Wednesday's notes & links

Fred Barnes says "Don't Call It a Comeback" regarding the president's approval numbers.

PRESIDENTS RARELY RECOVER from second term slumps, but President Bush may be on the verge of at least a modest upturn and perhaps a strong recovery. For sure, his plunge in job approval over the past year has been halted. The Bush decline in 2005 and 2006 was caused, in part, by intensified terrorist attacks in Iraq, the failure of his Social Security reform initiative, and bad luck in the form of hurricane Katrina and the Dubai ports deal. The president's approval rating in the Gallup Poll plummeted from 51 percent on the day of his second inauguration to 31 percent in May, 16 months later. But in recent days, Bush has been blessed with good news. Last week, Americans found and killed the chief jihadist in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, eliminating the top strategist and operational leader of the insurgency. And on Monday, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald informed Karl Rove, one of Bush's most influential advisers, that he has no plans to seek an indictment of Rove in the case of a CIA official whose name was disclosed to the press. Zarqawi's death thrilled the White House. The clearing of Rove evoked a sigh of relief.

Scalia Sparks Debate Over Role of Judges Both On Bench and Off. Nothing really new but an interesting read regarding the justice who understands the role and limitations of the judiciary.

Here is a story of political corruption from the nations capital.

D.C. Council members have long distributed to family and friends special license plates that have accrued more than $20,000 in city parking fines, which the plate owners likely will not have to pay.

What legitimate reason can there be for "special license plates" for council members, let alone family and friends?

I've long believed that a large part of the Iraqi insurgency was fueled by neighboring nations (Syria and Iran) fearful of the idea of democracy spreading. Here is an article supporting that notion, Iran’s agents arrested in key Iraqi province.

Some 50 Iranians along with an Iranian security forces commander have been arrested by Iraq’s security forces in the central province of Diyala, an Iraqi television channel reported. The arrests were made during a raid jointly by American and Iraqi forces late Sunday in the town of Baquba, 65 kilometres north of the capital, the Salahuddin television station reported. Those arrested were believed to be behind a spate of kidnappings and murders in an effort to further strain ethnic tensions in Iraq.

Why wasn't this the lead item in national news?

This is kind of funny. Betsy Newmark has a post about a candidate for Supreme Court in North Carolina who is so outrageous both parties are urging voters not to vote for her.

She refers to the Democratic state party leader as "der Fuhrer." And that is her own party! And now she refers to a black Republican, Vernon Robinson, running against Brad Miller for the House as a "good slave" or an "Uncle Tom." Classy.

I am normally very supportive of the police. However, I have seen a trend in recent decades toward discouraging citizens from defending themselves or their property. Here is another example.

A Framingham man is being called a hero by some and a criminal by police. James Copp reportedly swung a baseball bat at a man who was trying to break into his car over the weekend. The alleged thief suffered minor injuries. Neighbors said Copp is a hero for fighting back, but police said it still amounts to assault. They told the MetroWest Daily News that they had no choice but to charge him.

No, they did have a choice. They could have chosen to use common sense. If someone is breaking into my car, or my house or threatening me or my family I have every right (heck a responsibility) to assault the daylights out of him.