A Socialistic Pope

Go check out 1754 Blog on this one. He gets into the details of why the next Pope will be a socialist, and why it is a bad thing.

Great points are made by Tomahawk.

Media Reform

Jeff Jarvis has a post up on the Conference for Media Reform. It is a collection of the left that is looking to introduce more governmental policies (ie regulations) to combat the lefts loss of a monopoly of the media. Jeff is a moderate democrat who has deep roots in the media. He and I disagree on certain topics, but as he has delved into the blogworld, his opinions are coming closer to mine every day.

Here is an excerpt from his post:

Next month, there’s a National Conference for Media Reform with all sorts of odd bedfellows: FCC censor-freaks Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, Al Franken, Seattle Times owner Frank Blethen, David Brock of Media Matter, folks from Fair and the Newspaper Guild and Consumers Union, and so on.

This is the left-wing media-haters club, not to be confused with the right-wing media-haters club. The right-wing club hates the media because they think it’s left-wing; the left-wing hates media because they think it’s corporate (and thus right-wing).

Here’s the dangerous part about this one: They want to “increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.”

The keyword there: “policies.” Policies come from government. Government media policies equal government media control. I hate that.

…

Don’t forget that media is now us: If you want government to regulate that media you open the door for government to regulate this media.

I think that everyone and anyone who cares about keeping the government out of the media should keep a close eye on this conference. We have seen the results of McCain Fiengold on the country when the government tries to regulate the media in an election. We have seen the results of the fairness doctrine. It is time to make sure Washington does not do this to us again.

Weekend Posts You May Have Missed From Scared Monkeys

The walking man—keep him walking for our troops

So That’s Why Bill Clinton Did It

Intellectual Diversity on the College Campus
Intellectual Diversity on the College Campus (Part 2)

Want to get your local news without watching it on TV?

Create your own South Park Character

*****
Although not posted on the weekend, but picked up over the weekend by the Seattlepi.com, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Thank you for the mention in “Cookie Monster caves“.

“C” Is For …. Carrot???

“He’s going from brush pile to brush pile just like a wet rat.”

The quote from Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, who is the head of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force about Abu Musab Zarqawi. Isolated in Western Iraq, Zarqawi is being hunted down by the Marines, his leaders have been killed and captured, and he can trust no one with a 25 million dollar bounty on his head.

Rowan Scarborough from the Washington Times reports

Zarqawi fled the Anbar region before his base in Fallujah was captured by a Marine-Army force in November. He operated in northern Iraq until he was pressed back to western Iraq, but this time in isolated frontier country.
    ”He can’t use cell phones,” Gen. Sattler said of the Jordanian-born terrorist, whose capture promises a $25 million reward. “He can’t use any type of Internet. He doesn’t know who he can trust.”
    Zarqawi’s foreign jihadists have strapped themselves in bombs and blown up hundreds of Iraqi civilians as well as coalition troops. In recent months, they have targeted Iraqi security forces, the linchpin in the Bush administration’s plan to bring permanent democracy to Iraq.
    Gen. Sattler disclosed in the interview that his Marines and special operations troops came within a whisker of capturing the terror master “within the last six weeks” in western Iraq.
    While guarded on details, Gen. Sattler said that only poor visibility in bad weather allowed Zarqawi to escape.
    ”The elements worked to his advantage,” the three-star general said.
    Gen. Sattler led the force of Marines, Army tank battalions and Iraqis that took Fallujah in the largest battle in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003.

All I can say is, God bless the Marines. They do a tough job with a great deal of Pride.

Democrats Wrong Again. Looks Like Large Troop Reductions in Iraq

According to the NY Times, the Pentagon to plan for significant troop reductions by early next year. It would appear that due to many positive circumstances happening in Iraq, the Pentagon feels confident that it is OK to begin reductions in US troops. Funny, last time I checked the MSM they seem to be reporting only negative stories. Seems like this would be an admission by the NYT that positive one’s are occurring too.

But there is a consensus emerging among these top officers and other senior defense officials about several positive developing trends, although each carries a cautionary note.

Attacks on allied forces have dropped to 30 to 40 a day, down from an average daily peak of 140 in the prelude to the Jan. 30 elections but still roughly at the levels of a year ago.

Several top associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant whose network has claimed responsibility for many of the most deadly attacks, have been captured or killed in recent weeks.

Due to the lessened attacks on US forces in Iraq, this has enabled the US forces to concentrate on other productive areas in dealing with Iraq and training Iraqi soldiers.

The American military priority has shifted from waging offensive operations to training Iraqi troops and police officers. Iraqi forces now oversee sections of Baghdad and Mosul, with American forces on call nearby to help in a crisis. More than 2,000 American military advisers are working directly with Iraqi forces.

George W. Bush and The Pentagon are handling the US troop reduction in a steady and intelligent manner. Not swayed by polls or election results to make their decisions. Both Bush and the Pentagon know that Iraq must show certain qualities in order for the protection of the US military to be withdrawn .

Precisely when and how many American forces withdraw from Iraq hinges on several factors, including the security situation, the size and competence of newly trained Iraqi forces, and the wishes of the new Iraqi government. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, told CNN two weeks ago that if all went well, “we should be able to take some fairly substantial reductions in the size of our forces” by this time next year.

It is obvious for many years to come the US will most likely have a military presence in Iraq; however, major troop presence looks like it will be decreased in the not too distant future. It will also be done in its proper time when Iraq can protect itself with its own security forces and military. This is a far cry from the cynical MSM’s cries that GWB would reduce troops for political gain or because polls supporting the war were falling. GWB has acted true to his word in how he would deal with this war and has remained steadfast.