Drive-By Posting
I conked out last night before getting to the post I've been meaning to compose on this Danish "Islamophobic" cartoon business. Don't have time to do it now, but there are a few other odds & ends in the news of the past day or so that we can buzz through.
***
Representative John Boehner, Republican from Ohio and the newly minted House Majority Leader, declared Sunday that he's just keeping the job warm for Tom DeLay.
Well, almost. He said that after his predecessor is cleared of Ronnie Earle's absurd witchhunt, he'd "consider stepping down" if the Hammer wants his old post back.
Of course it wouldn't be that simple. There'd have to be another leadership election, and at this point, and after all that's transpired since he "temporarily" stepped aside, DeLay couldn't exactly be considered a favorite. And how would the House GOP caucus react to their new leader making way for the old one? And the Dems? They'd have a field day with something like that.
I'm the guy that predicted DeLay would make a triumphant return as House Majority Leader, but this isn't the path I had in mind.
***
You would think that the Israelis, of all people, would know better than to give Hamastan one red cent, no matter what agreements they've signed with the Pals.
You would think wrong:
Jerusalem's excuse was that Hamas hasn't technically formed a government yet. That hardly appears to matter since the Pals themselves elected the terroristic, al Qaeda-linked Hamas, and the government the latter forms will inherit the dough anyway, and plow it right into further acts of war against Israeli civilians. Besides, the outgoing Fatah has hardly been a "peace partner" itself.
It's also hard to see how a week's delay in this payment constitutes any sort of meaningful "protest"; withholding it altogether might have gotten the Pals' attention, and even helped turn them against Hamas once they saw what their choice had "purchased" them. Or it would have stoked anti-Semitic passions even more, but that would have been redundant at this stage of the game. And Hamas wouldn't have had the $54 million to play with.
I can't help noticing that reference to "Israeli forces pounding the northern Gaza Strip with missiles and artillery fire." Wasn't evacuating Gaza supposed to enhance Israeli security?
Sure - the way coughing up the $54 million will buy Hamas' good will.
Danegold, indeed.
***
The House Intelligence Committee is planning to re-open the matter of whether or not Saddam Hussein had WMD stockpiles in late 2002 (you know, the ones that he shipped to Syria in January 2003, as has been well-documented). Apparently it has become sufficiently well-documented that Chairman Peter Hoekstra wants to settle that question once and for all by getting translated the mountain of Saddamite documents that the Bush Administration has been sitting on for the past three years.
I can see why Democrats would oppose this move - "NO WMD!!!" was the fuel for "BUSH LIED!!!", virtually the only national security-related canard they have left that hasn't been utterly and completely denuded and discredited. What I cannot fathom to this day is why the Bushies are dragging their feet so heavily. Don't they know that they'll never be able to begin to mount a case for invading Syria and Iran without vindication of their case for invading Iraq on its core justification (i.e. "disarming" Saddam)?
Or have I just answered my own question? If so, all I can add is, "Be afraid; be VERY afraid." Because the mullahs will not drag their feet about using their nukes on Israel - and us.
***
The Heritage Foundation has put out a very educational report on the latest federal budget blueprint submitted to Congress this week by President Bush. Cap'n Ed has more details, but the bottom line is that tax revenues have skyrocketed since the 2003 Bush tax cut, federal expenditures have spiraled upward even faster across the board, and Dubya's TWO TRILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY BILLION (or 2,770,000,000,000) dollar budget, which increases spending 12% over last year's budget, is being called "dead on arrival" on the Hill and attacked for "draconian cuts" in the usual areas (healthcare, welfare, farm subsidies, education, yata, yata, yata).
You know what that tells me? That America's fiscal house will never be put in order, because there will never be enough public support for what it would take to do so. Which means economic collapse under the crushing weight of runaway entitlements spending is inevitable, and in the mean time resources for crucial undertakings like the GWOT will inexorably dry up, forcing us to draw down and ultimate cease our resistance to the Islamist fanatics who seek our annihilation.
Maybe that's why the White House is rolling over and letting Iran have its nukes. One EMP attack would save a lot of time.
***
Representative John Boehner, Republican from Ohio and the newly minted House Majority Leader, declared Sunday that he's just keeping the job warm for Tom DeLay.
Well, almost. He said that after his predecessor is cleared of Ronnie Earle's absurd witchhunt, he'd "consider stepping down" if the Hammer wants his old post back.
Of course it wouldn't be that simple. There'd have to be another leadership election, and at this point, and after all that's transpired since he "temporarily" stepped aside, DeLay couldn't exactly be considered a favorite. And how would the House GOP caucus react to their new leader making way for the old one? And the Dems? They'd have a field day with something like that.
I'm the guy that predicted DeLay would make a triumphant return as House Majority Leader, but this isn't the path I had in mind.
***
You would think that the Israelis, of all people, would know better than to give Hamastan one red cent, no matter what agreements they've signed with the Pals.
You would think wrong:
Israel agreed to make a crucial payment of $54 million in tax and customs revenues to the Palestinians, but officials said future transfers will be halted once Hamas militants form the next Palestinian government.
The decision was taken shortly after a flare-up of violence. Israeli forces pounded the northern Gaza Strip with missiles and artillery fire, killing three Palestinian militants. Hours later, a Palestinian assailant killed one woman and wounded four other people in what police called a politically motivated stabbing in central Israel.
Israel collects millions of dollars in taxes and customs duties for the Palestinians, transferring the funds to the Palestinian Authority each month. Israel delayed the most recent payment last week to protest Hamas' victory in Palestinian legislative elections, deepening a financial crisis for the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.
Jerusalem's excuse was that Hamas hasn't technically formed a government yet. That hardly appears to matter since the Pals themselves elected the terroristic, al Qaeda-linked Hamas, and the government the latter forms will inherit the dough anyway, and plow it right into further acts of war against Israeli civilians. Besides, the outgoing Fatah has hardly been a "peace partner" itself.
It's also hard to see how a week's delay in this payment constitutes any sort of meaningful "protest"; withholding it altogether might have gotten the Pals' attention, and even helped turn them against Hamas once they saw what their choice had "purchased" them. Or it would have stoked anti-Semitic passions even more, but that would have been redundant at this stage of the game. And Hamas wouldn't have had the $54 million to play with.
I can't help noticing that reference to "Israeli forces pounding the northern Gaza Strip with missiles and artillery fire." Wasn't evacuating Gaza supposed to enhance Israeli security?
Sure - the way coughing up the $54 million will buy Hamas' good will.
Danegold, indeed.
***
The House Intelligence Committee is planning to re-open the matter of whether or not Saddam Hussein had WMD stockpiles in late 2002 (you know, the ones that he shipped to Syria in January 2003, as has been well-documented). Apparently it has become sufficiently well-documented that Chairman Peter Hoekstra wants to settle that question once and for all by getting translated the mountain of Saddamite documents that the Bush Administration has been sitting on for the past three years.
I can see why Democrats would oppose this move - "NO WMD!!!" was the fuel for "BUSH LIED!!!", virtually the only national security-related canard they have left that hasn't been utterly and completely denuded and discredited. What I cannot fathom to this day is why the Bushies are dragging their feet so heavily. Don't they know that they'll never be able to begin to mount a case for invading Syria and Iran without vindication of their case for invading Iraq on its core justification (i.e. "disarming" Saddam)?
Or have I just answered my own question? If so, all I can add is, "Be afraid; be VERY afraid." Because the mullahs will not drag their feet about using their nukes on Israel - and us.
***
The Heritage Foundation has put out a very educational report on the latest federal budget blueprint submitted to Congress this week by President Bush. Cap'n Ed has more details, but the bottom line is that tax revenues have skyrocketed since the 2003 Bush tax cut, federal expenditures have spiraled upward even faster across the board, and Dubya's TWO TRILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY BILLION (or 2,770,000,000,000) dollar budget, which increases spending 12% over last year's budget, is being called "dead on arrival" on the Hill and attacked for "draconian cuts" in the usual areas (healthcare, welfare, farm subsidies, education, yata, yata, yata).
You know what that tells me? That America's fiscal house will never be put in order, because there will never be enough public support for what it would take to do so. Which means economic collapse under the crushing weight of runaway entitlements spending is inevitable, and in the mean time resources for crucial undertakings like the GWOT will inexorably dry up, forcing us to draw down and ultimate cease our resistance to the Islamist fanatics who seek our annihilation.
Maybe that's why the White House is rolling over and letting Iran have its nukes. One EMP attack would save a lot of time.
posted by JASmius at 2:43 PM
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