Security and Prosperity in North America

SPP Home: "The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was launched in March of 2005 as a trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing.

This trilateral initiative is premised on our security and our economic prosperity being mutually reinforcing. The SPP recognizes that our three great nations are bound by a shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions.

The SPP provides the framework to ensure that North America is the safest and best place to live and do business. It includes ambitious security and prosperity programs to keep our borders closed to terrorism yet open to trade."

Blago says No Debate with Green Candidate

Nicole Sack writes in The Southern Illinoisan Greens say it's a go; Blagojevich says no: "The Green Party gubernatorial hopeful Rich Whitney said he 'can practically guarantee' his place on the November ballot - claiming the Greens have upheld 1,000 more signatures than legally required for ballot access. . . . He said all that is left is for the State Board of Elections to verify the findings on Sept. 1.

Also according to Sack:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he is primed and ready to debate Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka - just so long as there are no Greens on stage. Blagojevich said the upcoming fall debates should be left to the political professionals.

When asked if he would pull out of a debate if a Green was also invited, the governor had only this to say:

"Let me put it to you this way: we've offered a series of 12 to treasurer Topinka. Our offer is to debate her one-on-one." And added, "I'm interested in debating (Topinka) in 12 debates. I sure hope she's not looking for some excuse to get out of these debates."

The Topinka camp said it is not looking for any excuses to get into another debate about debates - nor to make up excuses.

"We're willing to debate anyone," said John McGovern, spokesman for the Topinka campaign. "We believe it is up to the debate sponsors and organizers to determine who's invited and who participates."

Blagojevich and Topinka have both committed to a debate in Marion, sponsored by The Southern Illinoisan, WSIU Public Television and the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIUC. Whitney has not been invited so far.

Looks like it's up to the Public Policy Institute, after some nudging from The Southern Illinoisan's editorial page.

Mr. Right is Wrong

Over at The Southern Illinoisan, Jim Muir is Sick and tired of the 'politically correct' an opinion piece that speaks of "clever and catchy little phrases like 'more tolerant,' 'less offensive' and 'more inclusive,'" which prompted some comments on Muir's intolerance and ignorance.

I would add "insincere rhetoric" to the charges against Muir. If he meant what he said, he would not 'beat a dead horse' about the term he says he's "sick and tired" of.

But since he is a professional journalist, he wants to stir things up and get people to comment with his hateful remarks. Which he did. 42 of them at last count. Mostly against.

Keystone cops?

Snippets heard of some recently-released NORAD tapes this morning on the Alex Jones Show on the GCN Live stream. The article is in this morning's New York Times: New Tapes Disclose Confusion Within the Military on Sept. 11. The last sentence reads: "the tapes show that the military was not even alerted to the hijacking of the United flight until four minutes after it had crashed."

The inside-jobbers will have a ball with that one. Will Rush rush to the defense?

Star Chamber?

The Washington Post today revealed what the boys at Free Talk Live are calling a "Star Chamber" -- a Bush administration proposal for a new kind of court:

White House Proposal Would Expand Authority of Military Courts:

"A draft Bush administration plan for special military courts seeks to expand the reach and authority of such 'commissions' to include trials, for the first time, of people who are not members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban and are not directly involved in acts of international terrorism, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

The plan, which would replace a military trial system ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in June, would also allow the Secretary of Defense to add crimes at will to those under the military court's jurisdiction. The two provisions would be likely to put more individuals than previously expected before military juries, officials and independent experts said.

Under the proposed procedures, defendants would lack rights to confront accusers, exclude hearsay accusations, or bar evidence obtained through rough or coercive interrogations. They would not be guaranteed a public or speedy trial and would lack the right to choose their military counsel, who in turn would not be guaranteed equal access to evidence held by prosecutors.

Detainees would also not be guaranteed the right to be present at their own trials, if their absence is deemed necessary to protect national security or individuals"

The quotes John D. Hutson, the Navy's top uniformed lawyer from 1997 to 2000, who said the rules would evidently allow the government to tell a prisoner: "We know you're guilty. We can't tell you why, but there's a guy, we can't tell you who, who told us something. We can't tell you what, but you're guilty."

The draft proposed legislation is set to be discussed at two Senate hearings starting today.

Truth, Justice and All That Stuff

Bill O'Reilly is hot today about the way the new Superman movie left out the phrase "Truth, Justice and the American Way" from the movie promo and action. The film company behind the movie decided the phrase wouldn't help sell tickets in countries around the world.

Oh, oh, O'Reilly says he understands why the company would do it, but thinks its wrong.

Culture war.

Never been a book like this.... strip it down... backed up with examples and facts of people who do things.

Every clown can do this, he says, i.e. write a blog.

O'Reilly's right sometimes.

But at least one web site thinks O'Reilly sucks.

Reading the photo propaganda (photoganda?) over at Mr. Right's blog, I think I'll put my kickstand down to comment briefly on national affairs -- beginning with a new term: Wing Dinger.

A "Wing Dinger" is a knee-jerk ideologue representing either political party or wing (as opposed to a "New Winger," a purpose-driven pragmatist seeking honest, competent leadership at all levels of civil government. Like the Dingers, New Wingers can also be from the left or right wing of the political spectrum.)

The RCP Blog: "if this country gets hit with a small nuke and 30,000 or 100, 000 Americans die, all of the debating will be over. The ensuing crackdown will be massive, and the loss of REAL civil liberties will become very, very possible."

(Like something out of Alex Jones, Bloggy.)

and this diversionary piece:

Byron York on Bill Clinton & No-Warrant Searches on National Review Online:

"In the end, Congress placed the searches under the FISA court, but the Clinton administration did not back down from its contention that the president had the authority to act when necessary."

and this by the father of all pundits, William F. Buckley Jr. . . . on George W. Bush and Intelligence Interceptions:

One way to vest mystique into the Constitution is to plead its inscrutability, or else suggest that only the high priests of the legal profession are equipped to interpret it. The secretary of state informed Tim Russert no fewer than four times on Meet the Press that she was not a lawyer.

. . . since Condoleezza Rice is a very smart lady, one had to acknowledge that she simply did not want to argue the meaning of Article Two of the Constitution. She didn't want to be the first secretary of state to pass down word that it's okay for a president to bug your phone because that's what the Constitution says!

Mr. Right thinks we know what he thinks: that he supports whatever Mr. Bush is convinced of, without Congressional authorization -- to save us from his Poster Boys for Terrorism..... Poster boys who were created by the actions of Precedent Bush.

Looking at National Review online, I noticed that the 2006 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, with its $500,000 cash award will be presented to the former prime minister of Estonia, Mart Laar on May 18 at the Drake Hotel in Chicago by The Cato Institute. Laar was main architect of his country's remarkable economic transformation into one of the world's freest and most dynamic economies.