Airborne Combat Engineer

The last thing aQ wants in the Middle East is democracy

As expected America’s drive to firmly plant democracy in the Middle East beginning with the elections scheduled for January 30, 2005 ran into fierce opposition from terrorists, most notably Abu Musab-a-Zarqawi, the recently assassinated Jordanian- born al-Qaida chief in Iraq.

On January 23, 2005 he declared war on democracy [WOD?] in an audio recording posted on the Web as his terrorist associates attacked polling stations and other targets aimed at disrupting the then upcoming election.[2] This election, since conducted successfully, permitted Iraqi voters to choose a 275 seat National Assembly and provincial councils in 18 provinces. Al-Zarqawi stated: “We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology.” The speaker railed against democracy for supplanting the rule of God with the rule of man and the majority and that this was based on un-Islamic belief such as freedom of expression and separation of church and state.

The History of Democracy, by Harold E. Rogers, Jr.

The author contends democracy was actually born in Mesopotamia (Ancient Iraq), in the Sumerian city-states. So, you could say we're just trying to put things back in order.

Wikipedia entry for History of Democracy

State of the Union policy initiatives

The White House documents the policy initiatives President Bush mentioned in his speech last night.

[Full transcript @ Drudge]

Earmarks frozen

Democratic leaders declared a temporary moratorium on special-interest provisions known as earmarks ...

The announcement appears to be a victory for conservative budget reformers, such as Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Tom Price (R-Ga.), who circulated a petition last week calling for a resolution that would extend funding through the rest of the year, but without earmarks.

[Washington Post, 12/12/2006]

Applause! Good move! Hope it becomes permanent.

Stuck on an escalator

Neal Boortz found this video clip (or had it send to him).

Does it conjure up any analogies for you?

Bush accepts Bolton's resignation

Bolton's nomination has languished in the  Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record), a moderate Republican who lost in the midterm elections Nov. 7 that swept Democrats to power in both houses of Congress, was adamantly opposed to Bolt.

President Bush, in a statement, said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate."

[Yahoo News, 04 DEC 2006]

Too bad. The man called it like it was.

The Mint Program

"The federal government is building a domestic spy network unlike any the world has ever seen.

When it's complete, every keystroke you make on a computer and every automated transaction that has ever involved you will be captured, correlated and relentlessly mined by dozens of federal agencies day in and day out."

This article was originally published in Creative Loafing, which tends to write exaggerated articles. But, even if part of it is true, it's disturbing.

Tera Servatious, Boise Weekly, 9/13/2006

Lots of opinions on the NSA decision

[LINK] QandO

Many are weighing in on the NSA decision.

The Bush Administration is appealing it, so it will be resolved in a higher court.

President Bush said if someone from a terrorist region is calling an American, we want to know why.

Voodoo economics

[LINK] Rich Lowry, NR

When President Bush pledged in 2004 to cut the deficit in half by 2009, critics guffawed. The Boston Globe headlined a story, “Bush’s plan to halve federal deficit seen as unlikely; higher spending, lower taxes don’t mix, analysts say.” “Fanciful,” “laughable” and “all spin,” said the critics.

Well, it turns out that 2009 might be coming early this year. The 2004 deficit had been projected to hit $521 billion, or 4.5 percent of gross domestic product. Bush’s goal was to cut it to 2.25 percent of GDP by 2009—not exactly as stirring a national goal as putting a man on the moon, but one that was nonetheless pronounced unattainable. This year, the deficit could go as low as $300 billion, right around the 2009 goal of 2.5 percent of GDP.

See the graph at The Skeptical Optimist

What have you searched for in past 2 years?

[LINK] USA Today

Top law enforcement officials have asked leading Internet companies to keep histories of the activities of Web users for up to two years to assist in criminal investigations of child pornography and terrorism, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

What if somebody decides some of us are searching for small arms and military subjects a bit too much?

Showdown ahead on emergency spending bill

[LINK] Marketwatch

To paraphrase an old quote:

A hundred billion here. A hundred billion there.
Before you know it, you're talking big money.

How much of our current strong economy is being fueled by borrowed money?

As usual, there's plenty of pork in this one.

And $1.7B to rebuild the levees in New Orleans (presumably heavier). I'd prefer they rebuild on higher ground, and let the lowest areas be a wetlands park, which could flood every now and then.

"President Bush has threatened to veto any final bill that exceeds his request for $94.5 billion in emergency spending ..."

Way to hold the line on spending, W!
Be sure somebody explains the veto procedure to you beforehand.