So sayeth the House Majority Whip, Democrat James Clyburn:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party’s efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.

Clyburn, in an interview with the washingtonpost.com video program PostTalk, said Democrats might be wise to wait for the Petraeus report, scheduled to be delivered in September, before charting next steps in their year-long struggle with President Bush over the direction of U.S. strategy.

Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal.

“I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us,” Clyburn said. “We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report.”

But that won’t stop them from hoping and praying the report is negative so they can push their agenda. Support the troops, my ass.

Two states are looking at changing the way electoral votes are awarded. Opponents of the measures claim the move is aimed at stealing the election, while proponents claim it’s a way to force candidates into campaigning in areas they wouldn’t normally visit.

But apparently, which side you take depends on where the initiative is being introduced.

In North Carolina, a state that has gone Republican since 1980, a plan is being introduced by Democrats “to improve voter participation and encourage presidential hopefuls of both parties to campaign in the state.”

Republicans call it “a cheap way to give Democrats … some electoral votes.”

But in California, a state that has gone Democrat since 1988, Republicans are introducing a bill to do the same thing to “give presidential candidates “an incentive to campaign in California”.”

Democrats call the plan “an effort to rig the system in order to fix the election.”

Welcome to American politics.

San Francisco had a brilliant idea to reduce the health risks posed by druggies sharing needles around San Francisco… flood the city with millions more needles… for free!

And now those same officials are surprised that it hasn’t turned out so well:

They tell us he was steaming, but San Francisco [Democrat] Mayor Gavin Newsom shouldn’t have been too surprised when The Chronicle reported that Golden Gate Park was littered with used drug syringes.

After all, his own Public Health Department spent $800,000 last year to help hand out some 2 million syringes to drug users under the city’s needle exchange program — sometimes 20 at a time.

Although Health Department officials say 2 million needles were returned, the fact is they don’t count them and can only estimate how many are coming back.

And from the looks of things, a lot of them aren’t.

Surprise, surprise. You give free needles to drug users and expect that once they’ve used them and entered their drug-induced state that they’ll be lucid enough to think, “Hey, I should really return this needle to the proper authorities now.” (To say nothing of the fact most couldn’t care less about civic responsibilities when not in a drug-induced stupor) Doh!

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who has picked up needles in the park and who co-authored the bill allowing them to be sold over the counter, said it’s up to the city to keep the parks syringe-free — either through more cleanups or tighter controls to make sure needles are returned.

“We need to come up with a better system,'’ Mirkarimi said.

Ya think? You can start by ceasing the government-funded enablement.

Another idea, this one from the Homeless Youth Coalition, is to put biohazard boxes in the park where users could drop their needles.

But as park spokeswoman Dennis noted, “Many people are completely against that route. The questions are: ‘Do we really want them in the bathrooms? What if a kid popped one open or they were vandalized?’ ”

Plus, she added, “Some people think it sends the wrong message.”

Unlike the city handing out free syringes to crackheads.

Another priceless gem of a government plan gone wrong exactly where a reasonable person would expect it to.

Upon hearing the news that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts suffered a seizure today and was taken to the hospital, Democrats assumed their standard, hateful position…

Some of the posts from DU:

16. If there is a God, then he is not too young to become the right-hand maiden to Satan in the inner reaches of Hell.

37. May Roberts and every other Bu$hco appointed treasonous Bastard rot in hell for their interpretive abuse and misuse of OUR (WE THE PEOPLES), Constitution and Rights! NO SYMPATHY HERE! MAYBE EXXON OR ONE OF THE BIG CORPS WHO CARE LESS ABOUT OUR COUNTRY AND PEOPLE WILL SEND HIM SOME LILIES.

45. Fuck him; it wouldn’t bother me if that was a one way trip.

52. There are 300 million screwed Americans… and I can no longer ellicit concerns for those whom have helped to abbrogate the constitution. I refuse to “wish him well” or pretend I hope for an early recovery. In my heart of hearts, I pray he dies slowly by an STD that he could have avoided by the condom use he felt it was wrong to advocate for American youth.I hope that tonight, John Roberts confronts his mortality, and then, weighing himself, finds himself as wanting as I do…

And, as usual, this isn’t just some fringe element thinking… it’s mainstream thinking on the Left:

Wonkette: “Chief Justice John Roberts has died in his summer home in Maine. No, not really, but we know you have your fingers crossed.”

And CrooksandLiars…

20. “I hope he is unable to return and further destroy our nation. He must have been in the shower trying to get the dirt off of himself. He must know that it is in too deep and will take more than a shower for him to come clean.”

25. “I think it’s Karma for letting the criminal Republicans like Tom delay off the hook and giving Bush all the power.”

94. “i’m thinking bad thoughts. i’m wishing for bad things.”

107. “I’m very disappointed to hear that the state of Maine would let such a nasty fascist into their fine state!”

144. “Sympathy for him? Fuck no!“

And Huffington Post…

“Well there is a God after all. This man was going to set this nation back 100 years with the type of conservatism activist Federalist law he practices. Let God’s will be done!!!!”

“Amen to that. A long stay away from the Court would be fine. I won’t lie, I wish him a long painful recovery. In fact, I’m not so sure I care if he recovers.”

“Lets hope he is injured seriously. Chief Justice Roberts is a corupt right wing Bush lick ass criminal. Long after Bush is gone, Roberts will be helping destroy everything that is, or was once good about America.”

Gotta love the party of peace and tolerance.

Welcome to the Islamic States of America…

A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions, police said.
[…]
The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace’s lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said.

Muslim activists had called on Pace University to crack down on hate crimes after the incidents. As a result, the university said it would offer sensitivity training to its students.

Another example of how the whole “hate crime” idea is nonsense. Taking a non-criminal act and making it criminal because a few people claim to be offended. And the “few people” are the usual suspects.

For those keeping score at home, a koran in the toilet is called a crime, but a crucifix with Jesus in a jar of urine or a picture of the Virgin Mary covered with feces… is art.

Allahu idiocy.

Hillary keeps adding to the list of reasons not to elect her. The latest…

Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton told college Democrats on Saturday she would create a national academy to train public servants.

“I’m going to be asking a new generation to serve,” she said. “I think just like our military academies, we need to give a totally all-paid education to young men and women who will serve their country in a public service position.”

Because apparently working at the welfare office is just as important as defending our freedom on a foreign battlefield.

It’s downright hilarious to see Democrats trying to simultaneously play the “Bush is a moron” and “Bush duped me” angles.

Seriously, if he’s as dumb as they claim… yet he’s been one-upping them at every turn, what’s that actually say about them?

The latest is Chuck Schumer, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, referring to the confirmation of Justices Alito and Roberts:

“There is no doubt that we were hoodwinked.”

Nevermind the threats of filibusters and unprecedented theatrical presentations on the Senate floor during the confirmation hearings of both men… no, Chuckie was still hoodwinked.

And in 2006, it was John Rockefeller of West Virginia, the lead Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who was “duped”.

In 2005, co-president for 8 years and 2008 Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was “misled”.

And back in 2004, Democrat Presidential candidate John Kerry was “misled” too.

If I were a Democrat, I’d be embarrassed as hell that such a moron has been so successful at misleading, duping and hoodwinking the collection of self-absorbed geniuses that represent me.

Remember this next time you hear liberals oppose the idea of making voters show ID to vote:

King County prosecutors filed felony charges Thursday against seven people in what a top official described as the worst case of voter-registration fraud in state history, while the organization they worked for agreed to keep a better eye on its employees and pay $25,000 to defray costs of the investigation.

The seven submitted about 1,800 registration cards last fall on behalf of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which had hired them at $8 an hour to sign people up to vote, according to charging documents filed in Superior Court.
[…]
Election officials feared that tossing all of the registrations could inadvertently disenfranchise any potentially legitimate voters in the batch. So they allowed the names to appear on the rolls for subsequent elections, including an advisory vote on replacing Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct in March.

But they flagged those names and tried to verify them using other state databases. Only six turned out to be legitimate voters, Satterberg said. The King County canvassing board agreed to remove many of the rest - 1,762 - from the rolls Thursday, satisfied they were fraudulent

Six out of 1,800 were legitimate voters. In a state where, in 2004, the Democrat governor won, after 3 questionable recounts, by a margin of only 129 votes.

Of course, ACORN is claiming to be a victim. I guess they were a victim in Missouri, too. And Ohio. And Pennsylvania. And Florida. And Colorado.

Once again, it’s clear why they oppose measures aimed at making voters prove their identity.

ACORN claims to be a nonpartisan community organizing group. But in reality:

Acorn is a union-backed, multimillion-dollar outfit that uses intimidation and other tactics to push for higher minimum wage mandates and to trash Wal-Mart and other non-union companies.

Operating in at least 38 states (as well as Canada and Mexico), Acorn pushes a highly partisan agenda, and its organizers are best understood as shock troops for the AFL-CIO and even the Democratic Party. As part of the Fannie Mae reform bill, House Democrats pushed an “affordable housing trust fund” designed to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits to subsidize Acorn, among other groups.

Michelle reminds us just how “nonpartisan” ACORN is:

Because… Al-Qaida minds want to know…

BAGHDAD, July 23 — While Washington is mired in political debate over the future of Iraq, the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years.

The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the American ambassador, calls for restoring security in local areas, including Baghdad, by the summer of 2008. “Sustainable security” is to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009, according to American officials familiar with the document.

It’s certainly not the first time. While the NYT is hemorrhaging circulation here… they’re doing pretty well in other parts of the world.

Imagine the message being sent by this case.

A 7-year-old girl said she had been raped and repeatedly molested over the course of a year. Police in Montgomery County, acting on information from a relative, soon arrested a Liberian immigrant living in Gaithersburg. They marshaled witnesses and DNA evidence to prepare for trial.

What was missing — for much of the nearly three years that followed — was an interpreter fluent in the suspect’s native language. A judge recently dropped the charges, not because she found that Mahamu Kanneh had been wrongly accused but because repeated delays in the case had, in her view, violated his right to a speedy trial.

Something doesn’t add up here.

First, the judge let him go because she thought the delay in finding a translator violated his right to a speedy trial… however:

Kanneh spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors. He later waived his right to a speedy trial — in Maryland, defendants have a right to be tried within 180 days following an indictment — because the defense wanted time to conduct its own analysis of DNA evidence.

And about his needing a translator…

The state noted that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English.

So this case is either an indictment on our educational system, our judicial system… or both.

Prosecutors, who cannot refile the charges against Kanneh, are considering whether to appeal Savage’s ruling. Kanneh was granted asylum in the United States, according to State’s Attorney John McCarthy. A conviction could have led to deportation proceedings.

And isn’t it interesting he knew enough about our system to seek asylum, but a judge thinks he doesn’t know enough to be tried for raping a child.

UPDATE:
Surprise, Surprise. FoxNews called and spoke with Mahamu Kanneh… in English!