These QUOTES OF 2003 - OCTOBER from Tim Blair are amazing and hilarious. One could spend an hour clicking through the months.

I chose October because it has two glorious quotes:

"Schwarzenegger, who, like Hitler, is a native of Austria ..." -- CNN, covering the California election

"CNN? Oh, that's that network with Larry King, who, like the Son of Sam, is a native of Brooklyn. Used to be owned by Ted Turner, who, like the Cincinnati Strangler, is a native of Cincinnati. Now part of Time Warner, founded by the Warner Brothers, the oldest of whom, Harry Warner, like many Auschwitz guards, was a native of Poland." -- Mark Steyn, covering CNN

Haw!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year. I'm lucky enough to be able to spend my Christmas with my family. My brother is flying in from Boston tomorrow, and we're all heading to the Raging Parent's house. So, you won't see me until Sunday, or late Saturday night. As much as I love writing, family comes first. I won't even touch a computer while I'm with my family.

For you religious folks out there, I'm again asking for your prayers for the men and women in uniform, who can't be at home with their families this year. And religious or not, if you see a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine, thank them. They volunteered for a job that most people wouldn't take if you paid them, knowing that they might not be home for a long, long time. And I'd like to send out a Semper Fi to the Marines who've been running the Toys for Tots program all around the country. Thanks, guys.

I hope that everybody has a great Christmas. If you're Jewish, Happy Channuka. Gather round with your families and just enjoy that company.

Hodge, Merry Christmas, bro. Stay safe, and don't get dead. We're planning one hell of a party for ya when you get back home.

You wanna know? Fine

You want a taste of what it's like to be a soldier these days?

Fine.

Warning to any leftist reading this: I know the sound of gunfire may make you wet yourself. Therefore, since this is a video of actual combat, you may not want to view it.

It's Photo-tastic!

You've got to go check out Drumwaster's Photo Gallery.

You can damn well bet that I'm saving these and printing them out for the next idiot who flashes a photo of Rumsfeld and Saddam in the 80's.

South Korea may send troops to Iraq.

Courts to RIAA: Get Bent!

While reading Serenity's Journal, (one of the lucky people who shook Seattle off her shoes and got the hell out), I ran across this little article.

The most devastating: a decision Friday that makes it more time-consuming and expensive to sue suspected music traders — which has been at the heart of the recording industry's campaign.

The new ruling means the current litigation "grinds to a halt," says Ohio State law professor Peter Swire. Since September, the Recording Industry Association of America has sued 382 individuals. Many settled for $1,000 to $7,000

The RIAA is nothing more than a music monopoly, and their control over the music industry is almost absolute. Right now they're losing flaming assloads of money due to file sharing. I've observed plenty of debates about the ethics of file sharing over at Right Thinking, but I've mostly stayed out of them. I don't buy many CD's to begin with. But here's my two cents for the RIAA.

You want to stop losing money? Stop producing UTTER AND COMPLETE CRAP! I refuse to listen to much of the pop music today, and I wouldn't listen to rap if you paid me. Here's a hint: If a person doesn't write their own songs, doesn't play any instrument, and can only sing with huge amounts of coaching by someone else, THEY ARE NOT ARTISTS! The music industry as focused so much on bullshit like "boy bands" and Brittany Spears clones that they've forgotten about the damn music! I can remember a couple of years ago, you had Brittany, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, and a few other twits, who all sang bubblegum pop songs written by someone else, and played by someone else. The music sucked! It still sucks! "Good Charlotte"? Dear god, what crap! Gee, like I've never heard the ten-billionth "Green Day" clone before! I can find buskers down at Pike Place Market with more talent in their left pinky than "Good Charlotte" has in the whole damn band!

I have heard some of the best band ever while I was sitting in some bar having a beer. And yet the so-called music industry keeps following the fad of the month, putting some crap that looks good on stage while real musicians, real talent, sits and plays some back-alley bar. If the RIAA wants to make some money, stop shoveling the same regurgitated CRAP out of your factory and telling us it's "fresh", or "new". We're not stupid, and we're proving it by not buying assloads of your crap. That's most of what file-sharing is about. Nobody wants to pay $20 for some piece of shit CD that might have one or two good songs on it, and loaded with "filler" songs that nobody likes or gives a damn about. So one person buys it, rips the one or two good songs, and shares them. If the RIAA had pulled a move like Apple, and sold the songs one-at-a-time for 99 cents each, they'd be pulling in the bucks. But noooo, they have to continue to live in the stone age, demanding that the consumer change to fit the RIAA's schedual. Hey, fuck you, dipshits! You're behind the curve, selling shitty music, and then demanding that we like it? Piss off!

I have no sympathy for the RIAA. They've created their bed with their disregard for good musical talent and digital technology. Now they want to cry about it. As far as I'm concerned, they can all go bankrupt, and companies with the skills and forsight to produce good CD's will take their place. I truly hope that these lawsuits are the death knell of the music industry.

Albert A. Gore, III's mug shot.

The Resources have been updated to make more comprehensive our growing dossier on Dr. Howard Dean.

Doctor Dean will be in hot water again if major media picks up on the following:

In August [2003] the Quad City Times submitted a list of 20 questions to all the Democrat presidential candidates, one of which asked them to complete the following sentence: "My closest living relative in the armed services is...?"

Dean responded by saying "my brother is a POW/MIA in Laos, but is almost certainly dead."
.
.
.
The U.S. Department of Defense as Missing in Action (sic) meaning that [Charlie Dean] was among those officially sought by our government. He wasn't the only civilian with such a classification.

But he was a civilian, not a member of the armed services.

Oops.

So Dr. Dean's brother, whom, it is hoped, is resting is peace, went to Southeast Asia to protest an American policy that sought to hinder the spread of a sociopolitical ideology whose key tenet was to imprison and kill people who voiced differing political views.

But the people he sought to help found him.

Then, presumably, imprisoned him.

Then, again presumably, killed him.

Then his brother then lied about it.

RealClear Politics - Commentary

More: Drudge

DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!

The Laughing Wolf has a post up regarding the differences between a citizen and a subject. Well worth the time to read it.

States like Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts have already started turning their citizens into subjects. If you think different, go try to buy a gun in Boston. Or Chicago. Or Baltimore. Those states force you to ASK PERMISSION FROM THE STATE to buy a weapon. You have to try and justify it to the state. If the state isn't happy with your explanation, they turn you down!

Look at the 2nd Amendment: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

People may try to bullshit you over the meaning of the word "is". They might try to argue about militias and "arms", but it plainly states that your right, and my right to bear arms, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. They might say that the 2nd Amendment only applies to muskets and flintlocks "because that's all they had back then!" Fine, then the 1st Amendment only applies to printing presses and quill pens, "because that's all they had back then!" See how weak that argument is?

Parts of this country already views the citizens as subjects. The government is beginning to see you as a subject. When the rights that are guaranteed to you in our government's founding document are subject to permission from the state, you are a subject. Many blogs that I've been to have spoken about our country's "Reset Button". The Smallest Minority has a great post on that very subject.

Maybe it's time for more people to think about pressing that button. If you allow the state to take away your right to bear arms, that means they can take away the rest of them. You've given them that precedent. But the first right they would need to take away is our right to bear arms. That right exists in order to give us that Reset Button, should the government intrude too far into our lives, turning us from citizens to subjects.

What would it take for your reset button to be pushed? When do you consider yourself less a citizen and more a subject?

Things aren't getting any better for the Dimmies.

The U.S. economy, propelled by tax cuts and low interest rates, roared ahead at an 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the best showing in nearly 20 years, while Americans' incomes and spending both showed healthy gains in November.

Yahoo! News - GDP Roars Ahead at 8.2 Percent in Q3

I am guessing Wes Clark as VP beneath Dean going for top dog will be the Dimmy ticket next year. As such, My Stupid Dog's timeless compendium of Clark stupidity and duplicity is something to peruse, just for shits and giggles.

The Mudville Gazette has two pieces regarding Person(s) of the Year:

Here The Mud revel in the moronicity of Katie Couric.

Here they point out the folly

They said they wanted sensitive, but they really don't.

Bring back the real men! New York women are sick of competing with - and dating - men who fuss over their hair, skin, nails, teeth, clothes and cuisine.

"I can't stand metrosexuals!" cries 23-year-old saleswoman Lauren Levin, who has written "metrosexuals need not apply" on her friendster.com profile.

"I want to get manicures with my girlfriends, not my boyfriend."

If there was a buzzword of 2003, it was "metrosexual" - used to describe the alarming amount of straight men who delight in traditionally female pursuits like yoga, pedicures, facials and sample sales.

The backlash has begun.

New York Post Online Edition

Oy!

Found this at the Middle East Forum:

The discovery of Saddam Hussein in a crypt-like hole, hidden by bricks and dirt, in a farmhouse in a small town near Tikrit brings to mind the story of another Iraqi who also hid from the authorities by literally going underground.

That Iraqi is Jawad Amir Sayyid, 45, of Karada, a town southeast of Baghdad. He dwelt for an astonishing 21 years in a cell below his family's kitchen, entering it on December 2, 1981, and not once emerging from it until April 10, 2003, a day after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime.

A tale of two crypts

Speaking of Halliburton and its snout in the public trough, here's an article from 2000:

What started out as a $4 million contract in 1992 to help the government plan how to provide meals, tents, toilets and laundry for troops sent on missions to far-flung lands has grown substantially for Halliburton, an oil-services conglomerate.
.
.
.
A big chunk of the business came in 1995 when troops were sent to Bosnia. The Army paid Brown & Root $546 million to provide logistical support for over 20,000 American soldiers in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary. The company had already earned $269 million on the contract.

Two years later Brown & Root received a sole-source contract worth $405 million to continue support services in Bosnia. Last year the company beat out one other bidder to win a five-year Army contract to support U.S. peacekeeping troops in the Balkans region. Originally awarded for $900 million, work under that contract has now reached $730 million and could go to more than double that figure because more troops were sent to Kosovo last year.

Another contract for support services awarded this year by the Navy will bring in at least $300 million.

The government has hired Halliburton for dozens of other jobs, from a $100 million contract to improve security at U.S. embassies and consulates to a $40 million contract to maintain labs at the National Institutes of Health.

The Newswire - August, 2000 - The Conventional Arms Transfer Project

Gawlee. $2,000,000,000 in business during the Clinton Administration. Who'd'a thunk it?

OR: "The Halliburton scandal that's entirely made up by Bush's enemies"

Right Thinking from the Left Coast points us to a few articles by NRO's Byron York, who takes on the hysterical Left's accusations about Bush, Cheney, and Halliburton. Both pieces are an eye opener. From the July piece:

The next question was how large the contract should be. That was a difficult problem, because no one knew how big the problem would be. Would all the fields burn? Would none of them? Just a few? The Army assumed a worst-case scenario and decided the contract would be worth any amount between $0 and $7 billion (a common contracting practice known as ID/IQ, which stands for indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity). The $7 billion cap was thought to be sufficient to handle any emergency.

When the Army told Waxman that, he immediately began calling the KBR deal a $7 billion contract. "We are told it was a short-term contract for very little money, then it turned out it was a $7 billion contract," he said on National Public Radio in early May. What Waxman did not say was that he had been told a month earlier that the contract would not be worth anywhere near the cap amount.

Lying by omission is still lying. The Left is doing everything in it's power to cause some sort of scandal for the Bush Administration. All the claims being made against Bush and Co. could have been made against the Clinton administration. But they weren't made against Clinton, because the claims are bullshit.

In 1997, when LOGCAP was again put up for bid, Halliburton/Brown & Root lost the competition to another contractor, Dyncorp. But the Clinton Defense Department, rather than switch from Halliburton to Dyncorp, elected to award a separate, sole-source contract to Halliburton/Brown & Root to continue its work in the Balkans. According to a later GAO study, the Army made the choice because 1) Brown & Root had already acquired extensive knowledge of how to work in the area; 2) the company "had demonstrated the ability to support the operation"; and 3) changing contractors would have been costly. The Army's sole-source Bosnia contract with Brown & Root lasted until 1999. At that time, the Clinton Defense Department conducted full-scale competitive bidding for a new contract. The winner was . . . Halliburton/Brown & Root. The company continued its work in Bosnia uninterrupted.

When one company has the knowledge, the skills, the resources, and the availability to do the job, you let them do their damn job! Both Clinton and Bush understand this. The difference is, the Donks want to beat Bush so badly that they're generating false claims at a record pace. They're lying to beat the band.

York's second piece continues where his first left off.

The Pentagon is investigating allegations that Halliburton overcharged it by $61 million for gasoline and other fuels delivered to Iraq. Halliburton delivered gasoline to Iraq from Kuwait at a price of $2.27 per gallon, while it delivered gas from Turkey for $1.18 per gallon.

The obvious question raised by the discrepancy was: Why would Halliburton deliver high-priced fuel from Kuwait when it could be obtained at a much lower price from Turkey?

The company says it did so because the Army demanded that it deliver fuel from Kuwait. "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said to find a fuel source in Kuwait," Halliburton said in a press release yesterday. "[Halliburton] sought and received bids from four suppliers in Kuwait. One met the Corps' specification, and that is the one the Corps approved."

Gee, what a concept! The Army demands a product, and the company hired to deliver that product actually does so! Wow! But why was the Army so desperate for fuel, and why did it approve the high cost?

"The initial import of fuel was in response to a request from General Sanchez to do this because there was an uprising in Basra over the lack of gas and cooking fuel," says the Corps source. "Basra is near the Kuwaiti border. The fastest way to get it there is Kuwait. So we directed them [Halliburton] to do that."

"Basra was a flash point; we were close to civil unrest," the source continues. "Probably at the time we didn't care what it cost, because we were trying to stop a riot. Cost was probably not an issue."

So because the company was performing the job that it was hired to do, the Donks are shrieking at a fever pitch. Well, that's been typical of the Left during Bush's stay in the White House.

Soon the U.S. military was ordering fuel shipments to the rest of Iraq as well. While the Kuwaiti source is relatively close to Basra, it is a great distance from northern Iraq, which made for very long shipping lines. And the violent insurgency then beginning inside Iraq made the work not only expensive but also dangerous for the crews hired by Halliburton to deliver the fuel.

"Not many people want to drive eight to fifteen days through a war zone with a truck full of flammable materials," the company says. "Three drivers have been killed and many others injured while performing this mission, and 60 vehicles have been damaged."

As a result, Halliburton officials say they came up with the idea of arranging for another fuel source in Turkey. "[Halliburton] initiated the idea to source fuel from Turkey," the company says. [Halliburton] presented this idea to its customer, and because of this, saved taxpayers well over $100 million."

Go read both pieces. They greatly illustrate just how far the Left is willing to go in order to smear Bush. They're desperate to take him down, and will stoop to new lows in order to do so. Their lies are just now starting to be exposed, but don't expect to see any retractions from the Fifth Column press in this country.

As usual, you'll have to find the truth on your own. But that's something the Left keeps underestimating us on.

Beholdeth one time DNC Perfumed Prince and current DNC Also-Ran, Wes Clark:

"And I would say to the Europeans, I pledge to you as the American president that we’ll consult with you first. You get the right of first refusal on the security concerns that we have. We’ll bring you in."

No Left Turns Archive

Was it a coincidence that Libya capitulated fiour days after Saddam's capture?

That was not what caused this tyrant suddenly to confess to buying and developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and to promise to reveal all to inspectors. He was transformed into a pussycat by the force of American arms in stopping the spread of mass-destruction weaponry.

William Safire: I Remember Muammar

So, did you hear the big news? Yeah, it seems Al Gore's son was busted for dope. Remember when the Bush twins were caught underage drinking? Front page news. "BUSH TWINS BUSTED", read the papers. Pictures of the twins all over the place. Where's the picture of Al Gore the 3rd? He's been busted with drugs, nailed for reckless driving, and suspended from his posh private school (he was later transfered to a different school, but not before Tipper threw a temper tantrum that Paris Hilton would envy). Let's not forget Howie Dean's son, who was caught after breaking & entering a residence in order to steal booze.

Where are the front page news articles? Where are the pictures? If these "news" agencies are so objective as they love to claim, WHERE IS THE GOD-DAMNED EQUAL TREATMENT?

Oh. THAT liberal media. If I had my way, these "journalistic" hacks would either admit that they're so biased to the Left that they lean when they walk, or I'd get to attach jumper cables to their genitalia. If they could at least admit that they're nothing but corporate mouthpieces for the Democrats, I would be happy.

Don't forget folks, this is the "liberal" establishment that forces equlity down people's throats. This is the group that prides themselves on their "objectivity". This is the chattering elite class that looks down on you, and they have an agenda. They're pissed that you're not following it, and they'll use every trick in the book to get you onto their plantation. I haven't paid for a newspaper in months. I refuse to support this kind of crap.

I can check ten different news sources online for free. If I have to wade through piles of bullshit to get to the actuall news, I'm not paying for it.

UPDATE: Here's a little challenge for ya, if you think that the media isn't biased. Do a Google search for "Bush Twins". Then do a Google search for "Al Gore III". Compare the two. 'Nuff said.

Kwanzaa?

Smack. Smackity Smack. SLAP SLAP SLAP.

This bitchslapping brought to you by DANEgerus.

Kim du Toit has a post up regarding the group Americans for Banning All Guns Gun Safety. The AGS memo reads like a Communist gun grabbing memo, which shouldn't suprise anyone. Kim has four questions for the AGS:

-- 1. Why did you write this position paper for the Democrat Leadership Council (DLC)?
-- 2. Considering that guns purchased at gun shows play an insignificant role in violent crime (fewer than 1% of all guns which feature in criminal activity were found to have been purchased at gun shows), why does the so-called "loophole" bother you so much?
-- 3. Where is "the right to hunt" mentioned in the Bill of Rights?
-- 4. Considering that the rate of accidental death by firearm discharge has been steadily decreasing since 1970, even as more guns have been purchased by individuals, why is "gun safety" so large an issue for you?
-- 4. Why are you so keen to see Democrat politicians elected to office?

Now, I have a few questions of my own, which you can answer or not. I doubt that any democrat is going to see them, much less answer them.

1) Do you or do you not trust the private citizens of this country?
2) Why should any responsible, law abiding citizen be restricted in any way on the subject of firearm ownership?
3) We have approximately 20,000 laws on the books regarding firearms ownership. Why do you think we need more?
4) What constitutes an "Assault Rifle"?

I would love for some gun-grabber to answer those questions.

UPDATE: Mr. Baker of The Smallest Minority informs me that automatic weapons are indeed legal in many states, but they're highly taxed. I think I need to start saving up some money.

And if you haven't checked out The Smallest Minority yet, do so. It's one of the better pro-gun blogs out there, and I've gotten a lot of good info from him.

One more link, just because it's too damn good. You may remember Tim's post about the idiots who swallow all of Micheal Moore's bullshit. Aaron of Free Will actually took the time to fisk one idiot.

Bravo, Aaron. My hat is off to you. I couldn't make it halfway through that pile of trash without wanting to hurt the author.

Acidman has a post up about "the homeless", that kinda resonates with me.

I've gone over Seattle's homeless problem before, and Analog Kid has had his fill of the feel-good, "We need to help the homeless" bullshit as well. Anyways, Acidman describes an encounter with one of those "Will work for food" people. This is how it turned out:

The Savannah police arrested the guy for some minor offense a week or so later and the truth came out. He was fleecing compassionate people for almost $500 per week running his con and he NEVER WORKED FOR FOOD.

Drive through downtown Seattle, and there's one of these jokers at every damned off-ramp on the I-5 corridor. My buddy Roy has a grading scale for their signs, depending on content, spelling, and how dirty the bums made themselves look. The words "God Bless", "Children", "lost job", and "need any help" are worth bonus points, especially if they're spelled wrong. I've seen these jokers pile out of a van and stand on their corners. They take shifts, and I've watch the shift change. They're con men (and women), who enjoy standing on a corner more than working a real job. You know what? Fuck them. They aren't getting a damn penny out of me.

I used to live in downtown Seattle (Belltown, for those who are curious) and trust me, if you want to find someone intoxicated on some drug or another, just head downtown. I was in the heart of Bum Central. I can't count the number of times I was hassled for money as I walked to work, or back home. I'd go down to Pike Place Market, and get hit up for money an average of six times each way. I always said "I can't give you money, but if you're hungry I can buy you lunch/dinner/breakfast/a snack." I was taken up on that offer a total of TWO times. I lived in Belltown for six months. That's six months of hassle, six months of people trying to bum money off of me, six months and countless totals of beggers, bums, and ne'rdowells trying to fleece me out of my cash, but only TWO people who actually wanted something to eat. You would think that someone with a "Will work for food" sign would want something hot to eat, right? Hell, when one guy actually said yes, I went to an Ivar's (a local seafood joint) and picked up the biggest lunch special they had, and brought it back to him. About eight dollars worth of food, because he actually WANTED FOOD. Everyone else was just bullshitting. "Naw, man, jes gimmie fitty cents." "Naw man, don't do that, jus gimmie da money." "Naw man, I just want a quarter or somefen." Fuck you, bum. Either you're hungry, or you're trying to buy booze and drugs. I'll help a man eat, but get high on your own fucking dime, not mine.

Think about all the organizations that are willing to help people. United Way. The Salvation Army. St. Vincent de Paul's. I've donated to quite a few groups who's sole purpose is to help people get back on their feet. St. Vinnie's in Coeur d' Alene has a program that gives you a place to stay, an address, three hots and a cot, and all they ask is A) no drugs or alcohol, and B) work an hour a day in their store. That's it. You can come in wearing nothing but a tattered pair of pants, and they'll help you clean up, give you clothes, food, a bed, and an address so that you can get a job. All they want is an hour a day, and you remaining sober. They don't get many takers. The bums find out that they need to stay sober in order to stay at St. Vinnie's, and they walk out. They don't want a job, they don't want help, they just want to use the system and stay drunk as long as possible. I won't have any part of it. You want to get drunk/stoned/high/tweaked/fried/baked, you can do it in a roadside gutter. People who actually need help can get help. People who want to raise themselves up can do so. I know people who had nothing, literally. No car, no housing, no ANYTHING, and with a little help from places like St. Vinnie's they were able to get a job, then a house or apartment, then a car, and they kept on going. But they aren't the ones you see on the street. They aren't the ones begging at the street corner, folks. Those street-corner sad sacks are nothing but scammer bums, and cons. They aren't getting a damn cent from me.

UPDATE: I realized another reason why these bums piss me off so bad. They come up, literally in your face, reeking of booze, pot, meth, and everything else, and breathe their alcohol soaked breath right in your face as they beg for money. "Can you hep me out, man? I ain't eaten in days." Well NO SHIT, SHERLOCK! Judging from your breath, you've been drinking shitty rotgut for weeks! Try Listerine, it'll get you drunk and it won't make me want to PUKE when you invade my personal space! Why the hell do these people think that I WANT to shake their hands? Why do they think it's OK to lean into within one inch of my face and demand cash? If you want to drink Mad Dog 20/20 and piss on yourself while you lay passed out in a public park paid for with my taxes, that's YOUR business. Once you invade my space, then it becomes MY problem, and I have enough problems as it is.

It's bad enough that I have to pick up all your damn empty bottles and cans around my place of employment, but then you want me to give you money so you can do it all over again? Go play in traffic.

All the links that I can handle! First up is den Beste, who might just be one of the smartest people on the net. My eyes normally glaze over when he goes on a tangent about the extemporaneous spacial curvature of the non-linear application of the 3rd Rule of frictionless motion, but when he settles down and writes, wow. Just read and absorb. He has a theory (for lack of a better word) that Bush and PM Tony Blair have been working the diplomatic version of NYPD Blue when it comes to Libya.

Why did he call the British, rather than the French or the Russians or the EU or the UN? That's another interesting piece to the puzzle. What has developed over the last couple years is that Blair and Bush are doing a superb good-cop/bad-cop act. Blair is the good cop, the "reasonable" one. Unlike Australian PM John Howard, Blair has leftist/internationalist credentials, and has positioned himself to be the only world leader with such credentials who has significant influence with Bush and who has some ability to restrain or deflect Bush. Bush is the bad cop, the cowboy, the moron, the devout Christian, the one with blood in his eye, who also happens to be commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world and appears very willing and perhaps even eager to use it against those he dislikes.

I honestly think that Blair realizes that Bush does what he says. When Bush says "I will not allow terrorists to attack my country", Blair's little red mental alarm starts flashing. Blair is much farther to the left than most people in America realize, or have been told. If he were an American politician, Blair would be to the left of Howie Dean. I think Blair sees his chance to restrain the USA in a sense, and is taking it. Granted, it works out well for both parties, and I'm certainly not going to complain about Libya getting rid of it's weapons. I just don't think that Blair is doing this for purely altruistic means.

It appears that the French had told Saddam that they could prevent the US from attacking even if Bush wanted to launch an attack. Because of that, Saddam thought he did not need to give much away.

The British position with Qaddafi, on the other hand, was that they had considerable influence with Washington but no veto over American actions. If you Libyans give us a deal with thus-and-so concessions, we think we can sell it to Bush and we promise to try really hard. We want to work with you here and to help you on this. But if you don't offer us enough there won't be anything we can do to keep the Americans from coming to visit you with extreme prejudice, like they just visited your buddy Saddam.

Blair is consolidating British power by using the USA as the stick to the UK's carrot. So long as terrorist supporting countries STOP supporting terror, I'm happy. Let the UK pump up a bit, as it really won't harm us. At least the UK "gets it", when it comes to international terrorists. I'm afraid that there are many countries who still don't get it. Anyways, go read the whole thing.