Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Israel shows restraint, Palestinians Defiant

Israel has gotten a lot of bad press for missile strikes on homes in Gaza. The United Nations passes resolutions decrying the violence. But here's something you may not have heard about. Israel has been giving advance notice of their attacks with the intention of getting innocents out of the way before the strike.

That's right, the Israelis aren't the inhumane monsters the U.N. and the Palestinians would have you believe. They actually care about innocent civilians, unlike the homicide bombers they're fighting.

From BBC News:

The Israelis have called off a planned air attack on a house in Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza after hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield.

Mohammedweil Baroud said he was warned by Israeli forces to leave his home. He instead ran to a mosque and summoned neighbours to help defend the house.

Mr Baroud is a commander in the Popular Resistance Committees militant group.

The Israeli army often orders people out of homes ahead of attacks, saying it aims to avoid casualties.

...

The Israeli air force often uses night-time helicopter missile strikes to target the homes of leading militants in Gaza, which the Israelis say have been used to store weapons or plan attacks on Israel.

Very often the air force telephones a warning 10 minutes before the strike to give the occupants time to escape and keep down casualties, our correspondent says.

But on this occasion, the presence of so many people has made it impossible for the Israelis to carry though their planned air strike.

Hundreds of relatives and neighbours gathered at the house, where about 50 people reportedly climbed onto the roof. Others stood in the street chanting anti-Israeli and anti-American slogans.

...

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed to Reuters news agency that the raid had been called off because of the Palestinian action.

"The attack plan was cancelled because of the people there," he said. "We differentiate between innocent people and terrorists."

He said Israel would continue its policy of targeted air strikes and accused militants of using the civilians in the camp as human shields.

This isn't the first time Palestinian militants have used civilians as human shields. Israel has proven that they are much more human than the militants, who have attacked indiscriminately and without warning time and again.

Despite this the United Nations continues to condemn Israeli actions. Israel just can't win.

Maybe they should stop warning the enemy and simply take them out instead.

Linked at 123Beta.

Cross Removed From 307 Year Old Chapel

This is political correctness gone too far. It is unbelievable to me that in the name of multiculturalism a 307 year old Christian Chapel has had the cross removed. Sure, the cross is only 100 years old, but this is still a horrible decision. From the Washington Times via Conservative Beach Girl...

WILLIAMSBURG (AP) -- College of William & Mary President Gene Nichol stood by his decision to remove a cross from permanent display at the public university's chapel, despite a petition with 1,400 names of people who want the cross put back.

Last month, Mr. Nichol ordered the 2-foot-high century-old bronze cross to be kept in a sacristy of the chapel so the sanctuary would be more welcoming to all faiths, not just Christians.

...

On Thursday, Mr. Nichol told the school's Board of Visitors that displaying the cross in the historic building excluded students of other religions.

Over 100 years of history and 300 years of Christian tradition was wiped out in but a moment by this decision to accommodate the feelings of non-Christians. Mr. Nichol said displaying the cross "sends an unmistakable message that the chapel belongs more fully to some of us than to others."

Has the chapel been deconsecrated? If not, then it does belong more fully to some than to others. To hide the cross, a symbol of the faith the building was built to serve is a cowardly act of dhimmitude, that was undertaken by Mr. Nichol without even consulting the William & Mary community.

Judicial Nominations Fight Continues

The Associated Press can't help putting the label "conservative" on the notion of Judges interpreting the law instead of making law. An AP Article in the Olympian is headlined "Cheney: GOP losses won't keep Bush from nominating conservative judges". What Vice President Cheney actually said was that the losses wouldn't keep President Bush from nominating judges who believe in interpreting rather than making law. Somehow the headline seems to be trying to put a negative spin on the idea. Here's a few highlights from the full article.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney assured a conservative lawyers' group Friday that the Republican loss of Congress would not dissuade President Bush from nominating more judges who believe in interpreting rather than making law.

"Throughout our time in office, the president has selected judges who understand their role in the constitutional system," Cheney told the Federalist Society.

"And I assure you, nothing that's happened in the last two weeks will change his commitment to nominating first-rate talent like John Roberts and Sam Alito," Cheney said, referring to the two members of the Supreme Court named by Bush.

Cheney quoted Chief Justice Roberts as saying that judges are to be "servants of the law, not the other way around. "

...

Judges "have a duty to pursue no agenda or platform - and to leave politics to those who run for office and answer to the people," Cheney said.

...

Cheney also slammed a Michigan federal judge's decision in August that struck down Bush's warrantless surveillance program, saying it violated the rights to free speech and privacy, as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

He said that he was confident the decision would be overturned on appeal because the program "rests on firm legal ground."

As to the court's claim that it violated the doctrine of separation of powers, "we, of course, disagree," Cheney said. "But since we're on the subject of separation of powers, one conclusion is hard to escape: the Michigan district courts decision is an indefensible act of judicial overreaching."

...

The Senate's next Republican leader issued a veiled threat Friday to block action on legislation if Democrats refuse to allow confirmation votes on President Bush's troubled judicial nominations.

...

If the "Democrats want our cooperation, they'll give the president's judicial nominees an up-or-down vote," McConnell said.

Politics don't belong in the courtroom. Judges that interpret the law rather than making the law abuse their power and are the reason judicial nominations have been politicized. After all, if your policies aren't popular with the majority of the people, an alternative is to get a judge to enact them for you. The judges don't have to answer to the electorate.

Too many judges have taken to issuing policy edicts from the bench and ordering legislatures to write laws that the judges want rather than laws that the people want. The "gang of fourteen" was a poor example of spineless legislators seeking to avoid the issue rather than confront it. It's about time that Republican Senators showed some backbone in this.

Do we need another big government agency for transit?

Norm Rice and John Stanton want to merge Pierce, King, Kitsap and Snohomish county transit agencies with Sound Transit. That's just what we don't need, a bigger government structure to manage growth, land use and raise taxes and rates. Some highlights from the Tacoma News Tribune...

The commission has scheduled a public hearing in Tacoma on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Port of Tacoma Business Center, 3600 Port of Tacoma Road. A second hearing will be held Nov. 28 in Everett.

...

Find the report at psrtc.wa.gov/.

The commission is scheduled to make a final report to the Legislature and the governor by Jan. 1, in time to be considered during the 2007 legislative session.

The deadline to submit a comment to be included in the official record is Nov. 30. To comment: Call 800-606-9161, e-mail linda.robson@trilogy-partners.net or write to Regional Transportation Commission, PO Box 53010, Bellevue, WA 98015-3010.

Cross Posted at NWBloggers.com

The United Nations - Incapable of a helpful role

John Bolton knocks one out of the park. We need this man to stay at the U.N.

From Calcutta News.Net via Sister Toldjah:

Bolton was furious over the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution which said the assembly regretted the deaths of 19 civilians in an attack by the Israeli military in the town of Beit Hanoun last week.

...

"Many of the sponsors of that resolution are notorious abusers of human rights themselves, and were seeking to deflect criticism of their own policies," he said.

"This type of resolution serves only to exacerbate tensions by serving the interests of elements hostile to Israel's inalienable and recognized right to exist."

"This deepens suspicions about the United Nations that will lead many to conclude that the organization is incapable of playing a helpful role in the region," Bolton continued.

"In a larger sense, the United Nations must confront a more significant question, that of its relevance and utility in confronting the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the United Nations is ill served when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum that is a little more than a self-serving and a polemical attack against Israel or the United States," he said.

"The Human Rights Council has quickly fallen into the same trap and de-legitimized itself by focusing attention exclusively on Israel. Meanwhile, it has failed to address real human rights abuses in Burma, Darfur, the DPRK, and other countries," Bolton charged.

"The problem of anti-Israel bias is not unique to the Human Rights Council. It is endemic to the culture of the United Nations. It is a decades-old, systematic problem that transcends the whole panoply of the UN organizations and agencies," he continued.

The United States, and Australia joined Israel in voting against the motion, together with four small Pacific island nations. All countries in Europe, including Britain, voted to support the resolution.

...

The resolution was taken to the General Assembly after the United States used its veto to squash a similar motion in the Security Council. It was the 31st time the U.S. had used its veto at the UN to stop resolutions concerning Israel and the Palestinians.

Time after time the United Nations has shown itself to be incapable of condemning real atrocities and abuses. Time after time the United Nations has shown itself to be corrupt and self-serving. Time after time U.N. "peacekeepers" have turned a blind eye to the acts of evil going on in front of them, and have even participated in those acts of evil.

Europe and Great Britain should be ashamed of themselves for supporting this pathetically transparent attempt to blame Israel for the problems in the Middle East, while holding the Palestinians up as models of how the world should behave.

The United Nations is long past the time when it was a useful agent for good in the world.

Linked at Gateway Pundit, A Blog For All.

More drivers, more time in gridlock

From the Tacoma News Tribune comes another article on the WSDOT traffic study report issued earlier this week. This one focuses on the increased number of people in the region and the lack of infrastructure growth:

If you drive a car in the Puget Sound region, you already know the conclusion of a state Department of Transportation report issued this week. Traffic congestion is getting worse on the area’s freeways.

“We’re certainly seeing a trend,” DOT spokesman Lloyd Brown said Friday.

Data collected from car-monitoring sensors embedded in area highways show traffic conditions significantly worsened between 2003 and 2005, according to the department’s annual congestion report.

“On 34 of the 35 commute routes analyzed, travel times increased at peak periods, speeds slowed, peaks lengthened and the reliability of travel times worsened,” the department said in a Wednesday statement announcing the release of the study.

The biggest reason for the increasing congestion isn’t difficult to discern, according to state traffic engineer Ted Trepanier. State records show some 70,000 people moved to the Puget Sound region during the study period.

“The biggest factor is the area is growing and the infrastructure isn’t,” Trepanier said Friday. “You just have demand outstripping capacity.”

So why isn't the infrastructure growing to match the demand? Could it be because transportation officials in the King County area are obsessed with mass transit, even though only about 6 percent of trips in the area are taken on mass transit? The cost of weekday delays on major Puget Sound freeways was estimated by the DOT at about $164 million per year, affecting both commuters and commercial transportation in lost productivity, higher fuel costs, and wear and tear on vehicles.

Have you ever wondered why it is that so few people take transit despite the congestion? Maybe a little story from my personal experience will help to illustrate the problem. Or maybe I'm the exception.

I drive to and from work every weekday. By the shortest route I have found so far that's about 25 miles each way. The shortest time on that route is about 45 minutes. I don't drive on the freeways at all during that trip. Part of the reason the trip takes that long is due to speed limits on the roads. Another part, the frustrating part, is sitting behind busses that block entire lanes of travel while they're stopped at bus stops.

This past summer I had a trip planned that required me to not drive home after work. My family was going to pick me up in the van and off we would go. So I decided that that morning I would take the Sounder to Seattle and ride a bus from there to where I work. The day before the trip I researched the bus routes and the times that the Sounder ran.

The Sounder runs on a limited schedule. This is partly due to the fact that it has to share tracks with other trains. Bus service in Seattle runs pretty much continuously, but the routes are anything but convenient. I determined by checking the schedules that if I caught the Sounder, rode it in to Seattle, caught a bus, and took a transfer to another bus I would be able to arrive at work on time. If I got up an hour and a half earlier than my usual time and was willing to spend 45 minutes on the bus after I got into Seattle.

That was with the help of Metro's trip planner.

So I got on the Sounder and headed to work the next morning. The ride on the Sounder was for the most part pleasant. It was very easy to find a seat. As an estimate, I would say that there were only about a third of the seats filled. The only bad part of the trip was when the train stopped to wait for another train to clear the tracks ahead. This was an unscheduled stop and we sat there, not moving for over 15 minutes.

That's not so bad I was thinking. I usually end up stuck for that long near Boeing Field if I take I-5 Northbound to work (which is one of the reasons I don't anymore). Oh well, I got into Seattle a bit later than I thought I would.

I decided not to take the bus. Instead I walked from King Street Station to where I work in Capitol hill. It was mostly an uphill walk, and I'm a bit out of shape. I stopped to sit in a park to cool down a bit about three quarters of the way to work. I sat for 5 minutes. Then I got up and walked the rest of the way in to work. The total time for my walk, including the rest stop was just under 40 minutes.

So, based on this experience, I would say that the reason ridership on Sound Transit is so low compared to other forms of transportation would have to be convenience. Sound Transits routes are inconvenient to the average commuter. They take far longer than is necessary to get from place to place, and they cost far more than they're worth.

Meanwhile, the roads are deteriorating. Rainier Avenue South is cracked, full of potholes and poorly patched areas and uncomfortable to drive. I-5 south of Seattle to Federal Way is in horrible shape, with large holes in the concrete that wait to trap and bust the unwary tire, and uneven slabs of concrete that make riding along in the right-hand lane feel like riding an old poorly suspended wooden carriage over cobblestones.

I-405 has such poorly planned on-ramps and exits that parts of it are backed up for over 1/2 mile near exits even during low volume times. The shoulders are so narrow on the freeways that if your car broke down there's not enough room on the shoulder to pull over and stop without leaving your car halfway into the lane of traffic.

When I moved to the Seattle area in 1990, I-405 was under construction. Several years later the same areas were still under construction. For the last 5 years SR-18 has been under construction. The major work in both areas is done, but the pace of construction work was ludicrously slow. Meanwhile, other roads are falling apart and still we focus on mass transit as our solution.

It's time the DOT and King County started focusing their infrastructure dollars where they'll do the most good. Instead of spending nearly half of the transportation budget on mass transit while over 94% of the trips made are only inconvenienced by mass transit, we should start spending it to improve our infrastructure.

Sources: King County Budget Office 1998 annual growth report, King County Budget Office 2005 annual growth report.

Cross posted to NWBloggers.com

Establishment? Free Exercise? You make the call.

Karl, from Leaning Straight Up, has an interesting new post up at NWBloggers.com about Muslim prayer services being held at Dunlap Elementary in Seattle. Go, read it, and make up your own mind.