The vote? 58 to 42, along party lines. Four Democrats went over for Alito. One Republican voted against: Lincoln Chaffee, Rhode Island.
Guess what: Samuel Alito is only 54. He’ll be around for a long time.
And Bush may in fact be able to make a third Supreme Court appointment.
Last Thursday, January 26th, Hamas won 75 of the 132 seats in voting for the Palestinian Authority legislature. That Hamas victory over Fatah marks the end of ten years of Palestinian Authority rule.
And Fatah is pissed.
The Palestinian masses are finally realizing how abjectly corrupt the party of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat and current leader Mahmoud Abbas really was. Arafat was the biggest dipper and corruptor, with the EU having shoved $4 billion into the Palestinian Authority since 1983. Where did the money go? Not to the people; mostly to Arafat’s various accounts. It is, therefore, no surprise that Arafat’s surviving wife Suha is currently living in France (with mother and a serving staff) on a mere $100,000 per month.
But I digress.
This post is about money and what the United States is doing about the resulting elections placing Hamas ostensibly in charge. But mostly it’s about what we were doing and my dismay over past practices.
First: the European Union continues to fund the Palestinian Authority (see above). EU member states donated about $600 million to the Palestinians in 2005.
Second: after the Hamas win, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States wants other nations to cut off aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government. She ruled out any U.S. financial assistance to a Hamas government.
Humanitarian help to the Palestinians, many of whom are poor and unemployed, is likely on a “case-by-case basis,” Rice said Sunday. She indicated that the administration would follow through on aid promised to the current, U.S.-backed Palestinian government led by President Mahmoud Abbas. “We’re going to review all of our assistance programs, but the bedrock principle here is we can’t have funding for an organization that holds those views just because it is in government,” Rice said.
Wait wait wait wait wait. Are WE funding the Palestinian Authority? HAVE we been funding the Palestinian Authority? THIS is the story behind the story!
The BBC News article indicated, “The US has also said it would stop its aid to the PA if Hamas failed to renounce violence or recognise Israel.”
I’m kidding, correct?
No. I am not. The United States has been funding the Palestinian Authority. In essence, that nice new carpeting in Suha’s Paris living room? Partially funded by you. By me. That nice Cartier watch? I think I purchased the bezel.
How outrageous is this? Israeli limbs blown off by PA-led terrorists?
Their explosives, IEDs, equipment: partially supplied by the American taxpayers.
I am completely disgusted.
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Who else are we funding?
So we’re not the only ones, eh?
From the Drudge Report:
DEAN UNDER FIRE FROM PARTY DEMS; NEARLY ALL CASH SPENT
Mon Jan 30 2006 10:52:31 ETDemocratic leaders on Capitol Hill are privately bristling over Howard Dean’s management of the Democratic National Committee and have made those sentiments clear after new fundraising numbers showed he has spent nearly all the committee’s cash and has little left to support their efforts to gain seats this cycle, ROLL CALL reports.
Congressional leaders were furious last week when they learned the DNC has just $5.5 million in the bank, compared to the Republican National Committee’s $34 million.
Senate and House Minority Leaders Harry Reid (Nev.) and Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), along with the Senate and House campaign committee chairmen Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), have made their concerns — directly or indirectly — known to Dean, claims the paper.
Emanuel was particularly upset last week upon seeing the latest DNC numbers.
“A lot of people are scratching their heads as to what’s going on,” said one senior Democratic aide.
Another Democratic source familiar with the party fundraising apparatus said there is “obvious displeasure” among the leaders.
Here is the article referenced by Drudge. And no, I’m not a subscriber; I couldn’t acquire the full piece.
So Dean’s not just a loon — he’s a mismanaging loon.
Whilst I’m here, let’s review some of Dean’s Greatest Verbal Hits:
— Republicans don’t understand the lives of hard-working Americans because they “never made an honest living in their lives.”
— Republicans are “a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same. They all look the same. It’s pretty much a white Christian party.” — true, huh, Neo, Soc?
— The Dems vs. the GOP: “This is a struggle of good and evil. And we’re the good.”
— Republican leaders are “the ayatollahs of the right wing.”
— At least Dean was honest. Once. He said: “I hate Republicans.”
— In a radio interview with San Antonio station WOAI on December 5, 2005, Dean said the “idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.”
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Looks like it’s time for me to cut another check to the RNC.
On September 11th, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757, was delayed 41 minutes on the ground in Newark, New Jersey, enroute San Francisco. It was waiting for heavy runway traffic to clear.
Flight 93 finally became airborne at 8:42 AM.
Around 9:22, at least three of the four hijackers on board stood up and put red bandanas around their heads. Two of them forced their way into the cockpit. One took the loudspeaker microphone, not knowing that it could also be heard by flight controllers, and said that someone had a bomb onboard and that the flight was returning to the airport. He told them he was the pilot, but he spoke with an accent.
At 10:03 AM, according to the 9/11 Commission Report (other accounts give 10:06 or 10:10 AM), and as per eyewitness statements, the 757 was upside down when it crashed nose-first into an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at an estimated speed of 580 MPH. It left a crater about 115 feet deep. All 40 passengers and crew plus the four hijackers were obliterated.
The destination was supposed to be Washington, DC. The United States Capitol and the White House were probable targets, with the Capitol being the more likely of the two. Had the plane struck either building, it may not have killed anyone other than those on board the plane. Both of those buildings had been evacuated by 9:45 AM.
But as opposed to the anticipated high death count from the World Trade Center buildings, striking the Capitol would have been more symbolic than anything else — though a horrible blow to the history of this nation.
The largest flaw in the plan was the unforeseen 41-minute delay on the ground in Newark. Absent that, the strikes may have been close to simultaneous.
And absent the passengers of Flight 93 taking it upon themselves to fight back.
The first call at 9:20 AM from Tom Burnett, in answer to his wife Deena asking if he were alright: “No. I’m on United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. The plane has been hijacked. We are in the air. They’ve already knifed a guy. There is a bomb on board. Call the FBI.”
Deena Burnett’s phone rang again. Tom was there and Deena told him: “They’re taking airplanes and hitting landmarks all up and down the East Coast.”
“OK,” Tom Burnett said. “We’re going to do something. I’ll call you back.” The line went dead.
At about 9:55, Tom Burnett called Deena the final time and said: “A group of us is going to do something.”
Deena said: “No, Tom, just sit down and don’t draw attention to yourself.”
“Deena,” he replied, “If they’re going to crash the plane into the ground, we have to do something. We can’t wait for the authorities. We have to do something now.”
A short time later, Todd Beamer put down the airphone he’d been using, but didn’t hang up. “Are you guys ready?” Beamer asked. “Let’s roll,” he said.
Honor Wainio was speaking to her stepmother. “I need to go,” she said. “They’re getting ready to break into the cockpit. I love you. Goodbye.”
One of the last conversations: “Everyone’s running to first class,” Sandy Bradshaw told her husband. “I’ve got to go. Bye.”
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Fast forward to today: believing it to be your final flight, what would you have done?
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Tonight on A&E: “Flight 93.” I was reminded of their sacrifice. I’m going to watch. To remember.
And never forget.