Impeachment Battle Looms For Pakistan's Musharraf

It took awhile but the leftist PPP of the late Benazhir Bhutto and the Islamist Pakistan Muslim League of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who form the ruling coalition finally agreed on one thing..they want Musharraf impeached.

This would be a first for Pakistan.

Musharraf has been hanging on by his fingernails for quite some time, ever since Condi Rice and the US State Department pressured him to allow Benazhir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif back into Pakistan to 'strengthen democracy'. And yes, if this rings a bell, it's pretty much the way the Carter Administration pressured the Shah of Iran into allowing Khomeni back into the country,with the results I'm sure we're all familiar with.

The charges against Musharraf are a little convoluted and difficult to formulate according to what passes for a Constitution there ,but in a place like Pakistan, that really doesn't matter too much.They'll undoubtedly find a way to pull it off.

What Musharraf could do is to dissolve the National Assembly, which he's able to do under the Constitution. If he did it at this point, the proverbial fit would hit the shan and massive civil disorder is a certainty,so it's doubtful he'd do that unless he was assured that the army,the only functioning entity in Pakistan was behind him.

They may or may not be.

If they're not, the other possibility is that Musharraf simply leaves the country, ala' the Shah.

Oh,in case you were wondering - Musharraf has been the primary guardian of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, and the chief assurance to the West that Pakistan's nukes won't fall into the wrong hands. With him gone,that particular party's over and Pakistan's nukes are up for grabs.

As this map shows,, the majority of Pakistan's nuclear facilities are located either in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP)and Waziristan near the Afghan border which Pakistan has already essentially ceded to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda or in the Punjab near Islamabad...which is right next door.

Chalk up another victory in diplomacy for the US State Department.

Obama Vs. Rush...No Contest

Sometimes people reveal more than they mean to.

When a 7-year-old little girl asked Barack Obama just why he wanted to be president he said, “America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.”



And here's what Rush Limbaugh had to say about the matter...classic. And absolutely devastating.



Hat tip to Hot Air

Buyer's Remorse????

Apparently something's gone wrong on the way to the Promised Land. Barack Hussein Obama, who once looked to be a shoo-in as Messiah the next president appears to be on the verge of flaming out.

The polls, which once had him trouncing Republican Senator John McCain handily have evolved into a statistical dead heat with less than 100 days left to go before the elections. John Kerry and the even more comical Michael Dukakis were both ahead of their incumbent Republican opponents by double figures at this stage of the game.

In a year when any day that President Bush's approval ratings manage to crack 30% is a cause for massive celebration and free ice cream cones to all at the White House, the numbers shouldn't be anything at all like this.

What's going on here? Why the flat tires on the way to the Big Parade?

If you take a peek at the charting of voting trends, it gets pretty obvious. In the beginning, Obama was pretty much a charismatic blank slate with an attractive story, aided and abetted by his pals in the dinosaur media. But as people get to know him better, they find him a lot less palatable. and McCain is beginning to look damn good by comparison.

And even worse, Obama started believing his press coverage....'we' are the one's we've been waiting for indeed!

The American people were treated to the sight of a candidate who billed himself as the Great Post-Racial Kahuna..and then shook their heads as he ended up getting embarrassed by his twenty year association with an anti-American racist preacher and a racist church, doing a double take as he's gleefully played the race card whenever it suits him. Call it typical white people's angst if you like, to use the words of the Chosen One.

For that matter, Obama's tossing overboard long-time associates because they'd suddenly become politically inconvenient with the mantra ' he's not the person I thought I knew' became a national joke, even if the shills in Hollywood and on late night TV were a tad slow to pick up on it.

Then Obama's farcical ignorance on foreign affairs was paraded, especially on Iraq, when even Leftist-Cheerleader-In-Charge Katie Couric got a taste of the whip from him when she suggested that maybe, just maybe the Chosen One might just have been a bit mistaken about the Surge and the possibility of an American victory.

Obama actually dug the hole deeper all on his own by going overseas and acting like he was already president in a high publicity junket that even featured his own personal seal on the tail, rather than something mundane like an American flag. That particular trainwreck was compounded by Obama's speech in Berlin claiming he was a Citizen Of The World, and his refusal to do a little face -to-face with some of our wounded warriors when he wasn't given permission to bring along his political advisers to vet things.

Some of Obama's potential employers took a little offense to that, especially given the way The Lord Obama has a marked tendency to talk down to his bitter fellow citizens who cling to guns and religion, eat too much, don't speak French or Spanish, leave a way huge carbon footprint by keeping their houses too cool or too warm and are too stoopid to inflate their tires properly or realize how much higher taxes will benefit them.

Especially since that magical dividing line for The Evil Rich Who Deserved To Get Screwed For You Little People keeps moving lower all the time.

It's also becoming increasingly obvious that Obama gives great teleprompter but does lousy whenever anything goes off the script, stuttering, contradicting himself and uttering gaffes than would have the talking heads on TV and small children in the street snickering at him if he was white and had a small 'r' after his name.

The Democrat powers that be are worried, because deep down they know a dirty little secret..that the Democrat voters weren't the ones who chose Obama.

In fact, he decisively lost every single primary in the large Blue states the Democrats have to have to win except his home state of Illinois, while most of Obama's delegate strength came from those southern states where blacks make up a huge chunk of the Democrat voters or from caucuses or primaries from places like Utah and Idaho, Red states where democrats are a distinct and elite minority.

Senator Obama lost the popular vote to Senator Hillary Clinton, but was handed the nomination by the superdelegates - who decided that they would rather take the chance of going over the cliff with an untried, inexperienced candidate with questionable appeal than take the risk of alienating the monolithic Black vote or the nutroots, the insanely activist far Left wing of the Democrats.

This was identity politics and affirmative action carried to its logical absurdity, and the Clintons were totally correct in feeling betrayed and disrespected...even if it gave some of us a chuckle to see them on the receiving end of this kind of behavior for a change.

I'm absolutely certain the Clintons are making the clandestine phone calls right about now, reminding people that they said all along that Obama couldn't win. They may very well be right, but even though Mrs. Clinton now has decided she wants her name entered in nomination...um..just for the healing process, you understand what Ahm talkin' about...the last thing the Democrat powers that be want is a riotous convention free-for-all that could split the party.

So they will award the Donkey Crown to Barack Obama, and that's the irony of it all.

In a year like this, when the Democrats have an biblically unpopular two term Republican incumbent's record to run against, a full warchest of cash, an activated base and the winds mostly blowing their way, 2008 would likely have been a walk for them if they had nominated Hillary.

Instead, they settled for a crapshoot named Obama, and a bet that's looking increasingly less likely.

Short Takes: Worth noting, 8/07/08

Short takes is my semi-daily way of cramming a lot into a small space for you..kind of like the young gentleman above is doing! Here's a brief rundown of some of today's items of interest for Joshua's Army:

* President Bush took the occasion of his trip to the Olympics to condemn China's human rights policies in some fairly harsh language. This is frankly beyond my understanding unless it was cleared with the Chinese beforehand, as I expect it was.

If you disapprove of someone's behavior, you simply don't go to their parties and hang out with them, and limit your contacts to strictly business, I think. And if you are going to go, simple good manners would seem to demand that you keep your opinions to yourself.

The president seems to wants to have it both ways by tossing off some meaningless rhetoric that isn't matched by his actions. Unfortunately, that's happened a lot with the current occupant of the White House.

* There was a nasty tiff between Iran and the Arab Gulf States as the Gulf Council chief took exception to the Iranian foreign minister's rhetorical attack on the Sunni Arab monarchies in the region.

This is in the context of Iran announcing that if attacked it could 'shut down the Persian Gulf indefinitely.'

*ANN COULTERhas a tremendously funny column about the John Edwards love child brew-ha-ha..and as usual, she makes a serious point about media bias.

* Random House in a disgraceful capitulation to dhimmitude has elected not to publish Sherry Jones’ historical novel “The Jewel of Medina” about then 55-year-old Mohammed’s marriage to his 9 year-old child bride Aisha.The book was supposed to be part of a $100,000 two-book contract with the author. This gutless decision is the Danish Cartoons all over again, and particularly repugnant in a historic American publishing house, even if they are owned by Bertelsmann AG in Germany these days. Absolutely disgusting.

* The Federal judge has denied the defense attorney's request for delayed re-trial in Holy Land case.Judge Solis is fairly ticked off at the defense attorney's delaying tactics, and that's not good for the jihadis. We should see justice done fairly soon, I think.

* So....what happens when you get 26 cheerleaders stuck in elevator?

Semper Fi - Amputee Marine Returns to Combat

Any time you doubt the true spirit of our Beloved Republic, think about U.S. Marine Corporal Garrett Jones an amputee marine who returned to combat in Afghanistan because he couldn't bear the thought of his unit deploying without him.

Corporal Jones lost his leg to a roadside bomb in Iraq a little over a year ago.
Previously, Jones would have gotten a medical discharge and gone back to civilian life. But because of advances in medical care and high-tech prostheses he was able to get his wish and return to his unit, where he's serving a combat tour in Afghanistan.

Jones said he couldn't bear the thought of not deploying with close friends in his unit after he learned last fall that they would be sent to Afghanistan. He also wanted to pave a path for other amputees and show them what's possible, he said.

"I want to be someone an injured Marine can talk to," Jones said. "And I can tell them: 'Times will be rough and not always easy as an amputee, but you can still make great things out of an unfortunate situation.' That's what I want to do."

Sgt. Matthew Leonard, who served with Jones in Iraq and now works beside him at this desert base in southern Afghanistan, said Jones has earned a special status among Marines because he demanded to be sent back to combat.

"He didn't just choose to come -- he fought to come," Leonard said. "We bled and sweated with this guy in Iraq, and he wants to be with us more than anything. That's awesome."
{...}

Jones said he had to pass medical tests and prove in training that he could walk effectively, get in and out of a Humvee and perform other physical tasks. Once, while in a simulator that mimics a Humvee rolling over, his prosthesis popped off, he said. He reattached it and continued the drill.

Jones didn't get his first prosthesis until November. By the end of December, he had learned how to snowboard again, a sport he had enjoyed for years. He plans to compete in freestyle snowboarding in the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, Canada.

"I can do stuff on a snowboard I don't think any other amputee can do," he said. He would compete to win, which would create "good publicity for the Marine Corps," he said.

It's the simple, unassuming heroism of men like Corporal Jones that is the essence of patriotism. And they do it not for medals or money, nor for any great ideological Crystal Vision Of A Future Better America. They do it just to keep the same old country they left behind going strong, just as it is...and they do it for us, out of loyalty and love. As long as America can continue to produce men like him, we will stay strong and free.

Semper Fi, Corporal Jones. We love you back.

Short Takes: Worth Mentioning, 08/06/08

Short takes is my way of cramming a lot into a small space for you..kind of like the young gentleman above is doing! Here's a brief rundown of some of today's items of interest for Joshua's Army:

*Obama's National Muslim Outreach Coordinator Mazen Asbahi resigned from the campaign over his involvement with one Jamal Said, who was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in the racketeering trial last year of several alleged Hamas fund-raising organizations.

I'm certain that this is not the Mazen Asbahi, Obama thought he knew.

*Afghanistan's Dangerous Neighbor - Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Bill Roggio have a superb article in the Weekly Standard that clearly outlines the strategic problems we face in Afghanistan, and a nice companion to my own views on the subject.

*Anti-Business States Awash In Red Ink - Steven Malanga at RealClearMarkets does a fine job in showing what happens in 'tax-the-rich' states when it's budget time...not pretty.

*Salim Hamdan, first of the Gitmo defendents was found guilty of supporting al-Qaeda by driving and guarding Osama bin-Laden but innocent of conspiring in terrorist attacks. The same military court will hold another hearing Wednesday afternoon to determine sentencing.

This paves the way for military courts to try the remaining 80 odd detainees.


* Yet another Hamas 'truce' violation as a Kassam rocket lands in the western Negev in Israel near a kibbutz in an open area.

* Dr. Richard Landes has a nice piece on the honor-shame culture of Gaza, and the politically correct nonsense of gullible Western “human rights” groups: Augean Stables » Gaza Anomalies Blow PCP’s Circuits: Result - The Sounds of Silence.

*General David Petraeus, soon to assume command of CENTCOM made an unannounced visit to Lebanon to meet with the country's new president, Hezbollah ally Michel Suleiman.

According to Suleiman, they discussed continued U.S. assistance to the Lebanese army, including equipment and training. Considering Lebanon's recent decision to let Hezbollah stay armed (in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701) and continue its war against our ally Israel, I have to wonder why the US government is continuing to give military aid to the Siniora government that essentially ends up aiding Hezbollah.

The Real Blacklist In Hollywood

Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight wrote a superb editorial for the Washington Times that *gasp* did not follow the Hollywood Party line. And there are a number of people who call for him to be blacklisted because of it, not to mention attacks on his character, intelligence and career. Here's some samples:

"You’d think an arch conservative working in an overwhelmingly liberal town would think about restraining himself for expediency’s sake, if nothing else. …

Honestly? If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn’t pissed me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, “Voight? Let him eat cake."


***********************

"As a young production executive at the studio, I was trying to push 'Love Story' forward and joined colleagues in trying to interest Voight in the part. However, the more we prodded, the more reluctant he became. He finally blurted: 'The character in this movie is a Harvard student. He's bright. He reads books. I could never be believable as that smart young guy.'

"Reading Voight's op-ed piece these many years later, I realize how right he was.”

These, of course are the first people to hiss out 'McCarthyism' when anyone even obliquely challenges their hard left views.

Even more interesting in a way was this bit, from Leftard Jeffrey Wells:

"It's been said in this town many times that the right has a debt to pay for the blacklisting of lefties in the '50s, and that in all fairness it's probably going to take a long time to make amends. The fact is that the philosophical grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today's right-wingers ruined the lives of many Hollywood screenwriters in the '50s, and so their descendants now have to suffer and make up for that."

I think the moral infantilism of this attitude is sufficiently obvious that I don't have to underline it here, but the idea of payback intrigues me.

One of the things I love to do whenever someone like this mentions McCarthyism is to look at them, smile and say politely: "You know, McCarthy was a drunk and something of a blowhard, but in essence, what exactly was he wrong about?"

And then sit back and watch the steam come out of their ears.

The fact is that whatever one might think of his personal style,McCarthy wasn't wrong. Thanks to a determined effort by the Soviets to penetrate the US and subvert our country Hollywood was riddled with Communist sympathizers who did the Soviet's bidding and actual Soviet agents, and so was the State Department and other areas of American life.

We know that because of the declassification of the secret Venona cables, a US intelligence project that broke the Soviet's cable code back before WWII and because, from the time of the fall of the Soviet Union until recently, we had full access to the Soviet archives.The names include Alger Hiss,Paul Robeson, Lillian Hellman, Harry Dexter White, Albert Maltz, reporter Walter Duranty, the Rosenbergs and a host of others. I recommend a reading of Ann Coulter's 'Treason', Mona Charen's 'Useful Idiots' and David Horowitz's 'Radical Son' for interested parties.

This was a deliberate Soviet strategy, by the way, first postulated by the Italian communist intellectual Antonio Gramsci, who's credited with the marxist idea of waging war on capitalist society by attacking its culture and institutions - its media,poitical parties, universities, legal system and even its arts. This is known today as gramscian warfare, and how throughly the Soviets penetrated America's institutions can be seen in Hollywood and on any university campus today.

Note that I'm not talking about people who were merely communists by conviction and were trying to bring about the Worker's Paradise by democratic means. Some of them were caught in HUAC's net, and some of them complied with the Smith Act and tried to help the US Government by being forthcoming about their former associates...or not, out of a misplaced spirit of solidarity, in which case they were likewise blacklisted. But in this case I'm actually talking about people who were consciously involved in subversion and espionage against their own country.

And if we're talking about payback, I want some for all the damage these people and in many cases their progeny, the so-called red diaper babies did to my beloved country and its institutions.

The sad part is that a great many of those descendants, both of communists by conviction and those whom aided and abetted the Soviets are still in power in Hollywood and enforce a political reign of terror - anyone who opens his mouth and doesn't walk in lockstep risks not being hired. That's what the quotes above freely acknowledge...the real Hollywood blacklist, and it's a lot more oppressive and permanent than the old one, unless someone is very well established.

All one needs to do is look at a fair amount of Hollywood's recent product, and more importantly, the type of films that aren't being made to understand that. Jon Voight merely spotlighted it for us once again.

Watcher's Council Nominations, 08/06/08

Once again,it's time for a tasty slice of some of the best of the blogosphere, the Watcher's Council.

Every week, the Watcher's Council members nominate two posts each, one of their own and one from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. As you know, our infamous leader,the Watcher of Weasels retired and is now our leader emeritus. Last week, the Council was hosted by my friend Ms. Bookworm at Bookworm Room. This week, the Council is being hosted by none other than our own Scott Kirwin at The Razor, and a full list of entries, including the non-Council ones can be found here.

As I mentioned Friday, Terry Trippany will be filling the Watcher's spot and hosting the Council as soon as the next week or two...I'll keep you posted.

So, let's see what we have today:

Joshuapundit: Winning in Afghanistan - This piece began germinating about two weeks ago, as I gave some deep thought to what a victory in Aghanistan would look like, whether it's possible and how we could achieve it...provided we're willing to reassess our goals and adopt new strategies. Will we do so? The jury's still out.

Soccer Dad: Hello martyr, hello fatah- Soccer Dad has a great post on exactly how the Palestinians are educating their children for peace - not.

I would point out that one of the key provisions of the real estate deal known as Oslo that the Palestinians signed on to called for them to end the constant ginning up of incitement and hatred in their schools, mosques and media for Jews and 'Zionists' and to As far as I'm concerned, their cynical failure to abide by that in the years since Oslo was signed made the deal null and void, along with any claim they have on Judea and Samaria aside from mere squatter's rights.

Of course, as we now know, Arafat and his minions, including Mahmoud Abbas never had any intentions of abiding by Oslo or any subsequent agreements in the first place.

The Glittering Eye: Strategic Objectives in Afghanistan- Dave Schuler looks at some of Barack Obama's sweeping statements on Afghanistan and has the temerity to ask follow up questions the dinosaur media
refuses to. Somehow, I wouldn't count on him getting a straight answer out of the candidate anytime soon.

Bookworm Worm: Marin County’s Hidden Conservatives- Ms. Bookworm writes about the phenomenon of `secret conservatives' hidden in predominantly blue territory, a subject she knows full well living in the San Francisco Bay Area's Marin County. As she points out, many conservatives or Republicans quite rightly fear the spittle invoking rage and professional consequences if 'they only knew '. Even worse is the boorish behavior of some 'progressives' in loudly trumpeting their questionable views in public at inappropriate forums, assuming that any normal person agrees with them and reacting with venom if anyone questions them. Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism was exactly correct in essence if a bit off in some details.

Cheat Seeking Missiles: Time to Fire Bob Herbert- Laer looks at some of NYT columnist Bob Herbert's idiocies over the recent McCain 'celebrity' ad and satirically wonders whether it's time he was sent packing. All jokes aside, I'd say Herbert is just about perfect for the paper he writes in. There's certainly no way the Times would want to do without what passes for his intellectual discourse!

Done With Mirrors: Heroes- A fascinating piece by Callimachus, as he compares the legacy and outlook of the late writer Solzhenitsyn with that of American film maker Michael Moore.

Rhymes with Right: What is a Windfall Profit?- Ooh, I'm glad Greg wrote this, even if he beat me to it. In view of the proposals by Obama and the Democrats to put into effect a windfall profits tax on Big Oil, Greg compares the oil company's average 8.4% profit margin with that of other industries. One 'profit' he didn't cite for comparison is the Government's piece of the action on a gallon of gas. As a matter of fact, where I live, the combination of federal, State and local sales tax adds up to a whopping 20% windfall profit, figured at an average price of $4.19 per gallon.

The Razor: Red Man in a Blue Family-Scott recently went back home to visit his family, and reflects on his feelings at being a conservative in a predominantly Democrat family...and more importantly, how the GOP could win some of them over this November.

Colossus of Rhodey: Obama Wants Slavery Reparations- Hube writes this week about Obama's dancing around the question of reparations to American Blacks for slavery..and admits he might consider it provided it led to an end to minority set asides, quotas and affirmitive action.

My own view is that I'd also consider it, provided every Black family in America agreed to sign a paper opting in or opting out of a final settlement, and that it signified the end to all of the above. And then I'd insist on an honest accounting..which would not just include the price of labor not paid to slaves, but the cost of the Civil War in Union lives and property damage, the one trillion dollars spent on the War On Poverty, and the actual dollar cost of affirmative action programs, college educations granted through quotas, minority set asides, section 8 and other public housing programs, and the like, all adjusted for inflation.

This would never happen of course, but if it did, I have a feeling that those people who opted in would be cutting checks to the Federal government instead of collecting.

Wolf Howling: Part III: Why Exploit Our Domestic Resources- GW gives us the last of a trio of pieces on the subject, in his usual no-nonsense style.

Update: Medellin Frys In Hell

The great State of Texas just executed convicted murderer Jose Medellin this evening after a three hour delay while the Supreme Court reconsidered last minute appeals by Medellin's legal cockroaches. The court voted 5-4 ( the usual suspects) to allow the execution to proceed. Justice Stevens went back to his activist roots and switched from his agreement with Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, and Alito in Medellin v. Texas (PDF).

Accordingly, this monster has finally got what he deserves, and I only pray he received a just portion of the pain and horror he put Jennifer Ertman, Elizibeth Pena and their loved ones through.

Hopefully the other 50 odd illegal alien murderers will follow.

Selah.

Jose Medellin Set To Fry In Hell..Or Go Free

It's taken a while, but child rapist and murderer Jose Medellin finally has had a death warrant issued by the State of Texas that was scheduled to be executed between 6 PM and midnight Texas time.

Except so far, he's still breathing...and there's a chance he might walk out of jail free as a bird.

For those of you who've forgotten this case here's a link to what Medellin and his gang did to 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Peña on a terrible night back in 1993. I don't recommend you read the details unless you have a particularly strong stomach.

Medellin freely confessed to the crime and has never shown the slightest remorse for what he did. At this point, this mad dog has been on Death Row longer than one of his victims was alive.

The US Supreme Court has already ruled that his confession was voluntary and his conviction valid, but the controversy comes from the fact that Medellin is a Mexican national and he was never told he could contact the Mexican Consulate for assistance...even though he'd been living illegally in the US since he was nine years old.

The Mexican government sued the United States on behalf of this creature in 2003 over the consular issue in the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

The court ruled in Mexico's favor in late 2004 (no surprise there) and ordered the United States to reconsider the murder convictions of Medellin and about fifty other illegal aliens on death row for murder. In February 2005, Bush announced that the U.S. would comply, and he would order courts in Texas and elsewhere to review the cases.

A few days later, however, the president withdrew the United States from the part of the Vienna Convention that gives the World Court final say in international disputes.

The Texas Courts re-examined Medellin's conviction and confirmed the sentences, as did the appellate courts.The Texas courts also made the salient point that Medellin and his attorneys failed to complain at his original trial about any violation of his consular rights and had therefore waived them.

The current occupant of the White House actually tried to force the issue by having our Attorney General's office filing a brief on behalf of this murderer and trying to have our Supreme Court overturn Medellin's conviction, believe it or not.Happily, the Court severely spanked the Bush Administration by a 6-3 majority, ruling that judgments of the International Court of Justice are not binding on U.S. courts and that Bush's 2005 executive order that courts in Texas comply anyway was, shall we say, grossly illegal.

The case went back to Texas, the death warrant was issued and it looked like the families of these two victims who's lives that were snuffed out so cruelly would finally get some closure.

Except that apparently there are some last minute efforts on the part of the cockroaches who want to see Medellin go free. The execution is on hold pending yet another attempt to get the Supreme Court to acquiesce to a gross violation of American sovereignty in favor of what is being termed 'the international aspects of the case.'

What Medellin’s attorneys want is for the Supreme Court to put the execution on hold “for a period of one year to allow Congress an opportunity to enact implementing legislation” to carry out U.S. obligations under the treaty involved — the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

I agree with them on one point. Medellin should not be subjected to a lethal injection.

They ought to hang him from a tree.

And the President, for his part in this nonsense deserves to be shunned by every decent American, especially the proud residents of his native state.

I'll keep you posted on what happens...

John McCain And The Heavy Metal Thunder

Senator John McCain spent what turned out to be an enjoyable day campaigning at a world famous American tradition today - the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally at the Buffalo Chip campground in South Dakota.

“As you may know,” he told the tens of thousands gathered at the 68th annual Sturgis Rally at Buffalo Chip campground, “not long ago, a couple of hundred thousand Berliners made a lot of noise for my opponent. I’ll take the roar of fifty thousand Harleys any day.”

Bikers in the crowd, who had arrived from around the country to partake in the massive outdoor party, revved their engines numerous times in support of the presumptive GOP nominee. McCain said it was music to his ears.

“This is my first time here,” he said, “but I recognize that sound. It’s the sound of freedom.”

As the senator made his way through a sea of motorcycle enthusiasts, shaking hands with the many veterans in attendance and accompanied by his wife Cindy and Sen. John Thune, he was surrounded by scores of beer drinking men and scantily clad women, many of whom were as thrilled to see the war hero candidate as they were to watch Kid Rock perform later in the evening.

McCain, accompanied by his wife Cindy and South Dakota Senator John Thune had a great time working the crowd. If there were any Obama supporters in the crowd, they kept quiet about it.

...McCain felt so comfortable at the event that he even volunteered his wife for the rally’s traditional beauty pageant, an infamously debauched event that’s been known to feature topless women.

“I encouraged Cindy to compete,” McCain said to cheers. “I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman ever to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.”

Here's the kicker...this rave of McCain came from CNN, believe it or not. Is a little buyer's remorse on The Chosen One reraring its ugly pointed head?

Winning In Afghanistan

With Iraq stabilizing and the defeat of al-Qaeda there, Afghanistan is starting to heat up and get a lot more attention.

This is natural..as our enemies are defeated on one front, they're becoming increasingly active on another, especially since they have a failed nation-state next door in Pakistan as a haven for training, recruiting and funding.

The often repeated partisan political line that Iraq was a distraction from fighting al-Qaeda will go down in history (depending on who writes it) as one of the stupidest fallacies ever foisted on a gullible public. Things are heating up in Afghanistan and Pakistan not because we were concentrating too much on Iraq but because al Qaeda has been driven from the place it proclaimed as the central front for victory over the Americans, the home of its new caliphate.

Instead, they've been roundly defeated and forced back to their final redoubt, the mountain villages and caves in Waziristan and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province(NWFP) on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border. That means Pakistan/Afghanistan's going to remain a difficult problem for some time, unless we take decisive action.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan are barely countries as we understand them. They are tribal societies rife with ethnic strife and unstable, corrupt and ineffective governments. To be blunt about it, at present I don't think we're winning in Afghanistan for a lot of reasons. But I think with a few changes, we could, especially if we redefine our goals and get serious about it. To begin with, while Afghanistan and Pakistan are two different countries, they're part of the same strategic problem.

The main reason given for our involvement in Afghanistan is to prevent the place from being an incubator for Islamic terrorism that could lead to strikes against our country. All well and good, but Pakistan has exactly the same potential..even more in fact, because it has a functioning military armed with ICBMs and nuclear weapons, a whole host of Saudi funded hardline madrassahs to turn out new generations of dedicated jihadis and a population largely supportive, or at least sympathetic to Islamism.The London tube bombers trained in Pakistan, and so did the trans-Atlantic airline bombers. By any measurement, far more Islamist terrorism has originated from Pakistan than Afghanistan.

They're supposedly an ally, but apparently one with bi-polar disorder claiming that they are fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda one day and making treaties with them and threatening the West about their `sovereignty' if we try to get rid of the jihadis and stop them attacking us the next. Considering what Pakistan as an ally has cost the United States in dollars and cents versus their overall effectiveness, so far it's been a pretty lousy investment. I say that full well realizing the idiocy of the oafish attempts of Condi Rice and the US State Department to 'democratize' Pakistan by forcing the corrupt Benazhir Bhutto and her entourage on Pervez Masharraf as a governing partner. The result of that nonsense was to weaken a dictator who was at least nominally pro-western and bring to power a coalition of anti-American Leftist plutocrats and Islamists who are either unwilling or incapable of dealing with the Taliban and the mess in the NWFP.

The first step in winning in Afghanistan/Pakistan is to figure out what winning means.There are three ways to approach this, and they're related, but quite different as far as their ultimate objectives.

If winning means establishing a reasonably stable situation in Afghanistan that isn't a cesspool of jihadism, we have a fighting chance of success provided we also deal with the problem of Pakistan. But if we're talking, as Barack Obama and others are of merely "defeating al-Qaeda and capturing bin-Laden" we will be stuck in a never-ending war of attrition - since it's obvious to me that a President Obama would neither understand or be willing to take the steps that would accomplish that.

Of course, in my mind, the best thing would be the third way, to accomplish both. That's also possible if we take a larger view, although it might be unlikely right now given our present political paralysis.

In many ways, Iraq was a model for this, although it was incredibly bungled for the first few years and thus cost us a great deal more in blood and treasure then it needed to.

One interesting similarity between Iraq and Afghanistan is their strategic location. Iraq is the central gateway to the Middle East, with one end pointing towards the Arab states of the Levant and the other pointing towards the gateway to the oil riches of the Persian Gulf.Similarly, Afghanistan sits perched at the gateway to the so-called `stans, the oil and gas rich regions of Central Asia that were once part of the Soviet Union...and a nexus of no less than three countries with imperial ambitions, Iran, Russia and Pakistan.

To my mind, if we are going to take the time and put in the effort towards stabilizing Afghanistan there are three main objectives: changing our entire view of the situation, dealing with the poppy trade, and entirely changing the dynamic with Pakistan.

Afghanistan is different then Iraq in that it is, officially at least, a NATO operation. Unfortunately, most of NATO hasn't seen fit to send combat troops to the country. The vast majority of forces there are Americans, especially in the eastern part of the country and the Danes, British, Canadian, Australian and Dutch forces all play key combat roles in southern Afghanistan. But most of the rest of NATO has either failed to send any forces at all or limited their troops to logistical support only and forbidden them to engage in combat.

The Canadians in particular have been quite vocal about this, and PM Harper has actually threatened to remove Canada's troops unless the other members of the EU step up to the plate.They actually showed some signs of doing so until Barack Obama came along pledging to remove US troops from Iraq and send extra US troops to Afghanistan - thus taking the heat off of countries like France, Italy and Germany, who will now, of course be prepared to wait until after the election and see if the Americans and others do the heavy lifting under an Obama administration.

More troops are indeed necessary,and the US and others ought to be adamant about insisting that NATO's members live up to their commitments to the degree that this is possible.In addition, the Afghan army needs more boots on the ground. They actually have fought pretty well in combat for the most part, but there are only 80,000 of them. More are needed, and they need to be trained and equipped.

Another thing that's absolutely imperative is some form of unified command of the NATO forces, ideally an American. That sort of unified command doesn't exist at present, and it's imperative.

The next step is dealing with the poppy trade.

Afghanistan is by far one of the largest source of opium poppies in the world, and the trade not only plays a major role in the finances of the Taliban but is the primary source of income for a number of US-friendly warlords as well...which is one reason that efforts to curtail the trade have been sporadic at best. It's estimated that the trade nets $100 billion US plus per year.To simply burn the fields would deprive a number of Afghans of their livelihood, not to mention turning a great many tribal chiefs against us.

My solution involves classic capitalism,combined with a bit of Mafia-like intransigence. We should offer to buy the crops from friendly warlords, with the proviso that anyone caught selling and delivering to anyone other than the US is going to have his fields destroyed without delay.

A portion of the crop could be resold legitimately to pharmaceutical companies to manufacture prescription opiates - the rest could be destroyed. The tribal chiefs would mostly be happy with this arrangement, because they would be receiving money for their usual product without the risk of smuggling or the cost of paying 'taxes' to the Taliban, and the US could then command their loyalty as their chief economic benefactor. It would also have the benefit of having the US government controlling the market on these substances rather than, say, the Mafia or the Union Corse' or some other group of drug lords.

The Taliban and Al-Qaeda, on the other hand would find themselves increasingly dependent on foreign handouts as opium poppy producers loyal to them have their fields burned out, and would suffer a cash crunch. One of the things they've invested heavily in is the processing labs and the distribution centers to turn out heroin, which are located in Pakistan. Exerting some force to get the Afghan growers to sell to us while destroying the Pakistani fields at the same time would make that investment worthless. And among other things, squeezing al-Qaeda and the Taliban would have a disasterous effect on their ability to bribe Pakistani politicians and local tribal chiefs. For that matter, it would be interesting to see what would happen if we gave the Pakistani Pashtun tribes an ultimatum...turn over Zawahiri and the other Taliban and Al Qaeda top brass to us for a hefty reward or watch as we destroy your drug fields and your livelihood. I have a feeling we might just end up with a few jihadi special deliveries if we did, and it amazes me that it's apparently never been tried.

Lastly - and here's the most difficult part - we need to change the dynamic with Pakistan, and we need to do it very carefully, unless we simply want to give up Afghanistan as a bad job.

There's no other area Barack Hussein Obama reveals his total lack of understanding of military and strategic matters more than in his proposal to pull troops out of Iraq and if the Pakistanis can't or won't do it themselves, invade Pakistan's North West Frontier provinces and Waziristan with a couple of brigades to fight Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He also expects the EU to send more combat troops to take up the slack.

First, there's the military stupidity of sending 6,000 men to invade a hostile area only a little smaller than Texas, with some of the highest mountains and the ruggedest terrain on earth. Joshua's Army member Captain Jimmy, late of the 10th Mountain, gave me a thumbnail estimate for doing the job calling for close to 150,000+ troops and support units minimum to do the job properly. And after Obama's well-publicized sound bites about pulling American troops out of Iraq and sending them to Afghanistan, the idea of certain EU nations sending more combat troops there instead of laying back and watching the Americans do the heavy lifting is optimistic in the extreme, to say the least.

And then, there's the little matter of keeping these troops supplied.

Obama, who is supposedly bright has apparently never looked at a map of the region.

Afghanistan is a landlocked country and the major lifeline for NATO's forces in Afghanistan flows through the Pakistani port of Karachi...which explains why we're giving them 'aid' and why we've been putting up with their nonsense of giving the jihadis in Waziristan and the NWFP a haven.

If we invade a piece of Pakistan and turn them into an even more hostile nation than they are already, the only other practical overland route to resupply our troops would involve going through the Black Sea through Georgia and Azerbaijan and then crossing the Caspian Sea and shipping the stuff through Turkmenistan and then over rough, mountainous country into Afghanistan from the Northwest. It could be done, but it would be much more difficult and time consuming.

Not to mention that with Pakistan we're talking about a very unstable country with nukes and ICBMs.

Unless we're going to pull our troops out of Afghanistan first or take physical control of a Pakistani port and a supply corridor to Afghanistan ,we unfortunately had better give up the idea of confronting Pakistan forcefully for now. Or find another way to supply our armies in the field efficiently.

So...how to deal with the problem of Pakistan, the final piece in a nasty puzzle?

The first step,obviously is to secure the borders to the degree that it's possible.

India was able to cut down considerably on the jihadis crossing from Pakistan into Kashmir by utilizing mine fields, and there's no reason a similar solution wouldn't have a similar effect in parts of Afghanistan. We could likewise simply enforce a security zone across the border with armed drones, after publicizing the fact to the locals that anything or anybody crossing except at designated checkpoints is going to wind up very dead. Our role as poppy purchaser would likewise cut down on border traffic and make it easier to secure.

We also need a much more ruthless attitude towards our enemies, especially the ones we capture. A few executions followed by pigskin burials could do a great deal to interfere with the Taliban's recruiting efforts. So could propaganda in Pashtun ridiculing them and reminding the locals of what it was like to live under them.

We also need to continue targeted strikes within Pakistan whenever we find Taliban or Al-Qaeda bases or personnel. The Pakistanis will fume over this,but they're unlikely to erupt into outright hostilities as long as we're not talking about a land invasion. They need our bribes aid money too badly.

I personally would provide them with economic aid rather than military aid as long as they continue to earn their baksheesh by putting up a reasonable effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban and safeguarding Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

The idea that Pakistan is going to evolve into a Western-style democracy is the same sort of crack pipe thinking that brought us the Islamic Revolution in Iran. I wouldn't count on it, to put it mildly.That said, our main criterion in our dealings with them has to be to what extent they are willing to meet us halfway in exchange for all that aid money. In other words, it's a relationship of mutual convenience.

In the event there are significant failures on the part of Pakistan, we should have contingency plans to perform a targeted strike and destroy Pakistan's nuclear facilities...another reason why the Bush Administration's wanting to spend $226 million of our tax dollars to upgrade the Pakistani airforce's F-16's based on the flimsy excuse they'll be used for 'counterterror operations' is such an exercise in stupidity.

Ideally, this would happen once Afghanistan is stable enough to stand on its own and is a US ally.

As I said, dealing with Pakistan right now is like dealing with someone with bi-polar disorder, frankly. We will either have to step carefully and take our time about things if we feel like taking things slowly or we will have to decisively invade Pakistan and end things decisively..and from the coast, where it makes sense and we can supply our troops easily, not from Waziristan where we can't, Senator Hope N' Change.

Ideally, invading Pakistan won't be necessary, provided we can secure the Pakistani-Afghan border adequately and cut off the Taliban's money supply at the knees by becoming the only risk free purchaser for the poppy trade in the area.

Afghanistan/Pakistan is a solvable problem. But we're going to need to revamp our approach and decide exactly what we're trying to achieve there in order to win.

A hat tip,by the way to Dave at Glittering Eye, who's pieces on Afghanistan got me interested in doing some in-depth thinking about it...

Short Takes: Worth Mentioning 08/04/08

Short takes is my way of cramming a lot into a small space for you..kind of like the young gentleman above is doing! Here's a brief rundown of some of today's items of interest for Joshua's Army:

*The latest RASMUSSEN Poll has McCain ahead in the presidential race, 47% to 46%. This is a statistical tie and it's early days, but this is the first time McCain has been ahead in this fashion since he became the nominee. Aside from the act that Scott Rasmussen is one of the more reliable pollers, this is important because of the internals: A week ago today, Obama had a three-percentage point lead and the candidates were even among unaffiliated voters. Today, McCain leads 52% to 37% among unaffiliateds.

McCain now has a favorability rating of 55% of the nation’s voters, Obama is seen favorably by 51%, the lowest rating for Obama since he wrapped up the nomination.

And over 60% of the electorate now sees Obama as 'liberal' while 65% sees MCain as Conservative. I think Mr. Hope N' Changes halo is starting to tarnish a bit.


* Russia and the world morns the death of writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who passed away yesterday. His works like "The Gulag Archipelago", a chronicle of his own and others
experiences in communist concentration camps won him a Nobel Prize for literature in 1970. One of the most ironic tributes came from Russia's Prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who called Solzhenitsyn's death from heart failure `a loss for all Russia.' Putin, of course, was an apparatchnik in the KGB responsible for sending people like
Solzhenitsyn to the gulags in the first place.

*Speaking of Putin and Russia, Ol' Vlad now says Russia needs to renew its commercial and military ties with communist Cuba. Russia claims this is a reaction to the US missile shield now being erected in Europe, which the US says is a NATO response against Iran but Russia claims is targeted against them. They may very well be right, given Russia's history of imperialism and conquest in Eastern Europe and their recent behavior.

It would also probably be rude to point out that if the Russians weren't building the Iranian nuclear facilities for the mullahs, the missile defense shield they're so wound up about would be unnecessary.

*The Race Issue Isn't Going Away - Juan Williams in the Wall Street Journaltoday, has an interesting and largely balanced take on the race issue in this campaign, and ends by pointing out Obama's primary dilemma...does he actually become the post racial candidate he claims to be
by forcefully distancing himself from race pimps and radicals like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Jeremiah Wright..or does he simply grease by the issue?

*The Forgotten Christians of Lebanon
Bloggers Sigmund,Carl And Alfred have an exemplary article on the last stand of the Lebanese Maronite community in a country dominated by Hezbollah and resurgent Shiites.

* Hit with what amounted to a smoking gun during talks with the US Pakistan has finally acknowledged that its intelligence agency, the infamous ISI has Taliban allies It remains to be seen what they do about the matter.

Knights Templar Heirs Sue The Catholic Church

I've long found the Order of the Knights Templar fascinating and couldn't let this go by:

The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, whose members claim to be descended from the legendary crusaders, have filed a lawsuit against Benedict XVI calling for him to recognise the seizure of assets worth 100 billion euros (£79 billion).

They claim that when the order was dissolved by his predecessor Pope Clement V in 1307, more than 9,000 properties as well as countless pastures, mills and other commercial ventures belonging to the knights were appropriated by the church.

Who were the Knights Templar?

They were a Western Christian monastic military order that existed for around two hundred years during the Middle Ages. They were founded originally after the First Crusade in 1096 to ensure the safety of the Christians who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem after its conquest, and were made an official monastic order by the Church around 1129. Templar knights, in their white mantles quartered by a red cross, were among the most feared and successful fighting units of the Crusades, and as their popularity grew, so did their royal patronage and their wealth. Along with its military function, the Order had a huge economic infrastructure that included an early form of banking.

To sum up, in their non-combat role they fulfilled a function in Medieval Society much like the Jews.

And like the Jews,it was that wealth that caused them problems,particularly with King Philip IV of France, who was deeply in debt to the Order. He was able to 'convince' Pope Clement V to take action against the Knights Templar, most likely fo ra share of the not inconsiderable booty. In 1307, almost all of the Order's members in France were rounded up and arrested for heresy with the complicity of the Church. Most were tortured into giving false confessions and then burned at the stake, including the Grand Master Jacques de Molay pictured above. Other nations in Europe followed suit.The Templar's properties and wealth were confiscated and divided up between the Church and various Kings, many of whom also owed the Templars money. Pope Clement disbanded the Order in 1312 and the few remaining Templars who escaped the stake died in poverty.

In short, one of the most successful heists in history.

This latest episode comes as a direct result of the Vatican finally releasing copies of parchments recording the trials of the Knights between 1307 and 1312.

The Church claimed the papers were "misfiled" within the papal archives until they were discovered by an academic in 2001.

The papers revealed that Clement V had declared the Templars were not heretics but disbanded the order anyway to maintain peace with King Philip IV of France...and of course, to hold on to the Church's share of the swag.

The Order's heirs claim that they are not out to bankrupt the Church but to restore the orders good name.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out...and what bearing it might have on the Vatican finally allowing access to the Church archives from the Holocaust era.

Al -Qaeda Confirms A Successful Cockroach Stomp

There has been a great deal of speculation that a recent US airstrike in Pakistan just over the Afghan border severely injured Osama bin-Laden's number #2,Sheik Ayman Zawahiri. According to CBS News,(which means you can take it with a grain of salt) they supposedly saw a letter from 'unnamed sources' in Pakistan in which a Taliban leader urgently requested medical attention for him.

I personally think this is bogus, and I doubt we managed to get Zawahiri. But the raid definitely had some good results.

Al-Qaeda itself confirmed that four of its 'heroes' ended up on the wrong side of one of our Hellfire missiles. The 'heroes' in this particular cockroach stomp included Abu Khabab al-Masri, a senior Al-Qaeda commander known as a top explosives and poisons expert as well as three other lesser known 'commanders'.

Al-Masri was an Egyptian whose real name was Midhat Mursi. He had a $5 million price on his head from the United States. Among the other high points on his resume,he was believed to have trained the homicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors when they attacked the USS Cole in Yemen back in 2000.

He was also believed to have helped run al-Qaida's Darunta training camp in eastern Afghanistan until he and the boys were run out by the US invasion in 2001. He was famous for conducting experiments in chemical and biological weapons, using dogs as test animals. For that alone I hope he and his pals suffered sufficiently and his death wasn't a quick and painless one.

In any event, a nice job of pest control by our warriors...G-d speed the good work and all that stuff.

Watcher's Council Results, 08/01/08

The Council has spoken! A complete rundown of the winning entries is here.

First, as promised earlier this week, a major announcement...Our roving hosting will soon be coming to an end. Terry Trippany, the creator of Webloggin, and a frequent contributor to Newsbusters will be the new Watcher. He should be taking over his duties in a week or two. I'm sure I speak for the entire Council in saying that we're excited to have him associated with our group and heartily welcome Terry aboard.


And now(drum roll...) the winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are :

Among the Council members, Soccer Dad for Hating israel more than loving palestinians carried off the honors. This was an excellent fisking of a particularly idiotic NYT column on Israel by Nicholas Kristof.

Tied for second were “Ich Bin Ein Beginner!” from right here, my take on Obama's Berlin escapade and Bookworm Room for Nobody here but us biased chickens a fine beat down on the biased L.A. Times.

Also getting votes was Hillbilly White Trash for China.

In the Non-Council category, we had a tie which hostess Ms. Bookworm broke, as per our bylaws. The winner was Investor’s Business Daily for Barack Obama’s Stealth Socialism.

My own nominee, Jay Cost came in second for On Obama’s Message.

A shout out to Bookworm Room for a superb job in hosting the Council this week. Next week's host of the council vote is scheduled to be The Razor...and as always, congratulations not only to the winners, but to the participants.

The Beast Eats Itself Again...

Just when it seemed like the mob bosses who run Fatah and Hamas were all set for a cozy sitdown to resolve their turf wars and get on with the important business of killing Jews, their inner nature got in the way and they turned on each other.

It started with a breakdown of talks mediated by the Egyptians between Hamas and Fatah,with the principles and their various spokesmouths calling each nasty and perfectly accurate names. Then it escalated with arrests and crackdowns in both Gaza and the Palestinian occupied areas of Judea and Samaria (AKA The West Bank)with Fatah and Hamas rounding up members of the opposition in their respective gang territories and subjecting them to a little Palestinian-style 'justice'...nothing too terminal Mohammed, just a quiet little chat between you and me and my pals in a quiet little cell with baseball bats, electrodes and a few lit cigarettes to keep the party fun and interesting.

The real fireworks started at the end of last week when a bombing took out five Hamas members in the Gaza Strip.

It's fascinating observe how Hamas reacted to a terrorist bombing as opposed to the way Israel does...Chicago rules all the way. The Green Hat boys went berserk and started arresting and questioning everyone associated with Fatah they could lay their greasy hands on and soon fingered the Fatah allied Hilles clan. They then attacked the clan's stronghold in Al-Shuja'iyah district in eastern Gaza, killing nine people and wounding more than one hundred,including the clan's leader, Ahmed Hilles.

Over 180 members of the Hilles clan and their assorted allies, including the wounded clan leader fled to - get this - Israel, of all places. And believe it or not, once the Israelis disarmed them and searched everybody and made sure no one was carrying a bomb under their clothing, the hated Jews actually allowed them in and hospitalized the wounded Fatah fighters!

In a bizarre twist, when the Israelis attempted to repatriate the non-hospitalized Fatah clansmen, Mahmoud Abbas refused to accept them into the Palestinian occupied territory in the West Bank and told the Israelis to return them to the tender mercies of Hamas in Gaza...where they were all promptly arrested.Abbas' rationale for this was that he didn't want to eliminate a powerful group of Fatah loyalists from Gaza,but there was apparently something else involved, since that makes no sense whatever, even to a Palestinian. I have a feeling that the real reason Abbas didn't want them in the West Bank is because he was nervous about importing yet another group of fighters into the area whom weren't under his complete control.

It's important to remember that the Palestinians are not a nation as we think of it, but a feudal collection of frequently warring clans.

Meanwhile,Fatah continued its own clean up of the rival mob's gangsters. In Nablus, Fatah gunmen seized the senior Hamas operative on the West Bank Muhammad Ghazal and his family and threatened to execute them all unless Hamas ends the crackdown on their followers in Gaza and releases the Fatah goons Hamas has in its jails.

And in Gaza, Hamas arrested Fatah operatives Ibrahim Abu an-Naja and Zakaria al-Agha, who were put in charge of Fatah's people in Gaza by Abbas with the same rationale..to put pressure on Abbas to release Hamas prisoners he's holding on the West Bank.

This will probably end up with another mob sitdown and a return to the status quo,believe it or not. Abbas isn't strong enough to oust Hamas from the West Bank,and Hamas needs Fatah to continue forwarding to Gaza The Green Hat Mob's share of the aid money doled out by gullible infidels like the US State Department.

UPDATE: The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh agrees with me onWhy Abbas doesn't want Fatah 'refugees' in the West Bank.

Back from Blogger Limbo

For those of you may have been wondering where I was since Thursday afternoon,I was in Blogger Limbo.

What that means is that this blog was targeted for its political views and reported as spam by its ideological enemies...which meant that Google,without any prior notice to me and without actually having a human being take about a minute and a half to actually look at the site and realize that this was bogus simply blocked me from making any posts,until yours truly requested a 'review'.

Had I not done so - say, if I was on vacation or at a location without internet access - the entire site would have been deleted by Google without further notice...all the posts,the archives, everything. Gone.

This is a worrisome trend on Blogger, and I'm by no means the only one this has happened to.

To Google's credit, once I requested a review the site was back by Saturday afternoon, but the fact that it happened at all based simply on my being targeted by a few Leftards has given me a great deal of food for thought.

I'm strongly considering leaving Blogger behind and switching to another format...you'll be the first to know.

I would urge regular members of Joshua's Army to shoot me an e-mail at Rmill2k@msn.com so that I can keep you posted as to future developments.

Rest assured, one way or another JoshuaPundit is NOT going away. @!## 'em. This isn't a dictatorship yet, and the beat goes on.

A special shout out to my pals at Bookworm Room,Rhymes With Right, Cheat Seeking Missiles, The Glittering Eye and last but not least Soccer Dad for their help, sympathy and support during this nonsense..a friend in need and all that, and I won't forget it...

Leave Barack Alone!

Laugh out loud funny!

The Real Banana: Campaign '08 With Weekend Monkey 7/31/08

FF: Once again,it's time to creep through the rancid political jungle with JoshuaPundit's own political guru and former Democratic Presidential Candidate, my pal Weekend Monkey.

WM: Howdy FF. Whaddup, Primates!

FF:Hello Monkey. What's new with campaign `08?

WM: Well,it's starting to get interesting. As a political animal, my instincts tell me that both Obama Yo' Mama and the Grumpy Old Guy want to get a few early licks in before the Olympics starts hogging up the oxygen in the news room,so we're seeing McCain starting to go more negative and running ads about Obama's positions onIraq and his status as a certified poseur and Obama reminding everybody that HE'S Mistah Hope and Change,that McCain is actually George Bush in disguise and that anyone who votes against him is a racist.

FF:That pretty much covers it, Monkey.

WM: it would be nice if they were actually yakking about the issues, y'know? If I was the prospective nominee, I would be spreading it thick to the primates about all the benefits they would have under me as their leader.

FF:You certainly did that during the campaign Monkey, I'll give you that. I think a big part of the reason there's no dialog about the issues is because Obama seems to be unwilling to hold a debate with McCain in anything but the most controlled circumstances. Why do you think that is?

WM: Are you kidding,FF? We're dealing with a candidate who's running entirely on his image, not his record. It's simple...Obama Yo' Mama isn't going to risk anything happening in an environment he doesn't totally own that might screw up the image..not with the prize so close he can smell it. That's why he didn't go to see those wounded soldiers in Germany,FF. He's not real popular with a big chunk of the military because of his weaseling on Iraq, so why take a chance on going to a military hospital and risking some wounded GI trashing him? Even with no press there,that stuff has a way of getting out, especially nowadays.

FF: Yeah,that was pretty much my take on it.

WM: Yeah, I know...I read it.

FF: Aside from the shots by both sides, the main thing people are speculating on is running mates right now.You think we'll hear about that soon?

WM: Natural enough. There are a lot of the primates who are dissatisfied with both these baboons, and they're hoping whoever runs on the back end of the ticket will make one of them a little easier to swallow. Personally, I don't think we're going to hear about it until after the Olympics, especially not from Obama Yo' Mama.McCain, maybe,but I still wouldn't be surprised if the VP picks weren't announced until right before the conventions...and maybe not even until after the Presidential nominations.

FF:Your reasons, Monkey?

WM: Simple, FF. Both candidates want to see how the polls are going and where they're going to need the most help. Close election like this is gonna be, any little thing could make the difference.

FF: Who do you think it will be.

WM: For my Democrats, I'm leaning more towards the people you mentioned last time...Tim Kaine or Claire McCaskill.And I still think Evan Bayh and Karen Sebelius are in the running as well.

FF: At this point, I think it's either Kaine, because Virginia is so close, or Bayh, because that gives Obama a shot at maybe actually taking Indiana. I though at one time that Obama might go for a female to bring in those disgruntled Hillary voters, but on reflection I think you're right Monkey...just like the conservatives with McCain, it's not like they have anywhere else to go. Who do you think McCain will pick.

WM: With that logic, probably Kaine unless there's some weirdness in his past we don't know about. Speaking of weirdness, did you see what happened with Barbie and the Enquirer? Ah ha ha hah hah...priceless!

FF: Well, I saw it,but I don't usually cover that kind of stuff here, Monkey. And besides, I always figured John Edwards spent a lot of time in the men's room anyway.

WM: Hee hee..hey, why did Rielle Hunter cross the road?

FF: I dunno.

WM: To get to the Beamer Edwards bought her!

FF: Ba dum dum..very funny Monkey.

WM:Knock knock.

FF: Who’s there?

WM: Rielle.

FF:Rielle who?

WM: You must get all your news from TV and newspapers!

FF: Mmph!

WM: Hey, FF..what's the difference between Rielle Hunter and the wind? The wind only blows your husband when he's outside! Hee hee hee hee!

FF: I think a certain Monkey has too much time on his hands..or something. We could continue milking this cheap vein of shallow entertainment, but It .Would. Be. Wrong. So , to change the subject, who do you see as the Republican nominee?

WM: Aw, I didn't even get to tell my joke about the fire hydrant!

FF: Monkey...

WM: OK, OK...I think both of us are agreed it won't be Romney or Huckabuck.

FF: Uh huh..

WM: Hard to say..my guess would be Tim Pawlenty.

FF: I still think Tim Pawlenty or Tom Ridge are the front runners. I also think it won't be Giuliani, although I think he'd be great at the job.

WM: Tom Ridge?

FF: Very Popular in Pennsylvania Monkey. Definitely brings that state into play. Also, I'd love to see Heather Wilson or Sarah Palin from Alaska in the number 2 spot.

WM: Yeah..Palin's hot in kind of a naughty schoolteacher way.

FF: Aside from the charisma aspect, she's fearless, a good speaker and knows a lot about energy. And Wilson is awesome. I'm still chuckling over what she did to Chris Matthews and Robert Wexler on hardball. I mean, it was brutal.

WM: yeah, I saw the video...not the best moment for my Democrats. You really think McCain would run with a woman?

FF: Why not? He needs to do something.I mean, it's nice that he's taking off the gloves with Obama finally, but he needs an equalizer for all of Obama's money. Do you know that Obama actually has enough cash to run a summer camp to train his political operatives?

WM: I'm not surprised. Like I said before, it's going to be close unless Obama Yo' Mama shoots himself in the foot, which is still possible, maybe in the debates or something if they ever happen. Cash is an advantage and they'll use it, no question.

FF: oh indeed they will. This isn't a campaign in the usual sense..it's a movement and I think Obama is building a cult of personality all his own.As a matter of fact, that's the title of Dr. Jeropme Corsi's new book on Obama, The ObamaNation:Leftist Politics And The Cult Of Personality.It hits the stores tommorrow.

WM: Wha..? Isn't he the guy who co-wrote the book on Kerry, Unfit For Command?

FF: Yup. I heard an interview with him on Hannity and I think he's got another best seller here. And he's practically daring Obama to sue him.

WM: Whooo! Now this could get interesting. I mean, isn't Obama Yo' Mama the guy who said "Don't swift boat me?"

FF: Yes he did, Monkey. And I'm sure we'll see what develops.And with that,let's wrap it up.

WM: Yowzah! Hideyho, Primates...be good, and if you can't be good, be careful.