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-...