May 16, 2006

Major Panel Event on Iran’s Nuclear Threat

From left to right, Kenneth Timmerman, Dr. Jerome Corsi, and Dr. Yossi Olmert

Last night I went to a major panel event on Iran's nuclear threat organized by the Israel Christian Nexus. Panelists included:

• Dr. Jerome Corsi, author of Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb
• Dr. Yossi Olmert, Israeli author, commentator and former director of Israel's Government Press Office
• Kenneth Timmerman, author of Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran

The most newsworthy part of this event was a statement, reiterated several times, by Dr. Olmert. It may be noted that Dr. Olmert is the brother of Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. Last night Dr. Yossi Olmert said, "What I have to say is not official Israeli policy; but it is not so far from official policy either." The statement he reiterated was:

Iran will not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

...They will not be allowed to come to the point where they will be able to possess the ability to destroy the state of Israel. That is something that has to be taken for granted.

I was very glad to hear this, because I take very seriously the repeated threats by Iran, to use a nuclear weapon on Israel.

Dr. Corsi told us that the radical Islamists in Iran had been very energized, because two of four prophecies made by the Ayatollah Khomeni, had come true. Khomeni had said that Russia would fall, which at the time he said it seemed unthinkable, and that Iraq would fall, which of course seemed unthinkable at the time as well. He further prophesied that Israel would cease to exist, and as a result of that, the United States would fall. Dr. Corsi stated that Iran is currently working on fulfilling these two remaining prophesies of Khomeni.

Dr. Corsi also discussed Iranian President Ahmadinejad's belief in the twelfth imam (discussed in this post). Dr. Corsi stated that Ahmadinejad believes the twelfth imam can only return when there is an apocalypse, and therefore Ahmadinejad is working to bring about that apocalypse.

Ken Timmerman discussed Iran's involvement with 9-11. This previous post on Timmerman covers some of the items he discussed last night.

 From Ramirez:

GWB’s Immigration Speech: The Proof is in the Pudding

Most of the blogosphere is finding that GWB's immigration speech last night was unimpressive at best. However, Dick Morris thinks it was excellent:

Arguably America's most prominent American political consultant, Dick Morris tells NewsMax that President Bush's key national address on immigration reform Monday night was "a great speech."

"It included all the elements it had to," said Morris, who noted the president is living through record low approval ratings.

But Morris conjectures Bush's border plan may help lay the ground work for a comeback.

Morris is almost universally credited with piloting Bill Clinton's stunning comeback re-election victory in 1996 after the Democrats lost Congress to the Republicans two years before.

The presidential plan to beef up the southern border fence in both real and virtual terms is both the "key to securing the border and securing the president's base," Morris opined.

As to Bush's vital guest worker proposal, Morris sees it as "the key to keeping the GOP competitive with Hispanic voters."

And leaving open paths to citizenship for those already in the country, albeit illegally, will serve to make "Latinos a GOP stronghold," Morris advised.

The bottom line is where this is all going to shake out. GWB has shown enough leadership that there's a possibility that Congress will take the ball and run with it to the finish line. From last night's interview of Glenn Reynolds, by Hugh Hewitt:

Hugh Hewitt: ...Glenn Reynolds, do you see the Senate getting something done before Memorial Day?

Glenn Reynolds: I think they almost have to.

Hugh Hewitt: And will it be acceptable to Republicans, generally?

Glenn Reynolds: My guess is yes. My guess is they're going to split the difference between the House and the Senate bill, and it will be good enough.

GWB has shown leadership. Now we have to keep up the pressure on GWB and Congress to get the job done.

How to Express Conservative Revolt, without Turning the Government Over to the Dems

This site has been out in front on the Conservative exhaustion debate, with one of the first blog posts on the subject last Friday. Yesterday's follow-up post, based on reader's comments, was again in the forefront, anticipating today's thoughts by Jim Geraghty. From yesterday's post:

Commenter jim ... proposed the approach that he himself uses for this purpose:

For myself, I won't stay away, I'll vote.
But to send a msg, I only donate to selected candidates. All the letters from GOP committees and RINOs get a response--
1) Win the war
2) Secure our borders
3) Cut spending
4) Confirm the judges
5) Then get to me about a donation
It's perhaps a small step but it's one that any of us can do.

To summarize, when jim gets a fundraising request from GOP committees and elected officials, he responds that he's only donating to those who take care of the key goals he has listed. At the same time, he makes sure to go to the polls and vote. 

Commenter ast posted, supporting this same approach.

And from Jim Geraghty today:

Frustrated with the GOP as a whole? Then support the guys you do like. I roll my eyes when somebody says, 'Ah, they're all a bunch of crooks.' That just says that the complainer hasn't bothered looking for a member of Congress that represents their views. If you're mad as heck about immigration, there's Rep Tom Tancredo and the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus or Sens. Jon Kyl, or Jon Cornyn. If you're mad about pork, there's Sen. Tom Coburn.  

If you don't want to send money to the RNC, NRSC, or RNCC because they support too many 'Republicans-in-name-only,' then fine; send money to the lawmakers who you see standing up for the conservative policies you want to see enacted. The rest of the GOP will notice if candidates like Tancredo and Coburn suddenly get a deluge of small donations for their stands. They probably won't need it for their immediate reelection efforts; they'll be able to distribute it as 'seed money' to like-minded candidates elsewhere in the country.

So this seems to be the leading tactic evolving in the blogosphere for expressing Conservative revolt while not turning the government over to the Dems.

Read the rest of Geraghty's article for more powerful strategies that can be used to address this.

IT'S A BUSY DAY IN THE BLOGOSPHERE, with hot discussions on GWB's immigration speech, Conservative exhaustion, and (at least here, since I went to a major panel event on the subject last night) on Iran.  Let's get to it.