Shameless

“We don’t want to send a signal to insurgents, to the terrorists, that we are going to be out of here at some, you know, date certain."

--Junior Senator from NY and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on "Meet the Press" in 2005, a mere two years ago.

If you haven't done so yet, read today's NY Times' "Hillary’s War" by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. It is a long article but well worth the time. It presents a chronology of Hillary's cynical, self-serving and calculating positions and votes on the Iraq War.

But wait, there's more ...

We Are All in It Together, Clinton Says

Tuesday May 29, 4:41 pm ET

By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer

Clinton: Shared Prosperity Should Replace 'On Your Own' Society

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity.

The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an ownership society really is an "on your own" society that has widened the gap between rich and poor. "I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

That means pairing growth with fairness, she said, to ensure that the middle-class succeeds in the global economy, not just corporate CEOs. "There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed," she said. "Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."

By "shared responsibility," Hillary means "collectivism." It has been tried. It has failed. Miserably and repeatedly.

In her desperate attempts to out-Obama Obama, Hillary is veering ever so drastically to the left.

The promise of America is opportunity not a determined outcome. There are no guarantees in a free market. That's why they are "free." The moment government intervenes with the "right" policies, as Hillary suggests, free markets go out the window.

Government policies to "ensure" fairness become arbitrary the moment they are enacted. The liberal version of fairness is nothing but an environment where mediocrity is the norm and the lowest common denominator is the true rule.

Bottoms Up!

By the way, some in the DFL seem to have taken their beating very hard. This from the AP wire tonight:

Minn. Senate president arrested on DWI charge 5/22/2007 11:27:05 PM Associated Press

ST. PAUL -- James Metzen, the president of the Minnesota Senate, faces drunken driving charges from his arrest early Tuesday in South St. Paul just hours after he gaveled the 2007 session to a close.

South St. Paul Police Chief Michael Messerich said Metzen was stopped in his sport-utility vehicle just past 2 a.m. after an officer observed him weaving in his lane. The stop occurred less than a mile from his house. He was given a field sobriety test and was arrested.

His blood-alcohol concentration was 0.15 percent, almost twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. He faces two misdemeanor charges, including fourth-degree driving while impaired. The case was referred to the city attorney for formal charges.

HERO!

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty made the first stop of his victory lap around the state over the DFL's liberal arrogance and tax-mania in Rochester this morning. Wow!

DFLers overreached and Governor Pawlenty slapped their grubby hands. He stared them down and they cowered. So much for their self-proclaimed mandate after a lopsided election victory last November.

Here's a synopsis of the DFL's humiliating defeat during the 2007 legislative term as per Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey:

• Over $5 billion in new job-killing tax increases: defeated!


• Proposals to hike the gasoline tax by up to 48 cents over 10 years: flushed down the toilet!


• Proposal to give us the highest marginal income tax rate in the nation: dumped!


• Increases in the state sales tax, vehicle tax and many more: zapped!


• The "Dream Act," a bill that would have provided in-state education benefits for illegal immigrants: up in flames!


• Domestic partner benefits: kaputz!


• Deviant sex ed curricula for Minnesota schools: fuggedaboutit!!!!!

DFLers had hoped to grow government to unprecedented levels in Minnesota. Instead they were beaten back. BADLY!

They won't be licking their wounds for long, though. Watch them as they report back to their districts. You will hear the same song from all of them:

• They tried to be bipartisan
• They "compromised," but the governor wouldn't
• Roadways are going to collapse under our tires
• Minnesota children will die slow, agonizing deaths without more government
• Loons will migrate to Canada in protest over Tim Pawlenty's vetoes

Go to townhall meetings this summer. Wherever they show up to "report" on the goings on in St. Paul during the last four months, be there to express your continued opposition to abusive taxation and absurd legislation. Remember: they will try again next year. They NEVER learn.

Don't let DFL legislators get away with mischaracterizing their intention to tax the pants off Minnesotans when they started the 2007 legislative session or miscasting their shameful defeat when it came to a merciful end on Tuesday morning.

Funny

"Congress is spending money like John Edwards at a beauty shop."

-- Former Arkansas Governor and presidential contender Mike Huckabee on tonight's GOP candidates' debate.

Vive la France

"The Democratic Party is now officially the only organization on Earth that does not take the threat of Islamic fascism seriously. Between the Democrats and the media, America has gone from its usual position as the world's last hope to radical Islam's last hope."

-- Ann Coulter

Read Ann's latest column here.

Homegrown Jihad

Here's yet another reason why Democrats can't be trusted with America's national security.

6 men charged in plot to attack Fort Dix

FORT DIX, N.J. - Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested and accused Tuesday of plotting to attack Fort Dix and slaughter scores of U.S. soldiers — a scheme the FBI says was foiled when the men asked a store clerk to copy a video of them firing assault weapons and screaming about jihad.

The defendants, all men in their 20s from the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East, include a pizza deliveryman suspected of using his job to scout out the military base.Their goal was "to kill as many American soldiers as possible" with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and guns, prosecutors said.

"Today we dodged a bullet. In fact, when you look at the type of weapons that this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets," said FBI agent J.P. Weis. "We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. Luckily, we were able to stop that."

Authorities said there was no direct evidence connecting the men to any international terror organizations such as al-Qaida. But several of them said they were ready to kill and die "in the name of Allah," according to court papers.

Investigators said they infiltrated the group with two informants well over a year ago and bided their time while they secretly recorded the defendants, four of whom lived in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb about 20 miles from Fort Dix.

"This is what law enforcement is supposed to do in the post-9/11 era — stay one step ahead of those who are attempting to cause harm to innocent American citizens," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said.

Weis saluted the unidentified New Jersey store clerk who noticed the suspicious video as the "unsung hero" of the case. "That's why we're here today — because of the courage and heroism of that individual," the FBI agent said.

In addition to plotting the attack on Fort Dix, the defendants spoke of assaulting a Navy installation in Philadelphia during the annual Army-Navy football game and conducted surveillance at other military installations in the region, prosecutors said.

One defendant, Eljvir Duka, was recorded as saying: "In the end, when it comes to defending your religion, when someone ... attacks your religion, your way of life, then you go jihad."

The six were arrested Monday night trying to buy AK-47 assault weapons, M-16s and other weapons from an FBI informant, authorities said.

They appeared in federal court Tuesday in Camden and were ordered held without bail for a hearing Friday. Five were charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. military personnel; the sixth was charged with aiding and abetting illegal immigrants in obtaining weapons.

Four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one was born in Jordan and one came from Turkey, authorities said. All had lived in the United States for years. Three were in the United States illegally; two had green cards allowing them to stay in this country permanently; and the sixth is a U.S. citizen.

One defendant, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, spoke of using rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons to kill at least 100 soldiers, according to court documents.

"My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers," he was quoted as saying. "You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place (up) and retreat completely without any losses."

"It doesn't matter to me whether I get locked up, arrested or get taken away," another defendant, Serdar Tatar, was alleged to have said. "Or I die, it doesn't matter. I'm doing it in the name of Allah."

The men trained by playing paintball in the woods in New Jersey and taking target practice at a firing range in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, where they had rented a house, authorities said.

They often watched terror training videos, clips featuring Osama bin Laden, a tape containing the last will and testament of some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, and tapes of armed attacks on U.S. military personnel, erupting in laughter when one plotter noted that a Marine's arm was blown off in an ambush, authorities said.

More >>>>

Radical Islamic terrorism is a serious matter. Following their shameful Retreat and Defeat "funding" bill, which the President corageously vetoed, Democrats proceeded to eliminate the phrase "war on terror" from their cowardly lexicon.

Islamic terrorists are on American soil. They are planning, training and waiting. America needs leaders who understand the threat and take Islamic terrorism seriously, a fact which automatically disqualifies Democrats from holding positions of power that require protecting the American people from harm.

Vive la Différence

Sarkozy Elected President of France
Conservative Says Relations With U.S. Will Improve
By ANGELA CHARLTON
AP

PARIS (May 6) - Nicolas Sarkozy, a blunt and uncompromising pro-American conservative, was elected president of France Sunday with a mandate to chart a new course for an economically sluggish nation struggling to incorporate immigrants and their children.

Sarkozy defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by by 53.06 percent to 46.94 percent with 84 percent turnout, according to final results released early Monday. It was a decisive victory for Sarkozy's vision of freer markets and toughness on crime and immigration , over Royal's gentler plan for preserving cherished welfare protections, including a 35-hour work week that Sarkozy called "absurd." "The people of France have chosen change," Sarkozy told cheering supporters in a victory speech that sketched out a stronger global role for France and renewed partnership with the United States.

Today's French election results come as encouraging news for the conservative movement in the United States. The American media, notably The New York Times, drew not-so-subtle parallels between Socialist Segolene Royal's bid for the French presidency and junior New York Senator Hillary Clinton's own presidential ambitions here in the U.S.

During the French campaign, I saw several stories on Mlle Royal and her picture was published everywhere. Royal's then-rival and now president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy was painted with the liberal broad brush as a right-wing conservative. Royal's candidacy was hailed as a breakthrough for women and further evidence of French's progressive politics. It was not to be.

I somehow doubt that we will read any stories about how unwise it is to underestimate conservatives and misrepresent their agenda during an election season. Or features that cast doubt on the electorate's willingness to elect a socialist woman to the office of president.

Will the media ever learn that it is not their role to prop one candidate or party over another? I think you know the answer.

Hillary, beware! Your party's nomination, not to mention your election, is by no means guaranteed. Particularly now that Illinois Senator Barack Obama has been granted Secret Service protection.

Fair and Balanced

From the Drudge Report:

More people watched FOXNEWS TALKING about debate than the actual DEBATE!

FNC 2,023,000

MSNBC 1,762,000

CNN 599,000

Maybe it had somenthing to do with the fact that the Republican candidates' debate was broadcast on MSNBC, which very few people watch to beging with. For all the talk about the supposed conservative bent of FOX News, still more people watched FNC than MSNBC. In their vain struggle for relevancy, the Democratic candidates might want to rething their strategy of boycotting Rupert Murdoch's cable news network.

VETOED!

"The Democratic leaders know that many in Congress disagree with their approach and that there are not enough votes to override the veto. I recognize that many Democrats saw this bill as an opportunity to make a political statement about their opposition to the war. They sent their message, and now it is time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds they need."

- President George W. Bush, immediately after vetoing the Democrat-sponsored Iraq Defeat and Retreat Spending Bill

Way to go, Mr. President! It is impossible for Democrats to put politics behind them and support the troops, however. Theirs is a defeatist nature. The liberal "support" for the troops amounts to no more than disingenuous lip service. The withdrawal bill the president corageously vetoed is the moral equivalent of spitting on our troops, not supporting them.