant group, Hamas, on Friday Dec.30, 2005, in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Send comments to feedback@ap.org.

UK - Muslim Threatened to blow up train

But look how the BBC portray him.

Man 'threatened to blow up train'

A man who allegedly threatened to blow up a train from Glasgow on Friday has appeared before a court in Paisley.

The sheriff heard that Mohammed Hakeem, who is 42, was arrested further down the line at Port Glasgow.

Solicitor Paul Langan said his client denied the charge, which was brought as a racially aggravated offence under the Crime and Disorder Act.

Mr Hakeem, from Glasgow, was granted bail by Sheriff James Spy and is due to appear in court again next month.

It is alleged he committed a breach of the peace, conducted himself in a disorderly manner while shouting and swearing and placed members of the public in a state of fear and alarm by threatening to target the train.

Prosecutor Hazel Emmerson had opposed bail because of the type of offence and the threats allegedly made.

And he was bailed?!?
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UK - BBC Inverting the Truth

Where I come from we call it lying.

Read the whole thing but here is the money quote:

Really, though, these two stories, dismaying though they are, do go to illustrate the effect leftists have on the institutions they overrun: give them religion, and they'll invert morality; give them the media, and they'll invert the truth.

Want proof?

Here's a whole list of fake media stories.

And here is an extensive list of the BBC's lies.
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Israel - If Jews Control the media, how come the news is all bad?

A good question Lost Budgie notes.

The subject interested me for various reasons, one being an odd contradiction I had noticed. I get considerable mail from the anti-Jewish backchannels on the net telling me that the Jews control the American media. Often these are accompanied by lists, usually accurate enough, of important positions in the media held by Jews. My correspondents then assert that because of this control we hear only good things about Israel.

Well and good—except that for perhaps fifteen years I had never heard anything good about Israel from the media. The Israelis were always deliberately shooting little Palestinian children, bulldozing houses from sheer vindictiveness, reducing Palestinians to poverty, murdering Palestinian leaders, torturing all within reach, and intimidating the press. The Palestinians were noble freedom fighters, just like Davy Crockett, or hapless victims.

Hmmm, I wondered. If Jews control the press and only tell us good things about Israel, how come I never hear anything from the press about Israel except bad things?

Obviously then, they don't.
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US - What's Wrong With the Liberals

This.

You find liberals defending Mao, and splitting hairs over whether it’s fair for a book to claim that Mao was responsible for the deaths of 70 million people, when in fact it was "only" 20 million. The same people who claim to be against homophobia and injustice in this country choose to ignore the persecution of gays in Castro’s Cuba (where men have been sent to concentration camps for being gay, and AIDS patients are compulsorily interned) and in Muslim countries, where it gets you a death penalty.

Liberals rant about the glass ceiling in our country while not speaking a word against women being killed for having been raped in Iran – at times by being buried in the ground up to their necks and having small stones thrown at them until they die.

Yep, that's the liberals for you.

Have you ever heard a liberal speak out against so called Muslim "honor murders"? Neither have I.
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Steyn's Year End Review

Is in two parts. Part one is here.

Part two is here.
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Iraq - Ten Tons of Explosives Found

That's a lot of explosives!

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq – U.S. Marines discovered more than ten metric tons of munitions hidden at 72 cache sites 39 km south of Fallujah during the week-long Operation Green Trident.

First Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 8 began the operation last week near the village of Al Latifiyah to search suspected locations for hidden weapon caches. More than 1,000 artillery and mortar rounds were unearthed along with scores of rocket propelled grenades and hand grenades. Most of the caches were shallowly buried along the banks of the Euphrates River and surrounding area.

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UK - The Times Notes Biased BBC

Nice of The Times (UK) to plug Biased BBC.

“The BBC biased? How?” shocked viewers might ask. Decide for yourself by logging on to www.biased-bbc.blogspot.com which claims that the Beeb skews its online news content in comparison with similar sources. You can send your own specific example of what you see as BBC bias to the letters editor with your comments attached.

Viewers would be shocked if they knew just how bad the bias at the BBC really is.

Biased BBC doesn't claim their is bias at the BBC, they and I, prove it almost daily.

Now which letters editor is the Times referring to here?
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BBC Wins Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award

And the award for the dishonest reporter of the year goes to The BBC. A well deserved award I might add.

In fact, if you read my Case Against the BBC, you'll see that the BBC are the most dishonest reporter on the planet. Which is why they are a danger to us all and need to be stopped.
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BBC: US Internet Innovations "a shame"

Still not convinced that anti-American bias penetrates all levels at the BBC? Read this from the BBC technology section:

Still, it is good to see some second-generation internet plays finally coming good after the years of caution which followed the dotcom implosion.

It is a shame that the significant ones come, as before, from the US but we might see Indian or even Chinese innovations come to the fore when we go once more around the cycle.

And why, pray tell, is it "a shame"?

Just file it with all the rest in my Case Against he BBC.

via Biased BBC.
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US - Racist Democrats

A black Republican speaks out.

American blacks who are affiliated with the Republican Party are vigorously vilified by Democrats, especially black Democrats. Uncle Tom, sell-out, Oreo--the list of slurs is long. [...]

We see this across the country. Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor of Maryland and a Republican candidate for the Senate, has been crudely disparaged on racial grounds. A prominent leftist Web site, for instance, depicted him as "Sambo," among other aspersions. When Condoleezza Rice was nominated as secretary of state, she faced similar treatment: editorial cartoons depicting her as a racial caricature, personalities calling her "Aunt Jemima" on liberal talk radio, and so forth. Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell and other black conservatives regularly face similar smears.

These conservatives are attacked not because of the validity or judicious consideration of their views but because those views are supposedly heterodox for American blacks. Yet it is my opinion that many black people in the U.S. are politically and philosophically conservative--and many are in fact actually closeted Republicans, fearful of persecution by friends, business associates, society clubs, schoolmates and even churches.

That's the Democrats and left for you - racist.
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Iraq - al-Qaida Stymied in Iraq's West

Nice to see AP reporting good news from Iraq.

AL ASAD, Iraq - Recent offensives near the Iraqi border with Syria have dealt a significant blow to al-Qaida and cut off the group's ability to smuggle in foreigners through the volatile western area to join the insurgency, a U.S. commander said Sunday.

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Where is Osama bin Laden?

It's been over one year since he was last heard from.

The Al-Qaeda leader's period of silence has been the longest since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, offering no clues to the whereabouts or fate of a man who this year appears to have quietly slipped off the radar.

Bin Laden has not been heard of since a December 27, 2004, audiotape in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, as Al-Qaeda's leader in the war-torn country.

The idea that bin Laden is not communicating so as not to get caught doesn't wash. He could still make a video tape and have it delivered by hand to al Jazeera. Unless he is dead or being hounded so relentlessly that he doesn't dare take time out to make one.

Either way works for me.
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US - NYT Editor Slams Own Paper

Glad to see someone at the New York Times speaking out.

THE New York Times's explanation of its decision to report, after what it said was a one-year delay, that the National Security Agency is eavesdropping domestically without court-approved warrants was woefully inadequate. And I have had unusual difficulty getting a better explanation for readers, despite the paper's repeated pledges of greater transparency.

For the first time since I became public editor, the executive editor and the publisher have declined to respond to my requests for information about news-related decision-making. My queries concerned the timing of the exclusive Dec. 16 article about President Bush's secret decision in the months after 9/11 to authorize the warrantless eavesdropping on Americans in the United States.

I e-mailed a list of 28 questions to Bill Keller, the executive editor, on Dec. 19, three days after the article appeared. He promptly declined to respond to them. I then sent the same questions to Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher, who also declined to respond. They held out no hope for a fuller explanation in the future.

Ah, the old stonewall until the controversy dies down trick.

The media fakes stories as well.

Instapundit has much more with many links and concludes:

STILL MORE: Andrew Sullivan seems to think that I'm blaming the NYT editors for everything. No. If, in fact, the Administration broke the law, then there's a story here, though that remains a pretty big "if" at this point. But he goes on to ask the same question I did, and everyone else has: Why did they wait for a year if it was such a big deal? And if reporting the story a year ago would have been too damaging to national security, why isn't it too damaging now?

Michelle has more.
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UN asks to meet Syrian president

Given the UN's poor performance in these matters, I don't think this will come to much.
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Saudi Court Orders 79 Lashes for Tortured Maid

Lost Budgie sends us this:

Meet Nour Miyati - an Indonesian woman working as a maid in Saudi Arabia, who has just had fingers, toes and parts of her foot amputated due to gangrene.

Miss Miyati's hands and feet developed gangrene because her Saudi employer (slave master) tied her up for a month as punishment for not cleaning the house as well as expected.

Now, Miss Miyati has been sentenced by a Saudi Islamic Court to 79 Lashes for "falsely accusing" her slave master of mistreating her...

That's the religion of peace and tolerance for you.
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German Citizenship Exam Question for Muslims ONLY

Lost Budgie sends us this:

German Citizenship Exam Question for Muslims ONLY: "Is it Right for Men to Beat Their Wives When They Are Disobedient?"

Now, Germany has just implemented a rigorous cultural test for Muslims ONLY - when they apply for German citizenship...

"Believed to be the first test of its kind in Europe, the southern state of Baden-Württemberg has created the two-hour oral exam to test the loyalty of Muslims towards Germany." "It is to be taken on top of the standard test for foreigners wishing to become German citizens, which includes language proficiency skills and general knowledge." News Telegraph article here.

Naturally, the media fireworks in Germany have just begun.

The issue of Islamic Sharia law sanctioned wife-beating first came our attention during the 2005 debate over whether Ontario's Liberal Government would officially implement Sharia law. Lost Budgie covered the topic in "Sharia Law - Wife Hitting as Discipline OK."

The only problem with such tests is that, according to Islam, it's ok to lie to us infidels.
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Iran rejects Russia nuclear plan

From the BBC.

Iran has dismissed a proposal that it conduct uranium enrichment in Russia as a way out of an impasse in talks over its controversial nuclear programme.

Who thinks their program is controversial and why? Well, obviously the Russians or they wouldn't be involved in the talks. Then there's this:

The US and EU want Iran to give up its ambitions to manufacture fuel suitable for use in nuclear bombs.

So, Russia, the US and the EU are concerned that Iran wants nukes. But as usual the BBC can't help themselves and shift the blame for the "controversy" onto the US.

Iran's efforts to build a full nuclear fuel cycle have caused alarm in the US, which fears it could use the technology to build atomic weapons.

Oh, only the US is alarmed then and is therfore responsible for the crisis, eh?

What a disgrace the BBC has become.
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UK - NSA: BBC's Biased Coverage

Scott has a comprehensive post on the BBC's shamefully biased coverage of the NSA non scandal.

Just add it to my Case Against the BBC.

Just one more reason why the BBC should be a "target" in the war on terror.
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US - 2005: MSM's War on Blogs

Michelle has a round up of MSM's war on blogs in 2005.

See here and here for my war against them.
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US - Why the LA Times is failing

Patterico shows you why.

Things aren't much better at the New York Times.

Or, the BBC.

In fact, thanks to bloggers, the world's media is taking a beating.

And we'll keep hammering them until they tell the truth.
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Middle East - Two Palestinians killed in Gaza

According to this BBC report.

Two Palestinians killed in Gaza

Two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike in Israel's newly declared buffer zone in the northern Gaza Strip.

Ever notice how Palestinians are "killed" while Israelis simply "die".

Five die in Israel market bombing.

The story goes on to note the Israelis were killed but you have to read past the headline to find that out.
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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!

All the best in 2006!
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US - Cancer: Finding the Answers

This looks promising.
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Palestinian Gunmen Storm Gov't Offices

From AP.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Dozens of Palestinian gunmen on Saturday stormed several government offices and briefly took the Interior Ministry to demand jobs, security officials and witnesses said.

The armed men fired shots in the air, burned tires and blocked the main road of Deir el-Balah, a town in the central Gaza Strip, during the takeover.

And these people want their own country? Sharon was right to call their bluff.
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US - Justice Department Investigates the Media

And about time too! Michelle has the story.

2) Look for the Plamegate apologists to argue that the NSA leaks were "good" leaks, justified in the name of safeguarding civil liberties and the national interest, and should therefore be exempt from criminal prosecution.

By contrast, they argue that disclosures about Valerie Plame were "bad" leaks worthy of pulling out all prosecutorial stops--though no one has been charged with leaking classified info, and even if they did, the adverse effects on national security are infinitesimal compared to the damage done by the NYT/NSA leaks.

The law, may I remind the Bush-bashers, does not grant an exception based on leakers' motives. See Scott Johnson's analysis of the statutory language here.

Watch for the double standards to be applied here. Libby is facing serious jail time if convicted while Clinton's Sandy Berger got off with a fine for stealing and destroying highly classified documents related to terrorism.
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UN - Annan and the missing Mercedes

As the New York Sun says "follow that car".

The car was, however, not purchased under Kojo Annan's name, but under his father's. Claiming diplomatic discount helped in shaving 14.3% off the Mercedes ticket price of just under $40,000. A Ghanaian-based United Nations Development Program official, Abdoulie Janneh, helped in promoting the diplomatic immunity, and the car's owner avoided just over $20,000 in dues and shipping expenses as it was imported from Switzerland to Mr. Annan's homeland of Ghana. Some questions lingered since the Volcker committee ended its $34 million investigation in November. Many of those surrounded Mr. Annan's role - or lack thereof - in landing a U.N. contract for his son's employer, Cotecna. But none was as straightforward as the one that became a staple of the daily noon briefings: Where is that car?

And where is Annan's oil for food document shredder, Benon Sevan?
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UK - BBC Priorities

Scott notes the BBC's priorities.

Just add this to my Case Against the BBC.
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Islam - Women Speaking Out

We need more of them.

Today, MEMRI TV, the Middle East Media Research Institute TV Monitor Project, has a transcript and a video clip of women's rights campaigner in the kingdom, Ghada Jamshir, who has been accused on some internet forums of being a heretic.

She is one feisty woman, and for some orthodox males, such forcefulness is itself a crime against "submission", so cherished in Islam. Her style is firm, aggressive, no-nonsense. She is a woman with balls, and the interviewer struggles at times to be heard. This amazing woman who refuses to wear a veil, condemns lack of family planning, Sharia courts, and accuses the categorisations of "Islamic" marriage as oppressive to women, appears in an interview broadcast first on al-Arabiya TV on December 21. This is just a clip from the transcript, while talking of Mut'ah marriages (for pleasure of the man) condoned by the Sharia courts, which she describes as indulging child abuse:

What does the liberal women's movement have to say about all of this? Nothing.
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UK - Scandals to sell books by

This is starting to happen a lot.

The colourful Mr. Murray is expected to publish a book on his years of foreign service in the near future.

This is eerily familiar with events here in America when the New York Times earlier this month failed to inform readers that their "news break" was tied to an upcoming James Risen book release and sale.

And, like the New York Times "news break" of information that was leaked to reporters a year earlier, the information that has the British bloggers in an uproar was discussed publicly nearly a year ago by Craig Murray himself in an interview for Index on Censorship.

This is not new information. Index on Censorship interviewed Craig Murray in January of this year.

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Iraq - Blogs offer taste of war

The BBC discovers "milbogs" or military bloggers.

I'm still amazed the BBC can't do hyperlinks.

Gateway Pundit has done it for them.

Milbloggers Matt at Blackfive, GreyHawk at the Mudville Gazette and Lt. Smash, Sergeant Hook and Sergeant Stryker were mentioned today in a BBC report on milblogging. Hugh Hewitt was also given a mention. Ace?

Milbloggers Jason Christopher Hartley, author of Just Another Soldier, and Colby Buzzell, author of My War: Killing Time in Iraq, have already gone on to write books based on their blogs and their time in Iraq.

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America - The Racist Left

Jeff Jacoby reports.

Nothing brings out racist slurs like an ambitious black man who doesn't know his "place." So when Maryland's lieutenant governor, Michael Steele, announced his candidacy for the US Senate recently, the bigots reared up. On one popular website, The News Blog, Steele's picture was grotesquely doctored, making him look like a minstrel-show caricature. "I's Simple Sambo and I's Running for the Big House," read the insulting headline accompanying the picture.

This wasn't some white supremacist slime from the right-wing fringe. The News Blog is a liberal site, and the reason for its racist attack on Steele, a former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, is that he is a conservative. Specifically, a black conservative. As far as too many liberals are concerned, blacks who reject liberalism deserve to be smeared as Sambos and worse.

Read the rest.
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America - Idiotarian of the Year

Due to their reach and impact, I'm with Michelle on this one.

"For its reckless endangerment of national security, unapologetic distortions of our troops' commitment to the mission in Iraq, trashing of 9/11 families who refused to capitulate to political correctness at Ground Zero, routine insipidity and unaccountability, laughable hypocrisy, protectionism for Democrats and liberal pet projects, dishonest Bush-bashing, anti-war pandering, cluelessness by the barrel, narcissism, and skyscraping editorial arrogance and snobbery, I nominate...

The New York Times."

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US - New York Times vs America

Michelle has two posts, here and here, that highlight the growing problems at the New York Times.
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US - UN Scandal Update

CLAUDIA ROSETT has the details.
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Iraq - Bush Didn't Lie

We already knew that but it's nice to see others admit it.

After reassessing the administration's nine arguments for war, we do not see the conspiracy to mislead that many critics allege. Example: The accusation that Bush lied about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs overlooks years of global intelligence warnings that, by February 2003, had convinced even French President Jacques Chirac of "the probable possession of weapons of mass destruction by an uncontrollable country, Iraq." We also know that, as early as 1997, U.S. intel agencies began repeatedly warning the Clinton White House that Iraq, with fissile material from a foreign source, could have a crude nuclear bomb within a year.

Seventeen days before the war, this page reluctantly urged the president to launch it. We said that every earnest tool of diplomacy with Iraq had failed to improve the world's security, stop the butchery--or rationalize years of UN inaction. We contended that Saddam Hussein, not George W. Bush, had demanded this conflict.

Many people of patriotism and integrity disagreed with us and still do. But the totality of what we know now--what this matrix chronicles-- affirms for us our verdict of March 2, 2003.

I proved that back in July.
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Pakistan - 'Honor' killings

More from the religion of peace and tolerance.

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Nazir Ahmed appears calm and unrepentant as he recounts how he slit the throats of his three young daughters and their 25-year old stepsister to salvage his family's "honor" -- a crime that shocked Pakistan.

The 40-year old laborer, speaking to The Associated Press in police detention as he was being shifted to prison, confessed to just one regret -- that he didn't murder the stepsister's alleged lover, too.

Hundreds of girls and women are murdered by male relatives each year in this conservative Islamic nation, and rights groups said Wednesday such "honor killings" will only stop when authorities get serious about punishing perpetrators.

No. They will only stop when this barbaric religion is reformed.
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UK - the pill that prevents cancer

Hopefully, it is as simple as this.

A daily dose of vitamin D could cut the risk of cancers of the breast, colon and ovary by up to a half, a 40-year review of research has found. The evidence for the protective effect of the "sunshine vitamin" is so overwhelming that urgent action must be taken by public health authorities to boost blood levels, say cancer specialists.

A growing body of evidence in recent years has shown that lack of vitamin D may have lethal effects. Heart disease, lung disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis are among the conditions in which it is believed to play a vital role. The vitamin is also essential for bone health and protects against rickets in children and osteoporosis in the elderly.

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Middle East - Palestinians Don't Want Peace

Here's proof.

Palestinian gunmen have stormed election offices in the Gaza town of Khan Younis ahead of the January parliamentary poll, witnesses say.

Militants associated with the ruling Fatah party are also said to have surrounded a poll office in Rafah.

And what have the Palestinians been doing since Israel gave them Gaza? Launching attacks from there.

He [Abbas] has also appealed to militants to halt rocket attacks on Israel.

Islamic Jihad is reported to have rejected his call at a meeting of armed groups in Gaza, and blamed Israel for a recent escalation in violence.

There were more Israeli air strikes against targets in Gaza early on Wednesday morning, but there are no reports of casualties.

The Israeli army said the aircraft had attacked access roads used by militants to fire rockets at Israeli targets.

[Palestinian] Armed groups have been able to fire missiles deeper into Israel since it withdrew from Gaza in September.

Sharon was right to call the Palestinians bluff.

More here.

Israeli warplanes have bombed what the army says is a Palestinian militant base in Lebanon hours after rocket attacks on two Israeli border towns.

They struck at a target south of the capital, Beirut, which was described as a base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

There was no immediate information on casualties or damage.

"This is in response to the firing of projectile rockets last night toward Israeli communities," the army said.

At least four rockets fired from Lebanese territory hit Israeli towns close to the border on Tuesday evening without causing casualties.

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Merry Christmas to all our troops around the world

Thanks to you all!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bangladesh - Muslim Bigots

So, you think Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance? Read this.

And look at this.















These are Muslims attacking the Ahmadiyya sect of Muslims.
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UK - Media Attacks on America

Scott has two posts, here and here, that illustrate how the British media misinforms the British public about America. In fact, if you read more of his posts you'll get an idea of how bad the situation is.

Read Justin Webb's quote on the masthead of this blog. Then read my Case Against the BBC.

The British media are not alone in misinforming the public as these examples of the media faking stories shows.

It's not just my opinion either. A recent study found:

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

Thanks to the blgosphere the truth is getting out and media are paying the price for their lies.

I'd love to see the tele tax scrapped here in Britain and the BBC have to compete in the free marketplace. They wouldn't last a year.
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America - Thanking our troops

Here's one way.

TYLER, Texas (AP) -- A Marine who's planning to marry a Texan got an early Christmas present: A fellow shopper picked up the tab for a $3,000 diamond engagement ring after the two struck up a conversation in a jewelry store.

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America - Liberal Press Taking a Beating

It looks like Americans are fed up with the lying liberal press and their fake stories.

While President Bush's approval rating soars America's newspapers are taking a beating.

Take a look at the New York (lying) Times' stock price for 2005.
















As the blogsphere exposes more and more of the lies and bias of MSM, they will continue to pay the price.
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America - Bush's Approval Rating Soars

It's at 50% and climbing.

Friday December 23, 2005--Fifty percent (50%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's up six points since the President's speech on Sunday night.

It's also the first time since July that the President's Job Approval has reached the 50% mark. He earns approval from 81% of Republicans, 23% of Democrats, and 42% of those not affiliated with either major political party.

Investor confidence has also jumped in recent days to the highest level in a year and a half. Consumer confidence reached the highest level in nine months.

Merry Chirstmas Mr. President.

Now, why do you suppose the BBC isn't reporting this?
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Iraq - Terrorist's Shocking Interview: Video

A shocking video of terrorists in Iraq.
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Iraq - Dutch chemicals merchant convicted of war crimes

File this with the who armed Saddam list. Hint, it wasn't America.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- A court convicted a Dutch chemicals merchant of war crimes Friday, sentencing him to 15 years in prison for selling Saddam Hussein's regime the materials used in lethal gas attacks on Kurdish villages in the 1980s.

Frans Van Anraat, 63, was not in the courtroom as the judges issued the verdict in the first court case anywhere concerning the killing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds with chemical weapons.

The court first determined that the slaughter of the Kurds constituted genocide -- a finding that may reverberate in later charges against Saddam by an Iraqi court in Baghdad -- and that the chemicals supplied by the businessman were essential to the making of the weapons.

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Britain - BBC Defends Muslim Terrorists

Yesterday I reported on how the British media had dropped all references to Muslims and terrorists in their reporting and instead now refer to them by their job titles such as plumber or market trader. But what do you do when you don't know their occupation? They become bandits.

Bandits murdered two aid workers

"Two Britons were shot in cold blood by gunmen while teaching in Somaliland in October 2003, an inquest has heard. "

It's not until later on in the report that you learn:

She said it was possible that Essa's brother-in-law, who owned the house Essa was captured in, had links to al-Qaeda.

She said: "The defendants did not recognise their actions as crimes. They felt justified in murdering infidels who they believed were offending Muslim fundamentalism."

DCI Bailey said Essa said he thought the Eyeingtons were converting Africans to Christianity and the group wanted to set up an Islamic state in Somaliland.

Dr Knapman said: "This is a terrible tragedy where two people who had dedicated their lives to improving the lives of underprivileged African children were murdered in cold blood and appear to be victims of terrorism abroad."

And the BBC are defending these Muslim terrorists.

Thankfully, the Telegraph tells the truth.

Islamic terrorists shot aid couple as they watched TV

A husband and wife who dedicated their lives to helping African children were murdered in cold blood by Islamic terrorists, an inquest heard yesterday.

Refreshing to hear the truth, isn't it.
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America - Utter Failure of Daily Kos

You might remember "screw them" Kos as the leftist blogger who uttered those words after four Americans were tortured and burned in Fallujah, Iraq.

Kos, the darling of the Democratic party and their mouthpiece, the lying liberal press, has just had a review in a Washinton monthly magazine.

Gateway Pundit takes a look at "screw them" Kos.

Here is the important part.

Daily Kos raised more than $500,000 to assist the campaigns of fifteen candidates. None were elected.

That's worth repeating. Of the 15 candidates that Kos endorsed and raised over $500,000 for, not a single one was elected.

Which prompted this response:

And may I say, more than a few Republicans (oh, please, please, PLEASE give Markos more of a role in the Democratic Party!).

Not one to take responsibility for his and the Democrats failings or even consider that the vast majority of Americans reject his and the Democrats policies, Kos has to try and find someone to blame.

Kos believes the liberals lose elections because they don't have an opportunity to be heard:

Republicans, he believed, had a "noise machine,"—a coalition of coordinated advocacy and opinion media outlets that pressured the mainstream media into reporting, and repeating, GOP-friendly spin. "The simplest fact about American politics," he told me, "is that Republicans have a noise machine and we don't."

Boy that's going to come as a shocker to CBS who used forged documents in an attempt to get Kos's hero, John Kerry, elected.

And it will be a shock to the 90% of American media who lean left, including the likes of The New York Times and The LA Times.

Of the 20 major media outlets studied, 18 scored left of center, with CBS' "Evening News," The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times ranking second, third and fourth most liberal behind the news pages of The Wall Street Journal.

Kos's noise machine is so noisy, they even fake stories to help him out.

Kos, this is why the vast majority of Americans reject you, the Democrats and your liberal friends in the media - you all lie.

Iraq - Cutting U.S. Combat Troops in Iraq

There are lots of reports by different agencies about this story, but I found something interesting in this AP report.

FALLUJAH, Iraq - President Bush has authorized new cuts in U.S. combat troops in Iraq, below the 138,000 level that prevailed for most of this year, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday.

Remember how the media keep telling us Iraq is too dangerous for them to even leave Baghdad?

Notice where Burns is reporting from? Fallujah.

And true to the biased AP, Burns drops this clanger:

Bush is under growing pressure from two fronts to pare back the American force in Iraq: the Republican-run Congress and a public increasingly disenchanted with the war and its growing casualties, which have surpassed 2,100 U.S. war dead and 15,000 wounded.

It may be Republican run but it's the Democrats in congress that want to surrender, not the Republicans.

Burns also wants you to ignore the latest polls, three of them, that all say public support for Bush is growing with 71% wanting to stay in Iraq till the job is done.
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UK - Muslim planned revenge attack

Well at least the Telegraph isn't afraid to indentify him as a Muslim. Unlike the BBC, who are covering for Muslims.

And another Muslim apologist, the Guardian, calls him a "market trader".

Which reminded me of this BBC report which hid the fact that the terrorist was a Muslim and simply refered to him as a plumber.

This seems to be the new trend in British media, struggling to find new ways of hiding the terrorist's Muslim identity, they refer to them by their job titles.

There is a danger here that we might see a backlash against plumbers, market traders or even bin men. Come to think of it, why hasn't there been a backlash against "bin Men"? They're obviously connected to "bin Laden".

I wonder if their unions will rally and call for and end to this discriminatory practice like Muslims have?

(for my non British readers, a bin is a trashcan)
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Iran - Mullahs versus the bloggers

The Times (UK) reports on the one last hope for freedom in Iran - the blogsphere - or, as they call it "Weblogistan".

But if Iran, under the repressive rule of the ultraconservatives, is silencing the sound of Western pop, in another area of its culture, a wild cacophony of voices has erupted. The blogosphere is exploding. In Iran there are now more than 100,000 active blogs or weblogs, individual online diaries covering every conceivable subject, from pets to politics. Farsi is the 28th most spoken language in the world, but it now ties with French as the second most used language in the blogosphere. This is the place Iranians call “Weblogistan”: a land of noisy and irreverent free speech.

The collision between these two sides of Iran — hardline versus online — represents the latest, and most important, battle over freedom of speech. The outcome will dictate not only the shape of Iran, but also the future of the internet as a political tool, heralding a new species of protest that is entirely irrepressible.

[...]

With almost all Iran’s reformist newspapers closed down and many editors imprisoned, blogs offer an opportunity for dissent, discussion and dissemination of ideas that is not available in any other forum. There is wistful yearning in many Iranian blogs, and a persistent vein of anger: “I keep a weblog so that I can breath in this suffocating air,” writes one blogger. “I write so as not be lost in despair.” Blogs by Muslim women are particularly moving in their bitter portrayal of life behind the veil.

We need to encourage that anger and help bring about a change in government.

Why is it that Muslim apologist ignore the plight of Muslim women? Why doesn't the women's movement speakout against Muslim oppression of women?
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Iraq - Sadr City Reborn

Just like the rest of Iraq.

On the streets of Sadr City where a year ago locals battled US troops, Lt. Col. Jamie Gayton is today a welcome man.

It's not so much that the residents of the sprawling slum, home to more than 1 million mostly poor Shiite Iraqis, have suddenly lost their wariness and suspicions of the American presence. But Colonel Gayton is the man with the money that is being used to slowly bury the open sewers, bring clean water to homes, and illuminate dark streets with new lights.

And because of that, Gayton, a ceaselessly smiling commander of the Army brigade responsible for reconstruction on Baghdad's east side, hears more cheers than jeers as he makes the rounds of completed or progressing projects.

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Holland to ban burkas?

Glad to see people standing up to Muslims.

Italy has already banned them.

Now if we could just stop the Islamization of Britain.
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America - Democrats Support Bush on Wiretapping

Even some Democrats realize this is a non-scandal for Bush.

The final blow came from the “CBS Evening News.” As Brent Baker of the Media Research Center reported at NewsBusters, Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-California) made a surprising statement concerning NSA eavesdropping. According to CBS correspondent John Roberts:

“The President got support today from an unusual quarter: Democrat Jane Harman, a key figure on the House Intelligence Committee. ‘I believe the program is essential to U.S. national security,’ she said in a statement, ‘and that disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.’”

Yes it has. So now the real scandal is, who leaked highly classified information that "has damaged critical intelligence capabilities"?

Let's see that investigated, shall we?
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America - Why American Muslims Stay Silent

Here's why.
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Iran preparing for war?

That's what this sounds like.

... former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander, Abu Taleb Shafeghat, has been appointed as the new governor of the northern Caspian Sea province of Mazandaran. This is the seventh such appointment of a military commander to a provincial governorship since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office as president of the clerical regime in Iran. Six other IRGC commanders had previously been appointed as governors of Kermanshah, Ardebil, East Azarbaijan, Bushehr, Ghazvin and Khuzistan provinces. More than half of the ministers of Ahmadinejad’s cabinet, and according to the state-run website Baztab, more than 70% of deputy ministers are former IRGC commanders.

It doesn't look good.
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America - 'Warrantless' searches not unprecedented

I said this would come back and bite the Democrats.

Previous administrations, as well as the court that oversees national security cases, agreed with President Bush's position that a president legally may authorize searches without warrants in pursuit of foreign intelligence.

"The Department of Justice believes -- and the case law supports -- that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes and that the president may, as he has done, delegate this authority to the attorney general," Clinton Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick said in 1994 testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

That same authority, she added, pertains to electronic surveillance such as wiretaps.

More recently, the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court -- the secretive judicial system that handles classified intelligence cases -- wrote in a declassified opinion that the court has long held "that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information."

And Clinton went further than Bush.

In 1994, President Clinton expanded the use of warrantless searches to entirely domestic situations with no foreign intelligence value whatsoever.

Remember, that was in the pre 9/11 days - a very important fact to remember.
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UK atrocities planned - Met chief

Why is this filed under politics?

Terrorist groups are "currently planning atrocities in the United Kingdom", Metropolitan Police Chief Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has warned.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today he knew this was the case because "we are listening to some of them, and we are watching some of them".

The key question, he said, was whether they were tracking "all of them".

Sir Ian said three plots had been disrupted since July, adding: "The threat is real. It's present with us."

He told the programme police were "carrying out 75% more" anti-terror operations than before the 7 July attacks in London.

A pity you weren't doing that before Muslim terrorists struck on July 7th.

Did you notice what's missing from this BBC article? Two words - Muslims and Terrorists.
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America - Fact Checking the Washington Post

Remember how big media said no one fact checks bloggers? In fact, the blogsphere is probably the best fact checked media on the planet. Tim Blair proves it. Check out these clangers from the Washington Post.

Nothing puts a country on the map like a good, old-fashioned riot—practically everybody has heard of France nowadays—so let’s see what foreign types are saying about Australia in the wake of our beachside violence:

* The Washington Post’s Anthony Faiola is a big-picture guy (the riots “have sparked an extraordinary level of soul-searching across this island country”), which is just as well, because he sure sucks on the details.

For example:

Cronulla Beach, a suburb ...

The suburb is Cronulla.

Authorities arrested 18 Islamic radicals in Sydney and Melbourne last month ... Among their plans, according to testimony and evidence presented in court, were a bomb attack on a nuclear power plant in Sydney ...

They’d have to build one first. Australia doesn’t have a nuclear power plant; there’s a small research reactor out Lucas Heights way, but that’s it.

At least one man in the crowd wore a shirt that read, “Osama Bin Laden Doesn’t Surf."

I’ve seen that shirt. It actually reads: “Osama Don’t Surf.”

Members of Howard’s Conservative Party ...

John Howard leads the Liberal Party.

Stick to uncheckably vast generalisations, Anthony (“The dispatch of soldiers to Iraq has jarred the national psyche”).

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America - The Big Story of 2005

From Cox and Forkum.

Iraq - Sunnis aiding Americans

As they say, the tide is turning.

Working on a tip from an informant, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division on Tuesday dug up more than a thousand aging rockets and missiles wrapped in plastic, some of which had been buried as recently as two weeks ago, Army officials said.

And note where they came from.

Still, the plastic around some of the rockets — of Soviet, German and French origins — appeared to be fresh and had not deteriorated as it had on some of the older munitions.

Add that to the myth of who armed Saddam.

Commanders in the 101st said knowing that an Iraqi tipped them off to the buried weapons could mean that residents in this largely Sunni Arab region about 150 miles north of Baghdad are beginning to warm up to coalition forces.

“The tide is turning,” Vardaro said. “It’s better to work with Americans than against us.”

Yes, it is.
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Britain - Muslim loses wine discrimination claim

Good. It's a small victory but it's good someone is standing up to these people.

We need to start reversing the Islamization of Britain.
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America - NSA "spy" scandal update

Instapundit continues his roundup of links to this non scandal.

As I said before, this will backfire on the Democrats.
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Britain - Galloway faces new probe

Good. It's long past time for him to go to jail.
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Britain - BBC Aiding Palestinian Terrorists

Here's how the Guardian/AP report this story.

Palestinian Gunmen Kidnap Two Teachers

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian gunmen abducted two foreign teachers from an American school as they were driving north of Gaza City on Wednesday, witnesses said.

Note they are merely "gunmen" and not terroritsts, so the Guardian/AP gives the Palestinians some cover as well.

Here's how Yahoo/Reuters reports the same story.

Gaza gunmen kidnap foreign teachers

So, from their headline you wouldn't know they were Palestinian terrorists but you would have to infer that from the reference to Gaza. It's not until you read the story that you learn they are Palestinian.

How does the BBC report the same story?

Foreign teachers seized in Gaza

The BBC uses the same Gaza reference but drops any reference to Palestinian or gunmen. Heh, maybe they were seized by the police or some other legitimate authority. Move along nothing to see here, just some unruly teachers. But just in case you do read past the headline, here is what you get:

Two foreign teachers have been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by unidentified gunmen, Palestinian witnesses have said.

Er, shouldn't that be "unidentified Palestinian gunmen"?

Note how all three stories say all the hostages kidnapped recently have been released unharmed. Well that's ok then, isn't it? Such nice people, these Palestinian terrorists, er, I mean gunmen.
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America - Dems Spied on Us Without Court Order

Drudge Reports.

I'll post the whole thing because Drudge sometimes moves his posts.

CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SECRET SEARCH ON AMERICANS -- WITHOUT COURT ORDER

CARTER EXECUTIVE ORDER: 'ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE' WITHOUT COURT ORDER

Bill Clinton Signed Executive Order that allowed Attorney General to do searches without court approval

Clinton, February 9, 1995: "The Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order"

WASH POST, July 15, 1994: Extend not only to searches of the homes of U.S. citizens but also -- in the delicate words of a Justice Department official -- to "places where you wouldn't find or would be unlikely to find information involving a U.S. citizen... would allow the government to use classified electronic surveillance techniques, such as infrared sensors to observe people inside their homes, without a court order.

"Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, the Clinton administration believes the president "has inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches for foreign intelligence purposes.

"Secret searches and wiretaps of Aldrich Ames's office and home in June and October 1993, both without a federal warrant.

Jimmy Carter Signed Executive Order on May 23, 1979: "Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order."END

Instapundit has more here and here.

I predict this will backfire on the Democrats - just like everything else they're doing.
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Iraq - BBC's John Simpson Crying in Baghdad

The BBC's veteran anti-American reporter, John Simpson, demonstrates why he is so clueless in Baghdad.

This is how dumb Simpson thinks the public is.

In January, British and American officials relied on a widespread lack of understanding about Iraq's situation by emphasising the big turn-out of Shia and Kurdish voters (who had everything to gain from a new political deal) and trying to ignore the boycott by Sunnis (who had everything to lose).

Get real John. Everybody on the planet was talking about the effect the Sunni boycott might have, a quick Google search proves that.

Far from relying on a lack of understanding, Bush pushed for the vote to go ahead despite the possible boycott.

Windbag Simpson tries to pour cold water on one of the most momentous occasions in the Middle East.

No one doubts the courage and determination of ordinary people to come out and vote; what's in question is the quality of the politicians they've elected.

Terrorist loving Simpson wants you to forget that the Iraqis haven't had any politicians since the dictator Saddam took over. If we're talking about a question of quality here, look no further than you own George Galloway, Simpson.

And here something to keep an eye on. Have you ever noticed that Simpson always uses a certain left wing US professor to try and bolster his case?

"The American academic Dr Juan Cole draws a comparison with the IRA and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland: they used both the Armalite rifle and the ballot-box in their campaign."

One look at Cole's background shows why you shouldn't trust anything John Simpson says.

If you think Simpson can't go any further over the edge, read this:

"The idea that voting necessarily drives out the men of violence is deeply questionable."

Well gee John, don't tell that to the voters of Afghanistan.

Not only is Simpson clueless about Iraq, he's clueless about America as well.

6. Can the US withdraw its troops from Iraq soon?

It will have to, with the mid-term elections coming up in Washington next November.

Not according to the American Public Simpson.

Secondly, it would seem the vast majority of Americans agree with President Bush.

WASHINGTON - A solid majority of Americans oppose immediately pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, citing as a main reason the desire to finish the job of stabilizing the country, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found.

About 57 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. military should stay until Iraq is stabilized, while 36 percent favor an immediate troop withdrawal. A year ago, 71 percent of respondents favored keeping troops in Iraq until it was stabilized.

The AP is being a little coy with the numbers here, for further down we read:

In the poll, when people were asked in an open-ended question the main reason the United States should keep troops in Iraq, 32 percent said to stabilize the country and 26 percent said to finish the rebuilding job under way.

Only one in 10 said they wanted to stay in Iraq to fight terrorism; just 3 percent said to protect U.S. national security.

And as someone pointed out:

#1 32 percent said to stabilize the country
26 percent said to finish the rebuilding job
one in 10 [10 percent]said to fight terrorism
3 percent said to protect U.S. national security

*drumroll* So the internals reveal that actually 71% of those questioned see important reasons to remain engaged in Iraq, ie no change since a year ago. Good!

Hmmm. So what's the Democrats policy on Iraq? They don't have any. Hey, those are not my words but Pelosi herself talking.

"There is no one Democratic voice . . . and there is no one Democratic position," Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

But that's not true Nancy and you know it. Twice now you Democrats have voted overwhelmingly to keep our troops in Iraq.

Taken together with last month's House vote against immediate withdrawal, the two resolutions were meant to show the troops they have the support of Congress and to force Democrats to take a position.

Pelsoi's response? We have no position.

Now, if both the Republicans and the Democrats don't want to pull the troops out, how in the hell does Simpson come up with "it will have to" pull them out?

Simpson then goes on to wonder if Bush can get his support back.

Once public opinion turns decisively against a war, it never seems to turn back.

First off, public opinion wouldn't have turned against the war if it wasn't for the lying liberal media epitomized by the BBC and the rest of the media faking stories.

Secondly, it would seem Simpson is unaware of the latest polls in America.

Specifically, belief that the United States is making significant progress toward establishing a democratic government in Iraq has jumped dramatically, by 18 points, to 65 percent. A sense of progress in establishing civil order similarly is up, by 16 points, to 60 percent. Each is its best since these questions first were asked in the spring of 2004.

Moreover — in a view held by majorities across party lines — 71 percent of Americans believe the Iraqi elections have moved the United States closer to the day U.S. forces can be withdrawn. Fifty-four percent express optimism about Iraq in the year ahead, eight points more than at this time last year. And 56 percent think the United States is winning the war, a recent theme of the president's, up slightly from 51 percent in August.

And finally, Simpson offers up the most absurd thing I think I've heard him say.

The Iraqi election was a big success for the Iraqi people. Whether it will be a success for President Bush is a great deal less certain.

Where do you start?

If it's a big success for the Iraqi people, who in the hell cares if it's a success for Bush?!? Democracy has been brought to 25 million people who just two years ago were enslaved! Further, this new democracy is in the heart of the Middle East, something unheard of, something that almost everyone said couldn't be done - except George Bush.

Hey John. I thought you said this was Bush's war? If that' your stance and the war is a success, it follows that it's a success for Bush.

Why does anyone listen to this moron and why do we have to pay the BBC to hire him?
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Iraq - al Qaeda humiliated

How pathetic is this?

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida in Iraq denied in an Internet statement Saturday that it had intentionally curbed violence during this week's elections, saying it carried out multiple attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.

It was an accident then?

Five militant groups including the al-Qaida affiliate had issued a statement a day before Thursday's vote that condemned the elections but stopped short of threatening to attack polling stations. And election violence was low in what was perceived as an attempt to avoid harming members of the Sunni Arab community, who voted in large numbers. The turnout bolstered U.S. hopes that the polls would produce a broad-based government capable of ending daily violence.

via Tigerhawk
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Germany - Trading Terrorist for Hostage

Looks like Germany is up to its old tricks of trading terrorists for hostages. They never learn.

Hammadi, who killed Stethem [a US Navy man] during the hijacking of a TWA flight 847, had been sentenced to life without parole. He was convicted by Germany in 1989 for his role in the hijacking the plane and diverting it to Beirut and Algiers and for murder. Three of the other alleged hijackers, Imad Mugniyah, Ali Atwa, and Hassan Izz-Al-Din were placed on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list. Rewards of $25 million for information leading to their arrests and convictions are currently being offered by the United States.

German authorities reportedly returned Hammadi to Lebanon despite US attempts to extradite him if he was ever freed. He had been arrested in Germany two years after the hijacking.

[...]

Since Hammadi's capture in 1987, many unsuccessful attempts were made to have him exchanged with German hostages held in Lebanon in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Hammadi's brother, Abdul-Hadi, was a senior official in Hizbullah at the time of the hijacking.

Hammadi's release coincides with the release of German hostage Susanne Osthoff, who was abducted on November 25 in Iraq.

More here including this:

In response, the State and Justice Departments worked through the night and a Washington blizzard preparing the proper extradition papers and translating the documents into German. But within 24 hours of the public announcement of Hamadi's arrest, a German citizen was kidnapped in Beirut; within a few days the terrorists grabbed a second German hostage.

The great urgency suddenly subsided into a six-month lull while the Germans delayed and delayed their decision on extradition.

UPDATE

Michelle notes: Debbie Schlussel has the scoop here and here.
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Ireland - "Terror Suspect Jailed"

What's wrong with that headline?

Al Qaeda suspect Abbas Boutrab has been jailed for downloading bomb-making instructions to blow up a passenger plane.

The Algerian was sentenced to six years at Belfast Crown Court after being convicted of terrorist offences.

Once you're convicted, you're no longer a "suspect".
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Britain - BBC Busted by Photos

This is hilarious! The BBC have done a couple of reports on obesitiy here in the UK and in America. The one on the UK was done in June and the one in the US was done in December. Both mention lack of physical activity as one of the causes. But the BBC seem to have the same problem.

Here is the picture the BBC used to illustrate the problem in the UK back in June.











And here is the picture the BBC used to illustrate the problem accross the Atlantic in the US in December.











Heh, maybe the UK family went on Holiday in December to the US.

HT Biased BBC.
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Britain - BBC Renews Ban on "Terrorists"

The BBC has renewed its ban on using such terms as "terrorists" and "terrorism".

This part is just plain funny.

"Careful use of the word 'terrorist' is essential if the BBC is to maintain its reputation for standards of accuracy and especially impartiality ...

Now that's funny! The BBC long ago replace Pravda as the world's propaganda machine. Read my Case Against the BBC for starters. Then read Biased BBC, The American Expat, and all the others listed under "UK Media Watch" on the left sidebar.

The BBC is a terrorist supporting organization that should be a target in the war on terror.
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Britain - Man arrested over 21 July attacks

What's missing from this BBC report? My regular readers will know.

A 23-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the attempted bomb attacks on London's transport network on 21 July.

Anti-terror detectives detained the man at around 0500 GMT at Gatwick airport after he landed on a flight originating from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

The man, from Tottenham, north London, is being questioned in central London.

Four men have been charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to murder following the failed attacks.

Police said they believed the man had been out of the UK since June.

He was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Not only has the BBC dropped any reverence to terrorists and terror, they have also dropped all references to Muslims.
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Iran's President Bans Western Music

Iran continues to crush liberty.

Following eight years of reformist-led rule in Iran, Ahmadinejad won office in August on a platform of reverting to ultraconservative principles promoted by the revolution.

Since then, Ahmadinejad has jettisoned Iran's moderation in foreign policy and pursued a purge in the government, replacing pragmatic veterans with former military commanders and inexperienced religious hard-liners.

He also has issued stinging criticisms of Israel, called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map" and described the Nazi Holocaust as a "myth."

Sooner or later we are going to have to do something about Ahmadinejad - like it or not.
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Iraq - Bush's Poll Ratings Surge

Depending on whose poll you read. Look at these two, one from CNN and one from ABC.

Here is the CNN poll with this headline:

Poll: Iraq speeches, election don't help Bush

CNN -- President Bush's approval ratings do not appear to have changed significantly, despite a number of recent speeches he's given to shore up public support for the war in Iraq and its historic elections on Thursday.

A CNN/USA Today Gallup poll conducted over the weekend found his approval rating stood at 41 percent, while more than half, or 56 percent, disapprove of how the president is handling his job. A majority, or 52 percent, say it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq, and 61 percent say they disapprove of how he is handling Iraq specifically. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

And here is the ABC poll with this headline:

Poll: Bush's Approval Rating Climbs

Dec. 19, 2005 — The recent elections in Iraq and an improved economic outlook at home have shifted public support in the president's direction, lifting him from career lows in his job performance and personal ratings alike. [...]

Overall, 47 percent of Americans in this ABC News/Washington Post poll now approve of George W. Bush's work in office; 52 percent disapprove. While hardly robust, that is up from a career low 39-60 percent in early November to its best in nearly six months.

The president's recent speechmaking on Iraq may have helped him. But public opinion tends to move on the basis of facts on the ground rather than political pronouncements, and the most striking change in this poll is linked to last week's successful elections in Iraq.

Those would be the elections made possible by Bush's decision to liberate Iraq.

Specifically, belief that the United States is making significant progress toward establishing a democratic government in Iraq has jumped dramatically, by 18 points, to 65 percent. A sense of progress in establishing civil order similarly is up, by 16 points, to 60 percent. Each is its best since these questions first were asked in the spring of 2004.

Moreover — in a view held by majorities across party lines — 71 percent of Americans believe the Iraqi elections have moved the United States closer to the day U.S. forces can be withdrawn. Fifty-four percent express optimism about Iraq in the year ahead, eight points more than at this time last year. And 56 percent think the United States is winning the war, a recent theme of the president's, up slightly from 51 percent in August.

You'll recall it was CNN that flashed the big red X over Bush's face during one of his Iraq speeches. When callers phoned in to complain they were told it was freedom of speech. That should help you decide which poll to believe.

UPDATE

Here's a third poll from Investors Business Daily that backs up the ABC poll.

UPDATE

The Wahington Post uses even stronger language over the Post/ABC poll.

Bush's Support Jumps After a Long Decline

President Bush's approval rating has surged in recent weeks, reversing what had been an extended period of decline, with Americans now expressing renewed optimism about the future of democracy in Iraq, the campaign against terrorism and the U.S. economy, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll.

Bush's overall approval rating rose to 47 percent, from 39 percent in early November, with 52 percent saying they disapprove of how he is handling his job. His approval rating on Iraq jumped 10 percentage points since early November, to 46 percent, while his rating on the economy rose 11 points, to 47 percent. A clear majority, 56 percent, said they approve of the way Bush is handling the fight against terrorism -- a traditional strong point in his reputation that nonetheless had flagged to 48 percent in the November poll.

But according to CNN Bush got no Iraq bounce. CNN's rear is looking a little exposed just now.

UPDATE

Even the Bush hating BBC note Bush's rise in popularity.

'Sharp rise' in Bush popularity

Now remember, CNN says Bush got no Iraq bounce.

US President George W Bush's popularity appears to have received a significant boost from last week's Iraq elections.

Of course the BBC ignore Bush's speeches and press conferences.
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Syria is getting away with murder

Wow! That's from the New York Times.

CQ has that story and a whole lot more.

Bottom line? The UN is useless.
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Iraq - Vote Rigging Lies

Someone's telling porkies about vote rigging in the latest Iraqi elections.

The Guardian says this:

Suspected polling violations on voting day last week far exceeded the number in Iraq's first election in January, local and international monitors said yesterday.

On the deadline for filing complaints, the number of alleged violations which could swing results in the 275-seat parliament was "well into double figures", an accredited international election observer, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Ah, those ever present anonymous sources.

Strangely, the Guardian's evil twin, the BBC, sees things exactly opposite and they cite their source.

International observers have praised the organisers of Iraq's parliamentary election, which they said generally met international standards.

A spokesman for the International Mission for Iraqi Elections conceded that there had been minor problems, but said the vote had generally gone well. [...]

"The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq is to be commended on the way it has performed its role under the difficult circumstances prevailing in Iraq," said Paul Dacey, spokesman for the international observers.

Iraq's staging of major elections in January, October and December would have been a major challenge even for well-established democracies, Mr Dacey said.

Now, which one do you suppose the Kool Aid Kids at Kos reported on? The anonymous sourced Guardian one of course.
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America - The Left's Assualt on America Grows

Liberal University Administrator wants to ban holidays.

The memo specifically names Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine's Day, the 4th of July, St. Patrick's Day and Easter as the most offensive holidays, but Sonntag adds that they are "off the top of the list," implying that there may be others.

That's how screwed up the left are.
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