Jimmy Carter: Stop favoring Fatah over Hamas

Paid Arab shill and Jew hater Jimmy Carter used the occasion of a speech he gave at an Irish human rights conference to come out with his latest gem: criticizing the US and the EU and calling for them to stop favoring Fatah over Hamas .

What's more, I agree with him for once. Although for very different reasons.

According to Carter, the US,Israel and the EU are wrongly favoring Fatah over Hamas,and he called what he characterized as the Bush administration's refusal to accept the 2006 election victory of Hamas as "criminal."

Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Of course, Hamas are also anti-American Jew hating terrorists, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends,or pay the tab...at least according to Jimmy Carter.

He also whined that resuming aid to Mahmoud Abas and Fatah while boycotting Hamastan represented an "effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples."

As if they were ever one people, Jimmah, rather than a diverse group divided by clan,national origin, gang affiliation and history?

Carter talked about the election, which he characterized as `fair' (which it mostly was, based on the standards of the Arab world)and accused the Bush Administration and the EU of trying to subvert the outcome by shunning Hamas and cutting aid to the Palestinians.

"That action was criminal," he said in a news conference after his speech.

"The United States and Israel decided to punish all the people in Palestine and did everything they could to deter a compromise between Hamas and Fatah," he said.

Of course, what Carter omits to mention is that there never was an `aid boycott'. During the year of the `boycott', the Palestinian aid scam continued unabated. As a matter of fact aid to the Palestinians actually increased.

Carter said the United States gave the Fatah-controlled security forces in Gaza vastly superior weaponry in hopes they would "conquer Hamas in Gaza" - but Hamas defeated Fatah because of its "superior skills and discipline."

In that,he's also entirely correct.

"This effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples now is a step in the wrong direction," he said. "All efforts of the international community should be to reconcile the two, but there's no effort from the outside to bring the two together."

So as usual, Jimmy Carter has found a way to blame America and Israel for the ongoing gang war between Fatah and Hamas. And to trash his own nation once more in a foreign country.

Jimmy Carter is right about one thing - that it is a stupid move to send aid and money to our preferred terrorists, Fatah as opposed to our unapproved terrorists in Hamas.

While there are differences between the two, they amount to style rather than substance...kinda like the difference between the Gambino `family' and the Gotti mob, or the Bloods and the Crips.

Although I have to be honest and say that the Palestinian gangs are far less disciplined than the above organizations.

As Carter said, sending more millions of dollars in arms and aid to Fatah just because the West wants to placate the Saudis by finding some faction of Palestinian terrorists to give assistance to subverts the Palestinians' choices. In reality, we shouldn't be giving either side a dime.

What's more, it's stoo-pid policy. If you think Hamas and its Iranian and Syrian allies are going to sit still and do nothing while we arm and train another Fatah Army on the West Bank with the potential of pushing them out of Gaza..

Pakistani government minister: homicide bombings in Britain justified over Rushdie knighthood

British author Salmon Rushdie was knighted Saturday in an honors list timed for the official celebration of the Queen's 81st birthday for his achievements in literature. And the Religion of Peace is reacting in typical fashion.

There were numerous violent demonstrations around the Muslim world, with lotsa flag burnings and effgies of the Queen and Rushdie being burnt.

The Pakistani government ( our allies, right?) condemned the knighthood as `an affront to Muslim sentiments'. What's more , a cabinet minister said that honoring Rushdie justified homicide attacks and terroroism. Three guesses what this minister oversees...ri-ight, religion.

"This is an occasion for the (world's) 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, said in parliament. "The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body, he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the 'sir' title," ul-Haq said.

For those of you who've forgotten Rushdie has been living with a price on his head since 1989 when Iran's late mullah-in-charge, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to murder Rushdiebecause his novel, "The Satanic Verses," supposedly insulted Islam. That particular insult to human freedom - and yes to Islam - has never been removed.Rushdie normally lives under police protection in Britain.

Yesterday, Iranian politicians accused Britain of insulting Islam by awarding the knighthood to Rushdie.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, said the decision to honor the novelist was an orchestrated act of aggression directed against Islam.

"Honouring and commending an apostate and hated figure will definitely put the British officials [in a position] of confrontation with Islamic societies," Hosseini said.

"This act shows that insulting Islamic sacred [values] is not accidental. It is planned, organized, guided and supported by some western countries. Giving a badge to one of the most hated figures in Islamic society is ... an obvious example of fighting against Islam by high-ranking British officials."

As a matter of fact, in honor of Sir Salmon's knighthood, the current Mullahs in Iran raised the price on Rushdie's head, to the equivalent of about $150,000.

Britain's envoy to Pakistan defended the decision to honor Rushdie, one of the most prominent novelists of the late 20th century whose 13 books have won numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for "Midnight's Children" in 1981. But no British politician had anything forthright to say to the Pakistanis about a memebr of its government threatening homicide attacks on Britain.

Nor did anyone in the British government have the stones to reply to this gem of a statement essentially endorsing the Pakistani threat by Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain: "Salman Rushdie earned notoriety amongst Muslims for the highly insulting and blasphemous manner in which he portrayed early Islamic figures," Dr Bari said. "The granting of a knighthood to him can only do harm to the image of our country in the eyes of hundreds of millions of Muslims across the world. Many will interpret the knighthood as a final contemptuous parting gift from Tony Blair to the Muslim world."

The silence of Britain's government in view of who carried out the 7/7 bombings and which nationality/religious group is regularly implicated in domestic terrorism is somewhat startling to me. Britain has perhaps changed more than I realize.

Lawmakers in Pakistan's lower house of parliament on Monday passed a resolution proposed by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan Khan Niazi that branded Rushdie — who was born in India into a Muslim family — a "blasphemer' which is a death sentence in the Religion of Peace.

"The 'sir' title from Britain for blasphemer Salman Rushdie has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims across the world. Every religion should be respected. I demand the British government immediately withdraw the title as it is creating religious hatred," Niazi told the National Assembly.

Lawmakers voted unanimously for the resolution except for one, Khwaja Asif who - get this - said it exposed a contradiction in the government's policy as an ally of Britain in the international war on terrorism!

Not to worry, Mr. Asif. Based on what kind of `ally' Pakistan has been, there no contradiction, trust me on that.

At one Islamic ragefest in Multan, Asim Dahr, a student leader from the group Jamiat Turaba Arabia, demanded Rushdie face Islamic justice "This queen has made a mockery of Muslims by giving him a title of 'sir.' Salman Rushdie was condemned by Imam Khomeini and he issued a decree about his death. He should be handed over to the Muslims so they can try him according to Islamic laws," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Rushdie's knighthood would hamper interfaith understanding and that Islamabad would protest to London."We deplore the decision of the British government to knight him. This we feel is insensitive and we would convey our sentiments to the British government."

Frankly, I'm increasingly tired of people who as a matter of doctrine blaspheme and violently prosecute other religions under the auspices of Islam regularly puffing themselves up with righteous indignation to violence because of some supposed `insult' or insensitivity.

People who never grant the slightest bit of tolerance to others have no call on it for themselves.

Gaza becomes Hamastan, Part 2 - Clarity and an opportunity

Keepin' the faith at a Hamas mosque in Gaza


Gaza has now become Hamastan. And I'm not surprised in the least, having been predicting this for at least three years or so.

After millions of dollars and months of arming and training the Bush Administration's preferred terrorists in Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas and spending millions of dollars on them to prepare them to push Hamas out of the picture, the US has ended up with what stockbrokers genteelly call a `non-performing investment'.

Normally when that happens, an investor cuts his losses and pulls out. But since that would upset the Bush Administrations Arab pals, it looks like we're going to do nothing of the kind.

Instead, the Bush Administration is planning on giving even more arms and money to our preferred terrorists, Abbas and Fatah.

The horse manure pushed all along by the Bush Administration was that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict was an eventual two-state solution with Israel living next to a `Palestine' that somehow marvelously turned from the genocidal terrorist enclave Arafat created into Switzerland by signing some papers and maybe transferring some real estate. And that fantasy was based on the idea that Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah were somehow different than Hamas when it came to their long term goals of conquering and destroying Israel or siding with the West.

You would think that the fiasco of Oslo and the experience of the Arafat regime would have taught people something.

President Bush, Condaleeza Rice and yes, certain Israeli politicians conveniently forget that Abbas was Arafat's lieutenant all along, went along for the whole sordid post-Oslo ride and is still the paymaster of the terrorist Tanzim and the al-Aqsa Brigades.

And they forget that the Palestinian people, in a democratic election freely chose to put Hamas in charge and thus signaled that they were perfectly happy with Hamas' agenda. The hypocrisy of the US attempt to subvert this choice by essentially preparing Fatah and Abbas for a coup over Hamas while President Bush and Secretary Rice were preaching the gospel of `Arab democracy' was not lost on the Arab world.

With Hamas' ascension, the West has - if it wants to - the opportunity for what I call a clarifying moment.

Current US foreign policy in the Middle East is a meme made up of two conflicting ideas. First is the idea that the Arabs are just like us, and want the same kind of Western style freedom and democracy we do. And the second is the idea that the Sunni autocrats so beloved by the Bush Administration are our friends and allies, and thus we need to cater to them and keep the status quo ( and the oil) flowing.

This conflict between misplaced idealism and pragmatism is exactly how things got so screwed up in Iraq, with the Bush Administration constantly weaving back and forth between placating the Saudis and the UAE and empowering the Sunnis in Iraq on the one hand and trying to reconcile the dominant Shiites to forget tribalism and revenge and embrace western style tolerance and values in the name of `Arab democracy' on the other, because we assume that that's what they want.

In practice, while individual Arabs may yearn for that kind of free and open society, as a group that's the last thing Arab society as a whole appears to want. Tribalism and Islam trump almost everything, and historically the Arabs have killed off any vestige of western style democracy that surfaced in the region - or in the case of Israel, at least tried to. And every time the Arabs themselves have had the chance to vote, they choose exactly that - Islam and tribalism. Arab society by its innate nature almost always tends to extremes of either dictatorship or near-anarchy. That it simply the way it is.

One of the reasons Islam is so authoritarian is because in many ways, it is an designed to address exactly this trait in Arab society. And it's worth noting that the Ottomans ruled the Arab world successfully for five centuries with few problems, even though they bled the Arabs white with taxes and generally treated them as an underclass because the Ottomans were prepared to enforce an authoritarian order in the region.

What we, as westerners constantly attempt to do is to find `democratic, moderate' Arab leaders who conform to our norms, and we're invariably disappointed. Especially when we're bending over backwards trying to cater to some of the most hardline, authoritarian regimes in the world at the same time.

'Palestine' is yet another example of the utter failure of this policy. On the one hand, to please the Saudis and our other Sunni `friends' the West gave millions to a dysfunctional band of gangsters headed by Yasir Arafat and later Abbas and gave them the functioning apparatus of a state with absolutely no consequences for their embrace of terrorism, gross human rights violations, total disregard for the international agreements they committed to and outright theft and corruption on a grand scale. A country like Myanmar was internationally isolated for far less.

Yet, when the president's fetish of `Arab democracy' reared its misshapen head, and the elections empowered one set of genocidal thugs in Hamas at the expense of the ones in Fatah that were already in place, rather than washing our hands of the matter, the West played twist-ee in a frantic effort to continue the status quo and please the Arab world by continuing to fund the old set of corrupt brigands who were a bit more subtle about their intentions...although anyone honestly looking at who Fatah was and what kind of `state' they had been running would have quite a time justifying continuing to support them, financially or morally.

Faced with being marginalized, Hamas found new backers in Syria and Iran and took the initiative of a pre-emptive strike, routing Fatah in a mere 4 days.

Now that Hamas has taken over Gaza, the West is once again playing the same old game of pouring more money down this rat hole and reaffirming that Abbas is our preferred terrorist. They will undoubtedly send them millions more in aid and lots of fresh new weaponry..what most sensible people would rightly call throwing good money after bad.

This is a huge mistake from a strategic point of view as well. Hamas has plenty of supporters in the West Bank, Abbas and Fatah have very little strength on the ground and any arms and money we give them - the part that doesn't get stolen - will eventually be used against Israel and the West, either because Abbas winds up getting assassinated , or because he will have to unleash the Tanzim and the al Aksa brigades against Israel to avoid being deposed by Fatah as a collaborator with the Americans and the Evil Zionists.

Either way, it's a continuation of a no-win situation.There was no way for a viable Palestinian state to exist next to Israel before Hamas took over Gaza and there's even less of a chance for a viable Palestinian state in the Palestinian parts of Judea and Samaria. And in any event, Abbas hands are tied as far as any negotiations go. He can't settle for less than all of Judea and Samaria, half of Jerusalem and the flooding of Israel with millions of Palestinian `refugees' (AKA the Saudi `peace' ultimatum) and Israel would be committing national suicide to give it to him.

Rather than continue the same old song and dance, the US could use its leverage to enforce a realistic and permanent solution to this situation by standing up to the Saudis and our other Arab `allies' and demanding that they take a hand in solving the refugee problem they created when they attempted to invade Israel in 1948 - and by having Jordan and Israel negotiate final borders and having Jordan resettle the `Palestinians' within their country.

There was never any logical rationale for a second Arab Palestinian state except as a tactic by the Arabs to destroy Israel, and an excuse for the Arabs not to accept Israel's existence. It's time to put this chimera to rest...and failing to do so is a recipe for continued war and strife in the region. Resettling these people in the other Arab countries means that, with the fiction stripped away, the Arabs will for the first time since 1948 have a clear choice to make - peace or continued hostilities - in front of the entire world,without the excuse of the Palestinians to hide behind.

Unlikely as it seems, losing this baggage will make it much easier for the Arab nations, at least most of them, to finally reconcile themselves to Israel's existence and to peace in the region.

And we might just might find that the Arab autocrats, seeing us behave with pragmatism and from a position of strength would turn out to be extraordinarily cooperative - which is exactly how they've historically behaved when confronted in that way.

As for Gaza, that's going to have to be dealt with one way or the other. The Israelis should be very wary about simply sending the IDF in to shed blood for Abbas and Fatah and then just handing Gaza over to the `Palestinians'. Both Fatah and Hamas have amply proved that any agreement made with them has the same value as so much used toilet tissue. Likewise, Olmert's inane remarks aside, I think Israel has had enough experience with `international peacekeepers' in the past to deepsix that idea for the foreseeable future.

The entire Hamas buildup of weaponry and the influx of trained fighters from Syria and Lebanon took place under the auspices of EU `monitors' stationed in Rafah. Ditto for the Hezbollah buildup in Lebanon,in direct violation of the very UN resolution that stationed UNIFIL there.

The most important step Israel can take with Gaza is to isolate it, which includes retaking the strategic Philidelphi corridor to control the border(and thus the arms traffic) with Egypt.They can likewise use Israel's control of Gaza's electricity, fuel and water to their advantage.

If the Israelis do decide to go in and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, they need to annex this strategic area permanently, and see that the majority of the local population is resettled elsewhere. Failing to do that would merely make Israel responsible for this festering splinter, and for another `occupation'.

Gaza becomes Hamastan, part 1

As most of you know, Hamas has now taken control of Gaza. Rather than write about this prematurely, I decided to wait, see how things were going and check with some of my sources on the ground.

Contrary to what you're reading elsewhere, it's pretty obvious to me that Abbas and Fatah lit the spark for the conflict. The millions of dollars in financial aid and arms obtained from the US made Fatah overconfident that in a struggle with Hamas, they would prevail.

All of Abbas' security forces in Gaza got shiny new toys, courtesy of the US taxpayers and large sums were spent to bribe and arm various Gaza clans to come over to Abbas.

What happened in Gaza was essentially a proxy war,with America supporting Fatah and Iran and Syria supporting Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Hamas had access to weaponry, Republican Guard advisers from Iran and a number of Hamas fighters who openly went to places like south Lebanon and Syria for training via Egypt...who was supposed to be controlling the border.

Abbas received arms and training from the US, coordinated by General Keith Dayton.

The Shin Bet apparently told the US and Dayton numerous times about the influx of arms and fighters into Gaza, but like Abbas, the US was confident that Fatah would prevail. Fatah already had numerical superiority, and with the new US arms and some training, Gaza's Fatah gang leader Mahmoud Dahlan assured General Dayton that Fatah could take on Hamas and win.

At least one of my sources in the Palestinian Authority is certain that Dahlan did that because he was skimming a portion of the aid money, wanted that sweet situation to continue and simply misjudged how effective Hamas was becoming, or their readiness to mix it up if they were pushed.

As the gang violence in Gaza ramped up, what touched off the conflict was an attempted hit by Fatah in Gaza on Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh's house in Gaza City. Once that happened, all bets were off.

Hamas moved quickly, putting its entire force in the field in a lightning offensive. While Fatah had the advantage in numbers, most of Fatah's commanders including Dahlan found reasons to absent themselves from the battle zone and left the command to subordinates..most of whom also left if they could, once they saw which way the wind was blowing. Some of the Fatah commanders were actually attempting to conduct battlefield operations via cellphone from the safety of the West Bank.

The clans Abbas had purchased mainly went over to Hamas once the outcome was no longer in doubt.

The Fatah forces ended up routed by the disciplined Hamas fighters, who put a detailed plan into action, with tactical guidance from their Iranian mentors. Hamas borrowed the old IDF tactic of bisecting the Strip and isolating various pockets, and then cut off and besieged Fatah's forces in the expensive security compounds built for them by the US. Hamas seized the the main north-south highway and the border crossings at Rafah and cut off the re-supply routes to Fatah fighters,which left them futilely pleading with the Fatah bosses in Ramallah for ammunition and water from inside their besieged compounds.

The end came on June 15th, when Abbas' US-built Presidential Compound fell. Once the building was taken , the Fatah Force 17 fighters were dragged away from the building in their underwear, begging for mercy.

Some were killed immediately; others were shot later after Hamas did data searches on Fatah's own computers to identify the people they were after.

Probably the biggest prizes Hamas took over was the American-built headquarters of the Office of General Security at Tel-Awa and the Palestinian General Intelligence center near Gaza port.

Hamas fighters killed the Fatah intelligence officers by shooting them dead at point blank range and mutilating most of the their bodies.

Then they began searching through the files, a priceless record of years worth of documents, computer disks and archives,none of which the Fatah intelligence officers made the slightest attempt to burn or erase.

This is an amazing coup for our enemies. Hamas has taken possession of hundreds of thousands of documents and computer records cataloging the secret operations of Western intelligence services in the Middle East, including records of their dealings with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE. Hamas and their Iranian controllers are now privy to the complete archives of Palestinian undercover links with foreign intelligence services going back decades, with names of spies, collaborators and double agents.

Hamas cannot only use this intel to show how Abbas and Fatah collaborated with Western intelligence services, but Syria and Iran will now have access to years worth of secret intel. They will have a slew of compromising information to hold over the heads of Western leaders and officials, lists of undercover agents, and records of covert operations carried out by the Israeli Mossad, Shin Bet and Military Intelligence, CIA, British MI6 and other Western agencies.And Iran, Syria and Hamas will know where all the bodies are buried, including the names of politicians, including Israelis, who worked secretly with Palestinians on various underground deals.

To top it off, Hamas got hold of a complete collection of SOTA wiretapping and surveillance equipment and sensors in perfect, turn key condition which the CIA and Britain's MI6 stupidly gave Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah.

For it's part, Fatah retaliated on whatever Hamas members and institutions it could find on the West Bank. This involved largely counterproductive moves like shooting a Hamas imam in the legs, arresting any Hamas members Fatah could find and seizing Hamas owned buildings, largely charities and religious buildings.

Hamas itself has been outlawed,and a new `emergency government' appointed by Abbas with no Hamas members. The new Prime Minister is old Arafat apparatchnik Selim Fayad, the former finance minister who's most important qualification is that he's on a first name basis with most of the western donors and their agencies.

In the next part, we'll examine what all this means

Ex-Nazi Kurt Waldheim dies

Former UN Chief, former president of Austria and former Nazi SA man Kurt Waldheim died yesterday. He was 88.

Waldheim served as head of the UN from 1972-1981. He then successfully ran for president of his native Austria in 1986..which is when some disturbing things about Waldheim's past surfaced.

In his official biographies, Waldheim initially lied, saying that his wartime service for the Nazis consisted of a stint at the Russian front back in the good old days of 1941, where he claimed to have been wounded and then returned to Austria to continue his studies.

Later, after some disturbing reports and documents surfaced in the media, Waldheim gradually `revised' his story to say that he was transferred to the Balkans in April 1942; went to Arsakli, Greece, as an interpreter that summer; and, in April 1943, became an assistant adjutant with Army Group E, Department I-C.

Waldheim was stationed in Bosnia (the mostly Muslim part of Yugoslavia that allied itself with the Nazis) as part of the Bosnien-Kampfgruppen of Wehrmacht Army Group E under General Löhr.

He was based at a town called Banja Luka, a town where Serbs and Jews and other undesirables were openly shot,hung from public gallows or murdered and at the neighborhood concentration camp at Jasenovac.

Kind of hard to miss that...

Waldheim, of course claimed that he was only doing his duty, just following orders, and that he knew absolutely nothing about this. He was just an intelligence officer...who's commanding officer, General Löhr just happened to have been executed in Yugoslavia for war crimes.

Unfortunately, there are a number of orders and reports on what happened in Banja Luka with the telltale `W' initial that still exist, including accounts of `interviews' by Waldheim's junior officers of partisans and allied commandos (mostly British) who ended up vanishing or `shot while trying to escape'. Some of them were published by the World Jewish Congress.

Hey, Waldheim probably never got his hands dirty by torturing or shooting anybody directly. He was an `administrator', who merely pushed the paper, signed off on the process, helped keep the wheels greased for those that did..

As things began to come out about Waldheim's past, Yugoslav newspapers published a facsimile of a 1947 document showing Waldheim's name on a list of German officers who took part in the infamous Mount Kozara `operation'.

In 1942, a force of Nazi troops augmented with troops from the Nazi puppet state of Croatia began a campaign to pacify the Mount Kozara area. That 'campaign' ended up costing the lives of an estimated 60,000 Yugoslav civilians,including 23,000 children . An officer of the fascist Croatian Ustasi allied with the Nazis sent a telegram calling for the removal of civilians to nearby concentration camps. Named in the telegram as the source of the order: Lieutenenat Kurt Waldheim.

The telegram was authenticated by the German newspaper Der Spiegal, and it reads:"Very urgent. Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim of General Stahl's staff requests that 4,224 prisoners from Kozara, consisting mainly of women and children and about 15% of old men, be sent on the way: 3,514 to Grubisino Polje and 730 to Zemun." Both were transit camps, channeling people to forced labor or concentration camps.

Of course, Lieutenant Waldheim probably thought the Nazis were sending these people to summer camp.

Waldheim originally declared he had been behind the lines near Kozara. Later, he said he had confused the geography.

All this was enough to keep Kurt Waldheim on a watch list barring him from entering the United States right up until the day he died.

If there is a hell, I'm sure Kurt Waldheim's administrative expertise is appreciated, and that he's busy not committing atrocities against civilians there...he's just supervising.

Waldheim is survived by his wife, Elisabeth, a Nazi party member since the 1930's that he married in 1944, and their three children. The official cause of death was listed as heart failure, but I doubt it.

You have to have a heart in the first place for that to happen.

Bush's amnesty carrot and stick - bogus `enforcement' funding and political arm twisting

The pressure inWashington continues to mount as President Bush continues the push for his amnesty bill.

After a lot of presidential arm twisting, the senate got back together to try and get the bill passed before the July 4th recess. The so-called ` bipartisan negotiators' thrashed things out and got the hundreds of possible amendments down to a package of 11 amendments from Republicans and another 11 from Democrats and then presented the mess to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.)...who then said that he would allow the bill to come to the floor for discussion.

One key item the president used to try and get the senate toroll over was a new plan to devote $4.4 billion to bolstering border surveillance and enforcement, and preventing illegal immigrants from being hired in workplace.

Sounds peachy, until you realize that the$4.4 billion is supposedly going to come from fines and `penalties' collected from illegal aliens by the legislation. And you realize that realistically collecting the money is a giant paperwork, data and manpower problem, evasion will be epidemic and the `penalty' part of the legislation is likely to be successfully challenged legally under the equal protection provision of the Constitution.

Translation? Like the money Congress allocated last year for the border fence thatnever got spent since it essentially never got built, it's just words on paper that no one will bother paying attention to.

Meanwhile, the amnesty will be permanent and irremovable.

I mean, if the Bush Administration was really serious about fixing the border, they would've allocated this money and expedited the construction a long time ago.

Not only that, but there's absolutely no reason to marry an immigration issue with a national security issue...unless your trying to push one item through by scamming legislators and the public with a promise to deal with the other.

Listen to the president talking to the Associated Builders and Contractors yesterday, a group of employers who break the law regularly by hiring large numbers of illegals to circumvent having to pay union wages: "We're going to show the American people that the promises in this bill will be kept."

With all respect, Mr. President, my mother didn't raise any dumb children.And I don't trust you on this issue in the least.

Fix the border first and show us how serious you are about this national security issue - and then we'll address the problem of the illegal aliens already in the country.

Watcher's Council Results 6/15/07

The Council has spoken! A complete list of results can be found at the site of our fearless leader, the infamous Watcher of Weasels


This week's winner is:

Judging people by their friends and their enemies: Bookworm Room a well-written piece containing Ms. Bookworm's astute observations on President Bush's tumultous reception in Albania, as opposed to Western Europe - simply put. people recently liberated from tyranny have a more positive response to the leader of the free world than say, people whom were liberated by us 60+ years ago. Congrats on a well-deserved win,Ms. Bookworm!

In second place was another piece that dealt with as aspect of the same topic, Right Wing Nut House: “AND THE WALL CAME A TUM-BA-LIN’ DOWN…” Rick's celebration of the anniversary of President Reagan's famous `tear down this wall' speech. Well done, Rick.


For non-Council, the winner was Michael Yon : Death or Glory Part II of IV the author's moving account of an inbed with British troops in Iraq.

In second place for non-Council was my own nominee Family Security Matters: Why The Pew Study of American Muslims is Dangerously Incomplete by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, in which he astutely examines the results of the Pew survey on America's Muslims and where it falls short. This was a Joshua's Army must read.

Hearty Kudos to all the winners!

Hamas Radio says they have stormed Abbas' Presidential compound in Gaza -the last base still in Fatah hands

Hamas Radio just put out a broadcast saying they had overrun the last bastion of Fatah in Gaza, Mahmoud Abbas' Presidential compound.

As I reported earlier, Hamas already had it under siege and had given what was left of the Fatah
gunmen until Friday to surrender.

The broadcast on a Hamas radio said "the last bastion of corruption has fallen".

Hamas almost in complete control of Gaza...

Hamas flag flying over Fatah Preventive Security HQ, Gaza City

Hamas continues to complete its takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Early today, Hamas overran the Fatah preventive Security headquarters and the General Security Services compound in Gaza City and the border command post in Rafah.Their Fatah commander, General Tawfik Tirawi was not with his men but, like the other Fatah `generals' and `commanders' is holed up in Ramallah on the West Bank. It appears that most of the Fatah leadership saw what was coming, and those who could get themselves out did, leaving the rank and file Fatah gang members to fend for themselves.

In Gaza City, Hamas was seen dragging Fatah prisoners out of the buildings, and witnesses said Hamas fighters dragged many of the Fatah gunmen from the building and shot them to death gangland-style in the street in front of their families.Masked Hamas fighters seized their US-made and Israeli equipment and vehicle number plates and rifled intelligence files.

Both of these compounds were built with American tax dollars.

Hamas spokespeople claim that the documents seized prove that the Fatah security apparatus has close ties with the American CIA,and said they would show the documents on television in the coming hours.

Hamas now controls the roads into Gaza and pretty much all of the major installations except Mahmoud Abbas' presidential compound in Gaza City. That's surrounded by Hamas and under siege, and Hamas has given the Fatah fighters inside until Friday to surrender.

There are various contradicting reports on whether Mahmoud Abbas has formally dissolved the Hamas-Fatah unity government. I'd say that Hamas has already done it for him...

UPDATE: Mahmoud Abbas has officially dissolved the PA unity government, kicked Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh out of office, says that a `state of emergency' exists in the PA and that he will appoint what he describes as `an emergency government'.

Good luck with that.

More defeatism from Reid and Pelosi : `The surge has failed'

Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have pretty much shown how they plan to sabotage what's left of the Iraq war effort. It will be the death of a thousand cuts, with constant legislative roadblocks.

Today,they sent the president a letter which I can only characterize as insulting and defeatist, as much disdain as I have for many of President Bush's war policies.

"As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results," the two leaders wrote.

"The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation.

"It has not enhanced Americas national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased.

"In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops."

Pelosi and Reid also told Bush in the letter that they planned to send him new legislation to "limit the US mission in Iraq, begin the phased redeployment of US forces, and bring the war to a responsible end."

Reid had already said yesterday that Senate Democrats would attach troop withdrawal deadlines to a Defense Department Authorization bill, scheduled for debate in a few weeks.

So much for the agreement between Bush and the Democrats that they would agree to fund the war and reassess things after General Petraeus' report to Congress in September.

Reid told reporters that he's going to put the Senate through another round of votes on the Iraq war before the July Fourth recess. And what's more he admitted that he's doing it for partisan political purposes, as part of a strategy to mollify the Angry Left base of the party and show them that Democrats are not giving up on efforts to withdraw and end the war...even though the measures are unlikely to pass.

"We're going to hold the president's feet to the fire" Reid bragged to reporters after his closed door meeting with the Senate Democrats.

Reid says he plans for the Senate to cast separate votes on whether to cut off funding for combat next year, order troop withdrawals within four months, mandate the length of combat tours and rescind the congressional authorization for the Iraqi invasion.

In short, he, Pelosi and their colleagues plan to sabotage the war effort by any means necessary.

Aside from the morality of saying that a strategy has `failed' while it is just beginning to be implemented, undercutting a commander in the field and the troops serving with him while the fighting is still going on, you have to wonder at the basic patriotism of elected officials who would act in this manner.

While I personally have my doubts about the efficacy of Patraeus' surge strategy given the basic nature of what's going on in Iraq, the last thing you'd ever see me do, especially as an elected official, is to mouth off in public like this..let alone concoct a legislative strategy to cut the legs out form under a commander I voted to confirm.

Congress agreed to wait until September to assess what's going on, and Reid, Pelosi and their colleagues are now reneging on that agreement.

It is, in a word, despicable.

If I were President Bush, I would waste no time in pointing out these contradictions. And instead of accusing Americans unwilling to support a blanket amnesty for illegal aliens of `not doing right by America' I'd be holding the feet of Harry Reids and Nancy Pelosis in Washington to the fire.

But then, if I were President Bush, I'd have been fighting this war to win from day one, rather than merely fighting not to lose...

We need real leadership desperately, both in Congress and in the White House. Whatever else one might disagree with Rudy Giuliani on, he has one thing right...we need to get off defense and start fighting the War on Jihad on offense.

In my opinion, part of that involves labeling the sort of sentiments expressed by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi as exactly what they are.

Which, of course, is why the president will do nothing of the kind.

Newt Gingrich: A French Lesson for America's Grand Old Party

Here's an interesting bit...Newt Gingrich has a piece in American Enterprise that essentially agrees with something I've been saying for quite a while...the way for a Republican candidate to get the nomination and win in `08 is to take a lesson from Sarkozy,run against Bush and promise change.

If this keeps up, President Bush may not even be allowed into the building at the GOP convention, let alone be asked to speak.

Shin Bet breaks up major homicide bombing attempt - using pregnant woman

You'd think the Palestinians would be busy enough with their own civil war not to worry about plotting terrorism against Israel..but you'd be wrong!

Israel's Shin Bet announced that it had stopped 2 female homicide bombers from performing a double `operation' in Israel. The targets were Tel Aviv and Netanya.

The two Palestinian women were arrested last month at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza. Apparently the two women admitted they were working for Islamic Jihad and were taking advantage of the Israeli humanitarian-aid policy, which allows Palestinians access to Israeli medical care and facilities.

Fatma Younis Hasan-Zack, a 39 year-old Gazan, had been running the Islamic Jihad employment center for women for the past four years. She was the coordinator between Islamic jihad and women interested - or compelled - to carry out homicide attacks on Israel.

She and her niece faked a medical condition which would allow them to travel to Ramallah on the West Bank, so they could then get a referral to an Israeli hospital.

They were caught at the Erez crossing after the Shin Bet received a tip-off.Hasan-Zack is the mother of eight children and was pregnant with number nine..I guess the baby got a chance to kill Jews and take part in the jihad, courtesy of mom - if you can dignify her or her companion, who had four children with that title.

This reminds me of another Palestinian woman about a year or so ago who was caught trying to detonate in the very hospital that was giving her medical care.

`Hey, you knew I was a rattlesnake when you picked me up....don't complain because I bit you.'

Now That's Ba-ad PR!!

The one and only Yaakov of the Dry Bones Blog, of course...commenting on this Daily Telegraph story....

"'We're not Jews' the brother of Jamal Abu Jediyan, a Fatah commander, pleaded during a live telephone conversation with a Palestinian radio station.

Minutes later both men were dragged into the streets and riddled with bullets."

CAIR-less ...as its membership and clout plummet

CAIR's credentials as the official spokesman of America's Muslim community have suffered a number of hits lately. And their `clout' at least in real numbers has been revealed as - exaggerated.

First of all, there was the huge discrepancy between CAIR's figures of over 7 milion Muslims in America and the Pew Report's much more realistic survey showing only 2.3 million.

Next came the announcement from the Justice Department that CAIR is an `unindicted co-conspirator' in a federal case against yet another foundation charged with providing funds to a terrorist group.

And finally, the kicker - CAIR membership has declined 90% since 9/11.

According to tax documents obtained by The Washington Times, CAIR's membership has fallen from more than 29,000 in 2000 to less than 1,700 in 2006, a loss of membership that caused CAIR's annual income from dues to drop from $732,765 in 2000, when yearly dues cost $25, to $58,750 last year, when the group charged $35.

CAIR's budget is around $3 million per year,and they claim they get most of it from two dozen individual donors. What they're not telling you is that most of that money comes from Saudi Arabia and our pals in the UAE , in special government endowments.

Chew on that for a second...we have foreign governments directly funding a pressure group here in America that lobbies on things like anti-terrorism procedures and foreign policy, a unique situation, especially in war time.

Our old friend Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, director of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy, says the sharp decline and the real numbers on CAIR's membership calls into question whether the organization is any kind of spokesperson for American Muslims.

"This is the untold story in the myth that CAIR represents the American Muslim population. They only represent their membership and donors," Mr. Jasser said.

Let's see...2.3 million Muslims, divided into 1700..that's less than .0074% that CAIR actually represents.

I really have to give CAIR credit. They finally did something positive for the image of America's Muslims, by showing that most of them aren't swallowing the kind of bilge CAIR markets.

Unfortunately, CAIR won't be out of the picture anytime soon. The Saudis and the UAE will see to that.

Golden Mosque in Iraq blown up again

Before and after shots - the Mosque as it originally was, and now, missing its dome and minarets. The dome went in the first attack, back in 2006

The al-Askari shrine in Samarra, also known as the Golden Mosque had its minarets (prayer towers) blown up today. it's one of the most important mosques in Shia Islam, and reputedly the place where the 12th Imam is supposed to emerge.

Like the last time the Golden Mosque was hit, this attack is obviously designed to exacerbate Shi'ite and Sunni violence in Iraq.

A Sunni mosque in the eastern part of Samarra has already been destroyed in revenge, and Shiite militiamen have surged into the area.

This comes at a sensitive time for the Maliki government, with Maliki already under pressure by the US to meet political guidelines or face a US withdrawal after General Petraeus reports to congress in September.

He's being pressured by his Shiite political allies and the militias on the one hand to crack down on the Sunnis,and on the other hand for political reconciliation by the US.

A state of emergency and an open ended curfew has been declared in Baghdad and also in Najaf, site of another important Shia shrine, where our old friend Moqtada Sadr has declared a three-day period of mourning. "What did the government do to protect the tombs?" he asked in a statement. he also called for `anti-occupation' demonstrations against the US.

Stay tuned...

Hamas blows up main remaining Fatah HQ in Gaza

A couple of Hamas' finest...


The battle fo rGaza is all but over, and Hamas is the winner. After securing the north Gaza strip, Hamas is rapidly clearing Fatah out of the rest of Gaza.

Today, Hamas forces blew up the main remaining Fatah strongpoint left in the Gaza Strip, Fatah's Preventive Security headquarters in the southern Gaza strip at Khan Yunis by setting off explosives in a tunnel beneath the building, killing 11 Fatah fighters and injuring a number.

Most of Fatah's comanders and gang bosses who were able to flee have already left for the West Bank. Some were able to flee over the Rafah crossing to Egypt until Hamas shut that portal down.

Hamas has set up Fatah POW camps in fenced compounds , and whole clans supposedly loyal to Abbas are reportedly turning over to fight with Hamas or turning intheir weapons and surrendering.

The last surviving Fatah base in Gaza in the Presidential compound in Gaza city -and that's surrounded and under seige by Hamas, with what's left of Abbas' security forces running out of food, ammo and water. Hamas has given them until Friday noon to surrender.

With all that going on, the Palestinians still found time to launch Qassams at Israel one of which slammed into an Israeli primary school but caused luckily caused no casualties.

Earlier today, there was a peace demonstration in Gaza City by the locals that ended up as a shoot out as Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the protesters, killing one person as dozens ran for cover. According to my sources, the protesters were fired on by both Hamas and Fatah..who may have been shooting at each other, causing a crossfire with the protesters in the middle.

UNRWA is also curtailing some of its operations after the gang war between Hamas and Fatah killed two of its staffers and wounded two others. Two of the casualties, believe it or not, were simply sanitation workers picking up trash.

Fatah has effectively already exited the so-called unity government.

I would not be at all surprised to see the fighting spread to the West Bank once Hamas secures Gaza...with the Hamas thrust most probably coming from the northern West Bank, aided by Hezbollah and Syria.

Watcher's Council Nominations 6/13/07

Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one from the Council members and one from outside for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week's Council nominations can be found at the site of our fearless leader, Watcher of Weasels

Some real good stuff this week, both in the council and non-council links...



OK, here's this week's Council lineup:

1. JoshuaPundit: A modest Proposal for Middle East Peace Even before the `Palestinians' voted Hamas into power, going back at least 3+ years, I predicted that the end result would be a Hamastan in Gaza and a dysfunctional Fatah gang fiefdom in Judea and Samaria (AKA The West Bank)...simply because of my innate knowledge of the players involved and the fact that the only way a second Arab `Palestinian' state had any way of succeeding was for it to have close and friendly diplomatic and economic relations with Israel. And I knew that was always a no-hoper with Arafat and company involved.

Now,it seems that the average `Palestinian'in the street is increasingly realizing that lawlessness, gangland rule by corrupt leadership and 70% unemployment does not exactly make for a happy life, so those that can are trying to vote with their feet and leave.

Based on that, I came up with a sure fire Middle East Peace plan that will satisfy everybody...you betcha.What's more, if you listen to the Saudis, James Baker and the current crop of Middle East `realists', with this problem solved the Middle East will be like one big Switzerland.Only with sand, not snow.

After I get my Nobel Peace Prize and I'm chowing down at those fancy restaurants and staying at five star hotels on the UN's dime, I'll be thinking of you..

OK, admittedly this was an exercise in satire and sarcasm (and one I'm positive some folks will take ultra-seriously), but if nothing else, it proves how ridiculous the whole `Middle East realist/comprehensive settlement' nonsense really is.

2. Done With Mirrors;Diplomacy Callimachus, in a well written post writes that he likes Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the Democrat's plans for talking to Syria and Iran. But being a sensible guy, he wonders whether they're going to be able to pull it off effectively.

I think you can guess my views on this.

3. Soccer Dad: Money for something Soccer Dad muses about campaign financing and its role in predicting the eventual winners. Based on that, he sees a Hillary/Obama ticket for the Democrats,and Romney as the GOP nominee in `08.

I think he's incredibly brave to make that prediction this far out,although I think he's right about a Hillery/Obama ticket, simply because Obama has eaten too far into the Black vote, without which the Democrats can't win.As for the GOP, I think it's far too soon to predict anything, although I will hazard this one - the GOP nominee, and possibly the eventual winner will be the one who most successfully runs against George Bush.


4. The Glittering Eye :Steering away from the shoals This week, The Glittering Eye's Dave Schuler writes a fine piece centered on moderation, narcissism and its effect on our society.

5. Bookworm Room: Judging people by their friends and their enemies Ms. Bookworm observes the reception George Bush got in Albania as opposed to Germany at the G-8 summit and postulates that people recently freed from fascism have a clearer appreciation of freedom than people who have been free for decades. I think she 's right.

6. Rhymes With Right: I hate the Phelps Klan- -but this arrest is wrong Greg has an interesting piece this week on a local church with extreme political views who allowed and encouraged their children to stamp on an American flag at a military funeral...while the adults backed off, flag desecration being a crime.

However, as Greg points out, this is covered by the First Amendment, and Federal law trumps state law. Odious as these people are, they have their rights.

7. The Colossus of Rhodey: The one that got away - biggest missed entertainment moments Hube has his personal list of the biggest missed entertainment opportunities. Ah well...you can't TIVO life, y'know.

8. Right Wing Nut House : And the wall came a tum-ba-lin down Rick writes about the anniversary of Ronald Reagan's famous `tear down this wall' speech. Remember when we had a president who would actually walk the walk instead of just talking the talk?

9. Cheat Seeking Missiles:High efficiency woes Laer writes on an interesting topic, sparked by the performance of his new `energy efficient' high tech washing machine as opposed to his older workhorse models - what price `efficiency' as opposed to performance? And how much of a lack of performance, safety and other criteria are we prepared to sacrifice for the `efficiency' and `environmentally green' labels?

10. Big Lizards: Immigration as a GOP talking point in 2008 Dafydd Ab Hugh basically likes the new amnesty bill and says that the GOP should embrace it so as not to give the democrats ammunition in 2008.

He also feels that because `triggers' and `penalties' are written into this new legislation, they will be enforced better by this administration...as opposed to 6 1/2 years of non-enforcement of the laws we already have.

11.The Education Wonks:The all-Muslim all-girl's high school prom
EdWonk writes about a prom event by an Islamic student organization at the University of Minnesota that excluded non-Muslims and males - held on university property and funded by mandatory student fees levied on ALL students.

Imagine if we replaced Muslim with Jewish or Christian...think the ACLU would wait 5 minutes before slapping a lawsuit on the student organization and the university?

12.Something Wicked This Way Comes -- A Democrat Congress Tryin' To Fix the Alternative Minimum Tax at ‘Okie’ on the Lam Okie sees the class warfare blood in the water as the move is on in the new Democrat dominated congress to use the AMT to `tax the rich'...which in this case, might expand to include people in the AMT `cutoff' with incomes as low $75,000 per household!

As Okie puts it, grab your ankles...

That's this week's lineup..enjoy

Russia gives Iran nuclear fuel

Russian president Vladimir Putin continues to play a double game.

After apparently relenting and becoming agreeable at the G-8 summit over the planned US missile defense shield, it's leaked out that Russia released the nuclear fuel it was witholding from Iran for the Bushehr reactor on June 8th, a week before the summit.

This double dealing is particularly effective coming as it does right before the UN Security Council meets at the end of June to discuss approving harsher sanctions against Iran for continuing to enrich uranium . The Russian fuel delivery substantially dilutes the effect of any sanctions.

The Beast eats itself - the Palestinian civil war moves into high gear

The mob war for the control of `Palestine' has moved up to a new level. Over 20 people have been killed in the last 24 hours.

And Hamas has essentially taken over most of the Gaza Strip.

The latest fighting has been particularly savage, even by Palestinian terms. Lately,the Palestinians have taken to executing each other by throwing people off of tall buildings.

Hospitals aren't immune either - Hamas gunmen have been targeting injured Fatah fighters, killing them in ambulances and Beit Hanoun hospital beds, while the Fatah-allied Bakr clan attacked the Hamas-controlled Shifa hospital in revenge.

Palestinian Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh's house in Gaza was attacked by Fatah with automatic weapons and RPGs not once, but twice. A Hamas Web site described the incident as an assassination attempt. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Fatah of targeting Palestinian institutions to undermine Hamas rule. "They crossed all the red lines," he said.

The attempted hit on Haniyeh was the spark for a major offensive by Hamas that took out most of the Fatah positions in the northern Gaza Strip.

Hamas executed the top Fatah comander in Gaza, Jamal Abud a-Jediyan and his brother. They then sent the entire 15,000-strong Hamas Executive Force, armed with mortars, RPGs, heavy machine guns and grenades on an assault on Fatah's command posts and bases, forcing Fatah from most of its strongholds in Gaza and capturing the headquarters of the Fatah security forces in northern Gaza.

Not suprisingly, Fatah's senior Gaza capo Mohammed Dahlan slipped out of Gaza as soon as the fighting started, leaving his men to function as best they could.

Even long-time Fatah spokesmouth and ex-foreign minister Nabil Sha-ath didn't escape unscathed - a gang of Hamas fighters targeted his house in the Sudaniyeh neighborhood of Gaza City and shot it up, along with a couple of his bodyguards.

What we're seeing here is the beginning of a long brewing civil war, the separation of Palestinian rule between Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Fatah-led West Bank.

I can't but wonder if this was what was in Ariel Sharon's mind when he ruthlessly purged Jewish residents from Gaza and turned it over to the Palestinians..it's almost as if he knew what would happen and merely wanted the world to see first hand what an absolute hellhole the Palestinians would make of it, left to their own devices.

The truth of the matter is that aside from a hatred of Jews and Israel and a shared feeling of victimization, there's very little to unite the `Palestinians' into a nation. They are divided by clans, by national origin, by affiliation with various gang bosses, by faction and by a number of other factors.

The Bush Administration, true to form is putting major pressure on Israel to allow frsh weapons shipments of Israeli ammunition and weapons to Fatah to help them prevail in Gaza. As of today, the Israelis are balking, mainly because recent events have reminded them that weaponry turned over to Palestinians eventually ends up being used to kill Israelis. For that matter, Fatah spokesmen admitted that with the capture of the Fatah HQ and bases, Hamas got hold of thousands of rifles, large amounts of ammunition and dozens of vehicles, including armored jeeps..all part of the weapons shipments given to Abbas by the US and allowed to pass into Gaza by the Olmert government.

"How do we explain it if mortar shells with Israeli markings are then used to shell towns inside Israel?" one Israeli source is reported to have said.

More to the point, it's doubtful that any last-minute infusion of weapons could shift the battle in Fatah's favor. With their main bases taken, most of their leadership inflight and droves of Fatah fighters reportedly surrendering to Hamas, Fatah simply lacks the strength on the ground in Gaza to win.

Fatah will have enough of a problem holding on to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

President Bush twists arms on Capitol Hill for amnesty bill

President Bush made a rare, almost unprecedented visit to Capitol Hill today to to push the amnesty bill by browbeating , bribing or otherwise influencing GOP senators.

It's noteworthy that the president couldn't be bothered to personally visit Capitol Hill to lobby for the funding our troops needed, or for any one of a dozen pieces of legislation needed to fight the War on Jihad at home and abroad...but he was more than willing to do so to promote what amounts to open borders and a permanent low wage underclass that can be deported at the whim of their employers while cutting the price of American labor to the bone.

He ought to be ashamed of himself.

"I think one of the things that we have to do is answer the skeptics, answer the doubters," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Tuesday. "We not only have a good sound bill, but it's also one that a lot of conservatives, when they get a chance to look at it, will say OK," he said on NBC's "Today" show.

Ummm, wrong Tony. People of all political persuasions have have a good look at this bill, and they don't like how it smells in the least. And as for being skeptical, why shouldn't we be, based on how the administration has failed to secure the borders after 6 1/2 years in a post 9/11 world?

The only hope the White House has of shoving this down the country's throat is to be able to lean on enough senators by whatever means necessary or to bribe them by sticking enough earmarks and special legislation in the bill to get it through.

It's not a bad strategy,and they may very well get away with it unless Congress is subjected to relentless pressure from the other side..our side.

Benjamin Franklin, back when this country was being founded came out of Constitution Hall in Philadelphia and was asked by his fellow citizens what kind of government the Founding Fathers had come up with. "A Republic, if you can keep it," he replied.

If you want to keep our Republic, step up to the plate and write, call , fax and e-mail to let your congressmen know how you feel about this issue.