More Americans Believe Iraq War Hurts Fight Against Terrorism

Nearly half of Americans say the war in Iraq has hurt what the White House calls its ‘’war on terror'’–the highest percentage since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003–according to a major new poll released Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the latest bomb attacks in London. One World

Dozens killed in Egyptian blasts

At least 45 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.
The first explosion took place in the Old Market area, popular with tourists.

Other blasts followed in the nearby area of Naama Bay, which is packed with hotels. Witnesses said a four-star hotel was heavily damaged.

Britons, Dutch, Qataris, Kuwaitis and Egyptians were among the casualties, police sources said.

Police sources said initial reports suggested there had been at least four and possibly seven car bombs. BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Dozens killed in Egyptian blasts

Harry Potter and the Compendium of Utterly Useless Trivia

Something funny, for a change: link

House reauthorizes USA Patriot Act

Sigh. This is one of those reasons I wear a button that reads, “Oh well, I wasn’t using my civil liberties anyway.”

The House of Representatives, ignoring protests from civil liberties groups, renewed the USA Patriot Act on Thursday mostly along party lines, to make permanent the government’s unprecedented powers to investigate suspected terrorists. Reuters

Coulter a plagiarist

Columnist Ann Coulter is a plagiarist:

Coulter : “A photo of a newborn infant with its mouth open titled to suggest the infant was available for oral sex.”

The Flummery Digest: “The title of a photo of a newborn infant with its mouth open suggested that the infant was available for oral sex.”

Coulter: “A photo of a woman breastfeeding an infant, titled ‘ Jesus Sucks.’”

The Flummery Digest: “… photograph of a woman breastfeeding an infant was titled ‘Jesus Sucks.’”

Coulter: “A show titled ‘DEGENERATE WITH A CAPITAL D’ featuring a display of the remains of the artist’s own aborted baby.”

The Flummery Digest: “‘Degenerate with a Capital D’…included ‘Alchemy Cabinet’ by Shawn Eichman, featuring the remains of the artist’s own aborted baby.” The Raw Story

German president officially dissolves parliament, makes way to new elections

German President Horst Köhler had been put into a tough spot when German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, in an attempt to force early elections this September to regain a stable majority, called for a vote of non-confidence by his party members. Köhler had to decide by Thursday night if such an early election was permissible by the German constitution.

Historically such elections outside the usual 4-year scheme have only happened twice before. German officials decided in 1949 that the if the government was able to call elections it would make the newly formed Federal German Republic unstable. This was understandable as the Weimar Republic, the “Germany” that had proceeded it, had been plagued with such problems eventually making the rise of Adolf Hitler. But the constitution does not specifically ban such an action either, which was what made the previous two cases controversial but possible.

Köhler announced Thursday in a televised speech that he saw no legal precedent or constitutional statute that would block new elections on Sept. 18.
Read entire entry

New explosions on London’s public transportation system

New York Times:

British Police Evacuate 3 Subway Stations After Explosions

LONDON, July 21 - Just two weeks after a string of attacks on buses and subways in London that killed 56 people, the British police evacuated three subway stations in the city today after small explosions that sent commuters into a panic. But casualty numbers appeared to be low. The police said the Oval subway station in south London, Shepherd’s Bush in the west and Warren Street in central London had been evacuated. There was also a small explosion on the No. 26 bus in the Hackney Road section that blew out the bus windows, police said. New York Times

London attackers ‘meant to kill’

Emergency services in protective clothing were deployed at the bus site. The people behind the latest attack in London meant to kill, the head of the Metropolitan Police has said.

But Sir Ian Blair said: “The important point is that the intention of the terrorists has failed.”

Attempts were made to set off explosives at four locations, including three Tube stations and on one bus.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said it was not surprising London had been attacked a fortnight after 56 people died, adding: “We will get through this.”

Police sources say the blasts may have been near simultaneous and that they are being linked with the 7 July bombs.

They say a number of fugitives are being sought. Two people have been arrested in Whitehall. BBC

The Guardian also has an extensive article here.

Star Trek’s Scotty dies aged 85

Scotty died:

James Doohan died from Alzheimer’s Disease and pneumonia
Actor James Doohan, who played the chief engineer Montgomery Scott in Star Trek, has died at the age of 85.
Doohan, whose role was immortalised in the line “Beam me up, Scotty”, had been suffering from pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease, his agent said. BBC

Roberts indicated he would overturn Roe v. Wade, make abortion illegal

Pro-choice activist group indicates that Roberts, if confirmed as Supreme Court justice, would likely overturn Roe. v. Wade, the landmark case that established abortion as a right.

As Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Roberts argued in a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court (gratuitously, since the case did not implicate Roe v. Wade) that “[w]e continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled…. [T]he Court’s conclusion in Roe that there is a fundamental right to an abortion… finds no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution.”

Link to the full statement as PDF here.

Go have some gay sex or have an abortion. It may be your last chance to legally do so.

Possible Al-Quaida ultimatum gives EU one month to pull out of Iraq

The Al-Qaeda terror network warned European nations to pull their troops out of Iraq within a month or face more attacks like the deadly London bombings, according to an Internet statement.

“This message is the final warning to European states. We want to give you a one-month deadline to bring your soldiers out from the land of Mesopotamia (Iraq),” said the statement signed by Al-Qaeda group the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and dated July 16.

After August 15, “there will be no more messages, just actions that will be engraved on the heart of Europe.

“It will be a bloody war in the service of God,” said the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified. Middle East Online

Roberts offcially nominated to Supreme Court

It’s officially official:

President Bush tonight nominated John G. Roberts Jr., a conservative federal appellate judge from Washington, D.C., to the first vacancy on the Supreme Court in 11 years. New York Times

Court Judge nominee leaked

The New York Times:

Judge Roberts, 50, once clerked for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. He has been on the Court of Appeals since May 2003. That court has often been a springboard for the Supreme Court; indeed, three current members of the high court were once on the D.C. Circuit. New York Times

Washington Post has the same name, so I guess it’s official.

Bush to Introduce Court Nominee Tonight

In case you haven’t heard:

President Bush settled on a nominee for the Supreme Court on Tuesday and the White House made arrangements for a nationally televised prime time announcement. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready,” he said at a midday news conference where he declined to tip his hand.

That only intensified speculation on his choice for the first opening on the court in more than a decade and a replacement for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The announcement was set for 9 p.m. EDT from the East Room of the White House. The nominee’s family was expected to be with Bush and the candidate. AP

Poll: Public Sees Bush As Less Trustworthy

Bush’s numbers are crumbling:

Americans have growing doubts about President Bush’s honesty and his effectiveness, according to a poll taken at a time people are uneasy with the war in Iraq, uncertain about the economy and nervous about the terrorist threat.

Half of those in the poll taken by the Pew Research Center, 49 percent, said they believe the president is trustworthy, while almost as many, 46 percent said he is not. Bush was at 62 percent on this measure in a September 2003 Pew poll and at 56 percent in a Gallup poll in April. One of Bush’s strong suits throughout his presidency has been the perception by a majority of people that he is honest.

President Bush pauses during a question from reporters at a joint news conference with Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard, not pictured, in the East Room of the White House Tuesday, July 19, 2005. President Bush settled on a nominee for the Supreme Court on Tuesday and the White House made arrangements for a nationally televised prime time announcement. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready,” he said at a midday news conference where he declined to tip his hand.

The slide in trust in Bush comes at a time the White House is answering questions about top aide Karl Rove’s involvement in the public leak of the identity of a CIA operative.

Washington Post

Easy to counter: 9/11!

BBC correspondent: Iraq already in ‘civil war’

This is a harrowing report from a BBC correspondent who has been filing reports from Iraq for several years now. He should know what the situation “on the ground” is like, which makes this report even more chilling:

In the last week this city has seen 22 car bombs, with 10 on a single day - last Friday. Not far from Baghdad, at Musayyib, between Hilla and Karbala, nearly 100 Shia Muslims were killed.

The shadowy resistance movements seem to be operating on a new and much more ambitious level.

Last summer, and in the summer of 2003, there were similar peaks, though much lower ones: The ferocious heat seems to produce new reserves of anger and violence here.

(…) Someone, though, is deliberately targeting Shia Muslims. Last Friday’s attack in Musayyib was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a hijacked petrol tanker. It exploded outside the Shia mosque.

Both of the main streams of resistance, the Baathists and the supporters of al-Qaeda, are predominantly Sunni, and both seem to believe that they will benefit if the security crisis here turns into an outright civil war between Shias and Sunnis. BBC

Supreme Racism

I find this quote amusing:

Other possibilities mentioned in past weeks include Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is Hispanic, and former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson, who is black.
Reuters

So both are qualified?

In the same story:

Sources said the timing of an announcement had been moved up in part to deflect attention away from a CIA leak controversy that has engulfed Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove.

“It helps take Rove off the front pages for a week,” one Republican strategist said.

Bush on Supreme Court nomination

In Sunday’s Radio Address President Bush laid out what he expects the nomination and confirmation process for his Supreme Court candidate to be like:

I will be guided by clear principles as I make my decision. My nominee will be a fair-minded individual who represents the mainstream of American law and American values. The nominee will meet the highest standards of intellect, character, and ability, and will pledge to faithfully interpret the Constitution and laws of our country. Our nation deserves, and I will select, a Supreme Court justice that Americans can be proud of.

Aiming high, aren’t we? Excuse me for being cynical, but I’ll believe it when I see it. While the White House is “talking” with “60 Senators” he may still do what he has done in the past and completely ignore their input and nominate a far-rigth candidate instead.

The American people also expect a Senate confirmation process that rises above partisanship. When I met with Senate leaders, we discussed our shared goal of making sure that the confirmation process is dignified. The nominee deserves fair treatment, a fair hearing, and a fair vote. I will make my nomination in a timely manner so the nominee can be confirmed before the start of the Court’s new term in October.

The experiences of the two justices nominated by President Clinton provide useful examples of fair treatment and a reasonable timetable for Senate action. In 1993, the Senate voted on and confirmed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court 42 days after President Clinton submitted her nomination. And despite the significant philosophical differences many senators had with Justice Ginsburg, she received 96 votes in favor of confirmation.

The following year, Justice Stephen Breyer was confirmed 73 days after his nomination was submitted, with 87 votes in his favor. Again, Republican senators in large numbers voted for confirmation of Justice Breyer despite significant philosophical differences. These examples show that the thorough consideration of a nominee does not require months of delay. White House

In other words: filibuster my nominee(s) and I’ll make you pay.

I also love this passage: “The nominee deserves fair treatment, a fair hearing, and a fair vote.” I guess the American public doesn’t does it? Or how would you explain the “problems” in the last two presidential elections?

ABC News: London Bombers Have Ties to United States

One of the bombers in last week’s attacks made a direct phone call to a suspected recruiter for an extremist group in New York.

Authorities told ABC News that records show Mohammed Sidique Khan, the eldest of the bombers now believed to be the field commander of the attacks, had called a person who is associated with the Islamic Center, a mosque in Queens, N.Y. Yet, a member of that mosque claimed they had no knowledge of the phone call.

In addition to Khan, two other men linked to the London bombings also had direct ties with the United States. ABC News

Use of A&S funds for SG banquet, retreat unacceptable

Student Government officials don’t earn much money; that much is clear. But SG’s logic that because its members are underpaid it has the right to party on student funds is an affront to the trust students put into their supposed representatives.

Last week The Oracle detailed how SG had chartered the StarShip, a luxury cruise ship in Tampa, and dug into Activity & Services fees to pay most of the costs of the dinner and “appreciation gifts.” Each SG member attending the event paid $10, but students paid the remaining $2,763.
Read entire entry

Disneyland turns 50

Fifty years ago, today, Disneyland opened its doors for the first time. The LA Times has an extensive article on its history:

To build his dream theme park in Anaheim a half-century ago, Walt Disney borrowed against his life insurance policy and cashed in property, including a vacation home in Palm Springs, to pay the $17-million construction bill.

When the Anaheim theme park opened July 17, 1955 — with cranky Southern Californians fanning themselves on a sweltering hot day — toilets clogged, the food ran out and women’s high heels sunk into wet asphalt. Disney officials still call it “Black Sunday.”

But from the start, there would be no denying the world’s infatuation with Disneyland, a rite of passage for millions of vacationing families. In the 50 years since Walt Disney leveled Anaheim orange groves, the park has left an oversized imprint on American culture, influencing everything from family entertainment to shopping malls to corporate branding. LA Times

Read the rest here.

Traveling

I’ll be traveling most of the weekend, making my way from Tampa, FL, to Aachen, Germany. Go read a book, or something.

Fox News calls for Karl Rove to receive medal, calls outing CIA operative ‘good’

FOX News seems to be on its best way to top even the ridiculous allegations it raised against the BBC and other UK press earlier this week. (link) Now FOX News “anchor” John Gibson is calling for Karl Rove to receive a medal.

The logic goes something like this: Karl Rove did not do anything that was bad. But if he did, then he would deserve a medal. Why? Because he outed one of those no-good CIA operatives.

Wow. My head hurts.

Then again, former Director of Intelligence George Tennet received a medal even though he royally messed up on both 9/11 and WMD in Iraq. Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice ignored a memo titled “Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.” (link) and was promoted to Secretary of State. Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld declared the war in Iraq should be over in 6 to 8 weeks. Several years later, he remains in office.

So sure, let’s give Rove a medal. Heck, why not make him president? He seems to stand for everything that’s acceptable in politics anyway.

Video and mp3 version of this “argument” can be found here at DemBloggers.

FOX News accuses British press of being “anti-American,” head of BBC responds

The objective news reporting coming out of the UK in the aftermath of the London attacks has been very impressive. I wrote a column about that very topic last week (link). Some people at Fox News seem to be thinking though that straight reporting is “pro terrorist” and accuse the BBC of spreading “anti American” sentiments.

FOX News does not offer complete transcripts of the O’Reilly Factor, the show that made most of the allegations. The Guardian, the UK paper that was also accused of being “anti-Bush,” has some of the more outlandish quotes, though:

O’Reilly wondered whether the BBC would change its “anti-Bush… bash America” agenda following the London attacks.

“Will things change now? Don’t count on it. That’s because media like the BBC won’t stop at spin… The only way to defeat worldwide terrorism is for the world to unite and overcome differences in support of that greater good. Maybe the London killings will help in that effort. What say you, BBC?,” O’Reilly said in his regular Talking Points Memo feature.

On his Fox News show, O’Reilly also said: “What good does it do al-Qaeda to alienate the BBC and all of these major organisations that have basically not dealt with the threat in a realistic way?”

This prompted a guest to add: “In certain respects, the BBC almost operates as a foreign registered agent of Hizbullah and some of the other jihadist groups.”

(…) O’Reilly has also laid into the Guardian since Thursday’s bombings, asking one guest: “Have you read the Guardian lately? I mean, it might be edited by Osama bin Laden. I mean, that’s how bad the paper is.” Guardian

It’s ridiculous to suggest that a news organization such as the BBC is “pro terrorist” just because they report straight facts. Apparently Fox News is annoyed that the BBC will not label people as “evil” across the board and do not report unsubstantiated rumors. The same goes for The Guardian.

The head of the BBC TV news department responded in a column in the Guardian:

(P)eople have asked about the flow of information - and in particular whether the BBC was more cautious than other news sources. Let’s be clear that the BBC does not withhold known facts. We always want to be first with confirmed news, and it is non-negotiable in our journalism that we supply information as soon as we have it.

However, we will not report mere rumour and nor will we run casualty figures, as the most obvious example, without being able to verify them. At times last Thursday we were seeing other news sources running figures well above any official estimates, and in some cases those reports exceed the known death toll today. That isn’t the way the BBC operates, so on very rare occasions our information will be “later” than some of our rivals: accuracy is more important than speed, though we want to achieve both. This approach has been praised by commentators here and in the United States - where the LA Times and the Baltimore Sun are among the newspapers approving of the BBC’s restraint.

(…) A contributor to Fox said after the London bombings that “the BBC almost operates as a foreign registered agent of Hezbollah and some of the other jihadist groups”. On the Fox website today there is an opinion piece, “How Jane Fonda and the BBC put you in danger”. I am writing this in a building which was bombed by Irish terrorists. My colleagues and I are living in a city recovering from the wounds inflicted last week. If I may leave our customary impartiality aside for a moment, the comments made on Fox News are beneath contempt.
Roger Mosey, head of BBC Television News in The Guardian

The UK has more experience with terrorism than we should hope the U.S. will ever have. That is probably the prime reason why a terrorist attack on the U.S. was met with such hysteria and lack of regard for civil liberties.

FOX News reporters who suggest that the press in the UK is spreading “anti-American” sentiments by reporting straight facts shows yet again how certain American journalists forget that their first allegiance should be to deliver solid information, not to acting as an extension of a particular government.

Those who point out shortcomings in government policy are in the long run helping raise the bar. Shooting the messenger under the guise of “patriotism” will only limit the freedom of the press that took centuries to establish. And it really doesn’t matter if this happens while flags or waving or not, the effect will be detrimental either way.

Death toll among Iraqi civilians skyrocketing

And you thought American soldiers had it rough?

Iraqi civilians and police officers died at a rate of more than 800 a month between August and May, according to figures released in June by the Interior Ministry.

Among civilian casualties is Qusay Bahnam Shamoun, 28, who was seriously burned in a suicide-bombing in June in which his brother was killed. With him was his wife, Noha Rafail; they had been married a month.

In response to questions from The New York Times, the ministry said that 8,175 Iraqis were killed by insurgents in the 10 months that ended May 31. The ministry did not give detailed figures for the months before August 2004, nor did it provide a breakdown of the figures, which do not include either Iraqi soldiers or civilians killed during American military operations. NYT

“They will greet us with flowers” my ass.