Kowabunga

The Anti-Strib is running a long excerpt from the
Globe and Mail out of Canada. Here's a clip:

When it came time to write up the premarital agreement between Zakaria Amara and Nada Farooq, Ms. Farooq briefly considered adding a clause that would allow her to ask for a divorce.

She said that Mr. Amara (now accused of being a leader of the alleged terror plot that led to the arrests of 17 Muslim men early this month) had to aspire to take part in jihad.

"[And] if he ever refuses a clear opportunity to leave for jihad, then i want the choice of divorce," she wrote in one of more than 6,000 Internet postings uncovered by The Globe and Mail.

Wives of four of the central figures arrested last month were among the most active on the website, sharing, among other things, their passion for holy war, disgust at virtually every aspect of non-Muslim society and a hatred of Canada. The posts were made on personal blogs belonging to both Mr. Amara and Ms. Farooq, as well as a semi-private forum founded by Ms. Farooq where dozens of teens in the Meadowvale Secondary School area chatted. The vast majority of the posts were made over a period of about 20 months, mostly in 2004, and the majority of those were made by the group's female members.

The tightly knit group of women who chatted with each other includes Mariya (the wife of alleged leader Fahim Ahmad), Nada (the wife of Mr. Amara, the alleged right-hand man) Nada's sister Rana (wife of suspect Ahmad Ghany), as well as Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal (the Muslim convert from Cape Breton, N.S. who married the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal). The women's husbands are part of a core group of seven charged with the most severe crimes -- plotting to detonate truck bombs against the Toronto Stock Exchange, a Canadian Forces target, and the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

I cannot fathom what thought processes go on in the mind of someone who would want to include a clause allowing for her to sue for divorce if her husband to be does not follow the path of "jihad." It is very disturbing, to say the least.

In the case of what this article reports, and it is long and detailed piece, I don't know who is more warped; the men who were arrested, or their wives, especially this Nada Farooq, who "prays" that even the son she hopes to have will follow the path of the "jihad."

I know that all Muslims are not like those portrayed in this article; but very few of them seem to be speaking out against the terrorists and their supporters.

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Iraq
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Canada

Posted by Sqotty at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Checking the Operation Iraqi Freedom site, I spotted a news article I seriously doubt hat we'll see in the mainstream media. The article covers the good stuff going on in Iraq.

In Husseiniya, Iraq, city officials and fire fighters recently hosted a ceremony marking the opening of a new $1.1 million, three-story fire station that will benefit the city's 450,000 residents.

The 925-square meter concrete structure features five bays; three for ladder trucks and two for sport utility vehicles. It also includes a dormitory area for 25 fire fighters; a dining room for 30; a commercial-grade kitchenette equipped to feed 40 people; a training room for 20; locker room; a control room; and a chief's office.

The citizens of Judayda in western Nineveh are also enjoying better quality of life with the completion of a newly renovated well June 24.

With the intense summer heat and many nonfunctional wells in Judayda, Soldiers from Civil Affairs Team A, Company B, 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion made this a priority project.

The well, which services 2,000 people, was improved by providing a new storage tank, water pump, and power generation equipment. The renovation also provided 30 jobs to the local citizens.

The article also details out the Mahmoodia Road Project, which broke ground on June 25th and is expected to be completed within 30 days.

These are the kind of good news reports that just seem to be missed in the MSM as they focus only on the bad things going on, such as the most recent terrorist attacks, killing some 46 people across Iraq.

Every project that is undertaken to improve the lives of Iraqi's puts us one small step closer to mission accomplished and establishing a freedom loving democracy in the heart of the Middle East.

Whether it is infrastructure projects such as road, wells, fire houses, police stations, and schools, or the training and rebuilding of a well disciplined military and police forces, the Coalition of the Willing is making daily headway in stabilizing Iraq.

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GWOT
War on Terror
Military

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Much hay has been made since the Supreme Court handed down its erroneous decision in the Hamdan case concerning military tribunals for terrorists. The basic argument is that these terrorists are not covered under the Geneva Convention, and, to any one who has actually read the pertinent material (I have, and it's on the 'net), you will see that indeed, these terrorist thugs are NOT protected under the Geneva Convention. Five Liberal Justices got it wrong. Not surprisingly.

What I like is Justice Thomas' response in the dissent, found in a FoxNews report:

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a strongly worded dissent, saying the court's decision would "sorely hamper the president's ability to confront and defeat a new and deadly enemy."

The court's willingness, Thomas said, "to second-guess the determination of the political branches that these conspirators must be brought to justice is both unprecedented and dangerous."

Amen to that, brother.

Justice Stevens, who wrote the majority opinion, contends that 10 of the terrorists held in Gitmo, cannot be tired under military war-crimes trials as it violates U.S. Law and the Geneva Conventions, without Congressional approval.

Okay, Congress, let's get it done. Give the administration the authority it needs to try these guys for war-crimes in a military tribunal. I won't hold my breath waiting.

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The Star Tribune editorial page is at it again, claiming Minnesotans are not taxed enough and can afford to pay more.

It’s a followup to an ad headlined "We can afford to pay more state taxes." Here’s the blurb:

It listed more than 200 prominent Minnesotans. All have incomes that reach into the top tax bracket. All are begging the next Legislature and governor: Please, tax us more.

Fine. If these 200 people say they can afford to pay more in taxes, what is stopping them from whipping out their checkbooks and writing some very large checks to fill the coffers for the special projects they want.

Here’s a list from the column of what is planned:

Give every 3- and 4-year-old access to center-based preschool education. Cost: $200 million per year.

Provide health insurance for every child whose family income is less than $60,000 per year. Cost: $300 million per year.

Build a complete metro light-rail network over 10 years. Cost: $250 million per year.

Never mind that these kinds of estimates are never accurate, and that this is just the beginning.

I seem to recall the Massachusetts added a line to their income tax returns to make it easy for those who believe they are not paying enough to write that check and pay what they believe is their fair share. Maybe it is time to do the same thing in Minnesota.

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Okay, I don't normally write about Rakehell meetings, but this time I will. You see, after we were finished with discussing plans for the upcoming meeting, Patrick pulled out a couple of old video productions of the Rakehell. specifically, Battleship Vengeance.

As it turns out, in the third production, "Cold Vengeance", one James Lileks had a role in it. He played a Klingon, Judge Klink. You've really got to search through his archives to find mentiuon of it. Funny hting is, he Klings up really well. I'll have to see if there is a way to capture a still image of it sometime.

The rakehell is planning on something special at Convergence this year to commeorate 40 years of Star Trek. Not sure when during the con, but will be worth seeing.

KAG
Klingon

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Just picked this up on FoxNews

President Bush declared Friday that the federal government can only seize private property for a public use such as a hospital or road.

The president signed an executive order in response to a Supreme Court decision granting local governments broad power to bulldoze people's homes to make way for private development.

A year ago the Supreme Court, in a split decision, got eminent domain wrong, by expanding the powers of local governments to seize private proeprty, thus limiting the rights of homeowners. Since that decision, there has been a number of State governments (including Minnesota) working on legislation to restore the rights of property owners.

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At the time of writing this piece, there is yet to be any mention of the declassified portion of a report detailing out the discovery of some 500 chemical weapons that have been found in Iraq since 2003 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The St. Paul Pioneer Press has this headline: "New report offers no evidence that Iraq stockpiled WMD"

Now wait a minute…500 chemical munitions does not constitute evidence that Saddam Hussein was not stockpiling WMDs?

It gets better:

But the intelligence officials said the munitions dated from before the 1991 Persian Gulf War and were for the most part badly deteriorated. "They are not in a condition where they could be used as designed," one intelligence official said.

This is contrary to what the report states…from the actual report (point 5 from the report):

While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.

Last I checked, if they were not in a "condition where they could be used as designed" implies that the chemical agents are completely inert, in other words, HARMLESS.

The actual report states exactly the opposite, the darned things are dangerous.

Here’s another interesting tidbit:

They (intelligence officials) said the old munitions had been found in groups of one and two, indicating that they'd been discarded, not that they were part of an organized program to stockpile banned weapons.

The declassified portion of the document gives no such details. Either these so-called intelligence officials are passing out classified information and thus violating the law, not to mention National Security, or they are liars.

And it gets better:

One of the declassified key points says the munitions - apparently dating from Iraq's 1980-88 war with Iran - could be sold on the black market.

But one intelligence official said there was "no evidence that any element of the insurgency in Iraq is in possession of these kinds of munitions."

The terrorists haven’t been in possession of WMDs? Time for some history lessons:

May 18, 2004, the Washington Post ran a piece detailing out how terrorists used an artillery shell filled with sarin nerve gas. Fortunately, it failed to trigger as needed to mix the chemical agents so as to create a lethal mix. It was believed that the terrorists that planted the bomb did not know exactly what they had, or did not know how to effectively use it.

There was also an artillery shell filled with mustard gas around the same time.

So much for the intelligence of the unidentified "intelligence official."

There is no doubt that the terrorists are attempting (and inadvertently, succeeding) at acquiring such munitions. Let’s hope they (the murdering terrorist thugs) continue to fail to realize what they’ve got when they do get 'em, or fail to figure out how to correct use them.

I suspect that the writer of the piece has not been following the War in Iraq, and the case of WMDs, as indicated by his failure to recognize a load of horse hockey when it is dropped on his lap.

Either way, this particular piece is an extremely biased piece; sounds to me like the leftwing controlled MSM is finding numerous ways to spin the declassified data on WMDs recovered in Iraq.

Tags:
Iraq
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Chemical Weapons

Posted by Sqotty at 7:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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This is BIG!

Today, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) announced the declassification of a document that states some 500 chemical weapons have been found in Iraq since 2003. From Senator Santorum's website:

SANTORUM: Good afternoon. Senator Rick Santorum. With me, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Pete Hoekstra. Today we are here to make public a document, an unclassified version of a document that Congressman Hoekstra and I have been working on, trying to uncover, I guess, or find out about with respect to weapons of mass destruction, particularly chemical weapons recovered in Iraq.

On the floor of the Senate today we are debating the issue of the war in Iraq, and three of my colleagues just today said the following things.

Jack Reed, quote: We've heard the initial defenses of the approach to Iraq as we were going after weapons of mass destruction. There were none. They were not there.

Chris Dodd: Mr. President, that if I had known then what I know now, namely that Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction, I would not have given the president my vote.

Patty Murray: We looked for weapons of mass destruction and we found none.

Congressman Hoekstra and I are here today to say that we have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons. It's a document that was developed by our intelligence community which for the last two and a half months I have been pursuing.

And thanks to the help of the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, ultimately he was able to get it in his hands and I was able to look for and look at.

And I think both of us feel very strongly that this is vitally important information that the American public needs to know. And so I will read the portions of the unclassified version and then I'll turn it over to Peter to make his comments about the significance of that, and then we'll be happy to answer questions.

The unclassified version of this report states as follows. Quote: Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.

Now, let me go off the quote. That means that in addition to the 500 there are filled and unfilled munitions still believed to exist within the country.

This also points out that all those years of U.N. Weapons Inspectors crawling through Iraq was a complete and utter failure, and that the Bush Administration was right all along where WMDs are concerned.

There's more:

Back on statement.

Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside of Iraq cannot be ruled out. The most likely munitions remaining are sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles.

And I underscored filled. The purity of the agents inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.

It has been reported in the open press that insurgents and Iraqi groups desire to acquire and use chemical weapons.

This is an incredibly -- in my mind -- significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false.

We have found over 500 weapons of mass destruction. And in fact have found that there are additional weapons of mass -- chemical weapons, still in the country, that need to be recovered.

What we now know is that 500 such weapons have been recovered, delivery systems (missles and rockets capable of deliering chemical or biological weapons) have been found since 2003, and that part is well documented, although largely ignored despite the fact that those weapons systems were in direct violation of the Gulf War Truce and U.N. sanctions (a lot of goof the U.N. is).

We also know that terrorists are attempting t oacquire such munitions for use either in Iraq or abroad.

This revelation is not surprising when one loks back to the early reports that there were some 110 munitions dumps in Iraq, some of them as alrge as 50 square miles, or about the size of Manhatten. It takes a great deal of time to inventory such sites.

I have no doubt that the Deaniacs and their representatives in Congress will attempt to spin this as a Republican attempt to steer the election in the GOP favor.

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Iraq
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Chemical Weapons
United Nations

Posted by Sqotty at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Another key al-Qaeda in Iraq leader bites the dust. Off of BBS News:

Gen Caldwell said on Tuesday US forces had killed Zarqawi's "right-hand man" in a raid in Yusifiya on Friday, near where the US troops were abducted.

The general said Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was "a key leader in al-Qaeda" and could have succeeded Zarqawi.

Hopefully this will send a signal to would be terrorsits aspiring to the leadership role previously filled by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Don't expect to live long.

At least there is some good news coming out of Iraq today.

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Iraq
Armed Forces

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Just off of the wire:

"The bodies were found last night in the vicinity of Yusufiya. Coalition forces have recovered what we believe are the remains of the soldiers," Major General William Caldwell told a news conference.

This is expected, but very sad, news.

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Armed Forces

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The deatils are incomplete, and the U.S. Army has not identified the bodies as yet. Here are links to the initial reports:

Yahoo News

Star Tribune

The Iraqi Governemnt believes that the bodies found are indeed those of the two missing soldiers. It's now a matter of waiting for a confirmation by U.S. officials.

It is not surprising that the Uncle of one of the soldiers is criticizing our military for not reacting fast enough to the situation.

"The news is going to be heartbreaking for my family,'' Ken MacKenzie, Menchaca's uncle, told NBC's "Today'' show.

He said the United States should have paid a ransom from money seized from Saddam Hussein.

"I think the U.S. was too slow to react to this. Because the U.S. did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid with his life.''

It is regretttable that these two soldiers were not rescued despite the efforts of 8,000 troops sent into the area to find them. I respect the uncle's bitterness at the loss of a nephew.

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Iraq
Armed Forces

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I was listening to one or another talk radio show today, and learned to my shock and surprise that Cindy Sheehan was recently in Canada, attending a rally in support of deserters from the U.S. Armed Forces. After a little digging (very little), I found the following article on the Washington Post:

A group of American military deserters publicly embraced their new lives in Canada on Saturday with the support of "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan, who said she wished the son she lost in Iraq was among them.

"I begged him not to go to Iraq," the anti-war activist said through tears at a rally in support of the former soldiers, who wore black T-shirts emblazoned with "AWOL." "And I wish he was standing up here with these people because he didn't want to go."

Sheehan was making her second visit to Canada in support of sanctuary for those fleeing the U.S. military. The Canadian government has so far denied political asylum to U.S. soldiers who have sought it but appeals are pending.

It bothers me that these clowns consider themselves "AWOL", and seem to be proud of it. Their T-shirts should be emblazoned with the word "Deserter," not "AWOL."

So far the Canadian Government is getting it right by denying political asylum to deserters. It bothers me that these clowns have "appeals pending," though. I would encourage Canada to return these deserters to the U.S. so that they can be tried, sentenced, and dishonorably discharged from their branch of service, at which point, they can go back to Canada (if Canada still wants them).

The article also quotes one deserter as saying, "They're trying to deport me." Good! I hope Canada succeeds.

Canada served as a sanctuary in the early ‘70s to draft dodgers of the Vietnam War. although I believe it was wrong for Canada to grant them sanctuary, there is a huge difference between the draft dodgers who went there to escape conscription and those who WILLINGLY signed up for military service. This is a point that Canada makes clear. They were willing to grant sanctuary to draft dodgers because that was forced military service. (I don’t like that they granted sanctuary to draft dodgers, but their reasoning to do so is understandable.)

Here’s some more:

"They say we're traitors, we're deserters," said former Marine Chris Magaoay, 20, of the Hawaiian island of Maui. "No, I'm a Marine and I stand up for what I believe in, and I believe the Constitution of the United States of America is being pushed aside as a scrap piece of paper."

Yes, you are a deserter (although not a traitor). No, you are not a Marine, and you obviously do not believe in the Constitution, otherwise you would still be with your unit, not running away from your duty to Canada.

These deserters are obviously part of the far-left, anti-war movement that has been sold the bill of goods that this is a "war for oil."

The writer of this article supports these guys by referring to them as "former Marine," not as deserter.

The report of this rally reminds me of the anti-war protests back at CSUH at the beginning of "Desert Shield," as our Armed Forces was preparing for the first war with Iraq.

At that time, I was subjected to the rantings of a bunch of punks who wanted out of their Military Reserve and Guard obligations on the basis of not being told that they might be called upon to go to war, and that the only reason they enlisted was to get military education benefits (get their college education paid for). One even went so far as to claim he was a conscientious objector; very convenient that he failed to mention it on his enlistment.

These deserters now hiding out in Canada are of the same ilk as those I ran into back in the ‘90s.

The final "punch" comes from anti-war zealot Cindy Sheehan in regards to these deserters:

Setting aside for the moment the argument of whether or not these deserters are "moral" (they’re NOT), Sheehan implies that President Bush is getting rich off of this war. I’d like to see her prove that allegation. Her ignorance astounds me. But what do you expect from California’s #1 Moonbat.

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"War for Oil"
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I heard about this interview on my commute this week, and taking it into consideration, decided that Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks is the one most deserving of a Moonbat Award. This in from the Daily Telegraph:

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."

Maines is obviously out of touch with mainstream America, as most Americans do see a reason to care about patriotisim, do support our troops serving in Iraq, as well as their mission.

What do we have to be patriotic about? Lot's of things!

America has for over two hundred years been the world's foremost bastion of liberty, and as President push put it, "liberty is the desire of every soul."

The Statue of Liberty is still the world's most significant symbol of liberty.

America has fought against tyranny on every corner of the globe, either overtly, such as in World War 2, the Korean War, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq; and sometimes covertly, such as the failed Bay of Pigs, where we failed to support our Cuban allies as promised, or in Central and South America, and Africa as communist insurgencies took hold in those regions of the world, and sometimes supplying bad people to fight other bad people, such as when Afghanistan was fighting against a Soviet invasion.

Even with our failures, such as Vietnam (thanks to the Democrats in Congress, who forced the abandonement of yet another ally) and the Bay of Pigs fiasco, America has done more to spread liberty throughout the world.

America enjoys greater freedoms than any othr country, including freedom of speech, to protect politcal discourse, and the right to kep and bear arms, without which, we could not hope to preserve any of our other rights.

America leads the world both technogically as well as economically, and this is yet another reason to be patriotic. American innovation.

Natalie Maines may not see a reason to be patriotic, but I sure as heck do.

Natalie Maines, congratulations, you are a Moonbat!

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Dixie Chicks
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Patriotism
Country Music
Shutup and Sing

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This is fresh off of FoxNews:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, drawing on her experiences as a young Watergate lawyer who decades later was investigated as first lady, urged creation of a "privacy bill of rights" Friday to protect people's personal data.

Nope...only affects what private companies can do, must disclose, and penalties for failure to safeguard data.

And created more government by setting up an office and bueracracy for a "privacy czar."

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Politics
Privacy
privacy bill of rights

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This is from FoxNews:

House Republicans engineered an election-year debate on Iraq to show support for U.S. troops and force lawmakers, particularly Democrats, to take a position on withdrawing American forces from a conflict that is in its fourth year.

The debate culminates Friday, when the House votes on a nonbinding resolution that praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of the larger global fight against terrorism and says an "arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment" of troops is not in the national interest.

"When our freedom is challenged, Americans do not run," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said.

"This war is a failed policy of the Bush administration," countered House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "We need a new direction in Iraq."

The House Republicans, as usual, have the war in Iraq right. It is the main battle front on the Global War on Terror, and if we pull out now, it will send a message to al-Qaeda that the U.S. lacks the will to go the distance. We all ready know that most of the Democrats are lacking the guts and moral fortitude to complete the job.

Here's another choice quote from the piece:

Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., stuck to the GOP script, saying, "In this fight for the future of peace, freedom and democracy in the Middle East and around the globe, winning should be our only option."

The cut-and-run policy of the left, the policy of surrender, will garner only contempt, not just from the terrorists we are fighting, but from the world as a whole. Staying and winning is not just the only option, as Gingrey put it, it is the right (as in correct, not conservative) option, and the best option.

The Dems call this tactic of pushing a debate on supporting the troops as an election year tactic. SO WHAT! Some of them will be caught in a "Damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation regardless of how they vote. The people have a right to know what our representatives think.

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GOP
Congress
GWOT

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There is some very good news out of Iraq, carried on FoxNews

Iraq's national security adviser said Thursday a "huge treasure" of documents and computer records was seized after the raid on terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout, giving the Iraqi government the upper hand in its fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq.

National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also said he believed the security situation in the country would improve enough to allow a large number of U.S.-led forces to leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority to depart by the end of next year. "And maybe the last soldier will leave Iraq by mid-2008," he said.

I have no doubt that the leftists in the Democratic party will attempt to spin this as some great plot by the GOP and Bush to win the mid-term elections in November. Any excuse they can find to explain why they lost.

On the flip side, this will be a significant achievement for Iraq IF a troop reduction does become possible. I hope that it is. Our Armed Forces have worked hard at training up an Iraqi security force capable of dealing with Iraq's security challenges, and the reward for their effort will be leaving Iraq knowing that they have not only accomplished thier mission, but have performed a job well done.

The intelligence gathered in the aftermath of last week's raid will hopefully provide enough information to eliminate the terrorist who is atempting to fill Zarqawi's shoes. Let us hope that it won't be long before a pair of 500 pound bombs ruins his day.

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Iraq
Zarqawi

Posted by Sqotty at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Senator John Murtha, anti-war leftist who has called for withdrawal from Iraq, has announced plans to take a leadership role that he hopes will exist come 2007.

From FoxNews:

Rep. John Murtha, a 16-term Democrat known for his close ties to the military and his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq, said Friday he will run for House majority leader if Democrats win control in November.

Murtha, 73, wrote in a letter to Democratic colleagues that he would seek the post "if we prevail, as I hope and know we will, and return to the majority this next Congress."

"I would appreciate your consideration and vote and look forward to speaking to you personally about my decision," he wrote.

Murtha, regarded as a close ally of Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, has taken his party's lead in demanding an early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. He served in Vietnam as a Marine and he has a reputation in Congress as a strong friend of the military.

The likelihood of a Pelosi/Murtha "dream team" running the House of Representatives next year is fairly remote as they would have to have a net gain of fifteen seats in the November elections.

Based on what I am seeing here in Minnesota, it is a greater likelihood that the Dems will lose at least one seat, the 8th District, to Rod Grams. Michele Bachmann is poised to fill the seat vacated by Mark Kennedy who is likely to win the Senate seat vacated by failed Senator Mark Dayton. Both of these fine Republicans will run solid campaigns. There are three other seats being challenged by good Republican candidates, and will give te Dems a run for their money right in the heart of Liberalland (Minneapolis/St. Paul).

Instead of being concerned about becoming the House Majority Leader, needs to be concerned about keeping his own seat as the campaign for Diana Irey heats up.

Irey on Murtha:

"John Murtha still doesn’t get it. If he had had his way, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would still be alive this afternoon, plotting to murder more innocent Americans, Iraqis, Jordanians, and Kurds – and anyone else who got in the way of his plans.

"Even in the wake of the tracking and killing of one of al Qaeda’s top terrorist leaders, John Murtha is apparently SO out of touch that he can’t see that.

"His statements today on CNN regarding the combined operations of the U.S. and Iraqi Armed Forces in tracking and eliminating al Qaeda’s top terrorist commander, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – statements wherein Mr. Murtha said he wasn’t sure it was a bomb that killed al-Zarqawi from the air (despite the fact that we’ve all seen the video), and in which he doubted the significance of the role played by U.S. Armed Forces, before indicating doubt as to whether or not Iraqi armed forces on their own could have eliminated Zarqawi – demonstrate that either he’s not paying attention anymore, or his determination to throw in the towel in Iraq is so great that he’s willfully blinding himself to the evidence.

"In the space of just a few moments in one television interview, Mr. Murtha: Said he doubted information that came from the Iraqi and U.S. governments about how the terrorist leader was killed; reiterated his belief that we cannot win; and then indicated doubt as to whether or not the Iraqis could have tracked and eliminated Zarqawi on their own, without the assistance of U.S. Armed Forces."

She is well spoken and right on the money where the Global War on Terror is concerned. So, watch out Murtha, you're going to get pink-slipped in November. Irey will win in Pennsylvania come November.

With just those two seats in mind, where the Dems will lose, that makes getting the seats needed for a thin majority very unlikely.

Add to that the seat currently held by the disgraced and corrupt William Jefferson (D-LA), we're looking at a minimum three seat shift in the GOP favor.

It's going to be a good year for the GOP.

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Rod Grams

Posted by Sqotty at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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There has been a great deal of speculation written in the brief time since it was announced that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi met his past due end on Wednesday. Ranging from calls to withdrawal our troops from Iraq, leaving the Iraqi people to manage their own national security, to his most likely successor of Zarqawi, Egyptian-born Abu al-Masri.

I am a far cry from fluent on many of these issues; we have military experts in Iraq, working hard to bring the Iraqi military up to snuff so that they can secure their nation. From what I have read, and based on the terrorist attacks that plague Iraq, it doesn’t sound like they are ready to be abandoned by the U.S.

Should America draw down our forces there, the terrorist thugs running amuck in Iraq will claim it a great victory, and will be emboldened to escalate the violence. The perception that an American withdrawal will convey is that the U.S. is weak, and lacks the will to win. America and the Coalition of the Willing needs to stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only through victory can peace be achieved.

The only thing the terrorist thugs understand, and respect, is the use of strength. Only through the use of military might can we defeat the terrorists. Pulling out of Iraq will only result in the collapse of all that has been achieved in the Middle East since the jihadists declared war on Western Civilization on September 11, 2001.

The combined armed forces of the Coalition of the Willing, our many allies, have liberated both Afghanistan and Iraq, and are actively helping them form new governments based on democracy and individual rights; and are training their military and police forces in preparation to secure their nations, and serve their people.

Since the fall, and subsequent capture of Saddam Hussein, the jihadists in Iraq have staged many attacks against police stations and recruitment facilities. Ironically, despite the risks of being killed in one of these attacks, patriotic Iraqis continue to sign up and serve their country.

Zarqawi is dead; this is, like the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the capture of Hussein, or the death of Hussein’s sons, one more victory in the Global War on Terror. It is a significant victory as Zarqawi had contacts, recourses, and charisma, that will be hard to be replaced. And any who should vie to replace him now know what fate awaits them: an F16 air strike dropping a 500-pound bomb on their heads. Let us hope that such a fate does not take overlong to be delivered up.

It is not just the internal jihadist terrorist groups that the developing Iraqi security forces must be trained to deal with before they can stand on their own; there is also the threat of the fascistic-theocratic neighbor, Iran, which is moving closer to achieving nuclear arms, despite their claims they have no interest in developing such weapons. It wasn’t long ago that North Korea had also claimed they were only interested in nuclear energy, and not developing weapons. We have since learned the folly of listening to totalitarian dictators such as Kim Jong Il, and their leftist lapdogs here in America (like former President Jimmy Carter).

Abandoning Iraq would have grave consequences, not just for the people of Iraq, but also for the entire region. Staying the course in both Iraq and Afghanistan is the only path toward victory and stabilizing that part of the world.

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Posted by Sqotty at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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FoxNews reports that the terrorist leader operating in Iraq has been killed:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al Qaeda in Iraq leader who led a brutal insurgency that included homicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings, was killed in an airstrike on a building north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced Thursday.

Officials said the terror leader's identity was confirmed by fingerprints, facial recognition, and known scars.

The bombing raid was ordered after local residents provided intelligence as to Zarqawi's whereabouts. Killed with this murdering slime were seven of his aides.

There are no expectations that the terrorist acts being perpetrated in Iraq will cease, but one can hope they will stop. Just don't hold your breath.

UPDATE 1: BBC News Has the following:

The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq died in a strike against an isolated safe house about 8km (five miles) north of Baquba, the US said.

US President George W Bush said the death was a severe blow to al-Qaeda.

Agreed, this is a severe blow, and well worth celebrating.

And this:

"We have eliminated Zarqawi," Prime Minister Nouri Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad, sparking sustained applause.

The head of US-led forces in Iraq, General George Casey, said the strike took place at 1815 (1415 GMT) on Wednesday.

It was a co-ordinated attack involving US and Iraqi air and ground forces, a US military spokesman told the BBC News website.

My thanks and congratulations go out to the Amred Forces participating in this raid. You have performed a great service, not just to your repsective countries and the people of Iraq, but to the world at large. Thank you!

A second report on BBC News

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is obviously a major success for the new Iraqi government and the US, but it remains to be seen if this marks the beginning of the end of the insurgency.

If it significantly weakens the al-Qaeda structure in Iraq, it could open the way for easier contacts between the government and other insurgents, who are more Iraqi nationalists than Islamists seeking to set up an Islamic state not only in Iraq but across the region.

It might also lead to a lessening of tension between Sunnis and Shias, whom Zarqawi targeted.

The new government, the first constitutional one, will have to seize this opportunity if it is not to suffer the fate of its predecessor administrations, which came to office with hope and left with disappointment.

However, the death of one man does not necessarily bring a breakthrough.

One can hope that it does end the terrorism in Iraq, however, as the article points out, there could be a sever backlash before things begin to abate. There is also the possiblitly that there is another zealot that will attempt to take Zarqawi's place as the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. If so, let us hope the same fate awaits such a person, and will be swift in its arrival.

Not everyone is celebrating, though...I found the following on the aljazeera website:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's older brother says the family had anticipated the death of the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader for some time.

"We anticipated that he would be killed for a very long time," Sayil al-Khalayla told The Associated Press on Thursday in a telephone interview from al-Zarqa, the poor industrial town that al-Zarqawi called home and from which he derived his name.

"We expected that he would be martyred," he said, in a low voice, signalling his grief over the death of his brother, whose real name is Ahmad Fadhil Nazzal al-Khalayla.

"We hope that he will join other martyrs in heaven."

Personnaly, I believe he went the other direction, with all the other murdering thugs.

There is no doubt that the news of Zarqawi's death is spreading around the blogosphere, even at this early hour. ( I hit it at 6:30AM).

This goes to show that at times good news does travle fast!

UPDATE 2: Stars and Stripes is running the following:

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq who waged a bloody campaign of beheadings and suicide bombings, was killed when U.S. warplanes dropped 500-pound bombs on his isolated safehouse, officials said Thursday. His death was a long-sought victory in the war in Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi and several aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles from Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.

"Al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.

At the White House, President Bush hailed the killing as "a severe blow to al-Qaida and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."

But he cautioned: "We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people."

The news came amid more reports of violence in Iraq, with two bombs striking a market and a police patrol in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 40.

Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site.

"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

"The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."

There is no doubt in my mind that the death of this murdering thug is a good thing for Iraq, America, the Coalition of the Willing and the world as a whole.

The rhetoric being spewed out by Zarqawi’s supporters that he has been martyred is nonsense. Murdering thugs are not martyrs.

The spooky part is their continued call to "holy war," and that they will escalate the terrorism in Iraq.

Let us hope and pray that these thugs calling for the continuation of terror in Iraq will meet the same end as Zarqawi. And soon.

A separate article has the following to say:

"Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again," Bush said in the Rose Garden as he announced the U.S. airstrike on the militant whom Osama bin Laden had dubbed the "emir," or prince, of al-Qaida in Iraq.

"Over the past several years no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands," Rumsfeld said at a meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels. But he cautioned al-Zarqawi's death "will not mean the end of all violence in that country."

May Zarqawi rest in pieces. Dubya and Rumsfeld have it right.

And then there is the discourse on Daily Kos, leftwingnut blog supreme. One commentor on the site had this to say to the news of Zarqawi's death:

Zarqawi was quite probably a psy ops job in the first place, so what does that make his "death"?

Moonbatism at its most reliable best. In fairness, not all of the commentor's there are loony and seeing black helicopters everywhere they go.

Back on FoxNews

Thamir Abdulhussein, a college student in Baghdad, said he hopes the killing of Zarqawi will promote reconciliation between Iraq's fractured ethnic and sectarian groups.

"If it's true Zarqawi was killed, that will be a big happiness for all the Iraqis," he said. "He was behind all the killings of Sunni and Shiites. Iraqis should now move toward reconciliation. They should stop the violence."

Fox News has also posted before and after pictures, as well as shots form the scene of the air raid.

It's definitelay a good day in and for Iraq.

Meanwhile, back at the lefty blog of choice:

OK, so we got the bad guy (riiiiight). Iraq will be fine now (riiiiight). Mission Really Accomplished. We mean it this time (riiiiight). This is the turning point we'll all been waiting for! (riiiiight).

Sounds like the perfect time to declare sweet victory, hold a parade, and bring the troops home. Time to kiss the girls in Times Square, boys!

Really, I'm not kidding. Iraq will never be stable as long as we're there, and soner or later, when some adults finally prevail in DC, we are going to be looking for some figleaf to cover our privates (and our lance corporals) as we bugger outta there. What better time to stand up, say "OK, we're done - now we're heading home, victorious"? It'll make a much better exit strategy than clinging to the last helicopter skids off the roof of the US embassy as some decidely unfriendly guys really crash the gates.

As always, the moonbats on the left just don't get the significance of Zarqawi's death, or the fact that our job there isn't done. Not yet, anyrate.

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Posted by Sqotty at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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1st Lt. Ehren Watada has chosen to desert from the Army, issuing the following statement(Fox News):

"It is my duty as a commissioned officer of the United States Army to speak out against grave injustices. My moral and legal obligation is to the Constitution and not those who would issue unlawful orders."

He is claiming that his orders to deploy to Iraq are unlawful, however, this is far from the truth. This disgrace to the uniform also stated:

"The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people with only limited accountability is not only a terrible moral injustice but a contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land Warfare."

He implies that the U.S. Army, in which he serves, is slaughtering Iraqi's. This allegation is, as anyone who knows anything about what is happening over there, false. Although there have been a few incidents, such as Abu Ghraib and other places, there has been (or currently are undergoing) investigations, and where wrong doing is found, such as the prison scandal, the perpetrators have been tried and punished.

Unlike militaries such as the former Soviet Union, Communist China, Vietnam and other regimes, the U.S. military is held to a high level of accountability (as are the armed forces of our closest allies, including Britain and Australia).

Watada, the new "hero" of the left, is a deserter, and should be tried and punished, given the dishonorable discharge he so richly deserves. And quickly.

What this disgrace to America is doing reminds me of the anti-war protests that took place while I was in college. Not in the '60s, but the '90s. Several years after I had received my Honorable discharge, and America was positioning Operation: Desert Shield, there were a number of anti-war rallies at which the big rah-rah speakers were people who had signed up for the Reserves or Guard and were loudly claiming they did not understand that when they signed up to serve their country that they might actually be called up to do exactly that. They cried and they whined, claiming to be conscientious objectors (horse hockey) and that they only signed up to get college benefits.

Watada needs to be charged, tried, sentenced to Leavenworth for desertion, then tossed out of the Army. He isn't good enough to wear the uniform, nor serve (and potentially lead) our brave men and women in the Armed Forces.

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U.N. Deputy Secretary Mark Malloch Brown has slammed the American people in a speech given at an even sponsored by the leftist organizations Progress for America and the Century Foundation.

Fortunately, the Century Foundation has made a transcript of the speech available for download.

In his opening remarks, Brown said:

I am going to give what might be regarded as a rather un-UN speech. Some of the themes--that the United Nations is misunderstood and does much more than its critics allow--are probably not surprising. But my underlying message, which is a warning about the serious consequences of a decades-long tendency by US Administrations of both parties to engage only fitfully with the UN, is not one a sitting United Nations official would normally make to an audience like this.

But I feel it is a message that urgently needs to be aired. And as someone who has spent most of his adult life in this country, only a part of it at the UN, I hope you will take it in the spirit in which it is meant: as a sincere and constructive critique of U.S. policy towards the UN by a friend and admirer. Because the fact is that the prevailing practice of seeking to use the UN almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable. You will lose the UN one way or another.

I don’t think the United Nations is misunderstood. I believe most American’s understand that the United Nations is a failure, rife with corruption, and hungry to implement a global government under its direct control.

The UN was set up as a great deliberative body, designed to allow countries to get together and sort out their differences in the hopes of averting war. Since its formation, there have been some 150 NEW wars in the world. That is not a very good track record for an organization set up to foster global peace.

He claims the U.S. is failing to standup against domestic critics (he names Rush Limbaugh and Fox News in his speech), which I would guess that my current writing makes me one of; yet fails to mention that in our great country we enjoy the right of freedom of speech. Many member nations in the UN do not have the freedom of speech.

Here’s another choice clip:

The U.S.--like every nation, strong and weak alike--is today beset by problems that defy national, inside-the-border solutions: climate change, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, migration, the management of the global economy, the internationalization of drugs and crime, the spread of diseases such as HIV and avian flu. Today’s new national security challenges basically thumb their noses at old notions of national sovereignty. Security has gone global, and no country can afford to neglect the global institutions needed to manage it.

Climate change is being used as a geo-political football to push a socialist-environmental agenda that is based on bad science. Global climate change has been going on since the Earth formed, with cycles of ice ages and hot houses. As recently as a thousand years ago, citrus was farmed in Mongolia, but now it is too frigid for such fruit trees. The Earth’s average temperature is still several degrees below the measured mean average computed from a variety of core samples (see Edmund Contoski’s paper on climate change). Climate change I a scientific fact, and there isn’t anything that can be done to change that fact, not even if we went back to the age of living like cavemen.

International terrorism is also a problem; so long as the U.S. continues to fail in securing its borders, there will be a continued threat against America. And then there is the homegrown variety to deal with. Just as bad. However, if our government takes it seriously (and I believe it does) it can be dramatically reduced.

The spread of HIV can be eliminated by people abstaining from you-know-what until they are married, and then maintain a monogamous marriage. But that is unpopular with the cult of hedonism.

Jimmy Carter hamstrung the nuclear energy industry in the U.S. in the name of non-proliferation, by ending the practice of reprocessing nuclear fuel rods for further use. It failed in its goal of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Not only that, it is because of Carter (who brokered the deal) and the Clinton administration that the world now faces a nuclear armed North Korea. And where was the UN to prevent that from happening?

International crime (and drugs)…I have yet to see the UN do anything in this respect. Could it be a secret, or is it because so many countries involved on the production side of the illicit drug trade are corrupt in nature, and are members of the UN.

Many of these issues can be addressed by securing our borders and enforcing our laws; some, like the proliferation of nuclear arms cannot be averted by any means. If a country wants to build a bomb, they will find the means to do so.

And let’s not forget that the Human Rights Council has many countries like Libya on it, where human rights violations are considered the norm. Yet consider the U.S. a great violator of human rights. Go figure.

The list of failures goes on and on, like a bad novel. Only it’s real, and scary. I don’t believe reform is sufficient to cure the sickness and corruption that has taken hold of the UN. It should go the way of the League of Nations, one more good intentioned deliberative body, that failed to live up to expectations

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On my drive home from work yesterday, I caught Hugh Hewitt's interview of Paul Campos, a law professor at University of Colorado at Boulder. This was initially prompted by a column that Campos wrote for the Rocky Mountain News, however, Hewitt didn't stop with the most recent column, but dug through a number of additional columns by Campos which provides a great insight into the leftist mindset of this particular law professor.

There is a transcript posted at Radio Blogger.

Hewitt nailed this guy on every topic he touched on, most importantly a dialog on the difference between the prison at Guantanamo Bay and Soviet gulags:

HH: Okay. Now I want to go to a column from February of this year. The only difference between the gulag, the Soviet archipelago, and Guantanamo, is the scale of the crime. Direct quote, correct?

PC: Yeah.

HH: That's preposterous, of course.

PC: Well, I don't think so.

HH: Has anyone been executed at Guantanamo?

PC: No.

HH: Were people executed in the Soviet gulag?

PC: Oh, sure.

HH: And so is there a difference in scale there, a difference not in scale, but of kind there?

PC: In that particular degree, yeah, sure.

HH: Well then, this is a refuted statement. The only difference between the gulag and Guantanamo is the scale of the crime. Obviously, that's preposterous, then, if people were murdered in the gulag, and they're not murdered in Guantanamo.

PC: Well, the...I think the thing to keep an eye on in terms of Guantanamo is that Guantanamo is this kind of extra-legal place outside of the American legal system, and outside the international legal system that has been used by the administration for purposes that are extremely disturbing in terms of basic human rights kinds of considerations. And in that sense, I don't think that an analogy to the gulag...although of course, the gulag was a gigantic, ongoing crime.

HH: How many people died in the gulag, Professor?

PC: A couple million, I believe.

HH: I think it's larger than that, but when you write the only difference, the only difference between the gulag and Guantanamo is the scale of the crime, that's refuted by the three minutes we've been talking about it, obviously, because millions of people died in the gulag, and many were executed. No one, to my knowledge, has died at Guantanamo. There may have been one health death, correct?

PC: Well, I believe...there's certainly been several suicide attempts, and I can't say for sure that no one has died. But certainly, a lot of people have died in these kinds of extra-legal custody situations...

HH: But that's not what you wrote. I mean, you wrote the only difference between the gulag and Guantanamo is the scale of the crime. Now that's incorrect, correct?

PC: No, I wouldn't say it's incorrect.

HH: So the slaughter via execution of at least hundreds of thousands of people is not a difference of substance between gulag and Guantanamo?

PC: I think the gulag and the Guantanamo operations are both extremely immoral, and obviously, the gulag is far, far worse, because it's much huger, and it went on for a much longer time. On the other hand, I don't think that somehow, not being as immoral as Josef Stalin is something that we ought to be patting ourselves on the back for.

HH: But that's obviously not what you wrote, though. You wrote the only difference. That's a sweeping statement that you're standing by.

PC: Well, it's a sweeping statement, but it's a statement that again, is designed to get people to think. Maybe Guantanamo is something really quite horrible, that we ought to be extremely disturbed about as a nation.

Millions of people were murdered in the soviet gulags, suffered enormously, forced to perform slave labor and so on. This is not how the few hundred prisoners at Guantanamo are being treated. No one has been executed at Guantanamo. They are not forced to perform slave labor (at least, not to my knowledge), they are well fed (unlike those who were in Soviet gulags), their religious practices respected. Further, any wrong doing on the part of prison guards is investigated and those involved are punished, just as was done at Abu Ghraib, and unlike the Soviet gulags.

Campos' camparison of Guantanamo to soviet gulags is ludicrous. You don't have to have read Gulag Archipelago to understand that the differences between the two systems is as different as night and day.

Campos also jumped to conclusions about people who drive gas guzzling vehicles displaying "Support Our Troops" stickers, and milbloggers, questioning that whether they served in the Military or not.

I drive a gas guzzling pickup, it's a necessity for me as I live in the country on a large chunk of land, so I do a lot of landscapping and other work around the property. It has a "Support Our Troops" ribbon on it. I also served in the United States Air Force. Has Campos served in the Armed Forces?

I have no doubt that there is even more such examples of idiocy that can be dredged up on Campos.

Hugh Hewitt
Paul Campos
Guantanamo
Soviet Gulags

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Day two of the Minnesota State GOP Convention opened with a guest speak (whose name eludes me) giving an inspirational tribute to the men and women of the Armed Forces, with the "Battl Hymn of the Republic" playing in the background.

This was followed by a music video by Michael W. Smith celebrating America and our flag. No idea what the name of the song is. It was a beautiful piece of work, the visuals stunning and Patriotic, and the music stirring. I need to get the album this song is on.

The second day was "platform day," meaning we were going to spend the bulk of the day considering and adopting changes to the party platform. This made for a long, and, at times, grueling day. But we got it done.

We were also treated to speeches from a number of guests, including various congressional candidates, and some special interest groups.

Based on what I saw and heard, I believe this is going to be a good year for the GOP, with Rod Grams running in the 8th; Michelle Bachmann campaigning hard to fill the seat vacated by Mark Kennedy, as Kennedy seeks the vacant U.S. Senate seat; Obi Sium, an African immigrant who shows his love for America in what he says, as well as showing a sharp sense of humor.

There was also Juan Vega of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Minnesota, whose message is "Close the borders now!" Vega is not only an immigrant and naturalized citizen, he also served in the United States Marines. Thank you for your service, Juan Vega.

Vega focused on immigration, and the differences between the Republican and Democrat positions on this issue. The silent majority of legal immigrants do not want a path of citizenship given to those, whose first act is to break America's laws, rewarding criminal behavior. It is unfair to the millions who waited their turn, followed America's laws, and often times, serving in our Armed Forces (there were quite a few immigrants in my basic training flight in the Air Force).

The RNHA do not support deporting the 12 million illegal aliens, as it would reflect negatively on the GOP, and be displayed as 12 million Elian Gonzales'. That is a point that had not occurred to me, as I looked at the matter as being impractical.

Vega also pointed out that if you came to America legally, then the GOP is the party for you, the party for immigrants.

It was a darn good speech, and I look forward to the day this fine immigrant runs for Congress.

Friday was also the day of the presidential straw poll and re-endorsing Tim Pawlenty for Governor. See my previous post for the straw poll results.

Now for Saturday…I arrived a little let, missing the invocation and other start-off speeches. At least I wasn't running on four hours of sleep like Friday.

The bulk of the day was endorsing statewide candidates, most of whom are incumbents, with Jeff Johnson looking to fill the Attorney General slot vacated by Mike Hatch. This guy is sharp, and I have no doubt that he'll win.

It is looking to me like Minnesota is moving more and more in the right direction. It's going to be one heckuva campaign season. Should be lots of fun and I am looking forward to it.

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Admittadly, it is late, however, I wanted to get the results of the Presidential Straw Poll posted while it is still hot.

540 votes cast. I do not have vote breakdown, just percentages:

Newt Gingrich 39%
George Allen 14%
Condoleeza Rice 10.7%
John McCain 10.1%
Jeb Bush 5.9%
Mit Romney 5.3%
Rudy Giulliani 3.5%

No one else received more than 1% of the vote.

The results came ou pretty late in the night, and it is now even later. Time to hit the hey and recharge my batteries for another day. I'll post a more complete update tomorrow.

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Thursday evening was the first day of the Minnesota Republican Convention. This is a gathering of some 2,000 people from around the state, plus a number of volunteers, staff, guests and the media. It's an enriching experience to go to one of these events, for the speeches and party platform work, as well as for the after hours parties.

I arrived midway into registration, around 5PM, with the event scheduled to begin at 6:30 and run into the night.

While wandering aimlessly about with the words "gullible target" stamped on my head, I was interviewed by WCCO. I did not get to hear the results. Some of what I was asked was what I thought the GOP's prospects were like in '06, as well as issues. That's when I learned that Pawlenty signed the bill authorizing a Twins stadium with funding from a special sales tax that bypasses the referendum process that was set into law in 1999. The drill down question, why I thought this was a bad decision, came up with this response from me: it sets a bad precedent in that any county or project that wants to get funded via sales taxes can now expect to get it in place by bypassing the referendum process, especially in counties where the voters have shown a high likelihood to vote such a tax down. What I should have said s that I hope the people of Hennepin County come together and file a legal challenge in the courts to get this legislation overturned.

The main event for the first day was endorsing a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Two solid candidates had come before the delegation: Mark Kennedy (a sensible Kennedy, who'd have thought?) and Harold Shudlick.

Kennedy has served three terms in the House of Representatives and has developed a track record in winning elections, campaigning hard, and working hard in Congress.

Shudlick, a combat veteran of Vietnam with the Bronze Star, and a retired chaplain, is a new comer to the political arena. His message of solid conservative values, including on immigration reform, dealing with illegal aliens, border security, taxation, and so on, resonate well with many, including myself.

This made for a very tough decision for me, as they are both good men, and both would make good Senators.

Needless to say, Mark Kennedy carried the day with about 75% of the vote on the first ballot. Admittedly, I was not surprised by the outcome. Harold Shudlick has my respect and admiration for stepping up to the plate and running.

After recess, it was time for a little partying at the various hospitality suites at the Hyatt, where I ran into Scott of Freedom Dogs, and Larry of my Townhall Meetup group.

Stay tuned for day 2.

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