It's Not If, It's WHEN...

International:
Off to the UN
With President Bush set to address the United Nations General Assembly today, conservatives have renewed their attacks on the UN with the goal of creating a "wedge issue" for future elections. "Our membership in the UN," writes one conservative commentator, "has become a stain [on] our national pride." The criticism isn't new -- conservatives such as Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) once "vowed to starve the UN" unless it acceded to U.S. demands.

Bush will discuss his "freedom agenda," and focus on the Middle East as the "main battle ground" in the fight to "defend civilization and liberty."

The UN special representative to Sudan said yesterday that the peace agreement in Sudan is nearly dead. It is in a coma. It ought to be under intensive care, but it isn't. The spiraling violence has heightened criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the Darfur crisis. Last week, Bush blamed the UN for failing to send in peacekeeping troops without the Sudanese government's consent. "I'm frustrated with the United Nations in regards to Darfur," Bush said. "I'd like to see more robust United Nations action."

Bush Speaks at UN, Rumors of Iran Nukes, Better look out Iran!
“It’s DeJaVu all over again” Yogi Berra

Yesterday on CNN, Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner (Ret.) said, “We are conducting military operations inside Iran right now. The evidence is overwhelming.”

Gardiner, who taught at the U.S. Army’s National War College, has previously suggested that U.S. forces were already on the ground in Iran. Today he added several additional new points.
"The plan has gone to the White House. That's not normal planning. When the plan goes to the White House, that means we've gone to a different state." In this week's issue, Time magazine attempts to answer, "What War With Iran Would Look Like." The article noted an order has been given to minesweepers to deploy to the east coast of Iran, providing some indications that "that the U.S. may be preparing for war with Iran." This is a must see –so heres the video link!

The Wall Street Journal reports that "European opposition to any sanctions on Iran is part of an emerging 'dual-track' approach in which the EU talks with Iran about suspending uranium enrichment while the U.S. talks with others about sanctions."

Military launches a coup in Thailand
The Thai military launched a coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday night, circling his offices with tanks, seizing control of TV stations and declaring a provisional authority pledging loyalty to the king. An announcement on Thai television declared that a "Council of Administrative Reform" with King Bhumibol Adulyadej as head of state had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance. More information on this story is posted here.

In Other News...

There is a "grave danger that the Iraqi state will break down, possibly in the midst of a full-scale civil war," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday, urging the international community to do more. At least 43 people were killed by bombers and gunmen yesterday in Iraq.

Canada's government has exonerated a Canadian man who was handed over to the U.S. four years ago and deported to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured. The U.S. "refused to cooperate in the inquiry" of how the innocent man ended up being "rendered" abroad for interrogation.

National:
In a new offer, the White House has conceded changes to its previous proposal on detainees, while the Senate Republicans who challenged the administration's plan say they are once again hopeful a deal could be reached.

While no details have been divulged, the change in rhetoric was in stark contrast to last week when the two sides began counting votes and turned to the press to plead their case. And it came amid indications that Bush's plan was in increasing trouble in the both chambers of the GOP-run Congress.

But has the Senate already decided to reject the offer? CNN’s Katherine Koch this morning: “What we are hearing — this from a Republican source who’s very close to the negotiations and familiar with the offer that the White House sent up — is that, in this source’s words, the Senate Armed Services Committee is 'not accepting it in its current form.'"

Researchers reveal 'extremely serious' vulnerabilities in e-voting machines
In a paper published on the last week, a group of Princeton computer scientists said they created demonstration vote-stealing software that can be installed within a minute on a common electronic voting machine. The software can fraudulently change vote counts without being detected."We have created and analyzed the code in the spirit of helping to guide public officials so that they can make wise decisions about how to secure elections," said Edward Felten, the director of the Center for Information Technology Policy, a new center at Princeton University that addresses crucial issues at the intersection of society and computer technology.The paper appears on the Web site for the Center for Information Technology Policy.

The researchers obtained the machine, a Diebold AccuVote-TS, [seriously...thats the name] from a private party in May. They spent the summer analyzing the machine and developing the vote-stealing demonstration. "We found that the machine is vulnerable to a number of extremely serious attacks that undermine the accuracy and credibility of the vote counts it produces," wrote Felten and his co-authors, graduate students Ariel Feldman and Alex Halderman. Full article is here

From The Left
According to MediaMatters there have been two weeks of "Free Speech" on CBS, with no Democrats or progressives.

The nightly "Free Speech" segment of the September 18 broadcast of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric featured author Irshad Manji commenting on Pope Benedict XVI's recent remarks, in which the pope quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who referred to Islam as "evil and inhuman." Since "Free Speech" began on the CBS Evening News on September 5, CBS has featured three Republicans or conservatives, but not one progressive pundit or Democrat, see documentation here.

From the Right
Today I took a look at a writing by a prolific black conservative by the name of Thomas Sowell: entitled Suicidal hand-wringing. His point is that many in the media and in the government that is supposed to protect us have been preoccupied with whether we are being ‘nice enough’ to the terrorists in our custody. You can read for yourself here. I doubt that we are trying to be “nice enough” to any terrorists in custody –I would argue that we are trying to be sure that who is in custody are terrorists! (you never know -the way its going, the next 'terrorist' could be someone that simply doesn't agree with the president).

We have had laws and operations throughout our history that were successful in tracking, capturing, and punishing those who want to do us harm. This administration would have us believe that only their plan can work. They (ironically) have a track record that reflects the opposite when it comes to planning. I’ll take Ronald Reagan’s famous quote to quantify my opinion when it comes to believing in government these days…”Trust, but verify”

News Corp.'s Fox Filmed Entertainment is expected to unveil plans today to target the Christian audience under a banner called FoxFaith. "Fox might seem an unlikely studio to pioneer a religious label, given its history as a purveyor of salacious TV programming. Yet people in the Christian community say the company has gained credibility as the voice for conservative America through its Fox News Channel."

(Sources: AP, CNN, Center For American Progress, Princeton Univ., Townhall, LATimes, Christian Science Monitor, Whitehouse website, WashingtonPost, NYTimes, ,Bloomberg, WSJ )