From a breathless Associated Press:

Iraq vet plans to return his medals in protest

By Ryan J. Foley Wednesday Sep 26, 2007

MADISON, Wis. — An Iraq war veteran said Tuesday he is returning his military medals in what anti-war groups are calling a rare and powerful protest.

Josh Gaines, 27, plans to mail the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and National Defense Service Medal to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He said he will do so during a protest scheduled for Wednesday in Madison.

“I’m going to give those back because I truly feel that I did not defend my nation and I did not help with the Global War on Terrorism,” said Gaines, who lives in Madison. “If anything, this conflict has bred more terrorism in the Middle East.”

Gaines served a yearlong tour in Iraq between 2004 and 2005 with the U.S. Army Reserve. He spent his time guarding two military bases and issuing ammunition to soldiers but never fired a weapon, he said.

The experience convinced him the war was a mistake and that a steady withdrawal of troops was the right course of action, Gaines said…

Jonathan Dedering, a Students for a Democratic Society activist who is helping organize Wednesday’s protest, said it’s extremely rare for Iraq veterans to return their medals. The tactic was a more common form of protest among Vietnam veterans.

“To many Americans this will be a very big deal,” Dedering said in an e-mail message…

Gaines said he is returning the medals awarded when he left active duty in 2005 to Rumsfeld because he is “the man responsible for my tour.” He said he would likely send them to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where Rumsfeld was recently hired to be a visiting fellow…

Gaines said he was given an “other than honorable” discharge after failing a drug test. He said he started smoking marijuana after he returned from Iraq to help him eat and sleep after he had trouble doing either for months…

This article was forwarded to me by Rakkasan, who also noted that:

Even if a soldier throws their medals back, they are still on their DD214. It is a lame symbolic gesture. They can just go to the military Clothing and Sales and buy more. Stupid pot smoking hippie…. He can’t throw his “less than honorable” back, can he?

No, he can’t.

I wonder also if this gentleman isn’t also getting some kind of government hand out for some real or imagine disability, as is so common amongst these America-hating “veterans.”

Still, it’s all strangely redolent of that other great war hero, John Kerry.

From CNN via YouTube: 

Bill Clinton Condemns Republicans

Bill Clinton condemns Republicans over the phoney outrage over the MoveOn.org ad about General (Betray Us) Petraeus. He also mentions the Republican attack ads smearing the military service of Max Cleland and John Kerry.

This is one of the more laughably ironic rants from Mr. Clinton, since his last feigned outrage at Chris Wallace on Fox News almost exactly a year ago.

And speaking of phony outrage, can you count the mendacities that stream from the great man’s mouth?

How was Max Cleland’s military service ”smeared”? What did the Swiftboat Veterans ever say about Mr. Kerry that was false?

Of course the New York Times refused to run any of the completely factual ads from the Swiftboat Vets. Whereas they gave the libelous and fact-free ad from MoveOn.org their special secret half-off rate for America-haters.

(And where was Mr. Clinton when Mr. Kerry was comparing our soldiers in Vietnam to the army of Jhengis Khan? Dodging the draft and denouncing our troops from England?)

Do we really want this reprobate back in the White House?

From the American Forces Press Service:

A U.S. soldier takes pictures of recruits of the Concerned Citizens group in the Tuwaitha area, south-east of Baghdad September 27, 2007.

Al Qaeda in Iraq Losing, Thanks to Concerned Local Citizens

Sep 28, 2007
BY David Mays, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service, Sept. 28, 2007) – Iraqi citizens are helping coalition forces hunt down al Qaeda terrorists in a vast rural area south of Baghdad, a military commander said yesterday.

“As the summer went along, we started building the confidence of the people,” Lt. Col. Ken Adgie told online journalists and “bloggers” from Patrol Base Murray, which is situated beside the Tigris River in the mostly agricultural region of Arab Jabour.

With its desolate location, rugged terrain, thick palm groves and almost-exclusively Sunni population, the region is a perfect breeding ground for terrorism, Lt. Col. Adgie said.

“There is no Iraqi army here. There is no Iraqi police here. And there’s no governmental structure here,” he said. “What you had was a petri dish for al Qaeda to grow.”

Earlier this month, Lt. Col. Adgie and the Soldiers he commands in 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, of Multinational Division Center launched Operation Marne Torch II. The ongoing mission aims to stop the flow of weapons, including improvised explosive devices, that local citizens have been manufacturing with al Qaeda funding.

“The al Qaeda that’s here is not guys … from Syria or Somalia. They are local people who grew up here,” Lt. Col. Adgie said. “They were bad, bad teenagers who stole cars, … and (with) the lure of fast money from al Qaeda … they joined al Qaeda, and they carry out al Qaeda’s bidding.”

These home-grown terrorists employed “ultra-violence” against their fellow villagers to “strike fear in their hearts,” the colonel explained. Coalition forces from the final phase of the U.S. troop surge streamed into the region earlier this summer.

“In early August, we started seeing the first of the concerned local citizens come forward,” Lt. Col. Adgie said. “And they started providing us with just a lot of information on who the bad guys were.”

The “concerned citizen” movement was greatly bolstered last month, the colonel explained, when a retired brigadier general from Saddam Hussein’s former army encouraged more local people to assist the coalition effort.

“(He) decided, ‘Enough is enough. I’ll be the leader,’” Lt. Col. Adgie said. “He stepped up, stepped out into the light of day and helped us recruit this concerned citizen organization.”

That organization has grown from 87 to 538 people in just seven weeks, the colonel explained, and its members provide crucial information.

“Al Qaeda operates under a veil of secrecy. No one knows who al Qaeda is,” Lt. Col. Adgie said. “Well that’s no longer possible when the guy you went to high school with is a concerned citizen, and he can look you in the eye and say: ‘You’re al Qaeda.’”

Information provided by Iraqi citizens is always corroborated by a second source, the colonel explained, such as video from unmanned aerial vehicles. But without that initial human intelligence, he said, the mission would be far more difficult.

“It allows us to take that … needle in a haystack and make it into a much smaller haystack,” Lt. Col. Adgie said.

A select, highly vetted group of concerned citizens actually lives on post with coalition forces, wears military uniforms and accompanies troops as they raid suspected al Qaeda safe houses, the colonel explained.

“If there’s 10 guys in a house and one’s bad, the concerned citizens can say: ‘That’s the guy you want.’” Lt. Col. Adgie said.

Since the beginning of Operation Marne Torch II, coalition forces have killed nine enemy fighters, captured 71 detainees, located 14 IEDs, and uncovered 12 weapons caches according to Multinational Division Center officials.

“Al Qaeda is losing right now,” Lt. Col. Adgie said. “And that’s a good thing for Iraqi citizens.”

The story of the “Concerned Citizens Group” is just one of literally thousands of optimistic stories that our watchdog media refuses to report.

After all, they don’t want us to think we have any chance of winning.

A surprising admission from the terrorist enablers at Reuters:

Iraqi Special Operations Forces and coalition forces conduct a search and rescue mission in an attempt to find three U.S. Army soldiers missing in action, May 13, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq.

U.S. details wiretap delays in Iraq kidnap case

By Randall Mikkelsen

U.S. authorities racing to find three kidnapped American soldiers in Iraq last May labored for nearly 10 hours to get legal authority for wiretaps to help in the hunt, an intelligence official told Congress on Thursday.

The top U.S. spy agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, sent Congress a timeline detailing the wiretap effort as the Bush administration makes its case to wary Democrats for a permanent expansion of its authority to eavesdrop on the foreign communications of terrorism suspects.

“In order to comply with the law, the government was required to spend valuable time obtaining an emergency authorization … to engage in collection related to the kidnapping,” Ronald Burgess, principle deputy director to McConnell, said in a letter to U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes.

Reyes, a Texas Democrat, is chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee…

The timeline shows that at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on May 15, after three days of developing leads on the whereabouts of the three soldiers who went missing south of Baghdad, U.S. agencies met to discuss ways of obtaining more intelligence.

Concluding at 12:53 p.m. EDT (1653 GMT) that requirements for emergency eavesdropping approval had been met, officials spent more than four hours debating “novel and complicated issues” in the case. They spent about more two hours to obtain final approval from then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was traveling.

The wiretap began at 7:38 p.m. (2138 GMT). Authorities then had 72 hours to obtain a special court’s endorsement of the emergency authority, which was granted, a U.S. official said.

McConnell told the committee last week that an outdated provision in the eavesdropping law made the approval necessary because the targeted foreign communications were carried in part on a wire inside the United States.

“We are extending Fourth Amendment (constitutional) rights to a terrorist foreigner … who’s captured U.S. soldier,” he said, arguing that this was unnecessary and burdensome.

Congress temporarily broadened the law in August so such approval would no longer be required, but that legislation expires in February and U.S. President George W. Bush wants a permanent law enacted.

An al Qaeda-led group in June said it had killed the three soldiers, and showed pictured of ID cards of two of the men.

To sum up, our troops on the ground couldn’t monitor phone calls in Iraq because they were routed through the United States. (Of course with cell phones, satellites and microwave transmissions, most phone calls are at some point routed through the US.)

But our side has been restricted by this insane provision from January until August, before the Solons in our Congress decided to remove this ban — and then only temporarily.

We must not deny the murderous enemy their rights.

What a despicable outrage.

And notice how this is finally coming out, though it’s been known for months.

Note too, that true to form, this news is being leaked out on a Friday in the hopes that nobody will notice or remember.

From an approving Associated Press:

Myanmar breaks up rallies, cuts Internet

Soldiers clubbed activists in the streets and fired warning shots Friday, moving decisively to break up demonstrations in Myanmar before they could gain momentum. Troops occupied Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access, raising concerns that the crackdown on civilians that has killed at least 10 people was set to intensify.

Troops also fired tear gas to break up a demonstration of about 2,000 people in the largest city, Yangon, witnesses said. Five protesters were seen being dragged into a truck and driven away. The clash in an area near the Sule Pagoda was the most serious of the several sporadic — though smaller — protests that were reported.

By sealing monasteries, the government seemed intent on clearing the streets of monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations and are revered by most of their Myanmar countrymen. This could embolden troops to crack down harder on remaining civilian protesters.

Efforts to squelch the demonstrations appeared to be working. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people had grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades, a crisis that began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in…

Earlier Friday, soldiers and riot police moved quickly to disperse a crowd of 300 that started marching in Yangon, sealing the surrounding neighborhood and ordering them to disperse. Elsewhere, they fired warning shots to scatter a group of 200.

Bob Davis, Australia’s ambassador to Myanmar, said he had heard unconfirmed reports that “several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities” may have been killed by troops in Yangon. Scores have been arrested, carted away in trucks at night or pummeled with batons in recent days, witnesses and diplomats said, with the junta ignoring all international appeals for restraint.

“The military was out in force before they even gathered and moved quickly as small groups appeared breaking them up with gunfire, tear gas and clubs,” said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.

“It’s tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very well behaved.” …

Video emerged of a striking image — the shooting death Thursday of a man identified as Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai of the video agency APF News. [See above.]

The Democratic Voice of Burma released video of security forces opening fire on protesters, including a man falling forward after apparently being shot at point-blank range, and the opposition shortwave radio station based in Norway said the victim was Nagai, 50.

Another image posted on the Web site of Japanese TV network Fuji showed Nagai lying in the street, camera still in hand, with a soldier pointing his rifle down at him…

Gates were locked and key intersections near monasteries in Yangon and the second-largest city of Mandalay were sealed off with barbed wire, and there was no sign of monks in the streets.

“We were told security forces had the monks under control” and will now turn their attention to civilian protesters, the Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The government’s apparent decision to cut public Internet access — which has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world — also raised concerns…

Where is the United Nations? The vaunted “international community”? The “human rights” groups?

The Democratic Voice Of Burma video can be seen here.

From Fox News:

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan gestures while speaking at an Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) Coalition news conference, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007, at the National Press Club in Washington.

Washington, D.C., Judge Issues Bench Warrant for Cindy Sheehan

Thursday , September 27, 2007
By Greg Simmons

WASHINGTON — A bench warrant was issued Thursday for antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who did not appear for arraignment Thursday in a Washington, D.C., courtroom to face charges related to her Sept. 10 disorderly conduct arrest on Capitol Hill.

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Michael McCarthy issued the order to Sheehan around noon, a court spokeswoman said. The warrant says she is to be arrested and brought before the court. She also faces one count of unlawful assembly.

“She wasn’t aware that there was a court appearance today,” said Sheehan’s spokeswoman, Tiffany Burns, reached by cell phone.

“We’ll have the attorney deal with this immediately, so as soon as she’s rescheduled to appear, she’ll be there,” Burns added.

Burns said Sheehan was at home in California Thursday, and did not receive the paperwork notifying her of the court date.

However, a court document obtained by FOXNews.com dated Sept. 10, signed by Sheehan, advised her to appear Thursday at 8:30 a.m. The warrant issued Thursday sets a $50 bond for her arrest.

Sheehan’s Sept. 10 arrest — one of several in recent years — came as a tense hearing on the Iraq war underway at the Cannon House Office Building. Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker were were giving their highly anticipated report on military and political progress in Iraq to the House Armed Services Committee.

Sheehan was among dozens of protesters at the hearing with the antiwar group Code Pink, at least eight of whom were arrested. Sheehan was arrested alongside her sister, Dee Dee Miller, and both were charged with disorderly conduct.

Desiree Fairooz, a Code Pink member, also was arrested Sept. 10, and was surprised to learn that a warrant had been issued for Sheehan. She was reached by phone at a Washington, D.C., Code Pink gathering place.

“It was probably just an oversight,” said Fairooz, a children’s librarian.

Fairooz said she and Sheehan rode together in the police van after they were arrested, and she knows of no talk since among her fellow protesters of trying to evade the court system.

“That would be a total waste of time. Our energies are spent working on Capitol Hill trying to involve our congressmen and women and senators … Spending more time in jail is counterproductive,” Fairooz said.

Fairooz also discounted the notion that getting arrested was a notch in a protester’s belt — although she said she had been arrested three times, all three for antiwar protests. For her most recent conviction, she served two days in jail of a five-day term “for good behavior.”

“I definitely hope to avoid it. We’d rather have our voices heard without having to spend time in a 4-by-12 cell,” Fairooz said…

Spiffyw, who originally posted this on the news forum. But given the Cindy’s long history with this site, I thought it warranted being re-posted here so that we could all enjoy the moment.

Not that anything will ever come of this. America-haters are always allowed to scoff at all of our laws.

It’s somewhere in the penumbra of the Constitution, apparently.

From a joyous Associated Press:

Mychal Bell, right, one of the Jena Six, hugs Rev. Al Sharpton after leaving the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena, La., Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007.

Jena 6 Teen Released on $45,000 Bail

Sep 28

By DOUG SIMPSON

JENA, La. (AP) – A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.

Mychal Bell’s release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he would no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.

“We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week’s protest.

“He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him,” Sharpton said as Bell stood smiling next to him.

“There’s only one person who could have brought me through this and that’s the good Lord,” Bell told reporters later in front of his father’s house…

Bell faces juvenile court charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime…

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil rights movement.

Walters said the demonstration had no influence on his decision not to press the adult charges, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.

“The only way – let me stress that – the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community,” Walters said…

Ah, yes.

Justice.

Why is Mr. George Soros’s famously well-heeled Open Society Institute getting donations from from agencies of the US federal government, as well as the United Palestinian Appeal — which is a relief charity?

From the Open Society Institute’s form 990 (pdf) from 2005:

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From the Open Society Institute’s form 990 (pdf) from 2004:

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From the Open Society Institute’s form 990 (pdf) from 2003:

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These are the only years that are readily accessible. But one suspects these contributions have been going on for quite a while.

So how many taxpayers do you think are aware that they are helping to directly support Mr. Soros’s noble efforts? And to the tune of $16,390,296 in just three years?

And what about the people who give money to the Palestinian Appeal? Isn’t it a reasonable expectation that the money would be going to the relief of the poor Palestinians, rather than to a super deluxe political organization?

Also bear in mind that the Open Society Institute is just the flagship for Mr. Soros’s numerous philanthropic enterprises. Who knows how much money he is getting from the US government?

Still, I am sure there is an innocent, even noble, explanation for all of this.

Sure there is.

From a deeply saddened Associated Press:

Dems can’t make guarantee on Iraq troops

By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 27

The leading Democratic White House hopefuls conceded Wednesday night they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.

“I think it’s hard to project four years from now,” said Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in the opening moments of a campaign debate in the nation’s first primary state.

“It is very difficult to know what we’re going to be inheriting,” added Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

“I cannot make that commitment,” said former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina…

[Hillary Clinton was later] asked whether she would ever approve torturing a suspected terrorist to prevent the detonation of a big bomb.

She said no, and Russert said former President Clinton, her husband, once suggested it might be appropriate.

“Well, he’s not standing here right now,” she said, an edge in her voice…

Edwards sought to draw a distinction between his position and Clinton’s, saying she had said recently she wants to continue combat missions in Iraq.

“I do not want to continue combat missions in Iraq,” he said.

Clinton responded quickly, saying Edwards had misstated her position. She said she favors the continued deployment of counterterrorism troops, not forces to engage in the type of combat now under way.

Asked whether they were prepared to use force to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, several of the hopefuls sidestepped. Instead, they said, all diplomacy must be exhausted in the effort.

Moderator Tim Russert of NBC News asked about Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani’s pledge to set back Iran by eight to 10 years if it tries to gain nuclear standing.

Biden flashed anger at the mention of the former New York mayor. “Rudy Giuliani doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about,” said Delaware senator, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“He’s the most uninformed person on foreign policy that’s now running for president.” …

Oh, my sides.

[Hillary Clinton was later] asked whether she would ever approve torturing a suspected terrorist to prevent the detonation of a big bomb.

She said no…

This answer alone demonstrates conclusively that Hillary Clinton is not a responsible person.

She is certainly not a person who should ever be trusted with the Presidency.

From South Carolina’s The State:

Youssef Samir Megahed, left, and Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed

Documents point to S.C. terror plot

ADAM BEAM and LEE HIGGINS

Thu, Sep. 27, 2007

In a 12-minute video posted on YouTube, an Egyptian man wearing a white shirt, khaki pants and rubber gloves explains in Arabic how to turn a toy boat into a bomb.

His name is Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, and last month he was arrested in Goose Creek after authorities found four PVC pipes containing a mixture of potassium nitrate, kitty litter and sugar in his car’s trunk.

Mohamed told FBI agents he made the video to teach “those persons in Arabic countries to defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries,” according to federal court documents released late Tuesday.

Specifically, he told the FBI “the technology which he demonstrated in the tape was to be used against those who fought for the United States.”

What started as a traffic stop for speeding in South Carolina has led to a two-count federal indictment on terrorism-related charges and a multistate mystery investigators still are working to unravel…

Mohamed and Megahed, a 21-year-old University of South Florida engineering student, were stopped for speeding Aug. 4on S.C. 176 in Goose Creek.

They told deputies they were traveling to North Carolina for a vacation. Berkeley County sheriff’s deputies saw one of the men disconnect some wires from a laptop computer and became suspicious.

In the back of the patrol car on the way to jail on charges of possession of an explosive device, the two whispered in their native Arabic while a hidden recorder taped their conversation, according to court documents:

“Did you tell them there is something in them?” Mohamed asked, an apparent reference to the PVC pipes.

“Water,” Megahed said.

“Water! Right? The black water is in the Pepsi.”

A few seconds pass in silence. Mohamed speaks again.

“Did you tell them about the benzene (gasoline)?”

“I have nothing to do with it. I do the fireworks and so… so… so… that is it.” …

After examining Mohamed’s laptop computer, which was in the 2000 Toyota Camry that was stopped in Goose Creek, agents found an electronic folder titled “Bomb Shock.” The folder contained several computer files about explosives, including TNT and C-4, a military-grade plastic explosive.

They also found the 12-minute video on the laptop. Someone had uploaded the video onto YouTube, a video-sharing Web site. It could be found on YouTube by entering a complicated 14-word search term, which included the words “martyrdooms” and “suiciders.”

Two days after the traffic stop, FBI agents found a remote-controlled toy boat, still in its box, and a partially dismantled digital watch in Megahed’s Tampa, Fla., home, where he lived with his parents. Authorities said in court documents they believe the two items were the beginnings of a homemade bomb.

On Aug. 29, Mohamed and Megahed were indicted by a federal grand jury in Tampa on charges of transporting explosive materials. Mohamed also was charged with teaching and demonstrating the making and use of an explosive and destructive device…

Prosecutors also argued that if released [on bail], Megahed could flee to his native Egypt. They said he had lived in the United States for 10 years and his application to become a naturalized citizen was denied because he had traveled out of the country too many times.

Megahed has two Egyptian passports, one of which is under a different last name. Prosecutors said it would be difficult to bring Megahed back from Egypt if he were to go there because his family has “substantial assets.” …

Much of this information has been quietly dribbled out over the last few weeks in the local news.

But somehow our national media has been strangely quiet about it.

Surely they don’t want the unwashed masses to labor under the misimpression that these two students were just carrying around homemade fireworks.

Surely it’s just an oversight on the part of our watchdog media.

(If anyone can find the YouTube video, please let us know. But Google, being famously concerned for our national security, has probably removed it by now.)

From Germany’s Der Spiegel:

Beijing, June 22, 2007

US, Chinese Officials Hold Secret ‘Post-Bush Era’ Meeting

By Gregor Peter Schmitz in Washington

SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Chinese officials and members of the United States Congress have held a secret meeting without White House participation about the future of Washington’s climate protection policies. Beijing officials are trying to determine what they should expect in the post-Bush era.

A shift in American climate protection policies in the post-Bush era could force China to implement emissions limits.

The deputy chief of the Chinese National Development Reform Commission (NDRC), Xie Zhenhue, met on Wednesday morning with a bipartisan group of Republican and Democratic members of Congress to discuss future climate protection policy developments in the United States, SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned.

Officials held the meeting on the eve of a two-day conference on climate change organized by US President George W. Bush that will bring together the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitters. Critics expect little to happen at the meeting because of Bush’s waning influence and the fact that the US has pushed for “aspirational” targets rather than mandatory emissions limits.

High-ranking sources close to the participants of the meeting between the Chinese delgation and Congress said the Chinese sought to find out how determined Congress is to push through rigorous climate protection laws in the future. During the discussion, members of Congress made clear that they would soon like to vote on legislation that would set binding emissions limits. However, the members of Congress said they didn’t provide the Chinese with a firm timeline for when this might happen…

Participants in the meeting said later that the Chinese grew evasive when the issue of China’s own contribution to climate protection was raised. The Chinese reportedly said, however, that they were concerned it might no longer be possible for them to delay action in the “post-Bush era.” They had set up the meeting to find out if the US position on climate protection would actually change under a new president.

The members of Congress reportedly informed the Chinese emissaries that legislators soon planned to respond to the American public’s broad support by pushing through climate protection laws.

It still remains unclear whether the White House was informed of the meeting. Nevertheless, it demonstrates the waning importance of the Bush administration in determining future climate protection policy in the country…

Unbelievable!

Strike that.

It is all too believable with our current Congress.

Discreetly buried in Newsday:

WORLD & NATION UPDATE: ABROAD

Compiled from news dispatches

September 27, 2007

PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD’S comment that there are no gays in Iran was cut out of official Farsi transcripts of his appearance Monday at Columbia University.

On the Farsi-language versions of the president’s official Web site and the country’s official news agency, IRNA, these comments are cut out or slightly revised to delete references to homosexuality.

The complete transcript was published in the English-language version of the state news agency and some Iranian newspapers ran the comments yesterday. 

Ironically this is the same man who just the other day was telling US Muslim leaders how our media keep the American people away from the truth. 

(Which of course is truth, but not the way he meant it.)