June 26, 2008

FISA Bill Passes Cloture in Senate...No Thanks to Chris Dodd

The FISA bill, which was the subject of much heated debate earlier this year, finally passed cloture in the Senate yesterday...which means the debate is now over and it will go for a full Senate vote tomorrow (Friday), and then it goes to the president's desk for his signature.

As Ed Morrissey points out, the Reuters article linked above says the 80-15 vote was dominated by "mostly Republican supporters," but with 32 Democrats and 48 Republicans, support seems more bipartisan than not. But this is Reuters we're talking about.

So who was among those who wanted to hold the bill up in the Senate? None other than our very own Chris Dodd, the "dark horse" presidential candidate who ended up being the first casualty of the primaries earlier this year. Other "usual suspects" included Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Barbara Boxer and Chuck Schumer, to name a few. Dodd is in, um, good company when it comes to keeping our nation safe and secure. Not.

(In fact, if you're looking for a big waste of valuable resources and time, look no further than the fact that a "National Intelligence Assessment" on Global Climate Change was ordered by the Dems in charge last year. The Corner has details (h/t Moonbattery). So rather than trying to spy on members of al Qaeda and checking out what's happening over in Iran, we now have intelligence gatherers writing analases of "low to medium confidence" on how to SAVE THE EARTH from a phenomenon that is being doubted more and more by critical thinking scientists and laymen alike.)

For those of you who may need a memory boost, the bone of contention in the FISA bill is that telecommunication companies that cooperated with federal officials in turning over records will not be prosecuted as long as they were acting in good faith in a national security capacity.

Kris mentioned in a recent comment in another of my posts that she heard Dodd has promised not to run for re-election in 2010. Let's hope she's right.

October 09, 2007

Thank You, ABC -- NOT!

I didn't spend much time on the Internet yesterday, as I took the day off and spent much of it cleaning the house (ugh) and at play rehearsal in the evening. So as I check out my favorite sites today I see that once again, thanks to our media, another government intelligence victory has gone sour.

ABC News first told the world about Osama bin Laden's video message just before the sixth remembrance of 9/11 last month, and thanks to that journalistic coup, "tipped off Qaeda's internal security division that the organization's Internet communications system, known among American intelligence analysts as Obelisk, was compromised."

The system was shut down, revamped, and re-opened...but the intelligence community is no longer privy to its secrets.

Damn these idiots! We are FIGHTING A WAR against an enemy that will stop at nothing to destroy us and our way of life. Don't they get it? Is tweaking the nose of a president they don't like more important than the safety and security of our nation? Is getting the scoop more important? Holy cow, these people are unbelievable. Screw the "right" of the people to know. I'd rather NOT know if it means those who are putting their lives on the line for us can do their jobs, which is to save our bacon.

And journalists wonder why fewer and fewer people trust them? It's no wonder at all.

John Hawkins has more. Part of the problem seems to be Bush's unwillingness to punish leakers:

But, the mainstream media couldn't have gotten anywhere without the real villain in this story: the person or persons who leaked it to the press.

Yet another problem with our government: entrenched lifers in government service who have their own agendas...and if that happens to clash with national security, too bad for the rest of us.

August 14, 2007

U.S. To Russia: We're Bringing Back Reagan!

After reading this article, I think it's time to remind Russia who won the Cold War:

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (Reuters) - Russian bombers are flying more missions than normal near U.S. territory, including Alaska, demonstrating their long-range strike capability, U.S. and Canadian officials said on Monday.

One defense official called the Russian flights "a little bit of chest pounding, trying to let people know Russia's back in the game."

To quote Fred Dalton Thompson from The Hunt for Red October: "The average Rooskie, son, doesn't take a dump without a plan." Something else is going on here, and I think Washington needs to get to the bottom of it, post haste!

Forget their chest pounding. Make it clear to them that if they keep up their tomfoolery, we're going to do some pounding of our own . . . with bunker busters.

Wyatt Earp

June 11, 2007

Lieberman: Take On Iran Now

When it comes to certain social policies, I rarely see eye to eye with my senator, Joe Lieberman. (For example, he supported last week's failed amnesty bill.) However, when it comes to national security and our military, he and I are on the same page.

Lieberman, who recently returned from his seventh or eighth trip to Iraq, proposes a pre-emptive strike against Iran, whose meddling in Iraq and elsewhere is no secret.

"We've said so publicly that the Iranians have a base in Iran at which they are training Iraqis who are coming in and killing Americans. By some estimates, they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers," Lieberman said. "Well, we can tell them we want them to stop that. But if there's any hope of the Iranians living according to the international rule of law and stopping, for instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can't just talk to them."

Lieberman said much of the action could probably be done by air, although he would leave the strategy to the generals in charge. "I want to make clear I'm not talking about a massive ground invasion of Iran," Lieberman said.

In stark contrast, Democrat presidential candidate Bill Richardson recommends first talking to Iran, and then threatening them with sanctions. It's a tactic similar to warning your child that you're going to send him to bed without supper if he doesn't stop misbehaving. While it might work on a four-year-old, it isn't likely to work on the likes of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This is a man who wishes to wipe Israel off the map, and has said that, "Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury." Yeah, he sounds really reasonable.

About as reasonable as the now-dead Saddam Hussein.