Beware The Friendly Socialist Bearing Gifts

Anyone that accepts money from government can expect the giver to attach some strings.

Some of these strings make sense such as WIC program participants having to use the money they receive to buy healthy food and drink products. Some of the strings are more dubious, such as when the US federal government demands that states comply with federal guidelines in order to receive money for roads, education, etc--in much the same way a bully steals playground sandwiches only to return them after an acceptable level of groveling has taken place.

Then, there are the occasional strings that are so invasive and ill-guided that they border insanity, such as these coming out of the Netherlands reported in The Brussels Journal.

Sharon Dijksma, a leading parliamentarian of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) wants to penalise educated stay-at-home women. “A highly-educated woman who chooses to stay at home and not to work – that is destruction of capital,” she said in an interview last week. “If you receive the benefit of an expensive education at society’s expense, you should not be allowed to throw away that knowledge unpunished.”

Hence her proposal to recover part of the cost of their education from highly-educated women who decide not to seek paid work. Between 2001 and 2005 the number of Dutch women aged between 15 and 65 who were out on the labour market rose from 55.9 to 58.7 per cent. Dijksma says she wants to stimulate more women to join the work force.

It sounds more to me like Dijksma wants to force more women into the work force at the expense of children.

When we choose socialism we choose it at the peril of our freedoms.

We honestly should say thank you to the silly Dutch cow for teaching us this lesson so easily and without the need of any government-paid tuition.

Jill Carroll's Allegience

***UPDATED 4-01***

Yesterday the Sandmonkey was celebrating with handstands and cartwheels over the release of Jill Carroll. If you have read many of his rantings, you will know that he doesn't have a lot of patience for radical Islamic mayhem and appeasement.

He ended his comments on the release with this:

So far so good, but I swear to god if she starts talking about how she thinks the people who kidnapped her were victims or they did it because they need schools or similar stockholm related syndrome crap, she is so on my shit-list it’s not even funny.

Now, it appears as if the Sandmonkey's shitlist might have to grow one name longer.

---

Update

Jill Carroll is disavowing her statements made in which she condemned the coalition forces in Iraq saying the statements were made under threat of death. From MYWAY/AP with a hat tip to Right Nation.

President Warned By Conservatives On Immigration

Any immigration reform bill that looks, smells or sounds like anything even remotely similar to amnesty is a huge political loser. A vast majority of the population opposes illegal immigration, and recent pro-Mexico/anti-America rallies have done nothing more than solidify that opposition.

From the Washington Times with a hat tip to Right Nation.

House conservatives yesterday issued a dire warning to President Bush and Republican leadership that they will pay a devastating political price if they proceed with a guest-worker program or anything resembling amnesty for illegal aliens before securing the borders and enforcing existing immigration laws.

"They will remember in November," Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, said of voters nationwide. "And many of those who have stood with our Republican majority in the last decade are not only angry, many of them plan to be absent from the polls" this year when the entire House and one-third of the Senate is up for re-election.

If the Republicans buckle on this issue Hayworth will be proven correct.

US To Test 700 Ton Conventional Bomb

Too bad we cannot test this beast on the Iraq/Iran border.

From Breitbart/Drudge.

The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said.

"I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Methinks some of the Iranian people might need to see what Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Council of Iranian Stupidity are pushing toward.

Hamas Government Makes Its Aspirations Quite Clear

From MEMRI comes this excerpt from a Palestinian legislative meeting that was aired on Al-Jazeera on March 28.

MP: Jihad is our path.

Other MPs: Jihad is our path.

MP: Death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration.

Other MPs: Death for the sake of Allah is our most lofty aspiration.

MP: Allah Akbar, Allah be praised.

Other MPs: Allah Akbar, Allah be praised.

I doubt we would be lucky enough to think that their aspirations for death could be achieved by a massive fatal fasting mishap in the desert. Unfortunately I think "death for the sake of Allah" probably means bringing along a few of us infidels for the ride.

All aid should stop. Not one dime of support should be going to these people for governance or humanitarian purposes. Let their jihad be against the mountains of trash that will pile up after curb service stops, or let it be against gasoline shortages when the pumps run dry.

For every dime we give to these monsters there is another dime that is freed by the evil ones to be used for their lofty aspirations of death and murder.

With Palestinian support of Hamas almost overwhelming it is impossible for me to differentiate between the government and the people. And, as a taxpaying American that is hated by the Palestinians, if the distinctions aren't obvious, should I have to look for nuance?

From the Entertainment World

With a hat tip to Right Wing News, Gawker presents us with this pictorial and commentary on the fallen angel, Whitney Houston. Well, fallen something.



Commenter powelton has the best observation (though there are some close seconds):

I realize that photographs such as these get all the kids excited about the "rock-and-roll lifestyle," with its "drugs" and fancy brass faucets and "hip" terminology such as "roaches" and "crack," but parents need to tell their kids it's not nearly as glamorous as it looks.

And Americans listen to the opinions of entertainers why?

New Blog Discovery!

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I occasionally stumble upon a daily must-read blog. Such was my luck today.

Take a moment to introduce yourself to M Zone with this post on the Wonderlic test given to college seniors wishing to enter the NFL.

Absolutely hilarious.

(Stumbling assisted by Vodkapundit.)

Water Damaged Vehicle For Sale on eBay!

Ummm, believe it or not, this is no joke!

From eBay's listing:

Exclusive Limited Offer!!! Own A Piece of History!!!

Historic 1993 International Blue Bird Orleans Parish Schools Bus #93-97

This New Orleans Public School Bus is a 1993 International Blue Bird with 147,797 miles. The bus was substantially submerged for at least 10 days following Hurricane Katrina, and would require extensive repair to return to full working condition. Please see the photos below. Only 147,797 Original Owner Miles. Buyer is responsible for shipping/delivery. This bus is sold "as is". No warranty or guaranty is expressed or implied. Clear title will be provided. Because the Orleans Parish School District is a public entity, your purchase price less salvage value of the bus may qualify as a charitable contribution! Check with your tax advisor.

This is a collector's dream come true.

We will provide a certificate of authenticity attesting that this bus was at the Orleans Parish Schools Almonaster Bus Barn and was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina!

Other buses may be available in future auctions.

Breitbart article here, eBay listing here.

Who wouldn't be thrilled to own such a large and glorious monument to human stupidity? But, if you want it to be yours you had better be prepared to open up your wallet. The current bid of $5,300.00 still does not meet reserve.

Hat tip to Right Nation.

What Now Russ?

This today from the Washington Times.

A panel of former Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges yesterday told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Bush did not act illegally when he created by executive order a wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA).

The five judges testifying before the committee said they could not speak specifically to the NSA listening program without being briefed on it, but that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not override the president's constitutional authority to spy on suspected international agents under executive order.

"If a court refuses a FISA application and there is not sufficient time for the president to go to the court of review, the president can under executive order act unilaterally, which he is doing now," said Judge Allan Kornblum, magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida and an author of the 1978 FISA Act. "I think that the president would be remiss exercising his constitutional authority by giving all of that power over to a statute."

Amen to that.

Hat tip to Right Nation.

A Marching Banner For Illegal Immigrants

A Mexican flag flying above an upside down American flag?

These people do not understand the basic premise of America and are too ignorant to deserve even legal immigration. We succeed as Americans because we are one people, not a collection of hyphenated-Americans worrying only about our own ethnicity and socially designated favors.



Please read Michelle Malkin today for perhaps the best comprehensive coverage of the immigration crises. Then look to John Hawkins at Right Wing News for the pulse of the conservative Republican base, betrayed once again by the candidates they have supported.

It has always been exhausting work to fight the imbeciles of the Democrat Party. Now, as it turns out in this war on imbeciles, we need to be looking closely over our shoulders.

Muslims Waging War Of Crime Against Sweden

Sweden is rapidly approaching a state of crises and yet too few people seem to be willing to do anything about it.

Sweden is beautiful and cosmopolitan. Its people are educated, respected, healthy, peaceful and, as a particularly bonus, good at hockey (for which the Detroit Red Wings are quite fortunate.)

However, Sweden has fallen into the traps of socialism, relativism and multiculturalism, and they have been engaged in a battle for which they are now woefully unprepared or unwilling to fight, and many would even say unable to recognize.

Fjordman, writing in The Brussels Journal, believes the Muslims when they say they are already fighting a "war" against Sweden.

It is interesting to note that these Muslim immigrants state quite openly that they are involved in a “war,” and see participation in crime and harassment of the native population as such. This is completely in line with what I have posited before. The number of rape charges in Sweden has quadrupled in just above twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas. Resident aliens from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia dominate the group of rape suspects. Lawyer Ann Christine Hjelm found that 85 per cent of the convicted rapists were born on foreign soil or from foreign parents. The phenomenon is not restricted to Sweden. The number of rapes committed by Muslim immigrants in Western nations is so extremely high that it is difficult to view these rapes as merely random acts of individuals. It resembles warfare. This is happening in most Western European countries, as well as in other non muslim countries such as India. European jails are filling up with Muslims imprisoned for robberies and all kinds of violent crimes, and Muslims bomb European civilians. One can see the mainstream media are struggling to make sense of all of this. That is because they cannot, or do not want to, see the obvious: this is exactly how an invading army would behave: rape, pillage and bombing. If many of the Muslim immigrants see themselves as conquerors in a war, it all makes perfect sense.

Malmö in Sweden, set to become the first Scandinavian city with a Muslim majority within a decade or two, has nine times as many reported robberies per capita as Copenhagen, Denmark. Yet the number one priority for the political class in Sweden during this year’s national election campaign seems to be demonizing neighboring Denmark for “xenophobia” and a “brutal” debate about Muslim immigration. During last years Jihad riots in France, Sweden’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Göran Persson criticised the way the French government handled the unrest in the country. “It feels like a very hard and confrontational approach.” Persson also rejected the idea of more local police as a “first step” in Sweden. “I don’t believe that’s the way we would choose in Sweden. To start sending out signals about strengthening the police is to break with the political line we have chosen to follow,” he said.

Read the whole article for a glimpse into the mindset of the Sweden that is today. A civil country whose government is either too eager to understand the "whys" of immigrant Muslim crime, or too cowardly to confront it.

What is that "political line we have chosen to follow" if not dhimmitude?

“Power for me means that the Swedes shall look at me, lie down on the ground and kiss my feet.”

Spoken like a true conqueror.

The Miracle Fish

A fish in Britain has some Muslims in a lathered dither.

This side says Allah.


The flip side says Mohammed.



Which begs the question...if Burger King fried up this baby, would jihad be in order?

Hat tip to Rantings Of A Sandmonkey.

"Iran wants UN to probe “rights abuses” in U.S."

From Iran Focus today.

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 28 – Iran’s Foreign Minister has expressed “concern” over “human rights abuses” in the United States and called on the United Nations to investigate the matter.

Mottaki censured “widespread human rights violations in the U.S.”, highlighting the treatment of black people and Muslims.

He called for the United Nations to appoint a new Special Rapporteur to investigate and report on “cases of human rights violations by America”.

Mottaki made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with Cuban Transport Minister Carlos Manuel Pazo, the government-run news agency Fars reported.

It is touching that the international community is taking interest in the civil rights of Americans in America. I'm certain that the government of Iran, having threatened to loose an army of tens of thousands of suicide bombers on the west, will make certain that all such martyrs will detonate themselves far away from all US citizens.

Hat tip to Right Nation.

Denmark Financing Its Conquerors

I am distressed with the dispensing of Europe. It has lost much of its faith to atheism and its identity to multiculturalism. It has lost touch with its moral compass to relativism and its productivity to socialism. And now, it is in the process of losing its ability to govern through Muslim immigration (though it is hard to see how the Muslims would govern much worse short of public stonings without trial and legalized honor killings.) All of it is scary, and all of it is happening with either too little concern.

Lowell Ponte in FrontPageMag helps to put into focus just how desperately out of kilter much of Europe has become.

In Brussels, Belgium, the most popular name for baby boys is now Mohammad. Sustaining the population of a nation requires that on average each couple gives birth to 2.1 children. The average European couple now has fewer than 1.4 babies, compared to 3.6 babies born to the average Muslim immigrant couple in Europe. Across Western Europe 16 to 20 percent of babies are being born into Muslim families.

In France at least 12 percent of the population is already Muslim, the fruits mostly of immigrants from former French colonies in North Africa. If present birth trends continue, by 2030 a quarter of France's people will be Muslim, more than enough to determine who controls the national parliament and executive. As this columnist recently noted, the nuclear-armed French military is already 15 percent Muslim. Adjacent Switzerland is now 20 percent Muslim.

The German newspaper Deutsche Welle days ago reported that Germany's birth rate in 2005 fell to a level lower than at the end of World War II, to a "historic low," more than fifty percent lower than those of France and Great Britain. But at a meeting this week in Berlin that brought together the interior ministers of six European nations, Germany's leftwing Social Democrats continued to oppose the application of any test or standard that would restrict who could migrate into Germany.

Even more disturbing to me is this gem from Denmark:

[the] wealth of traditional Europeans is being bled away and transferred to new Muslim immigrants and their children. One mechanism for this is the European welfare state. In Denmark, observed Bawer, only five percent of the population is Muslim, but this minority demands and receives 40 percent of the Danish government's total welfare payments and other taxpayer-subsidized social benefits.

We in America have an opportunity to look into the crystal ball and see one of our potential futures. If we choose dhimmitude for ourselves we stupidly deserve that fate. If we choose dhimmitude for our children we are too morally barren to even deserve those children we will forsake.

Belgian Government Seeks To Limit Speech About Islam

That wonderful Belgian agency of thought and speech control, the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR), has had its fill of one Father Père Samuel, for his remarks on television in 2002, that Muslims represent a "time bomb" in Europe. After nearly 4 years and what must have been an exceedingly thorough investigation, the judiciary has decided that Father Samuel should be prosecuted for “incitement to racist hatred." If the wheels of justice in Belgium turn as quickly as their investigations, I'd say we can expect a trial in about 2020.

Father Samuel was born and raised in Turkey as part of the minority Aramaic Christian community. He fled that country for Belgium in 1972 because of Islamic persecution of Christians (apparently the Turkish government has no internal agency designed to keep Muslims from saying mean things about Catholics.)

From today's Brussels Journal,

Last Thursday the Belgian judiciary decided that the priest will have to stand trial before the penal court in Charleroi. He reacted by repeating his time bomb statement and added that he would be honoured if he had to go to jail for speaking his mind. He added that Jesus, too, had been convicted. During yesterday’s sermon he called upon the faithful to accompany him to court. “We will turn this into an excursion, driving there in full buses.”

If Father Samuel is so shamelessly promoting hatred and racist thoughts, how many of his congregation's members are engaging in suicide bombings aimed at the Muslim community? How many of his followers have stabbed or threatened Muslims critical of Christianity? How many mosques have his followers stormed shouting "God is great" while gunning down Imams? It can only be a matter of time I suppose before a car load of Father Samuel's Catholics, a bit giddy on some Merlot, drive their oversized Land Rover into a bunch of Muslims in retribution for the slaughter of innocents. No wonder the CEOOR wants Father Samuel stifled.

These sort of dangerous government agencies are riding legal shotgun to a Muslim population that intends to take over the European continent in much the same way it took over most of the Middle East, north Africa, and much of southern and southeast Asia. Father Samuel has seen the way it works with his own eyes and has lived it as well. At this point however, the Belgian government doesn't want to hear about it and they don't want anyone else to hear about it either.

Until Father Samuel begins to advocate the murder of or crimes against Muslims he should be free to enter his ideas into the marketplace of free thought. The COOER, however, has other priorities. In fact, it appears that the most important thing to the CEOOR is that, up until the point when power is finally handed to the Muslims, the conquerors should be surprised that not all Belgians want to live under Sharia.

Well, at least those that really don't.

Iraq Calls The CPT "Dupes"

The Iraqi government released a scorching rebuke to the Christian Peacemaker Teams over the weekend after the Chicago based pacifist organization responded to the rescuing of its three kidnapped hostages with a statement that blamed the kidnapping on the invasion.

The Iraqi embassy called CPT "willfully ignorant" and "outrageous," and accused the Chicago-based group of being on the side of anti-
democratic forces in Iraq.

"The Christian Peacemaker Teams practises the kind of politics that automatically nominate them as dupes for jihadism and fascism," the embassy's statement said.

I can't argue with that.

Hat tip to Little Green Footballs.

Loud, Obnoxious and Disgusting

What sort of degenerate scum could be so bad as to prompt assemblyman Mark Leno from San Francisco to say this?

"They're loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting, and they should get out of San Francisco."

Well, what had to be one of the worst of all possible gatherings took place in San Francisco this weekend when 25,000 Christian youths took part in a two-day concert and rally at AT&T Park. Leno and a group of counterprotesters were very disturbed.

Because, you know, San Francisco cannot tolerate loud, obnoxious and disgusting people!

Oops, unless they support a leftist cause such as protesting the war.


(Really, shouldn't that placard have actually said "Breasts and Armpit Hair not Bombs"?)

Hat tip to pict at Right Nation.

Kudlow: "Paddle the French Fanny"

Writing in Townhall, Larry Kudlow states quite simply why the French economy is so lacking and non-productive.

Then I have to scratch my head and wonder why the French feel that the mediocre status quo is worth lifting a finger to protect let alone riot in favor of.

Why is it that so many French people would rather riot than work?
For nearly a fortnight, French students repeatedly have taken to the streets in protest of a modest labor reform proposed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. It seems that Villepin had the audacity to suggest that companies hiring workers under the age of 26 have the ability to fire those workers in the first two years of employment. Villepin’s far-from-Draconian reform is a reaction to the country’s government-planned entitlement state, overregulated labor laws, and sky-high jobless rate.

But French students apparently prefer their little worker’s paradise just the way it is. The overall jobless rate in France hovers around 10 percent, so-called “youth unemployment” is 23 percent, and in some of the Muslim-heavy suburbs, joblessness is nearly 50 percent. Some paradise.

In France, you see, companies don’t grow because it’s too costly to hire while it’s against the law to fire. Hence, since they rarely add jobs, French businesses under-perform, under-produce, and under-employ. Think of it: It’s awfully tough to increase output without a growing workforce to produce it.

Socialism does more than ruin the economy--it sucks the spirit out of people. It removes their drive, their innovativeness, and their pursuit of excellence.

France is racing to become a third world nation--something that most people, unlulled by the utopian promises would go to war to prevent--not riot to protect.

Hungover

Yowie! What a night.

A dozen or so of us started out partying on rice cakes and Jello then we stormed the fridge and feasted on the ham and cheese until Mickey got sick all over the tuna casserole and butter squares. He had to have retched for an hour. It was mostly yellow so it probably won't show up much anyway.

We got him back on his feet and played Twister in the middle of the living room for an hour before building an impromptu racetrack with the couch pillows and ran our remote control cars until dawn . Stupid cat didn't move a paw all night.

Quiet Night

Finally, after a full night of irritating noise and activity on Friday, things seemed to have quieted down. During the day yesterday I made a lot of scratchings on a number of pieces of furniture and on a couple of walls. I scratched long and loud. My attemps at intimidation apparently had the desired effect.

Last night I diligently kept guard over the kitchen making occasional patrols into the living room. There were no signs of activity.

The fact is, when I'm on the job there is little to be worried about.

Quiet Evening

Ran into Rusty and Buford and Sam and George and Nick and Clyde and Londen in the basement last night. We played some poker and had a few laughs.

Then something really weird happened. We were doing a little foraging here and there when Londen happened across a little yellow box with some powder in it. I didn't like the taste so just left it to him. Well, you know Lon, he gorged himself and then went a bit crazy. He kept screaming "hard four," claimed to have been a basketball star once and started saying Stonewall Jackson was some former President.

But, I set pretty strict limits on the amount of historical ignorance I'll be exposed to, and after a few minutes of that craziness I lost Lon and hit the kitchen for some high-fiber cereal that for some reason didn't agree with me too much. I just couldn't get it out of my system and had to spend a while squatting on the knives with severe cramps.

Finally after I started to feel a little better, the guys and I (minus Londen) got together again and sang a few choruses of Band on the Run before we finally split up for good.

I love spring break.

Noises

This is horrible. Last night after the sun went down I kept hearing noises--incessant little scratchings and squeakings that faded in and out and seemed to travel through every wall and ceiling and floor of the house.

Then, after a while, all went silent. Shortly thereafter I started hearing high-pitched little grunts followed by the sound of something else, perhaps the size and color of black pencil lead, lightly falling on a metal surface inside one of the kitchen drawers. This repeated itself over and over and over again for what seemed like an eternity.

Then I'm sure I heard what sounded like singing.

The whole thing just kind of creeped me out.

Gone Until Monday

I'm headed to Grand Rapids for GW 12. A rip-roaring time of games, food and fun.

In my absence the kitty and the mouse will be doing some guest blogging. If they say anything too offensive call the Oscoda County animal control officer.

Jeff Jacoby: "The humanitarian case for war in Iraq"

I should make one thing very clear. I do not think the United States should (or can) get involved in every area on Earth where people are being tortured or mistreated. There clearly has to be a reason of "National Interest" for us to sacrifice our soldiers to any cause--on this there should never be a dispute.

For many, many, many reasons I believe our foray into Iraq served our national interest. It is on this humanitarian side of the effort that Jacoby, writing in Townhall addresses.

But condemning Saddam's brutality, let alone doing something to end it, was not a priority for most of the left. I remember asking Ted Kennedy during the run-up to the war why he and others in the antiwar camp seemed to have so little sympathy for the countless victims of Ba'athist tyranny. Even if they thought an invasion was unwise, couldn't they at least voice some solidarity with the innocent human beings writhing in Saddam's Iraqi hell? Kennedy replied vehemently that he took a back seat to no one in his concern for those who suffer under all the world's evil regimes, and demanded to know whether supporters of war in Iraq also wanted to invade North Korea, Burma, and other human-rights violators.

It was a specious answer. The United States may not be able to stop every homicidal fascist on the planet, but that is hardly an argument for stopping none of them. If the Bush administration had listened to Kennedy and to the millions like him the world over who protested and marched raised their voices against invading Iraq, would the world be a better place today? Leaving Saddam and the Ba'athists in power -- free to break and butcher their victims, to support international terrorists, to menace other countries -- would have emboldened murderous dictators everywhere. The jihadists of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Hamas, celebrating the latest display of American irresolution, would have been spurred to new atrocities. The Arab world would have sunk a little deeper into its nightmare of cruelty and fear. And women's heads would still be getting nailed to the front doors of Iraqi homes.

Read the whole article. And then, when you are done, consider the Christian Peacemaker Teams who just had three kidnap victims freed by the American forces today in Iraq. Read the statement on their website or the abbreviated version in my post below.

Then see whose side you are on. The Baathist and al-Qaeda led insurgency side, or the coalition forces seeking to free a nation.

Kidnapped CPT Members Freed by Those They Loathe

The three remaining CPT hostages to be held in Iraq were freed today in a military operation by US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad. The fourth member, Tom Fox, was tortured and his body dumped in the city earlier this month.

From Fox News:

Gen. Lynch said the raid was "intelligence led," explaining that planning for the operation began when two men who were captured Wednesday night provided information on the location of the hostages.

"It was eight hours since we received the intelligence to the time we carried out the operation," Gen. Lynch said, adding that no shots were fired and no Coalition casualties occurred. The hostages were found bound and together he said.

In a statement from the CPT website:

Harmeet, Jim and Norman and Tom were in Iraq to learn of the struggles facing the people in that country. They went, motivated by a passion for justice and peace to live out a nonviolent alternative in a nation wracked by armed conflict. They knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. The occupation must end.

Today, in the face of this joyful news, our faith compels us to love our enemies even when they have committed acts which caused great hardship to our friends and sorrow to their families. In the spirit of the prophetic nonviolence that motivated Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom to go to Iraq, we refuse to yield to a spirit of vengeance. We give thanks for the compassionate God who granted our friends courage and who sustained their spirits over the past months. We pray for strength and courage for ourselves so that, together, we can continue the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace.

Throughout these difficult months, we have been heartened by messages of concern for our four colleagues from all over the world. We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. That support continues to come to us day after day. We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq.

During these past months, we have tasted of the pain that has been the daily bread of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Why have our loved ones been taken? Where are they being held? Under what conditions? How are they? Will they be released? When?

With Tom’s death, we felt the grief of losing a beloved friend. Today, we rejoice in the release of our friends Harmeet, Jim and Norman. We continue to pray for a swift and joyful homecoming for the many Iraqis and internationals who long to be reunited with their families. We renew our commitment to work for an end to the war and the occupation of Iraq as a way to continue the witness of Tom Fox. We trust in God’s compassionate love to show us the way.

These people are pathetic. The fact is that they recognize no good in the United States. If today Saddam was still in charge of Iraq and using his power to kill on average 80,000 people a year, and imprisoning, exiling, torturing and maiming thousands more, I believe that the CPT would not be happy about it. However, as bad as these conditions would be, CPT would prefer the 80,000 deaths a year forever, rather than have the US do something about it.

I'm afraid though that this entire ordeal is just giving the CPT an illgotten layer of empathy for and brotherhood with the detainees. With new found indignation they can now also claim to be part of a group that has suffered by the "occupation." They truly understand.

I'm not buying it. Stupidity and lying by the CPT might very well result in some obscure form of manufactured victimhood. However, their wisdom and credibility remain hauntingly absent.

Dishonest Detroit Teachers Call In Sick

In just another tired example of how ethically bankrupt teachers unions are, 54 schools were forced to close today in Detroit due to a massive teacher sick-out.

From the Detroit Free Press.

As of Wednesday morning, Detroit Public School officials said at least 1,500 teachers called in sick.

Many teachers apparently called in sick to protest their losing five days' pay this year at a time when principals and assistant principals may get pay increases.

For Detroit students today two very important lessons were being taught even though the doors were closed.

One, to Detroit teachers, infighting with the school district is more important than being in the classroom to teach and, two, lying is ok.

Is it any wonder that the Detroit school district provides a substandard education? It is all about burying your face as deeply into the public trough as humanly possible--students be damned.

Putin's Interest in Iraq

Russia is making some connections within Iraq both politically and economically and Mohammed at Iraq The Model isn't too impressed with Russia's history or its intentions.

I don't like the Russians; they are known for their corrupt deals and the smell of their firms' scandals during the 'oil for food' program still stinks till this day and I think this more than enough reason to put them at the bottom of the list.

The question here is; did third world countries remain behind because they connected their interests with Russia, or, did Russia remain behind because of its involvement with the bad side of the third world?

Or, is it that losers naturally feel attracted to each other?

Zing!

From the Desk of Jay Leno

This little gem from Leno:

Saddam Hussein took the witness stand for the first time in his trial. He spent most of his testimony ignoring all the evidence and insisting he was the real president of Iraq.

Among legal experts, this is known as the Al Gore strategy.

Thanks to today's Patriot Post.

Just Another Ho-Hum Muslim Sermon

Us little Mennonite children didn't know what we were missing. Here we were being exposed to sermons on peace and love and grace while all the Muslim kids were lucky enough to get this.

The bird-flu virus found in Israel last week was sent by Allah to punish the Jews for being "the worst of humanity" and is the beginning of the outbreak of other diseases meant to destroy the Jewish state within the next twenty years, a Gaza preacher said at mosque services this weekend.

Sheikh Abu Muhammed, an imam at the popular Al-Tadwa mosque in Beit Lahia north of Gaza City, went on to ask Muslims at his Friday night sermon to pray for the sexual organs of Jews to "dry out" so they cannot reproduce.

Somehow I'm having a hard time grasping how it is the west is bearing the burden of being accused of Islamaphobia while this sort of bile is preached in mosques all around the world.

In World Net Daily with a hat tip to The Religion of Peace.

President Fights Back

Mark I at RedState reports that President Bush was in rare form at his press conference today.

President Bush was asked the following question about Sen. Russ Feingold (D-kos) drive for a resolution censuring the president for ordering up the NSA terrorist surveillance program:

QUESTION: Thank you, sir. On the subject of the terrorist surveillance program, not to change the (OFF-MIKE) bipartisanship, but there have been now three sponsors to a measure to censure you for the implementation of that program. The primary sponsor, Russ Feingold, has suggested that impeachment is not out of the question. And on Sunday, the number two Democrat in the Senate refused to rule that out pending an investigation.

QUESTION: What, sir, do you think the impact of a discussion of impeachment and censure does to you and this office and to the nation during a time of war and in the context of the election?

President Bush could have answered this with an updated version of a famous Clintonism: "No censure ever killed a terrorist or prevented an attack on an American city." That would have answered the direct question about the impact of the censure movement on the war, but would not have sufficiently defined the motives of the censure advocates.

President Bush's actual answer goes much further in defining Congressional Democrats as both unserious and dishonest about the war on terror. The president:

BUSH: I think during these difficult times -- and they are difficult when we are at war -- the American people expect there to be an honest and open debate without needless partisanship. And that's how I view it. I did notice that nobody from the Democratic Party has actually stood up and called for the getting rid of the terrorist surveillance program. You know, if that's what they believe, if people in the party believe that, then they ought to stand up and say it. They ought to stand up and say, The tools we're using to protect the American people shouldn't be used. They ought to take their message to the people and say, Vote for me. I promise we're not going to have a terrorist surveillance program. That's what they ought to be doing. That's part of what is an open and honest debate.

BUSH: I did notice that, you know, at one point in time, they didn't think the Patriot Act ought to be reauthorized -- they being at least the minority leader in the Senate. He openly said, as I understand -- I don't want to misquote him -- something along the lines that We killed the Patriot Act. Now, if that's what the party believes, they ought to go around the country saying, We shouldn't give the people on the front line, who are protecting us, the tools necessary to do so. That's a debate I think the country ought to have.

These are the types of responses from our President that we need. He has allowed the press and the Democrats to frame the conversation so long that he simply appears to be completely out of touch to many Americans.

Today he appeared to be in control and in touch.

Read the rest. Several good reader comments follow the article.

Please Let It Be Feingold

In an early poll on the Daily Kos for the Presidential election of 2008, the far left wing of the Democrat Party is putting early support behind Russ Feingold.

Feingold received 47% of the nods while Wesley Clark ran a distant second with 15%.

It is way too early to hope, but just when it appears as if the Republicans might be faltering into the 2008 elections, the rabid leftist wing of the Democrat Party may yet decide to hand the Republicans a gift.

Hat tip to Right Wing News.

United Nations VS. Lego

The United Nations is losing all grip. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the UN is using this poster to help promote the event.


So, what is the significance of the Lego?

It is all about the Danish cartoons and Lego is one of the most famous companies in Denmark. The cartoons ticked off the Muslims and now the UN feels it necessary to appease as best it can. Just in case the UN hadn't noticed though, Islam is not a race but a religion.

Michelle Malkin has the bulk of the story with a thanks to Right Nation.

Symptoms of Socialism

Dennis Prager isn't very impressed by the demonstators in France. In fact, he seems disgusted.

A new law intended to increase employment among the nation's youth has those same youth (along with the other likely suspects) protesting against it en masse.

What these massive demonstrations reveal is the narcissism, laziness and irresponsibility inculcated by socialist societies.

Enough generations of socialist policies have now passed for us to judge their effects. They are bleak. Socialism undermines the character of a nation and of its citizens. In simpler words, socialism makes people worse.

These young people in France really believe that they should be able to be hired at their tender ages and that a company must not be allowed to fire them from their first day at work (except "for cause," which, as we are learning in America, is increasingly difficult to establish). In America, most of us would call the French young people's attitudes "spoiled."

Socialism teaches its citizens to expect everything, even if they contribute nothing.

Socialism teaches its citizens that they have a plethora of rights and few corresponding obligations -- except to be taxed.

And that is why the citizens of less socialist -- and more religious -- America give more charity per capita and per income than do citizens of socialist countries. That is why Americans volunteer time for the needy so much more than citizens of socialist countries do. That is why citizens of conservative states in America give more charity than citizens of liberal states do. The more Left one identifies oneself on the political spectrum, the more that person is likely to believe that the state, not fellow citizens, should take care of the poor and the needy.

The socialists in America look to enlightened Europe for its inspiration. They are not setting the bar very high.

Abortion Supporters Threaten South Dakota Tourism Boycott

Guess where I'm going to try and spend a few touristry dollars this summer?

Pierre, South Dakota (AP) -- The superintendent of Mount Rushmore was surprised at first when people from all over the country started calling up to express their opinion about South Dakota's ban on nearly all abortions.

Some callers said they were so upset that they would never visit Mount Rushmore, South Dakota's No. 1 tourist attraction.

From CNN/AP with a hat tip to Right Nation.

Sarandon to Play Sheehan

In a fawning piece in tribute to Cindy Sheehan, the SFGate.com dives into the life that is now Sheehan's, after the left and media decided between them to pin fame to her lapel and throw her out to the wolves.

The sun is rising over a house in the Berkeley Hills, and in its modest studio apartment, America's most compelling anti-war activist is making her bed, apologizing for the clutter and running late.

Cindy Sheehan was up much of the previous night while emergency room doctors treated her daughter for a painful cyst, but sleeping in is out of the question. Soon a car will whisk her off to a Canadian TV interview, to be followed by a local TV interview, and finally, fixing spaghetti for her three adult children in Vacaville -- her home before the death of her soldier son Casey and the political trajectory of her anguish propelled her to divorce, to estrangement from friends, and to a frenetic campaign to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

And where is "home" to her now?

She pauses and sighs, sinking into the window seat and pulling a quilt up to her chin. "Nowhere, really ... ."

She's averaging just two days per month here. The next morning she will fly off again, the surreal star of what is -- depending largely on one's political perspective -- either an epic tragedy or a farce. After stops for protests in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., she will breakfast in Manhattan with actress Susan Sarandon, who is set to portray her in a biopic movie. A crew will film Sheehan for a weekly reality series on the Sundance Channel. Her letters to President Bush inspired "Peace Mom," a one-woman monologue show in London. A memoir is due to her publisher April 1.

And she hopes to reschedule a trip to address the European Union, postponed, she says, because of injuries when she was arrested yet again and jailed earlier this month on charges of blocking entrance to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

I'm sure I won't be watching this movie, the reality series or reading any books by Sheehan. I've already seen more than enough of her public foolishness and pandering over the past year to ever feel the need to punish myself further by watching a whole movie of propaganda about her too.

I'm not trying to be mean, but the only redeeming thing about Cindy Sheehan that I've seen about her in the media this past year is that thankfully she doesn't have big, bugged-out insect eyes. Now with Sarandon playing Sheehan in the movie, Hollywood is even screwing that up too.

Ramsey Clark Praises Mass Murderer Milosevic

This past week was a busy one for former US. Attorney General and leftist favorite Ramsey Clark.

From Baghdad where Clark has been helping his close friend Saddam Hussein in his trial, to Pozarevac, Serbia-Montenegro, where he delivered kind words at the funeral of another of his close buddies, Slobodan Milosevic.

Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general and longtime Milosevic supporter who is now on Saddam Hussein's defense team, drew cheers by telling the crowd: "History will prove that Slobodan Milosevic was right."

Apparently everyone in Serbia-Montenegro isn't a leftist-socialist and Clark's message was lost on some.

But some drivers passing by the square honked car horns and made obscene gestures at the Milosevic supporters, underscoring the disgust many Serbs feel toward the late autocratic leader.

"All of Belgrade's squares would be too small for all the victims of Milosevic and his rule," said Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, who was twice targeted for assassination by the Milosevic regime. "A murderer and his crimes were glorified today."

Yes, Slobo, was glorified by Ramsey Clark -- a man, who like many other leftists today, would wrap their loving arms around Stalin or Mao or Hitler today if given the chance.

After all, socialist utopia comes with a price -- a price that leftists are very willing to pay with the blood of those that prefer hard work and freedom to utopia.

More about Ramsey Clark's International Action Center at Discover The Networks.

Sore Blogger

This has been a day of light blogging. I hope readers will understand the circumstances behind the reduction in my creative work.

I was outside for two hours chopping gnarly oak with a heavy splitting mall. The weather was cold and windy, and from this demanding activity I am sore, stiff and very tired.

I also had an errant piece of screaming oak ricochet off the wood pile and strike me square in the testicles.

I should have more accurately stated that I split wood for an hour. I spent that second hour crawling back inside.

ROP: Picture of the Week

Thanks to The Religion of Peace website for their Picture of the Week.

I am not sure whether anyone within Islam has ever tried to design a flag for use as its worldwide symbol. Perhaps this is an early effort.

France Trying to re-Bottle The Socialist Djinni

France as well as the rest of Europe is struggling under the weight of massive immigration and socialist entitlements. This heavy burden on European economies has forced the "do everything for everyone" government of France to try and backtrack to regain some sounder economic footing in a global economy that simply will not allow a country with such a blatantly unproductive work force to compete.

One such backtrack is being backed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, and for it he is not so popular these days with the youths that are believed to benefit the most from the new law. In an effort to spur employment among those of the country less than 26 years of age, a law has been passed that would allow employers to hire people of young working age to work, but would then allow those companies to fire the employees for no cause up to two years after initial employment.

Foul! From Reuters.

Opposition to the new contract has provoked a serious crisis for the government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin as it has mobilized students, the left-wing opposition and unions.

In a bid to further increase pressure, a key union leader said the march could be followed by a general strike.

"If they don't listen to us we are going to have to think about moving to a general strike across the whole country," said Bernard Thibault, head of the Confederation of General Workers union, one of France's largest.

"I'm optimistic ... that the government will finally take notice of the situation they've created for themselves," he said on France 3 television, adding the march would top the March 7 rallies when unions said 1 million people took to the streets.

France should be worried about the situation it created for itself, but it should be concerned with the real problem of low productivity and the global economy, not the snits of those wanting the country of France to further implode under the gargantuan weight of a socialist utopia. If this sort of miniscule measure has 1 million people in the streets, I can only imagine how many people would take up arms against measures actually aggressive enough to make a positive difference.

"I would say 'no' (to a job offered under the law) because I would have no security for two years," Jerome Desprol, 24, told Reuters.

Jerome, you should visit us in the real world. Life isn't a security blanket and someone has failed to teach you some basics in world competition. A company can only stay in business if it makes money. Otherwise there is no incentive for the owners of a business to bust their butts to keep the doors open. Your security is not their problem.

All in all I suppose it could be much worse. At least the strike is going to take France. So, even if every employed person in the country takes part it will only affect about 75% of the youth work force. The rest of them are already unemployed.

Much more at The Brussels Journal.

The Sandmonkey Has Moved!

Just yesterday he brags about his 1,000,000 visitor. That might sound like a big deal to some of you, but why should I be that impressed?

After all, given my current rate of expansion, I will be reaching that same plateau all by myself sometime in 2063, and, good grief, the DrudgeReport and Rougblog combined average almost five times that much every 24 hours! It doesn't sound quite so grand when you look at it like that, does it?

But, apparently that sort of ho-hum accomplishment has made the Sandmonkey just a little too big for his britches and he feels he is just too good to sit atop his old sandpile at blogspot anymore.

You can check out the "new" Rantings of A Sandmonkey site at www.sandmonkeyblog.com.

That is if he will even allow riffraff like you to visit.

Blogger Frustration

It has been a difficult day for me with blogger.

Two times I've had exceptional posts almost completed as I sat there, polishing up the final wordings when blogger crashed. Typically when this happens I am able to backpage and hit the recover post tag. Unfortunately today that was not the case as I was redirected to that most haunted of all pages: Error 404.

I know I'm not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, and blogger is just that--a gift horse (if not a gifted horse.)

So, I will spend the next few moments taking care of a badly swollen and purplish foot (the result of its unfortunate impact with the underside of my desk,) try to recapture my thoughts and then limp back to the computer for another shot.

I'd like to thank my reader for her patience. Mom, do you have any Epsom Salts?

The Mostly Religion of Peace

We have all heard the words before. Islam is a religion of harmony, peace, enlightenment, large beards (ok, I made that one up,) love and comfort.

So, it must be a huge shock for everyone to hear that in Indonesia, the country with the world's largest Muslim population, over 10% of its Muslim population believes that suicide bombing against innocents is justified in certain instances.

From The China Post via The Religion of Peace.

Eleven percent of the people in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, believe suicide attacks against civilian targets are sometimes justifiable, a survey said on Thursday.

Though the number is relatively small, analysts say the findings of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) are a wake-up call for Indonesian leaders and moderate clerics who fear a tiny radical Muslim fringe may be making inroads into the general public.

Suicide bombings blamed on Islamic militants have killed hundreds in recent years in Indonesia, a country whose population of 220 million population is around 85 percent Muslim -- most of them following a moderate form of the religion.

The government has been making an extra effort to counter militant Islamic ideas since the discovery of videos last November showing the last words of suicide bombers who killed 20 people in restaurants on Bali island last year. Authorities and moderate clerics were shocked that young Indonesians could talk so blithely about the horrific bombings.

I don't know how any Muslim, regardless of how moderate, could be surprised by the attitudes of young Muslims being educated and trained by Wahhibist clerics from Saudi Arabia.

For us in the west to be ignorant of such things is almost understandable. For Muslims to be shocked by such behavior is simply daft.

"Iran ready to talk with US about Iraq"

Isn't this nice and cozy? Iran has suddenly become concerned about the people in Iraq that it has been helping to blow up for the past few years.

From Jerusalem Post/AP

Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Thursday that Teheran was ready to open talks with the United States over Iraq, marking a major Iranian foreign policy shift.

This is the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iran is officially calling for dialogue with the United States, which it has repeatedly condemned as "the Great Satan."

"To resolve Iraqi issues and help establishment of an independent and free government in Iraq, we agree to (talks with the United States)," Ali Larijani told a closed meeting of the parliament Thursday.

But on Thursday, President George W. Bush, undaunted by the difficult war in Iraq, reaffirmed his strike-first policy against terrorists and enemy nations on Thursday and said Iran may pose the biggest challenge for America.

Iran is simply trying to buy more time for its nuclear program by softening the rhetoric, and President Bush isn't falling for it.

Mohammed at Iraq The Model has this to say about it.

This development leads me to a number of important conclusions as it includes a confession from Iran that they are strongly interfering with the situation in Iraq but at the same Iran is saying that this interference is negotiable and in my opinion the bargain offer brought by al-Hakeem is in fact an Iranian proposed call for compromise because the Iranians have been talking about opening a window to talk with the US (and of course Iran wants the price for leaving Iraq alone to be leaving them alone to move on with their ambitious nuclear program).

Obviously someone deluded Iran and Syria into believing that meddling with the situation in Iraq might give them leverage and help them get out of their conflict with the international community.

Both Iran and Syria are looking forward to a deal that allows them to make some political gains in return for taking their hands off Iraq and both regimes like to say that America has to get out of the Iraqi swamp and that they are capable of getting her out of it.

But is Iraq really a swarm for America or is it a swamp for the Syrian and Iranian regimes?

I believe the latter possibility is truer; those two regimes had proven beyond doubts that they are against security and stability in Iraq and the Middle East and they had proven themselves as great supporters for terrorism maybe not realizing that by doing so they are making the world only more aware of the dangers imposed by these two regimes.

This is a very interesting take on the situation in Iran and is quite possibly true. Iran may be truly suffering from visions of grandeur brought on by its belief in infallible Islamania, and thinking that its dappling in Iraq has bought it some leverage in the nuclear arena.

There are some people on Earth, those of the Jimmy Carter ilk, that look at liars as if the slate is clean after every lie. Their reasoning is difficult to explain but appears to be consistent with my friend CoachLon's theory on Roulette, "if you see five Reds or five Blacks in a row, you bet on the opposite color." In Carterese, if Iran has lied so many times in a row, certainly soon they will tell the truth.

It appears that Iran is committing two errors here. The first is believing it has purchased even an ounce of leverage by its support of the insurgency. The second is that it hasn't yet discovered that there will only be one Jimmy Carter.

Mohammed continues:

I do not expect the US or the rational nations in this world to make a deal with losing regimes like the two in question; Iran and Syria are going against the current of logic and history and their burdens will grow heavier with time because the way they read facts and changes in the region will only lead them to more isolation and I can already see them in a confrontation with the world.

We see this coming. I wonder if Iran does.

Another Frivolous Claim

Fresh on the heels of my post the other day on frivolous lawsuits, this little gem came to me by my friend Stonehands.

From ABC News:

LODI, Calif. Mar 16, 2006 (AP)— When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck. But that minor detail didn't stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault.

Keep reading, it gets even better.

Adoption and the Gay Agenda

We all know that when anyone accepts anything from the government it can expect attached strings. While the accepted commodity is typically understood to be money, in this case, however, it isn't money that is coming with the strings, it is special needs foster children for adoption--a commodity that you would think comes with enough strings.

So, after 100 years of placing special needs foster children in permanent homes, Catholic Charities of Boston is getting out of the adoption business. Why? Because they cannot in good conscience operate with the strings now attached to foster children--namely that in order continue operating, they must be willing to place children in the homes of adoptive gay parents.

Jeff Jacoby in Townhall discusses the issue and why one leftist organization, Human Rights Campaign, is falsely accusing Catholic Charities of Boston of operating in a way that apparently Human Rights Campaign feels only it should operate.

Caught between the rock of Catholic teaching, which regards such adoptions as "gravely immoral," and Massachusetts regulations, which bar adoption agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, the Boston Archdiocese had hoped to obtain a waiver on religious-freedom grounds. But when legislative leaders refused to consider the request, the archdiocese was left with no option but to end a ministry it had been performing for a century.

Whereupon the Human Rights Campaign issued its news release. It was headlined "Boston Catholic Charities Puts Ugly Political Agenda Before Child Welfare," and a more perfect illustration of psychological projection would be hard to imagine.

This is about as cut and dry as you can get it. A blatant example of spoiled adults putting their desires ahead of the basic needs of foster children.

Who gains here?

(We all know who loses.)

A Return to the Scene of a Crime

A serial criminal will often return to the scene of a crime.

According to criminal psychologists the reason behind this behavior may range from a feeling of invincibility to a simple curiosity on what the crime scene investigators may have turned up.

Lacking any concrete proof I cannot say whether or not I have been visited by the same rodent that crapped on top of my silverware last week. However, the dung does looks eerily familiar and its placement on top of the knives is consistent with the previous incident.

I refuse to jump to any conclusions at this point because, I suppose, it could just be a copy cat.

European Demographic Shift

I have been spending quite a bit of time over the past few weeks carping about the changing demographics in Europe and how this cultural shift is going to end ultimately in Europe being a Muslim dominated continent.

This post on Rougblog the other day, discussing the spread of Islam's influence on elections in the Netherlands, received a detailed response from someone with the peculiar name of Anonymous.

This is precisely what is happening elsewhere all over Western Europe (France, Germany, Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, Austria). Immigrants (especially Muslims) will vote for leftist parties to ensure that the flow of generous state-sponsored benefits will continue.

One sincerely wonders whether the leftists themselves have taken a longer-term view of the consequences of depending upon the immigrants' (and especially Muslims') votes. Such immigrants generally hold social and political opinions that ought to be anathema to the leftists.

The elected Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has repeatedly invited the Muslim cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to the City Hall as an honoured guest. Mr Livingstone vociferously supports gay rights and feminism, while Mr al-Qaradawi equally vociferously doesn't (indeed, he believes that homosexuals should be killed).

It is difficult to know whether the leftists are cynically opportunist, or merely naive. In the case of Mr Livingstone, a ruthless and wily politician, the former seems more likely. Nevertheless, I suspect that many leftists believe, naively, that the immigrants, including the Muslims, will express their gratitude for the largesse bestowed upon them by embracing the same politically-correct pieties on gay rights, feminism, etc.

They are surely in the grip of an irrational belief-system. Those whom they routinely deride as "racists" often display a far surer grasp of the realities of the situation (although there are, of course, vulgar racists who have not thought the issues through rationally). Such "race realists", as we might term them, do not expect the immigrants to feel strongly obligated to the host society, and, especially, to the leftists who have sought to bribe them.

This is especially true in countries like France where very little attempt is ever made to assimilate immigrants into French culture. Recent rioting comes to mind.

The Muslims especially, when they reach critical mass, will demand greater political representation, either through infiltrating the leftist parties and changing them from within, or, when their numbers permit, by forming their own political movements. We might expect a fairly rapid shift of political allegiances in the second of these two scenarios.

I suppose that there is hope that enough clear thinking Europeans will halt this giveaway of culture. The problem is, of course, that the numbers do not lie, and Europeans are not reproducing in sufficient numbers to compensate for Muslims that are propogating at a terrific (or is terrifying a better word) pace.

Those of us in America had better start paying attention. It could happen here too.

Hate: The Next Generation

Have you ever seen the documentaries where beautiful children are surrounded by idiot adults?

On television a few weeks ago I was treated to just such a scene in a documentary on the Arian Nation. A Nazi with an IQ approaching 72 (I am rounding up to the nearest dozen) stands next to his 8 year old son and asks him, "Where does Adolph Hitler live?"

The son answered without hesitation, "In my heart."

It is sickening to see children exposed to such evil because their minds are like sponges. They take all the information inside and store it away for usage in later life.

Michelle Malkin discusses just such a thing today in her column in Townhall. The subject of her article is 7 year old tri-lingual poet prodigy Autum Ashante', who delivered this stunning original poem recently to a middle school in New York.

White Nationalism Put U In Bondage

White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirate and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin
Drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with
Steel, tricks and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look in our streets
The mis-education of she and Hegro -- leaves you on your knee2grow
Black lands taken from your hands, by vampires with no remorse
They took the gold, the wisdom and all of the storytellers
They took the black women, with the black man weak
Made to watch as they changed the paradigm
Of our village
They killed the blind, they killed the lazy, they went
So far as to kill the unborn baby
Yeah White nationalism is what put you in bondage
Pirates and vampires like Columbus, Morgan, and Darwin
They drank the blood of the sheep, trampled all over them with
Steel laden feet, throw in the tricks alcohol and deceit.
Nothing has changed take a look at our streets.

From Michelle:

Complaints from shocked students and parents led to a tape-recorded apology sent to all parents apologizing for the performance. Autum's father condemned white district officials as "racist crackers." Autum defended her poem by explaining to the Westchester Journal News that white people are "devils and they should be gone. We should be away from them and still be in Africa."

Read the whole article.

ROP: Picture of the Week

Have you ever wondered how so many innocent children end up being killed in the West Bank and Gaza by Israeli soldiers?


I swear, these children's parents must have shit-for-brains.

Hat tip to The Religion of Peace.

Muslim Population in the EU Expanding Like Mosquitos

It has been lectured repeatedly by the likes of Mark Steyn and Robert Spencer that the spread of Islam around the world doesn't have to be through violence because, simply stated, participants in western culture are not reproducing in sufficient numbers to sustain themselves. In effect the Muslims will be able to propagate themselves into commanding majorities where population voids are left by a shrinking number of westerners.

I pointed to an example of this the other day in The Brussels Journal where it was noted that Muslim immigrants had impacted local elections in The Netherlands.

In Aftenposten today, the infamous Muslim Cleric Mullah Krekar seems decidely optimistic over the demographic shift.

"We're the ones who will change you," Krekar told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet in his first interview since an uproar broke out over cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims.

"Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes," Krekar said. "Every western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries are producing 3.5 children.

"By 2050, 30 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim."

He claimed that "our way of thinking... will prove more powerful than yours."

As far as much of Europe is concerned I'm afraid he is right.

Ralph Peters: "Myths of Iraq"

In RealClearPolitics today, Ralph Peters reports on the things that he saw in Iraq while he was visiting there, and how what he saw differs from what is being reported routinely by the news media.

A must read for people who debate the merits of the war with those that get all their news from NPR.

Hat tip to RightWingNews.

Frivolous Lawsuits

The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform is circulating an internet petition to put an end to frivolous lawsuits.

Some of the suits they are questioning:

Woman walking track sues railroad

A woman who suffered minor injuries when she was hit by a train while walking along railroad tracks is suing the railroad for more than $30,000 because she says the railroad didn't warn people that trains were likely to travel on the tracks she was walking along.

Injured Kmart Shopper

Janette Weiss, a 54-year old part-time cafeteria worker, decided to take the bottom box in a blender display stack. After they fell on her, she sued Kmart claiming pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. The case took more than three years to resolve, but a jury this fall took just half an hour to rule for Kmart.

A woman sues Lowes Garden Center, claiming she was attacked by bird

An Illinois woman claimed in a suit filed Wednesday in Madison County Circuit Court that a bird attacked and seriously injured her while she was shopping at an outside gardening area of a Lowes Hardware store. She is seeking over $50,000 in damages.

In this country you can pretty much sue anyone over anything without repercussions for burdening the court system or saddling defendants with undeserved legal fees. The Institute's petition seeks to gain reform on the abuse of our court system for these frivolous suits.

I'm sure it will be an uphill battle, but every bit of energy spent on this issue is commendable.

CPT: Tom Fox Photo

The picture above, taken from the CPT website, shows a determined Tom Fox protesting Israeli oppression. Mr. Fox was murdered at the hands of those he tried to help.

Terrorism 101: Appeasement Does Not Work

e-Mail Extremism

I live a life of self absorbed ignorance, so while I am spending my small days working and chasing kids, things have gone awry in parts of the world that I thought were safe from ridiculous assignment. Belgium is one such place.

That wonderful culture is crumbling under the weight of its own guilt--and in its aggressive efforts to stand for everything good it has become a monument that stands for very little at all.

As proof, The Brussels Journal offers you the case of a city council member from Antwerp who made the mistake of forwarding on an e-mail considered racist by some city government officials and by The Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism.

What was the nasty e-mail he forwarded?

A Danish website offers apologies to all “offended” Muslims. Here is what it says:
We’re sorry we gave you shelter when war drove you from your home country…
We’re sorry we took you in when others rejected you…
We’re sorry we gave you the opportunity to get a good education…
We’re sorry we gave you food and a home when you had none…
We’re sorry we let you re-unite with your family when your homeland was no longer safe…
We’re sorry we never forced you to work while WE paid all your bills…
We’re sorry we gave you almost FREE rent, phone, internet, car and school for your 10 kids…
We’re sorry we build you Mosques so you could worship your religion in our Christian land…
We’re sorry we never forced you to learn our language after staying 30 years…
We’re sorry for everything else…
And we’re sorry for having to say sorry…!

Come on folks! You cannot eliminate bad feelings and bad thoughts regardless of how much you hate them. You might as well outlaw nausea and webbed feet while you are at it.

Just what does the The Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism do? Well, according to its website it is

An Autonomous Public Service established by an Act of Parliament on 15 February 1993, born of the political will of Parliament and the Government in response to proposals by the Royal Commission for Immigrant Policy and the emergence of extremist movements in Belgium.

That is a pretty tall order for any government regardless of their diligence and intent. The funny thing is though, on this issue, it cannot even find the right side of the "extremist movement" to be on. Here they want to protect the feelings of Muslim e-mail recipients against the evil actions of a guy that, perhaps insensitively, pressed the send button. You tell me who is more likely to be an extremist, the elected city council member or your average, every day Belgian Muslim? Doesn't the government have anything better to do than to envision scenarios where stupidly created bureaucracies might have some obscure application?

I was pretty sure that when Monty Python did their skit on the Ministry of Silly Walks that they intended it to be funny. Now I'm wondering if it might have been a documentary.

Martha Zoller: "The separation of state and schools"

Recently a spate of news has hit the national radar on what our public educational system has become, and the news has not been good.

What would be a great place to start in changing all this? Martha Zoller, writing in Townhall, says one of the first items should be to demote the Department of Education from a cabinet level position and shift control of the schools closer to the parents.

While the idea of a “department of education” dates back to the 1860s, Congress feared that the department would have too much power over local schools and kept it small until 1980. Until the Lyndon Johnson administration, Congress made clear its intention that the secretary of education and other officials be prohibited from exercising direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, instructional programs, administration, or personnel of any educational institution. Such matters were and should be the responsibility of states, localities, and private institutions.

The Johnson administration began adding many programs designed to help educate the poor, however the report, “A Nation At Risk” put out by the Department of Education (made a cabinet level position in 1980), led Congress to the conclusion that schools needed more involvement from the federal government. The fact of the matter is that the more the federal government has been involved, the worse schools have gotten. And with more involvement of the federal government, there has been more alienation of the parent from the school system.

The powers that be in education no longer even pretend that a public school's only purpose is to educate. The unions treat the schools as a coast to coast jobs program. Leftists attempt to use the schools as a tool to mold impressionable minds into monolithic voting blocs for future leftist causes. Legislators use their leveraged financial power over the schools to promote societal acceptance of progressive lifestyles in the name of "tolerance."

If someone has an issue with an environmental problem the quick solution is to make the schools address it. If someone sees self-esteem as an issue that needs to be dealt with, the solution is to put the schools at the forefront of promoting self-esteem. If the abortionist lobby has an issue with teen pregnancy the easy thing to do is to infiltrate the schools with literature and contraceptives. Kids not eating right? Make the schools feed them. Kids have anger problems? Make the schools counsel them. Kids have perceived gender issues? Have the school make them pee in the same bathroom.

Amidst all this indoctrinational craphobbling one thing is becoming more and more obscured from the parents of school age children -- the public schools work for us -- and it is time to whittle this beast down to a form recognizable for what it should be, a tool for parents trying to educate their kids, rather than a tool of activists trying to forward a cause.

Germany: Volunteering for Dhimmitude

Some people in Germany simply don't get it as they continue to bend over backwards attempting to appease people that care nothing of good will.

This time the appeasers are the Green Party. Those benefitting?

Seriously, how many guesses do you need?

Germany's opposition Green party said female police officers should be allowed to wear the Islamic headscarf, citing England and Sweden as examples of religious tolerance towards their public sector workers.

"I would welcome it, if the police are allowed to wear turbans or headscarves," said Green legislator, Joseph Winkler who is also an expert on migrant affairs.

Meanwhile fellow party member Angelika Beer concurred with Winkler's view by adding, "A policewoman with a headscarf has to be taken as serious as a female teacher with a headscarf."

Several German states have adopted tough anti-headscarf laws as a consequence of a Supreme Court ruling which allows federal states to bar Muslim public employees with headscarves, provided they have the necessary legislation on the books.

Muslims number around 3.2 million out of Germany's population of 82.5 million.

Dhimmis can be so cute when they whimperingly lay down and bare their necks. News like this is good enough to be reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency -- a news service that places this passage on its website:

The professional activities of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) are based on and aimed at securing the Islamic Republic of Iran's national interests. Efforts of management and professional personnel of IRNA are thus focused on achieving higher ground each day n (sic) fulfillment of its stated goal.

I have to wonder why Iran thinks the wearing of the headscarf is in its national interest. If Iran believes this, why is it so hard for Germany to figure it out?

Via The Religion of Peace.

New Meaning to the Term "March Madness"

Some Muslims really know how to party!

March 10, 2006 — With college basketball championships under way around the country, the FBI has warned stadium operators of a possible suicide bomb attack at sporting events.

In a directive issued today, obtained by ABC News, the FBI said a posting on an extremist message board "advocated suicide attacks against sporting events as a cost-effective means of killing thousands of Americans."

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said they cannot confirm the credibility of the threat or whether the message is affiliated with al Qaeda.

The FBI said the Internet posting said the suicide attacks would be justified because the United States refused a truce offered by Osama bin Laden in his last videotaped statement, Jan. 19, 2006.

From ABC News via The Religion of Peace.

CPT Member Murdered In Iraq

*** Updated 11/12 ***

---

Tom Fox, the lone American among the four members of the Christian Peacemakers Team that were kidnapped in Iraq last year, has been murdered.

In a statement, the CPT released this:

In response to Tom’s passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done. In Tom’s own words: "We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.”

I have no need or desire to villify or demonize others. This is a task that God has reserved for himself.

When beings prey so freely and remorselessly on the defenseless they place themselves in dire straits. This should be a day of reflection for Muslims. A day when they can look at the harvest of what they have sown and decide whether it is good. There is no middle ground. There is no sentence that can begin with a condemnation of this act that is tempered with a "but" at the end. There is no understanding this act because it is without justification.

I think that God reserves for those of such blatant evil a special place in hell -- a personal place where individual punishment is granted for individual sin. May the devils that committed this crime suffer it fully. That Tom Fox would forgive them is irrelevant.

This is between them and God. Tom Fox is with the Lord.

Thank you Drudge, even on this sad day.

---

Update

It wasn't enough that the terrorists murdered an unbeknownst accomplice in Tom Fox, but they also saw fit to torture him prior to his death.

From Reuters.

And yet, to the CPT, America and Israel are the bad guys.

CPT: Supported proudly by The Mennonite Church USA.

Gaming Weekend Poetry: Oh, Beguiling Sandwich Of Thinly Sliced Ham

Oh beguiling sandwich of thinly sliced ham
That rests softly within the bosom of newborn wheat loaf,
We cherish your form.

You, piled high twixt the crown and sole of yeoman goodness, are
A mixed delight of savor, raising our primal wants
To a frantic, fevered pitch.

Well, sort of. At least given the circumstances.
This is gaming weekend, afterall, and no women are allowed.
We might as well load up.

Michigan and the Minimum Wage

Michigan is a state that is losing businesses at an alarming rate and as a result is struggling with high unemployment, shrinking tax revenues, a brain drain, and crumbling infrastructure. Michigan has some of the highest taxes on businesses and consumers in the nation, owns one of the most adversarial labor forces that money cannot afford to buy, and has too many irons in the fire of the slow to respond domestic auto industry.

So, what is the state contemplating to do to turn this all around? You guessed it, make it harder to do business here. From the Detroit Free Press.

LANSING -- Michigan would have one of the nation's most generous minimum wage laws under legislation that came out of nowhere Thursday and appears headed straight for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who said she'll sign it.

The state Senate approved the measure unanimously Thursday morning, authorizing a 44% boost over the next two years from $5.15 an hour to $7.40 in July 2008. Most of the increase would come Oct. 1 this year, when the base wage would jump to $6.95 an hour.

This is simply dumb on so many levels that it astounds me. Businesses that rely on minimum wage workers are not going to simply assume the cost of a 44% increase. This cost will be compensated for in one of two ways. Either the cost of goods and services must go up (lowering demand,) or payroll costs will have to be trimmed (reduced hours, benefits or employees.)

Phillip Hill, assistant manager at a Burger King in Southfield, said better wages would let him hire people who work harder and stay longer. To have enough workers at a given time, Hill said he has to overstaff every day. "And the job is still not getting done," he said.

My apologies to Mr. Hill, but this is a silly argument. It is true that once the layoffs begin there may be more unskilled laborers seeking work from which he can choose to flip burgers. But, it isn't the best of the minimum wage workers that will be cut loose -- it is essentially the more inexperienced or less productive workers that will be forced out. These are the new potential $7.40 per hour workers Mr. Hill will be able to choose from.

In fact, Mr. Hill's argument is the best argument against raising the wage. He is already overstaffed...he admits it. Some jobs will get lost in this one restaurant. Multiply that by the tens of thousands of businesses in the state and what has been gained?

A much better solution would be for the owners of the Burger King to voluntarily pay a higher wage than its competitors to attract workers and keep them. This would give Burger King a hiring advantage, whereas simply setting a higher wage plateau offers BK no additional attractiveness to potential employees.

Always wont to take credit for everything imaginable, politicians are praising their own actions as they ignore or discount introductory economics.

Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming, said the proposal approved Thursday moves the rate higher and faster than the ballot proposal and quickly puts money in people's pockets and in the economy.

Um, this does not add money to the economy--this is a move that does not create wealth. And, while it does put money into the pockets of a few primarily unskilled laborers, it takes money out of the pockets of those that lose their jobs entirely and those that create jobs in the form of business owners.

So, in the end what do we have? A state that suffers already, will suffer even more.

Cox and Forkum: "The Three Ts"

The next time I have a few uninterrupted minutes I'm going to add Cox and Forkum to my links. Of all the honors ever bestowed upon them, this might truly be the greatest one that they will never discover.


Hat tip to Michelle Malkin.

Bad Eagle Foundation

In today's FrontPageMag, Jamie Glazov interviews Dr. David Yeagley, the founder and President of The Bad Eagle Foundation, an American Indian group dedicated to the promotion of conservative American values through media.

Glazov: How do you reconcile the fact that the Europeans (later Americans) destroyed so much of Indian country, with the idea that Indians should love America?

Yeagley: Through an objective view. The Americans built a fabulous nation! It took tremendous drive and strength. A warrior always honors strength. Great defeats are still great. Americans have their Alamo, their Gettysburg, and even their Little Big Horn. What happened to Indians should never be thought of as the end of the story. Indians are still here, by treaty in fact. Our fathers earned that with their blood. So why pout now? Or why Ghost Dance? The past is past.

Indians must develop our role as the keeper of the American identity. The encounter of America with the Indians is what shaped and defined America, at the core, from the start. Indians should assume the responsibility of reminding America of what the nation is. This is patriotism, in my view.

American Indians have a special role to play in American patriotism. We are the link to the land. This is vital to the meaning of any nation.

Dr. Yeagley's story is also interesting because it offers real life comparisons of how American Indians on the liberal side of the issues are treated versus those with conservative leanings.

Glazov: You were dismissed from college teaching because of your open stance advocating patriotism. Ward Churchill, a non-Indian fake, gets tenure and 100K for hating America. Tell us your story and why you think this situation exists.

Yeagley: I thought Oklahoma would be the perfect place to openly advocate patriotism. I was born in Oklahoma. Little did I realize, at the time, that the university campuses in the state were averse to such publicity as I was bringing. OSU-OKC seemed gravely concerned about it, and dismissed me. I had Governor Frank Keating's personal endorsement in writing, and tried to push legislation to teach patriotism in Oklahoma public schools. That a university would be ashamed or fearful of such a campaign came to me as complete surprise. This all happened in 2001.

It shows that David Horowtiz and his Academic Freedom campaign is critically important. A professor is simply not allowed to give both sides of the story in the college classroom. The most successful teachers in politics, journalism, media, social sciences, communications, etc., are the ones who preach hatred of America, and denounce everything America stands for. This is just the way it is.

I found the entire interview refreshing.