SWANN GOES ON OFFENSE

It’s great to hear that Lynn Swann is taking the offensive in his campaign against ‘Fast Eddie’ Rendell.

In recent weeks, his campaign has shown signs of life. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was in suburban Philadelphia on Wednesday to stump for Swann. Swann also spent a week recently touring the state in a 39-foot converted motor coach with a giant headshot of himself and the slogan “Common Sense for the Commonwealth” on an electric-blue background.
He visited 19 counties, but made his most concentrated push in black neighborhoods in heavily Democratic Philadelphia. His campaign strategists say making even small inroads among blacks, and winning back Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs who helped elect Rendell in 2002, are key to a Swann victory in the Nov. 7 election.

When I read that ‘America’s Mayor’ would be campaigning for Swann this week, I was elated. As I said here, Rudy’s a GOP fundraising and campaigning superstar. Rudy’s got a tough law-enforcement, gets-things-done type of mentality. He’s that rare politician who’s got tremendous support in the various minority communities and great support with whites.

What Giuliani’s visit does for the Swann campaign, besides giving him all the headlines Thursday, is a legitimacy that a superstar like Giuliani brings to the table. This gives Swann a great opportunity to reach into voting blocks that most Republicans don’t get.

An early convert was Frederick Cooper, who owns a short-order restaurant with an outdoor eating area on a street corner in West Philadelphia. There, Swann and his wife, Charena, helped scoop sweetly flavored water ice into tiny cups for a line of sweltering customers.
Cooper, 36, who is black, said he voted for Rendell in 2002 but backs Swann because he believes government grows stale quickly and that Swann would provide a fresh perspective in Harrisburg. “Right now, I would go with anybody that would come in with new ideas…new changes,” Cooper said.

This is a huge key. If Rendell thinks that Swann will take significant amounts of black votes away from Rendell, that means Rendell will pay more attention to those areas. Furthermore, that extra attention isn’t a guarantee that he’ll stop Swann from getting significant support from the black community. It also means that Rendell won’t be able to camp out in Republican strongholds like he did in 2002 against Mike Fisher.

Awhile back, I talked with a reporter friend in Pennsylvania about Swann’s candidacy. My friend said the campaign was lagging but that there was still plenty of time to rectify that. I told my friend that I’d have Lynn Swann, Kenneth Blackwell and Michael Steele meeting with every minority small business group in their states. My logic is that minority business owners don’t like overtaxation or overregulation any more than any other business owner. My friend totally agreed with that. It sounds like my advice has gotten to the Swann campaign, though it’s egotistical to think that it was my advice that got to the Swann campaign.

If Mr. Cooper is a harbinger of things to come, this race will tighten up in a heartbeat. Rendell’s millions don’t make up for a lack of message. I’d also suggest that there is a true ‘throw the bums out’ mentality in Pennsylvania this year, especially after they tired sneaking a congressional pay raise through in the middle of the night.

Rendell says that he’s got a “good message to tell.” That’s a bunch of BS and he knows it. Here’s how my friend Alex McClure puts it:

Can someone tell me which of his great promises in 2002 he has fulfilled? To change the culture in Harrisburg? To deliver property tax relief?

Rendell’s statements sound like so much hot air from a career politician. That won’t win the day in a state that’s looking to throw the bums out.

ISRAEL UNLEASHES FURY

Since international news tends to make peoples eyes roll back into their head and put them to sleep, I'll break this down for you in simple terms. Even someone who just graduated from a government school will be able to understand this. How about that?

Some time back, the Hamas government in the Palestinian territories, itself a terrorist group, decided to kidnap an Israeli soldier. They want some prisoners released in exchange for the prisoner. No dice, says Israel...who rolls into Hamas territory with guns and bombs blazing. That war is ongoing.

Now, up North in Lebanon, that area is controlled by another Islamic terrorist group called Hezbollah. They decided it would be cute if they snuck across the border and grabbed two more Israeli soldiers. So they did...taking them both hostage. Israel decided that was an act of war, and they have responded with full firepower...just recently bombing the airport in Beirut. They have decided to clean house...and it's about time.

Now watch carefully the coverage in the mainstream media, the reaction at the United Nations and even the U.S. State Department. Because you see, those are all anti-Israel groups that want to appease the Islamic terrorists. Surely they had a reason for taking those Israeli soldiers hostage! It's Israel's fault...a response to the "occupation" of "Palestinian" territories. Nonsense.

All of this talk about the Middle East Peace process is a complete waste of time. A true, lasting peace will only be achieved through a decisive military victory. It's time for Israel to finish the job once and for all...and exterminate Hezbollah and Hamas from the face of the Earth...permanently.

This is Hezbollah's flag. Why yes, that is an automatic weapon. Some "Party of God", eh?

NOVAK'S COLUMN ENDS WILSON VICTIM CHARADE

Joe Wilson’s charade that the Bush Administration outed his wife as part of a plot to discredit him should be over now that we know where Robert Novak got Valerie Wilson’s name from. Here’s the stinging part of Novak’s column:

“I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in ‘Who’s Who in America.’”

OOPS!!! It’ll be difficult for Mr. Wilson to say that Karl Rove outed his wife when he outed her. Let’s recall that Mr. Wilson claimed that Rove outed his wife as retribution for his being critical of President Bush’s decision to take America to war in Iraq. The truth is that Rove didn’t have to ‘out’ her because Wilson did it by putting her name in the DC social register.

If she’s a covert CIA operative, then Wilson should’ve been far more discreet about her identity. You certainly wouldn’t put it in the Washington social register.

Novak’s disclosure also puts Fitzgerald’s press conference announcing Scooter Libby’s indictment into a new light. Let’s check the transcript of that event for what it might reveal:

Before I talk about those charges and what the indictment alleges, I’d like to put the investigation into a little context. Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer. In July 2003, the fact that Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer was classified. Not only was it classified, but it was not widely known outside the intelligence community. Valerie Wilson’s friends, neighbors, college classmates had no idea she had another life.
The fact that she was a CIA officer was not well-known, for her protection or for the benefit of all us. It’s important that a CIA officer’s identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the nation’s security. Valerie Wilson’s cover was blown in July 2003. The first sign of that cover being blown was when Mr. Novak published a column on July 14th, 2003.

We now know that that section of Mr. Fitzgerald’s statement is a bald-faced lie on almost every count. He’s right in saying that “Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer.” He’s also right in saying that “It’s important that a CIA officer’s identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the nation’s security.”Those are the only things he got right. Since it’s true that “it’s important to” protect a “CIA officer’s identity”, it might be prudent for Mr. Wilson to not pay to put his wife’s name in the “Who’s Who in America” directory.

Not only was it classified, but it was not widely known outside the intelligence community.

Mr. Fitzgerald’s either must be one of the most incompetent investigators in American history or he’s lying through his teeth on this. How is it possible for her identity to not be “widely known outside the intelligence community” when it’s published in the “Who’s Who in America”? It’s easy to make that claim when the Novak information was still secret but it’s impossible to sustain now that he’s gone public with that information.

Valerie Wilson’s cover was blown in July 2003. The first sign of that cover being blown was when Mr. Novak published a column on July 14th, 2003.

Mr. Fitzgerald’s lying when he says that. Her husband outed her long before that. She even contributed to Al Gore’s campaign using her married name. How secret could her identity be?

Even though Mr. Novak has published his column on the facts of the case, that isn’t preventing the Agenda Media from rushing to the Wilson’s defense. Check out these statements on Hardball between Matthews, Jim VandeHei and David Shuster:

MATTHEWS: Novak does not reveal the name of his primary source, and the source has not come forward. Thus far, no one has confirmed Novak‘s recitation of the events.

This is part of Matthews introduction of his guests at the start of the show. Before Shuster and VandeHei are even introduced, Matthews is floating the idea that Novak might be lying. But that isn’t the most outrageous thing that’s said. Check this out:

DAVID SHUSTER: But I want to draw your attention, Chris, to two things that come out of this column tonight from Novak, and that is we now know for the first time from Novak himself that his recollection of his conversation with Karl Rove and his recollection of his conversation with Bill Harlow were different from what Harlow and Rove say. And the reason that‘s important, specifically for Bill Harlow, is because there are all sorts of restrictions about what a CIA person and public affairs officer can say.

Shuster thinks there’s only two things worth special attention in Novak’s column: that Novak’s recollection differs with Karl Rove’s and Bill Harlow’s. Not a single mention of Novak’s statement about getting Wilson’s wife’s name from “Who’s Who In America.” In fact, nobody mentions this fact during the entire segment. Then Shuster picks up on Matthew’s inference that Novak might be lying:

SHUSTER: It also raises question about the journalistic integrity of Bob Novak, but that‘s an issue that, of course…

How does this raise questions about Robert Novak’s journalistic integrity? Here’s what Novak wrote in his Human Events column:

I have revealed Harlow’s name because he has publicly disclosed his version of our conversation, which also differs from my recollection.

Since Harlow has made this public information, then Novak shouldn’t be held to the journalistic vow of secrecy that Shuster’s likely refering to.

VANDEHEI: The Harlow incident, I think, is a little bit different, because once you‘re…I think what happened here is, once he has the story, then he goes to the CIA. Now, at that point, if Harlow says, “Wait a second. I don‘t know if we should be running that. You know, that could really hurt one of our operatives or that could hurt, you know, some ongoing things that we have going over here at the CIA,” well, you could use that, too, as a confirmation, if that‘s what‘s happening. And I‘m sure, you know, as a journalist, that could have happened here.

Considering Joe Wilson’s ‘outing’ of his wife, I’d doubt that the conversation happened that way. But far be it from Mr. VandeHei to not at least continue talking about Matthews’ conspiracy theories.

MATTHEWS: Jim, that has the…well, who knows what happened here? We‘ll know more in the next couple of days, perhaps. But if Harlow simply did his job of protecting the agency, he could have inadvertently…to use that word again…betrayed the fact by saying, “You know, you can‘t run that. That‘s going to hurt our operations.”

To be fair, Matthews couldn’t have known this tidbit from Howard Kurtz’s column:

Novak said he has a different recollection of the conversation. “I certainly wouldn’t have used her name if anyone had indicated she might be in danger,” Novak said.

I’m going to believe Novak’s statements because (a) he’s a meticulous reporter and (b) because Matthews, Shuster and VandeHei haven’t presented anything remotely approaching proof that Novak lied. In fact, their hyperventillating blather is more pure speculation and gossip than anything else.

That’s hardly reason enough to disagree with Novak’s account.

AZTLAN ACADEMY: COMING TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

AZTLAN ACADEMY: COMING TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?

By Michelle Malkin

So, Karl Rove gave his "We are all Americans" speech to the National Council of La Raza--The Race--yesterday. Today, my syndicated column digs into the millions of dollars in Bush administration federal education grants The Race has received for its nationwide charter school initiative.

It’s bad enough the White House lent its prestige to The Race’s annual conference. But did you know the Bush administration has forked over millions of federal tax dollars directly to The Race?

According to GOP Rep. Charlie Norwood of Georgia, The Race snapped up $15.2 million in federal grants last year alone and more than $30 million since 1996. Undisclosed amounts went to get-out-the-vote efforts supporting La Raza political positions. The U.S. Department of Education funneled nearly $8 million in taxpayer grants to the group for a nationwide charter schools initiative.

You may remember the reconquista school in Los Angeles whose principal teaches ethnic separatism along with Aztec math. The Race was a co-sponsor of that school with extremist activists from MECHA. Remember this interview with the principal of the school, La Academia Semillas del Pubelo:

We don’t want to drink from a White water fountain, we have our own wells and our natural reservoirs and our way of collecting rain in our aqueducts. We don’t need a White water fountain. So the whole issue of segregation and the whole issue of the Civil Rights Movement is all within the box of White culture and White supremacy. We should not still be fighting for what they have. We are not interested in what they have because we have so much more and because the world is so much larger. And ultimately the White way, the American way, the neo liberal, capitalist way of life will eventually lead to our own destruction.

Turns out there are more where that one came from, folks.

I have found dozens of other publicly-subsidized charter schools sponsored by The Race and funded with our money, including:

*Aztlan Academy in Tuscon, Arizona. According to The Race, the school’s success rests on “Aztlan's ability to integrate a meaningful Chicano Studies program into their lives, language, and academics, as a means of developing their intellects as well as their pride and self-esteem.” The school’s name--a reference to a mythical swath of the vast Southwestern U.S. expanse, which Latino activists claim is their rightful homeland and which they seek to reconquer for Mexico--says it all.

*Mexicayotl Academy in Nogales, Arizona. Who needs the three R’s? At Mexicayotl, it’s all about the three M’s: me, me, me! The school’s program is “structured and developed around the concepts of identity, culture, and language.” Second mission: supporting local ethnic lobbying efforts “to right social injustices by educating the community and helping create social change.” Under “greatest achievements,” the school’s website lists its participation in a “Peace & Dignity Run;” its visit from Rigoberta Menchu (the Marxist academic fraud from Guatemala who lied her way to a Nobel Peace Prize); and its sponsorship of
the local annual Día de los Muertos (the Mexican holiday).

*The Dolores Huerta Preparatory High School in Pueblo, Colorado. It’s named after the far-Left Latina labor union activist who recently railed that “Republicans hate Latinos,” praised illegal alien marchers, and screeched that “We didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us” in a hate-filled tirade before Arizona students.

*Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School in St. Paul, Minn. Board of Directors member Louis Mendoza, an activist Chicano Studies professor, pushed the school to lobby for the federal DREAM Act (providing in-state tuition discounts to illegal alien students not available to legal non-residents). The school’s website features one flag on its front page: the Mexican flag.

The White House will tell you that The National Council of The Race is a “moderate,” mainstream civil rights group. But there’s nothing “moderate” about The Race’s advocacy of driver’s licenses and in-state tuition discounts for illegal aliens. Or its opposition to strengthening security for identity documents and improving cooperation on immigration enforcement between state, local, and federal enforcement immigration officials. Or its all-out war on the House GOP’s border security and enforcement-first bill passed last December.

President Bush pays lip service to immigration enforcement and assimilation, while the White House sends Karl Rove to make nice with the separatist leaders of The Race and the Bush Education Department showers our tax dollars on radical Reconquista schools. It doesn’t add up.

Unless, of course, you’re using Aztec math.

NOVAK BREAKS SILENCE ON PLAMEGATE!

Here’s the headline from Drudge’s website:

BOB NOVAK, My Leak Case Testimony: ‘I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in ‘Who’s Who in America’… MORE Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed my attorneys that, after two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to me has been concluded. That frees me to reveal my role in the federal inquiry that, at the request of Fitzgerald, I have kept secret… MORE… My primary source has not come forward to identify himself…Bill Harlow, the CIA public information officer who was my CIA source for the column confirming Mrs. Wilson’s identity. I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in ‘Who’s Who in America’… I answered questions using the names of Rove, Harlow and my primary source.

FLASH: Bob Novak will break his silence tomorrow night in two separate interviews with FOXNEWS CHANNEL, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Novak will appear on Brit Hume (6pm/et) and Hannity & Colmes (9pm/et)

This is momentus. It isn’t just that Rove wasn’t the leaker of Valerie Wilson’s name. It was Wilson himself. Talk about cutting the legs out from underneath Wilson’s ‘holy victim’ act!!! WOW!!!

I’ll be tuning into Fox tomorrow night. Check back later tonight for analysis of this breaking news.

THAT AIN'T GONNA FLY

The Washington Times’ Charles Hurt is reporting about a provision of the Senate Immigration Reform legislation that simply won’t fly. Here’s what Mr. Hurt says about the provision:

Out of deference to the confidentiality concerns of foreigners in the U.S., the bill would bar state and local police from detaining aliens simply for being in the U.S. illegally. Police could arrest the aliens only if they commit certain additional violations of federal immigration law such as marriage fraud or document counterfeiting.

It’s amazing the amount of warts that are coming out due to the House hearings. This would be among the dumbest provisions in law enforcement legislation that I’ve ever heard of. It’s a joke that’s about to get squashed by the House negotiators and with good reason.

“This is a time bomb that is just waiting to do a lot of damage,” former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Kris Kobach told The Washington Times yesterday. “Either it will be the damage done by terrorists in this country or it will be the damage done to our ability to control illegal immigration.” The wall, which opponents say is similar to the one criticized by the September 11 commission for hampering efforts to prevent terrorist attacks, is getting closer attention after Mr. Royce held immigration hearings last week in California and Texas. Mr. Kobach, who served as counsel to former Attorney General John Ashcroft and now teaches at University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law, was among those who testified.

Frankly, I want to know who put that provision into the bill and if it got debated on the Senate floor. If it did, who voted for it? If this was snuck in as part of a last minute amendment, that’s one thing. That would leave open the possibility of a lone senator playing games. On the other hand, if this was fully debated and passed with each senator knowing what was in this amendment, then whoever voted for passage should be chastised and embarassed for such a stunt.

Hurt is right on the money in saying that this is just like the Gorelick Wall, which prevented the CIA from sharing information with the FBI, something that might’ve allowed us to detect the 9/11 terrorists.

Mr. Kobach told the House panel last week that four of the 19 September 11 hijackers had committed immigration violations and had been stopped by state and local police before the attacks. In particular, he pointed to Ziad Samir Jarrah, the Lebanese terrorist in the country on a six-month tourist visa that he had overstayed. On Sept. 9, 2001, Jarrah was stopped going 90 mph on Interstate 95 in Maryland and given a $270 speeding ticket, which was later found in the glove compartment at the Newark airport in New Jersey, where he boarded United Flight 93.
“If the officer had asked a few questions and determined that he was illegal, he could have made the arrest,” Mr. Kobach said. “If the officer had called the Law Enforcement Support Center, which operates 24/7 out of Vermont, the officer could have concluded that he was illegal and could have made the arrest.”

With the enactment of the USA Patriot Act, the Gorelick Wall came crashing down. I just wish it had never existed in the first place. Now some senator or group of senators is trying to re-build that wall so that we can’t catch illegal immigrants. Americans everywhere should insist that this provision be among the first deletions the Conference Committee makes.

What that provision says is that this senator (these senators?) aren’t serious about border enforcement and that isn’t acceptable at all. Period.