EMPTY PROMISES, EMPTY SUIT
Here's an excerpt from a letter from Sen. John Edwards to his Senate colleagues:

We request your support for an amendment to the energy bill to remove language that threatens existing administrative and congressional moratoria that protect sensitive coastal and marine areas off the coasts of Florida, California, Oregon, Washington, and the entire Atlantic coast.

Not surprisingly, Senator Edwards failed to even vote on his own amendment -- because he was campaigning in Tennessee. But you have to respect the author's knowledge of Latin plural construction.

Thanks to the NCGOP for keeping us informed.

GIVE ME LIBERTY OR . . .
This is sweet. Is the revolution coming? Protestors in Tehran:

"Khamenei, the traitor, must be hanged," the protesters chanted, referring [to] Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Link via Instapundit.

HOLDING COURT
So, Justice Ginsburg, formerly of the ACLU - though I don't remember Republicans holding up her confirmation or preventing a floor vote - recently said

Good cheer abounded and the mood persisted even through some of the term's most sharply divided decisions. And it is my fervent hope that despite the stormy final weeks that mood will hold.

Yet, why is it that the press always refers to 5-4 votes as "bitterly" divided? I don't sense any bitterness here. And it's only "bitterly" divided when the 5 are the conservatives. I suspect the only bitterness is with the reporter.

CLINTON CLINTON CLINTON
I just had to say something about this mess. It seems that the Clinton spin machine has settled on an oldie but a goodie -- private acts have nothing to do with public responsibilties. Thus, Hillary's now-often repeated statements about her feelings on her husband getting the Big O in the Big O -- from Larry King:

On the other hand, he was not only my husband, he was my president.
...
I was so upset and angry with him, very disappointed. And yet at the same time, he was my president.
...
They understood that this was between us, as it would have been between them in a marriage, and that what was important is the job that Bill was doing as president

How do you tell a bunch of spin is about to spew forth from Hillary -- "the smartest woman in the world"? She often signals it by starting her sentence with "You know". In the Larry King interview she uttered "you know" more than an athlete in a lock room interview. I count 45 times.

THE ROTARIANS ARE GETTING RESTLESS
Remember, they aren't the Rotary Club. Should they be treated as serious, mature members of civilized society?

The Palestinian militant group Hamas vowed on Thursday to carry out further attacks inside Israel following a bus bombing in Jerusalem and warned all foreigners to leave the Jewish state for their own safety.

From Reuters. More:

The Jerusalem attack is the beginning of a new series of revenge attacks...in which we will target every Zionist occupying our land," Hamas said in a statement faxed to Reuters. "We call on international citizens to leave the Zionist entity immediately to preserve their lives."

Here ends your lesson in religious tolerance. Remember, Arab Muslims actually hold seats in the Knesset. I doubt there are any Jews in Hamas.

CRUSADING JOHN
I don't know that Morse was attempting to justify the Crusades so much as trying to make it clear that the one-sided PC sound bites regarding the evil, "marauding" Christians is only part of the story, forget not the great power plays made between the various European kings and the Vatican and the varying levels of barbarism on both sides. And to characterize the Crusading Europeans as being hostile only tp the Muslims and Jews, as though their ignorance was only directed at non-Christians tells only part of the story too. Remember the sacking of Constantinople (now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople). It's still amazing to me that the Arab world can get so much mileage out of their "vicimization" at the hands of the Crusaders when they had previously won the land by conquest and defeated the European attempt to reclaim the land by conquest. It seems to me, the real beef these Arab Muslims have, from a historic perspective, is with the Turks.

ARIEL WINSTON
You make the crazy neo-con-phobics seem reasonable..................resist the temptation. Israel missed oportunities in a huge way on Monday. They had the chance to demonstrate (uh-gin!) that they had more patience and commitment than the Palestinians could muster. Israel validated the terrorists' methods by going after a target that could be considered political vs. military. This is no small matter. The definition of a terrorist is one who deliberately targets non-combatants for military action. It seems neither side "misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

The demostration of a greater purpose on the national stage would have done wonders for the ability of the Sharon government to demand a crackdown on Hamas/H'zbollah activities. The Shia-Syrian/Iran-centric Hezbollah is the greater long-term threat, BTW. More later.

MORSE/SCHMORCHE
I care not what Rick Schmorche says. His pathetic attempts to justify the Crusades as justified retaliation for Muslim incursions is naive at best and more likely disingenuous. Marauding Christians treated Muslims and Jews with great cruelty, fed by the same religious zealotry that fed the Muslim responses. Forget not the great power plays made between the various European kings and the Vatican. This was oppurtunistic conquest for both east and west and no high ground is available for the claiming. Hypocrites on both sides be damned.

INTELLIGENCE HEARINGS ON WMDS
Well, if we are going to have hearings, we need to call the following people, all of whom made forceful statements about the existence and terrible danger of Saddam's WMD programs.

Madeline Albright
Robert Byrd
Jacques Chirac
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
William Cohen
Tom Daschle
Dick Gephardt
Al Gore
Bob Graham
Dianne Feinstein
Ted Kennedy
John Kerry
Joseph Lieberman
Barbara Mikulski
Nancy Pelosi
Scott Ritter
It sure would be fun to expose their previous statements as the bullshit posturing it was, because they (except for Lieberman), didn't want to do a damn thing to back up their words. Boy, I'm grumpy today.

BOMBING HAMAS
The twisted world that is the middle east continues to defy logic. President Bush condemned the Israeli government's attempt to kill the leader of Hamas, and pundits fretted that the Israeli action could derail the "roadmap," just as they fretted the day before about how Hamas' coordinated attack (with Islamic Jihad and Al-Aqsa Martyrs) on Israelis might derail the "roadmap" and the "peace process." But as long as we continue with the ridiculous language of the "peace process," there never will be peace.

Hamas is not a political party. It's not the rotary club, the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or GOPAC. It is a terrorist group built around the unifying philosophies of hatred and a desire to expel Jews from the Holy Land -- by kiling them. The group has all of the subtlety and maturity of a toddler, but without the innocence and with the ability to kill. And Hamas kills. It's time that all parties that truly want peace resolve to treat Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and their benefactors as the murders and terrorists they are, lacking any moral claim to be included in civilized society. Clearly, Bush, Sharon and Abbas do not have the will to treat these people like the children they are and administer a good spanking.

THIS LAND IS MY LAND
THIS LAND IS NOT YOUR LAND
That sums up the continuing political reality of the Israel/Palestine/Judea etc. Chuck Morse reminds us that this argument has been going on for, well, ever.

The Crusades were in response to the Arab conquerors of the Holy Land and their refusal to let Christian pilgrims worship at their holy sites. In fact, it was the Arab/Muslim conquerors that militarily subdued the indigenous Christian regions of Palestine, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, and later Asia Minor and the Balkans. These regions had long established Christian populations, and the Christians in these occupied lands were forced to endure what can only be described as a low-tech long-term Holocaust at the hands of the Arab-Muslim occupiers. This genocide, stretching over centuries, would reach its bloody crescendo in the early part of the 20th century with the annihilation of millions of Christian Armenians, Assyrian Christians, and the ancient Christian Greek population of Turkey.

ARE WEBBYS JUST LIBERAL CRAP?
It looks like this site will never win a Webby, because (a) it's often to the right of Noam Chomsky and (b) the quality is, let's face it, just so so. Anyway, the Webbys went to a number of sites you've heard of, like Amazon and Google, but several went to sites on that are to the left of Hitler and Stalin (yes, Hitler was on the left)-- none to the right, of course. And you'd have thought a little down turn in the economy would make the techie-set a little more tax and spending conscious. Oh well, here are some Webbys, with my preferred picks in ( )parenthesis.

Activism -- Act for Change (Defend America)

Health -- Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (Parents Magazine)

Politics -- Moveon.org (Andrew Sullivan's the Dish)

People's Voice -- Activism (Greenpeace). (New York Times)

HAVE TO AGREE....FOR THE MOST PART
Much as I love debate, Winston, I find little for us to disagree about in the "Screwed Up World" post below. That shouldn't last long.

Just so you don't think I'm slacking in my role as assigned dissenter, let me offer a few quibbles, where applicable:

1. Israel has not dismantled one, single settlement. The article cited clearly indicates that it was unihabited outposts that were dismantled. The number of Israelis in the occupied (Sharon's words) territories is not different as a result of the symbolic act. I wholeheartedly agree that Abbas (Mazen? why can't he just pick one?) is not even going this far. I think that's what Sharon is counting on, and he's made a good bet. Abbas is a figurehead, even more than Arafat.

2. Ditto. I admit to reveling in her troubles because I have a negative impression of her, but what a sad bunch of charges. They made it obvious how tenuous their case is. They are worthy of contempt, but I still can't work up any sympthathy for Martha.

3. That Dukakis or Mondale ever led their races should be as good a warning to anyone about betting based on polling data.

4. Surely you'd not deny the Big East the right to every legal means to try to save their collective butt? The ACC has become the Atlantic Coast Borg - resistance is futile. (Hey, if you can make reference to Obi-Wan, the Borg are fair game, too.)

5. Who is they? Who says they are right? Who cares about a bunch of naked Spaniards?

6. Beware - if/when the weapons are discovered or their whereabouts accounted for, those same opponents will say they were planted. It'd be foolish to think that there will be a global "ah-ha!" moment. Opinions are set and each side will make the needed interpretations about everything.

WHAT'S SCREWED UP WITH THE WORLD TODAY?
1. Israel dismantles settlments while Abbas refuses to actually take any real action against Palestinian terrorists.
2. The feds try to inflate an alleged $48,000 fraud into a billion dollar one by saying claims of innocence with respect to the IMClone trade was a fraudulent attempt to shore up Martha Stewart Omnimedia stock price. And I never even liked Martha Stewart!
3. Polls showing George W. Bush kicking some real ass in 2004 are way too premature and are meaningless. Things will close up as the Democrat political machine gets into gear. Remember, even Dukakis and Mondale led their races at one point in the campaign.
4. Lawyers are trying to stop the ACC from expanding.
5. They call this art.
6. People actually believe that the Bush Administration's pre-war statements regarding WMDs were calculated lies, despite the fact that the statements were consistent with the U.N.'s evidence, statements by Hans Blix and by the Clinton Administration.