New Jersey Nixes Drilling For Natural Gas

The state's political leaders, including Democrats Jon Corzine, Bob Menendez, and Frank Lautenberg, plus the Republican legislators whose districts include shore areas oppose offshore oil drilling. We've known this for some time.

What is less known is that they oppose drilling for natural gas, despite the fact that there are known deposits of natural gas found 90 miles offshore, well over the horizon. In fact, they've lumped the two together, making it impossible to drill for either natural resource, even though we know that there are significant finds of natural gas.

Natural gas wouldn't cause spills that foul the shores, but these same folks oppose drilling nonetheless. Never mind that natural gas finds would help reduce costs for heating and cooking. New Jersey is heavily reliant on natural gas, and none of it is produced locally. It comes via a pipeline from Texas.

The Democrats are pushing an eco-leftist zero-growth policy, while the Republicans are engaging in NIMBY. Both are wrong for the state, which benefits greatly from the fact that people can afford to come to the Jersey Shore and spend their hard earned money at Atlantic City and the towns and attractions throughout the state.

More to the point, they're pushing an alarmist view that spills will bespoil the beaches. Natural gas can't do that. It dissipates into the air because it's a gas. Menendez has shown pictures of oil spills surrounding oil rigs that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but ignores the part where those rigs were hundreds of miles offshore and didn't result in the shorelines being fouled. There are also further ways to reduce the likelihood of oil spills as a result of storms. Regulations could be set in place to require that the oil companies not only shut down production ahead of storms, but clear their pipelines into shore so that should the rigs or the pipelines be damaged, residual oil would not escape. That apparently was a problem in the Gulf of Mexico where oil rigs shut down, but didn't clear oil from the pipelines back to shore.

UPDATE:
Now here's a kicker. In 2005, New Jersey's Governor Codey (during one of his many chances to be interim Governor) authorized the construction of an offshore wind project. Now, the earliest that the project can be brought online? 2012. Watch the excuses fly, but let's be blunt.

Adler, and environmentalist Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club, questioned how the state could achieve the twin goals of generating 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and producing 1,000 megawatts of electricity through wind power — when it has not been able to get the 350-megawatt pilot project in motion.

"If you don't take the first step, you're not going to get there," said Tittel.

Lance Miller, chief of policy and planning for the BPU, said projects of this magnitude take time. He defended the BPU's diligence in selecting the best proposal.

"This is the first time we are considering offshore wind," Miller said. "It is one of the first times in the United States it's been considered. It's something you want to do right."

This has nothing to do with it being the first time it's been considered in the US. There are offshore wind projects elsewhere in the world. You simply have a lack of will among politicians who seemingly claim to push for green energy sources - like Gov. Corzine. Had he truly sought to wean New Jersey from fossil fuels, he would have fast tracked the approval process. He has not done so.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 44

If the Port Authority can stick to its latest deadline, and it's anything but a sure thing, there's only 867 days left before the permanent PATH transit hub opens for business, along with the connector to the New York City subway system.

However, before that happens, we're going to have to put up with even bigger headaches. Vesey Street, which forms Ground Zero's northern border, will be closed to pedestrians so work can begin in earnest. However, that means that tens of thousands of people will have to be diverted around the block.

If you've ever seen this stretch of street during rush hour, it's wall to wall humanity pressing forward.

Construction is moving forward with elements of the Santiago Calatrava designed transit hub, as this video shows. Specifically, this is part of the East-West connector.

Meanwhile, the Port Authority is capping its contribution to the 9/11 memorial at $195 million. The 9/11 Memorial Foundation has to come up with the remaining $530 million, and their last official statement was that they had raised about $350 million, when they announced that Billy Crystal would be joining as a board member. There are reports that the project is expected to cost $1 billion, but the Foundation denies that there are budget issues. I'm skeptical of that given the cost issues with every other aspect of the project thus far.

Photo of the Day

 

This post will also serve as my call for the best and brightest from around the web.

NBC: Save the Planet; But Our Outdoor Set Needs AC

Hypocrites. The network regularly runs overheated claims about global warming and what people must do to reduce their carbon footprint.

I'm sure most folks don't have air conditioning systems built to specifically cool their outdoor spaces. NBC does at their Beijing television set.

“The set is outside, but air conditioning vents make the weather bearable,” Anne Marie Tiernon wrote for WTHR Eyewitness News on August 14.

Even NBC “Today” co-host Matt Lauer remarked about the air conditioning, but said it was still uncomfortable even with it.

“The first couple of nights even with the air conditioning it was steamy in here, but we've been lucky ever since,” Lauer said to WTHR. “It’s been overcast some days, takes the temperature down. We call it fog smog.”

Last fall, the network performed a publicity stunt on its November 4 broadcast of its highly rated Sunday Night NFL Football show, “Football Night in America.” The broadcast used limited lighting for the broadcast and even went completely dark for the final moments of the program.

The effort was to raise awareness and set an example for the rest of the country, however, the same example isn’t being set for the broadcast from the world’s biggest polluter, China.

The air is still uncomfortable for Matt Lauer. Quick, someone turn the AC on high. You're outdoors and it's summer. What did you expect?

Once again, the hypocrisy of the man-made global warming crowd shines through. They will say and do anything to chastise people into reducing their own power usage, while they continue to use power just as they always have.

UPDATE:
Instapundit links. Thanks!

Potatoes May Hold Key To Alzheimer's Vaccine

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is debilitating and one that robs people of their very essence - their minds. People with the disease generally succumb to dementia, memory loss, and ultimately the brain no longer can regulate normal body functions that lead to death. Researchers have been looking to discover a vaccine that would protect people from the disease.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University appear to have made a breakthrough, by using a potato virus to produce amyloid beta proteins. It is hypothesized that amyloid beta proteins are responsible for AD.

Studies in mice have demonstrated that vaccinations with the amyloid beta protein (believed to be a major AD contributor) to produce Aβ antibodies can slow disease progression and improve cognitive function, possibly by promoting the destruction of amyloid plaques. Some early human trials have likewise been promising, but had to be halted due to the risk of autoimmune encephalitis.

One way to make Alzheimer's vaccinations safer would be to use a closely-related, but not human, protein as the vaccine, much like cowpox virus is used for smallpox immunizations.

In the August 15 Journal of Biological Chemistry, Robert Friedland and colleagues used this concept on an amyloid-like protein found in potato virus (PVY). They injected PVY into mice followed by monthly boosters for four months. The researchers found that the mice produced strong levels of antibodies that could attach to amyloid beta protein both in both solution and in tissue samples of Alzheimer's patients. And although the levels were lower, mice also developed Aβ antibodies if given injections of PVY-infected potato leaf as opposed to purified PVY.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the vaccine is right around the corner. There are still hurdles, including the possibility that amyloid beta proteins are a symptom, rather than a cause of the disease.

Friedland also hypothesizes that "immune responses generated from dietary exposure to proteins homologous to Aβ may induce antibodies that could influence the normal physiological processing of the protein and the development or progression of AD."

Name That Party: New Jersey Conviction Edition

Once again, another ex-mayor in New Jersey gets treated to time in prison courtesy to their own greed and avarice.

This time, it's Sammy Rivera, the former Mayor of Passaic. He's going to get 21 months in prison and have to pay a $4,000 fine.

Have fun trying to figure out his political affiliation. The AP doesn't think it is an important item.

Of course, this is New Jersey, so we should know from experience that Rivera is a Democrat. You just can't rely on the AP to provide it unless the politician being covered is a Republican.

The Star Ledger did manage to include his affiliation in the third paragraph.

UPDATE:
Don Surber links. Thanks!

Democratic VP Speculation of the Day

You've got to be kidding me. It's not April Fools Day, but this still has to be a joke. Via Hot Air, some Democrats are positing John Kerry as Obama's VP.

That's right. John Kerry.

The same John Kerry who actually entertained the idea of putting John McCain as his running mate. The same John Kerry who was the epitome of flip-flop (Merriam Webster has a bronze bust of Kerry next to the definition in their dictionary).

The same Kerry who calls the US an international pariah.

The same Kerry whose anti-American leftist nonsense after he came back from Vietnam stabbed his fellow members of the US Armed Forces in the back, including John McCain, with his lies and exaggerations as part of the Winter Soldier hearings.

The same Kerry who sought to cut intel and military budgets, and raise taxes time and time again.

The same Kerry who opposed missile defense systems.

The same Kerry who lost to George Bush in 2004 despite everything and the kitchen sink thrown against Bush including a media that played favorites and looked the other way as they foisted up bogus documents to claim that Bush didn't serve fully or honorably.

The same Kerry who showed tremendous disdain for our troops serving in Iraq (Halp me Jon Cary... you're our only hope) when he said that if you get an education you can avoid going to Iraq, despite the fact that our military is the most professional in history, and that most members serving have college degrees.

Yes, that John Kerry.

Actually, based on the aforementioned, Kerry is perfect - he's go the exact same credentials as Obama, although he's got military service and a much longer undistinguished Senate record.

Follow the Money: L'Affair Edwards Continues

The Edwards affair may work great in the tabloids and generate a few hits here at A Blog For All, to say nothing of the media spiking the story until it was impossible to ignore when John Edwards admitted to the affair with Rielle Hunter, but we're getting to a real interesting quandry for the Edwards camp.

Who was giving the money to Rielle Hunter and did it violate campaign finance rules? Well, it looks like Fred Baron has his deep pockets involved:

The review found that Mr. Edwards’s political action committee went to unusual lengths to make a final $14,000 payment to Ms. Hunter’s film company months after its contract with the committee had ended. The payment was issued while the committee was short on cash and could pay its bills only after receiving thousands of dollars from Mr. Edwards’s presidential campaign and donations from four people, including Mr. Baron’s wife.

If you had donated to the Edwards campaign, do you think your money should have gone to paying off Hunter when there were other campaign expenses that were more important? Why go to the lengths that the Edwards campaign did to make sure Hunter was paid? Was it a quid-pro-quo to keep Hunter from talking to the press about her affair with Edwards?

The Times may have been the first major paper to run with this story, but the blogosphere was asking this question days ago. They're no closer to answering the key questions than the bloggers were, and haven't exactly advanced the story.

This problem may have started with Edwards' affair, but it doesn't end there. Fred Baron is now working for the Obama campaign. He's already given the maximum amount of $2,300 to the Obama campaign and is working as a bundler.

Georgia-Russian Cease Fire Agreement Signed

The Georgians and Russians have signed the latest cease fire agreement. The real question is whether it will be worth the paper it's printed on, since the Russians continue to occupy Georgian territory outside South Ossetia and have no intention of doing anything other than oversee the breakup of Georgia.

A grim Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili said Friday he signed a cease-fire agreement that requires the immediate withdrawal of all Russian forces from Georgian soil.
Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili announces Friday he signed a cease-fire agreement with Russia.

The agreement includes a provision for independent monitors and an eventual reconstruction plan for Georgia's economy, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who brought the documents to Tbilisi.

The two had met for almost five hours, the Georgian president said.

Saakashvili opened the news conference with a long, bitter tirade against European nations' appeasement in the face of a Russian invasion last week.

In many respects, the situation is little different than the Palestinian war against Israel and the repeated cease fires, which are little more than strategic pauses designed to give the Palestinians a break to regroup and rearm. Here, the Russians have yet to remove their troops from Georgian territory, and military operations continue despite the claim that a cease fire is in effect.

Meanwhile, in no coincidence, the US signed a deal with Poland to station an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland yesterday, which has ticked off the Russians, who consider that a provocation. Again, the Russians think that nations defending themselves against Russian aggression is a provocation.

Pelosi Will Continue Holding US Energy Policy Hostage

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) continues to hold America's energy policy hostage to the zero growth eco-left. She refuses to allow a floor vote on the lifting of the Congressional moratorium on offshore oil drilling.

Instead, she said, she wants Congress to tackle a compromise comprehensive energy plan that would include alternative energy sources and curtailing tax breaks for oil companies.

"You want to drill? We want the royalties for the American people, and we want that to pay for renewable energy resources," the San Francisco Democrat said in an interview for KQED television's weekly news show, "This Week in Northern California." "We want to connect all that together."

Pelosi couldn't be more hopelessly wrong or misguided. The government already gets royalties. It's called taxes on all those leases - regardless of whether they are active drill sites or not. Meanwhile, the more offshore drilling, the more royalties are delivered to the government. The government can decide to set aside every penny received to develop alternative energy programs (but it can't because it needs that money to pour into entitlements and other programs), but as I've noted previously, the Europeans have had higher energy taxes for years and are no closer to developing alternative energy than the US. More to the point, the Europeans are looking at a situation where they need to build more coal-fired power plants and keep nuclear power plants in operation despite a pledge to shutter those nuclear power plants.

Pelosi is hopelessly beholden to the eco-left, which demands nothing less than zero-growth and a declining standard of living in the US.

What exactly is this so-called hoax that Pelosi speaks of. You produce more oil from offshore oil wells, that's more oil that can be used to bring down the price of oil - supply and demand. They did teach that in schools years ago; and economics 101 is a concept that anyone in office should understand. Applying Pelosi's energy policy to other areas of life shows the utter absurdity of refusing to develop energy resources domestically.

A Tale of Two Candidates

John McCain is clearly in his element in discussing the situation in Georgia. He's displayed a knowledge of the region developed from multiple visits to the region.

The same can't be said of Barack Obama, who has been on vacation in Hawaii in the days leading up to the DNC Convention in Denver. Instead, Obama's people are trying to claim that McCain has somehow acted improperly because a lobbyist has ties to the Georgian government.

History doesn't take a vacation. Neither does the President. I know, folks will inevitably claim that going to Camp David, the Winter White House or anywhere else that the President goes outside of the White House is a vacation, but the fact is that once you become President, you do not have a single day to yourself.

You are on the job 24/7/365 for four straight years.

Crises can occur in the most unlikely of places, and you have to be able to formulate responses and make decisions that can affect millions of people, move economic markets, and have long term consequences.

You almost have to be a masochist to want to be President because of the stress of the job and the decisions that you have to make. Just take a look at photos of the presidents from the past 100 years and compare them to photos taken a year or two later. The amount of stress is incredible.

Obama does himself no favors by sticking to the sidelines as the crisis in Georgia continues. He's issued several statements, but it was of the flip-flop variety. That doesn't help him either.

Even the New York Times has noticed. And if they've noticed, you can be sure that others have noticed as well.

And the crisis in Georgia isn't the only mess on the plate at the moment. You have the situation in Pakistan, where Pervez Musharraf is clinging to power and threatened by impeachment by a Parliament that is out for blood. Not only does Pakistan provide a base of operations from which the US can access Afghanistan, but it is a nuclear power and the Islamists may seek to grab those nuclear weapons, to say nothing of handing them over to terrorists including al Qaeda.

Russia's bellicosity is just one issue facing the US today, but these situations will continue well into the new Administration.

Six For Six

Michael Phelps continues his record and epic run at the Olympics. He's now won all six of the events he's entered so far, and all in world record times. He still has two more events in which he can tie or break Mark Spitz's record seven gold medals at one Olympic games.

Musharraf Resignation Rumors and What It Means for the Region

There are a number of stories on the wires suggesting that Pervez Musharraf, who led Pakistan until the recent elections resulted in his loss of power, will resign in the next few days. Expect the Army to make Musharraf keep his word.

He's supposedly to resign rather than face impeachment by the Parliament, which is led by Nawaz Sharif's party. The timing of the resignation will depend on the sides negotiating a deal under which Musharraf can avoid any further legal entanglements. Musharraf had been trying to stick it out, but his allies in the Parliament and the government have dried up.

This national crisis is as much about a personal grudge match as it is about leadership and the capability to thwart the Islamists who threaten the government and the region at every turn.

Musharraf had come to power in a coup that overthrew the government in 1999 then led by Sharif. Sharif has made it his mission to see the favor returned - including watching Musharraf thrown in prison. At the same time, you've got Benazir Bhutto's widow, Asif Ali Zardari, claiming that Musharraf was engaged in embezzlement and corruption, which happened to be the same charges that were lobbed against Zardari when he pretty much skimmed 10% on every contract that came across his desk.

The talk about the impeachment stems from Musharraf's decision to implement a state of emergency in 2007, which restricted rights, and his assault on the courts and the legal professionals.

There are several questions to consider in all of this (in no particular order):
1) What does this mean for the war on terror;
2) What does this mean for the Pakistani relationship with the US;
3) What does this mean for the Pakistani relationship with India; and
4) Who will retain control over the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.

Well, the Pakistanis have been schizophrenic on the subject of fighting the Islamists. Musharraf would alternate between appeasement and crackdown depending on how close the latest assassination attempt on his life got. The new government isn't likely to do much different. They'll do just enough to get by, and not much more.

The Pakistanis know that they get a lot of aid and trade from the US, and they'll do just enough to keep that aid flowing. They'll complain about airstrikes against al Qaeda and Taliban elements that cross into Afghanistan but they'll let those strikes continue. However, the ISI (Pakistani security) continues to be thoroughly compromised by Islamists, so breaking the Taliban/al Qaeda presence, including 157 terror camps, isn't likely to happen unless the government takes a far harder stand than they've been willing to do in the past. Given that Sharif and Zardari have been more accommodating and looking to engage in talks with the Taliban, expect the violence to continue.

Indeed, the spate of bombings and attacks continue, with a suicide bomber killing nine people in Lahore. The Pakistani security forces and military have repeatedly fought with the Taliban with mixed success.

India will continue to look nervously towards its common border with Pakistan and wonder what they'll do. The Line of Control hasn't been quiet, and there have been sporadic firefights, including one just today. Riots this past May in Kashmir haven't made relations between Muslims and Hindus any more friendly. India also blames Pakistan's ISI for the bombing of its embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed more than 60 people.

The most troublesome question, however, is what will happen to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. No one is quite sure who will maintain control and what kind of control protocols are in effect to prevent unauthorized access to the weapons or the nuclear components. It is possible that the Islamists would be able to get their hands on Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, which could spell bad news in the proliferation game - both to rogue regimes and to terrorists.

I suspect that any deal to unseat Musharraf will include provisions relating to the country's nuclear program. The US has faced this issue before, going back to 2007 when Musharraf imposed the state of emergency. The problems remain, and the US efforts in Afghanistan remain in peril.

Port Authority Considers Replacement Bridge For Goethals

The Goethals Bridge, which was completed in 1928 to span the Arthur Kill between Staten Island and New Jersey, has been obsolete for years. There have been plans to build a parallel span or a replacement span in the works, but it would appear that the Port Authority is finally getting around to going forward. The Port Authority has released renderings of the new bridge along with a tentative completion date.

Put simply, the Goethals is a dangerous bridge to cross, regardless of the improvements done to the span over the years. The lanes are simply too narrow at 10 feet and there are no breakdown lanes so that any accident or breakdown on the bridge can lead to massive backups in short order. It is a harrowing experience under normal conditions, but can be downright dangerous when it is dark, raining, or snowing because there is little margin for error.

The mockup of the new bridge is a sleek cable stayed bridge with three 12 foot wide lanes in each direction, plus space for a light rail that could be built at a later date. There would be a breakdown lane in either direction as well.

The plan is generally sound since it would reduce traffic and congestion concerns and incorporates mass transit, although if they're going to build the bridge, do so with the light rail at the outset, since it is more cost effective than building it down the road. The Port Authority's experience in watching costs soar through the roof on the Ground Zero construction should indicate the need to build the bridge already incorporating the mass transit option.

I have no doubt that Staten Island residents are going to complain about the traffic and additional congestion on the Staten Island Expressway, but this bridge is a bottleneck on I-278. Further, the new bridge would enable larger ships to navigate the Arthur Kill, which is a major shipping lane in New York harbor.

The Port Authority had been mulling several options, including a no-build option, but their latest engineering reports indicated that the span's bridge deck would need a full replacement within 10 years, making the no-build or parallel span options unworkable.

For a change, the Port Authority is actually considering a plan that would benefit the Port and fulfill its mission to the region. Contracts would be let beginning in 2011, with completion in 2015.

2003 Blackout; Five Years Later

It's been five years since the massive Northeast blackout, and Gothamist has a retrospective.

Since then, the power infrastructure remains a question mark in the NYC metro area as Con Ed has had power woes annually, but operational and administrative changes have seemingly improved the situation so that the 2003 blackout could not happen again.

One of the measures to prevent another blackout is for utilities to engage in trimming trees along their right of ways. That's got some people upset, since some trees have had to be cut down.

You can't please these people. They want uninterrupted power, but don't seem to care that the reason that the blackout occurred was because power lines were cut by tree limbs that fell on them in the Cleveland area and that as remaining power lines sagged under the added stress, they too came into contact with trees and shorted out.

Gothamist also notes that power demand in the NYC metro area is expected to increase 30% by 2030, which makes one wonder just where all that power is going to come from because the eco-left doesn't want to build power plants or the transmission lines that can deliver power from outside the immediate region. Conservation alone will not save the day either.

Gwatney's Killer Was Fired From Target

Bill Gwatney's killer was fired from Target for engaging in graffiti at one of its stores. That apparently was sufficient to throw the killer, Timothy Dale Johnson, into a shooting rampage. It still doesn't make sense why Johnson would target Gwatney, the Arkansas Democratic Party chairman.

Gateway Pundit has the details, and it now appears that the murder of Gwatney was related to the second incident I referenced yesterday: the man in a white t-shirt who flashed a gun at the Arkansas Baptist Convention building downtown was Johnson. Again, no motive as to why he picked out the Convention building to brandish a gun either.

The Fear of Escalation

At what point will the Russians finally back down and withdraw from Georgia? Is that after they've completely dismembered Georgia and subsumed large swaths into Russia? Is it after they've sent a message to the other former Soviet republics not to do business with the West and that they have to worry about what Russia will do next to them? Or, is it when Russian troops stand across from US forces and US allies and a conflict spreads well beyond the borders of Georgia?

If it's delivering a message, then the message was delivered loud and clear. Those other countries, including the Ukraine, are moving closer to the West, because they see the problem with Russian expansionism.

Meanwhile, the Russians have turned a blind eye to rampant looking in areas they claim their peacekeepers are operating. Indeed, several Israeli journalists were robbed at gunpoint by Russian troops. However, a Russian officer who had seen the incident returned the vehicle and its contents to the journalists 20 minutes later. The tends to lend credence to the reports of looting and other criminal acts by the Russians, although some Russian officers are acting professionally and imposing that professionalism on their ranks.

It's estimated that 15,000 Russian troops are in South Ossetia and Georgia.

Hot Air notes that the Russians are now withdrawing from Georgian territory but remaining in South Ossetia, and that the French diplomatic plan actually may have given the Russians the pretext to march on Tbilisi. Why? Well, apparently the French sold out the Georgians. There are definitely shades of Munich in 1938, where the Europeans sold out the Czechs and Chamberlain thought they had peace in their time.

So, what actually got the Russians to change their mind? An unexpected US response to the crisis - sending US troops into the region in the form of humanitarian aid. The Russians hadn't expected it. It wasn't something I had expected either, since the presence of US troops could have resulted in a shooting war between the US and Russians, which is something neither side wanted, but could have been inevitable with the Russians still operating inside Georgian territory.

The way the Russians and US handled this crisis can be explained through a fear of escalation. The Russians continued beyond South Ossetia into Georgia because the fear of escalation was low. They didn't see any signs that the US or EU would step in to back the Georgians. The US didn't want to get involved for fear of escalating and putting US troops directly into the line of fire.

However, the Russians continued advancing towards Tbilisi, and the US changed course, and the placement of humanitarian aid got the Russians to blink. Suddenly, it was the Russians who had to worry about escalation and they didn't want to run that risk either.

So, while the fear of escalation made the crisis initially worse - by encouraging Russian aggression, it was that same fear of escalation that got the Russians to back down.

Bloomberg's Curious Grasp of Economics

So, Mayor Mike Bloomberg says that the state's consideration of reimposing a millionaires tax to help balance the state budget would be a bad idea. Why? Well, because the rich folks might move away, causing a loss in revenues.

Hmmmm.

People moving away from high tax areas to lower tax areas? Crazy talk you say?

Well, that's what most people do, if they can afford to do so.

That's the big problem facing inner cities that have taxed everyone out of town who could afford to do so. Those who are left face ever rising costs and a declining tax base. Services decline, crime rates rise, and it begins a death spiral. Businesses are less likely to set up shop where it costs more to do business. New York has the second highest state and local tax burden in the country (NJ is number one).

Somehow, none of this registers with Nanny Bloomberg or the Democrats in New York (or in other big cities like San Francisco or Boston or Los Angeles or even the District of Columbia). They're still looking to find new things to tax, resist cuts to the state budget, and can't help themselves find still more things to regulate. Speaking of resisting cuts to the budget Gov. David Paterson, himself a Democrat, is going to be seen as the second coming of the Grinch for displaying a tremendous amount of fiscal prudence by calling for serious cuts to Medicaid, pork barrel projects and higher education. He will be raked over the coals for violating the first law of Albany politics - never cut the budget. Already, attack ads are going after Paterson's plans and how it would affect school budgets.

Meanwhile, crime in New York City has reached such epic lows, that the City Council thinks that the police should go after businesses who spend their hard earned money trying to entice customers to come into their business establishments by keeping their doors open so that potential customers are lured in by the cold air on hot summer days. The City Council wants to impose fines on these businesses. That's a double threat - not only is a revenue generator for the city, but it pushes the nanny state in new directions.

9.5 On Weird-O-Meter

The Iranians have been plenty busy trying to get the world to think that they've got missiles that work and have super long ranges, but which are nothing more than photo edits, super submarines of all kinds, including stealth subs, and weapons that give the Iranians an edge should they attack the US or Israel.

If anything, the Iranians excel at crazy-brave. Or is it crazy stupid because they're risking war that would mean the end of the Iranian regime because their opponents in the form of the US or Israel are vastly superior to the Iranian military.

Well, it seems that they also have an interior minister who claimed to have an honorary degree from Oxford. Oxford called him on it.

So, what did this brainiac do? He pulled out the degree and showed the world.

Saying that it had spelling and grammatical errors wouldn't do this justice.

But in the certificate, "entitled" is misspelled "intitled," and it says Kordan was granted the degree "to be benefitted from its scientific privileges."


The clumsily worded document says Kordan "has shown a great effort in preparing educational materials and his research in the domain of comparative law,that has opened a new chapter,not only in our university,but, to our knowledge,in this country" - leaving out spaces after all but one of the commas. It was published in several Iranian papers this week.


Oxford said in its statement that it "has no record of Mr. Ali Kordan receiving an honorary doctorate or any other degree from the university." It added that the three professors whose alleged signatures are on the certificate have all held posts at the university at some stage but none of them work in the field of law and none would sign degree certificates.

Ahmadinejad defends this guy claiming that degrees are torn paper and not worth the paper they're printed on. That figures too. These clowns are dangerous to everyone around them - megalomaniacs who seek nothing less than Armageddon to bring about Islamic religious prophesies.

Trackposted to Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Virtuous Republic, Political Byline, Shadowscope, , , Cao's Blog, , Dumb Ox Daily News, and Democrat=Socialist, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Arkansas Democratic Chairman In Critical Condition After Shooting at HQ: UPDATE: Gwatney and Shooter Dead

The details are still sketchy, but a suspect walked into the offices in Little Rock, and proceeded to fire three times. The chairman, Bill Gwatney, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. The suspect attempted to escape and drove 25 miles before being captured following being shot. Motive is unknown but the shooter apparently wanted to speak to Gwatney and barged into his office after the secretary said he wasn't available:

Lee said the secretary told her the man had come into the party’s office and asked to speak with Gwatney. When the secretary said she wouldn’t allow him to meet with Gwatney, the man went into his office and shot him, Lee said.

She said the secretary described the man as in his 40s and white and drove off in a blue truck.

Lee told FOX News: “He demanded to talk to Bill Gwatney,” and said the secretary knew the gun went off, not the extent of the injuries.

This isn't the first time there's been violence at a Democrat's offices this election season. In November, a drunken nut took hostages at Sen. Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire offices and claimed to have a bomb. Thankfully, no one was injured in that incident.

Here, my thoughts and prayers go out to Gwatney and his family.

UPDATE:
Thoughts on motive: The most likely motive is that the shooter had a personal grudge against the guy. He owns car dealerships, and someone unhappy with their car deal might have taken it out on Gwatney. Less likely is that it had anything to do with politics.

UPDATE:
More details on the shooter. He was in his 50s and was airlifted after being shot by police following a 25 mile car chase. The shooter died at the hospital. The suspect's identity will not be revealed until his family has been notified. The paper also reports the following:

A white man in a white t-shirt also flashed a gun in the Arkansas Baptist Convention building downtown, according to witnesses. The man left without incident, but police were called.

No word on whether the two incidents are related or that it was the same person at present. At the moment, I'd say that is a curious coincidence.

UPDATE:
Already, the unhinged leftists are blaming folks like Michelle Malkin for the attempted murder of Gwatney.

UPDATE:
Gateway Pundit is live blogging, and also notes how quickly the usual suspects have come to blame Rush Limbaugh for the shooting, which may have been over the guy being fired from his job.

UPDATE:
Truly a sad day in Arkansas as Bill Gwatney died of the injuries sustained in the incident this afternoon. The murderer has been identified as Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, but motive still remains unknown although some sources suggest that he may have been an employee recently fired from one of Gwatney's car dealerships.

Johnson's attempted escape was dangerous and could have been even more deadly:

At a Sheridan news conference, State Police described a chase of roughly 30 minutes and 30 miles that ended in the suspect's fatal wounding. State Police on the Pine Bluff freeway got news of the wanted vehicle at 12:06 p.m. and spotted it at Dixon Road a few minutes later. They gave chase and followed when the driver took the turnoff to Sheridan.

Before it was over, four LR police cars, three state cruisers and Grant County deputies joined the chase. Five miles north of Sheridan, the suspect evaded a spiked puncture strip and roadblock. He was forced into a ditch near Sheridan, but kept driving. Sheridan police began shooting to disable the car, but, even with flattened tires, he kept driving on Little Creek Cutoff to its intersection with Highway 46. Finally, after multiple rammings by three police cars, as shots were being exchanged, the pickup came to a stop. The police say the suspect opened fire and officers returned the fire, finally mortally wounding him. That brought the chase to an end about 30 minutes after it began. Multiple weapons were seized, including a revolver, rifle and semi-automatic weapon.

Russia Continues Georgia Invasion Despite Cease Fire

President Bush has announced that the US will send humanitarian aid to Georgia aboard C-17 transport aircraft. Those transport aircraft aren't going to go in alone, as they will likely have fighter escorts and AWACS planes monitoring the Russians at every step.

There are good reasons why the US will not engage in a direct confrontation with the Russians - to avoid a war that could potentially set the whole world ablaze. The US continues to adhere to the same military doctrine from the Cold War that enabled the world to avoid a nuclear conflagration - avoid direct military conflict between Russian (Soviet) and US forces at all costs. Proxy wars are okay, but keep them from getting into direct entanglements.

That's why you're not going to see the US get into a direct war with the Russians. The stakes are simply astronomical should that come to pass.

The US has limited options, but let's be clear here - no matter how much the US provided military training and equipment to the Georgians, the Russians could overwhelm them with sheer numbers, which is exactly what they've done to this point.

This isn't like the US taking on the Russians directly. The Russians exploited the situation in South Ossetia to expand their power at the expense of one of our allies. It hits our prestige and influence in the region, but there are ways to restore the situation and to make Russia think twice.

One - grant membership to the Ukraine. Ukraine tells Russia to pound sand and vacate their base in Sevastopol. It would make the Russians think twice since they'd lose a key Black Sea port, and expose their flank.

Two - grant membership to Georgia. Use that as a means to demand Russia's exit and return status quo ante or else face NATO firepower.

It ups the stakes, but does so in a way that gives Russia an out before shooting starts between NATO/US forces and the Russians. Russia doesn't think much of NATO or Europe and probably think they will not lift a finger to help Georgia. Disabusing them of that thinking is crucial to regional stability of the sort that provides fertile ground for democracies. Russia doesn't like democracies on its borders since they're far more likely to look westward than towards Russia.

The moral relativists and leftists are quick to condemn the US role in this, but excuse the Russians. Funny how that happens (especially when the moral relativists are leftists).

Meanwhile, the Georgians continue to suffer at the hands of the Russians as villages are burned. Cease fire? What cease fire? Russian troops push deeper into Georgia, and appear more than willing and capable of cutting the country in half. If they're looking to engage in a ceasefire, then advancing away from South Ossetia is the wrong direction - they're pushing deeper into Georgia.

Once again, the facts show that Russia had every intention of causing a conflict to erupt in Georgia and use it as a pretext to eliminating a nascent democracy along its borders. You cannot prepare a military action such as the one currently undertaken by the Russians without significant preparations and planning. These moves were decided long ago by Putin and the Russian government.

The BBC plays winners and losers, even though the fighting isn't over, and the situation is still far from decided. However, I would tend to agree that the truth and facts are a loser in all this. The Russians have played the ethnic cleansing and genocide card from the earliest moments of the fighting, but they have steadfastly refused to allow anyone access to the region to see what they've done (or found). The BBC also claims that the Georgians fired indiscriminately on South Ossetia with rockets, which is plausible, but again, who fired first - the South Ossetians who provoked the Georgian response.

That BBC article also posits a few additional possibilities for how the West can thwart or undermine Russian objectives, including telling the Russians they lost their shot at joining the WTO or kick them out of the G-8.

UPDATE:
The first C-17s have landed in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, and there are now reports that the Russians are only minutes away from entering the city. Things could get very hot very quickly. I suspect that the Russians are moving quickly to establish a hold on the city before the US humanitarian aid can get going - since the aid comes in the form of US peacekeepers.

Or, will the Russians claim that the US aren't peacekeepers but a military operation to support their Georgian allies? That's what you can expect, but that is precisely what the Russians have done throughout this whole sorry episode.

The Lies Continue

So, what version of events in L'affair Edwards are we up to? Number 2? Well, no one is buying this version either because the time line doesn't work either.

John Edwards said that he broke off his relationship with Rielle Hunter in 2006, but the National Enquirer says that's a load of nonsense. They note that the two renewed their affair even John told Elizabeth about the initial affair.

So, what's the proof? Well, that's not entirely clear, but there are time line issues that Edwards still can't quite account for:

But the National Enquirer is reporting today that Edwards restarted the affair after coming clean to Elizabeth, and that Hunter, now 44, got pregnant shortly afterward.

Meanwhile, Hunter's sister said yesterday that the mistress' 6-month-old love child unmistakably "looks like John Edwards. She's got his eyes and jaw line and lips.

"The most shocking thing was watching him on TV [last week] giving these half truths, these half-baked answers. I wish for everyone involved that he'd have come clean," Hunter's sis, Roxanne Druck, told "Entertainment Tonight."

Despite recent denials in an ABC News interview, Edwards knows he's the father of Hunter's daughter, Frances Quinn, the Enquirer is reporting.

Sources have also told the weekly paper Edwards and Hunter orchestrated her public rebuffing of his offer of a paternity test.

Well, given how Rielle's family was demanding that Edwards take a paternity test and Elizabeth said nothing about a paternity test to exonerate her husband, it certainly does seem odd that Rielle herself would say that she doesn't want a paternity test.

Collusion between Rielle and John does make sense. She's getting $15,000 a month from Edwards top money man, Fred Baron (who incidentally must be the best friend a guy could ever hope to have for throwing around serious money to keep things under the radar for as long as he had). That too would explain her sudden silence on the paternity issue. She wants the money to keep coming, and making demands on paternity could jeopardize the cashflow.

UPDATE:
The National Enquirer reports that Edwards and Hunter met at the Beverly Hilton not once, but three times this year. How did the Enquirer confirm this? Records? Dumpster diving? Someone at the hotel giving them the details? Inquiring minds want to know.

And Edwards' lies and ongoing deception isn't winning him any friends either.

Nothing Stealthy About Obama's Radical Leftism

The New York Times is attempting to discredit a soon to be released book about Sen. Barack Obama and his radical leftist ties, and uses the leftist organization Media Matters to do so, even though Media Matters is a liberal organization whose own agenda gets hidden by the Times.

Here's the thing. Despite the Times attempting to discredit Corsi's book, the facts are indisputable. He is a radical leftist, but is using words like hope and change to thinly cover his clear leftist agenda.

Sen. Barack Obama sought out friendships with the likes of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, unrepentant terrorists who, as members of the Weather Underground, sought to attack the US government, approved of terrorist attacks, and remain unrepentant to this day about their positions to overthrow the government and impose their radical left visions.

That isn't to say that Obama's ties to the Weather Underground are unique. He's forged ties with pro-Palestinian terrorist apologists like Khalid Rashidi.

Obama sought out and remained member in Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church, despite his radical leftist sentiment and hate-America first routines.

Those friendships and associations shed light onto what shaped Obama's worldview, and while he dresses up his positions in the comfortable terms of hope and change, his tax and spend policies belie his true intentions.

Windfall profits taxes are inherently a hard leftist invention. It is the massive redistribution of wealth from those groups and individuals who are not favored to others. In this case, Obama seeks to take the wealth created by oil companies and tax that wealth at a level even higher than it already does in order to give a fraction of that amount back to taxpayers. Obama's failure of economics 101 can be clearly shown given that he fails to understand that taking money from oil companies to give to taxpayers will not reduce the price of energy, but rather increase the costs, and it will further cause inflationary pressures because the energy costs will be passed on to the taxpayers who will lose whatever buying power is given by the government in the form of that handout.

The Times says that the book is full of lies and smears, though we're waiting to see what those lies and smears are. Obama hasn't been forthright on his ties to terrorists; he's misled people over his longstanding presence at Wright's church, and wholly embraces hard leftist economic policies. Government solutions for all that ails the nation - whether it is government health care, energy, and the use of taxes to redistribute wealth.

It's on that latter point that there can be no question as to his intent or his politics. He is a hard leftist.

UPDATE:
Tom Maguire, in responding to Instapundit's query on what other stories the media is sitting on or not covering in this election cycle, notes Obama's ties to Bill Ayers. They stretch on past what Obama has admitted (meeting in 1995) and goes back to Obama's roots as a Chicago street organizer (1987). That's a pretty big discrepancy that you'd think would alert an intrepid reporter to check on. If there's nothing there, fine. However, if there's more to the story, don't you think we should know about Obama's ties to an unrepentant anti-American terrorist?

UPDATE:
Jerome Corsi, the author of the aforementioned book, is definitely a flawed guy. For starters, he's a 9/11 troofer who has made the 9/11 conspiracy mongering circuit.

However, that shouldn't take away from the well documented links between Obama and Ayers and the other leftists in his background. It just means that you should give Corsi a wider berth.

Drilling to the Facts

The Washington Post published an editorial on offshore drilling and it posits a few interesting details.

The one I'm most curious about is where the editorial staff concludes that offshore drilling would divert attention away from developing alternative energy sources and that the Bush Administration has been lax in this department from the get-go.

The strongest argument against drilling is that it could distract the country from a pursuit of alternative sources of energy. There's no question that the administration has been lax on that front. True leadership would emphasize both alternative sources and rational approaches to developing oil and natural gas. No, the United States cannot drill its way to energy independence.

What exactly is the proof that the country hasn't pushed alternative energy? Do we have a comparison to see whether some other country has developed alternative energy to a greater extent than the US over the same time period? Does the Washington Post believe that the market cannot solve the problem and that the government must be the one to impose solutions?

Throwing money at a problem will not solve it. Letting the market come to the solution can. Throwing off needless regulations and red tape can lead to innovation and solutions quicker than windfall profits taxes proposed by Democrats and the Obama campaign can suck the life out of energy companies.

Or, would that expose the Democrats for their eco-hypocrisy and zero-energy growth policies? You know, the ones that refuse to let nuclear power plants be built, thwart siting of new power facilities, including hydro, wind, and solar because it might affect the local habitat or spoil the view at the shore when such facilities are built over the horizon?

The EU has been pushing the eco-leftist global warming mantra for years, and accepted the Kyoto Protocols. In the intervening years, their emissions have increased and they've missed their targets.

Far from developing alternative energy, they're increasingly reliant on oil and fossil fuels. That's why the conflict in Georgia has the Europeans over a barrel. Germany is rethinking shutting down its remaining nuclear power plants because they simply can't afford to do so. They would have a power shortage and require importing power generated elsewhere from sources that emit all manner of pollutants - particulates and COx.

The Germans had announced in 2000 that they would eventually shutter those power plants. To make up the difference in power capacity, the Germans are looking to build coal fired plants. Lots of them. So much for being green. So much for finding the eco-alternative.

Alternative power is a pipe dream in Europe despite the higher taxes and fees on motor fuels to convince people to use less. All the revenues generated by taxes and fees on motor fuels isn't leading to new innovations in Europe, despite the claims that they're more environmentally conscious than here in the US.

That should be the lesson here in the US. Money isn't the problem. The oil companies aren't the problem. It's that the technology hasn't reached a point where it is competitive with fossil fuel energy production, and if you want to find a green alternative, you run afoul of the NIMBY and eco-leftists who refuse to allow construction of new nuclear plants or anything else for that matter.

Nothing Fair About This

The Fairness Doctrine is a misnomer and has nothing to do with fairness, but rather curtails and strictly limits free speech on the airwaves. What makes the FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell's latest comments so chilling is that should the Fairness Doctrine be revived, its proponents would apply it to the Internet as part of a so called net neutrality fight:

The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told the Business & Media Institute the Fairness Doctrine could be intertwined with the net neutrality battle. The result might end with the government regulating content on the Web, he warned. McDowell, who was against reprimanding Comcast, said the net neutrality effort could win the support of “a few isolated conservatives” who may not fully realize the long-term effects of government regulation.

“I think the fear is that somehow large corporations will censor their content, their points of view, right,” McDowell said. “I think the bigger concern for them should be if you have government dictating content policy, which by the way would have a big First Amendment problem.”

“Then, whoever is in charge of government is going to determine what is fair, under a so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ which won’t be called that – it’ll be called something else,” McDowell said. “So, will Web sites, will bloggers have to give equal time or equal space on their Web site to opposing views rather than letting the marketplace of ideas determine that?”

Sorry, but that will never fly here. And I would fight it with every ounce of strength to make sure that this crippling restraint on free speech be tossed on the ash heap of history.

There's a reason that conservative talk shows are successful on radio - people want to hear what they have to say. If you are a raving liberal, you want something to rail against, whether it's Limbaugh, Hannity, or Levin. If you're a right winger, you want someone to bolster your worldview. Either way, it's entertainment and it makes those stations pull in listeners by the millions, and that in turn means that Rush Limbaugh can be signed to a $400 million deal. The more listeners you have, the more advertising dollars can be had - and that in turn allows the radio networks to operate.

Air America is worth a mere fraction of that amount and was rescued from Chapter 11 bankruptcy - that is when it's not under investigation for corruption and fraud among its financiers and hosts - because it isn't entertaining and wasn't pulling in listeners.

Under the Fairness Doctrine, you'd end up having no choice but to listen to something that isn't entertaining. More basic than that, radio stations would be limited in what they could produce because of some misguided sense of fairness.

The inherent weakness to the Fairness Doctrine is quite elegant in its simplicity. If you don't like what's one the channel - change it. No one forces you to listen to it, and the radio stations have paid handsomely for the rights to the airwaves. If they weren't making money, they wouldn't stay in business (see Air America). The Fairness Doctrine would circumvent the market and limit what's being broadcast and where.

So, who's behind relaunching the Fairness Doctrine? Democrats, like Rep. Maurice Hinchey of NY, who'd introduced legislation in the 109th Congress. That bill, HR 3302, entitled "To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prevent excessive concentration of ownership of the nation's media outlets, to restore fairness in broadcasting, and to foster and promote localism, diversity, and competition in the media", would do no such thing. Fairness in broadcasting is a misnomer since it is designed to undermine the successes of talk radio formats. The bill never made it out of committee, but the concern is that under a Democratic controlled Congress and Barack Obama in the White House, this movement could pick up a head of steam.

Wilson and Plame Strike Out Again

Who can forget the Left's wishful thinking in the wake of Plamegate:


If the left couldn't get President Bush, they were hoping to get Bush's brain, Karl Rove. Sadly for them, they'll get no one because Richard Armitage admitted to being the leaker of Valerie Plame's name to Richard Novak. There was no criminal action on the part of the Administration, despite the protestations of Joe Wilson and his wife, whose work at the CIA was a known fact.

Now, the Court of Appeals in Washington affirmed the dismissal of the case brought by Wilson and Plame against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove and others for releasing the name of Plame in the course of discussing Wilson's exploits in Niger. The court affirmed that all those named defendants were acting in their official capacities and could not be personally liable.

Awwwww.

Despite this second setback to their case, Plame's legal team still thinks they have grounds on which to appeal. They simply don't realize how foolish they look trying to sue the Administration when the guy who outed them was against the war in Iraq - Richard Armitage. Scooter Libby was caught in a perjury trap, and was not charged with any crimes directly relating to outing Plame.

They simply refuse to admit that they don't have an actionable case and that they have only themselves to blame for their situation. The appeals court refused to find a constitutional right and refused to create a cause of action for them.

UPDATE:
The comments at Think Progress (a misnomer if there ever was one) are priceless. They cannot stand the fact that the courts will not let the Plame case move forward against the Administration. They are so consumed with unending hatred of the Administration that they can't see that the facts and the law simply do not support their position.

Guilty Plea In Taheriazar UNC Attack

Mohammed Taheriazar entered a guilty plea on nine counts of attempted murder. He was charged with nine counts each of attempted murder and nine counts of felonious assault following the attack on March 6, 2006 in which he drove his SUV through the crowds on the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus. It's nice to see the headline convey all the needed details. The prosecutors dropped the assault charges as part of the plea deal.

Sadly, some media outlets still prefer obfuscating those details (including the aforementioned News and Observer piece). Taheriazar admitted that the reason he attacked was to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world. Too bad he failed to note that the culprits in most of those attacks on Muslims were their fellow Muslims who considered the victims to be inferior or not sufficiently Islamist enough for their liking.

The judge separated the guilty pleas from the sentencing because of the repeated bizarre antics Taheriazar exhibited in court. Sentencing will be August 26.

Another Faked Episode From Beijing's Opening Ceremony

Yesterday we learned that the Chinese computer enhanced and manipulated the video showing fireworks dancing across the sky. Today, we learn that the voice of one of the Chinese girls who sang during the opening ceremony was dubbed over by another girl. The Chinese wanted to have the perfect opening ceremony, so they picked the prettiest girl to appear and had the girl with the best voice sing over her.

Acoustics had nothing to do with it. Under pressure from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party to find the perfect face and voice, the ceremony’s production team concluded the only solution was to use two girls instead of one. Miaoke, a third grader, was judged cute and appealing but “not suitable” as a singer. Another girl, Yang Peiyi, 7, was judged the best singer but not as cute. So when Miaoke opened her mouth to sing, the voice that was actually heard was a recording of Peiyi.

And it is unclear if Miaoke even knew.

“The reason was for the national interest,” explained Chen Qigang, general music designer of the opening ceremonies, who revealed the deception during a Sunday radio interview. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression.”

China wants the Olympics as a stage to present a picture-perfect image to the outside world, and perfection was clearly the goal for the dazzling opening ceremonies. The filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who oversaw the production, has drawn international raves for a performance considered one of the most spectacular in Olympic history. But to achieve the spectacular, Mr. Zhang faked not only the song; organizers also have admitted that one early sequence of the stunning fireworks shown to television viewers was actually created using digitally enhanced computer graphics for “theatrical effect.”

The Chinese must have figured that if such things are good for Britney Spears or Madonna, it's good enough for their opening ceremony.

UPDATE:
Attendance isn't where the Chinese hoped it would be, so they're using volunteers to fill the seats. Excuses are offered, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that most Chinese can't afford to go to the games combined with the Chinese making promises they couldn't or wouldn't keep. Then again, it could be the fact that the Chinese limit the number of people who can be in and around the venues.

Or, maybe it has something to do with the armored personnel carriers and heavy security presence that seemingly sprang into place after the murder of a relative of a US coach earlier this week or repeated attacks on Chinese security in Western China.

Russia Haltingly Halts Georgia Invasion? UPDATE: Cease Fire Agreed

There are reports that the Russians have stopped their offensive into Georgian territory, but the situation remains fluid. Indeed, Georgian authorities say that the Russians haven't stopped their military campaign and are continuing to inflict civilian casualties.

The Russian President ordered a halt five days after operations began in South Ossetia and Georgia as French Prime Minister Nicholas Sarkozy is to arrive in Moscow to discuss the situation.

Georgia looks like they're going to be a mere shell of their former selves, and while this will certainly warm the hearts of the Russian expansionists and opportunists, it isn't a good sign for other countries bordering Russia. They too may come under Russia's red glare. That goes for the Ukraine as well, whose actions to threaten the Russian Navy will not be soon forgotten.

The methods by which the Russians are moving through Georgian territory shows that this was not some mere reaction to Georgian actions, but rather part of a methodical and long-planned operation to assert control along Russia's border and to instill fear among countries that might favor alliances with the West. The Russians sent not one brigade into Georgia, but the equivalent of two divisions, which requires serious planning and logistics.

The South Ossetian provocateurs were busy laying the groundwork for the Russian operation by provoking the Georgians into taking action.

Due to the repeated setbacks and failure to hold against the Russian advances and airstrikes, Georgia looks to withdraw from the CIS.

Jammie notes that the Google map for Georgia and several other former Soviet Republics have become blank slates. No real reason why this is the case, but it is curious.

It would appear that John McCain has proven to have a better grasp of the situation than Barack Obama, whose 300 advisers required three takes before they could come to the same conclusion that McCain did five days earlier. That's not an auspicious situation for Obama and once again shows that he's not ready for prime time.

UPDATE:
Putting a good spin on this - Russia's interventionist adventure in Georgia could pave the way for US action on Iran? Well, the US does have more to go on than the Russians did.

UPDATE:
The left (and the NYT, but I repeat myself) continue to proffer the agitprop that the situation in Georgia is President Bush's fault. Sorry, but had Georgia been granted membership into NATO, Russia would not have entered into its military adventure there, but rather seen its power grab thwarted. Russia would have been constrained. Instead, the failure to grant Georgia NATO membership opened the door for the Russian actions. Putin saw an opportunity and took it.

UPDATE:
Even though the Russians have been busy claiming that the Georgians are engaging in ethnic cleansing, the Georgians have proffered that it was the Russians who did just that in their invasion of Georgia and takeover of South Ossetia. The Georgians have filed suit at the International Court of Justice. Further, the Georgians are claiming that the Russians have ethnically cleansed another troubled region of Georgia, Abkhazia, of ethnic Georgians.

UPDATE:
James Pethokoukis at US News emails to note that there may still more good to come out of this situation. It provides clarity over Putin's aspirations and Russia's goals. It may also further serve to prod the US to find more sources of energy domestically where it will not be reliant on unstable regions of the world.

UPDATE:
Georgia and Russia have agreed to a cease fire, although both sides claim the other hasn't fulfilled their pledge to stop shooting.

Michael Phelps Continues Mastery Of Fluid Dynamics

I tried getting into competitive swimming when I was in high school, but just couldn't put in the time or get my technique down to make the swim team, but I can certainly appreciate what goes into making that happen.

What Michael Phelps is doing at the pool in Beijing is working his way to an epic performance for all time. He's within striking range of being in possession of the most medals by any athlete ever (12 - currently owned by American Jenny Thompson). He now shares the record for most gold medals at nine (along with Spitz, and several other athletes).

However, what drives him most is beating Mark Spitz's seven gold medals from the 1972 Olympics. Right now, he's got three golds, and five more events to go.

His toughest events are behind him, and the 4 x 100 relay was the one event that put a scare into everyone as the French nearly pulled out an amazing world record swim but for the closing leg by Jason Lezak, who put his own emphatic stamp on the world record by putting in the fastest time in the 100 relay leg in history. Lezak just barely touched the wall ahead of the French competitor, world record holder Alain Bernard, overtaking him in the final half lap so that Phelps record chase remained fully intact. Lezak's exploits in the pool will quickly become the stuff of legend, especially if Phelps does make his medal count because it wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of Lezak.

Still, things may still not fall Phelps' way - a surprise effort by any number of swimmers along the way could disrupt his quest including his teammates such as Ian Crocker, or even Phelps having an off day. However, he appears to be as fully concentrating on the task at hand - winning gold medals.

And setting world records to boot. Each of his gold medal performances were in world record time, obliterating the prior records at that.

Right now, he's the master of his domain.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 43

This is an excellent overview of the situation at Ground Zero as it stands today, and what we have to look forward to in coming months.

Most disappointing is the fact that the Deutsche Bank building and Fiterman Hall remain as hulking reminders that we haven't even completely the deconstruction of those buildings slated for demolition due to their damage and contamination from the collapsed WTC buildings. Without the Deutsche Bank building cleared, work cannot begin within the Ground Zero's 16 acres in earnest.

Also, note that the article points out that the costs are rising 1% a month due to inflation and materials costs. That means that the currently budgeted $15 billion is sure to rise well beyond that figure within months. It once again highlights why delays early in the process and working within the constraints of the flawed Libeskind master plan led to delays and further problems and revisions.

It further highlights the problems associated with still more revisions and alterations to the plans that will result in added costs above and beyond what is already projected.

Meanwhile, Larry Silverstein continues to lease what remaining space is left at 7WTC. He's just signed a big deal with HSBC for 280,000 sf on the top seven floors of the building. That's more than 15% of space in the building, and is a major catch for the building going forward.

Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Violated Bail Again?

This guy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed if he's violated bail not once, but twice within the span of a few days. At least the AP managed to avoid playing name that party for a change. This time, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) was not supposed to have any contact with 11 named witnesses, including his sister.

So, what did he do? Spent time with his sister at her place this past weekend. The mayor's press flack claims that prosecutors are trying to score points. The Mayor's lawyers say that the judge had allowed the contact.

A prosecutor on Monday accused Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of violating his bond in an assault case by spending time over the weekend with his sister, one of 11 witnesses listed by authorities.

Kilpatrick and Ayanna Kilpatrick were together at their mother's house Saturday, a day after he was released from jail for violating bond in a separate perjury case, said Doug Baker of the Michigan attorney general's office.

The mayor is charged with assaulting two investigators who were trying to deliver a subpoena at his sister's house in July in the perjury case.

In a court filing, Baker said the mayor had been ordered to have no contact with witnesses.

Kilpatrick's defense team, however, believes the mayor is not in any trouble. Attorney Jim Thomas said Magistrate Renee McDuffee clarified Friday that Kilpatrick could have contact with his sister.

In a statement, Kilpatrick spokesman Marcus Reese accused state Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican, of trying to score political points with the latest filing against the embattled Democratic mayor.

Small Lies and Big Lies, Part 2

The Edwards affair saga continues to get 24/7 media coverage now that everyone is openly talking about it following ABC News confirming what the National Enquirer had been reporting for months.

John Edwards apparently lied about when he started having his affair with Rielle Hunter, which once again throws off his carefully crafted timeline. Friends of Rielle say that the affair started well before the Edwards campaign hired her. I still don't get how Elizabeth can stand to be in the same room with him, but she's busy crafting lies of her own.

USA Today says that we deserve the 100% truth and they don't accept Edwards' current spin on his affair with Hunter.

As lies and half truths tend to do, Edwards' words, and these circumstances, beg follow-up questions too numerous to list here.

Edwards had dismissed the Enquirer stories as "tabloid trash," but his denials ended Friday, when he issued his mea culpa in an interview with ABC News and a written statement. It was timed — coincidentally, we're sure — to coincide with the opening of the Beijing Olympics. Edwards said that he told his wife, Elizabeth, about what he says was a brief affair in 2006, and that the timing of the pregnancy meant he was not the father. Yet Elizabeth, who is battling an incurable form of cancer, was apparently unaware of Edwards' recent visit to Hunter, an incident detailed in the Enquirer. The latest twist — that Hunter won't submit the child to a paternity test — won't help put this story to rest. Maury Povich's show couldn't top this.

Politicians having affairs and thinking they are untouchable is nothing new, of course. A sinners gallery includes former presidents John Kennedy and Bill Clinton, Louisiana congressman Bob Livingston, presidential candidate Gary Hart, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. To name just a few.

Yet Edwards' transgression — indeed, his excuse — would test the patience of his most ardent supporter: I did it, but only while my wife's cancer was in remission. This suggests that the one-time rising star of the Democratic Party has not yet made contact with human reality and believes he can dissemble his way out of this, à la Bill Clinton.

The decent option is to tell the public the whole truth, without lawyerly equivocations. Then he has the difficult task of healing his family. He should recall his own wisdom in 1999, when with great clarity he described Clinton's affair as "breathtaking" for its "remarkable disrespect … for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter."

That's what makes Edwards seem so smarmy here. It's not that he had an affair - lots of politicians have done that. Presidents have had them.

It's the circumstances behind the affair and what he claims happened that has his lies tied into knots. He wants people to believe that he had an affair, but only while Elizabeth's cancer was in remission. The moment it came back, he broke things off with Rielle.

Once again, it makes no sense why he would claim that he broke it off, admitted the affair to Elizabeth, and then had to slink into the Beverly Hilton on apparently two occasions to see Rielle and ostensibly her (their?) baby.

The moment he admits that he was continuing his affair with Rielle while Elizabeth's cancer was no longer in remission will destroy every last scintilla of respect anyone has for the guy and would make him radioactive politically. There are some places that even politicians wont go.

That's why he's pushing this meme that he broke off the affair specifically before Elizabeth's cancer came back. He wants to maintain the possibility of salvaging a political future. What I don't get is why Elizabeth would go along with this. Her statement on John's affair doesn't push for him to get a paternity test to clear his name.

It's a most curious omission from her defense of her husband, which when taken with the fact that Rielle's lawyer refused to state that the reason she wouldn't call for a paternity test was because she knew the father to be Edwards' former staffer, Andrew Young.

And if you think that the media coverage of the Edwards affair wasn't news or didn't have an effect on the Democratic party nomination process, know that if the media had done its due diligence and discovered that Edwards was cheating on his wife when her cancer returned, it would have killed his campaign, and given Hillary a serious boost to the point that we'd be talking not about Obama's ascendancy, but about Hillary's historic nomination.

War Continues in South Ossetia and Georgia

The Russians continue their bombardment of Georgian cities and towns, and they're complaining that the US is airlifting Georgian troops who were previously stationed in Iraq as part of Georgia's commitment there. Georgia had sent 2,000 peacekeepers to Iraq to help with the US efforts in Iraq.

Now, they're needed back home as Russia continues its assault on Georgia. Georgian civilians are paying the price as they are the ones who are suffering for Russia's militarism.

For those who were wondering what the US could possibly do to help the Georgians, that's about it. As it is, this clearly puts the US in Georgia's corner, and anything more could trigger a direct confrontation between the US and Russia, which neither side wants.

Strategy Page notes that the Russians have maintained a persistent and troublesome presence in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which the Georgians consider part of their own territory. Those "peacekeepers" have thwarted Georgian control over the whole of its nation, and the Russians have been exploiting this situation for years.

Even as the Russians bombard the Georgians from the air, the Russian navy is providing a second front in their war, and had sunk a Georgian missile boat, although Georgian forces deny that.

Tigerhawk wonders where all the anti-war protesters went. You know the answer to this. Those anti-war protesters are really anti-US protesters, and if the Russians wanted war, they can have as many as they can seemingly handle, even if they're the aggressors and are attempting to exert their influence over the former Soviet republics.

Don't count on the UN to act to stop the war, since Russia maintains a veto on the Security Council. It's a fool's hope to even consider that the UN can act to draft a weakly worded statement, let alone a resolution that forces the Russians to back off. The US and other big powers are calling for a truce, but the Russians are out to teach the Georgians and the rest of the former Soviet Union states a lesson in power projection and fealty. Russia wants to maintain its control and dominance over the nations that border it, and Georgia's independence and close ties to the US could not be tolerated.

UPDATE:
Russian propagandists and apologists keep claiming that the Russians were simply responding to Georgian advances into South Ossetia and that they're protecting the territorial integrity of South Ossetia. That rationale goes out the window when you keep seeing reports of Georgian towns all over the country coming under fire from Russian aircraft and artillery.

Prime Minister Vlad Putin is saying that the US is backing Georgia. Well, many think the US isn't doing nearly enough to help an ally in a time of need, but the logistical support provided thus far, may be all that the US can do without getting US forces directly into a shooting match with the Russians at a time when it isn't in the strategic interests of the US to do so.

The propagandists have also claimed that the Georgians engaged in ethnic cleansing, but the only violence perpetrated against civilians right now is the ongoing bombardment of Georgian cities. Gori is on the cusp of being overrun.

UPDATE:
To underscore the point that this was not about South Ossetia, but rather Georgia's insistence on allying with the US and the West, it appears that the Russians demand nothing less than Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to step down. This fight was gamed by the Russians to their advantage, using their presence in South Ossetia and ongoing skirmishes with Georgian forces to instigate a wider conflict.

UPDATE:
Is Reuters stage managing photo opportunities inside Georgia? It certainly seems that way based on the photo sequences provided by Reuters photographers there. The level of violence against the Georgians doesn't need to be exaggerated or stage managed - there's more than enough carnage without this. As for why you're not seeing photos of South Ossetia, maybe you should be asking the Russians who are controlling that area with an iron fist. The reflexiveness to blame everything on Georgia for the crisis - and the US because it happens to be an ally and supporter of the Georgian democracy - is not altogether astonishing. After all, Bush hatred dies hard.

UPDATE:
Powerline has a good post on the current situation there, including where we suspect Russian units are operating and where they may be headed next. (ht: reine.de.tout at lgf)

UPDATE:
The Russians are now talking about a ceasefire and Georgian withdrawal from South Ossetia at the UN - a return to the status quo ante, although the Russian "peacekeepers" will remain in place, even if they are engaging in operations.

The Russians are also busy claiming that attacks on civilians are unfortunate incidents and they didn't mean to do so. Take with a grain of salt given the Russian penchant to run up body counts wherever they go to war.

Russia will consider ceasefire and withdrawal of forces only after Georgia returns to pre-clashes status-quo and pulls its troops from "occupied" areas of South Ossetia, Vitaly Churkin, the Russia''s UN ambassador, said on 10 August.

But he also stressed that return to status-quo should no way apply to the Russian forces currently fighting with the Georgian troops in the region.

"There must not be any illusions about that," Churkin said. "In order to consider withdrawal of our forces we must make sure that there is no chance of genocide there."

He was speaking after an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council - the third one in last few days. The Council has again failed to reach an agreement on the wording of an appeal for an end to the hostilities.

"There is a straightforward way to stop fighting, to stop killing: for Georgians to withdraw and then to have an agreement on non-use of force signed and then we can talk on other verity things, including [on] military and political arrangements," Churkin said.

Something doesn't quite make sense. From all various reports from the region, the Georgians have been forced from South Ossetia since yesterday, and the Russians are continuing to advance into Georgian territory. They're not merely content with status quo ante (a return to the situation pre-conflict), but are attempting to create a new geopolitical situation there.

Putin is attempting to spin that it is the Georgians engaged in war crimes and ethnic cleansing (again). Pradva concurs.

The fact is, if Russia were truly serious about just protecting the status quo and preventing Georgian forces from acting there, stop at the border. Instead, they are looking to overthrow the Georgian government.

President Bush made a brief statement on the ongoing crisis, but will not commit military forces to assist the Georgians. He will have to rely on the bully pulpit to cajole the Russians into stopping the fighting because the US simply does not want to risk getting into a shooting war with the Russians over the Georgians, even though we risk losing an ally in the region and perhaps future potential allies may reconsider acting.

One may further trace the Georgia's failings to the NATO refusal to grant Georgia entry, which gave Russia an opening to seize its objectives in South Ossetia and wrest control from the Georgians.

It's also curious that the Russian investment community is dealing with a slumping stock market there just as this conflict has heated up. What do they know that the Russian government doesn't? Well, they know that Russia needs to maintain ties with the West, and if they continue down this path, their economy could take a big hit. However, I don't see this thwarting Putin's plans for Russian foreign policy.