Murtha: 'The surge is working'

A headline I also never thought I'd see, or at least the part that includes Congressman John Murtha. But in fairness to Murtha, an early proponent of US withdrawal from Iraq before the job is done, the man is willing to give credit where credit is due.

Here's the full story as reported today by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Bill Press's Polish joke falls flat

Radio host Bill Press in a promo for his show, as heard Monday afternoon on Sirius Left -

"Who says the level of violence in Iraq is decreasing? Iraq claimed another victim over the weekend and a really big one this time," Press chortled with barely concealed glee, "the prime minister of Australia, just the latest political leader to fall for his support of George Bush's war in Iraq. First, remember, it was Prime Minister Jose-Maria Aznar. Next, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. And then, the UK's Tony Blair. And now, it's Australia's John Howard, humiliated in defeat after 11 years in power. Why? Because he insisted on keeping Australian troops in Iraq when everybody else - even Poland - had decided to bring their troops home.

"Even Poland," Bill?

Not only are Press's comments insulting to anyone of Polish descent, they are glaringly inaccurate. "Everybody else" have not turned tail and fled from Iraq, as Press would like to see. American troops have turned the tide of this war - and we are winning. And the more the situation improves in Iraq, the more unhinged the Left becomes in America.

I'd suggest they should be ashamed, but that would presume they have any.

Discerning terrorists' rights from wrongs

Excerpt from a profile in the Nov. 26 Weekly Standard titled "Rudy Giuliani, Disciplinarian" -

Giuliani, quoted in the article -

"Someone once said to me that what they don't get about the Democrats, and even some Republicans that do this, is they're more concerned about rights for terrorists than the terrorist' wrongs," Giuliani went on. "I mean, this granting of rights to criminals and terrorists, even when they're necessary, come with a price, a price at the other end of it. Even for the ones that are necessary, like, let's say, the Miranda ruling, it's one you agree with - there's a price for that. Maybe it's one worth paying. The exclusionary rule, there's a big price for that: Criminals go free. They walk out of court.

If you say, you know, no aggressive questioning, then we're not going to find out about situations. If you say no wiretapping, well, there'll be conversations going on, planning to bomb New York, or Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and you're not going to find out. And, when we draw these lines, at least let's be honest with people about the consequences of them. Let's not fool them into thinking that there are no consequences to this. People will say that aggressive questioning doesn't work. I, you know, I ... Honest answer to that is, it doesn't work all the time. Sometimes it does."

Happy Thanksgiving to all

... with a hat tip to my friend Wave Maker for this one ...

Unstated subtext for Hiroshima story - hold your head in shame

"Paper cranes fly for peace 62 years after Hiroshima" reads the headline for a story in today's Boston Globe, one that takes up most of the first page of the City & Region section - "For the fourth-graders at the Joseph P. Tynan Elementary School," writes Globe staffer Tania deLuzuriaga, "Japan is a faraway place, and World War II is something that happened before most of their grandparents were born. But the war has come home to them through the story of a young Japanese girl whose life was cut short by the effects of the atomic bomb dropped on her city 62 years ago."

Something else "cut short" by the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and another three days later on Nagasaki, though you'd never know it from reading this story - an abrupt end to the bloodiest and most destructive war in history, one that claimed 60 million lives.

The difference between us and them, in a nutshell

As reported today by the Associated Press -

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives as American soldiers were handing out toys to children northeast of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least three children and three of the troops, US and Iraqi authorities said ...

Thanks again, Ralph

"We remember the last time we had faith that anything good would ever happen again in the world," reads the blurb on page 3 of the Sidekick supplement in today's Boston Globe on a screening of "An Unreasonable Man, a documentary about Ralph Nader. "Just about the time we checked off Ralph Nader's name on the ballot ..." (what's this "we" stuff, paleface?) "All downhill since then. The truth is, he has done some remarkable things over the years, such as revolutionizing consumer safety standards." And preventing Al Gore from winning the presidency - bravo, Ralph!

Weather Channel founder: Global warming 'greatest scam in history'

Granted, John Coleman is not a Nobel laureate or Oscar winner like Al Gore, he's just a mere meteorologist who started something called The Weather Channel 20 years ago (and Coleman is no relation to me, though I like that we share the same name). An op-ed by Coleman that's posted at Icecap is causing quite a stir in the blogosphere -

"It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an illusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.

"Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild “scientific” scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minute documentary segment.

"I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, i.e. Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you “believe in.” It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a non-event, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe a me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it ..."

Follow this link to read the remainder of Coleman's op-ed.

Go figure

"Rally to honor Arafat turns violent" - headline on page A9 in today's Boston Globe.

How about 'Ministry of Truth' radio?

"I don't even call it 'liberal radio,' I call it 'truth radio' " - Nova M Radio co-founder Shelly Drobny on angry, angry moonbat Mike Malloy's radio show Friday.

Al Qaeda reaches out to children

... which isn't surprising in the least of jihadists for whom nothing is beyond the pale - as reported this morning by the AP -

LONDON - Britain faces an increased threat from al Qaeda-inspired terrorism and is now home to at least 2,000 people who pose a direct threat to the country's security, including children who are being groomed by extremists, the director of the domestic spy agency said yesterday.

Truer words never spoken

"History teaches us that underestimating the words of evil, ambitious men is a terrible mistake. Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. The question is, will we listen? ... Some here in Washington, D.C., dismiss it as a political rhetoric, an attempt to scare people into votes. Given the nature of the enemy and the words of its leaders, politicians who deny that we are at war are either being disingenuous or naive. Either way, it is dangerous for our country. We are at war and we cannot win this war by wishing it away or pretending it does not exist" - President George W. Bush, speaking at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday.

A lazy, simplistic editorial

Yesterday's lead editorial in the Boston Sunday Globe condemning the "intellectually lazy analogy of Islamism to fascism" was difficult to take seriously after reading this whopper of a paragraph -

"Al Qaeda and company cannot be compared with the fascist powers ruled by Hitler, Mussolini and Franco - neither for their ideas nor for their military power. The Nazis scorned religion, wanting to make the state the sole object of worship. Bin Laden and Hitler might share a proclivity for cruelty and killing, but for little else. Hitler cherished the operas of Wagner; bin Laden and his Taliban allies have been known to put musicians to the lash for playing music at a wedding. And bin Laden has no panzer divisions."

"Bin Laden and Hitler might share a proclivity for cruelty and killing, but for little else."

Amazing. Where to begin?

Bin Laden and Hitler share far more than that, unbeknownst to the intellectually lazy editorial writers at the Globe. For example, the main thing they share in common, an elephant-in-the-room parallel that all but the most oblivious can ignore, is in their visceral loathing and wanton pathological cruelty toward Jews. And there's no "might" about it.

How about these for other parallels - Hitler and bin Laden's absolute intolerance of dissent, an unwavering belief in the alleged messianic quality of their respective crusades (yes, crusades) and the utter lack of anything resembling irony, self-deprecation or introspection.

Agreed, "bin Laden has no panzer divisions." Nor did he need them to destroy the World Trade Center, inflict grievous damage to the Pentagon and slaughter 3,000 innocent people in less than two hours.

Most importantly, Hitler and bin Laden share something else in common - a wolf-like grasp of appeasement disguised as well-reasoned argument from their foes.

RIP, Paul Tibbets

A link here to an op-ed I wrote last year for the Providence Journal about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, the cruiser that delivered the atom bomb to Tinian, where it was flown to Hiroshima on a B-29 piloted by Paul Tibbets, who died Thursday at 92.

As I pointed out in the op-ed, the loss of the Indianapolis and the deaths of more than 900 sailors in its crew of 1,200 represents the worst-ever loss of life for an American naval vessel at sea - and it occurred less than two weeks before the bombing of Hiroshima.

Only one other American warship ever suffered more casualties in battle - the battleship Arizona, sunk within minutes of the start of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

I wonder how many revisionist historians have asked survivors from both ships if they thought the bombing of Hiroshima was justified.

Dept. of Unintentional Humor

"We have to play hardball if we're going to try to end this war" - US Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., speaking today with radio talk show host Ed Schultz.

Hey, look at what they did to Papillon

"Rumsfeld flees France, Fearing Arrest" blares the headline over at AlterNet, followed by this:

"Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fled France today (Oct. 29) fearing arrest over charges of 'ordering and authorizing' torture of detainees at both the American-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the U.S. military's detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, unconfirmed reports coming from Paris suggest.
"U.S. embassy officials whisked Rumsfeld away yesterday from a breakfast meeting in Paris organized by the Foreign Policy magazine after human rights groups filed a criminal complaint against the man who spearheaded President George W. Bush's 'war on terror' for six years ..."