Riehl World View

Europe Threatens Iran ... I Guess

Europe threatens action as Iran airs new 'confession'

Well, that's the headline anyway. Apparently it depends on what the definition of the word threatens is.

The EU threatened to act against Iran last night if it did not immediately and unconditionally release the 15 British sailors and marines it has been holding for more than a week.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Bremen, Germany, threatened "appropriate measures" if Tehran did not let the group go, supporting Britain's position that the crew had been in Iraqi waters when they were seized eight days ago.

Appropriate measures? What, are they going to make the mullahs go to bed without a snack? If you're going to threaten someone, medieval is a much better word than appropriate. Don't you think?

British Embassy Attacked

I suppose this is just what the hardliners in Iran want. Reports indicate they, as opposed to Ahmadinejad, seem to be driving the hostage situation.

But will the mainstream media report it? Gateway Pundit has it, with graphics.

Following increased tensions between Tehran and London over the detention of 15 British marines who entered Iranian waters illegally and likely gatherings by protestors in front of the embassy compound, the police increased security measures and arrangements around the embassy here in Tehran on Friday.

Hillary: Will 900 Numbers Be Next?

What would you call it when a gal sez, Call me, we'll party ... for a price!

Can Tony Blair Really Be This Dense?

Certainly, British PM Blair isn't stupid, but I'm left speechless at this recent comment of his regarding the current hostage issue: article and image of the latest letter from Faye Turney.

A Whitehall source said of Tehran: "They are looking for a way out."

Tony Blair however expressed "disgust" at the treatment of the captured British Royal Navy personnel by the Iranians.

Mr Blair said: "I really don't know why the Iranian regime keep doing this. All it does is enhance people's sense of disgust.

"Captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way doesn't fool anyone. What the Iranians have to realise is that if they continue in this way, they will face increasing isolation."

In the first place, Iran's "way out" looks as though it goes right through any remaining credibility as regards Britain's ability and resolve to truly confront an act of war, or despotic aggression, even when it's launched against it's own troops.

But Why do they keep doing it? What is it that anyone since Reagan, who only had to make pre-inauguration threats, has done to make them stop?

And why do world leaders like Blair continue to kid themselves that rogue regimes actually worry about what other people think of them, or that said regimes care about being isolated from a world they view as an enemy to be conquered.

As frustrated as I am with Bush, unfortunately it looks as if most of the major world powers are lacking in strong leadership right now and Iran is taking full advantage of the opening.

And Now The Blah Blah Blah

Is it just me, or is it the arrival of Spring outside making the news look old and tired? Or is it just so much of the same old, same old these days, it's hard to get too worked up over anything?

Russia sucks, they're undermining the Brits with Iran. That's all but convinced me that it's Bush's naivete that resulted in a host of problems from Iraq to Gonzalez. Bush is the guy who claimed to have looked into Putin's eyes and whatevuh. Well, he had better look again.

In hindsight, Bush just didn't have enough serious life experience to have refined his judgment and it's hurt us when it counted for six years. That doesn't mean I don't believe his motives are good and he does the best he can. And I'd still take him over Gore or Kerry any day of the week.

I've been looking for a new house in my free time, so sorry if blogging has been light. Found a place I'd love to buy last night ... but I have to talk myself out of it. An old 1860 something farmhouse on about six acres with a stream, small pond, outbuildings, etc. It's pretty much what I've always wanted. My favorite house was of the same vintage, but they're so much work. This one would be great with a business partner maybe and has plenty of bedrooms, etc. But I don't see myself going that route. It'd be a major restore project and I'm not sure I want to do that, again.

I'll probably look for something smaller in the end.

Here are some links:

Trial lawyers like John Edwards cost us a trillon dollars?

Good news bad news from Iraq

Does Iran have sleeper cells in the US?

Iran Humiliates Hostages, All Of Britain

New video shown on Iranian TV. Hot Air has several additional links. Iran released a letter from the female hostage calling for withdrawal from Iraq. I wonder if Pelosi and Murtha helped them write it?

See the Hot Air link for bits from Steyn and others. This entire episode is thoroughly disgusting. I don't hear the UN or any factions of the International community screaming about the Geneva Convention now. Iran is degrading and manipulating British sailors and marines, one of them a woman, and the world is probably waiting for America to do anything provocative so they can somehow blame this all on us.

There's no backbone left in the West and Iran knows it.

Were you in essence the CIC of British forces, would you act? For the left, I'll just assume you'd kiss Iran's ass - so feel free to skip the question.

Global Warming Concert Frozen Out Of DC

The proposed "Live Earth" concert for DC is on the ropes. And it's a good thing, too. We don't have to lend our public resources to one sided political events like Gore's glorious traveling global warming salvation show.

WASHINGTON — When former Vice President Al Gore testified before Congress last week, his appearance was viewed as the triumph of environmentalists over doubters in the debate over global warming.

Fresh from Hollywood, where his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Oscar, Gore imbued Democrats now in power on Capitol Hill with a sense of mission, urging them to "rise to the occasion and present meaningful solutions to this crisis."

Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), former chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, seemed a lonely dissenter. Forced by November's election results to surrender the gavel to enviro-friendly Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Inhofe — who has called the alarms about man-made global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" — challenged what he called the inaccuracies in Gore's assertions and spent most of his time making speeches to the former vice president.

Saying Olympia Snowe's support makes something bi-partisan is like saying Elizabeth II of England is teh gay because she's called the queen.

They lined up bipartisan support: Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) cosponsored the resolution. After Republicans raised concerns about security costs, the promoters offered to reimburse the government for the estimated $1.5 million in police expenses. They started making plans.

But Inhofe objected "to having any events on the Capitol grounds that are either highly partisan or politically controversial — and the proposed Gore concert is both," said Marc Morano, the GOP communications director for the Environment and Public Works Committee. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) questioned the issue on the Senate floor last Friday, holding up its passage.

Video Of Border Agent Shooting Illegal Proves?

I get the concept but am still at a loss how this AP article could be headlined this way given that the video is so bad, you can't even tell there was an actual shooting:

Border Shooting Video Backs Migrants

They seem to be as quick on the trigger as was, allegedly, the border agent.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A grainy surveillance video taken as a Border Patrol agent fatally shot an illegal immigrant appears to lend credence to the surviving immigrants' accounts of what happened.

The Cochise County attorney released the video clips and documents this week after public records requests by The Associated Press and two newspapers. The shooting has drawn condemnation from the Mexican government and spurred an FBI civil rights investigation.

Evidently there are items in the video matching pieces of the illegal immigrants story. Fine. But how can any worthwhile conclusions be drawn given this:

The video, taken from a camera mounted on a tower about two miles away, lacks the clarity to distinguish details, including the shooting.

There was a confrontation but until, hopefully, the FBI delivers an enhanced version, you can't even see one man shooting another? It's hard to accept this video as confirming anything unless a better version is produced. The FBI is working on that now.

The witnesses said the agent came from behind the victim, and the video appears to support that version.

One clip shows Corbett's Border Patrol vehicle driving up to a small group of people and circling around them. The agent then opens the door and emerges from behind his SUV, running toward the group, bunched near his rear bumper.

He then appears to have contact with one person.

Within seconds, Corbett apparently pushed one of the immigrants, Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, toward the ground and shot him, authorities said.

The FBI is trying to enhance the tape. County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said he is awaiting results of the FBI's investigation before deciding whether to charge Corbett.

Feinstein Takes Her Cut And Runs

Where is the investigation and the rebuke to follow?

Billions in Military Contracts to Husband's Firms Were Approved by Sen. Feinstein's Committee, Metro Newspapers Investigation Reports

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband was a major beneficiary of military appropriations blessed by a subcommittee that she headed, Metro Newspapers reports this week.

Feinstein (D-Calif.) acted in apparent conflict of interest while approving billions of dollars in military construction expenditures, according to an investigative story by award-winning journalist Peter Byrne. The story was published jointly in the North Bay Bohemian and Metro Silicon Valley weekly newspapers this week.

Following Feinstein's participation at the legislative level, large contracts were awarded to two firms -- URS Corporation and Perini Corporation -- that were controlled by an investment group headed by the senator's spouse, financier Richard C. Blum.

Byrne's investigation reveals the following details about Feinstein's service as a member of the United States Senate's Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON):

-- From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein's knowledge, her husband's group held a majority interest in two defense contractors active in Iraq and U.S. military bases.

-- While setting MILCON agendas, Feinstein supervised her own staff of military construction experts and lobbied Pentagon officials in public hearings.

-- From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by MILCON; Perini secured $759 million from MILCON projects.

-- Attorney Michael R. Klein, a Feinstein legal adviser and long-time Blum business partner, also served as vice-chairman of Perini's board of directors. In an interview with Byrne in September, Klein stated that, beginning in 1997, he routinely informed Feinstein about specific federal projects coming before her in which Perini had a stake. The insider information, Klein said, was intended to help the senator avoid conflicts of interest. Although Klein's admission was intended to defuse the issue of Feinstein's conflict of interest, it instead exacerbated it, and Sen. Feinstein did in fact vote on legislation that affected Perini and URS.

The story published in Metro Silicon Valley and the North Bay Bohemian examines the many ways in which Sen. Feinstein committed repeated breaches of ethics as MILCON's chairperson from 2001-2005.

Also see here here and here.

Updated: Is Webb Hanging Staffer Out To Dry

Wow! Living in a blue state, I didn't realize the gun didn't need to be registered in Va if it's Webbs. Still, his response makes no sense, or the aide lied.

via Instapundit:

DANA MILBANK SAYS THAT JIM WEBB IS EXECUTING A CUT AND RUN -- not over Iraq, but over the fate of his aide Phillip Thompson:

That doesn't seem right. If the gun was Webb's, and it was all an accident, -- and I can't think of any other likely explanation -- why doesn't Webb make things clear? Am I missing something here?

It's an unregistered gun. The question that needs to be asked: is the gun registered anywhere, or not at all? If not at all and the aide was telling the truth, Webb would be looking at a felony. Instead, it's looking as if the perhaps not quite honorable gentleman from Virginia is prepared to let his aide take the rap.

Thompson was arrested and charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition.