Archive for June, 2007:
Brownback Changes His Story
Remember when Sam Brownback switched his cloture vote? Well, his camp had released a statement saying that he had intended to the entire time. Apparently, he wanted to show he was in favor of doing something, but this isn’t it. Well, he’s changed his story.
Though some on both sides of the issue accused Brownback of “flip-flopping” once he saw that he would end up on the losing side of the debate, the senator suggested that it was again compassion — this time for a general public deeply divided over how to deal with immigration — that drove his mid-vote change.
Brownback told Congressional Quarterly’s CQToday, “I just concluded as I was on the floor that the country is just not ready.” He added that the issue “just needs to rest for a while.”
Uh-huh. Actually, he concluded that the bill was failing with him being on the losing side. He changed his mind after he had already voted YEA.
Terrorist Attack Attempt in Glasgow
UPDATE: Allah’s got a great round up going.
UPDATE: The hospital treating the one suspect has been evacuated, according to Sky News.
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Update: A lot more from the Evening Times:
A blazing Cherokee jeep containing two Asian-looking men crashed into the doors of the main terminal building.
Police are believed to be searching the airport car parks for other devices.
The attack is being treated as a “major terrorist incident”…
Eye witness Fiona Tracey said there were injuries in the incident.
“There were people injured, because I’ve seen them lying on the road,” she told Sky News.
Edinburgh has been closed off to vehicles.
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British authorities are now describing this morning’s events as an attempt to carry out a terrorist attack, according to Fox News. We now have an image of one of the suspects. Here’s a summary of what we know right now. A Jeep Cherokee, with flames underneath it, drove straight for the glass doors at Glasgow International. Upon arrival, some witnesses say the man was throwing petroleum on the car. There was a small explosion, which apparently sounded like a “pop”. The man ended up tangling with police, one man on fire. Two men, described as “Asian”, are in custody. The airport has been evacuated, and all flights suspended.
President Bush has been briefed on today’s events. Security has been increased at US airports, with White House spokesman Tony Snow saying to be vigilant, but to go about your daily life.
Sky News says the incident is now being called a “terrorist attack”. Heavily armed security is now visible at airports across Great Britain. Some injuries have been reported as Glasgow, but could not be confirmed.
Two Cars Hit Terminal in Glasgow; CNN Says “Deliberate”
SCROLL FOR UPDATES
The Associated Press reports that two cars crashed into the Glasgow international terminal, with one of them catching fire. According to some reports, the occupants of the vehicle scuffled with police after the crash. It is not clear if it was deliberate, but some witnesses say that the cars attempted to drive into the building. The terminal has been evacuated, all flights suspended.
Stand by…
UPDATE: One witness says that the vehicle exploded on impact, and caught fire. Not confirmed.
UPDATE: BBC reports:
Eyewitnesses have described a Jeep Cherokee being driven at speed towards the building with flames coming out from underneath.
They have also described seeing two Asian men, one of whom was on fire, who had been in the car.
The airport has been evacuated and all flights suspended.
One eyewitness said: “I heard the sound of a car’s wheels spinning and smoke smoke coming out.
“I saw a Jeep Cherokee apparently as if it was trying to get right through the doors into the terminal building.
“There were flames coming out from underneath then some men appeared from in amongst the flames.
“The police ran over and the people started fighting with the police. I then heard what sounded like an explosion.”
UPDATE: Sky News reports:”Witness: Man seen taking gas cylinder from car before fire.”
UPDATE: Witness tells Sky News that the car aimed for the doors. The man also says the men were seen trying to pour gasoline on the car, which was already on fire.
UPDATE: At least one person has been arrested. Hot Air reports 4 arrested.
UPDATE: Sky News reports that four have been arrested. Sky also reports that there have been several injuries.
UPDATE: Local police say that two people have been arrested. Still not known if it was deliberate. CNN now saying it was deliberate.
UPDATE: The fire is still shooting up from the car, with over four hoses on it. This isn’t just a car fire, but there must be some kind of accelerant.
Chertoff Vowes to Enforce Current Laws
And so, the world continues to turn.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who spent hundreds of hours working on the bill and cajoling recalcitrant Republicans, complained that “necessary tools, which we needed to be able to do more than we can currently do in enforcing the law … were left on the floor of the Senate” on Thursday.
He said the bill’s failure meant the administration would not have a mandatory employment verification system or the ability to punish rogue employers with hefty fines instead of “corporate parking tickets.”
“Although they may not be adequate in every respect to the job, I will enforce the laws we have,” Chertoff said. But he added a warning: “You will continue to see heart-wrenching examples of families being pulled apart, because I have an obligation to enforce the law, whether it’s painful to do or whether it’s pleasurable to do.”
Let’s see if he actually does it.
Unnecessary Information of the Day
Gotta love the Associated Press. They know how to slant, er, report a story. H/T Ace. Here’s the AP’s recap of the immigration bill defeat.
When President Bush’s “grand bargain” on immigration fell apart, Jeff Sessions, the Republican senator from Alabama who is named after a pair of famous Confederates, was very proud.
“Hopefully our Senate has learned some things,” Sessions crowed on the Senate floor on Thursday after his colleagues killed a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration law, bouncing on his toes and struggling to contain a grin.
Of course, that implies he’s racist. Apparently, so are the other 52 Senators, a majority of Americans, the House GOP, and the Democrats who voted against the bill. The AP doesn’t stop there, but goes in-depth into his name.
His deep Southern roots are evident in his full name: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, a family name handed down from his father and grandfather after the former president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, and General P.G.T. Beauregard, who fired on Fort Sumter in 1861 to open the Civil War.
The roots of his name is relevant to a story about the demise of the bill, how? Oh, right. The AP needs to demonize those who like our laws to be, you know, enforced.
MTV Blasts Sicko Film
When you’re a Liberal on a crusade, and you’ve lost MTV, you’ve lost it all.
Unfortunately, Moore is also a con man of a very brazen sort, and never more so than in this film. His cherry-picked facts, manipulative interviews (with lingering close-ups of distraught people breaking down in tears) and blithe assertions (how does he know 18 million people will die this year because they have no health insurance?) are so stacked that you can feel his whole argument sliding sideways as the picture unspools. The American health-care system is in urgent need of reform, no question. Some 47 million people are uninsured (although many are only temporarily so, being either in-between jobs or young enough not to feel a pressing need to buy health insurance). There are a number of proposals as to what might be done to correct this situation. Moore has no use for any of them, save one.
As a proud socialist, the director appears to feel that there are few problems in life that can’t be solved by government regulation (that would be the same government that’s already given us the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Motor Vehicles). In the case of health care, though, Americans have never been keen on socialized medicine. In 1993, when one of Moore’s heroes, Hillary Clinton (he actually blurts out the word “sexy!” in describing her in the movie), tried to create a government-controlled health care system, her failed attempt to do so helped deliver the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives into Republican control for the next dozen years. Moore still looks upon Clinton’s plan as a grand idea, one that Americans, being not very bright, unwisely rejected. (He may be having second thoughts about Hillary herself, though: In the movie he heavily emphasizes the fact that, among politicians, she accepts the second-largest amount of political money from the health care industry.)
The problem with American health care, Moore argues, is that people are charged money to avail themselves of it. In other countries, like Canada, France and Britain, health systems are far superior — and they’re free. He takes us to these countries to see a few clean, efficient hospitals, where treatment is quick and caring; and to meet a few doctors, who are delighted with their government-regulated salaries; and to listen to patients express their beaming happiness with a socialized health system. It sounds great. As one patient in a British hospital run by the country’s National Health Service says, “No one pays. It’s all on the NHS. It’s not America.”
That’s gonna leave a mark. But, wait. It doesn’t stop there.
Moore’s most ardent enthusiasm is reserved for the French health care system, which he portrays as the crowning glory of a Gallic lifestyle far superior to our own. The French! They work only 35 hours a week, by law. They get at least five weeks’ vacation every year. Their health care is free, and they can take an unlimited number of sick days. It is here that Moore shoots himself in the foot. He introduces us to a young man who’s reached the end of three months of paid sick leave and is asked by his doctor if he’s finally ready to return to work. No, not yet, he says. So the doctor gives him another three months of paid leave — and the young man immediately decamps for the South of France, where we see him lounging on the sunny Riviera, chatting up babes and generally enjoying what would be for most people a very expensive vacation. Moore apparently expects us to witness this dumbfounding spectacle and ask why we can’t have such a great health care system, too. I think a more common response would be, how can any country afford such economic insanity?
As it turns out, France can’t. In 2004, French Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told a government commission, “Our health system has gone mad. Profound reforms are urgent.” Agence France-Presse recently reported that the French health-care system is running a deficit of $2.7 billion. And in the French presidential election in May, voters in surprising numbers rejected the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, who had promised actually to raise some health benefits, and elected instead the center-right politician Nicolas Sarkozy, who, according to Agence France-Presse again, “plans to move fast to overhaul the economy, with the deficit-ridden health care system a primary target.” Possibly Sarkozy should first consult with Michael Moore. After all, the tax-stoked French health care system may be expensive, but at least it’s “free.”
The whole review is a smack-down of monumental proportions. Of all places to see such as profound, in-depth, and realistic review, MTV? So, Hillary & Co. are buying this, but Kurt Loder isn’t? Loder isn’t some intern who’ll end up getting fired from the channel for breaking some Liberal code. Loder’s been with MTV since 1988, was born in NJ, lives in NY, and is former editor of Rolling Stone magazine.
