Passing Thoughts In Life’s Rearview Mirror

Another month has come and gone. News and events have bombarded us day after day. And even we have to step back once in awhile, and recharge our batteries. Doctor’s orders at the Asylum that the loonies get plenty of rest when they need it. Otherwise, we’ll just get nuttier. Some of these topics we’re about to recap will be familiar. Other’s you’ll recall quickly. The MSM didn’t pick up on it—much, or at all—but the alternative media did. And on a few of these, the swarms got big real quick.

Of Options and Obstinence
I get to start us off this time. Of course, I am going to take us right to where the majority of news rested this month, which was the impending Constitutional Option vote that should have been made last Tuesday. The Option, once activated, would have prevented the Democrats from filibustering or obstructing any more of the president’s judicial nominees. What happened instead was last Monday night, seven dimwitted Democrats and seven rogue Republicans came up with a "compromise". It was anything but a compromise; it was capitulation. In exchange for the "promise" the Democrats would give the three most contentious judges their rightful votes, the other seven nominees went overboard. The Republicans involved in this deal are paying a seriously hefty price right now. Even McCain’s home office in Arizona is being deluged with calls expressing some anger at his move. And it is rightly placed on them. With this agreement, the fourteen senators involved made themselves the virtual trump card when it comes to the president’s judicial nominees. If one side engages in a filibuster, or other deliberate delay in calling for a vote, the other side may decide if the tactic does indeed lead to an "extraordinary circumstance" about the nominee. If the other side disagrees, they may execute the Constitutional Option; for right now, that Option is currently off the table for the next eighteen months. It is all in the agreement, which is available at the site below. It followed this fight the best amongst the bloggers. But the agreement is explicitly clear, and many people—normal, average everyday Joes—have picked up on this, as well.

What It’s All About
The whole point of the fight over the use of the Constitutional Option revolved a glaring fact: In one month, the United States Supreme Court may have a vacancy. We started hammering this point home this month when that was finally confirmed. Chief Justice William Rehnquist may step down from the high court because of his thyroid cancer. And President Bush is already preparing his list of appointees. Many insiders, legal scholars, and Constitutional experts point to J. Michael Luttig as a front runner to fill the vacancy created once President Bush moves an associate justice up to the Chief Justice’s chair. All money is on Scalia for this position because months ago, Justice Thomas said he would not even entertain such a notion. So, we will surely have a fight when and if Luttig is appointed. And should Justices O’Connor, Stevens, or Ginsburg step down, we will have another fight. The Democrats will obstruct these judges coming up. And should the Seditious Seven agree with their cronies across the aisle that the nominee warrants the obstruction through the aforementioned, and never defined "extraordinary circumstances", then any attempt to execute the Constitutional Option—to restore the powers back to the President that he has, and the natural order of the Senate—will fail. They won’t back it. And that is why this Option should have been executed; to protect the president’s power to nominate, and the Senate’s power to consent to them—properly.

Bawling Babies and Bolton
Speaking of nominees, John Bolton—I am sure—is tired of waiting on the Democrats to end their garbage over him. Is the man contentious? Yes. Can he be abrasive? Ask Harry Reid, who is beyond abrasive. We need a man like John Bolton in the UN, especially on the heels of the Amnesty International accusations that Gitmo is a gulag. The UN recognizes their irrelevant authority on such matters, and Bolton could have been there to answer that allegation. But the Democrats are too busy digging up angry ex-employees he worked with ten years ago, and requesting classified State Department papers to smear him some more. Why? Because they cannot just keep bringin up the talking points on Bolton. People are sick of hearing it. And there are more people that want a level of reform at the UN than there are Democrats acting like spoiled children, and blubbering Republicans (Voinovich) that think that Bolton is just too extreme for these "strategical" times. Bolton understands that, and he also understands that the UN is a mess right now. I suppose the Democrats missed the report that came out earlier this month showing the culpability of those that managed the UN Oil-For-Food program. That report—released by members of the House investigating the UN—is positively damning, and has not only implicated several members of the UN Security Council, but also prominent businessmen here and abroad. This fiasco only goes to prove that yes, it is time for some reform at the UN, and if Bolton must crack skulls to get it done, then so be it.

The Nitwits Of Newsweek
Newsweek joined Dan Rather and Eason Jordan on the wall of shame of non-existent journalistic integrity. They ran, like Dan Rather did, a phony story. The story was about prisoner abuse, but a key part of that story involved the supposed flushing of a Koran down a toilet at Gitmo. Never mind how preposterously insane that is, because what it appears to have happened is that militants in Afghanistan took hold of that story, and started riots over there. Now, it was originally cited that 17 people died in those riots. As it stands right now, the blogosphere is trying to hunt that down. There may not have been any that died in those riots. But the casualties wasn’t what irritated a majority of the blogosphere. It was their blatant disregard for the truth. Like the LA Times has done, like Eason Jordan and Linda Foley have done, like the NY Times does—on an almost daily basis—the Newsweek piece was a hit-piece, and it targeted our soldiers. How are we supposed to react to a story like this? Of course we’re outraged. But it’s typical nowadays among the papers and broadcasts of the MSM. They dislike this president, his administration, and what he’s doing to their precious world. The MSM would rather write pieces about the likes of Arafat and Castro being these grand reformers, standing up for the poor and destitute. Never mind about paying attention to the troops in the field, doing their job to protect us.

And A Babbling, Lying Idiot Shall Lead Them
Giuliani Sgrena, the Italian journalist involved in a checkpoint incident with our troops in Baghdad, was proven to be a liar at the beginning of this month. The after action report was released by those investigating the shooting, and it obliterated this woman’s incessant and slanderous charges that the troops opened fire on the car she was in without warning. That same malfeasance, according to her, claimed the life of Nicola Calipari—an Italian intelligence officer sent to retrieve her. The report shows that she lied about the speed of the vehicle, and that, yes, they tried to run the checkpoint. Our troops have specific rules of engagement when it comes to situations like this, and they performed properly. The car carrying Sgrena was given the proper warnings, and was given plenty of time to slow for the approaching checkpoint. The driver refused to stop, and the troops opened fire. This happens in a war zone when you do not abide by the warnings provided. It was not our troops that got Calipari killed; it was, in essence, his own stupidity. He only notified the senior Italian official in Iraq—the second-in-command of coalition forces—of their presence in the country, and why they were there. The general was aware that his fellow countrymen were paying a ransom, but Calipari swore him to secrecy. We were not supposed to know. And there was his mistake. Had we known, we would have, likely, allowed them through the checkpoints. But we were not notified, and Calipari died. If Sgrena would like to dig deeper for blame, she might want to focus on a mirror. It was her blind stupidity that led her there, where she disregarded being an imbedded reporter, and therefore under our protection. She opted to go it alone, and it was because she completely disagrees with every aspect of our war. Fine. She is biased. I understand that, but had she been an imbedded reporter, she could have still been anti-American, and under our protection. Calipari would not have died, and everything would have been fine. She opted for a different approach. Her fault. His fault. It is not the troops fault that they did the job they were trained to do.

And, What Do They Owe Us?
The Newsweek piece is just a small piece of the overall MSM. But it’s one that is becoming more and more prevalent within the media. Call them mistakes, call them blatant, it makes no difference. It’s wrong. And if they supposedly believed that the stories they printed or ran were accurate, why is that so many people can fisk them, destroy them, and leave the original propagators of the story looking like a moron? The simple fact of the matter is the MSM can claim they support the troops all they want, but it’s blatantly evident that they don’t. Any chance—ANY—to smear the troops seems to be what makes their headlines. Abu Ghraib, Lt. Pantano, Gitmo, you name it. If the press smells even the hint of misdeed among the troops, they’re the first ones to jump on it, and ride it until it is dead. Look at how they still ride Abu Ghraib; a scandal completely concocted by them. The Army was the group that acknowledged the possible abuse months before CBS ran with the story. But CBS ran with it as though it were breaking news. Newsweek slammed the men at Gitmo. Eason Jordan impugns our troops, and accuses them of war crimes. Linda Foley utters a nearly identical accusation, along with Giuliani Sgrena. The MSM doesn’t like this war—any aspect of it, even the stage in Afghanistan—and they abhor having to state that they "support the troops". But what’s truly sickening about this whole mindset of the MSM, and perhaps the reason why so many people are turning them off, is that the MSM should be thanking the troops. "Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." That’s what the troops do for the media; without a Constitution to enumerate their freedom, you have no such freedom. And it’s the troops that put their lives on the line to ensure we have those freedoms. So, they—the media—owe us a lot, but they owe the troops their existence.

The Plight Is Over
2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano is finally free. He is free with his honor and integrity intact, as well as his life. Lt. Pantano was facing a murder charge for killing two Iraqis running from a building his squad had just raided. The facts of the case surround the insurgents running to a truck, and only stopping said truck when Pantano’s men were prepared to shoot it. Once out of the truck, as it was being searched, both men made moves towards Pantano that he deemed as threatening, and he did not blink in ending their existence. I applaud him. He is a soldier doing his job, and should not even have faced such a charge. However, as the case unfolded, it became more clear that the soldier bringing the charge seemed to have an ax to grind. Pantano had relieved him of the squad’s command just a week or two prior to the incident. This soldier was the first one to levy charges against Pantano, which started this mess to begin with. The primary investigator in the case, after reviewing all the materials, the testimony, and affidavits concluded that Pantano should not be prosecuted for murder. He reacted properly, and dealt with the situation decisively. The only complaint the United states Marine Corps had with him was the amount of ammunition he used, and he left a particularly riling message around the neck of one of them. It read: "No better friend, no worse enemy", which was a slogan the Marines use. (It is also one of Thomas’ favorite sayings, and a belief he lives by.) For this, he is receiving administrative punishment, which I will accede to. The military has it’s rules, and I am not one who will question those rules. If this is the most he faces, so be it. But I am extremely happy that Lt. Pantano had the murder charge dropped. And in my opinion, charging our troops with murder in a combat zone would be like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. (Speaking of the Indy 500, I am unhappy that Danica Patrick lost this past Sunday. She was so close.)

Dizzy Dean Devolves Deeper
It’s so nice to see that Howard Dean is delivering as expected. He is just as nuts, and just as wacky as ever. His recent interview with Tim Russert showed it, but along with that interview is the underlying fact that neither he, nor the Democrats, have a clue how to get power back. They held onto it for so long that they have forgotten how to fight for their power. Petty victories, like the one over the Constitutional Option, isn’t going to help them. They’re still in the hole—one of the deepest they’ve ever seen—and all they have is a ladder that reaches half-way out; it doesn’t reach the top. And the more they fume, the more they froth, the more their goal becomes unattainable. Now people will warn me in being overconfident, but to them I say "just be patient". We conservatives have cultivated our base for a good, long time. We have built it through blood, sweat, and tears. They have relied on theirs to always be there. But as the election of 2004 showed, they’re losing people from their base. Demographically speaking, Pres. Bush made strides when it came to minorities in this nation. They believed in him, and they’re only starting to depart the party they once believed in. A black conservative was once a rarity in this nation. We see Clarence Thomas, Janice Rogers Brown, Rod Paige, and Dr. Condoleeza Rice now; the four most prominent black conservatives in America. And they’re backed up by pundits like Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. More and more conservatives are making their voices known. And Dean doesn’t get it. He can’t figure out how to gin up his base. He thought he had the key in the election with all of his Deaniacs, and Left-wing bloggers. But they can’t carry the day. More bloggers are right-center than to the Left, and we conservatives have shown we can hang in a debate; only, of course, if you can keep the Left-wing nut on topic.

This has been a long and draining month for both of us. That is not to say that we have not enjoyed it, or that we wished we were doing something different. On the contrary, we are at home, right here, in the heart of the blogosphere. It has quickly become our "home away from home". We relish being here, and despite the fact that our mailing lists have shrunk considerably over this past month, we are still here. We are still racking up hits, prompting discussion topics, and informing our readers on things that are occurring right around them. Some may be a bit hard to take at times, like the case of Linda Foley, or of Indira Nooyi of PepsiCo comparing America to the middle finger. But it is true, and we back it up with the links we provide. As the year rolls on, we know that we are getting leaner and meaner. We call things as we see it, and we are not apologetic if feelings get hurt. Tough. Being a part of the blogosphere means calling attention to things that even do not want to address, but we do so anyway. We are on the front-lines of the political war, and now, there is no turning back. We will stand here as watchdogs at the gate because it is what we feel we have been called to do.

The Bunny ;) & Publius II