Gini's Online Newsletter

open letter to the Kansas City, KS Airport

2007-04-29T02:37:00.000-05:00

My family has officially drawn the line. We will not be coming to Kansas City, KS for any reason whatsoever. This latest appeasement to Muslims (by building footbasins) was the final straw- will there be Christening stations for Catholics and Protestants put in? How about a Scientology video with Tom Cruise? Buddhist prayer rooms where they are allowed to light incense? Perhaps a Voodoo station with live chickens, ready for the plucking.

How can anyone possibly justify this lunacy?
It's one thing to offer a prayer room, really, for people who are in need of spiritual comfort while traveling. But this is helping a particular member of a particular religion a specific worship ritual, and it's insane. By the way, are you going to let anyone wash their feet in the thing? Or will it be guarded, and restricted to Muslim males only?

Now, are you tired of them washing their feet in the bathroom sinks? I can understand that- the answer isn't to give them their own ritualistic foot-washing stations, it's to STOP THEM FROM PUTTING THEIR DIRTY FEET IN THE SINKS that other people who live in the 21st century also have to use. If they don't like it, they're welcome to go home, or to a nearby mosque and wash there. If I put my feet in a sink in your airport, and someone reported me, I doubt very seriously that you'd build me a bathtub for my convenience.

Chinese wife goes after Yahoo to free her husband from prison

2007-03-23T09:31:00.000-05:00

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com
Chinese wife goes after Yahoo to free her husband from prison

By Kara Rowland
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published March 22, 2007

Yu Ling's eyes well up and her hand instinctively pats her heart at the mention of her husband.
Wang Xiaoning, her partner of 27 years, has been sitting in a Chinese prison since September 2002. He is serving a 10-year sentence for using the Internet to advocate democracy.
Two weeks ago, Mrs. Yu, 55, came to the U.S. to find a lawyer and sue Yahoo Inc.
She blames the Sunnyvale, Calif., search giant for providing evidence that helped Chinese authorities convict Mr. Wang, 57.
"I have to help my husband," she explains through a translator. "Yahoo is wrong. ... I hope Yahoo is punished and the other companies learn from it."

READ THE REST HERE.

There are no words for this kind of barbarism.

2007-03-20T19:12:00.000-05:00

From BreitBart.com and LGF:

Iraq insurgents used children in car bombing.

Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday.

The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint but was allowed through when soldiers saw the children in the back, said Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. “Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back,” Barbero said.

The general said it was the first time he had seen a report of insurgents using children in suicide bombings. But he said Al-Qaeda in Iraq is changing tactics in response to the tighter controls around the city. A US defense official said the incident occurred on Sunday in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah district, a mixed neighborhood adjacent to Sadr City, which is predominantly Shiite.

After going through the checkpoint, the vehicle parked next to a market across the street from a school, said the official, who asked not to be identified.

“And the two adults were seen to get out of the vehicle, and run from the vehicle, and then followed by the detonation of the vehicle,” the official said. “It killed the two children inside as well as three other civilians in the vicinity. So, a total of five killed, seven injured.”

Officials here said they did not know who the children were or their relationship to the two adults who fled the scene. They had no information about their ages or genders.

More at the link in the title.

"untested vaccine could harm"

2007-03-15T10:20:00.000-05:00

Thursday, March 15, 2007

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
Top researcher: 'Untested' vaccine could harm
Says HPV 'experiment' on girls might even increase cancer rate
Posted: March 15, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Diane M. Harper

A researcher who worked on a vaccine for the human papillomavirus is warning that it hasn't been tested on young girls, is "silly" for states to mandate the vaccination, and in a worst-case scenario could even increase cervical cancer rates.

In a report published by the Indiana-based Daily News, researcher Diane M. Harper said giving such a vaccine to 11-year-olds "is a great big public health experiment."

Further, she said, requiring vaccinations now "is simply to Merck's benefit."

Harper is a professor and director at the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at Dartmouth, and told the publication that there "is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue."

Harper, who has spent much of the last 20 years studying dozens of strains of HPV, said all of her trials have been with subjects ages 15 to 25, and personally she believes the new vaccine could offer help to women ages 18 and up.

The new vaccine, Gardasil, made by Merck and Co., has been an issue recently because of Merck's aggressive lobbying at the state level to have lawmakers require that all schoolgirls at about age 11 or 12 be vaccinated with its product – at a cost estimated at about $360-$400 per child.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry in February issued an executive order requiring those vaccinations, but the state House of Representatives in Texas has approved by a 6-1 margin a plan to rescind that.

The issue that has rippled across the country as nearly three dozen state legislatures have considered the situation has not been the validity of the vaccine or the goal of reducing cervical cancer, but requiring schoolgirls to be vaccinated against a disease that is transmitted by sexual contact.

Harper said on women 18 and older, a test should be done to test for the presence of HPV, and if it's negative, the series of three shots could be helpful. But if the test is positive?

"Then we don't know squat, because medically we don't know how to respond to that," Harper said.

Her work has been funded through Dartmouth in part by Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, but technically she's a university employee, not a researcher for the drug companies.

Merck's vaccine was approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration and recommended for females ages 9-26. But a doctor at the Centers for Disease Control's advisory committee on immunizations has reported that while the vaccine may be helpful, it should not be mandatory.

Merck has lobbied for its product by contributing financially to Women in Government, an organization for women state lawmakers, and at least partly because of that effort, almost three dozen state legislatures have been given proposals regarding Gardasil.

"This vaccine should not be mandated for 11-year-old girls," Harper said. "It's not been tested in little girls for efficacy. At 11, these girls don't get cervical cancer – they won't know for 25 years if they will get cervical cancer."

She said the vaccine is not a cancer vaccine or cure – it just prevents development of a virus that could lead to cancer.

"For the U.S. what that means is the vaccine will prevent about half of high-grade precursors of cancer but half will still occur, so hundreds of thousands of women who are vaccinated with Gardasil and get yearly Pap testing will still get a high-grade dysplasia (cell abnormality)," she said.

Harper also reported that the drug company "bridged" the studies to apply to young girls. That means that Merck assumed that because it proved effective in the older girls, it also would be effective in the younger girls.

And she warned more than 40 cases of Guillian-Barre syndrome – an immune disorder that results in tingling, numbness and even paralysis of the muscles – have been reported in girls who got the HPV vaccine in combination with a meningitis vaccine.

She said the vaccine's purpose has been misinterpreted and mis-marketed so that too many may believe if they've had the vaccine they are immune to cancer – when they are not.

While calling the vaccine "good" Harper said it is important to realize that if women get the vaccine, but not an routine Pap smear, "what will happen in the U.S. is that we will have an increase in cervical cancer, because the Pap screening does a very good job."

Harper told the publication she's attempted to publicize her opinion for months, "but no one will print it."

The National Conference of State Legislatures set up a special website just to track and update the various campaigns.

That site confirms that about three dozen states have had such plans introduced. But it shows slow progress in many locations.

U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., also has introduced in Congress a plan to discourage states from requiring parents to have their underage daughters – those heading into sixth grade – vaccinated for the STD. His effort would ban the use of federal money for mandatory programs, but allow it for voluntary programs.

Pardon?

2007-03-12T23:10:00.000-05:00

DESPICABLE. But par for the course, Islamic facist-wise.

2006-10-30T23:28:00.000-06:00

(AINA) -- According to the Assyrian website ankawa.com, a 14 year old Christian Assyrian boy, Ayad Tariq, from Baqouba, Iraq was decapitated at his work place on October 21.

Ayad Tariq was working his 12 hour shift, maintaining an electric generator, when a group of disguised Muslim insurgents walked in at the beginning of his shift shortly after 6 a.m. and asked him for his ID.

According to another employee who witnessed the events, and who hid when he saw the insurgents approach, the insurgents questioned Ayad after seeing that his ID stated "Christian", asking if he was truly a "Christian sinner." Ayad replied "yes, I am Christian but I am not a sinner." The insurgents quickly said this is a "dirty Christian sinner!" Then they proceeded to each hold one limb, shouting "Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar!" while beheading the boy.

Translated from Arabic by AINA

You can't libel someone who's dead, can you?

2006-10-26T18:40:00.000-05:00

Danish paper acquitted in cartoon libel trial
Thu Oct 26, 8:29 AM ET
A Danish court on Thursday acquitted daily Jyllands-Posten in a civil case brought by Muslim organizations that accused it of slander for printing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that triggered widespread Muslim anger.

A court official told Reuters that the Aarhus municipal court found in favor of Jyllands-Posten and ordered the seven Danish Muslim organizations who sued it to pay the paper's court expenses.

The plaintiffs have appealed to a higher court.

"Anything but a clear acquittal would have been a catastrophe for freedom of the press and the media's ability to fulfill its role in a democratic society," Jyllands-Posten editor Carsten Juste said on the paper's Web site. "You can think what you want about the cartoons, but the newspaper's unassailable right to print them has been set by both the country's prosecutors and the court system."

The ruling said that some of the cartoons do not depict the Prophet or have a religious subject, while others fall outside of the scope of slander laws.

The court did find that three of the cartoons, including one that depicted the Prophet with a bomb in its turban, did not clearly fall outside of what the law could deem as insulting.

"Of course it cannot be excluded that the drawings offended some Muslims," the court said in its ruling. "But there is no sufficient reason to assume that the cartoons are or were intended to be insulting... or put forward ideas that could hurt the standing of Muslims in society."

The 12 drawings, first published in September last year in Denmark and then reprinted elsewhere, provoked a storm of protests among Muslims, many of whom believe any Mohammad depictions are blasphemous. At least 50 people were killed in riots in the Middle East and Asia. Three Danish embassies were attacked and many Muslims boycotted Danish goods.

In March, Danish prosecutors declined to press charges against the newspaper under Danish blasphemy and anti-racism laws.

In the civil suit, the Muslim organizations accused Jyllands-Posten, Juste and culture page editor Flemming Rose of slander against Muslims for having published the cartoons.

Had they been convicted, they could have faced prison for up to four months.

Sad but true...

2006-10-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102306/content/truth_detector.guest.html

Documents reveal 'shadow government'

2006-10-24T09:44:00.000-05:00

Freedom of Information request puts 1,000 new pages online
Posted: October 24, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

About 1,000 documents obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America show the White House is engaging in collaborative relations with Mexico and Canada outside the U.S. Constitution, says WND columnist and author Jerome Corsi.

"The documents give clear evidence that the Bush administration has created a 'shadow government,'" Corsi said.

The documents can be viewed here (http://stopspp.com/stopspp/?page_id=11), on a special website set up by the Minuteman Project.

Bureaucrats from agencies throughout the Bush administration are meeting regularly with their counterpart bureaucrats in the Canadian and Mexican governments to engage in a broad rewriting of U.S. administrative law and regulations into a new trilateral North American configuration, Corsi contends.

"We have hundreds of pages of e-mails from U.S. executive branch administrators who are copying the e-mail to somewhere between 25 to 100 people, a third of whom are in the U.S. bureaucracy, a third of whom are in the Mexican bureaucracy and a third of whom are in the Canadian bureaucracy," said Corsi.

"They are sharing their laws and regulations so we can 'harmonize' and 'integrate' our laws into a North American structure, not a USA structure."

Corsi claims the process is well along the way.

"This is totally outside the U.S. Constitution, virtually an executive branch coup d'etat," he said. "SPP is creating new trilateral memoranda of understanding and mutual agreements which should be submitted to Senate for two-thirds votes as international treaties."

Corsi said the documentation he received is missing key pieces.

"We received very few actual agreements, though many are referenced," he said. "Many of the work plans described lack the work products which the groups say they produced."

BIG Surprise! (NOT...)

2006-10-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

SPIEGEL ONLINE - October 23, 2006, 12:16 PM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,444079,00.html

INTERVIEW WITH PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
"We Will Never Recognize Israel"

Mahmoud al-Zahar, foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority's Hamas-led government, says a big majority of Hamas supports the struggle against Israel despite recent conciliatory comments from Hamas officials about a possible indirect recognition of Israel and an end to violence.

Read the rest, here:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,druck-444079,00.html

Nauseating. And, child abuse...

2006-10-21T23:42:00.000-05:00

AP
Oct. 18: A Pakistani boy brandishes a toy gun while standing on a U.S. flag at a rally in Karachi.

From the Family Research Council

2006-03-18T09:51:00.000-06:00

March 17, 2006
A Parade of Blarney

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn won't be marching in the Big Apple's St. Patrick's Day Parade today. Quinn, who is homosexual, is protesting the fact that the parade's organizers, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, will not allow homosexuals to carry their own banners. The parade is America's oldest, going back to 1762. Boston organizers had to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 to defend their right to march as Irish--and to keep homosexual activists from hijacking their parade. That case produced a 9-0 ruling in favor of the Boston parade organizers and their legendary leader John "Wacko" Hurley. Homosexuals claimed a First Amendment right to celebrate their lifestyle in the middle of someone else's parade. Even the very liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and John Paul Stevens could not swallow that blarney. But Speaker Quinn is not deterred: "I can't deny who I am on any given day," she said. No one is asking her to. The Hibernians are simply saying that their parade celebrates their Irish heritage, not her homosexuality. Meanwhile, look at Florida, and the annual Reclaiming America conference in Fort Lauderdale sponsored by Dr. D. James Kennedy and Coral Ridge Ministries. Alan Chambers of Exodus, the ex-gay ministry, is slated to speak. Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says "giving a speaking opportunity to anyone from the ex-gay movement is wrong. It needs to be repudiated at every step, not given a pulpit." That's the homosexual "free-speech" agenda on parade: When the Irish march, they must allow gays to advertise. When Christians meet, they must exclude ex-gays.

Muslims blame Israel for church attack, 'intolerance'But outraged Christians say Islamic extremists driving them away

2006-03-06T10:02:00.000-06:00

Posted: March 5, 20064:49 p.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Muslim leaders this weekend led protest rallies against the Jewish state in which they claimed Israel "disrespects other religions' holy sites" and "fuels an atmosphere of intolerance" that led three members of an Israeli family with a history of problems to set off fireworks Friday at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
Christian leaders here told WND the Muslim protests are "outrageous," pointing out Christians have fled previously Christian-dominated cities such as Nazareth and Bethlehem en masse due to persecution and holy site desecrations by Muslims.
"It's outrageous that the Muslims are protesting intolerance and blaming Israel for disrespecting Christian sites," said an aide to Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, who asked that his name be withheld out of fear of retaliation by local Muslims. "It is the Muslims who are leading a campaign against us to the point that most of the Christian population from Bethlehem and Nazareth had to run away."
Sabbah spoke at a protest yesterday orchestrate mostly by Muslim leaders who blamed Israel for the acts of Haim Eliyahu Habibi, a Jewish Israeli who together with his Christian wife and daughter entered the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth Friday with the firecrackers concealed in a baby stroller.
The church was built on the site believed to be the place where an angel told the Virgin Mary she had been chosen to bear the son of God.
Habibi's daughter told reporters her father was motivated by "economic distress." Israeli police officials told WND Habibi has a history of "mental problems" and that they were "familiar" with his files. In 1999, Habibi reportedly visited PLO leader Yasser Arafat and requested "political asylum."
Arab Israeli leader Mohammad Barakeh called Habibi's attack "an attempt to drive a wedge among the Arab population."
Ahmad Tibi, an Arab Muslim Knesset member, said, "There are those who want to continue to separate between Muslims, Christians and Druze in order to make their mission of weakening the Arab minority easier. I am proud that the Muslims defended the Church of Annunciation and I am sure Christian Arabs would not hesitate to defend mosques."
Arab Israeli Knesser Member Taleb El-Sana, a Muslim, blamed Israel for the church attack.

"The act [by Habibi] is the result of Zionism's insane policy, which destroyed mosques, desecrated churches and shows no tolerance toward other people's holy sites. ... Islam equally sanctifies the places holy for Christians and Muslims."
But Acting Prime Minister Ehuld Olmert at a cabinet meeting accused the Muslim leaders of using Habibi's attack to "gain political ground."
"It is almost absurd when the Islamic leadership, which is known for being intolerant toward Christianity, leads a demonstration caused by a spaced-out couple and uses it as political leverage during the election period," Olmert said.
Indeed some Christians in Israel said they were "dumbfounded" by the Muslim protests.
"The Muslims are they problem, and here they are protesting against so-called religious intolerance by others," George Ghrabi, a former Bethelem resident now living in Jerusalem, told WND.
Ghrabi pointed out for years Bethlehem was largely Christian until the Palestinian Authority took control in 1995 and the Christian population drastically dropped from 90 percent, eventually dwindling to about twenty-five percent.
"The Christians fled Bethlehem and have been fleeing Nazareth," said Ghrabi.
Many Christians in Bethlehem and Nazareth say they face constant Muslim hostility.
A Christian community leader previously told WND, "You want to know what is at play here, just come throughout the year and see the intimidation from the Muslims. They have burned down our stores, built mosques in front of our churches, stole our real estate and took away our rights. Women have been raped and abducted. So don't tell me about Israel. It's the Muslims."
One Bethlehem religious novelty-store owner, speaking to WND in December, cited examples of Muslim gangs defacing Christian property, the PA replacing Christian leaders on public councils with Muslims and armed Palestinian factions stirring tensions.
"We are harassed but you wouldn't know the truth. No one says anything publicly about the Muslims," the store owner said.
The aide to Latin Patriarch Sabbah said the PA has been appropriating lands of the Greek Orthodox Church and building mosques on the formerly Christian land.
He said he's aware of several cases in which Christian women were raped and murdered, but the alleged criminals were not arrested.
"The Palestinian security forces know who did these crimes. They know where the criminals live. Still nothing to arrest them," said the aide.
The novelty-store owner told WND he was shot by Muslims in 2001. He said the assailants are still at large.
Cases involving other alleged anti-Christian violence include attacks against Bethlehem Christians in 2001 after a Palestinian Muslim leader called for a "jihad" against both Jews and Christians; riots that spilled over from Ramallah in 2002 in which Muslim mobs burned Christian businesses and attempted to destroy churches; and regular reports of shootings and threats.
Israeli security officials say over 100 cases of anti-Christian violence are reported to the Palestinian police every year. They estimate most incidents go unreported.
Some Christians told WND they were disturbed Muslim leaders this weekend blasted Israel for disrespecting holy sites while the Palestinians have a history of desecrating Christian and Jewish holy places.
This past summer, Palestinians desecrated synagogues left standing in the Gaza Strip following Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the area.
In one of the most infamous holy site desecrations in history, Palestinian terrorists in 2002 holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and refused to release the religious staff inside. There were reports the gunmen, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, looted the facilities, desecrated the church and even used the Bible as toilet paper.
One document later captured by Israel indicated the terrorists also demanded monetary support from Bethlehem town officials.
In October 2000, after Israeli troops evacuated the city of Nablus as a peacemaking gesture, scores of Palestinians stormed into the Joseph's Tomb compound and destroyed the site believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph – the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became the viceroy of Egypt.
Within hours of the Israeli withdrawal, smoke was seen billowing from the tomb as a Muslim crowd burned Jewish prayer books and other holy objects. Palestinians used pickaxes, hammers and later bulldozers to tear apart the stone building. The dome of the tomb was painted green, and a mosque was subsequently erected in its place.

Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Mahmoud al-Zahar and leaders of the Taliban.

human trafficking and modern day slavery...

2006-03-05T19:44:00.000-06:00

The Lady Logician over at the Savage Republican has an excellent post on modern day slavery and human trafficking; right HERE. I recommend it highly.

Iranian ex-student terror attack at UNC

2006-03-04T08:16:00.000-06:00

9 injured by SUV at UNC-Chapel Hill
Updated: 3/3/2006 7:32 PM
By: Associated Press

UNC Hit-and-Run

Mohammed Reza Taheriazar, the sorry b*st*rd that drove into the crowd on purpose

The driver of an SUV that sped through the UNC-CH campus, hitting several people, allegedly planned the attack as retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A recent University of North Carolina graduate faces attempted murder charges after a sport utility vehicle raced through a popular campus gathering spot Friday, hurting nine people and scattering startled bystanders.

Six people -- five students and a visiting scholar -- were treated at UNC Hospitals, though a hospital spokesman said none was seriously injured. Five were released Friday and the sixth wasn't expected to be admitted to the hospital, the university said in a statement. Three other people declined treatment at the scene, police said.

Mohammed Reza Taheriazar, 22, a December graduate, was being held Friday by campus police. They intend to charge him with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, said Capt. George Hare of the UNC Department of Public Safety.

The FBI joined the case because Taheriazar, a native of Iran, "allegedly made statements that he acted to avenge the American treatment of Muslims. The ongoing investigation will work to confirm this," said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman in Washington.

Officials say the incident occurred in front of Lenoir Hall in a gathering area known as The Pit, a popular gathering spot in the center of the campus.
Taheriazar called police to surrender and then awaited officers on a side street about two miles away from campus, Chapel Hill police Capt. Brian Curran said.

"He kind of gave himself up," said Officer Herbert Bryant of the university's Department of Public Safety.

Local authorities declined to discuss a motive.

"As far as delving into his motives and things like that, we're in the process of developing that in our investigation," Hare said.

***GEE, I wonder what his motive could possibly be.***

Read the rest HERE.

An excellent report from Iraq!

2006-03-01T11:15:00.000-06:00

THE SEWERS OF BABYLON
By RALPH PETERS - In Iraq
BAGHDAD
OUR Humvees splashed through troughs of sewage, between ponds of filth that covered several acres. Shanties crowded on accidental islands fringed with stands of reeds. A stall selling brilliant vegetables did a brisk business at the edge of the sludge.
The Risalah slum is home to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis no one ever cared about. No one. Until the U.S. Army arrived. And tried to make their lives better. We were on our way to inspect a "minor" project to change the lives of the poor.
Slum life in Baghdad is grim, yet colorful. Garish shop-front ads blaze through layers of dust under the midday sun. Black-robed women scurry past loitering young bucks. Bent old men laze in castoff plastic chairs. Garbage is everywhere, in phenomenal amounts. It's a world of instant dilapidation.
According to the media, our three-vehicle patrol should have gotten nothing but hostile glares. Instead, we got a surprising number of friendly waves. The turret gunners remained alert, but all we saw were simple human beings trying to get on with their lives.
I rode with Lt.-Col. Joe Gandara, the commander of the Special Troops Battalion of the 4th Infantry Division's 4th "Cobra" Brigade. In two decades of service, Gandara's never faced a tougher job than this one: hands-on oversight of 45 "immediate-impact projects" strewn on both sides of the Tigris River. He does everything from monitoring new construction to struggling to convince Iraqis that maintenance really is important (the Iraqis run the gamut from the risk-your-life dedicated to deadbeats — Gandara sorts out the latter over time).
From top to bottom, Baghdad's culture is broken. It often seems to be every man for himself, and damn the world. Yet, that first impression deceives: More and more Iraqis are stepping up to build a better society.
Saddam didn't just ravage the physical infrastructure — he wrecked the moral infrastructure, too. The recovery will be long and often painful. But the patient wants to get better, something that's easily lost amid skewed headlines.

Read the rest, here.

html issues

2006-02-27T13:41:00.000-06:00

Just so y'all know, I'm aware of my html issues. Hopefully they'll be fixed soon.
Thanks for your patience... ;)

Teenage blogger organizes protests of animal rights groups

2006-02-27T13:37:00.000-06:00

Excerpt:
"He knows about the risks but is pressing on regardless. The police have dropped in twice to warn Pycroft and his family about the danger they face to their property and personal safety from anti-animal testing protesters, some of whom have already denounced him, posted his picture on the internet and published his address."

Typical. People are "caring" and "concerned" about animal's rights, which is all well and good, but then go on to harass, intimidate, threaten and indeed, do violence to anyone who disagrees with them. So much for the animal rights supporters' credibility.

Dr. Henry Morris has died...

2006-02-27T11:21:00.000-06:00

from Answers in Genesis:

February 25, 2006
Dr. Henry Morris, founder and president emeritus of the Institute for Creation Research and the “father” of the modern creationist movement (especially with The Genesis Flood, which he co-authored in the early 1960s) had in recent days suffered a series of debilitating small strokes, and passed into the presence of his Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ, on Saturday evening (February 25).
Dr. Morris, 87, had been receiving care in a San Diego area convalescent hospital. According to his son, Dr. Henry Morris III (Executive Vice President of the Institute for Creation Research), the elder Dr. Morris “remained cogent and alert up until the last few moments. My brother John (President of ICR), my sister Mary, and my sister Rebecca were with him just prior to his passing.”
In a note emailed late Saturday night to ICR board members and friends of the family, Dr. Morris III shared that “Dad has had a wonderfully full life, much blessed by our Lord, and we are rejoicing and celebrating his ‘well done’ now in the presence of his Lord.”
Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis–USA and co-founder of Answers in Genesis–Australia, wrote to AiG leadership that
Dr. Morris is one of my heroes of the faith. He is the man the Lord raised up as the father of the modern creationist movement. The famous book The Genesis Flood, co-authored by Dr. Morris and Dr. Whitcomb, was the book the Lord used to really launch the modern creationist movement around the world. It was the first major creation book I read, and had a special place, therefore, in the beginnings of the creationist movement in Australia. Our prayers are with the family.Please pray for the family, the staff of the Institute for Creation Research, and for all those whose lives continue to be changed by the many books and articles authored by this great man of God during his long and productive life.
Please check our home page for any updated announcements.
*********
my comment:
This man will be sorely missed. His books are fascinating and informative, and he was a true hero of the Faith.
May God be with his family and friends.

Polar bear no match for fearsome mother in Ivujivik

2006-02-22T05:17:00.000-06:00

February 17, 2006
Lydia Angyiou unharmed after hand-to-hand street fight

by JANE GEORGE

Capt. Larry Hubert of the Kativik Regional Police Force and the bear, after it was shot four times by Siqualuk Ainalik of Ivujivik. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KRPF)

Tiny Lydia Angyiou showed incredible bravery and strength last week when she tackled a polar bear who threatened her son and two friends as they played hockey in front of Ivujivik’s youth centre.
Angyiou, 41, who lives not far from the youth centre, was outside with her two younger children when she saw the polar bear eying the boys. She immediately ran towards animal: all she could think about was protecting her seven-year old son.

Another woman heading to work at the youth centre saw Angyiou fighting with the bear. This eyewitness told police that when she saw Angyiou in front of the youth centre trying to kick the bear, she screamed “polar bear!”

read the rest, HERE.

Laugh Riot; Fun and games in Europe.

2006-02-11T10:39:00.000-06:00

FROM THE WEEKLY STANDARD
by P.J. O'Rourke
02/20/2006, Volume 011, Issue 22

I AM JUST NOW CHOPPING up my Danish modern coffee table and throwing the pieces into the fireplace. I want to show my support for Muslims outraged by publication of Prophet Muhammad caricatures in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper. All over the Muslim world there are riots and boycotts of Danish products. And I join the Muslims in solidarity (although, come on, you're Muslims, you shouldn't be drinking Carlsberg anyway). Next into the flames go my kids' Legos, invented in Denmark. They'll be followed by the satisfying smash of my wife's Royal Copenhagen dinner plates.

I haven't actually looked at the satirical drawings. Mainstream American media, recognizing that the First Amendment encompasses the right to shut up, have left them unpublished. I guess I could find them on the Internet except our computer was attached to Bang & Olufsen speakers. I seem to have crashed the system while yanking wires. But I'm sure these depictions of Muhammad will infuriate me as much as they infuriate Muslims, if for somewhat different reasons. The cartoons are badly drawn and not very funny. I know that sight unseen, because the cartoons are European.

I feel sorry for the angry mobs setting fire to the embassies. They should at least have gotten a good chuckle before they set out with their matches and gas cans. However, on a personal and professional note, I want to thank the angry mobs for showing up. I've put in some time as a satirist myself. It is the fondest dream of every wiseacre to get a really dramatic reaction from the public. Nothing is as disheartening to a humorist as having his most sardonic jibes, his most telling thrusts "laughed off." And the violent protests against Denmark, which have now become violent protests against almost all the nations of Old Europe, prove that humor truly is a form of communication that transcends all languages and cultures. The Europeans have made their little joke. The Muslims get it.

What sort of reaction did Jyllands-Posten expect to its comic strip? Europeans consider Americans stupid, but if the Washington-Posten printed a cartoon showing Martin Luther King in a Sambo get-up being chased around a palm tree by the tiger of identity politics, Don Graham would know what happens next.

That the Europeans didn't think anything would happen illustrates the state of European thought. Ideas have consequences, as Europeans, of all people, should know. Consider the dire consequences of their previous ideas, such as nationalism, colonialism, Marxism, anti-Semitism, Freudian analysis, and the social welfare state. But Europeans just keep having deep thoughts that never include anything so obvious as "God exists" or "faith is powerful." According to Jyllands-Posten's cultural editor, Fleming Rose, the Muhammad caricatures were inspired by the comments of a Danish comedian (that transcendent form of communication again!) who said he had no problem urinating on the Bible but wouldn't dare do so on the Koran. The Danes might want to examine the first part of that statement before labeling other people's religious sensibilities "extremist."

I'd also like to thank the angry mobs for giving the Europeans a lesson in free speech. Europeans are unclear on the concept. It's against the law in Germany to deny the Holocaust. (A little late, I'd say.) Many European countries have laws against "hate speech" that don't seem too different in intent from what Muslim protesters want to do to Danish cartoonists--although the penalty phase of the trial probably would be less dramatic in Europe. Europeans suppose free speech is harmless--nattering in cafés. Americans know that the right to self-expression, like the right to bear arms, is dangerous. That's why we keep a firm grip on those rights. In America the worst kind of people can shoot their mouths off. And they can get shot.

Not shooting the worst kind of people is, of course, the cornerstone of European foreign policy. Now we see the fruits of this nuanced and sophisticated diplomacy all over the Muslim world. I haven't been so satisfied by a policy outcome since half the cars in France were set on fire last year. But if the past is anything to go by, the Europeans will learn nothing from any of this. (Although the French are these days, maybe, less inclined to ridicule the American obsession with finding a good parking place.)

The Europeans are the perfect target. They could have helped bring freedom, democracy, and law to the Muslim world, but they'd rather be smartasses. Meanwhile, my family and I will be participating in a little religious extremism ourselves this weekend--or so going to church is regarded by many Europeans. And after Mass we won't be eating Danishes. We'll be having "Prophet Pastries."

P.J. O'Rourke is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and author, most recently, of Peace Kills (Atlantic Monthly Press).

From Tony Perkins' Washington Update

2006-02-06T18:38:00.000-06:00

February 6, 2006

Look at the Contrast

Liberal columnists are constantly trying to link conservative Christians with Muslim fundamentalists, suggesting that we are engaged in a jihad against their enlightened ideas. The Rev. Don Wildmon of the American Family Association is denounced as a mullah whenever he leads a protest against some liberal outrage on television. After his leading role in pressing NBC executives to cancel The Book of Daniel, my friend Don now deserves credit for NBC's decision to pull away from an offensive episode of Will & Grace. They had originally planned to have Britney Spears as a Christian conservative with a cooking show billed as "Cruci-fixin's." NBC has now stated that that storyline will not be present in the Spears' episode. Notice, though, what Don Wildmon has not done. He hasn't burned NBC executives' homes, threatened them with death, or strapped explosives to a bicycle messenger. Look at Europe. There, Muslim protesters against an offensive Danish cartoon portrayal of Mohammed have burned flags, set fire to a Danish Embassy, praised mass murderers, and yelled "Freedom Go To H_ll!" Four people have died in the rioting.
We will continue to speak out against the media's constant attempts to insult and degrade Christians and Christianity. But we will continue to use the means and methods of freedom - freedom that rests upon the foundation of Christianity.

Soldier continues fight not to serve under U.N.

2006-01-11T09:05:00.000-06:00

Michael New claims U.S. Constitution forbids military from donning blue beret

Posted: January 11, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A U.S. soldier court-martialed for refusing to wear the insignia and blue beret of the United Nations and serve under the world body's command is now appealing his case to a federal appeals court.

Michael New was among several hundred troops sent to Macedonia by President Clinton in 1995 on a U.N. peacekeeping mission. But New refused to obey the order, calling it illegal for him to serve under a foreign power.

New's attorney, Henry L. Hamilton, argued both Clinton's order to deploy troops to Macedonia and his order for soldiers to wear the U.N. uniform were illegal, because deployment required congressional approval, and the U.N. uniform is not authorized by either the Department of Defense or the U.S. Army.

Now the former Army specialist is preparing for oral hearings Feb. 16 in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

His attorneys says the issue is whether an American soldier, having taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, may be forced instead to serve under the military command of a foreign power.

Read the whole article here. It's a good one.

From Michael Yon's blog...

2006-01-10T03:06:00.000-06:00

If you don't read anything else this week, read THIS.

Suspects in Virginia Killings Extradited

2006-01-10T02:14:00.000-06:00

Monday, January 09, 2006
PHOTOS

Dandridge and Gray

PHILADELPHIA — Two men charged with conspiracy in the killings of seven people were sent back to Virginia Monday to face murder conspiracy charges.

Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray, both 28, were captured Saturday in Philadelphia on charges stemming from the killings of members of two Richmond, Va., families.

Police said they found evidence linking Dandridge and Gray to all seven murders. The victims, including two children, were all bound with tape and their throats were cut, police spokeswoman Cynthia Price said.
*****
Read the rest at the link in the title.

Has anyone seen a photo of these two criminals?

2006-01-09T11:15:00.000-06:00

Has anyone seen a photo of these two criminals? I can't find any online... post a link in the comments if you find one!
THANKS
*************************

Suspects in Slaying of Virginia Family May Have Committed Similar Crimes, Police Say
Sunday, January 08, 2006

Virginia Family Reportedly Found in Burning Home With Hands Bound, Throats Slashed
RICHMOND, Va. — Investigators are looking into whether two men arrested for the robbery and killings of seven people in their Richmond homes were involved in similar crimes elsewhere, a police spokeswoman said Sunday.

Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray, both 28, were captured Saturday in Philadelphia on charges stemming from the killings of members of two families, including two children, who were discovered bound with tape. The home of one family was set on fire and the other was ransacked.

Authorities said police found evidence linking the pair to all seven murders.

After the arrests, the investigation widened.

"There's other law enforcement agencies that are looking into any similarities with these cases," said Cynthia Price, a spokeswoman for Richmond police. "We know there was a home invasion in Chesterfield and they have been charged with that one."

Police in suburban Chesterfield County did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment Sunday about charges in the Jan. 3 home invasion, in which no one was injured.

Dandridge had been released from a state prison in November after serving 10 years for robbery.

"We all make mistakes and what don't kill will only make us stronger," Dandridge wrote on a Web site from prison. "I believe in treating others as I want to be treated and respected in life."

A SWAT team found Dandridge and Gray on Saturday and used pepper spray to subdue one of the men, who resisted arrest, said Philadelphia police Capt. Benjamin Naish.

The men remained in custody Sunday in Philadelphia, Naish said. An extradition hearing could be held as early as Monday.

Police said they were led to the suspects by a green Chevrolet Blazer taken from the site of a triple homicide discovered Friday.

The bodies of Percyell Tucker, 55; his wife, Mary Tucker, 47, and her daughter, Ashley Baskerville, 21, were found in their ransacked home. The causes of death have not been disclosed.

Price would not comment on media reports that the suspects knew one of the victims in the Tucker home.

Mary Tucker worked at a laundry and regularly attended Fifth Baptist Church, said Rosa Tillar, a friend and co-worker. "She was a nice, quiet person. She stayed to herself mostly."

The murders in the Tucker home came less than a week after the slayings of members of a family well-known in music and business circles. Bryan Harvey, 49; his wife, Kathryn, 39, and their daughters, Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4, were found with their throats cut on New Year's Day. Their house was set on fire.

Price said it appeared that the Harveys were random victims of a robbery.

Bryan Harvey was a guitarist and singer who played in several rock bands, most notably the duo House of Freaks, which released five albums on three labels from 1987 to 1995.

Kathryn Harvey co-owned a toy and novelty store in Carytown, a 12-block stretch of trendy boutiques, cafes and coffee shops just west of downtown Richmond. She was the half-sister of actor Steven Culp, who played Rex Van De Kamp on "Desperate Housewives."

Appeasement NEVER works!

2006-01-09T10:30:00.000-06:00

The libs SHOULD read this (Quote: "They know this very well and for this they haven't gone further than a verbal or psychological war,") and realize that pacifying these psychopaths doesn't work... but they won't. They'll say, oh, if only we were a bit nicer, everything will come up roses! What they can't believe that it won't be coming up roses; we'll all be pushing up daisies.
Read the articles below, tell me what you think.

****************************

IRAN: TEHRAN ISSUES NEW THREAT TO EUROPE
Tehran, 4 Jan. (AKI) - The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who is also the man behind Iran's foreign policy, has warned Europeans "not to force the Islamic Republic to cut short the dialogue process and to opt for another scenario". Speaking on Tuesday night on state television he said: "We are for a strategy based on dialogue, but if the counterparty Europe plays dirty, then we will pass onto another plan that we have worked out and then there will be problems for the Europeans."
Without specifying the nature of the other plan and the other scenario, Larijani has compared the talks on Iran's nuclear programme to a chess game.

"In this game, we are for a result that will be satisfactory to both Iran and Europe," said Larijani adding that "if we lose, the same will also happen to the other party (Europe) and they will have to prepare themselves to live in a hell."

But Larijani used even stronger words for the United States. "A small error on the part of USA or the Zionists will be enough to induce us to unleash hell," said Larijani. "They know this very well and for this they haven't gone further than a verbal or psychological war," he said.

Larijani also reiterated how Tehran "does not have any intension of renouncing its cycle of producing nuclear fuel."

"For our requirements we do not intend to trust even our friends," he said, stressing Iran's right to "advance the research in all the areas of the nuclear sector."

"To start the research and study, does not always signify establishing an atomic programme," said Larijani.

Referring to the Russian proposal to conduct the necessary uranium enrichment in Russian nuclear plants for the purposes of Iranian use, Larijani called the proposal "unsatisfactory".

"We are not disposed to imposing someone else's [proposal], but to find a neutral and constructive proposal," he said.

(Rah/Aki)

**********

Iran a No-Show for Meeting With U.N.
Thursday January 5, 2006 4:02 PM
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A defiant Iran did not turn up for a promised meeting Thursday with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to discuss the country's suspect nuclear program, agency officials said.
A high-ranking Iranian delegation was supposed to meet International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei on Thursday to provide him with details of its plans to move closer to uranium enrichment, a process which can produce both fuel for nuclear energy or nuclear weapons.
``The meeting never took place,'' said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. She said ElBaradei was ``still seeking clarification'' of what Tehran would do Monday, when it says it will resume some work related to enrichment.
Iran told the IAEA on Tuesday it planned to resume nuclear fuel research after a 2-year hiatus, posing a fresh challenge to Western nations concerned that Tehran is trying to build an atomic weapon.
A diplomat accredited to the IAEA said the agency appeared resigned to not getting the details it had asked for before the Iranians resume the enrichment work. He cited ElBaradei as saying he did not expect the Iranian delegation to ask for a new appointment before flying back to Tehran.
Iranian representatives already rebuffed ElBaradei on Wednesday when he asked for clarification of their plans. But they said then they would be more forthcoming Thursday on what they describe as the resumption of research and development of uranium enrichment.
The United States has warned Iran against pursuing new nuclear research. Washington said the international community will have to consider additional measures to constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions if the country takes any further steps related to uranium enrichment. That appeared to be an allusion to having Tehran referred to the U.N. Security Council.
The path for such a move was cleared late last year, when the IAEA's 35-nation board found Iran in noncompliance of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty for keeping its uranium enrichment program secret for decades and conducting other work that could be used for a nuclear weapons program.
The European Union, with U.S. backing, then decided to give diplomacy another try in efforts to gain more international support for their stance.
Iran says it is interested in enrichment to make nuclear fuel, but the United States and an increasing number of other nations suspect Tehran wants the technology to make weapons-grade uranium for nuclear warheads.
Tehran says it will not actually begin enrichment Monday. But even the restarting of equipment testing would be viewed as the latest in a series of steps toward fully reviving the program in violation of Tehran's pledge for a full freeze on all of its aspects.
A diplomat close to the agency said that the Iranians appeared taken aback by the firmness of ElBaradei's demands Wednesday for more cooperation in his agency's probe of Tehran's nuclear activities. The diplomats who spoke to The Associated Press asked for anonymity because the meeting was private.
ElBaradei's demands and clear criticism of Iran's plans to move closer to enrichment was what apparently led the Iranians to not show for Thursday's meeting, the diplomat said.
Iran has come under heavy international pressure to abandon its program to produce fuel for its Russian-built nuclear reactor that is due to come online this year and for its future nuclear power plants.
But it has vowed never to give up the right to enrichment, which it says it has a right to under international law.
While refusing to permanently renounce uranium enrichment, Iran suspended many aspects of its nuclear fuel program in 2003 as a goodwill gesture during negotiations with the big three European powers - Britain, France and Germany.
The talks collapsed in August after Iran resumed uranium reprocessing activities, a step before enrichment, at its Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan, central Iran.
While the two sides resumed dialogue last month, talks have so far failed to resolve the dispute. More talks are scheduled for later this month.

Americans love Chavez, hate Bush- the latest idiocy from Harry Belafonte

2006-01-09T09:52:00.000-06:00

So, does anyone listen to what Harry Belafonte says about politics and government? Besides Danny Glover I mean. HB has gone off the deep end. He's now ranting about how Geo. Bush is the worst terrorist; and that most of us just LOVE Hugo Chavez. This is funny in a sad, perverse kind of way... Read the article here.

The Top 10 Junk Science Claims of 2005

2006-01-03T00:31:00.000-06:00

from www.foxnews.com
Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Steven Milloy

It’s that time of year again when we at JunkScience.com reflect on all the dubious achievements and irresponsible claims made by the junk science community throughout the year.

These “lowlights” have a lot in common — namely exaggeration and hidden agendas — but they cover a diverse range of scientific themes, from child development to embryonic stem cell research to everyday radiation exposure to trying to lay blame for hurricanes.

Although virtually the entire “Top 10” could easily consist of global warming items — climate hysteria being the most important junk science issue of our time — in the interest of diversity, JunkScience.com’s Top 10 for 2005 are:

READ THE REST HERE!

2005-12-25T00:38:00.000-06:00

Your New Year's Resolutions

1) Get a pet octopus

2) Eat more hot dogs

3) Travel to Brazil

4) Study urban anthropology

5) Get in shape with spinning

What Should Your New Year's Resoluton Be?

Alistair Cooke's bones stolen by transplant gang

2005-12-23T10:24:00.000-06:00

This is just outrageous. From this article at the Telegraph.co.uk-
Excerpt:

"Who knows, maybe some of the ashes were his - how do you know? It defies the imagination. It's so corrupt and evil.

"I'm most shocked by the violation of the medical ethics that my stepfather's ancient and cancerous bones should have been passed off as healthy tissue to innocent patients in their quest for better health."

His daughter, Susan Kittredge, told the Daily News: "That people in need of healing should have received his body parts considering his age and the fact that he was ill when he died, is as appalling to the family as it is that his remains were violated."

Palestinians boot Jews, now beg them for help

2005-12-22T09:08:00.000-06:00

Arabs unable to reproduce successes in area greenhouses
Posted: December 22, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

The Palestinians who took over the Jewish greenhouses in the Gaza Strip when Israel withdrew its communities from the area now are asking expelled farmers for advice after reportedly failing to reproduce the region's famous insect-free vegetables, WND has learned.

Prior to Israel's August withdrawal, the residents of Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish communities ran greenhouses known for producing high-quality insect-free vegetables. The Gush Katif gardens featured some of the most technologically advanced agricultural equipment and accounted for more than $100 million per year in exports to Europe. The greenhouses also supplied Israel with 75 percent of its own produce.

The hothouses were passed to the Palestinians in September in a $14 million deal brokered by former World Bank President James Wolfenson and several wealthy Jewish Americans.

Earlier this month, the Palestinians now running the greenhouses reportedly told the Israeli-Palestinian Economic Cooperation Fund they failed in their efforts to grow bug-free produce.

Now the Palestinian owners have asked the United States Agency for International Development, which has been involved in reconstruction efforts in Gaza, to hire former Jewish Gaza greenhouse owners as consultants for their declining vegetable businesses.

Eitan Hederi, a former Gaza farmer who represented Gush Katif residents in the Wolfenson greenhouse transfer told WND, "The Palestinians are privately turning to U.S. AID to hire us because we are experts in this kind of farming. It's a really complex process that we engineered."

Anita Tucker, an expelled Gaza resident and one of the pioneer farmers of Gush Katif, told WND, "I am not at all surprised the Palestinians are failing. When they worked in our greenhouses they needed to be monitored closely. Many didn't understand certain things, like not using different kinds of chemicals. Plus when we were in Gaza, our efforts were blessed by God."

Tucker explained she and other Katif farmers engineered agricultural technology specific to the dry, sandy Gaza conditions.

"We used different kinds of netting, also aluminum, since we knew the reflection of the sun kept bugs away," she said. "We used colors because we knew certain kinds of bugs were attracted to or kept away from different colors. We used certain organic insecticides for certain plants, and were very strict about which chemicals we used. We kept our greenhouses as clean as possible. And we also had our own proprietary inventions and technology."

Asked if she would serve as a consultant for the new Palestinian owners of her former greenhouses, Tucker said, "Probably not. We see the terror coming out of Gaza, coming out of the neighborhood I used to live in, and it's just horrible. Hamas has taken over different parts of Gush Katif and are firing rockets into Israel. I am not saying the Palestinian farmers are involved, but it seems they are not doing enough to stop the terror."

Haderi, who says he already has been asked by U.S. AID to consult on greenhouse technology, said, "I am still thinking about it. It's a very difficult decision."

The 'redemption' of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams

2005-12-15T01:58:00.000-06:00

Posted: December 15, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 Laurence A. Elder

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, convicted multiple murderer and co-founder of the notorious street gang the "Crips," died via lethal injection at 12:35 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2005, in San Quentin State Prison. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, only hours before Williams' scheduled execution, refused to grant clemency.

Who was Stanley "Tookie" Williams, and why did so many people want his life spared?

The Crips, co-founded by Williams in 1971, became a national – indeed, international – gang responsible for thousands of deaths. In 1981, a jury convicted Williams of murdering four people, and he was sentenced to death. Williams claimed he was innocent, a victim of a racist criminal justice system. He partnered with a writer and co-authored several anti-gang children's books. Williams apologized for founding the Crips, renounced his membership and urged others to do the same.

The usual suspects came out in support of Williams' clemency – Hollywood stars and anti-death-penalty advocates. But so did the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The NAACP took out an ad in the Los Angeles Times and began a four-city tour urging the governor to grant Williams clemency. Bruce S. Gordon, the new president and CEO of the NAACP, called Williams the organization's "secret weapon" in combating gang violence. Gordon also suggested that race played a part in Williams' conviction and noted that the criminal justice system "makes mistakes."

About the death penalty, according to the NAACP's website, the organization opposes it: "The NAACP has long opposed the death penalty because in many states there has been a disproportionate number of African-Americans sentenced to death, particularly when the crime involves a white victim."

But where was the NAACP's opposition to the death penalty back in 2000? The organization ran an ad during the 2000 presidential campaign of then-Gov. George W. Bush. The ad – with a voiceover by the daughter of James Byrd, the man dragged to death by three men in Jasper, Texas – attacked Bush for not passing enhanced hate-crime legislation. Bird's daughter, in a dramatic voice, said, "[I]t was like my father was killed all over again." But two of the three men convicted of killing Byrd had already received death sentences, with the third, who testified that he attempted to stop the other two from committing the murder, getting life without possibility of parole.

The NAACP ad, in essence, says that Byrd's killers should have been punished more harshly. So apparently white bigots deserve the death penalty, but a black multi-murderer who founded a street gang does not. All clear now?

Williams claims redemption, but refuses to accept responsibility for murdering four innocent people. Williams shot one victim, Albert Owens, who worked at a 7-Eleven, twice in the back, after Owens pleaded for his life. Williams, 11 days later, gunned down the owners of a small motel, a family of three.

According to Gov. Schwarzenegger's decision refusing clemency: "Williams ... robbed a family-operated motel and shot and killed three members of the family: (1) the father, Yen-I Yang, who was shot once in the torso and once in the arm while he was laying on a sofa; (2) the mother, Tsai-Shai Lin, who was shot once in the abdomen and once in the back; and (3) the daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, who was shot once in her face. For these murders, Williams made away with approximately $100 in cash. Williams also told others about the details of these murders and referred to the victims as 'Buddha-heads.'"

Consider the following hypothetical. David Duke, former imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, murders, in cold blood, four innocent blacks. But, wait. Duke later renounces the Klan and pens children's books urging white kids to reject racism. But he refuses to accept responsibility for the murder of the four innocent blacks, claiming that a racist jury convicted him for his reputation, not for the murders. Imagine Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx, Ed Asner or the NAACP organizing a campaign to spare the "redeemed" Duke's life.

Williams' life inspired the movie called "Redemption." But a truly redeemed Williams would have said: "This is what happens. This is where you end up when you think the rules do not apply to you; when, because of anger and rage, you kill innocent people. I accept responsibility for what I did. I apologize to the family members. Please understand that I was not a victim of a racist, unfair criminal justice system, and I urge all criminals to first look into the mirror before blaming the police, the judges, the system. I made choices that put me here. The lesson of my life is – no matter your circumstances, your race, your class – you are responsible for making proper moral decisions. It is your duty to do so." That's redemption.

Larry Elder is a popular radio and TV talk-show host from Los Angeles.

"...twisted, laughable, frustrating, plotless and often boring."

2005-12-15T01:51:00.000-06:00

Homosexual cowboys
Posted: December 15, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

If he wasn't in heaven, my father, 1930's box-office award-winning, Hollywood cowboy star, Bob "Tex" Allen – and his more recognizable successors, like John Wayne and Gene Autry – would be rolling over in their graves. Except for an occasional movie like "Silverado," "Pale Rider" or "Tombstone," Hollywood keeps trying its best to ruin the spirit of the western. And, they wonder why most of the westerns Hollywood has been making in the last 25 years don't make much money!

"Brokeback Mountain," a modern homosexual cowboy movie that tells the 20-year love affair between two men starting in 1963, is twisted, laughable, frustrating, plotless and often boring. It's also politically correct. Thus, it's sure to reap many awards this year from the leftwing media throughout the world and the leftwing elites in Hollywood, including the so-called "Gay Mafia."

The movie opens in Wyoming in 1963 where two young cowboys, Ennis and Jack, are hired to tend some sheep near Brokeback Mountain. The two men become fast friends. One night, however, their friendship becomes an evening of lust and passion, a scene that plays like a nightmarish homosexual rape set in San Quentin Prison.

For 20 years, the two men carry on a secret affair, despite the fact that they get married to women and have children. One of the wives finds out, but the other one mostly only suspects, until tragedy strikes, and she finds out for certain.

"Brokeback Mountain" is well-acted, although Heath Ledger as Ennis sometimes sounds like Carl from "Sling Blade," the character that Billy Bob Thornton made famous. The problem is that the story is relatively plotless, and the pace is slow and choppy at times. The movie's running time is also much too long. All of this makes for a boring, and sometimes laughable, though well-produced and well-photographed travelogue.

The main conflict in this movie is between the two cowboys. Jack wants them both to get divorced and tend a ranch together, but Ennis is too afraid of the scandal their relationship would cause. Secretly, however, Ennis, is also haunted by the corpse of a murdered, castrated homosexual cowboy his father made him see when Ennis was very young. Of course, one of the two cowboys ends up being murdered, too.

Thus, in the end, the ultimate goal of the filmmakers behind "Brokeback Mountain" is to send a politically correct message about how awful American society is in its treatment of homosexuals. To complement this evil message is a scene where Jack mocks people who go to church and who sing hymns about Jesus Christ.

The movie also presents a very negative stereotype of strong heterosexual fathers. In fact, the homosexual cowboy whose guilt prevents the two perverted lovers from riding off into the sunset together is shown to be an apathetic father. Only the love of one of his daughters is able to free the man from his apathy and indifference toward her. Furthermore, the most admirable homosexual cowboy is shown to be the most affectionate father toward his child.

Of course, adding to this politically correct tone is plenty of strong foul language, explicit sex scenes and explicit nudity. Surprisingly, there also is a strong tone of sadomasochism to the homosexual relationship in the movie. These scenes probably are the most unintentionally laughable scenes in the entire movie. The movie suggests, however, that this is due to the sexual repression that American society allegedly brings against sodomites like the two homosexual cowboys.

As we predicted above, there are sure to be many leftwing awards for this twisted, laughable, frustrating, plotless and boring piece of homosexual, neo-Marxist propaganda. If only the leftists, radical feminists and communists would show the same compassion for the wives of homosexual perverts like these two characters, the world might be a better place. Don't count on that happening any time soon, however.

Dr. Ted Baehr is the founder and publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®, chairman of the Christian Film &Television Commission, and a well-known movie critic, educator, lecturer and media pundit. He also is the author of several books, including "Faith In God And Generals."

Georgia's governor rescues Christmas

2005-12-10T12:22:00.000-06:00

Posted: December 10, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia has become a hero of the Christmas season.

After a staff member sent out an e-mail news release announcing that Gov. Perdue and his wife, Mary, would be lighting a "holiday tree" at the governor's mansion, the governor – an outspoken Christian – quickly set the record straight.

Within moments after that initial e-mail had gone out, Gov. Perdue sent out a follow-up e-mail announcing that he would be lighting a "Christmas tree" – not a "holiday tree."

The follow-up e-mail from Gov. Perdue's office was a classic.

It read: "Due to a politically correct staff brain-freeze, the [governor's] press office erroneously used the word 'holiday tree' to describe the coniferous flora that the governor and first lady will light this Sunday."

It continued, "It is, in fact, a Christmas tree. The staffer responsible can be contacted at P.O. Box 432, Anchorage, Alaska, 99501."

The message from Gov. Perdue was clear: He will not tolerate the diluting of Christmas.

As the issue of public religious expression – particularly during the Christmas season – has become increasingly contentious, it is energizing to see a high-profile political leader take such a bold stand in defense of Christmas.

Gov. Perdue, who spoke at Liberty University earlier this year, has become one of the most vocal Christian leaders in our nation. And it is fitting that he has charged headfirst into this important political debate.

While we celebrate Gov. Perdue's action, we continue to see numerous examples of education officials and public managers taking anti-Christmas postures.

In Seattle this week, a school district decided to reprint lunch menus for 23 elementary schools because they bore the message of "Merry Christmas." The News Tribune of Tacoma reported that the district actually reprinted the menus so they read "Happy Holidays."

In Dodgeville, Wis., officials at an elementary school determined that their "winter program" would alter the carol "Silent Night" so that it is sung as "Cold in the Night."

The lyrics have been secularized as follows:

Cold in the night,
no one in sight,
winter winds whirl and bite,
how I wish I were happy and warm,
safe with my family out of the storm.

The school's program will include decorating classrooms with images of Santa Claus, Kwanza, Menorahs and Labafana (a Christmas witch).

The Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel has issued a demand letter to the school stating that its actions violate the Constitution. Liberty Counsel is prepared to file suit if the district does not remedy the situation.

These are just a couple of examples of school officials who want to eradicate Christmas.

Last week, a skit on "Saturday Night Live" had the cast spoofing the effort to restrain Christmas. Instead of singing "Hallelujah," a politically correct choir utilized the words "How Ya Doing?"

Sadly, it probably gave the author of the "Cold in the Night" lyrics some new ideas.

Apparently, anti-Christmas school officials believe that saying "Merry Christmas" or singing "Silent Night" is an establishment of religion.

In reality, printing "Merry Christmas" on a menu or singing "Silent Night" in a school program is an establishment of religion in the same way that eating a nut makes you a squirrel.

It's that ludicrous!

Liberty Counsel president and general counsel Mat Staver and I have been hitting the talk shows in recent days, identifying this war on Christmas across our nation. Liberty Counsel is providing the free legal services of 700 constitutional attorneys to any persons whose religious freedom is being denied or curtailed ... available at mat@lc.org.

We have been talking about the national "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign," in which pastors across the country are purchasing full-page newspaper ads announcing that Christmas is still legal.

The most recent pastor to join this campaign is Dr. Richard Lee, pastor of First Redeemer Church in Cummings, Ga. The church is placing ads in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other local newspapers to defend public displays and expressions of Christmas.

Readers can view the ad that churches are utilizing [a pdf file]. They can also call my National Liberty Journal newspaper office (434-582-2432) to have our graphics department help in the creation of an ad.

We have taken the offensive in the battle for Christmas. I urge pastors across the nation to join with us in protecting this important part of our national heritage.

Group warns bill contains national ID

2005-12-10T09:31:00.000-06:00

Saturday, December 10, 2005

YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE …
Group warns bill contains national ID
Immigration measure's employment provision 'dangerous'
Posted: December 10, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jon Dougherty
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

An umbrella organization of dozens of groups that monitor legislation affecting civil liberties says a new immigration-reform measure contains a provision that could lead to de facto establishment of a national identification scheme.

Officials with Liberty Coalition say the bill, called the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act," ominously "creates a dangerous new national identity database system and firmly establishes the predicate for a new national ID card system."

In particular, said the organization, Title VII of the bill contains a requirement that employers compare current and prospective workers' Social Security numbers with a Department of Homeland Security database to ensure they are legally able to work in the United States. If the DHS database doesn't clear the employee, the employer can be fined.

Michael Ostrolenk, national director for the coalition, said he was not only concerned about the ID implications but also that database glitches or errors could inadvertently penalize some employees and their employers.

"Even setting aside concerns of intentional 'blacklisting' of innocent Americans, even a small error rate could mean millions of Americans forced out of work by computer mistakes," he said.

"Homeland Security has a poor record of putting innocent Americans on secretive 'no-fly' lists, and should not be entrusted with determining who is allowed is to make a living in this country," Ostrolenk added.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. James E. Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., was approved Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.

"This legislation will help restore the integrity of our nation's borders and reestablish respect for our laws by holding violators accountable, including human traffickers, employers who hire illegal aliens and alien gang members who terrorize communities throughout the country," Sensenbrenner said, in a statement.

Among other provisions, the bill "makes mandatory an employment eligibility verification system currently voluntary" by implementing a program confirming or denying "the authenticity of Social Security numbers offered by new hires." According to the committee, the bill "requires that all employers within two years will begin checking any new hires against this database and begin checking all hires within six years."

Terry Shawn, a spokesman for the Judiciary Committee, told WorldNetDaily Sensenbrenner had worked late on legislation and was unavailable for comment.

While a section of the bill says no provision in it "shall be construed to authorize, directly or indirectly, the issuance or use of national identification cards," Liberty Coalition officials point out another section requires Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice to submit a report to Congress about creating a machine-readable photo ID based on social security numbers.

"This action is a clear move towards constructing a National ID program, a concept rejected by most Americans," said the group, in a statement.

James Plummer, the coalition's policy director, described the bill's language about a national ID as "Orwellian doublespeak."

"A real border security law would secure the borders, making this kind of police-state 'Big Brother' tracking of Americans unnecessary," he said.

Liberty Coalition includes such politically diverse groups as the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Congress Foundation and the American Conservative Union.

Special offers:

Avoid the crowds – finish shopping from home at WND's Christmas Store!

More great Christmas ideas from WND

Jon E. Dougherty is the author of "Illegals: The Imminent Threat Posed by Our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Border."

Who are you calling angry?

2005-11-30T10:26:00.000-06:00

by Michelle Malkin
Posted: November 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
www.worldnetdaily.com
Editor's note: The following column contains language that may be offensive to some readers.
© 2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Janeane Garofalo, left-wing actress-turned-Air America radio host, is a miserable woman. Last week before the holidays, she turned up on cable TV. No, not to count her blessings – but to rant against conservative journalist Bob Novak, author Ann Coulter, and the Fox News Channel. She didn't have anything better to do for Thanksgiving?

Accessorized by a permanent scowl (hard to believe she was once considered a comedienne), Ms. Garofalo accused conservatives of having "an anger management problem." Without a trace of irony, the frowning Garofalo griped about "right-wing partisan hacks" who "are always on the verge of punching somebody or always behave as if they've just been cut off in traffic."

This, dear readers, is a classic case of liberal projection. Like CNN executive Jonathan Klein, who derided Fox's audience as full of "angry white men, and those men tend to be rabid," and liberal comedian Bill Maher, who also railed that "Republicans need anger management" and are possessed with a "vein-popping, gut-churning rage that consumes the entire right wing," Ms. Garofalo crossly blames the Right while denying the pathological wrath and fury that characterize the unhinged Left.

Who are you calling angry, Ms. Garofalo? You want political road rage? Let's start with Al. Take your pick: Sharpton. Gore. Franken. Yearrghh!

Now, open your eyes:

It isn't out-of-control conservatives tossing Molotov cocktails at police officers in San Francisco, burning American soldiers in effigy, and smearing pig's blood and feces on the walls and windows of military recruitment centers across the country to protest on behalf of peace.

It isn't rage-blinded conservative professors who embrace fragging (the murder of American soldiers by their fellow soldiers on the battlefield) as a legitimate anti-war tactic.

It isn't vengeful conservatives torching SUVs, condo developments, and research facilities, and targeting biotech and pharmaceutical company employees and their families to protest on behalf of the environment.

It wasn't mad conservatives sporting "F--- Bush" license plates, punching cardboard cutouts of the president, and vowing to secede after losing the 2004 presidential election.

It wasn't rabid conservatives who gloated over Ronald Reagan's death or John Ashcroft's pancreatitis.

It wasn't a gut-busting conservative journalist who vowed to kill herself if Dick Cheney ran for president. (That would be the perpetually aggrieved Helen Thomas.)

It wasn't hate-filled Republican officials who reportedly screamed "faggot" and "fruitcake" and "I'll break your nose" at their political opponents. (Those were all Democrats: Pennsylvania state legislator Vincent Fumo, California Rep. Pete Stark, and Virginia Rep. Jim Moran, respectively.)

It isn't fanatical conservatives joking about the assassination of President Bush and the execution of his Republican aides. (That, Ms. Garofalo, would include your Air America colleagues. But I'll forgive you if you weren't tuned in to them. Few are.)

And it wasn't ruthless conservatives who cheered last week when a liberal Bush-hater wrote on the popular DemocraticUnderground.com website last week:

I am an American, Born and Raised, but I am NOT a citizen of BUSH'S America. I want nothing to do with the country these people have created.

And for those who support them, Let's get Something Nice And Sparkling CLEAR:

Stay The [F---] Away From Me. Stay OUT of my personal space. I want NOTHING from you. I want NOTHING to do with you. I want NOTHING to do with your "vision" of what the world should be.

What DO I want from you?

Honestly?

I will freely admit there are days, and they are becoming more than not, that the Alien at Area 51 in Independence Day and I share quite a common ground on the answer to that question.

And I am NOT apologizing for it.

In the words of the Late, Great Bill Hicks, about the most conciliatory thing I can say for those people at this point is simply this:

Kill Yourself.

My Christmas wish for Ms. Garofalo and her ilk: a mirror and a clue to make the yuletide bright. In the meantime, when vein-popping liberals start seething about the rage of the Right, the wisest action for peaceful right-wingers I can recommend is this:

Duck.

Swedish minister acquitted of hate speech charges

2005-11-29T14:18:00.000-06:00

Called homosexuality a 'deep cancer tumor' on society
Posted: November 29, 2005
10:04 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Ake Green

The Swedish Supreme Court has acquitted a pentecostal minister of charges he violated the nation's hate-speech laws when he labeled homosexuality a "deep cancer tumor" on society during a sermon two years ago.

The court ruled Ake Green was free to espouse his religious views even if they were deemed offensive by some, though prosecutors said the high court's decision will not lead to acceptance of "gay bashing."

They noted the court recognized Green's comments were made during a religious sermon and did not incite others to take harmful actions against homosexuals.

Green, pastor of a Swedish Pentecostal Church congregation in Kalmar, Sweden, initially was convicted by a lower court for violating the country's laws against hate speech in 2004. But an appeals court overturned his conviction, citing his right to freedom of speech and religion. The high court ruled 5-0 to uphold the appeals court decision.

Green, 64, was the first pastor to be convicted under the new laws, which were amended in 2003 to include homosexuals.

The BBC reported Green had expressed little remorse over his comments, but in expressing relief at the high court's decision said in the future he would curb his comments about homosexuals since – because of the international notoriety of his case – everyone now knows his sentiments on the issue.

The U.S.-based Alliance Defense Fund, which filed friends-of-the-court briefs in support of Green, called the high court's ruling "a huge victory for religious liberty everywhere."

"As David slew Goliath, Ake Green slew the radical homosexual agenda in this case," said Benjamin Bull, ADF's chief counsel. "We can only hope this will deter other attempts to censor Christian ministers from delivering Bible-based messages against harmful homosexual conduct. Ake Green is a hero, and we are grateful for his stand and his perseverance."

In comments to Swedish Public Radio, Green said the court's ruling was vindication of his and other preachers' right to espouse what they see as the biblically correct view that homosexuality is anathema to traditional human behavior.

"This means we can continue to speak the way we have, and therefore it feels very good that they have ruled in a way that that there should not be any infringement in our way of preaching," he said.

In testimony before the Supreme Court, Green said his sermon was meant as a warning to homosexuals that if they continued their lifestyle they would suffer "eternal divorce" from God.

"If two men sleep with each other, or if two women do so, it is abnormal, just like pedophilia," he said.

Supreme Court Justice Johan Munck said the court was obliged to follow European Union guidelines.

"We believe that it is probable that a conviction against Pastor Green would not hold up in the European Court of Justice," he said.

What a sick, demented, hate-filled bunch...

2005-11-19T00:32:00.000-06:00

From Tapes, a Chilling Voice of Islamic Radicalism in Europe
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Published: November 18, 2005
from the New York Times

MILAN - Playing an Internet video one evening last year, an Egyptian radical living in Milan reveled as the head of an American, Nicholas Berg, was sawed off by his Iraqi captors.

Yahia Ragheh, foreground, and Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed being led into a Milan court last month, charged with ties to a terror network
Mauro Bottaro/Fotogramma

"Go to hell, enemy of God!" shouted the man, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, as Mr. Berg's screams were broadcast. "Kill him! Kill him! Yes, like that! Cut his throat properly. Cut his head off! If I had been there, I would have burned him to make him already feel what hell was like. Cut off his head! God is great! God is great!"

Yahia Ragheh, the Egyptian would-be suicide bomber sitting by Mr. Ahmed's side, clearly felt uncomfortable.

"Isn't it a sin?" he asked.

"Who said that?" Mr. Ahmed shot back. "It is never a sin!" He added: "We hope that even their parents will come to the same end. Dogs, all of them, all of them. You simply need to be convinced when you make the decision."

Unconvinced, Mr. Ragheh replied: "I think that it is a sin. I simply think it is a sin."

The blunt exchange is contained in an 182-page official Italian police report that has not been made public, but is widely available in court circles and frames the judicial case against the two men. "The Madrid attack was my project, and those who died as martyrs were my dearest friends," Mr. Ahmed boasted in one intercepted conversation.

He and Mr. Ragheh, his 22-year-old disciple, will be tried in Milan in January under a contentious law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States that makes association with an international terrorist network a crime.

The indictment calls Mr. Ahmed an "organizer of the terrorist group responsible for the Madrid attacks," a "recruiter of numerous people ready to commit suicide attacks," and a "coordinator of terrorist cells" abroad. The police report charges that he used cassette tapes, cellphones, CD's and computers as recruitment tools, highlighting how the Internet potentially can transform any living room into a radical madrasa.

Read the rest, here.
I originally saw a link to this article at LGF, a most excellent site. Please visit them, you'll learn much.

2005-11-18T15:38:00.000-06:00

You are a
Social Conservative
(36% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(76% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Republican

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

John Gibson Article- Bill's lost it

2005-11-17T22:42:00.000-06:00

Have His Cake and Eat It Too?
Thursday, November 17, 2005
By John Gibson

Bill Clinton has been pretty good to President Bush about the War on Terror and the war in Iraq — up until now.

In July of '03 — right after the invasion — Clinton went on TV and said, "Hey, all you guys ticked at Bush, just remember we all knew we'd have to do something about Saddam someday."

That was good. It was actually brave because the Democrats were busy formulating the "Bush lied" lie which is now accepted on the blue side of things as absolute, unquestionable truth, when in fact it is the biggest cowpie I've ever stepped in.

But now Clinton has gone off the deep end.

Here's what he said to a group of students — one presumes Arab students — at the American University in Dubai:

"Saddam is gone. It's a good thing." I interrupt his statement here because this is where he should have stopped. But he didn't. He went on.

Read the rest right here.

FDA Probing Deaths of Kids Taking Tamiflu

2005-11-17T19:25:00.000-06:00

Thursday, November 17, 2005

WASHINGTON — Federal health advisers are looking into the deaths of 12 Japanese children who took Tamiflu, part of their annual safety review of the anti-flu medication and seven other drugs.

There are no reports of deaths in the United States or Europe associated with Tamiflu.

"Based on the information we have right now, we cannot say definitively there is a causal relation between the drug and the children's death," Dr. Murray Lumpkin, the deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Thursday.

The Japanese deaths were detailed in papers released in advance of a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meeting Friday.

An update by FDA staff also includes reports of 32 "neuropsychiatric events" associated with Tamiflu, all but one experienced by Japanese patients. Those cases included delirium, hallucinations, convulsions and encephalitis.

Read the rest here.

Sony steps in it- great comments and quotes from The Country Store blog

2005-11-17T16:24:00.000-06:00

Radicals threaten to burn Christians to death

2005-11-17T00:26:00.000-06:00

Warn of consequences if they don't reconvert to Hinduism by Sunday
Posted: November 17, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

More than 60 Christian coverts in northern India will be burned to death if they refuse to return to Hinduism by Sunday, a group of extremists has warned.

The radical Hindus severely beat the converts' pastor, Feroz Masih, in a Nov. 4 attack in the state of Himachal Pradesh, accusing him of "forcibly converting" Hindus, reported Compass Direct, a news service that monitors persecution of Christians.

Masih sustained internal injuries requiring medical treatment and still is recovering.

The pastor's son, Ramesh, told Compass Direct the estimated 10 attackers were members of the World Hindu Council and its youth wing Bajrang Dal, which has been blamed for waves of attacks against Christians and other religious minorities since the rise of the Hindu nationalist party BJP in the late 1990s.

The attackers forced Masih, 62, to sign a document stating his willingness to participate in a ceremony Sunday in which all of the Christians would convert back to Hinduism, Ramesh said.

If the pastor or church members refuse to participate, they will be burned to death, the radicals warned.

Masih and his son lead a local congregation related to Believer's Church in India that meets in their home in the town of Baijnath.

The radical Hindus said they would come to the house Sunday to read from the Gita, the Hindu scripture, and convert the Christians back to Hinduism.

The two church leaders sent a letter of complaint to officials at the local police station in Baijnath and the National Commission for Minorities, Compass Direct said.

The letter included the names of six of the attackers: Harbans Lal, Madan Lal, Santosh Kumar, Ravi Kumar, Jitender Kumar, and Bablu Kumar.

But Compass said the police regarded the beating as a "minor incident."

"An official complaint [regarding the attack] has not been registered, and no one has been arrested," said Constable Rakesh Kumar.

According to Kumar, the VHP attacked Masih based on the complaint of a local resident, Prakash Chand, who alleged Masih forcibly converted his wife two years ago. Kumar said police believe Masih did not use force.

Masih's son, however, said the beating was inspired by local media reports that claimed his father was forcibly converting Hindus.

"We simply preach the message of peace and joy as given in the Bible. All the believers who attend the worship ... have embraced Christianity out of their own will," he said.

The Masihs, who are connected to K.P. Yohannan's Gospel for Asia missionary group, say they still are waiting for a police response to the death threats.

Yohannan said it's not clear that the police will take any action, noting the area is dominated by a large temple to the Hindu god Shiva, which draws thousands of pilgrims.

The threat, he said, is reminiscent of the brutal murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two children in 1999 by Hindu radicals in the state of Orissa, who vowed to burn alive anyone who did not renounce their new faith.

"What is most important now is that we pray for this situation," said Yohannan. "These brothers and sisters have chosen by their own free will to follow Christ. I urge you to pray for their protection, and that God will surround them with His angels and turn back any violence. Please also pray for their attackers, that their hearts will be softened and that God will work a miracle in their lives."

There really were things called "Communists", you know...

2005-11-16T21:40:00.000-06:00

A fantastic article. A must read.
****************************

Are you now or have you ever been a second-rate filmmaker?
Posted: November 16, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 Ann Coulter

As noted here previously, George Clooney's movie "Good Night, and Good Luck," about pious parson Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, failed to produce one person unjustly accused by McCarthy. Since I described McCarthy as a great American patriot defamed by liberals in my 2003 book, "Treason," liberals have had two more years to produce a person – just one person – falsely accused by McCarthy. They still can't do it.

Meanwhile, I can prove that Murrow's good friend Lawrence Duggan was a Soviet spy responsible for having innocent people murdered. The brilliant and perceptive journalist Murrow was not only unaware of the hundreds of Soviet spies running loose in the U.S. government, he was also unaware that his own dear friend Duggan was a Soviet spy – his friend on whose behalf corpses littered the Swiss landscape.

Read the rest, here.

Patient dies after ant attack

2005-11-16T02:21:00.000-06:00

Kolkata: In a ghastly incident a 55-year-old woman undergoing treatment at a state-run hospital here died on Tuesday after her eyes were nibbled into by ants prompting the government to seek a report from the authorities.

Gauri Chakraborty, who was admitted to Sambhunath Pandit Hospital on November 5 with an eye infection after a cornea surgery, had complained of severe eye pain on Sunday night.

The nurse on duty had said the pain was normal in view of her ailment and left her unattended. But her son Soumen found big black ants nibbling at both her eyelids and the patient helplessly writhing in pain. The family has demanded a judicial probe into the death. The relatives filed an FIR at the Bhawanipur police station.

Hospital Superintendent Sukumar Das said a five-member inquiry committee has been set up to probe the incident.

A MUST read from a fellow blog-spotter...

2005-11-15T21:09:00.000-06:00

"When a journalist just cant help but lie."

Ants eat away woman's eye in hospital

2005-11-15T17:22:00.000-06:00

Tue Nov 15, 2005 10:26 AM ET

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - A woman receiving treatment for diabetes at a state-run hospital in eastern India lost one of her eyes after ants nibbled away at it, officials said on Tuesday.

The patient recovering from a post-surgery infection shrieked for help as the ants attacked her on Sunday night, but nurses told her it was normal to feel pain from the infection.

On Monday, the patient's family saw a gaping hole with swarming ants in it when they lifted the bandage on her left eye.

Authorities of the Sambhunath Hospital in Kolkata said they were probing the incident.

"It's not uncommon for ants to attack diabetic patients. We have set up a committee to investigate the unfortunate incident," hospital superintendent A. Adhikary said.

Scampering rats and stray cats and dogs sharing bed space with patients are not uncommon sights at India's overcrowded state-run hospitals that are used by millions of poor and middle-class people.

Santa Booted From Coke Cans

2005-11-14T20:29:00.000-06:00

Monday, November 14, 2005
By John Gibson
September 06, 2005

Christmas trees are going up all over America, except in some places where shadowy and mysterious forces seem to be fighting it.

Seriously. Take for example the Coca-Cola Santa. For 74 years he has been a fixture of Coca-Cola advertising during the weeks just before Christmas.

The Coke Santa is a classic. But as of 2005 he is no more on Coca-Cola packaging.

That means Santa has been evicted from cans, glass bottles and two liter plastic bottles. And he's been replaced by polar bears.

The polar bear has always been a Coke favorite, in conjunction with Santa. But now the bear is carrying on the Christmas tradition alone.

Now some of you may remember that I brought this up a week or so ago and reported that Coke corporate told me, "No, no way. Santa is still there."

But Monday I called one of those customer service hotlines posing as a plain old customer and the person there told me Santa is not on the 2005 packages, but he might return in 2006 on what would be his 75th anniversary with Coke.

Read the rest here.

Kwanzaa -- Racist Holiday from Hell

2005-11-14T11:12:00.000-06:00

By Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 29, 2004

While public officials, schools, and the ACLU worked overtime this
year to ban every vestige of Christmas from the public square, the
recently invented holiday known as Kwanzaa is gaining in popularity
among black Americans. These occurrences are not unrelated.

In an earlier time, blacks held a strong faith in God. But over the
past 40 years, the black community has largely let God slip away.
Sure the community has maintained the outer trappings of religion,
but the solid morality at its core is nearly gone.

Enter a God-hating black racist named Ron Karenga. Born Ron Everett
on a poultry farm in Maryland, Everett invented Kwanzaa in 1966,
based on an African harvest festival (though it takes place during
the Winter Solstice!), and celebrating the first Kwanzaa with his
family and friends.

Calling himself "Maulana" (Swahili for "Master Teacher"), Karenga
became a black nationalist at UCLA, and formed his group, the United
Slaves (US) for the purpose of igniting a "cultural revolution"
among American blacks. US members followed Karenga's "Path of
Blackness," which is detailed in his Quotable Karenga: "The
sevenfold path of blackness is think black, talk black, act black,
create black, buy black, vote black, and live black."

The United Slaves had violent confrontations with the Black Panthers
on campus, and were actually considered more radical than the
Panthers.

The biggest dispute between the United Slaves and the Panthers was
for the leadership of the new African Studies Department at UCLA,
with each group backing a different candidate. Panthers John Jerome
Huggins and Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter verbally attacked Karenga at
the meeting, which infuriated Karenga's followers. After the meeting
ended, two United Slaves members, George and Larry Stiner,
reportedly confronted Huggins and Carter in a hallway, shooting and
killing them.

Incidentally, on March 31, 1974, it was discovered that both Stiner
brothers had escaped from the family visiting area in San Quentin
State Prison. Larry Stiner turned himself into the FBI in Caracas,
Venezuela, on December 13, 1994. He remains in custody at San
Quentin. But George Stiner remains at large and his whereabouts
remain unknown. He is currently on California's 10 Most Wanted List.

The shooting at UCLA apparently caused Karenga to become extremely
suspicious. On May 9, 1970, Karenga and two others tortured two
women who Karenga believed had tried to poison him by
placing "crystals" in his food and water.

The Los Angeles Times described the events: "Deborah Jones, who once
was given the title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis
were whipped with an electric cord and beaten with a karate baton
after being ordered to remove their clothes at gunpoint. She
testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis' mouth
and placed against Miss Davis' face and that one of her own big toes
was tightened in a vice. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and
running hoses in their mouths, she said."

Karenga was sentenced to one-to-ten years in prison on counts of
felonious assault and false imprisonment. At his trial, the question
arose as to Karenga's sanity. The psychiatrist's report
stated: "This man now represents a picture which can be considered
both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and illusions,
inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the
environment." The psychiatrist reportedly observed that Karenga
talked to his blanket and imaginary persons, and he believed he'd
been attacked by dive-bombers.

Eight years later, California State University Long Beach named
Karenga the head of its Black Studies Department. By this time,
Karenga had "repented" of his black nationalism and had become just
a harmless garden variety Marxist. This must be our esteemed
university system's idea of repentance!

Karenga's Kwanzaa celebration consists of seven "principles." They
are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination – code for "buy
black"), Ujima (collective work and responsibility – groupthink),
Ujamaa (cooperative economics – socialism), Nia (purpose) Kuumba
(creativity), and Imani (faith – in man, not God).

To provide a symbol of his seven "principles," Karenga used the
menorah from Judaism with Kwanzaa's colors (red, black, and green),
and re-named it the "kinara."

Karenga also created a Kwanzaa flag that consists of black, green,
and red. The Kwanzaa Information Center states the color red
represents blood: "We lost our land through blood; and we cannot
gain it except through blood. We must redeem our lives through the
blood. Without the shedding of blood there can be no redemption of
this race." The Kwanzaa Information Center also notes that this
flag "has become a symbol of devotion for African people in America
to establish an independent African nation on the North American
Continent." (Emphasis added.)

When once asked why he designed Kwanzaa to take place around
Christmas, Karenga explained, "People think it's African, but it's
not. I came up with Kwanzaa because black people wouldn't celebrate
it if they knew it was American. Also, I put it around Christmas
because I knew that's when a lot of bloods would be partying."

Karenga has explained that his creation of Kwanzaa was motivated in
part by hostility toward both Christianity and Judaism. Writing in
his 1980 book Kawaida Theory, he claimed that Western
religion "denies and diminishes human worth, capacity, potential and
achievement. In Christian and Jewish mythology, humans are born in
sin, cursed with mythical ancestors who've sinned and brought the
wrath of an angry God on every generation's head." He clearly
opposed belief in God and other "spooks who threaten us if we don't
worship them and demand we turn over our destiny and daily lives."

Through ignorance or racism, growing numbers of black Christians are
either celebrating Kwanzaa or incorporating it into their Christmas
celebrations. Now many preachers are incorporating Kwanzaa into
their messages. This is a horrible mistake.

First of all, as we've seen, the whole holiday is made up! You won't
find its roots in Africa or anywhere else. Second,
Kwanzaa's "principles" are straight from Hell. Third, and most
importantly, Christians who celebrate or incorporate Kwanzaa are
moving their attention away from Christmas, the birth of our Savior,
and the simple message of salvation: love for God through his Son.
To add or subtract from that message is evil.

In recent years Kwanzaa has become increasingly popular and
mainstream. President Bill Clinton commemorated Kwanzaa, stating
that Kwanzaa's seven principles "ring true not only for African-
Americans, but also for all Americans…bring[ing] new purpose to our
daily lives." In 2002, President Bush, though a devout Christian,
also commemorated Kwanzaa. The U.S. Postal Service issued a Kwanzaa
stamp in 1997; the Smithsonian Institution sponsors an annual
celebration; and greeting card companies churn out Kwanzaa cards for
profit.

It is now clear that Kwanzaa is a phony, wicked holiday created by
an ex-con who hates God, Christians, Jews, and blacks – yes blacks.
Why else would he try to pull them away from Christianity and
indoctrinate them in racialism and socialism? Blacks, particularly
black Christians, need to stand up for Christmas and reject Kwanzaa.
If they refuse, they will be helping to stamp out the true meaning
of Christmas, and allowing evil to have its way in America.

This is a future we cannot allow.

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson is the Founder and President of BOND (the
Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny). He is also the author of
the book "SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America".
For more information, please call 1-800-411-BOND (2663), or e-mail
bond@bondinfo.org.

French police turn on Chirac as officer jailed

2005-11-13T02:38:00.000-06:00

By Kim Willsher in Paris and Henry Samuel in Bobigny
(Filed: 13/11/2005)

Officers at the forefront of attempts to control the wave of riots and arson attacks across France are furious at moves to prosecute policemen accused of assaulting a youth.

As officers were deployed in force in Paris yesterday following a call on weblogs for a mass demonstration, the police union described the jailing of one officer and the suspension of others as "incomprehensible and unacceptable".

Police officers, who have been targeted with stones, missiles and Molotov cocktails since the trouble broke out, said they were "stupefied" by the action taken against their colleagues. Alliance, the main police union, appealed to members for calm after the decision to take the first steps towards charging five police officers implicated in the assault on a youth.

Read the rest, here.

THANK YOU VETERANS!!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL...

2005-11-10T21:06:00.000-06:00

Quote of the Day

2005-11-10T03:31:00.000-06:00

I’ve been hesitant to say boo about the French situation, since I actually think this is not Pure Undistilled Jihad-O-Rama, but something more complex; I mean, just because there’s an economic underclass aspect to it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have religious roots, but just because it does have religious roots doesn’t mean it’s not a blend of ethno-cultural identity politics mixed with racism and economics. Which doesn’t mean it’s not, etc. You can go on all day and settle nothing; meanwhile, cars burn. We are dealing with a Gordian Wad here. At least with a knot you can see the individual strands.

~ James Lileks

Al-Qaida ops busted at Mexican border?

2005-11-10T00:50:00.000-06:00

Congresswoman drops bomb in announcing bill to halt issuance of driver's licenses to illegals

Posted: November 10, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – In announcing the introduction of legislation aimed at preventing illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses yesterday, a North Carolina Republican member of the House of Representatives casually dropped a bombshell that went over the heads of most of the media covering the event – that three members of al-Qaida were recently captured trying to enter the U.S.

"This isn't aimed at any one race," said Sue Myrick, who is being mentioned as a potential candidate for governor of the state. "Our main concern is: Who's in our state? This is a critical issue today. They just arrested, down on the border, a couple of weeks ago, three al-Qaida members who came across from Mexico into the United States."

That's how she was quoted in her local daily – the Charlotte Observer. An audio recording of the event confirms the quotation's accuracy.

There was no follow-up by the reporters present.

The capture of al-Qaida operatives trying to gain entry to the U.S. from Mexico or anywhere else would be a spectacular development in the war on terror.

Attempts to reach staffers in Myrick's office after hours were unsuccessful.

Myrick cited national security concerns in introducing the bill that would states federal highway money unless they stop issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Myrick's bill would target six states, including her own, that still accept taxpayer ID numbers – issued by the Internal Revenue Service – as proof of identity or residence by persons seeking a driver's license. Besides North Carolina, Myrick's office said, those states are West Virginia, Illinois, Utah, New Mexico and Kentucky.

Myrick, who is reportedly exploring the possibility of a run for governor in 2008, challenged current Gov. Mike Easley and the Democrats who control the legislature in Raleigh.

"Basically, we're here to call on the governor (Mike Easley) and the legislature in North Carolina to stop issuing driver's licenses to illegal aliens," said Myrick, who was joined by GOP Reps. Patrick McHenry of Cherryville and Virginia Foxx of Banner Elk – both former members of the N.C. legislature.

North Carolina is home to an estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants, reports the Charlotte Observer. For them, a driver's license is more than just legal authorization to drive. It's a government-approved ID, complete with a picture. Flashing this prized possession can make it easier to keep a job, cash a check or find a place to live.

But she denied that she was targeting Hispanics in low-paying jobs, who make up – by far – the biggest percentage of illegal immigrants in the state. She indicated her real concern was national security – pointing to the al-Qaida arrests, which have not been reported elsewhere.

Quote of the day

2005-11-09T22:06:00.000-06:00

The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag.

- David Letterman

Toon- Steve Breen

2005-11-09T21:28:00.000-06:00

Ann Coulter- excellent article!

2005-11-09T20:58:00.000-06:00

Danny Ocean defends the Rather Network

Posted: November 9, 2005
7:25 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 Ann Coulter

The most cosseted, self-indulgent, worthless people in the universe are worried their suffering has been downgraded. For 50 years Hollywood drama queens have churned out plays, movies, TV shows, books, poems, allegories, museum exhibits, personal testimonials, dioramas, interpretive dances, wood carvings, cave paintings, needlepoint wall hangings and scatological limericks about their victimization at the hands of a brute named Joe McCarthy. Schoolchildren who will learn nothing about George Washington, Thomas Edison or Paul Revere are forced to read chapter and verse about the black night of fascism (BNOF) under McCarthy.

But half a century of myth-making later, one little book comes out and gives the contrary view – and Hollywood thinks it's Treblinka.

George Clooney, writer and director of the rebuttal, claims he was driven to make the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" because "a book came out about how great McCarthy was."

Q: Ann Coulter's "Treason"?

GC: Yes.

Needless to say I was shocked to learn that George Clooney can read. Liberals haven't been so shocked by a book since "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

So, apparently, we must revisit the BNOF under McCarthy one more time. (Ethical dilemma: Would you write a book to set the record straight on Joseph McCarthy knowing that it might give rise to yet another lame George Clooney movie?)

Clooney said of his small contribution to the "McCarthyism" industry: "I realized that we had to be incredibly careful with the facts, because if we got any of them wrong, they could say it's all horse****. So I had to double-source every scene."

I don't intend to see his movie because – except for the McCarthy parts – it sounds like a snoozefest. (Half the reviewers so far have said "good night" to Clooney, and the other half have said "good luck.") And despite all those "double-sources," in addition to getting the big facts wrong (about America and about the Soviet Union), Clooney got all the little facts wrong, too. I guess he borrowed some of Al Franken's "fact-checkers."

Read the rest here.

Teen girls pummel teacher; classmates join in melee

2005-11-09T00:18:00.000-06:00

By ZELL MILLER

2005-11-07T16:36:00.000-06:00

Rule can head off dirty tricks at CIA
By ZELL MILLER
Published on: 11/02/05

It's like a spy thriller. Institutional rivalries and political loyalties have fostered an intelligence officer's resentment against the government. Suddenly, an opportunity appears for the agent to undercut the national leadership. A vital question of intelligence forms the core justification for controversial military actions by the current leaders. If this agent can get in the middle of that question, distort that information and make it public, the agent might foster regime change in the upcoming election.
But the rules on agents are clear. They can't purposely distort gathered intelligence, go public with secret information or use their position or information to manipulate domestic elections or matters without risking their job or jail.
But their spouse can!
The agent realizes her spouse can go out on behalf of the spy agency, can distort information, go public with classified information and use all this spy-agency-sponsored material and credentials to try to pull down the current government, and it is all perfectly legal.
Suppose the spouse adds just one more brilliant, well-aimed lie: claim your foremost political opponent put the spouse up to the trip. As your spouse uses your agency's name to mount attacks, your enemy may fall into your trap. Will your enemy suffer your spouse's lies or take the bait and try to clarify his non-role? If he tells the press he didn't hire your spouse, the press will demand to know, "Then who did?"
Instead of you violating secrecy laws, it is your victim who is guilty because he tried to set the record straight. Heads, you win; tails, he loses.
It sounds unbelievable, a fiction, perhaps to be called "To Sting a King." But it is no fiction. This is the story behind Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson and the Bush administration. And it appears that Plame and Wilson will get away with the biggest sting operation ever.
No one seems to care that our intelligence agency has crippled our president. Certainly not the media. They are determined to make Wilson a hero. Recall the dozens of times the Washington Post and The New York Times carried his lies on the front page, above the fold. The conclusive story discrediting Wilson was buried 6 feet deep, back by the obituaries.
To the media, it doesn't matter that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence says Wilson lied about what he did and with whom he met while investigating Iraqi attempts to purchase "yellowcake" uranium.
To the media, it doesn't matter that the CIA says what Wilson did actually find supported that Iraq was attempting to buy the uranium — a direct contradiction to Wilson's public claims.
To the media, it doesn't matter that he claimed the vice president assigned him to the uranium investigation when we all know now it was his wife.
Some absurdly claim that Plame had nothing to do with her husband's political activities against President Bush. But let it be clear. Plame could not have done what Wilson did and gotten away with it. Wilson could not have done what he did without Plame giving him a way to do it.
Something has to be done. We can't let the CIA become the domestic dirty tricks shop, with Republican and Democratic agents each trying to pull down their opposing presidents.
We need a Plame rule. Any family member of a CIA agent tapped to help out must live by the same rules regarding information disclosure and domestic political manipulations as those imposed on the agent. If the family member fails to live by those rules, the agent is terminated.
Clearly this will restrict the flexibility of the CIA. But who ever thought that the flexibility given to CIA agents would be misused to destabilize a U.S. president? No one — until Valerie Plame.
Zell Miller is a former Georgia governor and U.S. senator.

Egyptian Blogger Arrested!

2005-11-07T15:42:00.000-06:00

Egypt blogger detained over religious views: rights group
Mon Nov 7,11:06 AM ET
from http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051107/wl_mideast_afp/egyptarrestinternet:

CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian student was arrested by security services over articles that he posted on his Internet blog about recent religious violence in the city of Alexandria.

The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA) "today sent a letter to the attorney general demanding a probe into the arrest of Abdel Karim Nabil Suleiman," the group's chairman Taker Khater said Monday.

He said state security forces burst into the 21-year-old's home in Alexandria on October 26 and took him away "because of his recent Internet articles on the incidents" in the Mediterranean city.

Egypt's security services refused to comment on his arrest.

The young blogger lives in Alexandria's Muharram Bek neighbourhood, where three people were killed when security forces clamped down on a protest by Muslims angry at a Christian play they deemed offensive to their faith.

The clashes, which occurred on October 21, were the worst confessional violence Egypt had seen in several years and rekindled a debate on the place of the Christian Coptic minority in Egyptian society.

In his blog, the Suleiman posted vitriolic articles condemning the Muslim reaction to the play and what he described as systematic oppression of the country's Christian community.

AHRLA called on the attorney general to protect the young blogger against torture and stressed that detaining him "contravened Egypt's laws and constitution, as well as international charters."

Sorry lying sack of you-know-what

2005-11-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Is Jimmy Massey telling the truth about Iraq?
By Ron Harris
POST-DISPATCH WASHINGTON BUREAU
11/05/2005

Jimmy Massey former marine staff sergeant says Marines intentionally are killing innocent Iraqi civilians.

For more than a year, former Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey has been telling anybody who will listen about the atrocities that he and other Marines committed in Iraq.

In scores of newspaper, magazine and broadcast stories, at a Canadian immigration hearing and in numerous speeches across the country, Massey has told how he and other Marines recklessly, sometimes intentionally, killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians.

Among his claims:

Marines fired on and killed peaceful Iraqi protesters.

Americans shot a 4-year-old Iraqi girl in the head.

A tractor-trailer was filled with the bodies of civilian men, women and children killed by American artillery.

Massey's claims have gained him celebrity. Last month, Massey's book, "Kill, Kill, Kill," was released in France. His allegations have been reported in nationwide publications such as Vanity Fair and USA Today, as well as numerous broadcast reports. Earlier this year, he joined the anti-war bus tour of Cindy Sheehan, and he's spoken at Cornell and Syracuse universities, among others.

News organizations worldwide published or broadcast Massey's claims without any corroboration and in most cases without investigation. Outside of the Marines, almost no one has seriously questioned whether Massey, a 12-year veteran who was honorably discharged, was telling the truth.

He wasn't.

Each of his claims is either demonstrably false or exaggerated - according to his fellow Marines, Massey's own admissions, and the five journalists who were embedded with Massey's unit, including a reporter and photographer from the Post-Dispatch and reporters from The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal.

Read the whole thing here.

Bad move by Muslims in Denmark

2005-11-07T07:56:00.000-06:00

Muslim Riots Break Out in Denmark As Well
19:26 Nov 06, '05 / 4 Cheshvan 5766

(IsraelNN.com) As Muslim riots spread across France, Denmark is also beginning to see its own Islamic Intifada. In Arhus, Denmark, young Muslims were heard chanting, “This land belongs to us!”

A masked spokesman for the rioters told Danish reporters that Muslims were tired of being oppressed and harassed and warned the police to stay away. "This is our area. We rule this place,” he said.

The riots have increased following a cartoon in Danish paper The Jyllands Pos involving Mohammed. Rocks and firebombs have become commonplace in many neighborhoods and firefighters are afraid to enter them to put out the fires.

photos: rioting in France

2005-11-07T03:13:00.000-06:00

A fireman tries to put out a fire in a car in a Paris surburb...

Original photo here (yahoo/AP slideshow. worth checking out.).

Missile 'embedded in U.S. cruise ship'

2005-11-07T01:37:00.000-06:00

Official: Possible those who attacked Miami-based vessel were terrorists
[ya think? ed.]
Posted: November 7, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Passenger aboad Seabourn Spirit took video of attackers (courtesy: Sky News)

A U.S. cruise liner attacked with machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades off the coast of Somalia may have been the target of a terrorist high-sea assault, says Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

The Seabourn Spirit, carrying 312 people including passengers and crew, is nearing a port in the Sechelles, but arrival may be delayed because an unexploded missile is embedded in the vessel, said the official, who is monitoring the ship's progress because about 19 Australians are on board.

read the rest of the story here.

Oldest Christian church in the Holy Land?

2005-11-06T00:09:00.000-06:00

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Church
By ARON HELLER
The Associated Press
Saturday, November 5, 2005; 10:50 PM

JERUSALEM -- Israeli archaeologists said Saturday they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian church in the Holy Land on the grounds of a prison near the biblical site of Armageddon.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the ruins are believed to date back to the third or fourth centuries and include references to Jesus and images of fish, an ancient Christian symbol.

This picture taken on Oct. 31, 2005 and released by the Israeli Antiquities Authority shows a mosaic with writing in ancient Greek with references to Christ, on the floor of what is believed to be the oldest church in Israel that was recently discovered in the grounds inside the Megiddo prison, near the biblical site of Armageddon, in central Israel and reported by Israel's Channel 2 TV Saturday Nov. 5, 2005. The ruins are believed to date back 1,700 years, and include references to Jesus and images of fish, the report said. Archaeological experts quoted in the story said it was the largest church ever discovered in the holy land, and could perhaps turn out to be the oldest church in the world.

(AP Photo/Israel Antiquities Authority)
Photo Credit: AP Photo

Read the rest of the article here.

Analyst says Wilson 'outed' wife in 2002

2005-11-05T09:21:00.000-06:00

Anti-American Protest Turns Violent, Spreads

2005-11-04T21:32:00.000-06:00

Hey! We hate Bush! So let's burn down our own towns and cities! Yeehaaah!
Morons.
******

Friday, November 04, 2005
from www.foxnews.com

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — More than 1,000 demonstrators angry about President Bush's policies clashed with police, shattered storefronts and torched businesses Friday, marring the inauguration of the Summit of the Americas (search) as leaders began debating creation of one of the world's largest free trade zones.

Read the rest of the article, here.

OH. MY. GOSH.

2005-11-04T15:14:00.000-06:00

Dictionary entry...

2005-11-04T04:58:00.000-06:00

I didn't make this. Got it in an email...
But it's a good one.

From the Drudge Report: JUDGE ALITO'S MOTHER HARASSED BY PRESS

2005-11-03T18:16:00.000-06:00

JUDGE ALITO'S MOTHER HARASSED BY PRESS

Thu Nov 03 2005 16:33:47 ET

The DRUDGE REPORT has learned from exclusive sources that Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s 90 year-old mother Rose has become a prisoner in her own Hamilton, NJ home because of a barrage of media requests.

The quiet neighborhood Mrs. Alito has lived in for over 50 years has been turned upside down all week by a swarm of national reporters who have phoned and shown up at the doorstep of not only her but many of her neighbors.

read the rest of the article here.

This tells you all you need to know about Joe Wilson:

2005-11-03T08:44:00.000-06:00

A remarkable photo of Cindy Sheehan and Wilson sitting side by side at a mock impeachment trial is here:
http://www.goodolddogs3.com/sheehan_impeach-bush1.jpg --note also the presence of Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott and John Conyers.

thanks to Scott for the link and comment.

If this were anyone but Christians and ex-homosexuals, this would be Big News...

2005-11-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

Activists 'terrorize' ex-'gay' conference

Police barricade entry to Dobson event as enraged crowd shouts 'Shut it down'
Posted: November 2, 2005
1:22 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Police create barricade as homosexual activists protest Focus on the Family conference at Baptist church in Boston (courtesy: Christian Civic League of Maine)

Enraged homosexual activists, shouting obscenities and chanting "Shut it down," amassed outside a Baptist church in Boston to harass and intimidate attendees of a Focus on the Family conference on recovering from homosexuality through the power of God.

The protesters – present from 8 a.m. Saturday until the event ended in the evening – yelled, screamed and defiantly waved signs at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston, prompting police to order conference participants to remain inside, reported Article 8 Alliance, a group campaigning against same-sex marriage. As the conference began to wind down, Article 8 said, more activists converged – aided by a sound truck – and completely blocked the street, prompting a "near-riot" as Boston police continued to stand and watch.

"The anger, rage and hatred were indescribable," said one conference participant, according to a report by the Christian Civic League of Maine.

Protesters amass outside Boston church (courtesy Article 8 Alliance)

Article 8 used the term "terrorize" to describe the protest.

The activists' boisterous chants included, "What do you want? Bigots out. When do we want it? Now," "1-2-3-4 open up the closet door. 5-6-7-8 don't assume your kids are straight," "This hatred thing is getting old. This hatred thing has gotta go," "Ex-gay, anti-gay" and "Not in Boston, not in America."

The protesters reportedly were joined during the day by participants in an anti-war rally on the Boston Common.

Last week, a homosexual group called QueerToday.com said it planned to join forces with another group, the Stonewall Warriors, to form the "October 29th Coalition" and protest the conference as activist Cindy Sheehan led the anti-war rally nearby: "For us, Focus on the Family and the Bush war machine march in lockstep every day against the LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender) community and all oppressed people of the world."

On its weblog after the protest, QueerToday.com ridiculed Article 8's "over-the-top coverage" of the protest, but expressed obvious delight in the impact.

The twighlight of the Right's twenty-five year reign of terror is quickly approaching. This protest is probably the largest confrontation [Love Won Out] has experienced, and hopefully our example will inspire others to take similar stands against them.

We will continue to hold homophobes accountable for their actions, regardless of what kind of sugary, sing-songy voices they say "God loves you" in. Yes, God loves us, but they don't. Love isn't about what you say. Love means justice. Using the State to punish gay and lesbian people for not conforming to their Neo-Victorian values is not justice. Spreading lies so that people will see queer people as sick is not justice.

According to Article 8, some of the activists went up to individual conference participants, took close-up photos and taunted them. The homosexual demonstrators also set up two coffins in front of the church, one with the message "Homophobia is deadly."

According to Boston officials, the protesters did not have a permit to demonstrate outside the church, use sound equipment and props or block traffic. Police, nevertheless, stood aside and virtually allowed the demonstrators to do as they wished, Article 8 said.

"At times they even cooperated with the activists, chatting with them, directing traffic for them and finally allowing them to completely block the entrance," said the group's report. "The police department later informed us that there were no arrests, despite the near-riot behavior and the apparent breaking of laws regarding demonstrating without a permit and disrupting a religious event."

Article 8 complained police were abrupt and unfriendly toward attendees. One woman asked an officer about the sound truck that was disturbing the conference inside.

"I asked a very curt, unfriendly policewoman why they weren't getting the truck to move on the road, why they were letting it just sit there, and she snarled there was nothing they could do," the woman said.

When police were asked if the demonstrators had a permit, they refused to answer, Article 8 said.

The all-day conference, titled "Love Won Out," featured well-known lecturers, including many who have left the homosexual lifestyle and married.

Article 8 said the situation became "frightening" near the end of the conference when activists "jammed the entire width of the street outside and stepped up their agitation."

Rather than disperse the crowd, the police barricaded the church doors and told people inside they could not leave for any reason, Article 8 said. When one woman asked why she couldn't go outside, the officer snarled "Because I told you so."

Bag lunches were brought in at the last minute.

According to one conference participant, speaker Joe Dallas, a former homosexual activist, wrapped up the conference saying that while he wanted the demonstrators to have their freedom of speech, the one thing that frightened him was when they began yelling "Shut it down."

Our freedom of speech is at risk when that happens, Dallas said, recounting other stories of ministers worldwide who have been squelched by activists.

Article 8 said the Boston media virtually ignored the story.

"Could you imagine if this were an abortion clinic and pro-life people did such a thing outside?" the group said in a statement. "The riot police would be swinging their billy clubs and using pepper spray. They would do whatever it took to disperse the crowd. And it would be on the front page of both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, as well as all the Boston electronic media."

Police chat with protesters (courtesy Article 8 Alliance)

The group said that when it has organized demonstrations in Boston involving more than a few people, authorities have required a permit and, if using a sound device, an additional special permit. Police also have had the authority to place the demonstrators where they believe it's "safe."

In a demonstration earlier this year at the Supreme Judicial Court building, Article 8 said its members were placed across the street, in a specific area of the sidewalk, well away from any building entrance, and "police became quite nasty if we ventured outside of our designated area."

From the Country Store's blog...

2005-11-02T08:20:00.000-06:00

Scroll down til Oct. 26 for this story...

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Illegal Alien Angst Alert!

Durham (North Carolina) raid causes illegal immigrants elsewhere to stay home:
A raid at a Durham semiconductor company has stirred up fears among illegal immigrants who fear they also may be arrested.
As opposed to what? A visit from the Welcome Wagon?

Read the rest of the story at www.countrystore.blogspot.com/

Michael Moore owns Halliburton!

2005-11-01T23:37:00.000-06:00

New book debunks claims of celebrity activists
Posted: November 1, 2005
10:23 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

"I don't own a single share of stock!" filmmaker Michael Moore proudly proclaimed.

He's right. He doesn't own a single share. He owns tens of thousands of shares – including nearly 2,000 shares of Boeing, nearly 1,000 of Sonoco, more than 4,000 of Best Foods, more than 3,000 of Eli Lilly, more than 8,000 of Bank One and more than 2,000 of Halliburton, the company most vilified by Moore in "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Read the rest here.

I really don't like these two moonbats...

2005-11-01T19:52:00.000-06:00

Nov. 1: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., left, flanked by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., meets with reporters on Capitol Hill.
photo from the AP/FoxNews.com

Senate Dems Force Rare Closed Session
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
By Sharon Kehnemui Liss

Pentagon Splits With Iraqi President on Troop Preparedness
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate returned to its daily work late Tuesday after Democrats enacted a rare parliamentary rule forcing a private session (search) of the chamber so senators could speak in secret about the lead-up to the war in Iraq.

As a result of the session, in which Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (search) and the panel's Ranking Democrat Jay Rockefeller (search) sparred for 40 minutes about whether Republicans had failed in their oversight of the Bush administration, lawmakers set Nov. 14 as a deadline for six members of the Senate — three from each party — to assess the progress of the committee's investigation into pre-Iraq war intelligence.

Read the rest, here.

Lab in Hungary Working on Bird Flu Vaccine

2005-10-31T08:08:00.000-06:00

Remote front line in the war on bird flu
In a small laboratory in a Budapest suburb, scientists are developing a vaccine which could prevent a global pandemic

Daniel McLaughlin in Pilisborosjeno
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer

The road from Budapest meanders through forested hills and quiet villages, before reaching a neat yellow building guarded by an old man in a boiler suit and a barking alsatian. This is the unlikely front line in the global war against bird flu.

At this laboratory, Hungary is leading the fight against the H5N1 virus, which has arrived in Europe after killing dozens of people in Asia, and preparing for deadly future forms of an ever-changing disease that could cause a flu pandemic.

Read the rest here.

But I thought Afghani Muslims were horribly offended if corpses were tampered with...

2005-10-30T21:23:00.000-06:00

Quake horror: Stolen kidneys
Gang arrested for removing organs from corpses, others sell own parts
Posted: October 30, 2005
2:25 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

As relief efforts continue in earthquake-stricken Pakistan and Afghanistan, police have arrested a gang of Afghans allegedly caught stealing kidneys from the corpses of quake victims.

Four men were reportedly carrying a freezer box containing 15 organs from bodies trapped in the rubble in the Kashmir region.

Read the rest of the article here.

What they mean is, Three CHRISTIAN Schoolgirls beheaded in Indonesia.

2005-10-29T08:58:00.000-05:00

Three Schoolgirls Beheaded in Indonesia
Saturday, October 29, 2005
www.foxnews.com

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Unidentified assailants attacked a group of high school girls on Saturday in Indonesia's tense province of Central Sulawesi, (search) beheading three and seriously wounding a fourth, police said.

The students from a private Christian high school were ambushed while walking through a cocoa plantation in Poso Kota (search) subdistrict on their way to class, police Maj. Riky Naldo said. The rural area is close to the provincial capital of Poso, about 1,000 miles northeast of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

He said the heads of the three dead girls were found several miles from their bodies.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. But Central Sulawesi has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians. The province on Sulawesi island was the scene of a bloody sectarian war in 2001-2002 that killed around 1,000 people from both communities.

At the time, beheadings, burnings and other atrocities were common.

A government-mediated truce ended the conflict in early 2002 but since then, there have been a series of bomb attacks and assassinations targeting Christians. A market attack in the predominantly Christian town of Poso killed 22 people in May.

Christian leaders have repeatedly criticized the authorities in Jakarta for allegedly not doing enough to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Read the rest of the article here.

EYE OPENERS!

2005-10-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

These are from an, as now, unknown source. Will credit when I find out where it's from. ;)

**********
UPDATE! Found it here at this link: http://tinyurl.com/8eou5

1. Which liberal says that labor unions are essential for worker rights and accepted the Cesar Chavez Award for their contributions to the labor movement, but uses non-union labor in the hotels, restaurants, and Napa Valley Vineyard that they own?

a. Susan Sarandon
b. Paul Newman
c. Nancy Pelosi

Answer: C. Nancy Pelosi, who is part owner of the Piatti restaurant chain, La Auberge Hotel, and a Napa Valley Vineyard—all of which are strictly non-union.

2. Who says that conservatives are racist because they don’t support affirmative action but has an abysmal record of hiring blacks?

a. Barbra Streisand
b. Michael Moore
c. Al Franken
d. All of the above

Answer D. All of the above. Of the 112 people Franken has hired to work on his books, television projects and radio program, only one was black. Of the 135 individuals Michael Moore hired, only three were black. Barbra Streisand has hired 53 senior people t o work on her film projects and only one was black.

3. Who says that corporations are “terrorists” and has said “I don’t own a single share of stock” but secretly owns shares in Pentagon contractors like Boeing, pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, and even Halliburton?

a. Barney Frank
b. Gloria Steinem
c. Michael Moore

Answer: C. Michael Moore. According to IRS records, Moore owns at least several hundred
thousands of dollars in stock and has a broker, even though he has repeatedly claimed he doesn’t “own a single share of stock.”

4. Who proclaims themself an environmentalist but is part-owner of a golf course that failed to comply with state environmental regulations to protect the California Tiger Salamander and the Western Pond Turtle?

a. Leonardo DiCaprio
b. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
c. Nancy Pelosi

Answer: C. Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi and her husband are part owners of the CordeValle Golf Club in
California. In 1996 they we re granted a permit to build the course if they created natural habitats for these endangered species. To date, these habitats still have not been built. The golf course has also been cited for polluting groundwater. They have hired lobbyists to fight the regulations.

5. Who says that Americans need to consume less to stave off ecological disaster, but spends $22,000 a year to water their lawn?

a. Hillary Clinton
b. Barbra Streisand
c. Rob Reiner

Answer: B. Barbra Streisand. The singer, who says that cutting back is the only way to protect the environment, lives alone with her husband on a compound with five homes and a 12,000 square foot air conditioned barn.

6. Who says that Americans who live in white neighborhoods are racist, but lives in a town of with no blacks?

a. Al Gore
b. Rosie O’Donnell
c. Michael Moore

Answer: C. Michael Moore. According to the 2000 Census, Central Lake, Michigan, where Michael Moore has lived th e past seven years, has 2600 residents. Zero are black.

7. Who says the rich need to pay their fair share and favors the estate tax, but hides his own assets in numerous trusts, including one in the faraway Pacific island of Fiji?

a. George Soros
b. John Edwards
c. Ted Kennedy

Answer: C. Ted Kennedy. The Kennedys have transferred more than half a billion in money from generation to generation but according to their own records paid only $134,000 in estate taxes. Their largest asset, the Merchandise Mart real estate company, was in a trust domiciled in Fiji.

8. Who says that oil companies cause pollution and global warming but quietly owns an oil company that drills for crude in five states?

a. Tom Daschle
b. Dan Rather
c. The Kennedys

Answer: C. The Kennedys. The Kennedys own Arctic Royalty Trust, which leases out land for oil drilling in five states. Much of the land was accumulated by convincing poor rural black farmers to giv e away their “mineral rights,” not knowing what it meant. The Kennedys set the operation up as a Royalty Trust to avoid paying income and corporate taxes on the profits. Family members including Ted Kennedy, environmentalist Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Joe Kennedy, Jr. receive checks every year.

9. Who used a private jet on his last book tour – stays at the Ritz Carlton when in London … yet conducts press interviews in a cheap hotel nearby to give reporters the impression he is staying there instead?

a. Michael Moore
b. Bill Clinton
c. James Carville

Answer: A. Michael Moore, who calls himself an Average Joe from Flint, MI. He says, “Once you’re working class, you’re always working class” - that’s what he wants us to believe; in reality, Moore lives a luxury-class lifestyle out of reach of most Flint residents.

10 . Who has proclaimed themselves a corporate activist but has made money by investing in companies they were protesting against?

a. R EM’s Michael Stipe
b. Ralph Nader
c. Alec Baldwin

Answer: B. Ralph Nader. When Nader went after Firestone in the 1970s, he made stock investments in Goodyear, their main competitor. When he campaigned for the breakup of Microsoft in 2000, he invested hundreds of thousands in other high-tech companies that stood to benefit.

11. Who says that the rich have avoided paying taxes by setting up “trusts” but set up their own trust to do the very same thing?

a. Arianna Huffington
b. Madonna
c. Noam Chomsky

Answer: C. Noam Chomsky. The self-described “radical socialist” hired a tax attorney a few years ago and poured considerable assets into an irrevocable trust for his children in an effort to avoid taxes.

12. Name the individual who has denounced black capitalism and criticized blacks for aspiring to live in white neighborhoods while engaging in these very acts themselves.

a. Danny Glover
b. Jesse Jackson
c. Cornel West

Answer: C. Cornel West. The self-professed “Marxist” runs several business ventures and lives in a neighborhood where the black population is 1%.

13. Who has called the Pentagon “the most hideous institution on the face of the earth” while enriching themselves with millions of dollars in Pentagon contracts?

a. Noam Chomsky
b. Ward Churchill
c. Howard Dean

Answer: A. Noam Chomsky. The self-proclaimed “dissident” and his wife have made millions in military contracts over the years.

The Rules of Sarcasm

2005-10-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

Hilarious!

FAITH UNDER FIRE

2005-10-28T09:06:00.000-05:00

FAITH UNDER FIRE

Muslims trash Egyptian church
Coptic leaders ask U.N., U.S. to help protect endangered Christians

Posted: October 28, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Michael Ireland
© 2005 Assist News Service

Fearing a repeat of the recent riots against the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt, which left four dead, more than 80 wounded and seven churches defaced, leaders of the Coptic church in the United States are calling on the U.S. government and the United Nations to take immediate action to stop the bloodshed and destruction of churches.

Exclusive video footage released by the International Christian Union and American Coptic Association, or ICU/ACA, yesterday reveals the destruction of the Assemblies of God Church for Evangelical Copts in Moharam Bek on Friday, Oct. 21.

An e-mail report from Dr. Monir Dawoud, president of the ICU/ACA, obtained by ANS says: "We are receiving numerous reports that extremist Muslim groups are planning to surround the Alexandria churches again on Friday, Oct.28, and at the end of Ramadan on the following Tuesday, promising the death of Christians and the continued destruction of churches throughout Egypt."

Dawoud faults the security forces for encouraging violence by first "giving the green light to the mob," and then failing to control the resulting riots.

"If the momentum of the riots is allowed to continue, the crowds will be impossible to contain," Dawoud said.

More than 5,000 Muslims demonstrated outside of the Alexandria Coptic Orthodox Church last Friday to protest the production of a drama staged at the church two years ago. The protesters said the play blasphemes Islam. According to recent statements by the Coptic Church, however, the play does not defame Islam.

"Copts and other minorities in Egypt are continually subjected to physical and verbal harassment by extremist Muslim groups. Yet we do not destroy their houses of worship or call for bloodshed," said Amgad Zakhari, one of the youth leaders with the ICU/ACA.

In addition to the protests, the Egyptian newspaper El Fagr published threats made by Muslim radicals against the Coptic Pope Shenouda III.

According to the report, Muslim radicals publicly announced their threats through mosques in the outskirts of the city of Alexandria and were calling for the death of Pope Shenouda in revenge for an alleged insult to Islam's prophet.

The ICU and the ACA are planning a demonstration in front of the U.N. next week to protest the persecution of Christians in Egypt.

from www.worldnetdaily.com

"Iran leader's words 'sicken' UK"

2005-10-26T22:15:00.003-05:00

Iran leader's words 'sicken' UK
from www.BBC.com

M. Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be 'wiped off the map' The UK Foreign Office is to summon a senior Iranian diplomat to protest against his president's comments about destroying Israel.

Hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

The Foreign Office will call in Iran's London chargé d'affaires on Thursday. It said the comments were "deeply disturbing and sickening".

The remarks have heightened concerns over Iran's nuclear intentions.

Read the rest of the article here.

A Government Run by Spooks? Yipe.

2005-10-26T21:49:00.000-05:00

Do Americans Want a Government Run by Spooks?
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
By John Gibson
www.foxnews.com

John Gibson

I actually read Joe Wilson's book, which is more than I can say for all those so-called reviewers that are reviewing my book on Amazon without ever having seen the thing.

Ok, I digress.

I did read Wilson's book.

I think I'm reporting this right when I say that Joe Wilson (search) is anti-war, in the sense that he's a diplomat and he says in his book he always believed diplomacy could solve disputes and wars weren't wise or always necessary.

He even said he was against going into Baghdad in '93 to get Saddam.

And the reasons he cites will give you reason to think he would also have been against any war talk leading up to the invasion in '03.

He talked about how it would hurt us in Arab countries, that people would think the worst of us, etc.

So Wilson is married to the secret CIA lady. Think she knows his innermost thoughts on war and Saddam? Yeah, I think she might.

So how come she sends him — uses her influence to have him sent, if you like — to investigate a charge that if true will lead directly to a war he opposes?

And if one thinks she might have had her own political agenda at work in picking her anti-war husband to investigate a key element in the case for war, should she be allowed to remain a secret player in this very important political drama?

Read the entire article here.

Well they've done it again...

2005-10-26T09:37:00.000-05:00

A Palestinian blew himself up next to a falafel stand in an open market in Hadera, Israel, this morning.

Horrifying, yet, for some reason, not surprising...

Here and here are two sites about Hadera. The second has a map of Israel- scroll down.

A most excellent article by Burt Prelutsky

2005-10-26T09:25:00.000-05:00

The case against adultery

Posted: October 26, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Not being religious, I don't feel comfortable discussing other people's sins. Even where the Ten Commandments are concerned, I'm probably only batting about .650. However, one of the thou-shalt-nots I seem to take more seriously than a lot of other people – including those in the churchgoing crowd – is No. 7 on the hit parade, the one dealing with adultery.

Having been divorced twice, I recognize that all marriages are not made in heaven. Some, in fact, seem to have been cobbled together in Dr. Frankenstein's basement. Speaking from experience, there are perfectly good reasons for certain unions to be dissolved. But, for the life of me, I can not come up with a single decent excuse for adultery. Frankly, I regard adulterers as lying, contemptible, sleazebags. I can't begin to imagine how they live with themselves, let alone their mates. Even the terminology is distasteful, unless, unlike most of us, you don't mind being a cheater.

I recall hearing that Chicago's mayor, the late Richard Daley, who was one of the last of the big city bosses, when once asked why, with all the women available to him, he remained faithful to his wife, replied, "If I can't keep my word to my wife, why should anybody else trust me?"

Now the story may be apocryphal, and, for all I know, Mayor Daley may have been a worse hound than Bill Clinton, but the point is still a good one. If before man and God, you pledge your troth, and, first chance you get, you hop into the sack with someone you're not married to, you're nothing but a four-flusher.

What truly confounds me are cheating couples who eventually wind up married to each other, and are then astonished that their partner is now cheating with somebody new. Anybody who believes they are so special, so beautiful, so fascinating, so charismatic, that they can trust their adulterous spouse to remain faithful is not only terminally narcissistic, but more gullible than the hayseed who pays good money for the deed to Brooklyn Bridge.

After giving it some thought, I am convinced that there are motives for adultery that have little or nothing to do with sex. I believe the first of these is based on resentment. Either the husband or the wife feels neglected because kids, work, hobbies or booze, seem to have supplanted them in importance. The adultery not only provides them with a temporary ego-boost, but it gives them the feeling that they're extracting a measure of well-deserved revenge.

That is why after the initial excitement of the illicit affair wears off, the adulterer begins to resent the fact that his or her mate doesn't even suspect anything. Their attitude often changes from one of "Oh, aren't I the clever one to be pulling the wool over the fool's eyes!" to "The damn fool doesn't notice because he/she doesn't think I'm sexy enough to attract anybody." Ultimately, it's vanity, rather than a guilty conscience, that leads them to confess all.

Another reason that people risk destroying their marriages, hurting their children and damaging their reputations is because their lives are so darn boring, and I'm not even referring to their sex lives. The truth is that most people live lives, not necessarily of quiet desperation, but filled with tedious activities spent with boring, mind-numbing dullards.

What makes it even worse is that every time they turn on the television or pick up a magazine, they're confronted by gorgeous celebrities, male and female, living the way they'd like to – a mad whirl of parties and premieres, vacations in exotic locales, private jets, limousines, servants and, yes, tacky affairs. Well, chum, with your income, your humdrum job and your ordinary looks, you can forget about everything on the list except that last item. But even you can meet George or Helen the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at the Bide-a-While Motel.

And aren't you, for about an hour or so, every bit as sexy and glamorous as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Sure, if you say so.

But when you drive home afterward, saddled down with a load of guilt and self-contempt, can you honestly say the lay was worth the lie?

************************
Burt Prelutsky has been a humor columnist for the L.A. Times, a movie critic for Los Angeles magazine and a freelance writer for TV Guide, Modern Maturity, the N.Y. Times and Sports Illustrated. He has also written TV scripts for shows such as "Dragnet," "MASH," "Mary Tyler Moore" and "Diagnosis Murder." His most recent book is "Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco."

RELATED OFFER:

Get the book that made Joseph Farah laugh for six straight hours. Burt Prelutsky is America's favorite humorist – the man who invented political incorrectness. "Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco," is available now in WND's online store, ShopNetDaily.

This is outrageous!

2005-10-22T20:13:00.000-05:00

Well, in order for me to feel at home, I'd have to have a Bible in my student hall. We have several in my home here.
*****************

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

University to ban Bibles
Wants 'students of all faiths feel at home'

Posted: October 21, 2005
5:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Edinburgh University in Scotland will begin banning Holy Bibles from its student halls of residence due to concern they are the source of discrimination against students of other faiths.

The ban was a response to student association protests as well as an agenda to equally support all faiths, a university spokesman told the Times of London.

Read the rest of the article here.

background help? :)

2005-10-22T15:34:00.000-05:00

I'd really appreciate some advice on how to get a different background on my blog here. For some reason, although I can usually figure out the html pretty easily, I can't on blogger and it's driving me bats. I have some tiles that I'd like to, well, tile for a background.

:::pulls hair out:::

Any ideas? :/
Btw, a GREAT couple of sites for background tiles are: Squidfingers and Citrus Moon.

Ahhhh, the truth comes out...

2005-10-21T22:24:00.000-05:00

Somehow I knew that the first reports were "exaggerated".

Excerpt from Time Magazine:

Friday, Oct. 21, 2005
Stench Prompted U.S. Troops to Burn Corpses
The desecration of Taliban dead prompts outrage in Afghanistan
There simply wasn't enough room on the rocky hilltop above Gonbaz village in southern Afghanistan for the U.S. platoon and the corpses of the two Taliban fighters. The Taliban men had been killed in a firefight 24 hours earlier, and in the 90 degree heat, their bodies had become an unbearable presence, soldiers who were present have told TIME. Nor was the U.S. Army unit about to leave — the hilltop commanded a strategic view of the village below where other Taliban were suspected to be hiding.

Earlier, Lt. Eric Nelson, the leader of B Company, I-508 platoon leader had sent word down to Gonbaz asking the villagers to pick up the bodies and bury them according to Muslim ritual. But the villagers refused — probably because the dead fighters weren't locals but Pakistanis, surmised one U.S. army officer.

for the entire article, click the title above.

From Little Green Footballs...

2005-10-21T22:17:00.000-05:00

Muslims burn a church to protest a play saying that Muslims burn churches.... Uhhhh.... ok.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=
17950_It_Was_a_Dark_and_Stormy_Night...#comments

two groups of ignoramuses

2005-10-15T21:27:00.000-05:00

A bunch of "protesters" attacked police and businesses today in Toledo, Ohio... it turned into a riot. The crowd of rioters were mad that the neo nazi idiots were allowed to have a parade and demonstration (hey we all hate those guys, but folks, this is a FREE COUNTRY with the right to assemble. But I digress.)
I don't know that any of the facists were even hurt. Just local businesses.

photo from Foxnews.com:
A local black man is quoted at Foxnews.com as saying,
"They let them come here and expect this not to happen?" said White, 29.

Hmm.
In other words, if something happens that we don't like, we can't control ourselves...? I don't think so. The choice was there; anyone can choose how to react or behave. If some low-life neo nazis show up somewhere, IGNORE THEM, PROTEST THEM, YELL AT THEM. Don't attack the police, a gas station, and a bar. That's just stupid.

More...

Michelle Malkin gets it right, as usual

2005-10-14T05:09:00.000-05:00

ISLAMIST TERRORISM IN RUSSIA
By Michelle Malkin · October 13, 2005 04:06 PM
Yesterday, I wrote about the MSM whitewashing Islam out of news reports. Today's coverage of the violent Muslim terrorist outbreak in Russia underscores my point:

*(the following were links on Michelle's site)
60 killed as Chechen gunmen attack city
Chechen rebel attack fuels growing unrest
Chechens attack Caucasus town
Police battle militants in Russia

for more- http://michellemalkin.com/mt/mt-MALKIN-tb.cgi/3053

YAY!

2005-10-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

Gore: I Won't Run Again
Wednesday, October 12, 2005

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Former Vice President Al Gore (search) said Wednesday he had no intention of ever running for president again.

"I have absolutely no plans and no expectations of ever being a candidate again," said Gore, who lost the 2000 election to President Bush (search).

However, Gore did not completely shut the door to political endeavors.

"I don't completely rule out some future interest, but I don't expect to have that," he said during a visit to Sweden.

NYC Mayor Not Sure Subway Threats Were Hoax

2005-10-11T20:36:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police officials questioned reports on Tuesday that an alleged subway bomb plot that spread fear through the city was a hoax.... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171953,00.html

What do y'all think?Do you think this would this work?

2005-10-11T20:22:00.000-05:00

INVASION USA
Highway sound barriers as border fences?
Construction would be economically, physically feasible, say experts
Posted: October 10, 2005
10:10 p.m. Eastern

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46729

By Jon Dougherty
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

As discussion of erecting a security fence along U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada heats up, some analysts say it's possible Washington could economically erect thousands of miles of barrier to keep out illegal aliens, smugglers and terrorists, for about half of what the Pentagon is spending a month to fight the war on terror.

The idea, they say, is to erect a structure similar to barrier walls built along highways to reduce sound. They are sturdy, tall, not easily scaled and, most attractively, affordable.

Highway sound barrier at intersection of I-10 and I-12 in Baton Rouge, La. (courtesy soundfighter.com)

Plus, analysts say, a wall would dramatically reduce outside threats.

The Federal Highway Administration says most highway sound barriers are constructed of concrete or masonry block, range from 3-5 meters [9-16 feet] in height, and cost between $175 and $200 a square meter.

According to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, there are "more than 2,630 linear miles of sound barriers" along U.S. highways, constructed at a cost of some $1.4 billion.

By comparison, the Pentagon is spending about $3.9 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, not counting rebuilding costs, the Associated Press has reported.

One group, WeNeedAFence.com, is advocating the construction of a "state-of-the-art fence" along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, a plan it says would dramatically reduce illegal immigration.

The group points to the fact that similar security fences in Israel have reduced terrorist attacks there by as much as 95 percent in some regions.

Lee Plank, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Diamond Manufacturing Company in Wyoming, Pa., says his company has not been approached about border security fences, but, he said, they would be a good idea.

"I think they'd have to be about 10 feet high," he told WND, and would cost "about $636,000 a mile" to build. That's about $1.27 billion for 2,000 miles of border fence, similar to the government's figures.

Plank, who says his company specializes in sound-absorbing corrugated metal walls, said a border security fence "would save a lot on manpower."

"It would be interesting to see them on the borders," he added.

Mike Flick of Oldcastle Precast Group, a nationwide leader in both highway and security fencing, told WND the idea of border fencing is certainly doable, but the design, depth and other particulars would need to be worked out.

Some have criticized the idea of a border fence.

"The United States needs a better immigration policy, not a fence along the border with Mexico that won't do anything to protect us anyway," says an editorial in the Modesto Bee. "The proposed fence is simply a sign of frustration with illegal immigration. Our politicians need to come up with workable solutions to the problems of illegal immigration and national security."

WeNeedAFence.com officials say a border fence makes sense in this day and age.

"The problem is not merely the number of illegal immigrants. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from Central and South America, there are several hundreds, perhaps thousands, of illegal aliens from countries that sponsor terrorism or harbor terrorists entering the United States each year across our border with Mexico. Thus, it is a national security issue as well as an immigration issue," the group says on its website.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security also believe in erecting new fences or strengthening existing ones as a way to bolster security. Last month DHS quietly implemented a pair of measures aimed to bring regions of the southwestern border under control

One measure "makes it easier for officials to remove non-Mexican illegal immigrants, popularly called 'other than Mexicans' or OTMs," U.S. News & World Report said, "while another adds yet one more level of fortification to a metal wall stretching along parts of the border."

"They clearly did this when no one was looking," complained Tim Edgar, an immigration specialist with the American Civil Liberties Union. "And I'm worried DHS is trying to set new norms for how we treat immigrants in the United States."

Border Patrol agents have praised fences as a means to deter border-jumping. One San Diego-area agent, speaking on anonymity, told WND fences constructed there have "dramatically" reduced the incidents of illegal immigration, though, the agent conceded, many immigrants have merely moved inland, east of the area where the San Diego fence line ended, to sneak into the country.

Rice travels to Afghanistan

2005-10-11T20:19:00.000-05:00

US' Rice to meet Karzai in Kabul
By Jonathan Beale
BBC State Department correspondent

Ms Rice said Afghanistan had made enormous progress
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is due to arrive in Kabul - the second stop of her tour of Central Asia.

Her visit comes almost exactly four years after the US and its allies began their military campaign to oust the Taleban after the 11 September attacks.

Ms Rice wants to highlight progress following Afghanistan's parliamentary elections on 18 September.

Oh, barf.

2005-10-08T03:56:00.000-05:00

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,171565,00.html

This is priceless...

2005-09-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

POPSHOTS: The Last Action Hero
[21 September 2005]
Indiana Jones is 63 years old, and we're in trouble.
by Glenn McDonald

Here's an excerpt:

"I've recently and reluctantly come to appreciate Brad Pitt's acting -- he's at least as cool as his hair in Ocean's Eleven, and his decision to have his character eating in every single scene is just the sort of Actor's Choice he gets paid the big bucks for. But the man is impossible to like -- the way he treated poor Jennifer Aniston is just despicable. One of these days he's going to wake up to Angelina gnawing on his skull, and realize the terrible mistake he's made."

Angelina gnawing on his skull! ROFLOLOL!!!!! oh this was a much needed laugh. Thanks, Glenn... even though I disagree with ya about Vin Diesel. He's gorgeous- I mean a great actor. ;)

from the New York Post-

2005-09-23T01:47:00.000-05:00

"Right on, old girl."

They should fire most of them...

2005-09-22T18:31:00.000-05:00

THE MEAN SEASON
Federal screeners skip work in Houston
Exasperated mayor informs fleeing residents of long delays at airports
Posted: September 22, 2005
3:50 p.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Security lines at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport today (courtesy: Houston Chronicle)
As Hurricane Rita edged toward Houston this morning, most of the federal airport screeners at the city's two major airports failed to show up for work, contributing to extensive delays as residents flee the massive storm.

At a news conference today, an exasperated Houston Mayor Bill White informed the public of the loss of workers at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports, urging people to rule out air travel unless they have a reservation and to expect delays of up to five hours.

Andrea McCauley, a spokeswoman for the regional Transportation Security Administration office in Dallas, told WorldNetDaily officials became aware of the shortfall late yesterday and have deployed 155 workers from four Texas airports.

The absences were not excused, and TSA officials have not decided whether the workers – obviously fleeing the hurricane themselves – will be disciplined.

McCauley said she believed some of the absent workers informed their superiors and others did not.

"I don't want to make assumptions on why people didn't come to work," she said. "Our focus is 100 percent on getting those passengers out as quickly as possible."

Many passengers are showing up without reservations and, because they are fleeing, have an exceptionally high volume of luggage, McCauley noted.

"The lines are very long," she said, "People are obviously nervous and anxious to get out of the area."