Plead the First

Thursday night I went with Ged and a few other folks from work to see a taping of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell me!” at Wake Forest’s Wait Chapel. It was a great show, and fun to see what goes into making an episode. They had the Hornets’ Chris Paul as a guest. Not being a big basketball fan, I had not heard of him before, but was really impressed with him. He seemed like a really nice guy who was very down to earth.

While there, I saw someone who looked an awful lot like Sarah Beth Jones walking up the steps to the balcony. Apparently, it was her. Patrick Eakes was there as well, and though I didn’t see him, I’m sure I must have heard him clapping.

Today, my family and I went over to the Greek Festival on Friendly Avenue (again, with some folks from work). The food was very tasty, and the pastry line very long, but well worth it. On the way out, I ran into Lenslinger. Actually, I walked right past him while focusing on an engaging and contentious conversation with my three-year old daughter. Luckily my wife saw him trying to get my attention and let me know so I could say hi.

The sun and warmth are on their way out. If you’re still reading this, you should get outside, too.

General David Petraeus testified before the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees today:

President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in January as part of a campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces. Petraeus said that campaign has largely met its military goals, reducing sectarian killings by more than 50 percent nationwide and by more than 80 percent in Baghdad.

So according to Petraeus, sending in more troops has helped, noticeably reducing casualties. Makes sense: More troops equals greater security and control. So where do we go from here?

The 30,000 additional troops deployed to Iraq in January could come home by next July

If more troops equals greater security and control, then it stands to reason that – all things being equal – removing those 30,000 additional troops is going to result in less security and control, putting us right back where we started. Something else in the equation needs to change, and it’s going to have to change within the next 10 months.

It’s true that there seems to be some localized political progress, with tribal leaders taking the reins. But is 10 months enough time to turn a patchwork of tribal initiatives and a feckless national government into something more cohesive?

The city of Greensboro has taken the first steps towards assimilating some nearby neighborhoods.

This week, German authorities broke up a terror network that was attempting to bomb U.S. interests in Germany:

German police were searching Thursday for 10 suspects believed to have belonged to a terror network that provided assistance to three men accused of plotting massive attacks against U.S. interests in the country, according to an interior ministry spokesman.

Prosecutors said the trio were members of an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group and planned “imminent” car bombings using explosives more powerful than those used in the deadly atrocities in Madrid and London in 2004 and 2005.

This of course, is excellent news – a very real, very tangible victory against terrorists. Once again, it seems the clear, undisputable victories against terror networks are occurring as a result of law enforcement action – not as a result of military action. The London bomb plot that was broken up in August of 2006 was a similar victory. What I said then still applies now:

1. The notion of “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here� doesn’t seem to be working out too well.

2. This is a significant, tangible victory against terrorists, and it comes as a result not of military action, but of the work of law enforcement agencies. There are circumstances where the military will be needed to fight against terrorists (the action in Afghanistan after 9/11, for instance), but in my opinion the most notable, undisputable victories – such as this one – are more likely to come from law enforcement activities.

[These] terrorists are now out of action. There was no collateral damage. This is a solid gain – there’s virtually no chance that these arrests have caused any resentment among third parties who might want to now turn to terrorism themselves as a result. We haven’t made any new enemies by reducing someone’s home to rubble. Military action has its place, to be sure, but we may need to rethink the nature of its role in the fight against terrorists.

Joe Guarino points to Edwards’ new health plan, calling it “totalitarian”. While I think “totalitarian” may be a bit overwrought, I do agree that it’s overly intrusive of the government to require doctors visits by law.

I can understand the logic behind requiring it, but legislation to this effect seems over the line. A better idea might be to create incentives to get preventative healthcare, such as a tax credit for meeting some minimum healthcare requirements.

If something like this went through, it would also be interesting to see the collision with certain faiths that reject medical intervention.

The outlook for democracy in Iraq is not so good:

Nightmarish political realities in Baghdad are prompting American officials to curb their vision for democracy in Iraq. Instead, the officials now say they are willing to settle for a government that functions and can bring security.

A workable democratic and sovereign government in Iraq was one of the Bush administration’s stated goals of the war.

But for the first time, exasperated front-line U.S. generals talk openly of non-democratic governmental alternatives, and while the two top U.S. officials in Iraq still talk about preserving the country’s nascent democratic institutions, they say their ambitions aren’t as “lofty” as they once had been.

“Democratic institutions are not necessarily the way ahead in the long-term future,” said Brig. Gen. John “Mick” Bednarek, part of Task Force Lightning in Diyala province, one of the war’s major battlegrounds.

George W. Bush will be looking for a job soon. My suggestion? Send him to Iraq and install him as dictator for life. Then he can go hog wild with the whole “Unitary Executive” thing, plus he’ll have plenty of time to clean up his mess over there.

Joe Guarino has begun receiving and posting responses to his City Council Candidate Questionnaires. So far he has answers from Robbie Perkins and Angela Carmichael. This was a great idea, and I’m glad to see that at least some of the candidates are participating.

Update: Joe wrote to point out that Lance Jones responded last week as well. Thanks Joe!

I don’t go in for the “New World Order” talk, but this is a very good article:

Had our Christian forebears acted as we do, we would still be a Crown colony today, without the freedom and independence that America has enjoyed for these past two hundred years. Think about it: there would be no Constitution. No states’ rights. No Bill of Rights. No right to keep and bear arms. No right to privacy. No right to be secure in our own homes. No constitutional protections in court. No constitutional protections for speech, religion, or redress of government. No constitutional protection for the freedom of the press. The foundational principles upon which our entire society and way of life rest would be nonexistent.

By refusing to hold our President accountable to the Constitution, by promulgating the idea that Christians should not get involved in politics, by standing idle as political and corporate forces work to steal our national sovereignty and independence, we are surrendering everything that Americans have historically held precious.

…

Dear Christian friend, do you mean to tell me that we are supposed to sit back and let men (even well-intentioned men) destroy our constitutional republic? Do you mean to tell me that we are not to resist the evil machinations of those inside our country as vehemently as we would those who seek our destruction from afar?

(Via Jim Capo)