A Maureen Dowd column that I can finally support--at least, her brother Kevin's contribution. The New York Times> Maureen Dowd: Blood Is Thicker Than Gravy

The Democrats are leaving no knives in the drawer in their post-election navel-gazing. In this column, Susan Estrich leaves no ketchup unspilled. Creators.com: Rehabilitation for Teresa Heinz Kerry

Poor Babs. She's still in denial, still believes that "Bush Knew!" What's worse, she still thinks that Richard Clarke is a credible source. Sad Babs; Babs sad... Barbra Streisand

Americans have many things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving day. Unfortunately, the United Nations is not one of them. Belmont Club: The United Nations

Update: more details on UN crimes in the name of peacekeeping in the Christian Science Monitor, courtesy of Betsy's Page.

How brave those Pilgrims truly were, and how lucky we are that they successfully overcame their fears and a host of obstacles that opposed them. Here is a short recap of the events of 1620 AD. OpinionJournal - Featured Article

More Presidential proclamations of the National Day of Thanksgiving: Washington, Lincoln, and Bush. New York Post Online Edition

Capitalism triumphs early as the Pilgrims progress towards the republic we love today. A Holiday Tradition: The Real Story of Thanksgiving

I heard this read on the radio today, and I thought it would be useful to publish for anyone interested in knowing how Thanksgiving became a national holiday.

George Washington's first Thanksgiving Proclamation: General Thanksgiving

By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789

No governor yet, but we have a two-time winner. Apparently the Democrats will force a hand recount of their stronghold, King County (Seattle). If enough votes are found to change the winner, then the state would be forced to hand recount the entire state result. Thus, Washington could have no governor until after Christmas. Perhaps the anthem for this mess should be "No Sleep 'till Brooklyn!" The Seattle Times: Local News: Rossi wins in recount of governor's race

Dave Niehaus needs your support to win the Ford Frick award and join the Baseball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster. Read the nice tribute to Dave that follows. ESPN.com: Page 2 - Seattle's grand slam voice



Now, click here to vote for Dave.

Thankfully, more new technology is coming on line to save lives in Iraq from IEDs detonated by remote control. The terrorists use garage door openers, car alarms and even cell phones as remote detonators. Defense Tech: MORE ON WARLOCK'S TRICKS

Perhaps Walter Cronkite will cite this study in his NIMBY defense of his coastal view from his seafront property. Windmills may cause meteorological changes

A great ship named for a very great man, and a personal hero of mine. USS Winston S. Churchill

This policy shift makes sense. Someone finally realized that procurement simply takes too long, and that soldiers and commanders in the field should have the ability to act and ask for forgiveness later, or in the case of body armor, act and be repaid later. Defense Tech: PAYBACK, FINALLY, FOR ARMOR BUYS

I'm no fan of slow play, but a four hour round might be a world's record at this course. Yahoo! News: Distance no handicap for Aussie plan to build world's largest golf course



The Yahoo! News caption for the photo above reads, "In this handout photo taken 12 November 2004 shows the white sand dunes of Nullarbor National Park that will soon be the backdrop to the world's largest golf course spanning 1,400 kms along the desert highway. Authorities have unveiled plans to build one hole at each of the 18 towns and petrol stations dotted along the Eyre Highway, to be collectively known as Nullarbor Links. Motorists will stop at each petrol station, play a hole, then drive some 100kms to the next teeing off point.(AFP/Goldfields Tourism-HO/File)"

Just as homelessness was rediscovered under President Bush's watch, global warming histeria has increased as well. Or is that global warming research grant histeria? Investor's Business Daily: Bipolar Disorder

After watching the near riot that accompanied today's burial of Arafat the murderer, inspiration to UBL and his contemporaries, I noticed that a certain someone was apparently not present at the "ceremony". Of course, she has a lifetime income in Ter-ray-sa's league to spend back in Paris now. So many salons to visit, so many chocolates to eat... Jerusalem Post: Mrs. AraFAT gets her payday; Palestinians continue raggedy existence

Not Mary Mapes, but an interesting rapid fire decision to fire a news producer for interrupting a fiction crime drama. Broadcasting & Cable: CBS fires producer for preempting final five minutes of CSI: NY

Watching CNN International’s coverage of Arafat’s funeral was like watching a bizarro world rendition of the Reagan funeral. The commentator, the now thickened ultra lefty Christiane Amanpour, narrated an out of step undisciplined horse drawn cortege while using words like “statesman” to describe the old murderer. The Palestinian spokeswoman continues to blame Israel for their woes before the casket reached the Egyptian C-130 that would take the body to Ramallah for internment. The discussion of Palestinian elections without a Palestinian government added to the other worldly atmosphere of the event. Clearly the coverage didn’t belong on CNN; it should have been on Cartoon Network.

Then:



Now:

While he had no message, he had a crazy wife and some very strange outfits that he wore in his equally strange hobby photo ops. The New Republic Online: Bad Message

And no, I didn't mean this couple

Strap him up in a Full Metal Jacket, or maybe go R. Lee Ermey on him. New York Post Online: VINCENT D'Onofrio a D'Offrio with Criminal Intent...his co-stars, that is

Arafat, the old monster, is dead. He scammed untold millions--if not billions--in aid from the west into private accounts. He kept his wife in a life of Heinz-scale luxury in France while denying his countrymen hospitals, schools, and investment in an economy for the Palestinian demi-state. If his people truly saw what he had done, they would denounce him as one of the greatest demagogues the world has ever known. Statement by the President

Happy 229th to the USMC! Ooo-rah! Semper Fi! Power Line: Honoring the few

The red gets redder.

The President did better, actually, everywhere in '04 than in '00.

Take that, Zogby! 7-Eleven: "7-Election outcome reflects current actual election results"

This cracks me up:


Read the whole thing.

Butt-face, rendered nicely. HOG ON ICE: Infan-Tile

This is my favorite quote by Thomas Jefferson, "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves."Thomas Jefferson Quotes - The Quotations Page

Barbra "Babs" Streisand, on the other hand, likes this one she found and published as part of a rant on her...blog. It is part of a letter Jefferson wrote to John Taylor Philadelphia on June 4, 1798. She conveniently ignores the entire thrust of the letter, which advises Philadelphia to stay the course--continue the struggle for independence from England as a united republic composed of the original 13 colonies. Jefferson writes, "But who can say what would be the evils of a scission, and when & where they would end? Better keep together as we are, hawl off from Europe as soon as we can, & from all attachments to any portions of it. And if we feel their power just sufficiently to hoop us together, it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist."

Perhaps all those Hollywood and media types who are screeching about secession from the U.S. can read Jefferson's advice and just--stifle themselves.

"Solar sails" have been popular concepts in science fiction for years. Finally, a solar sail experiment is in the works that may lead to the use of the technique in future missions to Mars.

"Love is stronger than hate", says Michael Barone of U. S. News & World Report. That may very well be the story of the 2004 Presidential election. USNews.com: Republican turnout makes for a 51 percent nation (11/15/04)

The Corner on National Review Online

The Corner opines on watering down good whiskey--it's a good thing, if the water is of quality. The Corner on National Review Online

The final electoral vote count: President Bush, 286; Senator Kerry, 252

Little Green Footballs has more, including the complete county by county map shown below.

Instapundit alerts us that the popular vote tally now exceeds 4 million votes in the President's favor, and that Iowa and New Mexico are officially part of Bush Country. The Electoral College totals are 286 for the President, 253 for Kerry. Yahoo! News - Elections

THE MESOPOTAMIAN

Salaam, a courageous Iraqi blogger, says, "All those who have been following my blog from the start should know how I feel towards El Bush, the Avenger, the Lion-Heart and I cannot hide my happiness for this outcome, purely from a personal feeling of gratitude for what he has done for us, despite all the pain and hardships that we suffered and still do." THE MESOPOTAMIAN

Bush Country

USATODAY.com: County map of the vote



Churchill said, speaking to the British on VE Day in May 1945: "We may permit ourselves a brief period of jubilation."

Well done, Mr. President, well done.

The first country that came into crisis with the U.S. speaks out just before the election--and speaks ill of the U.S. Made in China? Not in my house.

The MEMRI TV project translation of UBL's latest tape threatens individual states with terror attacks if they vote for the President. Yigal Carmon on Osama bin Laden & Election 2004 on National Review Online

This, coupled with the N.Y. Post's publication of additional material not shown on Arab TV that contains more threats, attacks on the President, and complaints about the effectiveness of the coalition's efforts against Al Qaeda, remove any question that UBL wants to affect the U. S. election.

The Kerry campaign doesn't want you to see the "director's cut" of the UBL tape. New York Post Online Edition: Full Tape an Osama A Woe Show

After finishing my post on the the war on terror and the election below, along comes Cliff May in National Review Online's The Corner to make some very important points of his own that I agree with. The Corner on National Review Online

JustOneMinute has an excellent recap of NYTrogate here.

After listening to the evolution of NYTrogate all week, including Mr. Kerry's willingness to jump aboard and echo the criticisms that the NYT and CBS have leveled in their coverage, while continuing to hear the Kerry campaign's insistence that UBL was allowed to escape in Tora Bora despite General Franks insistent declaration that UBL wasn't even necessarily there at the time, I'm convinced that Kerry and perhaps Democrats in general don't know or have forgotten what the job of Commander in Chief entails. It's as though Kerry is running to be "Major in Chief", or to channel LBJ's failed Napoleonic attempts to run the Vietnam war from his sandbox in the White House.

I believe that the President has won the hearts of our soldiers precisely because he does not second guess tactical decisions in the theater of operations, and supports those who've made them. The administration has undertaken investigations into mistakes in handling prisoners and Halliburton, and those responsible have been held to account. While war is the ultimate political act, it is never a winning strategy to politicize the acts of the soldiers on the ground. It has been said, and rightly so, that all of the second guessing that has taken place about Iraq and Afghanistan would have rendered us powerless had the same press and pundit "coverage" happened during WWII. Terrible "mistakes" were made, at the cost of many more dead and injured than we have suffered in Iraq. Those mistakes could not have been avoided by more oversight by a man whose combat experience was as a Lt. (Jg.) aboard a river boat full of enlisted men and probably at least one petty officer more experienced than the Lieutenant who kept him from his most egregious mistakes--leaving aside the charges made by the Swift Boat Vets.

Mr. Kerry and his followers in and out of the MSM refuse to acknowledge any of the good that is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, even when it is easily found in the pages of, say, the Wall Street Journal, the blogs of Iraqis who are living their country's transformation or here. They somehow believe that they can overcome the lack of trust that most Americans have for Mr. Kerry's pacifist vacillations by alternately talking tough and criticizing decisions that are far below the Presidential or Cabinet levels. Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld have spoken their discovery of the atrophy of operational practice and protocols in the Defense Department upon their arrival in 2001. Secretary Rumsfeld has embarked upon a transformation effort that is designed to recast our forces, moving the active duty head count around so that more troops--more fighting troops, not REMFs--would be available for deployment, and so that their skills would better match the mission requirements at different stages of a conflict. Mr. Kerry does not speak to this with his Lt. (Jg.) credentials. Instead, he promises 40,000 more troops, and a doubling of our Special Forces. The former may or may not be the right thing to do, but it does not address the problem that the Secretary describes and that we see on TV daily: we are in a civil affairs/government infrastructure rebuilding and pacification/reconstruction effort in much of the country while at the same time using traditional forces to defeat the insurgency in a small region around Fallujah. A new group of 40,000 troops would relieve the latter, perhaps, but not the former. As for the doubling of Special Forces, the former SEAL at Froggy Ruminations has written knowledgeably and eloquently about how difficult that can be. These are special people; of all applicants for SEAL slots, typically only 3% succeed in graduating and joining that most elite of Special Forces. The other Special Forces groups are equally challenging in their mental and physical tests, and selective. It might require 600,000 male applicants over the course of a decade to raise the total number of Special Forces war fighters to 40,000 from ~20,000 today--assuming that we can retain most of the forces that we have now.

If the War on Terror and Iraq are the most important issues in this election as the polls say, then voters have but one choice to make. They must re-elect the President. Mr. Kerry has shown nothing in his record and nothing in his pronouncements in his campaign that establishes that he is in fact competent to lead without attempting to micro-manage the military as well as vacillating in his decisions. A Senator can afford to be deliberative and blow with the wind; his is but one voice and one vote among one hundred. A Mayor of a large city or a Governor must make decisions that affect thousands by his hand alone, and must hire, manage and lead a staff across a broad expanse of disciplines and crises. A sitting President has seen a far broader set of challenges than any Governor ever has. I believe that neither political party can afford to nominate candidates with such a breathtaking lack of operational experience and management ability in the future. More than any of Mr. Kerry's failings, I believe that those skills are his greatest weaknesses. The country cannot afford to attempt to train Mr. Kerry; to convert him from a man for all sides of an issue to a man driven to succeed in an approach he communicates in the same way every day. After 9/11, the world is once again a very dangerous place. UBL's appearance on video this week shows that he believes that Mr. Kerry may just be the man to give Al Qaeda the break it wants to regroup and reform. Mr. Bush will continue to press forward, relentlessly, implacably, just as those brave souls who endured hardships in the founding of our nation, throughout its many trials in war and peace. Mr. Bush is a real American, not a polished patrician. He is just what we need our President to be, right now.

I agree with the Powerline boys who host this image, this is a great picture of the President.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Hendrick family and their many friends in and out of NASCAR. I hope that the Hendrick stable of cars does well in the remaining races this season as a tribute to those who lost their lives so tragically. ESPN.com - Grieving Gordon's 'never been so inspired' to win

Instapundit points to a very scary set of creatures indeed. Korla Pundit: Infamous Monsters of Filmland

Bin Laden apparently appears, and speaks of contemporaneous events, albeit bizarrely. Towers in Lebanon? I look forward to reading a full translation without the "presenter's" comments on Memri.org at some point. DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2004?

Update: I haven't seen a transcript on Memri.org yet, but here's a slightly more complete version.

A couple of thoughts:
1) It's interesting to see some of the references to woolly thinking from Michael Moore; e.g., the President reading "My Pet Goat" to FL school children after the attack began.
2) As others have noted, this is the second tape from Al Qaeda this week. This could either be a very bad sign--an indication of an upcoming attack--or a sign that they wish to influence the election through rhetoric since they've been unable to attack us directly since 9/11.
3) It can't be good for Kerry to see UBL adopt leftist tenets in his speech.

Or, aspiring but unsuccessful logician speaks out on playground diplomacy. ThePittsburghChannel.com - News - Heinz Kerry Criticizes 'Neanderthal' Attacks On Husband

INDC Journal has another excellent roundup of the latest news as well as some from the past that collectively add context to the tale of NYTrogate.

Update: Wizbang has some very useful additional information here.

Well, hmmmpf, if you're going to believe THEM! They're the Pentagon! What do they know?! DefenseLINK News: Officials Say Chances of Enemy Ordnance Move Nearly Nil

An amazing article, well researched, and well sourced. Saddam Hussein's Philanthropy of Terror - by Deroy Murdock

And on a night when we could clearly see "the dark side of the moon", too. ESPN.com - MLB/FALLCLASSIC - Caple: 86'd forever

National Review Online's excellent blog, The Corner, reminds us of this story. CNN.com - Russian convoy fired on in Iraq - Apr. 6, 2003

Here's the full version of the Washington Times story on Iraqi arms smuggling aided by Russian special operators referenced below.

Another reason why Kerry should switch from the New York Times for his inspiration to this:

ABC News: Discrepancy Found in Explosives Amounts

This story is interesting (text shown below because the original site is very busy).

I like the quote in this article "Achalov wouldn't say why Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Akhmed decorated the two, telling the Russian Internet newspaper Gazeta.ru, which ran a photograph of the two in the Iraqi capital, only: 'We didn't fly to Baghdad to drink coffee.' "

Here's a related article in the Russian paper with photos of the Russians and Iraqis.

Apparently, among the topics that the Generals were able to advise the Iraqis on is a technique called maskirovska, or "smoke screen"/deception/camouflage.

They were confident in the plan that they helped Saddam develop, but Iraq's quick defeat unsettled Russia and made them doubt their standard military doctrine could stand up to America.

The AP gets around to admitting that the Iraqi Survey Group didn't find any IAEA seals at the site when they searched in May, 2003 in the final paragraph of the AP story here.
_________________________________________________________________

Russian special forces troops moved many of Saddam Hussein’s weapons and related goods out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the March 2003 U.S. military operation, The Washington Times has learned.

John A. Shaw, the deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said in an interview that he believes the Russian troops, working with Iraqi intelligence, "almost certainly" removed the high-explosive material that went missing from the Al-Qaqaa facility, south of Baghdad.

"The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to shred all evidence of any of the contractual arrangements they had with the Iraqis. The others were transportation units."

Mr. Shaw, who was in charge of cataloguing the tons of conventional arms provided to Iraq by foreign suppliers, said he recently obtained reliable information on the arms-dispersal program from two European intelligence services that have detailed knowledge of the Russian-Iraqi weapons collaboration.

Most of Saddam’s most powerful arms were systematically separated from other arms like mortars, bombs and rockets, and sent to Syria and Lebanon, and possibly to Iran, he said.
The Russian involvement in helping disperse Saddam’s weapons, including some 380 tons of RDX and HMX is still being investigated, Mr. Shaw said.

All I can say is, what he said. LILEKS (James) The Bleat

The rowback on NYTrogate begins, albeit slowly. The New York Times: Missing Explosives: No Check of Bunker, Unit Commander Says

The Questing Cat

If you ever thought about giving Kerry a pass for "voting for the $87 billion before voting against it", remember this. The Questing Cat: The Combat Life Saver 10.21.04

NYTrogate, a scandal with three players: the NYT, CBS "60 Minutes" (not them again!), and the Kerry campaign. Excellent posts here Say Anything: The Iraq Explosives Non-Story and here Captains Quarters as well as in The Drudge Report.

Update: to see some cool pictures of ordinance destruction in Iraq, click here and for a little more info from the Washington Times, click here.

Wow! Curt Schilling may have absorbed some of Ted Williams' spirit, courage and determination. Actually, I think that it was in Curt all along. FOXSports.com - Schilling makes medical history for Game 2

The Drudge Report points to a fascinating non-interview with John Kerry--why didn't he show? Was he worried that his canned answers wouldn't fit the script? Bob Woodward attempted to ask Kerry these questions about Iraq (washingtonpost.com)

What in the world is going on in my home town? Let the record show that if my Mom had been called to a classroom, and a ruckus erupted with her and a teacher, they'd still be wiping the walls with the teacher's sorry stain. And when my Dad arrived...well, you wouldn't like my Dad when he got angry...Yahoo! News - Teacher Jailed After Brawl With Parent

Who says Kerry has settled on a position. Once a flipper, always a flopper. Now he's in favor of the Patriot Act, but says it needs to be tougher!Yahoo! News: Kerry Supports Anti-Terror Act, Shifting Stance

The mighty hunter bags a bird, or does he?DRUDGE REPORT: Pool report on Kerry's hunting trip in OH

An update on the Kyoto Treaty. USATODAY.com: Russian economic woes may lead to Kyoto ratification.

What an egomaniac. Clinton wants to become U.N. Secretary General?

Big G, the hardest working lizard in show business! MSNBC: Godzilla gets star on Walk of Fame

As Ter-RAY-sa has shown today, having money doesn't mean you have anything to say that's worth listening to. Dinesh D'Souza on George Soros on National Review Online

Nanotechnology is becoming more interesting by the day. Grazing the Nanograss: Computerworld

Without John Heinz, she'd have made an excellent waitress at Denny's. Wacky Ter-RAY-sa opens mouth and inserts pedicured foot again. USATODAY.com: The real running mates

Arafat, the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Iranian terrorists, readers of the UK-based Guardian, and now this. Kerry was right; he has lots of support from foreigners. ABC News: Cubans Push for Kerry Win in Florida

Many, including myself, have debunked the left's insistence that Depleted Uranium is inherently dangerous--other than when fired from a weapon. A just-published Pentagon study confirms the position I and many others hold. This article in the New York Times reports on the Pentagon study, but mistakenly states that "Depleted uranium is a byproduct of nuclear weapons production." Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the enrichment of uranium, irrespective of the purpose for the enrichment. See this article from the USGS site.

This says it all, and says it very well to boot. GeorgeWBush.com: President Bush Committed to Fighting Terrorist Threat

Kerry's legislative record is, shall we say, modest. The Volokh Conspiracy quotes FactCheck.org on Kerry's record

Tom Friedman warns of a trifecta of baby boomers whose approach cannot be ignored forever. The New York Times: 'Oops. I Told the Truth.'

Qualities' by David Freddoso

The latest swift boat and POW vets ad shows a very large group of decorated vets who oppose Kerry. The most decorated living vet of all is among them; the one with the big blue ribbon that only Congress can issue. This is his story. HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE: America's Most Highly Decorated Living Veteran Calls Kerry 'a Man of Benedict Arnold Qualities'

Victor Davis Hanson on Election 2004 on National Review Online

One of Victor Davis Hanson's best columns takes a look at the world through sharply focused, clear lensed glasses. Victor Davis Hanson on Election 2004 on National Review Online

This post makes an interesting case that Hillary Clinton had a role in the decline of U.S. vaccine development and manufacturing. Let's Fly Under the Bridge: Hillary Make You Sick?

Those unintended consequences get you every time, especially when you don't understand economics and the rational behavior of businesses (those that want to survive, that is).

Update: The Weekly Standard places blame at the feet of trial lawyers without mentioning Hillary.

Ann Althouse points to an explanation on the guaranteed failure of a policy that calls for nationwide re-importation of Canadian drugs that should be obvious to anyone without an agenda. Althouse: NYT confesses that Canada is no panacea for high drug prices

PoliPundit points to a great David Brooks column in the Times. The New York Times: Debate, Declaim, Debacle

Nine gin-soaked white raisins a day keeps arthritis away? Well, after 8 days, you'll have eaten 72. Some interpretations of the Koran say that the reward in heaven is not 72 virgins, but 72 white raisins. Probably not gin-soaked, though. Heinz Kerry pitches health care

Daniel Drezner's angst over his vote leads one of his readers to provide an excellent unmasking of a Kerry foreign policy. danieldrezner.com: About that p-value

NightLine catches river fever after trying to find credible Vietnamese witnesses to corroborate Kerry's Silver Star saga. JustOneMinute: Nightline Goes To Vietnam

Our domestic papers haven't covered the UN Oil-for-Food scandal that thoroughly, but others are doing a good job of searching for nuggets from the Duelfer report. Scotsman.com: Saddam bankrolled Palestinian terrorists

Hat tip: Captain's Quarters

This fascinating article may shed some light on why Kerry received a third citation for at least one of his medals. Mystery Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge, says The New York Sun

Hat tip: Instapundit

Now that John Edwards has demagogued stem cell research into a panacea that will make the crippled walk again, it's useful to understand exactly what the state of the art in stem cell research is.

The following is a brief article from the AMA that answers much of the common FAQ.

This AMA article contains a much more detailed review.

Here are two good resources on stem cell research and activities underway today here and here from the NIH.

Update: Forget all that techy stuff. Just check out Lileks' take. Money quote: "I could talk about John Edwards’ comments on stem-cell research, but really it’s very simple. Stem cells will be injected into the bloodstream, where they will act like Star Wars Midichloridans, and help the quadrapalegic to use the Force and stand erect."

Which OS are You?

Hey, the Germans offer a glimmer of hope to Kerry after all. FT.com: Germany in rethink on Iraq force deployment

Redstate.org points to an article on an attack on two electrical transmission towers over the weekend. JS Online: Bolts taken from towers, police say

The always interesting Lileks combines parenting with an excellent screed on Kerry's mindset. LILEKS (James) The Bleat

Kerry's comments in a New York Times Magazine article out today are ridiculous, and as such are ridiculed far and wide in the blogosphere. No one points out the silliness of Kerry's comments any better than Hugh Hewitt. Hugh Hewitt: terror as a nuisance?

The man from Macon, Mississippi who escaped from Iraqi terrorists found a renewed faith and love for life. The Clarion-Ledger: Thomas Hamill's new book and renewed life

More wonderful news and images from Afghanistan

The Politburo Diktat: Puppet Election Update

WMD stockpile found? Well, not according to the ever higher bar set by the MSM. NewsMax.com: Saddam's 500 tons of Uranium

It's a great day; here's proof.

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Now that John Major has been handily returned to office, Kerry's sister can go find some other people to annoy.

This was by far the best of the two debates. President Bush showed up, and did very well. Kerry did well, but not as well as in the first debate. The pundits are divided as to who won.

Some conservative pundits moan that the President let some softballs hit the glove, instead of knocking them out of the park. That may be, but that doesn’t mean that the facts aren’t there for everyone to see.

Kerry voted against Gulf War I. He voted against a war during the run up to which the UN authorized the use of force, the sitting President assembled a coalition of Arabs and others to either fight, provide basing, allowed military over flight rights or other support, or just financial contributions. In Gulf War II, Kerry knew that Saddam had done what it had done in Kuwait, to the Kurds, to the Marsh Arabs. He had violated over a dozen UN resolutions. He fired missiles at coalition aircraft almost every day. He gave speeches (that can be read on Memri.org) in praise of his scientists who worked on weapons of mass destruction. His government mislead the UN weapons inspectors, providing old, misleading information to them, and no proof of the final disposition of the weapons of mass destruction that we know that he had because of inspections earlier in the ‘90s.

After the war, Kerry now knows that Saddam acted as a “weapon of mass corruption” to the UN and some of our traditional allies (thanks to the Duelfer report). His efforts lead to the loosening of the sanctions and restrictions on his conduct. He kept scientists and engineers who worked on his WMD program hidden, and on his payroll, so that they could resume their work in full some day. He murdered hundreds of thousands of his own citizens. He paid bounties to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. He provided sites for terrorist training camps, and safe haven to some of the leaders of terrorist organizations. His government met with Al Qaeda representatives on numerous occasions. He commissioned paintings of his grinning visage against images of the burning Twin Towers, associating himself with their destruction. He attempted to buy an entire missile assembly line from North Korea. He bought weapons and spare parts from many countries (see the CIA report) that were proscribed. French Roland missiles shot down an A-10 in Iraq in ’03. Some of those missiles were sold to Iraq just months before the war began. Two M1 A1 tanks—almost indestructible—were knocked out by Russian Katyusha rockets. In the addition to the UN and the intelligence agencies of nearly every major nation, Saddam had the Presidents of Egypt and Jordan convinced that he had WMD—even his own generals believed it.

In Seattle, we’ve seen incidents where policemen have shot suspects who were believed to be armed and dangerous, but may not have been after the fact. No policeman can allow someone to brandish a weapon without taking steps to disarm him, one way or another. Saddam did everything he could to convince his enemies that he had such weapons to act as a deterrent and as a means of feeding his egomaniacal desire for preeminence in the region, especially vis a vis Iran. In the end, Saddam relied on his bribes of UN staff and Security Council members to protect him from the coalition. His calculation failed.

After 9/11, no reasonable leader would allow an enemy nation-state to threaten the US or its national interests. Since the end of Gulf War 1, Iraq has been at a state of war with the US and the coalition. The onus was on Saddam to prove that Iraq had complied with the terms of surrender that ended Gulf War 1. Saddam saw Al Qaeda treat the US as a paper tiger throughout the 90s (see Somalia, the Cole, and World Trade Center 1), and saw that the West could be bought off. The Iraqi limits on Oil-for-Food exports increased from under $500 million annually to over $2.5 billion within the decade of the ‘90s. The press continued to collaborate by showing images of malnourished Iraqi families living in squalor. Iraqi sympathizers called on the UN to end the sanctions so that this “outrage” could be ended. Saddam gambled that his supporters among the bribed and useful fools would be able to restrain the US and its coalition. He was wrong.

Kerry tries to paint a different picture. His comments on David Letterman's show indicate that Saddam might now be running Iraq today if Kerry had been elected President in 2000. He tries to move to the President’s right on Tora Bora, on adding two new divisions to the Army, on doubling our Special Forces, while not dismissing a whispering campaign about a new draft, a “back door draft” that affects Reservists, and strain on the National Guard that he claims are mistakes by the President. The President has firmly disavowed a new draft, but hasn’t put down Kerry’s charges on Tora Bora as firmly as he could. Perhaps that is because there is more to the story than we know today. Perhaps the collection of teeth, bones and fingernails that the Special Forces found in the Tora Bora caves contain some that were once UBL’s. Perhaps our leaders believe that we should not give the terrorists a martyr to avenge. Someday, we shall see.

Kerry’s record as a Lt. (jg.) is not enough to mark him as a great military strategist. No one has shown that the President has overruled his Pentagon officers like President Johnson did to affect the conduct of the war. Kerry seems to say that he would do just that.

I think that the President gave as good as he got on the domestic portion of the debate. On the foreign policy portion, he has ammo that he hasn’t used yet. I sincerely hope that he hasn’t waited too long.

Update: read this and this to see how consistent the President has been on Iraq. The second link contains the five (5) demands that the President made of Iraq in order to comply with the world and avoid going to war.

A man with a penchant for understatement says, "They're (the sanctions are) often better than nothing," said Joshua Muravchik, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who is writing a book on the United Nations. The New York Times: U.S. Report Says Hussein Bought Arms With Ease

George Gilder has taken his lumps after the stock market bubble burst, but he shows that he still has an acute understanding of national economic policy--good and bad--in this editorial on the WSJ Online.WSJ.com - America's New Jingoes

Money quote: "The U.S. today stands at a crossroads. The key economic issue confronting the next president is whether to embrace the policies of decline and sclerosis that afflict old Europe and have left generations of young people unemployed; or whether to enlist with Asia in the supply-side policies of dynamism and growth that have brought more human beings out of poverty than any other regimes in world history.

It should be an easy choice. The American left once displayed a real concern for poor people, but today they exhibit merely a morbid envy of the rich. Once they supported American engagement in the world. Today, they retreat to a timorous parochialism. Now it is President Bush who shows compassion for the world's poor and confidence rather than timidity before the forces of global capitalism. It is Mr. Bush who is embracing Asian dynamism rather than Eurosclerosis. For America, that is the winning side."

Paul Bremer sets the record straight in the New York Times. The New York Times: What I Really Said About Iraq

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker must feel like he's being used to make a bunch of crooks look good. His "investigation" appears to be going nowhere. Meanwhile, the newly released Duelfer report has already blown the lid off of U.N. corruption and complicity with Saddam's schemes. Congress is calling on the U.N. to release its records. We shall see how the rest of the media covers this aspect of the story, or whether they repeat the "no WMD stockpile" story from the days of the release of the Kay report. Claudia Rosett on Duelfer Report on National Review Online

This post at the excellent Kerry Spot at National Review Online was extremely illuminating for me. We now know that Kerry is a failure at rallying allies to a cause. He failed because his disrespects the contributions and sacrifices of the members of the coalition countries supporting us in Iraq. He failed because he does not see that French and German national interests and internal politics are aligned against the US' national interests.

Glenn Reynolds says it best.