Political "Solutions"

The government has a solution for everything. The voting masses, always wont to listen to lawyers and bureaucrats promise pain free solutions to even the most vexing of problems, continue to elect over paid cradle to the grave government nannies to soothe our pains and guarantee a better day.

Thomas Sowell in Townhall today points out the all too obvious:

It is remarkable how many political "solutions" today are dealing with problems created by previous political "solutions." Three examples that come to mind immediately are the housing market crisis, the wildfires in southern California, and the water shortages in the west.

The whole article is so packed with common sense that it will go completely unnoticed by government busybodies. After all, why would a bureaucrat ever listen to an economist on the workings of the world when they are perfectly good politicians willing to guarantee (for only the price of a vote) that none of the laws of economics will have jurisdiction beyond the next election cycle?

UN and EU Condemn Israel Again

Israel has started to cut as much as 15 per cent of electricity supplies to the Gaza strip in response to rocket attacks launched from Gaza. Of course, the UN, EU and the Gazans themselves are up in arms over the unfairness of it all.

Israeli energy sanctions against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip punish an entire population and are unacceptable, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said.

The EU also voiced concern after Israel began reducing petrol and diesel supplies in response to militant rocket attacks on its territory.

Yada, yada, yada.

It has been proven time and again that the ability to control terrorism lies within the neighborhoods of the terrorists themselves.

There was no bloodier province in Iraq than Al Anbar. It used to be a province filled with terrorists and terrorist sympathizers. It was a province that contained less than 10 per cent of Iraqi citizens yet was the province in which nearly half of all insurgent violence took place. It was an area largely thought of as being beyond hope by even many in the US military.

Then came the "Awakening" where the Iraqis themselves decided they were tired of being blown up and terrorized. They decided there had to be a better way than simply standing by and allowing others to trash whatever opportunity they had to better their own lives. They began to take back their markets and their towns, and soon the entire province began to turn around.

In Gaza things would be the same if there was a similar Awakening.

Until the Gazans and their hapless leadership decide that being the victim is no fun, their victimhood will continue--if not by Israel, at the very least by the punks that make up the militant forces.

The cutting of electricity in response to terrorist attacks seems reasonable. The words and tears of EU and UN aren't going to convince pedestrian Gazans to do anything about terrorism. Perhaps the Israelis, using more stern incentives, can.

Left-Leaning Lantos Doesn't Mince Words With Eurocrats

In case you missed this over the weekend, Tom Lantos, that left falling Congressman from California who so despicably attacked General Petraeus before Congress just a few weeks ago, apparently isn't afraid to speak his mind with European leaders either.

WASHINGTON - Dutch lawmakers who recently visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat.

The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that "Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay."

Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, was responding to arguments that the United States should shut down the prison, located on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the lawmakers said. Mariko Peters, a member of the Dutch Green Party, who began the exchange with Lantos, said she took notes of the remarks.

A Lantos aide said the lawmaker realizes the Guantanamo facility does harm to the reputation of the United States and has praised judges who ruled in favor of extending legal rights to prisoners. Lantos has not suggested that the prison be closed.

Before the Guantanamo exchange, the lawmakers had discussed a debate in the Netherlands about whether the country should maintain its 1,600 troops serving in NATO's Afghanistan operations.

"You have to help us, because if it was not for us you would now be a province of Nazi Germany," Lantos said, according to the Dutch lawmakers.

"The comments killed the debate," said Harry van Bommel, a member of the Socialist Party. "It was insulting and counterproductive."

Tough.

IAEA's ElBaradei Rails Against Israel

Buoyed by his stunning success in stopping the Iranian nuclear program dead in its tracks, Mohamed ElBaradei, chief if the IAEA, has condemned Israel for blowing up a suspected nuclear site in Syria.

Huh?

What is it that would make him think the west should have an ounce of confidence in this guy's international blatherings? Years of talk and finger pointing and posturing at the wisened behest of ElBaradei have done nothing except lead us ever closer to the day when we can do nothing about a nuclear Iran. I'd rather grant Robert Mugabe another country to turn around economically than give ElBaradei another chance to soft woo a fascist dictatorship into giving up its nuclear weapons programs.

Thank you Israel.

h/t LGF

A Pretentious Blogger Gets Some Unexpected Attention

I'm not the most confrontational person but I have to admit I enjoy watching a good slap down when the person being abused deserves every last bit of it.

A case in point...blogger Bobby Calvan, ever the tough journalist, gets rude with a US soldier at a Green Zone checkpoint and with puffed arrogance, makes the mistake of proudly blogging about it.

Oh, and the slap down, it just might leave a mark.

h/t Michelle Malkin

Foster Parents in Britain Disqualified For Not Promoting Homosexual Lifestyles

When you live in a nanny state, you better mind your nanny!

From the Daily Mail.

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children.

But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.

To do so, they claim, would force them to promote homosexuality and go against their Christian faith.

Those darn Christians, always pushing their own agenda even when it hurts needy youths by depriving them from the ever important gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans gendered lifestyle education. Sure, food and clothing are nice to have and so are clean sheets and a protected place to lay one's head at night, but, when an 11 year old gets horny, what good is a ham sandwich?

The 11-year-old boy, who has been in their care for two years, will be placed in a council hostel this week and the Mathericks will no longer be given children to look after.

One can only hope that the state can get a proper education started quickly for the boy so that his 11 year old sexual identity can begin to blossom. Oh, and he shouldn't hate either--like those loathsome Mathericks.

The devastated couple, who have three grown up children of their own, became foster parents in 2001 and have since cared for 28 children at their home in Chard, Somerset.

Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.

Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages.

And, as we all know, not counseling an 11 year old on the wonders of gay relationships is nearly the same thing as screaming "stone the faggot," like they do in Iran. (Stoning that is, I'm not sure what the appropriate slur is for homosexual in Farsi.)

They could also be required to take teenagers to gay association meetings.

When the Mathericks objected, they were told they would be taken off the register of foster parents.

The Mathericks have decided to resign rather than face the humiliation of being expelled.

Mr Matherick, a 65-year-old retired travel agent and a primary school governor, said: "I simply could not agree to do it because it is against my central beliefs.

"We have never discriminated against anybody but I cannot preach the benefits of homosexuality when I believe it is against the word of God."

Hah! Got you, hater! Not promoting is the same thing as discriminating.

Mrs Matherick, 61, said they had asked if they could continue looking after their foster son until he is found a permanent home, but officials refused and he will be placed in a council hostel on Friday.

She said: "He was very upset to begin with. We are all very close, but he's a mature young man and he's dealing with it."

How does this help a child in need of a home? It seems to me that the people in charge have decided that this child's need to either explore his potential homosexuality or society's need for him not to hate homosexuals (though there is no evidence to support he was being taught to think of homsexuals one way or the other) transcends his need for a stable home at the age of 11.

Who benefits from this decision? It sure ain't the child.

h/t Brussels Journal

A Hero's Father Speaks

"While I'm crying inside and my heart's breaking, my chest is puffed out and I'm saying, my son, this is what he did and I hope the country appreciates it and realizes it."

---Dan Murphy, father of Medal of Honor recipient
Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy KIA in Afghanistan

via today's Patriot Post

Laura Bush Among Friends

This picture is from Debbie Schlussel.


The pictures was taken during the First Lady's recent swing through the middle east to promote breast cancer awareness.

I'm sorry, but these women, while certainly having to worry about the dangers of breast cancer, also have to worry about being relegated to near inhuman status and therefore all the different abuses that come from being thought of in such a way. I wish Mrs. Bush would do some promotion of a different kind on the behalf of these women--assuming those are women underneath those hoods.

I am encouraged to see that at least she did not feel it necessary to don one of those silly scarves that Nancy Pelosi was so willing to parade around Syria. At least we have that.

Fantasy Football

I wonder how long it took Newton to really discover the constants of gravity and motion. I suppose it took some applied study in addition to years of casual if not dedicated research to understand their diligence and applications.

I have likewise observed the nuances of Fantasy Football through many seasons. It was this past week, however, that I had my moment of epiphany, and I present my observations now, to both the scientific and sporting worlds.

Rougman's First Law of Fantasy Football states that a player's ability to score points is directly disproportional to the number of weeks you actually wasted on the dirty bastadge, starting him game after excruciating game, waiting for the jackass to actually put up some friggen points! The longer he starts, the worse he gets.

Conversely, Rougman's Second Law of Fantasy Football states that a player's ability to score points is directly disproportional to the length of time he has been scoring points as a non-starter. In other words, if the player has been scoring points up the wazoo while either sitting on your bench or unclaimed on the waiver wire, when you finally start him or, even worse, spend money on him to sign him so you can start him, the sumbitch won't be worth a steaming squat of crappola. The longer he sits, the more impressive the numbers.

As evidence for these axioms of truth, I present to you the scoring charts of two current dipsticks that happen to hold down spots on my roster. On the left you see Chad Pennington whose game was spiraling around the sides of the toilet bowl on its way to the septic tank as I started him for several weeks in desperation after injuries to both Jake Delhomme and Matt Leinart. When I finally benched him he put up 23.


On the right you see David Garrard who posted consistent if not spectacular numbers after spending all season on the free agent wire. I picked him up, inserted him in the starting lineup, and exposed myself to Rougman's Second Law.

Rougman's Third Law of Fantasy Football goes something like this (though the text is not set in stone): I suck.

When is Self-Defense Not Acceptable?

Apparently when you are an infidel woman protecting yourself from a Muslim male trying to stab you to death.

Another Eurabian city is tense as packs of indignant Muslim "youths" take to the streets burning cars, breaking windows and damaging businesses. Reminiscent of the Paris riots nearly two years ago and more recent riots in Brussels, this time rioting in Amsterdam broke out after a policewoman shot and killed ethnic Moroccan Bilal Bajaka who was in the process of stabbing her.

Jumping quickly to point out that the rioters have a true concern is the Moroccan born Mayor of Amsterdam's Slotervaart district who complained that the Dutch were negligent for having skimped on the mental health care of Bajaka. From the Brussels Journal:

Since the incident, Slotervaart has seen rioting almost every night. The Amsterdam Moroccans are “shocked” because one of them has been killed by an infidel woman. According to his family, Bilal Bajaka was mentally deranged and had a suicide obsession. Ahmed Marcouch, the Moroccan-born Socialist mayor of Slotervaart, criticized the Dutch authorities for failing to provide adequate health care for Bajaka’s mental problems.

As far as I'm concerned the Dutch mental health department has a bigger problem to deal with than just poor little Bilal Bajaka. Each and every person incapable of understanding that a women has the right to defend herself against a knife wielding assailant has gone daft. That the cowering Dutch allow this crap to go on night after night is shameful.

Eritrean Gospel Singer Tortured by Sympathizers of Unnamed Religion

From the BBC:

An Eritrean Christian gospel singer who was tortured and detained without charge for two years in her homeland has been granted asylum in Denmark.

Helen Berhane was imprisoned inside a metal shipping container and beaten in an effort to make her recant her faith.

Gosh, who in the world could be guilty of such a thing?

Freed in December 2006, she took refuge in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, before being granted asylum.

Ms Berhane uses a wheelchair because of severe injuries to her legs and feet sustained in prison beatings.

More than 90% of Eritreans belong to one of four recognised religions - Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Churches and Islam.

All other religions were outlawed by a government decree passed in May 2001, though Jehovah's Witnesses had been denied their rights as Eritrean citizens as early as 1994.

Wow, maybe it was one of those Lutherans that was up to no good, and the good Lord knows that Catholics are capable of anything given their spotty history of crusading. And, don't even get me started on those Orthodox!

Helen Berhane is a member of the unregistered Rema Church and had just released a cassette of gospel music when she was arrested in the Eritrean capital on 13 May 2004.

She was one of an estimated 2,000 members of illegal evangelical church groups in Eritrea who have been arrested in recent years, according to the human rights group Amnesty International.

The entire article does not mention that Islam is the government-culprit here. Why? Could it be fear?

Have some backbone BBC, would ya?

h/t to Dhimmi Watch

Hate Speech

In a great article today in Townhall, Mark Adams tackles the issue of hate speech and helps to define what it truly is, in practical terms.

Hate speech is verbal communication that induces anger due to the listener’s inability to offer an intelligent response.

Because this inability to offer an intelligent response is due to one of two reasons, there are really two different types of hate speech: 1) Speech that is too dumb to merit an intelligent response, and 2) Speech for which the listener is too dumb to offer an intelligent response.

Adams then takes this working definition of hate speech and applies it to today's debate on Islam.

Harry Reid's Philanthropy (by proxy)

Harry Reid tries to take partial credit for Rush Limbaugh's philanthropy. From Reid's Senate floor comments this morning: (NRO)

MADAM PRESIDENT, EARLY THIS MONTH I CAME TO THE FLOOR TO DISCUSS SOME COMMENTS MADE BY RUSH LIMBAUGH. FOLLOWING MY REMARKS, MORE THAN 40 OF MY SENATE COLLEAGUES AND I CO-SIGNED A LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN OF CLEAR CHANNEL, MARK MAY, TELLING HIM THAT WE WANTED HIM TO CONFER WITH RUSH LIMBAUGH REGARDING THE } STATEMENTS HE MADE. I'VE SINCE SPOKEN TO MARK MAY ABOUT THIS. MARK MAY, IN FACT, CALLED ME REGARDING THIS LETTER. THIS WEEK, RUSH LIMBAUGH PUT THE ORIGINAL COPY OF THAT LETTER UP FOR AUCTION ON E-BAY. MR. PRESIDENT, WE DIDN'T HAVE TIME, OR WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN EVERY SENATOR TO SIGN THAT LETTER. BUT HE PUT THE LETTER UP FOR AUCTION ON E-BAY AND I THINK VERY, VERY CONSTRUCTIVELY, LEFT THE PROCEEDS OF THAT IT GO TO THE MARINE CORPS LAW ENFORCEMENTS FOUNDATION. THAT PROVIDES SCHOLARSHIP ASSISTANCE TO MARINES AND FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL WHOSE PARENTS FALL IN THE LINE OF DUTY. WHAT COULD BE A MORE WORTHWHILE CAUSE? I THINK IT'S REALLY GOOD THAT THIS MONEY ON E-BAY IS GOING TO BE RAISED FOR THIS PURPOSE. WHEN I SPOKE TO MARK MAYIC HE AND I THOUGHT THIS PROBABLY WOULDN'T MAKE MUCH MONEY, A LETTER WRITTEN BY DEMOCRATIC SENATORS COMPLAINING ABOUT SOMETHING. THIS MORNING, THE BID IS MORE THAN $2 MILLION FOR THIS. WE HAVE WATCHED IT DURING THE WEEK. IT KEEPS GOING UP-AND-UP AND UP. THERE'S ONLY A LITTLE BIT OF TIME LEFT ON IT. BUT IT CERTAINLY IS GOING TO BE MORE THAN $2 MILLION. NEVER DID WE THINK THAT THIS LETTER WOULD BRING MONEY OF THIS NATURE. AND, FOR THE CAUSE, MADAM PRESIDENT, IT IS EXTREMELY GOOD. NOW, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT RUSH LIMBAUGH AND I DON'T AGREE ON EVERYTHING IN LIFE AND MAYBE THAT IS KIND OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT. BUT WITHOUT QUALIFICATION MARK MAY, THE OWNER OF THE NETWORK THAT HAS RUSH LIMBAUGH AND RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOULD KNOW THAT THIS LETTER THAT THEY'RE AUCTIONING IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING THAT RAISES MONEY FOR A WORTHWHILE CAUSE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE COULD DO MORE IMPORTANT THAN HELPING TO ENSURE THAT CHILDREN OF OUR FALLEN SOLDIERS AND POLICE OFFICERS WHO HAVE FALLEN IN THE LINE OF DUTY HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO HAVE A GOOD EDUCATION. THINK OF THIS, MORE THAN $2 MILLION — THAT WILL REALLY HELP. THAT'S, AGAIN, AN UNDERSTATEMENT. THERE'S ONLY A LITTLE BIT OF TIME LEFT SO I WOULD ASK THOSE THAT ARE WANTING TO DO MORE, THAT THEY CAN GO TO HARRY REID LETTER AND IT WILL COME UP ON E-BAY. I ENCOURAGE ANYONE INTERESTED WITH THE MEANS TO CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING TO THIS WORTHWHILE CAUSE. I STRONGLY BELIEVE WHEN WE CAN PUT OUR DIFFERENCES ASIDE, EVEN HARRY REID AND RUSH LIMBAUGH, WE SHOULD DO THAT AND TRY TO ACCOMPLISH GOOD THINGS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THIS DOES THAT, MADAM PRESIDENT. MORE THAN $2 MILLION FOR A LETTER SIGNED BY THIS SENATOR AND MY FRIENDS.

Now, according to a link at LGF, a Daily Kos diarist is actually interpreting the effort of Rush Limbaugh to auction off the letter as an apology for the comments he made that were taken out of context. Not to worry, the imaginary apology for a misrepresented comment will not be accepted by those that chose to misrepresent the comment.

Pete Stark: Congressional Hate Blatherer

The hate Bush crowd in Congress has gotten so deranged that it has difficulty even sounding lucid. Need an example?

How about Pete Stark of California who says:

You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.

Some one needs to retire this prattling old fart before he says something really stupid. Oops. Too late.

h/t LFG

The Rich and Poor

Liberals on the left have their flower scented uni-sex panties in a wad over the income disparity between the rich and the poor. The license of liberalism provides its holders with open ended legal permission to covet, if not for themselves, at least for THE PEOPLE!

Personally, I harbor no ill-will against the rich and their big cars, houses and salaries. After all, without their tax contributions, who would pay for all the bullshit that keeps our malevolent overlords on the throne of the Nannystate?

h/t to Conservative Grapevine

Victims Twice

Why push the Armenian genocide theme at this point in time? The undeniable extermination of hundreds of thousands of Armenians took place nearly a century ago. (Well, that is, undeniable by any of us that don't actually have ancestors that carried around the red-smeared bayonets and pitchforks for some Armenian kill sport.) Why push it now?

The answer lies quite simply in the political tennis court of MoveOn.org and liberal Democrats willing to take whatever steps necessary to make it difficult to fight the war in Iraq. From Ralph Peters in Front Page Mag:

Last Wednesday, the Democrat-controlled House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution formally declaring the Armenian tragedy what it was: genocide. Speaker Nancy Pelosi intends to bring the resolution to a vote on the floor, after which it would go to the Senate.

We need to stop it. It's a travesty and a betrayal. Of Armenian-Americans. And of our troops.

Make no mistake: I'm on the Armenian side in the court of history. When the same resolution came up in years past, I supported it. The Armenian survivors - their descendents, at this point - deserve justice.

And I have no sympathy with the Turks. The Turks are jerks. After the United States supported them unswervingly for more than a half-century, they stiffed us the single time we needed help - when we asked to move an Army division through Turkey on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

[...]

Legislation similar to this has come up repeatedly in Congress, yet it's always been defeated - in 2000, because of pressure from the Clinton administration. But if the resolution passes the House and Senate now, the Turks plan to evict us from Incirlik airbase in southeastern Turkey, to halt our military over-flight privileges and to shut down the supply routes into northern Iraq.

That's what the Democrats are aiming at. This resolution isn't about justice for the Armenians. Not this time. It's a stunningly devious attempt to impede our war effort in Iraq and force premature troop withdrawals.

The Dems calculate that, without those flights and convoys, we won't be able to keep our troops adequately supplied. Key intelligence and strike missions would disappear.

The Pentagon might be able to improvise other options. But the loss of the base and those routes would definitely hurt our troops. Severely. And we'd be more reliant than ever on a single, vulnerable lifeline running from Kuwait.

It's a brilliant ploy - the Dems get to stab our troops in the back, but lay the blame off on the Turks. They pretend they're responding to their Armenian-American constituents - while actually moving to placate MoveOn.org.

The Armenian resolution loses some of its luster when close inspection reveals its ultimate goal is not the remembrance of the genocide but rather to force regional redeployment by US military forces. The resolution, in all honesty, is nothing but a byproduct of a greater effort by Democrats to leave the Middle East in the hands of the Islamists. Incidentally, that same fanatical ideology that gladly accepted the task of wiping the Armenians off the face of Earth in the first place.

Taking Action in Rhode Island

No one likes layoffs, least of all the people that get the ax. But, who can fault the largest employer in Rhode Island for taking action when revenues do not meet expenses?

I'll tell you who--(especially when that largest employer is the state government): the tax and spend Michigan liberal status quo bureaucrats that would rather choke the milk producing cow to death than cut back on dairy products.

It is a sad state of affairs when Michigan has to look to liberal Rhode Island for some fiscal sanity.

Check out each edition of "Portrait of a Tax Hiker" at Right Michigan.

Reality of FISA

We have heard many arguments on the effects of FISA. Reasonable people have stood on both sides of the argument....liberty vs. the pursuit of terror.

Today's New York Post outlines how these theoretical arguments can have true impact on the lives of real men fighting a real war against real terrorists.

Sometime before dawn, heavily armed al Qaeda gunmen quietly cut through the tangles of concertina wire surrounding the outpost of two Humvees and made a massive and coordinated surprise attack.

Four of the soldiers were killed on the spot and three others were taken hostage.

A search to rescue the men was quickly launched. But it soon ground to a halt as lawyers - obeying strict U.S. laws about surveillance - cobbled together the legal grounds for wiretapping the suspected kidnappers.

Starting at 10 a.m. on May 15, according to a timeline provided to Congress by the director of national intelligence, lawyers for the National Security Agency met and determined that special approval from the attorney general would be required first.

For an excruciating nine hours and 38 minutes, searchers in Iraq waited as U.S. lawyers discussed legal issues and hammered out the "probable cause" necessary for the attorney general to grant such "emergency" permission.

The whole story at the New York Post found via Michelle Malkin.

To Lansing

Off to Lansing today. Blogging will be light.

Mom, feed the dog.

Irony: Thy Name is Lee Bollinger

Only days after Lee Bollinger served as host to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an effort to provide the stooped little monkey with a forum in which he legitimized his anti-Semitic and terror supporting ideology to the rest of the Middle East (and particularly to anti-Ahmadinejad dissenters in Iran), Mr. Bollinger has decided there is one kind of hate speech he will NOT tolerate!

That being graffiti in the john.

Perhaps if Lee had extended his hand to the artist to write his hateful dialog on a dry-erase board on stage and in front of the cameras, Bollinger could have rebutted on stage as well. Armed with a dry-erase board of his own, this whole thing could be chalked up to necessary debate. The whole world could have watched academia in action with no scouring of restroom stalls even being necessary.

But not at Columbia.

Bollinger has given Ahmadinejad an avenue in which to spew his hatred of the Jews worldwide, while lowly bathroom pundits must dissent in the shitter.

Empire State Building Salutes (or cowers before) Islam

As if the absence of the WTC towers on the New York skyline isn't enough of a reminder to us on the wonders of Islam, the Empire State Building will be gilded in green light for Eid on Friday, the day that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

From HughDhimmi Watch:

I suspect that this Meccatropic turn on the part of the Empire State Building is simply the result of naivete, ignorance, and sheer laziness. Did those who thought it would be a swell idea to do this think of the symbolic value to Muslims worldwide, as they are told that the American Infidels, even after 9/11/2001, are going to have their other famously tall building in New York pay tribute to Islam itself in the only way it can? And do they understand how this news will be received? Of course they don't. How could they? But from here on out, they might consult with those who can tell them -- Barkis, by the way, is willin'.

Cleveland Shooting and Fame

Another misfit takes action, this time in Cleveland.

This event, like the VT shooting, Columbine, etc. should be treated in a manner that creates no fame for the shooter. Sure, report the violence, report the victims, report all the pertinent information surrounding the tragedy. Hey, even report what the shooter was like, what his struggles were and what were his hangups.

But, do not report the name of the shooter and do not put up his picture. Try and deny the shooter even an ounce of fame for his dealings. Will that help with this shooting? No. But, I cannot help but wonder wonder if the VT killer would have taken down so many had he gone to the grave anonymously. In this country right now there are dozens of stupid kids contemplating this very action, and some of them want to drive home a message when they finally do act.

We must remove fame as an incentive for these murderous cretins.

UAW Strikes Michigan Again

It is pretty easy to understand the workers of the UAW walking out once again, carrying their signs and generally acting belligerent with passing motorists. After all, they are simply doing what they think will help them financially in the future. They are trying to protect the jobs they already have and want to hang on to what they already own. There is nothing surprising about this.

What does surprise me, however, is the support that these workers get among politicians that should be looking at the big picture, the picture that includes not only Michigan, but Ohio, Alabama, Indiana and yes, Japan and Korea too.

These marching union members couldn't give a rat's ass over whether or not one single job is created in Michigan if that job is not union. Should we be surprised then than Honda and Toyota decide to build their plants elsewhere? The second that any automobile company decides to build in our state the UAW would begin stalking them with the same vigilance that Michael Moore does a Twinkie.

Is this tactic good for the 10 or 12 per cent of Michigan workers that happen to belong to a union? Perhaps. Is this tactic a good move for the remaining 90 per cent of Michigan workers and their families?

Nope.

The UAW is striking against more than Chrysler, it is striking against an economic recovery in Michigan.

Paying Their Fair Share

Ah, the old liberal screed.

"The rich need to pay their fair share!" Well, in a summary post at The Tax Foundation, the rich are paying their fair share.

New data released by the IRS today offers interesting insights into the distributional spread of the federal income tax burden, new analysis by the Tax Foundation shows.

The new data shows that the top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $62,068) earned 67.5 percent of nation's income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (86 percent). The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $364,657) earned approximately 21.2 percent of the nation's income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.4 percent of all federal income taxes. That means the top 1 percent of tax returns paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent of tax returns.

Liberals openly covet and they depend on the covetousness of others in order to fan the flames of civil dissatisfaction that drives their movement--this erstwhile the top 10 per cent of earning Americans contribute over 70% of personal income taxes. The bottom half of the US population? Chalk them up for a meager 3.07%.

Fair share indeed.

h/t Right Wing News

Uplifting Children's Poetry

Where would you look to find uplifting poetry such as this for your children?

Glorious Wafa will always be with us.
She sacrificed her soul.
She stood up in the square proud, tall and defiant,
to punish the Zionist gang for the barbaric war,
and to teach the world a lesson about [the meaning of] nationalism.
Hurrah for this believing and loyal young woman.
She gave her soul to redeem the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and Arab Jerusalem.
She uttered a cry of truth, which paved her way to eternal [life].
She [entered] the Creator's Paradise and met Sumayya [the first female Muslim martyr]."

Look no farther than London. It is contained in issue #9 of Al-Fetah, Hamas' Children's Magazine. Because, as every child psychologist will tell you, you simply have to give your kids legitimate goals if you want them to become successful.

Much more at MEMRI with a h/t to Front Page.

Democrat's Latest Attempt at Deception in It's Quest for The Nannystate

With foreheads still steaming over President Bush's veto of the S-CHIP legislation of last week, the Democrats, sensing an issue in which they can pummel conservatives come election time, offered a rebuttal in their weekly radio address to be delivered by an uninsured 7th grader that would otherwise benefit from the program.

The problem is, of course, that once a little investigation was done by someone outside of the media, that the whole fragile stack of cards surrounding the 7th grader's parents and financial situation started to come tumbling down.

The fallen cards have done nothing other than to prove the reasons behind the veto were sound and just.

More at National Review by Mark Steyn and Michelle Malkin.

Saudi Officials Launch Fatwa Website

Imagine you are a pedestrian walking alongside a busy highway in Riyadh. An unveiled woman driving alone and chugging a beer in a bright red convertible passes you at an alarming speed with her music blaring and her hair flowing out behind her in a canopy of blatant western decadence.

Of course, the woman must be punished.

But, should she be stoned, drowned, beaten, hanged, whipped, or merely chastised? With fatwas coming from everywhere on every topic, how is a person supposed to know which one takes precedent?

Fortunately, the Saudi government has recognized the difficult problem of weeding through all the rules and wants to help!

Thanks (seriously) to the BBC.

Stewpot of Religious Leftists Meet to Protest Iraq War

Sooner or later this sort of thing is going to get noticed by the church members back home. Until then....its party time!

Its not so much that any protest of the war is unimaginable or ill conceived for many people of reasonable intellect can go round and round on this one for years (and already have.) What gives me the heebie jeebies is this crude epoxy of misfits that seem to enjoy the blessing of (what used to be) common sense churches to represent them as spokespeople and at media events.
From Mark Tooley in today's Front Page Mag:

Religious Left officials joined in a press conference on the lawn of the Methodist Building on Capitol Hill to unveil their umpteenth protest against the Iraq War. This time, it will be an interfaith “fast” to coincide both with Islam’s Ramadan season and, more specifically, with Columbus Day. The fasters prefer to call the later the “day of conquest.”

The locale, the cause, and the participants all combined to create a uniquely absurd spectacle. Participants included the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, which owns the Methodist Building, the National Council of Churches, liberal Jewish groups, some Buddhists, liberal Baptists and the Islamic Society of North America. The later is named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the ongoing terrorism trial involving the Holy Land Foundation.

To help illustrate the fast’s interfaith theme, Gerald Serotta of Rabbis for Human Rights sounded a shofar, or ram’s horn, which Jews have used for 3 millennia as an instrument of worship. Serotta himself was introduced by Rabbi Debra Kolodny, self-professed sexual liberationist and editor of “Blessed Bi-Spirit: Bisexual People of Faith.” Rabbi Kolodny is a noted advocate of “polyamory” and the ostensible holiness of multiple sexual partners. She is not your typical rabbi. “Today, we will activate our senses,” she pronounced, right before the shofar was sounded.

But how superbly sublime that Rabbi Kolodny should be present on the lawn of the Methodist Building, taking a break from her crusade for polamory, to introduce the blowing of a shofar against the Iraq War, with her Muslim and Methodist co-belligerents. And how often is an official from the Islamic Society of North America likely to spend a late Summer morning in public solidarity with a bisexual Jewish rabbi? Only the United Methodist Board of Church and Society could facilitate such a cosmic event.

No doubt, 85 years ago, Methodism’s Old Board of Temperance had exactly this kind of event in mind when it dedicated the Methodist Building as a shrine to chaste and temperate living. Worried primarily about the destructive wages of intoxication, but also about “salacious” literature,” racy Hollywood films and the vices of the race track, the Old Temperance Board raised dimes and quarters from Sunday school classes and Methodist women’s groups across the nation. The old temperance crusaders likely never foresaw that the fruits of their labors would include the author of “Blessed Bi-Spirit,” or the Islamic Society of North America.

I tell you what, if you promise in the future to keep these psych-patients entertained at home I will promise to keep crazy Uncle Joe out of the moonlight in his thong and paisley leg warmers. And, if Joe does happen to get loose by accident, I can assure you he will not be speaking for me in front of the press corps.

Craig Decides to Fight!

I was hoping this whole thing would just trudge off into the sunset (using exceptionally log strides as is the style of one blessed with such a wide stance) with Larry Craig's reported (and anticipated) resignation.

Great decision, Larry! Your family has not been through enough yet. If you are really lucky you can have this thing reach court just about the time of the next national election! Does your defense lawyer also do divorces?

It isn't just about you any more.

Red Wings Begin Season

It was rumored to be on Versus.

I heard they won.

A More Peaceful Meeting with Mahmoud

We all watched as Lee Bollinger, the esteemed President of Columbia, was forced to save as much face as he could for providing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the golden opportunity of legitimizing himself in front of Middle East audiences. So, Bollinger, ever the motivated man, let the stooped little ape-leader have it with both barrels by calling him "woefully uneducated" and a "a petty and cruel dictator."

This presented leftists with a no-loser scenario by being able to applaud either Columbia's decision to offer the furry little guy the podium under duress, or to simply applaud the gibbonesque leader out of spite for Israel. (Some probably cheated and applauded for both.) There were plenty of back-slapping opportunities to go around.

Not at all amused by Bollinger's stunt the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) stepped forward to soothe the murderer's feelings with some heavy petting at a meeting arranged by the MCC that followed the Columbia tizzy. From CAMERA.org:

Prominent Christian leaders recently showed deference to the leader of a regime that murders its opponents and practices Jew-bating on an international scale at a low-profile meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The meeting was organized by the Mennonite Central Committee, a group which, like Ahmadinejad, openly questions the legitimacy of a sovereign Jewish State in the Middle East.

While attendees went out of their way to extend courtesies to Ahmadinejad, one participant obliquely chided Jewish leaders in the U.S. for refusing to participate in “dialogue” with a Holocaust denier who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

The leaders met with the Iranian president after he addressed the United Nations on September 26. According to The New York Times, Albert Lobe, executive director of the Mennonite Central committee told Ahmadinejad “We meant to extend to you the hospitality which a head of state deserves.”

Many within the Mennonite Church are so inclined to embrace peace that they have simply lost the ability or the discipline to confront evil. As some within the church openly advocate a one-state solution to the Middle East crises (a solution that will ostensibly rid the Middle East of Jews forever) other Mennonite representatives slobber over the very hand of the most vocal Holocaust denier on the planet.

A Stoning on CBS

In a riveting episode of Cold Case files to be seen on CBS, an adulterous youth is stoned to death for her actions by religious teens trying desperately to hide their own youthful transgressions.

Stonings are not unheard of in Muslim countries as many reports out of the Middle East will point out. So, should we be surprised that CBS has attempted to bring this cultural sin to light for American audiences?

Well, CBS might get around to that some day, but first they need to get this show on the air where the stoners are hypocrite Christian adulterous murderers.

Remind me again why I don't watch much on CBS...

h/t Dhimmi Watch

Emotional Roller Coaster

This has been an up and down week where the necessary activity of staying on top of things refuses to relent despite everything else that tries to occupy the mind. When I finally do find a spare moment or two to relax, my mind gets overrun with events of the past few days.

First a report on the twins. On Sunday night the family was discouraged because of a doctor's report. A scan indicated that due to complications of the pregnancy, there was bleeding on the brain of one of the babies. It was a very somber report and it was made clear that it might be time for the parents to make some tough choices.

Then, less than 24 hours later, the doctor was excited to report that he must have made a mistake on reading the test and that there was no evidence of any bleeding. We are very thankful for these latest developments but there is a long way to go.

I've also been very saddened by the deaths of a friend's two sons in a car accident. Their funeral is tomorrow.

I hope that anyone reading this can take a moment in their schedule to say a prayer for both of these families. God can meet all needs.

Guess Which "Culture" is Exempted From Vancouver's Anti-smoking Bylaw

The socialist nanny state in Vancouver has jumped to the cutting edge of the smoking debate by proposing strict bylaws aimed at restricting the habit on sidewalks, bus shelters and even in taxis that might happen across the city's borders. It seems that the government has decided that being close to tobacco smoke is bad. From the Vancouver Sun:

But Vancouver's planned new bylaw will prohibit smoking in any taxi travelling through Vancouver, even if the driver and all the passengers don't have a problem with it and even if the taxi is licensed in another municipality.

It will also prohibit smoking within six metres of any entryway, window or air intake for a public building, which will effectively ban smoking on most sidewalks in commercial areas, since sidewalks are only three metres wide and doors are often less than six metres apart.

And it will prohibit smoking on restaurant patios and at bus shelters.

The one foggy point in the new bylaw was whether it will apply to crack cocaine and crystal-meth smoking.

One disgruntled speaker, Angela Giannoulis, suggested sarcastically that she hoped the new bylaw would mean she wouldn't have to put up with crack and crystal-meth smokers outside her family's cigar-distribution business in Strathcona, while it forces her employees to go to dangerous alleys to smoke cigarettes and threatens to shut the cigar rooms for her customers.

But health-protection director Domenic Losito said he didn't think so, since the bylaw is aimed at cigarette smoke.

Hey doofus, do you recognize that she is making fun of you?

Coun. Suzanne Anton noted the bylaw refers to the smoking of "tobacco or other weed or substance."

Losito said he would have to check with the city's legal department about whether the bylaw will cover non-tobacco products.

Exempt from the bylaws? Hookah lounges that cater to immigrants from Muslim cultures.

Hamid Mohammadian, operator of the Persian Teahouse on Davie Street, thanked council for the exemption.

"We are very happy because this is our culture. I have one customer, 75 years old, who said 'I will have no other place to go if you close,'" he said.

Mohammadian brought two hookah pipes to show council. They included a 600-year-old model with a ceramic mosaic on the outside, fruit-flavoured tobacco, and charcoal to the meeting to show councillors what was at stake.

Emad Yacoub, who runs five restaurants in Vancouver, also attended Thursday's meeting to ask council to protect hookah lounges.

"I support no smoking on the patios," he said, saying it will make it easier for him since he won't have to settle fights between his smoking and non-smoking customers.

But he said hookah lounges are essential for immigrants from hookah-smoking cultures, because it helps them deal with the depression common for newcomers and gives them places like they have at home.

So, when will Canada become sufficiently established to form its own cultural stereotypes? Apparently generations of puffing by our northern neighbors haven't done the trick yet, but cultures take time.

Unlike other immigrants, they can't go to bars because their religion prohibits them from drinking alcohol.

"I took my cousin there and I only saw a smile on his face when I took him to a hookah lounge because that is what we do back home."

Hey, Canadians can do what they want to do in their own governance. However, it seems odd that their overreaching benevolence applies only to their own cultural icons and not those imported onto Canadian soil. Unless, of course, they simply deny Canadians the right to enter the hookah lounges altogether. That way the Canadians can stay healthy at the same time the Muslim immigrants can continue to celebrate their culture in health deriding fashion.

h/t Dhimmi Watch

Family Tragedy in Michigan

This from today's online Oakland Press:

A Waterford Township family already enduring a son severely injured in Iraq and the loss of their home suffered an unbelievable blow this weekend - the deaths of their two youngest sons in a traffic crash.

Joshua Brian Schrauger, 17, and Timothy Schrauger, 14, were killed Saturday afternoon after their vehicle collided with another vehicle in Riley Township in Clinton County.

"I've never seen a family that has gone through what they have had to go through," said Pastor Tom Hampton of the Community Bible Church in Waterford Township, who has been a pastor for 30 years. "It's like the (Book of) Job story all over again."

Hampton said the church is working together to help the family, setting up a collection fund after an outpouring of offers to help from the community.

He said the two brothers, both students at Lake Orion High School, were great boys and loving sons.

"If you wanted to have a son, it would be these kids," said Hampton. "They were, seriously, the perfect picture of good, solid kids. They loved their mom and dad. They treated everyone with love and respect. They were witty, smart, respectful - everything you could want in sons."

[...]

For the family, this blow comes after a summer of struggle.

Elder brother, U.S. Army Spc. David Schrauger, was severely injured in Iraq in mid-June when an improvised explosive device damaged the Humvee he was riding. He suffered extensive injuries to his spine, arms, legs and lungs.

Since then, he has been hospitalized, first in Germany and later in Texas.

Their father, Cliff Schrauger, had been in Texas for about three months and planned to fly back to Michigan on Sunday night.

"He hasn't been able to work because of David's injuries," Hampton said.

Having lived in Lake Orion, the family is now struggling. A pastor for 25 years, Cliff Schrauger last worked as a guard.

They lost their home to foreclosure earlier this summer, Hampton said, and have since stayed in a condo in Waterford Township.

Their mother, Vicki Schrauger, had to limit trips to see her son after taking up a new job, she reported in her blog on their church's Web site.

She regularly detailed her son's conditions, always thankful for support from friends and family and appreciative of government services for her son. They persevered through the wounds, burns and then complications such as infections and pneumonia.

"We all thought, what else could happen?" Hampton said. "These guys have been through so much."

Besides the parents and David, the brothers are survived by elder brother Stephen, a student at Saginaw Valley State University, and sister, Kristina.

Hampton said the eldest brother, David, will be brought to a funeral one day beforehand by a medical helicopter unit with the help of the American Red Cross, returning to San Antonio afterward.

"We appreciate the military," Hampton said. "They have done such a fantastic job taking care of this family."

Funeral services will be provided through the Riverside Chapel, Simpson Modetz Funeral home in Waterford Township, where arrangements are pending.

Hampton said the church raised $4,000 for the family on Sunday, and 100 percent will go to the family.

"There is a such a clamor in the community for some kind of trust or benevolent fund," he said.

Hampton said that Josh was a "great musician and a terrific student" who ran track. Timothy was active in his youth group, becoming heavily involved with the Gingelville Community Church's youth group and kids' ministry.

Cliff Schrauger, the father of this hurting family, is a wonderful caring man. His family needs your prayers.

The Second Trimester

I have seen a miracle at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids.

Two beautiful baby boys, born at 26 weeks. Small, so small. Each weighing a bit less than two pounds.

I stood close to the incubator and stared in amazement at the details. My pinky finger is approximately the same size as these little boys' forearms, and the smaller toes are about the size of a dull pencil lead.

Second trimester, and thriving.

Islamophobephobes

There are times when I feel the need to drive a sharpened garden instrument into my right eye socket and out of my left ear. Repeatedly.

Norway provides today's motivation for such action.

Norway's Security Service fears that an Islamic terror attack will do serious harm to Norwegians. However,

the concern is all with an imagined backlash, not with preventing it by heading off a terror attack, and calling upon Muslims in Norway to be active in anti-terror efforts.

This is beyond stupid. The fear is that, let me get this right, if a terror attack occurs, there will be a backlash against Muslims? That is the legitimate fear? How about a fear that the bus you are riding in might blow up?

Another Andy McKee

Incidentally, Andy has a new CD out on Candyrat Records.

A Rural Michigander's Take on the GM Strike

Buy a Toyota.

Free Exchange of Ideas at Columbia

The big day has arrived!

Finally, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has had his opportunity to address the American public via a forum afforded him by those believers in the free exchange of ideas at Columbia University.

Evidently Columbia University, champion of free speech and the free exchange of ideas (idea 1. Genocide is bad; idea 2. In theory, yes. Unless Jews are involved), is taking certain precautions to make sure that their ostentatious commitment to “free speech” and the “free exchange of ideas” remains untroubled by the kind of annoying dissent that can turn such a signature moment of academic “tolerance” into a potential hate crime. To that end, the entire performance is being tightly controlled by doctrinaire relativists, a growing cadre of oxymoronic leftist thought police to whom free speech is only free once it is protected from the kinds of responses that might presume forcefully to challenge it. Which is why Mahmoud’s speech is closed to the public, no protest signs are permitted, and students will ask questions from index cards, with no give and take allowed.

I completely understand the narrative, I just didn't realize that exchange could be like, so one-sided.

More from Michelle Malkin and Powerline Blog.

Terrorism in Thailand

If terrorism is solely the fault of Bushhitler's invasion of Iraq and Israel's dominance over the Palestinians, why then were there five separate attacks in Thailand carried out yesterday by Islamist Muslims (in Allah's name) against peaceful non-Muslims?

Uh-Oh. Pope Challenges Islam

How many Muslims will have to die worldwide before this Pope learns that Muslims should never be intellectually challenged? How many rioters and innocents will have to be trampled before Pope Benedict learns that any comment on Islam is an insult?

Charles Johnson submits his 10-day forecast:

Our 10-day forecast: extended seething, with a 70% chance of rioting and murder by next Friday.

I'm no forecaster but I think the cold front might roll in before Friday.

Idiot of the Day (From LGF)

Some people are stupid beyond words.

BOSTON — An MIT student with a fake bomb strapped to her chest was arrested at gunpoint today at Logan International Airport and later claimed it was artwork, officials said.

Star Simpson, 19, had a computer circuit board and wiring in plain view over a black hooded sweat shirt she was wearing, said State Police Maj. Scott Pare, the commanding officer at the airport.

“She said that it was a piece of art and she wanted to stand out on career day,” Pare said at a news conference. “She claims that it was just art, and that she was proud of the art and she wanted to display it.”

The device had wires connected to a battery, allowing it to light up, he said. Simpson also had Play-Doh in her hands, he said.

Simpson was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device, and was to be arraigned in East Boston District Court later today.

“I’m shocked and appalled that somebody would wear this type of device to an airport,” Pare said.

Simpson was “extremely lucky she followed the instructions or deadly force would have been used,” Pare said. “She’s lucky to be in a cell as opposed to the morgue.”

Hospital Suspends Muslim Chaplain Months After Being Kicked out of Mosque Over Radical Views

I've screamed my head off over moderate Muslims not distancing themselves from the murderous Islamsists that are trying to become the only recognizable face of Islam.

So, when we have Muslims speaking out against radicals from within, why don't the rest of us stupid non-Muslims listen?

Before losing his job, Ali upset people at Friday prayers by inviting a guest preacher who praised pro-Taliban rebels in Pakistan as martyrs, The Times reported. The preacher, a British-born father of four, had previously been banned for life from a local mosque, the Greenwich Islamic Centre. The institution spent at least 30,000 pounds taking legal action to the county court so that Ali could be forbidden from attending the mosque.

Court papers claim he showed a video to children in the mosque containing clips of the 9/11 incident and chanted "Allah-o-Akbar". The mosque said it tried informally to warn the hospital about its concerns months ago.

I think people have gotten so afraid of being accused of being Islamophobes that they overlook legitimate fear.

Then again, I might just be a hater.

Stabenow and Levin

According to PowerLine Blog, Michigan has yet another thing to be proud of its Senate members for.

Yep, Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have come forward and bravely refused to condemn the General Betray-Us advertisement placed in the New York Times by Moveon.org. The ad ran on the opening day of testimony given by General Petreaus before a joint session of Congress.

The amendment wishes

To express the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.

Levin and Stabenow have determined that they cannot turn their backs on their most important of constituents, the hardened left as exemplified by MoveOn.

Shame on you Senators!

UN Chooses New Co-Chair For IAEA: Syria

From the UN absurdity files and the Jerusalem Post:

Two weeks after Israel's alleged bombing raid in Syria, which some foreign reports said targeted North Korean nuclear material, the UN's nuclear watchdog elected Syria as deputy chairman of its General Conference on Monday.

The 51st session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened in Vienna on Monday and will run through Friday.

The Syrian news agency SANA proudly reported the election on Tuesday, adding that Syria was also successful in including "the Israeli nuclear arsenal as an item on the agenda of the conference."

The agenda for the meeting includes the item "Israeli nuclear capabilities and LGFthreat." While Iran will be a focus of the discussions, there is no item on the agenda referring to the Islamic Republic by name.

Israel's Foreign Ministry had "no public comment" on Syria's election.

But Gerald Steinberg, chairman of Bar-Ilan University's political science department and an authority on nonproliferation, said the election "reflects the absurdity of the political process inside the IAEA."

And the UN is headquartered in the US for what reason?

Found at LGF.

Fall Haiku

Soon, Autumn's sad skies
Will call on December's chill.
And I'm getting pissed.

Ahmadinejad to Visit 9-11 Disaster Site?

Please say it isn't so. From the New York Sun:

In a move that has stunned New York, the Bloomberg administration is in discussions to escort the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to ground zero during his visit to New York next week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said today.

The Iranian mission to the U.N. made the request to the New York City Police Department and the Secret Service, which will jointly oversee security during the leader's two-day visit. Mr. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to arrive September 24 to speak to the U.N. General Assembly as the Security Council decides whether to increase sanctions against his country for its uranium enrichment program.

Mr. Kelly said the NYPD and Secret Service were in discussions with the Iranian Mission about the logistics for the possible visit, and whether it will take place at all. He said that for safety reasons related to ongoing construction at ground zero Mr. Ahmadinejad would not be allowed to descend into the pit.

"There has been some interest expressed in his visiting the area," Mr. Kelly said. "It's something that we are prepared to handle if in fact it does happen."

Mr. Kelly said Mr. Ahmadinejad had not indicated why he wants to visit the site of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Is there no thing sacred to this country any more? If there was ever a place that should not succumb to relativist political maneuvers, this is it. If Mayor Bloomberg even engages in discussions like this he will help to raise Ahmadinejad's political status in Iran and will help to heighten his credibility to many Muslim the world over.

This guy is our enemy, has sworn to annihilate our allies, is currently supplying arms and munitions to kill our soldiers overseas, is deliberately trying to unsteady an already tottering Middle East, and is flaunting his nuclear program in the face of countless UN sanctions.

Sure, lets escort him around town. Is it any wonder that Muslim fascists the world over scoff at us and see us as a weak enemy with no will?

***UPDATE***

According to Pirate's Cove, Ahmadinejad's guided tour of Ground Zero has been denied for "safety and security reasons." To say he is upset, not by the denial, but for the reasons behind the denial, would be a bit of an understatement.

But not denied because Sneezy is a tinpot dictator hell bent on imposing radical Islam around the world or that he wants to wipe Israel off the map. Not denied because he is arming insurgents in Iraq. Not denied because he is a Holocaust denier. No, no, because of fucking security and safety. Un-fucking-believable. Takes quite a bit to get me to curse in writing. I put this in the "Beyond Moonbat" category, but, perhaps I should have a new one "What the F*ck is going through your head?"

Journalist At a Loss On Suspect's Religion

There seems to have been a bit of confusion for Larry Celona in the New York Post as he covered a story about a student at Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights.

September 19, 2007 -- A Queens teen was arrested yesterday after placing fliers in his teachers' mailboxes asking them to convert to Islam - then made threats once he was caught, authorities said.

Yaseen Chowdhury, 17, of Woodside, wrote the fliers himself and put them in the mailboxes at the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, sources said.

When confronted there about the fliers, he made unspecified verbal threats, according to the sources.

Chowdhury was charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime.

A Department of Education spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.

However, in one of those moments that helps to clarify a typical reporter for the relativist he is, Larry finishes his article with a line of pure genius.

"The student's religion was not immediately known."

Though the fact that conversion to Islam was the purpose of the fliers, only an Islamophobe could accurately deduce that the miserable little bastard was indeed a Muslim. And, by all measures that are worldly and accepted, Larry Celona is no Islamophobe.

From Dhimmi Watch

Totten on Anbar Province

The opening line from Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal today:

RAMADI, IRAQ – In early 2007 Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar Province, was one of the most violent war-torn cities on Earth. By late spring it was the safest major city in Iraq outside Kurdistan.

A very interesting article from a man who actually visits those areas most journalists only hear about from local stringers. He is both critical when he sees negatives and approving where he sees progress.

Via Little Green Footballs

Koran Verse of Note

Qur’an 8:12 Your Lord inspired the angels with the message: I will terrorize the unbelievers. Therefore smite them on their necks and every joint and incapacitate them. Strike off their heads and cut off each of their fingers and toes.

Now, why is it again that Islamophobia is so misunderstood at the UN and elsewhere?

More Midwestern Conservative Journal

I'm in a non writing mood. Which really sucks because I've had to spend the whole day writing.

It is on days like this that I like to toss out little gemlets of phrasing that I find on the net. There are incredibly talented people out there that do not get the recognition that they deserve.

Today's little gems come from Christopher Johnson's The Midwestern Conservative Journal and are taken completely out of context. But hey, a gem can be really sparkley even if it isn't in a gold setting.

Gem number 1 from his September 13 post "Faux Cats"that wonders aloud over the wisdom of Jessica Rowley being ordained a Catholic Priest even though she is Episcopalian.

[MCJ] Are you going to be the first pregnant priest?

[Jessica Rowley] Probably the first Catholic pregnant priest. I’m sure there have been Episcopal priests who’ve been pregnant.

[MCJ] Of course there have. Where do you think atheists come from?

Gem number 2 from his September 13 post "KATHARINE THE FRIENDLY GHOST, THE FRIENDLIEST GHOST YOU KNOW!!" where he comments on a recent sermon delivered by Katharine Jefferts Schori.

[MCJ] Johnson's Third Law of Episcopal Thermodynamics: every joke you make about the Episcopal Church eventually comes true. I used to quip that the UN was the Episcopal Vatican. But I really think that some day, sooner rather than later, there will be a liturgy in the prayer book for the required Episcopalian haj to Turtle Bay.

[Katharine Jefferts Schori] The mission of the United Nations is peace with justice, the same mission that is claimed here in Micah and the psalm for Jerusalem, the city built on a hill. Each and every one who labors in that city to build a just and peaceful world participates in God’s dream. Ambassadors, translators, mail clerks, and those who maintain the building in which the nations gather, all contribute to that vision of possibility.

[MCJ] You used to trick-or-treat for UNICEF, didn't you, Kate? Me, I was just in it for the candy. Back in the day, if my mom had ever said to me, "We'll give you a big bag of candy if you'll stay home and forget about the costume and all the rest of it," I would have replied with a big smile, "Jim dandy," stayed home on Halloween night and watched television.

There's that dreaming god of hers again. I think I know why so many people leave the Episcopal Church for Rome, Constantinople or Geneva and it has nothing to do with doctrine. It has to do with the fact that in those three traditions, God actually does something once in a while. Kate's stoner deity just sits around all day, gets baked, listens to Pink Floyd and wishes that somebody somewhere would do something about all the problems of the world. And bring him some Doritos.

There are a number of reasonable excuses to visit the Midwestern Conservative Journal. Great writing is but one.

Sandy Berger is What?

Sandy Berger, the former National Security Adviser for President Clinton who months ago admitted to taking classified documents from the National Archives and destroying them, has himself a brand spanking new consulting job.

Berger has joined the advisory team of the Hillary Clinton campaign for President as an expert on national security.

I suppose after producing some kick-butt strategies on how to end Muslim terrorism (the subject incidentally of the memos he destroyed) he might have a couple suggestions on ways to keep the Archives a bit more burglar proof--a topic we can be sure he is an expert in. The Archives gig might have to wait though at least until he actually gets his security clearance back.

"Suck It, Jesus, This Award Is My God Now"

That Kathy Griffen is one brave envelope pusher.

You see, her original plans were to tell Muhammed to suck it, but when she got all frazzled by the hoopla, and the lights and the crowd of the Emmy Awards, Jesus' name just kind of sneaked out instead.

If not for that tight dress and poor handwriting her bravery would have been proven to the world!

Relativism In Brussels

The latest mind-numbed European official to declare his dhimmitude to Islam is Terry Davis who serves on the Council of Europe. These comments came out on 9-11 and were in response to a demonstration that had been banned in Brussels by that city's socialist mayor.

Strasbourg, 11.09.2007 - European values are under threat, say the organisers of a protest march under the banner “Against the Islamisation of Europe” which was due to place today in Brussels in spite of the ban by the city Mayor.

Ok, so far so good.

The fact is that Europe and its values are indeed under threat, but the danger is not coming from Islam. Our common European values are undermined by bigots and radicals, both islamists and islamophobes, who exploit fears and prejudice for their own political objectives.

What did he just say? People that would prefer not having train stations blown up are now in some way the same as those blowing up the trains? People that would rather not live in a society that allows honor killings, female genital mutilation, and forced segregation are somehow on the same level with those that embrace those things?

And anyway, I'm not so certain that the demonstrators were so much islamophobes as they are blownupbusophobes.

But, let us continue...because Davis sure did:

The self-proclaimed defenders of European values say that the Mayor has violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The freedom of assembly and the freedom of expression are indeed essential preconditions for democracy, but they should not be regarded as a licence to offend.

What is wrong with being offended once in a while? The sheer idiocy of Davis offends me--just reading this nearly made me want to jab a plastic Wendy's spork into my brain. But I at least feel he has the right to irritate me and, apparently, to inflate the stock prices of fine North American plasticware manufacturers.

I will not enter into the discussion about whether the march should have been allowed or not, but I note that the protesters’ reading of the Convention is selective to say the least. It is very important to remember that the freedom of assembly and expression can be restricted to protect the rights and freedoms of others, including the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This applies to everyone in Europe including the millions of Europeans of Islamic faith, who were the main target of today’s shameful display of bigotry and intolerance.

According to Davis it is those like himself sitting atop the thrones of Utopia that have the arbitrary right to bless the citizenry with whatever rights fit his social objectives. And I cannot help but believe that since radical Muslims scare the shit out of him he might as well pick on peaceful protesters.

Thanks to Dhimmi Watch.

US Flags on Clothing Now Taboo at NC High School

A couple days ago I was harping on the US prison system using its own brand of relativism in its purging of many Christian and Jewish religious books in prisons.

Not to be outdone by federal bureaucrats, a genius school administrator at Hobbton High School in North Carolina has determined that no students should be allowed to wear clothing with any flags on them, of course, including the US flag. The new rule was passed just in time for 9-11.

The new rule is designed to squash farther controversy over students wearing clothing with foreign flags on them.

The superintendent of schools in Sampson County calls the situation unfortunate, but says educators didn’t want to be forced to pick and choose which flags should be permissible.

And this idiot is helping to educate children?

From John Hawkins at Right Wing News.

UPDATE **** 7:40 PM

According to Little Green Footballs, the ban has now been lifted.

But note that they lifted it for all flags. The moral equivalence mindset is still driving their decisions.

Wow! Who could see that one coming.

Hell, can you hold my hand basket for me?

How Brussels Deals With Non-Violent Dissent: 2

With arms bound, conservative leader Frank Vanhecke discovers the contempt that socialist police and politicians hold for free-marketers.


Can you even imagine such a thing happening to the head of a political party in the United States? What if Howard Dean was treated thusly or Mel Martinez was roughed up in such a way? (No one would worry so much if this happened to Dennis Kucenich whose testicles fell off years ago.)

We have many people in our country that are dissatisfied. They yearn for the government to supply more and do more. They covet a cradle to the grave government benevolence that is openly promised by socialists. They are also blinded to the dangers of ceding personal responsibility to an all-powerful government.

Socialism cannot survive and tolerate dissent.

The Brussels Journal covers yesterday's activity in Belgium.

At a press conference in the European Parliament yesterday evening foreign journalists openly doubted the statement by Philip Claeys and Koen Dillen, two members of the European Parliament for the Vlaams Belang party (VB), that the Brussels police had told the VB that they would tolerate yesterday’s anti-Islamization demonstration if it was a peaceful “static” protest at Schuman Plaza. Despite this agreement, the police beat up the peaceful demonstrators in front of the European Commission building. “You can tell us whatever you want, but we need proof,” one of the foreign journalists told Claeys and Dillen.

The proof was given yesterday on Flemish television when reporter Goedele Devroy told a colleague [video here, in Dutch] that she was amazed by the brutality of the police against the peaceful demonstrators “who just stood there.” She added: “This is strange because, when I rang the police this morning, they said that they would tolerate the demonstration if the demonstrators would not use violence and if they just remained put and would not try to march.”

It looks like a deliberate trap was set up for the demonstrators, who were gathered at Schuman Plaza. Riot police units from Liege in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, maltreated the demonstrators, many of them from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, in an excessively violent way, picking out the VB leaders for the worst treatment.

9-11

Jules Crittenden closed my day today with his perspective on a September 11th not so many years ago, and on another one that took place just today.

How Brussels Deals With Non-Violent Dissent

So, you want your utopia?


How about a visit to Brussels via Gateway Pundit where conservative leader Frank Vanhecke gets to enjoy a gentle massage of the Adam's apple at the hand of a do-all, care-for-all state.

Prisons Removing Religious Texts

In an effort to keep prisons from becoming recruiting havens for fundamentalist terrorists, the Bureau of Prisons is having its chaplains remove all the religious texts that might promote violence against non-believers and other-believers.

Not a bad start.

Because if there is one thing we should never tolerate it is crusading Jews and Christians killing innocents through the urgings of Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Aquinas. Unfortunately, in order to keep things fair, books by fundamentalist Islamic peace lovers are also casualties of the purge.

From the New York Times:

Behind the walls of federal prisons nationwide, chaplains have been quietly carrying out a systematic purge of religious books and materials that were once available to prisoners in chapel libraries.

The chaplains were directed by the Bureau of Prisons to clear the shelves of any books, tapes, CDs and videos that are not on a list of approved resources. In some prisons, the chaplains have recently dismantled libraries that had thousands of texts collected over decades, bought by the prisons, or donated by churches and religious groups.

[...]

Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons, said the agency was acting in response to a 2004 report by the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department. The report recommended steps that prisons should take, in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, to avoid becoming recruiting grounds for militant Islamic and other religious groups. The bureau, an agency of the Justice Department, defended its effort, which it calls the Standardized Chapel Library Project, as a way of barring access to materials that could, in its words, “discriminate, disparage, advocate violence or radicalize.”

Ms. Billingsley said, “We really wanted consistently available information for all religious groups to assure reliable teachings as determined by reliable subject experts.”

Like apologetic security guards who toss away their own pistols during a standoff with knife wielding thieves, the American system is becoming aggressively unconcerned with policies that might actually help to preserve our way of life in exchange for desire to level the playing field between what is American and a more worldly viewpoint.

Call it relativism if you will. It could just as accurately be called cultural suicide.

From Dhimmi Watch.

Saga of the Absent Blogger

Back off.

Whaddaya expect from a guy whose modem crashes?

Jerks.

German Terror Plot: Take 2

In the recently thwarted terrorist plot in Germany, how did German police discover that the German terrorists were to carry out their attack by September 15?

Uh-oh. They were eavesdropping on a phone call that originated in Pakistan and ended up in Germany.

This is the exact equivalent of the NSA program that is ritually, but inaccurately, described in the press as "domestic spying." Most Democrats denounce the program as unconstitutional.

Further, it was the NSA program that brought the German terrorists to light:

The arrests were the culmination of an investigation that began a year ago, when U.S. officials alerted German authorities to e-mails intercepted from Pakistan.

If the Democrats get their way, the NSA will not be able to use this tactic unless it has enough knowledge, enough days in advance, to get an order from a FISA judge. You can be sure, however, that the liberals will never mention this incident when they denounce the program as an invasion of constitutional rights.

Red China: Controlling Life and the Afterlife

This hilarious example of what can occur when governments believe they have become the all-powerful. From today's Patriot Post:

The Red Chinese have taken their long battle with Tibet's Buddhist monks to a new level. Indeed, Beijing's State Administration for Religious Affairs has made "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation." Translation: Buddhist monks may not reincarnate without permission from the Chinese government. According to Buddhist religion, the Dalai Lama reincarnates himself after death. This is particularly annoying to the Chi-Coms, since the current Dalai Lama has for many years vigorously campaigned for Tibet's freedom. The Chinese thus hope to gain the upper hand in Tibet by, in effect, choosing the next Dalai Lama. If these secular Reds actually believe they can pull this off, then they deserve to be embarrassed on the world's stage. For our part, we in our humble shop are just proud to live in a country in which we're free to reincarnate whenever and wherever we want!

How long will it be before today's American atheist leftists demand the government take control over who can get into heaven?

Noticing the Islamist-Terrorist Link

From Paul Belien today in Pajamas Media:

It is a strange phenomenon that frightened, Islamist-appeasing authorities are allowed to draw a link between terrorism and Islam as they warn citizens not to be “provocative” towards Muslims. Yet, these citizens themselves are considered “racists” and “xenophobes,” - hence criminals according to European legislation - when they are perceived as making this link.

Apparently only the enlightened are allowed to make certain observations.

NFL on Thursday Night

Chris Collinsworth and Keith Olbermann on the same set.

Both. At. Once.

If I didn't have kids in school I'd jab bamboo in my ears and gouge my eyes out with a soup spoon.

The smartest thing Collinsworth has ever said in his broadcasting career was that he was in favor of the NFL fining the Detroit Lion because, as he figured, wasting a black man's time in a fruitless job interview would be better than being honest about the club's intent to hire a Caucasian candidate. And that was the smartest thing he ever said. His uncomfortable voice delivering inaccurate pronouncements is only rivaled by his refutable logic. This is a man Larry Craig would shy away from in Minneapolis.

But, I long for the day when Chris Collinsworth will fill my football evenings with his melodious incantations of ridiculous superlatives if it only meant I would never again be exposed to the self absorbed me-yammering of Keith Olbermann.

In his segment tonight "the worst person in the NFL" he nominated himself. Keith, when did you join the NFL?

You are worse than an idiot.

A Peaceful Religion's Marching Orders

Qur’an 9:5 When the sacred forbidden months for fighting are past, fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, torture them, and lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.

Craig to Not Resign

I have to admit I was less than thrilled to hear that Larry Craig, disgraced wanna-be airport restroom fornicator, might not resign from the Senate after all.

I suppose that Craig has determined that there is nothing else for him to lose in this debacle. His career is on the rocks. He has lost respect from his party. His poll numbers are in the toilet.

Good grief. Is there any part of a person's ego that a politician will not put ahead of the good of the party and electorate?

Walk away Mr. Craig. Let your family and your country begin to heal. The longer that you cling to this sinking ship like a rat on the rail, the longer you hurt others around you. It isn't about you any longer.

Fun and Games In Islam

"Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious." -- Ayatollah Khomeini

The Ayatollah would be proud of pro-Taliban groups in tribal Swat, a district located in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.

German Terror Plot

"But, but, but, we don't have troops in Iraq!

Don't you know who your friends are?"

Craig to Resign

Because, well, those Capitol Building's bathrooms were never any good for cruising ass anyway.

Katrina: Two Years Removed

Hurricane Katrina has two years of history to look upon. Many of her victims lie in graves along the gulf coast while many others have picked up their sodden belongings and relocated to cities all across America. Unfortunately, two years after Katrina slammed into coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, many people of New Orleans are still playing the victim. And, it wears like a very dirty shirt.

John Hawkins today in Townhall spells it out.

Nobody is owed a living for the rest of his life because he had a bad break two years ago. Yet, we still have people affected by Katrina who have FEMA paying their rent. How sad and pathetic is it that these shiftless people are still leaching off their fellow citizens? Since when is being in the path of a hurricane supposed to give you a permanent "Get Out of Work Free" card?

Is that just too honest for some people? Is it just “too mean?" Well, if your house burns down tomorrow and you're still living on the dole two years from now, are your real friends going to pat you on the back and tell you that you should keep suckling at the government teat for as long as you can or are they going to give you a kick in the behind and tell you to get a job? A real friend would be honest enough to tell you the truth and more people should do the same for Katrina victims.

Can I add one more thing? If some people of New Orleans are misguided enough to rebuild within the flooded areas of that city they should never be able to get federally guaranteed property insurance because they choose to do so at their own peril. If they are misguided enough to build a home in a floodplain that will certainly flood again, they alone should bear the burden of their stupidity. If an insurance provider chooses to provide insurance for anyone building a home or business on the floodplain, it should only do so at the risk of their own money--not taxpayer guaranteed money.

There are times when cold intellect should trump emotional hand wringing. Could this be one of them?

Bush To Spend Again?

It is this sort of crap that makes me hope we can replace George W. Bush with a true conservative President.

'Cause Bush ain't one.

Truth, Interrupted in Brussels

The European model of utopia can only be met if one applies a whole new meaning to the word. No where is this more evident than in Brussels, that city that serves as host to the European Union's governing body.

As I've noted before on two separate occasions, the mayor of Brussels has banned a demonstration that was scheduled to take place on September 11. The demonstration was to be organized as a protest against the Islamization of Europe and planned to honor the dead of the 9/11 attacks with a moment of silence.

The reason for the banning?

Said the mayor, Freddy Thielemans:

“First and foremost the organizers have chosen the symbolic date of 9/11. The intention is obviously to confound the terrorist activities of Muslim extremists on the one hand and Islam as a religion and all Muslims on the other hand. […] Such incitement to discrimination and hatred, which we usually call racism and xenophobia, is forbidden by a considerable number of international treaties and is punished by our penal laws and by the European legislation. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly pronounced judgments condemning this type of acts.”

Yep, we wouldn't want anyone to realize that there might be a link to the attacks of 9/11 and Muslim extremists. Who knows what might happen if that cat is ever let out of that bag.

From the Paul Belien at the Brussels Journal:

According to the mayor the demonstrators are “racists,” “xenophobes,” hence criminals under Belgian and European law. “With regard to the planned demonstration of September 11 […] my mind is made up. And my decision is final: it will not take place,” he said. In The Wall Street Journal of 27 August Mr Thielemans added: “I won't have Brussels regarded as the capital of racism.”

The organizers appealed against the mayor’s ban before the CoS. They were confident that it would overrule the mayor’s decision. After all, the CoS had overruled the mayor of Antwerp’s ban of the AEL demonstration five years earlier.

Yesterday, however, the CoS upheld the mayor of Brussels’ ban. In its verdict the CoS stated that the organizers cannot prove that their interests are harmed by the mayor’s decision not to allow them to demonstrate on 9/11. The impropriety of the date of the planned demo was the crucial element in the argument made before the court by the mayor’s lawyer. Anyone who dares to suggest that the 9/11 terror attacks have anything to do with Islamism is a racist, a xenophobe, a criminal. That is what the mayor of Brussels says, and what the verdict of the CoS implicitly but undeniably reaffirms.

Yet, the confounding element to this whole bizarre affair is that Brussels will serve host to a demonstration on September 9 that claims the 9/11 attacks were

the work of the American government, acting on behalf of the Jews. In Brussels, stating that the attacks on the WTC towers and on the Pentagon were committed by Muslims is a crime, although it is a fact. Stating that America and Israel were behind the attacks is not a crime, although it is a lie.

Truth has become incidental to law in Brussels.