We're so damned tough on terrorism.

It's meaningless in that plans aren't being developed so much as they are being dusted off and reviewed. We've got more military response plans than all of our socks added together. Hell, we have a plan to invade Biloxi Mississippi if circumstances warrant.

Still, the Washington Post reports this breathlessly.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military is developing plans for a unilateral attack on the Pakistani Taliban in the event of a successful terrorist strike in the United States that can be traced to them, The Washington Post reports.

Planning for a retaliatory attack was spurred by ties between alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and elements of the Pakistani Taliban, the Post said in an article posted on its website Friday night, quoting unidentified senior military officials.

The military would focus on air and missile strikes but also could use small teams of U.S. Special Operations troops currently along the border with Afghanistan, the Post said.

I think Ace mentioned a year or so ago, the principle principal* export from the nation of Pakistan seems to be "death".

I don't believe this administration has the actual will to place an embargo on "death". I also believe they have a Constitutional responsibility to do so.

Instead I get headlines.

* I hate this word

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:18 AM | Comments (278)
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Just remember: when things seem to be spinning completely out of control, the important thing is...don't panic. And make sure you have your towel.

Posted by: Monty at 05:36 AM | Comments (104)
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Memorial Day Weekend here we come!! WOooo Woooo Wooo! Last one in the pool is a smelly hobo!

Ivan Drago: Justice Enforcer!

Here's a flash version of some good ole 8-bit Dolph-ian gaming goodness that never was.

But here's a bit of the real Dolph singing, drumming and doing some karate chops for this year's Melodifestivalen":

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:11 PM | Comments (962)
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Let's all stand on the beach together lookin' like we're large and in charge.

President Obama pauses after burning away
an acre of oil slick with his heat-ray vision.

Perhaps you saw news footage of President Obama in Grand Isle, La., on Friday and thought things didn't look all that bad. Well, there may have been a reason for that: The town was evidently swarmed by an army of temp workers to spruce it up for the president and the national news crews following him.

Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, whose district encompasses Grand Isle, told Yahoo! News that BP bused in "hundreds" of temporary workers to clean up local beaches. And as soon as the president was en route back to Washington, the workers were clearing out of Grand Isle too, Roberts said.

"The level of cleanup and cooperation we've gotten from BP in the past is in no way consistent to the effort shown on the island today," Roberts said by telephone. "As soon as the president left, they were immediately put back on the buses and sent home."

A pretend army for a pretend president.

And for those of you who doubted Obama's willingness to cut the federal budget: doubt no more.

Three months before the massive BP oil spill erupted in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration proposed downsizing the Coast Guard national coordination center for oil spill responses, prompting its senior officers to warn that the agency's readiness for catastrophic events would be weakened.

That proposal is feeding a mounting debate over whether the federal government is able to regulate deep-sea oil extraction. Defense analysts and retired agency leaders question whether the Coast Guard -- which shares oversight of offshore drilling with the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service -- has the expertise and resources to keep pace with industry advances.

Accidents happen, "but what you're seeing here is the government is not properly set up to deal with this kind of issue," said Robbin Laird, a defense consultant who has worked on Coast Guard issues. "The idea that you would even think about getting rid of catastrophic environmental spill equipment or expertise at the Department of Homeland Security, are you kidding me?"

But Obama has to cut things like this because he's so inflated the size of government spending on what are, frankly, secondary and tertiary responsibilities of the government, if at all.

Thanks to Phil for that last one.

Posted by: Ace at 04:25 PM | Comments (405)
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Either Joe Sestak was lying then, or he's lying now.

Comparing Sestak's present tale to the first answers he gave to Larry Kane...

Sestak confirms to Kane that the White House offered him a job, or at least he fails to disabuse Kane of that notion in his affirmative answer. And note Sestak assents that he was offered a high-ranking federal job. Each word here is important.

There are more than 60 boards, commissions and committees that at one time or another have advised the president. Most are not considered "high-ranking" administration positions, nor upgrades from a House seat, let alone a seat in the Senate. Besides, though vague on details, both the White House memo and Sestak use the words "Advisory Board," of which there are only two currently active: The Economic Recovery Board and the Intelligence Advisory Board. Sestak is no economist, so the most logical conclusion to draw from the White House memo — that "By virtue of his career in public service, including distinguished military service, Congressman Sestak was viewed to be highly qualified to hold a range of advisory positions. . .while holding his House seat" — is that Sestak was being considered for the Intelligence Advisory Board. The only problem with that option, as the NYT reported, is that Sestak could not have retained his House seat while serving.

In short, it appears that there is no "advisory position" in existence that Sestak would 1) be qualified for and 2) consider preferable to a Senate run and 3) allow him to retain his House seat. Which brings us to the word "job." Sestak uses it himself, not "position" or "role" or "advisory capacity" or anything else. Federal jobs pay (just ask Derb). Jobs bring clout. Jobs open up, in the language of the White House memo, "alternative paths to service" (read: power) that could give a man second thoughts about a Senate run. Could this just be sloppy language from Sestak? Maybe, maybe not.

Umm... I say no.

Via SorenKay.

Oh Dear:

Clinton doesn't merely refuse comment. He refuses to even say "no comment."

Posted by: Ace at 02:16 PM | Comments (265)
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What he means is (well I hope he means this; all other suggestions are lunatic) that the majority of the country is Christian, so whenever a murder occurs, it's a "Christian murder."

Uh-huh.

But see, the thing is, Muslims commit those sorts of "Muslim murders" every day, too, if we're calling any murder (for the typical motives, love, money, etc.) by a member of a religion a Religious Murder.

He kind of forgot that, eh?

What we are talking about is murders committed for the sake of religion -- and no, Tavis, Christians are not killing people every day because Jesus told them they'd get into heaven if they do.

Posted by: Ace at 02:07 PM | Comments (93)
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You're doing it wrong.

With apologies to RedState readers (and Dan Riehl who is rather upset about the whole post from this morning), IÂ’ve had no hesitation in stringing the media along like Folks has done. He wanted his fifteen minutes of fame and got a week. Now he needs to show us what he has and, if he has what he says he has, let Haley supporters make up their minds. No one needs to humor him with another week of sensational salaciousness. There are kids and a husband involved in this mess too.

I have no clue if anyone is behind Will Folks doing this. He really could feel aggrieved for some reason and just want to take out Nikki Haley. But I have a theory, I have some facts, and IÂ’ve drawn some inferences to form my opinion. LetÂ’s go below the fold and down the rabbit hole.

LetÂ’s stop playing the Will Folks game of stringing everyone along and letÂ’s just get to what I actually know and what I think. And IÂ’ll dispense now with the third person, which is really over done.

That said, read on, because RedState does have some interesting stuff suggesting a paid hit. But honestly -- just say that. Yeah, I know, "this is like what Will Folks is doing" but Will Folks is disreputable for that.

Similar reaction at Hot Air.

Including, alas, the sad fact that while many of these calls are explainable, there is the matter of a 2:24 am call that went on for two hours.

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 PM | Comments (267)
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No TelePrompter, so it could be interesting.

Says spill is an "assault on our shore and our people". I wish he would talk like that about Islamic terrorism.

The response has been "historic". Of course, every time he sneezes he thinks it's historic.

He keeps saying people down there should go to the White House website for information on help they can get. He sounds like a pitchman.

Just called it "a man made catastrophe". Is that like a "man caused disaster".

Now he's going on about how hard this is and it might be a bit of trial and error. Really? I thought government was supposed to be awesome all the time, the first time. That was the Katrina standard (stupid as it was).

Ah, here's his "I feel your pain bit"..."you are not alone". The media will leave you at some point but I won't. Mr. Spock is trying to do emotion and it's not working well.

No questions.

And right on cue, the MSNBC host/douche said Obama wanted to make sure people understand they aren't going to be left alone and abandoned on roof tops like in Katrina. Idiot.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:58 AM | Comments (239)
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This seems like an unforced error due to tone deafness and garden variety stupidity on the part of the Canadians.

New Delhi: With public outrage mounting over the denial of visas to several serving and retired officials of Indian security agencies, India on Thursday warned Canada that it will retaliate suitably if Ottawa does not respond within "a few days"...

...Last week, the Canadian high commission here refused a visa to Fateh Singh Pandher, a retired BSF [ed: India's border security force] constable, on grounds that he was associated with a "notoriously violent force"...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 10:29 AM | Comments (83)
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He got the word and keeps it inline with the White House story.

Last summer, I received a phone call from President Clinton. During the course of the conversation, he expressed concern over my prospects if I were to enter the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate and the value of having me stay in the House of Representatives because of my military background. He said that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had spoken with him about my being on a Presidential Board while remaining in the House of Representatives. I said no. I told President Clinton that my only consideration in getting into the Senate race or not was whether it was the right thing to do for Pennsylvania working families and not any offer. The former President said he knew I'd say that, and the conversation moved on to other subjects.

There are many important challenges facing Pennsylvania and the rest of the country. I intend to remain focused on those issues and continue my fight on behalf of working families.

Either this is pure crap and/or Sestak was overstating the whole thing from the beginning.

Why get Clinton involved just to offer an advisory board position? Maybe if it was going to be SecNav (which is couldn't have been), then you get a former President involved but for this?

And even if was for this position, who exactly would give up a Senate run for this type of position?

Of course, the MFM will dutifully take their marching orders and declare 'case closed' and move along. Fortunately, we don't need the MFM to follow up on these types of stories and I imagine Congressman Darrell Issa is only going to be more energized.

Added:

Interesting note from FNC...Bill Clinton was at the White House yesterday.

There are also reports that someone from the White House spoke with Sestak's brother (who is also his campaign manager) yesterday.

Getting their ducks in a row...it's the Chicago way.

Issa's statement. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 09:12 AM | Comments (259)
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