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FRIDAY,  FEBRUARY 19,  2010

THE DEPARTMENT OF MAYBE SOME JUSTICE – AT 6:26 P.M. ET:  When a new attorney general takes office in Washington, he or she has a vast number of lawyers available in the nation who'd love to be appointed to Justice Department positions. 

So it's fascinating to see who actually gets chosen.  Fascinating, and sometimes depressing. 

Attorney General Eric Holder has now disclosed what was actually already known, that some of his appointees have histories of defending Guantanamo detainees.  Nothing wrong with people having a defense, of course, but there are serious questions here about conflicts of interest.  Byron York of the Washington Examiner has the story:

Attorney General Eric Holder says nine Obama appointees in the Justice Department have represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before joining the Justice Department. But he does not reveal any names beyond the two officials whose work has already been publicly reported. And all the lawyers, according to Holder, are eligible to work on general detainee matters, even if there are specific parts of some cases they cannot be involved in.

Question:  Why was it necessary to pick these particular lawyers for the department when Holder knew that detainee issues would be front and center?

Holder's admission comes in the form of an answer to a question posed last November by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley. Noting that one Obama appointee, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, formerly represented Osama bin Laden's driver, and another appointee, Jennifer Daskal, previously advocated for detainees at Human Rights Watch, Grassley asked Holder to give the Senate Judiciary Committee "the names of political appointees in your department who represent detainees or who work for organizations advocating on their behalf…the cases or projects that these appointees work with respect to detainee prior to joining the Justice Department…and the cases or projects relating to detainees that have worked on since joining the Justice Department."

Human Rights Watch?  Are we serious?  That is a once-great organization that fell under the spell of the international left.  That's where we get our federal lawyers?

In his response, Holder has given Grassley almost nothing. He says nine Obama political appointees at the Justice Department have advocated on behalf of detainees, but did not identify any of the nine other than the two, Katyal and Daskal, whose names Grassley already knew. "To the best of our knowledge," Holder writes, during their employment prior to joining the government, only five of the lawyers who serve as political appointees in those components represented detainees, and four others either contributed to amicus briefs in detainee-related cases or were otherwise involved in advocacy on behalf of detainees.

Holder has been a liability for Obama.  He seems to make one mistake after another, and has a political tin ear.  Maybe next he'll hire O.J. Simpson to give advice on domestic crime.

February 19, 2010   Permalink

CASE CLOSED, WE THINK – AT 6:19 P.M. ET:  The FBI has closed its investigation into the anthrax attacks of 2001:

The FBI officially closed its eight-year investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks Friday after concluding that Army scientist Bruce E. Ivins acted alone in preparing and mailing the deadly spores that killed five people and terrorized the nation.

The long-delayed end to the case known as Amerithrax was accompanied by the release of hundreds of pages of documents -- many of them not previously public -- describing in unprecedented detail how agents tied the eccentric Maryland scientist to the country's worst bioterrorist attack, and ruled out other potential suspects.

The validity of the FBI's case will never be tested in court because Ivins, a specialist in anthrax vaccines at Frederick's Fort Detrick Army base, committed suicide in 2008 as investigators were preparing to charge him.

The documents reveal for the first time that Ivins, a man with a long history of mental and emotional disorders, confided before his death that he was worried he might have committed acts he said he could not recall.

COMMENT:  Well, they probably got it right, but I'm always uneasy about investigations that blame a dead guy.  At the same time, a legitimate question can be asked:  Why was a man with "a long history ofmental and emotional disorders" permitted to work in an Army anthrax laboratory?  I'd like to see that answered.

February 19, 2010   Permalink

REMEMBERING – AT 5:29 P.M. ET:  Today marks the 65th anniversary of the invasion of Iwo Jima by United States Marines.

And, as this is being written, Marines are fighting in Afghanistan.

Iwo Jima was one of the iconic battles of World War II, etched in our memory through the photograph of Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi.

It was a battle in which the United States suffered more total casualties than our enemy, Japan, although almost the entire Japanese garrison was destroyed.

Iwo Jima was a Japanese island before World War II.  The mayor of Tokyo was the mayor of Iwo Jima.

One of the tragedies of Iwo Jima is that the island proved only minimally useful to the United States after it was taken.  War plans had changed.  Strategies were altered.  But none of that minimizes the sacrifice of the Marines who took the island.  Marine and Navy fatalities totaled more than 6,000.

Iwo Jima was returned to the Japanese in 1968.  Americans are permitted to visit once a year for remembrance. 

Reader Claude Williams has visited Iwo Jima and writes about it at this evening's edition of The Angel's Corner.

February 19, 2010    Permalink

AN ERA FADES – AT 10:28 A.M. ET:  Kathryn Grayson has died at 88.  For those of a certain age, or for their children who were taught what movies are really about, her name has resonance.

Kathryn Grayson was one of the stars of the truly legendary Freed unit, the division of MGM that made the great MGM musicals of the 30's, 40's and 50's.  She was beautiful, and sang with the quality of the trained operatic singer that she was.

The MGM musicals symbolized, possibly more than any other form, the golden age of American movies, movies made to entertain an audience, not give a political lecture.  MGM lavished endless attention on its musicals, employing the finest composers, lyricists, designers, directors and performers.  The "film sophisticates" sneered that MGM was a movie factory.  That is exactly right.  It made movies.  That was its job.  It made them all the time, allowing artists to practice their craft every day.  Hey, you think that may have had something to do with the quality?

One of my most memorable experiences was to walk through the soundstages of MGM and remember the musicals that were made there.  You felt ghosts.  You really did.

We will remember Kathryn Grayson for her performances in "Show Boat" and "Kiss Me Kate," as well as many others.  She glowed, and perfectly symbolized an American art form.  She was one of the last survivors of the Freed unit.  Cyd Charisse died two years ago.  Leslie Caron still lives. 

Here is Kathryn Grayson with Mario Lanza:

Go get the DVD's.  And enjoy.   There's nothing wrong with that.  And listen to the music.

February 19, 2010   Permalink

THE SARAH DEBATE – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:  What a remarkable debate is occurring on the right regarding Sarah Palin.  It simply shows that she is endlessly fascinating. 

In the last few days, Sarah has come under criticism from two prominent conservative writers - Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal – quoted at Urgent Agenda – and George Will.

Now, at NRO, another writer, Mike Potemra, gallantly defends Sarah.  Oh, the tradition.  Oh, the chivalry.  Nancy Pelosi, eat your heart out:

What, specifically, does Rabinowitz object to? In part, the fact that Palin has endorsed Ron Paul’s son for the U.S. Senate; but, more significantly: “The unsavory echoes of [Palin’s] regular references to ‘the real America’ as opposed to those shadowy ‘elites,’ now charged with threats to the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of all real Americans. [Palin seems not] to have any idea of how that low soap-box oratory — embracing one kind of American as the real kind, those builders in the towns and cities across America — rings in the ear today.”

Now, I share — quite intensely, as it happens — Rabinowitz’s dislike of the sort of rhetoric for which she faults Sarah Palin. I would not welcome a continuation of it for all three years leading up to the 2012 election, much less for the four years of the next presidency. But I think Rabinowitz is wrong in saying that Palin is unaware of how that sort of speech “rings in the ear today.” Rabinowitz and I may not like it, but we are probably in the minority. Palin may have found just the right emotional buttons to be a successful politician in our time.

A good point, but Sarah must be careful that her rhetoric not attract the out-of-the-woodwork crowd, who can destroy any movement.

Which brings me to George Will, who writes: “Sarah Palin, who with 17 months remaining in her single term as Alaska’s governor quit the only serious office she has ever held, is obsessively discussed as a possible candidate in 2012. Why? She is not going to be president and will not be the Republican nominee unless the party wants to lose at least 44 states...

...When I read this sort of thing, I can’t help remembering that there was a point in 2007 when the Obama campaign was faltering, and I was thinking, What a dumb idea it is for a guy with no experience, no qualifications, and a record of less than half a term in the Senate to think he can be elected president. The sooner he gets out of the race, the less embarrassed he’ll end up being.

And...

The gravamen of his substantive objection to Palin – i.e., as opposed to the highly questionable assertion that she can’t win — is that while she has “showed grit . . . she has also showed that grit is no substitute for seasoning.” The thing about seasoning, though, is that it can come with time. I have seen already that Palin is a political natural, so I have little doubt she has the raw political talents to win people’s affections: In this regard, she reminds me of no one so much as of Bill Clinton, who in the 1992 primaries managed to turn catastrophe into political gold.

Finally...

Rabinowitz writes: “At a time when Republican hopes are in the ascendancy, as now (and even when they are not), it’s impossible to imagine the Sarah Palin known to the world today as their leader. It would be well for her to begin pondering the reasons.” The first sentence here is true, in a sense, but misleading; the second assumes, perhaps contrary to fact, that Palin has not yet considered the question. In my view, Palin is showing a great deal of skill in her current task: tapping today’s mood to win a lot of support among some highly politically involved and energized Americans. She can hardly be faulted for not yet having moved on to the next task: to demonstrate that she can lead a party, and a nation. The answer on that, we can leave to be determined in an actual campaign.

COMMENT:  This debate will continue, and we'll be following it.  Candidates rarely attract this kind of passion.

February 19, 2010   Permalink

THE WARNING – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  This is delicate, and the source must be hidden.  I received the following e-mail from a highly qualified person.  The e-mail has been edited to disguise the individuals involved:

A friend...who works in a very high intelligence position in the national government made clear...yesterday that the most uncontrollable and unpredictable terrorism problem involves "lone wolf" operatives who get propaganda from terrorist websites that eventually lead them to commit terrorist acts.  The Fort Hood killer is an example of that.  Expect more such incidents.  

He described the likelihood of continued terrorist incidents within the US as a "certainty."  He also told us that since 9/11 the government has stopped "hundreds and hundreds" of domestic terrorism efforts, none of which are known to the public or media. Many of these would have produced true catastrophes and came quite close to fruition.  He indicated that Al Qaeda is currently experiencing an "upswing" in its resources and capabilities.

This person travels overseas always with government-provided bodyguards.

COMMENT:  Please remember that warning.  And remember the statement that we've stopped "hundrds and hundreds" of domestic terrorism attempts.  I'm sure the left feels that each of our successes was deeply offensive to the innocent, misunderstood jihadists.

February 19, 2010   Permalink

FANATICISM – AT 8:30 A.M. ET:  Although the president has invited Republican lawmakers to a televised meeting on health-care legislation, to be held Febuary 25th, apparently it's little more than a show.  Mr. Obama, despite widespread public opposition, has his own plan:

President Obama is working on health care legislation intended to reconcile differences between House and Senate Democrats that could be attached to a budget bill and avoid a Republican filibuster, according to a published report.

The president's proposal, which is still being written, will be posted on the Internet by Monday morning, senior administration officials and Congressional aides told the New York Times.

By piggybacking the legislation onto a budget bill, Democrats would be able to advance the bill with a simple majority of just 51 votes, averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate.

The White House signaled Thursday that an aggressive, all-Democratic strategy for overhauling the nation's health system remains a serious option, even as Obama invites Republicans to next week's televised summit to seek possible compromises.

"It will be a reconciliation bill," the Times quoted a Democratic aide as saying. "If Republicans don't come with any substantial offers, this is what we would do."

The administration's stance could set the stage for a political showdown, with Democrats struggling to enact the president's top domestic priority and Republicans trying to block what many conservatives see as government overreach.

COMMENT:  The cynicism is overwhelming, and the contempt for the public is stunning.  It is typical of the arrogant crowd running the government these days.  They've learned nothing from recent election setbacks, from polls, from clear expressions of public rejection.  They know what's good for us.

This is the left wing of the Democratic Party at work.  It will stop at nothing.  It wants control of the nation's health care.  Its masters understand that, once that control is written into law, it will be very hard to reverse it. 

The dream, of course, is to make America more like Europe, which the left considers superior to the vulgar, imperialist, expansionist, militaristic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic and meat-eating nation they live in. 

The Republican strategy is still evolving.  Republicans should recall the admonition of General Douglas MacArthur, that all defeats begin with two words:  Too late.  The GOP must present its health-care ideas to the American people, and they've got to be good and convincing.  Otherwise, the Dems will go crazy and pass their monstrosity.

February 19, 2010   Permalink

GOP HOUSE PROSPECTS – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  The prospects seem to get better and better, as The Politico reports:

Highlighting the GOP’s continued momentum, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report made ratings changes in 25 House races Thursday, all of which favor Republican candidates. The downgrading of Democratic prospects in the races paints an increasingly promising picture for GOP chances of taking over the House next year.

The respected political publication now rates 54 Democratic-held seats in the most highly competitive category — with 26 of them either pure tossups or favoring the Republican candidate. The publication rates 95 Democratic seats in total as potentially vulnerable — over one-third of the entire caucus.

Republicans need to pick up a net of 40 seats to win back control of the House. According to the Cook ratings, the GOP has only six seats that are at risk of flipping.

The list of potentially vulnerable Democrats, according to the Cook Report, includes members who have been virtually untouchable in the past, including Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.), the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Nick Rahall, the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who hasn’t faced a competitive race since 1990.

“At this rate, Democrats are likely to lose at least 25-35 seats in the House and would have to bend the current trajectory of the cycle to hold onto their House majority,” wrote Cook Political Report House analyst David Wasserman.

COMMENT:  Comforting news that will make for a better weekend.  However, Charles Krauthammer warned several days ago that the current Republican momentum may not last, and is subject to any number of derailers.  The economy can improve.  An international crisis may produce the "rally 'round the president" effect.  The Republicans may fail to exploit their advantage.  Dissident groups on the right may run third-party candidates, effectively electing Democrats.

So, we say again, we have to run as if we're 20 points behind.

February 19,  2010   Permalink

THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 18,  2010

EARLY REPORT – AT 9:33 P.M. ET:  From Fox News:

The U.S. Army is investigating allegations that soldiers were attempting to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

The ongoing probe began two months ago, Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, told Fox News.

The Army is taking the allegations “extremely seriously,” Grey said, but so far, "there is no credible information to support the allegations."

The suspects were part of a Arabic translation program called "09 Lima" and use Arabic as their first language, two sources told Fox News. Another military source said they were Muslim.

Grey would not confirm or deny the sources’ information.

Another news organization, CBN, reports that five Muslim soldiers were arrested, but cannot confirm that they are still being held. 

COMMENT:  We very strongly caution that this is preliminary information.  We're glad that the media is now involved.  We hope that at least some media outlets, throwing political correctness overboard, will watch this case carefully, and be on guard against a cover-up.  But no one has been charged and the allegations have not been proved.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

SCHOLARLY NEWS – AT 9:02 P.M. ET:  An important academic event, as reported in the Harvard Crimson:

The award-winning journalist Christiane Amanpour will address the Class of 2010 on Class Day, the Senior Class Committee announced in an e-mail this afternoon.

Amanpour, 52, is best known for her role as CNN's chief international correspondent, having interviewed world leaders ranging from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to former French President Jacques Chirac.

A winner of nine news and documentary Emmy Awards and host of her own daily series "Amanpour," the 26-year veteran reporter's coverage has included major conflicts including the Persian Gulf War, the Bosnian War, as well as Hurricane Katrina and the crises in Somalia and Rwanda.

COMMENT:  I have already ordered my DVD.  How often do you get a chance to hear a woman who rode a bicycle around New York on election day 2008, reporting on the wonderful feeling she had about the new age that was about to begin?

I feel for the students.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

MORE CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN – AT 8:01 P.M. ET:  The latest economic news, and it won't encourage you to go out and buy a buggy:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance unexpectedly surged last week, while producer prices increased sharply in January, raising potential hurdles for the economy's recovery.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits increased 31,000 to 473,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Financial markets had expected them to fall slightly to 430,000.

Another report from the department showed prices paid at the farm and factory gate rose a faster-than-expected 1.4 percent from December as higher gasoline prices and unusually cold temperatures helped boost energy costs.

The rise in jobless insurance claims dealt a setback to hopes the economy was on the verge of job growth and could increase political pressure on President Barack Obama, who has made tackling unemployment his number one priority.

COMMENT:  And the president has tackled unemployment the best way he knows how – by going around the country making campaign speeches.  Notice the people rushing back to new jobs. 

February 18, 2010   Permalink

POSSIBLE NEW YORK SENATE RUN – AT 7:09 P.M. ET:  The Republican Party in New York is a model of nothingness.  By "party," the GOP in NY usually means whoever the highest ranking Republican official is, his staff, and maybe his sisters and his cousins and his aunts. 

That semi-party is looking for a Senate candidate to pull a Scott Brown in a usually Democratic state.  There are some intriguing developments:

Real estate and media mogul Mort Zuckerman has reached out to New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox about a possible Senate campaign this year, Cox told the Albany Times Union:

"I have talked with Mr. Zuckerman, and he has expressed an interest in running for the Senate," Cox told the paper. "He's very concerned about the direction this country is going and, as I think many Americans are, as the most recent elections have proven, whether Massachusetts or here in New York, Nassau County, Westchester County. He has always wanted to serve his country and thinks perhaps he can serve by running for the United State Senate."

The New York Times reported last Friday that Zuckerman was toying with the idea of challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as a Bloomberg-style centrist Republican, but Zuckerman avoided direct comment in an interview with POLITICO.

COMMENT:  Zuckerman could finance his own campaign, is fairly well known as a political commentator on TV, but has no political organization and has never run for office.  Those problems didn't stop Mike Bloomberg, but Bloomberg had a huge boost from his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani. 

The question is whether Zuckerman has the sparkle.  But he may be the best name the GOP has, now that Rudy has decided not to run.  At least he can pull off a full, well-financed effort.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

STIFF WARNING ON IRAN – AT 6:23 P.M. ET:  A breath of fresh air from the usually stale, and corrupt, United Nations.  It looks like the newly installed head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is taking his job seriously.  From The Wall Street Journal:

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said it has information suggesting Iran may be working to build a nuclear warhead, an assessment that could escalate the U.S. and other Western governments' confrontation with Iran over its nuclear activities.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a Vienna-based U.N. body, said in a confidential report Thursday that Iran has impeded agency efforts to establish the true purpose of Tehran's nuclear program.

"The information available to the agency...raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano wrote in the report.

The expression of concern over the "weaponization" of enriched uranium is a first for the agency.

The IAEA's first report under its new director general underscores what senior Obama administration officials see as a shift at the agency toward a tougher, factually based approach to Iran's nuclear program. One senior U.S. official said Mr. Amano is sticking strictly to the watchdog's responsibilities of ensuring that nuclear safeguards are obeyed.

Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei, the last director general, saw the IAEA's role more broadly, asserting it in matters of war, peace and international stability.

Translated into English:  He saw his role as protecting the Muslim world, from which he came and to which he returned.  The man was a disgrace, which is probably why he was given the Nobel Peace Prize. 

We seem to be getting closer to the truth.  But there are no serious signs that nations are prepared to enact the kind of crippling sanctions that may actually work to change Iran's behavior. 

At least now, though, under its new leadership, the IAEA may have some teeth...until they're pulled by the powers that be at the UN.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

ANOTHER VIEW OF SARAH – AT 10:46 A.M. ET:  The subject that gets the greatest response from Urgent Agenda readers is Sarah Palin.  All I do is mention her name and the e-mail bell starts to ring.

Our readers are divided.  We have passionate supporters, serious doubters, with most in the middle somewhere.  I've stated my own opinion – that Sarah is a gifted political operator, attractive to audiences, with good instincts, but that she must sharpen her mastery of issues.

We present a variety of viewpoints on Sarah here.  We're not party line (on anything).  Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal has now weighed in on the Palin question.  Anything Dorothy writes is worth reading.  She's one of the finest reporters in the country, absolutely fearless, with no regard for political correctness, right or left.  She has doubts about Sarah: 

From the day she turned heads at the 2008 Republican Convention—becoming at once an object of fevered controversy—one truth about Sarah Palin stood clear: She was fortunate in her antagonists.

Those in the media, especially, would stoke a mighty sympathy backlash on her behalf. That resentment would feed nicely into the candidate's role as a voice for the aggrieved: those regular citizens under the heel of the "elites"—that immense, tentacled power whose depredations she has been describing to audiences since her star turn on the McCain ticket.

And...

Mrs. Palin has, it's clear, enjoyed plenty of adulation, and displays even greater confidence than during that unexpected, bedazzling convention speech. Like Barack Obama, she is at home with adoring crowds.

There are, true, a few tonal changes: the jokes are jokier, the touches of malice heavier, and she revels more obviously than before in the playfulness she brings to her performances. It's hard to imagine a more assured, better-timed delivery than the one evident in that down-home thrust at Obama supporters—"How's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?"—in her Tea Party address.

But the trouble begins:

Mrs. Palin now has, she reports, a team of Washington policy advisers who provide her with daily briefings on domestic and foreign affairs. None of them have, it appears, provided her with intelligence on the impact of certain of her central themes.

On, for instance, the unsavory echoes of her regular references to "the real America" as opposed to those shadowy "elites," now charged with threats to the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of all real Americans. Neither does she seem to have any idea of how that low soap-box oratory—embracing one kind of American as the real kind, those builders in the towns and cities across America—rings in the ear today. It is not new.

We know what Dorothy is talking about.  I think Sarah is a decent person.  But some of those references do, indeed, have an uncomfortable history.

And Dorothy is particularly concerned about Sarah's endorsement of the Senate candidacy of nutbag Rand Paul, son of super nutbag Ron Paul.  Ron Paul, the Texas "Republican" congressman, is not a conservative, but an extremist reactionary.  Ron Paul, among other things, has said that Osama bin Laden had good reason to attack the United States.  And Rand Paul?

Rand Paul, who offers no opinion on his father's touching faith in bin Laden's devotion to truth, says only that his father's statements have been misunderstood. On one or two things his own views are clear: He stands opposed to the Patriot Act and he wants to cut defense spending.

Dorothy is understandably dismayed that Sarah would endorse a man with those views.  And Sarah has an obligation to confront the issue.

Asked about her endorsement of this candidate, Mrs. Palin informed Mr. Wallace she was proud of her choice. She admired Rand Paul's domestic policies, not of course that she agreed with everything he stood for. It does not, apparently, occur to her that everything he stands for—and can vote on—is precisely what comes into play when, and if, he becomes a senator with her help.

Finally...

Mrs. Palin regularly invokes the name of the most revered of her heroes, Ronald Reagan—among the sunniest stars ever to mount the political stage, and a leader who spoke to all of America. He did not appeal to the aggrieved. Nor did he see in the oratory of grievance, or talk of real Americans and those who were not, a political platform.

Mrs. Palin would do well to look to his model, between study of those daily policy briefings. Her supporters will have to wait a while. At a time when Republican hopes are in the ascendancy, as now (and even when they are not), it's impossible to imagine the Sarah Palin known to the world today as their leader. It would be well for her to begin pondering the reasons.

COMMENT:  Obviously, you can agree or disagree with that, or a little of each.  But Dorothy, as usual, makes penetrating points.  Reagan was an optimist, and he was inclusive.  It was morning in America, not darkness at noon.

Very provocative column.  Please read the whole thing, and decide.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

LET'S NOT FORGET – AT 9:33 A.M. ET:  While we're comfortable in our homes, our very best are out there defending us:

MARJAH, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. Marines pummeled insurgents with mortars, sniper fire and missiles as fighting intensified Thursday in two areas of the Taliban southern stronghold of Marjah, where U.S. and Afghan forces are facing stubborn resistance in an operation now in its sixth day.

Marines traded machine-gun fire after coming under attack by insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades. One Marine company attacked Taliban positions surrounding them at dawn.

Marines and Afghan troops continued to battle "stiff resistance" in different parts of town, a Marine spokesman said Thursday

"We're seeing more fortified positions. They're standing their ground, essentially," Lt. Josh Diddams said. "You don't know where you're going to get a little pop up of insurgents who are going to stay and fight."

The fighting in Marjah has followed a similar pattern over the past few days: relatively light in the morning with sniper fire intensifying through midday before subsiding at nightfall.

Press reports overall tell us that the operation is going well.  But don't expect the enemy to lie down or just run away.  Our guys are facing determined people. 

There's been some good news from that theater.  From The New York Times:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two senior Taliban leaders have been arrested in recent days inside Pakistan, officials said Thursday, as American and Pakistani intelligence agents continued to press their offensive against the group’s leadership after the capture of the insurgency’s military commander last month.

Afghan officials said the Taliban’s “shadow governors” for two provinces in northern Afghanistan had been detained in Pakistan by officials there. Mullah Abdul Salam, the Taliban’s leader in Kunduz, was detained in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad, and Mullah Mir Mohammed of Baghlan Province was also captured in an undisclosed Pakistani city, they said.

It appears, at least on the surface, that we're getting more cooperation from Pakistan.  If we are, let's give credit where it's due.  The administration can take a bow.  But I'd like to see some evidence over a period of months.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

NOT AGAIN – AT 8:37 A.M. ET:  We don't report this with any joy, but because it sheds light on a public issue:

DURHAM, N.C. — Durham police arrested Duke lacrosse accuser Crystal Gale Mangum, 33, late Wednesday after she allegedly assaulted her boyfriend, set his clothes on fire in a bathtub and threatened to stab him.

Authorities charged her with attempted first-degree murder, five counts of arson, assault and battery, communicating threats, three counts of misdemeanor child abuse, injury to personal property, identity theft and resisting a public officer.

COMMENT:  Caution:  It is a charge.  Nothing has been proved.  But we wish the trendies at Duke University, in the nation's media, in the Durham prosecutor's office, and in various chic precincts in the intellectual classes, had issued that same caution when Ms. Gale destroyed the lives of three innocent Duke boys in the now famous lacrosse case, when she accused them of rape. 

The boys were eventually cleared, but every time anyone Googles their names, for the rest of their lives, that false charge will come up.

We've learned once again, in the last week, how bungled cases can lead to tragedy.  Amy Bishop allegedly (we must say that) murdered three professors at the University of Alabama on Friday.  She has a sordid history, but the university never knew about it when it hired her because of bungling and a breathtakingly lax Massachusetts legal system, which let Bishop through a number of cracks.

And now the charge against the Duke accuser, who was apparently never punished for her false allegations.

What nightmares our fellow citizens must live every day when the legal system fails, or law enforcement breaks down, or others go along with a trendy charge, regardless of evidence.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

CALM DOWN, TOM – AT 8:10 A.M. ET:  Tom Friedman of The New York Times has done some good work, and some not-so-good work.   I've never thought of him as a crackpot.

But he's also a cheerleader for the "global-warming" religion.  Or a deacon.  Or a minister.  Or a rabbi.  Or whatever the cheerleaders should be called.

But Friedman realizes that recent scandals have not helped the faithful.  So he has a proposal, which is, hands down, one of the worst ideas I've seen recently:

Although there remains a mountain of research from multiple institutions about the reality of climate change, the public has grown uneasy. What’s real? In my view, the climate-science community should convene its top experts — from places like NASA, America’s national laboratories, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, the California Institute of Technology and the U.K. Met Office Hadley Centre — and produce a simple 50-page report. They could call it “What We Know,” summarizing everything we already know about climate change in language that a sixth grader could understand, with unimpeachable peer-reviewed footnotes.

Oh, just great:  The very institutions that get huge grants will tell us what they know.  I guess this is called "independent analysis."  And we will have "unimpeachable" peer-reviewed footnotes.

Applause, applause.

Doesn't Tom realize that the very peer-review process is under serious question?  Who's doing the peer-reviewing?  What do these "peers" actually know, especially about the software programs that have been used in making the stark predictions that we constantly hear?

I don't think Tom is up to speed on this.

And get this gem:

At the same time, they should add a summary of all the errors and wild exaggerations made by the climate skeptics — and where they get their funding. It is time the climate scientists stopped just playing defense. The physicist Joseph Romm, a leading climate writer, is posting on his Web site, climateprogress.org, his own listing of the best scientific papers on every aspect of climate change for anyone who wants a quick summary now.

Same old story.  The skeptics can't be right because their funding is suspect.  Everyone is a crook but the guys Friedman believes.  Who cares that one of the key "warming" scientists now concedes that we haven't had warming for 15 years? 

Look, some skeptics have had connections to oil companies.  That does not automatically prove them wrong.  You have to look at their actual research. 

Friedman is in the "consensus" camp.  A "consensus" of scientists says something, so it must be believed.  But science isn't about consensus.  It's about proof and observation.  It took one little guy working in a German patent office to revolutionize physics.  Albert somebody or other.  It took one Australian nurse, Elizabeth Kenny (Sister Kenny) to disprove a century of medical "science" about polio.

Friedman takes the ludicrous position that the warmers have been playing defense.  Seriously?  They've been on the offense, with Al Gore as quarterback, for about two decades.

We need better science here, not better political science.

February 18, 2010   Permalink

WANTS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH HIS MONEY – AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  From Canada's National Post:

Yvo de Boer, head of the UN's climate change convention, will resign as of July 1, his office announced on Thursday.

Mr. de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, will join the consultancy group KPMG as global advisor on climate and sustainability and work with a number of universities, the UNFCCC secretariat said.

I love it, I love it.  They always wind up cashing out.

The announcement came nearly two months after the Copenhagen summit on climate change, seen even by its supporters as a disappointment and by its critics as a chaotic failure.

The UNFCCC, an offshoot of the 1992 Rio summit, gathers 194 nations in the search for combating the causes of man-made climate change and easing its effects.

COMMENT:  Well, he's the first major member of the "it's too darned hot" international bureaucracy to run for the exits, where a pot of gold awaits.  Expect more.  If the media starts doing the job, we can expect some real truths to come out about the intersection of "global warming" and money, with some  universities playing a less than noble role.

February 18,  2010   Permalink