NADER'S IN THE RUNNIN'



Ralph Nader has indicated that he will run for President of the United States:

Ralph Nader , the consumer advocate who ran for president in 2000 as a Green Party candidate, will enter the 2004 race for the White House as an independent candidate, advisers told Fox News on Friday.



A formal announcement by Nader is expected this weekend.



"He's felt there is a role for an independent candidate to play," Linda Schade, a spokeswoman for Nader's presidential exploratory committee.

For those not familiar with the meaning of the term, "independent candidate" should be read as "radical left-wing greeny moonbeam candidate." We now know how Dr. Dean's supporters will vote in November.

THE KERRY CAMPAIGN CONTINUES



I don't believe for a minute that Mr. John F. Kerry, a multimillionaire thanks to his wife's moola, is a "man of the people." Apparently, neither does the Onion.

GUANTANAMO BAY HORROR STORIES



From the London Telegraph:

An Afghan boy whose 14-month detention by US authorities as a terrorist suspect in Cuba prompted an outcry from human rights campaigners said yesterday that he enjoyed his time in the camp.



Mohammed Ismail Agha, 15, who until last week was held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, said that he was treated very well and particularly enjoyed learning to speak English. His words will disappoint critics of the US policy of detaining "illegal combatants" in south-east Cuba indefinitely and without trial.

The story goes on to say that Mr. Agha, during his detention, received:

• School work
• "Good" food with fruit and water
• Water for prayer and ablutions
• Books in his native Pashto language

It's currently a comfortable 82 degrees Fahrenheit under partly cloudy skies at Guantanamo Bay Naval Air Station.

JUSTICE IS ON THE WAY



An indictment on 42 counts of fraud has been handed down to Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron.

THE "TIP OF THE ICEBERG"



Ariel Cohen, writing for Tech Central Station, covers growing payola scandal surrounding the UN's "Oil for Food" program in Iraq:

The documents uncovered in Baghdad by the Iraqi Oil Ministry and published in Al Mada, an independent Iraqi newspaper, are a jackpot of embarrassing information. Their veracity is confirmed by Naseer al-Chaderji, a senior member of the Iraqi Governing Counsel (IGC), and by Claude Hankes-Drielsma, the UK Chairman of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and an advisor to the IGC.



The documents list dozens of organizations and individuals in over 50 countries who were instrumental in orchestrating pro-Saddam policies around the world, and point to a medley of allies, from the pro-Saddam British back-bencher MP George Gallaway to President Jaques Chirac's close friend Patrick Maugein, an oil trader, and to highly influential former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua. The ex-minister has denied any connection to Iraq.



The list goes on to include Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the highly influential Russian Orthodox Church, Yassir Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordanian Islamic radical leader Layth Shbeilat. Many of those fingered have denied the accusations. Others, like Mr. Maugein, have announced that they "did nothing wrong." In view of the internal corruption scandals in France involving Mr. Chirac and his ex-heir-designate former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, what else can they say?

Cohen makes the point that there are still thousands of documents to analyze. I wonder what else we'll find?

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY



Here a link to a fun, sappy slideshow I ran across on Criagslist.org.

ON DR. DEAN'S STILLBORN CANDIDACY



Christopher Hitchens has a devastating piece at Opinionjournal.com on the failed presidential candidacy of Dr. Howard Dean (minor registration required):

I have now several times seen Mr. Dean saying that there is Islamic terrorism in Iraq now, but that there wasn't any before last March. If this means anything, it means that the activities of the bin Ladenist mercenaries in that country are the fault of George Bush. You can, I suppose, believe that if you care to. But watching, I realized something even more depressing: It's not just that Mr. Dean doesn't know anything at all about Iraq, it's that he doesn't care. His bored shrug at, first, the overthrow and, second, the capture of Saddam Hussein was a shrug of indifference as well as ignorance. And how can a man who flirts with moral equivalence between Washington and bin Laden expect to be listened to when he talks about a "distraction" from the hunt for the latter? He clearly thinks that the main enemy is at home.

Give the whole piece a read.