Just scanned the NYT story on the Wikileaks document dump -- which is itself a scan of the Wikileaks document dump, given that a colossal 251,287 State Department cables have been released in this Internet/media robbery/fencing information-operation.

The several items highlighted at this early stage are either (1) obvious (Afghan government officials are corrupt! Saudis support Al Qaeda!) (2) of watch-that-space interest (Berlusconi and Putin are big pals) or (3) of urgent public interest (Syria supplies Hezbollah;  Pakistan isn't accepting our plan for their nuke materials, or, as the Politico story noted and the NYT did not, North Korea managed to ship 19 advanced, nuclear-capable, Russian-made...

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Queen (and Supreme Governor of the Church of England) and Prime Minister's Foreign Secretary's wife Islamically swathed, wrapped and encased. Hello, respect for Islam, goodbye, self-respect. And that goes for their husbands.

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Somehow, on viewing this depressing, dispiriting -- and therefore, must-see! -- Sunday pictorial from the Daily Mail (via Ruth King), this lush line from "Easter Parade" by Irving Berlin came wafting by:

The photographers

Will snap us

And you'll find that we're in the rotogravure....

From the Daily Mail

Shoeless and wearing a beekeeper-style shawl and hat, the Queen walked across the world’s largest carpet last night as she met Islamic students in Abu Dhabi at the start of her five-day state visit to the Gulf.

No sooner had the Queen and Prince Philip stepped off their chartered British Airways flight from London than they were taken straight to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the country’s largest.

The floor of its main prayer hall is covered in a 35-ton carpet which took 1,200 Iranian women two years to stitch by hand.

...

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Gates of Vienna has a stomach-turner of a story up, with video from Vlad Tepes, about the sentencing this week of a swaggering (watch the video) Toronto Muslim man convicted of aggravated manslaughter in his attempt to "honor kill" his 16-year-old daughter. In 2007, it seems, the man drove his minivan at his daughter, his son-in law and the daughter's 17-year-old boyfriend, dragging the girl under the vehicle causing head injuries, breaking his son-in-law's pelvis, and causing more minor injuries to the boyfriend. The father was sentenced to five years in federal prison and, and taking off for time already served, will serve about four years.

A few years ago, the shockeroo of the story would have been, first, in the nature of the crime: A father tries to mow down his daughter and others because he doesn't like the girl's boyfriend -- as a point of "HONOR"?? Are you KIDDING?? How twisted it that?

No more. We have come to learn that this is a practice widely practiced mainly in Islamic...

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This week's syndicated column:

A few days ago, I got to do what many Americans would like to do -- ask Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a thing or two. Before I report on what I asked and what she said, I must note there were "ground rules" in effect. The conversation itself between a small group of mainly conservative-minded journalists and Napolitano was free and even easy, but reporting on any aspect of the exchange required after-the-fact approval from DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Sean Smith.

This rankles. It is also something new in my personal experience. Sure, I have conducted scores of one-on-one interviews "on background," a term which, in brief, I define as a means to acquire an understanding of a story from a source unwilling to be quoted directly, at least at first. Follow-up conversations may or may not be "on the record."...

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I just found out that Sgt. Evan Vela was denied parole last month -- again.

This is a T-R-A-V-E-S-T-Y.

Evan's father recaps the whole outrageous story here, which culiminates in last month's hearing where, notwithstanding the better part of four years served, unanimous support for parole from prison officials, letters of support from Idaho Senators Crapo & Risch, Idaho Congressman Simpson, and Idaho Governor Otter.,, and the promise of employment on release, the answer came back, parole denied. The US government can and does free countless killers of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of clemency, but no such feelings...

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More courage, wisdom and humanity from Geert Wilders in the Israeli paper Yedioth via Gates of Vienna, which has posted the English translation of the Hebrew:

Even a journalist from a friendly country such as Israel does not escape invasive hands of the security guards who protect Geert Wilders. At the entry point to the interview with Holland’s extreme politician, founder and leader of the anti-Islamic “Party for Freedom” [PVV], bodyguards do not hold back, and run extensive security checks. Time and again they recheck my identity, making sure that I possess nothing that could potentially turn into a weapon. Wilders, on the other hand, looks disconnected from the security turmoil around him. It seems that he must be used to it. That’s the way it is if you are one of the most threatened persons in the world.

“To tell the truth, yes, I fear for my life,” he admits. “I am just a man. The danger does not come only from Holland. It is outside too. There are very serious threats from...

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Marine Sgt. Michael Brattole (above) has been evacuated from Afghanistan to be treated in a US military hospital for extensive wounds suffered when a fragmentation grenade, which disperses "notched wire and ball bearings," ripped through his chest while he was leading a patrol earlier this month. He has already had open heart surgery "to remove shrapnel."

What was Brattole, 22, doing when he was so grievously wounded? Military officials aren't saying much, but a photographer who had been embedded with the Marine's unit last month made his overall mission pretty clear to the NJ.com. Brattole and his men had been ordered to find and domesticate a herd of unicorns.

In Afghanistan, Brattole led troops on patrol in Marjah in Helmand Province and tried to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, according to Cali Bagby, a journalist who was embedded last month with...

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In a video from Vlad Tepes (which Vlad says can't be seen in the UK), the English Defense League's Tommy Robinson is takes fire from all sides -- worst of all from BBC dhimmis who, for openers, allege that the EDL is the cause of Islamic jihad. Tommy isn't buying.

This week's syndicated column:

Wikipedia, the widely read, online, multi-authored encyclopedia, features an entry on the term "memory hole," which originated with the prescient, if not also clairvoyant, George Orwell. The Wikipedia definition begins:

"A memory hole is any mechanism for the alteration or disappearance of inconvenient or embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts or other records … particularly as part of an attempt to give the impression that something never happened."

Wikipedia itself may have just offered a good example of how the mechanism works when unknown, unknowable site authorities "took down" a new entry on Lt. Col. Terrence "Terry" Lakin's challenge to President Barack Obama's eligibility to hold office almost as soon it went up. I read a screen shot of the entry and it is factual and non-inflammatory. Did Lakin's page go down the memory hole?...

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Much brouhaha over an interview with Afghanistan's Karzai in Sunday's Washington Post in which he called for a reduction in American military activities in A-stan that would essentially gut the Petraeus strategy, such as it is, of running down "extremists," often by night, and winning hearts and minds, presumably, of non-extremists, the rest of the time.

What's going on here seems clear, as this 'graph from the follow-up story in today's Post illustrates:

In addition to ending night raids, Karzai said that he wants U.S. troops to be less intrusive in the lives of Afghans, and that they should strive to stay in their bases and conduct just the "necessary activities" along the Pakistan border.

What Karzai seems to be after is an American presence more or less limited to bases, and more or less dedicated to tamping down threats to the regime. Kind of like the arrangement Maliki has going for him in Iraq.

In other words, Karzai wants a rent-a-cop, too.

Come home, America....

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Let's assume Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,  knows his way around a battleship. However, he clearly doesn't know his way through the Koran. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a fool of himself this past weekend at the Hoover Institution where he pressed literacy as a "new" deterrent to jihad because the potential "extremist" will then "understand the Koran for what it is and not merely what his mullah tells him it is."

No record of anyone present crying out, "For God's sake, man, have you a brain?" or harrumphing noticeably.

From The Hill, via Weasel Zippers:

Adm. Mike Mullen, in a speech at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and al-Qaida can be deterred by the threat of retaliation, but efforts to attack the basis of extremism were essential through support of education and development.

“Attacking the humiliation, the hopelessness, the illiteracy...

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This week's syndicated column is about Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff (above), who goes to trial for "hate speech" -- i.e., speaking out against Islamization -- on November 23 in Vienna. Her website, including defense fund information, is here.

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When Barack Obama spoke in Mumbai about "the different meanings" of jihad, he set up us up again for the Big Lie: "I think," the 44th president said, sounding much like the 43rd president, "all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence toward innocent people that is never justified."

All -- all -- of the sacred books and schools of Islam say differently. Every, single one. The fact is -- not the fantasy -- there is no distortion of Islamic texts required to justify the violence of jihad from Mumbai to Tel Aviv to New York City to Bali to Madrid and beyond.

But we, dhimmi-citizens of an Islamizing world, are not supposed to notice the links between the violence...

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George W. Bush is telling the world says he was “sickened . . . when we didn’t find weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq.

How, I would like to know, did he feel when 550 metric tons of yellowcake were finally, secretly and successfully extracted from Iraq in the summer or 2008?

From the AP, July 5, 2008:

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities...

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From the AP:

The United States is open to the idea of keeping troops in Iraq past a deadline to leave next year if Iraq asks for it, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

Hey, why not forever?

"We'll stand by," Gates said. "We're ready to have that discussion if and when they want to raise it with us."

Could someone please explain  -- could someone please ask -- why the USA should continue to bleed for an Israel-boycotting, sharia-bound, OPEC nation of thankless never-never-allies increasingly subverted to Iranian (and other nasty) interests? 

Gates urged Iraq's squabbling political groups to reconcile after eight months of deadlock.

Maybe squabbling is what they like to do.

Any request to extend the U.S. military presence in Iraq would have to come from a functioning Iraqi government. It would amend the current agreement under which U.S. troops must leave by the end of 2011.

...

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House Speaker-to-be John Boehner telling ABC's Diane Sawyer that the Party of No Compromise is the Party of Principle -- I hope.

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This week's syndicated column:

The election is over, and the nail-biting begins.

Will the GOP seize its historic mandate to legislate according to conservative principles, or, mistaking weakness for magnanimity in the pink clouds of victory, will it succumb to the siren song of "compromise"?

If history is any guide -- and I hope it's not, and maybe the tea party will make the difference -- sooner or later, the GOP will again be lured by wily Democrats onto the rocks of compromise. As if congenitally crippled by more manners than necessary and a dearth of street(fighter) smarts, Republicans have traditionally been easy marks for that corny old con of "bipartisanship," inspiring them to "reach across the aisle" only to have their arms, not to mention their promises to constituents, broken.

Predictably, the pressure's already mounting...

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Drudge is trumpeting the 34 US warships that Obama's gargantuan retinue will include when he pops in for his $200-million-a-day visit to Mumbai on Saturday.

Doesn't Obama ever hear those GoToMeeting.com commercials on the radio?

Do More. Travel Less. Enjoy the freedom of online meetings. No more expensive warships!

Sign up for a FREE TRIAL of GoToMeeting and discover how you can:

Demonstrate, present, collaborate – right from your PC or Mac® without ever leaving the Oval Office. Save $200 million a day with free VoIP and integrated phone conferencing. Hold as many meetings as you want for as long as you want, eliminating the need...

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US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry: "Let's make a deal!"

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Memo to the new Republican House majority via the AP (h/t Gen. Paul Vallely):

The U.S. government will spend $511 million to expand its embassy in Kabul, the U.S. ambassador said Wednesday, describing the work as a demonstration of America's long-term commitment to Afghanistan....

Long-term "committment"? How about long-term financial enslavement to people we cannot define as allies?

"We make this commitment by commemorating the recent award of a $511 million contract to expand the U.S. Embassy here in Kabul," Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said during a ceremony at the construction site that marked the formal announcement of the contract.

"We're going to get a day when that embassy's up and there's not going to be these barriers out there, there's no barbed wire, there's not going to be all kinds...

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President Obama, fresh from his weird White House press conference (No, Tuesday's election was not a rejection of my policies), is now on his "See-India-and-Indonesia-on-200-Million-Dollars-a-Day" tour.

What's another several hundred million dollars in knick-knacks? The Jakarta Globe is reporting that Obama is expected to announce $700 million in aid to "help the country tackle climate change."

Compelling national interest, anyone? Can't wait till John Boehner and Rand Paul get the memo. From the story:

Saving them [Indonesia's forests] from illegal logging and unsustainable clearing for agriculture and mining could help the country meet its goals to cut greenhouse...

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A curious story from The Hill that should make us think twice:

Republicans are likely to urge the Obama administration not to shred documents as they transition to the House majority. 



Before the election, GOP officials on Capitol Hill privately discussed the issue but refrained from publicly tackling it, not wanting to assume what would happen on Election Day.

 Now that Republicans will control the House, the shredding matter will move front and center. 



No one is accusing the Obama administration of destroying documents, but Republicans are expected to try to ensure that all records — on a range of issues — are kept intact.



Darrell West, a political scientist and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, said Republicans likely will formally ask the administration not to shred or delete any relevant documents that...

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Back atcha,  coming soon.

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Michael Barone puts it all into rather stunning context at the Washington Examiner:

The upshot is that Speaker-to-be John Boehner will have a workable House majority, larger than the Republicans had during the 12 years they controlled the House from 1994 to 2006, larger than Republicans have enjoyed since the 80th Congress elected in 1946 which enacted laws which resulted in enduring public policies in 1947 and 1948. The sweet spot in the House, I would argue, is around 250 seats, enough so that you can let a fair number of your member dissent on a particular vote but not so many that dozens of members feel free to ignore...

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The most stirring election headline may come from the (UK) Daily Mail: "Republicans seize control as millions of U.S. voters turn their backs on Obama". (This is what that looks like.) 

Other good news comes in from  California voters who have rejected Prop. 19, which would have legalized marijuana, and Oklahoma voters who have amended their state constitution to forbid courts to consider sharia (Islamic law) or international law in making their decisions. Numbers USA notes...

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Election Day is finally upon us.

It's up to you, America.

Every race is important.

All the best to all the best.

Special good luck to Allen West in Florida's 22nd and Tom Tancredo in Colorado.