GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

News from the Swamp: Wiretapping fight

President George W. Bush has held fast to his expectations when it comes to the terrorist-surveillance program: It needs to happen, sometimes without prior approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Still, there were compromises in the legislation on the floor in Congress this week—Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective, or RESTORE. The main provision sought by the Bush administration was immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperate with the program, and several Senate Democrats conceded. On the other hand, the bill requires that the FISC review government procedures in the use of wiretaps, and the bill must be renewed in six years, two stipulations the administration opposed. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller IV (D-WV) approved of the legislative compromise, as did director of national intelligence Mike McConnell.

In the House, Republicans made a move to close a possible loophole. The motion explicitly named Osama bin Laden, al-Qa’ida and any other foreign terrorist organizations as legitimate surveillance targets, without FISC approval. “There is absolutely no reason our intelligence officials should have to consult government lawyers before listening in to terrorist communications with the likes of Osama bin Laden, al-Qa’ida and other foreign terror groups,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). When a few too many Democrats began agreeing with the proposed change, however, Democrat leaders pulled the legislation from the floor. Better to quit than lose. The current law expires in February.

On the Hill: Craig and Hastert

To recap, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), to avoid publicity, pleaded guilty in August to soliciting sex in a Minneapolis airport men’s room in June, the publicity came anyway (surprise!), and he promised to resign if his attempt to reverse the guilty plea was rebuffed. His reversal attempt did indeed fail. Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter would not overturn the guilty plea, saying it “was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and… supported by the evidence.” But wait. Sen. Craig has reneged on his promised resignation and is now appealing the decision to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. He says he won’t run for re-election in 2008, but for some reason wants to hang around and further sully the GOP until then. Maybe Craig is innocent, but his broken promises don’t help his party, or, more important, the state of Idaho.

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has said he will resign rather than finish his term. After the GOP lost Congress for the first time in 12 years, Hastert said he would not run for re-election, but he now says he will leave sooner than that.

New & notable legislation

The House passed the Free Flow of Information Act, which offers for the first time federal protections—in certain circumstances—for journalists who are under pressure to reveal sources. The bill’s sponsors include Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN), John Conyers (D-MI) and Rick Boucher (D-VA), an odd team to be sure. The protections do not extend to criminal investigations or prosecutions of classified-information leaks. The President threatened a veto, but the bill passed 398-21, well beyond being veto-proof.

Sen. Hillary Clinton introduced the Quality Child Care for America Act this week to redistribute more wealth—it is her favorite pastime, after all. The bill would give $200 million to provide benefits and training for professional child-care providers.

Longtime homosexual-rights advocate and openly homosexual Demo Rep. Barney Frank (MA) is confident that he has the votes to pass a marked-up version of a new employment non-discrimination bill that offers further protections to homosexuals. The original version of Frank’s bill contained a provision that would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees if they displayed mannerisms and characteristics not traditionally associated with their gender. This ridiculous and unenforceable provision was stripped from the bill to gain wider support, and the homosexual “community,” predictably, cried foul.

Several House Democrats are withdrawing support of the resolution condemning Turkey for the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians, a Christian minority under Ottoman rule, during World War I. That leaves significantly less than a majority in the House that still fancy themselves the Official World Historians of the Republic. Most Republicans, including the White House, vehemently opposed the resolution because of the needless damage it does to our relations with our Turkish allies. Turkey had threatened to evict us from Incirlik Air Base, a critical supply point for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Turkey, meanwhile, has authorized military operations against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, despite appeals for restraint from the U.S. and other nations.

From the Left: At least she listens well

Hillary Clinton finds herself in the uncomfortable position of having supported wiretapping in the past—of her opponents’ cell-phone conversations, that is. A new book by two Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporters reveals “Hillary’s defense activities ranged from the inspirational to the microscopic to the down and dirty.” Indeed, during Bill’s 1992 presidential campaign, Hillary listened in on a secretly taped phone conversation between political opponents about the next woman to allege an affair with Bill. (And she wants to name him “roving ambassador”?) When it comes to national security, however, Hillary is on the other side of this fence. She voted in August against giving the government authority to wiretap terror suspects in the U.S. It appears the only “jihad” that concerns Mrs. Clinton is the “vast, right-wing conspiracy.”

Speaking of aspiring First Lady Bill, his latest book, Giving, has not been getting. Sales of the book have slowed to a trickle after an initial burst in September. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf printed 750,000 copies of the civic-activism handbook; the first week, 50,000 copies sold, but two weeks ago, it was down to 9,600.

Campaign trail: GOP imitates DNC

Disagreement on global warming is creeping its way into the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. While all the major contenders buy into the, er, concerns about the issue, the disagreement comes with what to do about it. John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback are each calling for various regulations on carbon emissions, while Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are deflecting the issue to one of energy independence. Memo to the candidates: Peddling global-warming alarmism is not going to win votes.

On another issue, Sen. Brownback is striking a typically liberal note: He offered a resolution for Congress to apologize for slavery and segregation, though he mercifully won’t call for reparations. John McCain is also behind it. Memo to Sam: Jesse and Al are probably still not going to vote for you.

In the fundraising department, Republicans continue to lag far behind their Democrat counterparts. As The Washington Post reports, “More than a third of the top fundraisers who helped elect George W. Bush president remain on the sidelines in 2008… More than two dozen have actually made contributions to Democrats.” With Republicans too often acting like Democrats, it’s small wonder.

Do NASCAR fans have cooties?

High-minded liberals think so little of Southerners that the Demo head of the Homeland Security Committee ordered aides to get immunized before attending a series of NASCAR events in North Carolina and Alabama. There is no evidence to suggest an outbreak or even a higher-than-average number of cases of the flu, hepatitis, diphtheria or tetanus in the South, but elitist Demos acted purely on their prejudices just the same. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) properly noted, “If anything, it’s the NASCAR fans who should get immunized against Washington officials, not the other way around.” Then again, NASCAR fans are probably smart enough to stay away from DC anyway.

NATIONAL SECURITY

Warfront with Jihadistan: General irony

Retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez recently went speech-stumping before military journalists to put a positive spin on the smoking crater that is his reputation, throwing spears at the Bush administration, Congress and the State Department for what he termed the “nightmare with no end in sight,” i.e., the war in Iraq. Recall that it was during Sanchez’s watch over coalition forces in Iraq that the world first learned the term “Abu Ghraib.” Fallout from that incident ultimately led to his early retirement. Newly enshrined as the highest-ranking Iraq war veteran to publicly criticize the war, Sanchez spared no effort to pass more bucks than a wolf pack on a vegetarian diet.

Contrast Lt. Gen. Sanchez with his successor, Gen. Petraeus, however, and a more complete blame-apportionment mapping emerges. For instance, under General Petraeus’s command, the suicide-bombing rate and death toll have been cut in half, Baghdad and Anbar provinces have been eliminated as al-Qa’ida strongholds, and al-Qa’ida’s Iraq operations are now virtually impotent. Sanchez’s utter lack of a sense of irony hasn’t helped, either. Self-righteously sniping, “[w]hile the politicians espouse a rhetoric designed to preserve their reputations… our soldiers die,” it probably never occurred to him that his attempt to burnish what remained of his reputation while effectively undermining support for the war might be exactly the sort of “reputation-preserving rhetoric” that leads to the death of troops.

Finally, while Sanchez focused the majority of his condemnation on the media and its abject failure to exercise any sense of journalistic integrity—fully half of his speech was devoted to this topic—nothing of this well-warranted media flogging made print in the NYT, AP or UPI. Then again, the MSM’s claims of unbiased reporting never could pass the giggle test.

When good news is bad

Violence in Iraq has been decreasing since the “surge” began to take effect earlier this year and as the violence has declined, so has the frequency of media reports on conditions in Iraq. No coincidence there. However, one report caught our attention this week: “As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch.” The Wadi al Salam cemetery dates back to the 7th century. Come to think of it, so does much of Muslim culture. It is the world’s largest cemetery, located in Najaf, Iraq, and the place where Shi’ite Muslims “aspire to be buried.” Business is not good though because more Shi’ites are staying alive. The one-third decrease in deaths has resulted in lower pay for thousands of workers and spread fears of layoffs. We don’t mean to make light of death or the plight of these workers, but it is hard to take the mainstream media seriously when good news is somehow always bad.

Indeed, ABC’s Charlie Gibson summed it up by saying, “One item from Baghdad today: The news is… that there is no news. The police told us that, to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad and today no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.” Well, no reason to watch ABC anymore, anyway.

Profiles of valor: Staff Sgt. Fetty

Khost City Hospital in Afghanistan was celebrating its grand opening on 20 February 2007 when chaos erupted. Shortly after the ribbon was cut, patients, nurses and doctors began running from the hospital. Among the familiar faces, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Jason Fetty noticed a man in a lab coat whom he did not recognize and immediately took action. Fetty shouted at the man to stop and then lured him away from the crowd—the man was wearing a suicide vest. The jihadi attempted to take Fetty’s weapon, which Fetty was reluctant to fire because of the proximity of innocents. Eventually, further away from the crowd, Fetty secured his M-16 and opened fire, twice hitting the attacker—once in the leg and once in the stomach. In spite of his wounds, the attacker detonated his vest, just as Fetty ran and dove for cover. The sergeant took shrapnel to the face and leg, but no one else was injured. For his quick thinking and bravery, Fetty was awarded the Silver Star and a Purple Heart.

Homeland Security front: TSA shenanigans

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is under fire again this week. TSA testers attempted to carry simulated explosives and bomb parts onto flights either on their person or in their luggage. Screeners at Los Angeles International Airport missed about 75 percent of the items, while screeners at Chicago O’Hare International Airport missed about 60 percent. On the other hand, San Francisco International Airport screeners missed only 20 percent in twice as many tests as Los Angeles and Chicago. Notably, the SFI screeners work for a private company and have also improved over time, while the government employees have an increasing failure rate.

The TSA is also testing a full-body X-ray scanner that is raising civil-liberties concerns, due to its ability to reveal a bit more than most folks would feel comfortable with even after a few beers. One ACLU attorney said, “This technology produces strikingly graphic images of passengers’ bodies. Those images reveal not only our private body parts, but also intimate medical details like colostomy bags.” The TSA promises that being able to, more or less, see you naked is not a concern because they are taking “appropriate” precautions: They will not store, transmit or print the image, and will immediately delete it. Furthermore, they say that this voluntary alternative to the pat-down, which obscures the face of the passenger, would be viewed by a TSA official in another location, so that they would not know your identity—just that you have a mole on your inner left thigh. Apparently, the TSA is unaware of the total depravity of man.

Of course, all this doesn’t mean the TSA won’t tread lightly when it comes to the personal preferences of some folks. The Associated Press reports, “Air passengers will no longer have to remove bulky headwear such as turbans at screening checkpoints if doing so makes them uncomfortable.” Notice to all would-be terrorists: Put your “valuables” in a turban.

Putin supports Iran

Birds of a feather… Russian President Vladimir Putin this week made the first visit to Iran by a Russian head of state since Uncle Joe Stalin went to Tehran for the Allied Summit in 1943. Putin met on Tuesday with Iran’s Wingnut-in-Chief, Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad, and discussed issues including Iran’s nuclear program, the resolution of the Caspian Sea’s disputed energy reserves and the possibility of a U.S. strike on Iran. After declaring magnanimously that he would negotiate with Iran on behalf of the UN Security Council, Putin reiterated earlier comments that Russia saw no evidence that Iran was working towards nuclear weapons, and warned that “threats [over Iran’s nuclear-weapons program] would lead nowhere.”

It’s bad enough that a UN Security Council permanent member is moving to complete Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which Russia demanded be exempted from UNSCR 1696, 1737 and 1747. Worse are the rumblings that Russia may be negotiating with Iran over the most modern air-defense system in the world, Russia’s long-range SA-20. But when a UNSC member with veto power openly takes the side of the world’s Number Two Miscreant in a dispute with the UN itself, it says all one needs to know about the utility of the UN in international affairs, and the trustworthiness of the man who appears to be running Russia as a mafia state. Look for Putin to emerge from his meetings with Ahmadi-Nejad with a whole new list of “outstanding issues” that will have to be resolved before the UNSC can again take up Iran’s nuclear file.

In other Axis news, a Syrian diplomat let slip in a letter to the UN that the nation did in fact have a nuclear facility that was attacked by Israel. “Israel was the fourth-largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations’ airspace, and it had taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 [September] attack in Syria,” Syrian representative Bassam Darwish said. Oops. We continue to maintain that Saddam’s WMD were sent through Syria to southern Lebanon’s heavily fortified Bekaa Valley prior to the launch of OIF in March 2003.

Chinese to gain access to Pentagon computers?

In one of the more painfully obvious, no-brainer bills to be seen recently, House Republicans have introduced legislation calling on the White House to block the merger of a U.S. computer-security-equipment company, 3Com, with a Red Chinese firm, Huawei Technology, which has a history of illegal exports and industrial espionage, and also has close ties to the Chinese military and intelligence agencies. This is the same Chinese military that recently launched cyber-attacks against the Pentagon, illuminated aircraft and satellites with lasers, surfaced one of their submarines near a U.S. carrier battle group, and successfully tested an anti-satellite weapon.

As 3Com sells computer intrusion-prevention (i.e., anti-hacker) hardware to the Pentagon, it is not difficult to see why the Chinese would want access to 3Com’s technology and, by extension, to the Pentagon’s computers. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, said “It would be a grave error” to allow this deal to go forward. We heartily agree! Even phony Swiftboater Sen. John Kerry (D-Cambodia) said the deal should be reviewed very carefully, which just goes to show that even a blind squirrel can find a nut every once in a while. The U.S. has a difficult enough time protecting its technology from our enemies. We don’t need to hand it to them on a silver platter.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

You sunk my battle SCHIP

Democrats are already calling their failed attempt to override President Bush’s veto of the $35-billion SCHIP expansion a victory. (The vote to override was indeed only 13 short.) Their shrill campaign to portray the President as an ogre who hates children was repeated gleefully by the Leftmedia. The fact that the expansion will needlessly put middle-income families on the government dole has been largely overlooked, as has the Democrats’ all-or-nothing strategy that is actually threatening to end the program. President Bush offered to fund the program at current levels until the debate over the proposed expansion was complete, but liberals decided to go for the full expansion, leaving their beloved program in a lurch. Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to bring similar legislation back up for a vote within two weeks, saying Democrats will not compromise on covering ten million children.

For their part, some states have decided to combat the impending funding crisis that Demo lawmakers are creating by cutting children from the insurance rolls. Twenty-one states are expected to run out of money before next September at current funding levels, with California falling short next June unless it cuts children from the program. The children who will be cut, as we have already discovered, are not exactly the most economically challenged. This redistribution game has sailed quite far enough.

This week’s ‘Alpha Jackass’ award

“You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement. President Bush’s statements about children’s health shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, in the United States and in Congress.” —Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) during the debate on SCHIP

Regulatory Commissars: NIMBY

Not In My Back Yard syndrome has struck again. The omnipotent Cape Cod Commission has rejected the proposal by Cape Wind Associates to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm. The wind farm, which utilizes the Cape’s round-the-clock offshore breeze to generate electricity, should be a pet project for environmentalists, but the Commission believes that the farm is an eyesore that will lead to the deaths of large flocks of birds.

The Commission’s mandate obviously is to be a stick in the mud for any and all development in the Cape Cod region and they are acting true to form here. The farm would actually reside in federal waters, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has already approved the project. However, the cables that would carry the electricity generated from the turbines to the mainland are in the Commission’s jurisdiction and it now appears that they are going to bury this worthwhile project simply because they have the power to do so. We suppose environmentalism is only suitable when someone else suffers the consequences.

WTO rules against U.S. cotton subsidies

In a recent ruling, the World Trade Organization declared illegal a number of subsidies that the U.S. government has been paying to American cotton growers. The subsidies are intended primarily to prop up the American cotton industry against Brazil’s. Opponents of the subsidy argue that it unfairly and artificially drives down prices, preventing poorer and smaller growers from being able to enter the market and ultimately hindering free competition.

We agree with the WTO’s condemnation of the subsidies. Insofar as the federal government favors some producers—using taxpayers’ money—it hurts others. In the end, meddling in the market via subsidies hurts everyone, especially the poor. But while we agree that such subsidies are a bad idea, we must point out that Congress need not submit to the WTO on these matters. Congress should eliminate the subsidies, not because the WTO said so, but because it’s the constitutional thing to do.

CULTURE

Around the nation: The two Left Coasts

It was anything but a golden moment in the Golden State last weekend as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger went on a bill-signing spree that hung Second Amendment supporters out to dry and threatened to leave pro-family advocates outside the law.

Under the Crime Gun Identification Act, by 2010 gun sellers must employ “microstamping” technology on all semiautomatic pistols sold in California. The technology laser-engraves the gun’s make, model and serial number on the firing pin, which, theoretically, imprints them on bullet casings. Supporters claim it will help law-enforcement officials nab criminals, but the National Shooting Sports Foundation holds it amounts to back-door gun control as the “astronomical costs” gun manufacturers will incur in implementing microstamping will effectively drive them out of the state. Not to mention criminals now know to pick up their shells.

Meanwhile, mentioning “mom” or “dad” may earn Californians a harasser label thanks to several so-called “anti-discrimination” laws signed by the governor. The California Student Civil Rights Act (SB 777) requires public-school curriculum to depict transsexual and bisexual parents as normal, while the Safe Place to Learn Act (AB 394) orders schools to post “anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.”

According to the Capitol Resource Institute, under SB 777, using the words “mom and dad” may “promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured.” And the Campaign for Children and Families notes that, under AB 394, “a parent who says marriage is only for a man and a woman in the presence of a lesbian teacher could be found guilty of ‘harassment’.” We’re wondering who gave Arnold the impression he was a Republican.

In Portland, Maine, the Portland School Committee passed a proposal to expand access to contraception for middle-school children, typically aged 11 to 13. Proponents argue that even though few children are sexually active in this age group, greater access to contraception is needed for children who do choose to be sexually active. Condoms have been available since 2002, but this proposal extends birth-control pills to girls. The school will not mandate that children tell their mom and dad—oops, parental units—that they are sexually active. The goal of the liberals who backed this proposal is apparently to steer children toward a life of promiscuity and to circumvent parental guidance regarding sexual matters. The distribution of birth-control pills to children, and the removal of parents from the decision making process, will certainly undermine the prospects for that generation, as well as for their offspring.

’Non Compos Mentis’: Airhead America

Angry Left Air America radio-talk-show host Randi Rhodes was mugged the other night while walking her dog in New York City. (Yes, apparently Air America is still on the air.) One of her cohorts on the network, Jon Elliott, declared that the attack was political. “Is this an attempt by the right-wing hate machine to silence one of our own?” he asked. Except Rhodes wasn’t mugged at all—she fell. Both the police and her lawyer confirmed within hours of the report that no attack had occurred, so Elliott set to doing some serious backtracking. “I shouldn’t have speculated based on hearsay that Randi Rhodes had been mugged and that it may have been an attack from a right-wing hate machine. I apologize for jumping to conclusions based on an emotional reaction.” And when it comes right down to it, that’s what liberalism is: an emotional reaction.

Faith and Family: It’s just a part of the job

The head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, responsible for the oversight of all the world’s priests, says he is not a homosexual. Despite being caught on hidden camera while making advances toward a young man and claiming homosexual intercourse was not a sin, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico claims that he was just pretending to be homosexual. (Senator Craig, call your office.) In a recent interview, the high-ranking Vatican official said that frequenting homosexual Internet chat rooms and “meeting” with men is all just a part of his job. “It’s all false; it was a trap,” Stenico said. “I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the Church with my psychoanalyst work.” We’ll see what his boss says about that. The homosexual issue has been the scourge of mainline denominations for some years now. For more information, read Mark Alexander’s essay, “Gender Identity, the Homosexual Agenda and the Christian Response.”

The Frontiers of Junk Science: Swearing at work

Once again, we can provide an answer to a question everyone is asking. According to new research from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, employees’ foul mouths can actually boost morale and develop social relationships among staff. The “researchers” found that, while swearing should be discouraged in front of senior staff or customers, it is more than fine in other circumstances. “Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner,” said one researcher. He concluded, “We hope that this study will serve not only to acknowledge the part that swearing plays in our work and our lives, but also to indicate that leaders sometimes need to ‘think differently’ and be open to intriguing ideas.” This brings new insight into the Clinton campaign. With Hillary’s history of foul and berating language directed at her underlings, we can only imagine that her staffers’ morale is off the charts.

And last…

An Alabama family returned home after a week on vacation to find that thieves had nearly emptied the place. “Tears just rolled down my face as I walked in and saw everything gone and piles of trash all over my home,” the wife and mother said. Then the tables turned. “My husband… caught the thief red-handed in our home,” she said, and he proceeded to hold the thief at gunpoint, making him clean up the mess. But wait, it gets better. When police arrived, the thief had the gall to complain about having been made to clean house. According to the Mrs., “The police officer laughed at him when he complained and said anybody else would have shot him dead.” We guess next time the thief will choose the house with the “Gun Free Household” sticker on the door.

Veritas vos Liberabit—Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for The Patriot’s editors and staff. (Please pray for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm’s way around the world, and for their families—especially families of those fallen Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, who granted their lives in defense of American liberty.)