Wyblog the Poet!

Chris at Wyblog just made my day with a nifty poem - the blogger's Night Before Christmas!

Here's my part:

In Shreveport meanwhile
Pat says "how do!"
How do all my friends
eat badger stew?

Read the whole thing!

Thanks for the smile, Chris!

"We should be gravely concerned - to say the least."

At The Weekly Standard, Thomas Joscelyn has some preliminary analysis of yesterday's thwarted terror attack:

Finally, all of this could also further complicate the Obama administration’s attempts to close Guantanamo. Around 90 or more of the remaining 198 detainees are Yemeni. The Bush administration did not repatriate many of them to their home country because of security concerns. The Obama administration has similarly been reluctant to transfer large numbers of detainees because the Yemeni government has an abysmal track record when it comes to keeping tabs on known al Qaeda terrorists.

President Saleh’s regime is also notoriously duplicitous, and works with al Qaeda and like-minded jihadist organizations at times. Thus far, the American government has not wanted to risk transferring or releasing the Gitmo Yemenis to Saleh’s custody because it could easily lead to their rejoining the jihad in short order.

The Yemen part of Mudallad’s story is, therefore, of paramount importance. It is too early to tell how important this aspect is, but we should be gravely concerned - to say the least.

The Obama administration has already released Gitmo graduates to Yemen as recently as last week. I wonder how long before those guys show back up in the terror cycle. Joscelyn is right that it is certainly something we should be concerned about.

Additionally, Mark Steyn at NRO's The Corner has the story of the passenger who was first to react:

Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.

Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."

"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."

It's reminiscent of Flight 93 and the passengers who thwarted that attempt. Thank goodness for the bravery and the vigilance of Americans who continue to stay alert to the threat of jihad.

And finally, who knew about "suicide underwear"? Good grief. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Lots more at Memeorandum.

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: The Glad It's Over Edition

It's the after Christmas edition of the Saturday Reach Around. This one's going to be short and sweet because I can't wait to get this dead tree out of my house and Christmas boxed up for another year. I never got into the spirit at all this year and mostly couldn't wait for it to be over. I hate it, but it just happens some years that way.

I've had some real life distractions over the past month and just couldn't get my mind in play for Christmas. Maybe next year. In fact, I haven't even been blogging regularly and my stats are so far in the tank I may never rebound! Pitiful!

At any rate, let's get linkin':

Ann Althouse has some fun with Google maps and suggests that Obama (and all presidents, for that matter) not get so far away from home.

Speaking of the Obama Hawaiian vacation, Pundette adds up the expense. Fat cats! Ha! Gateway Pundit has video of the digs.

Doug Ross reports the religious angle of yesterday's terrorist attempt. Donald Douglas has some very thorough coverage as well.

Legal Insurrection reports on the Times of London's person of the year; amen to that.

Smitty, at The Other McCain, comments on the parting shot from Congress as they left town.

Bread Upon the Waters likes my campaign to send a retirement card to your Congressman and also laments the crap weasels in Washington who are selling us out.

Camp of the Saints is trying out new digs - check it out! I like it! Stacy McCain is trying out something new, too.

Okay. I know it's short and I'll add more later. I have GOT to get rid of this dead tree. Now.

Update: The tree was on the curb at 11:42. Not quite a record (that was the year I put it out on Christmas Day). Almost everything is packed and boxed and I'm thinking about breaking out the Mardi Gras decorations. Now THAT I might can get into this year.

Revisit Issues of National Security

Dan Riehl has been closely tracking the terrorist attempt yesterday to blow up an airplane in Detroit. He's the first that I've seen to post the same theory that's been in the back of my mind, which is

I'm wondering if this wasn't a probing attack to test a new detonation device with more skilled and experienced Al Qaeda operatives looking to capitalize somehow down the line.

The left is foaming at the mouth over Rep. Pete Hoekstra's comment yesterday that this attack is somehow connected to Obama's weak stance on national security. Via Memeorandum, Steve Benen writing for The Washington Monthly calls him a "shameless buffoon" for saying this:

"It's not surprising," U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Holland Republican, said of the alleged terrorist attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight in Detroit. ... "People have got to start connecting the dots here and maybe this is the thing that will connect the dots for the Obama administration," Hoekstra said.

Both Hoekstra and Dan Riehl seem to be saying the same thing - this isn't the last attack attempt we're likely to see. I'll go one further and say that if the Obama administration doesn't quit releasing terrorists into the wild and doesn't toughen up the rhetoric on national security, then we'll see more of these attempts, failed or not, in the future. This is a lesson we've learned in the past, and now apparently forgotten.

Think Progress accuses Hoekstra of only attempting to score "cheap political points" with his statement simply because he hadn't yet been briefed on the incident.

I haven't been briefed and I'm scoring no political points. But it's pretty clear to me that a terrorist attack of some sort was attempted yesterday, although there are many on the left who hesitate to even call it that. Folks in the comments section of both the Think Progress post and the Washington Monthly post, are alternately blaming Bush (for letting small amounts of liquids on planes after 9/11), and the Dutch and Nigerians who let the guy on the plane in the first place.

To be clear, so the left can understand, I'm not blaming Obama for not personally searching every single passenger. I'm saying the national security policies of this administration are ignoring the lessons of the past -- not necessarily with this incident alone, but in general.

Pete Hoekstra's concern with security breaches is admirable, in my opinion. These issues need to be revisited by this administration. Bringing terrorists to New York City for trial is one example. Housing them in Thomson, Illinois is another. Closing Gitmo, another. Releasing detainees to Yemen, Afghanistan, Somaliland is another.

"Centrist" Democrats Like Their Abominable Bill Just the Way it Is

After 25 straight days of "the longest Senate debate in recent history," our senators are now off work until after the first of the year. Meanwhile, the health care bill that we had to hurry up and pass because "people are dying!" sits on a lonely desk somewhere waiting for more changes, revisions, and debate. That won't happen until January, although no doubt the back room deals and bribes are still underway.

The Hill reports this morning that there is "very little wiggle room" in the upcoming talks to merge the two bills. Nearly two dozen "centrist" senators, including Mary Landrieu, who don't favor changing their version of the bill very much. (Although how anyone can call Mary Landrieu a "centrist" escapes me.)

They don't want a "bill that imposes a tax surcharge on the nation’s highest income earners or reduces the tax burden on so-called Cadillac health insurance plans, which are held by many unionized workers." They also don't want a public option included in the final bill.

Landrieu is adamant about keeping that provision that taxes those "Cadillac" plans because she's concerned about cost-containment. If she's so worried about cost-containment, she should refuse her $300 million bribe, but that's beside the point.

Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska says he won't support the bill if it taxes those making over $500,000.

Do either of those two people have any credibility left?

These senators that were bought off, Landrieu, Nelson, and all the others, try to excuse this action by saying that it's just politics; it's done all the time! If you don't understand that, you don't understand politics! Mary Landrieu said, “Those who have dubbed this provision the ‘Louisiana Purchase' know little about lawmaking and even less about my views on health-care reform." Business as usual. Got it.

I'm sure back room deals are, in fact, part of how Washington works and I'm sure it's been that way for a long time. Doesn't make it right. And it especially doesn't excuse passing bad legislation. If you make a back room deal to get something for your state, at least try to be sure the rest of the country isn't getting totally screwed in the meantime.

At any rate, the poor, overworked senators are all back at home (call them!) as are your representatives (call them, too!). They'll mosey on back to Washington in January, all the while patting themselves on the back for their "historic" achievement, and begin the final task of driving the nails into the heart of the American heath care industry and economy.

Historic, indeed.

(H/T: Memeorandum)

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas to you all!

We're Closing Gitmo to Save the Taxpayer Money!

Team Obama has maxed out mommy's credit card and doesn't have the cash to purchase Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois. When approached with the idea of adding $200 million to the military appropriations bill to fund the endeavor, Congress balked.

The New York Times reports:

Still, it is not clear that Congress will be willing to approve money enabling the transfer of Guantánamo detainees to domestic soil — especially as the 2010 midterm election campaign heats up, with the likelihood that Republicans will pick up seats.

Incredible insight there on the part of Congress, no? I suspect they are starting to hear the American people and many of them know when they rubber stamp this Obamacare abomination, they are toast. Out. Now they are worrying about keeping their jobs.

The Times also reports this new rationale for closing Gitmo; the administration says that moving the detainees to Illinois will save the taxpayer money. No, really:

The White House has argued that closing Guantánamo would enhance national security by removing a symbol used by terrorist recruiters. It also said the closing would save taxpayers money because the Defense Department pays $150 million a year to operate the Guantánamo prison on the naval base there, while running the Illinois prison would cost $75 million.

You spend nearly $200 million to acquire a property you don't really need, and that saves money? Got it. And as to the operational costs, I'm supposed to believe it will cost $75 million annually to run Thomson because...they say so? Where will that savings come from? Cutting out those high caloric meals? The nutritionists? No more DirectTV? Cutting costs by not providing prayer rugs, oil, and copies of the Koran? Soccer balls? Maybe that's it.

Honestly, this administration's concept of saving money scares me to death.

I guess holding those civilian trials in New York City are supposed to save us money, too. So much cheaper than a military tribunal held at a facility where the defendant already is incarcerated and for a crime to which he has already confessed. No, I guess spending millions on security measures is also a cost-saving measure.

We're just to stupid to realize it.

I wish Obama would quit trying to help me and save me money.

Related:
"The non-descript faces of the foosball table's characters have been chipped off..."
Attempting to Fathom the Logic of Gitmo North
Gitmo North

Obamacare Forever

Today is our last day of finals at school, then I'm off until after the first of the year and we'll start a new semester when we return! Yay!

While I'm giving finals this morning, and figuring grades, you might like to read this nugget from Red State (or this from Weekly Standard) about the provision in Reid's bill to prevent future Congresses from repealing Obamacare:

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Oh, they'll tell you that's not what it means, but they'll also tell you that this bill lowers the deficit, doesn't fund abortions, and doesn't cover illegals.

They lie.

Don't forget to send those retirement cards, and be sure to add Harry Reid to your list.

As far as I know, the U.S. has never transferred a 'high-value detainee' from its custody."

I posted earlier today about the report at both Hot Air and Weekly Standard where the Obama DoJ has released two Gitmo detainees to Somaliland, a breakoff country of Somalia, one with which we have no relations.

I posted that via my iPhone and if you can add links to your posts through there, I can't figure out how. At any rate, I wanted to delve into the release a little deeper than phone-blogging would allow.

The entire Catch and Release program that the Obama administration seems to be practicing with regard to terrorism suspects is troubling enough, but this one is especially problematic because of the Somaliland angle and the fact that one of the detainees in question, Abdullahi Sudi Arale, was, as recently as 2007, classified as a "high value detainee."

Thomas Joscelyn at The Weekly Standard points out that "As far as I know, the U.S. has never transferred a 'high-value detainee' from its custody," and refers to this June 2006 Department of Defense statement that says:

Abdullahi Sudi Arale is suspected of being a member of the Al Qaeda terrorist network in East Africa, serving as a courier between East Africa Al Qaeda (EAAQ) and Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Since his return from Pakistan to Somalia in September 2006, he has held a leadership role in the EAAQ-affiliated Somali Council of Islamic Courts (CIC).

There is significant information available indicating that Arale has been assisting various EAAQ-affiliated extremists in acquiring weapons and explosives, and has facilitated terrorist travel by providing false documents for AQ and EAAQ-affiliates and foreign fighters traveling into Somalia. Arale played a significant role in the re-emergence of the CIC in Mogadishu.

Joscelyn, as you may recall, visited Gitmo recently. He spoke to Brigadier General Timothy Lake who explained that he and his staff have "zero input" as far as who gets transferred and who doesn't. Joscelyn concludes that "the DOJ and Foggy Bottom control transfer decisions, not the military officials who have been responsible for detaining, interrogating, and analyzing the intelligence collected on each Gitmo detainee."

It seems to me that those military officials should have some input into the decision, but, that does not appear to be the case.

And, while it's true that the Bush administration also released a detainee to Somaliland, he was not a "high-value detainee" as Arale was. Muhamed Hussein Abdallah was released November 4, 2008 at the recommendation of Gordon England.

Just as it's true that the Bush administration determined that many of the Guantanamo detainees were cleared for release, so too has the Obama administration. Neither side has always been correct. The recidivism rate is alarmingly high. All the more reason to proceed with caution now when considering who should be released.

Stephen Hayes reports that a "classified Defense Intelligence Agency report leaked to the New York Times in May supported that claim. Return to the Battlefield showed that 74 detainees transferred or released from Guantánamo had returned to jihad. That's one in seven--a recidivism rate of 14 percent." However, that report is out of date.

Hayes goes on to say that "the Defense Department has now produced an updated version of Return to the Battlefield. According to four separate sources familiar with the study, the rate of recidivism is increasing. One source said there has been a 'spike' in the number of former detainees involved in jihad against the United States and its allies. Another called the increase 'significant' and 'deeply troubling.'"

How large is the "spike"? We don't know because the most transparent administration in history won't release the report.

In fact, Congressman Frank Wolf has now written a letter to the Obama administration calling for the release of said report.

The truth is, combined with the blind decision to close Gitmo, the quixotic release of detainees hither and yon (despite high recidivism rates), the efforts to bring high-value detainees to New York City for trial, and not to mention the actual importing of terrorists into the United States to Thomson Correctional Center, the bitter attacks on the CIA, the scaling down of weapons programs and national defense spending, the elimination of the missile defense system, glad-handing with dictators, alienation of allies, well...it's all enough to make one wonder. Where exactly are the priorities of this administration?

It seems to me that we couldn't be much more of a blind, sitting duck if we tried. As I questioned earlier, at what point does it become treason? Aiding and abetting the enemy?

It's enough to keep one awake at night.

Retirement Card Campaign

In light of this morning's 1 a.m. vote on cloture for Obamacare, and in light of the treachery imposed on Americans by their representatives in Washington, I'm starting a campaign to send retirement cards to every single one of the cheatin', connivin', corrupt scumbags that voted to inflict Obamacare on Americans and not on themselves.

You can go to Hallmark here, and look at cards. I think we should send real cards, of course, and not e-cards.

Mailing addresses are here.

I will definitely be sending one to Mary Landrieu. I think I'll send one to Ben Nelson, too.

It doesn't matter if you're a constituent of the pondscum crapweasel that voted for this or not. Send him, or her, a card and wish him well in their upcoming retirement.

Spread the word. Help send a message!

Because it's coming. America does NOT want this.

Team Obama Releases Terrorists to Non-Existent Country.

Both Hot Air and The Weekly Standard are reporting that last week's
release of Gitmo detainees included not only the six to Yemen but also
four to Afghanistan and two to Somaliland, a country with which we
have no relations. It really isn't even a country but is a breakaway
piece of Somalia.

Just incredible.

At what point does this become treason? Aiding and abetting the enemy?

Why don't we just build Bin Laden a palace in the desert and fly him
over on Air Force One? Hand him the keys to a nuclear power plant?

If this administration was to set out on a course to deliberately
destroy this country, through both national security and domestic
policies, I can't imagine what they would do differently.

(Links added later - can't do that on my phone.)

While You Were Sleeping You Came Closer to Losing Some of Your Freedom

While you were sleeping last night you got a little closer to losing America as we know it. While you were sleeping, you came closer to losing some of your individual rights and freedoms. You're ever so much closer, for example, to no longer being able to say, "Why no! I don't believe I want to buy health insurance this year!"

Last night, while you were sleeping, the Senate voted for cloture on Obamacare. The vote was 60-40. No Republicans voted "Aye".

As Michelle Malkin says this morning, Cash for Cloture worked. See her report here.

The back room deals on this thing have been deplorable. The rhetoric has been worse. Now the bill goes to conference between the Senate and the House, but expectations are that the final bill will be very much like the one the Senate just passed, which, as I see it, is the worst of all of them. This should take place early next year.

There are some serious differences between the House bill and the Senate bill, primarily over the abortion language, so this isn't a done deal just yet. But, Politico reports Sen. Tom Coburn as saying, “This process is not legislation. This process is corruption, and it’s a shame that that’s the only way we can come to consensus in this country is to buy votes.”

Continue to fight until the last breath, and remember this in 2010 when you go to vote in your mid-term elections; now more than ever, elections have consequences.

(More at Memeorandum)

The Senate Sneaks Through the Dead of Night to Destroy Health Care

1:00 A.M. tonight. That's when the Senate will vote on cloture for the Reid-Baucus-Dodd-Harkin amendment #2376.”

What kind of Senate does business like this? Voting in the dead of night, conducting business behind closed doors, totally and completely corrupting and hijacking the legislative process, buying votes and trading favors...it smacks of corruption, lies, and dirt. One feels used, ignored and belittled as an observer in this whole process.

Cheap. Tawdry.

Harry Reid's version of Obamacare is the worst one yet. And it's about to pass the Senate. Michelle Malkin points out that illegals will be covered as federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, despite what Obama tells us. The American President is simply lying to the people.

Cheap. Tawdry. Insidious.

Mary Landrieu's vote was bought. Senator Nelson's vote was bought. No telling what else went on that we don't know about yet. Is it too much to ask that those we send to Congress actually stand up and represent what the people want? The majority of the American people don't want this health care bill. Reform, yes. This bill? No.

This bill will do nothing to reform the health care industry. It just won't. It will make it more expensive. Your own premiums, if you have insurance currently, will surely go up; meanwhile, your taxpayer dollars will be going to buy insurance for other people, some of whom don't even want coverage. They won't get a vote.

It will do nothing to lower costs of medical care. Care will be rationed and more difficult to get. You'll have to wait longer to see your doctor, that is, if he stays in practice. With the influx of millions into the system, Medicare and Medicaid will be overwhelmed.

Honestly, it's all bad. I can't find anything redeeming or good in this bill at all. I've tried. It's just not there. The pious can sit back now and say, "Oh we've done well! We're going to cover the poor and underprivileged so they, too, can have health care insurance! Equality and Coverage For All!" Bull hockey.

All you've done is degrade the system for everyone else.

You haven't improved one damn thing.

And in the dead of a cold winter's night, it's coming. Your cheap, bought-off representatives in Washington are sneaking the big one over on you. Destroying the American economy, capitalism and free enterprise. Making us like Europe, like someone we don't want to be.

If it's so great, why isn't Congress going to be covered by this abomination? Because they KNOW it's bad.

Cheap. Tawdry. Insidious. Filthy.

(H/T: Memeorandum)

"The nondescript faces of the foosball table's characters have been chipped off ..."

Thomas Joscelyn has a neat read in this week's Weekly Standard entitled "The Real Gitmo." It's full of interesting facts about the day to day life of Gitmo and the extraordinary measures that are taken there to keep the detainees as content as possible.

Joscelyn recently toured the facility and shares his observations. Much like Gordon Cucullu's book, Inside Gitmo, it's a fascinating look at the facility itself and the men and women who operate it.

Some interesting facts:

"...most of the roughly 210 detainees still held at Guantánamo are not in supermax-type facilities at all. At least 70 percent live in communal settings like Camp 4. They can play soccer, basketball, or foosball; exercise on elliptical equipment; and consort with their fellow detainees for up to 20 hours per day in the outdoor recreation area. They can take art classes or learn English."

The detainees have access to several satellite television channels and, as one DoD handout notes, a library consisting of "more than 14,000 books, magazines, and DVDs in 18 languages."

Oddly, the detainees are interested in many aspects of Western culture. Harry Potter is very popular, and with each new movie that comes out the detainees request more of J.K. Rowling's books.

They have also gone out of their way to make sure that the detainees are not exposed to any other material they may find objectionable. For example, the nondescript faces of the foosball table's characters have been chipped off so that the detainees will not be offended by any hint of idolatry.

There's a lot more. Be sure to read the whole thing. The more one learns about the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the more one questions the Obama perseverance in closing it down. As Joscelyn points out, yes, some mistakes were made in the early days, but those have long been rectified. Today it is a model prison run according to Geneva standards, or better, and for the most part, the detainees are content. We continue to gather intelligence from them, but only when they volunteer to give it.

It's all about re-inventing the wheel, I guess. And the rationale behind it all is misguided - al Qaeda does not use Guantanamo as a recruiting too anymore than they use Israel or any other little thing they can dream up. Nobody will like us better for having closed it.

Especially not the detainees who will find themselves isolated in Supermax American prisons.

Full Metal Jacket Reach Around: The Saints vs. Cowboys Edition

My daughter was lamenting the rise of "bandwagon fans" with regard to the Saints this week. She and her husband are arriving from Dallas this afternoon and we'll do Christmas with my mom this afternoon. In discussing what we'll do this evening, she said, "The Saints/Cowboys game is on Saturday night." I was unaware, actually. Saturday night? What's up with that?

Anyway, I said, "Oh! We'll have to watch that!" Her husband is a huge sports fan. And honestly, I'm pulling for the Saints even though I'm not really an NFL fan. This is when she said, "Oh you're one of those bandwagon fans!" I explained that I'm really just pulling for the Saints so they can have that perfect season. They've been so beleaguered through the years! My next door neighbor, Donny, is a true fan. He loved 'em when everyone went to the games with brown bags over their heads, and he's loving this season. So ... yeah, I'm pulling for the Saints.

Today I have a bit of cooking to do for our festivities - nothing major. I've pretty much given up on the spirit of Christmas finding me this year after the god-awful week we've had around here. The best I can hope for at this point is to just get through it all and look forward to next year. I'm not doing the big Christmas party I usually do, and I've done almost none of the baking I usually do. But it'll be okay - next year I'm sure I'll go overboard.

Let's get on to the links so I can go pick up a couple of last minute gifts and get my cooking done!

I live in Louisiana so I NEVER EVER see snow like this or this or this. I'll be glued to Fishersville Mike's coverage of the great blizzard this weekend! I think it's gorgeous, but I'm sure it causes problems, too.

Reaganite Republican has the story of a Twitter hack job.

Professor Jacobson is asking for twitter updates on Reid-Care as he drives! One if by land, two if by sea!

No Sheeples Here could almost get me into the Christmas spirit this year with these adorable pictures! She's got a massive round-up, too.

Another Black Conservative shares his thoughts on Obama's Copenhagen speech as does Stacy McCain.

Stacy McCain announces the engagement of his beautiful daughter.

Gateway Pundit wonders if Kevin Jennings will help the New Jersey girl who was told not to read her Bible at school.

Donald Douglas has a review of the movie Precious. Kinda makes me want to see it now.

Pundette has a great, and weather appropriate, clip from one of my favorite Christmas movies, and also updates on today's Senate actions.

Carolyn Tackett, like me, doesn't have to worry about snow this weekend, but she does have a great Marco Rubio clip.

Heh! Cassandra is live-blogging the snow storm!

Troglopundit closely analyzes Obama's Copenhagen speech. Not what he said, but how he said it!

Red isn't allowed in Costco anymore but she makes really cute Christmas Corndog banners!

Wyblog has five questions for proponents of Obamacare.

Ruby Slippers reports on a Debbie Wasserman Schultz smackdown.

Grandpa John is promoting blog wars.

210 - 6 = 204

New this morning is that six of the Yemeni detainees at Gitmo will be released to their home country and the Washington Post reports that this is "a transfer that could be a prelude to the release of dozens more detainees to Yemen, according to sources with independent knowledge of the matter."

Nearly one hundred of the remained detainees at Gitmo are Yemenis. The Post reports that the transfer will be "closely monitored" and if it is successful, meaning, I suppose, if they don't return to active jihad against us, that more will follow. Given that this White House can't properly manage security for a State Dinner, I'm not sure how much confidence I have in their ability to monitor six Yemeni terrorists.

In related Gitmo news, Andrew McCarthy has posted two spot on articles this week regarding the Thomson, Illinois transfer.

Yesterday's article makes the point that it's not Gitmo that causes terrorism, despite what the Obama administration would have us believe. Today, he explains how terrorists could, in fact, be released into the United States from Thomson:

Nevertheless, Durbin is being disingenuous — doubly disingenuous, in fact. First, the principal fear is no longer that the Obama administration will try to free the terrorists and relocate them here. It is that the federal courts will order the release of the detainees. And second, the senator’s brave assurance that if “a detainee is found not guilty, he will not be released inside the United States” is a smokescreen. As he well knows, most of the Gitmo terrorists are not going to be found guilty or found not guilty — they’re not going to be tried at all.

Be sure to read them both.

The fact is, this administration cares little for national security and has demonstrated that over and over and over again from their attacks on the CIA to bringing terrorists to American soil. It doesn't matter where these detainees are held! Nobody can be so naive to believe that simply bringing them to a new prison will change how the Islamofascists view Americans. They won't suddenly call a truce on us because we've closed Guantanamo.

They won't even call a truce on us for leaking detainees from Gitmo to various countries around the world. Six here, four there, ten there, one over there.... In fact, many of those will return to war against us. I'm sure they have no bitter feelings, right?

Sarah Wore a Visor and Todd Wore a T-shirt

I know I've been wrapped up this week with the end of the semester and my own life-throws-a-curve-ball issue that's had me off my blogging routine this week, but it must really be a slow news day when what we're worried about is what Sarah and Todd Palin wear on vacation.

Is Anyone Surprised?

What a shocker:

"While many of us expressed cost and bureaucracy concerns about early drafts of health care reform legislation, it is clear that the product the Senate is debating is a dramatic improvement," Landrieu said Tuesday evening.

"Senate Democrats have developed a consensus that combines the best blend of private and public approaches to reduce cost, expand coverage and increase choice and competition for Americans."

Via The Dead Pelican, Senator Landrieu supports the Senate bill. What a surprise.

Attempting to Fathom the Logic of Gitmo North

I've spent some time now trying to fathom the logic behind bringing Guantanamo detainees to Illinois. I just can't get there. Thomson Correctional Center is pictured left; "X" marks the spot.

There are myriad reasons why it's a horrible idea which others have already gone into better than I.

Jake Tapper points out that Robert Gibbs is now calling John Boehner "crazy" because Boehner has criticized this decision. Boehner has called the move "preposterous" and said, "They’re going to move these prisoners from Gitmo to Northwest Illinois because of some campaign promise that was made in the dark." He has vowed to vote against any funding for said move.

Now Robert Gibbs is criticizing Boehner's criticism. Yesterday, Gibbs asserts that Thomson will be just as safe as Gitmo and that Boehner has nothing to worry about from a national security perspective.

“If there are concerns for security reasons, I would hope some of those people would address why they think the military can do what they're doing at Guantanamo and can't do it at Thomson,” he said.

Gibbs points out that Boehner should watch al Qaeda recruiting videos where "senior Al Qaida leadership in recruiting videos have used the prison at Guantanamo Bay as a clarion call to bring extremists from around the world to join their effort.”

I'm wondering why this administration doesn't realize that al Qaeda will continue to use Guantanamo as a "clarion call" just as they have Abu Ghraib. Just because you move detainees from one prison to the other does not erase its existence from one's memory.

Additionally, if "the military can do what they're doing at Guantanamo" at Thomson, as Gibbs says, al Qaeda, in return, can do the same thing: they can now use Thomson as a recruiting tool. We'll still be "infidels" who are holding their jihadist terrorists in confinement. It doesn't matter what the name of the prison is.

No, it seems the really scary part is that this administration is so determined to keep this dangerous promise regardless of the cost, the will of the American people, or the dangers to national security.

The administration is overlooking at least one of the reasons Guantanamo has not been attacked or that anyone has escaped: there's no place to go once you break out. You're on a naval base. Surrounded by water. On an island. Everything is self contained there. If a prisoner gets sick, there is a damn fine hospital there where they get better (and faster) medical care than most people anywhere in the world.

At Thomson, one would suppose if a detainee gets sick, he'll be transported to the nearest hospital in Chicago about 40 miles away, thus endangering countless numbers of civilian lives.

These are guys that know how to make garrotes from braiding candy wrappers together. Everything is a weapon. Their only purpose is to kill Americans.

Bleeding-heart liberals say that Republicans are fear-mongering and using scare tactics to fight the closure of Guantanamo. These people are ignoring existing facts and recent history.

But, of course, this argument has been raging ever since Obama signed the order to shutter Gitmo back in January. On January 23, Glenn Greenwald posted column accusing Boehner and everyone else opposed to this decision of "fear-mongering" and went on to list a number of terrorists currently being held in United States prisons. In a lengthy, and oft-updated, post, Greenwald's basic thesis was that we are currently holding terrorists in SuperMax prisons and so adding a few more shouldn't be a problem. Anyone who thinks so is fear-mongering.

To me, it all goes back to the same question. Why? Why do this? From a financial standpoint, it's insane. We've spent millions of dollars to retrofit Gitmo to house these guys, provided an on-site hospital capable of handling almost any imagined medical need, an excellent food service facility which prepares high calorie, ethnically approved meals, customized to each detainees nutritional needs and profile, and on and on. From a "human rights" perspective, they've got a much more cushy set-up at Gitmo than they will get anywhere else.

Thomson will have to be upgraded, renovated, and still won't be the facility that Gitmo is. Or maybe it will. The Baltimore Sun reports that there will also be a "tribunal room" at Thomson where military commissions will be held. It seems the only thing missing will be the soccer fields.

No, the "crazy" ones are Obama, Gibbs, and anyone else that thinks that moving over 100 detainees to American soil is a good idea.

This is not a forgone conclusion just yet. Congressional action must be taken to make this happen. Current law says that detainees cannot be brought to American soil for purposes other than prosecution. Does that mean that Obama is going to prosecute all these terrorists, or will the law have to be changed? There is also the financial issue. Money will have to be appropriated for upgrading, renovation, and new construction at Thomson, not to mention the actual acquisition of the property.

Contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know how you feel.

Update: Michelle Malkin has posted a column on this today.

More at Memeorandum.

Gitmo North

The Obama administration will announce today that they intend to "acquire" Thomson Correctional Center and will begin transferring Gitmo detainees there as soon as feasibly possible. This is supposedly "good news" as it will bring jobs to the prison and to the area, but as the editors at NRO point out in this excellent post today, national security should not be a "shovel-ready" project.

To refit Thomson for Gitmo detainees will be exorbitantly expensive but that is of little matter to this administration which simply prints money at will:

This exorbitant “injection” of funds would be necessary because TCC is not ready to accommodate international jihadists, who are prone to riot, savagely attack their custodians, attempt escape, and plot terror attacks while in U.S. prisons. The jail would have to be hardened before it could become the new Gitmo. So even if financial considerations were the first-order priority here — and they should not be — the administration’s plan would be inexcusably wasteful. Gitmo has already been hardened, at a cost of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. It is now a state-of-the-art, Geneva Conventions-compliant detention center. It makes no sense to sink those expenditures down a black hole, spending another fortune on a project that won’t generate sustainable growth. Illinois found that out when it built TCC in the first place.

And, as NRO points out, how long before the ACLU and Human Rights Watch start jumping up and down and protesting the "inhumane" conditions of Thomson? After all, at Gitmo these men are accustomed to specially prepared diets, sensitive handling of the Koran, soccer fields, daily calls to prayer, art and language lessons, and so on. How long before we've recreated the exact same thing at Thomson?

And then what will actually have been accomplished? If you move terrorists from point A to point B and nothing changes, what was the point, except that you spent a lot of money? Does this administration still believe he will gain the "goodwill" of hostile nations by moving these prisoners out of Cuba?

Naive.

And worse, how long before activist judges start releasing them? Most of them can't be tried in regular courts anyway as they are being held under laws of war, not as the result of some criminal investigation?

This is yet another outrage from the Holder Justice Department. It is just shocking to me how destructive this man's policies are. While I recognize the huge differences, this move has echoes of the Mariel boat lift to me, at least the part where Castro emptied his jails and mental asylums and sent his undesirables over here. Yes, there were hardworking Cubans in there as well who just wanted a better life, but there were killers, murderers, terrorists and criminals of all sorts in the mix.

Be very clear about this move - he is importing terrorists onto American soil. Period.

Jake Tapper has more here.

Someday Soon Life Will Get Back to Normal

Regular readers will notice that blogging has been lighter than usual here. I'm not going to go into anything on the internet, of course, but just know that life has thrown a little curve my way. Such thing sometimes happen when you have teenagers. It's not a health issue or anything that we can't handle, in time, so don't worry about that. Also, it's the last week before finals at work, so I'm deluged there, as well.

I'm still reading Going Rouge - as much as my distracted attention span will let me, and trying to pull Christmas together.

I'm still not into Christmas this year and I'll leave it at that so as not to drag down everyone else who is feeling the spirit!

I've made some really nice friends in this blogging community so I wanted to offer some sort of explanation for my silence. Thanks for continuing to click over here and know that my blogging will likely be spotty through the rest of the week and then should get back to semi-normal - whatever that is.

Stephen King Brings Troops Home for Christmas

Via Greta Perry, Stephen King and his wife have donated $12,999 (he doesn't like the number 13) to ensure that "the 150 members of Bravo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Unit could come home for the holidays."

The Bangor Daily News reports:

That money will help pay for two bus trips — one from Camp Atterbury, Ind., to Portland, one from Camp Atterbury, Ind., to Bangor — for the soldiers of the Brewer-based 172nd, a division of the Maine Army National Guard.

Earlier this week, the unit departed from Maine for training at Camp Atterbury, Ind. They were scheduled to remain there until their January 2010 departure to Afghanistan, and even though they had a few days off for the holidays, they didn’t have the means to return home.

Thomas “Skip” Chappelle, who runs Operation Community Support — a Bangor-based military assistance nonprofit agency — thought something needed to be done. So he solicited the Kings for money.

Eugley stressed that the donation came from the Kings’ personal accounts and not through the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, which does not donate for travel purposes.

“It was a pretty easy sell. I asked. Steve said yes,” Eugley said.

Awesome!

I've got King's latest, Under the Dome, in my reading stack. It's huge.

Make of This What You Will...

The flight of independents continues. From Rasmussen:

The 23% who Strongly Approve matches the lowest level of enthusiasm yet recorded. Just 41% of Democrats Strongly Approve while 69% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 21% Strongly Approve and 49% Strongly Disapprove.


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Full Metal Jacket Reach Around - The Procrastinator Edition

We've got about twelve days until Christmas and my shopping is a mish-mash. I've already given Steve one of his gifts (pictured) because it's so beautiful and I was so excited I couldn't wait, and because he did a really, REALLY nice thing for me yesterday and he deserved an early Christmas present.

As for the rest of my shopping, most of it isn't even done yet. And in some cases I don't know what I'm even going to get. This is why Christmas is so stressful to me - I am a procrastinator.

Let's get on to the linkage and maybe I can get on to some shopping.

No Sheeples Here has the most adorable Sheeples-Fine-Art here, and we are more than glad that she was able to rescue her blog from Blogger Hell.

Fishersville Mike asks a very important question.

Ruby Slippers reports on Gitmo North.

Stacy McCain comes up with my favorite headline AND literary reference in the same post and expresses outraged indignation and the indignity of being required tp give taxpayer $$ to ACORN.

Gateway Pundit has the latest on Rep. Michael Burgess and his call for the resignation or removal of Kevin Jennings. He's also got this great clip of Governor Sarah Palin reading excerpts from William Shatner's biography. I don't watch Conan O'Brien's show, but apparently Shatner has a schtick where he comes on and reads less serious passages from Palin's biography. She returns the favor:



She's great! This lady has charisma all sewn up! (Whenever I say something like that, people HEAR - "And she needs to run for President!". I didn't say that. I said she has charisma.) Regardless, her performance here was great, but the classic part is Shatner's expression. Love it!

I'm enjoying reading Sandy's blog, as always. She suffered the sad loss of her father this year and Christmas is, as one would expect, tough. She's a trooper, though, and her blog always makes me either say, "me too!", or laugh. Or in this case, go " Oh My God!"

This week's snow pictures come from Ann Althouse, Troglopundit and Grandpa John. Gorgeous. Just gorgeous!

Doug Ross has the story of the luckiest coyotes around. Well, except for maybe Charlie.

Critical Narrative works through a definition of Modern Conservatism. Well said.

A one-child policy? In America?

Left Coast Rebel has some interesting thoughts about Palin's Op-Ed.

The Daley Gator takes a look at the pork in the spending bill.

Reaganite Republican notes Charles Krauthammer's great column this week.

Heh! Professor Jacobson was not impressed with Obama's Oslo speech.

Have you ever seen a wind-powered menorah? Go here and you will.

Never one to hold back on how she feels, Red wants you to know that your baby is boring. And so are you! C'mon. You know you wanted to say it.

Camp of the Saints takes a look at your eroding property rights.

Jules Crittenden is asking for a show of hands.

Pundette has the bottom line on what it's like to be Harry Reid right now. He should've gone to New Orleans for the crab claws.

And finally, here's a new blog for the blogroll: Biased Education. Sarah takes a look at the explosive Kevin Jennings scandal, but there are lots of other great posts there, too.

I'm going to try to slog through some minor shopping today and catch up on a few things. Hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the season!

Friday Quick Links

I'm in a rush this morning, but here are a couple of good quick reads:

American Thinker on the Kevin Jennings story. Will it break into the mainstream media? Honestly, every parent in America ought to be outraged, and most would be if they only knew about this.

A most excellent piece by Victor Davis Hanson on Obama's Wheel of Fortune:

"But then Obama learned that — unlike professors, stockbrokers, lawyers, and teachers — the likes of Ahmadinejad and Putin did not care about his Kenyan father. They had not read his Dreams from My Father. Their names are even more exotic than his. Instead such thugs interpret his showy magnanimity as innate weakness, and men like these will manipulate it rather than show deference."

Charles Krauthammer on "The New Socialism" - what's REALLY going on in Copenhagen?

Peggy Noonan worries that nobody likes Obama. How to make him "likeable," she frets. Good grief. Give it up, Peggy.