Keyser Soze and the Syrians

Yesterday, I noted satellite imagery showing what many suspect was a Syrian nuclear facility.

Well, it appears that the Syrians didn't like people seeing what they'd built there, and so they have dismantled it. It's quite strange that they'd go ahead and build something so large in such a remote location and then go about dismantling whatever was there, if it was benign.

That is yet another reason to believe that this was done because of what the Israelis did on September 6.

Two photos, taken Wednesday from space by rival companies, show the site near the Euphrates River to have been wiped clean since August, when imagery showed a tall square building there measuring about 150 feet on a side.

The Syrians reported an attack by Israel in early September; the Israelis have not confirmed that. Senior Syrian officials continue to deny that a nuclear reactor was under construction, insisting that Israel hit a largely empty military warehouse.

But the images, federal and private analysts say, suggest that the Syrian authorities rushed to dismantle the facility after the strike, calling it a tacit admission of guilt.

“It’s a magic act — here today, gone tomorrow,” said a senior intelligence official. “It doesn’t lower suspicions, it raises them. This was not a long-term decommissioning of a building, which can take a year. It was speedy. It’s incredible that they could have gone to that effort to make something go away.”

Any attempt by Syrian authorities to clean up the site would make it difficult, if not impossible, for international weapons inspectors to determine that exact nature of the activity there. Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna have said they hoped to analyze the satellite images and ultimately inspect the site in person. David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that released a report on the Syrian site earlier this week, said the expurgation of the building was inherently suspicious.

The speed with which the Syrians acted shows just how paranoid they were that someone might find the true intentions of what the Syrian thugs were up to there.

It also further confirms Israel's intentions in going after this facility. Syria was up to no good.

Labels: Israel, Sept 6 airstrike, Syria

The Italian Assault on Free Speech

This is what the Left in this country would love to do to blogs - silence them - whether through the "Fairness Doctrine" (which is anything but) or other means to limit criticism and speech as guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.

The Italian Left is moving ahead with its own plan to silence blogging:

The Levi-Prodi law lays out that anyone with a blog or a website has to register it with the ROC, a register of the Communications Authority, produce certificates, pay a tax, even if they provide information without any intention to make money.

Blogs are being born every second, anyone can start one without a problem and they can write their thoughts, publish photos and videos.

In fact, the route proposed by Levi limits access to the Internet.

What young person is going to submit to all these hoops to do a blog?

the Levi-Prodi law obliges anyone who has a website or a blog to get a publishing company and to have a journalist who is on the register of professionals as the responsible director.

99% would close down.

The lucky 1% still surviving on the Internet according to the Levi-Prodi law would have to respond in the case of the lack of control on defamatory content in accordance with articles 57 and 57 bis of the penal code. Basically almost sure to be in prison.

The draft Levi-Prodi law has to be approved by Parliament. When Levi was asked what would happen to Beppe Grillo’s blog, he replied with perfect Prodian-bottom-protecting words: “It’s not up to he government to establish that. It’ll be for the Communications Authority to indicate with regulations, which people and which companies will have to register. And the regulations will arrive only after the law has been discussed and approved by the Lower House.”

It's reprehensible and a violation of the civil rights of Italians should this measure come to pass.

This, also being a measure at limiting access on the Internet, is also bound to fail because Italians will find many ways around the strictures imposed by the Italian government, but it shouldn't have to come to that. This is an awful policy being forwarded by the Italian government.

(HT: LauraW at Ace)

Labels: free speech, Italy

A Closer Look at California Wildfires

The California wildfires continue burning and threaten thousands of homes, a million people have been displaced, and the New York Times has an entire report on how this has affected Hollywood. Yes, that's the first thing that pops into my mind when you've got hundreds of thousands of acres burnt to a crisp up and down Southern California, multiple casualties, and many thousands of people who have lost homes. I want to know that the Hollywood elites Malibu mansions are okay.

Priorities. How about the tens of thousands of California residents whose life's work is tied up in homes and may not have the capability to rebuild because insurance might not cover the costs to rebuild?

The Times suggests that the wildfires might cost insurers over $1 billion. It will cost residents far more than that in lost memories and priceless possessions lost to the fires.

How about this? How about a report on the fact that illegal aliens were arrested for stealing food and water from an evacuation center in San Diego. Those centers provided food and water donated from around the region, and yet these illegal aliens sought to steal it? How low can they go?

We now know that at least one of the fires was intentionally set - arson. If there were injuries as a result of the arson, that person might be charged with attempted murder and other crimes as well, not to mention the property losses.

A map of where the fires have occurred and what the current situation is can be found here.

More victims have been discovered, including two people whose remains were found in a house that burned in the Witch Creek fire.

Meanwhile, there are Democrats who continue pushing a meme that makes no sense, and is not even based in fact- namely that the wildfires would not have occurred or have been as bad had the National Guard not been deployed to Iraq. The Left can't stop blaming President Bush for the wildfires.

That kind of statement is patently and demonstrably false. The California National Guard has 17,000 troops on standby to deal with any situation in California, and if these Democrats (like presidential candidate Bill Richardson) were honest, they'd note that California Democrat legislators have allowed the California National Guard shrink by 5,000 billets because they've refused to provide tuition incentives to entice people to join up - as many other states have done.

And even if the National Guard had all these personnel on hand, what exactly would they have done in the face of wildfires that whipped up 100 mph winds and a firestorm that incincerated everything in its path. Those winds grounded aircraft and it took a shift in the wind to enable firefighters to gain ground on the fires. Simply throwing men and material at the fires wont beat them back.

However, making those kinds of statements is far too easy to do, and talking points neatly sum up the position of those Democrats. Lots of talk and grousing, but little action.

The environuts also go on a Bush-bashing rant, as though he's responsible for the annual wildfire season. Wildfires happen every year (and Native Americans have known this for centuries), and yet it's somehow Bush's fault? Get a clue.

Of course, such rants are sure to be cash cows for these groups, who get coverage and donations flying in. Nice. Classy.

Even as the fires raged, the National Guard was sending much needed relief.

Then, there's the meme that global warming was behind the wildfires. That too is the nonsensical ravings of lunatic minds. CNN continues to report on the wildfires, but it hoped to tie them in with its report on global warming (just not too closely).

My thoughts and prayers continues to go out to those affected by the fires.

UPDATE:
This is classic - Arnold beating down a clueless ABC News correspondent who tries to make hay of some people grousing about the lack of firefighting aircraft with a cluebat.

I'd also comment that I dont think that people are happy with the situation of being chased from their homes by fires - only that they're happy with the gov't response. It's been competent, which is what we hope it should be in times like this.

UPDATE:
Blogger's Blog has a huge number of links and resources about the wildfires.

Meanwhile, there's a report from San Diego that notes how well a bunch of new developments fared. They managed to avoid the fate of thousands of other homes in the region because they were designed with fire defense in mind. The idea is to require fire sprinklers within the homes and fire retartant materials on the exterior, plus landscaping requirements that provide little opportunity for fires to set alight.

The fire protection concept is still being met with some skepticism, but this baptism by fire might spur other communities to adopt this not only for new homes, but as part of a retrofit on existing homes.

Labels: California, crimes and misdemeanors, wildfires

Teeing Off On Franklin Foer

It didn't have to be this way.

Franklin Foer, the editor at The New Republic, should have known better. He should have issued a release on September 7 stating that his magazine no longer had any confidence in the Scott Thomas Beauchamp works and could no longer stand behind them.

He chose to hide the fact that a conversation took place between TNR editorial staff and Beauchamp in which Beauchamp did not stand behind his own works, could care less what happened from that point forward, and Foer even went so far as to tell Beauchamp not to talk to any other media outlets.

The lies have been stacking up for so long that it was only a matter of time before someone came along to pull the lies out from that house of cards.

Matt Drudge did just that yesterday.

Foer and TNR are in the mess they are not because of Matt Drudge's release of various conversations and a memorandum of concern that relates to Beauchamp's conduct in writing about his unit's whereabouts in violation of operational security.

No, Foer is in this mess because he did not do his due diligence from the outset. He accepted stories submitted by Beauchamp without bothering to do even the slightest bit of fact checking. They compounded their error by claiming that they would do additional fact checking once doubts were raised by outside individuals, including Ace of Spaces, Bob Owens, Michael Goldfarb, Blackfive, Matt Sanchez, and many other milbloggers, and yet that additional factchecking itself was wrought with errors, omissions, and lies.

Far from engaging in a rigorous factchecking process that would protect TNR from possible longlasting harm from journalistic misconduct, Foer and fellow editor Jason Zengerle has done everything imaginable to destroy the reputation and product that is TNR.

Foer, Zengerle, and all others involved in the editorial process of bringing the Beauchamp story to press, and the subsequent coverup, owe it to their bosses to resign. It's the least they can do at this point to make amends for a mess of their own making.

Howard Kurtz notes Foer made a big deal out of the fact that Beauchamp was conversing with TNR while the Army was in the room with Beauchamp. Sorry, but the existence of that conversation was omitted from any reporting done by TNR, either to confirm or deny the Beauchamp works. TNR chose to omit information that might make TNR look bad for running the piece - and it wasn't the first time either. They refused to acknowledge that the Army had told TNR that they could not confirm the authenticity of Beauchamp's claims, and yet made no mention of that anywhere in their reporting.

The omissions are part of a pattern of deception by TNR and Foer to stonewall on the Beauchamp stories. And Kurtz isn't off the hook either by pitching a softball interview with Foer, knowing that the Army found all of Beauchamp's accusations baseless. Michelle unloads on Kurtz.

Others blogging: Hot Air, Mark Steyn, and Dan Riehl.

UPDATE:
Drip. Drip. Drip.

Sen. John McCain goes Casablanca on TNR.

UPDATE:
This is an excellent post by Bob Owens on the leaking of the documents, the implications for TNR, and for Beauchamp.

Labels: journalism, media gaffes, ScottScam

The New Republic Gets Drudged

Once The New Republic began its stonewalling on the Scott Thomas Beauchamp Shock Troops affair, it would take someone with the goods to move things forward.

That someone happened to be Matt Drudge, who apparently obtained key documents showing the malfeasance at TNR. While he wasn't the first on this story, or most dogged in pursuit of the truth, Matt's contribution may be the coup de gras for TNR's editors.

Namely, he's obtained various military documents relating to the Army's investigation of Beauchamp's claims as written in his Shock Troops diaries.

The third document obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT is the Army's official report on the investigation into the allegations made by Private Beauchamp. The Army concluded that Beauchamp had "completely fabricated" the story of mocking a disfigured woman, that his description of a "Saddam-era dumping ground" was false, and that claims that he and his men had deliberately targeted dogs with their armored vehicles was "completely unfounded." Further the report stated "that Private Beauchamp desired to use his experiences to enhance his writing and provide legitimacy to his work possibly becoming the next Hemingway."

The report concludes that "Private Beauchamp takes small bits of truth and twists and exaggerates them into fictional accounts that he puts forth as the whole truth for public consumption."

I don't expect TNR's editors, specifically Franklin Foer, to admit to his failures, or step down in the face of the evidence. It hasn't been his MO throughout this sordid affair.

Much of the credit for shedding light on this story has to go to Bob Owens and Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard and various milbloggers who thought the stories smelled something fierce. All those involved in debunking the story spent far more time on fact checking than TNR ever did - either before publication or in a hasty CYA operation that omitted key details that would have shown just how poorly TNR did in the first instance.

Indeed, the omissions, lies, and misstatements in the follow up fact checking are far more damning - ignoring key statements from US military officials who stated that no one was preventing Pvt. Beauchamp from talking to the media, show that TNR's editorial board must consider a serious housecleaning - starting with Foer.

HT: Yankee Division Son at LGF.

UPDATE:
Also among the documents is a conversation between TNR and Beauchamp, a conversation that shows just how far down the rabbit hole TNR went with the Shock Troop stories after things began to implode.

Hot Air has more, including questions over how Drudge got the docs. Several had to have military sources, but what about the TNR-Beauchamp conversation.

UPDATE:
As expected, don't expect a swift response from TNR editors on this. They'll take their time in trying to parse their way through this mess of their own creation. When all is said and done, this will have to change. Those in charge have done too much damage to their reputation to stay on.

UPDATE:
Instapundit is reporting that TNR has made it impossible to find Beauchamp's work on their site. That's true using the TNR search engine, but the items are still there, if you use Google's search of the tnr.com domain (link works for Beauchamp).

References to Shock Troops is also unavailable using the TNR search, but found with Google.

UPDATE:
You have to use the cached versions using the Google search, because they've been busy trying to scrub the site of any Beauchamp stink. Too bad, the only thing that will truly remove the hideous stain is to have Foer, Zengerle, and others involved in publication of the Beauchamp pieces walk the plank.

UPDATE:
Ace, who has been at the forefront of the Scottscam since the outset, wonders about who leaked the documents to Drudge. He muses that it might be someone inside TNR who covets Foer's job. Possibly. Considering how TNR has been in possession of all these facts and information about Beauchamp's malfeasance and stonewalled nonetheless, someone might have gotten sick and tired of this and decided to leak to Drudge, knowing that the resulting malestrom would shake things up.

UPDATE:
Things have gone surreal. Drudge has taken down the pdfs and the page is gone. Hot Air follows:

Update: Hmmm. The Drudge link still exists but the links to the documents don’t, and he’s removed the item from the front page. The Army documents look too real to have been forged but did he get snookered on the transcript?

Update: A cryptic post from K-Lo at the Corner: “We’re hearing from The New Republic that the Drudge story isn’t the damning evidence it suggests to be … stay tuned.” They flipped the script!

Update (Bryan): I just rang up TNR’s offices and asked for Franklin Foer. He’s in a meeting at the moment. I wonder what it might be about.

Curiouser and curiouser. Were the documents too good to be true? Was Drudge snookered by a source? Is TNR holding out exculpatory information?

Well, considering that TNR's Foer is in a meeting (and you can certainly bet big money on what the topic is about), it may be some time before a response is crafted.

In the meantime, we've got Drudge's strangely silent retraction to deal with.

UPDATE:
Ace councils patience, and suggests that the documents are indeed legit. Ace had a number of sources inside TNR, including Throbert McGee (the only person to be fired in the whole mess), so I'll wait and see as well.

UPDATE:
Jonathan Chait at TNR notes to KLo that no one is disputing the legitimacy of the documents, only the way that Drudge characterized them. Interesting.

UPDATE:
Fixed a typo in Throbert's name (thanks to Siddhartha in the comments). TNR's response thus far seems to be attacking the messenger and the Army for leaking these documents to right wing bloggers. Strange. TNR was a party to these conversations, so they knew the content of the conversation between Beauchamp and Foer/TNR. They knew what was going on six weeks ago, and yet they sat on it.

They may whine all they like, but these documents released by Drudge only shows just how poorly TNR acted in all this. They refused to retract the story, even as the facts dried up around them. Beauchamp was no help to them, and yet they stood behind the story.

Now that everything blew up in their face, they're lashing out at the Army and right wing bloggers, as though they're to blame for publishing Beauchamp's fiction in the first place.

All this reveals is Foer's incessant need to try and control and shape the story, even as it was coming apart at the seams.

Labels: journalism, media gaffes, ScottScam

Nightmare Averted For Now

The DREAM Act - an amnesty laden piece of legislation couldn't pass cloture and will likely join previous efforts to bring an amnesty legislation before the President (who would likely sign such legislation) despite the failure of every prior amnesty to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the US.

The full roll call vote will be posted as it becomes available.

Needless to say, the open borders/amnesty crowd will be back.

UPDATE:
The roll call is here.

Labels: border control, Congress, illegal aliens

What Does A Syrian Nuclear Facility Look Like

Well, based on information in the Washington Post story, some enterprising chap decided to Google and find out. This is the location that they found:



The latitude is (within a few degrees): 35°42'33.65"N
The longitude is (within a few degrees): 39°49'51.98"E

HT: Hot Air.

Is this the nuclear facility that Syria claims not to have and that Israel claims not to have hit, despite all the various chatter surrounding the September 6 airstrike? Possibly. It does meet the various criteria for such a facility. It's isolated, near a river, mirrors North Korean reactor building design, and seemingly nondescript.

UPDATE:
If it were so easy for Alan_Browne to find this image and post it, how come no one at the WaPo thought to do the same? That story, combined with a satellite image would have had a greater impact than the story alone.

Labels: Israel, nuclear weapons, Sept 6 airstrike, Syria

Palestinian Terrorists Continue Bloody Business

When they're not busy torturing other Palestinian terrorists or killing Palestinians, they're busy attacking and killing Israelis.

Amnesty International reports on the widespread torture used by Hamas and Fatah against each other. This is the real kind of torture - and not simply putting panties on heads of detainees. These thugs throw people off rooftops.

Of course, the al Jazeera report ignores the violence inflicted on Israel by those same Palestinian terrorists, which violates the human rights of Israelis. Nice.

Carl in Jerusalem doesn't. He notes that the latest Palestinian attack on two Israelis was by Fatah's al Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. That's supposed to be the moderate terrorist group with whom the Israelis are supposed to make peace with. The terrorists claim the attack was in response to the death of a Palestinian terrorist in custody during a prison riot.

Right.

Expect the usual suspects to call Israel's proposed sanctions against Gaza (from which rockets are launched to kill and maim Israelis on a near daily basis) violative of Palestinian human rights and illegal. A Hamas thug died while digging a tunnel from Gaza into Israel. Despite the incessant rockets and declarations that Israel be destroyed, there are those who think Hamas should be invited to the Annapolis conference.

Minister-without-portfolio Ami Ayalon (Labor) is urging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to end Israel's boycott of Hamas and invite representatives of the group to a US-sponsored peace parley scheduled to take place in Annapolis, Maryland, in late autumn.

However, Ayalon specified, if Hamas were invited to Annapolis, the organization would have to abide by any agreement reached between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"Such a call by Israel would cause Hamas to crumble because of the internal struggles taking place within the group," Ayalon told Army Radio.

Delusional doesn't begin to cover this line of thought. Hamas seeks Israel's destruction. It isn't shy about that, and refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist. Indeed, Fatah doesn't want a 2-state solution either, and has rejected that possibility when offered. Both terrorist groups want to supplant Israel with a Palestinian state, eliminating Israel from the map - literally and figuratively.

Today also marks the anniversary of Rabin's assassination, and PM Olmert notes that bullets cannot stop the peace process. That's misguided thinking at best, and dangerously delusional at worst. The Palestinians show absolutely no interest in putting down their arms or ending their war against Israel's existence.

Labels: Fatah, Hamas, Israel, Palestinian civil war

Violent Demonstrations in Venezuela

Student demonstrators clashed with police and pro-Chavez thugs over [T]hugo's proposals to alter the constitution and increase his power.

Demonstrations by thousands of Venezuelan students against planned changes to the constitution turned violent when they clashed with small groups of pro-Hugo Chavez supporters. Anti-riot police then moved in with tear gas. The president's proposals will be put to a referendum in December. He plans to cut the limits on the number of times someone can stand as head of state and to allow security forces to detain people without charges during so-called political emergencies.

This protester said: "We are marching against constitutional reform. There are too many articles that we do not agree with, especially the article that says nobody has the right to study what they want and instead everyone has to study what is convenient for the country at that time."

Put simply, he's increasing his own power - for the sake of Venezuela as he puts it, limits the power of those that might rise up through the ranks of politics to challenge him, limits individual choice to determine what kind of education an individual can engage in, and generally puts a rubber stamp on his own brand of socialism that's he is looking to implement.

Labels: Hugo Chavez, socialism, Venezuela

Firestorms Across Southern California Continue

A map of the current extent of the fires says it all. Hundreds of thousands of acres have been burned, thousands of homes destroyed, and up to five people have been killed in fire-related incidents have been reported across Southern California as the wildfires continue to gobble up acre after acre as firefighters struggle to get a handhold on the situation.

The Santa Ana winds, which feed the fires and make them grow uncontrollable, have abated for the moment, enabling firefighters to catch their breath, but the situation remains dire.

More than a million people have been displaced thus far.

Again, the NYT displays some of its irrational Bush bashing, claiming that Bush acted swiftly based on his experience with Hurricane Katrina. That would, of course, ignore the fact that the federal government did move to provide aid to the Gulf Coast states before landfall, but Louisiana officials did so poorly in that crisis that everyone got screwed. California officials are handling the situation far better, and the newly implemented emergency contact system is working to alert residents to evacuate as a result of the oncoming fire hazards.

Firefighters are working to the breaking point, and some are complaining that they simply don't have enough men or equipment. They're also realizing that if they let some homes burn, they might be able to save hundreds more. It's a damning choice.

In response to Orange County Fire Chief Chip Prather's comments about the lack of air support to fight the fires, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger noted that it wouldn't have made a difference how many aircraft were deployed because they wouldn't have been able to fly because of the wind situation, which topped 100 mph at times.

With the winds dying down, firefighters should be able to gain control over them in the next few days.


A list of emergency contacts is here.

My thoughts and prayers continues to go out to all those affected by the fires.

Some are speculating that these wildfires may have been part of an al Qaeda plot to start wildfires. I recall that possibility, but the fires could have been started by a firebug just as easily as an al Qaeda operative.

I'd also expect al Qaeda to claim the fires as their own before long. It would fit their MO - a spectacular incident with the potential for mass casualties.

The problem is that wildfires are an annual occurance in the US, and some years are worse than others because of lack of rain, high heat, wind and/or low humidity. It would be too easy to dismiss such an "attack" as nothing more than a naturally occurring disaster rather than a terrorist attack.

A concern, however, would be that while emergency response is focused on firefighting, terrorists could take advantage and cause a mass casualty incident to which assets might not be available as a result of fighting the fires.

UPDATE:
Is arson playing a role in some of the fires? Possibly. One man was arrested by law enforcement after a police helicopter spotted a man on their infrared cameras who may have started one of the many fires. (HT: njdhockeyfan at LGF)

UPDATE:
It looks like law enforcement is ready to declare the Santiago Canyon fire arson, and to issue a $50,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the culprit.

Investigators have identified two separate "points of origin" where they believe the fire was set, CBS News has learned. FBI agents secured the scene to "maintain its integrity."

The Santiago Fire has burned about 19,200 acres east of Irvine, officials said, and it is around 30 percent contained. Six homes and eight outbuildings have been destroyed, with another eight homes and 12 outbuildings damaged. Four firefighters have been injured fighting the blaze and about 3,000 people evacuated.

Labels: California, natural disasters, wildfires

Horn Tooting Time

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'd probably know this innately. Now, there are statistics to back this up - reading my blog is extremely cost effective. In a Carnegie Mellon study of blogs, mine ranked 11th overall.

I think they've missed a few - LGF and Hot Air for starters. I'd be real curious what others think about the methodology used, and how those omitted blogs would fare. I suspect that they'd rank quite high - both in the top 5.

But Soccer Dad was number 22 and Gates of Vienna made the list at 83. Kudos to them!

PJ Media was 18. The top five are: Instapundit 1 (an obvious choice), followed by Don Surber (another fine choice). Science and Politics was number 3, Watcher of Weasels was number 4 and Michelle Malkin came in at number 5.

Gateway Pundit came in at number 50, which is quite low since Jim is often breaking international news.

Gothamist came in at #12, which is a credit to their site, which covers all things NYC.

Labels: admin, Internet

That's No Dream; It's a Nightmare

Once again, open borders types in Congress are pushing an amnesty plan that would be a clarion call for anyone and everyone to migrate to the US without bothering with the niceties of doing so legally.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has filed for cloture, which means that a vote will be forthcoming.

This is yet another attempt by the open borders members of Congress to extend amnesty to those who do not deserve it. Millions of illegal aliens under 30 who can claim they came into the country before they turned 16 would get amnesty under this latest open borders nightmare.

Michelle Malkin, as usual, is keeping tabs on the situation.

While Reid might think that this makes tactical sense, I suspect that from a strategic position, it's doomed to backfire. Already, we've seen New York Democrats turning against the idea of extending drivers licenses to illegal aliens and Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who proposed the move.

People are realizing just how crazy an idea it is to extend amnesty to illegal aliens, thinking that the problem will go away if you extend it to enough illegals. It didn't work before. It wont work now.

Yet, Reid thinks that he's figured a way to get this to the Senate floor without the usual committee debate. I suspect he knows that if there had been debate on this in committee, it would have been a dead issue. Now, he thinks he has an opportunity to try and score political points.

Labels: border control, illegal aliens, law enforcement, Sen. Harry Reid

California Burning

All across Southern California, firefighters are battling fatigue and immense wildfires that are devouring everything in their path. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes, and more than 1,000 homes have gone up in smoke. Thousands more are being asked to leave their homes, which are threatened by fires.

One of the more surreal and tragic moments came when a local reporter was describing one such fire - his own home going up in flames.

The California National Guard has been activated to fight the fires, and the federal government has declared a state of emergency and may send assistance as well.

Fire crews from all over the West are heading to California to assist in fighting the fires and spelling those who have been fighting the fires nonstop since they erupted.

The fires are going to get a whole lot worse as the temperatures continue to rise and the winds whip the flames into a frenzied mass that devours everything in its path.

See here for far more.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected.

UPDATE:
This is a great tool for tracking the fires that are ravaging all over Southern California. Hot Air plays compare and contrast between the situation in California and the situation in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. I think that's a bit of an unfair comparison, although the main thrust is the kind of leadership and direction of state and local officials in California and the lack thereof in Louisiana.

UPDATE:
It didn't take long for folks to start linking the wildfires in California (an annual occurrence) with global warming. The most prominent global warming purveyor? Sen. Harry Reid, Democrat, Nevada. Hypocrite. Waffler.

“One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, stressing the need to pass the Democrats’ comprehensive energy package.

Moments later, when asked by a reporter if he really believed global warming caused the fires, he appeared to back away from his comments, saying there are many factors that contributed to the disaster.

Reid opposes the construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in his state, which would enable nuclear power plants to safely store nuclear waste in a safe location and enable new power plants to come on line that would not generate the greenhouse gases that Reid refers to.

Labels: California, natural disasters, wildfires

NATO Members Considering Withdrawals From Afghanistan

Why are members of NATO considering withdrawals from Afghanistan? That's the war that everyone supposedly backs and understands that al Qaeda and Taliban elements used Afghanistan to plot and plan terrorist attacks against the West and used that territory as a safe haven.

Are NATO's European countries so strapped for troops that they cannot sustain a lengthy commitment abroad? Are they stretched so thin that they cannot hold to their word?

The US is threatening to shift its own troops in Kosovo to Afghanistan as a result of the troop demands to fight and defeat Taliban elements that continue to pose a threat in Afghanistan.

Unless European countries can commit more forces and equipment without delay, America will begin to withdraw troops from Kosovo, the troubled province of Serbia, and transfer them to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates will announce.

The Canadians, the Dutch, and, since the election of a new prime minister yesterday, the Poles have all expressed their intention of withdrawing, reducing, or reallocating their military personnel from the Afghan front line, to the frustration of the American, British, and Australian administrations, whose forces largely bear the brunt of the fierce fighting with the Taliban.

Mr. Gates expressed his frustration at the Europeans' apparent lack of commitment to the Afghan cause yesterday at a meeting of southeastern European defense ministers in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where he was trying to persuade the new pro-Western government of Ukraine to send forces to Afghanistan.

"I am not satisfied that an alliance with members who have over 2 million soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen cannot find the modest additional resources that have been committed for Afghanistan," Mr. Gates told journalists.

Mr. Gates's appeal for more troops and matériel to fight the Taliban will be repeated tomorrow by the secretary-general of NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, at the two-day meeting in Noordwijk, Netherlands, where representatives of the alliance's 37 nations will discuss the future of the 41,000 troops serving in Afghanistan.

European countries are unwilling or unable to sustain any significant military operations around the world, and they needed the US to enter the fray in Kosovo to do something about the ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses in their own backyard before they did anything. Expecting them to act half a world away is too much to ask.

The Europeans are lacking the willpower and the material equipment to sustain a lengthy fight against a determined foe. Those that have forces in Afghanistan are not taking the fight to the Taliban/al Qaeda elements, but instead sitting back and holding ground, which is enabling the Taliban and al Qaeda to make gains or regroup. By concerning themselves with minimizing their own casualties, they are allowing al Qaeda and Taliban elements to make inroads in previously secured areas, or requiring the US, British, or Aussie contingents to pick up the slack even as they remain on the offensive.

This bodes poorly for European security, which once again is heavily reliant on the US for its security - at home and abroad.

I further suspect that the actual number of forces that is mission capable is far less than the 2 million men claimed. That those forces are stretched thin by the Afghan deployment suggests that the Europeans have not committed enough funds to their own security.

UPDATE:
Now consider the preceding story in light of the situation in Pakistan and the NWFP. Bill Roggio has the details, and recall just how easy it is for the Taliban and al Qaeda to cross the border between the two countries to evade and avoid detection and attack.

If NATO is cutting back the number of troops it makes available in Afghanistan, someone will have to pick up the slack so that the US, British, Aussie and Afghan forces can maintain the offensive against the Taliban elements that continue to stream in from Warizistan and the NWFP. The troop drawdown can and will affect the ability to maintain the offensive there.

Labels: Afghanistan, foreign policy, national security, NATO

Another Step Closer to Great Falls of NJ National Park

Rep. Bill Pascarell, Jr. (D-NJ8) has been pushing to get the Great Falls of Paterson, New Jersey designated a national park so that additional federal funds can flow into the area and help restore not only the falls and its immediate surroundings, but to increase the visibility of this natural wonder only minutes from Manhattan. It passed in the House and awaits action in the Senate.

The U.S. House of Representatives tonight passed a bill to establish the Great Falls of Paterson as a national park.

The 256-122 vote represents one hurdle cleared in the recent push to better showcase the 77-foot-high landmark along the Passaic River. The national park designation would enable the Falls to receive federal money, which would boost the $10 million set aside by the state for initial construction on a plan unveiled last month.

The federal legislation passed today was introduced by Rep. William Pascrell Jr. (D-8th Dist.), a leading Falls advocate who has estimated the park - built with state help - will cost $22 million. The bill would designate about 109 acres of the Paterson Great Falls Historic District as a new unit of the National Park Service, which would be charged with operating the park, restoring and preserving historic structures and creating new exhibits.

This comes on the heels of state officials moving to designate the area a state park - a fallback position if the national park designation fails to materialize.

Labels: Great Falls of NJ, New Jersey, waterfalls

Memo To AFP: Hamas = Terrorists

Considering how the AFP carries water for Hamas, this should dispel any notion that Hamas is nothing less than a terrorist group whose intention is to inflict as much pain and misery on the populace as possible - and doubly so for the Israelis.

Hamas's military wing on Tuesday issued a threat to inflict harm on Israel through captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit following the death of a Palestinian inmate during riots in Ketziot Prison, Army Radio reported.

"We will not remain motionless in the face of the targeting of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. We have a number of ways to harm the enemy, including everything that pertains to the Gilad Schalit affair," the organization proclaimed in an announcement entitled "The possibilities of Hamas for harming Israel following the quashing of Palestinian inmates."

Shortly before midnight Monday the Israel Prison Service (IPS) announced that a prisoner who had been listed as critically injured during Monday's riots died of his wounds at Beersheba's Soroka Medical Center. According to the IPS, the 30-year-old prisoner was in the midst of a two-year sentence at the prison when the riots broke out.

Hamas hasn't remained motionless since it was formed. It has been dedicated to Israel's destruction from the get-go, and now that it is in control of Gaza, it has no problem with its own terrorists or Islamic Jihad firing off kassams into Israel on a near daily basis, or kidnapping Israeli soldiers like Gilad Shalit to be used as pawns to demand concessions from the Israeli government.

Hamas is dedicated to Israel's destruction, and nothing less will satiate that desire. Nothing.

To believe otherwise is to believe that the terrorist group will simply change its religious theology and ideology to something that it cannot be.

Labels: Gaza, gilad shalit, Hamas, terrorism