Michael J Totten's: Baghdad Raid Night

Michael J. Totten's latest dispatch from Iraq is up at his Middle East Journal.

Everywhere in Baghdad is dangerous – even the Green Zone – but danger is relative. Not every place in the Red Zone is the same shade of crimson. The 82nd Airborne company I embedded with hasn’t suffered a single casualty since they arrived in Iraq in January even though they patrol their part of the city – the neighborhood of Graya’at, just north of the Adhamiyah wall – 24 hours a day. I comforted myself with the idea that if I’m the first to be shot here, God apparently hates me.

“Stay close to me,” said Sergeant Ojeda as he plugged his mouth with tobacco. “In the dark just look for the short guy. And call me Eddie.”

The military intelligence officers at Coalition Outpost War Eagle knew the target was somewhere in their area, but they didn’t know precisely where or for how long. My unit’s job was to go out and patrol the neighborhood known as Tunis until they could pinpoint his exact location.

As always, an interesting read.

h/t to Little Green Footballs

Good News Equals Bad News

There isn't much point debating any longer whether or not positive events in Iraq will actually be considered positive events by many in the Democrat Party. House Majority Whip, James Clyburn of South Carolina, laments that a good report from General Petraeus in September could be a "real big problem for us."

Stories at Little Green Footballs and PowerLine.

Felonious Butt-Patting

This ought to keep prepubescent lads in line. From The Oregonian.

The two boys tore down the hall of Patton Middle School after lunch, swatting the bottoms of girls as they ran -- what some kids later said was a common form of greeting.

But bottom-slapping is against policy in McMinnville Public Schools. So a teacher's aide sent the gawky seventh-graders to the office, where the vice principal and a police officer stationed at the school soon interrogated them.

After hours of interviews with students the day of the February incident, the officer read the boys their Miranda rights and hauled them off in handcuffs to juvenile jail, where they spent the next five days.

Now, Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, both 13, face the prospect of 10 years in juvenile detention and a lifetime on the sex offender registry in a case that poses a fundamental question: When is horseplay a crime?

Bradley Berry, the McMinnville district attorney, said his office "aggressively" pursues sex crimes that involve children. "These cases are devastating to children," he said. "They are life-altering cases."

As soon as we start saying that a smack on the butt is sexual predation, which is essentially what the district attorney is doing, we are cheapening the term to the point of being meaningless. Who can look at a sex offenders list seriously if butt patters of the 13 year old variety are included along side the serial rapists?

None of us have anything to gain by this, least of all, those carrying the around the term for life.

Great commentary from Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom.

Acts That Can Get You Thrown In Jail

Murder, assault, battery, theft, embezzlement, rape, mayhem and arson are all among the serious offenses which could get you arrested and tossed into jail.

Among the new activities to be added to this serious list of all-to-serious crimes is the act of throwing a very serious book into the toilet. Seriously. Little Green Footballs has the story.

NEW YORK (AP) _ A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions, police said.

Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich home was not immediately returned.

The whole story is at Newsday.

If I buy a book or it is given to me, it becomes mine. I can do with it what I want. If that makes me a jerk, so be it. Does that make me a criminal?

Just asking.

Adventures in Bachelor Cooking: Volume 1

A good mason could build a house out of unfortunate Chicken and Dumplings--provided, of course, it could be removed from the pan in one solid brick.

What is Good for the Gander May Not Be So Good for the Other Gander

Clearly upset that Right Rev Anthony Priddis of the Church of England had dallied into territory in which he had no business dallying, jilted employee wannabe, John Reaney who had sought to work as the diocesan youth officer, sued the Church--and won. Damages have not been determined.

Reaney, who is a practicing homosexual, was denied employment by Rev Priddis because, according to Praddis, Reaney was involved in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. Reaney contends he was denied the job because of his sexual orientation. From the Daily Mail:

A tribunal heard that John Reaney was turned down for a youth worker's post after the Bishop of Hereford quizzed him for two hours about a previous gay relationship.

The 42-year-old said the "humiliating" interview with the Right Rev Anthony Priddis left him in tears.

The panel ruled that the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance, representing the bishop, had unlawfully blocked the lay appointment on the grounds of sexuality.

The case has implications for other religious groups because it was the first test of their legal duty under anti-discrimination laws brought in in 2003.

Equality rules bar bias against workers on grounds of sexual orientation.

Religious groups were given an exemption to allow them to turn down gay candidates for clerical posts and traditionalists argue the exemption should apply to lay appointments too.

Mr Reaney, from Colwyn Bay, North Wales, hailed the ruling as a significant victory in equality for gay and lesbian Christians.

Quick to defend Reaney was Terry Sanderson, of the National Secular Society:

"'The Bishop of Hereford should hang his head in shame.

"His church must learn that denying people jobs on the ground of their sexuality is no longer acceptable."

Oddly enough, even the National Secular Society will not accept membership unless individuals meet the following criteria (among others):

You must agree to our General Principles when you join.

Among those general principles include an absolute separation of Church and State, unless, apparently, it is the state that is wanting to sit in the back seat of a minister's car.

Here we have one organization (the church) being punished by a second organization (the state) and this punishment is being applauded by a third group (NSS) when it seems the Rev Priddis is only attempting to restrict his church's leadership positions to employees that actually agree with the church doctrine.

An irony when you consider the law that is being enforced is being applauded by many who would deny the church the same restrictions they demand for themselves, by using means that they denounce.

From the Brussels Journal with a tip to Atlanticist911 in the comments.

The Iraq Wall

It wasn't long ago that opponents to the war in Iraq were pointing to just one more dubious plan of Bush and the Imperialists. In the Guardian from April 21:

The US military is building a three-mile concrete wall in the centre of Baghdad along the most murderous faultline between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

The wall, which recognises the reality of the hardening sectarian divide in Baghdad, is a central part of George Bush's final push to pacify the capital. Work began on April 10 under cover of darkness and is due for completion by the end of the month.

The highly symbolic wall has evoked comparisons to the barriers dividing Protestants and Catholics in Belfast and Israelis and Palestinians along the length of the West Bank.

Captain Scott McLearn, who is based at Camp Victory, the US base on the outskirts of Baghdad, said Shias "are coming in and hitting Sunnis, and Sunnis are retaliating across the street".

Although Baghdad is full of barriers and checkpoints, particularly round the Green Zone where the US and British are based along with the Iraq government, this is the first time a wall has been built along sectarian lines.

Its construction comes as the security situation appears to be deteriorating despite the recent US troop "surge". This week a bombing at the Sadriya market in the city killed 140 people - the deadliest in the capital since the 2003 invasion.

In Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal today, we see that perhaps the wall, which caused so many heads to explode in anger, was a little less oppressive than presented to us by the Guardian. From "In the Wake of the Surge" we see a bit of a different perspective on the wall.

The area of Baghdad just to the south of us, which the locals think of as downtown Adhamiyah, is surrounded by a wall recently built by the Army. It is not like the wall that divides Israel from the West Bank. Pedestrians can cross it at will. Only the roads are blocked off. Vehicles are routed through two very strict checkpoints. Weapons transporters and car bombers can’t get in or out.

The area inside the wall is mostly Sunni. The areas outside the wall are mostly Shia. Violence has been drastically reduced on both sides because Sunni militias – including Al Qaeda – are kept in, and Shia militias – including Moqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army, are kept out.

Perhaps I am unduly ignorant of all things Iraq, but I do at least attempt to read what is going on in our war there. It wasn't until this evening that I discovered that the Guardian was misrepresenting The Wall and that the impression it left me with was inaccurate. What else have they misrepresented?

h/t to Little Green Footballs.

Boortz Radio Takedown of Muslim Apologist

Thanks to Jihad Watch via The Religion of Peace.

An Open Letter To Michigan Senators Stabenow and Levin

I was very upset to see that you voted against the John Doe Amendment.

Call the vote what you like or justify it in any way that you can, but this vote is one that commands that we citizens sit back and wait for imminent danger before reporting any suspicious circumstances or fear being sued. Common sense should dictate to you and others in the Senate that this is inviting disaster.

We now have a diligent public. If it weren't for that, Richard Reid would have taken his aircraft out of the sky. We know that terrorists have made "dry runs" to test not only security on the ground, but the dilligence of fellow passengers in the air.

A dry run, by definition, is not supposed to be the real thing...it is a test. Yet, with your unreasoned vote, you tell the citizens of your state to wait until the terrorist is actually lighting the fuse on his shoe before trying to stop him. Otherwise, we can be sued.

I think you have failed to think this through completely or you are so terrified of CAIR that you would rather stand up on the side of bullies--simply because that is the easy thing to do.

Fortunately for you and the rest of our cowering lawmakers, citizens of this country will continue to remain dilligent. If I ever encounter a situation where I feel threatened by an Imam shouting "Allah Akhbar" and running up and down the aisle of my airplane, that guy is going down.

If and when I get sued for it I will send you the legal bill.

New Logo and Colors for Team Episcopalia?

Many individuals and congregations are leaving the Episcopal Church USA.

The trend troubles church leadership and many high level discussions have taken place to help find possible solutions to the problem. Perhaps the best idea thus far belongs to the President and executive director of the Alliance for Christian Media, Rev. Canon Louis C. Schueddig.

Our new line of merchandise, or logo wear, I believe, is very important to the revitalization and growth of the church.

From Christopher Johnson at the Midwest Conservative Journal:

Some quotes should never be commented upon. They should be left alone so that everyone can freely contemplate their awe-inspiring grandeur.

I'm certain that the Rev. Vicky Gene Robinson is working diligently on a solution to the problem.

Rep. Mark Meadows Tackles Michigan Shitter Crisis

Never in the history of our great state of Michigan has a legislator worked so feverishly in the pursuit of its citizens' welfare. Rep. Mark Meadows has offered up legislation that, if passed by our benevolent leaders, could double or triple the number of toilets at Michigan construction sites.

An image copy of his memorandum is located at Right Michigan.

The text of said memo:

To: House Colleagues
From: Representative Mark Meadows
Date: July 19, 2007
Re: Co-sponsorship Opportunity

Tomorrow July 19th, I will have a blueback on my desk (seat #80) for co-sponsorship. The bill will amend the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act to make a general contractor provide no less than 1 toilet for each 10 employees on any construction, renovation, or demolition of any improvement to real property in Michigan.

The new legislation would require general contractors to provide employees with operational and sanitary toilets as well as hand soap and disinfecting agents in order to receive a permit for construction. Exceptions do apply when residential toilets are made available to employees on residential or commercial property by the owner or tenant.

I welcome your co-sponsorship on this bill.

Of course, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration already has toilet rules on the books, but those levels are apparently not enough for the burgeoning bowels (or apparent ego) of Rep. Meadows.

In case no one has noticed, Michigan is one of the nation's leaders when it comes to unemployment, business flight, one-way U-Haul rentals, and government regulations. So, while Mr. Meadows will undoubtedly attack those problems when the time comes, first things must be addressed first!

UPDATE

A question from coachlon:

How can a common citizen become a co-sponsor of a bill? I'd like my name attached to that puppy!

How Long Harry?

Nothing says dedication quite like long hours and hard toil. So, when Harry Reid demanded that the US. Senate take part in a rare, around-the-clock debate on the Iraq war on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, Senate workers took quick action and moved a number of roll-away beds inside the Capital.

"I think that the American people deserve what we're doing and that is focusing attention every minute of the day on what is going wrong in Iraq," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters on Monday in unveiling the rare marathon work day.

Reid said the Senate will stay in session all night Tuesday and into Wednesday to debate war policy and a Democratic plan requiring the pull-out of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of April 2008.

Harry Reid, who is no more likely to turn his back on a publicity stunt than he is an under-the-table family enrichment project, will keep his bodies (both the failing one that God gave him and the failing one that the voters gave the Republic) upright and on center stage until he deems everyone has stopped watching (or until that cobb salad with martini chaser starts to act up.) I wonder how long this marathon session will actually last given that into Wednesday might actually mean one tick past midnight.

So, what are the cots for? How does a gaggle of old dudes snoring away under the covers in the Capitol Building actually represent "focusing attention every minute of the day on what is going wrong in Iraq" even if some other pontificating yokel is actually standing behind the podium?

The word all-nighter used to actually mean something. It seems the politicians have even screwed that up.

New Edwards' Policy Initiative

The well washed and shorn John Edwards has a new policy initiative designed to boost his sagging campaign. Reported in The Onion.

According to Edwards, his plan is composed of three steps. Everyday bad things, such as curse words and splinters, would be eradicated during his first six months in office. Next, very bad things, including child abduction, soil erosion, and resurgent diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, would be ended by the the end of 2009. Finally, extremely bad things—plights such as genocide, species extinction, and virtually every form of cancer—would take a full two years to wipe out.

h/t to Conservative Grapevine

Keith Ellison

So, Democrats in Congress and elsewhere are worried about the image that President Bush has given the U.S. on the world stage?

I wonder how this blathering speech by Keith Ellison, as reported by the Telegraph in the UK, makes America look to the semi-lucid across the pond:

America's first Muslim congressman has provoked outrage by apparently comparing President George W Bush to Adolf Hitler and hinting that he might have been responsible for the September 11 attacks.

Addressing a gathering of atheists in his home state of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, a Democrat, compared the 9/11 atrocities to the destruction of the Reichstag, the German parliament, in 1933. This was probably burned down by the Nazis in order to justify Hitler's later seizure of emergency powers.

"It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that," Mr Ellison said. "After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted."

And this sort of crap is supposed to help our international complexion?

I have a message for you Keith, in case you missed the newsreels, the scientific findings, the results of countless studies, the claims of responsibility, and our recent history with certain members of a large religious cult: Islamic terrorists are responsible.

For any Muslim to paint Bush with a Hitler brush is the most bitter or ironies for Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography, is a best seller in much of the Muslim world.

h/t to Enter Stage Right

Hearing on Jewish Refugees to be Held in Congress

In a an ostensible effort to get Keith Ellison's head to blow right the hell up, the US Congress will be holding hearings next week to discuss the nearly one million Jewish refugees that were created by the Arab-Israeli conflict.

From the Israel National News

(IsraelNN.com) The Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC) of the US legislature is set to hold a first-of-its-kind hearing next week on the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced to flee their homes in Arab countries as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The July 19 hearing in Washington, D.C., under the heading "Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation," is to be hosted by the CHRC in conjunction with B'nai Brith International and Justice for Jews from Arab Countries. It will be the first time that the US Congress will hear testimony on the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

In what has to be one of the world's most glaring example of hypocrisy, Arabs, Muslims and other Jew-hating liberals have screamed for years over the Arab refugee problem that was largely created by Arabs (by leaving the state of Israel prior to the 1948 invasion, though they planned to return once the Jews were annihilated,) and then exacerbated by the surrounding Arab states when they refused to repatriate the fleeing Arab masses when their beloved armies got their butts kicked--instead forcing them to live in refugee camps for public relations purposes.

Little mention was ever made of all the Jews that were kicked out of Transjordan upon the splitting up of the Palestine Mandate,or of the many other thousands of Jews that have been kicked out of Arab and Muslim dominated lands since. Of course, Israel did what Arab countries have failed to do, and adopted their own people back into their homeland without a quibble.

As far as I'm concerned this hearing is long past due. Hopefully at least one person from the press will be able to tear himself from whatever protests the gentlemen from CAIR will be able to organize, long enough to write a paragraph or two about the hearing. After all, there should be plenty of journalists left to cover Keith Ellison's response (if his head has been duct taped back together) before he ventures to the fiery podium.

Thanks to Robert Spencer at Dhimmi Watch.

Can't Get Enough of Islamic Rage Boy?

Load up on Islamic Rage Boy gear!


I find it very satisfying that someone is actually profiting from this cretin's emotional instability. As everyone knows, way too many people have already suffered too much from his ilk.

h/t - Jules Crittenden

"It's the Ideology, Stupid!"

An excerpt from an essay today, "It's the Ideology, Stupid!" in Islam-Watch by Warner MacKenzie:

The West’s propensity for ignorance is nothing short of astounding when one considers that, in this first decade of the 21st century, a veritable gold mine of information, on any topic, is available at one’s fingertips via the internet. Never before have books on the subject of Islamic history and terrorism been so prolific, yet the same old dangerously erroneous opinions on the causes of Islamic violence remain as popular, uninformed and widespread as ever.

Seemingly unwilling to make the effort to research the true causes of modern Islamist violence, many in the West, including the media, are ever ready to proffer an autoethnophobic (cultural self-loathing) root-cause as to how “We Westerners must have, somehow, caused the problem and therefore deserve what we are getting”. The apologists, propagandists and appeasers continue to confidently promote the view that Islamic terrorism is born of, and nurtured by, poverty, social marginalisation, and Islamophobic bigotry. A raft of other exculpatory justifications for the current global violence is put forward with the one common theme that, in one way or another, the West is to blame and its chickens are simply coming home to roost. So when the recent revelation emerged that a number of medical professionals were involved in two failed terrorist attacks in Britain, the naively deluded went into a confused tailspin, scratching their, cognitively dissonant heads. Their beloved paradigm of the disempowered, impoverished and alienated Muslim now had more holes than a lace tablecloth. No doubt they are busily readjusting their theories to explain how these privileged, intelligent, middle-class professionals could be driven to their wits-end, and forced to lash out with such blind destructive fury at the “evil” West.

Found via The Religion of Peace.

Incoherence of Many on the Episcopal Left

Wow. Some things I find are just beyond my capability to understand.

Enter the Dr. Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal priest and practicing Muslim. From the Episcopal Voice on Page 9, an article by Norah M. Joslyn that focuses on the Rev. Redding and her enlightenment.

After an introduction to a Muslim prayer practice early in 2006, Redding knew she had been wrestling with a call to Islam. She approached a Muslim woman and told her so, and the woman replied, "Christianity has been good to you and you to it, and you don't have to choose." That made all the difference in Redding's choice to practice Islam.

And the change has been, apparently, good for Redding's complexion.

People have seen a transformation in Redding. The words she has heard are, "you just glow." She says it's as if someone took the shade off her and everything is illuminated.

Andrew Plus comments on the furor while Greg Griffith, at Stand Firm, says that the Plus essay offers us, if nothing else,

a glimpse into the profound incoherence of many on the Episcopal left.

Found via Midwestern Conservative Journal.

Midwest Conservative Journal

It appears that the world of Christianity has crashed headlong into the world of, er, Christianity.

Christopher Johnson at the Midwest Conservative Journal makes note of a recent dustup between the Rev. Elizabeth Keaton and the Rev. Anne Kennedy.

The Rev. Keaton is an avowed feminist lesbian of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, while the Rev. Kennedy is a (gasp!) mother of young children (and of more conservative bent.)

It all began in a post on Rev. Keaton's blog that among other things, jabbed Rev. Kennedy thusly:

There is one woman, an Episcopal priest married to an Episcopal priest, whose writing sometimes flat out scares the BeJesus out of me. She is pregnant with their fourth child, the youngest of whom is not yet one year old. They are using "Natural Family Planning" - letting "God decide" on how many children they will be blessed with and resigning themselves to gladly take whatever God gives them, giving God the praise and glory.

She gets lots of support from women who have made similar choices, all giddy with what they describe as Christian love and the Holy Ghost. Everyone seems positively ecstatic about this new pregnancy while this poor woman writes about how she doesn’t have the energy to clean her house or herself or her children whom, she muses with mild curiosity, might get their feet cut on the cereal bowl one of them smashed this morning which she simply hasn’t had the inclination to clean up.

The women commenting on this have nothing but giddy high praise for her. I can only read so much before I have to reach for some dry crackers. Apparently, you can experience "morning sickness" by proxy.

Umm . . .Can you say, "Irresponsible?"

Okay, then. How about "Madness"?

Don’t believe me? Think I’m overstating my case? Well, after reading a few of her entries, I have seriously considered calling the local authorities.

I swear to God, one of these days you are going to read about this woman loading herself and her six kids in her mini van and driving them all into a nearby lake. Or, drowning them, one by one, in the bathtub and then lining their lifeless little bodies in a perfect row on their perfectly made beds in their perfect suburban home.

Much of the original post above has been edited to tidy up the controversy, and Rev. Keaton defends herself by noting that Kennedy's name was not mentioned (though the blog reference left no doubt.)

An interesting read.

Lebanon Invaded: Yawns Deafening

If Israel had crossed into Lebanon and had set up defensive positions, the world would be up in arms over the Jewish aggression. The UN would quickly fire off new resolutions denouncing the incursion. The Arab League would threaten military action. Hezbollah would begin to shoot rockets as Hamas and Fatah would begin to rattle their sabers. George Bush and Condi Rice would wag fingers and twist arms. (I'll bet even Muslim Rage Boy would throw a fit.)

But, since the invasion has been orchestrated by Syria, never mind.

Michael J. Totten's story at his Middle East Journal.

Thanks to LGF.

A Benefit to the Democrat Congress

A quote from Jacob Sullum found in today's Patriot Post.

"I suspect the president's decision to stand up for fiscal responsibility by threatening to reject appropriation bills he considers too extravagant has something to do with the fact that his party no longer controls Congress... The Democrats say Bush's new interest in controlling spending is just a pose, that the amount of money involved is trivial. But for a president who has surpassed Lyndon Johnson in discretionary spending, who championed a huge expansion of Medicare, and who has vetoed only two bills in six-and-a-half years, even pretending to care about fiscal restraint is an improvement." ---Jacob Sullum

Amen.

Hamas Thanks US For Buying Them Weapons

Any aid given to rabidly anti-Israel political entities such as Hamas and Fatah is stupid, regardless of the earmarked purpose for the moneey. That includes food, medicine, clothing, housing and garbage collection.

As these vermin have shown in the past, they will skim any money they receive and will funnel the skimmings toward the further militarizing and terrorizing of Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.

Debbie Schlussel sums it up nicely in "Shukran [Thanks], America, For Buying Us Weapons!"

In case you are one of the American taxpayers who doesn't mind the gazillions in foreign aid that you are paying to Rival Palestinian Terrorists, Inc. er . . . the "Palestinian Authority," perhaps this little shukran (Arabic for "thank you") from HAMAS founder and chief Dr. Mahmoud Zahar (yup, a Medical Doctor) might change your mind.

Disgusting.

Iowahawk Reports from the UK

IowaHawk reports today on the British response to recent bombing attempts in the UK:

London - British public safety officials today increased the national alert level to "Quite Elevated Indeed" -- the highest category possible -- and appealed to UK citizens to "keep a sharp lookout for diverse people engaged in activities."

"We ask the public to report any behaviors by various people that may or may not be of a suspicious nature," said Lt. Clive Jameson of the Metropolitan Police Service. "We further ask the public to be especially vigilant for activities of broad stratas of people who may be from countries of some sort, especially those within the eastern and/or western hemisphere."

The elevated alert levels come on the heels of a week when London and Glasgow narrowly escaped potential events that intelligence experts say may have been related to diverse groups of people doing things. Initially police had specifically asked the public for information relating to doctors driving automobiles, but that initial warning brought angry denunciations from the British Medical Association and the UK Automobile Association.

more here.

Very funny and all too true.

Thanks to Protein Wisdom and Little Green Footballs.

Summer Fun at Camp Gaza!

It is summer time and time for fun and sun, even in Palestine!

But, what ever happened to those good old fashioned arts and crafts workshops?

Some Palestinian parents in the Gaza Strip are up in arms over Hamas summer camps which are being used to train children on the use of weapons and other military equipment.

The families on Tuesday also accused Hamas of inciting their children against Israel and Fatah. Some of the families decided to pull their children out of the camps after discovering the goals of the camp. Most of the children who are participating in the current Hamas summer camps are between the ages of eight and 17.

Of course, Fatah, when running their own summer camps, would never have thought of doing such things.

In the past, Fatah also used summer camps for teaching schoolchildren how to use weapons and for inciting against Israel and the US.

From the Jerusalem Post via Jihad Watch.

The More Responsible Gore

The good news is that Al Gore III, while speeding at more than 100 miles per hour in the possession of marijuana, Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall, was responsibly doing so while driving a Toyota Prius.

So, at least his carbon footprint was smaller than had he been speeding in, say, his father's private jet.

Gore III now lives in Los Angeles and is an associate publisher of GOOD, a magazine about philanthropy aimed at young people.

One can only assume that the medications in his possession were to be distributed, free of charge, to those with serious needs, man.

FoxNews via coachlon.

Enjoy Antoine Dufour

Our Lives, Our Fortune, Our Sacred Honor -- Mark Alexander

From Mark Alexander at the Patriot Post, these words of reflection on what that great document, written so many years ago, meant to those that signed it.

Our nation began with these stirring words in the Declaration of Independence: “When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Now, 231 years later, they still ring true.

We may envision the Founders as rash, rowdy rebels. Not so. Already accomplished in fields of endeavor, they were settled in character and reputation. They deemed their decision necessary, and their first thought was of “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” They were men of purpose and principle, who well understood the peril of choosing to declare independence from Great Britain. Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote to John Adams, “Do you recollect the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the House when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of Congress to subscribe to what was believed by many at that time to be our death warrants?”

The Founders reasoned that the colonials were compelled to the separation, outlining a detailed list of particulars describing the King of Great Britain’s “long train of abuses and usurpations” that could end only in an intended “absolute despotism” and “establishment of absolute tyranny over these states.” They appealed that the free citizens they represented therefore had both a right and a duty “to alter their former systems of government” and “to provide new guards for their future security.”

Continue reading here.

July 4 -- The Foundation of our Celebration

The Declaration of Independence
In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

This Blog

As I'm certain my former reader has noticed, I've been absent for some time. My time was spent on various perplexities and inconveniences. I am back with whatever fervor I can muster.

My absense was occasioned (indeed replete) with major events many of which are on the topics that I typically like to brood over. The mid-term elections, the immigration bill, the continuing stuggles of the auto industry, union labor, Iraq, Iran, etc. Do we even need to discuss the state of Michigan where big-labor and its Democrat enablers that have turned us into the economic laughingstock of the nation?

For those of you that have happened to venture here, I am a non-apologetic conservative with roots within the foundation of Conservatism, or (gasp) true liberalism. I am not going to embrace George Bush when he screws up, but will be happy to yield to his occasional wisdom when he gets one right. I voted for Bush in two election. I believe those were the proper votes because I believe George W. Bush is correct on the most important issue of our age--Islamic terrorism. I also support the President's position on the issue of taxes (lower), judges (constructionist), abortion (state-sponsored murder)and stem cells (adult vs. embryonic.) I respectibly believe Mr. Bush is wrong on immigration, his embrace of big government and the expansion of it, and his unyielding loyalty to those around him who have served him less than admirably. (I want to get one of those "Karl Rove is a Weenie" bumper stickers.)

I think that conservatives had a great opportunity to set the course for the next century when they wrested control of the house and senate from the Democrats in the 90s. They began their tunure with a bang and enacted economic and social policies that created an economic boom, a balanced budget, and a hope for tomorrow. Yet they squandered that opportunity when they yielded their vision to the narcotics of money and power. (Trent Lott and Tom DeLay are top-listed on that debacle.)

So, agree with me or criticize me, I can discourse with anyone. The words idiot and moron are pretty cheap on the blogosphere, though I do prefer moron. I will delete comments for thread-jacking or excessive trolling.

Going forward I want to make the blog more egocentric. "Ha!" says my reader, "it has always been about you!" In response I have to say that my blog has gotten too serious and has not been an accurate reflection of me. I will continue to lob political bombs when I see fit, but I will also be interjecting the occasional baseball post, fire Matt Millen posts, posts concerning the CMU Chippewas and Michigan Wolverines, the Red Wings (Scott Bertuzzi is a friggen traitor), and whatever else meets my fancy.

As I reach the end of this post I remind Mom to wake up and turn the computer off.

Hillary Responds to the Libby Commutation

From CNN.com:

“Today’s decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. This case arose from the Administration’s politicization of national security intelligence and its efforts to punish those who spoke out against its policies. Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House’s efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice.”

Hmmm. Apparently Ms. Clinton has forgotten the 140 pardons her husband granted on his final day in office.

As an afterthought, what is the name of that prison Sandy Burger is sitting in right now? I remember no such reaction from Hillary when Sandy walked.

Gordon Brown Closes Eyes, Plugs Ears, Opens Mouth and Buries Head (in that order)

Coming out of the UK today, new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made it plainly clear where he stands in the debate on Islamic terrorism.

From the Daily Express:

Gordon Brown has banned ministers from using the word “Muslim” in ­connection with the ­terrorism crisis.

The Prime Minister has also instructed his team – including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith – that the phrase “war on ­terror” is to be dropped.

The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more “consensual” tone than existed under Tony Blair.

However, the change provoked claims last night that ministers are indulging in yet more political correctness.

Apparently the first item on the Brown's to do list is to ignore the common bond of the terrorists--a rather novel approach to both law enforcement and international warfare.

Secondly, Gordon feels a need to coddle the Muslim community while arguably releasing it from any responsibilty it might feel toward cleaning up the mess. I have blown many a gasket these past few years over the vast majority of Muslims who bite their tongues while witnessing the hijacking of their peaceful religion, and Brown's chosen path here will do nothing to change that.

Finally, I suppose, Brown will jettison any other terms that might offend certain identity groups such as "football hooligans." Those polo players can be one tough lot and it wouldn't be fair to saddle soccer fans with all the bad publicity.

Thanks to The Religion of Peace.