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No Way I can just let This go.

When Free Times ditches frames so I can give a proper link I'll continue to post Michael Graham's "The Usual Suspects" here. Between Michael and Amy Proctor, and several others, I just can't let this go by. with all the talk of "ethics reform" coming from the Dems one almost has to laugh at the almost complete lack of ethics either engaged in or supported by house leadership on the Democrat side of the isle. It's so bad they are inadverdantly making Murtha out to be the teller of truth when he said the talk of ethics reform was "a lot of crap".

The Usual Suspects
by Michael Graham

Democrats ‹ It's in Their Nature

Perhaps I'm getting sentimental in my old age, but I was giving the Democrats until St. Patrick's Day to royally screw things up.

Now it looks like they won't make it that long.

The largely ignored story of the midterm election is the Democrats' mediocre performance at the ballot box. This election should have been the Gamecocks vs. Middle Tennessee State ‹ a blowout.

Instead it was Ohio State vs. Michigan, despite President Bush's poll ratings being in the toilet, public approval of the GOP Congress lurking in the septic tank, and the media broadcasting a nonstop pro-Democrat barrage of "objective" news specials like Cheney's Children: He Eats Them Boiled, Not Fried.

Give the Democrats credit for winning, but don't overlook the fact that the American people still don't trust them to govern. As Bill Clinton told a Democratic gathering after the election, "The voters haven't given us a mandate. They've given us a chance."

He's right. That's why post-election polls show that Iraq was the top issue in this election that handed power to the Democrats, and that 60 percent of Americans don't believe the Democrats have any idea what to do about Iraq.

This is the challenge facing the Democratic Party, to prove to the American people that they aren't a bunch of wild-eyed liberals pushing loony big-government programs.

Unfortunately for the former president, two days after his speech his wife announced that "Hillarycare" ‹ a wild-eyed, loony big-government takeover of the medical industry ‹ is back.

The Democrats haven't even taken over yet, and already Hillary Clinton wants socialized medicine; Dennis Kucinich wants to immediately cut funding for the military while its still in Iraq (you can buy ammo on your Amex, right?); and incoming House Judiciary Chairman Charlie Rangel, one of the most powerful members of the next Congress, can't decide which discredited 1970s policy to bring back first ‹ high taxes or the draft.

Every group of 200-plus politicians has its kooks, crooks and fringe activists. That's just a part of life. What's needed is a leader who can herd these cats, set high standards for ethics and performance and pull the party's center of gravity away from the extremes.

Instead, the Democrats chose House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, who is to middle America what Newt Gingrich was to the blue state West Coast: political kryptonite. Pelosi radiates the kind of San Francisco self-righteousness one would expect from a congresswoman whose city just threw the Junior ROTC out of every public school.

One of my rules to live by is that the problem with people who just don't get it is that they just don't get it. Watching Pelosi fighting to make corrupt and cranky John Murtha, D-Anywhere But Iraq, the new House majority leader (she lost), I wondered if it was possible for the Democrats to truly be this tone deaf.

Then word leaked that Pelosi might put a crook in charge of America's most sensitive intelligence information.

By the time you read this, we should know if Pelosi appointed Alcee Hastings, D-Where's the Cash?, to head the House Intelligence Committee. Yes, this is the same former Judge Hastings Pelosi voted to impeach for trying to take a $150,000 bribe from a couple of mobsters. (The vote by the Democrat-controlled Congress, by the way, was 413-3 to impeach.)

Pelosi is not dumb. She's not ignorant or uninformed. Neither are Rangel, Hillary Clinton or any of the other prominent Democrats already tilting their party to the left. So why are they doing it?

Because it's who they are. It's in their nature. The days of the Democrats as the "people's party" are long gone. They're the Left Coast's Party, the Aggrieved Interest Group's Party, the Internet Activist's Party.

Pundits asking if Pelosi can pull her party away from the loony left should start by asking the more fundamental question: Does she want to?



Justice for the GOP

What should pain Republicans most, and President Bush most of all, is that they deserved everything they got in the Nov. 7 midterm elections ... and more.

As I have written before, Bush lost his claim on conservative voters more than a year ago when he put open borders and runaway spending ahead of limited government and the rule of law. In 2004, I begged Bush to prove to the troops that failure in Iraq was not an option by firing the now former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. And I've repeatedly complained to anyone who will listen that this president has committed the most unforgivable sin of all: sending American soldiers into battle without a complete commitment to their victory.

From keeping former CIA director George Tenet in his job too long to keeping the disastrous military leadership that repeatedly got Iraq wrong, Bush has proven that something other than victory (loyalty? politics?) was his highest priority.And now, Mr. president, that's exactly what you've got, at the ballot box and in the streets of Iraq: something other than victory.

Watching Bush fire Rumsfeld the day after his party lost control of Congress was a nauseating mix of bad timing and missed opportunity. If the president were as committed to military victory as he is to political victory, Rummy would have been tossed long ago. Now both battles have been lost.For despite U.S. House Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi's claims that this election was about health care, tax cuts, Mark Foley's hard drive, blah, blah, blah ‹ it was all about Iraq.

The American people made their point and they made it clearly and unambiguously: If you go to war, you better win. If you don't, the American people are going to punish you for it. It's called "justice."

Some congressional Republicans are whining about being unfairly held responsible for Bush's mistakes in Iraq. Sorry, guys, but you deserve everything you're getting, too. For too long, you've confused "congressman" with "cheerleader." [emphasis added] You don't work for the president, my GOP legislative friends. You work for we, the people.

Or at least you did until Nov. 7.

Imagine if, after the second invasion of Fallujah, 100 GOP congressmen had lined up on the steps of the Capitol and demanded Rumsfeld's head. Imagine a Republican Congress that threatened Defense Department funding unless the White House presented a new plan for victory. Imagine how many House and Senate seats those Republicans would hold today.

And while we're imagining, what if President Bush had spent the past three years following Lincoln's example, littering the White House lawn with the heads of unsuccessful generals? Republicans would have won the midterm election and, more importantly, America might be winning in Iraq today.

That's the real tragedy here. Our defeat in Iraq might be a great victory for the Democrats, but it's a far more significant victory for the Islamists. Iraq was an opportunity to carve out a home in the heart of the Middle East for a modern, moderate vision of Islam. Instead, it's an opportunity being lost.

Iraq is going so badly that American and British officials are openly discussing making a deal with the Iranians. You know , the world's largest exporter of Islamo-fascism?

A deal with Iran would be like a deal with Hitler's Germany, and (as the Polish discovered in 1939) just as reliable.

So forgive me if I don't shed even one tear for the lost careers of a few big-spending congressional hacks. Pardon me if I don't cry over the defeat of a president who has understood the Islamist threat so well, yet handled the response so very, very poorly.

I'm not a "values voter" or a social moderate/fiscal conservative or a member of the Log Cabin Republicans. I'm a "results Republican." I want America to win. Period.

In war, there is no substitute for victory. Not even Karl Rove's amazing GOP turnout machine.

Thanks, Michael, I could not have said better myself.

Impeachment by the Numbers

The giddy talk about impeachment from the Left has not subsided, Nancy Pelosi's assurances that will not happen not withstanding.blonde sagacity: Impeachment Papers...? has more on this.

Realisticly, can they impeach? Well, yes and no. The resolution of impeachment only requires a simple majority to pass the House. A simple party-line vote would give them that. When it gets to the Senate where the actual trial takes place it will become more difficult. Removal from office requires a two thirds majority or 66.6666 ad infinitum which translates into 67. A party-line vote in the Senate would be an embarrassment for the Dems as they only have 50 votes. 52 if you count the "Independents". They still need almost a third of the GOP to cross over. I have yet to see a "crime" in any of the whining currently being done by the Dems. If perjury wasn't enough of a crime to remove Clinton, I doubt 15 Republicans will support this nonsense.

They Want the US to Bow to the Dictates of These people?

I have long held that "Anti-Zionism" is nothing but a semanticism created to make Jew-hating respectable. InAnnan updates Beilin on soldiers in Lebanon Kofi Annan proves my point. Now that the Dems control both houses (narrowly) he now is emboldened to drop any pretense that he is nothing but a Jew hater.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that one of the problems in the negotiations for the release of the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers in Lebanon is the demand for Hizballah to return them alive.

I hope he said that because he fancies himself a comedian. Personally, I still think that on 9/11/01, upon learning what happened at the WTC he locked his office and began dancing in celebration. It's time to withdraw from the UN and expell every last one of them from US soil.

Thank you, Veterans

My father was a Marine. He joined during Korea and that "police action" (makes it sound like we were over giving parking tickets) ended as he was on the ship over there. They were called back before he ever saw combat (for which I am eternally grateful as my existance was kind of hanging in the balance since this was well before I was a twinkle in his eye).
My youngest son is enlisted in the Army on delayed entry pending his graduation. To Dad, all those on the boat with him, those who preceeded them who made it back and those who didn't: to Andy and those going in with him, who may or may not come back I say this; and all those who served in between Dad and Andy: Thank You.
It takes people like yourselves who recognize that there is something greater than self that needs to be defended. Thank you for your service, your courage and possible sacrifice.

This is something you Should Hear

Even if this was not a PayPerPost entry I would be recommending downloading Greener's Christmas Song. Aside from the great upbeat sound and vocals, any proceeds from their program will be going to charity. HIV/Aids prevention is the bands main focus. The song is in electric and accoustic formats so you have a choice how you want to listen to it (the website plays sampling of both versions automaticly)
You can use the link above or click the picture below.

Do What You will with it. It's Worth the Read.

RECONQUISTA: Have you a daughter? is a lengthy peice on the correlation between Muslim population and sex crimes in the UK. One note of caution, it is lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.
He also uses other religious populations as control groups. To bad the people in Minnesota didn't read it before voting.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

Captain's Quarters has one of the better post mortems of last night's debacle. As hard as that was to take on the chin, things are not irredemable. They do not have a veto-proof majority in either huse. All their talk about impeachment should just bring chortles of laughter as they have nowhere near the two-thirds majority required for removal from office. This brings up another bright spot, Lincoln Chaffee's defeat took away one more cross-over vote from the Dems.
Sure it was not pretty last night. But let's treat it like a trip to the woodshed and see what we can learn from it (by "we" I am referring to party leadership. I know that is the wrong pronoun but I'm feeling tired and lazy right now). Simple things like not looking the other way when members transgressions are brought to our attention, rather than wait until they are brought to light. Leaning on miscreants to resign early on rather than seeing things like Ney resigning two days before the election. A little better vetting of candidates BEFORE nominating them. I might have had the pleasure of writing about "Former Congressman John Spratt" today if we had done a better job of anticipating possible issues.

Sure last night was bad. There is much that could be learned so it does not happen again. In the mean time, let's entertain ourselves with their little impeachment charade.

Sorry, Groucho. I just had to do it.

I have been a fan of the Marx brothers for as long as I have known of them. The beginning of Duck Soup has a number sung by Groucho (as Rufus T. Firefly) which best describes my thoughts on a House of Representatives with Nancy Pelosi as speaker (include Harry Reid as Senate Majority leader if that comes about as well):

The last guy nearly wrecked this place
He didn't know what to do with it
If you think this place is bad off now
Just wait til I get through with it


dr. Rusty Shackleford in The Jawa Report: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House could not have said it for me better. I can only add, all you "conservative core Republicans" who aided and abetted this by staying home to "teach them a lesson" Didn't we do that in the 90's with Clinton when some voted for Perot...TWICE?
I cannot agree with Michelle Malkin (aty least not unqualified agreement) that conservatism did not lose. While a number of conservative referenda passed the legislators who will be working to overturn them now hold the majority. Their majority is not veto-proof (at least not without help from RINOs like the ones who stayed home yesterday) Let's face it, is the loss of Lincoln Chafee a sad thing for the GOP? Maybe congressional Republicans will reexamine the way they choose leaders and choose some with spines made of something more substantial than a chocolate eclaire. Heck, maybe a number will grow spines of any kind. They made a grievous tactical error early on by trying to "play nice" with the dams. Maybe they will wake up now.

I've always Enjoyed his Writing, This is no Exception

I have always enjoyed Orson Scott Card's writing. I've never let the fact Mr. Card is a democrat stand in the way of that enjoyment.

After John Kerry's recent insulting comments regarding US military personnel I was convinced that Democrats were without redemption. Make no mistake, some of them are, just visit Kos and DU if you don't believe me. Civilization Watch - October 29, 2006 - The Only Issue This Election Day - The Ornery American Is an excellant piece by Mr. Card and deserves to be read by a large number of people.

By the way, Mr. Kerry, my youngest came home a couple of months ago and announced that he wanted to enlist. I asked him why and expressed a desire to serve his country. After he graduates high school he reports to Ft. Benning for basic training. We are proud of him. Too bad that Mr. Kerry et al can only view him as lazy and stupid. Of course, being from Massachusetts, Mr. Kerry's seat is safe. The only way it could be safer is to have an on-going affair with an under-18 year-old page. That would get him a standing ovation from his party as well.

HT: Riehl World View and Michelle Malkin

Taking the "Trust" out of Trustees

Save Yourselves From This Corrupt Generation � Asbury President Resigns contains news of the resignation of classmate Dr. Jeff Greenway as president of my alma mater, Asbury Theological Seminary. Now presidents of institutes of higher learning resign from time to time, but only two years from the time you took over?
Something is not smelling right and fellow alumnus Peter kerr ('06) agrees. He did a lot of leg work and digging and unearthed a few things not reported (see his comment in the Corrupt Generation post linked above for the full text).

For starters we have this:

For the
second year in a row the executive committee chose to do a “formal”
evaluation, bringing in an outside consultant and polling subordinates,
instead of the standard yearly “informal” review. This is highly
irregular, with one source even claiming that in the 22 years prior to
Greenway there was only a single formal presidential review at ATS.

and

...according to ATS bylaws article VII section B, “The President
shall be evaluated annually by the Executive Committee” but it goes on to
say “The President shall be formally evaluated triennially by the full
Board.” Thus the incorrect type of review (formal) was conducted, and
that type of review should only be conducted by the full board. Notes
from the Board of Trustees meeting do not indicate their approval was
given for a formal review

Wait, it gets better:

the task force that conducted the
formal review hired an “outside consultant” that had a serious conflict of
interest, being a friend of a runner-up rival for Greenway’s position two
years ago.[emphasis added]

Now, Prof. Kerr goes on to tell how the facts did not mesh with the outside consultant's report. Agreed upon goals were substantially met. The claim was also made that Jeff was a "polarizing force" :

Among other allegations, the report claims the President
“polarized” the seminary community into half people who dislike him and
half people who support him. The faculty were “distressed and bewildered”
after the meeting with the board, and suspecting flawed data, they held a
plenary faculty meeting on September 5th. According to the minutes of the
“plenary faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary” dated September 5th, the
faculty voted on five resolutions. First, they affirmed “full confidence
in the Presidency of Dr. Jeffery Greenway” by an 85% majority. Second,
84% of faculty called for the executive committee to immediately “restore
Dr. Greenway to his full presidential responsibilities.” More than 90%
requested an emergency meeting of the full board to resolve the crisis,
and a majority resolved to postpone convocation “until Dr. Greenway is
reinstated to his presidential office.” Only one resolution did not pass,
gaining a 50-50 vote, and that requested the removal of the executive
committee chair due to his “inappropriate handling of the evaluation of
President Greenway and because of the faculty’s lack of trust in his
ability to resolve the profound impasse that these events have cast upon
the Seminary.” These votes of faculty in plenary session indicate that
the only “polarization” is not with regards to the President, but is with
regards to the Chairman of the Board. The executive committee has not
taken any action that indicates it values or respects this input from the
faculty, despite the seminary’s expressed commitment to shared governance
between the faculty and the Board.

This task farce (deliberate use of "farce" instead of "force") had no valid reason to dismiss Jeff. NONE!

Jeff resigned for the good of the school, while I am saddened by this I applaude him for it. I only wish the members of this task farce had the same integrity and would go and do likewise. If they do not, they should be removed and named persona non gratis. The most likely occurance is these people will aattempt to do that to myself and Prof. Kerr.

Test

TRying to see why blogger is refusing connection of posts

Give me Rugby

I remember a bumper sticker that read "Real Thinking men play football Soccer". In my experience it has been whiney men who talk in platitudes play soccer, well over here in the US. In England, soccer players, of "footballers" as they are referred to (derisively) in the UK are regarded as louts. Soccer vs Rugby shows a side by side contrast (sort of) of soccer and rugby. The clips are from the two sports' last World Cups. Enjoy.

The Standing O Continues

My one complaint during the Mark Foley flap was not that the GOP may lose Foley's seat, rather it was listening to the Democrats' constant bleating about "morality" and "shameful behavior" when that party has ABSOLUTELY NO moral standing to say a $#@& thing. They gave Gerry Studds a standing ovation when he showed his contempt for the censure of the house. They still treat Ted Kennedy like some kind of icon.
Well, judging from PJM News - Reaction to Death of Former Rep. Studds, they are still in standing ovation mode while shamelessly castigating Foley while revearing the name of Gerry Studds.

Anoder Worfress UN Action

One of my guilty pleasures is that I like South Park. I'd like it more if I could watch while smoking my pipe or a cigar but I promised to not smoke in the house. Anyway when Matt Stone and Trey Parker came out with Team America I went to see it. After the UN resolution against North Korea this week, this scene looked more and more prescient:

warning:contains colorful language:

Ralph, I'm Waiting!

LOCAL ISSUE:John Spratt and his campaigne is giddily reporting that the GOP is pulling all the ad buys for Ralph Norman. Apparently somebody in the party agrees with me that Ralph has some explaining to do. ever since the news broke about illegal aliens being on Norman's payroll I have been awaiting a response from him. This is was the best chance of unseating Spratt that we have had in as long as I can remember. It appears to be going by the boards. The longer this goes without response the more traction it gets. Way to go, Ralph!
I am sorry, Ralph, but an email asking for donations to buy advertising is NOT the response I was looking for. Was it sloppy, less-than-dilligent HR practices? Or was it (even worse) that you were just hoping that nobody would find out about it despite there being a public record of your having been caught in the past? Is there anything else you have held back?
Well? I'm waiting.

The Horse is gone. Let's get that Gate Closed!

According to BREITBART.COM The House is going to look into Sandy Berger's little escapade at the National Archives.

Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't this have been done at the time t was discovered? Shouldn't it have been done before he was tried and convicted of a misdemeanor. There is no way to know what he took as there were only the originals. We are left with only conjecture as to what was in them. I have no doubt as to the answers to those questions. Unfortunately I have no evidence to back it up.

Sorry, but the time for this investigation was in 2004, not on the eve of the 2006 mid-term elections. Sorry guys, but in this case you deserve to be accused of having a political dog-and-pony-show. This should have been vigorously persued at the time.

If the GOP Does not use This...

I don't know if the GOP commissioned this but they darn well should use it.:



By the way, much to no one's surprise it has been flagged.

...When they aren't trying to throw out Their Ballots

Michelle Malkin brings our attention to part of the Democrats website. The page titled Vetrans and Military Families This looks good in theory until you realize that they couldn't even be bothered to find a picture of an American soldier. That is a Canadian soldier.
This is nothing but election year support for our people in uniform designed to appeal to the collective short memory of many Americans. Am I the only one who remembers how they tried to disqualify the absentee ballots of active duty personnel in 2000?


Let's see, don't know their own country's uniform. Wants to disqualify military votes. Looks like support to me.

UPDATE:Surprise, surprise! The Dems have changed the picture.