Jeff Jarvis points out that Tom Ridge has done nothing.

Belated Merry Christmas. I realize I haven't blogged in a while. I'm back for now.

The new Afghanistan government has begun meeting. Hopefully the new government will be succesful.
QUOTE:

Some 2,000 people crammed into the Interior Ministry hall to witness the first peaceful transition in decades.

Afghanistan's new cabinet met for the first time Sunday, some of its ministers escorted by armed militiamen for a session on the top priorities of security for the reconstruction of a war-shattered nation, and to millions of starving, displaced people.

Time Magazine has made Rudy Giuliani ther man of the year. Rudy deserves it.

FoxNews.com has raw data on the war here.

FoxNews.com also reports that we now have 7,000 Al Quaeda prisoners.

They aren't going to charge Johnny Walker with treason. I hope they kill him in prison.

Ann Coulter does not think Iraq or Yemen should be next on the war on terrorism but that we should concentrate our effort on France. She is not joking here.

The FBI is refusing to release the cockpit recordings from flight 93. Why? The FBI's explanation is its "evidence" and that it won't console the families. The government shouldn't be holding anything away from the public just because they believe it will upset us.

Bush says quitting drugs will stop terrorism. Well then why can't marijuana that is grown on American soil be given to medical marijuana patients.

Mystikal's anti Osama Bin Laden music video "Bouncin Back" has started to appear on MTV. I am glad to see the anti Bin Laden rap songs have started to appear. Mystikal should be given props for this.

The AP reports that the number of DEA agents has been increased since the FBI has been busy on terrorism cases. Just what we need more people to force the majority's morality on others. I thought that was what we were fighting against the Taliban for.

"Though Jay-Z should spend less of his time bragging and writing about partying, his lyrical talent and natural rapping ability are difficult to dispute." A great quote from the Chicago Sun-Times. How true it is.

The New York Times goes through the tough video competition this year. I'll stick with the original Nintendo system.

Time Magazine needs to be more like Human Events who have named Bush man of the year.

The New York Times reports that Congress is considering banning cloning. Uhm, why?
(via InstaPundit

>Samizdata reports that the EU had declared war on junk mail.

IanMurray predicts a war between the states, EU states that is.
QUOTE:
Already, in many areas, the EU member states have less control than states of the US. Is Virginia a nation-state? Hardly. And we know what happened as a result of ill-defined states' rights in the 19th century. It seems the next war in Europe may be a "War Between the States".

For you libertarians worries do not just include the prospects of National ID card but also include the prospects of a global ID from our good old friends at the U.N.

Spinsanity argues that the attack on liberals as the cause of Johnny Walker is highly unwarranted.

Mickey Kaus makes the argument that Welfare causes terrorism.

Tony Andragna has a great new section he does daily called Above The Fold daily where he goes over the daily newspapers.

Tony Andragna sent me an e-mail saying I misconstrued his thoughts on National Missle Defense. I think he may be right.
(see entry on this date.

Heretical Ideas responds to Virginia Postrel's attacks on the Libertarian Party. He makes 2 points:
- The Libertarian Party is doing better all the time. (Not by much.)
- If Libertarians are so unimportant, why is National Review Online dissing them in two columns? (Goldberg is addressing small l libertarians. Goldberg is more concerned with the battle between libertarians and conservatives for the Republican party.)

Tony Andragna thinks missle defense is a bad idea because it is hard to stop all the missles. This is a very weak argument against missle defense because you can then argue that cops should not have bulletproof vests because eventually the bullets will get through. OK maybe that is not the best example, but you understand what I am saying. If the choice is to stop some missles or stop missles isn't the choice to stop the missles you can. I understand it is really expensive but that should not be our concern.

"I turn on the news And When My Daughter Asks Why were all those people lying on the floor all covered in red. I tell them they were looking for god but found religion instead." - "Held Down" by De La Soul
(I will have an album review of some type up soon.)

Nick Gillespie does a great job defending libertarianism.

Some bloggers have come off as surprised that Reuters was surprised that the guys who invented South Parker are Republicans. Well I was surprised too. Remember these guys did come up with a Comedy Central Sitcom called "That's My Bush" which basically was a badly written show that made fun of President Bush. I also thought these guys would be far enough from the mainstream that these guys would call themselves Libertarians.

Shout out to Libertarian Samizdata for mentioning my website. They have a post from Thursday about my site having a cool name. This is one of tbe best blogs out there that gives good intellectual arguments without sounding like some kind of elitist.

TNR Online has a great article on how House Democrats have chosen special interests over the good of the American people. Remember the U.S. Constitution is ordained to "promote the general welfare." It does not say promote the special interest welfare.

QUOTE:
"The problem is that what's good for the House Democratic leadership isn't necessarily good for the country."
"By opposing trade, therefore, House Democrats are effectively telling Americans that they value the jobs of a comparatively tiny number of politically influential workers in a handful of industries and regions over the good of the entire population. Or, put differently, that they'd prefer to lavish benefits on a small,exclusive minority at the expense of the vast majority of Americans. THey had better hope the vast majority of Americans aren't paying attention.

The Pope calls for an end to U.S. sanctions on Iraq

Tim Blair has a great blog. His daily synopsis of the blogs is worth a look.

PageSix.com has this great quote from Hillary: "I'm afraid that they'll clone Strom Thurmond and he'll be around forever."

The Chicago Tribune has a good explanation of why the burqas are still on:
"The Tawfiq sisters offer a variety of reasons for their reluctance to remove their burqas, even though they insist they loathe wearing them. There are too many men with guns, says Mujda, 15. Bad men in the marketplace will try to touch us, says Masdoora. All the other women are wearing them, says Hama. Wedon't have fashionable clothes so we prefer to hide them, says Zohra, 17.
But Nasifaz, the oldest of the seven, thinks long and hard before offering an explanation that perhaps goesto the core of the nightmare suffered by Afghan women under Taliban rule: "We have lived in darkness for so long that now we are afraid of the light."
(via Bjorn Staerk

Tim Blair has a wonderfull piece on the greatness of blogs.
I'll spoil the best part for you:
"And the Net? Sure, there are nutcases aplenty, but what about all these blogger people? Does ever a day go by without a Layne, a Welch, a Reynolds, a Solent oranother blogster providing something cutting, logical, well-researched, informative, and sweetly written?
Not in all the time I've been reading them. Not one single day."

Matt Welch takes down the media in todays column and recognizes the greatness that exist in these warblogs.

Holiday messages to our men and women in the military can be sent here.

Will Vehrs mentions how most blogs are against the war on drugs. Can anybody figure out why this is? I don't think I have even seen a blog supporting the war on drugs.

I was watching the replay of the Senate hearings on Military Tribunals. Wiliam Haynes, the Department of Defense General Counsel was being question. His answer to any question about any deatails of military tribunals usually included "maybe" or "it might be."

Matt Drudge reports Israel will no longer deal with Arafat because they consider him a terrorist.

Things haven't gone perfectly cloning monkeys. Oh well.

One of Johnny "Taliban" Walker's raps can be found here. There seems to be no order or theme to his rhymes. I can see the attraction to Taliban in the rhymes with his constant attack on materialism or as they say in hiphop now "bling bling." This kid was crazy to think with those whack rhymes he could diss E-40, L.L. Cool J, Dr. Dre, Nice & Smooth, Slick Rick, Method Man, Craig Mack, Puff Daddy, Notorious B.I.G., Masta Ace, Mobb Deep, Keith Murray, Marly Marl and House of Pain.

James Morrow of Reason argues that as bad as John Ashcroft seems to Americans he isn't all that bad compared to what is going on over in Europe.

Davey D has some interesting stuff on the connection between Johnny Walker and hip-hop.
QUOTE:
Call me paranoid or call me being overly cautious, but my ears and eyes always perk up when you mention Hip Hop. This is the one art form from America that has spread out and been embraced all over the world. Hip Hop has always come under fire so when it shows up in a Newsweek article with the details that it does with regards to this subject, I have to take note. Homeboy [Jonathan Walker] says he was introduced to Islam via Hip Hop websites, Hip Hop message boards and the Five Percent Nation. Does this mean all these outlets are going to somehow be blamed in some sensationalistic perverted way for this 'young' 'innocent' white guy who went to fight for the Taliban? If I hadn't seen such nonsense take place in other situations I wouldn't raise the red flag, but I have.

Case in point many of you may recall the riots that took place at Woodstock a few years ago. Here we had a bunch of 'mosh pit' suburban kids burning down the place because the price of water was too high and in the process several females were brutally raped. I was recall reading various accounts and was shocked to find that several prominent news agencies somehow made the assertion that Hip Hop was the cause. They blamed the 'aggressive' rap meets rock fusion exemplified by groups like Limp Bizkit and the Redhot Chili Peppers as the driving force that caused these Woodstock concert goers to go berserk. So forgive me when I start reading about little Johnny out of Marin being a student of Hip Hop before moving on to the Taliban.

All this comes to light one week after the Federal Trade Commission starts heating up on the music industry in particular Hip Hop as being irresponsible while simultaneously praising the movie industry for cleaning up its act. The FTC findings seemed out of wack and was described as a form of profiling. It prompted one Congressman Ed Towns [D-NY] to prepare a response. He like others knew what was coming. Hip Hop would be blamed for the corrupting morals and disturbing direction the entertainment industry had taken.

As crazy as it sounds, there are many who will be quick to blame 2Pac and not the 40 year old program director who decided to play Lil Kim or P-Diddy 15 times a day and not once touch a Talib Kweli. There will always be corrupting things out in society, hence we have to seriously question the vision and intentions of those who consistently highlight and grant access.In my mind it's a lot easier to hold accountable the handful of program directors, radio station owners and other media decision makers who program for millions than a 16 year old kid for writing 'bad' raps because thats all he heard on his favorite station 8 hours a day. However, that is rarely done. I guess it doesn't make for a sensational story and it doesn't maker good business sense. After all, some of these offending decision makers work for the same media conglomerates that are busy criticizing rap. How ironic to hear a news commentator lambaste rap but never make mention that its their boss who also runs the video outlet, radio station or record company that markets, promotes and profits from the 'offensive' material.

Even popular Fox news commentator Bill O'reilly is in on the act. In a recent column called The Black Challenge, he too takes Hip Hop to task when he writes as follows:
"The truth is that the African-American community is going to have to change their point of view if the poverty level and inner city qualityof life is going to improve. The white power structure will always hold the gold in America. Blacks make up 13 percent of the population and disengaging from white people is a quick way to the unemployment line.
That's why the message of rap – with its disrespect towards women and cops, and authority in general – is so destructive. That's why the tragic statistic that 70 percent of all black babies are born out of wedlock is so shocking. That's why the widespread acceptance of intoxication is so damaging.
Economic success requires education and discipline. Speaking poor English is going to hurt you. Failing to read will hold you back. Blaming the majority for your lot in life will get you nowhere. Life is not fair. But smart thinking and hard work can even the odds some. Feeling sorry for somebody doesn't help that person. Blaming current conditions on slavery past is a waste of time. Hating whitey because he lives better than you is a crutch.
It's time for the black leadership in America to drop the political correctness and toughen up. Bad behavior by any American is not acceptable. African-Americans need a realistic roadmap on how to succeed. They don't need Puff Daddy rapping about guns and ho's. They don't need historical bitterness, and they don't need preferential treatment.
Blacks in America simply need the white establishment to stop being afraid of them. And to treat them as though they lived next door. As the terror of 9-11 showed us, we are all in this together. Let's start acting like it".

As I'm writing this article CBS News is reporting that homeboy was into 'hardcore' Hip Hop and this is what may have led to him being corrupted. Folks are now gonna start having a field day. This is the same CBS that owns MTV and BET which are often underfire for in appropriate marketing of images. For some who are reading this, this will appear to be funny or of no consequence. After all as I said earlier, Hip Hop being under attack is nothing new. But from my vantage point there are a lot of things suddenly being set into motion and going down because we are in extraordinary times. It seems like many elected officials, lobbyist etc, people are pushing their long held agendas through without question because folks are scared and figure this is what we have to do because of he the threat of terrorist. Companies are suddenly 'restructure' and laying off people in droves.

In the music biz alone everyone from Rawkus on down to the local radio stations are dropping folks like flies. September 11th is the convenient excuse. When all is said and done and the dust clears we will discover that the balance of power will be shifted back to the bosses and managers who will once again have a clear tyrannical advantage over folks who are desperate to get back to work. Just watch, folks will work longer hours for less pay and put up with more crap because they don't wanna be back on the unemployment line. The huge mega corporations they work for will suddenly start raking in huge profits and most will be too scared or beat down to say anything.

How does all this ties into Hip Hop? For starters, folks who have long had problems with Hip Hop, will now use this time to attack and clean house. Now is the time to pass crazy laws and move forth all in the name of fighting terrorism. Remember folks.. last year we reported how two New Jersey senators were trying to push legislation to prevent the sale of certain types of rap. We also reported how NYC had developed a Rap Task force. We also noted how police departments throughout the country had begun keeping dossiers on artists and Hip Hop organizations. In some cases legitimate organizations were suddenly being labeled as gangs. Is the next step to start labeling them as terrorists?

With the passing of all these new laws that give law enforcement more power to do surveillance and keep people in check, the rebel spirit of Hip Hop will no doubt come under fire. After all if the argument can be made that it led to the corruption and traitorous actions of a young well to do white kid from the suburbs then perhaps its time to really clean up the business. The end result is that KRS-One will be seen with same lens as his 'gangsta rap brethren. Boots or dead prez will be seen as deadly as Dr Dre and a Chronic album. Bambaataa and his Zulu Nation may be viewed as an organization linked to terrorist especially if they have Five Percent cats down with them. Call it far fetched, but stranger things have happened.
AND THE BEST PART FROM DAVEY D: I'll say this. It makes that Jay-z vs Nas beef seem down right petty.

Al-Queda has gotten so desperate the best means of attack they have left are kamikaze camels.

The AP is reporting that Democrats are now upset that Bush is not using military tribunals. These guys need to make up their minds. Do they care about America or just their own political gain? I think it is political gain.
via InstaPundit

I don't think welfare is a great idea but the Senate sure has screwed up set of values when they think farm subsidies are more important than food stamps.

Bill Gertz reports that Johnny Taliban Walker claims there will be a huge biological attack as soon as Ramadan ends. Some people wonder whether he really has any idea what he is talking about.

Long Live Materialism
(via Fredrik Norman

RollCall reports that an added week of August Break has been given to the House of Representatives for next year. That's a good thing as long as they are not in session they can't be coming up with new programs.

USA Today reports Somalia may become the next target.

The Washington Times reports we have been throwing Daisy Cutter's at Osama Bin Laden. Now that is the type of thing I like to hear.

A few weeks ago at Roanoke College Reginald (he did not use the name Reginald. He used some over the top Muslim name.) Shareef spoke at our school about Islam. He tried telling us what a peaceful religion Islam was. Then at the end he said September 11th was a sign from Allah in response to our persecution. I was confused. What persecution was he talking about? The persecution of the Palestinians was what he was referring to. I had several immediate responses:
1. Osama Bin Laden never mentioned the Palestinian issue until after the attacks probably when he heard American liberals mention it.
2. Why the United States? Israel was the one Allah should be sending the message.
What was worse was he barely criticised the attack at all.
At this point, I was starting to think that Islam was not such a great and peacefull religion. Today, I was talking with some of the religion majors I know and they did not sound better than Reginald Shareef. The kids I talked to were Baptists and Lutherans, (i.e. Christians) The Lutheran told me she had not been surprised by the events of September 11th. The Baptist told me that he was not surprised and thought the United States deserved it and WTC was a respectable target. I have heard other Baptists at Roanoke College make similar statements. The moral here is that religious fundamentalists of any religion are bad for the U.S.

The New York Press' blog can be found here. The only reason I mention it is because they have a section with the title: "If President Bush doesn't hang the traitor John Walker, then I'm sure Suge Knight will." Just thought it was kind of amusing.

All you college kids out there who haven't finished there term papers or want a heads up for next semester Slate goes through some of the Paper plagiarism sites. Most of the free papers tend to suck and appear written by middle schoolers but then again so do a lot of college papers.

Enter Stage Right suggests Bush should start taking donations from liberal Democrats like the Arkansas governor. That would be a great idea in my mind. Like they say money talks ...

The Gaurdian reports that the Brits will only hand over Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar if we promise not to execute them. We ought to promise that and then let the Northern Alliance kill him and we would be able to say our hands are clean. (via Heretical Ideas)

InstaPundit gives out the Dropped Ball awards for all those pundits who got the way the war was going to go wrong. This is very amusing. Worth the read.
UPDATE: If you want to read more on the pessimists being wrong I suggest you read this article in Slate by Jacob Weisberg.

Rolling Stone reports Mos Def will be appearing in 3 movies in the upcoming year.

This Non-Sequitor Comic covers my view of flying perfectly.

I suggest everyone sign this petition for Ron Paul for President.

Jeff Jarvis has a moving article on how the 9/11 attacks have changed him and others.

TNR online has an article on the greatness of John Marshall.

Jacob Sullum attacks military tribunals in Reason today:
If we're going to take it for granted that anyone the president thinks might be connected to Al Qaeda is a vile, vicious murderer, there's no need for any sort of trial. Just put a bullet in his head and be done with it.
But if we allow for the possiblity that someone suspected of complicity with terrorism might actually be innocent, we need some sort of procedure for determining whether he really did what the government says he did. The controversy over military tribunals is about what that procedure should involve--a question that has nothing to do with how we feel about terrorism.
The point is not that FBI agents or prosecutors are liars but that they're fallible. They may be wrong even though they have a good-faith belief that a defendant is guilty. In the current atmosphere, with law enforcement officials under tremendous pressure to find the perpetrators of past attacks and prevent future ones, such mistakes are especially likely.
Some defenders of the tribunal plan see criticism as an insult to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which governs courts-martial and, they argue, has a proven record of fairness. But the trials authorized by the President Bush are not governed by this code, and they will bear little resemblance to a conventional court-martial.
The president's order allows secret proceedings in which the defendant might not be allowed to choose his attorney (that's up to the secretary of defense), with conviction and sentencing by a two-thirds vote of the tribunal, based on a standard of proof that remains unclear. Judgments will be reviewed only by the president or the secretary of defense, with defendants barred from seeking "any remedy" in a civil court. The executive branch alone will arrest, prosecute, judge, and condemn each suspect.
The UCMJ, by contrast, requires a public trial with counsel chosen by the defendant, proof beyond a reasonable doubt, a unanimous vote for a death sentence, and review by the Supreme Court as well as military appeals courts. So no matter how admirable the UCMJ is, there's plenty of reason to doubt that the government will deliver the "full and fair trial" the president's order ostensibly guarantees

Jacob Sullum makes some good points here. Remember the UCMJ does not apply to Bush's order.

The New York Times reports that Green aides are upset they lost the election because the city did not give them enough money. Tough luck. I'm sure Kenny Kramer would have liked to have gotten some money from the city government.

Robert Tracinski asks for a formal declaration of war. Now that is something we truly need.

FoxNews.com has an interview with Dick Cheney. Some great parts: "They're history."

Chuck Shumer has an editorial in The Washington Post arguing for big government. I have to try and destroy this. I will probably do a crappy job I will leave that up to InstaPundit, Ken Layne and others. Here it is anyway:

The recent disputes in Congress over airline security and stimulating the economy, like so many other arguments in Washington, revolve around a fundamental question: How big should the federal government be? Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, those who believe the federal government should shrink have had the upper hand. I am not so sure about the small government having the upper hand. Correct me if I am wrong but hasn't the government in fact grown since the election of Reagan?
Sept. 11 changed all that. For the foreseeable future, the federal government will have to grow. The next few years will more closely resemble the mid-1930s, when federal power dramatically increased; but this new deal will involve an overarching federal effort to bring physical, not economic, security to our people. The only job of the government is to bring security of the people. Notice he still has not given one reason why we need big government.
He continues with some more meaningful ranting that I will spare you of.
To ask each town and village to guard all the power lines, gas lines and aqueducts is too much; to ask large private-sector companies such as airlines and food processors to be wholly responsible for the security of their products is also too much. It is not just that Washington is the only entity with the ability to raise the resources our new situation requires; the notion of letting a thousand different ideas compete and flourish -- which works so well to create goods and services -- does not work at all in the face of a national security emergency. Unity of action and purpose is required, and only the federal government can provide it. Why is it too much? Oh Washington has the resources. Where are the resources going to come from? That's right the taxpayers. So why can't the taxpayers just get the local governments to do it? I guess since the states can't defend themselves from terrorists the army should come in and do all police work. Though I don't think the people who voted for Schumer would feel that way.
He continues by mentioning the election of Ronald Reagan: For the next two decades, the federal government stopped growing, and by some measures even shrank, with Bill Clinton doing more of the shrinking than any other president Newsflash! The government shrank under Bill Clinton! I am sure if you look at the Budgets over time they go up and not down.
And finally: But the "new" New Deal is upon us. The president can either lead the charge or be run over by it. I hope Bush is prepared to get run over.

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg an NRO has a much better article on Schumer's comments called "Is Chuch Schumer On Crack?"

Greenspan drops the interest rates a 1/4 point.

The AP reports A Federal Grand Jury has indicted the first person in relation to the September 11th attack.<