733t hax0r alert!
Reading the Telegraph's Bush authorised cyber-attack on Iraq:

George W. Bush has backed plans to launch a cyber-attack on Iraqi computer networks if war breaks out, while raising the US terror alert to 'high'.

The US president signed a secret directive last July ordering the Government to develop guidelines to determine when and how to disrupt enemy computer systems, a strategy which military analysts believe could dramatically reduce war causalities.

Invading foreign computer networks could enable the military to shut down radars and electrical plants, and to disrupt phone lines without firing a shot.

reminded me of this from Iraqi blogger Salam:

The juiciest bit of news actually happened about a week ago but I was told about it today. A couple of days ago it was rumored that all top officials had their phone numbers changed, well who cares it’s not like I call Saddam every night to chat, but today a friend explained why. Around six days ago the phone lines of the Iraqi air defense units were "attacked". When you picked up the phone in some of the command units you didn’t get a dial tone but a male voice speaking in broken Arabic. What it said is close to what the infamous email said, don’t use chemical or biological weapons, don’t offer resistance, and don’t obey commands to attack civilian areas and so on. This went on for a couple of hours. Now everyone has new numbers. I have no idea how that is at all possible. I do know that for some rural areas we use microwave signals for phone connections but they can’t be so stupid as to use it for military purposes.

Way to go uncle Sam. This is going to make one hell of a James Bond movie.

I don't follow Dear Raed and frankly don't even know if it is legitimate, but I liked the story. (Hat tip to No Replacement for Displacement.)

Your tax dollars at work!
Matt Hayes at Fox News stuns with Medical Benefits for Non-Citizens:

To hear my client "Rick" tell it, you would think that his third arrest for possession of crack was the best thing that had happened to him in years.

His third narcotics conviction, the result of a guilty plea, landed him in a New York State prison.

Rick was not a U.S. citizen. Though his sentence was nearly served, he was apprehensive that on release he would be deported to Barbados, his home country, and would no longer have access to the free HIV treatment he received while in prison. For Rick, release from prison and deportation to Barbados was a death sentence.

An asylum claim was the only relief from deportation that was available to Rick. The government of Barbados provided free HIV treatment to pregnant females, but as a male, none would be available to Rick. We would argue that the government of Barbados thereby persecuted Rick because of an "immutable characteristic" he possessed (his sex, and the fact that he was unable to become pregnant), and that the inevitable result of that persecution would be Rick's death. A unique argument, but Rick's only shot at continued free HIV treatment.

Claiming political asylum from Barbados?

In case you haven't guessed, Matt is an immigration lawyer. But he is kind enough to explain the scam.

It is amazing that America is willing to provide free medical treatment to people who are not citizens -- and even illegal aliens -- while the home countries of most all of those people will not do so. This occurs while our schools lack adequate money and while many of America's senior citizens scrape to pay for medicine. If you think that the problem is minor, or under control, you should think again. America is in the throws of a historically unprecedented wave of immigration, both legal and illegal, and the costs are mounting.

Medicaid, the program co-funded by the federal government and the governments of participating states, is the main source of money for the medical treatment of uninsured aliens. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 restricted federal public assistance, including payments made in connection with Medicaid, to be used by citizens and legal immigrants who have already paid into the system for 10 years through payroll taxes. But if you have a medical problem, and are an alien who has not paid taxes, or who is illegal, you will still be treated -- for free.

Last time I looked, the federal and state governments didn't have any money of their own. It comes from the taxpayers.

The Alien Emergency Medical Program, sometimes called Emergency Medicaid or Emergency Medical Assistance, is found in every state that participates in the Medicaid program. It exists because an illegal alien successfully sued the U.S. government for Medicaid coverage, contending that the government's decision to provide Medicaid coverage to citizens and legal aliens, while not also providing it to illegal aliens, violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection.

A federal judge in New York City agreed, and the government was compelled to provide Medicaid to illegal aliens. But Congress acted quickly and amended the Medicaid statute to permit payments for illegal aliens only in emergencies. Free medical treatment to illegal aliens through Medicaid survived the 1996 Welfare Reform Act because, at least under the current law, its denial is said to violate the Constitution.

I must have missed that part of the Constitution. I guess the long suffering citizens of the USA owe free medical care to anyone in the world who can manage to get across the border. Think of it as a "Get into hospital free" card. It truly is a land of opportunity!

More details by following the link, including the current tab which is estimated at 1.5 to 2 billion dollars a year. One final excerpt:

In the state of Washington, depression is considered a medical emergency, and Washington will pay for an illegal alien's treatment for depression. So is high blood pressure.

Hmm, now that I've read this, I have both. Maybe I'll mosey on down to the local hospital and tell 'em I'm from Tajikistan.

Everybody Sing! "Who's the leader of the gang that's made for you and me?"
TigerLikesRooster over at FreeRepublic translates a photo funny from the Monthly Chosun:

The caption on the top in red: The Scandal of the Secret Funneling of Money to N. Korea.

The next two lines in blue: There are no pro-North left, only Kim Jong-Il's minions.

Gad, paying billions for a singalong with Dear Leader! It gives new meaning to the expression, "How low can you go?"

Why does seeing this make me wonder if Dear Leader would mind a practical joke? I must need more coffee.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that I am being too hard on the Korean useful idiots. After all, they were merely working from the Slickmeister's example:

Another picture we wish we hadn't seen
(Via The Weekly James) From Saddam Streaker Central, Dr. Helen Caldicott & Patch Adams:

Today's Hoot!
Sweet Ann at Townhall.com - 'Will of Allah' pre-empts Iraq invasion:

A quick review of the Treason Times laid bare the objective. Monday's New York Times proclaimed: "As Iraq War Looms, a New Sense of Vulnerability." American hubris blunted again! The article went on to quote a series of random Americans saying things like, "Now I'm hearing a lot of people say if we go to war, we're going to endanger a lot more than seven lives." Another classic Times' Man on the Street said that it "reinforces my belief that we should find diplomatic solutions instead of threatening other countries with war."

The Times' Man on the Street always seems to be standing on a street suspiciously close to Central Park West.
...
The Gettysburg Address of liberal idiocy was a letter to the editor from a Jim Forbes of San Francisco two days after the crash. The Times titled his contribution to Liberalthink: "A Time of Mourning for Shattered Dreams: A Period of Healing." In full-dress sanctimony, Forbes wrote: "The loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven is a national tragedy. Time is needed for Americans to mourn. I hope that President Bush will do the right thing by slowing down his march to war and focusing instead on the healing that such a blow to national pride requires."

Here was the pithiest concentration of the multiple idiotic things liberals were saying about the space shuttle, the insincerity, the audacity, the smarminess - he even worked in "the healing process." How he must have polished that little gem! The idea that liberals feel the shuttle explosion was a tragedy is patent nonsense. They were jumping for joy at this new excuse to denounce the "march to war." The nation is marching to war at such breakneck speed, it will be two years from 9-11 before we attack.

And saving the best for last:

In other appeasement news, former U.N. arms inspector Scott Ritter has completely vanished from the anti-war scene since news of his sex arrest broke. Three weeks ago, it was revealed that Ritter was caught soliciting sex from underage girls on the Internet in 2001. Until news of his arrest broke, the New York Times had been treating Ritter's reincarnation as a peacenik as the greatest act of patriotism since Justice Souter voted to uphold abortion on demand. It's now Day 17 and counting of the Times' refusal to mention Ritter's arrest. Though the peace movement lost Ritter, it seems to have picked up Jerry Springer. Perhaps Springer is hoping he can get Scott Ritter's wife on the show to confront Ritter and the underage girl.

Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!

Tony bin Wedgwood - What a pal!
(Via LGF) Alice Thomson in the Telegraph - Benn - not Powell - made the case for war on Saddam:

It wasn't Colin Powell who swung opinion on this war, or even Hans Blix. It was Tony Benn. I hate to say it, but his interview was a masterpiece. Until then, we had been getting ourselves into a worse stew than Benn's tea leaves. Suddenly we saw what we were up against, and it galvanised even the most faint-hearted.

It had more impact because it came after Martin Bashir's interview with Michael Jackson, the second weirdest man in the world, who also has an obsession with plastic surgery (although Saddam does it on his doubles). They both spend millions on antique urns, incarcerate themselves in some Neverland and force their families to go out covered in veils, surrounded by two dozen bodyguards. Both have been accused of being above the law.
...
The next evening, Tony Benn took over from Bashir in the interviewer's seat. His approach to his "friend" Saddam couldn't have been more different. Unlike Bashir, he didn't question a single utterance, but looked on with dogged devotion at his hero. He was fawning and sycophantic to a man I'd be even less inclined to let my child join in a sleep-over. This is a dictator who is so divorced from the truth that he had his doctor executed for suggesting he was schizophrenic.
...
Ken Livingstone's traffic chaos ensured that I spent most of Wednesday driving round London listening to various talkshows. All of them had ditched their usual diet of Zoe Ball, Madonna's non-pregnancy and whether Catherine Zeta Jones should be photographed with her mouth full, to discuss the Benn interview. The DJ Jono, on Heart FM, usually a mild, jolly man, was incandescent.

Today's James Naughtie was also incensed. He couldn't keep the contempt out of his voice. How could you pander to a man who doesn't just dangle one baby out of a window, but allows thousands to starve to death?

Even Benn seemed to realise that he'd scored an own goal. The old Labour toff who has reincarnated himself as a cuddly, tea-drinking grandfather, suddenly turned nasty. He retorted: "If you'd have gone there, you would have learnt nothing. I got an opportunity to hear him."

Thanks Tony! I'm sure it was a dirty job, but someone had to do it. Bwahahahaha!

Hold mon vin alert!

''The Europeans are just not convinced that a war now will lead to a safer world and may in fact lead to a more dangerous world,'' Moisi said. ''They are not Eurowimps, as some American's would say, but perhaps they have a deeper understanding of the complexity of history than Americans.''

Quick, what's more dangerous than a gang of nutjobs trying to kill you and your fellow citizens? I guess the Euros haven't been keeping up with current events.

It's too early in the morning for stuff like this!
(Via Drudge) The bosom chums.

An early morning hoot!
Richard Spencer in the Telegraph - A Chinese puzzle as everyone's a winner:

The puzzling nature of Chinese economics has been highlighted by a study showing that all 31 provinces beat the national average growth rate last year.

"And all our kids are above average!"

Uh Oh!
Lee Bandy in The State (South Carolina) - NAACP Boycott:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has backpedaled in his support for the NAACP's economic boycott of South Carolina to protest the flying of the Confederate battle flag on the State House grounds.

On a campaign swing through the state on Martin Luther King Jr. Day last month, the U.S. senator from North Carolina told reporters he would honor the boycott.

Now, however, Edwards' campaign will lease space in the state, and his staff will be free to eat at restaurants and stay in hotels, campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said.

Edwards himself will stay with friends while campaigning in South Carolina as a symbolic show of solidarity.

Democrats are big on symbolic shows.

The issue could play a role in the state's first-in-the-South primary on Feb. 4, 2004. South Carolina is the first Southern primary in which African-Americans are expected to make up half of the voters.

Edwards' political action committee, the New American Optimists, already had been spending money in South Carolina in violation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People boycott.
...
According to a year-end report filed with the Federal Election Commission, the Edwards PAC has spent more than $2,000 since last May on restaurants, gasoline, car rentals and lodging.
...
The FEC report shows the campaign spent money at several Columbia haunts, including Yesterdays in Five Points, Hunter Gatherer Brewery, Delaney's in Five Points, The Publick House, Lizard's Thicket on Two Notch Road, Quality Inn and Suites at Blythewood, and Clarion Town House.

Yee haw! Partying down at The Publick House with Jennifer Palmieri! Hmmm, what's he going to tell the Southern Baptists?

State Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, who crafted the initial legislation that ultimately led to the flag's being taken off the State House dome, said Edwards "has had almost every position possible on this issue."

"It can only make you wonder what John Edwards' position on the boycott or any other issue will be the next time he visits our state."

The six announced candidates have all denounced the banner as a divisive symbol and say it should be removed from the Capitol grounds and placed in a museum.

But only Edwards and New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton have indicated they would honor the boycott by not spending money in the state.

Actually, Johnny has a very consistent position - he'll do anything to get elected.