Amnesty International Calls for Kidnapping of Pres. Bush, et. al.
June 9, 2005
We’ve heard much in the media about the assertion by Amnesty International that Guantanimo Bay is a “gulag.” But Ed Morrisey found out through columnist John Leo that they are also calling on foreign governments to kidnap President Bush and other US Government officials for trial in International Criminal Court.
Captain’s Quarters: “according to Leo at the end of his column, AI also issued a press release accompanying their annual report that the media mostly ignored. In that release, Amnesty International apparently called for other nations to kidnap George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and other American officials and haul them off to the ICC for prosecution on charges of crimes against humanity:”
Outrageous and greatly unreported!
Sphere: Related Content"Howard Dean: The Windows 3.1 Of The Democratic Party"
June 8, 2005
I link this from Right Wing News mostly because of the byline. Good points as well.
Sphere: Related ContentDizzy from Feminist Spin
June 8, 2005
MaxedOutMama takes a brief trip into the feminist mind.
…Thankfully she came out alive.
MSM Ignores American Flag Desecration. Laser on Quran Abuse
June 8, 2005
Hat tip to Michelle Malkin for giving us video and other links.
Tancredo Will Enter ‘08 Race if There Is "No Other Person" on Immigration
June 8, 2005
Politics1 and the Denver Post report that Colorado Cong. Tom Tancredo, R, will enter the Republican presidential primary race if no other candidate will stand up for immigration reform including strict border enforcement.
“It’s such an odd thing to talk about,” Tancredo told The Denver Post. But “if there is no other person … then we have no choice” but to enter the presidential race.
Norman Ornstein, an American Enterprise Institute Fellow feels that though Tancredo would play the role of Don Quixote in any primary bid, bringing the issue to the forefront as a candidate would require Republican candidates to address the issue more directly.
“Even fringe presidential candidates end up with more airtime than members of Congress. It’s quixotic if you think you’ve got a realistic chance, but not if your goal is to continue to get airtime and get the press to bring up these issues.”
Tancredo has burned bridges in the Republican Party because he has not been afraid to excoriate elected officials in both parties for sitting on the sideline while thousands of illegal immigrants continue to stream across the Mexican border. Karl Rove in particular strongly rebuked him in 2004 because of Tancredo’s strong criticism of the President over border policy during the Presidential campaign.
A Primary flavor is beginning to develop!
Sphere: Related ContentTom Daschle to be Honored at Homosexual Awards Ceremony
June 8, 2005
Dakota Voice has the story.
Former United States Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) will be honored at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Leadership Awards. . . .The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s website further states, “Senator Daschle led the successful fight to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) in the U.S. Senate. In doing so, he put his 25-year career in Congress on the line to help wage one of the crucial battles in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. FMA was defeated, but on Election Day 2004, Sen. Daschle became the first Senate party leader in 52 years to lose reelection — by 4,500 votes.”
Need I say more?
Great news for future efforts to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment. Opposition to FMA is politically damaging by the opposition’s own admission.
Sphere: Related ContentCongressman Wants to Stop ACLU Profit from First Amendment Cases
June 8, 2005
Congressman John Hostettler, R-IN, wants to remove the financial incentive organizations like the ACLU have to attack religious expression in the public square.
CitizenLink–Representative John Hostettler, R-Ind., has teamed with the American Legion to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others like them, from strong arming defendants.The Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005 (PERA) would prohibit attorneys’ fees from being collected in cases against the establishment of religion clause. . . .
The legislation comes at a time when the ACLU is challenging the mention of “Jesus” in the Indiana legislature, the cross on the California state seal and prayer at graduation ceremonies across America. Regularly such cases never make it to court because of concern over the cost of attorney fees.
Kneejerk reactions to this sort of proposal will clearly point out that the “rights of victims to due process” will be infringed if they cannot obtain a competent attorney through fees which come through court judgments. But to the contrary, the ACLU with its 400,000 members, for example, brings in $44 million in donations to its organization.
If this law passes, it could also bring to the forefront the most onerous aspect of the current status of First Amendment law. It’s what I call the “Malicious Ignorance Clause”; too much emphasis on “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion” and complete denial of the words “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
This is not the first time Cong. Hostettler has introduced this bill. In 2003, it died in committee. The difference this time: he has the support of 2.7 million members of the American Legion.
Sphere: Related ContentAre the Numbers Really Against Robert Byrd?
June 7, 2005
With all due respect to the political insight of Dick Morris (and he deserves much), he is quite wrong about his belief that Cong. Shelley Moore Capito–D-WV has a chance to defeat Sen. Robert Byrd–D-WV. It is unlikely that he will come down to defeat when otherwise Republican business owners won’t cough up the money to make the Republican machine work. The WV GOP was severly choked in 2004 because these businesses were unwilling to buck Democrats who held and wielded a serious threat of reprisal. In the aftermath, the GOP there is in shambles. More of that later.
Morris makes the following assertion:
Byrd, who still boats a 62-28 favorable-unfavorable ratio, may have met his match and master in Capito, who has a statewide rating of 57-35.
Sorry Dick. The 11% undecided in that poll will swing to Byrd precisely because of his 62% favorable. West Virginians will stay with what works before they move to Capito who cannot win in the Southern counties. She has a lackluster pro-life voting record rating lower than Democrat Cong. Nick Rahall who represents that strongly pro-life area of the state. And vote-buying in the southern counties (e.g. Lincoln, Logan, Wayne, Cabell et. al) still proceeds unchecked making it very difficult to gather needed votes (and significantly depressing Republican turnout).
Shelly Moore Capito has a family name as strong as Byrd. Her father, former Republican Governor Arch Moore, is incredibly popular in WV, even with his indictment, conviction and jail time served for vote buying years ago. Problem is, she isn’t Robert Byrd. She (or anyone else for that matter) will have to earn the respect Bob Byrd still holds with many in the state. West Virginians still tend to break toward that with which they feel comfortable. They felt comfortable with a Texan over an East Coast Liberal in 2004. Will they feel equally comfortable with an up-and-coming “young lady” over the stalwart force of the “dependable” Byrd? The jury is out on that, but smart bets should be placed with Byrd.
One thing Shelley does well is mildly deprecating humor. In most of her campaign appearances in 2004, she announced her late arrival thus: “I’m sorry I didn’t get here on time, but because I try to avoid roads named after Robert Byrd, got a little sidetracked.” It was well stated and, as they say, “many a true word was spoken in jest.”
Morris also postulates that national trends favor change in traditionally blue states that went strongly for Bush in 2004.
. . . West Virginia went for President Bush by 56-43 in 2004 and 52-46 in 2000, and voters who back the GOP nationally are getting less and less forgiving of their Democratic representatives and senators in Congress. As party-line voting increases in Washington and the well-publicized partisan feuds animate the body, voters are getting the point that as long as the legislators vote a straight party line, so should they.
There is some truth to this, but remember, the Democrat Gubernatorial candidate in 2004–and current Governor–, Joe Manchin won with 62% of the vote while Bush was getting his 56%. For those of you who have run political campaigns like myself, that is solid statistical proof that West Virginians still have a HUGE block of swing voters. And in West Virginia, they swing Democrat still unless they have a compelling reason to do otherwise.
Change is coming to WV sometime in the future but with a recent meltdown in the State GOP (read here and here–registration required), Republicans are not in a very good position to support any candidate unless support comes from outside the state and a tremendous grassroots operation is successfully carried out.
Two other factors:
First, Capito has been given good committee appointments recently in Congress which is a sign that leadership is giving her strong reasons to stay in her district (which is likely to be lost if she abandons it). So it all may be a moot point if she sits this one out.
Second, the current announced candidate, Hiram Lewis, came within a whisker of defeating Attorney General Darrell McGraw in 2004. This makes him a dark horse hopeful, though he benefited from a strong anti-McGraw turnout (related to strong opposition to his brother who went down to defeat for a Supreme Court seat that same year). That election proved that a strong vote against an opponent can bring Hiram close, but if he cannot give a good reason for people to vote FOR him, he can’t get over the top.
One parting thought. Because Sen. Byrd is in failing health and therefore might have to abandon the seat, it may come down to open seat race. This would give a Republican a great opportunity to take the seat. But under such a scenario, look for Gov. Joe Manchin–a well-liked, proven statewide vote-getter who is endorsed by West Virginia Right-to-Life (an important endorsement in WV)–to appoint himself in place of Byrd. This will make it equally difficult for any Republican opponent.
I call this Senate seat to stay Democrat (Byrd or Manchin) with a 40% chance of a Republican upset.
(Disclosure: I worked for the WV GOP in 2004 as a paid statewide grassroots consultant).
Sphere: Related Content"The Sky Is Falling!": MSM/Dems Implement Plan to Get Dean Out of Media
June 7, 2005
We have evidence that Democrats want to get Howard Dean out of the spotlight and don’t want to allow Bush/Blair cooperation to show the President in a positive light.
Proof?
THIS:
NEW YORK Jun 7, 2005–’We are living in a time when the other side doesn’t want us to see the facts. Facts are inconvenient facts about global warming, facts about mercury in the air, facts about people staying unemployed longer,’ said Clinton, considered a Democratic contender for the presidency in 2008.
Plus THIS:
DRUDGE REPORT Tue Jun 07 2005 19:07:22 ET–A White House official who once led the oil industry’s fight against curbs on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.The NEW YORK TIMES is planning a Wednesday splash on the development, newsroom sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.
Plus THIS: NYT–”Official Played Down Emissions’ Links to Global Warming.”
Plus THIS: Reuters–”World scientists say humans causing global warming.”
Plus THIS: RedNova–”Global Warming Threat Growing.”
Plus THIS: Michigan Daily–”Levin calls for Bush to act on global warming.”
(All published within 18 hours of each other)
EQUALS Democrat/MSM spin cycle to clean up the Dean mess.
Sphere: Related ContentDean Slips Once More
June 7, 2005
Howard Dean calls Republicans a “white, Christian party.” Click here to listen.
Democrats are obsessed with race, like Southern Democrats in the first half of the 20th Century. Some things never change.
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