Impeach Bush!

Yeah, that's the ticket! Let the Libs and Looneys live out the rest of the term with President Cheney!

It really amazes me how stupid the left fringe can be with their rants. How can people who say things like this ...

I will name Richard Cheney as the prime suspect in the mass murders of 9/11 and will establish that, not only was he a planner in the attacks, but also that on the day of the attacks he was running a completely separate Command, Control and Communications system which was superceding any orders being issued by the NMCC [National Military Command Center], or the White House Situation Room. ...

... want to impeach Bush?

Dad's Sub

My brother-in-law surprised me tonight with a bunch of info on SS-421, the Trutta. That's her above, in a photo taken in the 1950's.

A decade earlier in August 1944, a freshly minted Annapolis Ensign who would later become my father was assigned to the Trutta at the New London CN shipyard, where she'd just been built. In no time, they were on their way through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor, and then to the East Asian Sea.

She might have been one of the most famous ships in history. On April 7, 1945, she was running at full speed to intercept a Japanese task force headed by the Yamato, the world's largest battleship. Yamato was heading for Okinawa, and Trutta was chasing her down. Unfortunately, Yamato changed course away, and steamed away. Fortunately, very fortunately, she was sunk a few days later by Vice Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 58.

The thought of my dad being in this situation was pretty chilling; there was a very good chance I might not be here:

Off the China coast on 22 April, Trutta narrowly escaped damage when an enemy float plane dropped two bombs which exploded over the diving submarine. Shortly after midnight three days later, as Trutta patrolled west of Quelpart Island, lookouts on the submarine's bridge were startled to see a torpedo pass astern. As Trutta put on speed and turned parallel to the torpedo's wake, another torpedo passed by her port side moving from stern to bow, a sinister reminder that she was not alone in the Yellow Sea. (source)

In May, she steamed toward lifeguard duty to support air strikes on Kobe, passing through a typhoon on the way. On May 7, she made a very big difference in one Army airman's life, plucking him out of the ocean. The airman had weathered the typhoon too -- in a rubber raft! What a story he must have told the Trutta's crewmen!

After the war, she sailed back to Pearl Harbor, and Dad was restationed. In the early 50s, when I was in Kindergarten, we were stationed in Key West, as was the Trutta. Dad was on another sub then, cruising regularly to pre-Castro Cuba.

His previous posting was Turkey; that was Trutta's last. She left service to the Navy in 1972, and became the TCG Cerbe in the Turkish navy. The Turks used her until the late 1990s.

Her fate is unknown.

Dad probably remembers some of this, but Alzheimer's is torpedoing his brain and he's slowly (thank God very slowly) sinking. Thank you for your service, Dad.

Photo That Flipped MSM, Leftyblogs

So here at last is documentation of the famous gesture -- Scalia's the flip of the open hand from under the chin.

Anyone who's spent anytime around pasta-grazers knows this gesture, and knows it's not "the finger."

UPI apparently doesn't know the gesture. It blared Scalia "startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics."

Raw Story reported: "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger to his critics."

Do a Google Blog search of "scalia finger" and you'll find hundreds of leftyblog references to the incident, mostly linked to one of the two stories above. Here's a particularly pompous one, from an official Dem site, Hamdems, blog of the Hamilton County, TN, Democratic Party:

SCOTUS & Opus Dei Fanatic Antonin Scalia gives the "Middle Finger" to Reporters - Wow! That's some honor for our Court

Time was when a Supreme Court Justice, or any Justice for that matter, was a person of a high ethics, morals, and intelligience. SCOTUS judges were the elite in wisdom and temperance. Evidently, those days are gone. Once again, Scalia goes public with his contempt and prejudiced opinions for all to witness. On the positive side, at least he is not a Christian Hypocrite, he did his f*ck off gesture in Church.

The difference between Scalia's gesture and the bird is all the difference in the world. They might both have the same meaning, but the language is Italian, and as such is culturally humorous, not obscene.

Betsy, as usual, was a voice of reason: "I guess that the UPI doesn't speak Italian." That was on March 27, the day of the UPI story and one day before Hamdems went off on Scalia. Leftyblogs should either watch more Soprano episodes, or read more Betsy.

Pinnacle's Superior Body Armor

That's my brother-in-law Brian with his "Dragon Skin" body armor -- the Pinnacle Armor product currently banned by the Army -- which he'll be taking with him to Iraq soon on an Operation Soldier mission.

Brian, a Special Forces medic in Vietnam (9th Infantry) and still an active Reservist, has seen the Pinnacle product tested and says it's far superior to the Army's current Interceptor vests. Dragon Skin can protect against any munition up to (excluding) 50 mm.

But a ban is a ban, so Pinnacle provided Operation Soldier with six vests for their next mission, and just asked for Brian and the others to show the vests to the troops so they can see the product for themselves.

Thank God the US Army's troops are superior to its Pentagon bureau-colonels, who muse and pose and issue reports and engineer delays. Of course body army must be tested -- so test it and stop delaying!

AP quotes the CEO of Pinnacle:

Murray Neal, chief executive officer of Pinnacle, said he hadn't seen the directive and wants to review it.

"We know of no reason the Army may have to justify this action," Neal said. "On the surface this looks to be another of many attempts by the Army to cover up the billions of dollars spent on ineffective body armor systems which they continue to try quick fixes on, to no avail."

Neal's being nice. The real situation is probably even worse -- generals wined and dined by Interceptor execs who are West Point buddies of the generals they're lobbying.

Test the vests, now. Our troops don't need lobbying; they need the best armor available.

p.s.: On its next mission, Operation Soldier will be taking 24,000 pounds of gear to outfit 1,600 Iraqi policie officers. Please support their efforts.

Fidel Dead?

Latin American news media started a rumor frenzy this afternoon on a subject we've been waiting a long time to hear: the death of Fidel Castro.

I don't know if you've ever experienced auto-translated text before. It's no fun, but here's the auto-translated report, from La Nueva Cuba:

A strong rumor circulated in afternoon of this Wednesday in means of press of Latin America with respect to which it would have died in the last hours in his residence of the Laguito, in Havana, longevo Cuban dictator Fidel I castrate. (Love that mis-translation!)

According to a bulletin of the Bío-Bío radio, based on the news emanated of the network, sources officials did not indicate that the governor was some days ago in delicate state of health after to have undergone a sudden infarct.

If Castrate ... er, Castro ... were dead, we wouldn't be hearing it broadcast immediately by Cuba's Communist News (CNN) -- so there could be something to this.

I've read speculative material about power transition upon Castro's death, but who really knows what will happen there, other than that the change that's needed won't be happening any time soon.

One thing is for sure: With Castro gone, Hugo Chavez' stature will grow, as he assumes the crown of chief commie crazy in the Western hemisphere.

hat-tip: Stingray, via Blogs4God
Tags: Fidel, Castro, Cuba

Kartoonistan And Kangaroo Court

It's not enough to riot, burn down embassies and threaten the advancement of civilization just because some cartoons of Mohammed (freaky paranoia be upon him). Now the Islamists are going to court.

The Western Standard, an Alberta, Canada publication, has been sued by Imam Syed Soharwardy, a local Muslim who scrawled out his complaint to the Alberta Human Rights Commission in a barely legible hand. He was previously a university professor in Saudi Arabia -- a place, no doubt, where more time was spent on teaching anti-Semitism and jihad than the principles of freedom of speech.

Western Standard's editor, Ezra Levant, says of the complaint:

The hand-written scrawl and the spelling errors were what first disgusted me with the suit; but the arguments were what really got me. The complainant, Imam Syed Soharwardy, a former professor at an anti-Semitic university in Saudi Arabia, doesn't just argue that we shouldn't have published the cartoons. He argues that we shouldn't be able to defend our right to publish the cartoons. The bulk of his complaint was that we dared to try to justify it.

He argues that advocating a free press should be a thought crime.

I don't know if Ezra Levant is Jewish, but his name's a pretty good hint that he is. Interesting, isn't it, that of all the publications in the world that ran the cartoons, the first one that gets sued is the one with an editor named Ezra Levant.

In solidarity with Mr. Levant (who could use some help with his defense), and in support of our constitutional right of freedom of speech:
Tags: Kartoonistan, Muslim, Mohammed, Cartoons

A Clueless Jill Carroll Released

Jill Carroll's captors let her go after almost three months of captivity and announced to the world that despite her efforts to immerse herself in the Muslim world to better understand the conflict, she has learned nothing. Nothing.

"I was treated well," she said shortly after her release, "but I don't know why I was kidnapped."

Here's a little tutorial for Jill, free of charge; my gift to celebrate her release:

You were kidnapped because the people who are fighting against peace and democracy in Iraq are a bunch of ruthless scum that aren't worth the air they breathe. That's the bottom line.

Layer onto that the fact that the Islamic culture you've been studying promotes Jihad and hatred against non-believers. And it doesn't think much of women, either.

You were also kidnapped because you chose a ridiculously dangerous thing to do. You're a woman, you're an American, you're a reporter, you're in Iraq. Put it together and the question you should be asking yourself, Jill, isn't "Why was I kidnapped?" but "What was I thinking?"

Still, good to have you free.

Tags: Jill, Carroll, Iraq

Gobbledegook

If anyone can explain what DiFi is saying to this person who wrote her opposing a blanket amnesty for illegals, PLEASE let me know!

March 29, 2006

Dear [name]:

Thank you for writing me about a possible blanket amnesty. I appreciate hearing from you.

I do not support blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants. As the daughter of a Russian immigrant, I understand the hope and the optimism with which countless others view our country. I believe America is rooted in a tradition of newcomers working hard and building a better life for themselves and their families. We must
balance this tradition, however, with our ability to integrate new immigrants into the American society that follow the proper channels to legal immigration. Our ability to accept immigrants and our immigration policy must support and strengthen families, create economic opportunities, increase scientific and cultural resources, and fulfill humanitarian commitments.

Again, thank you for writing to me. If you have any further questions or comments on this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to call my Washington, D.C. staff at (202) 224-3841.

Sincerely yours,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

hat-tip: Jim

Montebello Flag Incident II

The upside-down flag incident at Montebello H.S. now has an official apologist ... er, make that "official liar." From the Whittier Daily News:

In Montebello, officials sought to clarify Tuesday that no Montebello High School students were involved in an incident Monday in which an American flag was hung upside down, below a Mexican flag.

"We'd like to make it clear that at the time that incident happened, Montebello High was in lockdown and our students were inside the school," said Robert Henke, assistant superintendent of student and community services and spokesman for the Montebello Unified School District.

Really? All of them? Every last one? I wonder who all those high school aged students in the photo below are? (photo from Michelle Malkin's site) Just a bunch of nicely dressed day laborers from down the street?

We can find out, you know, simply by checking how much money the school lost yesterday on per diems not received because students were absent. It'll be a bunch, I bet.

How much better if Henke had apologized on behalf of the school district for the behavior of the district's students at Montebello High and announced that the participating students would ... hold your breath, this is a radical concept ... be punished.

hat-tip: Jim
Tags: Immigration, Illegals, Demonstrations, Montebello, Flat

Old Glory Defiled

Yes, that's the American flag flying upside-down under the Mexican flag. The location: Montebello High in LA. Last time I checked, that was in the United States of America.

OK, they're kids and kids tend to go overboard. Let's see if images like this make it into the LATimes and the local network stations.

hat-tip: Michelle Malkin
Tags: Immigration, Media bias, American flag, Mexican flag

Media Bias, Unfenced

How can they write this stuff with a straight face? Reporting (if you can call it that) on the efforts to build a fence at the border, Reuters reporter Tim Gaynor actually typed out these words:

Critics compare it to the Berlin Wall and say it goes against the American spirit of openness, sending the wrong message to the rest of the world about the United States.

The Berlin Wall was built to keep a population in. We need the fence to keep a population out. But don't blame Gaynor -- he's probably never studied history.

The message a fence will send to the rest of the world is this: We are as serious about supporting legal immigration and stopping illegal immigration as any other nation on earth.

The most important audience for this message is guys like Hugo Uriel, who Gaynor quotes. Uriel was about to become an illegal, and said, "Whatever they put there they'll just keep on going over, around or under it. Finding a better life for your family is a powerful incentive."

Agreed ... but is it powerful enough to make a guy actually file paperwork and follow laws? Hmmm.

hat-tip: Breitbart
Tags: Border, Border fence, Immigration, Berlin wall, Media bias

He's Outta There

Updated: Scroll down.

Abdul Rahman has departed Afghanistan, where Islamo-klansmen by the thousands are ready to behead him. Mohammed commanded, after all, to strike the neck of the non-believer.

No one's saying where he went. One thing for sure: It's not Mecca. Or Tehran. Or Islamabad. Or Djakarta. Or Khartoum. Or, sadly, Baghdad.

A question to ask: How would Rahman be accepted in the heavily Islamic neighborhoods of Detroit?

So, let CAIR explain to us how Islam is a religion of peace if it wants to kill all the Christians. Here's the lead paragraph now appearing on its Web site:

On Saturday, March 25, CAIR Government Affairs Director Corey Saylor and Department of Justice Community Relations Service Northwest Region Director Rosa Melendez presented a workshop, titled "Challenging Hate and Stereotypes in a Time of Crisis," at the University of Idaho. Saylor discussed rising levels of Islamophobia, basic Muslim beliefs and advocacy strategies for promoting mutual understanding.

There's a certain Son of God who said we shouldn't make a big deal about the mote in one guy's eye until we take care of the plank in our own. Islam needs to take care of the plank of "every- other- religion- ophobia" and its own stereotyping and hatred of all things not Islamic, then maybe we'll think they've got something believable to say.

By the way, the slogan at the top of the CAIR Web site is, "In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful." Where is the grace towards Rahman? Where is the mercy? Suggestion: Leave Mohammed; follow Jesus.

Update: Rahman's in Italy. Michelle Malkin reports several more Christians have been arrested in Afghanistan.

Tags: Rahman, Abdul Rahman, Afghanistan, Convert, Christian, Islam, CAIR

Global Warming Hysteria Heats Up

Global warming's on a PR roll ... Science, Nature, Time all predicting we'll be overheated and under water before you can even sing the first few bars of Greenhouse Gas Blues.

If you didn't know better, you might just believe those predictions of massive sea level rises in breathtakingly short periods of time might and buy property a mile or two inland. In its continuing commitment to public service, C-SM gives you some sound real estate investment advice, courtesy of World Climate Report, which sees the whole thing as lobbying:

As such, it is mostly recycled and repackaged information that the head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Donald Kennedy, can take down from New York Avenue in DC to Capitol Hill, to scare politicians into doing what it wants, which is an immediate cap on U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide.

Never mind that even a 25% reduction will have an undetectable effect on the rate of global temperature rise in the foreseeable future, and that it will cost a lot.

Blame the overblown latest round of old news repackaged as new on a little CO2 lie. Crank up the CO2 in your greenhouse gas equation, and you get some quotable, if unbelievable results. One of the main CO2-blowers in this weeks round of "news" is J.T. Overpeck:

So, Overpeck et al.’s justification doesn’t really cut it. But it does produce a dramatic result, tripling the concentration of atmospheric CO2 concentration by 2100 and a quadrupling (!) it by 2130. With current trends, that would happen in year 2269. By then, energy-production technology probably will probably have turned over two or three times and this will never have become an issue.

Really, what all of this hub-bub boils down to is regurgitating old news with a becoming-all-to-familiar new twist—things are always going to be much worse than we ever imagined—a mathematical impossibility, by the way. But, who cares if it gets the policy that AAAS wants? That’s what New York Avenue lobbyists are for—to get politicians to do what they and their supporters desire.

False assumptions and overblown math all in the name of science ... well, in the name of more bucks for sale.

hat-tip: Greenie-Watch
Tags: Global warming, Sea level, CO2, Science, Nature, Time, Overpeck

Labor, DJs, Church Fueled LA March

El Mandril (The Baboon), El Cucuy (The Boogeyman), a Latino version of Howard Stern and El Piolin (Tweety Bird) -- these were the maestros behind Saturday's big March of the Illegals in LA.

The four are rival DJ on Spanish-language stations in a market where the Spanish-language stations are the biggest. Their round-the-clock exhortations are credited with a turnout that left no one more surprised than the rally organizers, who expected about 40,000 demonstrators.

The LATimes reports that a labor union -- Local 1877 of the Service Employees Union -- got the ball rolling for the DJs to promote the march. Illegals may not pay taxes, but they sure pay union dues.

Eddie "El Piolin" Sotelo told the LAT he rallied the DJs after union leaders told him the effect of proposed legislation. I wonder if he really has a clue -- he certainly didn't get a fair description of the law from the union reps.

Sotelo came into the US illegally, but is now has legal status.

Also smack dab in the middle with the Catholic church, with the initial organization meetings taking place at Our Lady Queen of Angels. Illegals keep the pews full.

The LAT report is compelling reading, revealing the high level of organization and the decidedly Socialistic and revolutionary take of many of the organizers. Do read it.

Tags: Illegals, Demonstrations, Los Angeles, Immigrants

Brown Power Quotes

Yes, the 500,000 illegals marching in LA were pretty much a peaceful bunch. But what of their leadership? Can we count on them to keep things calm as the immigration debate moves forward?

Let's refresh our memories on what has been said by Latino leadership, just in case anyone makes the big mistake and actually starts listening to them.

Then Assembly Speaker (California State Legislature) Antonio Villaraigosa, now Mayor of LA: "It's not enough to elect Latino leadership. If they're supporting legislation that denies the undocumented driver's license, they don't belong in office, friends."

Art Torres, California Democratic Party chairman, at the Latino Summit Response to Prop 187 at U.C. Riverside (Jan. 14, 1995): "Power is not given to you, you have to take it! People say to me when I was on the Senate floor, when I was in the Senate, why do you fight so hard for affirmative action programs. And I tell my white colleagues: because you're gonna need them. Remember, 187 is the last gasp of white America."

Fabian Nunez, California assemblyman, at the Latino Summit Response to Prop 187 at U.C. Riverside (Jan. 14, 1995): "Each of you, get ten people to go with us on that march in Washington, D.C., and I guarantee you just as we mobilized 150,000 to the streets of Los Angeles on October 16, we will mobilize 1 million people and bring Washington to a standstill, and those rednecks that are out there making decisions for the betterment of their communities will think twice before they push forward anti- immigrant legislation against our community."

hat-tip Jim

Those Poor Innocent Sadrites

So, we're supposed to leave Iraq because some Iraqi government officials close to that punk renegade Moqtada al Sadr are lying about the incident and calling for our withdrawal? To listen to some on the left, it's a good idea. (here, here)

Of course, rational minds know there's tons of evidence that the Iraqi/US attack on a building in a Sadr compound was legit and the reports are false. I like this one in particular, from Omar at Iraq the Model:

“However, the best evidence that proves that members of Mehdi army were inside the building came from a prominent Sdarist parliamentarian and spokesman of the Sdar trend; Baha’ al-Aaraji told al-Hurra this evening that ‘worshippers from inside the besieged husseiniya talked to us in person on the phone and asked for help…’. So I wonder why would ‘innocent ordinary worshippers’ have the personal phone numbers of parliament members and Sadr office officials?”

Why is it such a surprise to the Left that bad guys like Sadr mix religion and war, religious buildings and war buildings? I think they're stuck in a Groundhog Day loop, only their day is Sept. 10, 2001.

hat-tip the real ugly american, memeorandum
Tags: Iraq, Sadr

Joshua Bolten Through Different Eyes

With Andrew Card's resignation as presidential chief of staff and the announcement that long-time Bush cohort Joshua Bolten will step in, it's fun to contrast the response from the right and left.

Power Line:

Yawn
Andrew Card resigned this morning as President Bush's Chief of Staff. It's inherently a thankless position; when is the last time a Chief of Staff was popular among a party's activists? The Chief of Staff often gets blamed when things go poorly, but, conversely, rarely receives credit when things go well. I doubt that the change will make any difference, except maybe cosmetically, but it may satisfy some of those who have been demanding "change" in the administration.

FireDogLake:

The President has tapped Joshua Bolten to be the new Chief of Staff .... (Bolten has worked with Bush since his time in Texas — nothing like looking to your circle of cronies first for someone. Wouldn’t want anyone who would irritate the President with pesky truthiness or anything…) ...

Wonder what Turdblossom thinks about being passed over by a budget wonk? Although realistically, it’s easier to be a nasty political operative in the shadows than in the bright glare of the sunshine, isn’t it? ...

Nice send-off for Andy, all you missed was the "don’t let the door hit you on the ass" snark.

As usual, cool analysis from the right and emotional, paranoid garbage from the left.

By the way, I think this is the full count of Bill Clinton's Chiefs of Staff: John Podesta, Erskine Bowles, Leon Panetta and Thomas McLarty. Andy Card served in the position since day one and Joshua Bolten will probably serve out the term. So there.

hat-tip: memeorandum
Tags: Bolten, Joshua Bolten, Card, Chif of Staff, Bush, Power Line, Firedoglake

Two Men Go Missing

In Africa and Central Asia, two very different men have gone missing.

One has killed tens or hundreds of thousands and sunk his country into a long, devastating war. Lawrence Taylor, the Idi Amin of Liberia, escaped from his villa in Nigeria, presumably to return home to foment more death and destruction in the name of his ego.

The response was muted and diplomatic. UN, the United States and many more nations expressed concern because Taylor was neither in his swank villa or at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, the two preferred places for him. (See BBC's report)

The other man, Abdul Rahman, was released from a high security prison in Afghanistan, picked up by his family, and gone.

The response was decidedly not diplomatic in his home country:

"Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it," said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed, from the nearby northern city of Kunduz. "The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion." (AP)

And Reuters: "If the government doesn't kill him, people in all provinces will demonstrate," said one young man, Mujibur Rahman. "All Muslims will be anti-government."

Another Kabul resident, Abdul Samad, said an example should have been made.

"People will follow this guy, seeking asylum and getting money from the West. We asked the government to execute this man at a public stadium as a lesson to others," he said.

So the man who taught his followers to hack off the hands and feet of opponents so that he might assume power is gone, and met with calls that he be sent to trial.

And the man who followed the teachings of a savior who washed the feet of others so that they might assume eternity is gone, and met with calls that he be killed in the street.

In a world gone crazy, Islam has gone craziest.

Tags: Taylor, Rahman, Liberia, Afghanistan, Religious freedom

Dems Pick Sides: It's Illegals

The Dems made it clear in the Senate today: 500,000 illegals in the street equals legality for them. You'd think illegals could vote or something.

And of course, there were enough election-timid GOP senators to make the majority needed to pass a watered down immigration bill out of committee. Lindsey Graham, Sam Brownback and Mike DeWine fled the Republican conviction that we are a nation of laws to the perceived electoral haven of "we are a nation of laws until a big crowd turns out."

I'm actually for some watering-down of the Kyl bill -- just not what the Senate did.

Compliance will more likely be achieved by pressure, not fiat. Gradually turning up the screws, making it harder and harder to live in America as an illegal will result in enough "voluntary deportation" to solve the problem.

The Dem's bill does the opposite. It makes it easier to be illegal in America, and as such is a huge step backwards, just as the House bill is too large a step forwards. Could we perhaps have some reason in Conference Committee? Sanctions on employers, limits/bans on benefits, huge increases in border enforcement, immediate deportation of criminal illegals, and (dream on, Laer) ending the provision that children born in America of illegal parents become legal. As long as that law stays in effect, there'll be a huge motivation to be illegal, and big, family-splitting problems will be an inherent part of enforcing our immigration laws.

Light Blogging Today

They're loading my plane ... light blogging as travel allows.

Got to say that rudeness prevails at airports. A guy just stepped over a lady's suitcase that had tipped over in his path, without an offer of help. I just wanted to slap his wrist!

LAT Likes Rock-Throwers

The LATimes is singing the ACLU's tune today, giving big play to a tired, old, retreaded story about FBI investigation of domestic anti-war and environmental groups.

Here's the ACLU line:

"Any definition of terrorism that would include someone throwing a bottle or rock through a window during an antiwar demonstration is dangerously overbroad," ACLU staff attorney Ben Wizner said. "The FBI will have its hands full pursuing antiwar groups instead of truly dangerous organizations."

Interesting. Just a month ago the FBI brought charges against a bunch of bottle-throwers: Earth Liberation Front radicals who had burned down a ski lodge under construction in Vail. Is that overbroad, Wizner?

During the Vietnam war, my second cousin was killed when some bottle-throwers got carried away and blew up his lab at the University of Wisconsin. Is that overbroad, Wizner?

It is well documented that anti-WTO demonstrators move from state to state and country to country in well-organized, violent protests. Because they cross state lines, if you are going to pursue them, you need the FBI.

By giving this story so much play, the LATimes seems to be saying they don't need to be prosecuted. The 60s live on at One Times Square.

Terror Suspect May Go Free

A US magistrate has recommended that terror suspect Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan be released. The feds have until April 10 to make their case that Hamdan should remain behind bars.

Hamdan is a Muslim fundraiser suspected of funneling money to terrorist groups. As such, he's not exactly a suicide bomber, but he may well have knowingly aided and abetted groups like Hamas, who field suicide bombers.

Two things are clear: He's overstayed a student visa issued in the 1980s, and immigration officials have been unable to find a country that will accept him, if he's deported.

One thing is not so clear: Why is it taking the feds so long to get their case together? The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that you can't hold people this long before trial, so the feds had to know this was coming.

The OC Register has more.

Time To Go Africa?

This Wednesday residents of Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Libya will be treated to a total eclipse of the sun.

I experienced one, during my college years, ... the strange coolness, the other-worldly light, the way sound seemed to warp a little. I'd love to see another one ... in a more clear-headed state of mind.

Not this time; not those countries.

Solid Proof Of Saddam's WMDs!

The Telegraph reports:

Saddam Hussein planned to use "camels of mass destruction" as weapons to defend Iraq, loading them with bombs and directing them towards invading forces.

The animals were part of a plan to arm and equip foreign insurgents drawn up by the dictator shortly before the American-led invasion three years ago, reveals a 37-page report, captured after the fall of Baghdad and just released by the Pentagon.

hat-tip: Drudge

Denying Evil

At the current Karachi meeting of the World Social Forum, that dispicable peace-quest bunch of anti-reality, pro-Socialist, America-hating global hangers-on established in 2001 to counter the World Ecomomic Forum, evil-denial and misdircted blame was rampant:

Delegates accused the United States of creating Osama Bin Laden and his terror icon Al-Qaeda.

At a WSF workshop on “Bin Laden Constructing New Politics of Terror,” speakers described the Saudi-born terrorist as “a symbol of evil in the world politics.”

“Al-Qaeda and Osama are the creation of the US and its Central Investigation [sic] Agency (CIA)” to suit their hegemonic designs, Sehba Khattak, a leading Pakistani human rights activist from North Western Frontier Province said. She alleged that Osama was created as part of a US global policy to have “elements of instability on the world map” that could allow US involvement in regional affairs.

Reading this in Arab News, I get goosebumps because I just read a deep analysis of this level of denial by Pat Santy on Dr. Sanity. She was writing about the Christian Peacemakers, but she might as well have been writing about Sehba Khattak and her ilk. She writes:

Think of it this way--these are people (both my patient and the peace activists) [and the WSF loonies] who not only are incapable of looking directly into the eyes of evil and recognizing its guilt; but they are equally incapable of looking into the eyes of the good and appreciating its innocence. And for good measure, they haven't been able to look in the mirror for a very very long time.

They have been lying to themselves for years; avoiding acknowledging their own feelings or taking responsibility for their own lives or actions; and projecting all their unacceptable feelings onto others. Both Western culture--America in particular; and the "system" are handy dandy repositories for those unacceptable feelings.

Some part of them recognizes that something dreadful is going on in the world, but they cannot face it directly because it is too threatening to their worldview and their holy scripture; and facing the truth might make them have to go into their heart of hearts to examine the origins of that dreadful terror. Hence the need to displace their anxiety to a less threatening authority figure (e.g., Bush or America; or even those that rescue them from death) is easier than facing the dread source of their anxiety.

Three psychological defense mechanisms (projection, denial, and displacement) are the source almost all human suffering--from the individual misery of my patient all the way to the societal miseries that result from racism, anti-semitism, sexism and genocide; as well as the brutal and fanatical terrorism that we now see all over the world.

If the peace activists and others of their ilk want to understand the wellspring of man's inhumanity to man, then they need to take a good, long look in the mirror.

Yup.

hat-tip for Dr. Sanity: The Anchoress
Tags: Peacemakers, World Social Forum, bin Laden

LATimes And Immigration-Speak

Updated. See below

A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.' southern border.

So leads the LATimes story on yesterday's anti-immigration-law march. One has to wonder: Is it La Times, not LATimes, to go along with paper's Spanish-language La Opinion?

"Undocumented?" Oh, I have my documents, they're just not with me. Please. The word is "illegal."

"Those who help them?" Codeword for companies that break the law by hiring illegals.

Later:

Saturday's rally represented a massive response, part of what immigration advocates are calling an unprecedented effort to mobilize immigrants and their supporters nationwide.

"Immigration advocates?" I believe the right phrase is "Illegal immigration advocates." The LATimes continues in its quest to define those who want a stricter border policy to be anti-immigration. Wrong.

Don't think the LATimes hasn't thought about the importance of these words. The paper isn't making careless usage mistakes here; it is utilizing the words its editors have decided, after careful consideration, to use.

Update: Patterico checks into the law and finds:

Here’s the thing, though: illegal immigration is already a crime, punishable by 6 months in prison. By making illegal entry a felony, the bill simply increases the penalty from 6 months to a year and a day.

I wonder how many of the 500,000 marchers understood that.

Norgs

Are Norgs (news organizations) what newspapers will become? Is paper dead?

Buzzmachine has a blow-by-blow of yesterday's "un-conference" (no speakers, just participants) at the Annenburg School of Communications. He poses the question: Do we save journalism by killing the press?

A participant at the conference pointed out that television didn't kill radio -- but CDs killed albums, and MP3's are about to kill CDs. So, yes, it's feasible that newsprint and those giant newspaper printing presses will become a thing of the past.

The big question raised was not so much how to save newspapers or newsrooms, but how to save news reporting. Who will fund investigative journalism? Who will fund war correspondents?

The answer is obvious: Just look at Michael Yon. Someone with commitment, talent and a trustworthy way of reporting can survive as an independent -- in fact, they could do even better if it weren't for the lesser MSM creatures that get in their way.

Could a Michael Yon survive reporting on corruption in Bubba County TX government? Maybe not. But if he teams with the guy who covers the Bubba High School football team, that would be a small business that could report quicker and probably better than the Bubba Bugle.

Aggregators like Real Clear Politics would be blog-based like memeorandum and would continue to be a daily must-read.

It's not a scary scenario ... unless you're an old-school journalist.

hat-tip and additional links: memeorandum
Tags: Norgs, Journalism, MSM, Blogs

Bush/Gore/Nader Alive In OC

We have a nasty state senate race here in OC for Hugh's friend John Campbell's old seat. RINO Republican Tom Harman is running against the impeccably conservative Diane Harkey. Harman's got money and name recognition and political connections ... and a lead with a couple weeks to go.

But Harkey has a golden opportunity to win. According to OCBlog, Elaine Booth, president of Women For: Orange County, a "progressive" group (i.e., clinging ruthlessly to the failed policies of the past) issued an email to her minions in which she categorized the Dem candidate as Nader, Harkey as Bush and Harman as Gore. What a gift!

(Booth later posted a comment saying that just because she said her crew should vote for Harman in the primary, it was not an endorsement. She must have learned a lot from What-Is-Is Clinton.)

Here's the link to the full post, and here's Booth's big conclusion:

I think we need to at least consider voting for Tom Harman in the primary. I definitely do not agree with all his positions, and that makes this decision a hard one. However, there is only one Democrat running, and he will be on the ballot for the general election in June regardless of how we vote in the primary. It keeps coming back to me that a vote for anyone but Harman is a vote for Harkey --- shades of Bush-Gore-Nader in 2000.

Harkey's crew is probably hard at work on a new mailer, with a nice Photoshopped illustration of Harman and Gore on the front cover.

We just might win this seat.

Tags: Harkey, Harman, Gore, Bush, Nader, OCBlog

Hamas Wants Peace?

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas terrorist-in-chief, spoke to Israel yesterday:

We don't seek a whirlpool of blood in this region. We want rights and dignity for this [Palestinian] people, and to put an end to this decades-long complicated situation."

It's nice to know Hamas wants peace, huh? If there are any sailors our there, don't kiss the nurse quite yet.

It's not going to be peace with Haniyeh saying things like this: "[Hamas' election] was based on the principle of defending the legitimacy of resistance against the Israeli occupation." Or his renunciation of Israeli withdrawals, saying, "We will not hang on to the tails of the occupation."

Of course, Haniyeh did not greet the Israelis with news that Hamas is OK with Israel existing. Nor did he accept blame for thousands of Israelis killed by his terrorists. Rather, he sang the Palestinian national anthem:

"The problem is not with us."

Its like the Rawandan genocide wasn't the Hutu's problem. Those pesky Tutsis just continued thinking they had a right to exist.

hat-tip: Haaretz
Tags: Hamas, Israel, Haniyeh, PA

Rahman Release Won't Fix Problem

Updated. See below.

If Abdul Rahman does indeed walk from an Afghan prison in the next few hours as authorities there promise, it's hardly the end of the problem. (AP reports charges have been dropped.)

First, no Afghan court has ruled that it's OK to leave Islam for another religion. Rahman's freedom will be because of gaps in evidence not gaps in Islam's ruthlessness.

Second, while in prison, Rahman has been relatively safe. What's to stop a street gang from taking out Islamic "justice" on him once he's released?

And finally, Rahman is not the only Christian Afghan. What will happen to the next one?

Islam is afraid to lose a single practioner; it is afraid to let any other voice be raised. This is not without cause. The religion fears conversion because it simply doesn't offer the same comfort and surety that Christianity does. Even Buddhism, with its karma and reincarnation, offers more hope than the unpredictable and angry Allah.

So the Mullahs are ready to kill Rahman. And they hear a Christian woman who is one of the most powerful people in the most powerful nation on the planet (Condi Rice) say,

America has stood solidly for religious freedom as a bedrock, the bedrock, of democracy, and we'll see.

ACLU are you listening? Mullahs of the world, are you listening?

Update: Mark Steyn tells this story in his column today, which also is about Rahman:

In a more culturally confident age, the British in India were faced with the practice of "suttee" -- the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. General Sir Charles Napier was impeccably multicultural:

''You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows.You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

Tags: Abdul Rahman, Religion, Religious freedom, Condi, Afghanistan

Kofi Dodging Rahman Issue

Kofi Annan has yet to say word one protesting against Afghanistan's possible execution of Abdul Rahman for converting to Christianity.

This, from a man who makes statements virtually endlessly on virtually everything. On Friday alone, the transcript of the UN press briefing indicated that he made statements concerning:

• His efforts to mediate a maritime territorial dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
  
• The need for the Georgian and Abkhaz sides to work for peace and the return of refugees.
• The need for international support for the Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis.
• The International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing UN Staff Members, speaking to raise global awareness of the risks faced by UN, NGO personnel, and members of the press.
  

So he spoke about detained and missing staff members -- but he won't speak on behalf of Afghan Christians, who apparently face much greater risks than any UN employhee does.

His spokesperson was called to task by a bold and unidentified reporter at yesterday's press briefing:

Question: Yesterday, I asked you about Abdul Rahman and you pointed to the Covenant of Human Rights and you said that Tom Koenigs had made a statement. And I’m glad that he did on behalf of the United Nations. However, after I asked you that, a number of prominent Muslim clerics in Afghanistan made calls for this man, who had converted from Islam to Christianity, to be executed.

I want to ask you this. Annan -- Mr. Secretary-General -- made two statements on the cartoon issue. He also went to Qatar and he made a statement about -- he also found -- helped to found the Alliance on Civilizations, which is supposed to bridge the problems encountered by Western and Islamic societies. And I don’t understand why he can’t make a statement now, because nobody knows who Tom Koenigs is. I appreciate that he did make that statement, but to put that in an article is a bit of a –-

Spokesman: I think Mr. Koenigs speaks -– is the Secretary-General’s Representative in Afghanistan. He speaks for him in Afghanistan. The Secretary-General, as a UN official, firmly believes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is exactly that -- universal -- and applies to all, and specifically to this gentleman in Afghanistan, who should be free to choose his belief and change his beliefs, as he so wishes.

Question: But I don’t understand why the Secretary-General cannot say that himself. You know, this is what this whole building was founded on, and I’m just trying to understand that.

Spokesman: OK. I’m saying to you, when Mr. Koenigs speaks, he speaks as the Secretary-General’s Representative. This is currently a local issue in Afghanistan, and when Mr. Koenig speaks, he speaks as the Representative of the Secretary-General. So, it’s as if the Secretary-General had spoken.

Question: But if this happens, then it sets a precedent. This is the whole point. This is the reason why the Secretary-General’s statement is so important on this.

Spokesman: As I said, the Secretary-General is, would want the international Declaration of Human Rights to be respected by all, and he fully backs, of course, what Mr. Koenigs says, and it’s as if he had said it for the Afghan situation.

Left unanswered is why. Koenig may speak for Annan, but why doesn't Annan speak for himself? What's he afraid of? Why won't he speak on behalf of this Christian whose life may be snuffed by Afghanistan's Islamopukebuckets?

Tags: Annan, UN, Afghanistan, Rahman, Christianity, Islam

Dem Pleads Guilty; MSM Yawns

Lauren Weiner, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff member (you know, the committee chaired by Chuckie Schumer), has plead guilty to fraud for impersonating Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele and stealing his credit report for political use.

MSM public service announcement: Please remember that the "climate of corruption" is exclusively a GOP phenomenon.

The Captain summarizes the caper well:

The DSCC, in a statement released yesterday, said that it had acted in an "exemplary manner" in not using the stolen credit report. If the best we can get for "exemplary" is a promise not to use stolen personal information while continuing to employ the thieves that got it, then the Democrats will really have a tough time running on ethics in November. It took months for Weiner and her superior, Katie Barge to exit the DSCC, whether by resignation or termination. Nor did they disclose the theft to Michael Steele. That kind of reaction puts the DSCC at odds with the public orations of its chair, who co-authored the Schumer-Nelson ID Theft Prevention Bill, which criminalizes precisely the actions Weiner took -- and the DSCC covered up.

One more thing. A Nexis search on Lauren Weiner yielded seven hits. Seven. Care to venture the count for the day-after coverage of, say, Scooter Libby's day in court? And MSM wants us to believe they aren't biased.

Oh, and put "Scooter Libby" in Google images and you get 2,270 hits. Put in Lauren Weiner and get 262, most of which have nothing to do with the guilty Dem.

Related Tags: DSCC, Lauren Weiner, Schumer, Steele

M. Chirac Es Tres Funny

La honte! Monsieur le Président. Un français qui s’adresse à l’Union Européenne en anglais!

So begins a pretty hilarious Times of London Franglais editorial against M. Chirac for his huffy walk-out of an EU session in which a French man addressed the assembly in zut alors! English. "Pretentious? Nous?" the editorial asks. It takes a bit of work to figure out, but it's fun and worth it, progressing on with:

Car pour les diplomates étrangers la langue de Racine est actuellement impénétrable. Un no-no. Un wash-out. Un piffle-poffle. Ils ne la comprennent pas. Ils gibberent comme baboons du Bandar-Langue dans leur lingos barbares.

Catching on? How about the big wrap-up?

Mais qu’est-ce que the hell! Beaujolais nouveau! En due cours ils arriver at la Terre et la Verre Promise.

hat-tip: Breitbart
Tags: Chirac, English, French, EU

Springtime In Belarus

It appears that the lifespan of Eastern European dictators might be about 12 years, as tinpan despot Alexander Lukashenko clings to a power that might be as elusive and transitory as wisps of tear gas on an early spring Minsk morning.

Reuters has more here.

hat-tip Breitbart photo: Reuters
Tags: Belarus, Lukashenko, Protests

A Little Thanks For The Troops

Christian Peacemaker Norman Kember is back in England and perhaps more in touch with the kindness and gratitude one should expect from a serious Christian. In a prepared statement at Heathrow Airport, he tole Reuters:

"I do not believe that a lasting peace is achieved by armed force, but I pay tribute to their courage and thank those who played a part in my release."

Ta-da! Kember's shown more class than his sponsoring organization, which slighted the soldiers and thanked their "Muslim brothers" instead.

Kember seems more human in his post-trauma shock, asking the questions a human should ask, but a Kumbayatoid wouldn't:

"It is the ordinary people of Iraq that you should be talking to -- the people who have suffered so much over many years and still await the stable and just society that they deserve. I now need to reflect on my experience -- was I foolhardy or rational? -- and also to enjoy freedom in peace and quiet."

If he ends up on the rational end of his thought processes, Kember should note that despite the limited but ongoing violence in Iraq, the stable society the Iraqi people deserve is much closer today than it ever was under Saddam.

War, ugly as it is, works.

hat-tip: Breitbart photo: Reuters
Tags: Kember, Peacemaker, Iraq

Iran Speeds Up Peace/Bomb Quest

Five to ten! Ten to 15! Estimates of how long it will take for Iran to get a nuke are all over the board, so much so that when I quoted Iranian propaganda stating that they'd have one right about now, a commenter ridiculed me.

Turns out their propaganda might be more accurate than most of the estimates, according to the LATimes:

If engineers encounter no major technical problems, Iran could manufacture enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb within three years, much more quickly than the common estimate of five to 10 years, the diplomats said.

That's a big if. The nuclear scientists/swashbuckers at what James Lileks once refered to as the Ayatolla Khomehni Center for Peaceful Nuclear Research and the Elimination of Israel have had plenty of technical problems.

But the renegade nuke-docs are moving forward with dispatch because their Religion of Peace Mullah leaders are Hell-bent on peaceful nuclear energy NOW!

Diplomats and experts say Iran has forgone usual testing periods for individual centrifuges and small series of linked centrifuges, instead apparently trying to put together as many as possible, as quickly as possible.

Faced with new nuke threat and the need to respond quickly and dicisively, the people of the world turned to the UN and found:

Even as Iran apparently moves forward, diplomatic efforts to persuade it to halt its nuclear work appeared to be faltering in the face of distrust among powerful Security Council members and disagreements over the best strategy.

Besides, the seating arrangement at the conference table hasn't been finalized, so how can we expect any real progress so quickly? Give them five to 10 years to work it out. No, better make it 10 to 15.

First, The Cool News From Russia ...

Oleg Shcherbinsky's conviction on charges related to a car accident that killed Governor of Altai Mikhail Yevdokimov has been tossed out of court.

Drivers throughout Russia had rallied to Shcherbinsky's cause in a major grassroots effort that caught the attention of the courts ... and legions of arrogant Russian leaders.

Shcherbinsky's crime: He was making a left turn off a highway when a Mercedes carrying Yevdokimov raced up from behind at a speed of 149 to 200 kilometers per hour (90 to 120 mph), or higher. The Mercedes tried to pass on the left -- remember, Shcherbinsky was turning left -- but it grazed Shcherbinsky's car and flew off the road. The governor, his driver and a bodyguard died.

For this, Shcherbinsky was sentenced to four years in a labor camp.

Russian drivers have had it up to their vodka bloodshot eyes with government officials who think they own the roads. Shcherbinsky wasn't the first to get sentenced in a crime like this ... maybe he'll be the last.

(source)

... Now The Bad News From Russia ...

Bad news I'm sure you've read by now, that Russian spies in the US military command forwarded all the details of our Iraq attack plans to Saddam Hussein.

Much of the information was specific and could -- may -- have lead to the deaths of US troops. Other info revealed in the 130-page Pentagon report was bogus and designed to mislead.

More and more, the evidence piles up that Putin's Russia is very similar the old Soviet Russia. Big, power-grabbing and most definitely not our friend.

... And Now The Fun ...

So Saddam had inside information detailing the composition, size, location and type of US military forces assembled against Saddam's Iraq, right down to the number and locations of tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, missiles, helicopters, aircraft carriers and other forces, says The Times of London-- all provided by the Russian ambassador.

With all this information firmly in hand, Saddam bravely led his troops like the military genius he was:

Burning Oil In Rahman's Future?

First the good news, from Agence France Press:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he telephoned [Afghan Prez. Hamid] Karzai on Wednesday to express concern about a possible execution and "he conveyed to me that we don't have to worry about any such eventual outcome."

Karzai "assured me that what's alarmed most of us will be worked out quickly ... in a way that fully respects religious rights, religious freedoms and human rights," Harper added.

If Karzai can pull that off in the flea-bitten Islamic hotbed that is Afghanistan, I nominate him for Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Besides, it's not as rosy as Karzai says. The AFP report goes on to say:

Afghanistan's Supreme Court said Thursday it was trying to find a "good solution" to the case, the first of its kind here, including persuading Rahman to revert to Islam.

And how exactly do they intend to do that? Dunking in boiling oil? Crucifying upside down? Skinning? Burning at a stake? All those have been tried over the centuries with some success, but if Rahman is indeed a Christian, he won't convert.

And the very fact that the Afghan Supremes think that forced conversion is the answer to a global religious rights outcry shows that they're just plain wrong about rights.

hat-tip: breitbart
Tags: Rahman, Afghanistan, Islam, Christian, Conversion, Religious rights

Your Government At Work

From AP/SacBee:

State officials are blaming a software glitch for sending 64,000 tax forms containing Social Security numbers and income information to the wrong addresses.

Consumer advocates said the error could expose the intended recipients to identity theft. ...

The Employment Development Department said the software garbled the addresses on the forms by combining old street addresses with the recipients' new cities and ZIP codes.

Department spokeswoman Velessata Kelley said the forms were mailed in January and that the error was discovered last month. Intended recipients weren't told about the error until last week.

Here's a good idea: Let's give these folks incredibly cushy retirement benefits because they work so tirelessly for the public good. Not.

Tags: California, Sacramento, Government, Public servants, Identity theft

A Really Painless Boycot

South Park fans, angered that Scientology can't take a joke, have vowed to boycott Tom Cruise's new Mission Impossible III movie. Ouch. That'll be painful.

Betsy has the write-up to read.

Dolts!

That's a cargo container radiation-checker over there on the left. Nifty machines, they're driven over a container and can find radiation that might be emitted by a bomb or similarly nasty cargo.

Trigger it, and alarms go off at customs offices on the dock and in the U.S.

A cool device that helps protect our security -- so why would we put the operation of it in the hands of a Hong Kong company, Hutchinson Wampoa, with close ties to China? And why would we do the deal with no bids, and with no provision for U.S. oversight of the operations?

That's the Bush-Hutchinson Wampoa deal for the Bahamas. There are plenty of justifications and safeguards and most likely no risk, but is there anyone in the White House who is not an insensitive dolt when it comes to image?

So soon after Dubai Ports, a deal that puts Chinese interests close to our port security should have been vetted very carefully and structured to reassure Americans that (1) the Bush Administration understands that our security is paramount and (2) we heard you last time. For cryin' out loud, at least put a U.S. Customs official on the dock!

Look at the door this opens for the Dems, as published on The Democratic Daily:

Here we have just another big F.U. from the Bush administration when it comes to the security of our ports. It was not so long ago that Bush “reassured Congress that foreigners would not manage security at U.S. ports,” however AP News reports “the Hutchison deal in the Bahamas illustrates how the administration is relying on foreign companies at overseas ports to safeguard cargo headed to the United States.”

0 for 2. Unbelievable.

hat-tip: AP via memeorandum
Tags: Ports, Port security, Dubai, Hutchinson Wompoa

Uncivil Civil War Talk

Charles Krauthammer, who at the time of this writing looks astonishingly like George Will in his memeorandum thumbnail, notes a lot of frenetic debating about whether there's a civil war in Iraq. The debaters are all people with vested interests and axes a-grinding, so where's the clarity?

CS-M has been involved in the debate, taking the side that the limited, regionalized fighting that's going on there doesn't constitute a civil war, as much as MSM would like to have a new, nastier war to cover there, especially one that would be particularly embarassing and problematic for the president.

Krauthammer takes another view: Of course it's a civil war. And he's been saying it since 2004:

"People keep warning about the danger of civil war. This is absurd. There already is a civil war. It is raging before our eyes. Problem is, only one side" -- the Sunni insurgency -- "is fighting it."

Recently, that's changed to Shi'ia on Sunni and vice versa, and this increase in Iraqi-on-Iraqi fighting is, he says, the necessary results of our exit strategy -- you know, the exit strategy the Dems keep saying we don't have? Yeah, that one.

Now all of a sudden everyone is shocked to find Iraqis going after Iraqis. But is it not our entire counterinsurgency strategy to get Iraqis who believe in the new Iraq to fight Iraqis who want to restore Baathism or impose Taliban-like rule? Does not everyone who wishes us well support the strategy of standing up the Iraqis so we can stand down? And does that not mean getting the Iraqis to fight the civil war themselves?

Hence the gradual transfer of war-making responsibility. Hence the decline of American casualties. Hence the rise of Iraqi casualties.

Good point, although the fighting in Iraq pales in comparison to "real" recent civil wars, like Bosnia and Rawanda. But Krauthammer's argument is effective in stopping the exploitative civil war talk the Dem/MSM axis is using to attempt to drive us out of Iraq.

Tags: Iraq, Civil war, Krauthammer

BBC Thinks Hostages Were "Released"

Here's the BBC headline on its Christian Peacemaker story:

Wife 'thrilled' at Kember release

The online story doesn't use the word much, but the 0200 GMT news broadcast used it in every reference.

Just one problem. The hostages were not released; they were freed.

No Islamowhackjob buttoned up his cardigan and announced, "Golly, releasing these Kumbaya krackpots would be a really nice thing to do, so gee whiz, I think I'll do it."

For BBC, using the word "freed" or "rescued" instead of "released" would have required emphasizing that U.S., British and Iraqi troops actually did something good in Iraq. Cahn't have that, cahn we?

Bookworm Needs Links

Since Bookworm moved to Wordpress, she's undeservedly slipped to TLB Ecosystem obscurity. This link is nothing more than a shameless effort to get her out of the Insignificant Microbes and up into the Slithering Reptiles, Flappy Birds, Adorable Rodents and further etherial heights of TLB-dom, as her excellent blog deserves.

Oh, here's another link, to her post on the alleged war for oil.

And another on why she likes Bush.

OMG, links gone wild! Journalism. Blame-shifting. Mortality rates. Lib labels.

Any more, and I would never be able to stare dark-shadowed into the television cameras and proclaim, "I am not a crook."

But you other bloggers out there, you could certainly pitch in. (And a link to good ol' CS-M wouldn't hurt matters any!)

"Lodi Losers" Jurist Unconvinced

A juror expelled from the trial of Hamid (right) and Umer Hayat because she dated a cop 11 years ago told AP the prosecutors haven't made their case yet.

"They've shown that Hamid was interested in acting against America and those ideas and thoughts, but they haven't proven that he actually attended a camp, that he took weapons training and that he (intended) to come back here and do anything," said [Andrea] Clabaugh, who lives in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael. "At this point in time, I do not think the government has proven its case."

That's one ex-juror's opinon, and she seems like a bit of a whack-job, since she's concerned that both the FBI interrogation and evidence gathered by star witness Naseem Khan were the result of "leading questions" about jihad. Andrea, my dear, the important thing is not the question, but the answer.

Good riddance, Babycakes. Hopefully the alternate who replaced you has more sense. That shouldn't be too hard.

See also:
Khan Grilled In Lodi Trial
A Muslim Kid Gone Good

Tags: Naseem Khan, Hayat, Lodi, Al Qaeda

China Stymied In Panama Base Hunt

Those of you who shared my concern about Communist China's attempts to acquire the closed USAF base at the Pacific terminus of the Panama Canal will be relieved to read this bit of news, from the Business Times of Singapore:

SINGAPORE Technologies Aerospace, the aerospace arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering, yesterday announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Agencia del Area Economica Especial Panama-Pacifico to set up an airframe, heavy maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Panama. Under the agreement, ST Aerospace will take over all the four existing hangars at the ex-Howard Air Force Base, located just west of the Panama Canal.

There's more of the base still up for grabs, but not having hangers would diminish the potential for military uses at the base, should China succeed in acquiring the remainder.

Relief aside, I am reminded again of just what a stinkwad president Jimmy Carter was.

Tags: Howard Air Force Base, China, Panama, Carter

Un-Christian Peacemakers

I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to You before the gods.

I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.

On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.

All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, O LORD, When they have heard the words of Your mouth.

And they will sing of the ways of the LORD, For great is the glory of the LORD.

Psalm 138: 1-4

Thankfulness should be at the core of every Christian: thankfulness to God and thankfulness to those who go out of their way to do good for us or the ones we love.

It's not that way with the Christian Peacekeepers. In their statement today, they did say, "We give thanks for the compassionate God who granted our friends courage and who sustained their spirits over the past months." They couldn't make their God active enough to say, "We thank God for saving our brothers."

And they certainly couldn't bring themselves to say, "We thank the troops for saving our brothers." That would be the Christian thing to do, right? Forgive and thank? Instead we get:

[The CPT captives] knew that their only protection was in the power of the love of God and of their Iraqi and international co-workers. [Not U.S. soldiers, no sir.] We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq. [Not Islamist murdering thugs, no sir.] The occupation must end.

Throughout these difficult months, we have been heartened by messages of concern for our four colleagues from all over the world. We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. [You weren't moved by the outpouring of support by the Christian community, even those who despised what you're doing?]

I wondered earlier if they had been like Paul, trying to convert their guards. Probably not. And if they had become Christians, the faith that CPT is so enamored with would sentence them to death. What a bunch of pathetic excuses these people are.

Tags: Peacemaker, Hostages, Iraq, Pathetic excuses