WILL THE DEMOCRAT PARTY SURVIVE THE NEXT ELECTION?

I ask this question very seriously. Really. I'm a 4th generation registered Democrat. Who voted for Bush. And I think that if the Democrats try to filibuster Roberts (as is intimated by THIS ANNOUCEMENT BY KERRY, and by their treatment of the Bolton nomination on the very same issue ), and if their leadership keeps spewing forth "Gitmo = gulag" tirades, and if Iraq continues to progress on the political front (and if we start to draw down our troops by the end of next year), then the Democrat Party will be lucky to hold on to 175 seats in the House, 39 seats in the Senate. EVEN WITH THE +15% THEY GET FROM THE ANTI-GOP BIAS OF THE LEFT-WING DOMINATED MSM!

Of course, there is a way that they can avoid DISASTER: they can start being supportive of OUR side in the GWOT!

UPDATE: The NYTIMES is reporting this: "Democrats Prepare Ground to Challenge Judge Roberts". Sheesh. If the Dems had HALF as much vitriol for the Jihadists as they do for Bolton and Bush -- (and as they did for AshKKKroft - and almost ANYONE Bush appoint want to, it seems) -- then the GWOT WOULD BE OVER!

(HAT TIP POLIPUNDIT AND KJ OF NRO.)

NYPD ANNOUNCES RANDOM SUBWAY RIDER SEARCHES; and the Left wants it stopped!

THE NYPD ANNOUNCES RANDOM SUBWAY RIDER SEARCHES - And the ACLU announces it opposes them: In a statement, New York ACLU executive director Donna Lieberman added: "The NYPD can and should investigate any suspicious activity, but the Fourth Amendment prohibits police from conducting searches where there is no suspicion of criminal activity. ... The plan is not workable and will not make New Yorkers more secure but will inconvenience them as police go about finding a needle in a haystack."

And the Left-wing wackos over at COMMON DREAMS are telling people to "resist!" Sheesh.

Double Sheesh: even Chuck Schumer is in favor of it! Which sort of illustrates the corner that the Democrats painted themselves into (because they have chosen to demagogue the GWOT, instead of backing Bush to the hilt, and NEUTRALIZING it as a partisan issue): on the rare occasions when they DO come out in favor of reasonable defensive measures against terror, they risk losing support of their Left-wing wacko base. Well, screw'em: it's a mess they deserve to be in!

JIHADISTS ATTACK EGYPTIAN RESORT

BBC: "At least 43 people have been killed and more than 130 wounded in a string of explosions in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, police said. ... Police sources said initial reports suggested there had been at least four and possibly seven car bombs. ... Last October, 34 people died in car and truck bombs at Red Sea resorts on the eastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula."

I guess the Left will conclude that Egypt should have never sent troops to Iraq or Afghanistan. OH... THEY DIDN'T?! It doesn't matter; the Left never let the facts get in the way of an anti-American diatribe.

BBC: the BBC increased the toll to 49 dead... More at the GUARDIAN - which now reports there over 200 injured... UPDATE: Toll climbs in Egyptian attacks At least 83 people have been killed in a string of explosions in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh.

Now there's news of a BOMBING IN BEIRUT - one aimed at damaging tourism and the unity government.

BRITISH MUSLIMS DISTRESSED AT POLICE RESPONSE TO JIHADIST TERROR

BBC: A Muslim group has said it is concerned there is a new police "shoot to kill" policy in the UK following the shooting dead of a man in south London. The Muslim Council of Britain said it was getting calls from Muslims who were "distressed" about the incident at Stockwell Tube station. ... Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said Muslims he had spoken to this morning were "jumpy and nervous". "I have just had one phone call saying, 'what if I was carrying a rucksack?'. "There may well be reasons why the police felt it necessary to unload five shots into the man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear," he said. "We are getting phone calls from quite a lot of Muslims who are distressed about what may be a shoot to kill policy."

Er, umm... maybe instead of complaining about the British police RESPONSE to Jihadist terror, British Muslims (and Muslims EVREYWHERE, for that matter) should take up their grievances with all the Muslim "clerics" who have been inciting jihad and violence and genocide. IOW: "Yo Muslims: You reap what you sow! And here comes the grim reaper!"

More at THE ANCHORESS, and at POWERLINE.

CCTV IMAGES OF 4 BOMBERS - and what must be done about them

The London police have released good CCTC images of the four terrorists who attemopted and bungeld yesterday's attacks, and they have asked the public to help identify and locate them. The 4 are obviously Muslims.

If --- after the police identify the terrorists, and determine which mosques they attended and therefore ID the clerics running those MOSQUES, and if the clerics hadn't contacted the London police or helped to ID the terrrorists (although they could have) --- then the clerics should be jailed for aiding and abetting terror or at least deported, AND the mosques should be permanently closed. This should be announced IMMEDIATELY in Britain.

WHAT HAS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY BECOME?

It has become the party of appeasing doves catering to wacky MOVEON Lefties (hat tip JJ at POLIPUNDIT):

The U.S. House of Representatives just voted to extend the Patriot Act.
The roll call was a follows:
Republicans in favor = 214
(92%).Democrats in favor = 43 (21%).

The majority of House Democrats (79%!) are living in 1968.

WHAT THE LEFT SAYS ABOUT MY "BOGUS BUSH SCANDALS RECAP"

Last week I posted a list (which expanded hour after hour) of all the bogus Bush scandals which were much ballyhooed by the Left and in the MSM which the Left dominates.

A Leftie friend responded: "Yeah sure, they turned out to be unfounded in fact, but they captured a higher truth!"

Yeah, to the Left, ALL the Bogus Bush Scandals were "fake, but accurate", (NOT just the Bogus Bush Tang memos).

You ask: "HOW CAN THE LEFT SO CONSISTENTLY IGNORE FACTS AND TRUTH?!"

Simple. Their post-modernist/moral-relativist creed dictates to them that OBJECTIVE truth doesn't really exist; there isn't any such thing as truth; there are just "competing narratives: to the Left. Their favorite current fictional narrative is that "the Iraq War was a diversion thought up in Crawford to re-elect the president and enrich his buddies, help the Likudniks in Israel, AND it was based on a deliberate lie, has only made the enemy more angry and more likely to attack us, AND made it easier for them to recruit."

(This "narrative" ignores the truth. The truth is that the enemy has been attacking us ever since 1979. The truth is that the Buddhas of Bamiyan have nothing to do with the USA or Israel. The truth is that 9/11 was planned years before 2001 - during the Clinton Adminstration, while the Oslo Process was going smoothly. The truth is that between 30-50,000 jihadists were trained in Afghanistan between 1995 and 2000 - LONG before George Bush was president.)

The BOGUS BUSH SCANDALS are "BIG LIES" (or fictional narratives, if you prefer). Fictional narratives - and all political narratives based solely on unexamined, preconceived and preformulated notions and presuppositions - can NEVER yield useful criticism or effective policy. It leads one to reach a verdict BEFORE there is even a trial, so-to-speak. (As when Lefties KNOW Bush is bad, so therefore they say, "whatever he does must be bad, so therefore EVEN if he increases spending on AIDS in AFRICA it must be bad in some way. Perhaps Halliburton is profiteering on it.") Their sketicism has become a paranoic cynicism. Which is why the Left is - for all intents and purposes - not contributing a dang thing to the GWOT, or even to policy debates on domestic issues. The Left has become a post-modern reactionary movement rapidly moving from irrelevancy to extinction. Godspeed.

HOWARD: MOTIVES FOR TERRORIST ATTACKS ON LONDON SUPERCEDE IRAQ. BLAIR: "I AGREE 100% WITH THAT!" SO DO ALL SANE OBSERVERS

From today's presser in London (hat tip KJ at NRO's The Corner):

PRIME MIN. HOWARD: Could I start by saying the prime minister and I were having a discussion when we heard about it [today's terrorist attacks - attempts at genocide which apparently failed].

My first reaction was to get some more information. And I really don't want to add to what the prime minister has said. It's a matter for the police and a matter for the British authorities to talk in detail about what has happened here.

Can I just say very directly, Paul [the reporter who asked the question], on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular.

And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq. And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq. Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn't have done that? When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan? When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq -- a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations -- when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.

Now I don't know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I've cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: And I agree 100 percent with that.

So do all sane observers. IN FACT, I DEFY ANYONE TO COUNTER ANY ONE OF HOWARD'S POINTS. THEY ARE IRREFUTABLE. Only the willing comrades of jihadoterror or the unwitting dupes of post-modernist Leftism would deny it.

BUSH WINS ANOTHER BIG ONE: China to revalue Yuan

NYTIMES: China Says It Will No Longer Peg Its Currency to the U.S. Dollar By CHRIS BUCKLEY 9:45 AM ET - China bowed to months of pressure by revaluing the yuan by 2.1 percent and abandoning the currency's decade-old peg against the dollar.

This comes on the heels of China LOSING the UNOCAL bid. BUSH RULES!

HOUSE DEMOCRATS DOMINATED BY EXTREME LEFT

From JJ at POLIPUNDIT:

The U.S. House of Representatives voted today on a number of W.O.T. resolutions. One such resolution essentially declared that detaining and then interrogating al-Qaeda vermin trash heaps, at Gitmo, was essential to the global war against terrorism. Yeah, of course, they used more diplomatic language, but that was the gist of the provision. And here’s how they voted:

Republicans in favor: 223. Opposed: 4. Present: 2. Not voting: 1.
Democrats in favor: 81.Opposed: 119. Not voting: 2.

Think about that for a moment. Nearly 60 percent of the Democrat House caucus voted against the status quo at Gitmo, and, by implication, against the ruthless prosecution of the war against Islamo-fascist terrorism. Astonishing. But not surprising. Harry Truman is rolling over in his grave. "

And, one-quarter of the House Dems CONSISTENTLY vote asgainst Israel, too. The party of Pelosi and Rangel and McDermott and Kucinich is an extreme Left-wing party, out of touch with America's mainstream. They mustn't be trusted with our nation's defense.

BBC: VIOLENT CRIME IN GREAT BRITAIN SOARS

BBC: "Violent offences in England and Wales reached record levels in 2004-5 with police recording one million crimes - up 7% from the previous year. Police figures show 1,035,046 violent incidents against the person, excluding sexual offences and robberies. Police recorded just under 11,000 gun crimes, up 6%, and 73 people were killed with guns over a 12 month period - five more than the previous year. Homicide, threats to kill, serious wounding and other serious incidents were up 3%. "

Let's see... they took away the public's right to self defense (by taking away their right to bear arms) and violent crime SOARED. COINCIDENCE!? No. Only law-abiding citizens obey gun laws; criminals don't. And they get guns and they use them - more than if they believed that potential victims were armed. And knifings are up in Britain, too. So, don't go thiniong that by taking away guns you reduce ANY violence overall. No statistics from anywhere in the world demonstrate that gun control reduces crime or saves lives. In fact, there's a growing body of evidence that just the OPPOSITE happens. SEE ABOVE!

DEUTSCH : GOLDBERG :: TEDDY JO : RUMSFELD; OR :: DURBIN : GITMO

Like The Captain, I watched Bernie Goldberg on the Donnie Deutsch Show - and it WAS an ambush: by Leftie jerks (including Deutsch and Jeff Jarvis from the BUZZMACHINE). Goldberg appeared to discuss his new book, 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA. From their questioning, it was OBVIOUS that NONE of the asinine Lefties who pounced on Goldberg had even read an excerpt! They asked stupid questions and then wouldn't let Goldberg answer them. They were RUDE.

They also made that STUPID shrill charge that the Left always makes when you criticize one of their pet Lefty causes or movies or books: "But we have a RIGHTto say whatever we want !" What they never seem to GET is that conservatives aren't questioning their RIGHT to say what they want; we're criticizing what they're saying! And that kind of criticism is part of the free marketplace of ideas, too - NOT the diminishing of it! The Left wants carte blanche to coarsen the culture - pushing the envelope is what they call it - and they want to be above JUDGEMENT. Goldberg NAILED them on this. He was GREAT!

In a way, the Lefties on this show made Goldberg's case for him better than he could've himself. It was like Teddy Jo Kopechne ponitifcating about moral rectitude to one of Bush's judicial nominees - or demanding Rumsfeld resign. And Durbin comparing GITOMO to gulag, killing fields, and concentration camps. Most of America sees right through the lies and the hypocrisy -and they see what the lies and hypocrisy SERVE; the Left can't. Thank God. In other words: folks like Teddy and Dick Durbin - and ESPECIALLY Howeird Dean are GOLD to the GOP. While they score points with their chic MOVEON base (with their attacks), they alienate MOST of America. And that fills GOP coffers. Deutsch's ill-informed, asinine Leftie ambush sold tons of Goldberg's book. Good.

LIVINGSTONE - THE PINKO ANTI-SEMITIC MAYOR OF LONDON - BLAMES THE USA AND THE UK FOR THE 7/7 ATTACKS

BBC:

Decades of British and American intervention in the oil-rich Middle East motivated the London bombers, Ken Livingstone has suggested. ... he argued that the attacks would not have happened had Western powers left Arab nations free to decide their own affairs after World War I. Instead, they had often supported unsavoury governments in the region. ... Mr Livingstone was asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme what he thought had motivated the bombers. He replied: "I think you've just had 80 years of western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of the western need for oil. "We've propped up unsavoury governments, we've overthrown ones we didn't consider sympathetic."

Well RED KEN - as he is known - is just flat out WRONG. Let's look at the FACTS:

During the Cold War the USA had to align itself with some unsavory leaders; this was practical, and not unlike how FDR and Churchill used Stalin to defeat Hitler. Some unsavory Arab nations fell in that category. Let's examine them closely, though: Iraq, Syria, Egypt (until 1970), and Libya, were all "clients" of the USSR; (2) Iran was a "client" of the USA and the UK - AND IT WAS BETTER FOR IRANIANS UNDER THE SHAH; Algeria and Morocco and Tunisia and Ethiopia were more influenced by the French and the Italians and the Germans than either the USA or UK; Jordan was "NEUTRAL" - remember, it was the late King Hussein (a Hashemite descendent of Mohammed) who defeated Arafat and kicked him into Lebanon (without aid from either the USA or the UK!). AND FINALLY: In fact, the EU has largely been anti-Israel and pro-Arab since Munich in 1972 - which is 33 - YES THIRTY-THREE YEARS AGO! So nearly VERY ARAB ALIVE TODAY HAS EXPERIENCED A EUROPE AND A UK WHICH IS MUCH MORE PRO-ARAB THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN PRO-ISRAEL.

ALSO: much of the world's oil comes from outside the Arab world: Africa, Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, the North Sea nations and Russia produce as much as the Arabs do. The USA and the UK do NOT get most of their oil from Saudi Arabia. While Middle Eastern oil is vital to the West, it is equally vital to the ENTIRE WORLD. Leftists who contend that the West got rich by stealing resources or labor from the Third Word are NUTS. If that was truen, then Africa and Soiuth America would be rich NOW - soince colonialism died fifty years ago. BUT THE FACT ITS... that "Arabia" and Africa and South America have gotten POORER - just as Asia got richer. WHY IS THIS SO: Because Asia largely embraced freer trade and free markets (China did in 1979, and stopped being a poor basketcase as a result!). Socialism is what makes the Arab world poor. YUP: Baathism is nothiong more thasn Islamic Scoailism. Youi can look it up; just Google BAATHISM.

BUT THE MOST GLAROING ERROR RED KEN MAKES IS THIS: the Arabs - especially the jihadofascists - do not see the world in terms of oil-producers and oil-users, or divided into Western versus "oriental", but Islamic versus infidel. And to them there are two types of infidels: the dhimmi who pays tribute to Islam (and therefore may live, albeit as a second-class human) and the infidel who must be murdered. Arab jihadoterrorists actually go even further: they divide the world into the ummah and the others; the Ummah is the Arab/Islamic people - which transcends nation-states.

STILL NEED MORE PROOF? Well, the Buddhas of Bamiyan had NOTHING to do with Europe or Arabia. And the Hindhus slaughtered at the Ayodhya Temple in India had NOTHING to do with Europe or the West or oil or Israel. YOU SEE, the jihadists have goals that transcend the Middle East and London and NY and Israel. They want to re-establish the caliphate under Wahhabist sharia, and they will kill or convert anyone that gets in their way. THEN, they will exact a trubute/tax from the rest of the non-Muslim world.

SO: Red Ken Livingstone is just plain wrong on the facts - (the BOTTOM-LINE FACT is that the last 80 years and Europe actually have VERY LITTLE to do with what's bugging the jihadoterrorists; their gripes go back much MUCH further and much MUCH farther afield).

Red Ken fits VERY neatly into the DHIMMI category of the jihadofascists: he is willing to retreat, to pay ranson and even blackmail for a moment of pseudo-peace. Red Ken is an anti-Semitic, anti-American cowardly piece of crap.

NEED MORE PROOF?! Well, just a few days ago, Red Ken EQUATED HAMAS and the Likud Party ! This is another example of his anti-Semitism and idiotic moral equivalency; it is TYPICAL of the Left. In fact, HAMAS is a genocidal racist Jihado-terrorist organization which wants to eradicate the ENTIRE state of Israel. Whereas Likud is a pluralistic and democratic PUBLIC political party that (a) made peace with Egypt and returned the ENTIRE Sinai to Egypt - (dismantling every settlement which was there); and (b) is unilaterally withdrawing from Gaza; and (c) signed the ROADMAP FOR PEACE - which Abbas is violating EVERYDAY (by NOT disarming the terrorists)!

Leftist jerks like Red Ken - who equate, or CONFLATE, conservative politicians with genocidal jihadofascists - are dangerous fools who should drummed out of public life and into rat-holes or snake-pits where they would feel right at home.

LONDON TERRORISTS WERE NO DUPES

Some people have floated the idea that the terrorists who perp'ed the 7/7 attacks were dupes - because they bought round-trip tickets on the TUBE and paid for car-parking; (see HERE, hat tip VIKINGPUNDIT.) SHEESH!

Were they duped into spending 3 months in Pakistan, too!?!? NO. No effing way. These GENOCIDAL bombers were NOT DUPED into spending MONTHS in Pakistan. And they didn't go there "for the waters," either - (as Bogart/Rick so famously said in CASABLANCA.) They went their for Jihad, and Jihad means war against all infidels.

And make NO mistake about it: these terrorists were in fact GENOCIDAL BOMBERS: Their attacks were aimed at a MASS of people who were targeted simple because of who they were - simply because their IDENTITY - in this case Brits. That is GENOCIDE. I repeat: They weren't involuntarily brain-washed; they were not victims. They learned Jihad on purpose. They are genocidal murderers. As are all the people who aided and abetted them.

EVEN MORE PROOF FROM BRITAIN THAT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE SUCKS

BBC: An undercover investigation by the BBC's Panorama is set to show how hospital care can fail the elderly. The three-month investigation revealed patients suffering a series of indignities at Brighton's zero-rated Royal Sussex County Hospital. In one scene a patient is left to die on her own, and in another a patient is left waiting hours to go to the toilet. Peter Coles, boss of the NHS trust covering the hospital, said: "Clearly they are very disturbing images."

Nevertheless, the Left - led by folks like HILLARY AND TEDDY - still want to nationalize healthcare in the USA. Go figure.

ROBERTS, TEDDY, SCHUMER AND DURBIN

In committee, Teddy Jo Kopechne, Dick "gulag" Durbin, and Chuck Schumer were the only three Senators who voted against Roberts when he came up for his LIFETIME appointment to the DC Circuit Court. In spite of their opposition - on behalf of the LEFT - the Senate voted UNANIMOUSLY to confirm Roberts in 2001.

Now that Bush has nominated Roberts to the next highest court - the SCOTUS - these three left-wingers are ALREADY making noises. According to Betsy, they have said they will oppose Roberts nomination to the SCOTUS. It was to be expected. I saw Schumer say this - and his idiotic asininity STUNNED me:

"The burden is on a nominee to the Supreme Court to prove that he is worthy, not on the Senate to prove that he is unworthy."

These three Left-wing clowns wouldn't support a GOP proffered nominee unless he or she had actually defended jihadoterrorists or performed abortions. And they wouldn't give unreserved praise for anyone unless he'd done BOTH!

I applaud Bush. He picked an eminently qualified judge without regard to his/her gender or race or creed. He did NOT pick a woman to succeed a woman, or a "moderate" to succeed a "moderate." Roberts was picked because of his merits. And because he is a conservative. As it should be. Elections count. ALL OF THEM. Bush WON the right to nominate a consrvative, and the GOP MAJORITY of the Senate will confirm him. RIGHT ON! MORE HERE and HERE - from the brilliant folks at the indispensable POWERLINE.

[As others have observed, the Senate confirmation battle will all come down to ROE. It's one of the few issues that unites the Left. "ROE, ROE, ROE YOUR VOTE, GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM." Seriously, abortion is what defines the Left, and it's how they define the Right; to the Left, Right-wingers are EVIL because they are against abortion. In my view, all the Right wants, is for every baby to go to term. OH, HOW EVIL! The Left counters: "Oh, it's NOT a baby, yet." Then tell me, Lefty: Just what is a mother EXPECTIING (even in her 1st trimester) if it's NOT a baby? Is she expecting a chocolate cake?! Sheesh! Lookit: Abortion is a VERY bad solution to the real problem: unwanted pregnancies. Adoption is a much better solution - especially since there are so many parents who want kids and can't have them on their own. I feel that Roberts will survive the Senate confirmation battle. But - as the Lefty Senators PANDER to their Left-wing base - things will sure get ugly.]

INDIA: America's natural ally and Asian wedge

I have been blogging for a while about how we needed to expand our ties to India in order to be able to put more pressure on China and Pakistan; (HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE). The Bush Adminsiraion is doing JUST THAT:

BUSH: Today, our two nations are bound by our common interests. Our trading partnership has grown dramatically in recent years, which brings greater prosperity and opportunity to citizens of both our countries. America and India also understand the danger of global terrorism, which has brought grief to our nations, and united us in our desire to bring peace and security to the world. Above all, India and the United States are bound together by common values. As two strong, diverse democracies, we share a commitment to the success of multi-ethnic democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law. And we believe that by spreading the blessings of democracy and freedom, we will ensure lasting peace for our own citizens and for the world.

USATODAY (AP): Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, winning reversal of a longstanding U.S. policy against helping countries develop nuclear programs, is ready to outline for Congress his aspirations for the world's largest democracy. Singh's speech, scheduled for members of the House and Senate Tuesday, marked only the eighth time a foreign leader has addressed Congress in the past five years. Such occasions are typically reserved for the United States' closest allies. "The relationship between our two nations has never been stronger," Bush told Singh on Monday during an elaborate White House welcome, complete with a fife-and-drum corps in full Revolutionary-era regalia.

EXPRESSINDIA: Washington, July 19: Lauding Bush administration's efforts in transforming bilateral ties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India's vision of relations with the United States was a long-term and strategic one based on shared values and commitments. "We in India have greatly welcomed the extent to which the present US administration has taken forward efforts to effect a major transformation in relations between the two countries," he said at a luncheon hosted in his honour on Monday. "The refashioning of this bilateral relationship is not merely a matter of diplomatic process. Our vision of relations with the US is a long-term and strategic one, based on shared values and commitments. What we have embarked upon is, therefore, not for tomorrow but I sincerely hope and believe that is for generation to come," Singh said at the luncheon attended by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

With India solidly in our camp we can better defend democracy in Asia against Chinese hegemony, (North Korean idiocy), and Jihadism. And this is a coordinated front, with our most important Asian allies - Japan and Australia. (A link above relates how Japan is expanding its bilateral relation with India too.)

BOGUS BUSH SCANDALS RECAP

Welcome Betsy's Page, Moderate Voice, and Man Without Qualities readers! And welcome Salon/Daou Report readers, and CHRENKOFF readers! And welcome SOPHISTPUNDIT readers and ELECTION PROJECTION readers! And welcome LGF readers and SWIFTIES! And welcome ANCHORESS readers. too! And welcome RED STATE RANT readers - and LIVING IN THE SURREAL WORLD readers, too. And welcome VIKINGPUNDIT Readers. WELCOME NOW THAT'S IRONIC READERS. And welcome FRED FRY readers! And welcome WILLisms readers. too! And welcome readers of CELESTIAL JUNK! And welcome JOUST THE FACTS readers. And welcome BAD HAIR BLOG readers, too!

The Left - and the MSM they control - have tried to smear Bush from the get-go. Here's a partial listing (originally - on 7/17 - this list was merely a dirty dozen) of the idiotic phony scandals they've trumped up in an attempt to smear our president - even if it means aiding the enemy! This expanded list has been compiled from 7/17-19 with help from my readers. Here we go:

1 - "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" - The Left/MSM would like you to believe that Bush declared the war in Iraq over. He did not. Bush declared an end to major combat - which was true. In the same speech Bush said that the struggle continued, and it was going to be a difficult transition. QUOTE:

Thank you. Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country. ... We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime who will be held to account for their crimes. ... We are helping to rebuild Iraq where the dictator built palaces for himself instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by and for the Iraqi people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done and then we will leave and we will leave behind a free Iraq. The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001 and still goes on.

2 - "PLAME NAME GAME" - Judith Miller is in jail. Rove is cooperating, and released all reporters he spoke to so they can testify, (yet STILL somehow all this is about Rove!?). BOTTOM-LINE: Plame was NOT covert (as defined by the I.I.P.A.), and therefore could not be "outed". As John Tierney of The NYTIMES wrote: this is NADAGATE. There is no there there.

3 - "MEMOGATE" - In a concerted effort to spring an "October Surprise", members of the the Left/MSM manufactured and used FAKE documents to try to prove that Bush did not serve honorably when he was part of the Texas Air National Guard. They did this RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION. Texan Dan Rather lost his job; Bush got re-hired. Nuff said.

4 - "ABU GHRAIB" - the Left/MSM portrayed these limited number of disgusting events perpetrated by a few sickos at a prison in Baghdad as pervasive crimes which were the fault of Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Bush. The fact is that months before the disgusting events/photos became public (through the efforts of the perps defense attorneys and a MSM that hungers for anti-Bush stuff SO MUCH, they'll publicize anything - even if it aids the enemy!) the Pentagon was investigating. Now they are prosecuting and punishing the perps.

5 - "NIGER YELLOWCAKE AND THE SOTU" - Bush never said the words "Niger" or "Yellowcake" in the 2003 SOTU. (What he said was: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” - and the Brits still stand behind this intel. Wilson LIED about how he got the assignment and what he reported about his mission. And he did this RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION - and election in which he was an advisor and contributor to Kerry. The real scandal is that the MSM has allowed Wilson to LIE AND LIE AND LIE OVER AND OVER without one network or major newspaper once calling him out on it. COULD IT BE THAT THEY'RE BIASED!? MORE HERE.

6 - "BUSH LIED" ABOUT WMD - The USA and every other major nation had the same intel (and even Clinton believed it). In addition, The Deulfer Report concluded that Saddam was in violation of the UNSC #1441 - and had WMD assets which were banned - Saddam's stockpiles (those he had ion 1991, and MIGHT have made between 1993-2003) were never found. NEVERTHELESS, because Saddam was in violation of all the UNSC's and UNSC #114, a casus belli existed.

7 - "ENRON/Kenny Boy Lay" - the crimes were actually committed on Clinton's watch and prosecuted on Bush's. Yet the Left/MSM blames Bush. This is generally true of ALL the corporate scandals of late (Arthur Andersen/Worldcomm/etc): the crimes were committed under the noses of Clinton & Rubin - who get none of the blame for them from the Left/MSM. Bush - who does get blamed - is actually punishing the crooks and fixing the problems by reforming the markets.

8 - "CHENEY'S SECRET ENERGY TASK FORCE" - The Left/MSM claimed that the Veep had no right to meet with anyone in private - especially not anyone in the energy industry. The Left claimed Cheney was a tool of the industry. The Left did what they love most: dragged it into the COURTS! The Left lost their legal battle, and Bush passed a sweeping Energy Bill - WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT. Yawn.

9 - "'IRAQ IS A DIVERSION' BY DICK CLARKE" - Disgruntled bureaucrat, Dick Clarke claimed that Bush could have stopped 9/11 - and claimed that a "Presidential Daily Briefing" in August would prove this; however, the PDB contained NO ACTIONABLE INTEL. Clarke further claimed that Iraq was not involved in terror since 1993 - or cooperating with al Qaeda. BOTH WRONG! In fact, the Clinton Administration had proof of Saddam/al Qaeda operational cooperation, and we have discovered more proof at GITMO. BONUS BOGUS CLAIM: Clarke LIED when he testifed that stepped up counter-terror efforts were the reason the Millennium Attack failed.

10 - "HUMVEE-GATE" - An intellectually dishonest reporter for the Left-wing dominated MSM planted a question/questioner during a miltary townhall meeting Rumsfeld held in Kuwait. At the time the army had not yet reto-fitted armor on to all their 15,000 Humvees; it does take time. FACT: the Humvee was NEVER intended as an ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER; the Humvee is merely the "new" Jeep. FACT: The enemy always attempts to attack at your weak-points. For a limited amount of time, the Humvees were a weak point. We fixed that, and the enemy moved on to other soft-targets. That's the way war is; it was not a scandal - except in the minds of the Left/MSM. NOW: Retro-fitted/armored Humvees are having other problems.

11 - "AL QAQQAGATE / NYTROGATE" - Just before the election, the LEFT/MSM AGAIN rushed out a phony story about a weapons depot supposedly looted after we took control of Iraq. The whole story was BS.

12 - "GITMOGATE" - Amnesty International calls GITMO a gulag; Durbin upped the ante and followed suit - comparing it both a gulag and a NAZI concentration camp and a Pol Pot "killing field". SHEESH! Durbin cries as he apologizes; (he should have been censured!). The Left/MSM blames Gonzales and Rumsfeld and Bush. A congressional Delegation investigates, and finds GITMO is nearly a country club. HERE'S another report with many links) on their visit - from the NYTIMES; they buried it on page 15! MAYBE MARTHA STEWART SHOULD HAVE SERVED THERE!? The Pentagon investigated the specific FBI report Durbin misused, and found that it cannot be corroberated. (GOTTA MINUTE? Read this brilliant and hilarious sarcastic piece on the Gitmo scandal by James Lileks.)

(13) "TURKEYGATE" (hat tip reader/commentor PapayaSF) - that supposedly plastic turkey Bush held up on his surprise visit to Iraq - THAT TURNED OUT TO BE REAL! This attempt at smearing Bush proved that the Left - and the MSM they still dominate - will stoop to any depth, tell any lie, deny any truth in order to hurt Bush - even if it helps the enemy. They are shameless.

(14) "LANCETGATE" - that bogus statistical study which claimed to prove that the USA killed 100,000 civilians in the Iraq War. This study was thoroughly debunked. (Civilan casualties were probably between 4,000-8,000.) Read about it HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE - (these are links to link-filled Instapundit postings).

(15a) "KRUGMANGATE" - the Left (led by deranged NYTIMES columnist Paul Krugman) railed that the Bush tax cuts would drive the economy into a depression. WRONG. The USA economy leads the word and deficits are shrinking again. We could call this "HOOVERGATE" (15b) - because the Left kept charging over and over again that Bush was the first president since Hoover to lose jobs on his watch. Of course, by the time the election took place, that was no longer true: the nation was plus 1.5 million jobs, and the job growth has continued and the economy is doing GREAT! Of course, you won't read that much about it in the MSM!

16 - "FUNERALGATE" - this (courtesy of John Cole of Balloon Juice) - is the phony scandal that Bush was somehow being a bad leader (and/or disingeuous) because he wasn't attending any funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. For a COMPLETE run-down of FUNERALGATE click HERE, and read John's comprehensive review.

17 - "PATRIOT-ACT-GATE" - remember how the Lefties cried and cried and cried about how it was, in effect, a repeal of the Bill of Rights!? They were completely overboard and outta control on that. Today, they cannot name ONE citizen who's had their Rights denied. Yet despite that, they - the ACLU especially - have intervened again and again on behalf of the sworn enemies of America and liberty - making it more difficult for us to prosecute the enemy and to gather intel' on them. And now, the Left is trying to weaken it as it goes through re-enactment. (Hat tip to commentor ARMINIUS - for this and #18!)

18 - "LOOTED BAGHDAD MUSEUM-GATE" - remember how the Left, and the MSM they dominate, railed and railed about how Rumsfeld and the US miltiary had idiotically left the Baghdad Art Musem unprotected and thus has allowed masssive looting of its ancient art treasures (they called it "cultural vandalism" and they meant that WE were the vandals, and NOT the enemy!), REMEMBER!? Well: THAT WAS PHONY TOO! Most of the treasures were hidden - or stolen by insiders.

19 - "Bush first said he'd fire any leaker; now he's not saying that; therefore, Bush is moving the goal-posts-GATE" - (swiped from John Cole's BALLOON JUICE: "... here is what Bush initially said regarding leaks within his administration:

Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.

This statement, due to the miracle of spin and the President's habit of using imprecise language while speaking extemporaneously, has transmogrified into 'I will fire anyone in my administration who talked about Valerie Plame.' (John Cole)

Of course, that is truly NOT what he said, and NOT what he meant. This FACT hasn't stopped the Left - (folks like John Podesta and the fat senior Senator from Massachusetts, Teddy Jo Kopechne) - and the MSM they still dominate, from LYING and distorting it to suit their narrow partisan ends. Anyone who has the slightest regard for the truth knows that the claim that Bush is moving the goal-posts to protect his cronies is completely BOGUS.

20 - "KORANGATE" - hat tip TRAN SIENT'S WATCH - This is the one in which our military was supposedly deliberately effing with copies of the Koran in order to upset prisoners at GITMO. Only it turned out that most of the Koran abuse - like the toilet-flushing - was NOT by US soldiers, but by the prisoners themselves.

21 - "FLU-SHOT-GATE" - In 2004 (and just before the election), because of a production problem, a major plant couldn't deliver the the flu vaccine to the DHHS. The Left blamed Bush. Kerry/Edwards even ran ads about it! Well, there was no wave of flu-related deaths, were there!? In fact, flu-season came and went RATHER MILDLY! I guess the Left and the MSM just made a mountain out of a mole-hill - or should we say that they TRIED to make a scandal out of THIN AIR, and FAILED! I wonder why!? Could it be .... LEFT-WING BIAS?! Naw, ya tink!? More HERE.

22 - "ABORTIONGATE" - This is the one in which the Left claims abortion has gone UP under Bush because of his policies. EVEN HILLARY PUSHED THIS LINE.

But the FACT was, that there were NO STATISTICS on the issue at the time; (the Left just made up the charge out of whole cloth!). NOW, there are statistics, and they show that abortions continued to decline in 2001 and 2002 (the last years for which statistics are available). (Hat tip KJ at NRO.)

23 - "OHIO-GATE" - The Left charged that Bush stole Ohio in 2004. A study proved that everything was fair and square. (Hat tip Now That's Ironic). ASIDE: actually, Bush lost more states by smaller margins than Kerry did. And Bush did not challenge a single one, or even cast aspersions or innuendo about them. Even though there were much more credible reports of fraud in New Mexico and Minnesota and Pennsylvania than in Ohio. The lefty Dems are just sore sports; they'd rather cheat and wind, than lose fair 'n square. AND THEY DO CHEAT: There have been some convictions of voter fraud against DEMOCRATS. But you won't see it in the MSM or on the evening news. I WONDER WHY!? Heh. By the way: the AP reports that the acting mayor of San Diego was convicted of corruption today. They DON'T mention that he's a DEMOCRAT. Do you think that IF he was a GOP'er that the AP would've left that detail out?! Of course not!

24 - "FBI-ACLU-GATE" - Per Kerr/Volokh (hat tip NRO/ADLER/Corner): Eric Lichtblau's New York Times story about the FBI's keeping records on the ACLU is based on a serious misrepresentation. ... the New York Times reported today that the FBI had 1,173 pages of records "on" the ACLU, which makes it sound like the FBI is keeping a large dossier on the ACLU. ... It turns out that the language of the ACLU request was tremendously broad. The ACLU didn't request just documents about the ACLU, or documents about monitoring the ACLU. Rather, it made an extremely broad request that asked the FBI to collect any documents in its possession that even just referred to the ACLU. ... my suspicion is that the New York Times reported the number of FBI pages that mention the ACLU as if it were the number of FBI pages that were about the ACLU and its activities. It seems to me that the difference is considerable."

YOU BET THE DIFFERENCE IS CONSIDERABLE; it's the difference between a pseudo-scandal and the truth. In other words: the Left tries to strike again, but again they only STRIKE OUT! Here's how the ACLU press release presents DOJ's court filing in response to its FOIA request (again, from Kerr/Volokh): Government Has Amassed Thousands of Pages on National Peace and Civil Rights Organizations NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union today revealed that the FBI has amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on its organization since 2001, as well as documents concerning other non-violent groups including Greenpeace and United for Peace and Justice.

This is nothing more than RANK DISTORTION and a SMEAR against the FBI. The NYTIMES and the WASHPOST and the rest of the MSM relayed the Left-wing SMEAR as if it was Gospel. The Left and the MSM they dominate have no shame, no morals, and no chance at winning with tactics like this! Thank God!

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We should also always remember one of the most annoying and non-productive characteristics of the folks that make these Left-wing smears: even after they've been disproved, the Left-wing talking heads still repeat them over and over and over again. I think their employing the BIG LIE THEORY in practice; they think if the say it often enough people will believe that they're true. And the sad fact is, that because so many people limit their news intake to the MSM or the NYTimes, they have NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE MISSING: the truth!

And, the MSM cannot get away with using the excuse that they're just INCOMPETENT. After all, nearly ALL the mistakes always benefit either the Left or our enemies in the GWOT. That's NOT incompetence; that's bias verging on treason.

IF I WERE INCLINED TO HELP THE LEFT/MSM, I'D RECOMMEND THAT INSTEAD OF TRYING TO SMEAR BUSH WITH PHONY SCANDALS, THAT THE LEFT PROPOSE SOME COUNTER-POLICIES FOR THE GWOT AND THE ECONOMY AND ON OTHER DOMESTIC ISSUES. Not that it would work: The Left's policies are as bad as their phony scandals! Heh.

And I'd recommend to the MSM that they cover the news; there's a lot happening out there, and it's pathetic that they miss most of it! They miss the REAL news because they're too busy trumping up phony news to hurt Bush. NEED MORE PROOF?! Well, here's the CLINCHER: I defy ANYONE to send me a link to ONE SINGLE SOLITARY NEWSTORY which the MSM skewed in a way that was FAVORABLE to Bush! (And don't give me that old WMD canard: everyone's intel' had it the same as the CIA, and even Bill Clinton belirved it; in fact, it would have been treason for any American president NOT to.)

[ANNOUNCEMENT: If you folks out there have more Bogus Bush Scandals (or better links to the ones I've mentioned), let me know in the comments section; (please provide a link to new bogus scandals, if you can). I'll post the best of the additional BOGUS BUSH SCANDALS right here on the front page!] (UPDATE 7/19 - NOTE: this post has been edited and its original layout changed slightly for greater clarity.)

MORE FRENCH PERFIDY - this time against the Brits

NYTIMES: LONDON, July 16 - "Britain's era of good will with Europe lasted 48 hours - all because of the French. In the wake of the July 7 terrorist attacks in London, Scotland Yard brought together law enforcement and intelligence officials from two dozen European countries and the United States, sharing crucial intelligence and pleading for help in tracking down the bombers. But the continentwide kumbaya was shattered when Christophe Chaboud, France's new antiterrorism coordinator, broke the cardinal rule of the club. He leaked. ... So poisonous is the atmosphere that the talk in European intelligence circles is that the British feel that the French may have leaked bad information on purpose."

The French ruling-class seem to embody dhimmitude - appeasing Jihadists. The French seem like they are either born cowards, victims of blackmail, or both. I hope they don't collapse before Sarkozy has a chance at saving them (2007). RTWT. (HAT TIP "eff"france.) THEN AGAIN, WHEN PONDERING FRENCH MISSTEPS IN THE GWOT, MAYBE WE JUST REMEMBER: sabotage is a FRENCH word...

PAKISTAN PROMISES CLOSER SCRUTINY OVER MADRASSAS

BBC: "Pakistan says it is placing its madrassas, or Islamic religious schools, under closer scrutiny. ... Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told the BBC in an interview that far closer scrutiny would be paid to madrassas espousing extremist lines of thinking. ... Mr Shapal said the government would take action against any madrassa which preached jihad or indoctrinated young minds."

These words are of course welcome; (though one wonders why they haven't been doing this already?! Didn't they know there's a WAR on, and that MOST of the Jihadists have gotten their training in their neck of the woods?!).

I wish that Bush would FINALLY make it ABSOLUTELY clear to the Pakistanis that they'd better keep the madrassas from espousing Jihadist propaganda, or we will bomb any madrassas from which any known terrorists were once trained. And I think we should be sending this message to ALL the other nations with madrassas. "Watch them, purge those who incite Jihadist terror, OR ELSE!"

ABBAS CALLS FOR RETURN TO TRUCE - but blames Israel for its demise!

GULF NEWS (Bahrain): JERUSALEM: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas last night appealed to militant groups to halt their attacks on Israel and recommit themselves to a Mideast truce left in tatters by a wave of violence over the past week. ... "I call upon all the Palestinian factions and forces to renew and to declare their commitment to what we had agreed upon, to respect the (Palestinian) Authority ... and to obey the truce," he said. ... Abbas blamed Israel for the recent outbreak of violence. "We hold the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of its policy, which reflects a step backward from what we had achieved ... and sabotaged any chance to maintain the truce," he said. "No one could expect the continuation of the truce from one side." [Emphasis added.]

ABBAS'S ADDRESS IS TYPICAL OF SO-CALLED "PALESTINIAN MODERATES": (1) a weak verbal attack against the terrorists (WHICH CONTAINS NO CONDEMNATION OF TERROR, PER SE, BUT MERELY ATTACKS IT AS COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE TO "NATIONALISTIC" GOALS); (2) a strong condemnation of Israel (as if retaliating against terror was the same as terror; even the BBC noted that Abbas blamed Israel for the breakdown of the truce!); and (3) this is followed by NO actions to disarm the terrorists, ACTIONS WHICH WERE REQUIRED BY THE ROADMAP.

We should be much MUCH tougher on Abbas, and make it very clear that if he doesn't do what he promised to do (disarm the terrorists) that the whole deal is off: Israel's hands are free and they unilaterally handle the disputed territories however they wish.

Abbas has used the excuse that he doesn't want to start a civil war in the disputed territories. But Abbas should realize by now - with civil war all but declared in Gaza - that he will have a civil war whether he tries to disarm the terrorists or not. It reminds me of that joke:

Some sophisticated explorers held captive by scary savages (they've offended somehow) are offered two forms of punishment: death or pungoo. (Pungoo is usually described as some horrifying and perverse sexual attack.) The captives - too proud to allow themselves to be sexually humiliated - stoutly choose death. The captors announce: "OKAY: DEATH BY PUNGOO!"***

Abbas can either have: (a) a civil war against the terrorists - one in which he fights back (and as a result he gets worldwide aid); or (b) a civil war in which he fails to fight back and is condemned as an appeaser by the sane nations of the Free World (America, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Italy and Israel to name a few). The choice is his. And he'd better choose soon: The civil war has already started - (read about it HERE and HERE).

Old jokes aside, Winston Churchill gave invaluable advice - which Abbas, and other world leaders who are wobbly in the face of terror should heed: "Refusing to fight an honorable battle may afford a temporary peace, but in the long run, it's a peace too costly." AND (to Parliament after Chamberlain returned from Munich with an agreement with Hitler): "You have been given the choice between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor, and you will have war!" Churchill was right - on both counts, and his words are as relevant today as they were then.

[*** I've also heard this joke told as, "Okay, death by...": "buufuu"; "unga-bunga"; "booda-booda"; and "chibi".]

ASIDE: the old joke goes for the Left and the GWOT, too: either we can have (a) a global war in which we are attacked by Jihadists, and we counter-attack, or (b) we can not counter-attack and have a global war in which we are attacked by Jihadists. The Left seems to want the latter - just like Abbas.