The Merida Initiative: heard of it?

A “wave of hate?” Sure, but it’s not who you think it is!

100% Preventable! Two illegal alien criminals — 39 crimes! When will the madness end!

From Freedom Folks here.

Kat takes issue with the courts on gun control.

That is, the legal position of the US is that DC Circuit was wrong, a complete ban on handguns is NOT per se unconstitutional, it all depends on how good a reason DC can prove for it.

From the original article here

the DoJ REJECTS the DC Circuit position that an absolute, flat, ban on handguns violates the Second Amendment, and contends that it might just be justified, it all depends on the evidence.

There was a saying during my years in DC that the GOP operated on two principles: screw your friends and appease your enemies. Yup.

It isn’t justified - the Second Amendment is a right - and an important one - that’s why it’s all the way up there at #2.

Kat’s conclusion to her short post on gun rights, though, had my eyes bugging out, but laughing:

Piss off, you two-faced, lying bastards! Don’t forget: the Second Amendment is a sword that the people will use if the government takes away too many of our God-given rights. Which is, I suppose, why you want to take it away…

[throws hands up in disgust, spits on the Republican party, and stalks away]

She’s right…I don’t know how many times I’ve felt like this over numerous issues - not just this one; the main one is hand holding terrorists and firing experts on sharia in favor of ’softening’ our anti-terror rhetoric.

This is very odd.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert surprised participants at Thursday’s working meal of Israeli ministers with US President George W. Bush when he said that it was not the appropriate occasion to discuss the fate of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

The meal was attended by eight ministers, the heads of the Mossad and Shin-Bet (Israel Security Agency), US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top American officials. Olmert asked Bush to pardon Pollard when he met with the president on Wednesday, but he was turned down.

Pollard’s wife Esther said she was disappointed that Olmert refrained from discussing her husband, because in Judaism, redeeming captives defers any other issue. She said she was not impressed by Olmert raising the issue the day before either.

“That’s not how a serious request is made to secure the release of an Israeli agent in peril after 23 years in jail,” Pollard said. “It’s not something you casually bring up and then leak to the press. It reeks of a feeble attempt to discourage the massive public outcry for Jonathan’s release. That’s the best possible sign that the effort is succeeding and the Jewish people needs to redouble its efforts and press even harder to bring him home.”

• Jonathan Pollard is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.
• On November 21, 2007, Pollard entered the 23rd year of his life sentence, with no end in sight.
• The maximum sentence today for such an offence is 10 years.
• The median sentence for this offence is 2 to 4 years.

All the members of the Jerusalem city council signed a letter calling for Pollard’s release, which was hand delivered to Bush by Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupoliansky on Wednesday.

Shas chairman Eli Yishai delivered to Bush a letter from Esther Pollard and another from Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef asking for Pollard’s release. The rabbi said that if Bush answered his request affirmatively, he would be blessed with a long life.

Aldrich Ames who spied for an enemy nation (the Soviet Union), committed treason, and was responsible for the deaths of at least 11 American agents, received the same sentence as Jonathan Pollard. Pollard’s only indictment was one count of passing classified information to an ally. Pollard spent 7 years in solitary confinement, in the harshest unit of the harshest prison in the Federal system - FCI Marion.

Aldrich Ames’ treatment was far more benign, and (except for a relatively short period of time during debriefing) did not include the rigours of long years of solitary; nor was he ever subjected to the harsh conditions of “K” Unit at Marion - even though his offence was far more serious.

Comparative Sentences

“One of the most important mitzvot in Judaism is redeeming captives,” Yosef wrote. “At this opportune time, I offer my humble request on behalf of the Jews of Zion that Your Excellency release our brother, the prisoner Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a sentence for spying on behalf of the State of Israel. His health is deteriorating.”

————————–

Pollard’s story is an upsetting one, when you take the time to put it all together. He received a life sentence for ’spying’ for Israel, America’s ally. To put it into perspective, another ’spy’ who received a life sentence was Robert Hansen, who was spying for the Soviet Union, our enemy, and passing classified information over a 20-year period. Jonathan saw warnings in advance of terrorist attacks against Jewish schoolchildren riding buses and that sort of thing. I’m not sure specifically what he did-but the circumstances and punishment dealt to him seem unfair in comparison to others that were done on a grander scale and for longer periods of time-and for enemies of America. Why he’s in jail - and the fact that there was a plea bargain and Jonathan held his end up-and the American government renigged on their end of the agreement- is astonishing and reprehensible. I intend to keep studying up on this and reading about it.

But after reading the court documents of what happened with Jack Idema, anything is possible - government is too big, it’s a runaway train, and there is a fifth column in place working against us and appeasing our enemies. Sometimes I just feel as though we are doomed.

Especially when I look at what I feel is our last hope - as Fred Thompson puts it, -this election is the battle for the soul of the Republican party. And look at the loser candidates we have.

Ugh.

As if Carter’s antisemitism isn’t bad enough, we’ve got BUSH playing footsie with Abbas and the rest of them, and ignoring pleas for Pollard’s release…it’s enough to make a person long for the days when treason was a punishable offense. (And I mean Aldrich Ames [and others] should have been handled like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.) Now they do it every day, and try to do it on the front page of the New York Times…and guys like Pollard somehow are treated like worse criminals than enemy spies.

Makes one kind of wonder who the enemy really is in the eyes of our government.

The UN is playing a familiar tune.

The Islamic propaganda machine has turned Western democratic values inside out to the Islamists’ advantage. Cloaking themselves in the rhetoric of multiculturalism and tolerance, Islamists succeeded in getting the United Nations General Assembly to pass a resolution late last year condemning the defamation of religions – but the only religion mentioned in the resolution was Islam. This follows in the wake of a declaration by the UN “expert” on racism, who told the UN Human Rights Council last September that “Islamophobia today is the most serious form of religious defamation” and constituted a threat to world peace.

What “racism” has to do with Islam, we don’t know.

It is insane to suggest we subordinate ourselves to an alien system of beliefs which deny each of us the right to speak our mind. This is forcing people to “respect” Islam, no matter what crimes against humanity are carried out in its name. Is it defamation of Islam to point out how Islam and the Qu’ran are used to justify honor killings, murdering innocent civilians, misogyny and suppression of free speech?

Playing on “enlightened” Westerners’ guilt and their fear of being branded Islamophobes, the Islamists managed to silence any vigorous defense of the virtues of free expression and freedom of conscience.

It is to be expected. This superiority complex has been demonstrated numerous times; the most recent example is Robert Spencer’s visit at Jihad Watch by CAIR’s representative, Ahmed Bedier.

Next the Islamists intend to leverage their UN resolution to pressure Western countries into adopting blasphemy statutes aimed at protecting their religion from “hurtful” or “defamatory” remarks of any kind. A spokesperson for the Organization of Islamic Conference, the 57-member state group that pushed for the defamation resolution, said last March that there is “a dire need to fill the judicial vacuum of deficiency in dealing with the question of respect for religions” and demanded “effective and legally binding measures for combating defamation of all religions.” In their conception of “Truth,” since Islam is the only true religion and Islam forbids Muslims to criticize their religion in any way, it would simply make no sense to allow the lesser among us who are infidels to show any disrespect to Islam.

And that is precisely how they view us; as ‘the lesser among us’. Heh. So much for that multicultural morally equivalent view that ‘all religions are the same’.

Inside the Beltway - John McCaslin - November 9, 2007

One thing is for certain about the post-presidency of George W. Bush — “Under no circumstances” will first lady Laura Bush spend her retirement years living at the much-ballyhooed Texas ranch that she and the president have been “escaping” to for the past seven years.

Laura — you’ll like Dallas alot better

By Charlie Savage - Globe Staff / November 6, 2007

Liberals are angry because the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights uses Bush’s definition of civil rights rather than theirs.

WASHINGTON - The US Commission on Civil Rights, the nation’s 50-year-old watchdog for racism and discrimination, has become a critic of school desegregation efforts and affirmative action ever since the Bush administration used a controversial maneuver to put the agency under conservative control. Democrats say the move to create a conservative majority on the eight-member panel violated the spirit of a law requiring that no more than half the commission be of one party.

The commission has put out a series of reports

By Deborah Weiss - FrontPageMagazine

The secret’s out — on August 24th, 2007, UN weapons inspectors found 6 to 8 vials of chemical weapons sitting in an office at the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) headquarters in NYC.

They found the vials when archiving files due to the fact that UNMOVIC is closing down its mission. They placed the vials in a sealed package and put them in a safe located in a secured room. Subsequently, on August 29, 2007, UNMOVIC employees discovered the inventory list which listed the content of the vials.

The vials contained the chemical phosgene, which according to the Center for Disease Control causes blurred vision, a burning sensation in the eyes and throat, difficulty breathing, coughing, nausea, vomiting, heart failure, fluid in the lungs, and death. It is a clear liquid, and when stored at room temperature, it converts to a poisoness gas. It was used as a choking agent in World War I and was responsible for multitudes of fatalities. In 1987 it was used by Iran during the Iran-Iraq War.

The UN is steeped in scandal, corruption, immorality, incompetence, and unaccountability.

UN weapons inspectors found vials of chemical weapons

WASHINGTON - At a key juncture in the Iraq war, the military chiefs conveyed to President Bush yesterday their concern about a growing strain on U.S. forces and their families from long and repeated combat tours.

Bush met privately at the Pentagon with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in preparation for decisions about how long to sustain the U.S. buildup in Iraq, whether to change course this fall and how to save the health of a heavily stressed Army and Marines Corps.

Indications are that Bush intends to stick with his current approach, at least into 2008, despite pressure from the Democratic-led Congress — including some prominent Republicans — to find a new course.

Still to be heard is the long-awaited assessment by Gen. David Petraeus, Bush’s choice to execute the new strategy he announced in January to improve security in Baghdad.

Petraeus did not participate in yesterday’s session, but one U.S. senior official said that Petraeus, along with Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, would probably tell Bush and Congress in mid-September that the buildup had succeeded in allowing slow but sure progress on the military and political fronts.

Petraeus and Crocker will also argue for a continuation of the current policy with some adjustments, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing internal deliberations.

Bush’s critics speak of mounting evidence that although the buildup may have slowed sectarian violence in Baghdad, the Iraqis are making almost no headway toward political reconciliation.

There are no signs that the Pentagon’s top generals and admirals are pushing for an early end to the war, but they are concerned not only about strains on their forces but also about the possibility that the focus on counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq leaves the military ill-prepared in the event of a crisis elsewhere.

He warns Congress against any effort to withdraw early

[ Commentary ] — I realize the Bureaucrats don’t come in contact with Illegals; so why would you do something like this which, IMO is just downright blatantly ignorant and stupid?

What part of that SIMPLE EQUATION don’t you Morons understand???

Five groups sued today in federal court to block a Bush Administration plan to allow Mexico-domiciled trucks to roam the country’s highways as soon as Saturday.

The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, maintains that the Bush administration’s pilot program, which authorizes up to 100 carriers based in Mexico to perform long-haul operations within the U.S., violates several key congressional requirements.

The groups filing suit include Public Citizen; the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Sierra Club; Environmental Law Foundation; and the Brotherhood of Teamsters, Auto and Truck Drivers, Local 70. They filed an emergency motion asking the court to delay the pilot program before it goes into effect in a matter of days.

Mexico-domiciled motor carriers currently are permitted to operate in the U.S. only in specified commercial zones along the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The Bush administration has for years been pushing to give Mexico-domiciled carriers access to all U.S. highways despite safety and environmental concerns expressed by public interest groups, unions representing truck drivers and lawmakers.

“The administration has thumbed its nose at Congress by its clear failure to comply with lawmakers’ requirements,” said Public Citizen attorney Bonnie Robin-Vergeer. “There is no harm in delaying the program for a short time to make sure it is done right.”

Step aside and let me run the country for 4 years

By Jeremy Pelofsky

ALBUQUERQUE (Reuters) - A New Mexico motorcycle police officer crashed and died on Monday while escorting U.S. President George W. Bush and his motorcade from a political fund-raiser back to the airport, the White House said.

The officer, Germain Casey, crashed as the president’s motorcade was arriving at the airport and his limousine passed by the scene where two other officers were performing CPR on the fatally injured man.

An ambulance in the president’s motorcade stopped to provide assistance, as did a member of the White House medical staff. A local television station reported the officer had collided with another motorcycle.

Bush said he was deeply saddened by the officer’s death and grateful for his protection. He later called the officer’s wife to express his condolences.

“It is a high calling to choose to serve and protect your fellow citizens, and I will always be indebted to Officer Casey’s service,” Bush said in a statement.

Casey leaves behind a wife and two teenage children, said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Motorcycle police officers often escort the president’s motorcade, blocking off intersections as it proceeds. A motorcycle officer in Hawaii died last year after sustaining injuries in a crash while escorting Bush.

Bush was in New Mexico on Monday to help Republican Sen. Pete Domenici raise about $400,000 for his reelection bid.

Bush later flew to Bellevue, Washington, where he attended a fund-raiser for Republican Rep. Dave Reichert. who is facing a tough re-election bid next year. The event was expected to raise more than $500,000, most of which is going to Reichert.

New Mexico Motorcycle Officer Dies Escorting President Bush

Mickey Kaus has raised the intriguing possibility that, since Bush’s amnesty plan went down to humiliating defeat once Americans got wind of what the elites had planned for us, the Bush administration might respond by intentionally targeting highly sympathetic illegal aliens for deportation “in as clumsy, heartless and lawsuit-inspiring a fashion as possible, in order to create the maximum number of negative headlines.”

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff described anti-amnesty Americans as being satisfied with nothing less than “the death penalty” for illegal aliens and recently warned of “some unhappy consequences” unless illegal aliens were granted amnesty. Yes, that Michael Chertoff — the guy in charge of keeping us safe from foreign invasions.

[ EDIT ] — I agree with Ann — our alleged “Homeland Security” is an absolute joke, as the illegal phucks keep pouring in faster and faster!

So it was curious when we were treated this week to a weeping Mexican woman on TV, claiming the U.S. government was tearing her from her infant son and saying she knew the American people would be outraged if she were deported. (I note that her message might have been more effective in English.)

[EDIT] — I didn’t feel sorry for her illegal Mexican a$$ being deported back to Mexico — she was LIVING in America; WORKING an American job; EARNING American wages … don’t tell me that, after all of these years under those conditions, she couldn’t LEARN ENGLISH — KEEP YOUR A$$ IN MEXICO WHERE YOU BELONG!!!

Admittedly, I’d just as soon have Homeland Security focusing on illegal immigrants like the one who shot four promising college kids execution style in Newark, killing three of them, possibly after sexually molesting two of them. Heck, I wouldn’t have minded if they had deported Jose Carranza even before his girlfriend accused him of raping her 5-year-old daughter.

Or Ruben Hernandez-Juarez, an illegal alien charged with sexually molesting a 6-year-old boy in Martin County, Fla.

Or Alejandro Bautista, an illegal alien in Cook County, Ill., who was convicted for sexually molesting two teenaged boys.

Or Alejandro Xuya-Sian, the illegal alien who hit a pedestrian with his car in New York and dragged him for nearly a mile before dislodging the victim from his car, throwing him aside and driving off again. (Even more disturbing: Xuya-Sian may not have been wearing his seat belt at the time.)

Ann Coulter Speaks Out - 1 DOWN, 11,999,999 TO GO

WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday defended President Bush from criticism by Nouri al-Maliki after the embattled Iraqi prime minister lashed out at American lawmakers calling for a no-confidence vote on his regime.

“Prime Minister Maliki knows where the president stands,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

Johndroe said that after Bush’s comments Tuesday in Canada, the White House had tried to make clear that Bush was not distancing himself from Maliki.

“It appears that did not come through for whatever reason,” Johndroe said.

Speaking at a news conference in Syria earlier Wednesday, al-Maliki lashed out at comments made by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. — who this week said the Iraqi parliament should choose another leader. Al-Maliki complained that he wasn’t getting the support he expected from Bush.

“No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people,” al-Maliki said at the end of a three-day trip to Iraq’s neighbor.

“Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere,” al-Maliki said.

On Tuesday, Bush notably omitted an endorsement for al-Maliki while pointing to new successes in Iraq that have taken place since he ramped up troops earlier this year in his plan to pacify the country. Bush spoke in Quebec during a joint press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“The fundamental question is, will the government respond to the demands of the people?” the president said, without mentioning al-Maliki by name. “And if the government doesn’t … respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government. That’s up to the Iraqis to make that decision, not American politicians.”

“The Iraqis will decide,” Bush added. “They have decided they want a constitution. They have elected members to their parliament and they will make the decisions just like democracies do.

“Clearly, the Iraqi government’s got to do more,” Bush added.

FOX News Exlusive

Trouble in the mortgage market spread Monday as Capital One said it will shut its GreenPoint Mortgage unit and fire 1,900 employees because it expects tighter credit to squeeze both lenders and home buyers out of the market.

SunTrust Banks also said Monday it expects to lay off about 7% of its workforce to cut costs. The Atlanta-based bank said the layoffs were part of a broad efficiency program, and it did not outline any changes to its mortgage business.

The news follows an announcement Friday that First Magnus Financial was closing down and had let go its nearly 6,000 employees. And Countrywide Financial, cfc the nation’s largest mortgage lender, told employees it would cut an unspecified number of jobs in its unit that specializes in loans for those with good credit but often undocumented income or assets, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The ruptures in the real estate market have caused layoffs in the mortgage industry to nearly triple this year, injecting further risk into the economy. The Federal Reserve on Friday cut the interest rate it charges banks, saying, “The downside risks to growth have increased appreciably,” because of deteriorating financial conditions and tighter credit.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., will meet Tuesday with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to discuss what further steps might be taken to stabilize the mortgage and credit markets. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said his committee will hold a hearing Sept. 5 to discuss “the current crises” and how consumers are being affected.

What’s In Your Wallet Besides Mortgage Problems ?

By John W. Schoen - Senior Producer - MSNBC

With fresh data showing home foreclosures on the rise, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are considering various measures to restore a mortgage market now in disarray. Some are suggesting that lenders and borrowers involved in the risky loans that are now going bad should simply suffer the consequences. But supporters of more aggressive measures argue that the government may need to step in before the current mortgage mayhem threatens the wider economy.

U.S. foreclosures continued to rise in July – up 9 percent from June and up 93 percent from a year ago, according to the latest monthly numbers tracked by RealtyTrac, an a Web site that tracks foreclosed properties. Nearly 180,000 fillings – including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported during the month. That means that one in every 693 U.S. households was hit with foreclosure in July.

Like everything else involving real estate, the impact of the mortgage mess and the ongoing wave of foreclosures has been felt unevenly across the country. Much of the damage has occurred in the states like California and Florida where the housing boom – combined with rampant speculation and easy-money lending – grew the fastest.

Other hard hit states such as Michigan were already battered by weak economic conditions before the recent credit storm hit. Detroit posted a 70 percent month-over-month increase in foreclosures in July, pushing the city’s foreclosure rate to one filing for every 97 households — more than seven times the national average.

Congress seeks to halt rising foreclosures