Matt Heidt attended the funeral of Petty Officer James E. Suh yesterday. You will want to read his account of the salute Suh's fellow SEALs gave him. Prayers for his family.

From this morning's paper:

A THIRD Islamist terror cell is planning multiple suicide bomb attacks against Tube trains and other “soft” targets in central London, security sources have revealed.

Intelligence about a cell with access to explosives and plans to unleash a “third wave” of attacks was the trigger for last Thursday’s unprecedented security exercise. The operation saw 6,000 police, many armed, patrolling across London.

Senior police officers say that there was “specific” intelligence from several sources that an attack was planned for that day. The disclosure contradicts official statements by Scotland Yard that Thursday’s security exercise — the biggest since the second world war — was simply a precaution aimed at reassuring the public.

From this morning's Washington Post:

Edwards sounded troubled by what he has seen of Roberts's record and said his former colleagues should press the nominee to explain his philosophy in greater detail. "Does Judge Roberts still hold today the views he promoted earlier in his career?" he asked, according to his prepared text. "Is Judge Roberts committed to implementing the radical 'protect-the-powerful' jurisprudence or does he recognize the claims of the powerless as well as the powerful?"

That "protect-the-powerful" jurisprudence which brought us Kelo?

In Chuck Schumer's absurd list of questions he gave Judge Roberts, there is not a single reference to Kelo.

Senator Schumer's long list of questions also did not ask the nominee about the Massachusetts Supreme Court's decision in Goodrich v. Department of Health, which decreed that same sex marriage would be the law in that state, or the implications of of Goodrich for the federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"), evem though DOMA is being contested in the federal courts as a violation of the Constitution's Full Faith and Credit clause and the guarantee of Equal Protection.

Of course Edwards, Schumer and other voices of the left in the debate over the courts don't want to call attention to the decisions that deeply offend a large majority of Americans. But once again the leadership of the Democrats has blundered.

Judge Roberts will use the Ginsburg precedent and refuse to answer most of Chuck Schumer's questions --as he should-- but the GOP senators will no doubt ask their version of Schumer's list, and that list will include Kelo and Goodrich and many other cases. Roberts will decline to answer those as well, but the point will not be that Roberts is consistent in his refusal to compromise the independence of the judiciary, but that the audience watching has much more to fear from Schumer style activism than from the sort of court that Schumer appears to fear.

The left never seems to understand that their grandstanding highlights exactly those qualities which most disqualify them from power. Schumer wants attention to his questions and the hearings in which they will be asked? We can only hope that all the networks give him gavel to gavel coverage.

From the New York Times Magazine:

I share a row house with three other men. Until a few years ago, I still slept on the couch. Congressman George Miller and Senator Dick Durbin live upstairs. They each get a bedroom.

Q. This has the makings of a television sitcom. Who does the cooking?

Not me! There's not much cooking. In fact, when George Miller's son was 18, he sent us venison. It was the first deer he had killed. It stayed in the freezer for 17 years.

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for pointing to this story that is touching because it involves a family, a Marine, and an admiring civilian.

Flap's got a great round-up of links for the beginner to the story, which means all MSM reporters. Wizbang looks at the Drobnys. Macho Nachos talks to lawyers.

Thus far only the New York Dail News has run any news story on the debacle.

We know every twist and turn in Rush Limbaugh's medical history, but no one in MSM has the time to follow the Air America money, even when bloggers have laid out the roadmap?

I received a call from Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post today, requesting I call her back to discuss the nomination of John Roberts. I assumed that this is because (1)I worked with John Roberts in the White House Counsel's office for a year and (2)the big document dump may have turned up memos with my name on them which are of interest to the Post. Goldstein had a big story on the docs in Wednesday's Post.

Then again, it might be about the White House basketball team on which I was the player-coach and for which Judge Roberts played. That team's level of play was truly a scandal.

Or she might be calling about the "White House V-Toes," the 1985 White House Nike Capitol Challenge 5-k Team, for which both Judge Roberts and I ran.

The subject didn't matter to me. I had my assistant call back and say fine. She could interview me. Only one condition: The interview had to be conducted on air, live, during my broadcast. Would she please call the show line at 3:06 Pacific?

I had a similar request from a New York Times reporter for a similar interview a couple of days back. I made the same offer. He didn't respond.

Amy Goldstein did respond. She declined. My assistant relayed that Ms. Goldstein didn't want her story "out there" before it ran.

Fine, I thought. But then I got to thinking: Isn't journalism supposed to be in the public interest? If Goldstein wants information from me, and I am willing to give it to her, isn't she putting her own interests in a "scoop" or an "angle" ahead of the public's by refusing to conduct an interview she thought would be useful in the first place? And isn't she going forward with a story she knows may well be unnecessarily incomplete because she doesn't like the fact that her questions and my answers would have been on the record?

I of course want my listeners to get a chance if not to see the sausage that is MSM "news" being made, at least hear it being ground fine. I had hoped to compare whatever I was able to provide Ms. Goldstein with whatever it is that she publishes on the subject. Interesting all around, no?

But she declined to conduct the interview she requested. How interesting to note that the Post is willing to use sources that insist on anonymity, but not sources that demand transparency.

UPDATE:

There is no story with a Goldstein byline in this morning's paper, though her first message employed the standard "I'm on deadline" technique that many reporters use to get a source to return a call quickly. The harmless bit of ruse is that the deadline ccould be, and in this instance probably was, for Sunday's paper. So it isn't a lie, just another bit of subterfuge that is part of MSM's DNA.

RogerLSimon has more. (HT: Instapundit.) So do Powerline and Ed Driscoll.

Form 990s are filed by all not-for-profits. They are public documents. Here's the one for the Gloria Wise Community Center for the period ending June 30, 2003. Still looking for a more recent filing.

BTW: 18 USC Section 1001 is The False Statements Act. That's why such forms as this one (and all of Air America's filings) had better accurately reflect the realities of the organizationn's finances.

It appears that --in the year ending June 30, 2003, the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club had little investment income --$21,596-- which makes it odd indeed that the group would make a huge "investment" the following year. It also appears that in the year covered by the 990, the group got $3,774,920 from government gants, and only $529,740 from the public in the form of contributions. (It also earned $562,095 from services which people paid for.)

Note Line 54 --the Club had no investments this year. None.

This is strange indeed. If contributions from the public remained relatively constant from this year to next, the Club would have been "investing" almost all of their non-government funding in Air America. Every government grant I have ever seen specifically addresses the purposes for which it must be used, and I have never seen one that authroizes investments in rickety politicla start-ups.

Wow, and wow again. Where is Elliot Spitzer. What did Al Franken know and when did he know it?

Read this IRS Reg on "Inurement." This is the source for a lot of conflicts investigations in the not-for-profit world.

UPDATE: New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has a blog at his governor's campaign site. As discussed below, this Mr. Clean crusader should have been checking into the Air America funding scheme months ago. You may want to stop by his blog and register in order to urge --politely-- that if he's got time for radio payola, he's got time for, er, unusal radio funding from 501(c)(3)s.

CNN's "Inside Politics" blog sp[ecialists Abbi Tatton and Jacki Schechnerspent the entire second segment of today's show on Air America's woes. Since this segment of the IP show can often tip sleepy old media types to emerging stories, look for some follow-up digging by the dinosaurs over the weekend.

The Philly Inquirer did have this story on AA last month, and note that it does not distinguish between the Air America of spring 2004 and Air America of today. That's because it doesn't matter who "borrowed" the money from the kids and the Alzheimer's patients. It matters where the money went --which was into Al Franken's already well lined pockets, as well as the pockets of everyone else receiving Air America paychecks at the time of the diversion.

Now here's a shocker: There's no mention of the diversion on Al Franken's blog! But, but, but...I thought he was all about transparency!

Here is the web site for the Gloria Wise Community Center. Here's the link to the Center's Camp Air America. What do campers learn? Creative accounting.

Here's the budget info on the web site:

Staff:
181 full-time
548 part-time
Budget managed:
$17.2 million
Budget distribution:
Pre-school: 22%
Youth services: 48%
Camp: 3%
Older Adults services 12%
Administration: 13%
Development: 2%

Here's the most recent ionformation of the Center's Board of Directors:

Board of Directors
Jeannette Graves - President
Deloris Barmore - Vice President
Octavio Cruz - Treasurer
Hillel J. Valentine - Secretary
Anna L. Capell
Leslie Frohberg
John Roset
Charles Rosen - Ex-Officio
Genevieve Tearr
Novella Thomas

Now, would-be Jimmy Olsons, the next step is to find each of the Board members and see if they knew about and approved of the "diversion" of funds to Air America. You might also inquire as to whether they have heard from any investigating authority.

BTW: Elliot Spitzer is Mr. Clean, right? His new website stresses "Accountability" and "Integrity." Not if he lets his lefty friends get a pass as he chases after every suit on Wall Street. Spitzer has been crusading against radio payola recently. It will be very interesting if the donors to the Center --who, assuming the Center is a 501(c)(3), would get to write off their donations-- are prominent supporters of left-wing politics. It would be convenient, to say the least, if your tax-deductible donation ended up in the operating fund of a friendly radio network.

UPDATE:

Here's the transcript of the CNN "Inside Politcs" segment on Air America's Children's Crusade:

JOHNS: Air America Radio is attracting a lot of attention from bloggers today. For more on that, let's check in with CNN political producer Abbi Tatton, and Jacki Schechner, our blog reporter -- Jacki.

SCHECHNER: Hi, Joe.

Well, many of the conservative bloggers are talking about a New York investigation into the possible diversion of funds from an inner city Boys and Girls Club to the liberal radio station Air America. This started with Brian Maloney over at TheRadioEqualizer.blogspot.com.

He picked up a small mention as part of a larger article in the "New York Daily News." And as part of that article, it turns out that the former CEO of Air America was also on the board of that Boys and Girls Club. And that's where the investigation continues right now into what sort of diversion of funds may have taken place.

TATTON: Working with Brian Maloney on the store is Michele Malkin at MicheleMalkin.com. She's been really pushing it. This is a blogger driven story that she feels is not getting enough coverage in the mainstream media.

Michele has been linking to statements put out from Air America on this case. What they're essentially saying is the funds in question that are being investigated were to previous business owners of Air America, that they have nothing to do with those preview business owners and so they are not responsible for what's going on here.

The debate carrying on at DailyKos.com, whether webmaster of Air America, that's Adam Mordecai, is posting the most recent statement saying that they have no obligation to the previous business owners, but their still working with the Boys and Girls Club. And very much the Boys and Girls Club very much has the support of Air America.

SCHECHNER: That did not stop the conservative blogs from posting all sorts of headlines like "Al Franken Steals Money From Kids and Old Folks" or things like JackLewis.net, "Liberals Stealing From Poor Kids." They really, you could take your pick of blogs on this one. That sort of vein.

But over at the larger blogs like WhizbangBlog.com, they're doing what Michele Malkin and what Brian are doing, and they're looking deeper into the statement from Air America saying whatever the answers are at this point, it's not enough for them. And they are going to continue to push the investigation.

Joe, we will send it back to you.

The confirmation of Christopher Cox today to head the SEC will trigger a special election in Orange County, California. State Senator John Campbell, a frequent guest on my program when California politics are on the nation's front pages, will run for the seat, and all of Cailfornia and the country will be well served by his election. Intelligence, business success, and character make for good legislators. (We have to overlook Campbell's graduate degree in accounting from USC.) I am certain that Campbell will quickly find a voice and influence in the House.

Please consider a contribution to his campaign which will be short and sharp and in which Democrats --using special election rules-- hope to create some mischief.

You can contribute via the website CampbellforCongresss, using the online contribution form.

Senator Frist's position on stem cell research hurts him with the evangelical base he was said by the left to be playing to throughout the past year and especially during the Schiavo tragedy. Frist is hardly a frontrunner in need of a Sister Souljah moment. Perhaps he is what is so rare for the left to understand: A man of principle who reasons to positions and then defends them.

From this morning's New York Times:

The president's record over the past few weeks, combined with generally good economic news and word that the budget deficit is shrinking, suggests that Mr. Bush has hardly lapsed into the lame-duck status that Democrats had been hoping to assign him.

For a nation that is the midst of a poker craze, you would think that by now most would have figured out that President Bush isn't the sort of character who calls "All In" twice a month. Rather, he plays his hands well, wins most of the time, and watches as his opponents throw down cards in disgust and walk away. (If you didn't hear Nancy Pelosi's press conference yesterday, you missed the pure sound of a loser who will never be anything but a loser because she cannot get above her own bitterness to ask what it is that allows the president to keep winning hand after hand.)

True enough, Bush hasn't brought home Social Security reform, and Democratic obstruction on that and a host of other issues will be part of the campaign in '06. Bush knows that his place at the table goes on for three and half more years.

But he keeps piling up win after win. When the "legacy" detectives come 'round in '09 and thereafter, they won't be struggling --as they have been with Clinton-- to find anything of note.

Air America is fingered as looting public funds from kids' programs. Air America responds by saying the fingerees left a year ago.

But what did Al Franken know, and when did he know it? Is Al returning his salary that was paid at least in part from the basketball funds of a Boys and Girls Club?

A Congressional hearing into this "transfer" of funds would be quite interesting. Perhaps Franken would lunge over the table at his questioners.

Ed Morrissey has more. Space for Commerce urges us "to think of the children." DiscerningTexan translates the Air America response. Updates as they occur throughout the day.

Heh. Stuart Smalley was getting paid with funds that ought to have gone to seniors with Alzheimer's.

The Washington Post wrote about all the "unsolicited offers [Janeane] Garofalo has received" after the actress went very public with her opposition to the war. Maybe the Post will go back and categorize the tax dollars diverted from the poor to the on-air rich at AA. Was that an "unsolicited offer" as well? Invite Janeane to the hearings as well.

At last Bernie Ebbers looted his own company, not the Boys & Girls Club.

MichelleMalkin and Brian Maloney (who owns the story)have all the links that matter. It is going to be fun to see how CNN's Inside Politics --especially the blog segments-- treat this story. Looks like a blog swarm to me, because if there's one bit of looting going on, there's bound to be more. Perhaps John Campbell can get to D.C. in time to put his accounting background to use in this investigation.

Would someone tell Brian Maloney to e-mail me? He'd make a great guest on today's program.

UPDATE:

Wizbang has more.

From Mark Steyn's latest:

Madrid and London — along with other events such as the murder of Theo Van Gogh — are, in essence, the opening shots of a European civil war. You can laugh at that if you wish, but the Islamists' most often-stated goal is not infidel withdrawal from Iraq but the re-establishment of a Muslim caliphate living under Sharia that extends to Europe; and there’s a lot to be said for taking these chaps at their word and then seeing whether their behaviour is consistent.

Of course read the whole thing.

And then consider how obvious my advice below to the new publisher of the Los Angeles Times is.

A brilliant piece by Youssef M. Ibrahim, a former New York Times reporter, "The Muslim Mind is on Fire." (HT: LGF)

Powerline has other welcome news from within Islam. Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch has more. Spencer also firmly rejects the Tancredo Option:

It is likely that a destruction of the Ka’aba or the Al-Aqsa Mosque would become source of spirit, not of dispirit. The jihadists would have yet another injury to add to their litany of grievances, which up to now have so effectively confused American leftists into thinking that the West is at fault in this present conflict. But the grievances always shift; the only constant is the jihad imperative. Let us not give that imperative even greater energy in the modern world by supplying such pretexts needlessly.

Nothing yet at CounterterrorismBlog on the new fatwa, or at BelmontClub.

UPDATE:

Thanks to John Mark Reynolds for pointing me to the site The White Path, written by Professor Reynold's Muslim colleague Mustafa Akyol, which then sent me to the Free Muslims Coalition site --also worth a bookmark.

BTW: John Mark Reynolds also agrees with me in my debate with Professor Bainbridge. But Professor Bainbridge doesn't care because he's Down Under drinking wine.

See also Jewish Russian Telegraph

I missed the debut of "Over There" last night, but Arrgggh! and Blackfive have plenty of informed opinion.

OK, Kinsley's on the way out as is Carroll. Baquet's much admired around the newsroom, and the guys in Chicago will give you a year, maybe 18 months. It isn't clear that advertisers are that generous, and they appear to be figuring out the dramatic drop in your touch-rate. People are subscribing for sports, comics and the Calender section, and maybe Outdoors. Much of the rest of the paper is unread. Why buys ads in pages nobody touches? That's the problem. And word is getting out.

You can't rebuild in a day, but you can start with the obvious stuff.

Give conservatives a reason to read the paper every day. How hard can this be for your team to understand? Get Mark Steyn, Michael Barone, Dennis Prager, Cathy Seipp and keep Max Boot and run one of them on a specific day of the week, every week. Presto! I and millions of others have a reason to check the online edition editorial page every day. Do the same thing for the left, although they can already count on that.

Then line up some regular Southern California commentators for regional issues, again from both sides of the aisle. Have you ever bothered to read Patterico, Jack Dunphy and Carol Platt Leibau? They are excellent writers. RogerLSimon can turn a phrase. In fact, he writes excellent novels and scripts and a great blog. Try Baldilocks. In fact, see if The Green Side's Lt. Col Bellon or Smash are up for regular contributions. There are hundreds of thousands of active duty, reservist and retired military in Southern California, plus their families. Do you think they'd appreciate a bit of regulalry scheduled space for their worldview? There are other similar underserved or never served communties. Serve them. This isn't hard.

Here's my last suggestion for the day: Talk to the people who hate your paper but who love news. I read the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the New York Times. I don't bother with your paper. There are thousands and thousands like me. We don't need the relentless agenda journalism and cloistered opinions.

Good luck. California deserves a first class newspaper, not a newsletter to the left beloved by the Pulitzer voters but not by the people it is supposed to be selling to.

More arrests in London. Yesterday a Somalian national was nabbed, today a trio of Turks:

Residents in Tooting said police had arrested three Turkish men who worked at and lived above a fast food restaurant selling halal burgers — made with meat slaughtered according to Islamic dietary laws.

The restaurant owner, who gave his name as Ali, declined to identify the men but said they were aged about 26, 30 and 40. The oldest man had worked for him for eight years, and the other two had started about two months ago, he said.

Another suspect is from Eritrea.

Charles de Menezes was the unfortunate innocent killed by London police. In The Mirror, Tony Parsons writes on the aftermath of that mistake:

But there are countless families whose world has been shattered by the terrorists. Lives and bodies and dreams have been wrecked.

Jean Charles de Menezes is one of them.

But a word of warning to the politicians who are about to embark on their 80-day summer holiday.

The British public will never forgive you if you allow our police force to be hamstrung and intimidated by the human rights lobby.

It comes down to this. When there are men who want to tear our nation to pieces, do you want Dixon of Dock Green pounding the beat? Or do you want Dirty Harry?

It is too late in the day for the old unarmed, avuncular "Evening, all" British bobby.

Given that there are also men who want to tear our nation to pieces, what do you think of Judge Leghorn up in Seattle? His writst-tap of another 14 years for the failed massacre artist didn't generate any editorials this morning, but perhaps tomorrow's scribblers will comment on the judge's judgment and his blather. Not surprisingly, over at Kos the judge is esteemed:

It seems to make the judge in the Ressam case sad, too. His incredibly powerful words while sentencing Ressam are below, with no further comment from me.

This Saturday, in Coronado, CA, the Navy commissions a new destroyer, named for Admiral William "Bull" Halsey. This honor reminds everyone of the qualities that matter in wartime, and not just among the military, but also among civilians in supporting roles like the judiciary and the elected branches. Halsey's slogan: "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often."

More Navy stuff from Arrgggh!.

My WeeklyStandard.com column, "Joke's on Them," argues that the Senate Democrats are ill-prepared to deal with the massive flow of documents from Judge Roberts' past days at DOJ and the White House Counsel's office.

Byron York notes that the left is coming unhinged on Rove. It is a Lord of the Flies moment for the lefty bloggers, and one can only imagine the meltdown when Rove isn't indicted.