Long-time CY commenter William "Big Country" Coughlin is recovering in the United States from wounds sustained in the Middle East theater of operations (most likely Iraq, but I cannot yet confirm that detail).

The wounds are not life-threatening but have him confined to a wheelchair since late December. He hopes to make a full recovery and return to duty in Iraq providing logistical support within five weeks.

If you will, say a prayer for him and other contractors killed or wounded in the line of duty while supporting our military.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:02 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Aye, aye, cap'n. Prayers going up now.

Posted by: C-C-G at January 14, 2008 09:22 AM (F+vKR)

2 Thanks Bob... it means a lot. I'll be around and give you a full intel dump offline tommorow... Thanks to everyone else as well and your good wishes are appreciated!

Posted by: Big Country at January 14, 2008 09:23 PM (SIzGZ)

3 Big Country, my email--well, one of mine, at least--is available through my blog (click on my nickname under Contributors)... if you'd like to include me in part of the intel dump, I'll be sure to pass it along to like-minded prayer warriors.

Posted by: C-C-G at January 14, 2008 11:02 PM (F+vKR)

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As an evangelical Christian, I've long been bothered by Mike Huckabee's attempts to use his Christianity as a "holier than thou" political weapon against other candidates for President, even as he has lied about everything from his support of scholarships for illegal aliens (he wanted them), to his desire to raise taxes(he asked for them), to claims he has a theology degree (he didn't complete it).

This lack of honesty we generally associate with a previous Man From Hope has also been compounded by Huckabee's legendary problems with his temper, which have occasionally led to juvenile personal attacks (PDF) against his critics.

Huckabee exposed his childish side again this morning in a scatalogical reference directed at Fred Thompson. Thompson had ripped Huckabee's big government liberal tendencies during last night's Republican debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

This morning in an interview with Joe Scarborough, Huckabee snapped:

Well, I think Fred needs some Metamucil. I think it would help a lot if he gets some.

Mike Huckabee, who almost has a theology degree, may be smarter than a fifth grader, but betrays yet again that he could only hope to be that mature.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 04:40 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
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1 Huckabee is nothing more than a poseur with (almost) a theology degree who is MORE liberal and facetious than Bill Clinton in a Republican suit. Evangelicals and Republicans had better pray Huckabee is not the nominee. He would be a good televangelist with his quick middle school wit. He likes to say "you know you're over the target when you're getting flak". I say it's time to shoot the sanctimonious RINO down once and for all.

Posted by: martin at January 11, 2008 05:29 PM (LS8NJ)

2 I am agnostic, and Mike Huckabee percular brand of religion bothers me. No matter what Huckabee does he claims to have a religious basis for it In that regards Muckabee reminds me a lot of the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton.

Posted by: DavidL at January 11, 2008 06:58 PM (hFrwp)

3 David... nice name, btw, I've worn it myself for over 40 years. Anyway, I am an evangelical Christian... you know, the people that are all supposed to be falling prostrate at the feet of the Huckster... and if it comes down to Huck vs. Hill, I have vowed to write in "Charlie Brown" rather than vote for either one. I guess my point is, not all evangelicals approve of the Huckster.

Posted by: C-C-G at January 11, 2008 07:36 PM (F+vKR)

4 Heh! Nice one CY. Huckster makes my skin crawl...and as a Christian, I might add that Hucky-baby got his "blessed assurance" handed to him by the conservatives in the Southern Baptist Convention for his liberal--repeat--liberal beliefs--so he left, along with a lot of other liberals. It doesn't matter what he calls himself...he still cannot change the truth. He's a liberal, tax-raising, arrogant politician. And while I know most of them are that very things--I have a special aversion to those who hide behind the Cross to get votes. DISGUSTING. Wolves in sheep's clothing, baby...wolves in sheep's clothing.

Posted by: WB at January 11, 2008 07:57 PM (pT0Zd)

5 When a so-called Republican and self-described "Christian Leader" starts calling conservatives "Shi'ite Republicans", ya gotta wonder if the guy is really a Republican or just a Donkey in an Elephant suit.

Posted by: C-C-G at January 11, 2008 10:43 PM (F+vKR)

6 I am a Catholic... and I view Huck as the Republican Jimmy Carter. Without the endearing qualities. It says something about how alienated the Believing Community feels itself to be from the Republican Party as a whole, that they would support Huck. It's also worth noting that the same could be said for small-government Libertarians and their support for Texas' own answer to Dr. Evil.

Posted by: DaveP. at January 12, 2008 12:33 AM (q6tuN)

7 I was almost chosen as the Pope.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at January 12, 2008 07:29 AM (ERV3B)

8 You're unbelievable. Huckabee is the man and I'm going to laugh at all of you when he gets the nomination and wins the WH! Quit with all your snide comments and look at what he really says.

Posted by: tennismama at January 12, 2008 07:41 AM (9k3jz)

9 tennismama, of the first four links, two are video of Huckabee saying precisely what he's accused of saying, and another is a letter typed be his own hand. The fifth link is direct, from a transcript (I can get video for you as well, if you'd like). We have listened to "what he really says," and we've looked at his record. Mike Huckabee is a liberal. I'm sorry if you can't grasp that.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at January 12, 2008 08:59 AM (HcgFD)

10 Huckapoo-poo I say! The guy is cut from the same sleazy, slick cloth as the other guy from Hope....I'm a conservative Republican Christian and no way does he get my vote! Huckapoo-poo is just a flash & will not win another primary! Rest easy!

Posted by: Val at January 12, 2008 09:19 AM (7NM6T)

11 Huckabee whines about getting the "religion" questions, but it is HE who invited such scrutiny by campaigning as the "Christian" candidate. What is most distressing to me as an evangelical Christian is the defense of Huckabee by my EC friends who simply refuse to look at Huckabee's liberal RECORD, but instead are mesmerized by the siren song of his "Jesus talk". I'm from Louisiana, one of the most evangelical conservative states in the south. Yet we're 1rst in convictions of our elected officials. Our politicians are masters at appearing in churches and pandering to Christian voters, all the while rolling the dice that these same voters won't take the time to check the candidate's RECORD against their RHETORIC. Such deception works in LA because voters allow themselves to be deceived. It occurs every election cycle here, and it is happening on the national stage with Huckabee. I am not implying that Huckabee is dishonest or a criminal. But he talks a conservative talk, and walks (and votes) the liberal walk. I just wish EC America would carefully examine Huckabee's record, which is patently liberal on every single issue except abortion. EC America needs to wake up, check the full record, and realize that we aren't electing Jesus.

Posted by: ES at January 12, 2008 09:44 AM (eLMdy)

12 Lets be honest. All of these GOP candidates have their share of liberal ideas and have supported left wing positions at some point. Of course the most conservative being Alan Keyes who gets no mention anywhere. We must stop blinding ourselves with some belief that we must have thoroughbred conservatives. None exist. Even the Great Ronald Reagan signed Amnesty. I will take ANY of these Republican candidates over Hillary -Obama-Edwards. And do so with great enthusiasm. Another large Dem victory not only brings in a Dem President but could very easily bring about a Super Dem Majority in Senate and a greater Majority in the House. Harry Reid with 60 Votes is unacceptable. GOP would be all but extinct at that point.

Posted by: Dennis D at January 12, 2008 09:48 AM (780G9)

13 Issues aside, how is the Metamucil crack funny? Or rather, explain to me the basis of the alleged joke, whether you think it is funny or not, whether or not you think it was in bad taste or not. It just goes over my head and leaves me confused. It's like Huckabee said Fred should wear a hat, or paint his house yellow, or get a dalmatian. I don't understand the reference.

Posted by: Aplomb at January 12, 2008 06:11 PM (+/na4)

14 The problem with your scenario, Dennis, is that with the Huckster, we're basically getting Obama or Hillary with an R after his name instead of a D. Their policy proposals, with but one or two exceptions, are essentially carbon copies of one another. Aplomb, the Huckster was trying to insinuate that Fred is constipated. Fifth-grade humor seems a bit generous, third-grade is more like it.

Posted by: C-C-G at January 12, 2008 06:57 PM (F+vKR)

15 I wouldn't vote for Huckabee if he nominated ME as his running mate... and I know of no one that will vote for him either. In primary OR general.

Posted by: Verlin Martin at January 12, 2008 09:03 PM (QJoz4)

16 There is a little bit (some like Huckabee, a lot) of liberalism in all the Republican candidates. [Unfortunately, Bush and his compassionate conservatism is largely to blame because he won on that platform] That said, I believe that Fred is the most conservative of the bunch.

Posted by: czekmark at January 12, 2008 10:10 PM (5Jrbj)

17 Mr. Huckabee seems to manifest the slippery ethics of another Arkansan while playing a game of identity politics. I happen to be a Baptist. Baptists have no Pope to enforce ideological purity, so we have a set of "distinctives" that you either agree with or not. If you fail to agree with them, you are really engaging in false advertising. One of those Baptist distinctives is "Separation of Church And State." Maybe you've heard of Roger Williams and Rhode Island, or that letter from the Danbury Baptists to Mr. Thomas Jefferson. For Mr. Huckabee to say, "vote for me because I'm Christian," and then target his appeal to Evangelical pastors does violence to my notion of the separation of Church and State. (Granted, the Founders were more concerned to protect the Church from the State than politicians are today. But everyone who isn't an Evangelical has that same notion. Thus, Mr. Huckabee polls in the teens among non-evangelicals.) By engaging in faith-based identity politics, Mr. Huckabee is engaging in un-Baptist behavior. Evangelicals will not bring in the Kingdom of Heaven by seizing the reins of Leviathan. If Evangelicals give government the power to do so, it will corrupt us and serve the ends of Antichrist. Mr. Reagan was a good fit for Evangelicals, because he said government IS the problem. If you're worried about the Antichrist, you're worried about big government. Mr. Huckabee threatens to undo this happy alignment of interests. If you're not Evangelical or Baptist, I'm sorry about all the "inside baseball" of that last paragraph.

Posted by: steve poling at January 13, 2008 02:05 AM (eVZAb)

18 As an Arkansan who has endured Mr. Huckabee's kind of government I cannot in good conscience vote for him. At the time he ran for governor he was the "lesser of two evils" candidate. That's what he would be if he gets the nomination. He allowed our state to become saturated with illegals. Along with them came a surge in crime and disease (TB). Car insurance in this area is almost unaffordable due to the number of uninsured drivers. What used to be middle class neighborhoods are now brightly painted slums with a pit bull in every yard. What used to be excellent schools are now breeding grounds for gangs. (My daughter is a teacher in Jr. High. She has personally broken up knife fights.) I am a Christian but I will not be voting for the hipocrite Huckabee. All he needs is a comb over and a diamond ring. In my book he rates right up there with used car salesmen, telemarketers and journalists. I am voting for the mature candidate - Fred. Forget change. Forget experience by osmosis. Forget charisma. Give me a mature candidate.

Posted by: Razorgirl at January 14, 2008 05:18 PM (aUY9H)

19 Welcome to the FredHeads, Razorgirl! I actually got a campaign e-mail today from Fred's campaign using the term FredHead, so it's an official moniker.

Posted by: C-C-G at January 14, 2008 08:05 PM (F+vKR)

20 when he gets the nomination and wins the WH! I got $10,000 says that don't happen.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at January 14, 2008 08:56 PM (ERV3B)

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Over at the Daily Kos, himself posts Let's have some fun in Michigan, an appeal for Democrats to vote from Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Michigan on Tuesday, January 15th, hoping to keep him in the race because:

...the more Republican candidates we have fighting it out, trashing each other with negative ads and spending tons of money, the better it is for us.

Kos justifies this tactic by pointing out that Michigan Republicans pulled a similar dirty trick in 1972 to vote for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, noting that Republicans' made up a third of Wallace's vote total.

In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats. In fact, a third of the voters (PDF) in the Democratic primary were Republican crossover votes.

But that isn't the whole story, and Kos purposefully leaves out the nasty truth: even without a single Republican vote, segregationist Wallace would have still won handily in 1972 Michigan, by more than 111,000 votes.

Michigan's apparently segregationist Democratic mainstream gave him at least 538,953 votes (I subtracted 1/3 of Wallace' total, as if all Republicans added to Wallace's vote total to arrive at that figure, even though 1/3 of the Republican cross-overs actually voted for McGovern. This figure is heavily biased in favor of his flawed argument, and he still loses), 111,259 more than also-ran George McGovern's 425,694 according to Kos' own source.

Kos can rightly claim that Republicans crossed over in 1972. He just can't credibly claim they affected the outcome.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:32 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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There have been quite a few articles written in the past week speculating that Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama might be assassinated by a shadowy cabal of gun-toting racists (or Halliburton and Blackwater).

In my latest Pajamas Media article, I trace that rumor back to it's true source, and find that that paranoia stems from the media's own stilted views of the American people.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:23 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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The Republican debate in Myrtle Beach was a clear win for Fred Thompson, and that seems to be the building prevailing sentiment. Everyone else seemed content to play defense and just attempt to hold ground. They failed.

As for Ron Paul... it was hard for both the moderating team and the candidates to hide their mix of pity and disgust. I almost expected to see a note with his home address pinned to his jacket.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:34 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
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I don't often go after individual bloggers, but statements made yesterday by "dday" at Hullabaloo warrant direct comment.

Discussing a new report that places the number of Iraqi's killed since the start of the war until June of 2006 at roughly 151,000, "dday" wrote:

NPR was trying to spin this as somehow a LOW number of Iraqi civilian casualties in the last three and a half years, because it comes in lower than the Lancet study. But it remains 150,000 human lives, dead, senselessly, for an unnecessary war of choice. And that only goes up to June 2006, and the authors of the study admitted they were unable to reach certain areas that were "too violent."

Not to mention the 3,900-plus soldiers, including 9 in the last two days. And the numbers of wounded are incalculable.

All to remove a dictator who wasn't nearly as efficient at killing Iraqis.

Saddam Hussein "wasn't nearly as efficient at killing Iraqis"? Only in his community-based reality.

Between 70-125 Iraqi civilians were killed per day during Saddam Hussein's reign.

Along with other human rights organizations, The Documental Centre for Human Rights in Iraq has compiled documentation on over 600,000 civilian executions in Iraq. Human Rights Watch reports that in one operation alone, the Anfal, Saddam killed 100,000 Kurdish Iraqis. Another 500,000 are estimated to have died in Saddam's needless war with Iran. Coldly taken as a daily average for the 24 years of Saddam's reign, these numbers give us a horrifying picture of between 70 and 125 civilian deaths per day for every one of Saddam's 8,000-odd days in power.

That gives us a range of 600,000-1,000,000 civilians killed during Saddam's stewardship, with a median average of 97.5 Iraqi civilians killed per day during his reign, or 780,000. Over 24 years, that is a median average of 32,500 Iraqi civilians per year...

But this isn't a true "apples to apples" comparison, is it?

This does not include military deaths that occurred during Saddam's "unnecessary war of choice" with Iran from 1980-88, which which accounts for roughly one million more lives on both sides, nor casualties sustained as a result of his other "unnecessary war of choice" that resulted from his invasion of Kuwait, where an estimated 100,000+ died during the first Gulf War in 1990-91.

Combining the number of civilians killed by Saddam and number of soldiers killed on all sides during his two "unnecessary wars of choice," and we find a median estimate of 1.88 million killed during his 24-year reign, or 235 people a day.

The Iraq War started on March 20, 2003, and this study ran through June of 2006. In that time, 151,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, or 126.04 per day.

Add in 10,000 estimated terrorist/insurgent/militia dead and roughly 2762 through that time period Coalition military deaths, and you arrive at a rough total of 163762 total violent deaths, or 136.7 total violent deaths per day through June 2006.

235 violent deaths per day over Saddam's reign including his wars.

137 violent deaths per day in Iraq over the first three years of the present war.

You do the math, and try to paint Saddam's continued reign as a preferable state of affairs.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:04 AM | Comments (24) | Add Comment
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From 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO, via email press release:

More than 40 targets were hit Jan. 10 after precision air strikes destroyed reported al-Qaeda safe havens in Arab Jabour. Thirty-eight bombs were dropped within the first 10 minutes, with a total tonnage of 40,000 pounds.

The precision air strikes supported Operation Phantom Phoenix, the overarching operation that includes Operation Marne Thunderbolt.

[snip]

Two B-1 Bombers and four F-16 fighter jets, directed bombs at three large target areas. Each bomber made two passes and the F-16s followed to complete the set.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 07:24 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Citi Merchant Services and First Data Corp has decided to implement their own form of gun control, refusing to process credit card transactions between firearms retailers, distributors, and manufacturers, according to a press release issued by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the firearms industry (h/t Hot Air).

CDNN Sports, Inc, a Texas-based firearms distributor, provided a copy of the notice of termination in which states in part:

We discussed with Mr. Crawford [of CDNN Sports Inc] said termination due to the sale of firearms in a non-face-to-face environment. Keep in mind that a violation of the Gun Control Act occurs when a gun offered online is sold to an individual in another State; the act prohibits selling a handgun to a resident of another state. Shipping across state lines is also banned, yet guns for sale online reach people across the country. We at Citi Merchant Services are unable to monitor or track adherence to these Gun Control laws.

A charitable explanation of this decision would be to state Citi Merchant Services and First Data Corp lawyers are grossly incompetent. Online retailers do not sell firearms to individuals, and to suggest otherwise is ignorant, if not duplicitous.

Firearms "purchased" online are shipped from a distributor to a local Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder who has authority to sell firearms from the federal government. Once this FFL holder—typically retail establishments— receive the firearm, all individuals must complete a FBI NICS background check via Form 4473 and/or comply with state and local firearms regulations regarding retail firearms purchase. It is only after these background checks are satisfied that the local retail purchase actually occurs, face-to-face. There is never a direct sale from the online site to a non-FFL holding retail customer, as the termination notice incorrectly states, and does not in any way violate GCA '68.

At worst, this is an attempt at backdoor gun control, preventing manufacturers from shipping firearms to distributors, and from distributors to retailers. In doing so, Citi Merchant Services and First Data Corp seem to assert that it is their responsibility to enforce laws, which is a patently absurd position. They are not the FBI nor the BATF, the two federal agencies tasked with enforcing these laws.

The firearms industry, of course, can easily voice their displeasure with their wallets by changing to other credit card transaction processing services that actually employ lawyers capable of understanding the applicable law.

I hope the company or companies that profit from this send Citi Merchant Services and First Data Corp lawyers a nice gift basket.

Update: I'll send you over to SayUncle for a response from Citi Merchant Services and First Data, showing that they are, indeed, completely ignorant of the law and how firearms sales are conducted.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 03:48 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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Ron Paul needs to simply go away.

Long-simmering rumors about his ties to bigots of many stripes have lurked in the background for years, only explode yesterday with well-documented examples of racism, hatred towards gays, and murky associations with conspiracy theorists, neo-Nazis, and secessionists.

Some seem satisfied with Paul's weak claim that myriad examples of this inflammatory rhetoric went out under his name for over a decade without his knowledge or blessing. This requires a willing suspension of disbelief and an avoidance of reality only too typical of the paranoid fringe that have flocked to his campaign.

If he has any sense of decency, Paul should withdraw from the 2008 Presidential race, and should also consider vacating his Congressional seat. The voters of Texas' 22nd 14th District deserves better representation than this.

We all do.

Update: CNN gets in the action with a feature story called Ron Paul '90s newsletters rant against blacks, gays.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:15 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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Not to point out the obvious to the oblivious, but at a time when newsrooms are loss-leaders at best, you might be financially better off in getting your wildly inaccurate pre-primary punditry from bloggers.

I'm pretty sure I could be every bit as wrong as Zogby, Rasmussen, etc for $50K-$100K less per state.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Curtains for Ron Paul?

...whoever actually wrote them, the newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul's name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him--and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing--but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics.

I doubt this is the last we'll see of this kind of article targeting the company Paul keeps, either.

Update: More on this via Daniel Koffler at Pajamas Media, starting with this (dis)taste of pull-quotes from "Ron Paul's Political Report" newsletter from the 1980s and early 1990s.

"[O]ur country is being destroyed by a group of actual and potential terrorists—and they can be identified by the color of their skin."

"I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city [Washington, D.C.] are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."

"We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, but it is hardly irrational."

"The riots, burning, looting, and murders are only a continuation of 30 years of racial politics."

"The criminals who terrorize our cities—in riots and on every non-riot day—are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to "fight the power," and to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible. Anything is justified against 'The Man.' And 'The Woman.'"

This looks bad for Paul...very bad. That hasn't kept his true believers from bombarding PJM's comment thread.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 02:28 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Break out the shovel:

Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced.

Mr. Huckabee, who won last week's Republican Iowa caucuses, promised Minuteman Project founder James Gilchrist that he would force a test case to the Supreme Court to challenge birthright citizenship, and would push Congress to pass a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to remove any doubt.

This is a radical shift from an immigration position of just a little over a month ago as reported in the same newspaper, where his position as governor of Arkansas was labeled "an absolute disaster."

"Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens."

As Mark Levin notes, this is a massive flip-flop from Huckabee, who supported making the children of illegal aliens eligible for college scholarships and called legislation to crack down on illegal immigration in Arkansas "inflammatory and race-baiting" while governor just two years ago, a fact he did not dispute in the GOP debate in New Hampshire on September 5, 2007.

Issues2000.org has much, much more on Huckabee's shifting positions.

Update: Hmmm... backing down on a previous pander? Perhaps his moral compass needs to be re-magnitized.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 11:19 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Over at Hot Air, Bryan notes that Barack Obama's foreign policy plan doesn't exist.

I wish I could agree with him, but as I read the page now and click the "Read the Plan" link, that isn't true.

It isn't non-existent. Its just damaged and unreadable.

But then, we knew that, didn't we?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:01 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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...with a route in the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, where Hillary Clinton didn't pick up a single vote among the 17 voters. Barack Obama got seven votes, John Edwards picked up two, and Bill Richardson picked up one. On the Republican side, John McCain picked up four vtoes, ?Mitt Romney two, and Rudy Giuliani picked up one.

As noted in the Fox News article, the small towns that opened door to voters at midnight are far too small to be seen as reflective of the state's trends.

Scott Elliott of Election Projection is predicting a very narrow 34% to 33% win for Republican candidate John McCain over Mitt Romney, and a significant 41% to 34% victory for Obama over Clinton, the once-favored Democratic candidate once seen by many as the inevitable Democratic winner.

Independent voters are the key to this primary, with the ability to vote in Democratic or Republicans. Mitt Romney's campaign is said to be hoping for enough independent voters to cast votes for Barack Obama and possibly siphon votes from John McCain to give him a victory. I think that is exactly what will happen.

My guesses are just that (guesses), but here they go.

I didn't include Duncan Hunter on the Republican side because I don't think he'll make even 1% after his hissy fit yesterday.

Update: So, how do we read the latest at Drudge that the New Hampshire Secretary of State is rushing to bring ballots to "Seacoast – Hampton, Portsmouth – and Southern Hillsborough – Pelham, Nashua" and other cities running low on Democratic ballots?

If you run with the theory that independents are choosing between Obama and McCain, we could be looking at the seeds of a mild McCain upset by Mitt Romney due to the independents crowding onto Democrat ballots.

This would seem to all but end John McCain's presidential aspirations.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:43 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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...over news that Osma Bin Laden's security coordinator was captured in Lahore, Pakistan.

Not because it couldn't happen, but because the source is Pakistan's The Nation, the same news organization that reported the claim last week that Benazir Bhutto was killed by a laser.

As a result, I'd consider their credibility just a wee bit suspect.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 03:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Iranian Revolutionary Guard fast-attack boats came with 200 yards of American Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, almost provoking American forces to open fire:

Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route off the Iranian coast, over the weekend, CNN reported on Monday.

Citing unidentified U.S. officials, CNN said the Iranian vessels came within 200 yards (metres) of the U.S. ships in international waters in the strait on Saturday, and U.S. sailors came close to opening fire.

Oil prices rose about 30 cents to over $98 a barrel after the CNN report, with traders citing increased risk of disruptions to oil shipments along the key shipping route.

U.S. military officials told CNN the boats were "attack craft" that they believed were operated by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

The Iranian boats made threatening maneuvers against the U.S. warships and threatening radio transmissions, the officials told CNN.

The captain of one U.S. vessel was in the process of giving the order to shoot when the Iranian ships began turning away, CNN said.

A radio transmission from one of the Iranian ships said, "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," CNN reported, citing a U.S. official.

After the threatening radio communication, U.S. sailors manned their ships' guns and were very close to opening fire, it said.

There was no immediate U.S. comment.

If this account is accurate, these Iranian craft were literally within seconds of being destroyed. The order to fire was on the lips of the U.S. Navy captain as the Iranian boats threatened a suicide attack as they came in, only to turn away at the last second.

Occurring on the eve of President Bush's trip to the region which hoped to spur on the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, the apparent attempt was to force American forces to defend themselves and trigger a new crisis between the United States and Iran.

As we look to tomorrow's primary in New Hampshire, I'm forced to consider how the various presidential candidate's would have responded if such a provocation had occurred on their watch.

I think it goes without saying that on the Democratic side the candidates are less than inspiring in this kind of crisis, with only Hillary giving me the slightest hope of anything less than a Carteresque response. I think the same holds true for Huckabee and Paul on the Republican side of the equation, and with his foreign policy "experience," I imagine Huckabee's first response would be to wonder why the Irish were mad at us in the first place, and reflexively issuing an executive order raising import taxes on Guinness in retaliation.

Romney may do okay in such a situation, but I know I'd rather have McCain or Thompson in office if it ever "hit the fan" with Iran, as indeed it may on the next President's watch.

We were apparently just seconds away from a shooting war this past Saturday.

Who would you want in office if when they try this again?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:19 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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Claudia Rosett and Roger L. Simon braved the freezing New Hampshire temperatures last week to talk to Republican Presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain about the War on Terror, in the latest of Pajamas Media's War on Terror Conversation series.

The Rudy Giuliani conversation is here.

The John McCain conversation is here.

An earlier conversation with Fred Thompson is here.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:10 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Chris Muir of DaybyDay—one of the best online cartoon series going—is raising funds, and could certainly use your support.

Like most bloggers, Chris is not a full-time cartoonist, and DaybyDay takes up a tremendous amount of time to write, well, day by day.

Drop on over and toss him a couple of bucks, will you?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 09:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Blogger and soldier Andrew Olmsted, who often posted as G-Kar at Obsidian Wings, was killed in combat yesterday in Iraq. As far as you know, he was killed defending a village composed solely of innocent women and children from hundreds of insurgents.

Knowing the risks he took as a soldier, he composed a moving, reflective final post to be published in the event of his death.

In Major Olmstead's last paragraph he expressed doubts in an afterlife. I sincerely hope he finds himself today in Heaven, pleasantly surprised.

His writing is archived at http://www.andrewolmsted.com/

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 03:23 PM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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Horton Hears a Boo: Journalistic Hijinks at Harper's Exposed is now up at Pajamas Media and has already been linked by both Instapundit and Powerline.

It turns out that Harper's writer Scott Horton, who has been a leading cheerleader for imprisoned Associated Press photographer and terrorism suspect Bilal Hussein, was a former investigator for Hussein's defense team, a disclosure that he has failed to make in his recent attacks against the U.S. military's handling of the Hussein case.

This particular bit of journalistic malpractice is unrelated to another budding scandal surrounding Horton's still unsupported August 24 claim that an unnamed "thuggish neocon" journalist fabricated a story while Horton was in Iraq.

Repeatedly pressed for comment and proof of the anonymous article Horton alludes to, Harper's Editor Roger D. Hodge, Managing Editor Ellen Rosenbush, Vice President of Public Relations Giulia Melucci and Horton have thus far refused to support or retract his claim. Hodge, Rosenbush, and Melucci were contacted as recently as December 30, but remain mute, apparently hoping to stonewall their way through this scandal.

In light of these developments, perhaps Andrew Sullivan may want to reconsider his statement that, "Scott Horton has as much integrity as anyone I know."

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:09 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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