Somali Warlords Relinquish Weapons, Islamists Continue Fight

In a major step toward helping the fledgling government consolidate power, one of the most feared warlords in Somalia, Mohamed Dheere, gave the army chief 23 trucks mounted with heavy weapons and ordered 220 of his fighters to report for retraining at government camps. The handover took place during a ceremony in Dheere's stronghold of Jowhar, 55 miles north of Mogadishu, said Abdirahman Dinari, the government spokesman.

But fears of an Islamic fundamentalist insurgency grew following an ambush Saturday morning on a convoy of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu. Late Friday, government troops repelled an attack on the Somali president's palace.

The gunmen fired on the convoy but missed. The Ethiopians returned fire, killing a man and a woman on the side of the road, said Hawa Malin, a resident who witnessed the ambush. Two other people died on the way to the hospital, medical officials said.

"The Ethiopians shot me," said Ali Kheyre Mumin, who was among three people wounded. "They shot at me and the others indiscriminately ... they shot everybody who was moving around."

On Saturday, a leader in Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts said his group was responsible for the attacks on the convoy and palace and promised that they would continue.

The Islamists don't care who dies as long as they can return to power. If they have to turn Mogadishu red with the blood of the transitional government, the Ethiopian forces, and the resident population, so be it. That's the ultimate goal - to reestablish an Islamic state in Somalia from which to spread their Islamist ideology across the border into Ethiopia, Kenya and beyond.

That Somalia would also be a safe harbor for al Qaeda is a continuing worry, which is why the US continues to provide tactical and logistical assistance to the Ethiopians, along with a small contingent of US forces inside Somalia hunting down al Qaeda operatives.

Tom Keller's Frozen Fries?

Thomas Keller, the inventive chef who brought us The French Laundry in Yountville, California and Per Se in New York's Time Warner Center, appears to have given in to the wonders of frozen french fries. Say it isn't so.

This, after claiming that the fresh fries are superior and including a recipe for fries in his cookbook Bouchon. It turns out that Bouchon is using frozen fries.

In his cookbook Bouchon, Thomas Keller explains how to make the perfect French fries, instructing readers to hand-cut and then refrigerate russet potatoes submerged in water for several hours. As it turns out, Keller isn’t going to quite so much trouble at his Bouchon Bistros: A tipster told us he uses Sysco fries, and though a rep from the restaurant didn’t offer the brand name, she did confirm, after speaking with Keller, that he favors frozens.

And why would that be?

One of the top reasons Bouchon uses frozen French Fries is consistency. The quality of the frozen fries we use, and that of frozen fries in general today, is very good. We use fries which are 100% potato, which do not contain additives. The consistency in these fries is often better than that of fresh potatoes.

I sense a mea culpa forthcoming, but then again, if he's using shortcuts for fries, and no one is complaining about the quality of those fries, does this matter?

CAIR Takes on Jack Bauer and 24

Jack Bauer isn't happy. You wouldn't like it when Jack Bauer isn't happy. Bauer with one finger could turn out one of the Incredible Hulk's temper tantrums. You have been warned.

CAIR, we know what you're doing and you aren't going to get away with it. Islamic terrorists are out there - killing in the name of Allah. Many have called for the destruction of America, and murdering Americans at any opportunity. We have seen what they've done on US soil - from 1993 and 2001, with other incidents in between carried out by those who claim to kill in the name of Allah.

That a fictional tv show would portray this very kind of world is blasphemy to you, but it hits too close to reality for your liking. Ancient Latin American proverb applies - Too bad, so sad.

Oh, and if you bother to watch, you find out that not only has Bauer killed a heroic CTU agent to spare the life of an Islamic terrorist who may be ready to give up the fight (after spilling the blood of thousands), but we learn that the CAIR-like character realizes that while there may be civil rights violations in detaining folks - there are really bad guys out there doing harm to the US in the name of Islam, and helps out the government with key information). We also know that the Islamic terrorists are in cahoots with other shadowy groups, who are using the Islamists hatred of America to cover their own intentions.

All in all, plots within plots, schemes within schemes, and a more complex worldview than your narrow minded and myopic view where all you think about is how this show might shed bad light on the Muslim community. I would think you'd have more trouble trying to cover the bad light resulting from thousands killed here and around the world in the name of Islam, but that's just me.

Thanks for keeping priorities straight.

Hat in the Ring

Sen. Hillary Clinton threw her hat in the ring, and is among the front runners for the nomination in 2008 for the Democrats. She's easily the most recognizable of all the prospective candidates for the Democrats, which contains both good and bad news.

Everyone has an opinion on her. Everyone.

There are people who absolutely adore her and think she'd make an excellent president, and others who think she's devil spawn, opportunistic, and far worse.

I know that her aborted health care plan during her husband's administration shows her socialist tendencies, but she has been an outspoken advocate and proponent for aiding Ground Zero workers who have suffered ill effects from their time clearing the wreckage of the WTC.

Across the aisle, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownbeck also threw his hat into the ring. Things on the GOP side are quite intriguing as you have a number of high profile names - McCain and Giuliani running (or expected to run) and a number of lower profile candidates whose positions on major issues are not yet known.

What makes all this interesting is that not only are candidates declaring earlier and earlier, but many of the candidates are coming from the Senate, which isn't exactly an incubator of Presidents. Few are able to make the translation from the Senate - a legislative body - to the Executive branch where a person has to lead.

Clinton gets front runner status because of her name recognition among Democrats with Barack Obama not far behind, while Giuliani and McCain are considered front runners
for the GOP.

UPDATE:
Add Democrat Bill Richardson to the list as well. He's currently the Governor of New Mexico and has been ambassador so he has some foreign policy experience under his belt.

UPDATE:
Carpetbagger Report thinks that we shouldn't underestimate her ability to win the election. He's right. Problem is that she's such a polarizing candidate that many people have already well-formed opinions of her that may undermine her candidacy. Yet, that will not stop her fundraising capabilities, which are considerable. With a large field and a long time to the primaries next year, Hillary has the advantage with money going in, and will use this time to extend the advantage - potentially forcing lesser known candidates from the field.

One thing that does seem curious is the timing. Why would she choose Saturday morning to go all in? To saturate the talk on the Sunday talk shows? To get attention off the President's State of the State Address next week? Both? Or bad timing? I'm leaning towards the first, with a bit of the second. Of course, this was one of the worst secrets of all time - everyone knew she was running - going all the way back to when she first ran for the Senate in New York in 2000.

Others blogging the ring toss of Clinton and the rest of the gang: Blue Crab Boulevard, Outside The Beltway, Dan Riehl, Sensible Mom, QandO, Blogs of War, No More Mister Nice Blog, Blue Star Chronicles, Hot Air, Liberal Values, Kevin Drum.

The Battle for Ground Zero, Part 208

Planning for Towers 2, 3, and 4 continue with the architects working in a collaborative effort to get the projects moving. At the same time, more details are emerging about the "survivor's staircase" and what the Port Authority, the architects, and Silverstein are looking to do.

As some Ground Zero workers are holding a vigil outside a New York hospital in support of one of their comrades in arms, Cesar Borja, who is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, other grim work continues - the search for additional remains in areas that have not been searched along the access road and underground utility vaults in the area surrounding Ground Zero.

Calls continue for the military's disaster mortuary team to lead the search for remains, and others call the ongoing cleanup plan a sham. I think both views are entitled to their positions, though I disagree with both.

Meanwhile, the EPA is going to be retesting the air around Ground Zero.

Federal authorities began collecting names Tuesday from lower Manhattan residents who want their offices and apartments tested or retested for toxic 9/11 dust.

The Environmental Protection Agency will register commercial and residential spaces in lower Manhattan until March 30. After the registration period closes, the actual testing will begin.

The $7 million effort, billed as the final air testing program from the 2001 attacks, has been criticized by some New York lawmakers for not going far enough to ensure public health.

The EPA will specifically test the air and dust in buildings near the World Trade Center site for four contaminants linked to the towers’ debris: asbestos, lead, man-made fibers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chemicals formed during fires.

The Violence Continues During Darfur Ceasefire

Somewhere in the harsh landscape around the North Darfur town of Kutum, some 30,000 people have effectively vanished. It's a semi-arid area that hovers between desert and savannah, with thorn trees and grass and dry riverbeds that fill in the brief rainy season with just enough water to support either the pastoralists, like the Arab nomads known here as the Janjaweed, or the agriculturalists, who are the majority of the Darfur population, non-Arab Africans from a variety of tribes.

This isn't a surprise to anyone following the situation in Darfur. The peacekeepers aren't going to interfere based on their rules of engagement and the area involved is such that they can't even bring the whole region into their purview.

The janjaweed are continuing their rampaging through Darfur, complicit with Khartoum. The usual suspects proclaimed that there was a ceasefire deal that would put an end to the violence, but all that paper and talk was just that - paper and talk. The action on the ground speaks far more loudly.

Missouri Abductions Get Closer Look

Investigators on Friday announced a task force of federal, state and local investigators to examine whether the man accused of abducting two boys may have snatched other children who are still missing.

Michael Devlin is charged with kidnapping two boys found Jan. 12 in his suburban St. Louis apartment.

The search for Ben Ownby, who vanished after getting off the school bus in Beaufort on Jan. 8, led police to Devlin's home, where they found the 13-year-old and Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing for more than four years.

Devlin was 36 when Shawn was abducted on Oct. 6, 2002. Several experts and police have called it unlikely that someone would commit such brazen crimes without any precedent.

"There are the possibilities that there may be other kids involved," Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said.

Ownby and Hornbeck are very lucky to be alive and reunited with their families. Many thousands of kids are never reunited with their families, who are left wondering what cruel fates struck their children.

Investigators are looking at whether Devlin may have been involved in other kidnappings or related crimes, particularly crimes within 80-100 miles of his residence. In particular, they're looking at one case that mirrors the Hornbeck abduction:

One detective called Devlin the "most viable lead" in another missing boy case, mostly because of striking similarities between Shawn's abduction and that of 11-year-old Charles "Arlin" Henderson, who vanished in 1991.

Lincoln County detective Chris Bartlett said the boys were the same age when they vanished and both were taken while riding their bikes on rural roads about an hour's drive from St. Louis. Shawn, Ben and Arlin all weighed about 100 pounds.

I can only hope that the Oprah appearance yesterday might lead to further leads on other missing and exploited kids in Missouri, and help investigators.

Prior coverage here.

Technorati: shawn hornbeck, ben+ownby, michael devlin, missouri, oprah, kidnapping, abduction.

Watching a Socialist Dictator in Action

Twentieth-century socialism didn't fare so well in that regard and it is still unclear that Chavez is doing much better. Chavez's anti-poverty programs, known as the Bolivarian Missions, have helped bring health, education, housing and basic food products to Venezuela's poor like never before. Venezuelan critics insist, however, that such programs are inherently flawed -- assembling hefty, corrupt and inefficient bureaucracies that will prove detrimental to the country in the long run.

Regardless of its ultimate measure and whether historians say this experiment was a success or failure for the poor and Venezuela at large, Chavez's 21st-century socialism is different in one chief respect: It's been rather polite.

Never mind the fact that Chavez sends his thugs out to intimidate his opponents. Never mind that he's styling his rule on Fidel Castro, down to the fact of removing any and all potential threats to his power within his own political party structure lest they get the idea that they can replace him. Chavez is intent upon cultivating his very own cult of personality and we all know how well that's worked out for Fidel and Cuba.

Yet, the writer of this piece, Marcela Sanchez, thinks that Chavez is on to something in promoting the same failed economic policies that have doomed socialist economies all throughout the world during the past 100 years because he's supposedly doing things gently - if only because he's not doing the extreme steps that Castro, Stalin or Mao utilized to redistribute wealth (mostly to him and his elite friends). You know - the kind of mass expropriations and nationalization of industries to the point where the government controlled every aspect of operation (and failed miserably to produce even basic goods and services).

Taking away the rights of Venezuelans isn't gentle. He's turning Venezuela into a dictatorship. It doesn't matter whether he's doing it gently or not. Chavez is living up to his nickname [T]hugo.

UPDATE:
Babalu notes the tendency among the Latin American dictators to worship at the feet of Castro - including using the same failed socialist pablum. Yet they think that getting together will help stick it to the US. Venezuela's parliament just voted itself one step closer forming a collective of failed states.

Others commenting on the events in Venezuela and how Chavez is increasing his personal power at the expense of the democratically elected government and the people: Poliblogger, CATO at Liberty which notes that economic freedom and liberty go hand in hand, Rantings of a Sandmonkey, and Truthdig.

Now That's a Bottle of Red

The world's biggest wine bottle - weighing in at 1,300 pounds and containing nearly 64 gallons - was unveiled on Wall Street yesterday.

At 6-foot-5, the bottle - which hails from Western Australia - was the centerpiece of a show featuring all things from Down Under and part of a marketing effort dubbed "G'day USA: Australian Week."

The Guinness Book of World Records named the bottle of Shiraz, which bears the label Five Virtues, the world's largest in 2005.

The towering container, which contains the equivalent of 387 regular-size bottles, is a joint venture among wineries from Western Australia.

Most wine is sold in 750ml bottles, although you will also find 1500ml bottles and gallon bottles as well (jug wines). You could have quite the party with this bottle.

Columbia University Considers Disciplinary Action on Speech Fracas

Columbia University is about ready to identify seven students who crashed a debate at the university on border security.

Columbia University has identified seven students who could face disciplinary charges for rushing the stage and preventing the leader of an anti-illegal immigrant group from giving a speech on campus last October.

Six students were informed last month they face penalties for disrupting the Oct. 4 speech of Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist, who was forced to leave the stage after the incident.

Columbia spokesman Robert Hornsby said yesterday a seventh student was recently identified.

It is unclear if any more students could face disciplinary action.

Columbia's student newspaper, The Spectator, yesterday published a Jan. 7 letter received by one of the students.

"I have received a complaint from a member of the University that you may have engaged in conduct that violation sections . . . of the Rules of University Conduct by participating in a demonstration," the letter from the Office of Rules Administrator said.

Universities are supposed to be places where ideas are able to be aired and debated. These students sought to shut down an opposing viewpoint, not with debate, but with violence. The university's slow motion disciplinary action serves absolutely no one on the campus and sends the wrong messages to the student body.

Consumer Reports Retracts Car Seat Story

Last week, Consumer Reports published a story about infant car seats and declared in its test results that 10 of the 12 seats tested failed the impact test at 38.5 mph.

We now learn that the tests were flawed and that the test appears to have been at nearly double the speed. As a result Consumer Reports has recalled its report and will retest all the car seats:

Consumer Reports is withdrawing its recent report on infant car seats pending further tests of the performance of those seats in side-impact collisions.

A new report will be published with any necessary revisions as soon as possible after the new tests are complete.

We withdrew the report immediately upon discovering a substantive issue that may have affected the original test results. The issue came to light based on new information received Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concerning the speed at which our side-impact tests were conducted.

The original study, published in the February issue of Consumer Reports, was aimed at discovering how infant seats performed in tests at speeds that match those used in the government’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). This program tests most new vehicles in crashes at speeds of 35 mph for frontal impact and 38 mph for side impact. Child safety seats, in contrast, are currently tested only in front-impact crashes at speeds of 30 mph.

Our tests were intended to simulate side crashes at the NCAP speed of 38 mph. The new information raises a question about whether the tests accurately simulated that speed, however, so we are now reviewing our tests and the resulting article.

However, CR stands by its call for a recall of two other car seats because of failures in the frontal car crash test.

Legalbgl made an interesting observation in email. Two of the seats actually passed this flawed test. Does this mean that they can protect an infant successfully up to the speeds indicated in the flawed test? The Graco Snug Ride with EPS passed at the higher test speed of 70 mph. So even if they retest at the mandated level of 38.5 mph, would you get the seat that passed at 38.5 mph but failed at 70 mph or get the seat that still passed at 70 mph? He would go with the one that passed at the higher speed.

I think he is definitely on to something here.

Prioritizing the NYC Budget

Mayor Bloomberg announced his intentions and priorities for the upcoming budget season. Left off the list of things to do? A raise for entry-level policemen. Their starting salaries are pitiful as a result of the PBA-negotiated agreement that leaves them making a mere $25,100 in the first year (which is not only a paltry sum, but puts the city at a competitive disadvantage when compared to the suburbs). While the NYPD contract provides significant benefits to those who have put their time in on the force, the starting salary is enough to deter people from ever considering working for the NYPD.

That has to change and soon.

Cutting the property tax (which was hiked by Bloomberg only a few years ago) is another priority as is maintaining an aged transportation system and education reforms, but when compared to the need to recruit and retain the folks that keep the city safe under all manner of conditions, without the police force, the gains made over the past decade might reverse and lower the quality of live in the City.

Correcting this major mistake on the part of the City would go a long way to showing the faith in those who keep the city safe. After that, the city should look at the tax cuts, transportation projects, education programs, and other social welfare programs.

What Really Matters

I've been trying to sort through all the talk about the terrorist surveillance program and what it means. So far, I tend to agree with Bob Owens' take thus far.

While some pundits seem content to label this as a defeat of sorts for the Bush Administration (see the WaPo headline above) and some conservative legal experts are inclined to agree, I'm not sure. I'm not disagreeing necessarily, but this seems to be a case of We Don't Know What We Don't Know, and I'm not sure that is such a bad thing.

The bottom line is that we want to be able to intercept terrorist communications into the US and to track down those who are inside the US based on those extra-jurisdictional contacts.

Has the FISA court agreed to make changes in how it handles terrorist surveillance based on intel gathered from outside the US such that it is giving the President what it needs and still manages to assuage critics who complain that the President is somehow trampling on your civil rights? We simply don't know and everyone is basically engaging in speculation.

The hope is that the latest changes do not undermine US national security. As to whether Bush gave up some manner of Presidential power (giving away some part of the powers inherent in the Office of the President pursuant to the US Constitution including the warmaking/warfighting powers) is a separate issue - and one that would likely be a mistake. That wouldn't be the first time either.

Register This!

Consider this my registration of utter disgust with those who try to undermine the First Amendment in this country. Once again, members of Congress think that they can or should infringe on the First Amendment for no good reason other than to keep their hides nice and safe from criticism. That's precisely what the following two measures would do if implemented.

The first is the reimposition of what is euphemistically called the Fairness Doctrine. It is nothing of the sort. Instead of giving the marketplace the right to decide what airs, it would require broadcasters to provide equal time between competing viewpoints. This would be felt hardest in the AM talk radio marketplace, where left leaning radio is a mere fraction of the right leaning radio market. Air America's failure was one sign that the market was not accepting of this view since it doesn't resonate with most Americans. So, what could not be gained through market competition will now be overcome by federal diktat. The Left wants to kill off talk radio, and this is just the thing to make that happen. Dennis "the Menace" Kucinich is behind this gambit.

The second, and potentially far more damaging, is the supposition of registering bloggers. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced this mess and can be found at S.1 (which the Democrats have helpfully called ethics reform). Among the key features:

Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the
Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.

Indeed, the acutal text of the offending section is here.

Gee, that would bring some of the biggest names in blogging under the registration requirement including Instapundit, TPM, Daily Kos, LGF, Firedoglake, Andrew Sullivan, Ed Morrissey, TTLB, and even yours truly (depending on the day). This comes on the heels of the earlier McCain Feingold campaign finance reform legislation that cut into your 1st Amendment rights.

Never mind that the McCain Feingold campaign finance reform was not reform and took away a clear First Amendment right to free speech - and in particular political speech (and yes, I'm aware the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality, but the Court has been wrong before - see Plessy v. Ferguson), but this is yet another assault on the right to free speech in the US. It is high time that people tell our Representatives that we will not tolerate further infringements of the right to free speech.

Thankfully, it appears that the GOPers in the Senate decided to append line item veto legislation to the ethics reform package and scuttled the whole damned thing for now with parlimentary procedures. Blue Crab Boulevard has more on what happened (via Sister Toldjah). The ethics package may have been delayed because of partisan bickering, but the American people benefit by giving more time to reveal the nature of this provision.

UPDATE:
The offending language in S.1 was stricken as a result of an amendment passed earlier tonight. That such language was included in the first place should raise eyebrows on both sides of the aisle.

UPDATE:
Never mind that part about raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle considering that the 55-42 vote (2 not voting) was nearly along party lines: Alexander (R-TN); Allard (R-CO); Baucus (D-MT); Bayh (D-IN); Bennett (R-UT); Bond (R-MO); Bunning (R-KY); Burr (R-NC); Chambliss (R-GA); Coburn (R-OK); Cochran (R-MS); Coleman (R-MN); Collins (R-ME); Conrad (D-ND); Corker (R-TN);
Cornyn (R-TX); Craig (R-ID); Crapo (R-ID); DeMint (R-SC); Dole (R-NC); Domenici (R-NM); Dorgan (D-ND); Ensign (R-NV); Enzi (R-WY); Graham (R-SC); Grassley (R-IA);
Gregg (R-NH); Hagel (R-NE); Hatch (R-UT); Hutchison (R-TX); Inhofe (R-OK); Isakson (R-GA); Kyl (R-AZ); Landrieu (D-LA); Lott (R-MS); Lugar (R-IN); Martinez (R-FL); McCain (R-AZ); McConnell (R-KY); Murkowski (R-AK); Nelson (D-NE); Roberts (R-KS); Salazar (D-CO); Sessions (R-AL); Shelby (R-AL); Smith (R-OR); Snowe (R-ME); Specter (R-PA); Stevens (R-AK); Sununu (R-NH); Thomas (R-WY); Thune (R-SD); Vitter (R-LA); Voinovich (R-OH); Warner (R-VA).

Annual Train Wreck Resumes

The annual train wreck otherwise known as the American Idol audition sessions has resumed to huge ratings. People must really love the wreckage and carnage imposed by the singular lack of talent that the producers have culled from all the interviews and auditions.

These shows are so cringeworthy that Mrs. Lawhawk who watches the show even has to flip channels away from the show. Yet, she, like millions of other folks, turn right back to see who can be even worse than those who came before.

Personally, if I had to choose between watching static or the audition shows, I'll choose static. There's something comforting about white noise. Those few auditions I heard from the other room? Getting root canal sounds more pleasant.

And for the record, if someone tells you that you have no business being on stage because your voice sounds like a dryer full of nuts and bolts, take their advice and find something else to do with your time. Or put your tape on YouTube and impress your friends (if you have any left after they hear your sonic assault).

Technorati: american idol.

Carnival of Bauer V6.1

I don't have time to give you all the details. Just go and see for yourself the bloggy goodness that follows Jack around.

Look Out Below

Jeb Corliss, who attempted to BASE jump from the Empire State Building but was nabbed by security and cops before he could do so, had charges of reckless endangerment dropped against him by Judge Michael Ambrecht.

Until yesterday, Jeb Corliss, 30, had faced up to seven years in prison for first-degree reckless endangerment. But Corliss is a free man - and the charge against him is dismissed - thanks to a legal loophole big enough to jump one of his $3,500 customized stunt parachutes through.

Under state law, a charge of first-degree reckless endangerment requires prosecutors to prove Corliss showed a "depraved indifference" to the risk of killing bystanders.

But Justice Michael Ambrecht found that Corliss, who has some 3,000 successful jumps under his belt, was too experienced and too obviously concerned with public safety to have met the "depraved indifference" standard.

And what if Corliss would have dropped on some unsuspecting pedestrian or hit/fell in front of a car on busy 34th Street? The streets were not closed off to traffic, but instead busy as they usually are for the time when Corliss attempted the jump.

Ambrecht seems to think that wearing a parachute constitutes some measure of public safety? How many times have we seen or heard about parachute drops that have gone wrong and put themselves, onlookers, and/or rescue personnel into harm's way?

Prosecutors will reexamine the case. In the meantime, I think someone ought to look at the applicable law and close this supposed loophole.

Gothamist and the NYT also comment.

Flipping

The new head of the House intel committee, Silvestre Reyes, committed a major faux-pas by calling for a troop increase, but reversed his position the moment the President essentially took the same exact position.

On Dec. 5, Newsweek magazine touted an interview with then-incoming House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes as an "exclusive." And for good reason.

"In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq," the story began, Mr. Reyes "said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a 'stepped up effort to dismantle the militias.' "

"We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq," the Texas Democrat said to the surprise of many, "I would say 20,000 to 30,000."

Then came President Bush's expected announcement last week, virtually matching Mr. Reyes' recommendation and argument word-for-word -- albeit the president proposed only 21,500 troops.

Wouldn't you know, hours after Mr. Bush announced his proposal, Mr. Reyes told the El Paso Times that such a troop buildup was unthinkable.

"We don't have the capability to escalate even to this minimum level," he said.

The chairman's "double-talk" did not go unnoticed. Among others, Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, says such blatant "hypocrisy" undermines both national security and the war on terrorism.

So, what's changed in the time frame other than Reyes assuming the chairmanship? Has he gained some new piece of information that clarifies his standing one way or the other, or is he simply playing politics - finding fault with the Administration regardless of the positions taken? In other words, is Reyes simply complaining about the Administration's Iraq policy out of politics or deeply held convictions. It would appear to be politics as usual. The issues surrounding the troop levels has been on the table for months, and Reyes originally thought a troop increase would get the job done.

My biggest problem over the whole debate on troop levels is that the politicians are the ones making the decisions or seeking to impose troop levels on the military which has a much better idea of what troop levels are necessary. Should the politicians hamstring the military by setting a limit on the number of troops? That's what some politicians on the Left (joined by Hagel) are calling for. They don't want to allow the President, as Commander in Chief, to prosecute the war with the troops he thinks are necessary to win the war. It also undermines the Pentagon's ability to fight the war in a manner that they think will lead to victory - and the conclusion of hostilities such that the troops can return home sooner. Using something less than overwhelming force to crush the insurgency is only going to lead to continuing problems - both in the inability to hold areas that were cleared of insurgents, and dealing with any crises that may arise. Meanwhile, Congress isn't taking a strong enough look at increasing the overall number of troops in the US Armed Forces, so that troop rotations can be evened out and that present and future commitments are addressed.

Meanwhile, Northwest Airlines has reversed its stance on a group of 40 Muslims who were denied boarding a return flight from Mecca during the hajj. They were denied boarding because they arrived at the gate too late according to the airline's rules, but the reversal is par for the course:

Reacting swiftly to allegations of discrimination, Northwest Airlines apologized to a group of 40 Muslims today for barring them from a plane in Germany on their return trip from the Hajj.

The airline said it will reimburse the pilgrims for the other flights they were forced to take on their return from the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, a ranking official of the airline said the flight for which the passengers from Metro Detroit were ticketed could have been held at the gate until all were cleared for boarding, and she is looking into why that decision was not made.

Hot Air has more, including Debbie Schussel's predictive abilities to spot a cave-in. Note that the airline says that it didn't do anything wrong, but is still giving out apologies and reimbursing them for costs. Part of this sounds like good PR, but it also smacks of a shakedown. Considering CAIR's involvment in the matter, a shakedown is highly possible.

CAIR Finds 24 Offensive: Fox Responds

CAIR has a thing for going after the television show 24, especially since they occasional show that some bad guys in the world are Muslims. Fox Entertainment group submits the following response:

24 is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism. After 5 seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family, or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical.

The show takes great pains to ensure that all characterizations are seen in the overall context of the series. “Bad guys” may ultimately be good and those that seem to be guardians may in fact be the worst kind of criminals. Even the show’s hero, Jack Bauer, is seriously flawed. It’s that acknowledgement of the diverse nature of the show’s characters that makes 24 such a compelling series.

Over the past several seasons, the villains have included shadowy Anglo businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States. Over the course of the series, no ethnic group has been singled out for persecution or blame. In fact, the show has made a concerted effort to show ethnic, religious and political groups as multi-dimensional, and political issues are debated from multiple viewpoints.

As someone who watches and blogs the show regularly, I find CAIR's position on the subject offensive. The show has gone to considerable efforts to cast about for terrorists and threats that are not Islamic terrorists - the very folks who murdered thousands of Americans in real life on 9/11. They've even twisted the acts of one character, President Logan, from a snivelling and weak character into the epitome of evil and full of plans within plans behind the terrorist attacks on the US that Jack Bauer himself was trying to prevent.

In the real world, there are new news reports on a daily basis indicating that terrorists are calling for jihad and the destruction of the West and the US in the name of Allah. These aren't militant Quakers we're talking about, but Islamic terrorists. So, the show glosses over the reality and casts about for bad guys who aren't of a Muslim background.

The show's writers have managed to show the nuances and quandaries that face the fictional nation on 24. They created a character I refer to as Bashir who has a dark terrorist past and who has the blood of thousands on his hands, and yet he not only has a change of heart about the terrorist tactics, but offers to assist the US in tracking down even bigger threats. Jack Bauer is forced to kill his trusty sidekick, Curtis, who has a history with Bashir - Bashir tortured and killed members of Curtis' unit after the first Gulf War, because Bashir not only was given a Presidential pardon, but was providing actionable intel to stop a terror plot.

Of course, complaining and inventing controversies are nothing new for CAIR. They exaggerated details of the flying imam case, and only in the last day have they come forward complaining about how a number of Muslims who were making the hajj were prevented from boarding a Northwest flight because they arrived at the gate 20 minutes before the flight departs. Of course, the facts don't help:

Northwest spokesman Roman Blahoski said Monday that the passengers were denied boarding because they arrived for the flight just 20 minutes before departure, a violation of airline and governmental regulations.

“These passengers did not meet the standard check-in deadline of 60 minutes or onboard deadline of 20 minutes,” he said. “It’s nothing beyond that.”

It's nothing beyond that.

CAIR is so busy chasing exaggerated and fictionalized incidents that it doesn't realize the damage it does to the Muslim community in the country that could use a true moderate organization that wants to improve relations instead of pursuing a radical agenda (as evidenced by the numerous ties to terrorist groups among the leaders and former leaders of CAIR).

Cross posted to Blogs4Bauer.

Oil Wars Redux

In the 1970s, OPEC raised the price of oil in retaliation for US support to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Now, the Arab countries are using the oil weapon on each other, and instead of raising prices, the key is dropping them to cut off revenues.

Crude oil fell to a 19-month low as Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, said it will increase production capacity.

Saudi Arabia has 3 million daily barrels of spare capacity and will push ahead with projects to expand output, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said today. Prices plunged yesterday after al-Naimi said he saw no need for an emergency OPEC meeting to consider further cuts in output. Prices have plunged 17 percent this year on speculation OPEC members won’t comply with production cuts…

“The Saudis probably want lower prices for a combination of reasons,'’ said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president of global energy futures at Macquarie Futures USA Inc. in New York. “This could benefit them both politically and economically. This may be a signal for Iran to stop meddling in Iraq and at the same time stanch the move to alternative fuels such as ethanol.'’

Well, this will put a damper in alternative fuels research, which gets additional support when price levels stayed above $60-65 per barrel. Now, with the prices sliding, will manufacturers and researchers continue their research or put it on the back burner? I certainly hope that they continue research, because reducing dependency on the oil thugocracies (and the biggest exporters of oil are nearly all thugocracies - Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan) will enhance US national security.

However, the short term prospects are lower costs for transporting goods, lower gas prices as the new prices circulate through the market, and it will boost the airline industry that has been beset by rising jet fuel costs.

Saudi Arabia doesn't have a military to compete against the Iranians, so they're using the best available weapon - the production of oil above the levels set by OPEC. Flood the market with oil and Iran can't get as much for its oil on the international markets, so they have to either produce more oil to match the revenue targets, or cut their production to equalize the market - either way, the Iranians are left with fewer options. This is a good thing.

Bumper Car Madness in Portland

Let this be an object lesson to anyone considering driving in icy weather to take this advice. Don't do it in a sedan. Don't do it in a SUV with 4-wheel drive. Don't.Do.It.



This video was shot in Portland during the latest break in Global Warming.

HT: Anonymous emailer.

Cancer Death Rates Drop For Second Year In A Row

Good news for those who are suffering from various forms of cancer or know those who are:

The drop from 2002 to 2003 was the first annual decrease in total cancer deaths since 1930. But the decline was slight, and experts were hesitant to say whether it was a cause for celebration or just a statistical fluke.

The trend seems to be real, Cancer Society officials said.

"It's not only continuing. The decrease in the second year is much larger," said Ahmedin Jemal, a researcher at the organization.

Cancer deaths dropped to 553,888 in 2004, down from 556,902 in 2003 and 557,271 in 2002, the Cancer Society found.

Experts are attributing the success to declines in smoking and to earlier detection and more effective treatment of tumors. Those have caused a fall in the death rates for breast, prostate and colorectal cancer - three of the most common cancers.

The lung cancer death rate in men has also been falling, but the female rate has reached a plateau.

The largest drop in deaths among the major cancers was in colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer deaths dropped by 1,110 in men and by 1,094 in women.

Better screening will help people identify cancers earlier, giving people a better chance at making a full recovery.

Respect My Privacy After I Go On Oprah

Shawn Hornbeck's parents have been overwhelmed with media inquiries into interviews and reports say that they want to try to keep things private. Yet, we also learn that Shawn Hornbeck and his parents have agreed to appear on Oprah.

Officials haven’t yet asked Shawn about the time he spent with Devlin and don’t know why he never notified authorities, Schroeder said.

“We’re trying to be sympathetic to Shawn, give him the time he needs to digest everything that’s happened,” he said. “We don’t know specifically what the boy went through. We don’t know what techniques the suspect used to gain compliance. There are just a lot of unknowns, but we want to be very careful approaching that too soon.”

Shawn and his family have been besieged by media since Friday, and his parents said he had not talked to them about his experience, said Trina Davis, who works at the Bardenheier Wine Cellars restaurant in Richwoods, Mo. The restaurant has become a gathering place for the community to discuss the case.

Shawn’s stepfather, Craig Akers, and his mother, Pam Akers, plan to film an interview Wednesday for “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Davis said.

Can you reconcile the two stances (wanting to maintain privacy and going on Oprah)? There's only one way I can see this as making sense. Going on Oprah will raise the profile for other kidnapping cases and raising awareness in a way that other media outlets can't and if they received an appearance fee for being booked on the show, it would help Hornbeck's parent's recoup some of the money spent on trying to find Shawn over the past four years. His parents spent their life savings on trying to find him, and only recently returned to work when their money ran out.

Ben Owenby, who was held for only four days, is looking to get back to school, and made an appearance on the Today Show.

I wish the both of them the best and hope that they and their families get the needed support and counseling to help them readjust to life.

One thing that will remain private for now is what actually happened during the boys' captivity. Law enforcement asked them not to talk about their ordeals in the media - to help preserve the case against Michael Devlin.

Technorati: shawn hornbeck, ben+ownby, michael devlin, missouri, oprah, kidnapping, abduction.

[fixed typo]

Full of It

In yet another story claiming to have insight into Fidel Castro's condition, it is claimed that he opted for a riskier procedure to deal with his intestinal illness rather than have a colostomy bag.

So what happened? Well, the riskier procedure failed, the follow up procedure failed, and Fidel was (as most of his critics are wont to say) full of poop.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro chose to avoid a colostomy and opted for riskier intestinal surgery that led to serious complications, the Spanish newspaper El Pais said in its Wednesday edition.

The shortcut involved sewing the colon to the rectum but did not heal properly and broke apart, releasing gastric fluid with feces that caused serious infection, El Pais said on its Web site.

The newspaper reported a day earlier that Castro's prognosis was "very serious" and that he is being fed intravenously after three failed operations for diverticulitis, or pouch-like bulges in the large intestine that get infected.

El Pais cited medical sources at the same Madrid hospital where a surgeon who examined Castro in late December works.

So much for the Cuban health care system operating as Fidel and his thugs claim - best in the world. That claim is also full of it. Val Prieto is on top of the situation and notes that CNN and other media outlets are essentially running with rumors here because no one has solid news on Castro's condition or anything else - all news is being run through Castro's censors in Havana and everyone else is trying to divine his health status from second hand sources.

UPDATE:
Others blogging the last days of Fidel Castro (the end can't come soon enough): Bullwinkle Blog, Instapundit, Catallarchy (who notes and enjoys the irony), Classical Values, Flap's Blog, and Winds of Change.

A Boy Named Sue: Is AP Being Played By Jamil Hussein?

What's in a name? Well, Johnny Cash might sing about a boy named Sue and his dad's efforts to toughen up the kid against the world, but would an Iraqi do such a thing to their kid? Gateway Pundit received email from an Iraqi-American who had some interesting comments about the names being proffered by AP. For starters, Jamil translates as pretty or beautiful.

This makes it an even more peculiar name. Still possible. His father names his son Jamil, Thus Jamil Gulam means "Pretty Boy".

Now unless it is a family tradition, I would never do that to any of my Sons.

It could be that an Iraqi is playing a huge joke on AP.

I'll say. Of course, the AP isn't exactly trying to find out whether they were played and have instead stuck to their story regardless of the developments.

UPDATE:
Confederate Yankee continues his correspondence with AP over the ongoing issue of Jamil Hussein's identity and what AP knew and when they knew it. Like myself, he's awaiting Michelle Malkin and Bryan Preston's reporting on the subject of the mosque incidents that figured so prominently in AP's coverage based on Jamil's say-so, including a possible visit to the location where the attacks are said to have occurred.

UPDATE:
Others weighing in: Bill's Bites catches Ed Morrissey sparring with NPR over Jamilgate and Flopping Aces notes that Michelle and Bryan are back from Iraq and looking forward to their reporting.

Giving Up on Mystery Odor Source

The mystery odor will remain just that - a mystery.

City and state officials have given up on trying to trace the source of the mystery odor that wafted over New York City and parts of New Jersey last week, even as a mystery odor of unknown source hit Staten Island today. The leading theories were swamp gas, mercaptan, and sewer gas. The officials say that without any other leads or another mystery odor outbreak, there's no way to ever know what caused it.

That's not exactly comforting, but I hope that the officials studied the reports and air patterns to get a better understanding of what might happen if the odor wasn't simply a nasty smell, but a chemical or biological agent. Emergency response ought to examine the matter more closely as well to see how to improve responses to these kinds of incidents. If anything, officials could treat this as a dress rehearsal for a mass casualty attack over a wide area.

An Image Problem

Ashley Harder, Miss New Jersey USA, has resigned because she is pregnant, The Philadelphia Daily News reported in Monday's editions.

Harder, 20, told the newspaper she voluntarily stepped down because it's against pageant rules to compete while pregnant. She could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press.

Both the pageant and the runner-up for 2007 Miss New Jersey USA confirmed Monday that the reins have changed hands. Erin Abrahamson, 23, said pageant officials called her Friday to let her know she would be assuming the title.

This comes on the heels of the Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, who had numerous racy photos taken at some point before her entrance in the competition (NSFW), the Miss USA mess, and the ongoing feud between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell that seems to have a life of its own - just like The Donald's hair.

Of the bunch, it seems that Harder is the only one with her head screwed on straight - stepping down now and not after it hits the tabloids or other such nonsense. She's planning on marrying her live-in boyfriend. She's expecting in late summer according to ABC News. Oh, and it appears that she was once the door girl for a hot bar in the City (Google is your friend).

The Miss New Jersey site has been swamped (go figure - literally).

However, none of this is making Trump's job any easier as the owner of the Miss USA brand.

Jammie has more.

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz Resigns

Thanks for drawing this matter out longer than necessary. Halutz had previously stated that he would resign if asked, but wouldn't quit on his own. That was a few weeks ago. Well, he's finally done the right thing and resigned.

An earthquake in the military and political echelons: IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz resigned Tuesday night. He reported his resignation to Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

He intended to report his resignation to the IDF general staff Wednesday morning, but, from fear of leaks, decided to issue a public statement Wednesday, slightly after midnight.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed deep sorrow over the decision. Olmert, who knew beforehand that Halutz was going to resign, asked him to reconsider, but according to the PM's Office, Halutz's decision was decisive and as such, Olmert has no choice but to accept it.

Since the end of the second Lebanon war, many voices called for the Chief of General Staff to leave his post. Among them were senior politicians and a movement of reservists.

The sword of the Winograd commission, which was investigating the war, was also swinging over Halutz's head, although he did not wait for them to issue their intermediate report before resigning.

Halutz's handling of the Lebanon conflict, along with the ongoing situation in Gaza are a primary reason for the dissatisfaction with Halutz. Instead of decisive leadership, his leadership appeared to be tentative and reluctant to commit mass forces to eliminating Hizbullah's rocket threat.

The lingering question is who will assume the position as Israel's top leader and what other findings will the Winograd Commission will make when it issues its final report on the military's conduct in the war.

UPDATE:
Lots of reaction to Halutz's resignation, which generally seems to be along the lines of "what took so damned long?" Among those commenting: Yoni the Blogger thinks Gabi Ashkenazi should become the next Chief of Staff, Carl in Jerusalem, and cross posted here, thinks that this is the first to fall and that other members of the Cabinet will follow.

Indictment in UNSCAM

Benon Sevan, the former UN official kleptocrat in charge of the oil for food program, was indicted on charges stemming from UNSCAM by the US District Court in Manhattan.

Former U.N. Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in New York federal court for allegedly taking bribes under the program from Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. authorities announced Tuesday.

The charges, detailed in a joint press release by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and the Manhattan district attorney, came over a year after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker completed an investigation for the United Nations into the massively corrupted Oil-for-Food program that operated in Saddam's Iraq between 1996 and 2003.

According to the press release, Sevan allegedly received $160,000 generated from the sale of Iraqi oil under the program from one Ephraim Nadler, an associate who was also indicted, on behalf of the government of Iraq. The money was allegedly used to pay off overdue credit cards and bills.

Specifically, the two were charged with wire fraud, based on their depriving the United Nations of its right to Sevan's honest services; bribery concerning an organization — the United Nations that receives more than $10,000 annually from the federal government; and conspiracy to commit these offenses.

Here's to hoping that Sevan turns on others at the UN, including Kofi Annan and his son Kojo along with other diplomats and officials who profited from the oil for food program.

However, the indictment faces one huge hurdle. Sevan is currently residing in Cyprus, which does not have extradition rights with the US. Sevan is beyond the reach of US justice at the moment. Hot Air has more.

UPDATE:
Fixed typos.

Ed Driscoll thinks that this will get Turtle Bay roiling like soup set on boil. I wont go that far considering the problems with actually bringing Sevan to justice. It is good to see them squirm nonetheless. They have lots to worry about.

Atlas Shrugs points to the It Shines For All coverage and notes that the media is doing its best to ignore the indictment of UN officials for corruption. Considering that the UN was used as a personal piggy bank for Sevan and other UN officials and diplomats associated with the Oil for Food program, and billions are unaccounted for, you would think the media would be more interested in getting to the bottom of the mess in Turtle Bay, but they appear unwilling to do the heavy lifting. Why? There's a juicy story here and someone should be covering it vigorously.


Others blogging the indictment: Infidel Bloggers Alliance, The Jawa Report, Outside the Beltway, Sand in the Hourglass, Blue Crab Boulevard, Pajamas Media, and Right Winged.

Olmert and Syrians Denies Syria-Israel Peace Plan

Seems that whenever anyone is in doubt as to find a fall guy, blame someone from the US:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday categorically denied that Israeli diplomats had held secret talks and reached agreements with Syrian representatives during former prime minister Ariel Sharon's term in office, saying that such talks "never existed - there wasn't even a fable [about it]."

Speaking during a tour of the West Bank, the prime minister said that no one had informed him of any such event taking place.

"I didn't know anything, and no one in the government knew," he said. "No government officials were involved in this matter."

The Syrians also deny any deal in the works.

Now, this could all be part of a plan to keep the details sketchy and give the diplomats more time to negotiate a deal. It is the kind of thing that diplomats do. It's a way to float trial balloons on various aspects of the deal to see what might be palatable and what wont. However, the alternative possibility - that this is all so much idle chatter is a strong contender.

Complicating matters is the launch of a criminal investigation into Olmert's financial dealings.

Barack Obama Announces

As if you couldn't see this coming from a mile away. Illinois Senator Barack Obama is taking the first steps to throwing his hat in to the ring for the 2008 Presidential elections. I wish him luck.

He's going to need it in a very crowded field and sitting Senators have not faired well in prior elections. Maybe this trend will change in 2008, but Obama will have to clarify his stances on many issues and differentiate himself from the other Democrats in the field.

UPDATE:
Republican Tom Tancredo has also thrown his hat into the ring. Again, good luck trying to raise money in a very crowded field.

Grave Condition

The inevitable Castro death-watch continues as new reports claim that Fidel Castro is in extremely serious condition suffering from complications from intestinal surgeries.

Of course, the Cuban government denies the stories as so much American propaganda, even as the report was first published in a Spanish paper. The Cubans claim that the reports are nothing but lies. Okay - then produce Castro. My own take is that the only way I'll believe Castro's condition is grave when he's dead and gone.

Val thinks that Castro is already dead, and Raul and the thugs in charge are trying to figure out the next step on how to retain power now that Fidel is gone. That's as good a theory as any. The US government believes that Castro had only weeks or months to live in reports from late last year.

The following is a fake photo - but one that many hope and wish will come to pass sooner, rather than later:

Castro's demise cannot come soon enough for the Cuban people, and the current business about his health situation delays the inevitable. Someone will run Cuba after his death, and the question becomes who - and will the Cuban people accept letting another dictator determine the nation's future.

Technorati: Fidel Castro, Castro, Fidel, Raul, Cuba.

The Battle For Ground Zero, Part 207

What is going to happen to the WTC staircase. One of the last remnants of the original WTC, the staircase provided an escape for many leaving the complex before it collapsed.

The stairway, which led many down to safety on Vesey St., would be dismantled under a proposal being considered by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

The plan would incorporate some of the steps in the exterior stairs of the 78-story office tower that developer Larry Silverstein will build by 2012.

Alice Greenwald, director of the WTC Memorial Museum, also suggested that some of the original stairs could be incorporated into the design of the museum, due to open in 2010.

But neither suggestion was welcomed by preservationists who want to keep the staircase intact.

The Daily News also has a touching story about a police officer in need of a lung transplant after coming down with pulmonary fibrosis that may be related to his service at Ground Zero for weeks on end.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan Chase is looking to use the Deutshce Bank building site for an office tower of its own. That's not going to make Mayor Bloomberg happy since he was hoping to get the site (Tower 5) developed as a mixed use (residential/commercial) tower.

Tower 5 - a block south of Ground Zero at 130 Liberty St. and on the site of the heavily damaged and contaminated Deutsche Bank building - had been designated in April as a residential high-rise under a renegotiated plan for developing the World Trade Center's towers.

But several sources familiar with JPMorgan's talks with state and Port Authority officials said the firm's bid to develop the proposed 57-story tower for major corporate tenants is being taken seriously by the bistate agency.

In fact, sources said, JPMorgan is not the only corporate bidder for the site.

To make the commercial deal work, a source said, the Port Authority would have to agree to expand the size of Tower 5's base in order to accommodate the large, lower-level floors needed for trading rooms - a requirement for most financial-services firms.

Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, declined to comment on any talks with the Port Authority.

The financial-services firm's current headquarters are at 270 Park Ave. in the former Union Carbide Building. While the firm has no plans to relocate its headquarters, a series of acquisitions and a city work force of over 35,000 employees create a constant need for office space.

Last year, Bloomberg claimed there wasn't enough demand for office space to fill the five towers included in the World Trade Center's master plan and called for a major revision of the plan to include housing and hotels.

But the demand for Manhattan office space, including downtown, has boomed in the past year.

This development continues to show that Bloomberg and other naysayers were wrong about the strength of the real estate market and commercial real estate interest in Lower Manhattan. The strength is definitely there, and businesses are looking to downtown for modern amenities.

Technorati: World Trade Center, WTC, Pataki, LMDC, urban policy, Freedom Tower, IFC, International Freedom Center, spitzer, silverstein, mount sinai, respiratory ailment, wtc cough, bloomberg.

24: Quandries

Last night's episodes, which were live blogged at Blogs4Bauer, encapsulate many of the quandries the US and other Western powers face when dealing with terrorist groups. Do they give in to terrorist demands in the face of escalating violence, or do they go after the terrorists with expanded powers? Do they make deals with a mass-murdering terrorist who claims that he's seen the error of his ways to help thwart an even bigger terrorist threat? Can a person who personally witnessed the horrors inflicted by the mass-murdering terrorist handle the news of a presidential pardon so that they get the needed intel to stop a nuclear-capable terrorist organization? Will civil liberties groups recognize that the threat isn't always the government action, but terrorists who will exploit those civil liberties to kill thousands or millions of Americans with sufficient opportunity. Will members of a given community speak out and assist the government when presented with the opportunity to do so. Mistaken beliefs and judgments may lead to serendipitious results and intel.

How much do chance and luck play in obtaining intel, and how much is the result of people taking matters into their own hands?

We see this come to a head on the show as the Islamic terrorists conduct a series of suicide bombings throughout the country designed to secure the release of 100+ terrorists held in a detention facility. With thousands dead and injured on US soil, the fictional president relents and releases the prisoners, despite there being no real way to trust that the terrorists will stop their deadly carnage. The Islamists apparently have one guy working on the inside who helps one particular terrorist escape, and his true identity becomes known at the last moment - he's a guy who knows how to rewire suitcase nukes. Despite having him in custody, no one within the government was able to put the pieces together. The final pieces come via the mass-murdering terrorist who provides a key piece of intel.

24 provides some its own answers to the quandries - never release terrorists if captured because they will come back to haunt the nation. Make deals with certain terrorists if the threat posed by other terrorists is sufficiently large so that you get the needed intel. You have to sometimes work with bad characters to get information you need to protect the nation from attack. There are going to be people in the government that will not like this, and may take matters into their own hands. The outcome is that we lose good people. 24 also provides conspiracies within conspiracies, as we see from the previews that the Islamists may be cahoots with some other nasty types who we've seen before. Again, this appears to stem from the belief that Islamists will work with those who may not have the same beliefs, but have similar goals.

And no good deed goes unpunished.

Even if everything works and the intel agencies find the terrorists, they may arrive too late to stop the events unfolding.

Still, the number one lesson on 24: always listen to Jack Bauer. Jack's instincts were right on the money.

Backchannel Diplomacy Makes Syria-Israel Peace Plan Possible?

Is a peace plan between Syria and Israel in the works? Ha'aretz seems to think so and has produced the documents to back it up. Thus far, they're the only ones, but if this pans out, it may change the strategic calculus in the region.

In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.

The main points of the understandings are as follows:

* An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed.

* As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years.

* At the buffer zone, along Lake Kinneret, a park will be set up for joint use by Israelis and Syrians. The park will cover a significant portion of the Golan Heights. Israelis will be free to access the park and their presence will not be dependent on Syrian approval.

* Israel will retain control over the use of the waters of the Jordan River and Lake Kinneret.

* The border area will be demilitarized along a 1:4 ratio (in terms of territory) in Israel’s favor.

* According to the terms, Syria will also agree to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and will distance itself from Iran.

The document is described as a “non-paper,” a document of understandings that is not signed and lacks legal standing - its nature is political. It was prepared in August 2005 and has been updated during a number of meetings in Europe.

The devil is always in the details. I hope that such a deal is in the works, but one cannot depend on hope to ensure Israel's security. Syria has continued to provide material support for both Hamas and Hizbullah. Both terrorist groups threaten Israel's existence. Syria provides a conduit for weapons from Syria. Syria provides safe harbor for terrorists.

And yet, the possibility that this deal may come to fruition shows the benefits of backchannel negotiations. Forget about all the publicly hyped diplomatic missions. The ones that end up in a finished deal are the ones that start out secret - Oslo comes to mind. Oslo also comes to mind as a diplomatic solution that still has yet to be implemented by the Palestinians.

The stumbling blocks on any such deal are many - verification that Syria has stopped support of the terrorist organizations, withdrawal schedules, water rights, and threats to Syria's Bashar Assad by the Islamists in his country. The terrorists are not going to take any kind of deal lying down. They're going to go after Assad, just as they went after Sadat a generation ago.

Such a deal may help explain why Israel was so reluctant to go after the Lebanon-Syria border during the conflict with Hizbullah in August. It may also explain why Israel was so accepting of the UNIFIL deal despite the fact that the Israelis didn't appear to gain anything while leaving Hizbullah in a superior position. This could be a mitigating factor in Olmert's decision making, but should not excuse his reluctance to bring Israeli force to bear on Hizbullah. Indeed, the timing of this deal may be because Olmert needs to show some success on any possible front - and a deal with Syria could do just that.

Yet, Israelis are not likely to give up the Golan lightly. Many Israelis consider the Golan to be part of Israel - because the security it provides against a Syrian attack. This will be harshly debated in the Knesset and the nation will likely be split along party lines to agree to any deal that gives up security control on the Golan - even with a 1:4 ratio for a DMZ on the Israeli side of the pre-1967 border to the Syrian side East of the Golan Heights border.


That the details on this deal are supposedly coming out now suggests that the sides are really close to a final deal on the most complicated matters, so there is little harm in going public at this juncture. It may also reflect the fragile nature of the political situations for both Olmert and Assad. Olmert is under assault from all sides for his handling of the Hizbullah war and the ongoing conflict with Palestinians in Gaza. Assad is cut off from most of the rest of the world, and could be in deep economic trouble that a deal with Israel would resolve. It's the kind of situation that makes the timing right for a potential deal to be struck.

Right now, this is still just a piece of paper (link is to the full text of the document), but it is one that may result in settling down the situation in the North. Still, Hizbullah still has Goldwasser and Regev, and Hamas is calling for a prisoner swap - the terrorist Barghouti for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. There are lots of obstacles here, but this could be a glimmer of hope for Israelis.

Nifong's Troubles Intensify

Is Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong looking at additional charges even as he recused himself from the Duke case? Bullwinkle notes that the problems at the prosecutor's office and DNA lab could affect every prosecution case that both worked on. You think there's trouble now. Just wait till every other defense lawyer in Durham gets their hands on the case files.

The families of the three Duke students went postal on Nifong in their interview with 60 Minutes. Not that one can't understand where they're coming from. They saw their kids smeared by Nifong, the University, and the media without so much as a shred of evidence.

Disbarment is the least of Nifong's worries. Jeff Goldstein coins a new word to sum up how he feels. Allah has a simpler word choice.

Gross abuse of prosecutorial power. That's how Irish Pennants puts it.

The accuser picked the three defendants from a photo lineup consisting only of lacrosse players, a violation of police procedures. (Clearly innocent people are supposed to be mixed in with suspects.)

The players she selected did not match the description of the alleged attackers the accuser had given police earlier. Two of the accused had alibis.

The only evidence against the lacrosse players is the testimony of the accuser, who was inebriated at the time of the alleged assault, and who has changed her story in significant ways on multiple occasions.

DNA from five men was found on the accuser, but none of it belonged to the three defendants. Mr. Nifong knew this before he indicted the trio. He and Brian Meehan, the director of the lab where the DNA testing took place, concealed the exculpatory test result from defense attorneys, a violation of procedure and perhaps of the law.
The case has drawn national attention because the accuser is black, and the accused are white males.

He's right, and it extends beyond this case. The Duke case merely shines a light on how much power a prosecutor has in the lives of people that come under even the slightest bit of scrutiny.

If a prosecutor violates his ethical and legal obligations, it spells bad news for the defendants, many of whom are not able to afford the kind of legal protections that the Duke defendants got. Prosecutorial misconduct undermines the criminal justice system and the constitutional rights for all.

24: Live Blogging Hours 8AM to 10AM

Blogs4Bauer. Be there or be square. Lives depend on it.

Technorati: 24, jack bauer, kim bauer, sutherland, cuthbert

Truckin'

A study reveals that truck traffic in the New York metro area has increased by 30% since 1998. So, what does that mean to local members of Congress? Time to slap the truckers with more taxes and fees. Congressman Anthony Weiner wants to hit truckers with an additional $20 in tolls for driving through the City during peak periods as part of a four part plan.

Weiner added that the city's river crossings are rapidly becoming more congested. Traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel increased 56 percent in the last nine years.

He proposed a four-point plan to help deal with the truck congestion in the five boroughs, beginning with increasing truck tolls during peak hours and offering incentives for nighttime truck deliveries.

"By increasing truck tolls two or three times the current rate, it will help. Large businesses, like supermarkets, can also easily take deliveries in the evening," Weiner said.

Another step would be to build a cross-harbor, rail-freight tunnel. New York City is the only major city not connected to the national rail system, and as a result, 99 percent of the city's goods must be brought in by truck, Weiner said.

"We want New York City to grow, and we want bustling commerce," he said. "But at this rate we're going to choke on our success."

This is yet another symbol of folks having absolutely no understanding of economics or how and why the truck traffic has increased.

The economy in the region has increased exponentially without any increase in the rail access that would siphon all those trucks off the roads and onto the rails. The truck traffic is indicative of the strong economy in the region that ships goods and services to other parts of the country and around the world. Tagging all those trucks with $20 each time they cross into the City will make those shipping companies think twice about coming to the City in the first place. They might find alternative ports to operate from. There would be less traffic because businesses would go elsewhere instead of paying for the privilege of operating in the City. This will trickle down to every aspect of the City's economy - from the real estate market to restaurants and service industries. The costs will get passed on to everyone living and working in the city because those trucking companies will pass on the costs - they always do.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is currently trying to preserve the region's competitive advantages by dredging the area's waterways so that it can accommodate the latest generation of container ships, including Panamax ships. Those container ships means thousands of jobs and billions in revenues for the region's companies. Does Weiner think that tacking yet more taxes on businesses will keep them in the region or push them to go elsewhere - Baltimore or Boston for example?

Weiner would do better if he put the focus on the need to improve the transit options that will get truckers off the major highways and onto the rail links. Not only would this extend the lifespan of those roads that wont take as much of a pounding due to heavy truck traffic, but it would improve the efficiencies in the region. Thus far, only a tiny fraction of the money needed to build the rail link between Long Island and the rest of the country is there (Brooklyn is part of Long Island folks - look at a map).

Olmert Gambles On Israel's Security

I'm not sure why this qualifies as new news considering that this has been the Israeli position for some time now.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised sweeping moves towards Palestinian sovereignty if a new unity government in the occupied territories commits to recognising the Jewish state.
Mr Olmert last night told visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel's concessions to Palestinian statehood would be unprecedented if deadlocked talks between warring Palestinian factions succeeded in moderating the ruling Hamas administration.

Hours before she departed for the Arab world, Dr Rice said the US would devote substantial resources over coming months to reactivating the peace process.

Both Jerusalem and Washington have been trying to strengthen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a move that has pitched his Fatah party into deadly conflicts with the Hamas-led Government of Ismail Haniya.

Tensions have threatened to spark open warfare in Gaza and the West Bank and plunge the peace process back even further.

The Israelis are sick of having to fight every moment of their existence, but the moment Israel shows the lack of will to fight, the jihadis will exploit the situation to their advantage. Olmert's latest move is contingent upon the Palestinian unity government recognizing Israel's right to exist.

Good luck with that. Considering that Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and can't even agree to form the unity government, Olmert's offer appears to be risk free. The Palestinian civil war continues as Hamas and Fatah fight over who controls the future of the Palestinians, and while the West and Israel hope that it is Fatah, neither Fatah nor Hamas are interested in peace with Israel. Both are dedicated to Israel's destruction and have enshrined that concept in their founding documents and ideologies. Indeed, Fatah had the opportunity to make peace with Israel in 2000 and instead chose war. Fatah had the opportunity to make a good faith effort to show that they were interested in peace by eliminating references to the destruction of Israel in their charter and the PA charter. That never happened. They didn't even try those symbolic measures, so why should anyone hope that they'll put down their arms against Israel long enough for someone to call it peace.

It's also instructive to note that while the media calls the situation between Israel and the Palestinians a shaky ceasefire, it is anything but. The Palestinians continue to fire rockets into Israel on a near daily basis, and if such acts took place anywhere else in the world, the nation on the receiving end would have carte blanche to eliminate the terrorists firing them. Israel is simply not any random nation, but one held to a different standard by the rest of the world.

US Secretary of State Rice is currently on another diplomatic mission through the Middle East trying to build support for the latest efforts in Iraq and to try and push yet another Israel-Palestinian solution. I think she's going to have more success on the former than the latter considering that the Palestinians themselves have no interest in peace with Israel. They wont even bother with the diplomatic nicety of recognizing Israel's right to exist.

If they cannot or will not accept even that symbolic gesture, what makes anyone think that they'll take more concrete steps. In this fashion, Rice continues a long trend of diplomatic efforts that try to paper over conflicts without dealing with the underlying nature of the conflict. Diplomats talk and their job is to talk.

UPDATE:
Sounds like some folks realize that it is useless to talk about a peace process based on wishful thinking instead of the facts as they currently exist. Hamas and Fatah are both dedicated to Israel's destruction. Until that changes, any talk of a peace process is wishful thinking and avoids the realities of the situation on the ground.

UPDATE:
Just in case you didn't get the point, Hamas puts an exclamation point on the matter. Hamas reiterates that it will never recognize Israel's right to exist. There's no reason to doubt their intentions on the subject - they support and condone terrorist attacks against Israel, and seek Israel's destruction at every turn. Their opposition to Fatah stems partly from the fact that Fatah has not done enough to attack and destroy Israel fast enough for Hamas' leaders' liking. Further, Hamas says that they are closer to an agreement with Fatah on a unity government, but this has to be part of a running joke since they've been working towards a unity government for months now and the only thing that seems to have changed is the body count racked up on both sides.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2007

Today would mark King's 78th birthday and apparently quite a few folks don't know what King accomplished in his lifetime or what his goals were. His speech on the Mall is a good place to get acquainted with his legacy:

Real Clear Politics has the text to the speech (HT: Don Surber)

A more in depth look at the civil rights movement is Eyes on the Prize.

The Bashir Situation

Maybe you don't understand the seriousness of the Bashir situation. Bashir (Alexander Siddig), aka Hamir Al-Assad, exposed Jack Bauer's failure to extract information from a terrorist who had knowledge about impending attacks. Bashir, who apparently knows about how painful knifing someone in the knee can be after watching Reservoir Dogs during his off time at DS9, used a knife to great effect and Bashir's genetic modifications will come in quite handy in the ensuing quest to stop the terrorists from carrying out their nefarious plans.

Not only did Bashir extract the needed information, but showed Jack a new technique for information extraction. In the end, Bashir killed the terrorist and noted that Jack will get his mojo back. So, Bashir also appears to have watched Austin Powers as well. Nice. That bit of information will come in handy. Bashir not only plays a terrorist, but a shrink as well. What other skills will be revealed in the next few hours? That he likes singing songs, long romantic walks, and knows how to use a Patterson trocar to great effect?

Now, some of you think that this lays low Jack Bauer's invulnerability factor, especially as the Chinese appear to have penetrated that veneer such that Bauer's first words uttered in more than two years was to pine for Audrey.

Jack then shows that he doesn't quite have the stomach to vigorously interrogate folks like he has done in the past. Has he seen the dark side of what his efforts have wrought? Has he found torture to be distasteful after being on the receiving end for more than two years?

In other words, has Jack been broken by the Chinese government after being held for two years by real torture? [And does the US get to sue the Chinese for violating Jack's warranty?]

Not exactly.

Jack shows that he's learned a few things in the interim - killing bad guy number 1 with the jaws of death. I sure hope he was up to date on his shots. Jack also surprises us by showing that he's still pretty limber after being in shackles for the past two years. Jack takes out a suicide bomber by drop kicking him out of a subway car right as the bomber is about to turn into a red cloud.

Some things don't change. The nation still suffers when it does not listen to Jack Bauer. Jack may be off a touch, and doubting his abilities to get through another sticky wicket, but if Jack Bauer says X, then the government will do precisely the opposite thing, with the predictable bad outcome (just like watching a slow motion car wreck or watching the Palmer women undermine the President of the United States). When will they ever learn? You can be assured that Bashir will take advantage of this situation.

We're going to have to watch the Bashir situation closely. Jack appears to be quite vulnerable at the moment, and that's not a good place for him to be. That only means that the body count will be quite high.

Cross posted to Blogs4Bauer.

UPDATE:
Don't forget that today is talk like Jack Bauer day.

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