AQ's long war..........

Forged documents

"THOUSANDS of illegal immigrants are being issued with national insurance numbers every year even though officials know that they have suspect immigration documents.

Staff in Jobcentres have been told that they have a duty to issue an NI number even if they realise that the applicant has forged documents and no legal right to work, official papers seen by The Times reveal. ...


The disclosure by The Times comes after the release of more than 1,000 foreign prisoners without deportation checks and the admission by a senior Home Office official that he did not have the “faintest idea” how many illegal immigrants there were in Britain."

Egypt's imprisoned bloggers

Michelle Malkin - Haditha

Iran

Syria

Bill Roggio reporting from Afghanistan

Index of Economic Freedom

Global internet filtering map

Ralph Peters

" Meanwhile, the remains of al Qaeda dream of building a new Afghanistan in Somalia. A terrorist organization our military smashed is being allowed to rebuild itself.

There's a vital lesson here: In the War on Terror, you've got to finish what you start. America quitting Somalia after suffering less than two dozen dead in the course of a battle won was the biggest single boost the terrorists ever received. The Clinton surrender in Mogadishu pointed al Qaeda straight toward 9/11."

Customer disservice

Debbye reflects about Memorial Day...........

..."And yet, despite our well-meant but unbearably foolish innocence, we were more fortunate than we could ever have imagined because those we had dismissed as brainwashed victims of U.S. propaganda remained vigilantly at the walls to protect us from the very dangers we had laughed off as simple-minded attempts at fear-mongering.

The American soldier stands between us and the monsters and often, because we are a compassionate people, he stands between people of other lands and the monsters. He has done so in Europe, the South Pacific, Africa, Korea, Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq, and too many places to count and too, because it is the right thing to do, has brought aid to people in far away countries devastated by tsunamais, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

It is a curious thing, that calling to serve in a military and humanitarian capacity, and we are blessed that so many answer it...."

I am humble because my youthful idealism was so misdirected, I am grateful because the men and women of the American military continue to protect me, my family, and billions of people in the world from monsters I once believed did not exist, and I feel guilty because, although I am wiser, the Pentagon thinks I am too old to serve so I can't make up for the foolishness of my younger years.

War vet sues Moore

Powerline -putting things in perspective

"I would add a few more facts. I think that Americans' weariness with Iraq is driven primarily by near-daily news reports of American soldiers and Marines being killed and wounded there. Of course, we mourn every death of an American serviceman or woman. But those losses need to be put in some kind of context; otherwise, since fighting any war inevitably involves casualties, military action of any kind is impossible.

A total of 2,471 servicemembers have died in Iraq from 2003 to the present, a period of a little over three years. That total is almost exactly one third of the number of military personnel who died on active duty from 1980 to 1982, a comparable time period when no wars were being fought. Until very recently, our armed forces lost servicemen at a greater rate than we have experienced in Iraq, due solely to accidental death.

Do you recall that during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s there was any suggestion, from anyone, that our military policies were somehow disastrous due to fatalities among our servicemen--fatalities that nearly always exceeded those we are now experiencing in Iraq? No, neither do I."

Major John Tammes-

CBC Watch- PPG-does it take this many spinners to cover the Hill?

MEMRI

Mark Levin - the wrong hill on the Hill

Andrew McCarthy- Jefferson

"Well, let’s look at the record on that one.

The videotaped $100,000 bribery happened in July 2005—fully ten months ago.

Of that cash, $90,000 was seized from Jefferson's freezer on August 3, 2005. (And as my Corner post last night noted, the Justice department revealed on Tuesday that there is evidence Jefferson tried to obstruct that search).

On the same day, August 3, 2005, the Justice Department served a grand-jury subpoena on Jefferson. It is reasonable to infer, since Justice got the search warrant for the residence at the same time, that Justice appreciated the significant difference between searching a congressman’s home and searching his congressional office—even though, in truth, a legitimate speech-and-debate claim could apply to either equally. Plainly, out of deference to Congress, Justice proceeded by subpoena as to evidentiary items in Jefferson’s office in hopes that it would be unnecessary to take the more provocative step of seeking a judicial search warrant.

Other subpoenas apparently followed in the late summer of 2005, to both Jefferson and his chief of staff. Speaker Hastert, according to a memorandum filed by the Justice department on Tuesday, was notified about the subpoenas by Jefferson on September 15, 2005, and again on November 18, 2005. The Justice department has been trying to get production on those subpoenas ever since—to no avail.

Meanwhile, in January 2006—five months ago—Brent Pfeffer, once a congressional aide of Jefferson’s, publicly pled guilty in federal court to bribing and conspiring to bribe Jefferson. While this does not seem to have stirred Congress, a federal judge just last week thought it was sufficiently serious to merit a sentence of eight years in federal prison........."

Haditha

OBL- lying, defying and demoralizing

A-G looks at $650 million in contracts.The Sponsorship was only about 3% of PWGS' budget

Liberal leadership ..............

Border Patrol

"In the end, however, Bonner, the man who represents the thousands who play cat and mouse with millions of immigrants seeking a way into the United States, said "the best thing that can happen is if they (Congress) walk away from this process" - and not pass any bill.

Then he hopes that voters realize that illegal immigration will only be stopped when laws are passed "to cut off the access to jobs."

Able Danger

Crime beat

Rethinking homeland security

"The flaw underlying DHS cannot be corrected by people and money alone. Because responsibility, authority and accountability are so diffuse, if not missing, and because of our system of federalism and checks and balances, no department with such cross-cutting tasks can work without special powers or external help. The banking and security industries are excellent parallels because without the Fed and the SEC to regulate and oversee, no single department has the authority to exercise and supervise those sectors. If homeland security is of comparable complexity, then perhaps a similar solution for an external regulating and overseeing body works.
This proposal has nothing to do with reorganization of the department, rather the recognition that no department, outside Defense, is ever likely to be given the necessary authority to carry out such jurisdictionally challenged roles. But in the private sector, if a public company performed as poorly as the DHS has done over the past several years, you can bet that there would be mutinies by the shareholders and ruthless management reorganizations in addition to strong action by the Fed or SEC. Otherwise, Enron would be the model, something we can least afford to emulate in an area as vital as homeland security. "

Estimated 240,000 illegal imigrant sex offenders.........

Climate change

Canadians healthier than Americans according to study

Wait times longer in Canada but Administration costs higher in the U.S.

Reid on the ropes