Degree of Madness

Israel to release child killer for bodies of two Israeli soldiers

A prisoner swap?  Israel has agreed to release child killer Samir Kuntar, convicted "by an Israeli court in a 1979 attack that ended in the deaths of three members of an Israeli family. Kuntar, then 16, shot and killed Danny Haran in front of his 4-year-old daughter, and then smashed her head with his rifle butt. Haran's wife accidentally smothered their 2-year-old daughter as she attempted to quiet the girl in their hiding space. Two Israeli policeman also were killed".

Hezbollah has agreed to release the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.  Soldiers they kidnapped in 2006...for the express purpose of trading them for Samir Kuntar.  The child killer.  The two Israeli soldiers are presumed dead.  Kuntar is very much alive.  I'm not exactly sure what one would call it but calling it a "prisoner swap" is laughable.  (my emphasis):

Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved a rare prisoner swap with the Shiite militia Hezbollah, agreeing to free a convicted murderer and others in exchange for two Israeli soldiers who are believed to be dead. The soldiers — Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev — were captured in a 2006 cross-border raid by Hezbollah...

[...]

Officials expect the latest deal to be completed within two weeks. By Sunday night, Hezbollah was boasting about the exchange, with one leader calling it "proof that the word of the resistance is the most faithful, strongest and supreme."

Sandmonkey on August 13, 2006:

Samir Kuntar, in case you didn't know, is the main guy that Hezbollah kidnapped the 2 israeli soldiers to get back.

So, they finally get him back.  Think Hezbollah won't try this again?  Caroline Glick, writing on June 27:

It is impossible to know precisely how many Israelis will be killed in the future if the deals now on the table are approved. But past experience shows that at a minimum, dozens of Israelis now innocently going about their business will be murdered by the terrorists Israel releases. And at a minimum, one or two Israelis will be abducted by Hamas or Hizbullah or one of their sister terror organizations. They will be abducted in Israel or while they are travelling abroad and they will be brought to Lebanon or Gaza and the cycle of blood extortion and psychological warfare will begin anew.

That Israel will pay a price in blood if the deals go through is a certainty. That more Israelis will meet the fates of Schalit, Regev and Goldwasser is a certainty. The only thing we do not know today is the names of the victims. They could be any one of us. Indeed, they are all of us. For all of us are equally targeted simply by virtue of the fact that we are Israelis.

The fate of another kidnapped Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, is still being negotiated:

Hezbollah seized the two Israeli soldiers shortly after the Palestinian group Hamas captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in southern Israel, and it was the one-two punch of such actions that partly pushed Mr. Olmert to order such a fierce response against Hezbollah in 2006.

[...]

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said there had not been progress on the release of Corporal Shalit, who is known to be alive and whom Israel wants desperately to bring home. Mr. Abu Zuhri said Hamas was demanding 1,000 prisoners in return for Corporal Shalit, 450 of them serving life sentences in Israeli prisons. Israel has apparently objected to releasing some of them, and the negotiations continue.

Always and Never

Daniel Pipes:

As Barack Obama's candidacy comes under increasing scrutiny, his account of his religious upbringing deserves careful attention for what it tells us about the candidate's integrity.

Obama asserted in December, "I've always been a Christian," and he has adamantly denied ever having been a Muslim. "The only connection I've had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father's side came from that country [Kenya]. But I've never practiced Islam." In February, he claimed: "I have never been a Muslim. … other than my name and the fact that I lived in a populous Muslim country for 4 years when I was a child [Indonesia, 1967-71] I have very little connection to the Islamic religion."

"Always" and "never" leave little room for equivocation. But many biographical facts, culled mainly from the American press, suggest that, when growing up, the Democratic candidate for president both saw himself and was seen as a Muslim.

Pipes provides the statements and the links.  We can read and ignore them at our peril:

Obama's having been born and raised a Muslim and having left the faith to become a Christian make him neither more nor less qualified to become president of the United States. But if he was born and raised a Muslim and is now hiding that fact, this points to a major deceit, a fundamental misrepresentation about himself that has profound implications about his character and his suitability as president.

No doubt Obama considers questions about his background "smears".  It occurs to me that when Obama doesn't want to answer the question, he simply calls it a smear.  Or a distraction.

Pony up, Obama.  You're running for President of the United States.  Very few questions are off the table.  You want to be President?  Act like it.  Answer the questions.  Stop hiding behind your Fight the Smears website.  It's transparent and lame. 

5-4...Why elections matter

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Yet four Supreme Court Justices believe Washington, D.C. could infringe the right of the People to keep and bear arms.  The dissenters:  Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer,  Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter:

In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority “would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons.”

He said such evidence “is nowhere to be found.”

Scott Allan sums it up nicely:

Nowhere to be found???   How about right in the Constitution?   It’s there.  Get those glasses checked old man.  “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

It’s the old liberal trick. If you say something loud and often enough, it must be true. I bet you think the emperor is wearing clothes too. Justice Stevens, whether you like it or not, the Constitution was in fact designed to limit the tools available to local officials so they don’t infringe on our basic liberties.  That is the entire point of the Constitution.  You sir are an idiot.

Yet Stevens sits on the Supreme Court.  The Second Amendment is quite clear.  SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.  There was no qualification, no ambiguity.  Scott concludes:

If you don’t like the Second Amendment, there is a method for altering the Constitution which does not consist of activist life-appointed Justices taking matters into their own hands. This is not an interpretation they are undertaking, it is a bastardization based on their personal beliefs.

Even if you are not thrilled by John McCain, you MUST vote for him. This election is bigger than who the next President is. Can you imagine an unchecked Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government with no regard for our Constitution?

Every election matters.  We do not need any more Supreme Court Justices whose personal beliefs take precedence over our Constitution. This issue should have been a no-brainer, the ruling should have been 9-0, in favor of our right to keep and bear arms as GUARANTEED by our Constitution.

The race card table

Barack Obama, speaking at a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida, said Republicans will use race to try to scare voters:

"It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy," Obama told a fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida. "We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid.

"They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?

NPR's Scott Simon had a great response to Obama's outrageous comments:

Senator Obama's opponent in the general election is John McCain, not a small band of jerks on the Internet. To my knowledge, Senator McCain has never mentioned Senator Obama's race, much less in the tone Senator Obama implied. What has John McCain ever done or said to merit the charge that he's going to make Senator Obama's race an issue?

Here is the link to the audio.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has now joined the "they're going to play the race card" chorus, going so far as to say pretty much any criticism of Obama constitutes racism (emphasis mine):

Echoing comments by Barack Obama, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius predicted that Republicans would undertake "a major effort to try and frighten people about him" because of his race.

"That has been the Republican playbook for the last eight years," said Sebelius, an Obama ally. " 'He’s not qualified, he's somebody who should scare you. He's too liberaI.' "

The Kansas Democrat, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Obama, said those were all "code words" to try to make voters "uncomfortable."

"I don’t think anybody's going to go directly at the race issue, but that’s going to be an underlying theme," she said in an interview this week.

The last eight years?  What is she talking about, pray tell?  Has Obama been running for the last eight years?  Calling someone liberal or unqualified is somehow using "code words" for racism?  I guess I didn't get the code book. 

In his Jacksonville speech Obama claimed to know the Republican strategy, "they've already shown their cards":

"We know the strategy because they've already shown their cards. Ultimately I think the American people recognize that old stuff hasn't moved us forward. That old stuff just divides us," he said.

Obama gave no examples of such card showing by Republicans, but he certainly showed his own cards.  His strategy is pretty clear.  And Kathleen Sebelius just confirmed it. 

Scott Simon:

Millions of Americans hope the country can go through this year's historic presidential campaign without anyone playing the race card. They'll have to watch both sides of the table.

Right now it appears there's only one side at the table.

Hussein...It works for a boy or a girl!

“We Are All Hussein”:

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.

“Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads.

With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.

Lord Help Us.  These people can actually vote.

Respectfully,
Julie Sidney Green

On the cover of the Rolling Stone

NRO's Media Blog held a caption contest.  Here's a sample:

Obama gazed upon his minions, and He called them "the Media", and it was good.

More caption-worthy photos here.

(Via Ed Driscoll)

And it came to pass.

Live Green or Die!

The no-fry zone:

Warning to Southern delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver this August: it will be a no-fry zone.

As part of the effort to make the August 25-28 convention the greenest ever, the Democrats' guidelines for food catering include one that strikes at the heart of Southern cuisine: no fried food.

Attendees will be served "red, green, yellow, purple/blue and white" food. 

"It's the new patriotism," says Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the driving force behind the greening of the Democratic convention.

Maybe Southern delegates can at least get some grits.  They are white.  Salt is white and butter is yellow. That's just two colors though.  The Mayor says you must be served three colors at each meal.  Anyone know where you can buy blue pepper? 

More on Denver's "new patriotism" here.

Via:  see-dubya..."it’s not merely a ban on fried food–it’s affirmative action for food!"

From the Front Lines...Over $1 Million!

The goal was $500,000.  When the Web-a-Thon for the troops officially ended at midnight the final tally was $1,055,719.

What a tremendous success!  The blogosphere came through for our troops in a big way.  Melanie Morgan and Michelle Malkin, who did a fantastic job, were helped and encouraged by quite a few special guests who took time yesterday to promote this most worthy cause.  (Including some really special guests: We heard from the White House and the office of Gen. David Petraeus and troops from Ft. Leavenworth.)

If you were unable to get through last night, you can still contribute at the Move America Forward Campaign Store.

What a great way to show our love and support for the men and women who sacrifice so much for us.

From the Front Lines, Thursday June 26...

Michelle Malkin and Melanie Morgan will be hosting a web-a-thon today in support of our troops.  The goal is to send the "largest number of care packages in history to our men and women in uniform serving overseas".  Care packages can be purchased at the Move America Forward store, with prices starting at $15.99.

Michelle and Melanie will go live on Ustream.TV at 4PM Eastern:

I’ll be in beautiful Mountain View, CA all day today for “From the Frontlines,” our ground-breaking web-a-thon for the troops. Move America Forward’s Melanie Morgan and I will go live on Ustream.TV and right here at MichelleMalkin.com (as well as at HotAir.com) at 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific. (Just hit the play button on the embedded video player above when showtime arrives; if you’d like to join the live chatroom, make sure to register at UStream beforehand!) I’ll be updating this post all day as I liveblog the event from UStream’s studios. Thanks to all our fellow bloggers who’ve helped spread the word!

Hot Air has a widget that will track the progress towards the goal of $500,000 in donations.

Thanks to Michelle and Melanie for hosting this "Internet first".  Time to go shopping.. 

Non possumus

Just say no to Marsupials.  The Possum Sleeps Tonight:

Last week, Barack Obama unveiled a new campaign seal -- and not the kind that swims, barks and balances balls on the end of its nose. Rather, it was the kind that has a big old eagle on it and some Latin (Vero possumus, which translates very loosely to "Yes we can"). It's also a seal that combined elements of Richard Nixon's White House police uniforms and George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished." And it went over about as well. Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times had some fun with it. And Mickey Kaus predicted it would be disappeared over the weekend. His exact words were: "But unless David Axelrod is insane, the thing will never be seen again." Kaus was right. While we don't have full details, someone at Obama's press center, when asked if the seal would be used going forward said simply, "No."

Fake Presidential Seal goes under the bus:

...I guess massive derision, laughter and even the Obamatons on his own website joking about it sent a clear message.

Obama has thrown the possum under the bus.  Too bad.  I happen to like possums.  I have one that visits me every night.  He appreciates the leftover bird seed and such on my deck.  He was not happy to hear Obama dropped the logo.  He said Obama is a possumist. 

(Thanks to commenter Dave for Non possumus, no apostrophe).