Rhode Island's "Independent Man"

Foghorn Leghorn as Rhode Island Red

They say you can’t go home again. But every year, PJM Middle East editor Allison Kaplan Sommer leaves the heated politically-charged environment in Israel for the cool crisp breezes, peaceful atmosphere, and fall foliage of her native Rhode Island for a change of scenery. This year, however, she arrived to find her home state hotter than usual, as the race between Lincoln Chafee and Sheldon Whitehouse is a critical factor in whether or not the Democrats succeed in their quest to control the Senate. ( Continued )

The Great Debate in the Golden State On his PajamasXpress blog, Bill Bradley wonders if Phil Angelides will get his imploding campaign on track at his only face-to-face debate with The Arnold Saturday night in Sacramento. “The [Angelides] candidacy has been focused increasingly on a series of issues that are not central to the governorship of California. Such as Schwarzenegger’s purported closeness to unpopular President George W. Bush, the war in Iraq, and now a new insistence on politically correct language about immigration.” (continued)

Blog Week in Review, October 6, 2006

Team America can go ...

Sex, courtesy of the Foley scandal, is more interesting than nuclear threats issued by North Korea’s perennially threatening dictator Kim Jong-il, if both the Big Media and the New Media are any indication; Pajamas Media’s Gerard Van der Leun and Richard Fernandez discuss the reasons thereto. Additionally, the panelists take a look at Australia’s new initiatives to integrate Muslim immigrants into the country’s larger society, with the most notable program involving a new community board composed of 100 Australian imams. An example of moderate Islam in action?

Austin Bay moderates and Ed Driscoll produces. Brought to you by Volvo USA.

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Khaled Al-Masri: The Unluckiest Innocent Man in Germany? John Rosenthal of Transatlantic Intelligencer reports on the curious adventure of Khaled Al-Masri. Suspected of terrorism by the US Government, arrested and held prisoner by the CIA, and ultimately returned to Germany as a free man. Learn the real story behind the public face of false-imprisonment in America’s “extraordinary renditions” program. ( Continued )

Movie Fans Agree to Return to Theaters. "Our Long National Nightmare Is Over:" Jamie Lee Curtis said she has closed the book on her acting career. “I’m not an actor anymore,” she told “Access Hollywood” host Nancy O’Dell. “I really don’t imagine I’ll do that again.”(Breitbart / AP)

The "N" Word at Columbia: What do well bred, educated and enlightened students call an ordained minister, who happens to be on the board of the Minutemen and is a guest speaker at their university?

STEWART: Prior to Jim coming out, and were throwing of racial epithets out there toward me.

O’REILLY: What did they say?

STEWART: The N-word. I’m not going to dignify it on air, right now, Bill. The N-word, sell-out, you name it, they said it.

Department of 'Well, That Clears That Up': “We (at Google) are not in charge of truth but we might be able to give a probability.” — Google Inc. boss Eric Schmidt (Breitbart / Reuters)

Dennis Miller via Allah @ Hot Air: Just because.

"Meet the New Boss..."

Ban Ki-Moon

“South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, set to be formally endorsed as UN chief Kofi Annan’s successor Monday, is the only candidate left in the race as all other contenders withdrew, a UN spokeswoman said.

“All six rivals who initially threw their hats into the ring have informed the Security Council that they were withdrawing their candidacies, UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

The last to pull out were Indian diplomat Shashi Tharoor, the UN undersecretary general for communications and public information who finished second to Ban in informal straw polls, and former Thai deputy prime minister Surakiart Sathirathai. (Breitbart / AP)

Who Else Should be Indicted? From a BBC article on the trial of seven Marines for actions in Hamdaniya. “A Navy medic has told his court-martial in California how US marines seized an Iraqi civilian, threw him into a hole and shot him in the head 10 times. … Petty Officer Bacos said he was on patrol with the marine squad who were looking for an insurgent - Saleh Gowad - who had been captured three times but released. Petty Officer Bacos said the marines were angry the insurgent had been freed and, frustrated at not finding him, instead seized civilian Hashim Awad from his home.” (BBC)

Danes Double-Dipping @ Jihad Salad Bar: “Danish TV shows cartoons mocking Prophet Mohammad.” (Breitbart / AP)

Always Window Shopping, But Never Stopping to Buy

Madonna: The Early Years

“LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) - Madonna visited an orphanage near Malawi’s capital Friday and a government official said she still believes the pop star intends to adopt a child in the African country, although no papers had been filed yet.

Shortly after Madonna’s arrival in the impoverished southern African country Wednesday, government officials said she planned to adopt an orphaned boy. But by Friday, there was still no confirmation.

Madonna’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, has denied any knowledge the pop star is to adopt a baby.” (Breitbart / AP)

Legislating the Official Past: Peaktalk notes that Turks in the Netherlands are boycotting elections after candidates were bumped of electoral lists for denying “the Armenian genocide” — an atrocity said to be perpetrated by Turkey. He notes that Turkey has threatened France with diplomatic consequences “if the French parliament passes a bill make it a criminal offence to deny that Armenians were the victims of a genocide during World War I,” both ironically the result of legislating official histories and speech codes in a Europe obsessed with tolerance.

Sudan Says UN Peacekeeping in Darfur a "hostile act": “Sudan stepped up opposition to a U.N. peacekeeping mission for Darfur, warning that it would consider any country’s pledge to supply police or troops to a U.N. force ‘a hostile act’ and a ‘prelude to an invasion’ of the Islamic country.” (Wapo)

Clinton 1, Snickers 0: Snacks sold in schools will have less fat, sugar and salt under the latest crackdown on junk food won by former President Clinton. Its centerpiece is a voluntary agreement by manufacturers to avoid selling certain foods in schools. “An example of a snack that would be banned is a Snickers bar, which has 280 calories, 130 of them from fat. The candy bar has 30 grams of sugar out of 58.7 total grams.” (MSNBC)

White House Aide to Rove Resigns: A key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove, Susan Ralston, resigned Friday after a congressional report listed hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House. (AP/Yahoo)

A Swedish Blogger in Iran: Swedish blogger Jonathan Lundqvist describes his experiences in Iran while researching his master’s thesis on Iranian bloggers. “Very different from the simplified version the western media presents. Sure, there are the official anti-usa wall paintings, but at the same time young people are wearing t-shirts with the American flag printed on them! … Please, when you go back to Sweden – tell them about the real Iran. How it really is! I’m sure there are fanatics in Iran … But the people I talked to … were not gun crazy Hezbollahs. That’s the real Iran. There might be reasons to fear the Iranian government. But do not fear the Iranian people.” Lundqvist has interesting photos, including some hinting that National Geographic may be too racy for the Mullahs. (Global Voices)

'Boy snatched off street, set alight and murdered for being white' “The High Court in Edinburgh yesterday heard that Kriss was attacked and taken from a street in Pollokshields, Glasgow, because one of the men accused of his murder, Imran Shahid, 29, was angry and sought revenge after claiming he had been attacked with a glass bottle outside a nightclub the night before.” (The Scotsman)

Voting Democratic But Not Happy About It: Mimus Pauly will walk the walk but not talk the talk: “even if you sorry but not safe jackasses do win big on election day, and in so doing give the awol administration enough aneurysms to wipe out the native population of saudi arabia, i don’t want to be associated with you. i will never be a card-carrying democrat. i’m voting democratic in november, rest assured. i’m too committed at this point not to. beyond election day, however, whatever interest i still retain in joining your party ends permanently.” (skippy the bush kangaroo)

The Windsor Knot: Three nights of fighting between white and south asian youths involving iron bars, pitchforks and baseball bats have rocked the town of Windsor sparked by plans to build a mosque inside a dairy. Police have vowed to keep things in hand. (Independent) The Medina Dairy has been firebombed. Some residents feared that firearms may soon be used. A 16 year old has been arrested for possessing an “offensive weapon”. (UK Times) One man has been arrested for racially abusing a journalist. (BBC) The town is near Windsor Castle, one of Queen’s royal residences.

Samizdata calls the Windsor riots “disturbing auguries” and says “and so it starts, a little at a time”.

Major US Chains Balk at Carrying Death of a President including the Regal Entertainment Group chain, the largest in the US. “We feel it is inappropriate to portray the future assassination of a sitting president, regardless of political affiliation.” (Hollywood Reporter/Reuters)

Light of Day: an LA teacher’s union—the Human Rights Committee of United Teachers Los Angeles—declines to sponsor Pro-Palestinian Rally in support of a boycott against Israel “after an outcry by Jewish organizations.” Solomon doubts that Jewish organization were alone. (Solomonia)

The Battle of November, 20 (October 6, 2006)

New Media

Change of Heart and Mind: Neo-neocon interviews Steve Beren—socialist turned Republican—who is running against Representative Jim McDermott (D) of Washington’s 7th District in the Seattle area. “I wondered how this former Marxist, former atheist, and former antiwar activist ended up a hawkish Republican as well as a self-described patriot and Christian.”

Part Two is here.

Mainstream Media

100 Hours to “Drain the GOP Swamp”: What Nancy Pelosi will do if she becomes Speaker of the House. (AP)

[Previous coverage here]

YouTube in Play for $1.6 Billion “Google Inc. is in talks to acquire popular video-sharing site YouTube Inc. for roughly $1.6 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The discussions are still at a sensitive stage and could well break off, this person says.” (Wall Street Journal)

Strong Words For North Korea from the UNSC: “The U.N. Security Council urged North Korea to abandon its planned nuclear test and warned Pyongang of unspecified consequences if it goes ahead, in a statement adopted unanimously on Friday.”

“…[I]f they do test it, it will be a very different world a day after the test,” said US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton. The test could still happen this weekend. (Reuters/Breitbart)

CA Gay Marriage Ban Upheld: Gay Patriot West again makes the point that the battle for same-sex marriage should be fought in the legislature rather than the courts, as the California Appeals Court upholds the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Gitmo Nurse, Part Five: Not exactly the “Gulag of Our Times”—Patterico finalizes his series on the story of the US Army officer stationed at Guantanamo Bay whose job includes examining the heads of terrorists.

LA Times Publisher Out: The Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, fired its staffer, Jeffrey Johnson after Johnson and LAT editor Dean Banquet refused to make budget cuts at the paper. Johnson had only been the publisher for a year. (WaPo)

Pumping Oil Conspiracy Theories: Gas prices go up? It’s a Big Oil conspiracy. Gas prices go down? It’s another conspiracy by you-know-who, some say, and Extreme Mortman finds the right response.

Angels and Intelligence: the NIE leak may have slipped to the background behind Foley and Woodward, but Charles Krauthammer’s doesn’t let go: “Does the war in Iraq make us more or less safe today? And what about tomorrow? The fact is that no definitive answer is possible. Except for the following truism: During all wars we are by definition less safe — and the surest way back to safety is victory.” (WaPo)

A Fungus Among Us: “A microscopic fungus native to Australia and blamed for the death of people and animals in British Columbia has now been linked to the deaths of porpoises and at least one cat in Washington state.” (Breitbart / AP)

What Does the North Korean Announcement of Nuclear Tests Mean? Josh Manchester, in “Stalking the Hermit,” thinks it proves that they’re against the ropes. “American policy against North Korea is working. That policy, in a nutshell, is this: use all methods short of war to harm the economy of North Korea, making it impossible for that government to raise revenue from illicit activities, and thereby more and more difficult to retain power or fund its nuclear ambitions.” (TCS Daily)

"Chavez, the helicopters do work": A firsthand report by Aleksander Boyd from a remote gold mining region in Venezuela: “The miners here are in a state of absolute rage. Some two weeks ago a group of approximately 20 army men on board a Russian helicopter flew over a mining area nearby and, from the air, ordered miners to stop working and to lay on the ground or else they would be killed.” In all, 23 miners were dead or went missing. (VCrisis)

Is North Korea threatening an attack on American soil? Ed Morrisey thinks a “rambling, disjointed editorial” by Kim Jong Il’s ‘unofficial spokesman’ does just that. (Captain’s Quarters)

Coups Then and Now: some recent military coups -Mauritania, Thailand- unlike others in the past, have “the explicit purpose of creating national harmony and moving forward with democracy.” Does that mean that they put the country on the fast-track to an even better democracy than it had before?” (Robert Mayer @ Publius Pundit)

However, Astute Blogger views the Thai situation differently.

Breakfast in Saipan: Which is actually a US Commonwealth. There Tsogb looks over a chamorro breakfast specialties, including champulado with tinala katne (chocolate rice porridge with air-dried beef served on the side), and charakiles with chotda or lemai (toasted rice soup with green bananas or breadfruit) and settled on a few packages of apigigi, a local specialty made with freshly grated coconut and tapioca flour, then grilled in banana leaves, followed by coffee. All-American.

Thousands Are Evacuated from Raleigh, NC, to protect them from a toxic chloride cloud caused by a fire at a chemical plant. (Breitbart / AP). Confederate Yankee has been following the news affecting a town near to his.

First It Was Kazaa, Then It Was Skype, and now it’s the Venice Project. Serial innovators Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom are preparing a new start-up that “combines the best things about television with the social power of the internet…. They’re currently courting small and large media and TV companies to put their full-length content on the network, which will be accessed through a stand-alone app and work on P2P technology just like KaZaA and Skype. It will have built-in intellectual property controls and will stream media rather than download it.” (DownloadSquad)

Om Malik interviews Janus Friis, who talks about the new project. (GigaOM)

China's Execution Buses: A Sky News investigation has uncovered new evidence of mobile execution buses used by the Chinese government: “The volume of executions has meant China has invented new ways of killing, mobilising and mechanising its execution system. A brochure acquired by Sky News reveals details of China’s new execution buses now operating across the country. Fitted with lethal injection equipment they can deliver on-the-spot executions.”

Three recent episodes -the Foley scandal, Allen’s ‘macaca’ and Clinton’s TV outburst- show that new media has become a weapon in the world of politics. (John Harris @ Washington Post)

Are the Brits showing some spine? Fausta applauds Jack Straw’s stance opposing Muslim women wearing veils at his Blackburn constituency surgeries.

Traveling in Style, like in the good ol’ days… on a private railroad car.

Aschroft goes on the attack against the 9/11 Commission in his memoires. (Macsmind)

Second Time As Farce: The Congressional Page Scandal 8 (October 6, 2006)

You never write. You Never Call. A sad and pensive moment overcomes "Former Congressional page Tyson Vivyan at his home in Atlanta shown wearing his page ring. Mr. Vivyan, now 26, told AP he received sexually suggestive computer messages in 1997, years before the communications were exposed last week, from an anonymous sender who turned out to be Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida. (AP)"

The New “News”
[The really horrible part about all this is that it will probably go on longer than the Israel-Hezbollah War. But without the human interest angle.— Ed.]

The Hunt for the Dread October surprise that is. The hunt is on for the proprietor of the mysteriously connected “Stop Sex Predators” blog, the originator of the Mark Foley story. Newsbusters links to Ace of Spades, Hot Air, Dan Riehl and Confederate Yankee. (Newsbusters)

Katy Bar the Door! Stephen Jones, the lawyer for Jordan Edmond who has agreed to let the FBI chat with his client has written to Passionate America demanding that that blog’s owner remove the story naming Edmond as the Page involved in the infamous IMs. Whether said lawyer will be writing Drudge, CNN and other mainstream news sources the same letter, as well as the over 1,500 other blogs that feature the name is currently unknown, but his local Kinkos/FedEx is open all night.

In speaking to CNN the lawyer said:

“Jordan has not done anything wrong. He is a witness. He will cooperate fully both with the investigation by the [Justice Department] and with the House.”

There was “no personal relationship” between Foley and Edmund, who served as a page in 2001 and 2002 when he was a high school junior, the attorney said.

“I’m certain there was no physical involvement between Jordan and Mr. Foley,” Jones said, adding that the messages “read like some of the novels that are on the market, but I don’t know if they’re true or they have been edited.”

Neither do we, but we don’t see how Mr. Jones proposed ‘editing by expunging’ of Passionate America protects his clients’ identity.

3 More Pages Turned: ‘And the hits just keep on happening….’

USA Today Just Screams “Stop the Presses!” with the headline: “Republicans on panel have ties to Hastert.” Really? Who knew?

Andrew Sullivan takes a break from torturing his readers and tries to come to grips with Masturgate: “The best phrase I have been able to come up with for Foley’s transgression is “virtual pederasty….” (New Republic)

Momentous events in government now hinge upon some dirty old man’s “dirty talk with teenagers.” (Classical Values)

Despite some dubious bona fides, Roger Simon asks David Corn to add him to “The List”: “Can we get back to serious issues now?”

“Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” — Abraham Lincoln, Republican. David Corn claims that “the List” of gay conservatives has been sent to such religious right organizations as the Family Research Council and the Southern Baptist Convention in an attempt to set off a civil war in the GOP.

Former Page Edmund Agrees to Show His Hand to the FBI: The former congressional page is willing to talk to the FBI and the U.S. House Ethics Committee about former Rep. Mark Foley, his attorney said Thursday. (The Oklahoman)

Sling Out Your Dead! The LA Times calls for Hastert’s resignation in today’s editorial. All five thousand of its remaining readers agree. In a probably unrelated development, the LAT Publisher is canned. David Geffen not amused.

“DeepPalm” of “Masturgate” to Remain in an Undisclosed Location — Owner of StopSexPredators responds by email to CNN inquiries from an anonymous address posted on the Web site. “My plans are to remain anonymous for the foreseeable future,” the Web site’s owner wrote in an e-mail. “I’ve been getting threats from folks and will no longer allow the posting of comments on the website. I can’t believe the anger out there for exposing a hippocritical [sic] sex predator.” (CNN)

Yet More Opinion For/Against “Foley the Disgusting Pedophile” and His Heirs and Assigns

Bi-Partisan Coverup: Powerline notes a letter to the House Ethics Committee: “Just as it must be determined whether any Republican Members or political operatives were aware of and attempted to conceal Mr. Foley’s activities, it must also be determined whether any Democrat Members or political operatives were aware of, and attempted to conceal these same activities. Therefore, we respectfully ask that you appear, under oath, before the House Ethics Committee.” Glenn Reynolds says nobody will like the “under oath” part.

“Oh Lord…..”
Here @ PajamasMedia, our crack team of Internet researchers have unearthed the perfect invocation for the day the Congress reconvenes from this year’s less than noble midterms. It’s from the classic, Blazing Saddles. Click HERE to listen. (Warning: NSFW)

Korean Hot Pot or Hot American Email? : “It’s hard to believe that the Foley/instant message/congressional-page/GOP meltdown story has run for a week. Other than the slaughter in Amish country, is anyone aware of anything else of note in the world that happened the past seven days? Dive deep enough beneath the Foley flotsam and you discover reports that North Korea may be preparing to conduct an underground nuclear test. China and South Korea are at this hour trying to forestall the Hermit Kingdom’s nuke test and no doubt could use an expression of support and outrage from the American political establishment. Sorry, they’re busy reading Congressman Foley’s 1995 email traffic.” (Daniel Henninger @ OpinionJournal)

Hey, We’re ABC News and We’ll Ask the Questions Around Here: Bob Owens says his questions at The Blotter don’t seem to show up in the page. (Confederate Yankee)

GOP Dropped Its Balls at Kickoff: “This is a real scandal, and attempting to blame the Democrats will gain Republicans nothing. Had the GOP handled this properly in the beginning, it could have remained isolated to Foley himself, as it should be — after all, he’s the one who harassed the pages and not Denny Hastert, John Boehner, or anyone else.” (Captain’s Quarters)

Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That. Gay Patriot: Is the “Gay McCarthyism” being stoked by none other than the largest gay rights organization in America, the Human Rights Campaign?

Prediction: Hastert Will Beat Fend Off Democrats’ Attack — Hastert Kills GOP? Nope: Bob Owens is skeptic of the polls predicting disaster for the GOP. “My prediction: If Hastert stays, the Republicans keep control of the House by six seats. Why? A party with something—even an imperfect something—always beats a party of nothing, and that is something ever voter knows in his gut that they haven’t created a poll to measure.”

Getting to the Root of the Scandal — Fordham the source of emails? Only a fool now believes that this scandal exploded when it did as the result of fate. This story from The Hill about the original source of the emails being a longtime Republican raises some interesting questions, not the least of which could the identity of the “longtime Republican” be none other than former Foley Chief of Staff Kirk Fordham?” (Right Wing Nut House)

Simmer Down and Lighten up, says Jonah Goldberg (The Corner)

Let’s Hear It for the Boys: Sean Gleeson has found Foley’s iPod playlist.

[Previous coverage here]

Green Hypocrisy at 30,000 Feet: “They are the Green Bigots, leading environmentalists, those at the vanguard of the fight to change our lifestyles, restrict our foreign flights, who insist we do our ‘bit’ to cut greenhouse gas emissions while they rack up thousands of airmiles on business and pleasure trips.” — Peter Glover @ TCS

US and EU Reach Deal on the transfer of personal data on transatlantic air passengers to U.S. authorities to help combat terrorism. (It Shines For All)

Art Teacher Shows Kids Extremely Expensive Porn “Let me just float a guess that it wasn’t a member of the Dallas atheists’ alliance who complained that a teacher took her fifth grade class to the art museum. Yes, a popular art teacher, with 28 years in the classroom, got suspended after some kid complained to Mommy about the…gasp…nudity in the museum.” — Amy Alkon @ Advice Goddess

The Mideast, 173 (October 6, 2006) - Russia Returns to the Middle East:

Russia Returns to the Middle East: Caroline Glick warns that Russia has returned to its hostile posture towards Israel and is sending assistance, and lots of it, to Hezbollah. “The storm of war is rapidly approaching us. With Moscow’s blessing, the Palestinians, Hizbullah, Syria and Iran are steadfastly preparing for battle.” (Jpost)

America’s sin… Hesitation: after writing about the four local reasons why things in Iraq are not going as well as they should, Mohammed now writes on where he thinks the US is failing. “Perhaps America’s biggest mistake was the hesitation in keeping up the strategy of preemptive war. Yes, America used that strategy in Iraq but failed to go on, and instead of chasing terrorists, America stopped at Iraq and sat waiting for terrorists to come in.” (Iraq The Model)

Al-Qaeda’s Narrative of Doubt: “Several declassified al-Qaida documents — one discovered after the June 2006 air strike that killed al-Qaida’s Iraqi emir, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — strongly suggest al-Qaida’s leaders fear they are losing the War on Terror.” (StrategyPage)

Prague synagogue massacre foiled: Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in a Prague synagogue and hold them hostage while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled. “When those demands - which were not specified by the sources - were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added.” (Ynet)

Rice visits Iraq’s Kurdish North, and urges Kurdish leaders to collaborate with the Iraqi government. (Fox News)

Is there a new tribal strategy in the War on Terror? (Astute Blogger)

World powers consider steps to Iran sanctions in a meeting in London (Reuters), while Solana says door to negotiations with Iran open: “The EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said Friday that talks with Iran would still be possible even as major powers prepared to discuss the possibility of sanctions to force Teheran to suspend its nuclear program.” (AP / JPost)

Shalit deal in two weeks, Hamas says: The deal would allow Shalit to be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails a Hamas official said. (Haaretz)

[Previous coverage here]