Quick Note on Bush's Speech

The President's speech was good overall, although much of what he said we have heard before. His mention of free markets and tax cuts were reassuring, but weren't emphasized enough. He also mentioned too many programs, which indicates to me that he has no intention of restraining spending.

Upon speaking of Congress' failure to enact Social Security reforms, Democrats acted like little children by cheering giddily at their successful defeat of these reforms. Then I realized why: they don't pay into Social Security and they don't collect Social Security. Only us ordinary American citizens pay the taxes - Congressmen pay directly into their own personal 401-k type accounts (not to mention collecting a nice fat pension). No wonder they were so cheery...

Muslims Demand Return of Seville Spain

In a children's magazine owned by Hamas. No surprise here.

State of the Union Wishes

These are just a few points I hope Bush addresses in his Address tonight:

- The economy is strong because of his income tax cuts. They must be renewed.

- The stock market is strong because of his capital gains tax cuts. They must be renewed.

- Government revenue was up 14% last year because of tax cuts; if it weren't for increased Congressional spending or my lack of the veto use, our budget deficit would have plummeted. I will use the veto this year.

- We will continue to kill terrorists and those regimes that harbor and support them, despite what the UN thinks of us.

- We will continue to tap Al Qaeda phone conversations into the U.S.

- We will use national guardsmen to guard our borders, but will increase visas to legal immigrants by ___(1 million, 2 million,...) per year.

- I will continue to promote free trade by removing protective tarriffs here in the U.S. in exchange for foreign markets doing the same.

Lori Byrd at Polipundit lists some of her ideas.

Guardian Propaganda

The UK's Guardian has long been known as a far Left wing paper. Now they have gone a step further by publishing the propaganda editorial of Hamas' own political chief, Khalid Mish'al. In it, he writes about Hamas' continued support for the destruction of Israel and its unwillingness to "sell out" for foreign aid.

As an example of the article's seriousness, all you need to do is read the first sentence: "It is widely recognised that the Palestinians are among the most politicised and educated peoples in the world." Yes, when I think of educated citizenry, Palestine is always at the top of my list...

"Flight 93:" Must See Movie

I just finished watching "Flight 93," which was aired on A&E this evening. I hope that every student, citizen and (especially) member of Congress sees it.

I thought it was a very well-made movie and is an important reminder of what we're up against - one of the best movies of the year, in my opinion.

Muslims Protest Against Denmark and Norway

Even seen burning a Danish flag in Gaza today.

Islamo-fascists Threaten Swedish Community

A muslim woman's editorial to the WSJ on why she has to leave Sweden. She says why. A few memorable quotes:

It's no longer the familiar place it used to be and, most importantly, I no longer feel safe in Tensta. The influence of Islamic fundamentalists has grown so much over the years that it is now impossible for me and my family to live there anymore. I'm tired of being expected to speak badly of Christians and Jews just because I'm Muslim. I'm tired of the hate preachers.

When you have seen Islamists throw acid in the faces of women because they don't wear head scarfs, then there is no room for compromise.

At the same time, though, we moderate Muslims know better than the rest of the population in Europe what type of threat Muslim fundamentalists are.

House to Restrict Funds to Palestine

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is about to introduce legislation that would slash funds to the Palestinian Authority. It would also reduce funds to the UN by the amount the UN sends to Palestine.

I'm sure a lot of people will say that it's unfair to hurt the Palestinian people because of Hamas' election victory. They have to remember that U.S. aid is not a right - it's a priviledge. Elections have consequences. Just as we would never give aid to Al Qaeda, we should not give any to Hamas.

Howard Dean: Harry Reid "In Trouble"

Now I know why Howard Dean has avoided FoxNews Sunday for so long. In his maiden appearance as DNC Chair on FNS, Howard Dean was a disaster - well, at least to Harry Reid.

Upon questioning from Chris Wallace about Democratic campaign donations from Jack Abramoff clients, Dean reiterated that it was a purely Republican scandal because Democrats, when they accepted donations, did not help Abramoff clients in any way, through letters, meetings or otherwise. He said further that, if any Democrats did lobby for Abramoff clients while accepting donations, they would be "in trouble" (or perhaps "deep trouble").

Dean should have done his research before speaking. Later in the show, Chris Wallace read the details of a Washington Post article that points out Harry Reid's actions, which, according to Dean, would be serious cause for concern. While Dean didn't mention Reid, I don't think Reid will be too happy with Dean's appearance.

Iowa Voice has the details on WaPo and Harry Reid/Abramoff.

*Update*
Newsmax has excerpts of the transcript here. This is big - if the media cares.

Clinton: Climate World's Biggest Problem

Bill Clinton performed brilliantly for his desired audience at Davos, claiming that climate change was the world's number one priority. After that, the next biggest problem is "global inequality" and "religious and cultural differences behind terrorism."

That's right - not even terrorism makes Clinton's list, but merely the "differences" that trigger terrorism. His audience must have loved it.

57% Favor Military Action Against Iran

According to a poll, 57% of Americans favor military action against Iran if they are intent on building nuclear weapons. Even 49% of Dems like the idea. Why? Because Bush hasn't supported it yet - once he does, Democrat support will plummet to nearly nothing.

McCain/Coburn vs. Pork

Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Coburn (R-OK) have teamed up to challenge Congressional pork. It's about time someone gave anything more than lip service to government spending, even if it won't win many friends within Congress.

On that same note, President Bush has finally signalled that he is willing to use his veto if spending is not restrained.

Maybe the Abramoff / lobbying scandal will be the best thing that happened to Washington.

Insurgency Attacks Unrelenting

Gateway Pundit has some startling news on insurgency attacks, which continue unabated. Further, the government seems to have lost complete control. It seems like a civil war to we Liberals and it seems almost impossible to remedy the situation.

Where is it happening? In Los Angeles, for one - and I'm pretty sure that other U.S. cities are not far behind. We need to bring our police forces home, since they seem to be fueling the problem...

Supreme Court Trivia

Some people claim that Bush is to blame for the strict bi-partisanship that Democrats are showing to every Supreme Court nominee. Liberals would argue that it's really the fact that he first stole the election, lied about the war, and in the process, he's divided America and that's the real reason that right now, only right now, are they choosing to be especially partisan.

Don't believe it. Democrats have always been this partisan, at least over the past 36 years. If we just look at Supreme Court nominees, we can find evidence that Democrats have always been this radical, and some would say, um, mean-spirited. If we look at the last 15 Supreme Court nominees (excluding Alito) over the last 36 years, by my addition, there have been arguably 7 conservatives, 6 liberals, and 2 middle of road guys (O'Connor, Kennedy). On average, conservatives have been given 37 no votes, liberals have been given 3.6 no votes, and the middle of roaders zero no votes. Also, the only 3 rejections over this time period were for conservative candidates. It is likely that the Alito nomination will show at least an average number of no votes once again for conservative candidates.

Does this sound like Democrats are being open-minded? In part I blame Republicans for not fighting back, as Republicans have held the presidency for 24 of the last 36 years. And if Republicans are not willing to fight back, Democrats are smart enough to take advantage. However, I'm also glad that Republicans have at last begun to fight.

Iraq WMDs - The Hidden Story

One of the most intriguing stories in the news today is something you probably haven't heard. In today's NY Sun, reporter Ira Stoll writes about Georges Sada, Saddam Hussein's #2 man in the Iraqi Air Force. In his book, "Saddam's Secrets," Sada discloses what many have believed all along - that Iraq's WMDs (but not the equipment, which we found) were moved to Syria before the war.

This really shouldn't surprise anyone, assuming it's true. We warned Saddam a year in advance that he "better not have any WMDs" and then a year later when we go in, we don't find any. A first-grade student could deduce that the weapons might have been either destroyed or moved somewhere else. To the U.S. media and most Democrats, however, this might come as a shock. Stay tuned...

Conventional Wisdom Wrong Again

Mark Steyn is right again:

Remember the conventional wisdom of 2004? Back then, you'll recall, it was the many members of George Bush's "unilateral" coalition who were supposed to be in trouble, not least the three doughty warriors of the Anglosphere -- the president, Tony Blair and John Howard -- who would all be paying a terrible electoral price for lying their way into war in Iraq.

Two years on, Messrs. Bush, Blair, Howard and Koizumi are all re-elected, while Mr. Chirac is the lamest of lame ducks, and his ingrate citizenry have tossed out his big legacy, the European Constitution; Mr. Schröder's government was defeated and he's now shilling for Russia's state-owned Gazprom ("It's all about Gaz!"); and the latest member of the coalition of the unwilling to hit the skids is Canada's Liberal Party, which fell from office on Monday.

Read the rest of the article for his take on Canada's elections.

Andy Grove Dislikes Sensenbrenner-King

The new Sensenbrenner-King bill was just passed by the House and now will go to the Senate for a vote. According to Grove (former chairman of Intel):

This bill scares me. Let me illustrate. The bill contains a provision punishing anyone who "assists, [or] encourages . . . a person who . . . lacks lawful authority to remain in the United States" to remain here. Punishment: three to 20 years in prison, the same punishment meted out to professional smugglers who profit from transporting illegal aliens across the border.

Sounds a little harsh to me.

I'm all in favor of immigration - the legal way. But I'm also in favor of increasing the number of legal immigrants to the US - particularly for well qualified engineers, doctors, scientists, nurses, all professions to be in shortage in the US. Currently there are only 65,000 HB1 visas available, which isn't very many and congress just shot down a bill to allow more. Lower-level immigrants help the economy too as they help companies manage their costs. I think a lot of people, including many Republicans, are going overboard with this anti-immigration stuff.

I agree with Grove. Immigration is what makes America America.

What to do About Hamas?

Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian elections yesterday. Now the question is whether Israel has a right to defend herself from Hamas' stated goal of Israel's destruction. President Bush has also said that he will not deal with terrorist groups, including Hamas.

On another note, former President Carter said that the elections were fair and went without a hitch. (He said the same thing about Venezuela, and if permitted, would have said the same about Saddam's Iraq...)

The Unsurprising Hillary Poll

By a margin of 3 to 1, Americans would vote against Hillary in a run for President, according to a Gallup-CNN poll.

This doesn't surprise me, but I'm sure the MSM will be shocked at the results. Let's go Hillary; don't let it deter you!

Hijacking Ben Franklin

I didn't post anything on Ben's 300th birthday last week, but I heard the following refrain, attributed to Franklin, about a dozen times from liberals opposed to the NSA capturing terrorists ("domestic spying" for CNN watchers):

"Those who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither."

The Junkyard Blog has a good post on the warped usage of his actual phrase.

Brokeback Mountain vs. The Passion

Last year I was stunned when I heard that Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" generated $612 mm in gross revenue at the box office worldwide, mainly because you didn't hear any of the "Hollywood buzz" surrounding the film.

Likewise, I was stunned to see the gross so far of "Brokeback Mountain." From everything I've heard, I expected that it was near the top of the box office. I was wrong.

John Hawkins has the ranking - only 14 films ahead of it...

EU's 'Torture ' Report a Farce

Dick Marty, the head of a European investigation in the U.S's "outsourcing of torture" said today that there is evidence that the U.S. used European countries to implement the system.

The interesting thing is how the investigation is being conducted:

His interim report, based partly on results of national investigations and recent press reports, did not break new ground and largely repeated his previous claims that U.S. policies in the war on terror contravene international law on human rights.

Yup. Nothing like reading the newspapers to do your research. Marty also said that

there was no tangible proof so far of the existence of clandestine centers in Romania or Poland as alleged by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

He must have just thrown that part of his 'evidence' out.

Why Tony Blair is a Great Leader

Captain's Quarters blog has the low down on Bush's speech yesterday at Kansas State University, where Bush offered Tony Blair an 'out' from the Iraq War to save his government. According to the Telegraph:

"He [Blair] was worried about his Government and so was I, and I told him one time, 'I don't want your Government to fall, and if you're worried about it just go ahead and pull out of the coalition so you save your Government'," said Mr Bush.

"And he said to me, 'I have made my commitment on behalf of the great country of Britain and I'm not changing my mind'.

"He said, 'I'm not interested in politics, what I'm interested in is doing the right thing.'

I think that's why Bush and Blair get along so well.

Conservatives Take Canada

The Tory party has regained control. I don't know about all the issues in this election, but I did see one tv ad. The ad was paid for by the liberal party and showed Stephen Harper, then it said (and I'm paraphrasing): He's in favor of the Iraq war, He's against Kyoto, and he's GW's best friend. Well, he's won. Make no mistake about it: Harper is very pro-American (as well as pro-Canada of course) which should be good for North America.

The Surreal in PC Law Enforcement

From Tongue Tied. Police in Tampa, FL are apparently now using colored targets on their shooting ranges because the traditional black targets on white backgrounds might be sending a racist message. Uggh.

John Shadegg: GOP's Great Hope

For all of us disgruntled Republicans who believe in smaller government and fewer entitlement programs, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) is the GOP's great hope. Although the least known of the three candidates (Blount, Boehner) to be new House GOP Leader, Shadegg is a true conservative who espouses market principles and opposes large entitlement programs.

Let's hope that the GOP considers real reform and selects Shadegg as its new leader.

Bye bye, Liberals, Aye?

The liberals are about to lose their 13-year hold on power this weekend, as Conservative Stephen Harper is expected to defeat Liberal Paul Martin.

Let's see how the media spins this one: if the liberal won, it would be an affirmation of the dislike of Bush. Does that mean Canada is now embracing the Bush Administration?

Apart from Liberal scandals, the key issue upon which Stephen Harper is running is a reduction in capital gains taxes. I think we all could learn a valuable lesson from that.

President Reagan's First Inaugural Address

Read it. It's the 25th anniversary. A great speech by the great communicator and one of our greatest presidents.

Kudlow: John Shaddeg for House Majority Leader

Larry Kudlow speaks his mind about Roy Blount's attempt to replace Tom DeLay as House Majority Leader. In short, he doesn't like it. As Majority Whip, Blount has shown how ineffective he is at keeping pork spending down, which will ultimately hurt or kill any chance to keep Bush's important dividend, capital gains and income tax cuts.

Kudlow says that Arizona's John Shaddeg is the man for the job. Unfortunately, I don't think Shaddeg has much of a chance.

Welcome to America Ozzie!

Ozzie Guillen, manager of the world champion Chicago White Sox is now a US citizen. Among his more memorable quotes:

It's a great feeling," Guillen said. "The funny thing about this is when I won the World Series, a lot of people felt that was my dream. That was my goal, to win the World Series. ... To do this is something real special.

He called gaining U.S. citizenship "a dream come true" and said, "A lot of people fight and die to be American citizens. A lot of Latin people are dying to be where I am right now."

He said the U.S. is "not an easy country," but provides the best opportunity "to be what you want to be."

"Do you know how many people die every week just to live in this country? Hundreds," Guillen said. "That's a dream. A lot of people want to be Americans. It's not an easy thing to do."

He expects most Venezuelans to "see me the same way," although he half-jokingly acknowledged there might be one notable exception: President Hugo Chavez.
"He'll probably be mad at me," Guillen said. "I don't blame him, but it's a decision I've got to make for my family. It's a decision I've got to make for my own good. ... I couldn't care less what people think, and I'm going to do what's best for my family."

God Bless the Guillens!

Is Hillary the Next John Kerry?

Hillary, in the past has been critical of the Bush administration's unilateral positions with regards to foreign policy. Now in a complete 180, she's at Princeton stating the following:

"I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and chose to outsource the negotiations," Clinton said.

Isn't this another example of criticizing Bush for being too unilateral, and then turning around and criticizing Bush for being too multilateral? Which is her official position?

Again, this is the democratic party's biggest problem: no one really knows what they stand for, and rightly so, since it's often both sides of the aisle as it suits their audience. Confusing, isn't it?

Michelle Malkin has more.

The Cisneros Cover-up

A 6 year-old report by Independent prosecutor David Barrett, who investigated Henry Cisneros, HUD Secretary during the Clinton Administration, is about to be released today. Unfortunately, 120 pages of the report will be redacted. Bob Novak has more.

When Hillary mentions "culture of corruption" in her speeches, she knows from experience what she is talking about.

Europe Won't Touch Iran

It's pretty clear that unless the U.S. takes matters to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran will soon have nuclear weapons. Simon Jenkins of the Guardian points out why - people like him really don't mind if Iran has nuclear weapons.

And everyone needs Iranian oil, so sanctions are a non-starter (call me crazy, but I don't have much faith in a UN-backed oil-for-food program either).

Judge Roberts Conservative so Far

Because Chief Justice Roberts has recently sided with conservatives on a couple different cases this month, this has led to speculation on how Roberts will shape the future direction of the Supreme Court. Generally, if someone's siding with Scalia and Thomas, that means he's more a constitutionalist, whereas if someone is siding with Ginsburg, Souter, Breyer or Stevens that means they're more of an interpreter of the law.

It still might be too early to tell definitively, but Roberts looks like a conservative. If this turns out to be true, and Alito as well, it looks like the court would have 4 conservatives, 4 liberals and one swing vote, whereas before it had 3 conservatives, 4 liberals, and 2 swing votes. So net net, it's a little better but not enough to significantly change much.

When you think about it, liberals have to be pretty happy with the composition of the court. Over the last 36 years, they've only controlled the executive office for 12 (and 8 of those were solely because we had a third party candidate), yet they've held at least half of the sway on the supreme court. Hopefully it's time for this to change.

ACLU: Al Qaeda's Best Friend

The U.S. government has been too successful at preventing new terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Now the ACLU has decided to lend Al Qaeda a hand by suing the government to prevent it from spying on terrorist conversations with people living in the U.S.

Joke of the day

Hillary-cat, meet Mr. Kettle. Hillary Clinton's comment yesterday calling the Bush Administration "corrupt" is one of the funniest things I've read in a while.

At least she has a sense of humor.

Moscow Still Waiting for Global Warming

Moscow is currently seeing the coldest temperatures in five decades. According to Bloomberg news:

The freeze is expected to get worse. Before moving over Moscow, the cold front reduced readings in the western Siberian city of Tomsk to minus 50 Celsius, the coldest for a century.

To me, it's unexplicable that this could happen - after all, didn't Russia sign Kyoto? But no matter - global warming theorists will no doubt see this as evidence of global warming. Remember that both warmer and COLDER weather patterns can be displayed as evidence that global warming is caused by man. It's kinda nice to be right all the time.

Pakistan Strike - Still Successful

Despite the news reports, including this one from CNN, it appears that the strike in Pakistan that killed several Al Qaeda members, was a success.

According to FoxNews, US. intelligence officials confirmed that several of the people killed in the Pakistani airstrike were Al Zawahiri's lieutenants, even though Zawahiri himself did not attend. Still a success in my book, even if none of the print articles have yet pointed out that fact.

The Whole NSA Scandal - according to Jonah

Whenever I'm channel surfing, I can't help but notice how much media attention is given to this whole Bush spying thing. I mean, people want the President to help stop terrorism, but they can't listen in on suspected terrorists? Doesn't make much sense to me. Jonah Goldberg writes about the ridiculousness of this whole NSA "scandal." According to Jonah:

Here's what happened. After 9/11, authorities found a bunch of e-mail addresses and phone numbers in the phones and computers of confirmed terrorists. They tracked down those leads. Most of the people the NSA started eavesdropping on - about 7,000 - lived overseas, and their phone calls were to other foreigners living abroad. But, according to Risen's book, "about 500 people" living in the U.S. who were in contact with suspected terrorists had their communications tapped. Risen calls this "large-scale" spying on the American people even though, as the Weekly Standard recently noted, this constitutes "1.7 ten-thousandths of 1 percent of the U.S. population."

As he further points out, does anyone really believe that completely random and innocent Joe American Smith is being wire-tapped? According to MSM like CNN, the answer must be yes. Which reminds me, why are the Iranians the lucky ones to get CNN banned from their country?

Guess Who Has a 21% Approval Rating

Some will probably guess that democratic freaks like Teddy Kennedy or Joe Biden would be pretty low after their ridiculous self-aggrandizing monologues and accusations during the Alito hearings. But that's not who I'm talking about. I'll give a little hint: First name begins with J(acques) and Last Name with C(hirac). Poor guy.

But that's what France deserves for electing a man who campaigned with only one clear policy (to be as anti-American as possible). John Kerry should take note as wasn't his campaign pretty similar?

French: Don't Punish Iran

We knew it was just a matter of time. Europe (Germany, France and Britain) admitted that Iran's nuclear talks - which they were so adamant about controlling to show the U.S. how grown up they were - have failed.

The interesting thing is that the French are opposed to any form of punishment:

Nuclear proliferation expert Francois Gere, who heads the French Institute of Strategic Analysis, said there are few, if any, viable options for punishing Iran _ and the Iranians know that. The French, therefore, are still hoping for a diplomatic way out.

"There is absolutely no discussion of punishment for the moment in the French approach," Gere said.

Instead, they just want the issue addressed by the irrelevant U.N. We know how well the U.N. worked for Iraq: 12 years, 17 resolutions and billions of bribery dollars later, the U.S. decided to take action while the U.N. cowered in the corner).

NYTimes Defends Eavesdropping

The American Thinker has a great article on an NSA eavesdropping program called Echelon under the Clinton Administration. At the time, the NYTimes called the program "a necessity."

Well worth the read.

Alito as Good as Confirmed

Bob Novak gives his take on the Alito nomination process. After the performance yesterday, all that's left is for the fat lady to sing - Alito's as good as confirmed.

Saddam and Terrorist Training

For all those people out there who believe John Kerry & Company that Saddam had nothing to do with terrorists, Stephen Hayes' latest article in the Weekly Standard is a must read.

As way of background, Stephen Hayes is a fantastic reporter who has written several articles about the connection between Saddam, terrorism and al Qaeda. (To my knowledge, no one has refuted the evidence he presents.) In addition, he is the author of "The Connection : How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America."

How To Stay Out of Power

Joe Klein of Time magazine (no conservative) has an instructive piece for Democrats on national security. In essence, he says their views are more closely aligned with terrorists than they are with Americans:

The latest version of the absolutely necessary Patriot Act, which updates the laws regulating the war on terrorism and contains civil-liberties improvements over the first edition, was nearly killed by a stampede of Senate Democrats. Most polls indicate that a strong majority of Americans favor the act, and I suspect that a strong majority would favor the NSA program as well, if its details were declassified and made known.

In fact, liberal Democrats are about as far from the American mainstream on these issues as Republicans were when they invaded the privacy of Terri Schiavo's family in the right-to-die case last year.

But there is a difference. National security is a far more important issue, and until the Democrats make clear that they will err on the side of aggressiveness in the war against al-Qaeda, they will probably not regain the majority in Congress or the country.

Another Republican Scalp

Move over, Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott - the Dems have successfully pressured Tom DeLay into resigning his leadership post. It's no wonder why the Democrats constantly level charges against GOP politicians: if you say something often enough and loud enough, it works.

If the GOP chooses a less effective House Leader, they have only themselves to blame for falling into the Democratic trap once again.

Letter to the Europeans

Victor Davis Hansen of National Review pens a scathing letter to Europe:

Either your economy will reform, your populace multiply, and your citizenry defend itself, or not. And if not, then Europe as we have known it will pass away — to the great joy of the Islamists but to the terrible sorrow of America.

Read the whole thing.

No Question on Iran's Intentions

Iran has snubbed the IAEA again with its refusal to meet with the agency over its nuclear equipment testing.

I honestly can't blame Iran - the want a nuke and neither the UN nor the rest of the world will stop them. The U.S. decided last year in the name of "multilateralism" to allow Europe to take the lead in negotiations, but those talks have failed miserably. Meanwhile, Europe is afraid to implement sanctions or even threaten military force.

That brings me to only two logical conclusions - either the U.S. does the dirty work and bombs Iran's facilities in 2006 or Iran acquires a nuclear weapon. I believe it will be the former.

Jobless Claims Plunge

New jobless claims plunged to their lowest levels since September 2000, in a sign that the economy is running on all cylinders. (Notice how I didn't say something like "the sputtering economy is starting to recover" or something like the AP would use?)

It's going to be hard for the media to downplay the economy much longer...

Governor Swann?

Former Steeler great Lynn Swann is officially running for Pennyslvania Governor. It should be fun to watch; I wonder if he'll get the Condi Rice/Colin Powell/Clarence Thomas (aka. Uncle Tom) treatment for being a black Republican.

Top "Republicans" Give Up Abramoff Donations

I love the Democratic headlines that always come from the AP: "Top Republicans Give Up Abramoff Donations." It is absolutely true that GOP leaders, including Bush, DeLay and Roy Blunt have all received donations linked to the indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

What the article fails to mention, however, is that many prominent Democrats, including Sen. Kent Conrad (ND) and leader Harry Reid (NV) have also received donations - but they have so far refused to return them!

And in response to Nancy Pelosi that this is the "most corrupt Republican Congress ever," perhaps she should remind herself of just a few of the Clinton scandals.

Another Reason I Can't Watch Letterman

Bill O'Reilly was a guest on Letterman last night, where Letterman showed his extreme lack of knowledge about politics, particularly in regards to Iraq. You can view part of the transcript here (thanks to JB for the link).

In short, Letterman has no clue about why we're in Iraq (forgiveable because even Democratic politicians seem not to have read the resolution they passed before the war). He also seems to believe everything Cindy Sheehan says (we're evil, fighting for oil, and the terrorists are patriotic freedom fighters), but then Letterman says "we need to support our troops."

Another reason I prefer Leno to Letterman.

The Democratic Strategy for 2006

John Hawkins lays out the Democrats' strategy for 2006. Something tells me it will be another big failure - I'm (a little) surprised even they think this could be successful.

The Iran Problem

According to Germany's Der Spiegel newspaper, the U.S. is now speaking with allies about a possible military strike on Iran. While I doubt the accuracy of anything in left-wing newspapers around the world, Iran is getting ever closer to acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Let's just hope that our "allies" don't help out Iran by denouncing military action before any decision is even made.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous 2006!