LorieByrd.com

Round up

The Anchoress does an excellent job of rounding up the most relevant news of the day from the blogosphere and this round up has a bit of a theme.  Almost all the cites she includes are great examples of liberals being shown to be wrong -- on global warming, on Iraq, etc.  Be sure to follow the links in this one.

Obama and Iraq

My column at Townhall today is about Obama's many changing positions on Iraq policy.  Here is an excerpt from "Leading Any Way the Wind Blows."

A year ago the Democrats were ecstatic over the prospect of tying the Republican presidential candidate to George Bush and his supposedly failed war in Iraq. Today the subject of the war has returned to the forefront of the campaign, but it is John McCain who is making an issue of it.  Over the past week the McCain campaign has called as much attention as possible to Barack Obama’s recent attempt to reconcile the things he has said about Iraq over the past few years to today’s reality on the ground.  Obama has even changed the Iraq page on his website to remove previous criticism of the successful troop surge and to delete the reference to removing troops from Iraq beginning “immediately.” 

One doesn’t need a long memory to recall Obama’s multiple positions on the war in Iraq.  Before we went into Iraq, Obama favored rolling the dice and trusting Saddam Hussein’s word on the threat he posed to the United States.  Obama won the Democratic nomination in large part by criticizing Hillary Clinton for her initial support of the invasion of Iraq.  I wonder how many Democrats would have predicted that Hillary Clinton’s Iraq position would be the one vindicated by events in the final months of the election.   Her predictions were certainly more accurate than any of Barack Obama’s.

Rest in Peace Senator Helms

I have been really sick the past week, but wanted to post a link to some of the coverage of Jesse Helms' passing and of his funeral today.  I will add my own thoughts when I am feeling a bit better, but here are a few links:

Senate resolution honoring Helms

Katy Benningfield (Tribute and funeral coverage)

"Helms University"

Sister Toldjah

WRAL.com

WRAL video

MSNBC.com

Interview with Helms

Brent Bozell

Rocky Mount Telegram (Excellent article)

Just when you thought you might not have to hear another word about a Durham rape case

Something like this comes along...

Durham, N.C. -- Police charged a third person Wednesday in connection with beatings and rape that authorities say were carried out by a satanic cult.

Diana Palmer, 44, of Cottage Woods Court, surrendered to police Wednesday afternoon. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact of assault with a deadly weapon and was being held in the Durham County Jail.

Palmer posted $30,000 bond Wednesday and was released from jail.

Joseph Craig, 25, has been charged with kidnapping, rape, forcible sexual offense and assault in the case. His wife, Joy Johnson, 30, has been charged with aiding and abetting. Both were being held Wednesday in the Durham County Jail.

The couple was arrested last week after a man and a woman told police they were beaten, shackled to beds, kept in dog cages and starved inside a home on Albany Street. Craig is accused of committing the crimes while his wife watched.

...

Palmer is first vice chair of the Durham County Democratic Party. Johnson resigned her positions as third vice-chair of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice-chair of the Young Democrats following her arrest.

"Diana is extraordinarily trusting and caring. I don't think she would ever knowingly do anything wrong," county party Chairman Kevin Farmer said.

State Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, called the case "an isolated incident" and said he doesn't expect any other Democratic Party activists to be implicated.

The county party's Web site was disabled Wednesday, but Farmer said that was related to a technical problem and not the allegations against Palmer and Johnson.