Ukraine and U.S.

Powerline posts a comparison of the election fraud in the U.S. with the election fraud in the Ukraine (quoting the UK Telegraph):

Vitaly Kizima, an election monitor at Zhovtneve in Ukraine's Sumy region, watched in horror as 30 men in tracksuits stormed into the village polling station. "They started to beat voters and election officials, trying to push through towards the ballot boxes," he told The Telegraph.

The most common trick was "carousel" voting, in which busloads of Yanukovich supporters simply drove from one polling station to another casting multiple false absentee ballots.

Actually, that works here in Minnesota, too. We have same-day registration, so a person (or, as sometimes happens, a busload of people) can go from precinct to precinct, registering and voting in each, as long as there is someone in each precinct willing to claim that the voter (or busload) lives in the precinct. It is illegal to ask for identification or proof of residence. This year, the Democrats blocked legislation that would have limited the number of voters any one person could vouch for to ten. As we reported last month, the Democrats stationed designated "vouchers" in hundreds of precincts around the state, wearing badges so that Democrats who had already voted in other states or precincts would know whom to see to vote again. This will continue until the Republicans gain control of the state Senate and finally can pass legislation to minimize electoral fraud.

If fact, carousel voting took place not only in Minnesota, but elsewhere in the U.S. Any area with more registrations than actual people most likely saw carousel voting.
The notable hot points for this abuse were in Ohio and Philadelphia. Only by prosecuting the offenders will we stop this activitiy from becoming a trend.

And yes, we had the thugs also. The only difference was that the thugs did not show up to terrorize the polling places on election day. The thugs were out in force for many weeks prior to election day. One day soon, they will get the idea to attack polling places on election day. The rest of us better be prepared.

It's a Rather Wonderful Life

Iowahawk has posted a Dan Rather version of the Frank Capra classic. It is remarkably true to the original version.

Thanksgiving thoughts from around the blogosphere

I have no thoughts to add to the many writers who have shared their thoughts today.
Michelle Malkin summarizes and links to many of the bloggers that have captured the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

I have seen a few others, such as Sherri, who provides historical context and reminds us of the role of lobsters at Thanksgiving.

Digital Brown Pajamas provides a nice post also.

------------------------------------------------------
Friday update

I should have included Blonde Sagacity's list of things to be thankful for and her Thanksgiving eve tale of woe.

A Democrat admits the obvious

Wizbang links to amazing admission by Representative Sanchez (D-CA) on CNN regarding why the Democrats lost this year's election. Here is the entire quote that Wizbang copied:

SANCHEZ: I agree with Jesse. I agree with my colleague. I believe that we made mistakes. The media certainly is not in our hands any longer, and, in particular, radio talk shows where that is completely in the opposition's hands, and they use it effectively against us.

BLITZER: But, Loretta, when you say the media -- when you say the media is not in your hands, are you saying that ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN are hostile to Democrats?

SANCHEZ: No, that's not what I said. I'm saying that -- if you would let me finish -- that the majority of people are now receiving a lot of their information out of radio. And the radio isn't in the hands of the Democrats anymore.

Many years ago, the Republicans made a very effective play. They sat down. They made a strategy. They decided they were going to put big thinktanks around, that they were going to fund them. They decided that they would buy radio, that they would use that to talk to people. And people drive in their cars, they're listening to the radio all the time. They're getting a lot of information that way.

You know, networks are losing -- you know, they're getting less and less viewership.

Wizbang's commentary is good also. We don't often see an admission from a Democratic leader that they consider even a part of the media to be or to have been in their "hands". It is telling that she believes that the Republicans somehow have radio "in their hands" the same way. She and the other Democrats have no conception of how a real grassroots movement begins and operates.

This commentary has a place in the ultimate history of how the new media and talk radio overthrew the MSM.

Washington State Election

I know we are burned out from the recent Presidential elections, but we should pay attention to events in Washington state. The Democrats are trying to steal the gubernatorial election through endless recounts. I originally predicted that Ohio would be this year's Florida, but my prediction was slightly off. Ohio provided the most likely challenge, but it was not close enough. Washington has provided a similar opportunity for Democrats in a lower profile race.

It is important that we win this one so that the Democrats will not be encouraged to continue trying the same tactics in future elections. John Kerry was prepared with teams of lawyers this time. He didn't use them, thus breaking with Al Gore's precedent. If we stop them in Washington, we might avoid having to endure the Florida scenario as a regular part of our election process.

Digital Brown Pajamas has reported on this story here and here.

Michelle Malkins posts here and Sound Politics reports here. Check Sound Politics for a t-shirt offer.

Get U.N. out of U.S.

Anti-U.N. sentiment in the U.S. became common some time ago. The calls for an end to this abominable relationship are now growing louder and closer to the mainstream.
Move America Forward has bought television air time to advocate the removal of the U.N. from our shores.
Michelle Malkin agrees.

Do you think it was the allegations of rape, pedophilia and similar atrocities committed by UN troops in the Congo?

Or was it the U.N.'s failure to condemn genocide in the Sudan? That item was apparently enough for U.N. ambassador and former Senator John Danforth to question the utility of the General Assembly.

Or was it the growing Oil-for-food scandal? [There are too many links to include even a small portion.]

Or was it the UN conference on racism in 2001 [U.N. code for America and Israel bashing]?

Or the UN's welcoming of Yasser Arafat in 1974 in the wake of his operation to kill the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics?

Or the Somalian disaster in 1993, during which American soldiers were killed while fighting under the UN flag?

Or is it because the U.N. could not even enforce its own resolutions against Saddam Hussein and then was powerless to stop the U.S. from enforcing those resolutions? In short, is it because the U.N. is powerless when it happens to be right and helpless to commit evil when the U.S. is determined to do the right thing in spite of U.N. opposition?

They do no good on their own and do no harm without our help and acquiescence. The U.N. has somehow managed to become both useless and dangerous.

You can help.

-------------------------------------
Friday morning update

Scrappleface has posted a unique solution.

Leading children to the slaughter

Little Green Footballs has linked to a comprehensive Daniel Pipes article that identifies Islamic methods for spreading their religion in American public schools. This infiltration affects every level from the universities to elementary schools.

This activity calls to mind islamic activities in public schools dating as far back as the immediate post-9-11 period. California public school 7th graders were subject to an intensive three week islamic course in the fall of 2001. Students were required to memorize Islamic prayers. Islam's violent history was whitewashed.

What is most dangerous about this indoctrination is the Islamic belief that once a person recites certain Islamic prayers, that person is a muslim, whether they intended to be or not. It does not matter, in the eyes of Islam, that the student did not understand or believe the prayer. If that person ever violates Islamic law -by marrying a non-muslim without clerical permission, for example, that person can lawfully (Islamic law) be killed as a traitor to the faith. It will be much easier for terrorists to rally their followers to commit mass murder in California now that thousands of children have recited certain Islamic prayers in public schools. The Islamist leaders will have much greater Islamic justification to rally their followers to commit acts of terror.

Rod Dreher has written about the Islamic influence on textbooks:

The Pacific Justice Institute's Dacus is not surprised to hear that kids come away from Across the Centuries thinking uncritically about Islam. Says Dacus: "That textbook would be a great recruitment tool for Islam for children, if that was the point of a 7th-grade education."

We can take some comfort in the knowledge that this indoctrination program resulted in litigation by concerned parents:

"I found 20 Islamic beliefs stated as fact," says Jen Schroeder, a reluctant but determined crusader and mother of two. "For my son to obey the school, he must disobey what the Bible tells him," she says.

With the help of the Pacific Justice Institute, a non-profit legal organization defending religious freedom, Schroeder launched a lawsuit recently to remove the offending textbook from seventh grade classes.

I do not know the results of this litigation, but definitely much work is left to be done in cleaning up our schools.
-----------------------------------------
Wednesday night update

Almost as if to prove my point, a California school administrator has banned the Declaration of Independence in her elementary school because it refers to God. Also banned are certain writings of George Washington, William Penn, John Adams and Samuel Adams.

Wizbang has posted on this story also.

Certain California schools are safe for Allah, but not Goerge Washington.

Are the leftists trying merely to parody our warnings? Are they just trying to make fun of conservatives? Conservatives turn to scrappleface for political humor. The left uses actual laws and policies.

It won't seem so funny when the next generation of voters knows nothing about freedom and votes accordingly.
---------------------------
Thanksgiving day update

Truth, Lies and Common Sense provides the contact information for the school officials that have banned the Declaration of Independence:

Stevens Creek School
http://www.cupertino.k12.ca.us/Stcreek.www/
10300 Ainsworth Drive
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 245-3312

Patricia Vidmar, Principal
(408) 245-3312 x 110
Fax (408) 245-7484

Part of the Cupertino Union School District:
http://cupertino.ca.campusgrid.net/home
10301 Vista Drive
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 252-3000

William E. Bragg, Superintendent
bragg_bill@cupertino.k12.ca.us

Board:
board@cupertino.k12.ca.us

Good summary of Rathergate

The New York Daily News summarizes Dan's downfall very succinctly.

Having outsourced its ethics and all responsibility for accountability, Rather & Co. pretended it was business as usual during the final six weeks of the campaign.

In one sense, it was. Even as the network planned an election-eve hit on Bush's management of the war in Iraq, its ratings continued to fall. Mired in a distant third place in a three-network race, it was sometimes outdrawn by Fox cable.

Powerline also summarizes what this means for the blogosphere (as quoted by USA Today):

Said John Hinderaker, a Minneapolis lawyer and co-author of Power Line (powerlineblog.com): "I wouldn't say I feel vindicated. I never felt we were in need of vindication. But now that the episode is pretty much behind us, I think it's been a tribute to the power of the medium: the Internet."

The bloggers, starting just hours after the 60 Minutes report, raised doubts about the Guard documents. They questioned, for example, whether the papers could have been produced on a 1970s-era typewriter. "Within a matter of hours, millions of people had seen that information," Hinderaker said. "The biggest newspaper with the biggest resources and the biggest budget could not have done what we did that day."

I hope to post a more complete summary of Rathergate and all of the 2004 election outrages soon.

Republicans vulnerable on immigration

Michelle Malkin has posted two items today that focus on the immigration issue.

It appears that Mexico is pulling a "France" for Iran.

Also, it appears that Hillary is trying to triangulate the immigration issue. She has broken with leftist orthodoxy and advocated tough measures to oppose illegal immigration. Of course it is only an act, but it might soften the Republicans' support in certain key red states. New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas and Arizona may be vulnerable and are affected by illegal immigration.

This issue has broad grassroots appeal. This appeal existed even before 9-11 and will only get stronger. Bill Clinton aired television commercials in Colorado promoting his strong (pretend) immigration crackdown five months before the 1996 election. I believe Bush I and Dole lost Colorado.

Someone smarter than Kerry can peel off a few red states if the Republicans don't start playing it smart soon.

History preserved

Wizbang carries the story of museum curators saving 5,000 years of history in Afghanistan over the past 25 years by hiding many priceless artifacts from the Soviets and then the Taliban. The previously hidden items are now being brought out of hiding.

This story is important not merely to show the MSM double standard on some anti-Bush story (see Wizbang for details), but also to show the possibilities for preserving Western civilization in the event that violence and chaos come to the U.S.

Kevin Sites has his story and he is sticking to it.

Sue Bob dissects Kevin Sites' version of the Marine/possum shooting story from Iraq. She dissects his justification point by point, as only a Texas lawyer can.
I have little to add but "yeah, what SHE said."

But if you want more information, check out my blogosphere summary from yesterday.

Also, Wizbang would like your opinion. Go to his site and support our troops.

Weblog 2004 awards

We now have the ability to vote for our favorite blogs in 33 different categories.

Click the icon below or at the right sidebar. Thanks to Wizbang for the code.

Notes from around the blogosphere

Here is a summary of some posts from friends of the Cassandra Page.

Right Wing Sparkle has linked to stories of the insurgents in Iraq who have played possum before killing U.S. Soldiers.

Blonde Sagacity has recounted the story of President Bush rescuing his secret service chief this weekend opposite the story of John Kerry cussing out his secret service agent after the snowboarding incident last winter. Comparisons and memory are essential elements of the new media - especially since stories like this tend to disappear down the memory hole in the old media.

Also check out this one from the same blogger, in which she presents several areas where Republicans are vulnerable to moderation tendencies.

G-Man posts this item that summarizes numerous worthwhile stories, including an update on the status of the Al Qaeda leadership.

Digital Brown Pajamas has a new look and a post about a raid on domestic terrorists in the U.S.

Right on Red reports on a "dead" insurgent that shot at Marines in Iraq.

The lighter side

Weeks ago I promised to start posting lighter items on the weekends. I found this movie/world leader personality test at Blonde Sagacity. Give it a try.

Specter - the interim conclusion

The Captain believes that the Specter fracas has done a lot of good. Specter is now humbled and has made many recent promises under the glare of the national spotlight. The Republicans on the Judiciary Committee now have their fingers on the trigger and will not be taken by surprise if Specter tries to betray them.

The blogosphere campaign did some good. We have to keep on the story and follow through over the next 2 to 4 years.

Check the blogosphere scorecard when first judicial nomination battles begin.

Book of the Month - part I - Target America

On election eve, I promised that this blog would soon provide discussion of subjects with deeper connections to our philosophical roots. It is about time for me to deliver.

Starting today, I will present one book recommendation around this time every month.

While I don't want to slight today's bestsellers, we have much to learn from the books that provided the roots and backbone of the modern conservative movement. Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh didn't become conservative by listening to talk radio and surfing the internet. Their conservatism ran and runs deeper. Talk radio and the blogosphere are great, but the programs that appear in those media constitute only "entry level" conservatism.

This month's book recommendation is Target America, by James Tyson. The forward by Reed Irvine caused me to picture the book earlier this week.


1981

This small paperback details many examples of how the MSM mirrored the propaganda of foreign dictatorships. In the subchapter entitled "The Flip-Flop on Cambodia," Tyson shows how the MSM line changed dramatically in the late 1970's to match the propoganda of the Soviets:

"One of the most convincing signs that an organization is being influenced by foreign propaganda is when it displays a sudden shift in opinion coinciding exactly with a shift in policy of a foreign country."

page 57.

[Imagine a discussion of a Cambodian flip-flop that does not involve John Kerry!]

Tyson also discusses such subjects as the "Far Left Lobby", the whitewash of the North Vietnamese, the neutron bomb and the CIA.

Hardcover and paperback versions are available at abebooks.

Support our Troops

Digital Brown Pajamas has reported a meaningful way in which we can support our troops.

Contact the marine corps public affairs office -

e-mail: sitterpd@hqmc.usmc.mil
phone: 1-703-614-1492

and let them know you support the marine that shot the terrorist in the mosque.

Public officials and media personalities are quick to say "I support the troops," but they don't back up that phrase with any meaningful action. Here is your chance to help out. The lives of the remaining troops may depend on this particular marine avoiding any discipline and receiving the hero's welcome he deserves.

Reed Irvine

I first heard of Reed Irvine in the early 1980's, as I started to notice media bias in the way the MSM covered Ronald Reagan's presidency. Irvine was one of the few voices that tried to identify bias in the media. Before Rush Limbaugh. Before the internet and Matt Drudge and the blogosphere.

At that time, there were very few sources that would give words and definition to the problem that many of us could see but could not identify. Now, thanks partly to the work of pioneers like Irvine and AIM, the leftist bias of the MSM is taken almost for granted.

The book pictured below served as one my first exposures to Mr. Irvine and his organization.


from 1981

I also remember seeing Irvine appear on Phil Donohue's program in January, 1983, along with Jerry Falwell and Victor Lasky.

It is hard for us to remember a time when a single television appearance or a single book focusing on media bias would stand out or be memorable. Thanks to Reed Irvine and others, the discussion of left wing media bias might soon become almost as mainstream as the MSM itself.

Iran and its solution.

Colin Powell has warned that Iran is hoping to use its nuclear ability for use in missiles.

"There is no doubt in my mind -- and it's fairly straightforward from what we've been saying for years -- that they have been interested in a nuclear weapon that has utility, meaning that it is something they would be able to deliver, not just something that sits there," Powell said.

Hat tip to Angela.

Pity that Kerry blew his chance to provide the nuclear fuel to Iran for this program.

Meanwhile, Blackfive has suggested a possible solution, in the form of an exit strategy for our soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Hat tip also to Right on Red.

What is happening in Korea?

Recent posts around the blogosphere have raised the possibility that major changes are in the works inside North Korea.

Powerline reports on recent dissent (anti-regime flyers) that has gone unchecked by Korean authorities.

Free Will reports that Kim Jong-Il has become scarce in North Korea. He hasn't been seen in public recently and his name and image are being removed around Pyongyang.

I won't speculate further, but the Captain compares this situation to those of the former Soviet Union, when the "leaders" were reported to have "colds" before their deaths were publicly acknowledged.

It's a shame that Kerry did not get his chance to conduct his "bilateral" talks with Mr. Jong-Il.

Prosecute the fraudulent voters - part 3.

Captain's Quarters reports today on 2 documented cases of attempted double voting in Ohio. He agrees that prosecution is the only answer.

My earlier post is linked here.

The Future of Europe

The wave of Islamist violence that has swept parts of Europe and spurred a violent backlash was the inevitable result of decades of failed European policies. Asia Times sums up what Osama might have said about this on his latest video:

In half a century the number of Europeans will fall by 50 million, because the Europeans no longer love life enough to bring new life into this world. Three hundred and twenty years ago a Muslim army stood before the gates of Vienna, and Europe barely escaped conversion to the true faith at swordpoint. During the next half-century Muslims will wander into Europe and replenish the half-empty towns with people, and the sound of children's voices once again will be heard - but in Arabic.

The Europeans could not have expected that decades of lax immigration policies and their own low birthrates would occur without consequences. Conquest by immigration does not happen peacefully. It is accompanied by violence, as the leaders of the immigrant masses must maintain discipline in their ranks and prevent assimilation. They can accomplish this only by ratcheting up the violence as their numbers grow. We have seen only the beginning of the violence that most likely will precede the Islamization of Europe.

The only question is, can America be far behind?

The Asia Times piece will be added to the list of "Recommended Articles" on the right sidebar.

Unfinished business - election 2004.

Joseph Farah's column today points out various items of unfinished business left over from the 2004 campaign.

He makes reference to the Sandy Berger 9/11 document theft, the Rathergate memo affair and the Al Qaqaa October surprise. Farah's list is far from complete, but we definitely should not let these matters drop.

This is true particularly with regard to Al Qaqaa. If those weapons went to Syria before the war, what else went to Syria? Let's find out before it turns up in Times Square or a crowded subway platform.

Yet another Specter update - nuance

Powerline speculates that the anti-Specter outcry has achieved the correct result. The thinking appears to be that Frist has sufficiently reined in Specter that Specter will behave. Powerline credits the outcry for this result.

I don't really disagree with Powerline's analysis. Only time will tell if Specter will really behave. I certainly agree that we could not have extracted promises of good behavior from Specter had the blogosphere not made a fuss. But the point that Powerline misses is that if the rest of the blogosphere had engaged in the same thinking as Powerline and Hugh Hewitt, the outcry would never have occured. Had our thinking been as nuanced as theirs, Specter would now be skating smugly to his chairmanship, salivating over the damage he would do to what's left of the Constitution. [He may be thinking that way anyway.]

Even if you want to achieve a nuanced result, the nuanced approach doesn't always work. Nuanced means do not always achieve nuanced ends. As in this case, one needs a strong conservative front to force the opposing side back to the compromise table.

They have their story and they are sticking to it.

Tonight on "60 minutes", CBS reports that Osama Bin Laden now has religious authority to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. While I have no doubt that Osama will use nukes against the U.S. if he can, the question is why CBS and MSM are jumping on the "Osama is still dangerous" bandwagon NOW. More particularly, the MSM jumped on that bandwagon near the end of the campaign, as John Kerry needed backup for his claim that W blew it at Tora Bora.

My prediction is that the MSM will continually provide these warnings until the next attack, so they can then say "I told you so." At that point, the "blame Bush" game will begin in earnest. We ain't seen nothin' yet.

Our strategy should be to provide the same warnings. The MSM misses most of the stories that should create genuine alarm, such as the story of the stolen propane cylinders and the stolen crop duster.

If the MSM was truly serious about preventing another attack, they could sound the alarm strongly enough that we could foil most of the terrorist plans. In fact, the MSM's attitude is similar to that of a poster at LGF earlier this morning:

Brought to you by our newly elected thug
monkey in chief.

Wouldn't it be ironic if they nuke Texas?
Just desserts, eh?

Don't believe that the network of the forged memos wouldn't love the opportunity to say "I told you so" - no matter what the consequences in loss of life and destruction.

In the meantime, we must point out how nukes may be crossing the porous Mexican border due to political correctness.
We must point out how the MSM has ignored many other stories, because they would not agree with the solutions.

When the next attack occurs, it will have occured because of political correctness, lax immigration policy and a steadfast belief that Islam is a religion of piece.

Prosecute the fraudulent voters - part 2 - cases in Florida and Iowa

Shortly after the election, I wrote that we had dodged a bullet and that the electoral system could be saved only by prosecuting those who had tried to undermine the system.

In Broward County, Florida, authorities have identified 30 voters that tried to vote twice.

Thirty (30) is far too high a number in ONE COUNTY for it to be a coincidence or the work of random cheaters. What did Terry McAuliffe know and when did he know it?

In Iowa, authorities have refused to prosecute a Washington man with ties to Moveon.org who tried to vote illegally in Iowa. This one needs publicity. Moveon.org's fingerprints are all over it.

I am sure the MSM will get right on this.

Oh wait, I forgot. The MSM favors and condones voter fraud. I guess the blogosphere will have to do the job.

-------------------------------

Sunday morning update

The left and the MSM show no signs of "moving on" after the election. The Boston Globe provides an example of the continued assault, as the Globe tries to explain away one of Kerry's biggest campaign flip-flops by blaming it on Vietnam and a windy day. I am not kidding and apparently, neither is the Globe. Powerline provides additional quotes from this article.

The point is, we can't be squeamish about seeming to rehash the 2004 election by attempting to prosecute fraudulent voters. The Dems won't let up now. They will try to cheat again in 2008 (and sooner). We have to use the breathing space that we gained on November 2 to prevent the same voter fraud from happening again.

All I have to say about Arafat

I have said very little about Arafat and unless there is something new, this will be my last post on that subject.

Powerline says it pretty well here and here and elsewhere.

Cynical Nation has some entertaining thoughts and photos here and here.

House of Payne gave me my best laugh of the day by asking whether Suha will now be John Kerry's next target for marriage.

The best discussion of the Arafat funeral can be found at A Small Victory. Read the comments especially.

I haven't heard anyone else mention this recently, but there apparently was some connection between Arafat's uncle, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and Hitler. Check out the link and the photos.

The Blogosphere - the next step?

In a future post(s) I will review the role of the blogosphere in helping to shape the Presidential election this year. The blogosphere's role was truly historic - particularly in exposing very specific lies that otherwise would have gone unchallenged. Credit is due particularly to Powerline, Little Green Footballs and a few others that exposed CBS' forged national guard documents. All of us certainly owe these bloggers a debt of gratitude.

Now we must look to the next step to see where the blogosphere is headed and what its role will be in the immediate future.

A foreshadowing of the future seems to be developing at Powerline. The Powerline authors have made numerous MSM appearances in recent weeks, with guest spots on Fox, CNBC and even on NBC's election night coverage. It is clear that Powerline is taking the next step by forcing their way into the "mainstream". Their views have not moderated, but they have reached the point where the MSM can no longer ignore them. Other bloggers have mainstream connections also and will generate mainstream exposure. Many of the rest of us will see similar opportunities and exposure in the future as the "new media" alternative takes root in the minds of the average voter.

The question is, what do we do with this opportunity? How do we handle the mainstream exposure and how does our role change, if any?

Our strength, as bloggers, has been the ability to uncover hidden news and force it into the national spotlight. We can "spread the word" instantaneously among many millions of people, resulting in immediate refocus of the day's mainstream headlines.
For those who are new to this concept, see the Drudge Manifesto. Mainstream network appearances will strengthen this ability, obviously. The danger is that we might lose sight of our original role in the new media.

If one gradually morphs into little more than another conservative commentator, the marginal benefit will be small. Conservatives do not advance their cause very much by having one more George Will on the networks providing commentary. Conservatives (and really all truth starved Americans) definitely CAN make use of a blogger who appears on a network broadcast and uses the podium to spread some scandal that the AP-NYT-CBS-Reuters media cabal have suppressed.

The first approach - morphing into another mainstream conservative commentator - would involve such mundane tasks as predicting White House strategy, interpreting the latest polls, rehashing old arguments with leftist commentators, meaningless panel discussions where nothing new is learned, etc.

The second approach would involve spreading the type of story that Powerline features on its recent posts. The second approach requires presentation of facts and opinions that the mainstream viewer might not have heard before.

Powerline, and by extension, the blogosphere, is at a crossroads. If we slip into the first option - if we are lured by the possibility of being just like George Will - we will waste an opportunity. The bland conservative rehash will provide the mainstream viewers with little they don't already know and will eventually infect and weaken our blogs.

If we choose the second option, we will energize a greater share of the American voters and we may yet enjoy a true rennaissance in the American mass media.

No one would choose option number one on purpose, but it might sneak up on us before we notice as we enjoy the lure of the big media spotlight. But if we remember our roots and stick to our proper role, we will enjoy the fruits of option number two.

Empire of the Blogs

This Page appears on the Commissar's latest cartography. Look for it near "Catalonia" in modern day Yugoslavia.

The Commissar provides many fine maps of the blogosphere here.

Power Line vs. O'Donnell

Hindrocket from Power Line will appear tonight on CNBC's Capital Report at 7:00 and 10:00 ET.

He will appear opposite Lawrence O'Donnell - the shrieker. I wonder if O'Donnell will scream "liar, liar" at Hindrocket. My advice (as if anyone is asking) would be for Hinkrocket to invoke the Swift Boat Vets (and O'Donnell's behavior) at every opportunity. Let O'Donnell know we aren't dropping the issue (of O'Donnell's behavior). Goad him into shrieking again.

Power Line is really the first of the blog spots to make the leap from blogger to MSM respectability, with their numerous TV appearances over the past few weeks and their (sort of) appearance on Time Magazine's cover. This opens up new possibilities and provides for an interesting discussion of the future of the blogosphere as a whole. More on that later.

The October Surprise - the final installment

I know this is a little late, but I want to finish with my final thoughts on the election before I move on to other issues.

I have written a fair amount about the Democrats' October surprise here, here and here.

In those posts, I discussed the Osama speech and the "missing" munitions story. What I didn't know then was that the October surprise was the gift that would keep on giving. The Democrats' October surprise continued through election day with the appearance of the phony exit polls. Those exit polls were designed to demoralize Republicans and create the false impression that Kerry had built an insurmountable lead in battleground states and was even leading in normally strong Republican states. Even many conservatives fell for it. Several did not (as related by Peg Noonan):

Oh, another last note. Tuesday I heard three radio talkers who refused to believe it was over when the ludicrous, and who knows but possibly quite mischievous, exit polls virtually declared a Kerry landslide yesterday afternoon. They are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. The last sent me an e-mail that dismissed the numbers as elitist nonsense and propaganda. She is one tough girl and they are two tough men. Savor them too.

There is no way to know whether exit polls (or any other polls) are accurate - especially in the heat of a seemingly close race. I stopped paying attention to polls going into the final weekend.

My only advice is that we must prepare ourselves for more false polls in the future. We cannot believe ANY polls. The experts on Republican campaigns will have their own polling data and will know how and where to allocate campaign resources. But we, as voters, bloggers, and new media activists, don't need to rely on polls. We deal in issues. We expose the truth beneath the MSM spin.

Looking back now to the final days of the campaign, I cannot point to a single benefit that any of us received by the endless rehashing of polls in the days leading up to the election.

In future elections, remind your readers, friends, etc. of the last minute election day exit polls of November 2, 2004. Tell them to remember these polls when they hear of new polls in the battles ahead. The only defense is advance immunization.

Shortly, I will attempt to post a recap of all of the MSM falsehoods that characterized election-2004 and that should forever destroy the MSM's pretense at objectivity. The destruction of this pretense should also include the destruction of any notion that the MSM polls are designed to achieve any end other than the election of Democratic candidates.

As I wrote earlier, it will not be a surprise if we get the voters to expect it.

Scorecard on Specter

At this time next year as we lament Specter's latest backstabbing of his party, his constituents and the Constitution, we will need a scorecard of who took what side so we can say our "I told you so's." [I still hold out a small hope that Specter can be cornered into cooperation with his party and that I will be on the receiving end of the "I told you so's."]

Stones Cry Out has provided just such a scorecard.

My previous posts on Specter are here, here, here, here and here

Specter and the new media

Previous post here.

Powerline has published Senator Frist's response to the Specter debate. Frist promises to use his position to ensure fair treatment of the Bush nominees. Powerline reacts:

Not fully satisfactory, obviously, but I think that Sen. Frist has gotten the message that it is up to him to make sure, one way or another, that Specter's role on the Judiciary Committee doesn't undermine the President's nominations. This is the kind of thing that is best done behind the scenes, I think, rather than by publicly humiliating Sen. Specter and his fellow moderates. Time will tell whether that faith is well-placed.

Regardless of the outcome, the blogosphere/new media role in shining the spotlight on this issue is essential to ensuring that Specter lives up to whatever promises he makes to Bush and Frist. We shouldn't worry about the back room strategy. Our role is not that of back room strategist. That is too nuanced an approach. We have to continue the campaign, make the phone calls, send the e-mails and let the Washington insiders do the strategizing - as long their goal is a strict constructionist Court. Only if we do our part will they do their part. We cannot stand in the shoes of inside deal makers and try to plan their chess game for them. We can only spread the news that the MSM hides and make our voices heard.

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Wednesday morning update.

Sue Bob has pointed out a WorldNetDaily article that I missed. Specter promised leading Pennsylvania newspapers that he would oppose what he calls "extremist" judges in exchange for those newspapers' endorsements. The question is, which promises will Specter keep, the promises he made to the Pensylvania newspapers or the promises he is now making to the Republicans as he grovels to get his chairmanship?

Scrappleface ponders the possibility that Specter might make amends by endorsing Ashcroft for Supreme Court.

The next terror attack?

Michelle Malkin provides two chilling reports that remind us that the war on terror didn't end just because the American appeasers lost one election.

1) A crop duster was stolen in Mexico last week. Malkin provides links to other stories that reveal the link between terrorist activity in general and crop dusters.


2) Even worse, there are reports of more than 100 large propane cylinders stolen in Colorado since July. Each of these cylinders, if detonated, has the capacity to bring down a building.

Niether Homeland Security nor law enforcement authorities appear to be following up on these reports.

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mid-day update

These stories remind me of the need for vigilance as the war continues. Peggy Noonan provided detailed advice three years ago on how ordinary Americans can prevent and/or deal with future attacks.

An earlier column of Noonan's reveals that the above items may not be happening in a vacuum. The enemy is patient. Plans for terror made today might bear poisonous fruit years down the road.

Among the obversations that Noonan catalogued:

Now jump to this past week [October 2001]. Two things happen. My son is surfing Internet chat rooms last Sunday and goes to a conservative site, where he sees an interesting thing. A man or woman has written in to say--again I paraphrase--"The oddest thing happened at work the other day. I work at a petrochemical company, and these two Mideastern looking guys come in and say they want to videotape the inside of the plant for a college course they're taking. They were approached and asked for identification by the manager. They became surly, angry, and left. Later the manager phoned the school they claimed to be students at--and they weren't even registered!"

My son calls to me, we read it and look at each other. I decided to call the FBI again.

But the next morning my phone rings and it is the FBI, and it seems to be a real agent, not a telephone answerer. My initial tip line report has, apparently, trickled up into the "check it out" category. Or maybe they've gotten enough reports like mine that a discernable pattern has emerged. At any rate, the agent asked me to go through my story and the driver's story, and then I threw in the report on the Internet, and he gave me his name and number and asked me to call if I saw anything else.

After discussing the concept of sleeper cells - a new concept for post 9/11 America at that time, she places those and other incidents in context:

I think some cell members may not be sure what their next move is. They're not sure of their next assignment. They haven't been told, or they haven't, perhaps, chosen. I think cell members have been going around taking home movies of potential targets. I suspect they've been downloading them into computers and shooting them off to Osama and his lieutenants in the caves. I suspect they've been building a video library of places they might hit over the next few months and years and decade. And I think once they take one of the targets down they'll happily return to the scene of the crime, take a nice tourist-type videotape of the crater they made--they'll tell the cops they want to record the brave rescue workers--and send it triumphantly home.

As if to rub salt in the wounds, John Kerry and the Dems will then immediately step forward to say "I told you so."
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Monday afternoon update (11/14/04)

Click here to see the MSM's position on the next terror attack.

Specter - Monday update.

Previous posts here, here and here.

The National Review Online has published another opinion piece - this one focusing on Senator DeWine from Ohio as a focal point for our attention in the battle to deny the Chairmanship to Arlen Specter. Senator DeWine's phone number is (202) 224-2315.

Michelle Malkin has written an excellent post at her blog. She is the only major writer I have seen with the foresight to tie last week's gay marriage referendi to the Specter issue. Her point is - opposing gay marriage is a winning position for Republicans. The same holds true generally for other social issues. Specter will undermine us on those issues and botch a genuine opportunity for the Republicans to make gains. This is about more than abortion. The issue is about long term strategy. If liberal, activist, Supreme Court nominees fill the bench, we will have lost the battle for decades to come.

You can read my previous posts here, here and here. They link to articles from Ann Coulter, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, National Review, Captain's Quarters and others. [Phone numbers and e-mail addresses also.]

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Monday night update.
Arlen Specter appeared on Hannity this evening and was generally incoherent. He is definitely on the defensive.

We don't know whether that will translate into action.

Even if we don't succeed in stopping Specter, the pressure and publicity will focus public attention on this issue. David Limbaugh feels that the pressure will help keep Spector in check even if he does succeed in taking the Chairmanship. I am unconvinced. We are certainly doing no harm with this anti-Spector campaign. But I don't think we can settle for second place. At the very least, we will make some difference in the upcoming judicial nomination process. But as long as Spector takes the chairmanship, we will be stuck with a quarterback that (not so) secretly roots for the other side.

My advice is to push for a better quarterback and we'll analyze the results once the issue is decided.
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Tuesday morning update

Powerline proposes a middle ground.

Even if we achieve a "middle ground", such achievement could result only from the efforts of those on the right to expose this issue and fight the battle. If you want the middle ground, fight for the right.

Massacre of children in Ramadi - Coalition to be blamed

Dave at Cold Beverage has posted a centcom link that reveals the muslim insurgents' plans to rig schools with explosives and detonate them once the Coalition's final assault begins. One school in Ramadi was rigged with explosives with the detonation wire running to a nearby mosque.

The left and their allies in the MSM will see to it that the U.S. gets the blame. Hat tip also to Digital Brown Pajamas.

----------------------

update - Powerline has a good post on the planned assault and a link to one marine's perspective.

Spread this story so the marines don't get labeled as baby killers when the insurgents destroy the schools.

We should narrow our focus this weekend to this story and the Specter story. A narrowed focus on two tasks worked well last weekend. Let's do it again.

Another Specter update

Previous post with phone numbers etc. here.

National Review Online weighed in on Friday by urging that we show Specter "The Door...."

Deacon at Powerline and Sue Bob remain undecided. Also check out The Caretaker.

I recalled something last night for which I cannot find a link. During the Clinton administration, Clinton nominated a judge from Philadelphia for the federal judiciary. Her nomination ran into trouble because it was discovered that she had openly abused prosecutors with obscenity laden tirades during trials and had openly identified undercover cops during trials, thus exposing those policemen to physical danger and undermining their work. Despite all of this, Specter supported her.

One person Specter did not support was Jefferson Sessions, whose nomination to the federal judicary Specter helped block during the Reagan administration. Ed Meese described Specter's actions as "an appalling surrender to the politics of ideology." More crucially, Specter would not say recently whether he would support either Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia for Chief Justice. "I'd want to think about that," he says.

The message is clear. If you want someone like Thomas or Scalia on the bench, you can't count on Specter.

Nevermind that Specter's campaign rhetoric (attacking the Republican base as "the intolerant Right") is often indistinguishable from the Dems' bitter post-election hate fest.

Ann Coulter's analysis is best. The gay marriage ballot initiatives this fall revealed that LARGE majorities of the voters oppose gay marriage. Similar percentages oppose late term abortion. These issues are winning issues for Republicans. Specter is not only on the wrong side of those issues, he would block the nominations of any judges that were not similarly wrong.

Don't let Specter deprive us of our winning issues. E-mail the Judiciary Committee Republicans today.
-----------------------------------
Sunday night updates.

Scrappleface has come out with two excellent posts. Here and here.

samples:

A spokesman for the president said the Bush administration is still debating the question of "when a chairmanship actually begins".

If Mrs. Arafat chooses this option, her husband's body will be lowered feet-first into the grave. When only the head remains above ground, a surgeon will use a pair of scissors at the base of his skull to remove his brain.

Click here to Bork Specter.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has now weighed in also:

Arlen Specter has been many things in his 24 years in the U.S. Senate. An opportunist. A hypocrite. Arrogant. Befuddling. And he hasn't been much of a Republican. Now, add ingrate, obstructionist and master prevaricator.

---------------------------------------

Late Sunday update

Add Digital Brown Pajamas to the blogs weighing in against Arlen Specter.

We still have not heard from Michelle Malkin. We know she can have little patience for Specter and has posted many excellent items this weekend on other matters. Her voice would be a welcome addition to this effort.

Powerline remains undecided. Deacon feels that Specter's problem may be ego rather than ideology. We urge Deacon to read the National Review Specter history and Ann Coulter's April column. Specter supports Republicans when he HAS to. He won't have any more election year conversions. Whatever the reason for Specter's obstructionism, we can't afford to lose some of our best issues when Specter obstructs conservative judges.

Get on with it.

Can we turn this into a parking lot already?

Hat tip to the Commissar.

In all seriousness, our prayers are with our troops as they help Iraq take its next step forward toward freedom.

Election wrap up - part I

I do not intend to spend much space analyzing why Bush won. Others have done an excellent job providing the reasons for the Bush victory.

Check out the Washington Times, Mark Steyn, Middle Ground and Ann Coulter.

These items are the most entertaining of what has been written, with Ann Coulter's piece containing the best combination of entertainment and completeness.

Here is a sample:

Seventy percent to 80 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage and partial-birth abortion. Far from appealing exclusively to a narrow Republican base, opposition to gay marriage is strongest among the Democratic base: blacks, Hispanics, blue-collar workers and the elderly. There were marriage amendments on the ballot in Michigan and Ohio. Bush won Ohio narrowly and lost Michigan by only 2 points. How different might that have been if Bush hadn't run from the issue.

Specter update - blogosphere campaign

Click here for my original Specter post.

The story is updated today in the Washington Times, with a discussion of Judiciary Committee staffers' strategizing on how to skip over Specter for the chairmanship.

Much of the blogosphere, including Spoons and the Captain, have taken up the challenge and spread the story.

Others, including Powerline, Michelle Malkin and Truth Laid Bear, have said nothing, focusing instead on other issues. C'mon guys, we know you agree with us. Get on board before it is too late.

Once the Republicans name Specter as Chairman, we will have no choice but to live with 30 more years of a liberal, activist, Supreme Court. Imagine the pledge of allegiance being stricken as unconstitutional nationwide. Imagine gay marriage and partial birth abortion becoming entrenched constitutional rights despite overwhelming public opposition. Imagine U.S. troops and other American citizens being subject to the international criminal court.
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Saturday afternoon update

I just noticed a post at Powerline that helps define the issue, although still there is no mention of Specter to be found:

. . . perhaps the greatest motivation of voters against
the New Elite is the habit of courts making rather than interpreting law. Example: Ohio, where the Mass. Supreme Ct. clearly won the state for Bush.

I agree that the battle for the courts is a winning issue for Republicans. Keeping Specter out of the chairmanship would be the most important part of that battle. If we surrender the most important ground on the battlefield next week when the chairmanship is decided, all of this talk about values will be meaningless. We will have the right to talk about values in the next election, if we start talking about Specter today.

Peggy Noonan column - "So Much to Savor"

We can do a little more savoring before we jump back into the dirtpile.

Peggy Noonan has made many of the points that need to be made and repeated if we are going to capitalize on our victory.

I do not know what the Democratic Party spent, in toto,
on the 2004 election, but what they seem to have gotten
for it is Barack Obama. Let us savor.

George Soros cannot buy a presidential election. Savor.
"Volunteers" who are bought and paid for cannot beat
volunteers who come from the neighborhood, church,
workplace and reading group. Savor.

The leaders of the Bush effort see it this way: A ragtag
band of more than a million Republican volunteers who fought
like Washington's troops at Valley Forge beat the paid Hessians
of King George III's army. Savor.

But I do think the biggest loser was the mainstream media, the famous MSM, the initials that became popular in this election cycle. Every time the big networks and big broadsheet national newspapers tried to pull off a bit of pro-liberal mischief--CBS and the fabricated Bush National Guard documents, the New York Times and bombgate, CBS's "60 Minutes" attempting to coordinate the breaking of bombgate on the Sunday before the election--the yeomen of the blogosphere and AM radio and the Internet took them down. It was to me a great historical development in the history of politics in America. It was Agincourt. It was the yeomen of King Harry taking down the French aristocracy with new technology and rough guts. God bless the pajama-clad yeomen of America. Some day, when America is hit again, and lines go down, and media are hard to get, these bloggers and site runners and independent Internetters of all sorts will find a way to file, and get their word out, and it will be part of the saving of our country.

Last note. As much as anyone, the POW wives of Vietnam,
who stood against the Democratic nominee for president
and for the Republican, can claim credit for the Bush victory.
Everyone with a computer in America, and a lot of people with
TVs, saw their testimony about the 1970s, and their husbands,
and John Kerry. You could not come away from their white-haired,
soft-faced, big-eyeglasses visages without thinking: He should
not be commander in chief.

Oh, another last note. Tuesday I heard three radio talkers who refused to believe it was over when the ludicrous, and who knows but possibly quite mischievous, exit polls virtually declared a Kerry landslide yesterday afternoon. They are Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. The last sent me an e-mail that dismissed the numbers as elitist nonsense and propaganda. She is one tough girl and they are two tough men. Savor them too.

The exit polls appear to have been part of the Dems' October Surprise. I will have more on that later.

Forgiveness

During the spring primary campaign, I commented to friends that I would forgive President Bush and Senator Santorum for their endorsement of Arlen Specter for reelection to the U.S. Senate - endorsements that probably made the difference in an otherwise tight race against conservative Pat Toomey.

I reasoned that the backstabbing that Specter would soon deliver to Bush and the rest of the Republicans would be punishment enough.

Specter will effectively have the power singlehandedly to reverse the results of this week's election if he ascends to the chairmanship of the Judiciary committee. And no, I am not talking about some challenge to the vote tallies. I am talking about his ability to prevent non-liberal judges from being confirmed to the federal courts. Ann Coulter warned us about this before the primary:

More than any other person in America, Arlen Specter is responsible
for a runaway Supreme Court that has turned every political issue into a "constitutional" matter, giving radical liberals an uninterrupted
string of victories in the culture wars. That's not a court, it's a junta.

I don't know exactly how to prevent Specter from seizing the chairmanship, but a blogosphere campaign sounds like a good place to start.

-------------------------------------------------
Thursday night update

ABC Radio announced Thursday evening that a flood of angry e-mails have reached Senator Frist, raising questions as to whether Specter would be named chairman of the committee. But Fox News indicates that the Republicans might be satisfied with a mere "clarifying statement" from Specter.

We need to lobby the Republicans NOW. E-mail Senator Frist, Senator Santorum and the Republican members of the Judiciary Committee. Post this story on your blogs. There is too much at stake for us to lose this battle. We have worked too hard to get this far only to have our gains nullified by a RINO.


------------------------------

Friday mid-day update

The Captain has picked up on the story. Get more details at his page.

You can contact Senator Frist via e-mail by going here. The same page will allow you to link to other Senators.

Contact the rest of the Judiciary Committee also.

---------------------------------------------
Friday evening update

Click here for "stop Specter" website.

Spoons has been blogging this for two days. Check here and here.

Some little known facts about Specter. He:

is a strong supporter of racial preferences.

opposes almost all kinds of tort reform.

wants the U.S. to submit to the International Criminal Court.

opposes any measures to help parents choose to take their kids out of failing schools (although he sent his own kids to private schools, naturally).

Tried to recruit Teresa Heinz (now Kerry) to run against Rick Santorum for Congress.

--------------------------------------------
Saturday morning update.

The names and phone numbers of the Republican Judiciary Committee members are listed here:

Hatch (202) 224-5251
Grassley (202)224.3744
Kyl (202) 224-4521
DeWine (202) 224-2315
Sessions (202) 224-4124
Graham (202) 224-5972
Craig 202/224-2752
Chambliss (202) 224-3521
Cornyn 202-224-2934

Big hat tip to Spoons.

The Republicans may caucus as early as next week. After that, it will be too late. We will live with their decision for the next thirty years.

Sorry to ruin our celebrations, but LOOK WHO IS REPORTING FOR DUTY NEXT

2008?

Something to savor

I suppose we can enjoy the results for a little while before we start cleaning up the country.

Check out Michelle Malkin for a list of winners and losers.

It looks like we dodged a bullet . . . .

. . . . but there is still a gun pointed at our heads. And I am not referring to the foreign terrorists. This country's election process is in danger of being destroyed. The Democrats almost stole this election (and are still trying to do just that in court in Ohio). We must not only dispatch Kerry's Ohio challenge, but we must repair the damage that MSM, Moveon.org, Moore, unions, Dems, etc. have done to the process itself. We have much work to do over the next four years.

A good place to start would be to take a no-more-"Mr. Niceguy" approach to election fraud. Election fraud is a crime and we must treat it that way. Those who submitted false registrations must be prosecuted - and those prosecutions must be publicized. The administration and local officials should begin by investigating and prosecuting offenders in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. These cases will blunt any public relations headway that Kerry makes with his Ohio court challenges. I am sure that late night comedians, MSM mouthpieces and others are eager to rehash the same slogans from Florida 2000 and apply them to Ohio 2004. Prosecutions and investigations into actual Democrat fraud in states that we lost will counter the MSM trend. We tried to be classy after 2000 and all we got for our class was an enraged opposition that remains more convinced than ever that Bush somehow "stole" the election. Let's throw their own theft in their faces and see how indignant they remain.

Digital Brown Pajamas makes a good point about how important it is to build on the work we have already done this year:

Well, get ready to counter the fraud charges.
That's one of the reasons that sites like this one have
been cataloging these things

.
Also, hat tip to all of those who predicted where the Dems' voter fraud would take us, particularly Michele.

Remember also that Kerry has a friendly judge in his pocket in Ohio. Higher courts may have to reverse her rulings, as they have done several times this year. Get ready for chants of "selected, not elected."

How Philadelphia Democrats will use the other 4%

I reported earlier on Philadelphia's 104% registration total. Today, we learn how the Democrats plan to use that extra 4%.

Since there are more registered voters than actual people in Philadelphia, the Dems need some way to count the votes of the nonexistent 40,000 registered voters. They have found a way. Poll watchers today noted that numerous machines at various polling places in Philadelphia already contained votes prior to the opening of the polls. In Philadelphia, the Democrat machine doesn't need actual people to pull the lever or punch the ballot.

The Dems simply stuff the ballot box before the day begins. And if anyone is ungracious enough to notice, they pull a gun on him.

We don't need to ask what party those votes were cast in favor of?

This happened at too many polling places for it to be the work only of corrupt local officials or an accident. What did Terry McAuliffe know and when did he know it?

For those of you that will work as poll watchers today (or if you know someone who is watching the polls), there are fake votes to be found. Happy digging.

Election eve

We are down to tomorrow and one more task.

If Kerry wins this election, the world will know and history will record that when America was attacked, we blinked. We can't blame our leaders, as our leaders fought back until we replaced them. We can only blame those of us who didn't have the nerve.

If the election is stolen, we can blame the equivalent of our own "fifth column" for the loss of the war.

I am sure there are parallels between that scenario and Hitler's takeover of Austria, where Austrian fifth columnists paralyzed any Austrian opposition to a Hitler invasion. While no "invasion" is imminent here, effective opposition to international terrorism has been paralyzed by Kerry and his Moveon.org/Moore/MSM allies. What should have been a no-brainer (the removal of Saddam) was delayed and agonized over and is now second guessed to the point where other rogue states like Syria and Iran now have virtually no accountability. Opportunities to destroy the rogue state network may be lost forever while the Democrats in this country can think of nothing more far reaching than to stuff the ballot boxes in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Win or lose tomorrow, this blog and other blogs will continue. There are many issues to explore. The nature of the American fifth column is a fascinating subject. It is especially difficult to explain insofar as the Dems have no natural philosophical kinship with the terrorist enemies (unlike their natural affinity for Soviet-style socialism). Much has already been written about the left and their motivations. On this blog I will try to summarize and link to the best of that literature.

Deeper discussion of these issues is often more enjoyable than the day-to-day networking and headline-passing that the blogosphere often does. It is more exciting to watch an immediate scandal spread uncontrolled like Rathergate or the Swiftboat Vets story, but it is sometimes better to rediscover our roots and enjoy the underpinnings of conservative philosophy. We make better warriors in the long run that way.

Tomorrow, fight like there is no tomorrow, but be prepared for some good reading in the weeks and months to follow.