For the past few days, various news outfits have been passing around a story about a Cato Institute scholar who says that our intelligence collection will be just fine without FISA reform. Here is the Washington Time's version:

Timothy Lee, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, said the last time Congress overhauled FISA — after the September 11 terrorist attacks — President Bush praised the action, saying the new law "recognizes the realities and dangers posed by the modern terrorist."

"Those are the rules we'll be living under after the Protect America Act expires this weekend," Mr. Lee added. "There's no reason to think our nation will be in any more danger in 2008 than it was in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006."

What Lee fails to mention is that in February or March of last year (we can't be sure because the ruling is secret), a FISA court judge ruled that foreign-to-foreign communications are subject to a warrant requirement if they are carried over the U.S. telecommunications infrastructure. So there's actually a pretty good reason to think our nation will be in more danger in 2008 than in 2006.

That hasn't stopped Democrats and others from claiming that the Bush Administration is just fear-mongering on the issue. That was the claim of congressional Democrats in August, sore at the spanking they'd received after the intelligence community reported a drop in intelligence gathering of 75%. Democrats are trying to to sing that same song again.

Andy McCarthy at the Corner is still on the case and hits back:

It is worth observing that the Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, was the Director of President Clinton's National Security Agency from 1992-'96. He is not a partisan hack. He was a Vice Admiral in the Navy and is an old intelligence pro.

[...]

When you go from no restrictions to no collection absent probable cause, that represents an enormous drop off in capacity. It's that simple. Democrats who claim that people like McConnell are engaged in partisan fear-mongering are talking nonsense. And as McConnell noted this morning, every day we don't fix this problem, the problem — the investigative leads you don't get, the connections you don't make, the things you don't learn but which you should know — metastasizes. Intelligence is dynamic: you can't stop collecting for a day, a week, a month or more and then figure you are picking up right where you left off. What you have lost tends to stay lost.

Democrats frequently claim that President Bush is engaged in a power grab, that he's trying to overturn the Fourth Amendment. House Democrats spent Friday bleating about an "imperial presidency." They're just spreading a different variety of fear, one that they've perpetuated ever since they started referring to the "sElected President" and "King George."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:19 PM | Comments (14)
Post contains 474 words, total size 3 kb.

Senators Obama and Clinton had to cancel campaign events in Wisconsin because of bad weather. Clinton spent the day marking time in Milwaukee at a diner and a grocery store. Obama decided to continue his effort to convince John Edwards to endorse him.

A helicopter cameraman for ABC's Raleigh-Durham affiliate WTVD spotted Obama leaving former rival John Edwards' house on the North Carolina...

The weather helped the meeting take place this time, as Obama's event in Appleton, Wis., was cancelled because of snowy conditions. Obama, who had spent the night at home in nearby Chicago, took advantage of the unexpectant gap in his schedule and flew down to Raleigh early afternoon. Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, was present for the meeting.

Apparently, Obama and Edwards hugged at the conclusion of the meeting.

I wrote before that I think Edwards has waited too long to announce an endorsement for it to really sway anyone. But Obama and Clinton clearly disagree, so what do I know? It occurs to me that Obama is also on the lookout for a running mate and Edwards may help bring some of the southern states which in Obama vs. McCain matchups seem to be going overwhelmingly to McCain. People are talking about a Republican Southern Sweep. That's got to have Obama worried.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:31 PM | Comments (46)
Post contains 224 words, total size 1 kb.

Now With More Spine

Danish MPs have cancelled a trip to Iran after Tehran demanded they apologise for the republication of cartoons deemed offensive to Islam.

Two days before the scheduled trip, Tehran demanded the MPs condemn the cartoon on their arrival in Iran.

Eleven Danish papers republished the cartoons as a show of solidarity after a plot to kill one of the cartoonists was uncovered.

This triggered several days of peaceful demonstrations and car torchings in Copenhagen, as well as exciting pyrotechnic displays/ chanting in remote sandy-ass regions of the world where folks are very keen on keeping up with international news and reacting like fucking lunatics to it.

"We are not the ones to apologise," said Villy Soevndal, the leader of Denmark's Socialist People's Party.

"If anyone needs to apologise for freedom of speech, human rights, imprisonments, executions and lack of democracy, it is the Iranians."

Denmark's foreign minister has backed the parliamentarians' decision not to travel.

To our friends in the United Kingdom: This is how you do it.

On the apprehended conspirators;

Two of the men, who are not Danish citizens, are due to be expelled to Tunisia rather than put on trial.

Many Danish Muslims criticised this decision, saying it would be better to examine the evidence and punish the men if they were really guilty.

Yes. Deportation to Tunisia would seem rather a bad precedent to set, if I were a Danish Muslim.
It has more of a sense of finality to it than imprisonment in Denmark.

Posted by: LauraW. at 09:45 AM | Comments (44)
Post contains 259 words, total size 2 kb.

Mayor Phil Gordon announced a change in policy for the Phoenix PD:

The police in this city at the center of the immigration debate will soon ask all people arrested whether they are in the United States legally and will in certain cases report the information to the federal authorities, Mayor Phil Gordon announced on Friday.

People stopped for civil traffic violations like speeding will not be questioned, nor will crime victims or witnesses.

All those arrested on criminal charges like drunken driving and murder will be asked by officers whether they are in the United States legally.

The police may decide to recommend checking by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This is a good step. It gets at criminals without turning whole neighborhoods into police-free zones where people are too scared to call for help. Of course, pro-illegal groups are already calling it xenophobic, but, really, it's not like they've got a whole lot of other calls in their playbook.

Note that all arrestees are going to get asked, so there's no xenophobic discrimination at that end. A determination will then be made as to which will get passed on to ICE for further examination.

I like this observation:

Civil rights advocates suggested that people who appeared to be Latino or spoke with accents would be more likely to be checked than others.

Uh? Duh-har-dah-har. It's Phoenix. Of course Latinos are going to be checked more, geniuses. And there sure are a lot of illegal aliens with Southwest American English or flawless General American English, aren't there?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:45 PM | Comments (29)
Post contains 275 words, total size 2 kb.

I put a headline up about this earlier but what the hell, it's Saturday night and the news cycle is pretty slow. Earlier today Clinton campaign weasel advisor Harold Ickes argued in a conference call that the Michigan and Florida delegates disqualified by the DNC (because they moved up their primaries) should now be seated at the convention.

Even though he himself voted in favor of the disqualification last year.

"There's been no change," Ickes said. "I was not acting as an agent of Mrs. Clinton. We had promulgated rules and those rules said the timing provision ... provides for certain sanctions, automatic sanctions as a matter of fact, if a state such as Michigan or Florida violates those timing provisions."

"With respect to the stripping, I voted as a member of the Democratic National Committee. Those were our rules and I felt I had an obligation to enforce them," he said.

But now he tells us he's deeply concerned that millions of voters would be "disenfranchised". That's the beautiful thing about the Clinton campaign. There is no lie too outrageous. There's no supporter who isn't dumb enough to buy it.

Never mind that the candidates agreed not to campaign in these states. Hell Obama and Edwards even took their names off the ballot in Michigan (suckers). Obama didn't make the same mistake in Florida though. He leads currently in the delegate count 1280 to 1218, but if they seat these additional 313 Clinton will take the lead, having "won" both states.

I hope they do it. I really do. Whether it's this silly-ass manuever or superdelegates (shocker: white males are overrepresented in this group compared to Democrats overall!), whatever... do it. No one will remember Ickes heartfelt plea for the "disenfranchised", nope. It's gonna look stolen. It's gonna feel stolen. And we all know what happens to Democrats when they think they done got stole from.

They go ape-shit, that's what. I've seen it.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 05:20 PM | Comments (39)
Post contains 331 words, total size 2 kb.

Number of ejaculations: 1,037.

Apparently, they are promoting a film or something. I don't think they really need to explain themselves.

You know, if Allahpundit can look at this picture and still maintain there is no God, he is beyond Beta. Omega-male anyone?

Posted by: Jack M. at 02:01 PM | Comments (89)
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

1) David Mamet. Dig him, even though he's hit and miss.

2) Tim Allen. Dig him, even though he's hit and miss.

3) UFC. Pretend to dig it, so my friends don't suspect that an aging single guy is gay.

Geek question: Know where you know that black guy from? Don't IMDB it, jerkweeds.

I don't get this whole tying-your-arm-to-your-leg thing; where the hell did he get that from, and why include that inanity? But I'm down with it.

From Cinematical, with more about this bizarre project.

Though I guess it's not that bizarre. Mamet's all about manhood and shit; I guess this was inevitable. If Hemmingway were alive today, I'm pretty sure he'd be writing novels about the UFC. For Whom The Ref Counts Out and The Old Man and the Gracie Family and ish.

From Ray Midge, who calls this "Preposterously Awesome." He also sends this kinda-funny commercial with Michael Bay spoofing his career as a glorified explosives technical adviser.

David Mamet, by the way, was one of the first celebrity "gets" I had the pleasure to interview on this site. Back when I used to be funny. (Scan down for it if the link doesn't take you right there.)

Posted by: Ace at 11:51 AM | Comments (41)
Post contains 230 words, total size 2 kb.

Bunk.

What $6 million and Asperger's Syndrome can get ya.

Pictured: The system's owner; the love of his life; and a
random middle-aged woman to establish scale.

Gee. I wonder if he owns the Lord of the Rings Extended Version Box Set. I betcha he does. I have that sense.

Thanks to DavidR.

Posted by: Ace at 11:21 AM | Comments (38)
Post contains 77 words, total size 1 kb.

He's gonna heal me? He doesn't seem to be able to do a damn thing about narcolepsy.

Posted by: Ace at 11:14 AM | Comments (25)
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

Multiculturalism + Aggressively Colonizing Primitive Culture = Crazy Delicious!

The British government has cleared the way for husbands with multiple wives to claim welfare benefits for all their partners, fueling growing controversy over the role of Islamic Shariah law in the nation's cultural and legal framework.

Bigamy is outlawed in Britain, but authorities have never prosecuted Muslim men who had legally married more than one woman abroad and continued to live with them after immigrating. Shariah permits men to have up to four wives at one time.

Now, after a review that began in November 2006, a panel of four government departments has decided that all the wives of a Muslim man may collect state benefits, provided that the marriages took place in a country where multiple spouses are legal.

Neither the review nor the decision was announced publicly, and their discovery by newspapers late last month triggered an uproar in the largely Christian nation — a fury exacerbated by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' remark last week that some aspects of Islamic law could be embraced within Britain's legal system.

More at the link.

Welfare and chattel concubines I'm allowed to pimp-thump when they step out of line?

SECOND LOOK AT ISLAM!

Posted by: Ace at 10:55 AM | Comments (27)
Post contains 235 words, total size 2 kb.