Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love. ~ Talleyrand

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) No Agreement On North Korea

The US accused the Kim regime of failing to take the talks seriously, which in this case is akin to noting the sunrise in the East. Kim Jong-Il wants his nukes, and diplomatic niceties will not shake him from his pursuit of WMDs. Only China can put enough pressure on him to achieve that result, and China still has not found the will or the desire to do so in sufficient measure. As Christopher Hill pointed out, each day the DPRK came up with a different excuse — the banking sanctions that shut down their profitable counterfeiting ring, some perceived diplomatic slight, or another impossible demand. It all adds up to continued intransigence by Pyongyang

Coffee is a beverage that puts one to sleep when not drank. ~ Alphonse Allais

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2006 — Go read them. While you’re at it be sure to check out (and bookmark/blogroll) the reopened Conservative Grapevine.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) You First — “Kim Jong-Il has rejoined the six-party talks aimed at ending his nuclear-weapons program and opening North Korea for foreign aid and trade. The other parties have promised an end to sanctions and economic assistance if Pyongyang ends its development of nukes, but the Kim regime has challenged them to act first:”

Blue Star Chronicles (Beth) John Kerry Meets Soldiers in Iraq — “But he got his photo op – with some privates who must have drawn the short straws.” [Heh. That was my first thought, too. Jim]

Don Surber Newsweek reporter: ‘Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are’ — “Imagine that. The Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are.

But what do these Iraqis know? They are not smart like John Kerry or Ted Kennedy or Michael Moore, are they?”

Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical. ~ Jonathan Swift

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Polling Right-Of-Center Bloggers On The 2006 Election — “Right Wing News emailed more than 230 right-of-center bloggers to ask them about the 2006 election.” [See the responses from the 62 who responded. Jim]

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) North Korea Bowed by Financial Sanctions and U.S. ‘Nuke Threat’ — “[W]hether anything comes of the six-party talks when the rogue state is so obviously run by a bunch of loons is yet to be seen. The derangement has trickled down to the North Korean people, as evidenced in how they celebrated the nuclear test in a nation that is starving its own peoples.”

Blue Crab Boulevard New Theme Song — “I wouldn’t bet the farm that this didn’t impact any races. As I pointed out, it likely will increase turnout for the Republicans and may very well suppress independents who can’t stomach voting for a party that doesn’t sufficiently support the troops. We’ll know in less than a week. But one thing for sure, there is a large supply of antacids and aspirin needed at Democratic headquarters.”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Kerry’s Schedule Starts To Lighten Up (Updated) — “John Kerry may have some spare time to spend with the family. After his ridiculous comments on Monday and the equally ridiculous explanation on Tuesday, Iowa Congressional candidate Bruce Braley has asked Kerry to stay away from their scheduled campaign appearance this week:”

Nancy Astor: “If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee.”
Sir Winston Churchill: “And if I were your husband, I would drink it.”

Don Surber Speaker? Pelosi could be president — “Some Democrats even want to take it a step further than making her speaker. They want to take control of Congress and impeach and remove President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

American rules of presidential succession would place the Speaker of the House in the White House.” [Don's latest Charleston Daily Mail column was linked by Drudge, overwhelming the newspaper's servers. (I hope all the traffic I send his way doesn't do the same to his blogspot site. ) It is a must read. Jim]

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) China To Cut Off Kim’s Oil — “The Chinese have taken Kim’s nuclear test more seriously than people first predicted. This could still be an act intended on currying favor with the US, but the humiliation appears to be real. Beijing thought they could use Kim to show the world that they had the most influence in east Asia and the western Pacific. Instead, they got surprised when Kim thumbed his nose at them.”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) An Exclusive Mini-Interview With Bob Corker — “Yesterday, I did a phone mini-interview with Bob Corker, the GOP candidate for the Senate in Tennessee. Corker’s race against Harold Ford is incredibly important because if the Democrats are going to take over the Senate, it looks like they’re going to have to beat Bob Corker to do it.”

The Strata-Sphere (A.J. Strata) Dems Notice The Poll Bias — “Now the blabbering talking heads on the left are finally noticing the issue, with some hillariously naive attempts to understand statistics and math. I swear someone should do a poll on math skills between Reps and Dems, because Dems always fall for obviously bogus information because they just don’t test it with some basic math.”

TMH’s Bacon Bits (The MaryHunter) C’mon Conservatives, Let’s NOT Be Stupid This November! — “So, you’re fed up with the GOP? You’re going to stay home on November 7th?

And you’re liking the idea of hearing, on the morning of November 8th, “Speaker of the House Pelosi”? Thinking it might be a good thing to lose this one, to teach those GOP policrats a lesson?

In fact, you’re just clamoring for the chance to see President Bush impeached over the NSA surveillance program, are ya?

How STUPID does that sound?”

The powers of a man’s mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks. ~ Sir James Mackintosh

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) The Non-Confrontational Approach To Sanctions — “No one wants a war on the Korean peninsula, and Kim knows that. Rice, however, wants to get compliance in terms that will give Kim no grounds for claiming an infringement on his sovereignty. Absent a provocation, Kim cannot launch a war against anyone without a potentially career-limiting reaction by the Chinese.”

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred ALL ABOARD! The Stupid Train Is Leaving The Station! — “The Democrats will implode because for the past six years, they have not managed to come up with a coherent plan and or a coherent agenda that might benefit the nation. Instead, they have pandered to a minority of noisy extremists who insist that any plan for America be predicated on hate and extremist views. Like the frazzled mother in thesupermarket attempting to deal with a two year old’s temper tantrum, the Dems have decided to cave in to the child and give them whatever they want.”

Iowa Voice (Brian) More Thoughts On Democrat’s Tax And Spend Policies — “I think I know where Democrats are headed if they happen to win control of Congress next month.

See, the major priority (after impeaching Bush and Cheney, that is) is rolling back these tax cuts. A tax increase, in other words. A BIG one.”

The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce. ~ Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to
A Black And White World

WILLisms (Will Franklin) Twilight Zone Economics — “This election is about taxes and terrorism. On both issues, Democrats want to take us “into another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a not-so-wonderous land of imagination. Next stop, The Twilight Zone.” ”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) How Dare You Attack Me, And By The Way, Here Are A Couple More Disclosures — “Harry Reid went on offense yesterday … of a sort. Claiming that his failure to properly disclose his partnership with Jay Brown — an attorney with ties to a zoning-commission bribery case and reported links to organized crime — amounted to a Republican plot to make him look dishonest, Reid filed amended disclosures five years after the fact to note the transfer of his properties into his and Brown’s LLCs. His big offensive ground to a halt, though, when he revealed two other land transactions that had never been disclosed, and another mini-scandal erupted involving his use of campaign funds:”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) North Korea to Test Second Nuke? — “Following sanctions placed against the North Korean regime this past weekend, sanctions which are aimed at trying to curb the state’s nuclear program and force its hand to re-enter six-party talks, North Korea states those very sanctions are an act of war. Needless to say, North Korea mostly blames the United States for the sanctions imposed, meaning the nation must not have gotten the memo stating the vote was 15-0 in favor of sanctions upon North Korea.”

Wizbang (Lorie Byrd) They Only Win If We Let Them — “When things get rough there are those who whine and moan and assume the fetal position on the bathroom floor, and there are those who roll up their sleeves, get busy and fight until ten minutes after the clock runs out. Which camp are you going to find yourself in from now until Election Day? I can assure you I will be in the latter camp.”

Right Wing Nut House (Rick Moran) REYNOLDISTAS VS. HEWITTONIANS: WHO’S RIGHT? — “Actually, the largest chasm separating voters today is entirely between two rival subsets of Republicans. One group believes that the GOP is toast on election day and actually looks forward to the drubbing the party will take at the polls. The other group rejects the opinion polls entirely and believes that the GOP will somehow find a way to maintain control of both houses of Congress.”

Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) US Keeping Pressure On China — “The US, fresh from its Security Council victory, has now begun to ensure it maintains its success in isolating North Korea. John Bolton told the UN that China had a “heavy responsibility” to police their joint border and inspect all shipments crossing it, while Beijing complained that those expectations are too high:”

Right Truth (Debbie) Final notice for Muslims to leave U.S. — American Hiroshima Imminent — “We have received the second notice for Muslims to leave America prior to the American Hiroshima promised by al-Qaeda. However, they will not hold off their attack just because Muslims do not heed their warning and leave America. The attack is coming in the month of Ramadan, possibly around the most holy days, the night between the 26th and 27th days of the month — October.”

Election Projection (Scott Elliot) Update is up; write-up to come later — Scott’s weekly roundup is the go to source of election polling and projections.

Blue Crab Boulevard Asia’s Crime Boss — “Aaron L. Friedberg, writing in the Washington Post suggests how the rogue regime of Kim Jong Il might be convinced to give up nuclear ambitions. It would not be easy. Nor would it be by talking one-on-one with the mad midget. Instead, the money which props up the North Korean government must be choked off.”

Don Surber Rove: Take Republicans and the points — “The people who put out the Washington Post are surprised that Karl Rove and President Bush are not in a funk. The story of the day is, “White House Upbeat About GOP Prospects,” subtitled: “Self-Assurance of Bush, Rove and Others Is Not Shared by Many in the Party.” “

Coffee is a beverage that puts one to sleep when not drank. ~ Alphonse Allais

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to
Hooah Wife

Right Truth (Debbie) Hamas wants to attack United States interests in Middle East — “Hamas not only refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist, they now want to attack interests of the United States in the Middle East. They seem to be upset with President George W. Bush and the United States support of Israel. It seems the ‘radicals’ within Hamas are outnumbering the (dare I say it) moderates. Israeli intelligence believes that if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas moves to dismiss the Hamas government in the next few weeks, the radical element in Hamas will go forward with attacks on US interests.”

Blue Crab Boulevard Russia And China Raise Objectios To NK Sanctions — “The concessions already made in the resolution make the sanctions largely toothless to begin with. This latest round of objections will likely weaken them still more. Iran is watching and laughing. It knows how far it can go now.

All the way.”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) Hamas Might Target U.S. Interests — “This was really only a matter of time not due to the perceived evils of the Bush Administration, but rather because the Bush Administration won’t invite the Palestinian leadership of terror to Camp David unlike administrations past.”

Actually, this seems to be the basic need of the human heart in nearly every great crisis – a good hot cup of coffee. ~ Alexander King

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Standing On Chapter VII — “The usual suspects of appeasement took center stage again last night at the UN after the US circulated a draft resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea. Russia and China objected to the use of Chapter VII language in the proposed sanctions, which could later support military action against Kim Jong-Il, but John Bolton said he would not back away from the reference this time:”

Dr. Sanity (Pat Santy) RECENT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL BANKRUPTCY OF TODAY’S LEFT — “What we have witnessed over the 30- 45 years since the Left ascended to dominate political thought in the mid 20th century, is its rapid and unprecedented decline into wholesale intellectual and moral bankruptcy. The noble values and ideals they once claimed they stood for have been completely abandoned; and almost as if a surreal cosmic joke was being played on them, they have—without even noticing!– embraced the exact opposite.”

Blue Crab Boulevard Wild About Harry — “Wow, the media is picking up the story about Harry Reid’s lucrative land deal and running with it. The Philadelphia Inquirer has an editorial, the WaPo has one, too and it appears even more major newspapers a writing about it. Harry is going to have some ’splainin’ to do.”

If it wasn’t for coffee, I’d have no discernible personality at all. ~ David Letterman

Don Surber Standing up to tyranny — “Iraq is not a distraction from the war on terror. It is at the heart of what this war is about: Standing up to tyranny throughout the world.”

Blue Crab Boulevard What to do about North Korea — “Opening negotiations will simply reward Kim Jong Il’s derangement and bring even greater aggression later. It is also necessary to show Iran that there are distinct consequences, not rewards, for nuclear aggressiveness.”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Mexico Wants UN To Block Fence — “The American border barrier will sit on American territory, and it will be used to enforce our national border. The need for that enforcement comes from a failure of Mexico to ensure that its citizens cross the border in a legal manner, as well as a failure of the Mexican government to provide the means for their citizens to prosper on their own. Derbez opposes the border because Mexico depends on the American money these workers send home to their families as well as the safety valve the border provides that keeps angry and starving young men from threatening the political order. If Derbez thinks the UN can solve those problems, then he will be sorely disappointed when he files his complaint.”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) North Korea Blows It — “Whatever the case may be, we still have a starving, threatening, incompetent, unpredictable, dictatorial regime that may or may not have nuclear weapons. That’s a dangerous situation and it really needs to be taken a little more seriously by everyone involved, from the Bush Administration to the Democrats who’ve offered no support for Bush’s policy or workable alternatives to it, to the “international community.” ”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) More Fizz Than Pop — “Perhaps the NK nuclear test had the same success as the nation’s long-range rocket? That test, if you recall, was also timed when the six nations working to reach an agreement were scheduled to meet. It’s hard to take a man who wears platform shoes to appear taller seriously, and Kim Jong-Il’s own rushed tests give credence to my weariness.”

Who wasn’t expecting this?

Democrats assail Bush’s N. Korea policy

Democrats seized on North Korea’s brazen act to criticize President Bush’s record in confronting the communist regime, contending the administration’s focus on Iraq ignored legitimate threats.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the president’s rival in 2004 and a potential 2008 candidate, assailed Bush’s policy as a “shocking failure,” and said, “While we’ve been bogged down in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, a madman has apparently tested the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.”

Personally, I’ve been expecting this since I first read about the nuke (if it was one) test.

The left, instead of addressing the problem, instead of offering any solutions or suggestion, and instead of even condemning the action, can only seize an opportunity to bash President Bush. Two examples:

“The Bush administration has for several years been in a state of denial about the growing challenge of North Korea, and has too often tried to downplay the issue or change the subject.” [Harry Reid]

“We had the opportunity to stop North Korea from increasing its nuclear power, but George Bush went to sleep at the switch while he pursued his narrow agenda in Iraq.” [Bob Menendez]

Senator Mitch McConnell sees all of this for what it is.

“Listening to some Democrats, you’d think the enemy was George Bush, not Kim Jong Il,”

I fully believe that many on the left think that very thing.

Ah! How sweet the coffee’s taste is,
Sweeter than a thousand kisses,
Milder than sweet muscatel.
Coffee, coffee, I must have it,
And if someone wants to treat me,
Ah, my cup with coffee fill! ~ Johann Sebastian Bach (Koffee Kantate)

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test — “North Korea conducted a nuclear test today that has set the world on edge, according to Pyongyang’s announcement and confirmation through seismic monitors. The yield, however, looks almost impossibly small:”

Blue Crab Boulevard China Denounces North Korean Nuke Test — “In unusually harsh language, China has condemned North Korea’s test of a nuclear weapon. The official statement tells North Korea it must halt any activities that would worsen the situation.”

PoliBlog (Dr. Steven Taylor) NK Joins the Club — “I have two initial reactions. One is that I wonder as to what said “severe consequences” can possibly be. The North Korean economy is already a wreck and there isn’t going to be an invasion. It would seem the country best situated to punish the North Koreans would be China, but it is unclear to me what they would do and if they are truly inclined to do it.”

Flopping Aces (Curt) North Korea Tests A Nuke — “So North Korea has decided to get even more stupid, and more dangerous….because there is nothing worse then a idiot dictator with a nuke:”

Confederate Yankee North Korea Detonates Nuke, Enters Refractory Period — “Time will tell, but I think North Korea miscalculated. They don’ t seem to have any other threats to issue now that they’ve test-fired both missiles and warheads in the past year. They’ve essentially fired out with everything they have, and I don’t see that they have anything with which to negotiate now.”