Chuck Hagel Will Run......Maybe ?!

Chuck Hagel, the Republican Senator from Nebraska who once called President Bush's plan to surge 21,500 troops in Iraq: "The most dangerous foreign policy blunder carried out since Vietnam.", called a press conference to make an announcement, which everyone thought would be his intention to seek the Republican nomination for President.

However he said: "I am here today to announce that my family and I will make a decision on my political future later this year."

He called a press conference to say that he had not yet made a decision. It would appear that the Senator is playing around with everyone. There are some real implications that come with whether or not he intends to run. One of the first things that comes to mind is the status of his seat in the Senate. He can either run for another term in the Senate or for the Presidential nomination but not both. If he decides to run for the nomination then his Senate seat would be up for grabs, and there are many Republicans waiting in the wing for a shot at his seat.

One potential candidate Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said: “He wants to wait, that means we’ll wait,” Bruning said, grimacing. “Senator Hagel has earned the right to make the decision in the time frame he sees fit.”

Only a week earlier, Bruning had said he was anxious for Hagel to make a decision. That came after Bruning was contacted by supporters of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is running for the GOP presidential nomination next year, seeking the Nebraska attorney general’s support.

Bruning told McCain’s camp then that he had to wait to see what Hagel would do.

Other Senate contenders include:

• Gov. Dave Heineman

• Hal Daub, 2nd District Rep.

• Lee Terry, 2nd District Rep.

• Jeff Fortenberry, 1st District Rep.

• Don Stenberg, former state Attorney General

• Pete Ricketts, last year’s GOP senatorial candidate

There are of course other considerations that will affect his campaign if he decides to announce later this year. ABC News political director Mark Halperin said:

"Sen. Hagel's decision to delay any decision makes it much harder for him to get the Republican nomination. He'll fall behind in fundraising. I think that (it) does, in the short term, probably darken his national future." He said it may also burn much of the political capital he earned with some voters by speaking out against his party on the Iraq war.
"Sen. Hagel has a lot of goodwill with the national media and with people in Washington, and I think he dipped into that goodwill quite a bit today with this non-announcement.

In an interview with MSNBC Tom Hagel, Sen. Chuck Hagel's brother, thought that the Senator would eventually go for the nomination:

I talked to him last week, and he told me what he was going to say. And I think that his inclination is to be in. And to be quite frank with you, I would expect him ultimately to throw his hat in the ring.

If Chuck Hagel does eventually decides to run, he would be a vocal Republican voice, perhaps the only one, against the war in Iraq. In fact his decision not to make a decision for now, is because of the war in Iraq:

"THIS IS AN ISSUE I HAVE BEEN DEEPLY INVOLVED WITH. I WANT TO KEEP MY FOCUS ON FINDING A RESPONSIBLE WAY OUT OF THIS TRAGEDY AND NOT DIVERT MY ENERGY, MY EFFORTS AND MY JUDGMENT WITH COMPETING POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS," SAYS HAGEL.

Diplomats Have More Fun

Tsuriel Raphael, a long-time career diplomat and until recently Israel's ambassador to El Salvador has a lot of explaining to do when he reports to his superiors.

El Salvador police found Raphael in the yard of his residence, tied up, gagged with a ball and drunk, Israeli media reported. He was wearing sex bondage equipment, the media said

The story was confirmed by an Israeli spokeswoman, Zehavit Ben-Hillel, from the Foreign Ministry who said that although Mr. Raphael did not break any laws "We're talking about behavior that is unbecoming of a diplomat". They have already begun looking for his replacement.

In recent years the Israelis have had problems with some of their diplomatic personnel:

• In 2000, Israel's ambassador to France died of cardiac arrest in a Paris hotel under circumstances the Foreign Ministry refused to publicize. Media reports said he was with a woman who was not his wife at the time.


• In 2006, Israel replaced its ambassador to Australia, Naftali Tamir, after he said Israel and Australia are "like sisters" because both are located in Asia and their peoples don't have the Asian characteristics of "yellow skin and slanted eyes."


• In 2005, Israel canceled the appointment of a diplomat to Australia after it was discovered that he published pictures of nude Brazilian women on the Internet while on a mission in Brazil.

Scooter Libby - Convicted Felon

In a major blow for the White House, former top aide Lewis (Scooter) Libby was convicted Tuesday in a scandal involving high-level attempts to discredit a vocal critic of the Iraq war.

Here are some video clips looking at the verdict from different angles.

The Prosecutor Speaks

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=GuQ7E819cwo]

Joseph Wilson Interview

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=VR4MsIBivlA]

Fox News - Fair Coverage?

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=HxVu3jMPj-c]

A Juror's Perspective

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=tJmRhmXDfvQ]

Scooter Libby NOT Guilty!!!

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wj6SXCJd5nE]

Kenneth Eng - In His Own Words

Kenneth Eng has finally come out to express his views in his own words, well sort of.....He was interviewed on "The Big Story With John Gibson" on Fox News. For a transcript of the interview click here.

The one thing about the interview that impressed me was his ability to turn the question: "Why do you hate Blacks?" into a discussion about his science fiction writings and every time John Gibson tried to get a straight answer out of him he went back to referencing his dragons.

At one point he asked John Gibson......you probably want to know why I call myself the god of the universe as well.....to which Gibson replied......No, I wasn't going to ask you about that. Well Kenneth wasn't going to let that stop him from answering his own question.

"if there is such a thing as god, then he's me. Either worship me or, you know, forsake religion."

Here is a video clip of the interview

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=TK4fjMhGn-I]

Giving Pot to Kids

This is something that makes you do a double take. Two teenagers giving kids, aged 2 and 5, marijuana to smoke.....and videotaping it. Both teens Demetrius McCoy, 17, and Vanswan Colty, 18, were arrested and each held on $150,000 bail on charges related to injury to a child.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=SPgKZOfG89Q&feature=related]
The mother of the toddlers, Shatorria Russell, 21, said she was at home at the time of the incident, but in another room. She said she was devastated to see her brother, Demetrius McCoy, giving marijuana to her two kids but nevertheless defended him saying "I know he don't mean to never hurt my children"
The toddlers have been removed from the home and placed in foster care. Child welfare officials are looking for relatives to take care of the kids, so far unsuccessfully.

Shirley Russell, Demetrius McCoy's grandmother and the kids great-grandmother said she was at work when the incident occurred:

"I'm very upset about it. I didn't raise them like that and they know I didn't raise them like that," Shirley Russell said. "I feel terrible about it, it's outrageous, all the things that went on and I didn't know nothing about them."

Russell agrees her grandson needs to be punished, but said her primary concern getting the two children out of foster care.

"I'm really concerned, I know that was wrong for them to do that," Russell said. "I work hard every day and I try to give them whatever they need, so I just hope they come back here."

Police Chief Bruce Ure of the Watauga Police Department was obviously upset over the incident:

"In 25 years, I have never seen anything remotely close to this, It's disturbing," Ure said. "I've never seen a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old coached into smoking marijuana. The 2-year-old child, he's actually inhaling it. He's got a raspy voice. He gives all the indications that this is not his first time, which is incredibly sad."