Earlier this year Democrats failed to force the White House to accept lower spending levels or time tables for the mission in Iraq. But since Democrats are as adaptable as any virus, they think they’ve finally hit on a plan that will assure their victory and secure America’s defeat.

Though there has not been an election between then and now to drastically change the number of votes in the House or Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that her chamber will vote as early as Friday a new supplemental war funding bill essentially written using the same language.

The President has asked for nearly $200 billion to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Pelosi said Congress will only give him a quarter of that -- $50 billion. That funding, she said, Bush would have to use to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2008 with the token force left behind focused on training Iraqis forces, tracking down terrorists, and securing Iraq's borders.

Pelosi said it is important for congressional Democrats to reassert their platform for a change in direction in Iraq.

Even the NY Times (link to NRO, not the Times) admits we are defeating the ‘militant groups’ (AKA- al Qaeda) in Iraq. Of course they buried it on page A-19. Clearly Nancy’s ‘change in direction’ means heading for defeat, as quickly as possible.

So, who are the more formidable and relentless opponents of US victory in Iraq, the terrorists or Democrats?

Posted by: DrewM. at 10:07 AM | Comments (22)
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Earlier this year Democrats failed to force the White House to accept lower spending levels or time tables for the mission in Iraq. But since Democrats are as adaptable as any virus, they think theyÂ’ve finally hit on a plan that will assure their victory and secure AmericaÂ’s defeat.

Though there has not been an election between then and now to drastically change the number of votes in the House or Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that her chamber will vote as early as Friday a new supplemental war funding bill essentially written using the same language.

The President has asked for nearly $200 billion to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Pelosi said Congress will only give him a quarter of that -- $50 billion. That funding, she said, Bush would have to use to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2008 with the token force left behind focused on training Iraqis forces, tracking down terrorists, and securing Iraq's borders.

Pelosi said it is important for congressional Democrats to reassert their platform for a change in direction in Iraq.

Even the NY Times (link to NRO, not the Times) admits we are defeating the ‘militant groups’ (AKA- al Qaeda) in Iraq. Of course they buried it on page A-19. Clearly Nancy’s ‘change in direction’ means heading for defeat, as quickly as possible.

So, who are the more formidable and relentless opponents of US victory in Iraq, the terrorists or Democrats?

Posted by: DrewM at 10:07 AM | Comments (23)
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First they came for the Jews. Next they came for your bacon. Now they refuse to deliver beer.

35-year-old Brian Poulin of Hebron was arrested Sunday after police said he called 911 several times and asked them to bring him beer.

Hebron was charged with disorderly conduct.

Police said he called 911 numerous times and told the dispatcher he was out of beer and asked them to pick up more for him.

The terrorists have won. I am moving to Canada.

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:28 AM | Comments (26)
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Due to the writers strike:

As television and movie writers entered the third day of their strike against Hollywood producers yesterday, the walkout continued to complicate matters for the networks. Fox, the first to announce revisions to its prime-time schedule because of the strike, said it would indefinitely postpone the start of the seventh season of “24,” which had been scheduled for January, to ensure an uninterrupted 24-episode season.

CHLOE! Run a DNS submask socket to get into their Word macros! DO IT!

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:07 AM | Comments (26)
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The Weblog Awards polls close today at 5pm Eastern (2pm Pacific), making this your last chance to vote.

We tried the carrot, then the stick. Now I appeal to your humanity:

Do it for the children!

We're in the "Best Conservative Blog" category.

Don't forget:
Slublog in "Best of the Rest"
Nice Deb in "Best New Blog"

The morons tell me that:
Climate Audit deserves your vote in "Best Science Blog"
Gateway Pundit in "Best of the Top 250"
Average Gay Joe in "Best LBGT Blog"

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:57 AM | Comments (12)
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John Bolton has a book out, Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Jay Nordlinger of National Review has a peak at his upcoming review.

There are also plenty of excerpts from the book.

After some additional desultory chatter, Bush went to the nearby office of General Assembly president Eliasson, for yet another annual courtesy call. Bush reiterated what he’d said to Annan about the lack of American public support for the UN, which prompted Eliasson, Swede extraordinaire, to explain American public opinion back to Bush. Bush just looked at him and said patiently, “If there were a referendum today, I don’t think the UN would win,” which pretty much ended that discussion, other than for Bush to say, “That’s why we sent Bolton up here, to get things fixed.” Bush visibly lost interest in further conversation with Eliasson . . .

I could see Eliasson wasnÂ’t listening; he again discoursed on U.S. public opinion, so I told him to stop listening to Human Rights Watch and start reading National Review, although I was not sure he knew what National Review was.

Can you imagine any other US Ambassador to the UN telling the President of the General Assembly to read National Review?

Here’s the deal, I don’t have a candidate yet for 2008 but I am offering the prestigious “DrewM Presidential Endorsement” to the first candidate, Republican or Democrat, to announce they will make Bolton Secretary of State in their administration. I realize this endorsement isn’t as valuable as the Jack M. seal of approval but it’s got to be worth at least as much if not more than Walter Mondale’s endorsement of Hillary!

Posted by: DrewM. at 07:25 AM | Comments (29)
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Delightful. They had access to fairly sensitive areas too. The illegals were employed by Ideal Staffing Solutions, which appears to have a somewhat shady reputation. They did work for United Airlines, KLM and Qantas. Some employees are facing charges for hiring the illegal workforce. In March, questions started getting raised about company practices by a US Customs and Border agent.

Here's your money quote,

Agents found that 110 of the 134 badges issued to Ideal Staffing workers did not match the individuals who carried them, he said.

Yeah, you read that right. You wish you hadn't...me too.

The obligatory "bogus Social Security numbers" line.

According to affidavits in a complaint against Gurin and Benitez unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, the applications for the 110 bogus badges listed Social Security numbers that either did not exist or belonged to other individuals, some of whom were dead.

They also used expired security badges,

One affidavit from a temporary worker who cooperated with authorities said Benitez told him to look through a box containing about 20 airport security badges and to pick one with a picture that resembled his own face.

The prosecutors aren't offering up how Ideal Staffing Solutions got away with this for so long, but I'm guessing it comes out in the trial. There are warrants out for over 100 others.

There is a reason people are pissed off about illegal immigration, and it isn't rank bigotry, its stories like this. Just a few years after our airlines were used to attack us, we have illegal immigrants using bogus documents and expired security badges to wander about in sensitive parts of America's largest airport. No wonder our government officials have such piss-poor poll numbers.

Crossposted at doubleplusundead.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:39 AM | Comments (22)
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I'm traveling most of today, with a couple of hours set aside to see some things in LA, and then will be at this YAF Reagan Ranch confab for the night. Unless I have ten or fifteen minutes in a Circuit City, I doubt I'll see a computer all day.

If anyone wants to, then, maybe some Open Blog.

Tonight's event is odd. I'm looking forward to the opening speech but it's off the record, so while I may enjoy it, there won't be much bloggable there. So I'm not bringing the laptop to that.

I'll check in late, maybe 12 or so West Coast time and 3 on the East to see what I've missed.

Posted by: Ace at 01:45 AM | Comments (13)
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Why not cut out the middleman of ratings failure and pass the savings on to the public?

She says the deal was almost inked but got scrapped because word got out.

Does this make sense? Were they planning to keep the show secret all through its run?

Posted by: Ace at 06:07 PM | Comments (37)
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Jonah Goldberg on the weapons-grade fail of Hollywood's anti-war propaganda barrage:

To be sure, many of these films don't attack the troops directly. Some are thoughtful in their critiques, others less so. Regardless, this is still uncharted territory. "These movies certainly are more willing to be critical of the military and misconduct of individual soldiers. Certainly no such feature was made like these during ... the Vietnam War," Charles Ferguson, a political scientist and creator of the anti-Iraq war documentary, No End In Sight, recently told The Philadelphia Inquirer. But here's the interesting part: So far, these movies are tanking. Rendition opened on 2,250 screens, with three Oscar winners in the cast, and it was beaten its opening weekend by a re-release of the 14-year-old A Nightmare Before Christmas. Elah was a bigger bomb than those used in the "shock and awe" campaign. The Kingdom earned less than $50 million, and surely only did that well because it was marketed as an action movie rather than an anti-war one. Jeanine Basinger, a film historian at Wesleyan University, speculates that "these films are coming forward during the progress of a war and questioning it sooner may mean that the general public is rejecting what our leaders are telling us ... and want to know more about the war."

This is an odd, yet unsurprising, interpretation in an age when The Daily Show is a primary news source.

The public doesn't get to decide what movies are made. As President Bush might say, Hollywood is the "decider." The public determines which movies are successful. Perhaps the studios of yesteryear knew something today's moguls don't. Maybe Americans don't like to see America and her troops run down, even during an unpopular war.

Article linked at The Conservative Grapevine.

Posted by: Ace at 05:23 PM | Comments (50)
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