Reviewing the National Intelligence Estimate

The New York Times and Washington Post has concluded from an April National Intelligence Estimate unclassified and released to the public under the Freedom of Information Act that the “Iraq war has increased the danger to the United States from terrorists.”

The opening paragraph in the Key Judgments of the NIE presents the gist of the story (as reported by friend of LPJ, Ken, Tennessee):

Scandal - Just in Time for Election

Those who have been around LPJ long enough know that I am not affiliated with any particular political party – I observe (and keep an eye) on the individual, and that is the way I vote. But here is my take on the Rep. Mark Foley scandal …

Congressional Update - October 2nd, 2006

Well, Congress adjourned Saturday to allow Members of Congress to travel home to prepare for the November 7^th elections; but before leaving town, the Senate passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 by a vote of 80-19. [Find out whether your senators were one of the 19 in the list below]. As previously posted here at LPJ, the House passed the bill in early September that authorized a 700-mile fence along the southwest border and authorized a ‘virtual fence’ of sensors, cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles and other types of technology. The bill has been sent to the Oval Office for signature by the President.
Here is the list of those that voted AGAINST Secure Fence Act of 2006:

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico)
Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan)
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington)
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)
Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-Rhode Island)
Senator Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey)
Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois)
Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington)
Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) - he has been off my checklist for re-election for some time now.
Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island)
Senator James Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada)
Senator James Jeffords (I-Vermont)
Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colorado)
Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) – Remember this when you vote Nov. 7^th, and if Kerry runs for President again, that is, if there are any folks in Massachusetts that’s no longer brainwashed by the Ted Kennedy crowd.
Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)
Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey)
Maybe it is time to clean the Senate out this November. We need fresh-thinking senators, those that care about our national security and won’t compromise our nation and its sovereignty with political goals and desire for power.

California Governor Signs Senate Bill 1827 - Same-Sex State Income Tax Rights

   California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed three bills that would have advanced the homosexual agenda in public schools. But last Saturday, Schwarzenegger upset the voter base by signing a bill that requires state tax laws to treat same-sex couples the same way married heterosexual couples are treated. Senate Bill 1827, the State Income Tax Equity Act of 2006, allows registered domestic partners to file joint or separate state income-tax returns, the same option that married couples have. [CNSNEWS]

I have a solution – get rid of the unfair, complicated and intruding income tax – state and federal. Then people cannot use and abuse the system. Make April 15^th, just another day.

Light Side of Lighthouse - A Few Words From “The Duke”

Diane S., Wisconsin sent this pic of “The Duke” ….

Snippets - October 2nd, 2006

• Burt Prelutsky - Whenever I hear my fellow conservatives talk about sitting out the election in November, I want to grab them and shake them until their teeth rattle. Anything that puts Democrats even an inch closer to appointing federal judges should be more than enough reason to get every right-winger off the couch and down to his polling place. … Not a court to rest on its laurels, the 9th Circuit recently garnered media attention with its rulings in a couple of murder cases. In the first, Reinhardt and his colleagues decided that a convicted killer was entitled to a new trial because the relatives of his victim had worn small buttons with their loved one’s picture to court. The 9th Circuit decided this had undue influence on the jurors, although the trial judge had ruled otherwise, and the relatives, in any case, had only worn the buttons for the first two days of the trial. In the other case, the defendant had murdered a young woman by bashing in her head with a dumbbell. No, an actual dumbbell; not Judge Reinhardt. In this instance, a three judge panel decided 2-1, Reinhardt providing the swing vote, that when the jurors back in 1982 sentenced the killer to die, they might not have taken into account “the defendant’s potential for a positive adjustment to life in prison”! … There’s more. When someone suggested that the 9th Circuit was the most liberal court in the country, he replied with a straight face: “When people say that, what they mean is that this court, unlike most of the circuit courts, isn’t totally dominated by a group of conservative judges who have a view of the Constitution that is, to put it mildly, rather narrow and tends to resemble the view of the federal courts before the age of enlightenment.” I guess he means way back in the old days when the Second Amendment was still part of the Constitution. … Sometimes those on the Left accuse those of us on the Right of putting words in their mouth. But the truth is, we don’t need to. Besides, even if we tried, we wouldn’t succeed because they usually have one or more of their feet jammed in there, and there’s simply not enough room!