Check here:

 The Politico

They appear to have real-time returns posted across the top…

So says Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:

“We will again face the risk of running out of money,” Gates said at a Pentagon news conference. He said the uncertainly of funding requires the Defense Department to make “short-term plans and short-term decisions.”

You see, the Democrats in Washington, D.C. continue to put everything our troops have sacrificed for over the last year at risk by playing political games with the money needed to win the war in Iraq. Instead of fully supporting our troops and their courageous battle (not to mention recognizing the extraordinary turnaround we’ve seen recently in Iraq), the Democrats in Congress continue to pander to the left-wing, anti-war, lose-at-all-costs wing of their party.

As the article puts it:

Paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fits and starts undermines military planning and risks gains made by U.S. troops over the past year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.

It’s a great thing that people want to make the earth’s environment cleaner, more accessible, and make sure it stays that way for our children. Whatever you might think about global warming, I think everyone can agree that clean forests, jungles, oceans, and national parks are in all of our interests.

The question really to me is how do we go about doing this in an effective way that does not complete destroy businesses and the economy. The Kyoto Protocol that has been shoved in our face for over a decade now, is obviously not the right answer. One only has to look at the results to see what I mean:

Emissions worldwide increased 18.0%.
Emissions from countries that signed the treaty increased 21.1%.
Emissions from non-signers increased 10.0%.
Emissions from the U.S. increased 6.6%.

Those numbers are from a report, summarized here, pointing to the very problem that I am talking about. Despite the heavy-handed policies imposed by the Kyoto Protocols, levels of carbon dioxide have risen sharply in an overwhelming majority of nations that signed it.

Of course, the Left’s answer would be that Kyoto simply did not got far enough, and that we should implement even more severe standards to fix the problem. This strangle ignores the fact that:

…emissions from the U.S. grew slower than those of over 75% of the countries that signed Kyoto

Here’s all I’m saying: If you believe in global warming, wouldn’t you at least want to find a solution to the problem not based on blind leftist ideology, but maybe one that actual produces results?

By the way, here are some numbers on other countries rise in emissions from 1997-2004 (the US was at 6.6%):

Maldives, 252%.
Sudan, 142%.
China, 55%.
Luxembourg, 43%
Iran, 39%.
Iceland, 29%.
Norway, 24%.
Russia, 16%.
Italy, 16%.
Finland, 15%.
Mexico, 11%.
Japan, 11%.
Canada, 8.8%.

Well, they said it couldn’t work.

They said the war was “lost”.

They said our soldiers were committing attrocities, and their mere presence in Iraq was stiring up terrorism.

They said we must leave Iraq NOW because we had lost the war and our soldiers and their commanders were wrong.

Of course, the “they” were Democrats, and many have since changed their mind yet again on how we should be prosecuting this war on terror by recently admitting noted improvements in Iraq, albeit grudgingly.

How far, do you think, will they go to begin pandering on this one?

“I feel we are back in ‘03 and early ‘04. Frankly I was here then, and the environment is about the same in terms of security in my opinion,” [Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno] said. “What is different from then is that the Iraqi security forces are significantly more mature.”

Lt. Gen. Odierno is the second-in-command in Iraq, or as the artcile puts it “the man responsible for the ground campaign in Iraq”.

The article goes on:

The past six months, however, had seen some of the lowest levels of violence since the conflict began, Odierno said, attributing the change to an increase in both American troops and better-trained Iraqi forces.

And these comments were made when?

…Sunday as Iraqi forces formally took control of security across half the country.

Ohhhh. Sorta like they’re standing up as we stand down, huh?

The whole AP article is short and good. Read it all.

Wait, I thought we were losing…we were being wiped out around the country…it was only a matter of time before Republicans in traditionally safe districts would be running for the hills with angry hordes of voters lead by the Democrats on their heels.

Hmm, it seems not. Both in Virginia and Ohio, the GOP scored wins in congressional special elections. In Virginia, now Congressman Wittman won with a higher percentage than Bush did in 2004. In Ohio, now Congressman Latta held strong despite attacks from the DCCC and captured the seat with a convincing win.

I believe after some huge wins in Louisiana, Mississippi, and now Ohio and Virginia this is something you might call turning the corner…

…has an alter ego, and his name is Sen. Harry Reid (D).

Yes, Sen. Reid and the Democrat’s in charge are going to be responsible for the layoffs of US Army civilian employees right before Christmas because they refuse to pass a defense funding bill.

This is not only disgusting politics on Sen. Reid’s part (putting political maneuvering above good governance), but one has to wonder at what point our national security will come into jeopardy as the military is forced into bankruptcy by the Democrats.

Everyone has their qualms or outright bad things to say about the CNN/YouTube Deabte, but despite the flaws the format of having citizens interact directly with presidential candidates is an amazing advancement for democracy.

Now, we learn that of the three general election debates, at least one will include questions from the people:

The second departure from past CPD formats will be the introduction of internet access to the presidential town meeting debate. Questions solicited by Internet will be included with those from citizens on the stage with the candidates.

Yes, that’s right - the commission that puts together all the plans for the general election debates has recognized the extraordinary popularity (4.5 million viewers for the GOP YouTube debate, 5,000 questions asked), and has included questions submitted over the internet in the plans for the town hall debate.

We advance towards the future…

Sen. Harry Reid (D) is among them. He’s done it again:

“The surge hasn’t accomplished its goals,” Reid said. “… We’re involved, still, in an intractable civil war.”

This Politico.com article has it all, but the gist of it is that Reid refuses, despite even Rep. John “War Crimes” Murtha’s (D) recent acknowledgment, to admit that the new strategy in Iraq is working. It’s sad really when someone hopes for defeat so badly, that they can’t even admit that a 70% decline in violence in Iraq since June (and that was way back in October) is a good thing…poor Harry.

The Rhode Island College Republicans have gotten some attention from the Washington Times this morning for their event thanking HRC for her 2002 vote to authorize action in Iraq.

National Chairman Charlie Smith got a few words in with Techpresident.com from the spin room at the Republican Presidential Debate in St. Petersburg.