Confessions Of An Unindicted Co-Conspirator

John "Unindicted Abscam Co-conspirator" Murtha graces us with an op-ed in the Washington Post. He proudly embraces the title of "defeatocrat". As he should. But he's not just advocated a 'minor' redeployment to Okinawa this tim. Oh no, he wants more.

The Republicans are running scared. In the White House, on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail, they're worried about losing control of Congress. And so the administration and the GOP have launched a desperate assault on Democrats and our position on the war in Iraq. Defeatists, they call us, and appeasers and — oh so cleverly — "Defeatocrats."

Vice President Cheney has accused Democrats of "self-defeating pessimism." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has faulted us for believing that "vicious extremists can be appeased." The White House calls Democrats the party of "cut and run."

It's all baseless name-calling, and it's all wrong. Unless, of course, being a Defeatocrat means taking a good hard look at the administration's Iraq policy and determining that it's a failure.

In that case, count me in. Because Democrats recognize that we're headed for a far greater disaster in Iraq if we don't change course — and soon. This is not defeatism. This is realism.

Our troops who are putting their lives on the line deserve a plan that matches our military prowess with diplomatic and political skill. They deserve a clear and achievable mission and they deserve to know precisely what it will take to accomplish it. They deserve answers, not spin.

Why, yes they do, Johnny boy. Perhaps you could explain to them how your attempting to use a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq will only damage the Republican party and not the entire country? Perhaps you could explain how Charles Rangel's stated objective to cut off funding to the war won't leave out troops standing in harm's way without the means to defend themselves? Better yet, perhaps you could explain why the troops detest you? (They do, too.)

We are seeing an astonishing and unprecedented parade of retired U.S. generals calling for a new direction in Iraq. These are voices of bravery, experience, conscience and loyalty. These are men who have been taught to look coldly and objectively at the facts of bloodshed. Can they all be wrong? How about the 15 intelligence agencies that recently offered the opinion that this war has not made us safer? Are they all defeatists? Are they to be ignored?

Since you're really big into statistics and polls, Johnny, perhaps you could explain why the revolting spew of a few revolting generals (many selling books) is more important than the silence of the more than 1,000 retired general officers who weren't injecting themselves into civilian politics? Perhaps you could explain why the leakage of secret documents to the world to further a political agenda you favor does not damage the entire country, not just your political opponents?

Now, Karl Rove may call me a defeatist, but can anyone living in the real world deny that these statistics are heading in the wrong direction? Yet despite this bleak record of performance, the president continues to stand by his team of failed architects, preferring to prop them up instead of demanding accountability.

Democrats are fighting a war on two fronts: One is combating the spin and intimidation that defines this administration. The other is fighting to change course, to do things better, to substitute smart, disciplined strategy for dogma and denial in Iraq.

Actually, Johnny, a lot of people call you a defeatist. Also geographically challenged, Okinawa being a bit far to offer rapid response when needed. Mostly your 'two fronts' consist of, "How can the Democrats advance politically regardless of harm to the nation as a whole" and "How much personal advancement can I get out of trashing the military"?

You're pathetic, Murtha. A disgrace to your office and to the uniform you used to wear.

UPDATE: Others: The New Editor, Tigerhawk, Instapundit,

Air America Again

Ok, I really don't think Ezra Klein understood how unintentionally funny he was here. He blames the demise of Air America Radio on - NPR.

Recent opera-related disagreements with Jonah aside, I think this argument he highlights as explanation of Air America's tumble into bankruptcy is pretty sound (conclusion, of course, excepted): The liberal radio market was actually quite crowded, mainly due to the overwhelming popularity of NPR. The impacts of Pacifica and so forth strike me as quite small, but radio wasn't a wasteland for lefties before Franken and Co. signed on — indeed, nearly every liberal I know listened and listens loyally to NPR. Hell, half of them own NPR gear. And very few of them were looking for something more pugilistic, sharp-edged, or even exciting to replace their beloved public stations.

You really do have to read the whole thing. Especially the clarification:

Clarification: To be clear, I don't believe that NPR is liberal, I believe liberals listen to NPR. The two are not the same.

This is one of those cases where there is a distinction with no difference. If there was no resonance with the liberal listeners, would they be listening? How many liberal people listen daily to Rush Limbaugh? How many own Rush Limbaugh gear? Now Marc Cooper (Cited in an update by Klein) understands the radio business failures of Air America Radio. That is worth a read as well. (Incidentally, I suspect Cooper is dead on here. Some people will fund AAR until after the election, then "phhht", gone like the long, drawn out breaking of wind that it was).

Sister Catherina Ann Of The Glorious Firewall

Gateway Pundit has the details. The picture is perfect.

H/T Larwyn.

Ban Praises Sanctions, Urges NK to Return To Talks

Very interesting development. The soon-to-be Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, offered praise for the sanctions placed against North Korea while also urging them to return to negotiations. This is a radical change in the UN stance. He is not waffling here.

Ban Ki-moon, who was appointed Friday to succeed Kofi Annan on Jan. 1, said in an interview with the Associated Press that he welcomed the U.N. Security Council's "very clear, strong and unified message to North Korea" in the resolution it adopted Saturday, declaring Pyongyang's claimed nuclear test unacceptable.

The resolution demanded that North Korea give up nuclear weapons, and banned the country from exporting or importing any material for its weapons or ballistic missile programs. It also called on all countries to inspect cargo to or from the North to interdict weapons smuggling, and ordered governments to freeze all assets and ban the travel of anyone involved in illegal trafficking.

"I hope that North Korea will comply with this resolution," Ban said. "I hope that all member states of the United Nations will fully implement this resolution."

The resolution expressly rules out military action against North Korea, and Ban stressed in the interview that "we need a two-pronged approach at this time," relying not only on sanctions but on dialogue and talks.

He urged the North Koreans to return to six-nation talks which Pyongyang has boycotted for 13 months to protest financial measures imposed by the United States for alleged counterfeiting and money-laundering. The boycott began just after an agreement in September 2005 in which the North agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees and aid.

"North Korea should return to the six-party process immediately without any preconditions," Ban said. "We need to have the North Koreans get on board with the negotiations."

"We hope that the North Koreans will take a more reasonable and practical approach for the future. A much brighter future lies ahead if they implement the joint statement adopted last year," he said, referring to its September 2005 pledge to abandon its weapons program.

Ban said he was "very much disappointed" at Saturday's statement by North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon, who rejected the resolution and accused the council of a "gangster-like action."

Pak said Pyongyang conducted the nuclear test "to protect its sovereignty" in the face of escalating U.S. threats and sanctions. He added that North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons if it didn't face continued threats from the U.S., stressing the country is ready for dialogue but prepared for confrontation if U.S. pressure intensifies.

"I am very much frustrated at the path North Korea has taken of testing nuclear weapons in violation of all existing regulations and conventions and treaties to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Ban said.

This is, frankly, the strongest statement I can recall out of the UN in a long time. Ban is coming out swinging here. He hasn't even taken office and I like him better than Annan. I guess that sounds like faint praise, since I'd like pretty much anybody better than Annan, but it wasn't meant that way.

Last Stand

Saturday morning the battle began. All through the day, wave upon wave of invaders beat against the shield wall. The House Carls stood firm and did not yield. All through the day men fought and died. One side shouted "Olicrosse" and "Ut, ut". the other shouted "Dex aÑ—e". And they fought. And many died.

At the end of the day, the House Carls still stood, but were much depleted in number. The invaders made one last assault as daylight waned. This time, their archers were instructed to fire high, sending the arrows over the diminished shield wall. One missile found the eye of the King. The battle was over, the invaders had won.

It was a Saturday 940 years ago today on October 14th, 1066. It happened at Senlac Hill, not far from Hastings in England, where the village of Battle is now located. William, Duke of Normandy finally got to change his name from William the Bastard to William the Conqueror.

There is a fabulous website where you can spend a LOT of time exploring (it is huge) right here. This got me thinking about one of the absolute best books I have ever read on that pivotal year in Western history, 1066 by Franklin Hamilton. It is incredibly readable and long out of print. I also found out the reason it was so readable. Franklin Hamilton was a pseudonym used by a gentleman named Robert Silverberg. Gotta love the interweb. Thanks, Al!

Best Analysis Ever

Apropos this post over at HuffnPuff, Mark In Mexico has the absolute best analysis of the future of Air America Radio. Ever. Really. (Last one - CLASSIC).

(Warning: This blog will not be responsible for replacing your monitor and keyboard. Do not attempt to enjoy any liquid refreshments while reading the analysis. Thank you.)

Tea Leaves

Wow, it seems like everybody is jumping in right now and predicting what is going to happen on November 7th. Depending on who you're reading at the moment, it is either the Greatest Landslide In Political History Ever™ or not so much. Ed Morrisey is optimistic that the Republican majority will hold, but predicts it is going to be close.

 I'm inclined to lean towards Dafydd's analysis, which you should read in full. The GOP will no doubt lose seats in the midterms, but I'm not sure that the Democrats have enough momentum to wrest control of either chamber. The Senate races are more of a national campaign, but the Democrats have to pick up six seats — and they're likely going to lose New Jersey, which makes that difficult. They could lose Maryland as well; Steele's close to Cardin and the GOTV efforts there will make the difference. Mike DeWine has rebounded against Sherrod Brown in Ohio, but that's a day-to-day thing at best.

In the House, the effort seems even more difficult. RCP identifies the most likely districts for Republican losses, but after the first seven, it seems the rest are within the margin of error in the polling. House races are fought on a more local basis than national, and the Democrats really haven't defined a national electoral strategy in any case. On a district-by-district basis, it's hard to read a massive tide of blue into the numbers that RCP has in contested House races.

He is also looking at Dafydd's analysis over at Big Lizards (which you should read, it is very well thought out).

This is dicey, of course; I very much hope that the polling trend continues, with the Foley follies continuing to exeunt stage left, and national security, terrorism, North Korea, lower gasoline and heating prices, and the robust economy seizing center stage. (I'm still amazed that the Foley imbroglio has helped the Democrats at all: after all, if your big fear is that gay congressmen might have sex scandals with the pages, the solution cannot possibly be to elect more Democrats!)

One person who was good enough to link me when I had almost nobody reading this blog was My Election Analysis and I think he has something that is extremely insightful over there:

MW, however, shows a Republican party on the brink of disaster – the type of result you’d expect to see in a year where they lead in the generic 55%-45%. So the question is, if other races have shifted so far against incumbents who won big in ’04, then why isn’t PA-06 a blowout? I think the answer is this, and it is a stunning one: I think Democrats have moved a section of voters who are in heavily Republican districts. My guess – and it is only a guess — is that it is rural voters. That would normally be fantastic news for Democrats, and the death knell for Republicans.

The problem here for Democrats is the same problem with the 50-state strategy: We don’t have a parliamentary democracy. In our country, votes are cast by district. This has its plusses and minuses, but one of the definite minuses is that it is possible to come in at 49.9 of the national vote, and still lose every seat in the House (one major plus is that it weakens parties). Thus, if Democrats dislodge a chunk of the electorate that votes in heavily Republican districts, it does not automatically translate to seat gains. To put it another way, Democrats get more of a result from expending the resources to knock Gerlach down 2 points than they do expending the resources to knock Leach down 10.

Indeed, huge discrepancies between the popular vote and the vote in Congress are the historical rule, rather than the exception. Consider Table 2. When I was in college, an earlier edition of this was shown to me as proof the Republicans would never be able to take over Congress. The two-party vote simply doesn’t line up with vote share in Congress. In 1950, Republicans won more votes for Congress, but only held 54% of the seats. The discrepancy has gotten as high as favoring the Democrats by 12%. In 1956, ’70, ‘76 and ’88, Republicans actually did better in the two-party vote than the preceding year, and yet they still lost seats.

Thus, the name of the game isn’t just competing in your opponent’s districts. You have to actually be able to get to 50% in those districts. And this is both the peril and the promise for the Democrats. If the Majority Watch polling is right, Democrats have succeeded in making a number of districts very close that would not have otherwise been close. The problem for Democrats is, they have not sealed the deal in districts that they should have long ago sealed up if they are at 55% of the overall vote. This year could turn into a blowout for Democrats, or it could be a major-league disappointment, as narrow race after narrow race falls to the Republicans. Time will tell.

I think that is a very, very good analysis of what is happening right now. It may or may not be what it looks like. It almost certainly is not what the cheerleaders in the MSM would have everyone believe it is.

UN Pulls Out Of Somalia

The UN has pulled almost all personnel and all missions out of Somalia. The deteriorating security situation is being cited as the reason. Islamist militias are threatening the interim government. Kenya, meanwhile, is begging for some relief as the refugee situation hits a crisis point.

THE UN has pulled out its foreign staff from much of Somalia, as neighbouring Kenya appealed for international help in keeping tensions between Islamists and the weak Somali Government from exploding into war. Threats, coupled with insecurity after the murder of an elderly Italian nun in the Somali capital and an attempt to assassinate the country's transitional President, had prompted the UN move.

"Given the insecure environment and subsequent direct written threats against UN staff, a decision was taken to temporarily relocate all UN international staff members from southern and central Somalia," the world body said yesterday.

In addition, the UN said it had suspended "until further notice" all missions to Mogadishu. It did not say how many staff or missions were affected.

No one has claimed responsibility for either the murder of the nun at a Mogadishu hospital on September 17 or the attempt the next day to kill President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed with a car bomb in the Government's temporary seat of Baidoa.

However, there are widespread suspicions of Islamist involvement and the UN said it feared for the safety of its staff, given threats made by elements associated with the movement.

"Security assessments are presently under way to determine when international staff can return to Somalia," its Nairobi office said.

Kenya, meanwhile, which is confronting a massive surge in refugees fleeing unrest in the shattered nation, appealed for help in preventing the situation from escalating to full-scale war.

"Any time the conflict in Somalia flares up, Kenya suffers," Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju told reporters, saying the rise of the Islamists, some of whom are accused of links with al-Qa'ida, could affect Kenyan security.

"Kenya has borne the brunt of lawlessness in Somalia if you consider the terrorist attacks … and insecurity," he said, referring to the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi and a 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned coastal resort.

Nairobi has already boosted its security along its common border with Somalia but President Mwai Kibaki warned that the refugee influx - more than 30,000 this year - posed additional threats.

UN agencies say the flow of refugees has jumped from between 300 and 400 a day last month to close to 1000 a day in the past week, bringing the total number now in Kenya to more than 157,000, with thousands more expected.

There is a full court press going on right now all over the globe. The UN is simply not able to function in many areas at all any more, even in those tasks where it could do a reasonable amount of good.

When Bacon Goes Bad

Carolyn Robinson of Totton, England is a nurse and a horseback riding enthusiast. She went out for a quiet ride in the New Forest with her teenage daughter. That's when it all started to go horribly wrong. Robinson saw a small car with a woman and her dog inside. Outside of the car was the problem. A very, very angry and very, very large pig. The pig was not able to get to the woman in the car, so it went for the next best thing.

A heaping helping of fresh nurse.

A nurse has spoken of her terror after she was attacked by a giant pig which charged the horse she was riding and then savaged her after she was thrown to the ground.

Suffering from broken ribs from the fall, Carolyn Robinson feared for her life as the enraged pig hurtled at her.

The ferocious beast, which she describes as "huge", mauled the 51 year old and snapped at her legs as she tried desperately to fight it off while lying prone in a quiet country lane.

The pig was eventually driven off by Mrs Robinson's worried teenage daughter, with the help of passers-by.

Animal experts say the attack could have been deadly as pigs have been known to become violent if they feel under threat or when protecting a food source or their young.

The animal is believed to still be on the loose in Hampshire's New Forest and police are urging people to be cautious and report any threatening pig incidents.

Mrs Robinson, of Totton, near Southampton, Hants, today described how she first noticed the pig while riding in the New Forest. The experienced horse rider said it initially appeared to be circling a white car parked on a verge with a woman and her dog inside.

Without warning, the pig then fixed her in its sights and suddenly charged at speed, spooking her horse.

"There was nowhere to go," Mrs Robinson said. "My horse spun around, started to panic and tried to run away. It then bucked, threw me and galloped off.

"It was then that the pig attacked me. "I got to my feet but the beast pushed me into a hedge and was trying to bite my legs.

"It got hold of my coat in its mouth. I had very little strength to fight it off because I was weak from the fall.

"It was terrifying. Ive never been attacked by anything before, let alone a pig. I didnt know how I was going to get out of the situation."

The bacon is going berserk in Britain. It's still on the loose, but it is probably Taser-proof, so the English are helpless against it. The animal uprising strikes again!

Jefferson Loses Democratic Party Endorsement

Big news out of Louisiana. Representative William Jefferson has lost the state Democratic party endorsement. They endorsed one of his challengers instead. It is the first time an incumbent has failed to get the party endorsement.

BATON ROUGE, La. - The Louisiana Democratic Party turned down eight-term U.S. Rep. William Jefferson on Saturday and endorsed state Rep. Karen Carter, one of a dozen challengers who emerged after Jefferson became the target of a federal bribery investigation.

The State Central Committee's 69-53 vote, at a special meeting to decide whom to endorse in Louisiana's open primaries Nov. 7, was the first time in recent memory that an incumbent had failed to win the state party's endorsement.

Well, the state party appears to have some sense of decency even if the national one doesn't. Notice how everybody and his brother called for Ney to step down or how quickly Foley resigned? Compare that to Jefferson and his cold, hard cash. (Ney announced he is going to resign, by the way).

North Korean Sanctions To Be Voted On

Surprise. John Bolton just announced that a deal has been reached and will be voted on momentarily.

UPDATE: And passed unanimously. North Korea blames everything on the US. Not surprising, so does our left wing.

Invited to join the council with his South Korean counterpart, North Korea's ambassador to the U.N. said his country "totally rejects the unjustifiable resolution."

Pak Gil Yon called the resolution "coercive … while neglecting the nuclear threat" he said was posed by the United States against his country.

He said that the nuclear test that was conducted on October 9 "was entirely attributable to the United States' nuclear threat, sanctions and pressure."

Deal Of The Century

The old advice that says if something is too good to be true, it usually is still applies. There is a new-old scam going on in Los Angeles and probably other cities as well that people need to be aware of. If some guy who appears to be down on his luck offers to sell you a rare silver coin really cheaply, there's a good reason why it's cheap.

The coin is almost certainly counterfeit.

It was a pretty good deal, too, but only for the sellers. The coins they were peddling turned out to be as worthless as three-dollar bills.

"They're such blatant counterfeits that all you have to do is give them a once over with your eyeballs to know they're fakes," said Ron Guth, president of Professional Coin Grading Service in Irvine.

In the case of the rare 1796 silver dollar — worth perhaps $3.5 million if it was real — there were 13 stars around Lady Liberty's head, representing the 13 original U.S. colonies. Only problem was, the real coin contains 15 stars.

Then there was the 1832 George Washington quarter, a rare find indeed, seeing as how Washington didn't start appearing on the quarter until 1932.

"I keep getting calls from experts saying things like, "The Indian head was only on the penny from this year to this year; all kinds of technical stuff that a person in the know would recognize as a fake," Montoya said a day after police put the coins on display.

Investigators are still trying to find the source of the coins, which were confiscated from two street peddlers this week. Montoya said he has heard they are sold in nearby novelty shops where they are packaged in the same kind of protective wrapping that coin collectors use, but marked as "replicas."

The coins are reportedly being minted in Asia. Police do not know where the street people are getting their supplies, though. It is possible that they are just buying the replicas and being enterprising. But they are apparently catching a fair number of people who have more greed than sense.

Join The Eddie Bauer Militia

A developing trend in mainstream American society. Mass marketers carrying survival kits.

SO WHEN I WAS AT THE MALL THE OTHER DAY, I saw that Eddie Bauer had a prominent display featuring this Disaster Emergency Kit for 2. It's not bad, especially for a car or apartment, though I'd certainly want to supplement it.

But what struck me more than the kit itself was the prominence of the display. Put that together with the fact that Target is marketing survival kits with the American Red Cross, Slate has run a series on disaster survival, and Consumer Reports is pushing disaster preparedness and it looks like we've got something of a trend. (Popular Mechanics is on the job, too, but you expect that from them.) And walking through J.C. Penney the same day I saw hand-cranked dynamo lanterns and radios prominently displayed by the entrance.

As an update with reader comments says: "10 years ago, this was the stuff of Soldier of Fortune". Now it's JC Penney and Costco. Cheaper than Dirt has some survival kits that are, well, cheaper than dirt.

UPDATE: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link. Visitors, please do take a look around. Welcome to the Crabitat.

UPDATE: Commenter Brass forwards the absolute be all and end all of survival kits: The Zombie Loadout. Guaranteed up to 100 zombies.

AMLO On The Rocks

The wages of an badly overplayed hand are on display in Mexico right now. Leftist loser Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has watched his raucous demonstrations lead nowhere and his supporters appear to have all gone home. Now his party looks set to lose an important governorship in the Mexican state of Tabasco. His political career appears to be in serious trouble.

Opinion polls predict Lopez Obrador's party will lose the Tabasco state governor's race in a new hard-to-swallow blow to the former Indian rights activist, who at the beginning of this year was expected to sweep the July presidential election.

After his lead evaporated in a race marked by mud-slinging, Lopez Obrador lost by a whisker to conservative Felipe Calderon. The raucous protest camps he set up in Mexico City to claim massive election fraud have now disbanded and his protest movement has faded.

The leftist has declared himself president of a parallel government but a defeat for his Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, in the Tabasco governorship could leave a large question mark over his political future, analysts say.

Lopez Obrador won 56 percent support in Tabasco in the July 2 election, far ahead of 38 percent for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which runs the balmy state.

But just three months later, poor ratings for liberal Cesar Ojeda, the candidate he has actively supported on the Tabasco campaign trail, suggest voters were turned off by Lopez Obrador's post-election protests.

"A defeat will weaken him a lot and open opportunities for splits within the PRD. It will start to be recognized inside the PRD that the post-election stance has had an enormous cost," said Edna Jaime of the Mexican think tank CIDAC.

There's a lesson here about how not to conduct yourself when you lose. Not that one of Al Gore's recount lawyers, Ronald Klain, understands that at all. Because AMLO followed Klain's advice almost to the letter, didn't he?

Gives you confidence in the political instincts of certain political advisers, doesn't it?

World’s Smallest Violin Department

A high school freshman from Sacramento, California decided to post some lovely stuff at MySpace. Like death threats against the president. Eventually, she learned that it is illegal to do things like that and took the pages down. Not before the US Secret Service had found out about them, however. So she got a visit from two agents and both her and her mother are whining mightily. The agents were "mean" to question her.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page on MySpace.com. She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She later replaced her page on the social-networking site after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense.

It was too late.

Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class.

The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.

On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears.

"I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack — it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person," said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. "I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president."

….

Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat.

"They yelled at me a lot," she said. "They were unnecessarily mean."

Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., said they could not comment on the case.

Wilson and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her over her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school.

They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren't dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file.

My kids knew at a much younger age that making death threats was not acceptable. One wonders where the young lady heard such talk. I have no sympathy whatsoever. The agents were doing their jobs. If the entire process took 15 minutes, they did it very quickly indeed. One suspects that the young lady and her parents are looking for another 15 minutes of a different sort.