President Bush speaking at The Heritage Foundation.

HT: Drudge

There are no words to add to this excellent article by Jeff Emanuel except to those who perished, may you Rest in Peace, and to those who survived may you know the thanks, prayers and thoughts of many Americans are with you.

(There are restrictions on reprinting or reproducing portions of this piece, but it is well worth the read, so if you have the time, please do.)

From Michael Yon:

“Iraqi Islamic Party: “Al Qaeda is Defeated”

……Speaking through an interpreter at a 31 October meeting at the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in downtown Baghdad, Sheik Omar said that al Qaeda had been “defeated mentally, and therefore is defeated physically,” referring to how clear it has become that the terrorist group’s tactics have backfired. Operatives who could once disappear back into the crowd after committing an increasingly atrocious attack no longer find safe haven among the Iraqis who live in the southern part of Baghdad. They are being hunted down and killed. Or, if they are lucky, captured by Americans.

The call for the citizens of Iraq to stand up and defend their country may have been heard. That would be good new indeed.

Ralph Nader is in the news again.

Consumer advocate and 2004 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader sued the Democratic Party on Tuesday, contending officials conspired to keep him from taking votes away from nominee John Kerry.

Nader’s lawsuit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, also named as co-defendants Kerry’s campaign, the Service Employees International Union and several so-called 527 organizations such as America Coming Together, which were created to promote voter turnout on behalf of the Democratic ticket.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Democratic National Committee conspired to force Nader off the ballot in several states.

“The Democratic Party is going after anyone who presents a credible challenge to their monopoly over their perceived voters,” Nader said in a statement. “This lawsuit was filed to help advance a free and open electoral process for all candidates and voters. Candidate rights and voter rights nourish each other for more voices, choices, and a more open and competitive democracy.”

I wonder, does this suit survive or get tossed?

If it wasn’t so predictable…well you know.

Opposition among Democrats to Michael B. Mukasey’s nomination as attorney general grew Wednesday, heightening the intrigue surrounding a confirmation that once seemed assured.

In sometimes passionate debate on the Senate floor, two more Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, said they would vote against Mukasey when the committee takes up his nomination Tuesday.

While praising Mukasey as a desirable alternative to predecessor Alberto R. Gonzales, both men said they could not support his nomination to head the Justice Department because of his continuing refusal to pass what has become a litmus test for Democrats in the nomination debate: declaring that an interrogation method known as water-boarding is not only repugnant but illegal.

What will the senior Senator from New York do?

A crucial, but officially undecided, vote is that of Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer, an ardent Mukasey supporter who early in the process praised his fellow New Yorker’s integrity and independence, saying he had credentials that the morale-sapped Justice Department needed.

Some observers said they believed it would be difficult for Schumer to oppose the nomination given his previous enthusiastic support. Ironically, one of the most relentless critics of the Bush administration might end up casting the vote that assures the White House-backed nominee is cleared.

Schumer refused to say Wednesday how he would vote. “I’m not going to comment on Judge Mukasey here. I’m reading the letter, I’m going over it,” Schumer told reporters hours after the nominee submitted a package of written answers to questions posed by lawmakers since Mukasey’s confirmation hearing two weeks ago.

The Democrats got the man they said they wanted and still it is not good enough. If they feel this strongly about waterboarding, then write legislation making it illegal and stop playing politics with both the Department of Justice and the nominee.

Is it any wonder people have such low expectations when it comes to Congress?

Here is a copy of the statement Mitch McConnell made on the floor of the Senate regarding the AG nomination and confirmation process. He sure calls it like it is.

A few days ago I wrote about a dead Marine’s father who had taken the Westboro Baptist Church gang led by Fred Phelps to court for disrupting his son’s funeral.

It is my pleasure to report the verdict is in and it is not in favor of the Phelps cult. (I refuse to call them Baptists)

A Baltimore federal jury awarded nearly $11 million Wednesday to the father of a Marine killed in Iraq, deciding that the family’s privacy had been invaded by a Kansas church whose members waved anti-gay signs at the funeral.

It was the first-ever verdict against Westboro Baptist Church, a fundamentalist Christian group based in Topeka that has protested military funerals across the country with placards bearing shock-value messages such as “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

They contend that the deaths are punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality and of gays in the military.

Relatives of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder wept and hugged at the jury’s announcement, which came a day after closing arguments in the civil trial in federal district court.

“Now I know it’s going to be harder for them to do it to anyone else,” said Albert Snyder, who mourned at his son’s funeral in March 2006 while seven Westboro members waved signs nearby.

The compensatory damage award alone, $2.9 million, was nearly triple the net worth of Westboro and the three members on trial, their attorney said.

Fred W. Phelps Sr., Westboro’s founder, vowed to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va.

“It’s going to be reversed in five minutes,” he said. This case, he added, “will elevate me to something important,” as it draws more publicity to his cause.

You hope, and the sad part is that all the namby pamby legal experts are saying this is going to set back freedom of speech. Baloney!

No one has the freedom to inflict more pain on a family already grieving the death of a son, brother, uncle etc.

If this verdict holds up and then holds up in the Supreme Court or the Supreme Court refuses to hear it then Phelps and family are out of business as well as out of money, and we won’t have to see his daughter’s rage-filled face on television anymore spewing her hatred against anyone not a member of her group.

The jury found the family’s privacy had been invaded. If we can twist the constitution to say abortion is an issue of privacy then certainly this is a more compelling case for violation of privacy, since it’s straight forward.

Justice is being served.

HT: Captain’s Quarters