Mrs. Clinton’s National Security Advisor

Well, you have to admit hat Mrs. Clinton’s new national security advisor (pictured left) does have first hand experience with security.

Bill Sammon, Examiner, reports:

WASHINGTON (Map, News) – Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers. “It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University, who nonetheless called Clinton “by far the most impressive candidate in the Democratic field.”

We don’t know what Berger stole, but it appears that whatever national secrets Berger stole he was able to blackmail Mrs. Clinton to let him on to her campaign.  Mrs. Clinton may not be a thief, but she sure hires them.

Hat tip photo: Macranger, Macsmind.

Lost in the frenzy over the melt down of the murder charges over Haditha looms a question.  The government knew, or should have known, that the Haditha incident was a statged propaganda event by al Qaeda.  Nathaniel R. Helms, Defend Our Marines:

October 6, 2007 – Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter was an intentional propaganda ploy planned and paid for by Al Qaeda foreign fighters.

Did Okinawa Jack’s hysterical charges of murder consistute treason?  The charges were false and Murtha knew, or should have known, the charges were false.  Is sheer stupidity a defense against treason?

Hat tip photo: Michelle Malkin.

Addendum: (Bit)… SITYS. Nice to be vindicated so quickly.

Pinch Sulzberger, d.b.a. the New York Times, seems intent on destroying, to what extent he can, Justice Clarence Thomas’ name and reputation.

First we have this babbling piece of idiocy from Maureen Dowd that is essentially all projection.

Second this piece of slop from Frank Riich.

Orin Kerr, Volokh Conspiracy, dismantles Rich’s arguement, such as it is.

The somewhat more pity Ann Althouse sums up Kerr’s piece this way.

Orin Kerr devastates Frank Rich…… 

… with facts  that Rich should be quite embarrassed not to have checked.

Anybody who Pinch loaths so much is alright by me.

DavidL in particular is going to be fascinated with this link:

The Jawa Report: Pelosi Hasn’t “Drained the Swamp” – She’s Nurtured it

Another campaign promise broken, another lie, and another Democrat failure:

WHEN she took over as speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi said she would “drain the swamp” of political corruption. Then she proceeded to push to have her old friend Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., to be her right-hand man.But Democrats balked. After all, Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam scandal.

Still Murtha remains the leader of what can only be described as Earmarks Inc., a string of congressmen who have figured out how to use earmarks to benefit their campaigns and their families.

Earmarks are special projects that a lone congressman or senator inserts into the budget. They must be funded. Earmarks fund U.S. 35, but they also can force the military to buy aircraft because the factory is in a congressman’s back yard.

There is a disturbing pattern of lobbyists raising money for congressmen who then steer earmarks to the clients of the lobbyists.

And some of those clients also are set up by the congressmen.

For example, Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., set up five tax-exempt groups in West Virginia, including one headed by a former staff member.

Then Mollohan steered money to those groups. The FBI looked into those connections.

Mollohan is not alone.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reported that Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania steered $10 million to a company headed by four nephews and his daughter.

Kanjorski heads the House Subcommittee on Economic Growth and Credit Formation. The irony is that even with $10 million in earmarked contracts, the family business folded.

What’s more amusing, he gives a hat tip to Glenn Reynolds.

Whereas we here at BitsBlog have been all over this since day one, mostly through the efforts of DavidL.

Lt Good, I like that you’ve come around on this…seriously. This needs far more attention than it’s getting, and damn sure more than the MSM is going to give it. Welcome to the party. But I have to tell you, it’s not as bad as you make it out as being. It’s far worse.

Addendum:  (David L)   On the other paw,  Scott, Powerline,  links Ann Althouse but kind gets her name wrong:

Ann Alton demonstrates convincingly that New York Times columnist Frank Rich hasn’t bothered to read Clarence Thomas’s memoir, the book that is at least in part the ostensible subject of his column today. Orin Kerr — who inspired Alton’s post — adds insult to injury (in Alton’s words) “with facts that Rich should be quite embarrassed not to have checked.”

No further comment.

Billy Beck:

Go look at the video clip that Nikoley has linked from Comedy Central: this is Stewart raking-over Field Marshal Rodham.

There has been some amount of noise lately over her sense of humor, what it might mean and what function it serves. Let me try to briefly explain something to you people:

This person is certainly not laughing with you, or for you. In this apparently compulsive display, there is a doubtless amount of calculation in dealing with questions that even incline to exposing her premises. (i.e.: “How do I make this unclear?”) In the overwhelming main, however, she is laughing at you.  Make no mistake about it: this is contempt.

Yes, quite so. Well, so much for the value of asking such people “the hard questions”.   It seems, that such tactics don’t work with people in domestic politics, any better than “asking the hard questions” of the Iranian president.

And yes, that is a comparison.  The implications of it should be apparent.   For one thing, I’m one who does understand it.   But, you’re right, those who do understand it for the threat it is, are too few.

I sure wish Fred had some more energy and some electricity about him.   Alas.   However Fred does make sense.   I all else fail, vote for the canidate with common sense.   That rules out hte ‘rats.

Yesterday I wrote about the heroic county clerks standing up to Governor Eliot Spitzer to protect New York State.    Now a Spainish language paper in New York has questioned the patriotism of these clerks.   El Dario has called these brave public servants mutinous..

I call El Dario’s editorial judgement dubious.

It must be a bear being part of the mainstream media these days.  Must also be a major problem for liberals, but then again that’s kind of a repetition, isn’t it?

The Gateway Pundit is running a brilliant piece today …
The New York Times Mourns the Loss of Their “Defining Atrocity”

In reading the New York Times article, one is decidedly left with the impression that the New York Times writers wish for all the world they could claim that the marines involved with the incident at Haditha could be called guilty within the bounds of Journalism 101. But with the last of the marines in question now heading towards having his case dismissed , the New York Times, and their leftist followers, are now reduced to complaining bitterly about how the prosecution didn’t prove their guilt. Indeed, what evidence exists, points to a group of dedicated military people doing their job as they were trained to do it.

And so now, the New York Times and the remainder of leftism no longer has the ability to define our actions in Iraq in a way that bolsters the case being made by the far left.  GW says, rightly;

And, isn’t it interesting how The New York Times is still searching for an atrocity to define the War in Iraq?

An Al-Qaeda atrocity like the Yazidi bombings, the murder of a brave young Sunni Sheik, or torture chamber drawings just won’t do.

And therein lies the whole thing.  If it doesn’t match the narrative that they want to project, it doesn’t get mentioned.  Rather like Slimeball extraordinaire, Jack Murtha, isn’t it?

I respectfully suggest, that the Haditha incident IS in fact, emblematic, of the left’s behavior as regards Iraq.  Indeed, what could possibly have defined it better?  They will leap to accuse our military of atrocities, while ignoring what we are over there to do.  They’ve done it dozens of times and more…. Haditha is certainly not the sole incident of this type. Over the past few years, they have leaped at anything that looks like it might have a chance of casting our military, our president, and our country, in a bad light.

Every.

Single.

Time.

Then Haditha came along.

Jack Murtha and his comments at the time, for which he is being sued today, and for which he has yet to apologize, must have been what Alan Greenspan would term “irrational exuberance”.  He wasn’t the only one, but he was certainly up on the front lines, almost dancing with glee at being able to grab the spotlight and reciting louder now, on the narrative that they’d been trying to push for so long…. and ignoring the atrocities being committed by al-Qaida. .  .. something they’re still doing.

Look at it from their POV…
Haditha looked to them like the golden opportunity to prove they’ve been right all along…. that Iraq was the wrong thing to do, that America really IS bad, our soldiers are thugs, that Bush IS Hitler, and so on. Oh, boy, let’s talk this up. We’ll bring those Republicans down… we’ll swing America to the left again….

But then reality set in.

One by one, the Marines were exonerated, the cases dropped.  Not for lack of evdience, but rather by way of evidence which proved they did their jobs, and did them right. According to some news reports, when the case against those marines started falling apart, evidence started being falsified, to prevent the exoneration of the marines. 

Oops.

So now, what is the image being projected by this whole thing?

That the Democrats are willing to toss anyone and anything under the bus to gain governmental power. Our Soldiers. Our county’s standing in the world. Millions of Iraqi lives.  The truth. Anything.

There are many words which can describe such behavior, but perhaps none more appropriate than “Stalinist”.  Do you begin to understand the depth of what America faces with these people?

But what happened, here?

How could they have been so wrong, and so willingly?

To explain that, let me tell you something else, just in case you haven’t made the connection yet. I linked a story earlier today, which quotes General Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese military commander.  Go and read the whole thing, if you haven’t seen it yet.  But I want you to note particularly, this passage:

Question: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi’s victory?

Answer: It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us.

Now, look at a story DavidL posted here in April the 26th of this year

A videotape taken by an Iraqi showed the aftermath of the alleged attack: a blood-smeared bedroom floor and bits of what appear to be human flesh and bullet holes on the walls.

Now the truth emerges.  The Haditha charges were a lie.  The Marines acted in self-defense and Murtha lied:

NewsMax, however, can reveal that the facts of what happened early that November morning clearly show that the incident was part of a planned ambush by insurgent forces, that the civilians tragically killed in the were used as human shields by the insurgents, and that despite claims by Rep. John Murtha, there was indeed an ongoing firefight between the Marines and the enemy.

Now you tell me; what do you suppose the chances are that the whole thing was staged, so as to provide the democrats here in the United States, a narrative that they could work with, to further their point?  Have a few people dressed as civilians attack American soldiers…  (by definition, guerilla warfare) …and when the inevitable occurs, tape it and send the tape back to America, and await the results.

I know it sounds pretty extreme, but becoming a suicide bomber is probably the most extreme thing I can think of.  Costly, in terms of lives, would be such a plan, but a very efficient use of such lives, toward the goal of defeating the United States. Certainly, more effective than the number of car bombings that a similar number of lives would have cost.  After all, the left here in the states is a reliable ally… just like Fonda and company in Vietnam…

What I’m suggesting, is that the left in this country, along with the willing accomplices in the media, fell for a hoax.  Yes, civilians were killed. Yes, they were killed by American soldiers.  But where those people civilians? Did they intend to die in that skirmish? Let me call your attention to something else I posted today…

Just so we know this was no fluke, no slip of the tongue… that he really meant to say this, he went farther:, saying he is willing to sacrifice 70 Palestinians to ensure the death of one Israeli. And just so we know we heard it correctly, the speech was rebroadcast several times on PA radio today. “We will defend the holy land with our blood and with our spirit,” he wailed. “We do not only wear uniforms; we are all military. We are all martyrs in paradise.”

Granted, that in the quote these are Palestinians we’re talking about, not insurgents operating in Iraq.  But I doubt there are many people who are going to argue that their motivations are not very similar indeed.

So eager was the on American left, to reinforce its narrative of America of being the bad guy, that they fell for a hoax.  Fell for it hook, line, sinker, rod, reel, fisherman, and half the coastline. Fell for it because the’ve been spewing how we’re evil for so long, they’re starting to succumb to their own venom.

The really scary part of all of this, is that is the most generous reading of the data, as regards the left.  Again, do you begin to understand the depth of what America is up against what these people?

Also on the case: Q and O The Jawa Report, Blue Crab Boulevard Ed Driscoll.com

From The Swamp

Rep. Jo Ann Davis, Virginia’s first female Republican member of Congress, died today after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 57.

Davis, an outspoken social conservative and staunch advocate for Navy shipbuilding, had been absent from Capitol Hill most of the year as she struggled with a recurrence of breast cancer.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis after her long struggle with cancer,” said John H. Hager, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, in a written statement. “Virginia has lost a passionate advcoate for better government, and her legacy as a defender of conservative princples will always be remembered.”

You do know that October is Breast cancer awareness month, right?  Drill the pink ribbon for more information.

In a mind boggling dumb move, which drew the warth of the blog.  New York Governor Eliot Spitzer ordered the state to issue driver licenses to illegal aliens.

While New York State’s governor may be willing to insult the citizens of the state whom elected him, thirteen elected county clerks professed loyalty to the consituents,

Tom Precious, Buffalo News:

ALBANY — County clerks across New York State revolted Thursday against Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer’s new policy that will let illegal immigrants obtain driver’s licenses, with at least a dozen counties saying they would refuse to implement the controversial program.

Setting up a major legal confrontation, the clerks from 13 counties — including Genesee, Allegany and Monroe — called Spitzer’s policy a threat to the state’s security that was rushed into without the input from legislators, law enforcement and those on the front lines who issue the licenses.

County clecks are elected.   They work for the people of their county and not the governor.   This should bear watching.

Rochester, NY—12-19-01 21:21Hrs-

Back on the 13th of September , a mere day and a half following the attack on America, I pinned the fault for this happening, squarely on the shoulders of one Bill Clinton, for having done the Neville Chamberlain dance with Yassir Arafat. I’ve been suspecting for a long while, and made my feelings public that day, that the problem was Clinton either being collusional enough, or perhaps being more kind… flat out stupid enough, to be dealing with Arafat as if he was the genuine article.

I caught hell from the usual suspects, but that only served to confirm I was onto something. Indeed, I went further in my next several articles, saying in the most recent, that we’d have to take Arafat out. As of today, it looks like I have proof that I pinned it. Within three days, This unspeakable slimeball has tried playing one end then the other. Just today, Arafat put the Hamas leader suit back on and appealed for martyrs in the war against Israel.

In an address in Ramallah, said Palestinians should regard a Palestinian youngster killed in crossfire between PA and Israeli forces killed in the Gaza Strip as an example for the Palestinian people. And some of the reports I’ve seen say the kid was so busy chucking peaceful stones, he never noticed the Palestinians opening up behind him. In all likelihood, in his act of hate, he got caught between his elders act of hate, and their intended target… the victims in all of this…Israel. Arafat, trying desperately to score points with his Hamas Masters, said all Palestinians are martyrs. Now, doesn’t that sound cozy? Oh, so peaceful.

Just so we know this was no fluke, no slip of the tongue… that he really meant to say this, he went farther:, saying he is willing to sacrifice 70 Palestinians to ensure the death of one Israeli. And just so we know we heard it correctly, the speech was rebroadcast several times on PA radio today. “We will defend the holy land with our blood and with our spirit,” he wailed. “We do not only wear uniforms; we are all military. We are all martyrs in paradise.” According to at least one account I’ve seen, the crowd seeing the speech live began to chant that millions of Palestinians are prepared to march as martyrs to Jerusalem.

So peaceful huh? If we take his word, that means that all bets are off, and that any Palestinian is a legit target. That’s really what you want? So be it, Yassir.

And all of this, as I say, less than two days after calling for an end of Palestinian attacks against Israel. Of course, Palestinian insurgency groups have rejected Arafat’s appeal, and apparently dropped a few well-worded threats, and presto-chango, he’s a warrior again. Well, news flash, guys… he’s always been a warrior. He’s been using this ‘peacemaker’ act as he would any other weapon… against his enemy. That much has now been made so startlingly clear, even those of the left can no longer deny it. The PA cannot be trusted, and never should have been trusted. It’s been clear to me for some years, now, but as I said some months ago…

The supposedly peace loving liberals among us must feel blind sided as regards the middle east these days, as they are a great many things. Because of Bill Clinton’s bumbling in the Middle East, we’re now closer to war than we have been in years.

Ah, yes… Middle East peace. Never have so many westerners given so much for so little. So great is the need to believe that sacrifice and bloodshed will not be necessary; and that peace and prosperity are the universal goals of mankind, that they were willing to accept the help of a known liar toward their goal of, as Neville Chamberlain put it; “Never to go to war with one another again”.

We now see where this leads us. There is no longer any argument that the bumbling of Mr. Clinton has led us to this pass. It is now to George W. Bush to clean up the mess Clinton made, while Clinton’s fellow Democrats fight him almost as tenaciously as El Quieda. One wonders, if after all proof, the Democrats continue to fight Bush’s efforts, because they and El Quieda share the same goals…. The destruction of America.

The vast majority approves of Mr. Bush’s actions and continues to thrash the Democrats in the job approval polling. Yet the partisans keep trying to play roadblock in our efforts against the Terrorists and our recovery efforts as well, all while blaming Mr. Bush for Mr. Clinton’s doings.

The sad part is, Clinton won’t pay for this crime, nor will his supporters and apologists both then and now. The really sad part is, WE will be paying for his trying to diffuse his legacy, for decades to come.

Confederate Yankee. notes today :

Just how long does it take to pen a retraction?

I only ask because it’s been roughly a month since The New Republic had their first solid chance to interview Scott Thomas Beauchamp since he returned from duty at COP Ellis.

Since then, he’s been online–hence, available–at least several days every week, including today. Beauchamp even had time to talk with Laughing Wolf from Blackfive as recently as September 30. Why not TNR?

Is Scott not talking to Franklin Foer, or is Franklin Foer simply unwilling to print what Scott has to say?

Personally, my take is is that Foer doesn’t have the integrity that God gave jello.  He’s just hoping that if he doesn’t say anything about the whole thing, and it is going to go away.

To put more of a bite on this, I expect a retraction of Foer and TNR about the time we’ll see an apology from that unspeakable slime ball Jack Murtha publicly issued to the soldiers he slandered.  Or, Jesse McBeth.  Rather/Mapes. Plame/Wilson, etc. Moveon/Petraeus.

Gee.  We’re beginning to see a trend, aren’t we?

Michelle has more.

Those who don’t learn from history, become Democrats.

Here’s the truth about the Vietnam war.

Many years after the Vietnam War, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese military commander, wrote,”if it were not for the disunity created by…stateside protest, Hanoi would have ultimately surrendered.” Former North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin explained, “Through dissent and protest lost the ability to mobilize a will to win.” With the help of certain journalists who couldn’t tell the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield, the communists prevailed. While antiwar activists were spitting in the face of our returning troops, the people of South Vietnam were being slaughtered by the thousands.

Militant Islamists understand recent American history, and they understand that the only way to defeat America is to turn her against herself. Although President Bush handily won reelection, the defeatists have decided to continue their apoplectic campaign. Formerly known as liberals or progressives, the defeatists apparently prefer the status quo of despotic power over the prospect of liberty.

…

Question [to NVA COL Bui Tin]: How did Hanoi intend to defeat the Americans?

Answer: By fighting a long war which would break their will to help South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh said, We don’t need to win military victories, we only need to hit them until they give up and get out.”

Question: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi’s victory?

Answer: It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us.

Question: What was the purpose of the 1968 Tet Offensive?

Answer: To relieve the pressure Gen. Westmoreland was putting on us in late 1966 and 1967 and to weaken American resolve during a presidential election year.

The bottom line is we won the battle field, but were defeated by anti American leftists.

The Col confirms this himself :

The conscience of America was part of its war-making capability, and we were turning that power in our favor. America lost because of its democracy; through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win.

Now, can anyone tell me how the Democrats are helping our enemies in the Middle East, today?

COALITION FORCES KILL ONE TERRORIST, DETAIN EIGHT SUSPECTS

Posted: 04 Oct 2007 10:26 AM CDT

COALITION FORCES KILL ONE TERRORIST, DETAIN EIGHT SUSPECTS

IRAQI ARMY SCOUTS, U.S. SPECIAL FORCES DETAIN FIVE, KILL TWO

Posted: 04 Oct 2007 10:08 AM CDT

IRAQI ARMY SCOUTS, U.S. SPECIAL FORCES DETAIN FIVE, KILL TWO

SEVERAL MILITANTS KILLED IN PAKTIKA PROVINCE

Posted: 05 Oct 2007 09:35 AM CDT

SEVERAL MILITANTS KILLED IN PAKTIKA PROVINCE

CIVILIANS FOUND DEAD, INJURED AFTER BATTLE BETWEEN MILITANTS, AFGHAN, COALITION FORCES

Posted: 05 Oct 2007 09:33 AM CDT

CIVILIANS FOUND DEAD, INJURED AFTER BATTLE BETWEEN MILITANTS, AFGHAN, COALITION FORCES

Well, we’ll be making a camper run this weekend. We plan to leave Sunday AM.

We’re not really sure where we’re going, yet.  Depends on the weather report. Ashtabula seems reasonable.  Or, the 1000 Islands, I don’t know.  Traditionally, our Columbus day  run has been very seat of the pants.

To give you an idea of how last minute this can be, and how whether dependent….. One year,  we went camping in Linesville, OH… 70 degrees down there while we were camping. I’ve got a picture of our rig sitting in a truck stop in Erie, Pennsylvania, with an inch and a half of snow on it, taken on the way home from that trip. on in the process of doing some server moves, just now, or I would dig it up.

I’ll have pics, of course.