NYT -- For it before they exposed it!

From Powerline:

September 24, 2001 New York Times editorial ("Finances of Terror") (access limited to TimesSelect):

"Organizing the hijacking of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon took significant sums of money. The cost of these plots suggests that putting Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists out of business will require more than diplomatic coalitions and military action. Washington and its allies must also disable the financial networks used by terrorists.

The Bush administration is preparing new laws to help track terrorists through their money-laundering activity and is readying an executive order freezing the assets of known terrorists. Much more is needed, including stricter regulations, the recruitment of specialized investigators and greater cooperation with foreign banking authorities. There must also must be closer coordination among America's law enforcement, national security and financial regulatory agencies."

Given the NYT's recent article on tracking terrorist money trails, this proves that you can't make this stuff up -- they are truly barking lunatics and traitors to boot.

Read the rest here but be forewarned, it will raise your blood pressure.

Oliver Wendell Holmes sums it up

"When a nation is at war many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right."

Oliver Wendell Holmes in Schenck v. United States.

Compare and contrast today's MSM and the likes of Kerry and Murtha. The T word comes to mind.

What will change your mind about our mission in Iraq?

A question like this always seems to pose problems for many democrats. Specifically, "What proof do you need in order to change your current belief that Bush lied about going into Iraq?"

Well, let's just assume we get a thoughtful response like, "Let me think about that for a moment."

How about documents? Will that change your mind? Oh, by the way, we assume that you have the smoking gun in 48,000 boxes of evidence that President Bush lied?

Let's recall the opening of Nazi Germany's inner secrets with the capture of their documents and filmed proof of their atrocities. They too were very good at documentation, thank god. It helped convict many of them after the war. It certainly convinced quite a few sympathizers of the depths of evil Hitler unleashed.

So, what type of documents do you want as proof that President Bush did not lie? How about audio tapes of Saddam? You can verify the voice with file footage of the Barking Lunatic of Tikrit for comparison if you like.

What about written proof?

The question is a fair one to ask ourselves about this subject.

For us, to prove that Bush lied, we'd sure like to hear it on audio much like Nixon on the Watergate Tapes. That sure convinced us of his hand in it. Bush talking about deliberately misleading the public would certainly let us down big time and we'd be ready to charge him appropriately. Note that word -- deliberately. It determines if there was a lie or not, but we know our democratic friends don't want to hear that, so never mind.

So, we ask our democratic friends, "What will it take?"

We look forward to the discussion...

The Mary Mapes School of Journalism at AP

Last week's big AP news story with video proving the "storm could breach levees" has now been corrected by the AP. No doubt with little fanfare by the rest of media.

Okay, we know that CBS news lost whatever credibility they had left with Rathergate. Now it seems the former staffers for 60 Minutes II are now "Maping" news stories elsewhere.

Wizbang blog found a connection between the Rathergate/Mapes fraud and the AP story By MARGARET EBRAHIM and JOHN SOLOMON.

It seems that Margaret is a former -- wait for it -- CBS News producer for, you guessed it, 60 Minutes II! But then, you knew that was coming didn't you?

Read Wizbang here.

AP used to be a news organization with actual reporting standards. Editors without a political grudge to bear. I've heard that trees die from the top down so we really need to blame the management for letting the public trust down so badly and so often.

Shame on the AP for causing so much fuss about nothing when so many other important events are going on. Once again, the blogs are showing that you can't get away with this stuff anymore.

It's all about the oil, er...

Or was it?

I submit without further comment a copy of a letter from the Mayor of Tall 'Afar, Iraq to the troops of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and their families:

In the Name of God the Compassionate and Merciful.

To the Courageous Men and Women of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who have changed the city of Tall’ Afar from a ghost town, in which terrorists spread death and destruction, to a secure city flourishing with life.

To the lion-hearts who liberated our city from the grasp of terrorists who were beheading men, women and children in the streets for many months.

To those who spread smiles on the faces of our children, and gave us restored hope, through their personal sacrifice and brave fighting, and gave new life to the city after hopelessness darkened our days, and stole our confidence in our ability to reestablish our city.

Our city was the main base of operations for Abu Mousab Al Zarqawi. The city was completely held hostage in the hands of his henchmen. Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young. This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered unto them the courageous soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists, and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3d ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.

I have met many soldiers of the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment; they are not only courageous men and women, but avenging angels sent by The God Himself to fight the evil of terrorism.

The leaders of this Regiment; COL McMaster, COL Armstrong, LTC Hickey, LTC Gibson, and LTC Reilly embody courage, strength, vision and wisdom. Officers and soldiers alike bristle with the confidence and character of knights in a bygone era. The mission they have accomplished, by means of a unique military operation, stands among the finest military feats to date in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and truly deserves to be studied in military science. This military operation was clean, with little collateral damage, despite the ferocity of the enemy. With the skill and precision of surgeons they dealt with the terrorist cancers in the city without causing unnecessary damage.

God bless this brave Regiment; God bless the families who dedicated these brave men and women. From the bottom of our hearts we thank the families. They have given us something we will never forget. To the families of those who have given their holy blood for our land, we all bow to you in reverence and to the souls of your loved ones. Their sacrifice was not in vain. They are not dead, but alive, and their souls hovering around us every second of every minute. They will never be forgotten for giving their precious lives. They have sacrificed that which is most valuable. We see them in the smile of every child, and in every flower growing in this land. Let America, their families, and the world be proud of their sacrifice for humanity and life.

Finally, no matter how much I write or speak about this brave Regiment, I haven’t the words to describe the courage of its officers and soldiers. I pray to God to grant happiness and health to these legendary heroes and their brave families.

NAJIM ABDULLAH ABID AL-JIBOURI
Mayor of Tall 'Afar, Ninewa, Iraq

Judicial Junkets

PowerLine has a terrific post on Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia's recent trip to Colorado. If you heard ABC and the NYTreason's accounts, you'd have thought that Justice Scalia was snubbing Chief Justice Robert's swearing-in ceremony. Ah, but you'd be wrong and you probably already know what's coming -- the rest of the story. Seems the event's sponsor, the Federalist Society, reams the truth home with a blistering display of the facts behind the event.

Read it here.

The President's latest speech -- Kansas State

President Bush spoke at Kansas State University yesterday (1-23-06) and I found the speech loaded with great material. He is so much better than people give him credit for when speaking his mind.

I especially found the passages on being the president profound. He spoke of decision making and good judgment. Two important qualities in any good leader. Here are a few paragraphs I liked and note his sense of humor:

...But they, oftentimes, they ask me, they say, what's it like, being the President of the United States? And my answer to them is, first, it's a huge honor. But, secondly, if I had to give you a job description, it would be a decision-maker. I make a lot of decisions. I make some that you see that obviously affect people's lives, not only here, but around the world. I make a lot of small ones you never see, but have got consequence. Decision-maker is the job description.

First of all, when you make decisions, you've got to stand on principle. If you're going to make decisions, you've got to know what you believe. I guess the best way to summarize me is I came from Texas and I'm going back to Texas with the exact same values I had when I arrived in Washington, DC (Applause.)

In order to make good decisions, you've got to rely upon the judgment of people you trust. I'll never forget the first decision I had to make as the President. I wasn't even sworn in yet, and a fellow called me on the phone and he said, what color rug do you want to have in the Oval Office? (Laughter.) You've got to be kidding me, man. (Laughter.) He said, no, what color rug would you like to have in the Oval Office? I said, I don't know. He said, well, it turns out that Presidents -- you've just got to know Presidents design their rugs. I said, well, to be honest with you, I don't know much about designing rugs.

So I called, I delegated -- that's one of the things you do in decision-making. (Laughter.) I said, Laura, how about helping design the rug? (Laughter.) Part of being a decision-maker, though, is you've got to help -- you've got to think strategically. And so I said to her -- she said, what color do you want? I said, make it say this: optimistic person comes here to work every single day. You can't lead the nation, you can't make good decisions unless you're optimistic about the future.

Read the rest here and his points on the NSA intercepts of terrorists was a great reply to the traitors out there:

This is a -- I repeat to you, even though you hear words, "domestic spying," these are not phone calls within the United States. It's a phone call of an al Qaeda, known al Qaeda suspect, making a phone call into the United States. I'm mindful of your civil liberties, and so I had all kinds of lawyers review the process. We briefed members of the United States Congress, one of whom was Senator Pat Roberts, about this program. You know, it's amazing, when people say to me, well, he was just breaking the law -- if I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress? (Laughter and applause.)

Great line, isn't it?

Hunter