WAR ON TERROR UPDATE: Al Qaeda is hard up for money--and even CBS News has to admit that, ya know, those Bush administration policies over the past 7 years may just have had something to do with it:
"As the global economy languished in the throes of deep recession, so, it seems, did al Qaeda.
An audio message intercepted by CBS News, sent by the terror group's chief financial manager (a label used by Sept. 11 Commission), portrays a rare image of the terrorist enterprise: hard-up....Mostafa Abul Yazid, who is also al Qaeda's senior figure in Afghanistan, is heard asking an unknown contact in Turkey for urgent financial support. "We are lacking funds here in the Afghan jihadi arena," he says on the tape. "The slow action in the operations here nowadays is due to the lack of funds, and many Mujahideen could not carry out jihad because there's not enough money."....In the early nineties, al Qaeda also benefited from the generous donations of Islamic charities and wealthy individuals, mostly in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. It's been reported that the group's budget for 2000 was estimated at $30 million. Things changed, however, in the wake of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The U.S. government, along with the European Union and other members of the international community, embarked on a major effort to counter terrorist financing around the world, putting into force a plethora of legal instruments and new laws. Wealthy jihad financiers were prosecuted and dozens of charities had their assets frozen."
Bush administration policies will be vindicated by history.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ARROGANCE UPDATE: so, why did so many Obama administration nominees have tax problems, anyway? Well, guess what--it's not that the Obama people didn't know about them:
"The problem is the Obama White House, which, fully aware of its nominees’ tax issues, decided that those problems were trivial, or that the public wouldn’t care about them, and pushed forward with nominations that in the past would have been quietly shelved....I asked a Senate source close to the nominating process why the troubled nominations kept coming, in spite of the tax problems. “I think it was the administration underestimating what the grassroots folks who elected President Obama were going to object to,” the source told me. With the out-of-touch White House firmly behind the nominees, Senate Democrats got the message that they, too, needed to line up in support. So they did until they started hearing from outside the Washington bubble. “If you look at Daschle’s experience, he came out of a meeting with members of the committee, and the Democratic members said they supported him,” the insider pointed out. “But on the next day he withdrew.”
"Pride cometh before the fall", they say. The Obama administration's overconfidence and arrogance will some day get it in big trouble.
MEDIA SILLINESS UPDATE: so today CNN trumpets on its website that a new poll means "trouble" for Republicans. Uh-oh, one wonders, what now? Well:
"As the Republican Party struggles to regain its footing following the November elections, a new survey shows that a majority of adult Americans sees no clear leader for the minority political party."
Sigh. And that was basically it? This is big news? Every party which loses a presidential election along with control of congress struggles to find a new "leader"; just ask the Democrats who remember the early 1980s, after Ronald Reagan's victory. It's a phase through which every defeated party has to pass. News flash: in the end, they do. And move on. So will the Republican Party, despite gleeful liberals in the news media writing stories such as the above.
NEWS ALERT: today, two people were shot at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, in Washington. The shooter, an elderly man, apparently has links to white supremacist/hate groups.
When the abortionist doctor George Tiller was shot some days ago, a number of my acquaintances on net discussion groups tried mightily to claim conservatives were somehow partially at fault for his death (after all, conservatives are against abortion, and the shooter was against abortion, so what other evidence could we possibly need!?!) I wonder if the Right will be blamed for this shooting, too (after all, maybe both we and the shooter in this case oppose affirmative action, or something). Stay tuned...
IS THE GOP DEAD? DEPT: so this year's Virginia governor's race is now set--Republican Bob McDonnell vs Democrat Creigh Deeds. The good news--McDonnell going in leads Deeds in every poll, and despite $3 million spent by the Democratic Governor's Association against McDonnell in negative ads, they've had no effect.
Definitely a good shot at winning here, but it's still early. Remember, Obama carried Virginia last year; this would be a big win for the GOP.
And further: in New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie still leads Democrat incumbent Jon Corzine by 10 points.
The general public continues to agree with conservatives on many issues, too--take, for example, the question of government regulation:
"We have been told that the financial crisis would lead the public to embrace a larger regulatory role for the government and discredit advocates of the free market. (Harold Meyerson sounds this theme in pretty much his every column in the Washington Post.) Pew doesn't find the massive swing the public discussion might lead one to expect. Asked whether "government regulation of business usually does more harm than good," majorities continue to agree. There has been only a three-point decline in agreement since 2007 (from 57 to 54 percent)."
FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: Red Wings coach Mike Babcock put it well--the Pittsburgh Penguins played with a bit more desperation than did Detroit last night, won a few more battles, and evened the Stanley Cup Finals at 3-3 with a 2-1 win. Well, the Wings have the ultimate game at home, and they've played well there--it's all one can ask for.
BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers won a wild one last night, 7-6 over the White Sox. Dontrelle Willis didn't pitch badly; Adam Everett made a great throw in the 9th inning to cut down the potential winning run at the plate; and Brandon Inge, Everett, and Miguel Cabrera had big hits. It's worrisome that closer Fernando Rodney blew a save. But, the Tigers found a way to win, have won 2 of the first 3 games in this big series, and have won 4 of their past 5.
Meanwhile the Texas Rangers played a very poor game last night, letting no-name Toronto pitcher Brian Tallet shut them out, 9-0. One suspects this team had a letdown after their big series win in Boston. That needs to end tonight.
But the Cubs blasted Houston, 7-1, behind a 3-hitter by Ted Lilly. Could the Cubs be getting their groove back? Maybe--but remember they're playing the sad-sack Astros, against whom the Cubs are 6-2 this year.
