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Of Arms And Iran I Sing?

Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007 12:47 AM


As if Congressman Virgil Goode getting verbally smacked upside the head for his comments about Congressman Keith Ellison and the hordes of Muslim immigrants coming to America to transform it into a cheap copy of the Middle East wasn't enough, we now have a State Leglislator, Frank D. Hargrove, who suggested that black people, "should get over" slavery.

Hargrove also added that perhaps the Jews might consider apologizing for killing Christ Jesus. When Hargrove's colleagues expressed their dismay, Hargrove was unapologetic. (That includes one member of the legislature who pointed out his family fled from Poland by people who espoused the same Jews-killed-Christ views.)

Hargrove said he didn't care about David Englin's religion, and that Englin's skin was "a little too thin."

Yes, clearly, when folks like Brian Sussman and Rush Limbaugh are busy denouncing Senator Barack Obama for being 'half' black, we've certainly achieved true racial equality.


According to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, President Bush has declined to renew the executive order that cleared the way for illegal, warrantless wiretaps by the NSA, and future surveillance requests will now go through the FISA Court.

Some of the liberals are cheering, but I'd like to stand back and remind folks that Bush insisted that the wiretaps were absolutely essential to fight terrorism, and that we couldn't afford to wait for paperwork to be stamped and filed. Such is the power of the Commander-in-Chief.

But nothing has changed. The fact remains that FISA allows for warrants after-the-fact, and such requests are rarely denied. But Bush decided he didn't like the law, didn't have to follow the law, and scribbled a note to affirm this.

Gonzales' mention of this change of policy does not explain why President Bush consistently and repeatedly flaunted the law. It does not address the now-disproven claims that such powers are absolutely essential.

The President should not be congratulated on finally adhering to the law in any respect. He should have been following the law from the moment he took the oath.


It turns out the Defense Department has been selling off surplus parts.

Unfortunately, they've been selling them to dealers who then turn around and sell them to places like Iran and China.

"The fact that those individuals chose to violate the law and the fact that the customs people caught them really indicates that the process is working," an official in charge of distribution commented.

Um. Right. Sure. Ooookay.

How about a system where we also vet the buyers before we ship them all sorts of nifty military components?

It should also be pointed out that it's not just weapons that concern me, but items which could enhance or further the capability of opposition forces (whether terrorists or the Pasta Army of the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster) to remain in the field or in the fight for longer periods. Blankets, tents, field rations, and so on.


Of course, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has a brilliant idea ��American troops won't be necessary for more than six months if we increase our material support to Iraqi forces.

Would those be the police who moonlight as Shiite death squads? I'm sure a convenient supply of ordnance will make their job of terrorizing and suppressing the Sunni minority a whole lot easier.

At the same time, al-Maliki handed a plate full of Bushian logic back to Condoleezza Rice, commenting that her words that his administration was on 'borrowed time' only serve to 'give morale boosts (to) the terrorists � and making them believe they have defeated the American administration.'

Would you like some crow with that?


FOX News pundit Sean Hannity kicked off the new year and his new weekly program - Hannity's America - with a segment entitled, "Enemy of the State."

His first nominee was actor Sean Penn, because Penn had called him a whore, and also called for the impeachment of "just about everybody" in the Bush Administration and called them, "bastards." And, perhaps most the most serious and unforgiveable sin is that, in Hannity's view, Penn is a bad actor.

However, with no explanation, this week's segment was rebranded, "Enemy of the Week," but still dedicated to identifying and exposing those people, "... whose behavior threatens the very fabric of this country," or some such McCarthyist nonsense. (One doubts that it was because of the irony inherent in a hired hack working for a foreign-owned company having the temerity to name enemies of the state.)

Hannity's choice was Michael Nifong, the Durham, North Carolina district attorney who brought charges against Duke University players for their alleged role in a rape case.

And, yes, I am aware that I labelled Newt Gingrich an Enemy of Freedom in an entry on his views about restricting the First Amendment, and acknowledge that the phrasing is, perhaps, inappropriate for anyone to use at any level.


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