"If the president proposed it, we oppose it." This truly does seem to be the case.

Following the gloom-and-doom lead of those who decide what’s news, Congressional Democrats renewed efforts to assure failure by setting a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Language requiring just that has been inserted in the supplemental spending bill — legislation intended to equip, train and pay those fighting the war. To ensure passage, Democrat leaders larded up the emergency spending measure with $21 billion in pork, prompting one wag to describe the bill as “a sausage wrapped in Old Glory.”

If the sacrifices thus far weren’t so severe, and the consequences of failure weren’t so serious, all this would be farce. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) correctly observed, “this legislation is dangerous. It is constitutionally dubious ... it would authorize a scattered band of U.S. senators to tie the hands of the commander-in-chief at a moment of decisive importance in the fight against terrorism in Iraq.”

He’s right. And he was also correct to hold them accountable. “It is increasingly clear,” he explained, “that the only principle guiding our colleagues on the other side is this: if the president proposed it, we oppose it. This is a bad principle in good times. It's outrageous at a time of war.”

Read all of Oliver North's story here.

This is not new. It should not surprise anyone. It should make you sick though:



BAGHDAD -- Al Qaeda in Iraq is using kidnapped children to pick up weapons dropped in battle zones, get past checkpoints and die in car bombs, according to U.S. officials and Iraqis in Baghdad.
    "Al Qaeda is using children to pick up weapons and ammunition knowing that U.S. troops will not shoot against children," said one U.S. military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
    There has also been a reported incident in which children were used to drive safely past a checkpoint in order to detonate a car closer to a target.
    "Men traveling with children in the back of their cars rarely get searched because they look like a family," said Hassan, a middle-aged Shi'ite living in one of the capital's older mixed neighborhoods.
    "Then they leave the car and blow it up by remote control with the children in it," he said. Hassan, who did not want his full name used out of fear of retaliation, said at one point last year children with Down syndrome had been used to carry bombs.
Wonder why so many children are dying in Iraq?

They have thumbed their noses at us long enough. Their President has called for the destruction of Israel and the United States. We are fighting them in Iraq. We are finding stockpiles of Iranian weapons use by al Qaeda. They are continuing with their development of nuclear weapons. Now, they are taking prisoners.

The Iranian Government has not followed any of the resolutions by the UN. This does not surprise me though. The UN has proved time and again to be useless.

The time has come to do something about this country.


Update:  Redstate asks a very good question:

Has Iran decided, with Britain leaving Iraq and the U.S. Congress intent on killing the war effort, that the West has gone weak? Have the Democrats' machinations on Capitol Hill emboldened the Iranians?

The bill that sets a timeline to pull out of Iraq, passed the House:

WASHINGTON  —  House Democrats called for a new direction in Iraq on Friday, passing a measure ordering President Bush to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq by September 2008.



Bush to veto:

Bush will veto the bill, White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters at Friday's briefing.

"Look, the president's going to veto this bill, and he's going to veto it because even though it provides some funding, it also puts handcuffs on generals, colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, privates, and everybody else," Snow said.



This bill would not have passed if not for the efforts of Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats added a lot of pork for the "on-the fence" members: 



Aquaculture Operations: Provides $5 million for payments to "aquaculture operations and other persons in the U.S. engaged in the business of breeding, rearing, or transporting live fish" (such as shellfish, oysters and clams) to cover economic losses incurred as a result of an emergency order issued by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on October 24, 2006.

Spinach: Provides $25 million for payments to spinach producers that were unable to market spinach crops as a result of the FDA Public Health Advisory issued on September 14, 2006.

Hurricane Citrus Program: Provides $100 million to provide assistance to citrus producers (such as orange producers) in the area declared a disaster related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

NASA: Provides $35 million to NASA, under the "exploration capabilities" account, for "expenses related to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina."

Corps of Engineers: Provides $1.3 billion to Corps of Engineers for continued repairs on the levee system in New Orleans.

FEMA: Provides $4.3 billion for disaster relief at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The bill would eliminate the state and local matching requirements for certain FEMA assistance (in connection with Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma, and Dennis) in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida, and provides that the federal portion of these costs will be 100%.

HUD Indian Housing: Provides $80 million in tenant-based rental assistance for public and Indian housing under HUD. Crop Disaster Assistance: Provides roughly $3 billion in agriculture assistance to crop producers and livestock owners experiencing losses in 2005, 2006, or 2007 due to bad weather.

Shrimp: Provides $120 million to the shrimp industry for expenses related to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

Frozen Farmland: Provides $20 million for the cleanup and restoration of farmland damaged by freezing temperatures during a time period beginning on January 1, 2007 through the date of enactment.

Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program: Provides $283 million for payments under the MILC program, to extend the life of the program for one year, through September 30, 2008. MILC provides payments to dairy farmers when milk prices fall below a certain rate.

Peanut Storage Subsidies: Provides $74 million to extend peanut storage payments through 2007. The Peanut Subsidy Storage program, which is set to expire this year, pays farmers for the storage, handling, and other costs for peanuts voluntarily placed in the marketing loan program.

FDA Office of Women's Health: Provides $4 million for the Office of Women's Health at the Food and Drug Administration.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Provides $60.4 million for fishing communities, Indian tribes, individuals, small businesses, including fishermen, fish processors, and related businesses for assistance related to "the commercial fishery failure." According to the Committee Report, this funding is to be used to provide disaster relief for those along the California and Oregon coast affected by the "2006 salmon fishery disaster in the Klamath River."

Avian Flu: Provides $969 million for the Department of HHS to continue to prepare and respond to an avian flu pandemic. Of this funding, $870 million is to be used for the development of vaccines.

Secure Rural Schools Act (Forest County Payments): Provides $400 million to be used for one-time payments to be allocated to states under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. This program provides a funding stream (known as forest county payments) to counties with large amounts of Bureau of Land Management land, in order to compensate for the loss of receipt-sharing payments on this land caused by decreased revenue from timber sales due to environmental protections for endangered species. The authorization for these forest county payments expired at the end of FY 2006, and counties received their last payment under the Act in December 2006.

LIHEAP: Provides $400 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Vaccine Compensation: Provides $50 million to compensate individuals for injuries caused by the H5N1 vaccine, which is a flu vaccine. Payment to Widow of Rep. Norwood: Provides $165,200 to Gloria W. Norwood, the widow of former Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA), an RSC Member, who passed away last month. In the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2005 (H.R. 1268), Congress provided $162,100 to Doris Matsui, the widow of former Rep. Robert Matsui.

Capitol Power Plant: Provides $50 million to the Capitol Power Plant for asbestos abatement and safety improvements. Liberia: Provides that money appropriated for FY 2007 for the Bilateral Economic Assistance program at the Department of Treasury may be used to assist Liberia in retiring its debt arrearages to the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the African Development Bank.

SCHIP: Provides $750 million to the Secretary of HHS to provide assistance to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) "shortfall states,", in the form of an amount "as the Secretary determines will eliminate the estimated shortfall." This provision is direct spending that is essentially capped at $750 million and designated as an emergency to avoid PAYGO constraints.

Minimum Wage Increase: Increases the federal minimum wage from $5.15-per-hour to $7.25-per-hour over two-plus years-a 41% increase. Yields $16.5 billion in private-sector costs over five years.

Tax Increases and Shifts: Implements several tax increases and shifts, including: denying the lowest maximum capital gains tax rate for certain minors and adults, extending the suspension of interest payments due to the IRS, and adjusting the deadlines for corporate estimated tax payments. Costs taxpayers $1.380 billion over the FY2007-FY2017 period.



Even though it will not become law, this bill has hurt the War on Terror. It gives the enemy hope. This is truly sad.

I know I have posted a lot of stuff about Fred, but he is guest-hosting for Paul Harvey, and just keeps coming up with good things to say. Just listen.

I hope he runs. The only other candidates in the race I could vote for are Hunter, and Newt. I don't think either of them could win the big one. Fred can!

Run, Fred, run.

Tony Snow tells a CBS reporter " You are sounding like a partisan rather than a reporter". This is not a new development. Anyone who has been paying attention to the news, already knows this has been happening for a long time. But it is nice to here it from a White House staff member:

SNOW: The perception is you’re trying to badger me into creating a fight between the White House and the, the legislative branch. And what we’re trying to do is something pretty extraordinary. The legislative branch has no oversight responsibility over the White House, and what we’re –

SMITH: Tony, here’s what it looks like is that these, these people who are, certainly serve at the, at the will of the president, or the pleasure of the president, have been kicked out for undue political influence. Even on the front page of your “Washington Post” today you have the lead prosecutor in the big tobacco case saying that the Alberto Gonzales Justice Department, quote/unquote, “political interference is happening at justice across the department. When decisions are made now at the Bush attorney general’s office, politics is the primary consideration. The rule of law goes out the window.”

SNOW: Harry, you’re sounding like a partisan rather than a reporter here. Let me — please permit me to try to explain what’s going on. Because if you take a look also,reporting in the “New York Times,” what they’ve said is a look at the documents indicates that there is no political interference. When people have looked at the available documentary evidence in the case of the US attorney, zippo. So I think what you need to do is to stop trying to make a break for political interference and maybe do what we’re asking members of Congress to do,
which is figure out what the facts are.


The video is here at Hot Air.

Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has returned. I am not a fan of John Edwards, but my heart does go out to the Edwards family. Please keep her in your prayers.

 They want to make it harder for Republicans to cut taxes in the future.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News agrees:

It's bad enough that the Democrats are wasting taxpayer dollars left and right on pork, but now they're actually trying to make it harder to cut taxes in the future,

"Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa., became agitated during the morning question period over the considerable burden the budget resolution would impose on that panel to find offsets.

Grassley said the budget provided just 5 percent of the revenue required for the new proposed spending. "The rest is smoke and mirrors," he said. The likelihood that the Finance Committee will be able to come up with revenue increases of that magnitude "is very remote," he added.

(Judd) Gregg argued that the pay/go restrictions in the budget, which require every tax cut or spending increase to be offset unless waived by a 60-vote majority, ensures that most of the tax cuts that will expire by 2010 will not be extended. He said that would amount to $900 billion in tax increases in the future."

So, the tax cuts, which have been shown over and over again to increase the amount of revenue coming into the federal government, would be treated as if they decrease government revenue. Then, the imaginary amount of this decrease will be calculated, and unless the decrease can be offset with spending cuts, Congress will need 60 votes to get the tax cut through.

In other words, not only do the Democrats want to raise your taxes, they want to make it harder for the Republicans to let you keep more of your own money.

No matter how much money the Democrats in Congress waste, no matter how much more we spend, no matter how many new government programs are put into place, no matter how much you pay in taxes, it's never going to be enough for the Democrats.

The Democrats sure know how to put on a show.

And then this Quote from Barbara Boxer:

After questioning the Oscar winning writer of the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," Inhofe didn't wait for his answers, saying Gore had 30 minutes to speak, and he had 15 minutes of questions.

Inhofe also got into repeated spats with committee chairwoman Barbara Boxer. After complaining that he wanted his 15 minutes, Boxer, D-Calif., held up her gavel and responded: "Elections have consequences. ... You don't still have this. I make the rules."



Is this the way to run Congress? With school yard taunts. Oh well, why should we expect anything different?

Update: Hot Air has video.

This is great. The video is over 14 minutes long. But it is well worth the time.

It's about time the White House stood up to the Dem's attacks:



He’s willing to let Gonzales testify before Congress about the U.S. Attorneys matter but the most he’ll allow for White House staff like Rove and Harriet Miers is an off-the-record interview for factfinding purposes. No dice, says Leahy, who wants Rove on the hot seat and under oath. So Bush called the presser and told him to get bent, insisting that he’s not about to forfeit executive privilege to serve the Democratic interest in “show trials.” Which means we’re looking at a separation-of-powers showdown, probably in the Supreme Court, unless one or the other side blinks first and relents.


I hope he don't back down. If he continues to let the Dems use these "show trials" the attacks will keep coming.

Once again Fred tells it like it is:

 I think its time for a little plain talk to the leaders of Mexico. Something like:

 hey guys, you’re our friends and neighbors and we love you but it’s time you had a little dose of reality. A sovereign nation loses that status if it cannot secure its own borders and we are going to do whatever is necessary to do so, although our policies won’t be as harsh as yours are along your southern border. And criticizing the U.S. for alternately doing too much and too little to stop your illegal activities is not going to set too well with Americans of good will who are trying to figure a way out of the mess that your and our open borders policy has already created.

My friends, it’s also time for a little introspection. Since we all agree that improving Mexico’s economy will help with the illegal-immigration problem, you might want to consider your own left-of -center policies. For example, nationalized industries are not known for enhancing economic growth. Just a thought. But here’s something even more to the point that you might want to think about: What does it say about the leadership of a country when that country’s economy and politics are dependent upon the exportation of its own citizens?

I cannot believe the amount of time we are spending on this issue. Mr. Hawkins over at right wing news thinks it would be a bad idea for Mr. Gonzales to leave. I have to agree:

#1) It would cement the false impression in the minds of the American people that Bush did something wrong.

#2) It wouldn't end the furor. To the contrary, it would accelerate it as the Democrats were inspired to try to take more scalps.

#3) There would be a long, ugly battle over Gonzales successor.

So, having Gonzales resign would be counter-productive.



You can't argue with that logic. The bad thing is, I have come to expect this from the Republicans. As soon as the Democrats invent something to hurt Republicans, they leave. I understand the thought behind this. I think they do this so as not to hurt the party. I don't believe this strategy is working. It emboldens the Dems. As soon as one of us leave, they start looking for fresh meat. We need to start standing up to these attacks.

The President and Mr. Gonzales did nothing wrong. That point cannot be disputed. Why not scream this to the top of your lungs?

Listen for yourself to how a real candidate should talk.

Run, Fred, Run.

America needs you.

This from Confederate Yankee: 

Lawbreaker?

It matters little to me who is in power at the time, but we need to have a unified national voice, and that means the offical federal government representatives, whoever they are at the time, should be the only ones negotiating with foreign powers on behalf of the United States. Period.

I'm not sure that what Howard Dean admits to is illegal, but to my layman's eye, his actions seem dangerously close (h/t phin).

I personally feel he has broken the law. Read the link above, and follow his link. I think you will agree.