Thune's BRAC legislation

The Daschle holdouts can't seem to accept the fact that the war is over and are scorning Senator Thune's efforts to save Ellsworth Air Force Base at a time when every South Dakotan who cares about saving Ellsworth should be pulling together.  Amazingly, people who are directly under Daschle's imprimatur promote "F--k off, John Thune" t-shirts, openly admit they are bitter about the last election, publicly muse about "ripping Thune's n--s off," and yet for some reason are taken seriously by the local press when they issue releases attacking Thune.  The vicious nature of the Daschle campaign that hid behind humbug about "startling meanness" in politics has finally been unmasked.   

By the way, isn't it remarkable how the Daschle holdouts are implicitly stating that someone who has been in the Senate for five months has more capability to lead on the BRAC issue than Senator Johnson, who has been in the Senate for eight years?  In the Daschle holdouts' rush to descend on Thune at a moment of perceived vulnerability, Daschle's contempt for Johnson has also been unmasked. 

Anyway, earlier this week, Senator Thune attended a hearing held in Washington by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission at which Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper testified.  The AP recorded the Thune-Jumper confrontation in a couple of photos, as seen below.

On Thursday, Senator Thune introduced legislation to postpone the 2005 round of defense base closure and realignment.  You can read the contents of his bill (S. 1075) at this link.   

Here's a photo of Senator Thune's press conference on Thursday promoting his BRAC postponement bill, at which several co-sponsors of his bill also appeared.

The Washington Post reported on this press conference yesterday, noting particularly that several of these senators praised Thune's leadership on the BRAC issue. Excerpt:

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said in front of the seven television cameras in the gallery: "Senator Thune has done us a great service by offering this legislation." Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said: "Let me start by thanking you, Senator Thune, for your leadership." And so it went as each senator spoke.

Clearly, any reasonable observer can see that Senator Thune is working very hard at all levels to save Ellsworth.

Dean's 100 Days

The Dems are frustrated with Chairman Dean's first 100 days.  USA Today:

National party chairmen Howard Dean and Ken Mehlman have the same job titles but different jobs. One is on a mission to rebuild, the other to expand. ...

Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is courting black and Hispanic voters on a regular basis. ...[He] has visited Latino neighborhoods and historically black campuses[,] attended black-oriented receptions and ceremonies, spoken to minority chambers of commerce and raised money for Otto Banks of Harrisburg, Pa., a black city council candidate new to the GOP.

Dean, who reaches Day 100 as Democratic National Committee chairman Monday, is for the most part speaking to diehard Democrats who are the backbone of their party. He's addressed Democrats in nine states dominated by Republicans, such as Kansas and Mississippi, and in party strongholds such as California and Massachusetts. He's spoken to labor unions, gay-rights groups and state party chairs — all pillars of the party.

Some Democrats are frustrated by the contrast between the two approaches, even as they praise Dean's efforts to revitalize flagging state parties. "Democrats should be stirring things up, roiling the waters on (the GOP) side the way Mehlman is on ours. He's playing in our sandbox," says Steve Rosenthal, CEO of America Coming Together, a group formed to energize and turn out Democratic voters. ...

Rosenthal, Marshall and others say Democrats — led by Dean — should be reaching out to groups and areas where Republicans have done well: military families, Catholics, evangelical Christians, business leaders, people who live in the "exurbs" beyond even outer suburbs, and people who live in small, "micropolitan" cities. They also say Democrats should focus on black and Latino voters, even though majorities of both voted for Democrat John Kerry for president last year. ...

Dean is offering Democrats his trademark red-meat rhetoric along with guidance on outreach. In speeches covered locally, he has called Republicans "corrupt," "brain-dead" and "mean." "They are not nice people," he said last month in a radio interview on Air America Minnesota, according to the political newsletter Hotline. Last weekend he said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, whose associates are under investigation but who has not been charged with anything, should go home to Houston to "serve his jail sentence" at Texas expense.

At the same time, Dean tells Democrats they need to "respect people in all 50 states" and try to win them over. "We need to talk to people from our hearts," he told California Democrats. He said Democrats should "say what our values are" and "inform Americans about what we believe instead of letting the other party do it."

Lies from the Religious Left

I remember hearing about this several times.  James Watt sets the record straight.

Last December Moyers received an environmental award from Harvard University. About three paragraphs into the speech, after attacking the Bush administration, Moyers said: "James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.' Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was talking about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out across the country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true -- one-third of the American electorate if a recent Gallup poll is accurate."

I never said it. Never believed it. Never even thought it. I know no Christian who believes or preaches such error. The Bible commands conservation -- that we as Christians be careful stewards of the land and resources entrusted to us by the Creator.

Perhaps Moyers can produce evidence to back up his account, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  Moyers has been dishonest from the beginning, and I rather suspect this is just another blantant lie.

The Permanent Campaign

There must be a special place in Hell for those who create FEC reports.  Or perhaps that is the Hell.  Anyhow, this is what your intrepid blogger found by perusing the April Quarterly report for the Daschle campaign war chest.  This is actual campaign money (you know, A Lot Of People Supporting Tom Daschle), not DASHPAC.  You too can access this information by going here and clicking on the PDF file for the April report at the top. WARNING:  It's a big flippin' file.  For poor suckers like me who are still on dial up, it's a loooong download. 

Since the beginning of 2005 former Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrand has personally been paid $2696.63 by the Daschle campaign that supposedly isn't campaigning anymore.  Part of this is $809.56 on Valentine's Day.  Couple this with the $1518.08 he received the same day from DASHPAC, and there was a lot of Daschle love going out to Steve Hildebrand this past Valentine's Day.  You can find these payments on pages 20 and 46 of the PDF document.   Hildebrand's consulting company was paid by the Daschle campaign chest a total of $3000 in March 2005 (three separate payments of $1000).  You can find these expenditures on pages 31-32 of the report.  Add all this up with the DASHPAC money that I noted below, and Mr. Hildebrand and his consulting interests have been paid a total of $13,214.81 by Tom Daschle from January to the end of March 2005. 

As I also noted below, there is nothing necessarily unethical about this.  Perhaps these are payments for services rendered during the campaign.  But it certainly raises questions when those who run "independent" political groups that do nothing other than attack John Thune are actually on the payroll of Tom Daschle.  Daschle has left a possible political future open for himself.  Perhaps he is just never going to stop running for office, and he is still paying people to run his permanent campaign. 

Job Stats

Both Dakotas doing well jobwise.  I found the summary at NRO here (scroll down a bit) and you can see some of the stats from the Joint Economic Committee here and here (pdf warning). 

·        Non-farm payroll employment increased in 46 states and the District of Columbia in April and decreased in 4 states.

Job gains of 10,000 or more occurred in Florida (+21,000), California (+20,400), Illinois (+17,700), Nevada (+13,500), North Carolina (+13,400), Texas (+12,100), and Michigan (+10,000). Job losses were reported in Colorado (-3,600), Delaware (-1,800), Louisiana (-500), and West Virginia (-200).

Ø The largest over-the-month percentage increases in employment were in Nevada, the District of Columbia, North Dakota, Idaho, South Dakota, Iowa, and Wyoming. The largest over-the-month percentage losses in employment were in Delaware and Colorado.

· Over the year ending in April, non-farm payroll employment increased in 48 states and the District of Columbia and fell in 2 states (Michigan and South Carolina). The largest percentage gains were in Nevada (+6.4%), Arizona (+3.9%), Utah (+3.5%), Oregon (+3.3%), and Florida (+3.0%).

· Three states recorded over-the-month unemployment rate decreases that were statistically significant in April (Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota). Virginia and Washington were the only two states with statistically significant unemployment rate increases in April (+0.3 percentage point each).

Who's on the Daschle Payroll?

Federal election law is a funny thing.  While I tend to dislike many of the limits on how candidates, parties, and PACs raise and spend their money, I really like the disclosure requirements.  You can find interesting things with just a little digging (and it takes some digging because, hey, it's the federal government we're talking about here). 

For example, with just a bit of effort you can find who is getting money from Tom Daschle's political action committee, DASHPAC.  But, you say, isn't Tom Daschle out of office?  Aren't you guys at SDP obsessed with Daschle even after he's been beaten?  Well, Tom Daschle's Senate career may be over (or on hiatus?), but DASHPAC keeps spending.  For example, it might be interesting to note that the South Dakota organizer of Americans United to Protect Social Security is Steve Hildebrand, former campaign manager for Tom Daschle. And it just so happens he is still on the Daschle payroll.  For example on February 14, 2005 (happy Valentine's Day!) Hildebrand received $1518.08 in moneys identified as "salary."  Salary for what?  In March of this year the consulting firm of Hildebrand Tewes in Sioux Falls received a total of $6,000 from DASCHPAC.   So even after his defeat, Daschle is paying people to do political work for him in the state. 

Like Fox News, I report, you decide.  It certainly brings into question the independence of Americans United to Protect Social Security.  This group has been unremitting in its attacks on Senator Thune. Some of the people associated with this group have made crude and vile attacks upon Thune.  Now, is this a non-partisan public interest group, or is it simply another arm of the Daschle camp intent on undermining Senator Thune?  The ties between the Daschle camp are obvious in personnel, and now a financial tie can be shown.  And people wonder why we still pay attention to Daschle.  So far this information comes via the DACHPAC.  It will be interesting to see what the Senator does with the over $700,000 he has remaining in his campaign account. 

Interested readers can read the FEC reports for themselves here.  For each monthly report, click on the PDF file indicated on the right.  I note that there is nothing unethical going on here, but this is information that the public may be interested to know. 

They Love Castro: Part II

Yesterday I noted that twenty-two members of the House opposed a resolution supporting the meeting of democrats in Cuba.  Twenty-one of those in opposition were Democrats.  The lone Republican was cranky libertarian Ron Paul.  One of those Democrats opposing democracy in Cuba is the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Charles Rangle.  Now we get this via Instapundit:

Citizens from 365 groups across the island are gathering this weekend to hammer out a compact for the creation of a free post-Castro Cuba. This Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is meeting for the first time under the most incredible of conditions — inside communist Cuba. It could make history. . . .

The new assembly could create a Cuban Charter 77, the document that served as a road map for the post-communist Czechoslovakia under Vaclav Havel. And the group's reasonings about how to design the new society it believes will happen resemble the deliberations of America's Founding Fathers.

But risks are high. On Monday night, government henchmen pounded on the door to arrest one Society delegate, and several others were roughed up by Castro's goons. As fear grows, there will be more thuggery before the week is done. But Society members vow not to quit, no matter what Castro tries.

The link to the whole story at Instapundit is broken, but just google some key words and you can find a cached copy.  What is happening here?  Very important members of the Democratic Party are supporting the Communist goons who beat up pro-democracy organizers while opposing the brave men and women planning for a democratic post-Castro Cuba.  Of course, Castro is proof that only the good die young, because that s.o.b. seems to live forever.  The moral blindness of these Democrats is astounding.  It's no wonder Americans do not trust the Democratic Party on foreign policy.  So much for all the talk about human rights and fighting for social justice. 

How the Mighty Have Fallen

From dominating the Middle East and presiding over a police state which killed a million people to this:

Dems Shutting Down Senate

The New York Times:

As the filibuster fight roiled the Senate for the second day, Republicans lashed out at Democrats on Thursday for disrupting the Senate's legislative business in what both sides acknowledged was a preview of the hostile Senate atmosphere that could follow the looming showdown on judicial nominees.

"Our friends on the other side of the aisle are shutting down the business of the Senate by making it impossible for committees to do the work of the American people on everything from intelligence matters to passing an energy bill when gas prices are at record highs," said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the No. 2 Republican.

Democrats argued that the magnitude of the filibuster debate merited the full attention of lawmakers. They refused to agree to what is usually a routine request to extend committee work beyond the two hours allotted daily under the rules, contending that work would still get done.

"Because of the importance of the debate that is to take place on the Senate floor today, the Senate's attention ought to be turned to this and not committee meetings," Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, said.

There is significant legislation at stake. Besides energy and asbestos measures whose legislative reviews were cut short on Thursday, Congress is trying to pass a major transportation bill and an air quality bill, as well as all of its spending measures. Democrats have said they will not block spending bills, to avoid a full-blown government shutdown.

Newsweek

LGF:

Arab Press Doesn't Believe Newsweek Retraction

Arabist shill Linda S. Heard has a piece in Gulf News, in which she refuses to believe Newsweek’s retraction and threatens the West with more violence unless someone is turned over to the Islamic world and punished. For something that didn’t happen. Did Newsweek really err?

A war on terror cannot be fought with terror. [Putting a Koran in a toilet is now defined as “terror?” —ed.] If America wants respect and cooperation from the Muslim world then it must extend the same courtesies. [This courtesy and respect, of course, only goes one way. —ed.]

Insulting Islam and defacing the Quran will merely serve to inflame the fires of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism on streets from Casablanca to Kabul.

And rather than deny such incidents have occurred, the Bush administration would do well to investigate, severely punish the offenders and offer its sincere apologies to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.

There was recently a televised debate in Qatar as to whether the “war on terror” was a euphemism for a war on Islam. An audience vote showed an almost down the middle split with the no’s having the slight edge.

I don’t think it is but if the bigoted and irreligious within the United States army’s ranks are allowed to get away with using the Quran as a tool for psychological torture, then the day will inevitably come when there will be a seismic shift in the perceptions of moderate Muslims.

It is up to the Bush administration to ensure that day never comes. For if it does, the prediction of Arab League chief Amr Mousa that the gates of hell will open may loom ever larger.

Politically, the Muslim world is currently divided but those who attack Islam and its holy book will inadvertently create a united force with which to be reckoned.

Deadwood Finale

Todd Epp, editor of the Democratic Blog S.D.Watch, has posted on this Sunday's season finale of Deadwood.  I unhesitatingly endorse his tastes, at least when it comes to TV.  Deadwood is my favorite TV show currently in production, running far ahead of second favorite, House. 

It features the finest dialogue I have ever seen in a televised series.  And it of obvious interest to South Dakota, being the best unpaid advertisment for one of our attractions that we could hope for.  If you haven't caught the bug yet, go out and buy the first season on DVD.  I warn you, the language is as raw as it gets, but the number of stories squeezed into the adverage episode is a wonder, and every one of them is finely crafted. 

Thune and Johnson Working Together

As our honorable opposition in the regional blogosphere has noticed, we here at SDP are all for bipartisanship just now.  They are right to subject our motives to some scrutiny, but even if our motives are not altogether pure, as theirs no doubt are, that doesn't mean we aren't right.  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. 

So I submit this, from the Argus Leader:

As their parties bicker about Senate judicial nominations, South Dakota Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune are working together to delay the Pentagon process that has targeted Ellsworth Air Force Base for closure.

Thune introduced legislation Wednesday that would delay the base-closing process until most troops return from the Iraq War and the Pentagon issues its Quadrennial Defense Review, which will evaluate the Pentagon's future strategy.  It also would nullify the list of base closings issued May 13.

Thune, a Republican who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is considering an attempt to add the bill to legislation that authorizes funding for the Department of Defense.  "We need to slow down the process and fully understand the military's long-term needs," Thune said Wednesday.

Johnson, D-S.D., is a co-sponsor of the bill but acknowledged Wednesday that the legislation will be an "uphill political climb" because the Bush administration is certain to oppose it.  "I would put this in the category of doing everything we can," he said.

If there is any hope for Ellsworth, both Senators who ran promising to save it should concentrate on this.  There will be plenty of time to slander each other later. 

They Love Castro

This is from Jay Nordlinger's Impromptus.  Not all Democrats love Castro, of course, but why is it that all who love Castro are Democrats?  I thought they stood for human rights?  They hate the so called bigoted right-wing, but they love Castro who jails people just because they are black, homosexual, or have "subversive" books. 

Tomorrow, an astonishing event is scheduled to take place in Cuba: the General Meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba. This is a great democratic gathering, and those participating have put themselves at great risk: For days, Castro has been arresting democratic activists, and otherwise flexing the muscles of his police state.

Various groups and institutions around the world have expressed their solidarity with the Cuban democrats, including the U.S. Congress. The House passed a resolution — and 22 congressmen voted against. Oh, yes.

Who were they? Oh, you know — the usuals: Charles Rangel, Dennis Kucinich, Maxine Waters, John Conyers, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott, Cynthia McKinney, Pete Stark . . .

You’ve heard me say a thousand times before that Rangel is about Castro’s best friend in the United States — at least in the political class. This is doubly a shame, because Rangel is so beloved of the American media. “Good ol’ ‘Chollie,’” they say (because Rangel is a New Yawker, and he talks like that — irresistibly charming guy, most people find).

Guess what he told Meghan Clyne of the New York Sun? He said that he voted against the Cuba-democracy resolution because American politicians “refuse to give the government the respect that it deserves.” He was referring to his friend Fidel’s regime, of course: a regime that imprisons, tortures, and executes at will. That denies its subjects all rights. That is listed by the State Department as terrorist.

Hewitt and Kondracke on Ellsworth

From the Grand Forks Herald: On Friday, Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard magazine, and Morton Kondracke, executive editor of Roll Call, appeared on conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt's show. Hewitt said the Bush administration and Congress should support Thune by getting Ellsworth off the closure list.

As Hewitt put it, "they cannot close the one base after the state throws Tom Daschle out."

Kondracke disagreed, saying such a "nakedly political" move would hurt the president. But Barnes agreed with Hewitt: "Some of these bases are going to be saved, and it would be very harmful to John Thune if Ellsworth is not one of them."

Dean

Bob Novak:

After Howard Dean last weekend declared Tom DeLay ought to be in jail, a longtime Democratic operative told me the party's national chairman had momentarily ripped off his muzzle but that it soon would be restored. My source erred, however, in believing that Dean ever had been muzzled. It's just that nobody has paid much attention to his rants.

Since his election as chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Feb. 12, Dean has studiously avoided most national television exposure. But he has been talking to party gatherings across the country, and his intemperate language at these outings contradicts the notion that he has been kept under control. That he will leap onto the national stage Sunday on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' with Tim Russert raises concern among the Democratic political players whether he will contain himself.

Dean's election by the DNC membership was a case of the inmates seizing control of the asylum. After the 2004 election, party leaders spent more than three months in a fruitless effort to find an alternative to Dean. Their fears of money drying up under Dean have largely been realized, but they have deluded themselves into thinking the former Vermont governor who screamed his way out of any hope for the 2004 presidential nomination was under firm restraint.

The party's congressional leaders, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, sat down with Dean for a heart-to-heart talk. They politely urged him to restrain his rhetoric, to organize rather than inflame. Dean thereupon buried himself in the ''red'' states of Republican America to seek Democratic converts, giving the impression that he was heeding the pleas of the congressional leadership.

He was not. He has described the Republican leadership, in various venues, as ''evil,'' ''corrupt'' and ''brain-dead.'' He has called Sen. Rick Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, a ''liar.''

What he said last weekend differed from this invective only in that it was presented to an urban forum and so became public knowledge. Addressing the Massachusetts Democratic convention in Lowell, Dean declared: ''I think DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence down there courtesy of the Texas taxpayers.'' Dean would jail DeLay without trial, without indictment and without accusation of any crime.

National chairmen are supposed to fire up the troops, but Dean's rhetoric crosses a line. What he said was too much even for so tough a partisan Democrat as Rep. Barney Frank, who attended his state's convention in Lowell and was appalled by Dean's language.

Dean's deficiencies as face and voice of the Democratic Party were supposed to be overcome by his legendary prowess, evident by his run for president, raising funds in small packages. That so far has proved a grievous disappointment. First-quarter figures show the DNC received only $13 million from individuals, compared with $32 million raised by the Republican National Committee. Overall figures were $34.2 million by the RNC, $16.7 million by the DNC.

Sense and Sensibility in SDP Posts

A few readers objected to some of the language in my recent post The Next AIDS Crisis II.  We appreciate everyone who takes time out for our blog, so I wish to respectfully defend the posting. 

AIDS is a very serious public health issue, but one that is heavily distorted by political pressures from both sides.  The role of promiscuous sex in the epidemic has always been underplayed, if not altogether ignored, by the media.  The article from the New Yorker, on which I posted, was a conspicuous exception, in large part because the author is trying valiantly to raise the alarm. 

I posted several passages that included very blunt language and vivid descriptions of what is currently going on in the gay community in San Francisco.  I think that such language is largely necessary to get the point across. 

I did however remove one offensive sentence that, after considering a reader's sensible objection, I judged unnecessary.

I do note that other readers said they learned a lot from this post.

Senate Debate

The debate over the blocking of votes on judges has started in the Senate.  From The New York Times:

In his opening remarks, Dr. Frist said Democrats had "radically" altered the traditions of the Senate by blocking votes on 10 of 45 appeals court candidates put forward by Mr. Bush. Even as a bipartisan group of senators sought to head off a climactic vote, Dr. Frist said the filibuster must be brought to a halt either by allowing the Senate to decide the nominations or changing the rules to ban such tactics. "We must restore the 214-year-old principle that every judicial nominee with majority support deserves an up-or-down vote," Dr. Frist said.

Washington Times on yesterday's Senate debate on judges:

At 9:47 a.m., the presiding officer ordered a close to the quarreling and called up Justice Owen -- thus beginning the debate that appears increasingly likely to end in the deployment of the so-called nuclear option.
    In addition to Justice Owen, senators also discussed the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, although her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was not officially called to the floor.
    Republicans portrayed the nominees as highly accomplished, well-qualified jurists who were retained on their respective courts with higher vote margins than any other justices running in those elections.
    "Janice Rogers Brown can get 76 percent of the vote in California, and Priscilla Owen can get 84 percent of the vote in Texas, but neither can get a vote to be confirmed in the Senate," said Mr. Frist, answering Democratic arguments that the nominees are "out of the mainstream."
    "Are 76 percent of Californians and 84 percent of Texans out of the mainstream?" he wondered. "Denying Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen a vote is what's out of the mainstream."

Dakota Voice

Check out the newest newspaper in South Dakota, the "Dakota Voice."

New Bill

Press release from Senator Thune:

Senator Thune introduces bipartisan bill to delay BRAC

WASHINGTON – Legislation introduced today by Sen. John Thune, R-SD, would delay the current Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round. The legislation would delay the process until most troops return from Iraq, a complete analysis is conducted on overseas facility requirements and several pending reports are released and their impact on BRAC is determined, including two Homeland Security related reports and the Pentagon’s long-term planning document, the Quadrennial Defense Review. The bipartisan bill would, in effect, nullify the base closings recommended by the Pentagon on May 13.

“It doesn’t make sense to close bases now,” Thune said. “Given the permanence of base closings, the Pentagon should take the time to review the recommendations of the QDR and other reports first. We need to slow down the process and fully understand the military’s long-term needs. Furthermore, we should not be undertaking massive BRAC realignments and closures while we are engaged in a war.  This bill will correct what I believe to be a grave error by the Pentagon.”

A bipartisan group of senators is co-sponsoring the legislation, including Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Susan Collins (R-ME), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Trent Lott (R-MS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Ted Stevens (R-AK) and John Sununu (R-NH).

“Senators from Maine to Alaska are standing united against the Pentagon’s premature plans to close military bases,” Thune said. “The Pentagon’s recommendations got a very cold reception in Congress. It’s common sense to wait for the Overseas BRAC and QDR before we move forward.”

The Quadrennial Defense Review Report is due to be released early next year.  The QDR is a comprehensive examination of America’s future defense needs, including potential threats, force structure, strategy, defense infrastructure, and other elements of the defense program. The Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structure of the United States (“Overseas BRAC” or “Overseas Basing Commission”) was established in 2003 to provide Congress and the President with a thorough study and review of U.S. military structure and facilities overseas. The Commission publicly released its report earlier last week, but no action has been taken.

The legislation would also stop the BRAC from moving forward until the implementation and development by the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security of the National Maritime Security Strategy and the completion and implementation of the Secretary of Defense’s Homeland Defense and Civil Support Directive – only now being drafted. These two planning strategies should be key considerations before beginning any BRAC process.

The Next AIDS Crisis II

According to the New Yorker, a decade of good news about AIDS in the Gay Community seems to have come to an end.  There are four basic reasons.  Three of them were cooked up by America's Pharmaceutical industry. 

One was the development of an effective treatment, by means of a cocktail of drugs.

Twenty million people have died of aids, most of them in Africa, where the epidemic grows more devastating every year, as it does in places like China, Russia, and India. Ten thousand people die each day—seven every minute—and seventeen thousand more become infected. In America, however, the sense of crisis has passed. After increasing rapidly throughout the nineteen-eighties, the number of new cases peaked in 1993, and within two years so did the number of deaths. In 1996, when effective H.I.V. therapy became widely adopted, the incidence of aids began to fall dramatically. Few diseases without a cure have evolved as rapidly.

With bars in places like Chelsea and the Castro filling with healthy men, and the continual migration of new people in search of a more open life, some men began to wonder, What’s so bad about H.I.V.? It’s a treatable disease. Pharmaceutical companies ran ads depicting H.I.V.-positive men as rugged and virile.

Another was Tina. 

Tina is crystal methamphetamine, a chemical stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It is hardly a new drug, and it has many other names: biker’s coffee, crank, speed. It has also been called redneck cocaine, because it is available on the street, in bars, and on the Internet for less than the price of a good bottle of wine. Methamphetamine is a mood elevator, and is known to induce bursts of euphoria, increase alertness, and reduce fatigue.   . . . Crystal first gained popularity in the gay community of San Francisco in the nineteen-nineties, where it became the preferred fuel for all-night parties and a necessity for sexual marathons. Its reputation quickly spread. Crystal methamphetamine is highly addictive, but its allure is not hard to understand; the drug removes inhibitions, bolsters confidence, supercharges the libido, and heightens the intensity of sex.   . . . The first thing people on methamphetamine lose is their common sense; suddenly, anything goes, including unprotected anal sex with many different partners in a single night—which is among the most efficient ways to spread H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases. In recent surveys, more than ten per cent of gay men in San Francisco and Los Angeles report having used the drug in the past six months; in New York, the figure is even higher.

The last magic potion is Bob Dole's little blue friend.

Crystal methamphetamine constricts the blood vessels, which makes sustained erections difficult. Viagra reverses that effect. “So now you can go from Thursday to Sunday and have outrageous amounts of sex."

The last factor is the Internet. 

“I was seeing a patient at one of the S.T.D. clinics one day,” Jeffrey Klausner, who is the director of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention and Control Services of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, told me. “It was in the spring of ’99, and we were starting to see a small increase in the number of syphilis cases in gay men . . .  . I asked this one guy how many sexual partners he had had in the past two months, which is something we always ask. And he said fourteen. And then I asked him how many he had had in the past year. And he said fourteen.     

“That was a little odd,” Klausner continued. “I said, ‘Well, what happened two months ago?’ The man replied, ‘I got online.’

“I didn’t have a clue what he meant,” he said. “Nothing. So he explained it. ‘Well, I am a fifty-year-old, overweight, H.I.V.-positive man. I am balding; I’m not that attractive. But I can go online any time of the day and I can get a sexual hookup. I can go to this site on AOL and I can say I want to meet somebody now for sex. And that’s all there is to it.’ ”

Recounting this story six years later, Klausner still looked mystified. “I asked him to explain. And he told me, ‘I go online and put out my stats—if I am a top or a bottom, what I like to do. I am a top, I am H.I.V.-positive. So I will say, “Does anyone want to be topped by an H.I.V.-positive guy?” ’ ”     

Klausner continued to recall the conversation: “ ‘I’ll get five responses in half an hour. And then I will speak to them on the phone. If I like their voice, I will invite them over and look through my window. If I like what I see, then I will be home, and if not I can pretend I am gone. It’s been great. I don’t have to talk to anybody to do it. I don’t have to go out of the house. I can get it like this,’ he said, and snapped his fingers.”

What has been the effect of these four horsemen of the next public health Apocalypse? 

After years of living in constant fear of aids, many gay men have chosen to resume sexual practices that are almost guaranteed to make them sick. In New York City, the rate of syphilis has increased by more than four hundred per cent in the past five years. Gay men account for virtually the entire rise. Between 1998 and 2000, fifteen per cent of the syphilis cases in Chicago could be attributed to gay men. Since 2001, that number has grown to sixty per cent. Look at the statistics closely and you will almost certainly find the drug. In one recent study, twenty-five per cent of those men who reported methamphetamine use in the previous month were infected with H.I.V. The drug appears to double the risk of infection (because it erases inhibitions but also, it seems, because of physiological changes that make the virus easier to transmit), and the risk climbs the more one uses it. Over the past several years, nearly every indicator of risky sexual activity has risen in the gay community. Perhaps for the first time since the beginning of the aids epidemic, the number of men who say they use condoms regularly is below fifty per cent; after many years of decline, the number of new H.I.V. diagnoses among gay men increased every year between 2000 and 2003, while remaining stable in the rest of the population.

That is terrifying.  Given the nature of infectious diseases there is good reason to believe that such a sexual culture will again be a breeding ground for drug resistant strains of the HIV virus, and perhaps for forms of it that will be much more contagious.

I've seen enough.

So you think we are having a cool season.  This from 75 Degrees South, a blog from the British Antarctic Survey.  The blogger posts from Halley, where it is currently a balmy 29 below.

Sun down is an important date at Halley. Today the Sun set for the last time in 105 days, marking the beginning of the true Halley winter. Now I can understand that over 3 months of complete darkness might sound a bit grim to most people but strangely these winter months are my favourite time down here. To really experience Antarctica you have to see it during the winter.

Grand Forks AFB v. Ellsworth

Looks like I stirred the pot a bit with my post following the BRAC announcement.  This from todays Grand Forks Herald:

OUR OPINION : Will politics pit GFAFB against Ellsworth?

Our view:: Let's hope not, although the Senate's GOP leadership is sure to work hard to save the S.D. base.

"Fasten your seat belts," Bette Davis memorably said in the movie All About Eve. "It's going to be a bumpy night."

Here are three items of interest to anyone who cares about Grand Forks Air Force Base's fate in the current BRAC round.

Item 1 is a story in a Rapid City (S.D.) Journal issue of about a year ago - May 24, 2004:

"Ellsworth Air Force Base would be a good home for research, development and training for the nation's growing fleet of unmanned military aircraft, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Saturday ....

"The base could become a national 'center of excellence' for all phases of development of more than a half a dozen emerging UAVs that will build on the tradition of the well-known Predator drone, Frist said."

Frist was in South Dakota at the time campaigning for Republican Senate candidate John Thune. "Assuming President Bush is re-elected, Frist said having a Republican South Dakota senator consulting with Republican Senate leaders would be better for Ellsworth than keeping (incombent Democratic Sen. Tom) Daschle in power," the newspaper reported.

And Thune won - but the Pentagon put Ellsworth on the closure list anyway. Which brings us to Item 2.

On Friday, Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard magazine, and Morton Kondracke, executive editor of Roll Call, appeared on conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt's show. Hewitt said the Bush administration and Congress should support Thune by getting Ellsworth off the closure list.

As Hewitt put it, "they cannot close the one base after the state throws Tom Daschle out."

Kondracke disagreed, saying such a "nakedly political" move would hurt the president. But Barnes agreed with Hewitt: "Some of these bases are going to be saved, and it would be very harmful to John Thune if Ellsworth is not one of them."

Which brings us to Item 3, a post Friday on the influential South Dakota Politics Web log (www.southdakotapolitics.blogs.com):

"With the end of the Cold War, the 'jewels' (of the Strategic Air Command), Grand Forks and Ellsworth, no longer are necessary," the blog reads, under the headline, "Grand Forks AFB v. Ellsworth".

"So what makes Grand Forks preferable to Ellsworth when it comes to the unmanned program or realignment in general? Why Grand Forks AFB but not Ellsworth for this program?

"One hates to leech off of our neighbors or undermine their own well being, but our delegation needs to find a way, if not to keep Ellsworth's current mission, at least to mitigate the loss by snagging a mission such as the unmanned aerial program from Grand Forks AFB."

There's not enough room left for comment in this space. But for now, just read the Bette Davis quote again. That pretty much sums it up.

The Air Force has said that a mission at Grand Forks AFB that involves UAV's would be in part a Homeland Security mission and border patrol, which is understandable.  In addition, the  Fargo Air Guard wing, which will be denuded of its planes, likely will gain some sort of UAV mission as well.  Given these facts, basing the UAV's at GFAFB makes sense.  However, BRAC commissioners are already questioning the logic of keeping the Grand Forks base open with such a reduced mission (loss of 2,200 service personel and 1,000 civilian contractors).  Whether that bodes well for maintaining its KC-135 tanker fleet in addition to an added mission or bodes ill for closing the base entirely (why not station the UAV's a couple hours farther west at Minot AFB?) remains to be seen.  But considering it takes 7 of 9 commissioners to add a base to the closure list, its a good bet Grand Forks will survive.  That and the likelihood that the new mission at GFAFB will be supplemented by the nearby Fargo Air Guard unit as well as their proximity to our northern border, and its a safe bet we won't be stealing their mission.  Ellsworth's best bet lies with convincing the BRAC commission that either Ellsworth is the more appropriate facility for our B-1 fleet or that it is unwise to base the entire fleet at one facility.

Norman Mailer and the Paranoid Style

Norman Mailer, author of great novels that people used to say they read, and source of the occasional paranoid outburst, has a theory about Newsweek's now retracted story.  His entry into the blog world (Huffington Post) gives us some hint of the foundations of his literary reputation.

At present, I have a few thoughts I can certainly not prove, but the gaffe over the Michael Isikoff story in Newsweek concerning the Koran and the toilet is redolent with bad odor.

Get it?  Bad odor.  Toilet.  No mixed metaphors here. 

Who, indeed, was Isikoff's supposedly reliable Pentagon source?  One's counter-espionage hackles rise.  If you want to discredit a Dan Rather or a Newsweek crew, just feed them false information from a hitherto reliable source.  You learn that in Intelligence 101A.

Counter-espionage often depends on building "reliable sources." You construct such reliability item by secret item, all accurate. That is seen by the intelligence artists as a necessary expenditure. It gains the source his credibility. Then, you spring the trap.

As for the riots at the other end, on this occasion, they, too, could have been orchestrated. We do have agents in Pakistan, after all, not to mention Afghanistan.

Ah . .  now we have it.  Its not that the MSM has been doing bad journalism, its that the evil Bush administration is pulling their puppet strings.  Dan Rather was fed a bad story by some CIA spook.  The whole Koran story, including the riots in Pakistan, were "orchestrated" by our agents.  What a subtle and diabolical plan!  Bush gets to laugh at Newsweek and all it costs us is increased enmity across the Muslim world.  What is the evidence for all this?

Obviously, I can offer no proof of any of the above. [But the] outcome was too neat. It came out too effectively for one side. At the age of eighty-two I do not wish to revive old paranoia, but Lenin did leave us one valuable notion, one, at any rate. It was "Whom?" When you cannot understand a curious matter, ask yourself, "Whom? Whom does this benefit?" Dare I suggest that our Right has just gained a good deal by way of this matter?  [I found the novelist required some editing, but go to the source if you suspect foul play]. 

In other words, we don't need no stinking evidence. A story that hurts Bush is manifestly true until it is discredited, whereupon it automatically switches to a example of the Bush administrations covert manipulation of the news. 

I have my own theory.  I think no such person as Norman Mailer exists.  He is a creation of the CIA, engineered to make the left look like a bunch of raving lunatics.  Big brother creates not only his own army but the armies of his enemies, so he can stage faux battles to keep the masses occupied.  I admit its paranoid, but now that the NVB has shut down, someone has to keep up the good work.

 

Good Grief

I get Peanuts in my email box every morning.  It's good for my soul.  I can't resist sharing today's.  I really enjoy the strips about poor old Charlie Brown.  And dear United Features Syndicate, I swear I will never do this again.

Funny Moments in Norwegian Lutheran History

This incident comes to us from Doris Stensland, Robert Lundgren, and Donald J. Sneen, “Life in the New Land, 1859-1880: The Scandinavian Experience,” in Donald J. Sneen (ed), Prairie Faith, Pioneering People: A History of the Lutheran Church in South Dakota (Garretson, American Lutheran Church, 1981), 27:

The transition from rough rugged pioneer life to frame churches and more civilized ways sometimes necessitated changes in people's habits.  Once the women of a congregation became brave and put up two signs in the church -- "Do not spit on the floor."  The first Sunday it was especially difficult for one man who chewed tobacco all the time.  He swallowed some, spit his mittens full, used his wife's hankerchief, and finally decided to spit out the window.  He opened it and stuck his head out, and crash!  it came down on his neck.  The preacher stopped in the middle of the sermon and there was snickering throughout the church.  Even an old Ellingianer who was never known to laugh, smiled that time.

The Judge Fight and the Memos

The question of whether the President's judicial nominations will get a vote in the Senate may be answered this week.  The Washington Times provides some background on how we got here:

The "nuclear" showdown that is expected to begin unfolding in the Senate today has its origins in closed-door discussions more than three years ago between key Senate Democrats and outside interest groups as they huddled to plot strategies for blocking President Bush's judicial nominees.
    In a Nov. 7, 2001, internal memo to Sen. Richard J. Durbin, who is now the minority whip, an aide described a meeting that the Illinois Democrat had missed between groups opposed to Mr. Bush's nominees and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee.
    "Based on input from the groups, I would place the appellate nominees in the categories below," the staffer wrote, listing 19 nominees as "good," "bad" or "ugly."
    Four of the 10 nominees who Democrats have since filibustered were deemed either "bad" or "ugly." None of those deemed "good" by the outside groups was filibustered.
    Among those listed as "ugly" was Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen, whose nomination will be brought to the floor today by Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican.
    The internal Democratic memos, downloaded from Democratic computer servers in the Judiciary Committee by Republican staffers, offer a unique look into the early stages of the filibuster campaign, when Democrats were clearly doubtful that they could succeed in blocking any of the nominees.
    In the 14 memos obtained in November 2003 by the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Times, Democratic staffers outlined the concerns held by outside groups about Justice Owen's "hostile" position toward abortion and her "pro-business" attitude.
    In a June 4, 2002, memo to Mr. Kennedy, staffers advised him that Justice Owen would be "our next big fight."
    "We agree that she is the right choice -- she has a bad record on labor, personal injury and choice issues, and a broad range of national and local Texas groups are ready to oppose her," the aides wrote.
    Another nominee discussed often in the memos is Miguel Estrada, a Washington lawyer who became the first filibustered nominee and who withdrew his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit after waiting two years for a final vote.
    In the 2001 memo to Mr. Durbin, the staffer explained the concerns that the outside groups had about Mr. Estrada.
    "They also identified Miguel Estrada (D.C. Circuit) as especially dangerous because he had a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment," the aide wrote.
    The memos also reveal the close relationship between Democrats and the outside groups.
    In a June 21, 2002, memo to Democrats Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Durbin, Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York and Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, a staffer urged delaying a hearing for Mr. Estrada to "give the groups time to complete their research and the committee time to collect additional information."

Religious Establishment on the Left

Hadley Arkes is one of the most intelligent and funniest lecturers I have ever had the pleasure of listening to.  He is the Groucho Marx of political thought.  He has this excellent piece in the Daily Standard on a Clinton appointed judge blocking the implementation of a religiously biased program on homosexuality in Montgomery County Maryland.  But the religious bias belongs, surprise, to the left.

A FEDERAL DISTRICT JUDGE IN Maryland has jolted the local liberal establishment in Montgomery County by blocking a pilot program in sex education. The program was designed to sweep away the "myths"--the lingering moral inhibitions and retrograde theological teachings--that apparently feed reservations, still widely held, about homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Judge Alexander Williams Jr. put the kibosh on this plan, and the jolt has had a deeper resonance, not least because Williams happens to be a Clinton appointee.

The program aims, in large part, to prevent discrimination against homosexuals.  That is an aim  which I endorse.  But in doing so as part of a government sponsored program, the authors commit obvious violations of the establishment clause. 

As for biblical teaching, the committee noted that the Bible contains numerous passages condemning the practices of heterosexuals. Among the things condemned have been "adultery, incest, wearing clothing made from more than one kind of fiber, and eating shellfish, like shrimp and lobster." The implication, of course, is that the Jewish rules on kashrut in eating and clothing are just so many conventions that most thoughtful people would regard as quaint, without moral force. "Fortunately," said the committee, "many within organized religions are beginning to address the homophobia of the church," by which they mean, of course, the Catholic church. By way of contrast they laud, among others, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Society of Friends (Quakers), for supporting "full civil rights for gay men and lesbians." Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons, Orthodox Jews--these are apparently the retrograde religions, for in holding to their traditional teaching, even as they minister to gays and lesbians, they deny the civil rights of these Americans.

A state government may certainly promote tolerance. It may not promote the view that some religions are advanced and others retrograde.

As Williams noted, the curriculum "juxtaposes this portrait of an intolerant and Biblically misguided Baptist Church against other, preferred Churches, which are more friendly towards the homosexual lifestyle." In particular, the curriculum "plainly portrays Baptist churches as wrongly expressing the same intolerant attitude towards homosexuals today as they did towards African Americans during segregation." Williams observed that Baptists were presented here as "unenlightened" and "misguided" and wanting in the "tolerance" that marked the enlightened religions. In the name of secularism, or detachment from religion, the board was doing nothing less than establishing one segment of the religious in the country as less legitimate, less in accord with the liberality of the laws, and yes, less to be tolerated. So much for the Establishment Clause.

Hildebrand's Attack Group Struggling

Roll Call:

The largest independent organization opposing President Bush’s plan to add private accounts to Social Security is struggling to raise dollars from individual contributors, sources say.

Americans United to Protect Social Security has not received a single large-dollar donation from an individual since it was formed in February. Instead, the group is subsisting largely on contributions from organized labor, which has exceeded its expected level of giving, and other liberal interest groups. ...

Regardless of future financial developments, however, dollars for the Social Security campaign have been scarce from the small group of major donors who financed America Coming Together and the Media Fund — two soft-money organizations that raised better than $200 million for the 2004 election.

Most of those givers — including billionaire financier George Soros and insurance company executive Peter Lewis — appear to be proceeding cautiously so far this cycle as they strategize about where best to spend their money.

How About Some Good News

How's this for clout:

The highway bill set to pass the U.S. Senate today includes significantly more funding than the House-passed version and maintains South Dakota’s historical transportation funding level, Senator John Thune said today.

The transportation bill set to pass the Senate includes roughly $1.307 billion for South Dakota’s road needs over the next 5 years, at least $134 million more than in the same five year period of the bill that passed the House of Representatives in March. Most importantly, the Senate bill maintains South Dakota’s funding percentage of overall federal highway apportionments to states. The State will receive in formula funds over these 5 years amounts averaging 30.74 per cent more than under the average year in the previous transportation bill.

As a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Thune worked to promote South Dakota’s transportation needs and helped craft a multi-year reauthorization bill concerning the nation’s surface transportation program.

Daschle Funding Anti-Thune Attack Machine

As previously noted, former Senator Tom Daschle continues to pay his former campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, from his political action committee, DASHPAC.  A reader informs us that Daschle is also paying Hildebrand out of the coffers of his campaign account.  Does Daschle know the next election isn't for nearly six years?  As many remember, Daschle started running television ads 18 months before last fall's election, but this is ridiculous. 

Just as I Suspected

John Podhoretz has reviewed the latest piece of Star Wars dreck.  His verdict?  It stinks!

If you want to see a good movie, the film In Good Company starring Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace is relatively new on video and it gets a strong thumbs up from this amateur film critic. 

The Daschle Political Machine Rolls On

All the former Daschle staffers who are still fighting the last war took a break from celebrating the closure of Ellsworth yesterday and sent out a press release attacking Senator Thune on Social Security. 

South Dakotans United to Protect Social Security

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Date: May 16^th, 2005         Contact:  Steve Hildebrand at (605)221-4363 or Jeremy Funk at (202) 955-1002, Ext. 151 

South Dakotans United Launches Four Week "Take a Stand Campaign" Calling on Senator John Thune to Attend Town Hall Meetings to Take a Stand On Bush's Social Security Plan

As was noted by the Argus Leader last weekend, former Senator Daschle is itching to get back into the political arena and run again, so it's no surprise that he is maintaining a permanent campaign organization which is constantly attacking Thune almost six years before the next election.  And Daschle is directly supporting the effort since Daschle's political action committee is paying his former campaign manager Steve Hildebrand.  Hildebrand's helper, Jeremy Funk, is best known for promoting "F--- John Thune" t-shirts on his website, saying he wants to "rip Thune's n--- off" on his website, and for being detained by police in 2002 for stalking Thune.  Is Senator Daschle 'troubled' by the "startling meanness" of all this in keeping with his major speech a year ago?  No--he's paying for it using his political action committee.  That speech last year was just for political show. 

Real Estate Graft UN Style

Powerline's Hindrocket (John Hinderaker) has a smashing piece in the Daily Standard on the U.N's plans to renovate its Turtle Bay headquarters, at a cost for which one could just about build it on the moon. 

The organization's headquarters at Turtle Bay were completed in 1950 and renovated in the 1970s. The United Nations now believes that another renovation project is necessary, and has prepared a $1.2 billion plan to carry out the work.

Oh, and they also had planned to build a temporary clubhouse while the old one was being renovated. 

In its original form, the U.N. plan included construction of a new, 35-story building over Robert Moses Playground, a park near Turtle Bay, at a cost of an additional $650 million. This new building was slated to be the U.N's home during the renovation project, and to continue in use by the organization thereafter.

Well, one does need somewhere to screw up relief efforts and figure out how to milk billions in kickbacks from humanitarian projects in the comfort to which one has grown accustomed.  But the figure for the renovation is horrifying. 

The U.N.'s Capital Master Plan states that a total of 2,651,000 square feet will be renovated. Assuming that figure to be correct, the per square foot cost would be $452.

The average cost of such renovations is between $50 and $200 per square foot, with the later being very extravagant.  Donald Trump managed to build a brand new 90 story state of the art sky scraper, three times taller than the UN buildings, for $350 million.  That's about a quarter of what the UN wants us to loan them. 

But it gets worse.  The UN is claiming 2,651,000 square feet to be renovated, but in fact the various structures have only about 1,029,000 square feet in total.  This means that the UN wants to spend about $1,100 per square foot. 

Well, lets be reasonable here.  Since the fall of the Baathist regime in Iraq, they obviously need a new tit to suck on.  Real estate fraud cannot possibly generate the billions only recently flowing under the table in exchange for cheap commodities like a French "No" vote on the security council. 

So its very reasonable for the Democrats to oppose John Bolton as UN ambassador.  He might not be trusted to keep quite about such things.

Newsweek Officially Retracts its Story

The MSM hasn't learned much, but maybe its learned something.  It doesn't do much good to drag out an embarrassing story.  Again Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post:

Newsweek issued a formal retraction today of the flawed story that sparked deadly riots in Afghanistan and other countries after coming under increasingly sharp criticism from the White House, State Department and Pentagon.

  Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine had already "retracted what we think we may have gotten wrong. We've called it an error. We've called it a mistake." But two hours after that interview, the magazine issued a statement retracting its charge that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that an American interrogator at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility had flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet.

The last paragraph of the story is delicious:

Asked if anyone at Newsweek would be disciplined or fired, Whitaker, who was out of town when the item was published, said: "So far as we can tell, everybody in the reporting process conducted themselves professionally. Isikoff was dealing with a known source. . . . We went by the book." But Whitaker said the magazine would examine who approved the story for publication and review its standards for dealing with unnamed sources.

In other words, we didn't do anything wrong and we promise we won't ever do it again.

Dumb and Dumber

I read this piece by John Leo about efforts to indoctrinate children into accepting the homosexual lifestyle as a positive good and the disparagement in the curriculum of the orthodox Christian viewpoint.  I started to pen a post about the intolerance of liberal "tolerance."  Then I thought, "Wait.  Why are they teaching about homosexuality at all?  I mean, the damn kids can't read!"  Can we make this deal?  When our kids can read and write at grade level and when the kids from India aren't doing Euclidian circles around our kids in math, then we can worry about teaching them what is the appropriate thing to do with their private parts. 

Newsweek has Blood on its Hands

Professor Schaff posts below on the back-peddling by Newsweek.  From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article.

Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine inaccurately reported that U.S. military investigators had confirmed that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.

The report sparked angry and violent protests across the Muslim world from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan to Indonesia to Gaza. In the past week it was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.  On Sunday, Afghan Muslim clerics threatened to call for a holy war against the United States.

To emphasize: that's 16 dead, 100 injured, and incalculable damage done to American foreign policy.  So what happened?

The weekly news magazine said in its May 23 edition that the information had come from a "knowledgeable government source" who told Newsweek that a military report on abuse at Guantanamo Bay said interrogators flushed at least one copy of the Koran down a toilet in a bid to make detainees talk.

But Newsweek said the source later told the magazine he could not be certain he had seen an account of the Koran incident in the military report and that it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts.

Whitaker told Reuters that Newsweek did not know if the reported toilet incident involving the Koran ever occurred. "As to whether anything like this happened, we just don't know," he said in an interview. "We're not saying it absolutely happened but we can't say that it absolutely didn't happen either."

Howard Kurtz writes on this.  He includes this:

The item was principally reported by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek's veteran investigative reporter. "Obviously we all feel horrible about what flowed from this, but it's important to remember there was absolutely no lapse in journalistic standards here," he said. "We relied on sources we had every reason to trust and gave the Pentagon ample opportunity to comment. . . . We're going to continue to investigate what remains a very murky situation."

If that is true, then journalistic ethics aren't very helpful, and the bloggers who supposedly lack them aren't lacking for much.  As Professor Schaff notes, a number of scandals have plagued the MSM over the last year or so.  But this might be the first time that the MSM has actually killed anyone.  Newsweek has got to take this seriously.

Brac Promises and Tim Johnson

A lot has been made about promises regarding Ellsworth.  A couple of things are worth noting.  One is that Daschle, not Thune, ran adds about this in West River markets.  A second is that Johnson also ran on the issue.  Below is the summary of a Johnson add from the 2002 campaign.

Television :30

Text: Chris Palmer Rapid City, SD

Visual:  CP in office talking to camera

Audio: Tim Johnson has done so many great things for Ellsworth.

Text: No text

Visual:    Girl hands piece of paper to Tim Johnson

Audio: Tim has used his influence in the Senate…

Text:  (newspaper article “Senate OK’s funding for Ellsworth AFB”)

Visual:  EAFB sign, B-52, and newspaper article

Audio:   to provide new housing at Ellsworth Air Force Base

Text: (same newspaper article)

Visual:  2 Air Force mechanics assembling nose to B-1 Bomber

Audio:   a new loading facility, and

Text: (newspaper article “Johnson urges B-1 protection”)

Visual:  B-1 Bomber landing

Audio:   protecting the B-1 Bomber,

Text:  No text

Visual:  TJ talking to ladies with American flag background

Audio:  also his influence in bringing the millions of dollars to Camp Rapid.

Text:  No text

Visual:  CP talking in office

Audio:  Clearly the best thing we can do to protect Ellsworth is to keep Tim
Johnson in the United States Senate.

Text:  No text

Visual:  closeup of CP

Audio:  I’m a Republican but I’m supporting Tim Johnson.

Text:  Tim Johnson logo & PAID FOR BY TIM JOHNSON FOR SOUTH DAKOTA COMMITTEE

Visual:  TJ at table talking to 2 other men

Audio:  Because his position on the Appropriations Committee is vital,

Text:  (same as above)

Visual:  CP in office

Audio:  to the future of the South Dakota and the Rapid City economy

I don't particularly blame Johnson or Daschle for Ellsworth appearing on the list.  But the notion that Thune was somehow less honest than they were is nonsense.  All three used the issue in the same way.

Left-Wing Smear Machine Heats Up

This report from Bob Novak is a bit disturbing.  It seems the pro-abortion groups are trying to dig up dirt on potential Supreme Court nominees by digging through their financial records.  Trashing of nominees started with Bork and has gotten worse over time, to wit, Harry Reid's recent smearing by innuendo of a current judicial nominee.  Novak reports:

The abortion advocacy group surely was not asking the judges' views on abortion. Nancy Keenan, who has been NARAL's president some five months, told this column her organization is concerned about "out of touch theological activists" becoming judges. Why seek financial information from them? She said the disclosure information might help identify the "character" of judicial nominees.

Which nominees? "We have lots of nominees that we have great concern about," said Keenan. "We're watching all of them."

Remember when the left attacked the right for having an abortion litmus test for judges?  The promotion of abortion as a positive good is the holy grail of the American left and there is little they won't do to protect this "sacred" right invented by Harry Blackmun.  I have a very basic standard for federal judges: If they are measured as competent (for instance, by the ABA) and have no serious ethical problems (as opposed to the phony "judicial temperament" problem), they should be approved by the Senate.  Both sides have opposed judges on policy grounds (although the Democrats have made this a party stance, while the Republicans only did so episodically during the Clinton years).  Both are wrong. 

 

Bad day for MSM

Newsweek has had to issue an apology for an apparently bogus story it ran about desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo.  This story caused riots on the other side of the world (although it must be said, in the history of war atrocities, flushing someone's holy book down a toilet does not strike one as a serious offense.  This outrage comes from people who practice systematic discrimination against other religions.  Just try going to a Christian church in Suadi Arabia.).

Blogs are often attacked by the MSM for being inaccurate, but when one considers Jayson Blair, CBS's forged documents, the Eason Jordan scandal, and now this, one has to wonder who is upholding journalistic standards.  Then there is this report from Real Clear about national journalists:                

- 68% voted   for Kerry in 2004, one in four voted for Bush.

- 83% of  journalists say they've used blogs, and about half that number say they read blogs at least once a week.                

- 55% of  journalists who use blogs do so to support their news gathering work.

- 85% believe bloggers should enjoy First Amendment protections                

-75% say bloggers are not real journalists because they don't adhere to "commonly held ethical standards."

             

Iraq

The Sunday New York Times, for whatever reason, didn't arrive on the doorstep until today.  This caught my eye:

The insurgents in Iraq are showing little interest in winning hearts and minds among the majority of Iraqis, in building international legitimacy, or in articulating a governing program or even a unified ideology or cause beyond expelling the Americans. They have put forward no single charismatic leader, developed no alternative government or political wing, displayed no intention of amassing territory to govern now.

Rather than employing the classic rebel tactic of provoking the foreign forces to use clumsy and excessive force and kill civilians, they are cutting out the middleman and killing civilians indiscriminately themselves, in addition to more predictable targets like officials of the new government.

Enquiring minds

I have received word that someone on the Aberdeen American News discussion board is claiming to be me.  For the record, I have not, nor will I ever, post on that discussion board.  Anyone claiming to be me is simply pulling your leg. 

The Press and Us

Editor and Publisher:

Six in ten among the public feel the media show bias in reporting the news, and 22% say the government should be allowed to censor the press. More than 7 in 10 journalists believe the media does a good or excellent job on accuracy--but only 4 in 10 among the public feel that way. And a solid 53% of the public think stories with unnamed sources should not be published at all.

Perhaps the widest gap of all: 8 in 10 journalists said they read blogs, while less than 1 in 10 others do so. Still, a majority of the news pros do not believe bloggers deserve to be called journalists.

Powerline also has much more on the major screw-up at Newsweek, especially on the magazine's "journalistic standards."

The Left may be dead . . .

but its bloated corpse is still blocking the passage.  Consider this piece by Brian Carey in the Wall Street Journal.

BRUSSELS--Is the European "social model" doomed? It's a question that comes up with increasing frequency as unemployment across Western Europe has climbed into the double digits and economic growth has ground to a virtual halt across much of the Continent.

Updated GDP figures for the euro zone came out last week, and growth in the first quarter was a disappointing 0.5%. Last month both the European Commission and the European Central Bank cut their annual growth forecasts for the euro zone to 1.6% from 2%, and that ugly word recession is in the air.  . . .

Given that Europe's streak of economic underperformance can now be measured in decades, perhaps a better question to ask is: Why does anyone think that a system of generous welfare benefits, high taxes and harsh restrictions on hiring and firing would ever produce anything like a dynamic, growing economy? Why does anyone assume that there is such a thing as a "European model," rather than just a collection of ill-conceived policies having a predictably depressing effect on the economy and job creation?

What is the underlieing problem?  Carey says:

A fundamental change occurred in Europe between the salad days of the 1950s and '60s and today, and Europe never recovered. In a word, the 1970s happened.

In 1965, government spending as a percentage of GDP averaged 28% in Western Europe, just slightly above the U.S. level of 25%. In 2002, U.S. taxes ate 26% of the economy, but in Europe spending had climbed to 42%, a 50% increase. Over the same period, unemployment in Western Europe has risen from less than 3% to 8% today, and to nearly 9% for the 12 countries in the euro zone. These two phenomena are related; in a country with generous welfare benefits, rising unemployment increases government spending rapidly.

Why has Europe been unable to pull out of its downward spiral?  The answer is the relative weakness of Conservative political parties on the continent versus Britain and the U.S.

In the U.S. and the U.K., a combination of tax cuts, labor-market reforms and deregulation starting in the 1980s broke the downward spiral in which the Continent still finds itself. In the 1990s, the U.S. added welfare reform to the mix. Unfortunately, the prospects for Europe are not particularly bright right now. German unions--and even some members of the German government--have in recent weeks taken to denouncing American capitalists as "locusts" and "bloodsuckers." Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, perhaps the only politician in Europe who counts Ronald Reagan as a hero--and admits it--just had his coalition emasculated by special interests at home.

Dean

Howard Dean has once again demonstrated his affinity for obloquy by attacking Tom DeLay--and received an admonition from a fellow Democrat for it:

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Party, said yesterday that the US House majority leader, Tom DeLay, ''ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence," referring to allegations of unethical conduct against the Republican leader.

Dean's remark, in a speech to Massachusetts Democrats at their party convention, drew an immediate rebuke from US Representative Barney Frank, the Newton Democrat and one of DeLay's harshest critics. ''That's just wrong," Frank said in an interview on the convention floor. ''I think Howard Dean was out of line talking about DeLay. The man has not been indicted. I don't like him, I disagree with some of what he does, but I don't think you, in a political speech, talk about a man as a criminal or his jail sentence."

DeLay faces accusations he may have violated House rules by taking foreign trips paid for by lobbyists. In a separate case, a Texas grand jury indicted three fund-raisers with ties to DeLay on accusations of campaign-finance irregularities.

Again, note these comments by John Hinderacker.

The Press

The press had made some huge mistakes in recent years, but this time it appears American soldiers are being attacked because of it.  See Austin Bay:

The Press’ Abu Ghraib: Newsweek Apologizes, After 15 People Are Dead

History may see Newsweek’s fatal “Koran flushing” story as the US press’ Abu Ghraib.

Under any circumstances, Newsweek’s flagrant, tragic error is an error a long-time-coming. The magazine’s “apology” doesn’t begin to account for the damage. [The apology appears at the end of this post. Call the mea culpa “News Weak."]

Several other websites have covered the issue of anonymous and “single sourced” allegations. (See Powerline’s take here and here. Roger L. Simon says there’s no business like source business. Michelle Malkin covers the story with “Newsweek Lied, People Died.”)

The sin of greed always seems to creep into every scandal and it’s certainly lurking in this tragic incident. Newsweek wants market share, and a scoop grabs readers. But profit generated by a frantic “me first” quest isn’t the only motive. The “Vietnam-Watergate” motive’s also in play. That’s a tired and dirty game but for three decades it’s been a successful ploy for the New York-Washington-LA media axis. It’s rules are simple. Presume the government is lying– always make that presumption, particularly when the president is a Republican. Presume the worst about the US military– always make that presumption, even when the president is a Democrat. Add multi-cultural icing– the complaints and allegations of “Third World victims” are given revered status, the statements of US and US-allied nations met with cynical doubt and arrogant contempt. (Yes, the myth of the Noble Savage re-cast.)

But why might this be the press’ Abu Ghraib? Here’s the connection: globe-girdling technology has once again amplified foolish behavior, lack of professionalism, and disregard for consequences into a tragedy.

Daschle Watch

Kranz:

After former Sen. Tom Daschle delivered several speeches across South Dakota last month, it left some wondering if he is entertaining re-entry into politics.

His standard answer to that question after his loss to John Thune was, "Never say never," and he left it at that.  When Tim Fernholz interviewed Daschle for the Georgetown Voice, he asked him whether he sees a return to public office, perhaps a run for South Dakota governor.

Daschle responded: "I've always felt that it's important that you never close any doors, and I'm not going to be closing doors in my political life for the foreseeable future. I don't have any current plans to get back into elective political office. But I won't say, and I couldn't say, that that wouldn't happen. We'll have to wait and see what the future holds and what opportunities present themselves."

People keep asking us at SDP why we still follow Daschle since the election was seven months ago.  The reason is that he's not out of the game yet.  It's clear to see why Daschle's DASHPAC is funding Hildebrand's attack machine.

Red vs. Blue

Foster's Online:

Political analysts and defense industry experts don't see a connection between the latest Base Realignment and Closure round and the election battleground of red and blue states....

Factors like political clout didn't carry the day for too many states, [Dean Spiliotes] said. For example, in South Dakota freshmen Republican Sen. John Thune thought he could count on the Bush administration's support to keep Ellsworth Air Force Base off the list after defeating Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle in November, but he was disappointed, Spiliotes said. Thune and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had stood in front of Ellsworth's gates and said electing Thune would help keep the base open.

Republican Sen. Trent Lott also couldn't keep the historic naval station in Pascagoula, Miss., off the list even though he managed to do that during the 1995 BRAC round, Spiliotes noted.

Ouch!

I don't much like the UN.  There is a semi-reasonable argument for something like the UN as a mediator of international disputes, but in practice it is a disaster (mostly because the UN ignores about 4,000 years of actual human behavior).   I have read few pieces more devastating than Mark Steyn's piece in the Chicago Sun-Times today.  His reporting on the money wasted on tsunami relief is shocking. The more one reads about the UN the more one concludes that it is like one large international DMV with the added bonus of loving the bad drivers more than the competent.  Oh, and blame Canada, too.

On the face of it, this shouldn't be a difficult choice, even for as uncurious a squish as Voinovich. Whatever one feels about it, the United States manages to function. The U.N. apparatus doesn't. Indeed, the United States does the U.N.'s job better than the U.N. does. The part of the tsunami aid operation that worked was the first few days, when America, Australia and a handful of other nations improvised instant and effective emergency relief operations that did things like, you know, save lives, rescue people, restore water supply, etc. Then the poseurs of the transnational bureaucracy took over, held press conferences demanding that stingy Westerners needed to give more and more and more, and the usual incompetence and corruption followed.

But none of that matters. As the grotesque charade Voinovich and his Democrat chums have inflicted on us demonstrates, all that the so-called "multilateralists" require is that we be polite and deferential to the transnational establishment regardless of how useless it is. What matters in global diplomacy is that you pledge support rather than give any. Thus, Bolton would have no problem getting nominated as U.N. ambassador if he were more like Paul Martin.

Who? Well, he's prime minister of Canada. And in January, after the tsunami hit, he flew into Sri Lanka to pledge millions and millions and millions in aid. Not like that heartless George W. Bush back at the ranch in Texas. Why, Prime Minister Martin walked along the ravaged coast of Kalumnai and was, reported Canada's CTV network, "visibly shaken." President Bush might well have been shaken, but he wasn't visible, and in the international compassion league, that's what counts. So Martin boldly committed Canada to giving $425 million to tsunami relief. "Mr. Paul Martin Has Set A Great Example For The Rest Of The World Leaders!" raved the LankaWeb news service.You know how much of that $425 million has been spent so far? Fifty thousand dollars -- Canadian. That's about 40 grand in U.S. dollars.

Western Europe Collapse

A few days ago, while commenting on the UAL pension debacle, I opined that many of the old large companies in the United States had made the same mistake as the governments of Western Europe: make huge promises to workers in the 60s and 70s and now find yourself unable to pay those benefits.  Well speak of the devil.  Today's Wall St. Journal contains a piece about Western Europe's economic woes.  The most relevant passage:

In 1965, government spending as a percentage of GDP averaged 28% in Western Europe, just slightly above the U.S. level of 25%. In 2002, U.S. taxes ate 26% of the economy, but in Europe spending had climbed to 42%, a 50% increase. Over the same period, unemployment in Western Europe has risen from less than 3% to 8% today, and to nearly 9% for the 12 countries in the euro zone. These two phenomena are related; in a country with generous welfare benefits, rising unemployment increases government spending rapidly.

But here a third element enters the picture, creating a feedback loop that explains why the Continent will never regain the halcyon days of postwar growth. As spending goes up, higher taxes must follow to pay for those benefits. But those taxes, usually payroll taxes, must be collected from a shrinking number of workers as jobs are cut. This in turn increases the cost of labor and decreases the benefit of working rather than collecting unemployment or welfare checks. As Martin Baily, a former head of Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, has described, this can lead to a spiral of rising taxes and falling employment, especially when welfare payments are high, as they are in most of Western Europe.

The result is predictable--more jobs are lost, the tax base shrinks, and taxes must go up further to pay for yet more welfare benefits, making work less attractive and not working more attractive.