Former Gubernatorial Candidate Connolly arrested

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) _ The lawyer who divulged President Bush’s drunken-driving arrest days before the 2000 election was arrested at gunpoint today over a Halloween stunt.

Police say Tom Connolly was wearing a terrorist costume complete with a plastic assault rifle while trying to make a political statement for passing motorists on Interstate 295 in South Portland. Police arrested him this morning and charged him with criminal threatening, a misdemeanor. Police said initial cash bail was set at 540 dollars.

Police say Connolly was wearing an Osama bin Laden outfit replete with a plastic dynamite belt, plastic grenades and a replica of an AK-47 assault rifle. He was carrying a sign that said “I love TABOR,” a reference to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the ballot a week from today. But South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins says one of the people who saw it thought it said “I love the Taliban.”

Only a liberal could seriously equate low taxes to terrorism.

The “international community” backed ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has predictably failed. UNIFIL has ignored its mandate to disarm Hezbollah, Iran has funded the militant terrorist organizations rebuilding and Syria has attempted to reassert its control over neighboring Lebanon. Threatswatch reports:

As the senior UN envoy to Lebanon, Terje Roed-Larsen, informs the Security Council that members the Lebanese government have recently ?stated publicly and also in conversations with us that there has been arms coming across the border into Lebanon,? the United States is voicing familiar concern that Syria and Iran are trying to destabilize Lebanon. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said after a closed-door Security Council briefing that Lebanese members of government were providing some information, ?But the government was afraid to be specific about these arms coming across the Syrian-Lebanese border because of fear of retaliation.?

The threat perceived by members of the Lebanese government is real and present. Following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a UN commission that has since stalled and faltered has only investigated Syria. In the time that lapsed after the Hariri murder, there were numerous assassinations and assassination attempts against anti-Syrian Lebanese figures in government and media. Lebanese citizens openly accused Syria of attempts to silence Lebanese opposition to Syrian control.

. . .Following the ceasefire, Iran was at the forefront offering massive amounts of reconstruction money. The likely principal purpose of that money was not to rebuild the Lebanese civilian infrastructure but, as the Bint Jbail resident indicates, to rebuild Hizballah?s damaged and destroyed positions in and under southern Lebanon.

. . .After the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese government agreed to allow Hizballah to keep their arms so long as they did not carry or display them publicly. The influx of additional UNIFIL forces that came into southern Lebanon to stand as a buffer between Hizballah and the IDF saw its leadership demonstrate no will to disarm Hizballah as called for by the UN Security Council resolution that served as the mandate that brought them to the region.

Even after all that’s happened, the world still isn’t serious about this threat.

Heavy coverage at midterm favors Democrats, study says

Network news coverage has favored Democratic candidates in the midterm election, and the page scandal involving former congressman Mark Foley has been the main story line, drawing almost as much coverage as Iraq and terrorism combined, a new study finds.

An analysis by the Center for Media and Public Affairs of midterm election stories aired on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts Sept. 5-Oct. 22 found that 2006’s coverage has been almost five times as heavy as in the 2002 midterm elections: 167 stories, compared with 35 four years ago.

The study found that three out of four evaluations of Democratic candidates’ chances of winning ? such as sound bites ? were positive, compared with one out of eight for Republicans. Coverage has been dominated by two major themes: the effects of the Foley scandal, and the impact the Bush presidency is having on the party’s congressional candidates.

The Foley scandal produced 59 stories alone, compared with 33 on Iraq and 31 on terrorism/national security issues. ?What’s hurting Republican candidates is the media’s focus on two non-candidates: Mark Foley and George W. Bush,? says center director Robert Lichter.

Because of the focus on Foley, the re-election race of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was featured in 42 stories. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was featured in 10 stories, even though he’s not up for re-election this year. Sen. Hillary Clinton’s possible 2008 presidential run was grist for nine stories.

Hat tip: La Shawn Barber’s Corner

Hat tip: Hot Air

Micheal Steele’s campaign has been building significant momentum as of late, and now he’s recieved a major endorsement from local Democratic leaders.

Former Prince George’s County executive Wayne K. Curry, backed by five black members of the Prince George’s County Council, today endorsed Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Mr. Curry, a Democrat who became the first black Prince George’s county executive in 1994, and served two terms, is influential in Prince George’s, the state’s second-largest county, with about 846,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

. . .Prince George’s is also 65 percent black, and is expected to play a key role in Maryland’s Nov. 7 U.S. Senate race between Mr. Steele, who is from Prince George’s, and Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin, who is white and from Baltimore.

Mr. Curry signaled his dissatisfaction with Maryland’s Democratic Party last spring, when a Democratic poll was leaked to the press, calling Mr. Steele a “unique threat” to the Democrats.

The poll advised Democrats to “knock Steele down” by linking Mr. Steele to President Bush and national Republicans, to turn Mr. Steele “into a typical Republican in the eyes of voters, as opposed to an African-American candidate.”

Mr. Curry was incensed by the poll, and said at the time that Mr. Steele’s candidacy presented an “enormously historic” opportunity for blacks that “may ultimately break this sort of vices grip by Democrats who feel entitled to black votes regardless of how they treat black voters.”

It looks like years of neglect and Democratic disdain towards the black community is finally coming back to haunt them. Steele has a very good chance of making the Maryland Senate race the biggest upset of this election season.

Tragically misheadlined: UK wants to improve image with Muslims

LONDON - The British government would like to change the perception in the Muslim world that its foreign policies are hostile as part of reforms aimed at reducing terrorism, according to Cabinet documents obtained by a newspaper and published Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph said it had obtained Cabinet documents that suggest the government aim for a ?significant reduction in the number and intensity of the regional conflicts that fuel terror activity.? In an ideal world, ?the Muslim would not perceive (Britain) and its foreign policies as hostile,? the documents said.

The memo, which the newspaper said was circulated to Cabinet ministers and security officials, also laid out a political wish list of sorts including stability in Iraq and Afghanistan, peace in the Middle East, and a nuclear-free Iran.

In an ideal world, Islamic Jihadists wouldn’t be trying to export Sharia law across the entire world. Alas, we live not in an ideal world. The “regional conflicts”, of course, are anything but. As I’ve said before, regional complaints are coopted by the Islamists out of convenience, but their ultimate goals are quite globally minded. Pandering to their local complaints will only embolden them, further paving the way for Europe’s eventual conversion.

British dhimmi’s still don’t get it. Jihadists don’t hate you because of a “hostile foreign policy”, they hate you because you are infidels.

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs

Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species

A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists’ recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.

In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agency’s inspector general to look into the role of Julie MacDonald, who has been deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks since 2004, in decisions on protecting endangered species.

The documents show that MacDonald has repeatedly refused to go along with staff reports concluding that species such as the white-tailed prairie dog and the Gunnison sage grouse are at risk of extinction. Career officials and scientists urged the department to identify the species as either threatened or endangered.

Wapo has gone completely off the reservation. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dumber story in my life, and that’s saying a lot. Where’s the news here? It’s a major, frontpage story when a boss overrules the recommendations of his underlings? Are these people for real? So, where are all the headlines proclaiming “Wapo editor rejects op-ed, ignores recommendation of brilliant staff writers”?

The agenda here couldn’t be any more transparent if these whiny liberals tattooed it on their foreheads.

What if the polls are wrong? What if the media’s jubilant predictions of a Republican blowout don’t come to pass? What if Nancy Pelosi wakes up on November 8th and realizes that she’ll have to forfeit the deposit she’s made to the interior decorator for the majority leader’s office? What reaction can we expect from the liberal left?

If the 2004 election is any indication, the polls are not to be trusted to call the election. The media has been predicting the demise of the republicans ever since Raegan was sworn in. And Nancy Pelosi is almost never right. Whatever the politicians and pundits think they see from up in the clouds of Washington and Manhattan, the view from the ground here in America where we ordinary people live is much different. And from where I’m sitting, a Democrat victory is anything but a sure thing.

But don’t tell that to the Bush Haters. To them this election is over already. The media and the polls say so. As always, the only way the neoconz can survive this is to steal the election (again). Whether through connections with electronic voter machine maker Diebold, or the collusion of state election overseers in rigging the count, the fascist Republicans, they imagine, will do whatever it takes to get the vote in their favor. Possibly in a subconscious attempt to brace their fragile psyches for another dissapointing and unexpected change of fortunes on election day, they are planting the seeds of the excuses and accusations timed to germinate on November 8. So if the Democrats don’t take the house and senate, it’s not because the electorate simply doesn’t trust them when they say they can do better (despite them doing their damndest to keep their proposed agenda under wraps) it’s because they were right all along, the totalitarian Republicans have hoodwinked us all and we’re too dumb to know it.

Exhibit A - by Lyn Davis Lear on the Huffington Post.

All week I’ve been reading in disparate sources from Drudge to US News and World Report about Bush, Rove and Cheney being overly confident about the midterm elections. Even Republican strategists are increasingly concerned because the White House doesn’t have a plan if they lose. This lack of planning shouldn’t surprise anyone, but if you really think about it a creepy, crawly feeling grows in your gut.

Here are some questions: Are these guys simply narcissistic idiots Rove-ing around in some never-never land bubble or do they know something we don’t? Have they planned a grab bag nose punch of an October/November surprise? Or have Diebold, ES&S, and local state secretaries assured them that they will do “whatever it takes” to get a Republican Congress elected again?…Knowing this group, the answers must lie in a clever blitzkrieg combo of all of the above.

So the seed is planted. And the response from the left in the “impossible” event of a Democrat failure to take power?

Therefore we should all be on alert. If for whatever reason we don’t win back Congress in November the only real answer will be to take to the streets.

There we have it. It never once occurred to them that we’ve been here before. Same time, same place, four years ago. Certainly the political landscape has undergone drastic change in that time, but there are many similarities. And remember, in 2002 the democrats were supposed to pick up 20 house seats and hold the senate. At least according to the polls, and the media, and the conventional wisdom up in the clouds. And we all know what actually happened.

Like the sports fan who leaves the game early thinking it was already decided, only to miss a fantastic comeback, the democrats have reached the parking lot. Soon they’ll flip on their radio only to learn that their team has lost. They’ll wonder how it could be that the other team snatched away their victory. Hopefully, they’ll come to the realization that it was a victory they never had to begin with. Because it’s not over til it’s over. No amount of wishful thinking or excuses will change that.

There was an excellent article in OpinionJournal the other day which illuminated some of the working of Iranian society. Unfortunately, is offers bad news for those who hope of internal reform.

. . .I live in a country where alcohol is officially banned, but where the art of homemade spirits has reached new heights. Sharing my astonishment about the cocktail book with some friends with better connections to the Islamist regime, they explained the government has a silent pact with the educated and affluent in Iran’s big cities, who render politics unto Caesar, provided that Caesar keeps his nose out of their liquor cabinets.

In other words, the well-to-do Iranian drinks and reads and watches what he wishes. He does as he pleases behind the walls of his private mansions and villas. In return for his private comforts, the affluent Iranian is happy to sacrifice freedom of speech, most of his civil rights, and his freedom of association. The upper-middle class has been bought off by this pact, which makes a virtue of hypocrisy.

. . .”I can afford yearly two or three months’ vacation in Dubai, Europe or even America,” my friend said. “Why should I bother to organize a protest against seizing our satellite dishes? We may be forfeiting our freedoms, as you say, but when the price of avoiding the authorities is so affordable, why would we risk everything to take on the regime? We have to wait until society itself is disillusioned, and the masses open their eyes.”

In this world, it is only the principled intellectuals of moderate means who suffer, like my friend Farid Nazari, who courageously speaks his mind on all occasions and who operates a stall that sells banned books. He has had his inventory seized several times in the last two years. “We live in a circus,” he said. “We, as the people of culture, are victims of official idiosyncrasy. The authorities act impulsively based on whimsical assessments of risk. Their actions defy common sense and logic, so are completely unpredictable. It is that unpredictability that leads to panic and intellectual paralysis. That’s the secret of the current Iranian despotism.”

That, and hypocrisy. The well-to-do are paying a price for their comforts, and I wonder sometimes if they understand what it is. How can you have a revolution when everyone is watching TV?

The Iranian hardline government is not stupid. They understand the dangers dictatorships face and are apparantly quite willing to look the other way on many issues, even in the face of their own ideology, in order to minimalize the risk of serious challenge to their leadership. At the end of the article came this simply, yet very powerful, line:

“Farouz Farzami” is the pseudonym of a journalist who is forbidden to publish in Iran.

The media can’t make up its mind. Are the Democrats soaring to a massive electoral victory unheard of in the history of the world, ever? Or are they the lovable underdogs taking on the evil, devious and much more powerful Republicans? One would think these two views would be contradictory, but somehow we manage to get both. While most media cheerleading goes with the “wave” line, this Wapo piece dared to be different and went for the “underdog” meme.

Democrats continued to raise large amounts of campaign cash this month, but not enough to erase the Republicans’ multimillion-dollar lead.

Wo ho ho! Go Dems, catch those evil Republicans!

With the midterm elections so near, both parties are pouring huge sums into the House’s three dozen or so competitive races.

“During the endgame, the parties are spending as much as the candidates themselves,” said Michael J. Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute.

Even so, Malbin noted, so many GOP candidates are behind in recent polls that not even their well-funded party committees can afford to expend resources on all of them.

And by “recent polls” they mean “media propoganda stories”, like this Wapo poll oversampling Democrats by 8% compared to 2004.

Al-Reuters went with the more typical “Democrat tsunami is coming!”

Democrats enter the final week of the fight for Congress with a commanding edge over Republicans, who hope a major voter turnout effort and shift in focus away from Iraq can limit their losses.

Recent polls show that growing Democratic momentum, fed by dissatisfaction with President George W. Bush’s leadership and the war in Iraq, threatens Republican power in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

Hysterical nonsense. Recent polls actually show, if anything, growing Republican momentum - which I highlighted earlier.

Apparantly, the media finds no dissonance in simultaneously portraying the Democrats as both huge favorites and “resurgent” underdogs.