It's about time

Investigate the CIA. Anybody that would hire Joe Wilson and his wife clearly needs a revised career path.

Isn't that special!

Amir Taheri at the NY Post - Why Paris is Burning:

AS THE night falls, the "troubles" start — and the pattern is always the same.

Bands of youths in balaclavas start by setting fire to parked cars, break shop windows with baseball bats, wreck public telephones and ransack cinemas, libraries and schools. When the police arrive on the scene, the rioters attack them with stones, knives and baseball bats.

The police respond by firing tear-gas grenades and, on occasions, blank shots in the air. Sometimes the youths fire back — with real bullets.

Really swell plan so far.

How did it all start? The accepted account is that sometime last week, a group of young boys in Clichy engaged in one of their favorite sports: stealing parts of parked cars.

Normally, nothing dramatic would have happened, as the police have not been present in that suburb for years.

The problem came when one of the inhabitants, a female busybody, telephoned the police and reported the thieving spree taking place just opposite her building. The police were thus obliged to do something — which meant entering a city that, as noted, had been a no-go area for them.

That's good too.

Within hours, the original cause of the incidents was forgotten and the issue jelled around a demand by the representatives of the rioters that the French police leave the "occupied territories."

Here we go. What do you think the chances are that the oh-so-sensitive Frenchies will surrender? And I can't help having a little schadenfreude:

President Jacques Chirac and Premier de Villepin are especially sore because they had believed that their opposition to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 would give France a heroic image in the Muslim community.

Payback's a bitch, fellas. Much more by following the link including the problem of an unassimilated minority that doesn't even speak the national language. Sound familiar?

Stuck in the green room with Joe Wilson

Analyst says Wilson 'outed' wife in 2002:

A retired Army general says the man at the center of the CIA leak controversy, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, revealed wife Valerie Plame's identity in a casual conversation more than a year before she allegedly was "outed" by the White House through a columnist.

Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely told WorldNetDaily that Wilson mentioned Plame's status as a CIA operative in at least three, possibly five, separate conversations in 2002 in the Fox News Channel's "green room" in Washington, D.C., as they waited to appear on air as analysts.

Sheesh, stuck in the same room with Joe Wilson. That would gag a hagfish!

"He was a total self promoter," Vallely said. "I don't know it if was out of insecurity, to make him feel important, but he's created so much turmoil, he needs to be investigated and put under oath."
...
Vallely said, citing CIA colleagues, that in addition to his conversations with Wilson, the ambassador was proud to introduce Plame at cocktail parties and other social events around Washington as his CIA wife.

What do you call a "power couple" when they are both inept goofs? CIA employees.

2nd Hoot!

Tim Blair: FRENCH CAR-B-Q CONTINUES. Since Tim is Australian, I suppose a "Throw another Renault on the barbie" is in order. Anyway, much good stuff starring the usual suspects by following the link including:

A newspaper editor discusses the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina:

The Government probably wasn’t prepared enough, didn’t know what to do, still probably finds it very difficult to deal with this situation and firstly and most importantly it took a few days before they realised that they really had a major crisis on their hands.

Actually, that’s Pierre Rousselin, editor of Le Figaro, and he’s talking about the ongoing French riots.

Today's Hoot!

Roger Simon - France according to the New York Times:

And they ask us to pay extra for their opinion writers? We already get them free on the front page.

With a friend like this, who needs enemies?

Brothers Judd (starting off with a quote from an International Herald Tribune article):

In one account, the book [Cent Semaines] tells how the foreign minister was informed at a meeting at the Quai d'Orsay that the American-led war agaist Saddam Hussein would likely be a short one. His response: "That's not desirable. France would appear ridiculous." There is a long silence. Another diplomat says, "The Americans and British are our allies." Villepin ends the meeting.

Good to know that there's someone at the French Foreign Ministry who thinks we're allies -- if, that is, he's still employed.

The violet sniffer is a real warm guy, non?

Hey Meester! Want to meet my seester?

In the latest issue of City Journal, Heather Mac Donald has lengthy article on Mexico’s Undiplomatic Diplomats in the USA. Not to put too fine a point on it, they're pimps. Their main job seems to be to expedite the arrival of illegal Mexican aliens in this country, maintain them once they get here, and, most important, make sure their earnings get sent back home. And they don't mind interfering in the USA's internal affairs to do it.

Given the American public’s swelling anger about illegal immigration, it’s past time for Washington to tell Mexico to cease interfering and for the Bush administration to start enforcing the law.

Damn straight.

Look for the union label ... somewhere else

(Via Oraculations) Peter Schweizer's new book, Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy has some fun facts about one of our favorite limousine liberals, Nancy Pelosi:

Staunch union supporter Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has received the Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farmworkers Union. But the $25 million Northern California vineyard she and her husband own is a non-union shop.

The hypocrisy doesn't end there. Pelosi has received more money from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union than any other member of Congress in recent election cycles.

But the Pelosis own a large stake in an exclusive hotel in Rutherford, Calif. It has more than 250 employees. But none of them are in a union, according to Schweizer, author of "The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty" and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other periodicals.

The Pelosis are also partners in a restaurant chain called Piatti, which has 900 employees. The chain is – that's right, a non-union shop.

I guess being a leftoid princess means you're exempt from the usual union whine.

More Clown Boy macho antics

The Gay Blade of Caracas has been out of the news for a couple of days and was feeling lonely:

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, emboldened by thousands of anti-American protesters, is getting a rare chance to stand up to his adversary, George Bush, with promises to keep the president from reviving talks on a free trade area stretching from Alaska to Argentina.

The two men were to arrive in Argentina for the fourth Americas summit Thursday, the same day Venezuela is staging a mock U.S. invasion of its own territory. The event is the latest exercise intended to prepare soldiers and civilian volunteers for what Chavez says is a possible attack by American troops.

U.S. officials deny any such plan, but Chavez says it's best to be ready just in case.

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean we aren't out to get ya, Hugo! And what's to practice? All they'll do is speed dial the NY Times and the Democrat National Committee and yell for help.

With tensions rising between the two nations, Chavez and Bush will likely see each other Friday at the summit's inauguration _ after Chavez addresses a rally of mostly anti-Bush protesters. The two leaders are not scheduled to meet one-on-one, but they will both be taking part in the same summit sessions.

Chavez has joked about whether Bush is afraid of him, saying he might sneak up and scare Bush at the summit.

I'll bet Hugo is the highlight of the hot tub.

There are signs the U.S. may be winning over supporters for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, the summit's main sticking point. A high-ranking Brazilian official who said he wasn't authorized to give his name told reporters that 28 of the 34 countries participating in the summit had agreed talks should begin as early as April.

Negotiators missed a January 2005 deadline for wrapping up talks on the agreement.

The region has been divided over the FTAA, as Venezuela uses the issue to try to recruit supporters of its own so-called socialist "revolution."

Chavez has used Venezuela's oil wealth to push for regional solidarity, offering fuel with preferential financing to various Caribbean and Latin American countries.

He also bought $950 million this year in Argentine bonds, saying it was a step toward creating a so-called Bank of the South to help provide financing to the region.

A fool and his nation's money. There's more blather by following the link including a nice pout from Fidel because he didn't get invited to the soiree.

In other Fat Boy news, Hugo blames global capitalism for earthquakes and mud slides; Hugo's Thought Police try to track down protesting pumpkins, and my fave:

ONE OF THE TOP CULPRITS of the March 11 massacre in Madrid apparently has been arrested in Pakistan.

Interestingly, he's the same guy who reportedly had been hiding in Venezuela under the protection of a Chavist official (link in Spanish) until a TV interview with Johan Peña, a former agent of Venezuela intelligence service, was aired. A very good source there told me back then that Setmarian quicky fled the South American country after the broadcast.

More here. Ole Fatty is running up quite a tab.

Another lowlight for Dana Milbank

Michael M. Bates:

In today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank takes the judge to task for assorted failings. Alito, we're told, wears a rumpled and ill-fitting suit as he makes the rounds of senatorial offices. We learn that "At Princeton, he skipped the selective eating clubs to join Stevenson Hall, known as a haven for dweebs." While coaching Little League, the judge wore a baseball uniform. He has a picture of former Phillies star Mike Schmidt hung in his appellate chambers. He's gone to a baseball fantasy camp.

"Are these not the marks of a nerd,?" asks Milbank. To make certain we arrive at the correct conclusion, he observes: "Washington is a town of geeks and misfits who, for the most part,suppress their inner dorks much of the time. But Alito wears this status on his sleeve."

It should be noted in fairness that it's unlikely Dana Milbank is himself confused for James Bond.

More like Pussy Galore. I'm glad to see they're still producing crack journalism at the WaPo.