The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 12/11/2005 - 12/18/2005

Friday, December 16, 2005

Anti-Bush article tied to book release

Times reporter claims NSA spy story delayed 1 year for additional reporting

The New York Times neglected to tell its readers that the publishing of a major story today, claiming President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans, coincided with the release of a book by the article's writer.

Times reporter James Risen says the paper delayed publication of the story for a year to conduct additional reporting, according to the Drudge Report.

The story hit the front page one day after the Iraqi parliamentary election, widely seen as a success for the Bush administration.

Risen claims the White House asked the Times not to publish the article because it could alert would-be terrorists and jeopardize continuing investigations, the Drudge Report said.

His book, "STATE OF WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," will be published by Free Press in the coming weeks.

In an interview today with ABC's "Good Morning America," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush has "acted lawfully in every step that he has taken" while seeking to protect the American people.

Lawyer John Hinderaker of the popular weblog Powerline believes intelligence officials who leaked the story to the Times "should be identified, criminally prosecuted, and sent to prison."

Hinderaker says intelligence officials hostile to the Bush administration leaked the information, citing the Times story, which says, "Nearly a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity because of the classified nature of the program, discussed it with reporters for The New York Times because of their concerns about the operation's legality and oversight."

Official: Bush authorized spying multiple times

President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official said Friday night.

Bush on Friday refused to discuss whether he had authorized such domestic spying without obtaining warrants from a court, saying that to comment would tie his hands in fighting terrorists.

In a broad defense of the program put forward hours later, however, a senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that the eavesdropping was narrowly designed to go after possible terrorist threats in the United States.

The official said that since October 2001, the program has been renewed more than three dozen times. Each time, the White House counsel and the attorney general certified the lawfulness of the program, the official said. Bush then signed the authorization.

�Only if those conditions apply do we even begin to think about this,� he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence operation.

�The president has authorized NSA to fully use its resources � let me underscore this now � consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution to defend the United States and its citizens,� the official said, adding that congressional leaders have also been briefed more than a dozen times.

Senior officials asserted that that the president would do everything in his power to protect the American people while safeguarding civil liberties.

�I will make this point,� Bush said in an interview with �The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.� �That whatever I do to protect the American people � and I have an obligation to do so � that we will uphold the law, and decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people.�

President Bush to address nation on Iraq

President will speak from the Oval Office on Sunday evening

President Bush will address the nation about Iraq on Sunday evening, his first speech from the Oval Office since he announced the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

The address at 9 p.m. ET comes on the heels of a two-week, four-speech blitz to build support for a war that a majority of Americans now say was a mistake.

The White House said it was asking television networks for live coverage of the president�s address, expected to run less than 20 minutes.

�The Iraqi people have just concluded a historic election, and we now are entering a critical period for our mission in Iraq,� White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday.

�The president will talk about the importance of our mission and the way forward in 2006,� he said.

Iraqi Voters Flooded the Polls with 70 Percent Turnout

Final results in Iraq's parliamentary election may not be known for two weeks, but early indications show the Shiite tickets doing well in traditional Shiite strongholds, election officials said Friday.

In Mosul, capital of the predominantly Sunni Arab province of Nineveh, indications were that the Sunni coalition came in first, said a representative for the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, Hameed Shabaky.

He said the Shiite governing party apparently came in fourth behind the Sunni coalition, the Kurds and a bloc led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite.

Turnout in what was a mostly peaceful election was overwhelming. Election officials estimated up to 11 million of the nation's 15 million registered voters took part in Thursday's vote, which would put overall turnout at more than 70 percent.

In the Shiite province of Najaf province, as many as 80 percent of the voters cast ballots for the four-year parliament.

So many Sunni Arabs voted Thursday that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

58 percent of Americans disagree with Bush-Cheney impeachment

One-third of Americans say they believe President Bush should be impeached, according to a new survey � a figure that mirrors the number of people who say the United States cannot win a military victory in Iraq.

While 32 percent want Bush ousted, the figure rose to 35 percent for Cheney, poll results indicated.

In addition, 30 percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who promised to work for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney.

Results of the impeachment survey generally match figures in an earlier Rasmussen poll showing the number of Americans who don't think the U.S. can be successful in Iraq. In that poll, 33 percent said U.S. success in Iraq was impossible.

However, most Americans disagree with Bush-Cheney impeachment. Rasmussen found that 58 percent of those surveyed did not think the president should be removed from office.

Rasmussen said Democrats, by a 47 percent to 28 percent margin, said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports impeachment. By comparison, 80 percent of Republicans would not vote for such a candidate.

The last president to be impeached was Bill Clinton. The House returned two counts of impeachment against Clinton � one for perjury and one for obstruction of justice � on Dec. 19, 1998, for providing false testimony to a grand jury regarding his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton was only the second chief executive in U.S. history to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson in 1868, and the only popularly elected president to have been so charged.

The Senate, however, did not convict Clinton, allowing him to remain in office.

Bush Permitted Post-9/11 Spying

President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States - without getting search warrants - following the Sept. 11 attacks, the New York Times reports.

The presidential order, which Bush signed in 2002, has allowed the agency to monitor the international phone calls and international e-mails of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States, according to a story posted Thursday on the Times' Web site.

Before the new program began, the NSA typically limited its domestic surveillance to foreign embassies and missions and obtained court orders to do so. Under the post-Sept. 11 program, the NSA has eavesdropped, without warrants, on as many 500 people inside the United States at any given time. Overseas, 5,000 to 7,000 people suspected of terrorist ties are monitored at one time.

The Times said reporters interviewed nearly a dozen current and former administration officials about the program and granted them anonymity because of the classified nature of the program.

Government officials credited the new program with uncovering several terrorist plots, including one by Iyman Faris, an Ohio trucker who pleaded guilty in 2003 to supporting al-Qaida by planning to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, the report said.

Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the group's initial reaction to the disclosure was "shock that the administration has gone so far in violating American civil liberties to the extent where it seems to be a violation of federal law."

Asked about the administration's contention that the eavesdropping has disrupted terrorist attacks, Fredrickson said the ACLU couldn't comment until it seems some evidence. "They've veiled these powers in secrecy so there's no way for Congress or any independent organizations to exercise any oversight."

The Bush administration had briefed congressional leaders about the program and notified the judge in charge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret Washington court that handles national security issues.

The Times said it delayed publication of the report for a year because the White House said it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. The Times said it omitted information from the story that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists.

Iraq Mistakenly Freed al-Zarqawi

Iraqi security forces caught terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi but released him because they didn't realize who he was, the deputy interior minister said Thursday, according to CNN.

The deputy interior minister, Hussein Kamal, said the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was in custody sometime last year, but he wouldn't provide further details, CNN reported.

The report could not be confirmed, but a U.S. official said in Washington that American intelligence believed it was plausible. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in compliance with office policy.

There have been several reports of missed opportunities to capture al-Zarqawi, including an April 28 raid by U.S. forces acting on a tip from local informants that militants reportedly including the terror leader were hiding in a hospital in Ramadi.

Al-Qaida in Iraq and Iraqi officials also denied reports last month that al-Zarqawi was among those killed in a raid and gunfight in the northern city of Mosul.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Soldiers say media miss Iraq story

'So much of what happens here never makes the nightly news.'

By Anderson Cooper
CNN

I just finished writing an account of the patrol that will be on our show in a couple of hours. It's now nearly 10 p.m. here, and I still have a couple other pieces to write. We go live at 6 a.m. Iraq time, which is 10 p.m. on the East Coast. So I'm not sure I will be able to sleep tonight.

I can't complain, however. The soldiers I spent the day with work around the clock seven days a week. They can't keep regular shifts because they don't want insurgents to be able to track their routines.

The unit I spent the day with is one month shy of going home. The commander, Capt. Patrick Moffett, was very optimistic about progress in Iraq, and by some accounts Baquba is a real success story. Attacks have dropped 30-40 percent since last year, and the Iraqi police in the city actually are able to conduct some operations on their own.

Every soldier I talked to today said the media hasn't done a good job of telling the full story from Iraq. It's a complaint I've heard before, and certainly understand. I do think television tends to focus on the bombs and the bullets, the most dramatic headlines. So much of what happens here never makes the nightly news.

When today's patrol ended, one of the soldiers said to me, "Sorry it wasn't more exciting for you." I told him I wasn't looking for excitement, and in fact, I was glad the day unfolded as it did.

President Bush�s Approval Rating 50%

President Bush�s approval ratings have spiked dramatically over the last month while Congressional approval crashed. Following several recent speeches on Iraq, voters appear to be rallying around the president, with a 10-point jump in his approval since a similar poll in November (from 40% to 50%). Bush�s largest gain was among Independents, whose approval jumped by sixteen points. Meanwhile, voters are souring on Congress, disapproving of its job performance by 64% to 26% � a 14-point rise in disapproval since last month. Despite controlling both houses, Republicans also disapprove of Congress by 54% to 38%.

Diageo/Hotline Poll Conducted by Financial Dynamics

The Polling Report lists this poll as a nonpartisan national poll.

Hat Tip: The Political Teen

Turnout Strong for Iraq Parliamentary Vote

Iraqis voted Thursday in one of the largest and freest elections in the Arab world, with strong turnout reported in Sunni areas and even a shortage of ballots in some precincts. Several explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the day, but the level of violence was low.

The heavy participation in the parliamentary voting by the Sunnis, who had shunned balloting last January, bolstered U.S. hopes of calming the insurgency enough to begin withdrawing its troops next year.

But much depends on whether the sides, after the votes are counted, can form a government to reconcile Iraq's various communities, or merely fan the current tensions.

Officials were forced to extend voting for one hour, until 6 p.m. (10 a.m. EST) as long lines were reported in some precincts, which election commission spokesman Farid Ayar called a sign that the balloting "was successful and turnout was good." Results will be announced within two weeks.

Police guarding a polling place in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna neighborhood fired shots in the air to celebrate the end of voting there.

When the polls opened, a mortar shell exploded near the heavily fortified Green Zone, slightly injured two civilians and a U.S. Marine, the U.S. military said. A civilian was killed when a mortar shell hit near a polling station in the northern city of Tal Afar, and a grenade killed a school guard near a voting site in Mosul.

A bomb also exploded in Ramadi, a mortar round struck about 200 yards from a polling place in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, and a bomb was defused at a voting site in Fallujah, despite promises by major insurgent groups not to attack such places.

But violence was light overall and did not appear to discourage Iraqis, some of whom turned out wrapped in their flag on a bright, sunny day, and afterward displayed a purple ink-stained index finger - a mark to guard against multiple voting. One jubilant Shiite voter in Baghdad proudly displayed all 10 of his fingers stained with ink.

"The number of people participating is very, very high and we have had very few irregularities," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told The Associated Press. "It is a good day so far, good for us, good for Iraq."

Sunni insurgents plan campaign against Zarqawi

Al Qaida network chief Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi has finally done it. He has angered too many important Sunni leaders, including supporters of Saddam Hussein. Iraqi sources said Sunni leaders are furious over Al Zarqawi's killing of two prominent religious and political figures in Iraq.

The sources said the Saddam supporters have warned Sunni tribes to end their support of Al Zarqawi in western Iraq. The Al Qaida assassination of Sunni dignitaries Hamza Abbas Issawi and Iyad Al Ezzi was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now, the Saddam supporters have vowed revenge.
This shouldn't be any surprise to Al Zarqawi. For the past year, he had been warned by Al Qaida's No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri to stop attacking Iraqis and limit his strikes to U.S. forces. But Al Zarqawi dismissed the appeals, believing that suicide strikes against Shi'ites and assassination of Sunnis resonated well with young Islamists throughout the Middle East and Europe.

As a result, Al Zarqawi can no longer seek haven in many parts of the Sunni Triangle, the Iraqi sources said. Scores of his leading operatives have been captured or killed in quiet cooperation between Iraqi government forces and Sunni insurgents.

The sources believe that within the next few weeks, Al Zarqawi could be driven out of Iraq or killed. Al Zarqawi still has significant support in such hardcore cities as Fallujah and Ramadi, however.

Al-Qaida planned a 12,000-strong army

Men who said they were former al-Qaida members said on Saudi television the network planned to set up a 12,000-strong Islamic army to oust "infidel" regimes.

The men who appeared on Saudi television Tuesday night confessed that their leaders assured them that "an army of 12,000 diehard Muslim believers could not be defeated."

They said they had been misled by al-Qaida preachers who recruited them by exploiting their religious zeal and then dispatched them to Afghanistan through various countries in order to conceal their destination.

They said they were placed in military camps where hundreds of young Muslims were being trained in the use of arms and fighting techniques. Training lasted between two weeks and six months, depending on each person's capacities.

"The military camps were divided as there was a camp for Libyans and Egyptians and other camps for other nationalities," they said.

They noted the special camp of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden hosted only a few elite groups.

They said al-Qaida coordinators - who lived in a variety of Arab and Islamic countries - had the mission of arranging the travel of recruits to Pakistan where other network members coordinated their travel to Afghanistan.

"The military camps in Afghanistan were fertile grounds for mobilizing the zealous Muslim youth and mounting them against their governments and regimes," they added.

Raise A Purple Finger For Freedom


On December 15, the people of Iraq will do what no American should ever have to contemplate. They will risk their lives to vote. For the third time this year, the brave people of Iraq will go to the polls to determine their future. This time they will do so to elect a new government under the constitution that they approved in an October referendum.

On January 30, 2005, AP photographer Andrew Parsons took an iconic photo of an Iraqi woman flashing a "V" for victory after she voted:

http://www.rightmarch.com/images/iraq3.jpg

Her finger, stained purple by poll workers to show that she voted, became a symbol of defiance to the terrorists, a symbol of pride, and a symbol of freedom.

Last January, 10 year-old Shelby Dangerfield from Montana demonstrated her solidarity with the freedom-loving Iraqis by inking her finger:

http://www.rightmarch.com/images/shelby.jpg

Join Bill Bennett, Sean Hannity, Martha Zoller and other radio hosts, (Such as J.R. from Talk Show America) who are encouraging Americans to follow her example by asking them to ink their right index finger purple from December 12-15 to show support for the freedom loving people of Iraq as they prepare to vote on December 15th.

Here are some other things you can do to show support for a free Iraq:

* From December 12-15, ink your right index finger purple or wear a purple ribbon.

* Encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to do the same.

* Email photos of yourself flashing your "Purple Finger 'V' for Victory in Iraq" to Pictures@PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org for posting to the PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org web site.

* Visit PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org
* Encourage local schools to download the Purple Finger for Freedom Model Lesson plan from PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org and ask teachers to teach a current events class about the upcoming Iraqi election based on it.

Let's show the world that freedom loving peoples are united.

* Post the "SHOW SUPPORT for FREE IRAQIS" graphic below on your website with a link to PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org:
http://www.purplefingerforfreedom.org/images/Index/freeiraq.gif

* Email support@purplefingerforfreedom.org to tell them that you want to be listed on PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org as a Supporting Organization.

Thanks for your support!

The Ad Hoc Committee in Solidarity with Free Iraqis PurpleFingerForFreedom.Org

Zarqawi threatens today's vote in Iraq


The terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi vowed to disrupt today's general election in Iraq as a nationwide travel ban was imposed to reduce the threat of car bombings.

With Iraqi exiles starting to cast their ballots, including in Zarqawi's home town of Zarqa in Jordan, a statement issued by his branch of al-Qa'eda announced "a blessed conquest to shake up the bastions of non-believers and apostates and to ruin the 'democratic' wedding of heresy and immorality".

There were sporadic shooting and bombing attacks at polling stations yesterday, and several candidates have been killed in recent weeks. But overall the level of violence seemed to have dropped in the run-up to the poll.

Baghdad's congested streets fell unusually quiet yesterday, with the only sound coming from the odd police siren, occasional gunshots or an American helicopter.

In Tahrir Square posters were hung depicting Zarqawi dressed as a blood-red monster with the motto: "He wants to destroy elections, democracy, progress." There are growing signs that Sunni Arabs, who have led the insurgency for more than two years, will vote in unprecedented numbers.

Some militant Sunni factions, such as the Islamic Army in Iraq, has promised not to target polling stations.

70% of Americans: Jesus is Son of God

Rock solid majorities of Americans believe in God, angels, heaven and hell, and the survival of the soul after death, according to a new poll. Sizable minorities also think ghosts and UFO's exist, the Harris Interactive poll published Wednesday found.

Eighty-two percent of Americans have faith in God, 73 percent believe in miracles, and 70 percent think there is a heaven and that Jesus is the son of God, the poll found.

Sixty-eight percent believe in angels and 66 percent believe in Christ's resurrection, the poll found.

Seventy percent of Americans believe that the soul lives on after death, and nearly two in three said hell existed.

The United States has long been regarded as the most religious country in the western world: a separate poll by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago last week found one in two Americans had undergone a spiritual or religious revelation.

The poll confirmed conventional wisdom that Republicans were more likely be Christians than Democrats, and that women were slightly more susceptible to religious belief than men.

51 terror suspects nabbed trying to enter U.S. illegally

At least 51 people who crossed the border illegally have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism since such tracking began 14 months ago, according to figures released to Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., by the Department of Homeland Security.

Tancredo, a leading congressional advocate of immigration reform, says the figures document the national security risk the nation's porous borders pose on the eve of Congress' first attempt in nearly a decade to rewrite immigration law.

Since October 2004, the Joint Terrorism Task Forces, have kept track of arrested terrorist suspects who are in the U.S. illegally.

The JTTF document released to Tancredo shows 51 people were arrested who had "entered without inspection" into the U.S. from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan.

"If this isn't a wake-up call to our lax border security, I don't know what is," said Tancredo. "What scares me is not this list from federal law enforcement � after all, we've already caught those terrorists. What scares me is the potentially hundreds of terrorists who make their way through our porous borders each year and go undetected."

The suspected illegal alien terrorists were arrested on a wide variety of charges, from smuggling weapons to illegally wiring large sums of money into the country, the document says.

�NBC Nightly News� Does Very Optimistic and Uplifting Pre-Election Iraq Story

This morning, it was the New York Times publishing a positive story about tomorrow�s historic elections in Iraq. ABC News has been doing a lot of optimistic segments on this subject since Sunday. Tonight, it was the �NBC Nightly News�� turn (video link to follow). Brian Williams introduced the segment by first suggesting that the �American media often cannot report the good news in Iraq because travel is still so dangerous.� He continued: �But tonight, we do have some extraordinary pictures of life there, and there are signs you'll see of progress.�

Richard Engel then showed young boys playing soccer on a street, a fashion show that occurred a month ago, along with a film festival. Then, on to the bastion of capitalism, the Baghdad stock exchange, where �without computers, traders take orders by phone and execute them by hand, an average of $3 million in shares trades here a day, 10 times the amount under Saddam.�

Then, Engel went to �Iraq�s first and only radio station run by women for women,� where �anchor Shaimaa Mohammed says America brought her political freedom. �The Americans didn't destroy our country,� she said, �they freed us from a dictator.�"

Engel then shared results of a recent poll in Iraq: �A private Iraqi poll this week found that nearly 100% of Iraqis want U.S.-led coalition troops to leave Iraq. 40% said "immediately," but 60% said foreign troops should stay until Iraq is more stable.�

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Hanoi Jane Fonda: U.S. Troops Are 'Killing Machines'

"Hanoi Jane" Fonda is claiming that ever since Vietnam, U.S. troops have been trained to commit atrocities against innocent civilians as a matter of military policy.

"Starting with the Vietnam War we began training soldiers differently," the anti-American actress says in an email to the Washington Post.

Fonda claims she learned of the policy switch in "secret meetings" she had with military psychologists "who were really worried about what was happening to our combat personnel."

One doctor, she insists, told her U.S. troops had been deliberately trained to be "killing machines."

This began," Fonda maintained, "because the military discovered that in World War II and Korea, [U.S.] soldiers weren't killing enough."
"So they changed training procedures" to teach troops how to commit atrocities.

Still, the anti-war gadfly cautions, it's important not to blame the soldiers themselves for carrying out war crimes.

Recalling the "Winter Soldier" hearings that she and John Kerry staged in 1971, Fonda lamented: "When you put young people into an atrocity-producing situation where enemy and civilian are commingled, where the 'other side' is dehumanized, we cannot be surprised."

Anti-war vets now returning from Iraq, Fonda cautioned, should be listened to instead of being dismissed as "unpatriotic."

"We have not learned the lessons of Vietnam," she declared.

Iraqi Voter: Anybody Who Doesn�t Appreciate America Can Go To Hell (VIDEO)

�Anybody who doesn�t appreciate what America has done and President Bush, let them go to hell�

� Iraqi Citizen, voter Betty Dawisha

Video Here:
Download WMV
Download MOV
Download MP4 (Video IPOD)

Hat Tip: The Political Teen

Baghdad Eerily Quiet on Eve of Elections

Campaigning halted Wednesday across Iraq to give its 15 million voters an opportunity to reflect before parliamentary elections - the final step toward constitutional democracy since the ouster of Saddam Hussein two years ago.

Baghdad's streets were eerily quiet on the eve of Thursday's parliamentary election, with police strictly enforcing a traffic ban. Only an occasional siren, a sporadic gunshot, a U.S. helicopter, or shouts from boys playing soccer could be heard. Borders and airports also have been closed, and the nighttime curfew has been extended.

President Bush said in a speech in Washington that the elections will inspire democracy across the Middle East, but he also accepted responsibility for going to war in Iraq with faulty intelligence.

"We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of brutal dictator," Bush said. "It is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in his place."

Bush said the United States, at the request of Iraqi leaders, accelerated the transition to Iraqi self-government.

"We set four major milestones to guide Iraq's transition to constitutional democracy: the transfer of sovereignty, elections for a transitional government, the adoption of a democratic constitution, and elections for a new government under that constitution. In spite of the violence, Iraqis have met every milestone," he said.

President Jalal Talabani described the elections as "a national celebration, a day of the national unity and of victory over the terrorists and those who oppose our march toward democracy."

He said a good turnout would give the new government the legitimacy it needs to deflate the insurgency and allow it to build up its armed forces so foreign troops could begin withdrawing.

The otherwise calm day was disrupted by demonstrations by thousands of Shiites angered over disparaging remarks made about them by a fellow Shiite politician on an Al-Jazeera television talk show late Tuesday.

The demonstrations, which turned into political rallies, threatened to further polarize the elections after angry Shiites in the southern city of Nasiriyah set fire to a building housing the offices of former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. A secular Shiite, Allawi has campaigned on a platform of national reconciliation.

Romney to announce he won't seek re-election

Governor is expected to seek GOP presidential nomination in 2008

Governor Mitt Romney will announce at 6 p.m. that he will not seek re-election to a second term, setting the stage for an expected campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, a senior aide to the governor said today.

The aide told the Boston Globe that Romney will announce that he will fill out his term, which ends in January, 2007. The move is widely seen as another step in his plans to launch a presidential campaign. His announcement today is expected to be televised live from the State House.

The 58-year-old businessman, son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney, has spent less than three years in elective office, but in that time the state has closed a $3 billion budget deficit without raising taxes, schools have scored first in national math and science tests and Romney held out until the Legislature gave him a tough new drunken driving law he demanded.

Romney began calling supporters and other political figures this afternoon to let them know of his decision. In between calls, he was putting the "final touches" on his announcement speech, which his wife, Ann, planned to attend, the source said.

The announcement ends months of speculation over whether Romney, who took office after winning the 2002 gubernatorial election, would seek the presidency after only one term in office. He confirmed last spring that he was testing the presidential waters. During the past year, he has made frequent trips out of state, often to states that are considered key primary battle grounds in a presidential campaign.

Romney had cast himself as "a red speck in a blue state" during an October speech to a Washington think-tank, one of many similar comments across the country during the past year that had been viewed as disparaging Massachusetts -- the land of the Kennedys and two failed Democratic candidates for president portrayed as out-of-touch liberals.

Should he run for president, a decision he is expected to announce closer to the 2008 election, Romney will need to break through a pack of more prominent Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

President Bush Defends Decision to Go to War in Iraq

President Bush accepted responsibility on Wednesday for going to war with faulty intelligence, but firmly defended a decision that has deeply divided the country. "We cannot and will not leave Iraq until victory is achieved," he said.

The president said that Thursday's parliamentary elections in Iraq are a watershed moment that will inspire democracy across the Middle East. But with public opinion still running against his mission, Bush still was left defending his decision to go to war nearly three years ago.

"It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq," the president told a foreign policy forum on the eve of elections to establish Iraq's first permanent, democratically elected government. "And I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities. And we're doing just that."

"We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of brutal dictator," Bush said. "It is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in his place.

"My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision. Saddam was a threat and the American people and the world is better off because he is no longer in power," the president told the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Most Americans see progress on establishing democracy in Iraq, but they are less optimistic about efforts to prevent a civil war and reduce the number of civilian casualties, polling found.

Almost six in 10 - 56 percent - said they thought progress is being made in the establishment of democracy, but almost as many - 53 percent - said they thought the United States was losing ground in reducing civilian casualties, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Answering critics who have said he had offered no clear definition of victory in Iraq, Bush offered a succinct summation.

"Victory will be achieved by meeting certain objectives: when the terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy, when the Iraqi security forces can protect their own people, and when Iraq is not a safe haven for terrorists to plot attacks against our country," he said. "These objectives, not timetables set by politicians in Washington, will drive our force levels in Iraq."

Text: President Bush's Speech on Iraq War

Some Major Players in the Iraq Elections

Some of the major players in Iraq as it holds the first parliamentary elections under its new constitution Thursday:

ABDUL-AZIZ AL-HAKIM: The 55-year-old cleric, Iraq's most powerful politician, heads the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shiite Muslim coalition that aims to maintain its dominance of parliament. He once led a Shiite militia based in Iran and still has deep ties to Iraq's mostly Shiite neighbor. His power base is the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, currently the largest party in parliament. He prefers to operate behind the scenes, installing his ally, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as prime minister after January elections.

GRAND AYATOLLAH ALI AL-SISTANI: Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, 75-year-old al-Sistani has signaled to his followers to vote for al-Hakim's Shiite-led alliance. The Iranian-born al-Sistani has shown his electoral power once already: In the January vote, his word brought out tens of thousands of Shiites in support of the coalition.

AYAD ALLAWI: Installed by the United States as prime minister after it returned sovereignty to Iraq in June 2004, Allawi was routed in January elections by religious Shiite parties. Allawi, born in 1945, is a secular Shiite who had ties to the CIA while leading exiled opposition to Saddam Hussein. He now heads a coalition of Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish moderates aiming to break the religious parties' hold.

ADNAN AL-DULAIMI: A Sunni Arab and head of General Conference for the People in Iraq. Al-Dulaimi, 73, was an Islamic studies professor at Baghdad University. After the fall of Saddam's regime he became head of the Sunni Endowments, the government top Sunni religious post. He then joined the General Conference for Sunnis. Running with the Iraqi Accordance Front.

MUQTADA AL-SADR: A popular leader among poor Shiites and son of a grand ayatollah believed killed by Saddam's forces in 1999, al-Sadr has become a major player in Iraq two years after thousands of his militiamen battled U.S. troops in two major uprisings. He was sought in the 2003 slaying of a senior Shiite cleric in Najaf but the warrant was shelved under a deal to end the fighting. Unlike mainstream Shiite parties, he wants an immediate end to the U.S. presence. Candidates from his movement, some participating in al-Hakim's alliance, are expected to fare well.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Gallup: Poll Finds Americans' Belief in God Remains Strong

A new Gallup survey released today finds that four decades after the "God Is Dead" controversy was first noted, Americans retain a strong belief in a higher power. Some 94% think God exists.

Only 5% feel God "does not exist" -- and even most of them "are not sure" of that. Exactly 1% are certain there is no God.

But how strongly do the believers believe? Nearly 8 in 10, in fact, say they are "convinced" God exists, although Gallup does not ask them why that is.

Conservatives are more likely to be convinced than liberals (87% vs. 61%), women a little more likely than men (82% vs. 73%), and residents of the South more than those in the East (88% vs. 70%).

Surprisingly, some 61% of those who seldom or never attend church are nevertheless convinced that God exists.

Katrina Death Stats Contradict Racial Complaints

The popular perception that African-Americans living in New Orleans were disproportionately victimized by the government's botched Hurricane Katrina rescue effort turns out not to be true - at least according to preliminary death statistics released by the state of Louisiana.

On Wednesday, Congress heard dramatic testimony from black Katrina survivors, who complained that racism drove the federal rescue efforts and resulted in an unnecessarily high number of African-American deaths.

"People were allowed to die," storm survivor Leah Hodges testified, telling a House panel that black residents of New Orleans had been victims of "genocide and ethnic cleansing."

But preliminary figures compiled by the morgue in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, which is the primary facility handling the bodies of Katrina deceased, show that a majority of the dead in New Orleans and surrounding parishes were actually not black.

Of the 883 bodies processed so far by medical examiners at St. Gabriel, 562 have been identified by race. Slightly less than half that number - 48 percent - are African-American.
Forty-one percent are white, 8 percent unknown and 2 percent Hispanic.

The remarkable numbers, which undermine claims that Katrina rescue efforts were somehow infused by racism, have been completely ignored by the national media, with only the Lousiana-based news web site, The Bayou Buzz, devoting any coverage at all to the story.

The surprisingly low death rate for black Katrina victims comes despite the fact that New Orleans itself was more than two-thirds black [67 percent] when the storm hit. White residents made up less than a third [28 percent] of the city's population, according to U.S. Census bureau numbers.

The two hardest hit areas were Orleans parish, which is the city itself - with 720 people killed by Katrina - and St. Bernard parish, with 123 dead.

St. Bernard parish is 88 percent white, but the total population before the storm was just 65,554 people. The city of New Orleans, on the other hand, had 484,674 people before the storm, 67 percent of whom were black.
The two populations combined were still over 60 percent black - twelve points higher than the percentage of black residents killed by Katrina.

To view the statistics on Katrina dead released by the state of Louisiana, Click Here:

Recruiting Rates Up Militarywide; Army Targets New Veterans

Both the active Army and Army National Guard continued reversing a springtime recruiting slump, exceeding their November goals at 105 and 110 percent, respectively, defense officials announced today.
The active Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force also exceeded their November goals, reporting rates of 102, 105 and 101 percent, respectively. The Marine Corps Reserve and Air Force Reserve achieved 100 percent of their November recruiting goals as well, officials reported.

Three reserve components experienced shortfalls in November. The Army Reserve recruited 96 percent of its goal; the Navy Reserve, 87 percent. The Air National Guard, already at 99 percent of its year-end strength, recruited 71 percent of its earlier-designated November goal, officials said.

A new program designed to entice veterans of all services to join the Army is among initiatives expected to help the Army continue its recent success in reaching its recruiting goals, officials said. Officials are hopeful the new "Unity of Effort" program will encourage more prior-service members, regardless of their service, to bring their experience to the Army's ranks.

In mid-November Army officials contacted 78,000 veterans who recently left the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, encouraging them to consider returning to military service in the Army, Lt. Col. Roy Steed, the Army's deputy division chief of enlisted accessions, said during a recent interview with the Pentagon Channel.

The Army is hoping 1,600 of those contacted will take the Army up on its offer, helping the Army reach its higher recruiting goals with experienced new members who have already proven they can adapt to military life, Steed said.

"We are trying to work smart," he said. "If you have already recruited them once and you have already trained them once and the person wants to come back and serve, let's give them the opportunity to come back. And they are coming back."

Prior-service troops make attractive recruits, he said. "They bring experience. They bring commitment. They know what the military is about, so they already have that under the belt and they adjust and adapt a lot quicker," Steed said. "It's a win-win situation."

If retention rates are any indication, the program is likely to be a solid success.

The Army is at the 92 percent mark on its active-duty year-end re-enlistment goal, and the Marine Corps and Air Force both reported solid re-enlistment rates in November, defense officials reported today.

The Navy barely missed its mid-career goal, officials said, but is making program adjustments to reduce losses in specific specialized skill areas to achieve its end-of-year mission.

On the reserve component side, the Army and Air Guard retained 103 and 101 percent of their cumulative goals for the year, respectively. The Army Guard is at 95 percent of its end strength and the Air Guard is at 99 percent, officials said.

Losses in all other reserve components were within acceptable limits during October, and that trend continued in November, officials reported.

Tookie Responsible for More than Just Four Murders

by JR

Tookie Williams, the co-founder of the violent Crips street gang, was executed by lethal injection at 12:01 AM for the 1979 robbery murders of four people in Los Angeles.

The execution went ahead as scheduled after the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday rejected a last-minute appeal.

The high court's ruling followed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to deny clemency for Williams.

"Based on the cumulative weight of the evidence, there is no reason to second-guess the jury's decision of guilt or raise significant doubts or serious reservations about Williams' convictions and death sentence," Schwarzenegger said in a five-page statement explaining his decision.

Williams has maintained his inocence in those slayings and had denounced gang violence and wrote anti-gang books while in prison.

Having been convicted of murder and sentenced to death, Tookie Williams was not always the model prisoner, he had been a member of a prison gang and had been in numerous incidents while in prison, including throwing chemicals into a Prison Guards face.

He never admitted that he committed these murders thereby showing no real remorse for his crimes.

Could Tookie Williams be innocent of the four murders? I suppose it's possible but highly improbable.

There is something else that must be considered, Tookie Williams was the co-founder of one of the most violent street gangs in history, The Crips. The Crips are responsible for many murders, robberies, and rapes. They have destroyed many young peoples lives in the process of their mayhem. As a co-founder of the Crips, shouldn't Tookie Willams share some of that responsibility ?

If Tookie Williams were a gun manufacturer the answer would be YES. We hold gun manufacturers responsible when someone kills or seriously injures someone with a firearm, yet we don't apply the same standard to someone who is truly reposnsible for not just four persons murders but probably thousands of violent crimes committed against innocent people daily, including murder.

Let's face it. Had it not been for Hollyweird, Jackson or Sharpton, not many would even know of Tookie Williams. My question is this, and I don't mean to offend anyone, if Tookie Williams wasn't black, would we have heard from any of them about this case.

Tookie's case was reviewed more than twenty times during his incarceration and not one judge found any reason for a new trial.

I take no solice or joy in the death of Tookie Williams. It is indeed sad whenever we have to take someone's life. But Tookie Williams himself was the instrument of his own demise.

Monday, December 12, 2005

JR's Take: MSNM In Shock: Iraqi's Optimistic About Iraq's Future

A recently released poll shows that Iraqi's are very optimistic about their countries future.

Interviewers found that 71% of those questioned said things were currently good in their personal lives, while 29% found their lives bad.

When asked whether their lives would improve in the coming year, 64% said things would be better and 12% said they expected things to be worse.

Of Iraqi's interviewed, 69% expect Iraq to improve, while 11% say it will worsen.

This of course sends the main stream news media into a tail spin and they are desperately trying to spin the poll so that the negative aspects of it stand out.

The opening statement in an ABC article says it all for the MSNM:

Surprising levels of optimism prevail in Iraq with living conditions improved, security more a national worry than a local one, and expectations for the future high.

In an opening sentence of an AP story:

Most Iraqis disapprove of the presence of U.S. forces in their country, yet they are optimistic about Iraq's future and their own personal lives, according to a new poll.

Notice how we have to hear the negative aspect of the poll first. This is how the MSNM tries to spin the poll toward a negative view of the war in Iraq and the US Military presence there. However, the part of the sentence, Most Iraqis disapprove of the presence of U.S. forces in their country, is misleading.

Compare that statement to this part of the poll:

A fourth of those surveyed, 26 percent, say U.S. forces should leave now, and another 19 percent say troops should leave after those chosen in this week's election take office. The other half say U.S. troops should stay until security is restored, 31 percent, until Iraqi forces can operate independently, 16 percent, or longer, 5 percent.

Granted no citizens want foreign troops occupying their country, but it certainly appears that although it's true the Iraqi's want coaltion forces to leave Iraq, only 26 % think that should happen RIGHT NOW.

The poll also find that:

Two-thirds express confidence in the Iraqi army and in police.

More than six in 10 say they feel safe in their neighborhoods, up from 40 percent in June 2004.

Six in 10 say local security is good, up from half in February 2004.

This is certainly not the picture painted by the main stream news media who bombard us daily with negative news from Iraq.

Here's what Paul Reynolds of the BBC had to say on the poll:

The BBC News website's World Affairs correspondent, Paul Reynolds, says the survey shows a degree of optimism at variance with the usual depiction of the country as one in total chaos.

The findings are more in line with the kind of arguments currently being deployed by US President George W Bush, he says.


The BBC goes on to say:

However, our correspondent adds that critics will claim that the survey proves little beyond showing how resilient Iraqis are at a local level - and that it reveals enough important exceptions to the rosy assessment, especially in the centre of the country, to indicate serious dissatisfaction.

One can expect that the Iraq War critics and the MSNM will do just that.

Although there are still many hegatives in this poll, it appears that the findings of this poll are more in tune with what the President has been saying and a stark contrast from what we see and hear daily form the main stream news media on Iraq.

The fact that ABC News calls the positive results of the poll "Surprising" shows you just how out of touch the main stream new media is when it comes to Iraq.

Survey finds optimism in new Iraq


An opinion poll suggests Iraqis are generally optimistic about their lives, in spite of the violence that has plagued Iraq since the US-led invasion.

Their priority for the coming year would be the restoration of security and the withdrawal of foreign troops.

A majority of the 1,700 people questioned wanted a united Iraq with a strong central government.

The BBC News website's World Affairs correspondent, Paul Reynolds, says the survey shows a degree of optimism at variance with the usual depiction of the country as one in total chaos.

The findings are more in line with the kind of arguments currently being deployed by US President George W Bush, he says.

Interviewers found that 71% of those questioned said things were currently very or quite good in their personal lives, while 29% found their lives very or quite bad.

When asked whether their lives would improve in the coming year, 64% said things would be better and 12% said they expected things to be worse.


However, Iraqis appear to have a more negative view of the overall situation in their country, with 53% answering that the situation is bad, and 44% saying it is good.

But they were more hopeful for the future - 69% expect Iraq to improve, while 11% say it will worsen.

When asked to choose a priority for the new government due to be formed after this week's parliamentary elections, 57% wanted to focus on restoring public security.

Removing US-led forces from Iraq came second with 10%, while rebuilding the country's infrastructure was third.

More than six in 10 say they feel safe in their neighborhoods, up from 40 percent in June 2004.

Six in 10 say local security is good, up from half in February 2004.


A fourth of those surveyed, 26 percent, say U.S. forces should leave now, and another 19 percent say troops should leave after those chosen in this week's election take office. The other half say U.S. troops should stay until security is restored, 31 percent, until Iraqi forces can operate independently, 16 percent, or longer, 5 percent.

Polygamy rights:The next civil-rights battle

'We're coming. We are next. There's no doubt about it'

"Polygamy rights is the next civil rights battle." So goes the motto of a Christian pro-polygamy organization that has been watching the battle over homosexual "marriage" rights with keen interest.
"We're coming. We are next. There's no doubt about it, we are next," says Mark Henkel, founder of www.TruthBearer.org.
Traditional values groups often argue that legalizing same-sex "marriage" is a "slippery slope" -- that if marriage is redefined to allow homosexuals to "wed," it will be further redefined to allow other unions, including polygamous ones.
Homosexual rights leaders and their allies insist that the "slippery slope" argument is a rhetorical dodge. It's a "scare tactic," says Freedom to Marry founder
Evan Wolfson.
"What homosexuals are asking for is the right to marry, not anybody they love, but somebody they love, which is not at all the same thing," Brookings Institution scholar Jonathan Rauch has written.
South Dakota lawmakers this year proposed the first constitutional marriage amendment that specifically outlaws unions of "two or more" persons.
The measure's author, South Dakota state Rep. Elizabeth Kraus, said the ban on polygamy is intentional.
After Canada legalized same-sex "marriage," its government "launched a study to look at the ramifications of polygamy," Mrs. Kraus said. "Once you open the marriage door to anyone other than one man or one woman, you haven't begun to slide down the slippery slope. You've already hit rock bottom."
Voters will decide on the measure next November.
Also this year, a New Jersey appellate court expressed concerns about a right to polygamy in its 2-1 rejection of same-sex "marriage."
"The same form of constitutional attack that plaintiffs mount against statutes limiting the institution of marriage to members of the opposite sex also could be made against statutes prohibiting polygamy," New Jersey Appellate Judges Stephen Skillman and Anthony J. Parrillo said in their ruling in Lewis v. Harris.
"Indeed, there is arguably a stronger foundation for challenging statutes prohibiting polygamy than statutes limiting marriage to members of the opposite sex" because unlike homosexual "marriage," polygamy has been and still is condoned by many religions and societies, they wrote.

Israel Prepares for Strike on Nuclear Iran

Israel has not ruled out a military strike against Iran if the country advances further in its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, a senior Defense Ministry official said Sunday.

Amos Gilad denied a Sunday Times article that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon already had a plan to attack Iran in March, saying Israel was working with the rest of the world to solve the matter with diplomatic means.

"Right now the situation requires the focus on the international issue of protecting the peace of world," Gilad told Israel Radio. "But it isn't correct to say that a country that is threatened should deny that it will ever consider a different option."

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday: "Israel can not live in a situation in which Iran has the atomic bomb."

According to the newspaper report, Israel has a plan for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to stop the nuclear program. Sharon's inner Cabinet authorized the attack in a meeting last month, the newspaper said.

Sharon said earlier this month that the ability to take out Iran's nuclear program by force "of course exists."

Although Israel is preparing for the possibility that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons, it will not lead the fight against the Islamic state's nuclear ambitions, Sharon has said.

Israeli warplanes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, but experts say a similar strike would be difficult because of the dispersed nature of Iran's nuclear program.

The chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz, suggested that Israel knew where Iran was conducting its nuclear program.
"Israel has acted well in regards to intelligence and deployed accordingly," Steinitz told Army Radio.

Chris Wallace: Mike Wallace Has 'Lost It'

"Fox News Sunday" anchorman Chris Wallace says father Mike Wallace has "lost it" - after the legendary CBS newsman told the Boston Globe last week that the fact George Bush had been elected president shows America is "[expletive]-up."

"He's lost it. The man has lost it. What can I say," the younger Wallace lamented to WRKO Boston radio host Howie Carr on Friday.

"He's 87-years old and things have set in," the Fox anchor continued. "I mean, we're going to have a competence hearing pretty soon."

Wallace Jr. quickly dispelled any notion that he was joking. When Carr suggested that his comments were likely to be covered by NewsMax, he responded: "You know what? Fine. Go ahead. Call them. That's fine. I'll stand by that."

Returning to the topic of his father's competence, Wallace Jr. explained: "He's checked out. I don't understand it," beyond the fact that Wallace Sr. has "problems with the war."
"I don't know why he said what he said," he added.

On Thursday, the elder Wallace told the Boston Globe that if he had the chance to interview President Bush, he'd ask:

"What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?"

Still, despite his criticism, Wallace Jr. seems to have inherited some of his father's shoot-from-the-lip-style.

Asked about DNC chair Howard Dean's recent prediction that the U.S. would lose the war in Iraq, Wallace told Carr:
"We are in a war. We do have 150,000-plus American soldiers over there. I mean, it's Tokyo Rose, for God sakes, going on radio saying we can't win the war."