Bush, Putin, and Splitting Atoms

While searching for a good Thai restaurant on the Post's website, I noticed this article. Bush is slated to announce a program of civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia, rewarding and recognizing Putin and Russia for their role in helping to contain Iranian nuclear ambitions. Apparently I've missed that cooperation; all I've seen is the usual tired Russian obstruction, refusal to consider sanctions, and continued insistence about their relevance on the world stage. What this deal is is little more than a financial incentive for Russia to potentially start playing along with us on Iran and North Korea, as it will permit US-supplied reactors worldwide to have their spent nuclear fuel shipped to Russia for storage.

So let's again pause here to consider this. We're sending nuclear fuel to Russia, land of Chernobyl (back in the day), and now a corrupt system that we're not too convinced isn't selling nuclear weapons to unsavory characters. Am I reading this right?

And again, all of this comes on top of a wave of Russian churlishness that, in my eyes, doesn't lend itself to any sort of incentives. Not just their uncooperative stance on Iran and North Korea, but also the emerging reports of especially close cooperation with Iraq pre-invasion, and Putin's continued descent towards authoritarianism.

Oh and experts say Congress will hate this too. Can I be the first to call this Dubai Ports: Redux?

Morning News Roundup

• Obviously leading the news is the thwarted terrorist attack on the Holland Tunnel. Though CNN won't say it outright, it looks as if this was an Al Qaeda attack, or at the least affiliated with the organization. Lebanese officials have, on our behalf, arrested a man suspected to have a hand in planning the attacks...wait as I write this, it looks like it was a plot to attack multiple tunnels in the New York area, perhaps four all told. In an unsurprising move, NY Sen Chuck Schumer is moving to monopolize the story, a classic example of how he "Schumers" (yes, that's a verb) things, people, events, etc. Best part of the Times story? When Schumer says, with no apparent irony, "intelligence did its job" - no thanks to your party, Chucky boy.
• Everyone's calling the Mexico race for Calderon, but Obrador doesn't seem to understand the concept and is calling for a recount. What the nation needs is to move on, not get mired in months of uncertainty with tensions highlighted by bitter partisan divisions. Obrador needs to understand when the deed is done, move on, and go make a movie about global warming or something.
• Violence in Gaza has further escalated, with 21 Palestinians and one Israeli killed yesterday in what's been described as the fiercest fighting thus far. Palestinian terrorists have continued to lob missiles into Israel, giving the Israeli offensive great raison d'etre beyond simply liberating the kidnapped IDF soldier. Most importantly, Hamas has ordered Palestinian security forces into the fray, tantamount to a declaration of war. The Post reports that

  Khaled Abu Hilal, the spokesman, said those forces, which number more than 70,000 men and are dominated by the rival Fatah party, had a "religious and moral duty to stand up to this aggression and cowardly Zionist invasion."

  This could potentially be beneficial if it serves to further estrange Fatah from Hamas. But what the Israelis need to indicate, both through this offensive and through a media barrage, is that the lives of the average Palestinian are being made more miserable by Hamas's intransigence and continued use of terror tactics. I'm also starting to wonder whether or not this offensive will effectively nullify the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza last year - perhaps the return will be without settlers and purely military in nature, but I think it's clear that the Palestinians have squandered an opportunity to prove to Israel and the world they're capable of statehood, domestic unity, and an end to violence.
• In one of my favorite stories of the week, one I haven't blogged on, the US continues to use Georgia as an anti-Russian foil, publicly embracing a regime that has been an incessant thorne in Putin's side. Now Georgian President Saakashvili is claiming, likely with good reason, that

  Russia is trying to undermine his government in hopes of intimidating democracy activists from rising up against corrupt regimes like the one he toppled three years ago.

  Post-Rose Revolution Georgia hasn't been all that I've hoped for, and I'm sure many others feel that way; but it is a lot better than its predecessor regime and their presence as an exemplar of both democracy and an end to Russian meddling (Earth to Vlad: the USSR is over. You no longer own all of Central Asia), and it is a regime we should continue to stand by not just for political gain but because it validates much of our rhetoric on the importance of democracy. All of this comes prior to the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, so Bush is just needling Putin, but I reiterate: this kind of public support must become a mainstay even when the world's attention os focused elsewhere.
• Please take a moment to remember the victims of terror who perished a year ago. Let us harden our resolve and continue our struggle against the reactionary, nihilistic forces of Islamofascism and their violent efforts to destroy both Western liberalism and the civilization upon which it is founded. This is not merely about petropolitics or American culture - it is truly a clash of civilizations between freedom and oppression, liberty and totalitarianism. Never in our history as a shining city upon a hill and a global exemplar have we faced such an existential challenge. God bless all those who died.
  

NY Court Strikes Down Gay Marriage

The New York state Supreme Court today ruled that

state law does not permit gay couples to get married there and that such a restriction does not violate New York's constitution.

This was apparently something of a surprise from one of the nation's more liberal Supreme Courts but regardless, it once again shows the inanity of this debate. The moonbats on the left are crying foul, claiming that civil unions are a form of "separate but equal" discrimination, and the Right is celebrating. So, here's my solution: Get the government out of the marriage business.

How can we go about doing this? Simple: all couples recognized by the federal government, regardless of sexual orientation, are granted "civil union" status - so two men are the same as a heterosexual couple in all regards, in the eyes of the government. The marriage part comes in on behalf of individual churches who can choose to perform marriage ceremonies for gay couples on a denominational or congregational basis, so long as that couple already has civil union status in the eyes of the Feds.

The vast majority of references to marriage in the federal government can be found in the tax code - change that to civil union and most of our problem would be solved. Would the Left still call civil unions discriminatory if that was all the federal government recognized? I doubt it. The difficult problem with this plan remains, of course, the uphill slog to convince social conservatives that this change doesn't actually undermine American society - any ideas on how we do that?

La France en Gitmo?

More interesting news from the Captain's Quarters. Apparently, French officials visited Gitmo to determine if their citizens were being held there; since then,

[T]hey have held all of them since, implicit recognition of the potential threat they posed.

Of course, Gitmo has been found to be illegal by French courts. But, with an eye to history, I've always found the French stance a bit hypocritical, as a simple examination of their history in Algeria and Vietnam will show.

Calderon Wins...

...for the moment. CNN's calling it for Calderon, with 99.59% of votes counted, noting that even if all the remaining votes went for Obrador, he still wouldn't win. Final margin: 35.83%-35.36%. Wow.

Unfortunately, Obrador has declared that he "cannot accept these results" and so will challenge them in court. As I noted earlier, we could be in suspense for two months before a winner is finally and formally declared.

Ahnold Opens Up on Angelides

New numbers from the LA Times.

6/26-30, 614 voters, +/- 4%
Schwarzenegger (R): 44%
Angelides (D): 37%

March:
Schwarzenegger (R): 40%
Angelides (D): 37%

Job Approval:
48% Approve, 41% Disapprove
March: 45%/45%
January: 39%/51%

This is the kind of news I like seeing.

More AQ-Iraq news from Fox

First off, credit to CQ for pointing this out. Apparently, Ray Robison, a former member of the Iraq Survey Group provided to Fox translated documents from Iraqi computer files, specifically a sort of instruction manual to Arabs operating in Afghanistan on how to avoid attracting attention to themselves. While this is by no means a smoking gun, even in my eager eyes, I think it's interesting how intelligence linking Iraq and terrorists (or Iraq and WMDs) continue to come out, and continue to get ignored by the media. Full Fox story, including the translated document, can be found here.

So...Apparently Religion Didn't Die with JFK

In discussions of 2008 contenders, I've occasionally supported Mitt Romney? Why not - the man's telegenic, can lay the groundwork for his own fundraising campaign, and has a ready-made GOTV network with his fellow Mormons. Apparently, that last point is proving to be something of a sticky wicket. Teddy Kennedy proclaimed that the issue of religion in presidential politics died with his brother, but a new poll from the LA Times seems to indicate otherwise. Thus, while wariness about a Catholic or a Jew in the White House has dissipated, Mormons and Muslims alike seem unable to assuage public concerns. 37% of respondents said that they wouldn't vote for a Mormon presidential candidate, while 54% said the same thing about a Muslim (and 21% said it about an evangelical Christian!).

While Romney consultants were quick to dismiss the numbers as the usual polling fluff (especially in light of his victory in Massachusetts), I'm not at all surprised. The Times correctly tagged Mormonism as being viewed as "exotic" as was Catholicism before that. In his Massachusetts victory, Romney merely proved that while Catholics were for decades discriminated against, they don't discriminate themselves on religious lines anymore (at least not in the Bay State). But the GOP base in the Heartland might still be wary of a Mormon...we'll see how Romney moves to address these concerns.

PS - Sorry about no Wednesday presidentials yesterday...

Bad News from the TX-28

Down in Texas, judges have ruled that DeLay can't get off the ballot and thus cannot be replaced by another Republican. Bad news for us, as DeLay isn't really running anymore. Story's on Kos right now, I'll try and corroborate...

If this is true that means the Demos only need to pick up 14 seats in the House before they can try and impeach the president. If that doesn't make you vote Republican, I don't know what will.

UPDATE
Found it on the Houston Chronicle's website as well (God I love Google News). Apparently this judge is a Republican appointee, so I guess we can't accuse him of partisan hackery (see Ronnie Earle).

Morning News Roundup

• The much anticipated sequel to 2003's Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest premieres tonight/tommorow morning at 12:01AM. Yes, I'm going. Be jealous. The sequel as well as the third film, due out next summer, were filmed concurrently (much like the second and third installments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and are expected to cost, in total, over half a billion dollars. They'd better be good.
• The Mexican election promises to be a squeaker as the tally continues. Despite his earlier claims of victory, the right-wing Calderon is now behind ever so slightly in the polls to the populist Obrador. Some of the latest numbers I've seen have Calderon up 1/100 of a percent on Calderon, with 97.7% of the votes tallied. The good news is that

  The remaining votes to be counted are mostly from National Action Party, or PAN, strongholds in northern Mexico and Calderón's supporters are gathering outside Calderón's headquarters in anticipation of his victory.

  A Calderon victory would unequivocally be a victory for free trade in the hemisphere and potentially a partner on the immigration issue - or at least more of one than Obrador would be. However - and here's the real nail-biter - because of Mexican election law, the election court has to certify the results and has till September 6th to do so. Unfortunately, and much like our own 2000 election, I feel like the outcome, regardless of who is replaces Vicente Fox, will serve only to divide the Mexican populace at a time when the people of that nation need to have an honest discussion, free from partisan acrimony, about their future. I'll obviously continue to update as the day goes on.
  
• Washington Post blog coverage is here.
• Howard Dean's idea of winning back Congress? Spending $75,000 for a new headquarters for the US Virgin Islands Democratic Party. Apparently thinks have gotten so bad between him and DSCC Chairman/IL Democrat Rahm Emmanuel that "during a recent fire drill staffers worried that Dean and Emanuel might bump into each other on the curb." And people wonder why we can bungle things and still maintain the majority? This, ladies and gentlemen, is why. Democrats are desperate for some sort of victory, other than the "moral victories" they've been crowing about (see: CA-50), but instead Dean's claiming to build the groundwork for future presidential campaigns. Emmanuel's deeply worried about having sufficient resources to actually make a push this fall in the House, apparently seeing the midterms and Dean's 50-state plan as mutually exclusive. But Dean too, has his backers, people like the Alaska Democratic Party chairman, who noted that "Until Dean came along, states like Alaska were ignored." Maybe that's a function of having three electoral votes and just over 600,000 residents? Such efforts, and the funding of Democratic parties in places like the Virgin Islands, shows the flaw in Dean's logic. It may be nice, fuzzy, and inclusive to work with them - but to win races you need to work in the heartland, in Florida, in the Mountain West. Dean may leave the DNC as the most beloved Chairman, at least in the eyes of state parties; I doubt he'll leave being remembered as one of the most effective.
• In Washington and at the UN, US leaders are trying to craft a response to North Korea's ballistic provocations. Although the rhetoric has thus far been strong, the international response will no doubt be limited to sanctions and isolation. Unsurprisingly, some reports indicate that China and Russia are balking at even these limited measures. Russia, of course, is again trying to make itself relevant (admit it, it's a 2nd rate power - call it the Al Gore of the international order), however Chinese intransigence is more disturbing as I believe the key to any resolution of this issue is Chinese involvement.
• Happy 60th, Dubya.

More later.

A Tube to Nowhere?

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), of "Bridge to Nowhere" fame is back...this time claiming the internet is a series of tubes in the debate over net neutrality. Depressing, yet funny here.

Sheehan et. al to Starve to Death

Cindy Sheehan and the usual Hollywood Rogues Gallery (Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, etc.) have announced they'll fast till September 1st. Although this isn't all that spectacular for Hollywood (I think the term they use out there is diet), ususally something so supposedly profound as protesting a just war isn't at the heart of the matter. They'll fast till September 1st, a date whose significance is lost on me (maybe they could make it ten more days, but that might suggest that Iraq and al-Qaeda were linked!). Gandhi they are not. Full article here.

Morning News Roundup

Hope everyone had a good 4th - a belated Happy Birthday shoutout to our nation.

• North Korea's been putting on a special fireworks show of its own. At last count, the Hermit Nation's armed forces have loosed seven missiles, including one Taepo-Dong 2, supposedly capable of hitting the Western US, though we'll never know for sure since it exploded shortly after launch. The Security Council is meeting this morning to discuss sanctions, but considering the regime's isolation that's hardly sufficient. However, after years of inter-allied dickering and tantrums, it looks like this has finally gotten everyone's attention and put us all on the same page.
• Space Shuttle Discovery launched yesterday, after days and days of trying. Is anyone else bemused by NASA's continued befuddlement - it's afternoon in Florida in the summer and it's raining?! Who would have expected that!
• The CIA confirms it's shut down the agency's Bin Laden unit, instead focusing its resources elsewhere. While I'm sure Lefties everywhere, with their unnatural fixation on OBL, are screaming, I say bravo. The man's less of a symbol, gallavanting around northwest Pakistan than he would be dead and a martyr.
• Mexico, welcome to Florida. Contrary to conservative candidate Felipe Calderon's claims of victory, Chavista-lite Obrador has called for a complete recount, rekindling fears of violence. I've heard persistent rumors that Obrador would pull Mexico out of NAFTA if elected...
• A new Washington Post poll on the Democratic Senate primary in Maryland shows former NAACP chairman Kweisi Mfume slightly leading Congressman Ben Cardin in a racially polarized race. In a race with a black GOP candidate in Michael Steele, race could be the issue. I'll keep an eye on this one, as I continue to think it's a prime GOP pickup opportunity, or should be if Steele is given a chance to explain himself.