• Dentistry,  Terrorists

    Dentistry Today: Dentist by Profession – Terrorist by Avocation

    October 23, 2005 /

    Galilee dentists arrested over suspicions of Hamas activity.

    Security forces have arrested two Israeli Arabs from the Galilee on suspicion of joining Hamas in the 1990s while studying dentistry in Romania, and then carrying out assignments for the armed group, police and the Shin Bet security service said Sunday.

    The suspects, from Nazareth and Kafr Manda, allegedly met with Hamas agents in Romania and went to Turkey for training in covert operations before returning to Israel. They are also suspected of giving Hamas information meant to help it carry out terror attacks.

    Haifa District prosecutors plan to charge the suspects – Nazmi Hassin from Nazareth and Abdel Salam Zidan from Kafr Manda – with assisting the enemy in wartime and making contact with foreign agents. Prosecutors will also ask that the suspects be jailed until the end of proceedings against them.

    Sleeper, covert terrorist agents involved with surveillance are not commonly associated with dentistry.

    A good cover?

    Flap wouldn’t think so.

    But, the opportunity for Israeli Arabs to travel freely within Israel and to leave the country for continuing education and training (terrorist or not) might make them attractive for recruitment.

    Flap cannot imagine treating patients in the morning and then travelling around looking for bombing targets at lunchtime.

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  • Harriet Miers,  Politics,  Supreme Court

    Harriet Miers Watch: Schumer Says Miers Lacks Votes to Be Confirmed

    October 23, 2005 /

    Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers meets with Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) in Washington October 17, 2005. U.S. President George W. Bush continues to face harsh criticism of the nomination of his long time friend Miers to fill a seat on the Court.

    Previously on Flap:

    Harriet Miers Watch: N.Z. Bear Asks, And I Answer: I Oppose the Miers Nomination

    Harriet Miers Watch: Supports Affirmative Action?

    Harriet Miers Watch: Is it Time for Her to Withdraw?

    Now, Senator Charles Schumer on Meet the Press weighs opines and agrees with Flap that Harriet Miers lacks the votes to be confirmed.

    The ASSociated Press has Schumer: Miers Lacks Votes to Be Confirmed.

    A Democrat on the Senate committee that will consider Harriet Miers’ nomination said Sunday that President Bush’s Supreme Court choice lacks the votes now to be confirmed, saying there are too many questions about her qualifications.

    “If you held the vote today, she would not get a majority either in the Judiciary Committee or the floor,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York. On the 18-member GOP-controlled committee, “there are one or two who said they’d support her as of now.”

    But the committee’s chairman, Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, rejected the notion that Miers’ nomination was in trouble. Specter said most senators are waiting for the hearings before making up their minds “There are no votes one way or another,” he said.

    Perhaps.

    Miers, a longtime Bush confidante who has never been a judge, was nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The nomination has troubled some conservatives who say it was a risky choice because Miers was a blank slate on issues such as abortion and gay rights.

    Democrats, too, have expressed concerns about whether the current White House counsel could sever her close ties to Bush and rule independently once she were on the bench.

    “The hearings will be make or break for Harriet Miers in a way they haven’t been for any other nominee,” Schumer said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “She’ll have to do very well there. She has a tough road to hoe.”

    However, it would be far better for the President and the Republican Party if she withdraws and withdraws NOW.

    Harriet Miers has NO hope for confirmation and why go through a brutal confirmation hearing process which would be personally deflating. Harriet Miers has served the President and her country well and does not deserve such a defeat.

    The Eagle Forum has some compelling reasons why Harriet Miers should withdraw and…….

    Charles Krauthammer has a reasonable face-saving approach here.

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