6th Circuit Reverses District Court Ruling on Michigan ballots

As reported in the Detroit News: Court reverses ruling on ballots:

Provisional ballots cast outside the precinct where a Michigan voter lives cannot be counted, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The quick decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a lower court ruling that provisional ballots in the presidential race and other federal offices should be counted as long as the voter cast the ballot in the right city, township or village.

Guess who is upset:
The Michigan Democratic Party, which filed suit to have the provisional ballots counted even when voters showed up at the wrong precinct, will not appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, party Chairman Mark Brewer said the lawsuit is still pending and could be resumed after the election if necessary.

"We're disappointed that the court has put its stamp of approval, at least temporarily, on these state directives which will disenfranchise voters next week," Brewer said.

Disenfranchise - ha!- the decision closed an open door to massive electoral fraud.

If you're not smart enough to go to the polling precinct listed on your registration card you're simply too stupid to vote. Allowing people to vote wherever they wished opened the door to massive fraud. This ruling at least closes one channel for fraud and helps to restore confidence in the electoral process.

Now if we could just require photo id at the polling booth.....

NY AG's Coin filings

The Court Filings by new York Attorney General Spitzer can be found at: The New York AG's Website

The Documents available are:

Order to Show Cause With Temporary Restraining Order

Verified Petition This contains the allegations against National Collector's Mint Inc.

Affirmation

NY's AG gets injunction to halt sale of Ground Zero Coins

As Reported on Fox News' website: N.Y. Court Halts Sale of 'Ground Zero' Coins



New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (search) on Wednesday obtained a court order to temporarily suspend the sale of commemorative Sept. 11 coins heavily advertised as being minted from silver recovered at ground zero.

Spitzer said the National Collector's Mint (search), based in Port Chester, N.Y., claims the coins engraved with "In God We Trust" are legally authorized silver dollars, when they aren't.

Having seen some of the advertisements myself, they are somewhat misleading, but the coins are in fact government issue, they're just not US Govcewrnment issue but issued by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The ads do briefly show on the screen that the CNMI issued them, and the CNMI's name appears along the rim (ie the side) of the coin but the ads certainly do not stress that point.

I do not know the truth of the "silver from ground zero claim, nor the claim as to its silver content, but the coins are government issue...just not the issue of the United States Government.

If you're not paying attention to the advertisement you might well be fooled into thinking the coin is a US Government issue.

Iran Claims a Right to Enrich Uranium

Iran's foreign minister has stated that The European Union cannot force Iran to give up its right to enrich uranium

So much for that multi-lateral diplomatic talk.

"It is wrong for them (the EU) to think they can, through negotiations, force Iran to stop enrichment," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. "Iran will never give up its right to enrichment."

Solely for peaceful purposes of course nudge-nudge, wink-wink, don't listen to us when we say they want to nuke the Great and lesser Satans.

As a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is entitled to enrich uranium under IAEA supervision. A senior IAEA team arrived in Iran on Monday, state television reported.

It said the IAEA team hoped to clarify outstanding questions about Iran's nuclear program and to visit several facilities including the Parchin military base near Tehran which some diplomats have cited as a possible covert atomic arms site.

The IAEA has so far said it has found no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran but that some outstanding issues need to be clarified.

Issues to be clarified:

1. What is a peaceful nuclear program doing being developed on a military base?


2. If it is for peacedul purposes why is it so disbursed?


3. How much is Iran bribing the IAEA not to find anything?


4. how much power would the plant really generate as oppposed to nuclear bomb capable materials?

If you've enjoyed the UN's "Oil for Food", just wait for the IAEA's "Oil for Bombs" deal.

Detainee released and off to commit terrorist acts

According to the Washington Post, Ex-U.S. Detainee Now Leading Kidnappers, one of the detainees held at guantanamo Bay was released and is now leading a band:

whose members kidnapped two Chinese engineers in a lawless region of Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials said.

Clearly, at least I'm sure to the LLL, the detainement at Guantanamo must have been the straw that broke this peaceful mujahadeen's back, after all

The five kidnappers have strapped explosives to the hostages and threatened to kill them unless the militants are allowed safe passage to a nearby area where their leader, Abdullah Mehsud, is believed to be hiding, officials said.

Clearly the signs of a derranged mind.

It was not clear why U.S. authorities released Mehsud. After he returned to his tribal homeland in South Waziristan, he became a rebel leader and had opposed Pakistani forces hunting al Qaeda fighters in the semiautonomous area.

Presumably a Supreme Court decision on the prisoner's confinement had something to do woith it. Once again, to our peril we've answered a terrorist threat by use of our judicial system, much to our sorrow.

But Mehsud is not the only ex-resident of guantanamo that has resumed hostilities:

At least one other former Guantanamo detainee returned to his militant past. Abdul Ghaffar, an Afghan who fought for the Taliban, was released in 2002 after eight months in detention to become a commander for the Islamic militia in southern Afghanistan. He was killed by U.S. forces in a gun battle last month.

Next time, keep the enemy combatants detained until hostilities cease so they quit popping back up on the battlefield against us, either that or forces on the ground may have cease taking prisoners as they will simply be released to fight another day against them.

There used to be an old concept of "parole" where a captured enemy was released on condition that he not fight against the force that captured him any more, and if he was captured again doing so he was shot out of hand. The concept needs ressurecting in this war. The enemy should not be released after capture and given an opportunity to have a "do-over". This is war, not tiddlywinks.

Pre-Election Scare Tactics from the Pro-Abortion Lobby

Gasp! if Bush is relected Abortion could be illegal in 30 states within a year of its being overturned. Quick, vote for Kerry!

That seems to be the theme of the Center For Reproductive Rights' new publication: "What if Roe Fell". The report was then quoted in the Lansing State Journal:

Thirty states, including Michigan, are poised to make abortion illegal within a year if the Supreme Court reversed its 1973 ruling establishing a woman's legal right to an abortion, an advocacy group said Tuesday.

The Center for Reproductive Rights said some states have old laws on the books that would be triggered by the overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Others have language in their state constitutions or strongly anti-abortion legislatures that would act quickly if the federal protection for abortion was ended and the issue reverted to the states.

"The building blocks are already in place to recriminalize abortion," said Nancy Northup, center president.

The group's report comes less than a month before the presidential election, which those on both sides of the abortion issue say will be critical in determining the future of the Roe decision.

Currently, it is believed that five of the nine justices support abortion rights, but that balance could be tipped if President Bush, in a second term, nominates a new justice who reflects his anti-abortion views. Democratic contender John Kerry supports abortion rights.

The lansing State Journal then fails to point out that the likelihood of very pro-choice, very Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm's not vetoing any such bills recriminalizing abortion can be summed up in three words: slim and none.

The Center's press release specifically addresses Michigan:

According to What if Roe Fell?, many states already have pre-Roe abortion bans on the books that could be enforced after a Roe reversal. For example, Michigan’s ban was blocked by the courts shortly after the Roe decision. But the day after Roe falls, Michigan officials could rush to court to lift the injunction, and in just a matter of days, begin enforcing the law. Doctors who performed abortions would be felons.

Once again, Michigan has a very Democrat, pro-choice administration. The chance that "Michigan officials could rush to court to lift the injunction, and in just a matter of days, begin enforcing the law" is just so much hyperbole and scare-mongering, and that is likely true of the other states it bills as "high-risk".

Indeed, even if these 21 high risk states made abortion illegal, that would not prevent the Center's own admittedly "20 Likely protected" states from providing for abortions.

Regardless of one's opinon on abortion, this scare-mongering is a blatant attempt to present an unlikely hypothertical as fact to frighten voters to elect Kerry.

Next possible Democrat claim: If Bush is re-elected women will be drafted into the military so they can't have abortions"

Hamas using mosques for communication

As usual the Islamic "militants" are using mosques as military staging points.

In the current battle in Gaza, where Israel is trying to stop terrorists from using rockets to attack israel's civillian population,

Nizar Rayan, the top Hamas leader in northern Gaza, encouraged the gunmen and gave them tips in a message broadcast in mosques and on a local radio station late Thursday.

Rayan said gunmen should not remain in one place for more than three minutes to avoid being spotted and should use their cell phones only when absolutely necessary. The militants, who were moving in small groups of no more than seven, communicated largely through text messages on cell phones.

Militants immediately followed one of Rayan's tips: reducing visibility by burning tires and filling the air with black smoke, thus making it harder for Israeli unmanned aircraft, or drones, to spot them.

That would certainly make those peaceful mosques legitimate targets.

The rest of the article entitled Armored vehicles mass at Gaza border By IBRAHIM BARZAK (catch the name of the author anyone?)

Ibrahim tends to rather fawn over the militants, only addressing them as such and refers to a female Israeli civillian killed in an attack as a "settler".

Another examples of this fawning attitude
Thursday's battle in Jebaliya pitted hundreds of gunmen with homemade rockets and assault rifles against the mightiest army in the Middle East, at first glance a hugely lopsided fight. However, in four years of conflict, Israeli troops had never before struck deep inside the camp for fear of getting bogged down in urban combat.

The fight over control of Jebaliya, the birthplace of the first Palestinian uprising in 1987, could take on great symbolic value.

Clearly a Need for an Assault Sword Ban

As reported in Michigan's Bay City Times, Judge orders evaluation of suspect in sword attack.

A judge has ordered a psychiatric evaluation of a Bay City man charged with nearly hacking the hands off another man with a sword.

prosecutors allege that Goodell, a self-employed karaoke disc jockey, charged at 20-year-old Jason Betzold in the early morning hours on North Jackson Street and swung the samurai-style sword at him. The weapon's 28-inch steel blade cut into Betzold's wrists, nearly severing one hand. . . .

Witnesses told police that Betzold was walking down the street in the early morning hours with friends when Goodell came running from his mother's residence with the sword, yelling about disturbances in the neighborhood before attacking Betzold.

It seems the parties involved did not know each other and Goodell simply attacked whoever was closest.

One can postulate that Mr. Betzoid would likely have fared better if he had had a gun - the scene would have ended like the scene in indiana Jones rather than his almost losing a hand. Hopefully he'll make a full recovery.

Lileks Screeds One Out Of The Park

A quick Highlight:
But mostly I hate the debates because I simply cannot abide hearing certain statements I’ve been hearing over, and over, and over again. I can’t take any more talk about bringing allies to the table. Which ones? Brazil? Mynmar? Microfrickin’nesia? Are there some incredibly important and powerful nations out there whose existence has hitherto escaped me? Fermany? Gerance? The Galactic Order of the Belgian Dominion? Did we piss off the Vulcans? Who? If we mean “France and Germany,” then please explain to me why the reluctant participation of these two countries somehow bestows the magic kiss of legitimacy. They want in? Fine. They don’t? Fine. At this point mooning over France is like being that sophomore loser dorm pal who spent his dateless weekends telling his loser roommate about a high school sweetheart who stood him up for the prom. Give it up. Move on. I understand; they are wise and nuanced, we are young and dumb. We’re the cowboy leaning with his back against the bar, elbows on the rail, watching the door; we need our European betters to teach us how to ape the subtle forms of Nijinsky, limbs arrayed in the exquisite form of the Dying Swan. Understood. But I don’t want to be the Dying Swan. And I don’t want posture lessons from a country that spent the last 20 years flopping on its back and grabbing its ankles when Saddam showed up waving stacks of Francs in exchange for bang-sticks. Don’t you think I know about France’s relations with Saddam? Surely the advocates of the French Touch must know, and don’t care. Or they don’t know – in which case their advice is useless.

Germany? Whatever.

And it took lots of dead Americans to be able to say that.

Also dead Russians. Is Russia the great ally we’ve dissed? If we invite Russia to help, then we have to tell them things. I don’t want to tell them things. At least as they relate to the battlefield.

Perhaps the “ally” is that big blue wobbly mass known as the UN, that paragon of moral clarity, that conscience of the globe. You want to really anger a UN official? Tow his car. Short of that you can get away with anything. (Sudan is on the human rights commission, to cite a prominent and amusing detail. It’s like putting Tony Soprano on the New Jersey Waste Management Regulation Board.) I don’t worry that the UN is angry with us. I’d be worried if they weren’t. And I find it interesting that someone who would complain about outsourcing peevishly notes that we hired HALLIBURTON to do the work instead of throwing buckets of billions to French and German contractors who sold them the jets and built the bunkers.

I’ve been hearing this shite for years! That’s why I can’t stand the debates! ENOUGH WITH FRANCE AND GERMANY!

Simply perfect. Go forth and read it all for it is everything a good screed should be.