Sadly, No!

9/11 Commission Report, page 259:

Tenet told us that in his world “the system was blinking red.” By late July (2001,) Tenet said, it could not “get any worse.” Not everyone was convinced. Some asked whether all these threats might just be deception. On June 30, the SEIB contained an article titled “Bin Ladin Threats Are Real.” Yet Hadley told Tenet in July that Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz questioned the reporting. Perhaps Bin Ladin was trying to study U.S. reactions. Tenet replied that he had already addressed the Defense Department’s questions on this point; the reporting was convincing. [Emphasis added]

From a job offer posted on the web site of Baumann Unternehmensberatung:

Do you speak English excellent [?]

We might even go so far as to say… very excellent.

Alan emails us about reports that Spain’s former Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, used government funds to lobby for a nice and shiny US Congressional Gold Medal for himself:

The Spanish Ser radio station revealed yesterday that while in power the former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar engaged an American firm of lawyers who act as lobbyists to promote his image and collect signatures to enable him to get the Congressional Gold Medal. The contract was signed in secret and was paid for with Foreign Ministry funds. The news has sparked off widespread criticism.

In accordance with the terms of the contract signed with the Piper Rudnick firm of lawyers, the Spanish Ambassador to the United States Javier Ruperez paid 700,000 dollars at the beginning of the year and had undertaken to pay other sums during the following months until the figure of two million dollars had been reached. […]

The firm of lobbyists undertook “to assist the Spanish Government in its public diplomacy and communications strategy.” The contract refers to “the consolidation of relations with the White House” at a time when Aznar was continually saying that he had ?a privileged relationship? with George Bush.

In January the firm undertook to advertise the speech Aznar gave on Capitol Hill in February and to ask members of Congress to attend and to give their signatures in support of the Spanish president. Aznar has secured 306 signatures so far and has exceeded the minimum (290), but the Senate has not yet begun to process the proposal for awarding him the medal.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that:

Former Spanish prime minister Jos? Mar?a Aznar yesterday denied allegations that he was illegally holding on to secret intelligence reports and that his government paid a Washington lobbyist firm to help him secure a Congressional Gold Medal. […]

Mr Aznar, who is in Latin America promoting an autobiography, has so far failed to reply to a request from Spain’s Centre for National Intelligence (CNI) that he return any documents he may still have that refer to the March 11 bombings.

Mr Aznar suggested to a radio interviewer in Colombia earlier this week that he was still in possession of the CNI reports handed to him after the attacks that were followed three days later by his party being voted out of office.

“I have them because I was the prime minister,” he told the radio station.

So how do you say Go fuck yourself in Spanish?

Mona Charen is upset that those mean liberals are attacking her friend:

A recent inductee into the falsely accused Hall of Fame is my friend Daniel Troy, currently serving as general counsel at the Food and Drug Administration.

Troy has been attacked in U.S. News and World Report, the Denver Post and the Boston Globe. He is being described as “too close to those he regulates” because he played a minor role in a case involving Pfizer Pharmaceuticals when he was in private practice.

Minor player, major income:

…according to Troy’s financial disclosure form, Pfizer had paid Troy’s firm nearly $360,000 for services “provided directly by” Troy in less than six months.

And just what did US News & World Report?:

For a decade, a Washington lawyer named Daniel Troy tried to restrict the regulatory powers of the Food and Drug Administration. He won his share of legal battles, taking the side of the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries against the federal agency. But Troy is no longer on the outside throwing stones. […]

Since taking over as the FDA’s chief counsel in August 2001, Troy, 43, has held dozens of private meetings with drug manufacturers and others regulated by the FDA. He kept no notes or minutes of those meetings. A U.S. News inquiry shows he has also favored less rigorous enforcement of regulations for some products and has been lenient about scrutinizing advertising claims by companies. […]

Troy’s doorway has been crowded by an industry legendary for its lobbying clout. A report from the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen shows drug companies employed 625 lobbyists in 2000–more than one for every member of Congress. Between September 2001 and November 2002, Troy operated as the de facto head of the FDA, sources in the drug industry say; it was not until November 14 that Mark McClellan, a medical doctor and health care economist, was sworn in as FDA commissioner. During that period, documents show, Troy held at least 50 meetings with representatives from the industries FDA regulates. U.S. News sought records of those meetings with industry under the Freedom of Information Act but was informed by Troy’s office that there are “no minutes, no memos, no nothing.” Troy declined to say why he did not keep notes of those meetings. […]

The FDA’s central focus, however, remains the regulation of pharmaceuticals. During Troy’s tenure, the FDA has seen a falloff in enforcement actions against drug companies for questionable advertising claims. […]

He represented the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. in its effort to fend off the FDA in the 1990s.

Sounds like Troy is just the guy one would want at the FDA. And where was he before? The American Enterprise Institute. It’s beautiful.

As Pete M. noted in his Send Hans Zeiger to the GOP Convention post, the management of Sadly, No! has a thing for one of Hans’ competitors, one Sheri Valera:

Our somewhat sudden declaration of love notwithstanding, Sadly, No! isn’t the kind of blog that falls in love just because of a woman’s looks. (Amber Pawlik being all the proof one ever needs — how could one resist an intellect like that?) Speaking of Amber, as regular readers surely know, she belongs to the Salvation Army Corps of Professional Virgins, a distinguished group of individuals whose members include Ben Shapiro. Yet even our very own and pure Amber believes that some hanky panky is acceptable before one’s wedding night however:

I spent the weekend with my boyfriend, in Indiana for a wedding. There is a big smile on my face right now. I love him. A lot. I didn’t want to give him mono so we didn’t kiss on the lips.

What does this have to do with Miss Valera you wonder? Well, she makes Amber Pawlik look like a total slut, that’s what. Impossible? Well then, you’ve obviously never heard of Google, which brings us this:

There’s a Gainesville legend that says if a University of Florida student graduates and is still a virgin, a brick will fall from Century Tower. But what will happen if one graduates before sharing his or her first kiss? Will the Tower just crumble to pieces? Well, we’ll see when political science junior Sheri Valera finishes school.

While it might seem unbelievable that this head-turning, green-eyed brunette has never kissed a boy, it’s true. Valera has decided to wait until marriage to lock lips. Through her no-kissing stance, she’s determined to set an example for girls to have higher standards and to wait until they meet “the one.”

Oh, talk dirty to us Sheri!

O&B: What’s up with the no kissing policy?
Sheri: To guard my heart. It protects me emotionally and spiritually.

Awww!

O&B: If a guy were to kiss you, how would you feel?
Sheri: I’d slap him because that shows he is thinking only of himself.

ok, but how would you feel Sheri? A little bit too turned on maybe? Especially if the kissing was being done by Pete M. from The Dark Window?

O&B: Don’t you get the urge?
Sheri: Sure, but when I spend time with a guy, I surround myself with friends to not put myself in the situation.

Well I, uh, I’m not sure how you pronounce it or anything, but I, uh, I believe it’s M?nage ? Trois?

O&B: Does this mean you have kissed dating goodbye as well?
Sheri: No, but the guy has to initiate it.

Followed by… The Slap!

O&B: Do kissing scenes in movies make you squirm?
Sheri: Some movies I’m like ‘Awww.’ But most movies, the girl is too good for the guy. I’m like ‘NOOOO! Get your hands off! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!’ and want to sing Aretha Franklin.

You mean this song?

Ooo, your kisses (oo)
Sweeter than honey (oo)

Any last words Sheri?

O&B: Are you nervous about your first kiss being in front of everyone at your wedding?
Sheri: Yeah. But at the same time it will be a great encouragement to a lot of younger girls who are single.

We can’t add anything to that.

Added: More Sheri Valera related material here, here and there.

Yes, today is Friday. No, once again there will not be a Flash Friday animation. That sucks you think? Sure it does — but what are you going to do about it? To keep you busy on this no Flash Friday however, the management is happy to offer the following links:

Pete M. from The Dark Window asks for your help in a very important project: sending Hans Zeiger to the GOP convention. So go over there now and follow the instructions!

G.A. Cerny has several interesting posts on the Berger affair (1, 2, and 3🙂

This is where it gets really strange. As I wrote yesterday, and as anyone at all familiar with the Archives’ procedures knows, you’re not allowed to bring in anything to carry documents, or any unchecked papers that might get confused with Archive documents. It absolutely amazes me that this basic restriction, which I have never seen broken in the public reading rooms, would be so casually violated in a secure room. I have no explanation; the only thing I can think of is that people with high security clearances do not face that restriction, though that makes no sense as policy.

And the All Spin Zone reminds you to be wary of people wearing X-Ray glasses.

Earlier this week, we had a chance to watch one of our favorite movies, the Marx Brothers’s classic Duck Soup. You can imagine our surprise when we noticed that a young Saddam Hussein played a small part in that movie:

A few days ago, the incomparable World O’Crap told us about the recent FoxNews Fair & Balanced report on Canadian treachery:

From Bill O’Reilly’s latest column:

A recent poll taken in Canada says that 40% of Canadian teenagers believe the United States is an “evil” country. Among French-Canadian teens, the number rises to 64%. This, of course, is hard to believe, and must be laid right on the doorstep of the often viciously anti-American Canadian press as well as irresponsible educators supposedly teaching Canadian kids about the world.

Or, we can lay it to blame where it belongs: on vicious French-Canadians mocking our imminent doom while hiding out in Germany.

Which makes this column written by a fellow that conducted the poll in question very entertaining reading:

My descent into Fox News’s bizarre take on all things Canadian started with a mention on Matt Drudge’s website. The editors of the Drudge Report had posted the findings of a survey my organization had released in the final week of the federal election. When we asked 500 Canadian teens a series of questions in a telephone poll about our country’s role on the world stage, 40 per cent indicated that they agreed with the statement, “America is force for evil in the world.” […]

The first sign that the Drudge Report mention was whipping up a tempest in a teapot came in the form of a screed by arch Canada-baiter and top-rated Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly. I suspect his producers have Google news alerts set up with the key words “Canada,” “socialism,” “draft dodgers” and “anti-Americanism.” On his show, Mr. O’Reilly used the single survey statistic to let loose on Canada’s political leaders, the media and our “ignorant teens.” One of his choicer utterances included: “The truth is that the USA has freed more human beings in 230 years than the rest of the world combined. France has freed almost no one. Ditto Canada. . . . I object to the anti-American foreign press and bums like Chirac in France and Chr?tien in Canada.”

Sorry, but didn’t our Governor-General and President George W. Bush just commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day together in France? Last time I looked, we fought alongside the Americans in Korea, during the long grind of the Cold War and served with distinction in Bosnia and Afghanistan. And by the way, we have had a new Prime Minister for seven months and his name is Paul Martin. […]

In the ensuing 24 hours, my e-mail inbox was clogged with a strange m?lange of messages from Canada-hating O’Reilly fans and updates from friends on both sides of the border as to where our now “viral” poll was popping up in the U.S. media.

CNN’s Tucker Carlson of Crossfire fame offered what was a familiar anti-Canadian refrain in the continuing coverage of the poll result: “It’s time for America to get some self-respect. . . . Until Canadian attitudes change, there should be a moratorium on Canadian immigration to the United States. No one who says ‘aboot’ could come here.”

It is easy to write off Bill O’Reilly and Tucker Carlson as blowhards or worse. [Yes, it sure is! –S,N!]

Hey boys and girls, remember this?

Iyad Allawi is alleged to have shot the prisoners at a Baghdad police station days before power was handed to the interim Iraqi Government last month.

Last night his office denied the accusation, saying it was typical of black propaganda spread by Iraq’s enemies.

and that:

Is there any truth to these tales that Allawi has shot suspects? The stories have been denied by Allawi and dismissed by members of his interim government, the U.S. Embassy and a State Department spokesman. The Iraqi press has refrained from making any mention of the story. On the other hand, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook urged the Red Cross to investigate the allegations. [Emphasis added]

Yet in a Donald Rumsfeld interview with Steve Gill of WWTN, this exchange took place:

STEVE GILL: Change, obviously, is always difficult whether it’s in the military or in a country. Getting back to Iraq, we’ve seen some changes not just in the government structure where Paul Bremer and his team have been replaced now by Prime Minister Allawi and his team. They can do some things it seems to me, Mr. Secretary, that we weren’t able to do. Obviously, they’ve been able to execute a couple of the insurgents — I think six or seven of them. We couldn’t do the same thing. And that tougher approach may bear dividends for them when we really couldn’t do it.

SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, there’s a lot of things that an Iraqi government can do that we can’t do. They have, clearly — foreign troops in your country are always inevitably going to be considered an occupation force and people worry about an occupation force. The Iraqi government is not an occupation force and it can do things and not have its motives questioned and it can be less likely to be criticized, even if they did exactly the same thing. But they are capable of doing things that really will reflect an Iraqi template, Iraqi solution to the problems in Iraq and that’s what they should do — it’s their country. [Emphasis added]

So what, exactly, was Steve talking about? And who was “they?” If the stories aren’t true, why didn’t Rumsfeld say something?!?

(TTBFTL.)

The Christian Broadcasting Network has some scary news:

Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe are Worse than You Think

The article consists of an interview with Jed Babbin, who is introduced thusly:

LEE WEBB: Our guest today said that the United Nations openly cooperates with terrorists. It has become a tool for rogue nations. He claims if presidential candidate John Kerry has his way, U.S. Foreign policy will be dictated by Third World bureaucrats in the UN.

Which likely explains why later on the show this exchange takes place:

WEBB: Would John Kerry really give other countries in the UN control of U.S. foreign policy?

BABBIN: Well, I don’t know if Mr. Kerry would, or actually could, given the Congress he’s likely to inherit, if, in fact, he’s elected.

Wow, thanks for coming on the show.