LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

Senator Joe Biden (D) has made it known that he will vigorously oppose any increase in military committment to Iraq. I have a few words to Sen. Biden, and I'm sure that he won't mind me plagarizing his past comments from an old Senate hearing: "Isn't that a little above your pay grade?"

With James Brown and Gerald Ford's deaths dominating the headlines, I want to mention Uri Dan, who passed away Sunday in Tel Aviv ( NY Times obit.). He was a reporter, and a great one. Eric Fettman has a column about him in the NY POST , which deserves to be mentioned here. I was just a fan, who read his columns every time the Post published them. I had no idea he was sick, because I still would see a column occasionally. He also just published a biography of his longtime freind, Ariel Sharon. The whole "they come in threes" idea about "famous" deaths is subjective, of course. However, after reading Mr. Fettmans's NY Post column about Uri Dan, I know why I hung on every word of those columns. He was a giant in Israeli journalism. I feel privileged to have read as much of his work as I have over the time he was with the NY Post. He qualifies as a "famous" person to me, personally. I was struck by the loss I feel over this man whose only image I saw...

For those who think that Iraq is not part of the war on terror, this post will not mention Iraq. Many of those same people think that our involvement in the war on terror stems from our support of Israel. They usually say that "Hamas is the elected government," and that we should support them. President Mahmoud Abbas is from Fatah, and was also elected. We are supporting him, as Israel is doing as well. However, the Palestinians haven't mastered the "divided government" concept yet. More precisely, they haven't mastered the "civil government" part yet. This is excerpted from the NY POST : December 20, 2006 -- JERUSALEM - Rival Palestinian factions raised the ante in their bloody power struggle yesterday, firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at one another and triggering a shootout at a hospital. At least six people were killed and 19 wounded - including five schoolchildren hit by gunfire as they took cover, witnesses said. "It's a ...

There is no doubt that a certain amount of transparency is essential for a modern democracy to function honestly. However, taken to the extreme, complete transparency would effectively make our National Security impotent and threaten the ability of the democracy to secure its very existence. There is a line that must be carefully walked. We must maintain common sense, especially in times that enemies threaten our very existence. We can not be so transparent that our enemies can see through us, and know our techniques and plans to fight them and protect ourselves against them. We should never cede our security to exist over to a utopian ideological dream of a completely transparent government. It is also important to have government watchdogs keeping an eye on government from abusing and overclassifying information that the public has a right to know. The danger lies in allowing too much liberty, especially to absolutist organizations like the ACLU, in that decision making process. The ...

I get sick when I think of Pres. Carter defending Hamas in several recent interviews. He repeatedly said that Hamas has not committed a terror act since 2002, or some such nonsense. The part that makes me sick is the recent slaying of 3 children of a Fatah political figure. Hamas denied responsibility, but this fits into the pattern of terror that they, Hezbollah, and other puppets of Iran and Syria practice in areas that they are seeking to dominate, as well as the areas that they already do. For a former president to be an advocate for people who target the children of their political foes is a disgrace, but not a surprise from Pres. Carter. He is destroying his post-presidential legacy worse than he did his presidential legacy. I feel pity for a man who sees moral equivalence between leaders that want peaceful political dialog, but must have security, and terrorists who target their political opponents (and their children) for death. Hamas is such a terrorist organization, and Carte...

Well, I didn't even realize it this year, but Dec. 11th was the second anniversary of starting my LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI blog. Here's a post from my first day: Saturday, Dec 11, 2004 MY FAVORITE LIBERAL Jimmy Carter 1979 (on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan): "Leonid Brezhnev lied to me." Jimmy Carter 2002 (on North Korea's nuclear program): "Kim Jong Il lied to me." He is the personification of good (liberal) intentions gone bad. A shining example of the way not to run the government. Now he is with the "Bush lied" crowd, to no-one's surprise. He's still my favorite bleeding heart, misguided liberal. More links from my early posts: LIKE IT IS: MOYERS' HYPOCRICY - A stinging critique of Moyers' speech at a Harlem Church. Are Songebob and Lincoln Gay? Another "Tinky Winky" story! - FUNNY cultural commentary! PONZI SCHEME: What is Social Security? - "If the shoe fits..." CONSERVATIVES ARE THE NEW PRO...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU Via the ACLU we find out the U.S. government is finally being proactive against the ACLU in protecting classified information from being leaked for our enemies to know. The American Civil Liberties Union today announced that it has asked a federal judge to quash a grand jury subpoena demanding that it turn over to the FBI "any and all copies" of a December 2005 government document in its possession. The ACLU called the subpoena, served on November 20 by the U.S. Attorney's office in New York, a transparent attempt to intimidate government critics and suppress informed criticism and reporting. "The government's attempt to suppress information using the grand jury process is truly chilling and is unprecedented in law and in the ACLU's history," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "This subpoena serves no legitimate investigative purpose and tramples on fundamental First Amendment rights. We recognize this ma...

A belated blogburst, and I'm having a problem uploading images. See them at the links below. Via STOP THE ACLU : The Young Conservatives of Texas - University of Texas Chapter announced today that they will be displaying an “ACLU Nativity Scene” on the West Mall of the University of Texas campus on Monday and Tuesday, December 4th and 5th. The group’s intent is to raise awareness on the extremity of the ACLU, and bring to light its secular-progressive efforts to remove Christmas from the public sphere. The display, the first of its kind in the nation, will feature characters that are quite a bit different than the standard crèche. “We’ve got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn’t a Jesus in the manger,” said Chairman Tony McDonald. “The three Wise Men are Lenin, Marx, and Stalin because the founders of the ACLU were strident supporters of Soviet style Communism. The whole scene is a tongue-in-...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU Its that time of the year again. The time when the intolerant grinches like the ACLU start trying to fill their stockings with your tax dollars in their attempts to secularize Christmas. The ACLU try their best to deny their attacks on Christmas. They call those defending Christmas the well organized extremists out to make a buck in the guise of defending Christmas. This is of course false. The Alliance Defense Fund, just like last year , are offering their services to defend Christmas completely FREE! However, the lies continue again this year as the ACLU denies their attacks on Christmas. However, their actions speak louder than their words. Already the ACLU have began their attacks. They have already been successful in bullying the Berkley City Council into moving their Christmas nativity scene off public property. This, despite the fact that the display also included other religious and secular elements including a Star of David, Christmas trees,...

According to " Al" AP (lol), "Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani ... filed papers to create the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc." This is going to bring out the anti-Giuliani crowd, big time, which is the subject of John Podhoretz' latest column, THE BEST ENEMIES, linked here from the NY POST. An excerpt: THE negative line on Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid is that he's too liberal for Republicans. When GOP voters find out he has a record of being pro-choice and has supported domestic-partnership rights for homosexuals, the line goes, their favorable opinion of Giuliani will take a nosedive. But there are other things most Republicans don't know about Giuliani - and when they find out some of those, chance are their fondness for him will grow. And for that boost, it appears, Rudy will have only his enemies to thank. The Post's David Seifman reported yesterday that some New York lefties are seriously considering an ...

Crossposted from Stop the ACLU When the Democrats had their victory in the elections the ACLU cheered! So did our enemies. Leading up to the elections the ACLU did not hide the fact that they wanted the Democrats in charge. The ACLU have a lot to cheer about. They know that the liberal left will help them further their agenda. We are already seeing it happen. The Democrats are the ACLU's best vehicle towards shaping America into their vision. The ACLU rely on activist liberal judges as their avenue of enacting their goals. It violated its own policy in order to stymie the nomination of William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court. It led the fight to defeat the confirmation of Robert Bork. It fought against John Roberts , and fought hard to keep Samuel Alito from joining the Supreme Court. They definitely have a preference for what type of judges they want on the Supreme Court. No doubt, one of their strongholds is having one of their own on the bench. With the current rumors on John ...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU So, America voted for change? They should be careful what they ask for because they will get it. For those that voted or stayed home in order to send the Republicans a message on election day...congratulations! Your all important "lesson" will now backfire in your face. You just cut off your nose to spite your face. Not only have you helped to give both Houses over to the left, put Nancy Pelosi in as the Speaker of the House, and completely destroyed any chance of getting a Constitutionalist majority in the Supreme Court, but groups like the ACLU seem to think this election was a mandate for their insanities. Look, you can't say we didn't warn you. Yesterday voters nationwide rejected candidates who failed to uphold civil liberties and rejected ballot initiatives that undermine fundamental freedoms of all Americans. "American voters have reinvigorated our system of checks and balances essential to stopping the abuse of power,"...

World Net Daily interviewed senior terrorist leaders who say they hope Americans sweep the Democrats into power because of the party's position on withdrawing from Iraq, a move, as they see it, that ensures victory for the worldwide Islamic resistance. Excerpt: They rejected statements from some prominent Democrats in the U.S. that a withdrawal from Iraq would end the insurgency, explaining an evacuation would prove resistance works and would compel jihadists to continue fighting until America is destroyed. They said a withdrawal would also embolden their own terror groups to enhance "resistance" against Israel. "Of course Americans should vote Democrat," Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the infamous leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, told WND. Muhammad Saadi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank town of Jenin, said the Democrats' talk of withdrawal from Ira...

Alas, all of my NYS Republican Massacre 2006 predictions have come to pass. Hillary, Spitzer, Cuomo, and Hevesi have prevailed, in a Democrat sweep. Here's the breakdown: Senate: Hillary(D) 66.63%, Spencer(R) 31.30% Governor: Spitzer(D) 69.12% Faso(R) 29.05% These were expected numbers, with Hillary said to be leaving coat-tails around the state. I'm not sure how Spitzer feels about that report. The Attorney General and Comptroller races provide some valuable insights. Cuomo beat Pirro 57.56% - 40.04% in the AG race, while Hevesi beat Callahan 56.54% - 39.23% for Comptroller. This shows that corruption was overlooked by the voters in NY, taking a back seat to partisanship. Notice that Pirro got a higher percentage than Callahan, and the Attorney General's race should be more sensitive to scandal allegations. However, as I noted in my last NYRM 2006 post (pt. 5), Hevesi is gone, buried in scandal. The election result only confirms that the Dems will pick his replacement, pro...

I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER!

After some searching, I found some background on the ACORN voter fraud scandals. ACORN stands for "The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now," a liberal group that represents "low to moderate income people." They have a group on Gather , owned by someone named ACORN ! (he/she uses the space and exclamation point, as my buddy BRUCE ! does.), as well. Links to both ACORNS are provided, so you can see the good things they do. This post focuses on the pattern of voter fraud allegations against this group. Charges were not only dismissed, but defamation charges were brought against a disgruntled ex-ACORN employee in a Miami case from 2004. The Volokh Conspiracy blog documented it in detail at the time . This still leaves accusations of fraud in 2004 in Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina and Virginia, and in 2003 in Missouri. I haven't found out much about the resolution of those cases, except that in Missouri, "No one appears to have been prosecu...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU I was going to talk about the dishonest argument the ACLU made in its attack on Hazelton, PA for trying to crackdown on illegal immigration problems. They argued that it was not the place of small communities to create laws fashioned to their own unique problems on illegal immigration, but the Federal government's responsibility. Of course this argument does not reflect the ACLU's true beliefs on the topic. If the Federal government created a similar law as Hazelton the ACLU would find a different argument to oppose it. The argument was, however, good enough to convince a Clinton appointed judge to temporarily block their ordinances. I was going to show the ACLU's real agenda for illegal immigrant. Well, they just showed a lot of it themselves in press release. ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Employment Law Project and the Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law today filed a petition ...

Crossposted from Stop The ACLU: Liberals always act shocked and astonished that conservatives believe that an organization claiming to be the guardian of religious liberty is actually is actually America's number one religious censor. They will spout off token cases where the ACLU veered from its normal path of hostility toward Christian religious expression to defend free speech. They have a handful of cases they try to convince us with. However, the ACLU's history can easily be looked at and the cases against religious expression far outweigh these token cases. If the ACLU were consistent in its positions on religious liberty despite the religion their defense on the issue would be much easier. However, many cases point out that it isn't religion in general the ACLU fight, but the Christian religion in particular. When the Tangipahoa Parish School Board in Louisiana opened its board meetings with a prayer like they had for 30 years the ACLU sued. After the ACLU won that...