Joe Lieberman on Iraq

He's just returned from Iraq:

I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, of course, but the Iraqi people are in reach of a watershed transformation from the primitive, killing tyranny of Saddam to modern, self-governing, self-securing nationhood--unless the great American military that has given them and us this unexpected opportunity is prematurely withdrawn. . . .

Here is an ironic finding I brought back from Iraq. While U.S. public opinion polls show serious declines in support for the war and increasing pessimism about how it will end, polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today. What a colossal mistake it would be for America's bipartisan political leadership to choose this moment in history to lose its will and, in the famous phrase, to seize defeat from the jaws of the coming victory.

Immigration Reform

Jeff Taylor over at Reason has a good article summarizing some of the immigration reform measures coming up within the next couple years:

Shadegg is one of 69 co-sponsors of a bill that would end America's policy of birth-rights citizenship. At one time advocating this change—which would seemingly require an amendment to the Constitution—was mostly for show. But reformers have recently embraced the interpretation of the 14th amendment offered by Chapman University School of Law professor John Eastman.

Eastman turned heads in September in testimony before the House Immigration, Border Security and Claims subcommittee by arguing that the amendment could be read to mean that children born to illegals in the U.S. were not citizens precisely because, as illegals, the parents had not subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.

It is a controversial reading of the amendment, and the change would still face many hurdles—not the least of which would be the Senate —even if it were somehow to pass the House. But that such a fundamental change in American law is even under serious discussion underscores the degree to which immigration reform is a salient national political issue, as opposed to a state-wide or regional concern. There is no denying that House Republicans, Tancredo especially, intend to run with an immigration crackdown for 2006 and see where it leads.

Red State- Blue State Giving

For your quick viewing pleasure... DELAWARE MADE THE LIST

(Again... no surprises)

And to everyone...

Happy Thanksgiving

Jordanians: Zarqawi- "You are a coward."

AMMAN, Jordan -- At least 200,000 persons demonstrated yesterday against the recent bombings of three luxury hotels, while a new online statement attributed to terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi defended the attacks and threatened to cut off the head of Jordan's King Abdullah II.
An anti-terrorist demonstration of such size is unprecedented in the Arab world, where Zarqawi, his mentor, Osama bin Laden, and their al Qaeda organization have attained folk-hero status among Muslim masses.
"Zarqawi, from Amman, we say to you: 'You are a coward,' " protesters chanted while brandishing banners with the names of their tribes from every part of Jordan.

Yet another thing that bodes well for the US in the War On Terror.

House Votes No on Immediate Withdrawal

To all the Democrats that love to say we need to "withdraw from Iraq now," you had your chance- now shut the eff up. You like to talk the talk, but when it comes time for a vote you just don't have the balls...

[Oh, and I thought it was very rich too when all the Democrats cried objections on the floor of the House, yet when the speaker asked for those that objected to giving Rep. Johnson (aka: THE MAN) (R-TX) time to speak... not one Democrat had the balls to stand up and record that objection.]

H. 571: Vote for Immediate Troop Withdrawal from Iraq
AYE NAY PRES NV
Republicans 0 215 0 16
Democrats 3 187 6 6
Independent 0 1 0 0
Totals 3 403 6 22

Great Site

I just found No End But Victory, covering why the US should not pull out of Iraq until victory is achieved.

For All You Doubters...

on Democrats & Iraq, Bryan Preston has a suggestion for you. Go to Google, and type in Clinton Iraq 1998 (or click here):

Google will take you back in time to 1998, the last time prior to the invasion that the US and Saddam Hussein had a major confrontation. The Google search string Clinton Iraq 1998 will bring up 3.5 million hits about that conflict, during which pretty much every prominent Democrat expressed his or her belief that Saddam had or was developing WMD and was a threat because of it.

No one believed then or since that any US action including Operation Desert Fox in December 1998 completely destroyed Saddam's WMD programs. So if the Democrats believed in those weapons back then, why are they claiming to have been fooled by Bush into believing in them in 2002 and 2003? Well, it's obviously politics at work--the leftwing base of the Democrat party has pulled even its national security hawks to the left, where conspiracy theories rule. And the biggest conspiracy theory that the left loves concerns the war, and how Bush LIED us into it.

So Google it. Prove for yourself that he didn't, and indeed couldn't have. Tell your wavering friends to Google Clinton Iraq 1998. If you have Bush-hating friends, make them do that search and then watch their world crumble around them.

A War On Terror Victory

An Iraqi woman confessed on Jordanian state television Sunday that she tried to blow herself up along with her husband during a hotel wedding reception last week, saying that the explosives concealed under her denim dress failed to detonate.

Austin Bay:

Why is this a victory? Because it demonstrates, unequivocally, that Al Qaeda is merely Murder Incorporated, and most of its victims are Muslims. Al Qaeda’s biggest recruiting tool was – and is— the political failure of the Arab Muslim world. In this dysfunctional world tyranny and terror reinforce one another, with the people of the Middle East the inevitable victims.

I'll be watching this one...

ARBONDALE, Ill. - Federal prosecutors are threatening to sue Southern Illinois University over three small graduate school scholarship programs aimed at women and minorities, saying they are discriminatory.

SIU “has engaged in a pattern or practice of intentional discrimination against whites, non-preferred minorities and males,” the Justice Department said in a letter. A copy of the letter was obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

The graduate scholarships, or fellowships, violate Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, the department said. The letter demands SIU discontinue the fellowship programs or its civil rights division will sue the university by Nov. 18.

Democratic Governor R.A. Minner's Approval ratings are lower than Republican President G.W. Bush.

Just goes to show, that while the President has had many turbulent events take place in the past year, such as killer hurricanes, Iraq elections, and 2 SCOTUS nominees to boot, ordinary citizens just don't trust Democrats these days.

Other than the prison debacle, Minner has had little or nothing to do but take long naps in the governor's mansion. Even with all of the problems associated with it, she's done nothing, and taken no action. Disapproval ratings are at 57%, Approval ratings are way below Bush's at 39%.

The difference in the ratings is leadership. The people of Delaware can now recognize, that under Democratic leadership for the past 5 years under Minner, there's been the no-smoking bill (that was proposed by Republican Bob Valihura- which Minner only clung to after seeing it was popular) and nothing else.

If you look at the prison issue problems, the DELDOT crisis, the budget crisis... with Minner, Markell and Carney sitting on the sidelines doing absolutely nothing, it's no wonder people in Delaware want a change.

How's This for a Hate Crime?

The Washington Times via Michelle Malkin:

Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele in his bid for the U.S. Senate are fair because he is a conservative Republican.

Such attacks against the first black man to win a statewide election in Maryland include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an "Uncle Tom" and depicting him as a black-faced minstrel on a liberal Web log.

Operatives for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) also obtained a copy of his credit report -- the only Republican candidate so targeted.

But black Democrats say there is nothing wrong with "pointing out the obvious."

50 Cent: Not as Dumb as Kanye

Rapper 50 CENT has lashed out at fellow hip-hop star KANYE WEST for accusing US President GEORGE W BUSH of racism in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The IN DA CLUB star believes human intervention could not have prevented the effects of the hurricane, which killed over a thousand people in the US gulf states in August (05), and sees no point in reprimanding the President for something which was beyond his control.

He says, "The New Orleans disaster was meant to happen. It was an act of God.

"I think people responded to it the best way they can.

"What KANYE WEST was saying, I don't know where that came from."

Joe Biden Will Vote for Alito

Here's why:

The late Peter Rodino, longtime chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a liberal Democrat on most issues, once told me with tears in his eyes that one of his greatest regrets in life is that his father did not live long enough to see the first Italian-American on the United States Supreme Court. In 1987 I spent a day in Wilmington, Del., with Joseph Biden, who was running for president. He took me around the town, introduced me to his mother and father, and took me to lunch at a little restaurant in Wilmington's Little Italy. He knew everyone there very well and was very warmly received. The thought later occurred to me: There was no way this guy was ever going to vote against the first Italian-American on the Supreme Court. And no way any senators from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were, either. They all had their friends in their state's Little Italy, and they weren't going to disappoint them. Scalia seems aware of this. He's reportedly willing to speak to any Italian-American organization that invites him.